Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 398 NEW COSTUMES

“You think this is it?” I asked as yet another limo drove up. Instead of waiting until the night I stopped by Jessica’s friend’s place. It seemed after some crying, sleep, more crying, more sleep, and a tub of ice cream that I helped to provide she was able to remember a little. Such as hearing about a fancy little auction going on that night. 

Now I wasn’t the best at auctions. The last one I played a part in didn’t end well. And from my past experience, auctions with the top 1% of the city would not be a pretty sight. After reviewing with Demoness I bought us our own special get-ups for the occasion. 

I was mostly surprised she was being so agreeable to me joining up with her. But I got the impression that she felt insulated from danger knowing my real identity, and we were connected in our own stupid superhero origin of a backstory. She didn’t know my whole story, but she knew I could handle myself in a fight. 

“You know I’m blind, right?” Matilda asked. 

“Psh, you can probably sense better than anyone…besides me at least. You basically have 5 senses,” I said with a shrug. 

“I can get the general idea of everything, but I can’t see all the details,” she said. Annoyed for some reason. Her costume made her impossible not to stare at and since she was blind I stared at her face while looking down to her chest while we talked. 

 
“So you see the forest, not the trees? Jeez, sucks to be you. Either way you’ll be fine. The only problem is getting in there,” I said while studying the building. It appeared to be a large venue, maybe an arena or something. Limo after limo came up, dropping people off. It was like some celebrity get together but there was no one taking pictures. No red carpet. And I didn’t miss the fact that there were no cameras pointed at the entrance. Just 4 big security guards with guns. 

As I studied them I looked around to try to find the best way to get inside. I really needed to get to a world where I was a psychic or something. This whole no-Genjutsu BS was really making me work. 

Then to my surprise a familiar face walked out of the building, talking to one of the guards. The young entrepreneur, Sebastian Shaw made an appearance. Shaking hands with some people walking inside he spoke to one of the guards who then ran inside to handle something. 

“Should have known,” I mumbled. 

“What?” 

“That guy that stepped out. That’s Sebastian Shaw, runs the Hellfire Club now.”

“The what?” 

“Hellfire Club. Richest of the rich. Most of them have super powers or are super wealthy so they can hire people that have powers, which is in turn their super power,” I said. 

“Never heard of them,” she whispered. “What does it mean?” 

“It means we need to worry about normal guards and maybe some guards like us,” I said. “Come on. Someone just stepped out onto the roof to have a smoke.” 

“What? How can you tell?” She asked as I backed away down the alley. 

“You’re not the only one with senses,” I said. “You want me to fly you or what?” She looked up, chewing her cherry colored lips then sighed. Nodding resignedly I picked her up in a princess carry. 

“Not like this,” she said but I was already lifting off. 

“How the hell was I supposed to grab you?” I asked as I sped up between the 2 large buildings. 

“I don’t know, grab my hand,” she said, blushing. 

“Can you really trust that I won’t pretend to lose my grip, then grab you again?” I asked. 

She opened her mouth then shut it again. “You really are a child,” she mumbled. 

“Only at heart,” I said, giving her a smile that I had no idea if she could sense or not. 

We got to the roof of the arena and there were a couple of guys smoking. A brick placed in the door to keep it open I decided against a Spark to paralyze them and just threw one of the many rocks from my inventory. It hit a piece of metal ductwork sticking out of the roof and the men moved closer to check it out. 

Zooming into the door I kicked the brick away and heard the smokers yell. They were good and locked out.

“Can you stop doing that?” Matilda asked as I set her down. 

“What?” 

“The zoom, reerh, and psshh sound effects you make when you fly?” She asked, annoyed. 

“I do that?” I asked with a laugh. “Didn’t even notice. Sorry, it's still new to me.” Pulling the bag out of my Inventory I dropped it in front of us. Digging inside I pulled out my suit and tie and her dress. 

“How long have you had the powers?” She asked. 

“Few months,” I said as I began to disrobe. She reluctantly did the same. Unzipping her red Demoness costume I was disappointed when she turned around. I hadn’t noticed she was wearing underwear underneath the tight outfit but she was. 

“You’re pretty strong for a few months,” she noted. 

“And getting stronger,” I said. “What about you? How does your power work?” 

“I thought you knew,” she said, turning to give me a cocky grin. 

“I have cursory knowledge of many things. Like I know you can hear most everything and have like an echolocation power,” I said. She really should have had the Batman hero name. 

“What the hell,” she whispered, pulling up the dress I bought her. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Too long of a story to answer,” I said, putting on my tie. The suit was nice and I paid a pretty penny for both. Her dress was a sparkly red, which I assumed was her color, but it wasn’t as tight as her Demoness costume. I frowned sadly until she turned around to show an amazing wonderland of cleavage. 

“I can tell where you’re staring,” she noted.

“Just admiring god’s work,” I said. 

“Yeah yeah,” she mumbled, but to my surprise her Spiritual Energy wasn’t all that disappointed. Either she liked attention or I had proven I was worth keeping around. “You mind?” She turned to show that the zipper at the back wasn’t all the way up. 

“Hell no I don’t mind,” I said, moving over to her. Grabbing the zipper I couldn’t help but admire her muscular shoulders. She hid it well, but Matilda was strong. Each muscle rippled individually as she straightened her dress. I zipped the back up as slowly as possible to appreciate the woman. “What is that? Peppermint?” 

Her Haki actually blushed. “I’m sensitive to smells. It helps me not…get overwhelmed.” 

“I’m not complaining,” I said, my hands lingering on her shoulders. She shivered but didn’t pull away. “You look very beautiful in red.” 

“Is this red?” She mumbled, nervous. I couldn’t believe how excited she felt. I thought for sure she hated me. 

“Yes,” I said. “Definitely your color. Really brings out your eyes.” I pulled her contact lens case out of my inventory and handed it to her over her shoulder. 

“Where the hell do you pull this stuff out of?” She asked, taking the case. Opening the case she leaned her head back to put the contacts in. The accident that made her blind gave her eyes a milky color. The contacts were to give her a less blind appearance. 

“I have very…odd skills,” I said. “One is magic. I can pull things out of mid-air.” I reached behind me and pulled out a chair. 

“So flying? Materialization or some kind of storage? A sensory skill? And what? Super-strength?” 

“No, strength is all mine. At least I think it is. Took me forever to get this strong,” I said. I wasn’t sure if the Viltrumite form had made me stronger. From my simple weight training I didn’t think it had, but like my flying I could have to be pushed far to call it out. “Sensory skill…that one isn’t so much a skill as an attunement to the energy around me.” 

“Energy around you?” She asked idly as she put the other contact in. 

“Yep. Everything around us has something called Spiritual Energy. All different. This cinderblock is different from the grout,” I said, touching the wall. “You have different energy than me. I can sense all of it.”

“Sounds…made up,” she said, turning around to face me. The contacts were brown, but really did help make her look like she could see. She was good at facing the general location of my eyes. 

“It’s not. I can sense everything around me for about 50 feet. But if I skip the details I can see a hell of a lot farther. Like a floor below us is a guard heading this way,” I said, grabbing her hand and taking her down the stairs behind me. 

“Wait, my costume,” she said. Letting go she grabbed it. “Where can I…” I threw it in my Inventory. 

“I’ll give it back when I can. Next time you need a purse that can fit it or something,” I said. Running down the stairs I felt the guard getting closer. Grabbing Matilda’s hand I pulled her to me as the door opened. The door blocked the man’s view of us as I used Zetsu to eliminate my presence. The guard walked up the stairs without noticing us and we went into the hall he had left. 

“What the hell did you just do?” Matilda asked as we moved quickly down the hall. 

“Hid behind the door?”

“No, just now. You…disappeared from my senses. I could hear you breathing but that was it,” she said. 

“Oh that’s another skill. I…can explain later. It’s more of an Eastern skill to learn,” I admitted. 

“Are you sure you’re 17?” she asked. 

“Almost 18,” I said, resisting the urge to wink. I could tell she didn’t like the reminder that I was so young. “Just in body. My mind is much older…another skill of mine.” I could tell she wanted to ask more but we came to a staircase. Down below more people were streaming inside. I had hoped to run into a guard. Then Matilda and I would have to make out to pretend like we were finding somewhere secluded. But I never got the chance. We ran down the stairs and joined the thickening crowd without issue. 

We passed into an actual ballroom. Shiny hardwood floors at our feet there were tables with high class glasses, plates, and cutlery spread out. The Richie Riche’s of the world wore gold jewelry, glittering diamonds, fur coats, and all were talking about this or that yacht or party or company to buy. I resisted the urge to pick a few pockets because I doubted Matilda would approve. 

“I thought this was supposed to be an auction,” Matilda mumbled.

“Me too, looks like this ball or whatever is some kind of cover,” I said. Scanning the crowd for people I knew I was getting rather nervous with how many guards there were around us. “We might need to mingle and come up with backstories.”

“Like what?” She asked. 

“You can be Natasha, and I’ll be Clinton,” I said. She had the red hair so it worked. “Representatives from the new country of Genosha.”

“The mutant home island or whatever? Why?”

“Because I don’t see any of them here, and it’s still a mystery to most people,” I said. “Shit, psychic.” I noticed Emma Frost ahead. She was wearing her white corset, and basically lingerie below the belt. A white fur coat down her back she wore blue tinted lipstick and eye shadow that somehow made her more beautiful. 

“Who?”

“10 o’clock. Woman about your height,” I said, putting my arm over her shoulder and turning her a different way. “I thought she was a stripper.” Emma sure as hell was a few days ago. Maybe she got a promotion or something in the week since I’d seen her. 

“You say the weirdest crap. A psychic stripper?” Matilda asked. 

“Yep, now where are they going?” I asked. Looking around I found 2 of the guards leaving the ballroom and focused on them with my Haki. There was another stairwell that took them down to the basement. I sensed some of the elite moving to side doors and taking an elevator. All going down. I guessed the real event was happening there. 

“Come on,” I said, mapping out the area with my Observation Haki. “I think I found the real fun.” 

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