Chapter7:
"Who the hell are you!" Anna screeched. Her whole body coiled tight, seconds from throwing herself at the shapeshifter.
I stepped in, hand raised between her and the blue-skinned woman. A sharp shake of my head was enough. Anna paused, teeth bared, then gave a low growl before taking one reluctant step back.
"I'm just like you kids," the woman said, her voice imperious. "We're different than normal humans. We've been persecuted for it. I'm here to—"
"Cut the bullshit, Mystique." My words came out flat, tired, and more than a little annoyed.
The last thing I needed was another revolutionary speech about mutant struggles and solidarity. Maybe it mattered in this universe. Maybe it didn't. But right now? I was hungry, cold, and bone-deep exhausted. I'd run out of patience hours ago, and I'm about ninety percent sure she wasn't going to kill us for being rude.Was it smart to mouth off at a shapeshifting superspy who doubled as a master assassin? Not in the slightest. But survival instincts only carried me so far, and mine were running on fumes.
I didn't know the exact situation for mutants in this world. But Mystique was always the same in every story I'd ever heard: diehard mutant supporter, through and through. If she'd come to kill us, she wouldn't have walked right into view, standing on a pile of Wendigo corpses.
Her face flickered—surprise breaking through for a split second before she wrestled it back down. The calculated mask snapped into place. She hopped lightly off the bodies, landing without a sound.
"You know me?"
"I've heard some things," I said, keeping it vague.
"Oh?" Mystique's brow arched. A sly smile tugged at her lips. "Do tell. I'd love to hear the gossip." Her voice dipped conspiratorially.
"I'd rather not say…" I glanced away, sifting through the back of my mind.
A faint slot shifted inside me. Catapult vanished, replaced by Spatial Displacement. Relief washed over me. Worst case, we could bolt again.
"Well, let's just say I heard plenty when I was locked up at Hydra." I let the word hang, baiting her with just enough to chew on.
"Hydra?" The warmth drained from Raven's expression, replaced with a dark scowl. "There's a Hydra base near here?"
"You know them?" I tilted my head, feigning surprise, though I'd tossed it out there for shock value.
"I do. It's a miracle you got away." Her tone shifted.
And just like that, we hit a stalemate. Neither of us moved, both measuring the other in silence. I didn't trust Mystique for a second—too many stories of her zealotry, her talk about the 'greater good.' People like her always came with strings attached, and I wasn't about to hand her the scissors.The last thing I wanted was to show her what I could really do. God knows she'd spin me into some mutant gambling messiah before the week was out.
But she was wary, too. She'd seen us fight, sure, but not enough to pin down the exact nature of my ability. That uncertainty kept her still.
Anna groaned behind us. The sound made me spin. She dropped to her knees, her body shrinking back down as her transformation fizzled out.
"Anna!" I darted back to her side, eyes scanning for wounds. "What's wrong?"
The rings should've shielded her. Combined with her power, she should've been fine. Unless the Wendigos had pulled some mystical bullshit on us.
"No…" Anna's voice was strained, one hand clutching her stomach.
Panic shot through me. My hand brushed the platinum ticket. If it came to it—
"Stop…" A massive rumble echoed out, deep and guttural, like a beast howling to the sky.
I froze, eyes snapping to her. Her face flushed bright red.
"It's not me!" she blurted, mortified. "It's just—I haven't eaten. My power… it changed my body to take on the Wendigo's physique so my appetite…"
Right on cue, her stomach growled again. Loud.
"Uwaaa…" she groaned in embarrassment, burying her face in her hands.
I fell back on my ass, half laughing, half relieved.
"I have food at my camp not far from here," Mystique said, her tone suddenly light, almost cheerful.
I glanced at Anna—her cheeks still red—then down at my own stomach as it gave a quiet protest of its own.
Ah, hell. We couldn't dodge this crazy bitch forever, could we?
"Lead the way," I said reluctantly.
"Gladly." She smiled smugly.
If there was one thing that could soothe my soul, it was the universal, artificial goodness of instant noodles. Pure chemical comfort. I slurped down the broth like it was nectar of the gods.
The third cup went down, and I set it aside with the solemn reverence of a man finishing a masterpiece. The aftertaste was delicious in all the right ways—salty, synthetic, and exactly what I needed. Another time, I might've felt guilty for enjoying it so much. But right now? Surrounded by the smell of cheap rations and half-burned wood? It was heaven.
Anna lay sprawled on the floorboards, dead to the world in a full-blown food coma. Empty ration packs, bread crumbs, and noodle cups formed a halo of destruction around her.
I couldn't help smiling. For once, she looked… at peace. That constant tension she carried after we escaped had finally loosened.
I wanted to crash, too. God knew I needed it. But my eyes drifted toward the corner of the cabin, where Mystique sat beside the small fire, her blue skin catching the orange light like cool metal.
She hadn't said much since leading us here. Brought us in, started the fire, handed over food, and then went quiet. I appreciated the silence, though it made me more uneasy than I'd admit.
With a reluctant sigh, I pushed myself up, glanced at Anna one more time, and crossed the creaky floorboards.
Mystique didn't move as I sat opposite her. She only lifted an eyebrow before returning to poking the coals with a piece of kindling. If this was a social standoff, she was winning by sheer patience.
"Thanks for the food," I said finally. "We might've actually starved out there."That was… mostly true. Using my familiar and teleportation, we could've made do, but she didn't need to know that.Mystique hummed, a low sound that could've been acknowledgment or mild amusement. "Let it not be said I'd let our people suffer when I can lend a hand."
"Our people, huh?" I leaned back slightly, meeting her eyes. "And who exactly counts as that, Mystique?"
"Don't play coy. You know what I mean."
Mystique's voice was smooth, steady. Her skin shifted and distorted like oil rippling over metal until I was staring at an older version of Anna Marie—same white streak, same sharp eyes, but older, colder, more dangerous.
"Mutantkind," she said simply. "But we've gotten a little ahead of ourselves, haven't we? You haven't even told me your names yet."
"My name's Jack," I said, nodding toward the girl half-buried under empty food packs. "That's Anna."
"Well, Jack," she said with an almost gentle smile, her face shifting back to its natural blue shade. "I don't know what you've heard about me, but I think we got off on the wrong foot. I just want what's best for both of you. People like us get chewed up and ripped apart if we don't look out for each other. I work with a group that's trying to change that."
"The Brotherhood?" I guessed.
"We actually haven't decided on a name yet," she said with a small smirk. "Although that one's in the running." Her head tilted, the gold in her eyes sharpening. "I do wonder what your power is. Precognition? Or are you extrapolating the information?"
"I'm psychic," I said with a sarcastic drawl, stealing the line from a certain smug blond teenager's playbook.
"Sureee," Mystique replied, drawing the word out. "If you're such a great psychic, then humor me. Tell me something I've been curious about. Anything interesting you learned with your great psychic powers when you were with Hydra?"
"'With' is generous," I said dryly. "More like 'in their basement.' We were lab rats."
Her expression shifted, the teasing edge replaced by something colder. "Hydra's been sniffing around mutants for years," she said quietly. "I've had a couple of run-ins with them myself. They're dangerous. An old, cursed thing born from the Nazis—hiding away like a parasite." Her fingers drummed against her arm as she thought. "If they're operating anywhere near here, that complicates things. I say this not to scare you, Jack, but to warn you. Hydra's big. You'd do well to stay as far from them as possible."
"I know," I said, leaning back. "Trust me, I understand how bad it is to be on Hydra's radar—probably better than you."
"Oh?" Mystique's tone turned sharp again, hungry. I could tell my "prophetic" act had caught her attention more than I'd planned. "And what exactly do you know?"
I hesitated. Honestly, I'd been tossing out bits of metaknowledge half out of spite to keep her confused. Now that my stomach wasn't eating itself and my brain wasn't running on fumes, I realized how monumentally stupid that was. Telling people you know things you shouldn't was a great way to end up dead.
But I'd already gone halfway down that road. Might as well make it Hydra's problem as well.
"Gideon Malick, Jasper Sitwell, Alexander Pierce, Hale, Wolfgang von Strucker,"
Mystique froze. "Those are—"
"The names of current Hydra heads," I finished for her. "At least, the ones I know of. Take it with a grain of salt—my information could be off. What you do with it is up to you."
She scowled faintly, then her expression softened into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I recognize some of those names. I appreciate the trust you've shown me, Jack. I'll make sure it's put to good use."
"Of course, I have good faith in your moral character."
Yeah, because giving a shapeshifting superspy that kind of intel definitely won't come back to bite me later… right?
I snorted.
Mystique chuckled. "Are you sure you don't want to join me? We could do the world a lot of favors together."
"If doing the world 'favors' means becoming a terrorist, I'll pass."
That earned me a long, unreadable stare. Her gaze was sharp enough that, for a moment, I half-expected her to attack me.
"Okay," she said finally.
"That's it?" I asked, caught off guard by how easily she dropped it.
"I can see a lost cause when I meet one. Forcing you won't achieve anything." She turned to go, then paused. "But my door's always open, you know that. Of course—" her eyes slid toward the pile of food and blankets in the corner, "—that means I still need to extend my offer to you, young lady."
Anna twitched. Ah, so not completely asleep after all.
She stirred, sitting up sheepishly among the half-finished food cartons.
"How long have you been up?" I asked, unable to hide my smile.
"Almost the whole time," she admitted.
"Well then, Anna," Mystique said, smiling softly. "I'd like to ask you a question. You see, my partner and I—"
"No," I cut in immediately. The disgust was instinctive. Mystique's track record as a parent wasn't exactly stellar, across… well, any universe.
"That's not your decision to make," Mystique replied, eyes narrowing before turning back to Anna Marie. "It's hers."
I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to shut up. She was right, it wasn't my call.
I kept quiet as Mystique launched into her pitch to Anna Marie, her voice smooth and deliberate, like a speech she had given a hundred times before.
Part of me wanted to step in, to lay out every warning label I could about Raven Darkhölme: terrorist, manipulator, the kind of parent who thought tough love meant emotional shrapnel. But the smarter part of me stayed silent. The less Mystique knew about how much I actually knew, the better. No reason to make my so-called "prophetic insight" sound any more interesting to a shapeshifting superspy with a recruitment habit.
Still, watching her lean closer to Anna made my jaw tighten. I didn't want her wrapped up in what passed for Mystique's version of parenting, which ranged from neglectful to downright scarring depending on the universe.
And yet, this world wasn't mine. As familiar as it felt, with Bucky Barnes alive and well as the Winter Soldier looking just like his MCU counterpart, Mystique's presence made me question how much of what I knew even applied to this universe.
So I stayed quiet. Interfering now might just mean tearing away a chance for Anna to have something resembling parents.
In the end, it had to be her choice.
"So," Mystique said, her tone softening. "Miss Anna Marie, would you like to join me?"
Anna hesitated, her brows drawing together. I could tell she was torn, and honestly, I couldn't blame her. If I didn't already know everything I did about Mystique, I probably would've been swayed too.
She looked at me for a moment, searching. I gave her a small nod.
"Do what you want," I said quietly. "We're free now. Nobody's taking that from us."
That seemed to settle something in her. Anna smiled faintly before turning back to Mystique.
"Thank you for the offer," Anna said. "And for the food and everything. But… I think I'll stick with Jack."
"I see," Mystique murmured, disappointment flickering across her face before smoothing into something unreadable.
[Feat Achieved! Stolen Daughter, Altered Fate!]
[1 Platinum Ticket]
My eyes widened. Platinum? What the hell? Did Feats scale based on how "important" the people involved were?
"Alright," Mystique said, straightening her coat. "I'm a busy woman, so I'll leave you two to your own devices. There's a GPS on this phone, and a city not far from here." She handed the phone to Anna Marie, her tone warmer than before. "Call me if you need anything. Now or in the future."
"Thank you!" Anna said brightly.
Mystique gave her a small, almost genuine smile before waving and walking out into the cold. A few seconds later, a bird took flight from the snow.
I picked up the phone and checked the GPS, zooming in on the map.
"Novi Grod…" I groaned. "Sokovia."