Chapter 27:
I woke up with a start. I was lying on a hospital bed. I sat up and pulled off all the EKG wires that were stuck on my body. I grimaced when I noticed I was garbed in only a hospital gown. I quickly stripped out of it, and took out one of my new outfits from my inventory. They were just some basic jeans and a shirt. No need for anything fancy. For all I know, I could be in a hydra base and might need to fight my way out of here.
[Welcome back to the land of the living, host. You died… Lucky for you, you had extra lives from changing Heather Potter's fate.]
I had honestly forgotten about those. There was so much going on all at once that all I could focus on was surviving. 'How long have I been unconscious?' I asked in my head. I couldn't speak out loud as there might be listening devices nearby.
[You've been out for exactly 24 hours. That's the penalty for getting a game over.]
24 hours!? That was a long time! A whole lot could have occurred in that amount of time. Especially considering the wider world not only found out wizards and witches were real, but also Hydra was still alive and kicking.
[Don't forget they also found out Angels are real…]
Oh yeah, there was that too. I looked around the hospital room I'd found myself in. It seemed to be pretty basic and ordinary. Nothing about it screamed 'Evil Hydra Hospital Room.' Still though, I needed to get out of here and assess where I was at least. I headed towards the door before a notification from the system stopped me.
[Wait, Host! Aren't you forgetting something?]
'What are you talking about?'
[You completed your mission and prevented Voldemort from causing a massacre. Your Quest has been completed! Now issuing rewards…]
I almost completely forgot about that. Some rewards right now sounded good to me. I better get some good stuff because I literally died to complete that mission!
[Congratulations! You have received: +10 to all stats! You have leveled up! You have received the Sacred Gear: Twilight Healing→ Can heal 100HP for every 10MP spent.]
[Congratulations! For reaching 20 Luck you have unlocked the perk 'Never Tell Me The Odds' → You are now much more likely to win when gambling or placing wagers.]
Now those were some good rewards! Almost worth the temporary 'Game Over' I got…almost. That was definitely something I didn't want to go through again. It was also grating on me that I survived Voldemort only to go down to a lone Hydra mook…
[Intelligence has passed 40! Evolution commencing…]
I received a large boost in my Intelligence stat and I felt something within me start to change. I felt like I was evolving. Suddenly, from my back sprang 6 black angel wings! I was now a six winged Fallen, an official high class being. I also got another massive jump in HP along with my new wings. It seemed like every extra pair of wings I got not only made me more durable, but also tacked on an extra 1000 HP. No wonder my 10 and 12 winged siblings were considered magical tanks. Not to mention, I now had a healing sacred gear that would really up the chances of my survivability. I could also use it to heal other people. I could fully heal the average human for less than 20MP.
[Name: Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Angel of Hope]
[Level: 3]
[HP: 3100]
[MP: 460]
[Vigor: 110]
[Strength: 20]
[Intelligence: 46]
[Luck: 20]
[Skills: Observe 1, Angelic Mastery 2, Acting 2, Light Manipulation 3]
[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds,]
[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]
[Available Free Stat Points: 10]
I took the rest of those free stat points and dumped them into Intelligence to bring my MP up to a nice 560.
[Congratulations! For reaching 50 Intelligence, you have unlocked the perk Mana Siphoner! → Enemies you defeat will now restore MP mid-combat!]
Damn, that was a good perk in large scale battles! If I had that when I stormed the Hand base, I basically would have had infinite MP. I can already imagine how useful this will be during all the future invasions this world will have… not that I want those to occur.
Figuring all of my power-ups were done for now, I headed towards the door to find out where I was. I opened it and stepped out into a hallway. I found myself face to face with multiple obvious agents who were staring at me wide eyed. I suppose they were guarding my room. I summoned a light spear in my hand before leveling it towards them. I momentarily marveled at how it thrummed in my hand. I could feel that my light spear was much stronger than it was when I only had 4 wings. It was like I had taken a qualitative leap in power as well. I was never able to test how strong my spears were at 2 wings because I had evolved almost immediately after landing myself in this world.
"Are you all Hydra or SHIELD?" I asked the agents who were all sending nervous glances towards the conjured weapon in my hand.
"We're SHIELD! We are absolutely SHIELD!" One of the agents exclaimed nervously as the other two nodded rapidly.
I tilted my head and assessed them. They didn't seem to be lying to me. I dismissed the spear in my hand and they all sighed in collective relief. "Sorry about that," I said. "The last thing I remember was getting shot by a secret Hydra agent though. Now then, take me to your leader." The agents nodded and did just that. On the way they gave me a brief explanation of where we were. We were in one of Fury's personal safe houses deep underground. All of the other bases would have been compromised since Hydra just basically outed themselves to the world. Part of me was wondering if that agent who shot me had actually meant to do that. Apparently, the cameraman Voldemort had grabbed was brave and had actually stayed to film everything. Hydra was not supposed to be exposed this early. Hell, I didn't even know if Captain America was out of the ice at this point?
That question was answered for me when the agents led me down the hall to another room. Inside I saw Tony Stark, Nick Fury, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, and Steve Rogers. They all turned and gave me various looks upon seeing me.
"Hey everyone, I'm awake."
XXX
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