= Chapter 159. Law of the Jungle =
Commentary on Chapter 159. Law of the Jungle If anyone wants to support your favourite and invaluable author by deed rather than word (though I appreciate comments with your detailed opinion no less), you are welcome to do so: 5469980470822129 - Sber 15 September 2014. 13:30
Xavier Mansion, a meeting of the X-Men team.
Spider-Man.
A nice addition to yesterday's encounter with Nemore, which I would have gladly avoided, was the activation of Spider-Universe mode, which would last another couple of hours.
After a head-scratching session with Nick, at the end of which I flew away with a sense of accomplishment, it was decided to make the most of the available powers.
Things that had long been postponed due to my busyness began to materialise as soon as possible.
For example, I teleported to Antarctica to finally dispel my own doubts about Wild Earth. And, yes, the dinosaur-infested jungle was the best demonstration of the truth of the place's existence.
All my senses at that moment informed me that yes, this was the place where I had once gained four extra arms, the place where I had mutated and helped the locals against the multiplied Carnage shards.
Seeking out the village of a local tribe led by Ka-Zar was something I found noble, but not really necessary for me at the moment. There are plenty of tasks that need to be done.
After a brief visit to a sanctuary for fanged endangered species, I moved on to the homeland of humanity. In Africa, I was interested in a cell of a curious smuggling syndicate.
Tony had managed to find information about the possible location of the Clo organisation's bases, and all I had to do was reconnoitre.
Teleportation reduced a possible journey of a week or more to a few hours of casual searching. Eventually, breadcrumbs led me to an abandoned, rusty barge somewhere in the Congo.
It was five o'clock in the morning, local time, and dawn was just rattling, gradually coming into its own.
There were five watchmen on duty on the ship, poseurising, three down at the two main entrances and the rest at the tower.
I habitually activated my Klyntar cloak and calmly flew up to the heavy metal door with a strong deadbolt.
When I used telekinesis and almost ripped the barrier from the root, it was funny to watch the shocked and cheered guards. Yeah, you can't blame a show like that on a draught.
While the fools were trying to sort things out, I climbed into a long and wide, barely illuminated corridor to get to my goal.
It was funny to watch armed big men, some of them even tattooed, running around like children trying to "eliminate the breach".
At one point a man ran past who looked like his picture in the file: Willis Clo was a criminal of an age rapidly approaching old age, but he was still a good-looking man in his fifty-seven, thick dark hair, dark eyes, a small beard.
The leader of the smugglers, armed with a revolver, interrogated the checkpoints and then sent ten guys armed with AKs to guard the "goods".
They'll lead me to the vibranium. I wouldn't even have to look for anything.
As I leisurely followed the criminals scampering to the deepest level of my hideout, I thought of an individual I thought I might meet.
After Mojave, I was curious about what happened to Dr Doom, then there was Johnny's story, informing me that fate had brought the team of heroes face to face with their worst enemy. And here I thought, that's it, no chance of a more or less neutral relationship with Victor, and even friendship was out of the question. And yet, since that confrontation, Vic hadn't interacted in any way with FF, Reed or anyone else in the supers arena. As befits a head of state, Dum had settled down in Latveria and was still tidying up the country, not getting involved in anything with his supervillain tendencies.
I was only happy about this prospect. Even on the World Arena, rumours began to spread in connection with von Doom's activities, saying "the Latvian is not so bad". I hope it continues, it's too ambiguous a situation with that flick of mine.
And so the smugglers reached a huge metal high-tech door, quite out of place in the interior.
As soon as the armed soldiers thought to disperse to their positions, I released pheromones and while the boys froze as statues, unable to move, I walked over, released a stinger and paralysed the opponents, sending them to sleep.
Then turning to the wall and raising my palm. Applying the power of Captain Universe, I effectively melt the door, expanding the metal and stepping inside.
The room is filled with several dozen four metre long barrels with purple stripes showing the tanks filling up.
Still invisible I walk over and place my palm on the wall of the tank.
The cosmic energy that gives me a sense of the molecular structure of any substance informs me that vibranium is inside. In significant quantities.
Oh, good.
I step aside and, with a little more tension, tear off all the chain fasteners, lifting the barrels into the air.
Now the only thing left to do was to teleport with all the containers to the Border, but... I turn to the wall.
It's hard to deny myself the pampering and painting.
I let my claws out, starting to type out a little message for Clo and his boys. There were too many thoughts about who to pretend to be in my impulse. There was even the thought of writing "Cat" as a tribute to Fey's father, and yet that would have been shortsighted.
And then I thought of a nickname for one of my favourite characters from a dark and realistic universe, but a third-tier one. Oh, and he was originally a character from a different publisher...
Ah, whatever, DC won't get sued.
Leaving the final notches I step away, grinning contentedly at the message.
"Fraud was here."
Even though Cole Cash is a rather unpopular character, his one appearance in Flashpoint was enough to win me over.
Finished, I teleported to what was now rightfully my sanctuary.
Norman was the Employer, now the Goblin is dead and this place is mine.
I push the containers against the walls and then, moving into the basement, I grab my armour, which I've managed to get in relatively decent shape.
Exposure to cosmic energy and the armour is as good as new, the only thing missing is the arc reactor feeder, I still haven't managed to get a replacement from Tony, and HH wouldn't let me go until we'd upgraded the suit to a "level three" upgrade.
I'm coming back.
Okay, now for the hard part.
After looking in all the containers, I was convinced that my premonitions were right. There was plenty of Vibranium, but the problem was that I planned not only to sell the metal for the same suits, but also to return the rest to the Wakandians. To make things right with the Black Panther, so to speak.
The main thing is not to screw it up. Even though Enigma's power is monumental, the banal human factor and the tendency of the world in such matters always makes the sandwich fall down in butter... in short, one must do and hope for the best.
Activating the armour and laying all its parts out on the table, revealing a metal sketch of the prototype of Da Vinci's Man, I lift the metal with cosmic force. I was lucky that the vibranium was in a liquid state, though it wouldn't have taken long to melt it either.
Okay, here we go.
By sheer force of will, I moved the liquid metal to the armour and began the procedure of "melting" the vibranium into the titanium-cobalt alloy. The twelve percent nanotech particles that had made my life with the armour/antler so much easier were a nice touch. And now I wished to build on the success. But first, the plating.
To completely encase vibranium into the suit, actually at the molecular level would be impossible.
But Enigma's powers know no such word.
And, after several hours of careful work, my Iron Spider 2.0. armour, covered in vibranium in every part, was ready.
And before moving on to my Perfect Suit, I was concerned with one more enhancement: nanoparticle expansion. With the armour enhancement, its backpack form wasn't enough for me. I wanted something more functional, less bulky. Something that I could always have on hand.
The result was the introduction of a system to reduce the armour to the golden Spider emblem, as on all my spider suits. The essence of the work is simple, I put the badge on my chest, and millions of nanoparticle robots begin to spread out of it, fully embodying my Iron Spider armour.
Too bad without the arc reactor the suit is still incredibly colourful and impressive, but still a dummy.
But I did something I've been dreaming about for a long time, and it feels incredibly good right now. I imagine Tony will be gritting his teeth in envy, and then he'll equip all his armoured suits with systems to assemble them into one giant Transformer to soothe his ego.
But I digress.
I spent nearly ten percent of all the available vibranium on the armour.
A cloth suit wouldn't take more than five.
After all, I don't need to make it completely vibranium, just coat it with a metal that can absorb kinetic energy. Which will be incredibly useful to me, at least being able to withstand a direct hit from some alien energy cannon without repercussions... is worth a lot.
I got so engrossed in the process that I didn't notice that I had unwittingly changed the design of the suit, making the black elements glow blue again, and the lenses classic white with a black border.*
But even funnier was the vibranium coating.
While the spider suit remained the classic red and blue without any impact, after I tested the vibranium coating by firing a grenade launcher at the uniform, the fabric rippled, transferring the energy of the explosion, and for a few seconds it resembled the design of a Future Foundation spider suit before returning to normal.
Interesting.
Eh, now I wish I could find some Weapon X labs with deposits of protoadamatnium... but that would be too good. Asking Thor to take me to the dwarves on Nedavellir for some uru I'm not even talking about.
Putting on my New Perfect Suit, I took the golden emblem of armour and moved home.
It was late, time to go to bed.
And so, today's the day, with an unexpectedly abrupt call from Charles with some super important assignment on mutant affairs.
Teleporting straight to Xavier's office in the mansion and not finding him, I walked calmly across the mansion to the lift that brought me to the RaDioActive People headquarters.
Those already present greeted me with nods, then I exchanged a few words with Remy and Peter, we waited for the rest of the mutants and the flyer started. Eric's appearance, though already quite familiar within these walls, was a surprise. A pleasant surprise, though. Still, I had a hell of a lot of respect for Magneto, especially the unhindered versions of him. The local Lensherr was exactly like that. It's awesome.
Max and Chuck were alternately introducing the full team here, while I was just reminiscing about my misadventures yesterday, looking around at the mutants sitting in the chairs.
Mostly Jean and Scott, Logan and Thunderstorm, but also Eric, Gambit, and Anne-Marie.
The former were curious about the glances Slim was throwing at the redhead. They were especially amusing because Cain wasn't around.
Syke doesn't seem to care much, though judging by Miss Grey's disgruntled face, his thoughts are no secret to her," Ani shared her observations with me.
I agree, Sparkle," I sighed softly. - I'll have to introduce him to the local Emma Frost.
I could use a meeting with the version from my world of the telepathic woman who was my mentor on MS2 Earth.
Then there's Logan and Ororo.
Oh kill me, well they look really cute. Especially the brutal alpha male Howlett furtively holding a mulatto woman's hand.
Though, looking at Wolverine, thoughts of misgiving were brewing in my head, which I decided to distract myself from by watching a different drama. I'll think about the strange doubts that befell me at the sight of the badger later.
The glances that Magneto cast at Rogue came as a startling surprise to me. Also, the sternly jealous reciprocal intersections of Lebo's and Eisenhart's gazes caused by it.
I knew Max was at the mansion at least a few times a week, so he might as well have had time to get to know everyone on the team, plus their mutual pasts.
So I don't judge Eric, if he's into the shade girl, I can even understand it. It's not nice on the French guy, though. Remi's a nice guy, too.
But I'll stay out of it. They're not little kids, they'll sort out their own drama.
Good decision, Bearer," Raj murmured in agreement.
And then my gaze returned to Logan.
Somehow, while I was thinking about my adventures last night and examining the mutants who were sitting in this room with me, I couldn't help but think about the threat everyone here posed to me.
And the bias was not so much on strength, but on psychological profiles.
Take Kitty, for example. Miss Ghost Cat has some of the coolest powers of all: molecular phasing through materials of varying degrees of hardness. Pryde could easily, given the situation, put her intangible palm into my skull and turn my brain into jelly.
And that's where the psychological profile comes in. The Jewess is too delicate a flower for such an action. Which saves her poor opponents from such an unenviable outcome.
Then there are the guys who I also don't really see as a threat, despite some belonging to the same omega-level class.
Gambit, Colossus, Rogue, Ice Man, Night Serpent, Thunderstorm, Cyclops, and even Jin, at least until Phoenix visited our sinful Earth. All of them, to one degree or another, I could resist, emphasising my knowledge of the methodology of their powers, my own skills, abilities, and even protection from the giftedness of the members of Team X.
There remained those I truly feared.
And the first of those was actually Logan.
Yes, Charles, as the strongest telepath and Eric, the Master of Magnetism, made me wary of them, and yet, I had successfully confronted one of them, and fought with the other and won. Even if the factor of underestimating the opponent and my cheat played a role.
A win is a win.
But Wolverine... incredibly long life, accumulated for all these years of skills, knowledge and experience, which, coupled with incredibly cool mutant abilities makes Jimmy really scary opponent. At least in a battle with him I'm considering my own demise, and that's saying a lot, even despite my powers.
I wouldn't let Logan kill me, though. Still, things happen.
It's a good thing your thoughts aren't available to anyone here, including two of the three strongest mutant telepaths, right, Bearer?
Absolutely, Raj," I agree with the Klyntarian.
- So, does everyone understand the purpose of the mission? - Xavierov asked the final question, looking at everyone with an attentive gaze from under the palms folded in a lock.
- And can I give you the briefest possible summary for this table? - I raise my hand.
- Was it so hard not to be distracted, kid? - Howlett growls at me without malice, with a touch of displeasure.
- I'm sorry, I have to go to the ultrasound soon, so I'm wondering who my favourite girl will give me this time," I spread my hands apart to the smiles of the mutants who were happy for me. Even Rosya smirked a little.
It's nice that mutants see their family, regardless of species.
Besides, I almost wasn't lying, I was thinking about Fey and my imminent visit to the medical facility just as much.
- We're happy for you, Spider," Chucky smiles brightly as well, "but please, please, please, please don't get distracted.
I simply nod in response.
- So, Eric has reported strange energy flows recorded in Antarctica, which is typical of a mutant we all once encountered.
- Nathaniel Essex," I nod.
About Mr Sinister, aka Sinister, I didn't listen.
And yet, after the Jackal, I don't see this guy as a huge threat, despite the pompous coolness inherent in all the villains of the mutant world.
Apocalypse would be scarier.
- So we need to investigate the strange circumstances and thwart our pale drama queen? - I clarify in a uniformed fashion.
- That's right," Magneto shook his helmet with concentration. - And I'm going with you.
Not everyone was keen on Lensherr's idea, but after Charles's persuasive pleas and orders, they didn't argue.
- Well, all right," I said, rising. - Let's go.
Everyone started to leave the room, and the Beast caught up with me.
- Let me steal some of your time, Spidey," Hank said to me.
On a personal request, while Magneto's here, the X's won't say my name.
- Sure thing, mate," I nod.
- First, let me commend your impressive costume," McCoy said respectfully.
I agree, considering that when Enigma powers are activated, the uniform changes and real constellations walk on the torso, changing their position, it really looks impressive.
- Thank you," I respond to the compliment.
- Second, I'm happy to report that I'm in the final stages of our... project," Hank whispered to me confidentially.
- Really? - I look ahead at Anne-Marie walking away with Gambit under her arm. - That's great, you're doing great, Hank!
I'm patting the blue-furry one on the shoulder.
- If it weren't for your blueprints, nothing would have happened," the brunet nodded.
- Shall we take credit for it?
- Agreed.
We shake hands with our fellow scientist.
Let's go down to the Blackbird and start seating in the plane.
- Folks, do you mind if I shorten the flight time? - I address the crew as the mutants take their seats.
- Um, what are you talking about, Spider? - Summers clarifies.
- I can take us directly to the Wild Earth, together with the plane, - I inform my fellow heroes... well, almost all of them.
- You can do that, too? - Eric squints at me and asks a question.
I nod calmly.
- Does anyone mind? - Sike asks the team.
- Sounds cool," the brown-haired girl smiles at me.
The rest of the mutants support Miss Pryde with nods or nods of agreement.
- Then let's go," Cyclops sighs slightly.
- Okay," I start raising my hands. - Just buckle up, people. Commentary on Chapter 159. Law of the Jungle * Iron Spider 2.0 - .ru/i/fk3NuyBJ1adb7A * Timeless but updated classics .ru/i/ikzwKdEfETXOOQ * Future Foundation .ru/i_myJBdyjE1FtQA Chapter 160 is already in a well-known source) - /di12hoykl