"Lord Acheron? Was that old man a Ferryman?" Rose asked,
"Yes, at least he was, he is retired now" Acheron replied,
"I didn't know they could retire.." Rose said,
"If they live long enough and wish to retire, there is no need to stop them and their wish is granted" Acheron said,
"As you know, there can only be 100 Ferryman at one time and they follow me in the shadows wherever I go, unless otherwise commanded, just like now in Japan. They are all protecting my current home base due to the Vault and the Cortex being there, since I put priority on those above following me."
Rose sat at the couch listening intently to what Acheron was saying.
"Sadly, most Ferrymen kill themselves after being defeated and their spot taken as a Ferryman. Those that choose to retire are put on guard duty, like the one we just saw, or maybe as intelligence gatherers around the world, living out their lives serving me and the family till their last breath.
The one above us, is a rare occurrence, he used to be the previous 'Charon'. As you know, 'Charon' is the strongest of the Ferrymen and my second in command, differentiated by the 'Alpha' symbol on the forehead of his mask, as the 'Omega' is my symbol. He chose to secure the base in the city where he was chosen to be a Ferryman in"
"That old man was the previous 'Charon'?!?! but he looks so kind now.." Rose said,
"Don't let his kind face fool you, he was one the most bloodthirsty Charon's I ever had the pleasure to train.
When he was younger, he would take the skulls of those he killed and turned them into his cups and bowls to eat and drink out of… I'm sure there's a skull or two laying around somewhere in his room" Acheron said with a chuckle.
"Darling? What is your plans for today?" Athena asked interrupting their conversation,
"Oh! That reminds me! I plan to visit an old friend who can answer my questions…. search for a Charles Hemmingworth, he visited Central America around 50 years ago, he wanted to be a professor if I remember correctly" Acheron said,
"Searching… Found a Charles Hemmingworth, 75 years old, now Dean of The King's College located here in London, Doctorates in History and Archaeology, minoring in Forensic Science and Mythology… pulling picture up now" Athena said as he extended her palm showing a holographic picture of the man.
"Yeah, That's him… Yeesh! Aging did not go well for the poor boy" Acheron said,
"I'll head over once I remove a limiter"
The number of times Rose had seen Acheron take a limiter out could be counted in one hand.
"Is it really necessary to take a limiter out? I don't think any mutant is worth that" Rose said,
"That is because you don't know that Ill be dealing with vampires… this limiter only negates my physical transformation mutations." Acheron said,
"Vampires are real?!?!... Is Dracula real?!?!" Rose exclaimed.
"Yes, they are real, though originally from Transylvania, vampires moved to London in the last couple hundred years… I don't know why exactly since I made it a point to leave them alone, I personally tracked their movements and had London off limits for the Family" Acheron said,
"But Leon lives here, along with a Pandora HQ and he is also a mutant" Rose said,
"He is the exception, but he was forbidden to look into anything that might relate to mutants here, he is only here to run Pandora and nothing else" Acheron said,
"Now that I think about it, Leon's power might come in handy, tell him to find me later on today. Tell him I don't care what kind of beauty he is with at the moment, even if she's a princess or the Queen herself, if he doesn't show up, I'll put him in The Hole for a month!"
Rose laughed mischievously at Acheron's words as she grabbed her phone getting ready to make a call, it is a well-known fact that Leon is the playboy of the Family and was constantly getting punished by Acheron when he was younger.
"Alright let's get this limiter out!" Acheron happily exclaimed,
Acheron then proceeded to stab his fingers in the side of his rib cage. The sickening crack of bones getting displaced and the sloshing of his meat and blood sent a shiver down Rose's spine as Acheron fumbled around his lung cavity in search of something.
"Ah! Found it!" Acheron exclaimed,
Acheron had pulled a small microchip from inside his body with a smile on his face. The disturbing thing was that Acheron's smile never left his face even as he searched inside himself.
There was no pain, no grimacing, he didn't even flinch. He did it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
There was hardly any blood either, his wound regenerated in the blink of an eye.
The microchip is actually an advanced version of the power dampener that Pandora currently sells to governments, decades ahead of the latest tech that any country had.
Acheron calls them 'Limiters' because since he is so powerful they currently can't fully negate his powers like they do to other mutants, it just weakens them to 5 percent of their actual power.
Also, Acheron has hundreds of these inside his body, each modified for a specific power or mutation and each in a specific part of his body so that he can remember where each one is.
The limiter he just took out was designed to impede full transformation, some transformation are triggered by emotions and since Acheron is so mentally unstable, it was definitely one of the first powers to be weakened.
The reason Acheron didn't transform during his rampage with Poison was that he sealed part of his emotions as he committed his torture to the boy's body.
Even if he did transform, it would had been something not easily noticeable by untrained eyes. It could had been his pupil shape or maybe his nails got longer, his muscles could've had enlarged or decreased slightly, something most people wouldn't have noticed.
"Athena, Ill be home late, don't let Rose out of your sight, lock the place down if you have to… you know how she can be when she worries" Acheron said smiling.
"Yes Darling, of course, Ill converge all of our available spy satellites to this city just in case" Athena said,
"Be careful Lord Acheron, come home as fast as you can okay?" Rose said,
"Ill try Rose, ill let you know if I'm going to be running late" Acheron said as he walked right up the stairs and disappearing from her sight.
"You can track him his phone, can't you Athena?" Asked Rose,
"You know I am not allowed unless approved by Darling but… Freya is part of Logistics and should have full access to his phone.." Athena said,
An evil smile slowly formed on the face of both Rose and Athena.