Charlie and Samantha were still upstairs decorating the nursery. Sakura had gone back to her room to sleep—she had an innate ability to turn invisible, so Charlie and the others couldn't see her at all. Bella and Natasha had been watching the snow from the window. So where had the noise in the fireplace come from?
Nobody lived in a fairy tale. Charlie was a sheriff, and making enemies came with the territory. Someone showing up on Christmas to settle a grudge? That kind of thing was perfectly normal.
Neither Bella nor Natasha felt any fear.
Their expressions remained calm. Natasha produced a handgun from somewhere and screwed on a suppressor with practiced efficiency. She moved silently toward the fireplace. Bella followed close behind.
They reached the dining room just in time to see a portly old man in a red coat, red boots, and a red hat, with a thick white beard, glancing around the room.
The old man's belly was enormous, and he carried a large sack slung over one shoulder. Hearing their footsteps, he spun around—and found himself face to face with the two of them.
"Hey! The snow here is really something! Los Angeles hasn't seen snow this heavy in ages." The fat old man, dressed head to toe like Santa Claus, waved at them in a friendly manner.
Bella was stunned. What was happening? A Santa Claus had just tumbled out of the fireplace? You've got to be kidding me.
Natasha only ever showed her childish side around Bella. In front of strangers, she was a completely different person. She raised her pistol with an icy expression. "Sir, you've broken into a private residence. I'm within my rights to use any and all necessary force."
The old man chuckled warmly. "Easy now, children. Easy."
Natasha's voice was as cold as the blizzard outside. "I haven't been a child in a long time."
Just as she was about to escalate, Bella pressed down on her gun arm. "Don't be rash. This guy..."
This guy was powerful. To Bella's senses, this guy dressed as Santa Claus was even stronger than Himiko back on Yamatai.
Himiko hadn't actually been defeated by Bella and Lara's ramshackle two-woman team—she'd sabotaged herself. All that formidable power, eighteen hundred years of accumulated magical energy, and she'd gone down without unleashing any of it.
At full strength, Himiko would have been far beyond anything Bella could handle.
Eighteen hundred years of accumulated power—not eighteen hundred days. Built up drop by drop, that was the level of a terrestrial immortal. Himiko in her dormant state alone could shroud Yamatai Island in storms, while Bella had needed Sakura's help just to make it snow tonight. The gap between them was painfully obvious.
And this fat old man was even stronger than Himiko—without any of Himiko's complications around body-snatching, either. This was the real deal: a genuine powerhouse.
"Who might you be?" Bella positioned herself between the old man and Natasha. If he attacked, she could hold out for at least two exchanges. After that? After that, they'd run.
The old man pushed the brim of his hat up to reveal his forehead, then puffed hard at his white beard. "Can't you tell? Young people these days have no respect for tradition. I'm Santa Claus!"
Bella ventured a guess. "You're a mutant? An Omega-level mutant?"
The old man looked slightly bashful. "I can't keep up with all your modern terminology. Call me whatever you like... I've brought you gifts. Also, there's a small problem right now. I could handle it myself, of course, but you know how it is with my job—tonight I've got to deliver presents all over the place. Very busy. I genuinely don't have the time. So I need you two clever young ladies to lend a hand."
He reached into his sack and produced two boxes—one long, one short.
Then, beaming with delight, he motioned for them to come collect their gifts.
Seeing that this had entered the territory of mystical affairs, Natasha made the same choice 006 would have—she deferred to Bella.
Bella studied the old man carefully. He looked warm and harmless, like everybody's favorite grandfather.
But Bella knew his resume. If she wasn't mistaken, this was the Santa Claus of the Marvel universe—not technically a god, but a mutant so powerful he might as well have been one.
This man had worn the Infinity Gauntlet. He'd beaten the Illuminati in a fight. If the dark persona lurking inside this jolly old man ever resurfaced, he could probably go toe-to-toe with Thanos and call it even.
When someone of this stature showed up at your door asking for help, it was like a mayor asking his poorest relative for a favor—you didn't really have room to say no. Beyond that, Bella could feel a faint pull emanating from the gift box, as if some object inside was calling to her. Was it an Isu artifact?
As the leader of the Assassin Brotherhood and the head of Weyland-Yutani, she was a woman of decisive judgment. She weighed her options, then agreed on the spot.
"Alright, we'll help." She would have preferred to keep Natasha out of it, but she knew her little sister's personality well enough—refusing now would seriously wound Natasha's pride.
"Come, come, pick one!" The old man merrily set the gift boxes before them.
Bella went straight for the long box that had been subtly resonating with her. Natasha casually took the shorter one.
"Open them, open them! Let's see if you like them!" The old man claimed to be in a hurry, but judging by his expression, he didn't seem rushed in the slightest.
Bella unwrapped her box. Inside lay a weapon shaped like a dagger.
It was over eight inches long (about 20 cm) and featured a sharp, crescent-shaped curved blade. Bella picked it up and gave it a few light swings. Along the side, she could see traces of forging and inlay—someone had clearly tried to modify this weapon at some point, adding components that didn't match the original craftsmanship. Those additions had long since crumbled away. What remained was the blade itself, nothing more.
"This is a trident prong, isn't it? Part of a larger weapon. Where did you find it?" Bella had already identified its origin. This was one of three prongs of the Isu Trident. If all three prongs could be reassembled, the artifact would be reborn.
To her question, the old man tilted his head and pondered for a long while. "Somewhere on the Scandinavian Peninsula, maybe? Can't really remember. At my age, the memory isn't what it used to be. Ha ha ha ha—"
Bella nodded. He didn't want to say more, so she didn't push.
The Prong of Faith, the Prong of Fear, and the Prong of Loyalty—the one in her hand was the Prong of Loyalty.
Unite all three, and you'd have the complete Isu Trident.
The Prong of Faith—she recalled reading about it in the Brotherhood's records. The Prong of Fear was anyone's guess. But once she had two prongs, she could perform a divination ritual. Finding them all was just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, Natasha unwrapped her box and found more than ten pages of notes, densely packed with formulas.
The handwriting was heavy and bold—whoever had written these was clearly someone of absolute decisiveness, without a moment's hesitation.
Bella glanced over and was immediately lost. A wall of chemical symbols. For a science-illiterate like her, it was completely incomprehensible. What even was this?
Natasha understood it. She looked up in shock. "Where did you get this?"
Santa pressed a hand over his left eye. "Stole it from a fellow who's all dark-skinned, looks rather fierce, and is blind in one eye! Ha ha ha ha—he must be absolutely livid right now!"