Chapter 9: Game of Gods (3)
—
At a construction site,
Peter was passing by a construction site as he heard the workers chat amongst themselves.
“You saw the new Spiderman photo? The quote kinda hits hard though.” one of the workers said, resting his chin on the end of his shovel.
“I guess.” his friend beside him said. “If a guy like Spiderman takes leisure breaks, we should too.”
“Yeah, but does anyone know what that game is on his phone?”
Peter smiled. Enrique's plan was working.
—
In Peter’s school,
“Hey, dude, did you see this picture of Spiderman?!” a student leaned over to his friend’s desk as he showed him his phone. “It came out so cool!”
“Pretty sure it's edited.” one of the nerds said from the side, pushing his glasses upwards. “From the way the moonlight is shining, it can't be natural.”
“Of course it's edited, dumbass, but it's still legit Spidey right?”
“Though what's that game on his phone?”
Peter smiled again.
—
Later during the lunch break,
“Hey, did anyone figure out which game that is?” Flash Thompson yelled in the middle of the cafeteria, his phone in the air, getting a few annoyed looks that he ignored.
Peter, stuffing his mouth with food, chuckled at that. “You still haven't figured it out?”
“That's right, Parker pants. Do you know it?” Flash turned to him, watching him smirk. “Ugh, of course you do. Nerd.”
Peter shrugged and showed him the game’s title, and then like a wildfire everyone in the school had the game. Peter presumed that's the least he could do after getting paid $1,000 just for modelling for a single picture.
A whole freaking grand! This would get him going for 2 whole months!
——
Enrique Nova watched the followers of his [Nova Games] page on Instagram and Twitter. 49k on Insta, and 32k on Twitter. All, from a single high-quality picture of Spiderman. Speaking of that photo, it had collected a whole of 2.3 million likes on both his Insta and Twitter pages.
Not only that, the picture was shared on different platforms and pages by the fans, so the reach for his game wasn't restricted to 2.3 million people. Instead in a single night, he had earned over 10+ million downloads (all stores combined).
Enrique heard a delightfully excited laughter in his head.
[“This is the greatest day I have had in the last two millennia! So, so, so many faith points!”] Goddess Mut crackled like a maniac. Although she didn't get any permanent believers, believers who would generate faith points every day, this was nothing less than a miracle to her. [“You know, I haven't earned this much faith in the last decade. Though given that my religion is basically dead it doesn't say much, but still! A whole decade’s worth of faith points in a single night!”]
Enrique chuckled at her cheerfulness. Her gentle motherly aura transformed into that of a childish happiness’ one since last night. She was kind of cute now.
“Do I get anything in exchange for my great work, my goddess?” Enrique asked, looking up at the ceiling from his chair. “Like a tip?”
He just heard a playful scoff in his mind. [“Hmph. Me earning more faith points means you grow stronger, anyway. Now, you get to access one more of my powers. [Lightning Cloak]. It's a technique where you coat your entire body with an aura of electricity. Besides the auto Zap attack that anyone will experience if they come too close to you, the Cloak will also boost your strength, speed, durability, and healing speed tremendously. Oh, by the way, you don't have a natural healing factor, so if you want to heal from an injury this technique is your only hope. Unfortunately, this only lasts 1 minute, with a cool-down of 10 minutes. So think carefully before using it.”]
That sounded like a decent power-up. Enrique hummed at her words, but said nothing.
Things were going well for him.
He got the money he so much wanted, having earned $10,000+ from the downloads and ads already. In fact, he hadn't even introduced a Shop feature yet, since this was mostly for testing reasons, and when the Shop is out in the next update, he knew money would be the least of his worries.
Now, he just had to wait for the lovely little Rogue to return.
——
Meanwhile,
It's been six days since Anna came to Xavier's school, and… nothing went right.
Things weren't so bad at first, after she refused to give Charles her phone, he didn't bother asking for it again. She soon realised just how many more kids like her were in this school. She got to know the students and professors better, and got to make friends who didn't look at her as if she was a freak. Heck, she even found somewhat of a crush on this school.
Robert Drake, nickname Bobby, was a mutant with the power to freeze anything. He and she had a fun chemistry between them. In fact, she didn't call Enrique for the past three days because she was busy spending time with Bobby (though she hoped Enrique wouldn't mind because of his busy schedule). That's how her life has been going for the past few days, fun and easy.
Then yesterday happened.
Everything went downhill when Anna had the foolish idea that maybe, just maybe, Enrique wasn't actually special and rather she now had enough control over her powers to not hurt others. So she asked Bobby to help her test it, but the moment Bobby touched her hand he immediately fell into a seizure, just like everyone else.
It's been a day, and Bobby hadn't woken up yet.
Anna wished that was the end of it, but that's not even the worst thing that happened yesterday. One of the professors here, Logan, had his room close to hers. She happened to hear his painful grunting at night, so she went to check on him, hoping to clear her image of an evil power-stealing Mutant by helping out a professor.
But Logan accidentally attacked her, shoving in his sharp claws into her chest. In a desperate attempt to survive, she touched his cheeks and managed to borrow his healing factor, allowing her wounds to heal while Logan lost his consciousness.
She tried to repair her image, but rather the damage was intensified, and her reputation was… ruined. Wasted, and down the drain. This morning she noticed how everyone just avoided her, some of them even screamed when she walked past them.
Sad and worried, Anna was outside, sitting on a bench, away from the other students. Her head was lowered and her mind was blank just as she heard the sound of someone walking toward her.
She looked up and found Bobby.
"Bobby!" Anna jumped up, smiling. "Are you alright now??"
She walked over to him, about to hug him. She didn't worry about hurting him since she was wearing hand gloves, but… Bobby jumped back, looking at her in panic.
…What?
"S-stay away from me, Anna!" Bobby yelled, his hands raised in a defensive state. "I don't trust you close to me."
What? Wh… why was he acting this way? She already told him that there was a chance he might get hurt, and he accepted to comply with her testing regardless! …Enrique would never have acted this way.
"Bobby…" Anna pulled back her hand, standing still. "Are you scared of me? Do you think of me the same way others in the school do?"
Bobby's face took a complicated expression before he grumbled to himself. "I mean, you really are a power-stealing mutant like the others are calling you. What can I do? I experienced it first hand."
Anna's lips quivered. "I… I don't steal powers, Bobby. I borrow them. Try using your powers again, it will work. I myself can't use them anymore. It's a temporary thing."
Bobby's expression shifted but he didn't say anything.
Anna clenched her jaws. "Then why did you come to me? If you are scared, why did you still come here?" She sounded angry, but she was somewhat hopeful. She hoped he would say he just wanted to hear from her mouth that she wasn't doing these intentionally. She hoped he would say something comforting, she hoped he will apologise… but her hope was broken once she heard his next words.
"You should leave, Anna." Bobby said. "I… I liked you, that's why I am telling you this. Nobody likes you in school, they fear you. Heck, even Professor Charles is mad with you! They're all either scared, mad, or disappointed at you. I… I think it's better for you to be alone, Anna. Or else you'll bring misfortune to the people around you."
Anna stared at him for a long silent minute as a trail of tears fell from her cheeks. To hear this from Bobby of all people… her heart trembled.
"Alright," she managed to mutter, uncaring to wipe her tears. "Thank you… for the warning."
He tried to say something, but Anna had heard enough. She ran past him, towards the main gate of the school. Bobby might have broken her heart, but he had a point. She couldn't be here anymore.
A part of her wanted to call Enrique, to ask him to bring her to his home. But… a larger part of her feared what'd come next. What if he rejected her? What if he sneered at her for only calling him when she needed something from him? More than that, her heart couldn't bring herself to use that gentle and kind man – who stood beside her despite her situation – as a secondary choice after this school.
No. A person like her deserved to be alone.
—-
In reality, Bobby was still unconscious in the infirmary as he hadn't woken up from his coma yet.
The person who Anna just talked to, Supervillain “Shape-Shifter” Mystique, smirked as she watched Anna leave through the main gates.
'Stage 1, completed.'
Mystique noted before she changed her body to that of another student and then made her way inside the school building.
She followed her memory, taking the elevator to an underground chamber where she knew Cerebro was.
'Now I just have to tweak with Cerebro enough that Charles can't find that girl. Not before we capture her, at least.'
Mystique smirked as she crouched down in front of the door of Cerebro, changing her eyes to that of Charles Xavier as the machine scanned her eyes.
[Ting! Welcome, professor!]
A mechanical voice spoke as it opened for Mystique who took her true, gorgeous blue form, and stepped inside.
Soon the job was done and Mystique left to follow behind that stupidly powerful girl. She won't engage with the girl, Anna Marie was too dangerous, but just informing Magneto would do the job.
**
**
**
If you want to read the next 15+ chapters ahead or support me, go to: patreon.com/Master4thWall
Chapter 9: Game of Gods (3)
—
At a construction site,
Peter was passing by a construction site as he heard the workers chat amongst themselves.
“You saw the new Spiderman photo? The quote kinda hits hard though.” one of the workers said, resting his chin on the end of his shovel.
“I guess.” his friend beside him said. “If a guy like Spiderman takes leisure breaks, we should too.”
“Yeah, but does anyone know what that game is on his phone?”
Peter smiled. Enrique's plan was working.
—
In Peter’s school,
“Hey, dude, did you see this picture of Spiderman?!” a student leaned over to his friend’s desk as he showed him his phone. “It came out so cool!”
“Pretty sure it's edited.” one of the nerds said from the side, pushing his glasses upwards. “From the way the moonlight is shining, it can't be natural.”
“Of course it's edited, dumbass, but it's still legit Spidey right?”
“Though what's that game on his phone?”
Peter smiled again.
—
Later during the lunch break,
“Hey, did anyone figure out which game that is?” Flash Thompson yelled in the middle of the cafeteria, his phone in the air, getting a few annoyed looks that he ignored.
Peter, stuffing his mouth with food, chuckled at that. “You still haven't figured it out?”
“That's right, Parker pants. Do you know it?” Flash turned to him, watching him smirk. “Ugh, of course you do. Nerd.”
Peter shrugged and showed him the game’s title, and then like a wildfire everyone in the school had the game. Peter presumed that's the least he could do after getting paid $1,000 just for modelling for a single picture.
A whole freaking grand! This would get him going for 2 whole months!
——
Enrique Nova watched the followers of his [Nova Games] page on Instagram and Twitter. 49k on Insta, and 32k on Twitter. All, from a single high-quality picture of Spiderman. Speaking of that photo, it had collected a whole of 2.3 million likes on both his Insta and Twitter pages.
Not only that, the picture was shared on different platforms and pages by the fans, so the reach for his game wasn't restricted to 2.3 million people. Instead in a single night, he had earned over 10+ million downloads (all stores combined).
Enrique heard a delightfully excited laughter in his head.
[“This is the greatest day I have had in the last two millennia! So, so, so many faith points!”] Goddess Mut crackled like a maniac. Although she didn't get any permanent believers, believers who would generate faith points every day, this was nothing less than a miracle to her. [“You know, I haven't earned this much faith in the last decade. Though given that my religion is basically dead it doesn't say much, but still! A whole decade’s worth of faith points in a single night!”]
Enrique chuckled at her cheerfulness. Her gentle motherly aura transformed into that of a childish happiness’ one since last night. She was kind of cute now.
“Do I get anything in exchange for my great work, my goddess?” Enrique asked, looking up at the ceiling from his chair. “Like a tip?”
He just heard a playful scoff in his mind. [“Hmph. Me earning more faith points means you grow stronger, anyway. Now, you get to access one more of my powers. [Lightning Cloak]. It's a technique where you coat your entire body with an aura of electricity. Besides the auto Zap attack that anyone will experience if they come too close to you, the Cloak will also boost your strength, speed, durability, and healing speed tremendously. Oh, by the way, you don't have a natural healing factor, so if you want to heal from an injury this technique is your only hope. Unfortunately, this only lasts 1 minute, with a cool-down of 10 minutes. So think carefully before using it.”]
That sounded like a decent power-up. Enrique hummed at her words, but said nothing.
Things were going well for him.
He got the money he so much wanted, having earned $10,000+ from the downloads and ads already. In fact, he hadn't even introduced a Shop feature yet, since this was mostly for testing reasons, and when the Shop is out in the next update, he knew money would be the least of his worries.
Now, he just had to wait for the lovely little Rogue to return.
——
Meanwhile,
It's been six days since Anna came to Xavier's school, and… nothing went right.
Things weren't so bad at first, after she refused to give Charles her phone, he didn't bother asking for it again. She soon realised just how many more kids like her were in this school. She got to know the students and professors better, and got to make friends who didn't look at her as if she was a freak. Heck, she even found somewhat of a crush on this school.
Robert Drake, nickname Bobby, was a mutant with the power to freeze anything. He and she had a fun chemistry between them. In fact, she didn't call Enrique for the past three days because she was busy spending time with Bobby (though she hoped Enrique wouldn't mind because of his busy schedule). That's how her life has been going for the past few days, fun and easy.
Then yesterday happened.
Everything went downhill when Anna had the foolish idea that maybe, just maybe, Enrique wasn't actually special and rather she now had enough control over her powers to not hurt others. So she asked Bobby to help her test it, but the moment Bobby touched her hand he immediately fell into a seizure, just like everyone else.
It's been a day, and Bobby hadn't woken up yet.
Anna wished that was the end of it, but that's not even the worst thing that happened yesterday. One of the professors here, Logan, had his room close to hers. She happened to hear his painful grunting at night, so she went to check on him, hoping to clear her image of an evil power-stealing Mutant by helping out a professor.
But Logan accidentally attacked her, shoving in his sharp claws into her chest. In a desperate attempt to survive, she touched his cheeks and managed to borrow his healing factor, allowing her wounds to heal while Logan lost his consciousness.
She tried to repair her image, but rather the damage was intensified, and her reputation was… ruined. Wasted, and down the drain. This morning she noticed how everyone just avoided her, some of them even screamed when she walked past them.
Sad and worried, Anna was outside, sitting on a bench, away from the other students. Her head was lowered and her mind was blank just as she heard the sound of someone walking toward her.
She looked up and found Bobby.
"Bobby!" Anna jumped up, smiling. "Are you alright now??"
She walked over to him, about to hug him. She didn't worry about hurting him since she was wearing hand gloves, but… Bobby jumped back, looking at her in panic.
…What?
"S-stay away from me, Anna!" Bobby yelled, his hands raised in a defensive state. "I don't trust you close to me."
What? Wh… why was he acting this way? She already told him that there was a chance he might get hurt, and he accepted to comply with her testing regardless! …Enrique would never have acted this way.
"Bobby…" Anna pulled back her hand, standing still. "Are you scared of me? Do you think of me the same way others in the school do?"
Bobby's face took a complicated expression before he grumbled to himself. "I mean, you really are a power-stealing mutant like the others are calling you. What can I do? I experienced it first hand."
Anna's lips quivered. "I… I don't steal powers, Bobby. I borrow them. Try using your powers again, it will work. I myself can't use them anymore. It's a temporary thing."
Bobby's expression shifted but he didn't say anything.
Anna clenched her jaws. "Then why did you come to me? If you are scared, why did you still come here?" She sounded angry, but she was somewhat hopeful. She hoped he would say he just wanted to hear from her mouth that she wasn't doing these intentionally. She hoped he would say something comforting, she hoped he will apologise… but her hope was broken once she heard his next words.
"You should leave, Anna." Bobby said. "I… I liked you, that's why I am telling you this. Nobody likes you in school, they fear you. Heck, even Professor Charles is mad with you! They're all either scared, mad, or disappointed at you. I… I think it's better for you to be alone, Anna. Or else you'll bring misfortune to the people around you."
Anna stared at him for a long silent minute as a trail of tears fell from her cheeks. To hear this from Bobby of all people… her heart trembled.
"Alright," she managed to mutter, uncaring to wipe her tears. "Thank you… for the warning."
He tried to say something, but Anna had heard enough. She ran past him, towards the main gate of the school. Bobby might have broken her heart, but he had a point. She couldn't be here anymore.
A part of her wanted to call Enrique, to ask him to bring her to his home. But… a larger part of her feared what'd come next. What if he rejected her? What if he sneered at her for only calling him when she needed something from him? More than that, her heart couldn't bring herself to use that gentle and kind man – who stood beside her despite her situation – as a secondary choice after this school.
No. A person like her deserved to be alone.
—-
In reality, Bobby was still unconscious in the infirmary as he hadn't woken up from his coma yet.
The person who Anna just talked to, Supervillain “Shape-Shifter” Mystique, smirked as she watched Anna leave through the main gates.
'Stage 1, completed.'
Mystique noted before she changed her body to that of another student and then made her way inside the school building.
She followed her memory, taking the elevator to an underground chamber where she knew Cerebro was.
'Now I just have to tweak with Cerebro enough that Charles can't find that girl. Not before we capture her, at least.'
Mystique smirked as she crouched down in front of the door of Cerebro, changing her eyes to that of Charles Xavier as the machine scanned her eyes.
[Ting! Welcome, professor!]
A mechanical voice spoke as it opened for Mystique who took her true, gorgeous blue form, and stepped inside.
Soon the job was done and Mystique left to follow behind that stupidly powerful girl. She won't engage with the girl, Anna Marie was too dangerous, but just informing Magneto would do the job.
**
**
**
If you want to read the next 15+ chapters ahead or support me, go to: patreon.com/Master4thWall
