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***
-Test your powers...
I walked round in a circle around an uncomprehending Gwen. My hands wandered around my waist, occasionally freezing in a stereotypical martial arts stance.
-What?
-Check your strength.
Parker was laughing in the background. The old derelict was lit by a couple of torches and a small fire where we were resting.
It was nighttime, and lazy bums rarely climbed to the top floors of buildings like this, preferring to stay downstairs or crawl into basements.
-Test your strength!
-I don't know what you're talking about, Shawn.
Waving my arms, making faces and shouting, I raise my right palm above my head, shouting into the battle.
-Fight to the death!
-А?!
The surprise and shock on my girlfriend's face didn't stop her from dodging the first blows. Her incredible flexibility, agility and stamina allowed her to keep her initial pace without any problems, bewildered by my ridiculous lunges.
-Finish him, Gwen!
-What the fuck are you talking about!
Distracted by Pete's shouting, my hapless sparring partner acted irrationally, which I took advantage of. I accelerated sharply, but not to the best of my ability, and used a whole combination of punches to Gwen's body, finishing with a final leg kick that brought the axe down on top of her... But it all went down in flames.
At the last second, the girl sensed the danger and sagged as well as Neo, getting up on the bridge. Then she twisted like a duck, almost touching the ground with her breasts and slid across the floor and went sideways.
I wasn't afraid to hit with such force, because, as our experiments had already shown, my Spider friends could easily withstand a brick to the body. Gwen refused to test it on herself, but Pete was happy to be a target for such practice.
My foot came down with a thud and dust. It was unpleasant, to say the least, that it had so easily escaped all the blows. And, as I noticed, Gwen was more agile and flexible than Peter, while the latter was stronger and sturdier, and his web was denser. Though, against the background of ordinary people, they both bend like snakes, strike like jackhammers, and can run for hours like a horse.
-What was that?!
Pete was emotional. Jumping on the ceiling, standing upside down, he waved his arms enthusiastically, pelting us and himself with questions to which there were no definite answers.
-How did you do it?
-Well, I felt the danger... And then," Gwen was shocked, waving her hands apart, "my body started to act as if automatically... It's hard to describe it in words. That's what happens when you're in danger.
-Wow. That's just wow! Can I do that? Shawn, Shawn! Let's check it out," taking the girl's place, my friend got into a simple boxing stance, working the shadows and throwing punches at breakneck speed. Cutting the air, he relentlessly pounded at the invisible enemy, which made mine and Gwen's eyebrows creep upwards, -I'm bursting with energy.
-All right, let's try to speed things up a bit.
-Great! Wait, speed up?
A direct kick to the body, infused with Qi and utilising all my body's capabilities, threw Pete into the nearest pile of rubbish. With a loud yelp, he flew a good four metres away, scattering everything in his path.
Great punch, great control of energy, and a precise stance....
But even so, I noticed for a split second that my friend began to dodge. Just a brief moment, but his legs began to carry him backwards and his stomach began to retract, trying to somehow avoid the blow.
"Fucking flair... Hehe, but it's even more interesting that way."
The Qi-infused fingertips had no trouble cutting through the bundle of spider webs flying at my face, but it was quickly replaced by a dozen more.
Jumping up on the wall, Parker pelted me with projectiles without stopping, wary of getting any closer. He ran around in a circle, hoping to confuse and disarm me without unnecessary injury.
-We've got to get tough, Pete.
-I think I can handle it," Parker grunted unhappily, but I could see his firing rate dropping with each wisp of web, -shit.
-So far too slow, old chap," the tip of my boot hooked a piece of rebar. A new dodge from the web and, using inertia, I send a return gift straight at the target, knocking Parker to the ground, -and too predictable.
I didn't blindly rush into the fight, because the hit with the piece of metal didn't even leave a bruise on Pete's body. Now the little sly one was just pretending to be hurt and unhappy.
"Something you've learnt from our battles with bullies."
Without taking a couple of steps, I kick at the rubbish, sand, and other filth scattered abundantly around the room. A cloud of dust flew straight into my friend's forehead, covering him completely. Painfully and unhappily shrieking because of the shit in his eyes, he tried to break the distance, preferring the ceiling to the normal ground....
But my fingers closed around his ankle with a steely grip, yanking him backwards, right under the impact of my free hand.
A flash of Qi. Small, weak, and not nearly as impressive as Rand's, but it was a beacon in the darkness of the old building.
That was a good shot. Straight and counter, right in the liver.
With a final yelp, my best friend collapsed into my arms, groaning and cursing. Even his super-strong body couldn't handle something like that instantly.
-Phew, that was a little hard.
-I wouldn't say that," Gwen, impressed, stepped closer, looking at the bruised Parker, who was recovering too quickly for my liking, "if you were a criminal, you could have killed him. More than once.
-Well, I've been practising martial arts and fighting with scum on the streets for a long time," I ruffled Parker's hair and sat him down on the wreckage of the washing machine, "and you've only recently received your powers. It won't be long before you'll be trained in combat, and you'll be hitting no worse, if not better.
Taking a few bottles of water out of my bag, I spread a couple of them out to my friends, keeping the last one for myself.
-You're already physically superior to me on all counts," the prepared sandwiches appeared in addition to the bottle, "eh, young people always put old people aside.
The snacks handed to Peter disappeared as if by magic. Parker stuffed them into his mouth like a furnace. Almost without chewing, just trying to fill the void in his stomach. I'd seen it many times before, but it was still strange that little Pete, who was always malnourished by Aunt May's copious portions, was eating like a madman.
I didn't dare to say it out loud, and my best friend agreed with me.
-I didn't dare say it out loud, and my best friend agreed," Gwen said, sitting closer to me. We sat in silence for a few seconds, just enjoying the moment, but I could sense that the girl had questions she couldn't keep to herself. Gently cocking her head, I playfully cocked my eyebrows, to which I received a condescending eye roll, -Fool....
-Speak up, princess. You're making your eyes too obvious.
-You're imagining things.
She tried to pull away, but I didn't let her, pulling her closer to me.
-Come on, come on. Spread out, Miss Stacey. Your confession may serve to lighten your case.
-He... In the kitchen, you said you've been doing this a long time. So the scar on your chest-- ?
-Yes, -I had to lie about being struck by lightning the first time we did it, and the marks were pretty similar. The minor scratches, cut scars and so on, I managed to deny that they were marks left by hooligans. I don't think she believed it at the time, though - Schultz had left me that reminder of herself.
Running her fingers over my chest, Gwen bit her lip. The girl was in her own thoughts, probably imagining things, so I chose the only way I knew how to distract her.
My fingers grasped Stacy's knee in one deft motion, squeezing at certain points... Or as normal people call it, biting a horse's knee!
-What the fuck, Sullivan?!
-Now, that's better.
-I'll give you better! Ow! Stop it! Ow! Stop it, or else I'll take care of myself... Ow!
-Anger is better than sadness, princess," I laughed, but in my heart I was shedding bitter tears. Now Gwen's fists were much more dangerous, and each of her light blows echoed in my body with the sound of bells, -I'm alive and well, and that's the main thing.
-This won't last long if you don't let go of my leg right now!
***
-And this is extremely interesting," Felicia tossed her rumpled curls back and dangled her head down against the wall, slowly and smoothly descending closer to the floor, "very... Very... Very interesting!
Her costume had undergone some changes and now held even more danger and secrets for ill-wishers that didn't want to share their riches amicably.
Without a moment's hesitation Black Cat slid down, crouching to the ground, listening for every rustle. Her head jerked sharply in the direction of the sound at times, but after stiffening for a couple of seconds, it came back up, while Hardy herself continued on her way.
Her eyes gleamed contentedly in the darkness, anticipating a big score. The long, relentless nights of translating from Latverian to normal language had drained her dry. She couldn't write books properly, couldn't communicate with her friends from the website, and couldn't even go jogging under the sky of the night city, trapped in four walls. Probably only the mother rejoiced at such a change, but unfortunately for the elder Hardy, it was not long and preceded even more rebellious behaviour on the part of her daughter.
-Where, where, where, where....
The girl had reached the door of the modest dwelling, and now she was looking at it carefully, noting something wrong in all that was going on. Something was definitely wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was.
She looked the lock over and over, easily finding the combination to open it. The simplest hacking tool had worked, and it was only a matter of turning the handle and opening the door, but her gut whispered the foolishness of such an endeavour.
-Hmm," she brushed her hair with the claws of her gloves and sat down on the floor, almost sniffing the door, "what is that strange smell?
Twitching her nose like a real cat, Felicia clung to the door, pressing her firm breasts into the doorjamb. She pawed at it, trying to get at the strange scent, but her attempts were unsuccessful. Then the persistent thief began to look through the cracks from different angles, bending in provocative and erotic poses. If there were witnesses to such a thing, children would have closed their eyes and men would have drooled.
Fooling around and playing, Felicia lost track of time, but eventually she realised what the problem was. Something was tied to the door and she began to guess what it was.
Gently turning the handle, she pushed on the door with her fingers, pushing it open, shifting it barely a millimetre, listening for any sounds behind the door. And her keen hearing did not fail young Hardy. A metallic clang, as if two small rings or coins were colliding.
-The door was light, and relying more on hearing and feeling than on knowledge, Felicia began to open it slowly, listening to every rustle. As soon as a small gap appeared, she instantly fixed her eyes on it, peering through the gap between the door and the jamb, - oh-way!
The platinum blonde's eyes widened in surprise and slight fear. A short length of twine stretched from the door, now frozen in tension. The thin piece of rope stretched only half a metre, ending near a small pipe with a tiny cradle bolted directly into the floor. But the most interesting thing was that in the basket soldered to the pipe was a bunch of grenades, the rings of which were tied to the rope.
-Oh-ho-ho-ho," the girl parodied Father Christmas and barely restrained a squeak as the first fright passed, "there's a lot of goodies in there. Oh, I can feel them calling out to me! Ooh!
With her fists pressed to her face, Felicia could hardly contain her emotions. Almost dancing, the girl easily dealt with the dangerous trap. The thin knife blade was pressed against the door, and then began the painful and careful work of disarming it, which ended only after a dozen minutes.
A few other checks for surprises, a slow progression and now she was standing in front of a small table, around which thousands of office shelves were placed, like in the old films of the eighties.
-It's time to harvest!
With a crack of her knuckles, the Black Cat, full of enthusiasm, lunged at her prey, turning the office inside out.
***
Shaking off the dust from his cloak, Victor von Doom grudgingly watched the machine flying away through the sky. Uncontrollably dive-bombing and smoking from multiple hits, his transport was falling somewhere over the horizon while the ruler of Latveria himself could barely contain his anger.
Cursed Richards had somehow tracked him down and instead of showing up for the battle face to face, had simply sent unmanned drones escorted by the US Army.
A few minutes of combat, the radiation preventing him from controlling his forces properly, and now he's left on the ground, in the middle of this continent of savages and idiots.
The metal hand clenched into a fist creaked as Von Doom regained his ability to conjure.
Despite his anger at the failure, the delays and the interference of an old enemy, he was delighted, though he would never say it out loud, for for a brief moment, but Reed had managed to destabilise his magic with his toys. It was enough to bring down his flying vehicle, forcing him on his own two feet across the desert towards the east coast.
-I'll have to steal it and study its calculations,‖ an unpleasant feeling of helplessness ran through his body as von Doom tried to open the teleportation gate, -and still managed to screw up one last time.
The magic was failing. No idea how, no idea why... Which made Doom even angrier, unwilling to admit his own ignorance and misunderstanding. His thoughts wandered around revenge, admiration, envy and anger. A mad cocktail.
-It's humiliating," Victor adjusted his things and double-checked the airtight container that had put him in this asshole of a world, and again ran a wave of magic through his body, feeling the tingling in his fingers, "annoying....
The whispering sounded in his head again. The sealed and pacified artefact was trying to influence him again, sensing his strong emotions and need.
-You're also dangling underfoot.
A flash of power, raw, brutal, and so inelegant. Victor had long since learnt to use his powers in this way. It disgusted him, because how could it not. A king, a demonologist, the strongest wizard in the world! It was not his status to use crude and primitive means... But now no one could see or recognise, so it was possible to disregard his own rule.
The howls of the entities trapped in the mask echoed mentally across the desert. All the animals, the few humans and insects that Von Doom did not distinguish between, scattered in fear, fleeing for shelter, just to get away.
-That's better," a stream of humility flowed from the mask, acknowledging the king's authority and power, "remember this lesson better, because the next one will be your last.
Squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin, Victor strode forward with a truly regal posture, overcoming obstacles like a mere mortal, which spoilt his mood even more. He cursed Reed Richards and his team of tame brutes who had been given a crumb of ability, promising to brutally kill and torture every one of his gang. He had other plans for the brilliant scientist himself, hoping to take sole possession of his powerful intellect.
-Someday, Reid. Just wait.
***
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