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"Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting."
- Steve McQueen
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<(Atem POV)>
After Susan discovered her power to become invisible, I had to spend about 10 minutes explaining to her how her powers were not at all harmful to her being and how she was not a weirdo. However, doing all that explaining wasn't too much of a headache for me since she took everything like a champ.
Although quite worried at first, she soon realized that her power didn't pose any significant danger to herself and could be easily controlled with some focus. In fact, she even began to practice her ability on her own in order to find out what else she could do with her powers.
"Your invisibility seems to work on the principle of reflection of light. Maybe you could also change colors and stuff as well by using the same method to make up illusions." I casually advised.
She would figure out how to use her forcefield power in time which in itself would be extremely OP but the ability to cast illusions by bending light around her or her forcefields was something that she never fully utilized, even in the comics even though she always possessed it. However, the most she did with it was make others invisible or change her hair color. That was the reason I even advised her that, to try to give her a clue about how else she could use her powers.
After seeing his sister's powers, Johnny too began trying to become invisible himself but of course, as expected, it didn't work at all. Even after using his complete focus while clenching all the muscles in his body, he could not achieve anything even close to invisibility. The only thing that did change in him was his body temperature, which rose a few degrees but no one else noticed it except me.
I thought about telling him about his own fire-based abilities as well, but we were quickly running out of time. We still needed to prepare our racing crafts for tomorrow and we were nowhere close, so without wasting any more time, I entered the bar ignoring Johnny's mutterings of disappointment.
As the guards had said, the bar was mostly empty with only a few drunk people spread throughout the establishment along with just one bartender cleaning the glasses.
Initially, I was only looking for a humanoid woman sitting alone by herself, but besides my main target, I found someone else as well, someone who was just as... interesting.
"A glass of water please," I ordered the rock-bodied alien bartender as I sat on one of the chairs in the bar beside a hooded woman who was wearing full body armor, and a semi-transparent veil on her face.
"Oh, Hello there. My name is Korg. So, do you want hot water for yourself or cold water?" Korg politely asked as he placed an empty crystal glass in front of me.
"It doesn't matter as long as it's just water," I answered to which he just gave an earnest nod with a big smile etched on his face while he took out a beautiful crystal bottle and poured me a drink.
"Amazing. A life form made of rocks instead of flesh. Are you even carbon-based?" Reed muttered to himself in awe after seeing Korg. He seemed strangely impressed with his biology. Susan and Johnny weren't too different as well. All of them looked astounded after seeing the grey living rock alien.
"I am sorry but is that a compliment? If it is, then thank you. If it is not, then I am quite offended." Korg reacted like a proper soft-spoken gentleman as he politely responded to Reed's words.
"And you Miss? Care to introduce yourself?" I offhandedly asked the hooded woman sitting beside me as I took a sip of the cold water from my glass while hoping that the drink was free like any glass of water normally is on Earth.
"Not interested." The figure replied in a feminine monotone voice as she got up and began to walk towards the exit with the bottle she was drinking from still in her hands.
"Caiera sent us to cash in on her favor," I replied without even looking at her which instantly made her halt in her steps.
I knew who she was now, my cosmic senses were at least that sharp and I knew that she wasn't going to say no despite how reluctant she truly appeared to help us.
"You need my help in what exactly?" The female figure asked after a while of her eyes scanning my face for any signs of treachery from behind her veil.
"Nothing much. We just want to win a race against the Grandmaster and win this planet from him." I responded with a confident smile.
However, Korg who was standing beside us suddenly looked concerned for some reason as he sported a panicked expression on his face.
"Wait, you guys are going to free the planet from the Grandmaster?... Goddamn it, this cannot be a worse timing. I have been preparing to start my own rebellion soon. Can't you do this race next week, after I organize my first official rebellion meet-up? I have even finished printing the pamphlets for this." Korg requested with a crestfallen look on his face.
"No, the race is tomorrow and cannot be further postponed. So, we only have about half a day to prepare our racing crafts." I answered with a helpless shrug.
"And Caiera asked you to ask me for help?... *Sigh* It seems she is still as hellbent on freeing her people from the oppression of the Grandmaster as ever... Fine, I will help you. I owe her that at least. Plus, a few racing pods aren't anything I can't afford to lose in a race. I have lost much more in stupider bets for stupider reasons... I will take you to my hangar. I have a couple of extra vessels that I won from gambling; you guys can use those. But they might need some extra work on them to make them capable of surviving an actual Death Race." The figure said as she gestured towards us to follow her.
"Oh good. Moral support and some pods are all we need for winning the race tomorrow. And don't worry, once I win the race and get the planet, I will make sure to return the entire cost of the pods along with added interest. We need five of them by the way. My friends Reed and Johnny here will even help in upgrading them." I exclaimed in a friendly tone of voice as I gestured towards the duo.
"Wait, what?" Johnny asked in shock as he looked at me with a stunned look, feeling a little backstabbed for some reason.
"Yeah of course. Don't worry. After I am done with them, they will be the fastest vessels on the planet. I think the antigravity skateboard design I came up with in high school combined with the warp drive from our destroyed starship might be able to boost the speed of those pods to multiple times that of sound. I could even complete them by the time the race starts tomorrow if we start now." Reed boasted confidently as he puffed up his chest.
"See? We will definitely win; you don't have to worry at all. By the way, I forgot to ask but what is your name lady?"
"... People have called me by many different names, The Lone Warrior, the Bloody Maiden, the Vengeance Seeker, the Penance Hunter..., the Valkyrie. However, my friends, or at least the few that I still call my friends call me by the name, Brunhilde." You can call me that too for... now." Brunhilde answered as she slowly removed the veil hiding her face.
She looked like a fierce and beautiful woman raised in battles for the only purpose of waging war. Her golden hair flowed like whips as her Amazonian figure stood straight like a brave hero. She was a Valkyrie through and through, the most powerful army unit of Asgard.
But that also explains why I never found her while using my cosmic awareness. After all, she looks nothing like her MCU self, whom I was searching for. Also, she calls herself Brunhilde instead of just Valkyrie. So, she might not even be the same Valkyrie from MCU.
"And I am Atem, the Go... a champion of Earth. And these are Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. Oh, and the invisible woman behind you is Susan Storm." I introduced everyone, making sure to not mention the fact that I was also a God and not just any God, but a God who was in one way the son of her previous employer.
Why didn't I tell her anything about my unique... heritage yet? It was because I didn't want to overwhelm the woman with too much information too soon. I didn't know the first thing about this woman. I had no idea if she was still loyal to the Asgardian throne or harbored a grudge against it. So, I decided to try to recruit her into my faction only after we had won the race. Once she began to trust me more, then maybe I could try to break open the topic of her joining my faction.
Also, her mind had some good quality mental shields around them too to prevent any psychic attacks. I could bypass them, but I preferred not to, at least not until I was sure that she was against me. I preferred not to mind-rape my own friends and allies, especially when I didn't have any solid reason to.
"An invisible woman? Oh, you mean her. Yeah, she is really bad at stealth despite having the power of invisibility. I could sense her so clearly that I almost didn't even notice that she was not visible. Anyway, let's go now. We are getting late. The racing pods won't fix themselves you know." Brunhilde said as she again began to walk towards the exit.
"Wait, guys. I'll come with you too. I hate my job here anyway. I don't even get paid that well since my mother's boyfriend runs this place and frankly, I don't even like him that much. I think I can do a better job of organizing a rebellion with you all. I even have a better pamphlet design in mind... oh and a very good slogan too... We will be the Sakaarian League of Justice bearing the rocks of Rebellion." Krog looked excited as he opened his apron and threw it away to the counter to follow us.
"Wait, nobody said that you are allowed to come with us, buddy. You can be a spy from the Grandmaster for all we know. We can't take that chance. Plus, do you even have any skillsets that we can use?" Reed stopped Krog from celebrating as he questioned him with doubt. He even looked at me to back him up, but I just silently watched on as I wondered if I should take Krog with us as well. He shouldn't be some villain or spy with that simple mind of his, and no matter, how useless he was, he could at least be some comic relief.
"Okay, that was rude. I am not a spy dear sir. I am a dedicated freedom fighter and a well-educated revolutionary. Furthermore, when it comes to skills, I do know a little about spacecraft engineering, light-speed engines, quantum batteries..., oh, and also poetry. Believe me, I can help you guys... It's like this is my destiny." Krog said as he grabbed Reed with his rocky hands, shaking him and trying to make him understand his worth.
"Well, he does sound pretty useful." Susan expressed with a shrug as she turned visible, this time behind Krog who yelled like a little girl due to the surprise.
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