I was currently flying through the almost empty hallways now heading towards the headmaster's office to finally deal with General Dreykov. Some of the red room facilities were mainly modeled after an educational institution thus the subsequent names and it was also easier to ease young children into such an environment and nurture loyalty rather than straight up making it a secret science laboratory or a military facility.
As I was flying through the empty hallways through the flight path my ring plotted for me, I couldn't help but notice so far I haven't come across any live guards or resistance group although I haven't been down this part of the facility yet. Observing my mini-map confirmed my suspicions as I observed the life signatures slowly but steadily fade away one by one causing me to momentarily stop and raise my guard.
"Ring can you block me from mental attacks or potential brainwashing due to mental trigger words?"
[Affirmative Miss. It is an inbuilt function within the ring]
"Okay but just in case create a psychic shield around my head and activate the ring's invisibility function. I don't want to experience the feeling of being psychically detached from my body watching myself do what someone else forces me to do."
I shivered at the thought as my green environmental barriers glowed for a brief instance before deeming down a bit. I continued flying through my designated pathway only to end up finding corpses along the way.
From my observation, everybody died rather quickly with a bullet to the head in most circumstances. Looking at the display of skill, I was honestly impressed and a bit weary. If someone had the skill to use my distraction to cause this much death and remain in the shadows who could it be and why is somebody this skilled here?
Suddenly the display of two life signatures in the headmaster's office caught my attention. What's more amusing is they seem to be waiting for me. I reconstructed my shotgun and proceeded to fly up to the room's entrance door which I kicked down like the Kool-Aid man while dropping my invisibility just to find a beautiful blue-skinned woman holding a pistol to the face of a kneeling disheveled General Dreykov.
My brain had already identified the woman from a single glance. Her bright blue skin coupled with her crimson shoulder-length hair was a dead giveaway. Her yellow eyes which seem to be devoid of any iris coupled with her beautiful face were a captivating view if not for the traditional comic variation of her white costume perfectly hugging her body showcasing her curves with her belt of skulls on display. In front of me in the flesh was the one and only Mystique. Beautiful, deadly, sexy, and chaotic all in one package standing just a few feet away while facing me with a devilishly charming smile although it was ruined by the shit stain kneeling before her.
If I was still a guy I would have gotten a massive boner at the site. Thanks to my helmet, she also couldn't see my blush as I was currently nothing but a 4 foot 8 kid who was in full green glowing armor with most places covered in blood. I mentally slapped myself and curb-stomped my inner fangirl from showing as this just stopped my full momentum and threw a wrench into my already chaotic emotions.
I momentarily locked eyes with her before averting them first and looking at the pitiful man on his knees. He looked worse for wear considering his previous fit state when you look at all the photos framing his achievements in his office.
I guess he got off adorning himself with images of his previous achievements and all the bragging he does sometimes of his success but right now he's nothing but a slightly fat short old man with a cloth gagging his face. He looked as though someone woke him up and never got the opportunity to make himself presentable as his beard and greying hair were a mess. On closer observation, his eyes were red an indication of him crying or raging with a few bruises on his face an indication of blunt force trauma. I picked all these signs now that I forcefully re-pressed my emotions as a slight distraction.
Now that I think about it clearly, isn't it common for mystique to normally accompany one of the two self-proclaimed mutant messiahs according to the comics and movies or something? So then what does she want and why is she presenting herself in front of me right now confidently or does she have backup in case I don't meet her demands? Yup, my paranoia kicked in considering the last time such a situation occurred I ended up here according to my memories.
'Ring, can you hear my mental commands.'
[Affirmative]
'Make a silent scan of a five-kilometer radius and tell me if you identify signs of any powerful individuals in the vicinity. Also, plot the fastest flight route back to the dorms even if I fly through walls and prepare to help me safely extract and relocate my sisters in case anything happens.'
[Commands received. Process commencing]
My ring pulsed in affirmation as I held onto the handle of my shotgun tightly while taking a deep breath to calm my anxious heart down a bit. Although I don't have the necessary control, I have the power to at least prevent myself from being forcefully taken to become another mad delusional person's playtoy.
After what felt like an eternity of silently examining each other while ignoring the struggling pig on his knees, I was the first to cave in and voice out.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of making an acquaintance of such a beautiful woman during this busy hour?" What not expecting me to begin flirting as my first response, sue me. A lady has to shoot their shots.
Mystique just chuckled in amusement while watching me but although I was fangirling inside my training helped me be calmer and neutral. I'm playing with fire with my weak attempt at a flirtatious way of starting a conversation well, it's not my fault. What do you expect of throwing a somewhat antisocial guy into a deadly spy training program would do for my previously almost non-existent social skills and courage?
"Well, the name is Mystique and I'm here to get you out." She spoke in a nonchalant way I almost thought what she said was nothing but common sense but I had to get my answers or my inner Batman won't be satisfied.
"Mhh, that's sweet but do you know me and why would you waste your time coming here?" I asked reflexively knowing well if she came here looking for me I was in some unavoidable shit or something was off somewhere. At least it isn't the ancient one looking for me cause of the timeline or something.
"Well, I have been searching for you for a while to help you although I couldn't help but notice you have enough firepower to get yourself out of this place, Irina Ivanova." Well shit, she knows who I am fuck what does she want. Why was she looking for me?
"I'm guessing you're a bit shocked but let's say I have my ways. Nice ring by the way."
She flashed me a disarming smile that sent shivers down my spine before eying my right-hand middle finger. Although my constructs fully armored me, the silhouette of my ring was still visible as it was glowing.
I just got the ring less than two hours ago and she already picked up the sense of my power or suspects something of it. How did she even know I would arrive at the office for a breakout today? After racking my brain for a minute or so I finally came up with a rather disturbing conclusion causing me to become both panicked and kinda curious at the same time further confirming my suspicions of not being in the MCU timeline.
"Let me guess, Destiny or rather Irene Adler was the reason for your interest in me Miss Darkholme I presume?" I asked this as I created a construct of a table and two chairs with enough distance and space to respond to any unexpected situations not missing the slight twitch of her smile on receiving my response. Two can play that game, old sexy lady. Thank God she's not a telepath otherwise she would have picked up on my fangirling.
As for my adoptive abusive 'father', I made a collar around his neck which I shackled onto the floor and walls making him nothing but a sitting observer to our conversation. The only other thing I could do as a show of my non-existent respect for him was replace his fake gag with a real one. Kinky, I know right, he should be thankful I didn't add tentacles cause I'm in a rather good mood and only appreciate them on hot girls.
After receiving my answer Mystique just chuckled for a bit as she proceeded to take a sit on the chair that I had constructed and pulled back for her. The conversation was important enough for me to stop wild fantasies and thinking with my ovaries for a bit as I observed her like an eagle. I observed enough to even see her breasts jiggle with every laugh *cough where were we again.
"Well it seems you already know of me and my partner even though you should have been presumably brainwashed and received a limited scope of information on the world but yes, she told me to come and get you out of this place."
"I have my ways. So why and what do you want from me?" I asked this time ready to deny or accept the offer at any given chance I don't like the opportunity. I know I could easily kill her here but the nagging feeling of me presumably becoming an enemy of both self-proclaimed mutant messiahs was annoying so I had to take my chances as my ring AI notified me of completion of my earlier request.
"All we want is to secure a powerful ally." Instead of giving me a direct answer she placed a folder onto the table and pushed it towards me.
"I would presume the 'we' you are referring to isn't one of your two friend groups cause I don't think I would fit in with either of them."
I commented off-handedly as I opened it to find legal documents for American citizenship not only for me but enough for around 30 children under the guise of being taken in at an orphanage under Frost International. This was enough to give me and my sisters a new home, a new chance, and a safe environment to grow like normal children. A chance to experience a normal life away from the senseless killing and being used as tools.
There was enough background information on this paper tailored to fit most of us with our respective names and pictures. In addition, after finishing all of those I also got all our records from the organization regarding each one of us, a psychoanalysis of our natural behaviors, our original previous backgrounds, how we were taken into the organization, our rate of performance and so much more.
Damn, she already had an upper hand in our small game. How Mystique got this I did not know but considering Frost International was involved I knew many favours were made behind the scenes.
"Well, it must have taken you considerable effort and time to achieve all this effort for some 'non-mutants' no offense although according to the records I'm sad to say some of my sisters are no longer with us. I hope you don't intend to have any of my sisters involved in the clash of two opposing ideologies of some old men."
I responded while I flipped through the documents looking for my file I was curious. Honestly, the deal was too good but it wasn't unwelcome. I could just presumably conspire behind their backs if I'm getting involved with either Magneto Brotherhood or Xavier's idea of children soldiers. Plus, this was a good opportunity to avoid being part of either SHIELD or Hydra and that's a good thing for me cause as I didn't want to endure all those years of brutal training to end up dying in the field for some spy organization or die in the crossfire of a civil war, ann organization fallout or end up as potential collateral damage to one of the future avengers fuckups.
Finally arriving at my file, what I saw did not amuse me one bit. I placed the folder back on the table before proceeding to remove my helmet revealing my face for the first time in our short conversation. All my previous flirty mood and playful behavior was gone only leaving a cold icy anger that simmered to erupt beneath my skin.
Well, the biggest curveball of today wasn't that I had obtained a lantern ring or meeting Mystique. I had parents or more specifically a parent before, I was never abandoned or anything of the sought they were just killed by the organization that's all. More precisely killed by Dreykov himself.
What made me livid was the fact that I was a bastard daughter of the man groveling at the foot of our table right now. This deadbeat example of a man apparently after finding out he got a woman outside his marriage pregnant decided to put a bullet in her head when he came to discover the truth years after my birth and alter my memories.
This deadbeat chose to strip me of the ability to experience the love and joy of growing up with a loving caring mother. What didn't help my growing anger one bit was the fact that both my mother from my previous life and this life had an uncanny resemblance in their appearance with a few differences here and there. Memories of my mother's last life passing away peacefully in a hospital bed briefly flashed in my mind as I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing solidifying my next choice of action.
I opened my eyes now devoid of any mercy looked piercingly at my genetic donor and uttered words that would be the beginning of his nightmare.
"Death is too sweet of a relief for your pitiful existence worm."