How did those goons even get their hands on Promethium-X?
I should make a list of everything.
Guns and Drugs.
Steel and Iron.
Vibranium and Heart-shaped herb.
Promethium-X and Carbonadium.
Adamantium and Cavorite.
Terrigen crystals and Netharanium.
There's some random stuff too.
Yeah, some of those materials had no business being in the hands of criminals. I don't even recognize half of them, but I'll have to use them anyway. I asked SPACE about Cavorite, and it turns out it's the same material NASA tested on Carol Danvers before she met Mar-Vell.
Carbonadium turned out to be a knockoff of Adamantium. Promethium? That came from those HYDRA lunatics and their ridiculous ambitions. I'm not even surprised.
That probably means they experimented on someone who came from hell.
"SPACE, put all materials into Project Cosmic, except the drugs. Make them safe, if possible."
«Sir, that will be difficult. It will take time.»
"Just do it. And don't forget to merge the Super Soldier Serum with SMF. Make it 100% safe—or at least 90 to 99%."
«Sir, there is a 50% chance you will attract unnecessary trouble.»
"What kind of trouble?"
«Wakanda, sir… and possibly demons.»
"Wakanda? What does Wakanda have to do with this? And demons? What are you talking about?"
«The Heart-shaped Herb mostly grows where there is Vibranium, and Wakanda specializes in Vibranium. They may think you stole it. As for the demons, HYDRA captured one and experimented on it. They extracted large amounts of Promethium from its body.»
"I knew it. Wait, how do you know about the Heart-shaped Herb in Wakanda?"
«Sir, Wakanda possesses advanced technology. They have their own satellites, network systems, and energy sources. I was able to access their camera footage and locate the Heart-shaped Herb.»
"You hacked Wakanda? Oh, shit! We need to move. Now."
«Sir, there is no need to worry. I did not use your IP address. I routed the access through a library in Manhattan, bounced it through Washington, D.C., then through the White House before using Wakanda's own network.»
"So Wakanda's going to think the White House hit them. Mxa Noice."
I should probably buy a house. Or an island.
I let SPACE continue working on Project Cosmic while I started building smart glasses and a smart ring. When those goons took my phone, I couldn't even capture their faces. There were no cameras there. If something had happened to me, no one would've found me.
My seventeenth birthday came, and we celebrated properly. Everyone close to me was there, except Alan. We'd been seeing less of him over the past four months.
At first, nothing seemed wrong. People change as they get older. I used to be jealous of him because he switched girlfriends every week but that stopped once I started dating.
It felt weird dating a fifteen-year-old at first, but I got over it.
We thought he actually liked the girl he'd been with for the past five months. Anyway…
My mother bought a brand-new car. Correction, cars
A McLaren F1, a Bentley Brooklands, a Bentley Continental R, and a BMW 7 Series (E38). We sold the old car, and she suggested buying a new house, but my grandmother and I refused.
My grandmother refused because she built everything in the house we live in now. She worked her ass off for it.
She said, "You can buy a new house, but your home is here."
After that, my mother dropped the idea. Before buying the cars, she cleared all her debts.
I asked to borrow one of the cars, but she told me to buy my own. I didn't help with her debts, not because I couldn't, but because I chose not to. I thought about helping earlier, but I decided to wait.
Life doesn't go as planned. The IRS showed up.
If I had paid off the loan sharks immediately after getting the money, they would've noticed something was off, like I'd won the lottery. They would've come after us constantly. Or worse, they'd say, "Everyone pays their own debts," take my money, and drag me into their business.
Either way, I'm glad everything got settled. My mother asked if she should go clubbing, and I said I'd go with her. She refused at first, but I told her if I wasn't going, then she shouldn't go either.
She reluctantly agreed, and we left in the McLaren F1.
It was just the two of us. We entered the club, and I sat near Grace while she was drinking. She told me to leave her alone.
A man came up to her, dressed in plain, simple clothes, and my mother got angry the moment she saw him. He had seen us getting out of the car, apparently, he's my deadbeat father.
He made small talk with Grace and eventually asked for what I expected, money. He's running from the gangs he borrowed from.
He got married in 1987 at 25. He already had a daughter two years before that. Last year, he borrowed a lot of money from gangs and sold his wife and daughter just to save himself.
Then he asked my mother if he could borrow money and promised to pay her back. She was about to agree, but I stopped her.
It looks like she still has feelings for him.
He got angry when I stopped her, really angry. Then some men showed up, and that's when it clicked. He sold us out.
He probably told them he'd get their money from my mother. That realization pissed me off. My mother seemed to realize we were surrounded.
There were eight of them, plus the bastard who brought them. I'm 5'5", and these guys looked anywhere from 6'3" to 7'4".
I stared their leader straight in the eyes without backing down. It looked strange, a 5'5" guy locking eyes with someone over 6'4".
My mother grabbed my hand and told me we needed to go, but they blocked the exits. It was a setup from the start. I glanced at the one who set us up, he was standing at the back of the group.
Everyone in the club saw what was happening, but no one stepped in.
"Bartender, give me the most expensive bottle you've got," I said.
The bartender hesitated, then handed it over.
"What are you doing, boy?" the leader asked, watching me.
"Relax. I'm coming to you. Bartender, are there any cameras here?" I asked.
He pointed them out.
"You think cameras scare us, boy?" the leader said with a smirk.
I shook my head, grabbed the bottle, and looked straight at one of the cameras. My mother stood beside me.
"SPACE, edit the footage of what's about to happen."