Wait, I didn't tell you about Trevor! He's a funny kid. He can affect the bonds of atoms and somehow make things stronger. As I understand it, the X-Men's suits can withstand machine gun fire just because of him. This, by the way, is what makes his ability more amazing, because the thing becoming stronger doesn't lose its properties. That is, the skin stretches, bends, etc., and the same weapon after strengthening, most likely, could be used as a shield from bullets. It's a shame he can't do that with humans, or he'd be churning out new Luke Cages in droves. I'll have to give him a shield boost for Cap, so Thanos and his knife can go into the woods.
So, he turned out to be a pretty cool hacker, and so I spent most of my time at the institute with him, learning from my new sensei. Of course, I had no time to win his friendship and recognition, so I started our acquaintance in a simpler way. I started paying him 1000 quid for each 5-hour lesson. It was very motivating for him, because of which my hacking level increased by 1-2 levels during each lesson. But we still managed to become friends during this time. After all, nothing brings you together like common interests and a few thousand dollars in your account.
But considering that I stayed here for a while, and after estimating the time, I realised that it was time for me to return to my native New York. Hank was upset that I was leaving. But lately, I was beginning to think he was starting to think about a new version of his serum again. So I'd better stay away from the lab for now. There were quite a few people seeing me off. There was the Professor, Beast, Trevor, Kurt, and Jean. Though I still caught a glimpse of Logan leaning against a tree in the distance. As I got into the taxi that would take me to New York, I looked over my characterisation. And I suddenly had a strange urge to check the meaning of my features.
Name: Ryan Pierce
Level: 29
Experience: 17075/17500
Parameters:
Strength: 90
Dexterity: 82
Endurance: 217
Intelligence: 65
Intuition: 57
Free Points: 20
Specialities: "major", "lab mouse", "hitman", "under-alpha".
Skills: "martial arts - 52 level", "shooting - 48 level", "polyglot - 5 level", "psychology - 15 level", "strategist - 29 level", "stealth - 26 level", "player's mind - MAX", "intimidation - 24 level.Max", "Animal Style - 13 level", "Drug Resistance - 7 level", "Hackerman - 24 level", "Engineer - 6 level", "Alpha Will - 3 level", "Regeneration - 15 level".
Superpowers: "time acceleration", "lycanthropy".
"Major" - You take only the best from life. Your experience and a lot of wasted money have been able to bestow upon your eyes the ability to choose only the best things from those that 99% of people can't afford.
"Lab Mouse" - this proud title has been bestowed upon you by divine forces. Upon your death, you will be able to receive a token for helping in the beta test.
"Popadan" - Your fifth point attracts some very long and sweaty adventures. Your chance of getting into something interesting is increased by 70%.
"Under-alpha" - You don't have a pack. You have no power. You don't know anything, J... Ryan Pierce. What else can I call you?
***
Somewhere in a screen-filled office, a man sat pressing a key combination that had been repeated a hundred times this week, hoping for a change in the results. But the system didn't care about his wishes, and on the map the red dot so treacherously did not change its position. And in the object description line it said "signal lost".
«Where are you? - Even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer, he repeated that phrase every time he failed.
***
When I got to New York, I wiggled through the streets to make sure the professor wasn't tailing me, and got into another taxi that took me to the Stark Expo. There was an awful lot of people here, I must say. And that's despite the fact that the expo has been going on for a couple of days. No, of course, the companies changed every 1-2 days, but the technologies were not shocking and did not cause a feeling of being in the future. The same Howard created the fucking flying car in thirty-nine. Of course, it flew for only 40-50 seconds before the engine died, but it flew. After looking at all these innovations of the technological world, I got down to my main task, which was to find places to hide. Considering what a bloody mess the Hammer drones will make here, I don't think anyone will notice the loss of a couple of reactors, arms, legs, bodies, whole droids. Anyway, we'll take anything that isn't nailed down, and what is nailed down, we'll pull it off and take it anyway. After a couple of hours of searching, I was able to find 6 suitable places to store valuable spare parts. I had to create some of them manually, but later we can take the loot from them without attracting attention. I'll just have to remember to cut off the reactors in the drones, because I remember how cool they made a boom at the end of the film.
To be honest, it's a little disappointing to lose a mind like Vanko. While he's not a very nice person, everything he did was for one purpose - revenge. His own father cheated him and he ruined his life because of it. I mean, the guy's extremely talented. I've even ticked off a box to try and stop him from committing suicide if I get the chance. There's a lot to be learnt from his skills.
After I finished my business at the Expo, I went to Stark's party, which he'd thrown in honour of what he thought would be his last birthday. Getting a pass to it wasn't a problem, as the company's stock had gone down again a few days before, following the events in Monaco. Not so critically, of course. They were down 10-15%, and I bought them with most of what I had earned as a mercenary. And I made a lot of money. For one mission to catch the under-Hulk, each of us got 500,000. So as a shareholder in the company, I was able to get my own pass to the fight. I didn't even consider trying to sneak in or, God forbid, hack into the system. Given Stark's love of upgrades and Jarvis, that would be a single ticket to Shields for questioning. Though I'm sure Fury will definitely have some questions for me after today.As I watched Tony's mind reeling, I didn't even know what to say to him. I mean, I mean, he's kind of dying and yet all he's done is get drunk and get a little debauched. Man, if I'd known I only had a couple of days left and had his resources, I'd have rented a plane full of drugs, whores and a bunch of other illegal stuff. Still, even in the worst moments of his life, he didn't turn out to be a bastard.
After spending a few hours waiting and drinking cocktails and blowing off attempts to get me to dance, I finally saw Pepper. Like in the film, she was trying to talk some sense into Tony and disperse these drunken animals, but had she known his condition, and I'm sure she would have snatched that bottle from Stark's hands despite the force of the armour's compression, she would have drunk herself into a coma.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Rowdy and the way he went to get Stark's suit. A few minutes later, he appeared in an unpainted version of Stark's suit.
«I'm only gonna say this once, get out of here! - began threatening ordinary New Yorkers by the military man who was sworn to protect them.
I'm just wondering what would have happened if they'd told him to get the hell out. Would he start firing lasers at them? Hiding in one of the rooms, I waited for the end of this drunken brawl. Only if usually such fights ended with maximum damage to the furniture in the room, then when two fighters are wearing suits capable of pulling cars and blasting titanium through with a laser, no one will feel bad. First, they blew some of the rooms to smithereens, and then, hearing their screams, I moved as far away from the entrance as possible so I wouldn't get hit in the face when they crossed beams. And in the spirit of the Ghostbusters admonition, they did what you're not supposed to do, and eventually there was an explosion that blew out a decent portion of the entrance and the adjoining hall as well.
I finally heard the sound of engines in armour, and realised that the Warrior had flown off to hand over the trophy. In fact, back in the cinema, I wondered how he'd managed to master flight at once, if it took Tony weeks of tests and trials. The option that he watched Stark do it will not work, because people can spend their whole lives watching others drive a car, but the first time they get behind the wheel, they will not drive it like a pro. It's fucking flying with engines in your legs and balancing with your hands! It's about learning, not just flying away. You might remember Abadiah and the suit he could fly in the first time he used it, but he had two fucking rockets built into his legs instead of Tony's flight system, and the suit was nine or ten times larger than a normal human size, so sitting in it would make him feel like a pilot.
After waiting a couple more minutes and making sure that the Widow who had left the house with the crowd wasn't coming back, I got out and headed for the sound of Stark's armour.
***
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