Hemostasis 3.10
To start, I decided to check the condition of the local evil version of Storm, who was currently lying knocked out in a puddle of blood. The woman was unconscious, but even if she had woken up, she would still be blind and unable to move even her limbs. I could have done something else to her spine, but that seemed like overkill. Even taking into account her accelerated regeneration, it was clear that she would need days to recover.
However, in my line of work, there is no such thing as too much paranoia. You never know what trick a supe might pull. Especially if they are on the brink of life and death. A supe might discover new aspects of their power at the most unexpected moment. And if the lady came to, putting her to sleep a second time would be much harder, considering my less-than-ideal condition.
Clenching my hand, a blood clot formed at the edge of her spinal cord. It took me over a minute to carefully pull it off without paralyzing the woman for the rest of her life. For now, it wouldn't kill her, but any attempt to move—and I could stop her once and for all with a single thought. But since she was much more useful alive than dead, I had to use my ability with surgical precision.
Exhaling, I proceeded to search for Butcher and Frenchie. I suspected they had fled during my brawl with the villainess when we were fighting in the room. Finding them in an unfamiliar complex full of enemies was practically impossible... for an ordinary person. However, I saw much more.
The world around me darkened as soon as I closed my eyes. The entire world transformed and came to consist of hundreds of shades of red. I felt every heartbeat, sensed the endless movement of the scarlet liquid. Every person turned into a unique picture, created from an intricate network of blood vessels. All people were different... but I remembered everyone.
Butcher and Frenchie were seventy-five meters away from me, actively moving even deeper into the hospital. Interestingly, there was another person next to them. Notably, he was a supe, but from some strange category. He had an incomprehensible physical mutation, but there was also something wrong with his blood itself. However, I was already getting used to this feeling in this place. Everyone here was somewhat strange.
"Right, before I forget..."
I walked up to the body of the defeated villainess and took three test tubes out of a belt pouch. A few deft hand movements with a quick use of power—and the test tubes filled with her blood.
I had wanted to seriously examine the blood of a supe other than myself for a long time. No normal scientist is satisfied with such a small number of samples. To even attempt to figure out the superhuman phenomenon, I needed a large sample size. Fortunately, considering the local number of captive supes, I would be able to fill all the test tubes here.
Moreover, this woman's blood interested me much more than that of ordinary supes. Somehow she seemed to have stopped aging, which is incredibly curious. I myself wouldn't mind gaining a similar effect, honestly. And that's not to mention that she also surpassed me in raw strength, speed, and endurance, improving which would also be nice.
Putting the test tubes away, I waved my hand, and all samples of my blood within a radius of dozens of meters instantly gathered into a sphere in front of me. I managed to gather a few hundred milliliters into a clot the size of a tennis ball. One thought, and it freezes in the air, after which it crystallizes in a few seconds. I simply tucked the resulting pebble into my belt.
Having finished my business, I grabbed the villainess by the belt, then easily lifted her and placed her on my shoulder. Even though she was stronger than me, she weighed practically nothing. I could move with her on my shoulder without slowing down at all.
Another batch of soldiers was moving towards the site of the carnage, but they fell unconscious even before they saw me. I need time to knock a person out without harming their brain, but such a short distance was not an issue. Thanks to this, I practically managed to catch up to Butcher and...
I had to quickly drop to my feet to dodge a knife flying at an incredible speed. It would have pierced my chest if I hadn't managed to notice a strange change in the bloodstream. I reflexively tried to knock out the person ten meters away from me, moving through the corridors, however, this someone was able to stay on their feet after the blood flow to their brain was cut off.
"I definitely need to come up with a new trick against strong supes..." I murmured barely audibly.
At the end of the corridor, surrounded by a whole pile of torn and burned human bodies that were previously doctors and guards, stood a short, bald woman. She held her bloodied hands in front of her, staring at them mesmerized with cold, emotionless eyes.
However, the moment I appeared, she sharply raised her head, beginning to look at me with an extremely furious gaze. The moment she extended her hand, all the objects around began to tremble violently. Why does everything always end in conflict...
Carefully placing the villainess's body against the wall, where it was unlikely to be hit by a stray attack, I myself rolled in the other direction, dodging bone fragments sent at me like shrapnel at the very last moment. They flew so fast that they were able to pierce the wall behind me and, it seems, flew through a few more rooms, if my hearing wasn't deceiving me. Getting up, I made a lightning-fast dash towards the bald girl, while clenching my fingers and using my superpower.
She, clearly already preparing to use human corpses as projectiles, suddenly screamed in pain. Her raised right hand jerked sharply to the side, and blood began to spill freely around her wrists. Right, I need to be more careful with the clinic's patients—they are not to blame for what Vought did to them. I'll apologize to her later.
Despite all the pain, the girl swung her left hand, after which a wave of force swept across the entire room, sending all things flying. I was no exception.
This time I didn't hit a wall, but some bookcase with a bunch of books. Taking a fleeting glance at them, I realized that these were books about superheroes authored by Brink. The wood didn't hold up for long, and my striking body turned it into a pile of splinters in just a second. Honestly, it's much more pleasant than hitting concrete.
A second later I felt how the splinters and my whole body suddenly rose upwards. Gravity seemed to cease to exist, as I began to literally float in the air, held by the power of the unknown girl. Now I had time to look closely and notice that she was quite young, only a year or two older than me, but looked much worse. The not-so-great and nutritious diet, consisting of all kinds of pills that the local patients are stuffed with, clearly showed.
You involuntarily wonder, when did Vought capture her? As a child or already as a teenager? I can understand why she's not okay mentally and decided to attack me without asking questions, but I myself was not ready to accept such a death. But killing her too...
"Kh-Khaa..."
My throat suddenly began to constrict, and I began to feel that I was unable to take even a single breath. My body reflexively tried to do everything to get out while I clenched my fingers. A blood clot gathered near her brain, causing the girl to begin swaying slightly, as if it were hard for her to stay on her feet.
One thought, and the scarlet liquid will take any shape that comes to my mind. I could have continued increasing the blood pressure in her head, however, I don't have much time. I felt that my body wouldn't be able to withstand it any longer under such pressure. I would have to solve the problem radically...
I began to clench my fingers, but before the irreparable happened, I was abruptly released and dropped down. The splinters flew down along with me, practically burying me underneath them, but I managed to easily throw them off, getting up at lightning speed. I began to greedily inhale air, looking in surprise at Frenchie, who had appeared behind the girl.
My ally held a breathing mask to her mouth, from which came a breathing tube leading to some hose with a gas unknown to me. It was clear that she definitely didn't expect this, but she no longer had time to do anything. In the heat of the battle, she was still tense, which is why she reflexively took a few breaths, which, however, were enough. She lowered her hand, closed her eyes, and relaxed significantly.
"When dealing with telekinetics, you need to target specifically the brain," Frenchie answered, breathing heavily. "It's very tough, but I have 'cocktails' that will calm even them down. You shouldn't just hit here, but work subtly."
The girl had already completely closed her eyes and passed out entirely, falling into the arms of our master chemist. He immediately supported her, then carefully laid her on the floor. I, meanwhile, just managed to catch my breath, pick up my old and still knocked-out opponent again, and then walked over to Frenchie, who was monitoring the girl's condition.
"Where is Butcher?" I asked.
Frenchie nodded his head towards the room at the end of the corridor, the door of which was slightly open.
"He is in the archive with our new ally, *mon frère*. When the showdown with the lady started," he shifted his gaze to the woman lying on my shoulder. "We managed to hide in the nearest room at the very last moment. There we met our new friend—Vasily. He was also a local patient who agreed to guide us if we later helped him get out of this clinic. I'm sure he will also be able to tell about the crimes of our enemies. Right now they are looking for some very important information about Vought's experiments, and our leader told me to guard the place."
I only chuckled, smiling slightly. Butcher hated me even before he knew my name, but he forms relationships with other supes so easily? Alright, I'll confront him about this and the complete idiocy of the plan later. Right now we are on a mission, and there is no room for sorting out relationships here.
"When they finish, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm sure Vought's real forces will arrive here soon..."
It doesn't even matter anymore what Butcher finds. We have witnesses to Vought's crimes and experiments. Both test subjects and people from inside Vought. I'm sure the lady on my shoulder is someone important and knows something useful, since she is directly connected to such an important project and clearly possesses some level of power here. Three sources will definitely be enough. However, if Butcher also finds material evidence that Neuman can present to Congress, then everything will be absolutely perfect...
I pondered, lowering my head and looking at the carnage created here. The blood of the killed staff covered the floor, and also decorated the walls and furniture like smeared paint. Here and there you could see torn pieces of flesh, hair, or shattered bones.
No. It won't. I know Vought. They will take advantage of the fact that we broke into their private property. They will say that the documents are forged, and the people are compromised or simply fake actors hired by competitors or the government. Moreover, the megacorporation is influential enough to make any trial eternal. And even the government, which wants to back them into a corner, will at most only be able to slow down their development and create a control system over the supes.
There will be no result. An argument of truly titanic proportions is needed to create a fuss of such size that even Vought's endless resources won't be able to wash away all the dirt. Something that will break the very core of the company and, especially, hit their stocks. The weakest point of any company, a blow to which can sometimes be fatal. However, a real information bomb is needed so that they feel it and are forced to bring changes for the better...
"Right, we are taking this one," I point my gaze at the girl lying on the floor, "with us. I'm sure we have specialists who will help her recover. But first I'll do something."
Another test tube, only this time I had to collect the blood with my hands. Fortunately, the wound on her arm still hadn't healed.
Frenchie threw me a very strange look, however, I simply brushed it off, after which I picked up the girl, placing her on my other shoulder. She was very thin and clearly undernourished, so this wasn't a serious burden for me either.
"I'll explain later if necessary. Where's Butcher?" I asked Frenchie.
We quickly walked to the end of the corridor. I continued to use blood vision and made sure no one unnecessary appeared. For better or worse, the complex had no time for us anymore, and with every second there were fewer people. I suspect that the supes who got out, having previously experienced all the joys of being Vought's test mice, decided not to hold back their anger.
I experienced mixed feelings. On the one hand, they were killing their tormentors, but what if there were innocent people here too? It's doubtful that such would be found at a secret Vought scientific base, but the chance still existed.
As soon as I entered the room, I immediately saw Butcher rummaging through a pile of papers, and a tall bearded man next to him. The latter was a true giant, almost two meters tall, and also quite broad. However, that wasn't what surprised me the most about him.
"Why do I always get ones like this..." I said listlessly, rolling my eyes and shaking my head.
I wasn't an expert in human mutations, especially those related to superpowers, so I couldn't immediately figure out what was wrong with the man. Only upon getting closer did I realize that he didn't just have an extra limb between his legs. As far as I understood, he had a power that allowed him to lengthen a part of his body dozens of times over. Just one part, let's say.
"And what did you come for? Can't you see, we're actually busy here, while you were playing Soldier Boy, blowing this place to fuck."
"Good afternoon!"
Butcher continued to be an asshole, which I didn't even pay attention to anymore, but the giant seemed quite positively minded and cheerful. He even waved his hand at me. And despite all the tension, I smiled sincerely. The man spoke loudly and seemingly too cheerfully for the whole situation, but that wasn't what mattered to me. His accent turned out to be painfully familiar.
"And hello to you too."
I'm sure he didn't expect to hear Russian speech here. Over the seventeen years that I almost hadn't practiced it, it had rusted heavily and an accent had become audible, however, I will never completely forget it. Frenchie, standing next to me, also looked surprised. But Butcher didn't care at all.
He quickly tossed around stacks of papers, only casting brief glances at them. Some he tossed into the evidence bag, but he didn't stop until he apparently found something truly valuable.
"Finally, fuck!" Butcher grumbled, pulling out some stack of papers. "Now we're gonna live, bitches..."
"I advise you to hurry up, since truly large forces are starting to approach here," I answered him with a smirk. "A dozen cars a kilometer away from us, driving towards the complex."
I won't say I interrupted Butcher without a little pleasure. After the fights, the adrenaline level began to drop, making my emotional state less and less stable. However, everything was far from over. This became especially clear from the crazy look of our "leader," who apparently simply didn't care about all the risks.
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