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….
"Laura," Sarah answered after a brief moment of thought, "her name is Laura."
"Hear that, combat hamster?" I turned to the little one who opened her eyes wide in surprise at Sarah's last words.
"Your name is Laura; no more alphanumeric identifications!" The confused girl shifted her gaze from her mother to me but met only the signature smile of the body's previous owner.
I honestly wanted to make it warm and caring, but some malicious-sly note leaked through anyway.
And generally, I set myself up, because as soon as I voiced it, the giggle-inducing phrase "X-23 is a combat hamster" started banging in my brain like a gong.
Honestly, only I could blurt out such an ambiguous and, frankly, dark piece of humor.
"Alright, get down and go to mom," I put her on the floor, away from sin, "Uncle Loki needs to work."
"Dr. Kinney?" the little one turned to the woman even more bewildered than before.
Instead of answering, she simply rushed to her and embraced her, reflexively checking for integrity and health.
Apparently, this is some female instinct, because from a rational point of view, this child couldn't risk anything in this sense in principle.
"Right, now stand still quietly," having already assessed the ladies' build, I estimated the spell parameters in my mind.
"Something like…" I put the charm into action, helping myself with a movement of my right hand, "this!"
With the last sound, the scientist's and her daughter's clothes rippled with golden-green hues, transforming into military uniforms of a desert pattern, with minor modifications to the materials.
"What is this?" Sarah caught herself, examining the new sleeve of camouflage coloring.
"We'll have to walk a bit, and doing it in heels or barefoot isn't the best idea. Once we get to the nearest town, I'll dress you in something less conspicuous, but for now, please follow me," I turned to the door with all three bodies.
"We need to destroy the camera recordings, experiment data, samples…" jumping to her feet, Kinney began listing quickly.
"Alas, contrary to all laws of the American movie genre, this base has no self-destruct system," I sighed, shrugging. I specifically checked that point in Rice's memory.
"But we can't leave all this! They'll be able to restore the project!"
"Of course, that's why I ask you to follow me quickly. Now we'll go out to the helicopters and fly away a bit, while I," I nodded at the phantoms leaving the room, "will transform the local air into something explosive. Do you think the explosion of fifteen thousand cubic meters of propane can delete surveillance camera recordings?" I smiled at the woman.
"Uh…"
"Laura, take mom's hand and help her not get lost," I switched to a more stable listener. "We still have about three hours to get to the US border, and I want to have dinner in civilization, not in the desert."
….
New York:
"…comments from the Monaco authorities have not yet been received, but according to eyewitness accounts, Iron Man…"the TV mumbled something quietly, but it didn't interest me at all right now.
"Yuriko, dear, have you recovered from the shock yet?" rising from the chair and finding Stryker's former assistant in the rented room, I addressed the back of her head.
"I am fully ready to proceed with my duties," slightly flinching from surprise, since before that I just sat motionless and said nothing, the woman instantly turned to me.
Having got rid of her glasses and let her hair down, she had increased in attractiveness about three times over.
"Good, I need you to fly to New Mexico and look after a mobile home there, and tomorrow morning meet me on the road to Lordsburg or Puerto Palomas, I'm not sure yet. Can you handle it?"
"It will be done," the girl nodded and went to pack, involuntarily plunging me into annoyed thoughts that I should have taken her with me right away.
On the other hand, when I went to Mexico, I wasn't sure yet that I would be returning in such company, and the plan with the mobile home arose just now…
Okay, moving on. Here, if anything, a more relevant topic for reflection is looming. So, I have a very dutiful lady with a clearly not quite firmly attached roof, who was tasked with flying halfway across the country, what could go wrong? Hmm…
"Please use public airlines; no need to hijack Stryker's private jet or anything like that," I shouted into the room, turning off the TV forgotten by the girl with a light magical impulse.
It continued to suck on, apparently, Stark's meeting with Ivan Vanko, although it clearly went much less spectacularly than in canon.
I should drop by Tony's one of these days. Get it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
"I… didn't think of doing that," the girl replied, bringing out a laptop to me, where the ticket booking page was already open.
"Oh, good," perhaps I underestimated her self-control. Oh well, better safe than sorry.
"Here, there are two flights. Destinations: Las Cruces International Airport and Deming Municipal Airport. Las Cruces is closer, but the flight to Deming departs almost two hours earlier."
"Hmm…" I had severely underestimated this girl. This time, dispelling the misconception turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. "Let's go with Las Cruces. We don't need to rush with tongues hanging out and pedals to the metal."
"Alright, then I'll book the ticket. The flight will take three and a half hours; I'll pre-order the delivery of the necessary vehicle to the airport, and I should be at the location you specified in about ten to twelve hours, depending on the road, just by morning."
"Simply splendid. Then I'll relieve you, and you can sleep. Thank you."
"Don't mention it, sir. With your permission, I'll go pack."
"Yes, of course," I agreed. "And you'll need money to buy the necessary car," I remembered another point, "preferably cash. Write down the address where you can pick it up before departure…"
….
Bonus Chapter on every 500 power stones;
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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