Chapter 18: Two women work together to suppress the rats! Solve the mutation crisis!
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Wanda was stunned by Gwen's words. She didn't expect that the first thing this girl, who had swooped in to help, would say would be a compliment. Wanda had anticipated something more dramatic like, "Hurry up, leave this to me!" or "Xxxx is on the stage!" or even something more nonsensical.
But instead, Gwen's first words were praise for her magic. This filled Wanda with unexpected joy. Besides Lorien, someone else was actually appreciating her magical skills!
However, before Wanda could fully savor this moment, a new wave of mutant rats and snakes began pouring out of the manholes!
"Chichichichi~~~!"
Gwen quickly assessed the situation. She shot out two strands of spider silk and pulled the manhole covers back into place.
"Plop~Plop~Plop~"
Despite her efforts, the sheer number of rats threatened to push the covers off again. Wanda noticed this as she used her chaos magic to crush another group of rats. There were just too many to handle all at once.
"What should we do?" Wanda turned, her eyes searching for Lorien again.
Lorien thought for a moment. "Try using a car to weigh down the manhole covers. These rats definitely can't push up a car!"
Wanda nodded eagerly. "I'll try!"
But Lorien couldn't resist a bit of humor to lighten the tense moment. "By the way, don't use my Ferrari. I need it to take you home later."
"Puff~" Wanda couldn't help but laugh, even in this serious situation. She winked at Lorien and replied, "I will~"
Wanda turned her focus back to the chaos around her. With a wave of her hands, scarlet energy enveloped a nearby car. She guided it over to one of the manhole covers Gwen had closed and set it down with precision.
As expected, the weight of the car, measured in tons, was enough to keep the rats from pushing their way out.
"Well done!" Gwen gave Lorien a thumbs-up, beaming. "Great idea!"
Lorien smiled at Wanda, then turned to Gwen with a puzzled expression. "Your voice... I feel like I've heard it somewhere before. Do we know each other?"
"Ugh!" Gwen immediately covered her mouth with her hands and turned her back to Lorien. She answered in a voice that was clearly altered, "No, I'm not, you've made a mistake!"
Her panicked response, though, seemed more like an admission than a denial. In the spirit of the clichéd plots of American TV shows, Lorien played along. "Okay, it seems I was wrong."
Gwen felt a pang of disappointment at his acceptance. She had hoped, maybe even wanted, Lorien to recognize her.
But before she could dwell on it, Lorien spoke again, "But I really think you look like a girl I met recently. She's very beautiful and has a body similar to yours. Even your voices are alike!"
Gwen's heart skipped a beat. She wanted to turn around and shout, "Really!?" or "Yep, that's me!" But her rational side held her back. The situation was still too uncertain. She wasn't sure what her powers could truly do or if they might bring trouble. Until she knew for sure, she didn't want to drag Lorien into her world of uncertainty.
However, she silently vowed that once she had her spider abilities under control, she would definitely reveal herself to him.
In the midst of these thoughts, Lorien suddenly winced as he felt a sharp pain in his side. He turned to see Wanda, who was looking in the opposite direction, clearly trying to act innocent. There was no one else nearby.
Nice job, he thought wryly. Just confess your feelings right now! Or better yet, why don't you both get married here and now? Not that he'd mind being involved too...
Cough, cough.
"OK, OK." Lorien clapped his hands, drawing their attention back to the present crisis. In the distance, the wail of police sirens grew louder. "We need to keep these manhole covers sealed for now. The police will be here soon to take over. We don't have enough people to hold them down permanently, but we can at least manage for a bit."
Both Wanda and Gwen nodded in agreement.
"Yeah!" they said in unison.
They quickly set to work. Gwen covered the manholes one by one while Wanda used her chaos magic to move cars over them, sealing them tightly. Any rats that managed to emerge were swiftly dealt with by Wanda's magic, crushed into a bloody mist.
After a few rounds of this, all the manholes that could potentially harbor mutant rats were securely compacted.
"Tit~! Tit~! Tit~!"
A police car arrived with sirens blaring. Gwen saw that one of the cars belonged to her father. She knew she had to leave quickly.
"I have to go!" she called to Lorien and Wanda, shooting a web and swinging away. "Goodbye~!"
...
Wanda, panting from exhaustion, finally withdrew her hands. Despite her fatigue, she felt a rush of relief and triumph seeing the problem solved. She turned and hugged Lorien tightly, exclaiming, "We did it!"
Lorien, who had mostly been a bystander during the action, was taken aback by Wanda's sudden embrace. But he wasn't complaining.
Patting her shoulder, he whispered, "Alright, alright. You're Scarlet Witch, a superhero. This is exactly what you can do when you put your mind to it. Now, let's stop hugging. People are filming us with their phones. If we keep this up, the internet will soon be buzzing about Scarlet Witch being in love."
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[A/N: Give me some power stones, we are reaching the milestone of 900 power stones, make it reach it and I will give you 3 extra chapters and also the more the power stones the more the extra chapters]