I watched the rest of the fight on my smartphone from the shore where I’d left my clothes and phone.
I’d changed back immediately.
My wetsuit was completely shredded.
The media helicopters that arrived a few minutes after I’d fled were broadcasting the whole thing live on the internet.
The whole world could watch the show.
And it was quite a show.
Soon after the Immortal and War Woman arrived, the rest of the Guardians joined the fun.
Darkwing, who was essentially an ordinary human with various tech gadgets, was about as effective against the monster as the ro-ro ship’s own security team.
He realized that immediately and focused on helping Red Rush evacuate people.
Martian Man joined them a bit later.
He’d tried to engage the monster once, realized he couldn’t do anything to it, not with his shape-shifting or his body’s flexibility, and also focused on support.
The Martian species might have impressive abilities, but they’re no match for Viltrumites.
Aquarus and the Green Ghost did much better.
The first shone in his native element, creating powerful underwater currents that made the monster’s life much harder.
The Ghost kept flying into the monster’s head in his intangible form, messing with its brain, making its movements chaotic.
His ability could even help in a fight against Nolan.
Actually, it’s strange that the Ghost didn’t manage to escape from my father in my past life.
Two possibilities: either Dad killed him before he could become intangible, or he has a special trick for such opponents.
But the main offensive power remained the Immortal and War Woman.
Only those two could inflict any significant physical damage.
The Immortal was simply very strong and durable, and he could fly.
Everyone on the Guardians could fly except Rush.
War Woman swung her mace with great skill.
Her attacks were even more impactful than the Immortal’s.
Still, even with the whole team working together, the Guardians couldn’t take down the monster quickly.
Don’t misunderstand me, but I was glad about that.
Not about the heroes’ failure, of course.
About the fact that I hadn’t been wrong about my own strength.
It wasn’t that I was weak.
The monster was just that terrifying.
It would have been very unpleasant for my self-esteem if they’d taken him down in one or two tries after I’d been useless against him.
But after almost half an hour of fighting, the monster was finally defeated.
After another combined attack, it sank to the bottom.
The battered heroes, especially the Immortal and War Woman, who’d felt the full force of the monster’s tentacle embraces, left the scene victorious.
Though I had some doubts about whether the Guardians had really put the monster down for good.
They never did crack its skull.
But the underwater people probably had their own version of a defense agency.
They’d check the remains.
They live side by side with such creatures their whole history.
They must have developed some healthy caution.
Now, calmer and having thought things through, I realized I’d acted somewhat rashly.
Especially when I let myself get distracted in the fight, not even checking how deadly the creature was.
But the chance of encountering such an anomalously powerful monster?
In my entire past life, the part I remember, I could count opponents that strong on one hand.
Too bad I didn’t achieve my goal.
The whole mess ended up being kind of pointless.
But it could have been worse.
The media cameras didn’t catch me, so no one but Oleg got a good look at me.
Plus, I got to test my strength against a real opponent and compare myself to the best superhero team on the planet.
And they’re not as weak as I thought.
I mean, it was obvious the best of the best should be a significant force.
Still, my father killed them all at once without a scratch and without exposing himself.
I wasn’t too informed about what they’d found at the site of their deaths in my past world.
But now I’m almost certain Dad caught them off guard with a surprise attack.
The Immortal and War Woman are strong enough to seriously hurt even a Viltrumite.
Red Rush is incredibly fast.
The Ghost is intangible, damn it.
Working together, they could give Omni-Man a real fight.
I shouldn’t count them out.
Now I needed to think about how to get home.
Those damn suckers left bruises on me that I couldn’t pass off as a street fight.
After carefully examining my reflection, I realized I’d have to avoid any open clothing for the next couple of days.
Luckily, the injuries weren’t too serious.
They’d heal in a couple of days, and I could hide them with clothes.
“You’re a pretty tough kid,” a voice suddenly said from the side, right as I was twisting my neck to try to see the biggest bruise on my back.
“What the…” I flinched at the surprise and turned toward the voice.
Leaning against a large rock stood a tall, thin guy with a typical Slavic appearance: slightly high cheekbones, brown eyes, red hair cut almost to a buzz cut, dressed in a closed red suit with a hood, currently down. Get faster updates on NovelPing.
Red Rush in the flesh.
Still a bit battered and flushed from the fight with the kaiju, though he hadn’t actually fought it.
You couldn’t imagine how many kilometers he’d run pulling out all those passengers.
But how did he track me?
“That thing was chewing on you for almost a minute, and you look fine,” the speedster smirked and sat on another rock a few meters away, so fast that even to me it was almost like teleportation.
“Showing off?” I smirked back at this showing off.
I said it in Russian, our shared native language, which visibly surprised him.
“What else am I supposed to do?” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, also switching to Russian.
“You seemed like you wanted to talk to me.”
“So you did notice me?” Unexpected.
“Yeah.
At first I thought I imagined it.
Then you joined the fun.
Thanks for that, by the way.
You showed up just in time.” He extended his hand to me.
“My name is Oleg.”
I shook his calloused palm with its crooked fingers.
The hand of a man used to hard physical labor from childhood.
So he hadn’t always had his powers.
He’d had a taste of a hard life.
I didn’t know that.
“Mark.” I gave a fairly generic answer.
“And I couldn’t just stand by.
But honestly, that was my first real fight.”
“I figured,” the speedster chuckled.
“Yeah…” That stung.
I wasn’t trying to act like a rookie.
I’d just underestimated the enemy.
“By the way, what were you doing out there?” Oleg asked casually.
“Just swimming,” I shrugged.
“In the middle of the Pacific?” The hero didn’t believe me.
“Well, I was, uh, testing my powers.
Seeing how deep I could dive.” I’d told the truth, basically.
“How did you find me?”
Oleg pointed up.
I followed his finger and saw a small dot.
A drone.
Shit.
I should have flown away faster and zigzagged.
“Darkwing’s drones.
He was tracking the monster from the start.
And he sent one after you.”
Damn.
Now that guy might figure out my identity.
And then he might figure out that my father is Omni-Man.
Although, following that logic, he would have had to figure out Omni-Man’s secret identity too.
So he’d already know I existed.
It all depends on Darkwing’s foresight and paranoia.
“Anyway, we were worried you got seriously hurt.
Look at your costume.” He nodded toward the remains of my wetsuit.
They were worried about me.
Well, it’s not like that couldn’t be true.
I’ve become too distrustful because of my father.
These are the Guardians of the Globe.
They’re genuine altruists who banded together despite all the differences and politics of their countries.
I’m the same.
“Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk about,” I said, taking the chance to change the subject.
“Do you know anyone who can make a stronger costume?
Mine’s pretty torn up.”
“That can be arranged,” the guy readily agreed.
“I know a few.
In Russia, Canada, China, England, the US.
Each one claims to be the best in the world. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
It would probably be easiest for you to go to Rosenbaum.
He lives nearby and would give a good discount to a talented newbie like you.”
Damn.
He’s the only one I definitely can’t use.
“Um, how about a Russian master instead?” I didn’t think my father knew Russian.
Or had ever ordered a costume in Russia.
“You sure?” I nodded.
“Then we’ll have to run.
And I need to get home anyway.”
*
*
*
*** We had to run, or in my case fly, not only across the ocean but then across all of Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow.
It took us twenty minutes.
I could have gone faster, but I decided not to reveal my full power.
At the end, I even pretended the speed was too much for me.
Oleg just chuckled superiorly.
He was running at maybe a quarter of his maximum.
***
The end point of our journey was a luxurious and very picturesque estate outside Moscow.
Not only was the property surrounded by forest on all sides, but the main building was beautifully overgrown with vegetation.
In the dim light of the moon, we were on the other side of the planet from my home, a difference of almost twelve hours.
This place looked creepy.
It didn’t resemble Art’s modest shop at all.
If the owner earned this house by selling costumes, his services weren’t cheap.
And I currently had no income.
Hmm, I should have thought of that earlier.
“Oxana isn’t very sociable and doesn’t like sunlight,” Oleg said as we approached the gate.
“So you’re in luck.
She’s probably awake.”
“Don’t tell me she’s a vampire…” I glanced at the mansion, which would have served perfectly as Dracula’s estate in a movie.
“Or a witch.”
Oleg contacted someone through a very modern electronic security system, and they let us in.
“Ha ha, don’t worry so much,” the guy chuckled.
“She’s not evil if you don’t provoke her.
And don’t touch anything, or you might accidentally catch a curse.”
Oh, there’s a story behind that.
I could hear it in his voice.
We walked through dimly lit corridors and descended to the second basement level, where the hostess was already waiting for us.
She was a very tall, thin lady about thirty-five, very beautiful, with a cold, predatory gaze.
And it wasn’t hard to guess what kind of predator, because four additional limbs covered in chitin grew from her back.
And those little legs, judging by how they moved, were fully functional.
She went by the name Oxana Fyodorovna.
After Oleg introduced me as his colleague, she asked me to outline my requirements for the costume.
It turned out that the Russian Spider-Woman, unlike her comic book counterparts, can spin webs and give them various properties.
And her spider silk turned out to be, in some aspects, even better than the fabric Rosenbaum uses.
The best example is that Oleg still wears gear she made, even though he knows Art well.
But there was a catch.
This silk was very specialized.
Oleg’s costume was ideal for speedsters.
It almost completely eliminated air friction and was incredibly elastic.
But you couldn’t fly into space in it.
I had too many requirements for the fabric.
Extreme durability so the costume wouldn’t tear from any of my punches.
Resistance to extreme temperature changes so it wouldn’t lose its properties in space.
Elasticity and low friction would also be nice, but as they say in Russia, I had to roll up my lips and limit myself to the maximum possible durability and heat resistance while still being comfortable to wear.
Then we discussed the design.
I already had that figured out.
At the end, Oxana gave me a preliminary price for her services.
“I think we can do it for a hundred thousand,” the woman said thoughtfully, rubbing a silk thread between her fingers that she’d just spun from a gland on her extra arm.
“A hundred thousand what?” I clarified.
“Rubles, of course.”
I breathed an internal sigh of relief, though I tried to stay calm outwardly.
That’s even cheaper than what Arthur charges.
Which is fair.
His costumes are more versatile, equally good at withstanding most elements and loads I’ve encountered.