Damn, when I think about it, I already know why she was looking for me so carefully.
"What happened?" I asked, still considering whether I should confess or not. "I don't know, maybe you overexerted yourself? And passed out?"
"Let's skip those games, baby," she repeated my words almost identically. "We both know you did something to me. The only question is, what?"
Damn, it's probably impossible to talk my way out of this, and telling the truth is definitely something I don't want to do. Why? Mystique is a well-known supporter of one of the most infamous mutant-terrorists. If Magneto, no matter what gender he is in this world, finds out about me and gets interested, it's over. He's incredibly powerful, and more importantly, inventive. I haven't gained enough weight yet to simply ignore such people.
"You started spreading your hands, so technically, if you want to blame someone, look in the mirror."
"Honey, I never intended to hold a grudge against you!" The mutant exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "You're right that I'm to blame for everything! All I want to know is how you did it? You're a mutant, aren't you?"
"W-why do you think so?"
Shit, I hate this period of getting used to a new body! As soon as I glanced at her nipples, which were clearly showing through her white dress, my head got hit by another dose of hormones that wiped all my smart thoughts away!
"Let me think," she purred sweetly and deliberately stuck her chest out even more.
"Maybe I've just seen people like you before," I waved off that argument.
"You know my name, but I didn't introduce myself. Mind reading?"
"Common acquaintances?"
"Come on," for a moment, her yellow eyes flashed with anger, but she quickly composed herself and started talking to me like I was a half-wit schoolgirl. "Look, baby, I don't mean you any harm. You know who I really am, and you don't feel disgusted by my appearance, I don't know any regular person who could accept it so calmly. But mutants, they take it much easier."
"What do you want?" I asked gloomily, though I already knew the answer to that question.
"Honey, I see you haven't yet realized how harsh this world can be. But sooner or later, you're going to meet some terrible person. People like us, we need to stick together. We're mutants, and we understand each other…"
"Not interested," I waved my head.
"What?" Mystique seemed even slightly surprised by how fiercely I had dismissed her. "But…"
"No buts. Mystique, or rather Raven, that's your name, right? So, Raven, I know who you are, I've seen you from the inside, and what I definitely don't want is to tie my future with someone like you. No offense, but I'd make a mediocre puppet, so don't even try."
She looked stunned, apparently expecting to deal with a much less mature guy. My firm rejection threw her off the pre-planned course of the conversation.
"B-but I'm extremely resistant to telepathy, how did you know my name?"
"Looks like you're overestimating yourself, "I shrugged."
Whatever the case, I wasn't going to align myself with her or her boss. Terrorism is a bad thing, especially when I recall that movie where Magneto and his comrades wanted to destroy a mutant who could suppress others' powers. I can understand the action itself, but given that such a mutant might be my only chance for a normal relationship with the opposite sex in this world, I clearly don't want to help Magneto.
From the other side, someone pulled the toilet handle. We'd been standing here too long discussing our business, and even in such a low-traffic area, someone needed to go to the toilet.
"Alright," Mystique said after a brief silence. "If you're adamant about not continuing our acquaintance, I won't force you."
"Really?" I was surprised.
"Of course, you can go, whatever you saw inside my head, but I'm not such a bad mutant."
Mystique stepped aside and gestured for me to walk toward the door, which was locked with a mop handle. I gave her a suspicious look but decided to take her up on the offer, seeing no other way out.
One, two, three… and now sharply to the side! A blurry streak shot past my ear, like a thin branch. A telescoping baton? Clever! But it won't help! Without looking back, I took another half-step back and dodged another strike. She seemed incredibly fast, but so far, I was predicting her attacks fairly easily.
It was much harder to escape. At some point, I stepped to the side of Mystique. I received a painful blow to my collarbone but managed to grab her hand. She had hoped the glove would protect her. But I'd already found out that clothing grown using her abilities doesn't protect from mine.
When the young woman started to collapse onto the filthy floor of the public toilet, I severed contact and clutched my aching collarbone. Shit! It hurts! Damn it, you idiot! In my usual way, I took control of the werewolf abilities I had gained and forced my bruised body to take on a normal human color and limped toward the exit.
Pulling out the mop, I yanked the door toward me. The person who had recently been knocking to get into the toilet had apparently gone to look for happiness elsewhere, but I almost immediately saw a slightly worried Jubilee.
"Why are you taking so long?" she asked. "And why was the door locked?"
"Later, let's go."
"What happened?"
Some unfamiliar pale-looking woman pushed off from the wall of the hallway and hurried toward us.
"Quickly," I said, and hastily pulled on my glove, dragging Lee behind me.
"Hey!" that girl exclaimed, clearly noticing Mystique on the toilet floor. "Stop, you little bastard!"
"Let's go!" I shouted, and without hiding it, took off running.
We were almost at the first steps leading out of the underground passage when my intuition forced me to turn my head to the side. Archies and other cosmic whales can restrict the abilities of newcomers as much as they want, but some things remain with us no matter what. For example, intuition. After so many lives, I've learned to occasionally listen to the itch in my fifth point and interpret it correctly!
Something long and red flew by my head. But almost immediately disappeared again. Risking to turn my head slightly, I realized that it was a tongue. A very, very long tongue! Orochimaru would have given one of his bodies to get a tongue like that! Believe me, I know! He also has this organ developed to perfection, but the girl who had just shot at me clearly outdid White Snake in length! Between us, there's at least five meters, if not more!
Not stopping, I climbed the steps, practically dragging Jubilee behind me. Still, for a while, I had gained Mystique's abilities, and she was quite a strong woman who definitely surpassed me physically. Strangely enough, my collarbone didn't hurt that much anymore!
The Toad, apparently the name of this mutant if my memory serves me correctly, hesitated for a moment. She didn't know what to do in this situation: whether to help her fallen friend, Mystique, or chase us. In the end, she chose the latter, but by the time we reached that point, Lee and I had already managed to break away quite a bit. Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived.
The Toad, living up to her name, jumped excellently and threatened to catch us any second now. New attempts were made to reach us with her long tongue, and if it weren't for the firework flashes that my frightened friend scattered around, we would have been caught long ago!
Something had to be done urgently, and I even knew exactly what.
"Let's split up!" I yelled to Lee.
"No way!" she protested.
"She only wants me. I have a plan, but you're too slow, sorry, but we won't outrun her together!"
"Damn it!" Jubilee almost cried, but admitted the obvious.
"Here, phone and address, be there!" As I ran, I shoved a note into the little Asian girl's palm. "I'll come as soon as I can!"
"Promise?!"
"Yes, run!"
The girl sniffled but quickly veered off in another direction. I glanced back and made sure the Toad was strictly following me, ignoring Lee. Good, that means everything is going according to plan. A plan that doesn't exist, ha-ha!