The Fastest Man Alive
Chapter 24
Wild West

Jean Meta-Human Extraordinaire / Dancer  / Phoenix

Jean laughed as she listened to Ben grumble about working a mission for his Uncle as he directed Raven to his armory. Since Ben was about to go out and have his fun, maybe she should try her hand at keeping the city safe alongside Peter. Jean knew that Ben had created a hero suit just for her and Gwen, but she didn’t think that Gwen or herself had ever laid eyes on them.

With her mind made up, Jean made her way to Ben’s hero customization workshop, as he likes to call it; OVERWATCH.  When she got to the room, Jean was greeted with space. Peter’s suit wasn’t on the mannequin, but Natasha’s and Benjamins were, and the room was empty other than that. “Alfred, where is my suit?” Jean asked as she made her way over to the computer terminals.

At her approach, all the monitors came alive before Jean could take a seat at the terminal; one of the far walls spun around, revealing her suit. The suit Ben had made was beautiful, Jean thought. The pants were green with hints of black lines running down the inner thighs — the boots where black with gold trimmings and Jean liked that a lot. With the jacket removed, Jean was able to take a look at the shirt. Ben had designed the shirt to match the pants.

The shirt was long-sleeved to cover her whole arm, the colors were green in the midsection with a golden Phoenix on a black field on the chest that ran down the sleeves. She could only chuckle as it seemed Ben was doing up the Phoenix moniker. The jacket was all black with a golden phoenix on the back. The accessories that Ben had included were the signature gauntlets with the web-shooters, comms unit and hologram tech all built in. 

The belt that he placed with her suit came with detachable discs shaped like an octagon. From the description Ben had included they had an interlocking function to create a large shield. These discs were made out of Kevlar and ceramics, which made them completely bulletproof. It stated how these discs could be used in both an offensive and defensive manner. With a flourish Jean brought up the discs to float in front of her, then with a flick of a finger, She had the discs interlock creating a shield. With a smile, Jean returned the discs to her belt. 

There was headgear that she would have to wear when out: the headgear could open up into a half mask with a one-way lens allowing access to the heads up display. The mouth portion had air filtration built right in, while the part that doubles as a bandanna creates a static cling hologram changing her hair color from red to black.  Jean was sure that Ben had come up with that idea so her identity wouldn't be revealed while she was out stopping criminals.

“Alfred, have the police been contacted for any criminal activity?” Jean asked as she got dressed in the gear Ben had designed for her.

“Currently, No: Spider-Man has just dealt with the carjacking and mugging that I located.” Stated Alfred from the speakers and Jean's gauntlet. Since Alfred wasn’t aware of anything, Jean decided to go for a flight.

“Alfred, open up a secure exit for me please,” said Jean as she levitated up into the air. With a few presses on her wrist-mounted hologram she sent music to her helm and Jean was off into the night.

Flying was one of the great things that Jean loved about her abilities; reading minds came with too much noise, and then she had to deal with the emotions that everyone naturally gave off in waves. Xavier had shown her how to shut out the voices but with her level of power and living in the big city; some moments were harder than others. That was why she liked the quiet of her library and the silence of the danger room.

Jean was doing a spiral dive over Wall Street when Alfred notified her about a silent alarm going off. With her quiet moment disrupted, Jean was slightly interested in this development so she decided to investigate since she was wearing her suit and her identity would be covered. While floating above the building, Jean noticed the police pulling up to the front of the building. With no obvious break-ins, they had to wait for the owner to arrive for them to be allowed in to investigate more.

Motion on the back of the building did attract her attention, however. When she arrived, Jean found a lady hooking onto another roof with her grapple. The lady she was watching must have been the one that Peter was telling her about, this thief that was calling herself the Black Cat. Jean knew about the Black Cat since this was a person she'd found within Ben’s mind. 

When she had asked him about the Black Cat; Ben had replied that the Cat was a person to recruit and maybe save depending on the timeline. She needed to ask him about all his talk about time but with him off on his mission; it would have to wait. Now she just had to apprehend this person, with a smile Jean wondered about the look Peter would have on his face when he heard how she was able to catch the thief that keeps getting away from him.

Jean twirled in the air as she flew down to stop the thief. A smile plastered on her face when she landed in front of the escaping thief a few inches above the ground. With a proud nod she asked, “So what do we have here; isn’t little kitty a long way from home?” as the guard pulled back, revealing her mouth.

“So, did underoos send you after me? Aww, was I too much woman for him to handle?” Asked the unnamed Black Cat in front of Jean.  Jean was trying hard not to laugh at that. Hell, she knew that even Laura was currently too much for the nerdy Peter. He was trying, though, and that's all that matters at the end of the day. 

“I was flying over when I noticed something; peculiar so I decided to investigate.” Replied Jean as she adjusted the web fluid to handcuff her opponent.

“It couldn’t be little ole me; I’m innocent.” Stated the Black Cat as she leaned back against the railing. “Then how about you tell me what's in the bag?” Prompted Jean as she levitated the bag over to herself, but before she could reach out and take the brown paper bag. A hand came out snatching it from the air. With a raised eyebrow Jean looked at the Black Cat with a smile on her face.  Although Jean wasn’t expecting the smile that she noticed on the Black Cat’s face.

“Ohh, don’t be like that; I’m still enjoying the view of your pretty curves.” Purred the Black Cat as she looked Jean up and down.

Jean couldn’t help but snort at that, “I already have a boyfriend, girlfriend, and I’m sure a shapeshifter soon. Enough of that though you're coming with me.” Jean replied as she thought about having a word with Ben when he returns. Jean reached out to levitate the Black Cat.

“Aw don’t be like that; we were getting to the good part.” Said the Black Cat and with a flick of her wrist she shot out projectiles towards Jean. With a wave of her hand, Jean froze the four projectiles in mid-air, “Awe sweetie, you will have to do better than that.” Jean spoke as she aimed her hand to web-up the Black Cat.

“I did,” Stated the Black Cat as the objects Jean had frozen in mid-air burst into smoke obscuring her vision of the surroundings.

SNIKT!

Jean's head snapped around at the sound, and that was when she felt a tug as the Black Cat vanished from her hold. With a telekinetic push, all of the smoke blasted away from her location. When she looked around the Black Cat was nowhere to be found; then Jean looked down and noticed a small key chain of a black cat with a note attached.

-Next time cutie pie-

Jean could only laugh at the small key chain figure. Yeah, she would have to let Ben know that she found his mark. “Alfred, find out the school she is currently attending. I know Ben gave you a profile with her name in it.”  With that Jean flew off into the night, using her abilities outside of a controlled situation was so different, Jean thought to herself. She wouldn't let that deter her though because this was the night the Phoenix was going to rise Jean thought.

---

Benjamin Blake  - Billionaire / Anti-Hero / Gun Nut

We left Jean to her practice as I directed Raven to my armory. Fury had asked for the person doing the raids recently; which means I couldn’t be seen in Russia as myself or LightSpeed. So I would have to go with the persona I have been using after the raid I performed with Spiral. So it was time to break out the alternate identity I made.

Jason Todd was the persona I had created once I realized that I couldn't be seen blowing up secret bases and their ilk. Jason Todd was a twenty-five-year-old African American given to an orphanage at birth. The background was set up with juvenile records up until he turned eighteen. At age eighteen he was apprehended and was given an ultimatum by the judge. Go to jail or join the military.

From there Jason did a tour in Somalia, then joined a force recon team, which in turn caused all Jason's information to be redacted. I had left enough trails for this persona that any hacker or a bribe to the right official could get the information with some trouble. I ignored Raven making her way around my armory as I brought out the signature Red Hood helmet, the black leather jacket, combat boots, and a customized bulletproof vest with the blood-red bat logo on the front.

Now that I had PYM particles in my hands, it was time to update my weapons. I had already built a custom gauntlet for the needed ammo storage, but I did have Alfred commission a utility belt while I was dealing with Anna’s powers. 

“Alfred, backdate my plane ticket and do the same with the hotel planning,” I stated as I began to bring out all the big guns. Before I was able to make any changes, Raven was at my side. 

“Why are you bringing so many guns?” Asked Raven as she picked up my dual Steyr TMP sub machine guns.

“We are heading to Russia, that place is like the wild west, so plenty of guns and ammo are needed,” I stated as I brought out the customized AR-15 and then went back for the M32 grenade launcher.

“What's this round?” Raven asked as she picked up a few custom mags I had prepared.

“That my dear is a .50 Alaskan round for this AR-15 right here,” I stated as I pointed at the rifle I had placed on the table. I also went on to explain how it fired a 900-grain bullet. It was also a subsonic round going roughly one thousand feet per second and with the flat, half-inch meplat, it would basically cut a human in half at short to medium range. 

Any flesh wouldn't just get a hole punched through it but would explode out from the point of impact, creating a massive chasm of a hole. These rounds could only go about a thousand feet per second, but it was packing 1.25 tons of energy in a half-inch circle.

Then, when I showed Raven the video of the round being shot, she had one of the brightest smiles around. I could only grin at that because she had the same look Gwen does when Natasha and I bring her to the shooting range. After my explanation, I shrunk down roughly four thousand rounds (I had the ammo broken up and then packed into sixty round, dual drum mags). 

The mags were also encased in an expansion pack; a quick tear would enlarge the contents and presto: regular-sized ammo. I would have to take time to recreate the Hoi Poi capsules from Dragon Ball Z once I made it back from Russia. In a snap decision, I added them to one of the tactical pouches on the vest as well. Inspecting my custom .45 Sig Sauer Military spec, P320s, I had to make sure I had everything from regular rounds to silver rounds. The laser designators needed new batteries, so I was grateful I caught it sooner rather than later. With those taken care of and packed away, I was again distracted by Raven.

“Why are these filled with what appears to be silver ammo, why not lead?” Raven asked as she held up one of the thirty-millimeter rounds. What Raven was holding was one of the custom made rounds for the also custom, ten round M32 rotary grenade launcher. 

The one she was holding up was my innovative silver coated, depleted uranium cored, bundled flechette round encased in an ultra thin lead lined saboted shell which protects the barrel and the shooter and increases the velocity all while ensuring a lovely forty-five-degree spread. The idea behind this round was to make sure whoever it was shot at died by the gross; more than a few times over. 

The sabot would allow the flechettes to open and begin expanding within a foot from the muzzle, nailing everything in front of it to the wall or just turning everything into meat slush. It was a portable, hand held Claymore mine on steroids. Yes, I was rigging for bear since I wasn’t going to be able to use my powers. I wanted to be able to clear a 25 x 25 meter room full of five hundred people in less than five seconds.

With the drum motor upgrade to the launcher, I could spit out these grenade rounds at a rate of two rounds a second. I made sure that if I had to bust this thing out. Everything was going to die with no discernible parts left over.

When I relayed this information to Raven, she had a manic grin on her face and asked how much ammo would she be able to carry and that the grenade launcher was now hers. I turned over a utility belt to her, and Raven proceeded to stuff it with as much ammo that she could lay her hands on. I was genuinely amused at that until she reached for an extra AR15 that I had for the .50 Alaskan round.

I chuckled at her antics while I also packed away my strobe light, but then I spotted my one hundred thousand lux UV light.  That made me pause and think; most if not all the rounds I was carrying were made for vampires, zombies, ghouls, and humans alike. Taking these with me would be specifically for vampires. Although I haven't told anyone yet, Blade was somewhere out there, and the vampire situation was a worry of mine. 

I shook my head and ignored it. I was going on a destroy everything mission for Fury, there was no need to worry about vampires, but I did notice that when I turned away from it, Raven packed them into her utility belt. With a sigh, I decided to pack some of the UV treated clothing I had. Those bulbs could produce sunlight level lumens all within the infrared spectrum and cause sunburns to the skin and eyes in the dead of night, so some precaution was necessary.

Before I left, I grabbed my Adamantium Roman Gladius and Pho crystal face mask. With a few words to Alfred about some things to keep an eye out for, It was time to head to Russia and find these missing agents.

It was time for Jason Todd to visit the old country. While we made our the way to the garage, Raven had transformed again into another stunning beauty as she wrapped herself around my arm. There was no need to be such a stickler since she was my partner on this operation, and since I wasn’t wearing my face, I was going to enjoy this mission.

---

Russia

Touching down in Moscow on my private jet was a godsend from Stan Lee, the creator himself. I had learned how to speak the Russian language within the first thirty minutes of taking off from the runway. From there I  had to listen to Raven pine away about the fact I owned the jet and we should break into the mile high club since this was its maiden flight.

After getting past all the flirting and innuendos, talking to Raven was something else. She knew over three hundred and fifteen languages, sixteen different martial arts, and so much more. Raven had more than a few passports with her; since it was all part of her trade, there was nothing for me to say. Other than to have Alfred add her into the plans for the flight and hotel commendations.

Leaving the airport was almost smooth but when they x-rayed the carry on bags Raven and I brought, some moron decided to open it to take a closer look. Luckily we had used the PYM particles to shrink everything down. So, when they opened the carry-on, we all had a good chuckle at the miniature toy-sized weapons.

The guy behind the x-ray machine thought that they were just high-grade replicas, and knowing better, I didn’t see the need to correct him. With that out of the way we did our check in’s, and it was time to find the wayward agents or blow lots of shit up Red Hood style. We made it to the five-star hotel that I had Alfred book for us. When the valet opened the door for us, we were greeted with two rows of maids and butlers lined up bowing deeply before the center of the group opened leading into the hotel. Raven strolled in like a queen walking into her court; so with a smile of my own, I just followed along behind her.

The Presidential master suite Alfred had reserved was located on the top floor. With a simple scan and check-in, we were one our way up the express elevators. When we got to the room, I have to say: I was impressed. There were four bedrooms total, and each was the size of a master bedroom. Each room came with its own huge bathroom, and with a few checks, I noted that each over sized bathtub came with a Jacuzzi function.

Tacky, but doable. Each California sized bed was covered with the most beautiful silks. I sighed at that because I knew Natasha had put in a lot of work when she had the decorators come in to set up the living quarters but, since I barely slept in my bed, it went unused more nights than not. I would have to rectify that once I got back. After walking around and taking in the sites of the suite, I tossed my bag down on the couch; then I took out my scanner to check for bugs.

“So who are we looking for?” Asked Raven, but I had to hush her because I was running a scanner around the room to make sure it was clean of bugs. I was confident she had no worries because she could turn into someone else and disappear. I had to use more caution because I didn’t want this cover to be blown since I had spent a whole two minutes setting it up. It would seem someone was already onto me because I found two miniature relays.

I was confident that they were only complementary because it had a two-hour timer in between pings to home base. That alone was a sign that this was just because I showed up as an American and nothing else. If they had any idea who I was, then there would be far more, and my entry into the country would have had more issues.

With a few taps on my holophone, I had Alfred feed the bugs ambient TV noise and some normal conversation between myself and Raven.

“We are trying to locate two of Fury’s lost flock,” I replied to Raven as I sat down on the one-seater couch. Then I brought up the info for her viewing pleasure. “Oh, the Manova couple, she is cute.” Stated Raven as she transformed into the missing lady in the holo-projection.

I could only shake my head at that as she proceeded to check herself out in the mirror. “They were last seen heading into this club here, hours apart. The husband went first, and when he didn’t come out, she followed him in.” I stated as Alfred brought up the corner cam footage that he was able to recover from someone's attempt to delete the evidence. I couldn’t even begin to say anything about my feelings concerning her breaking protocol and following him without calling in. My own anger issues have already shown I could and would make my own bad choices.

“I know how we can figure out who took them, bait.” Raven nodded her head at the mirror as she twirls, changing her dress from the sleek pants suit she was wearing into a very scandalous red mini dress with enough v neck showing so much cleavage that it would make anyone wonder. I knew she was doing something to keep that shirt from flying open because the way those nipples were standing at attention was pure criminal.

“You understand that going in with the missing person's face is going to alert the people behind this mess, right?” I asked face-palming but perked up as she eased herself into my lap. With both her legs tossed over the couch's arm, Raven moved my hand up her thighs.

“Aren't I such a delicious bait, my darling,” Raven whispered into my ear as she molded her lascivious body against my own. She kept pulling my hands slowly along her thighs, then at the last moment as the heat from her center brushed along my fingers. Raven moved my hands up to cup one of her breasts. Since she wanted to play that way, then fine, two can play that game. With a smooth roll of my wrist, Raven’s hand was disengaged from around my wrist. With another shift, I had her nipple trapped between my knuckles as I rolled it between my fingers. “Hmm, I don’t know if I would like to share my bait with others,” I told her as I could feel her heartbeat quickened its pace.

“Ohh, but are you not sharing back home.” Raven moaned into my ear as she ran her hands up my shirt. I let out a light laugh at that comment.

“Now, now don’t be like that; Gwen is still at the beginning of discovering her bisexuality, and Jean is still on the love high from her empathic abilities. I’m just the guy that's enjoying being in the middle of it all.” I whispered back as I tweaked her nipple. With a moan, she clawed my chest; I returned her moan with a smile. 

Raven had been teasing me since we first met and now she was in my arms. Yeah, it was difficult holding myself back, but, when in Russia, act like a cowboy. Whatever she was doing to keep her shirt attached to her nipples failed as the V-neck opened to the air allowing me hands-free access to that lovely chest of hers. I cupped her perfect peach with my left, palming it as my right went for the other nipple.

With light circles around her nipple, I had Raven breathing hard in my lap. Before she could protest at my teasing, I sealed her lips with my own.  As our tongues dueled, I released the hold on that dominant side that I kept locked away from Gwen; the side that Jean would occasionally catch a glimpse of while she roamed within my head. This was a woman in my arms, and I was going to enjoy making her mine.

As our tongues dueled from her mouth, to mine, and back into hers. I was able to pin it with my own as I palmed her breast. Raven moaned then exhibited an exciting new use of her abilities. Her tongue lengthened itself to wrap around my own, and then I felt as her palm on my chest split open to lick at my chest. That raised more than just an eyebrow out of me.

I had no clue that she could even do that, and from the look on her face, neither did she. We separated for a moment, but I was fascinated with the sight of how long her tongue was. Raven pulled her tongue back in then raised the hand that had the mini mouth on her palm. With the way her eyebrows furrowed, I was sure she didn’t know that she could do individual appendage transformations. 

That would be fine though because I pulled her hand towards me and when I did that she shivered slightly. I knew that reaction, she thought I would be disgusted by what she could do, but that was far from the case. While I looked Raven in her eyes, I kissed the mouth she had on her palm.

“It's only an extension of your abilities; you’re you. Nothing you do will change that fact.” I told her as the mouth in her palm vanished back into smooth skin. Then with a slow drift, the blue traveled back up her arm to cover her whole body. With a shift, Raven went from having her legs hanging over the arm of the couch to straddling my lap. “So, would you like to be serious now?” I asked with a quirk of my brow.

“Why?” Raven asked me as she looked into my eyes with her bright yellow orbs.

“Why what Raven, you already know am not a mind reader,” I queried back with my smile.

“Okay, why didn’t you freak out when I developed something like that?” Raven asked as she twisted her fingers into my shirt. With my hands around her, I pulled Raven in closer.

“Shape shifting is what you do, so there is no need to freak out when I have a magical lady in my lap,” I told her with a chuckle thinking about the hentai that was on the internet. With my fun thoughts out of the way, I sat there on the couch silent with her.

This was the first woman in my life that I was actively going to pursue, so I honestly didn’t want to mess this up. I never really had the thought of a harem or sharing my bed with so many women, but with the discovery of some differences from the main MCU and comic book canon. I was going to live my life how I saw fit until my dying breath, so it was fuck all to those that had issues with my lifestyle. We just sat there in silence as we stared into the eyes of each other. Soon we were interrupted by Alfred as he popped up information showing the invite to the club this evening.

“So, where do we go from here?” Raven asked me as she ran her hands underneath my shirt.

“We check our weapons, go kick some ass, and then return here to check out the fit,” I said as I stood up with Raven in my arms. With that, Raven gave me a smile as she motioned for me to put her down. With a peck on the lips, she took a step back as she transformed back into the missing female agent.

Then Raven gave me a wink and transformed again, but this time she turned into Gwen, she did a twirl in a circle. As Raven did her pirouette spin she then turned into Jean mid-spin.

Raven then sent me a flirtatious grin as she then turned into Natasha, I could only chuckle at her antics. We separated to shower and change, tonight I was going to wear my tactleneck. Natasha had laughed at me for calling my tactical turtleneck that but if it fits it fits. That was paired with a nice set of slacks. These could easily double as fighting wear, but I did have my combat boots on the inside of my belt.

Inside my wallet was my utility belt. On my key chain was my red hood helmet and jacket shrunk to look like key fobs.

Raven had surprised me with her choice of clothing, and I wasn’t going to admit to her that I was happy she wasn't going to wear such skimpy clothes as before: the night would have gone wrong if I had to kill a man because he looked and placed his hands where they shouldn’t be.  Yes, I understand that her little display was how she did things but with our unspoken finality on what we would become. I would easily kill anyone that had ideas on Raven.

Raven was in an all-black one-piece the top was strapless. The top was off the shoulder but above the elbow hugging her bicep. The slight V shape in the middle didn’t plunge down the center; it showed a clear six inches of her chest with a tie in the middle holding it together. Her chest was pushed together, showing nice and perky; all her curves were beautiful and showing.

On her feet were nicely tapered open-toed heels, red nail polish was a nice touch. On Raven’s wrist was a charm chain with the fully loaded M32 grenade launcher and the bandoleer ammo slings dangling from it. She was never going to let me have that thing back, I was sure of it. I could only shake my head and smile, even Natasha didn’t return some of the guns and tools I created.

With one last look in the mirror, it was time for Raven and I, to go snoop around a club. Since I had my reservation, there was no need to show up early. So with a nice tip to the bellboy, we made our way down to the restaurant.

“Since we are in Russia, it's best to try the vodka,” Raven stated as she sauntered in front of me, although I did notice her side-eye glances telegraphing to me she wasn’t as relaxed as she appeared. I smiled, yeah she had my back, and I had hers. 

When we walked up to the bar, I was able to catch two suits in the glass reflection. It would seem we had picked up a tail as we walked through the lobby to the bar. That was alright, though; this wasn’t the place to find out who his boss was. Ignoring them, I accepted the vodka that Raven had ordered for us. Raven and I sat there while enjoying the drink until we finished the small bottle.

Then with a tip to the bartender, it was time to show our face at the club. It was terrific how money could grease the wheels so much. When we arrived at the club, there was no hold on or anything. We looked like wealthy Americans and were throwing money around as if it was nothing. The club's building was one massive Gothic piece of architecture with spirals and arches everywhere. The carpet was a scarlet red, and everyone was dressed to impress.

Outside the club, you couldn’t hear any of the music or the people enjoying their time. That was my first clue something was up, back in NYC you could hear the thump of the beat outside of the clubs. Here you heard nothing until the door opened. The people outside were boisterous and were excited to go in alright. The second thing that set off my alarms was the size of the bouncers and the shade of their skin.

Both of the two that were guarding the outside of the door had to have stood an easy seven feet. Then there was the bald head and the pasty skin, their walking gait was like Logan's, Natasha’s, and my own. These guys were nothing but pure-blooded predators, everything about their walk to mannerisms screamed dangerous to me, and Raven knew it also from the side-eye she gave me.

Yeah, Fury knew something that he didn’t share alright, but I would have to take that up with him at a later date. On the inside of the club were four more massive guards holding a second and third set of doors open for us. That was the third thing that set off alarms in my head. This club had a triple wall, and door reinforcement. Just that alone made me happy Raven and I decided to bring the arsenal with us.

Raven was bobbing to the music, but I could tell with my enhanced sight her bio-electricity was in flux. That could only mean she was putting the clue’s together, and she wasn’t happy with any of her conclusions. Lucky for her, I had packed extra protective clothing that would be a lot better than her transformed stuff. I would have to sit her down later and have a conversation to see if she could replicate the atomic structure of a few materials to protect herself better.

It wouldn’t do to have her get injured during the mission. With a nod to me, Raven slipped her way onto the dance floor, blending in with the people. No one noticed as she walked by a couple transforming as they blocked the cameras. My move was to override the camera feeds with Alfred's help. That was the fourth and a massive warning for me because they had tech almost as advanced as mine.

With that I aborted Raven's portion of the mission before she made it to the secured back door. If they had anything even near STARK Tech, then this wasn’t a location where we should be separated. We met halfway on the dance floor but even transformed; I knew who she was. Then to keep our cover we danced to the music, it was some new-age techno funk crap, but music was music, and I wasn’t going to complain since it was covering our asses.

As we danced, Raven began to relax, the tension in her shoulders lessened, and she got more into the beat. We danced and danced until I felt the coast was clear and it was time to go. It was then that I felt a weird energy signature approach, I usually tried to ignore the biosignatures of others around me, but this guy felt like the bouncers. 

That didn't add up because from what my senses were picking up, he wasn't as tall, but his body was dense as fuck. That couldn't be good for either of us, Raven couldn’t go giving away her transformation ability, and I couldn’t go around using my speed. Shit, that's when I placed the dots together, she was currently back to using the face of the missing Agent Alina Monova, that went missing here. It would seem that someone had taken the bait.

Maybe tonight wasn’t going to turn into a bust after all. With a few words whispered into Raven's ear. We then turned in sync as a couple looking for some private space as we headed into the dark VIP section of the club. Since I still had my reservation to the VIP, we strolled in like we owned the place and, for a moment, the person pursuing us paused; then I felt him follow.

With a smile, Raven pulled out the Vega Particles to shrink this guy, that way we could interrogate him back in a more secure location. Honestly, it would suck to be this guy because I didn’t have time to solve the issues of using the particles without a suit. So I doubt that he would survive after she was finished with him and what the particles would do to his unshielded mind. When he came into our section, I went to subdue him while Raven kept a watch. I had the first flex cuff around his arm when everything went to shit.

The fucking dude turned around and fucking hissed at me. Like, what the fuck! Although what really freaked me out was the fucking fangs in his mouth. Fury had sent me into a fucking vampire den of all places! That was why some of the people felt so off and why the place was so damn secure! Fuck! I also had to keep down the speed and escape like an average person.

Otherwise, I would appear like a fucking light bulb on the power grid within Russia. With my grip on his arm, I swung it out of the way as I brought my foot forward, kicking him in the nuts. This guy was not anything other than a runt on the totem pole, so he didn't even catch the swift leg checking him in the jewels.

What did wig me out to no end was the feel of his skin: it was as cold as a Russian winter, but it felt tough as marble in my hands.

“Raven, we need to disappear ASAP!” I yelled in her direction. She didn’t even twitch an eye at me. With a twist, she was through the curtains, and we both double-timed it to the exit, but it was already too late. Shit was already going down and blood was literally flying through the freakin air! The vampires were feeding, and we were caught right in the middle of this shit. Now I knew what happened to those agents; they became food, and we were next on the menu.

While the vampires were all busy, we hid behind the bar. With a flick of my wrist my Sig Sauer P320 with my custom laser sights grew to normal proportions. Then I donned my vest, jacket, and Red Helmet. Raven was surprised when I tossed her a female vest, but she gratefully took it.  Lucky for us I knew Blade existed and that vampires where a thing, and I also packed a hell of a lot of silver rounds, almost as many as normal rounds, “So! Think I'm crazy for having so much silver ammo?” I asked Raven as she fitted her vest and pulled out my Steyr TMP submachine guns.

“Hmm, maybe less, but I was looking forward to something hard and hot tonight. So maybe you should get us out of here so I can try your fit” Raven said as she winked at me. That was all the motivation I needed, alright. With a tap on my comms, Raven nodded, showing she had hers in. All of this was happening fast while we listened to the screams on the now feasted on party-goers.

One person was tossed over the bar counter, then the vampire that was about to feed lunged at the person. I raised my right P320 and fired one clean through his skull, and he disintegrated down into ash from the silver round shattering through his being.

BRRRAP!  BRRRAP!

Raven was firing off three-round bursts from my shoulder as she covered the right side, I was covering the left. The sight was the next level of gruesome. Organs were ripped out, limbs were missing, and blood was just everywhere. “I’m switching to our code names, alright Mystique,” I said over the comms, and I swept the feet from out under the asshole who decided that jumping down on us from up top would work and popped him as he fell.

“No problem Red,” Replied Mystique while she swapped out mags as I covered her back from some vampire chick that came up from the front end of the counter.

These assholes were getting tricky to deal with. Maybe, I should draw on my speed a little bit. Not enough to generate a massive discharge but enough to give me an edge. With that thought I upped the tempo of our destruction, but as we killed more and more, I noticed that they weren't stopping at all. We had plenty of ammo, but there couldn't have been that many vampires in this club.

“DAYWALKER!!!”

Screamed out some random vampire but I had already felt that different biosignature approaching. That same vampire was stabbed through the back, and then the sword went up from his stomach through his head. That was when he stepped in the club with one smooth badass move as he sliced the heads off three vampires in one swift motion.