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….
Time was ticking, and the splash from this could spook the "Weapon-X" revival crew into going dark. But rushing in half-cocked? Bad juju.
Nah, Stryker's corpse, loud as it'd be, wouldn't ripple the other ponds much. With that crowd, they'd probably pop champagne over one less pain-in-the-ass with his pet projects and ego trips.
His higher-ups might grumble a bit, but even they'd shrug it off. Main handler was Alexander Pierce, after all. Ring a bell? Security Council bigwig, SHIELD's direct boss.
Colonel's ops mattered to him, sure, but he had a Rolodex full of NATO equivalents. Oh, and Pierce? Hydra ringleader.
Not the "Hydra dominatus" OG, but the bootleg Nazi knockoff cooked up by Red Skull, that half-assed super-soldier, half-assed fuhrer, half-assed everything.
His heirs got the memo eventually and now pull strings from the shadows over damn near the whole board.
'Course, that was after some not-so-bright ops guy mowed down the vampire cabal that'd been low-key running the show before.
Real talk: immortality, riches, power? Way slicker bait than what bootleg Hydra was peddling. And Hydra?
Ninety-nine-point-nine-nines percent sure they were just the vamps' errand boys back in the day. But Stryker? Clueless on all that, and me? I only know from the flicks.
Bottom line: the suits upstairs got zero bandwidth for a chubby bone-metal zealot. Even if he flipped and spilled everything, he wasn't rattling their cages.
"Ohh…" the sigh of the young mutant, who had finally overpowered the booze and begun looking at the world with a much more coherent gaze, tore me from my musings.
"So," I attracted Yuriko's attention, "I suppose now I should say something like 'he's yours,' or some other pretentious slogan of a brutal hero walking off into the sunset. But sorry, I've already written the script for his death, and the sets are waiting for the actors."
"So, when you recover, I advise you to drive his car home and then quietly disappear. You have money and means, but if needed, I can share a couple of addresses of mutant communities. There's an option with a caring collective, professional rehabilitation, and other resort-like amenities, and there are radically vengeful guys who will gladly help you slit a few throats of those involved in your fate. Choose what you like more."
"And… you?" the girl squeezed out hoarsely and not very confidently.
"And I will now busy myself preparing the final act of the Ballet de la Merlaison, and in about a week the country will be shaken by a report narrating the unprecedented cruelty happening under the noses of honest taxpayers. But it would be better for you to be far away by then."
"Does that mean I'm… free?" Despite the strict gray suit, business glasses, and tightly pulled back hair, all of which together should have literally screamed that before me was a cold and unbending woman, her appearance right now was utterly helpless and confused.
"Yes," I confirmed briefly and picked up the brandy bottle again. "Here, drink some more, you need it right now." I filled the empty glass.
"Just like that?" not noticing the appearance of the amber liquid, the Asian woman continued to look timidly into my eyes.
"Yes," I confirmed again, putting a calming smile on my face.
"And you don't need anything from me?" notes of fearful disbelief flashed in Yuriko's voice. I can't blame her for that.
"No," I smiled wider. "And relax already; if I wanted to do something bad to you, I wouldn't have helped you regain control of your body. Now shake yourself off, finish your medicine," I indicated the brandy with a look, "and decide: are you interested in the addresses of mutants ready to help, or can you handle it yourself? Just decide quickly, or I'll take this body now," a nod at Stryker, "and be gone."
"Can I come with you?!" The glass in the lady's hand cracked, spilling its contents, but she didn't notice, leaning toward me with a new level of fright on her face.
"Um…" that was sudden… Although… If you think about it… The reasons for her emotions are understandable.
"Meaning: with me 'out of here' or with me 'in general'?" I clarified an important point, because who knows what goes on in female brains? Even with all Loki's insight, one can run into trouble here.
"With you in general!" the Asian woman nodded hastily, but for some reason, it seemed to me she wasn't perceiving reality very well again.
"One second," I raised a warning finger. "You just gained freedom from years of slavery, being a prisoner in your own body and working for a man who dreams of destroying your entire species and is ready to expend you at any moment you become useless. And now you want to go to an unknown destination, with an unclear person, on a permanent basis, did I get that right?"
"Y-yes!" the woman nodded abruptly, continuing to stare at me hopefully.
"It seems to me that shock is speaking in you," I deemed it necessary to make another attempt.
"I have nowhere to go, everything I had was taken from me, and you saved me. Please," Yuriko leaned even closer, practically climbing out of the car, and if I hadn't been standing right by the door, she surely would have, "give me your protection!"
"Sorry, what?" I thought I misheard.
"Allow me to serve you in exchange for protection, I beg you!" the girl repeated without stumbling, and my skull seemed to start itching.
"But… you're strong, aren't you? Regeneration, martial arts, adamantium skeleton, retractable claws?.." I waved my fingers vaguely-questioningly in the air, finishing the list.
"My strength didn't help me," Oyama shook her head without breaking eye contact. "I know these people; they will look for me. Even if not Stryker, there will be another. And another, and again. I have nowhere to go and… no one. They will find me. I beg you… Please!"
"But I'm telling you I can recommend a couple of good mutant communities. Believe me, each of them has enough strength to arrange a small apocalypse in a single country."
"I don't know them," followed an instant and firm answer.
"You don't even know my name!" unable to withstand the intensity of the situation's strangeness, I voiced my indignation aloud.
In response, I got a nod. Impulsive, firm, and still without a shadow of doubt in her desires.
….
Bonus Chapter on every 500 power stones;
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki