I woke up in an unfamiliar room. My whole body was bandaged up, and I was aching pretty good. I looked around and didn't see anything unusual, which was good: at least they hadn't taken me for experiments. And who were those people anyway? Were they after that guy, and they took me for company? And what kind of psycho was that guy anyway? I don't remember any werewolves in Marvel, except maybe Jamison's son. And what end of the world was he talking about? No, he's strong, but Thor and Hulk would wipe the floor with him. All right, we gotta get out of here.
I used my partial transformation and headed for the door. As I listened, I heard footsteps. There were definitely more than two and they were heading towards my room. I quickly stood in the corner in my blind spot and prepared to escape.
«I'm not lying! It's definitely his son! And he tried to kill him because the brat came to demand child support.
«Remy, you are the most reliable source of information, but given the amount of gibberish you make up on the fly, do you really think your words will be accepted as the truth in the last instance?
«If you look at him, you'll see that they have some common traits, even though he turned into a wolf. And how Thomas used to tell us about his honour and the Blessing. Turns out it runs in the family. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still some werewolf badger from his ex-wife running around the world. Here, take a look at this, don't you think?
I make a grab and put my claws round the chatterer's neck.
«Where am I? And who are you?
«You do look like one, huh," Schultz said with a smile, looking at his friend's position.
«Boy, calm down, I promise to talk to Thomas about alimony, he'll give it all back," Lebo said nervously looking at the claws.
«What are you talking about? What alimony?
«Wait, weren't you trying to kill each other because of them? - Lebo wondered.
«That nutcase just jumped on me, shouting about some Blessing and warriors.
«So you're not his son?! - Remy said in shock.
«NO!
«Then why are you both turning into animals? - Remy asked perplexed.
What am I supposed to say now? I'll stick to the old line.
«I'm a mutant.
«Yeah? Me too. Why don't you let me go, brother, and we can talk calmly? - Remy tried to work things out peacefully.
«Prove it.
And then he took a playing card out of his pocket and threw it at the wall. It glowed brightly and exploded on impact, tearing up the wallpaper where it hit. That's when I remembered who knocked me out. It was Gambit.
«What's up? Happy? - Gambit asked.
«It's fine.
«Herman, why did you stand there and do nothing? - Unhappily looking at his comrade, Gambit asked.
«I was wondering: they will finish you off at last or our suffering will continue. As you can see, luck is not on my side, - Schultz replied with annoyance.
«Come on, are you still upset about the other night? Well, you lost your share - it can happen to anyone," said Gambit, giving Herman a nasty smile.
«How long was I out?
«You were out for 16 hours. What you and Thomas don't have in common is recovery. He was awake in two hours and eager to finish your battle for the warrior title. Philippa had to knock him out several times to stop him from running to finish you off," Herman said calmly.
«And who are you, anyway?
«Mercenaries. You can only find out more from Philippa. She'll be back in an hour, but in the meantime I'll go and reassure Thomas that his "magic" title is not under attack, because Remy barely got away in one piece after he woke up and remembered the one who interrupted your duel. - Quickly Herman left the room.
«'Is that what they call assault with intent to kill now? - ''There's a lot of running around. I guess he doesn't want to account for the rampage either."
***
I was sitting at the table, with Gambit on my left, Herman on my right, and a dark-haired girl sitting in front of me, apparently the leader of their squad, and this "warrior" sitting on the sofa in the corner, looking at me with a disgruntled look.
«Well, what's your name? - Philippa asked, looking at the teenager.
«Bruce Wayne. - 'I'm sorry, but I'm not going to reveal myself. Suddenly my father also has a reward for me like, bring me home in one piece, but if you beat the crap out of him, I won't mind."
«Okay, Bruce, I've been described the situation here, and I apologise for Thomas and his actions. And I saw your fight yesterday, and you're a pretty capable kid. So I'd like to offer you a lucrative job. Is that something that interests you? - Zontag asked in a calm tone.
'You mean they also watched that psycho mutilate me?
«How lucrative?
«'Missions vary, but pay starts at 80,000 and can go up to 200-300,000 per person. - "She apparently expected to see the shock in my eyes at such sums, but I'm only going to get somewhere around $1,500,000 for the first print run of my book alone, and here they are enticing me with such crumbs. Although... It might be a good workout, and I can pump up my skills, because training with Brooks has stopped bringing me quick level-up. I need combat experience and this job is perfect for that.
«I agree.
«Then, Bruce, tell me what you can do - I need to understand what you can do," Philippa said, looking at him carefully.
«Well, you've seen the transformation, in it I'm stronger, faster and more fully aware of my surroundings. I'm also a pretty good shot and can fight.
«Well, you'll show your shooting skills later. For now, you can meet the team. And you have a week to recover before the test mission. I think that'll be enough for you," Zontag said, then got up from the table and left the room, leaving Rain alone with the team.
«Yeah, I can recover, but keep that rambunctious one away from me.
«At this rate, we'll soon be a travelling contact zoo," Schultz said unhappily.
«If you'd seen them fighting, you'd know that this will be the first and last contact in the life of our visitors," said Remy Etienne Lebeau, better known as Gambit, with a smile.
«What can you do?
«I'm pretty good with cards, but you've already seen that,' Gambit replied.
«He's pretty good at cheating at cards, and that's all he can do," Herman corrected his companion.
«Well, you know our puma. By the way, while you are recovering, think up a call sign for yourself. Here I am, for example, Gambit, this disgruntled - Shocker, our aggressive animal is called Puma, and for the main we have Arclight, - listed the call signs of the team members Remy.
«'I'll think about it. - "Afterwards we talked some more with Gambit, and I began to understand the reason for the Puma's hatred. He's from some ancient tribe where this transformation is only passed down to the most worthy and is a great honour. And then he meets some lefty kid who resembles him after the Blessing, and then demonstrates powers that are 80% similar to yours. It's like saving up for a car for a few years, buying it, and then finding out a week later that a new dealership opened a couple of blocks away and they're giving the same car away for free to the first ten buyers."
So what do we have now? As requested, here are the adventures, but apart from the bad start, I'm happy with the situation - what else can pump up my skills better than dangerous battles? Especially since I can use the teleporter and escape at any time. Although it's unclear why this idea didn't occur to me yesterday.
It took me three days to fully recover. Of course, time acceleration played no small part in that, but Philippa was surprised - it seems she's not often wrong.
My shooting skills were rated well, though they seem to expect me to mostly use my other guise as a Puma.
«Well, have you chosen your call sign? - Gambit asked with interest.
«Yes.
«И?
«I'm Batman.- ...
My test assignment was the purpose of their order that they came to this city for. And they said, of course, that it was just my luck that the order was so close. But since it's a test, I'll only be paid 40,000 to do it. That was generous! And, best of all, they picked the perfect part for me. Me, Puma and Arclight will distract attention by destroying buildings and killing guards, and Gambit and Shocker will sneak in from the opposite side of the base and will have to steal something and blow up their labs. We are attacking some Arab organisation, and its name in the shadow world is so pathetic! I can't believe it - "Secret Empire"! That's what I understand - people's ego. They're responsible for 60% of terrorist attacks using explosives.
The assault squad will ride in an armoured car and ram the gates, while our quiet friends go on foot.
It's good to know that in the briefing during the ride, we were given very specific objectives:
1. Make noise.
2. To crash.
3. Kill.
4. Don't die (optional).
The first three items are straight out of the Hulk's diary.
Zing!
Assignment received
"First time."
You've killed before. But killing from a few hundred metres away and killing someone standing in front of you are completely different things. Prove to yourself and your acquaintances that you are good for something and complete the task and return alive.
Reward for completion: depends on the integrity of your body after completing the mission.
Punishment for failure is variable: loss of chance to join the team, loss of respect, loss of limbs, death.
That's nice... I've been given the mission outlook.
«We're coming up, stand by," Arclight said.
Well, now we'll see what I'm good for.