Inside a fast-food restaurant, Ivan sat across from Mario, picking at his burger. The regret was written all over his face like graffiti on a subway wall.
I agreed to this way too fast, he thought, watching Mario ogle some blonde woman walking past the window. Guy shows up talking big game, acts like he's got real backing, and what do I find? He's got nothing. Even the damn plane we flew here on was borrowed.
Forget about a professional lab, they didn't even have a proper building to work in.
He lifted his head and studied Mario. He let out a deep sigh. He felt like he'd been conned.
If it weren't for the fact that the gold Mario had shown him was real, he'd tested it himself, he would've dragged his father back to Siberia to grow potatoes and pretend this whole thing never happened.
"What exactly are we going to do next?"
Mario's attention snapped back from his window shopping.
"Don't worry about it. I've already got S.H.I.E.L.D. helping me buy a workshop in New York. The lab you want is being set up as we speak."
Money talks, he thought. He'd tossed two gold bars onto the Quinjet and asked Natasha to help purchase a suitable factory and equipment in New York. If the money wasn't enough, she could call him for more.
"What you need to do now is work with your father and start building that miniature arc reactor. Priority one."
Ivan nodded slowly, somewhat mollified by Mario's approach. In the movie, Tony Stark had managed to build a reactor in a cave with nothing but scrap metal. If that spoiled rich boy could do it, Ivan sure as hell could too. That's exactly why he had traveled all the way to frozen-ass Siberia to find Ivan. Talent was the most precious resource in this business.
After finishing their meal, he packed up some extra food. Woody had been living on bread and water for too long, and he was starting to look like a scarecrow. Couldn't have him wasting away from malnutrition.
The three men strolled through the streets at a leisurely pace, heading toward Central Park. Ivan, who had never set foot in the city before, kept scanning their surroundings.
Anton was less subtle about his amazement.
"This place has changed so much. Back in my day, there weren't so many cars on the road. And there wasn't nearly this much chocolate available either."
Fortunately, his voice wasn't too loud. Otherwise, the people around them might have rushed over to give him a lesson in modern "political correctness."
Mario kept one eye on his mini-map as they walked. Suddenly, a red dot appeared at the edge of his vision. He stopped walking and looked in that direction. A car sped past them, and inside sat a man in his thirties who didn't even glance their way.
He immediately understood what he was seeing.
Hydra...
He didn't pay much attention to it. There were simply too many Hydra operatives in a city like New York. They could be hiding in any industry, and any corner of society.
Noticing that Mario had stopped, Ivan followed his gaze toward the departing vehicle.
"What's wrong with that car?"
Mario shook his head and smiled. "Nothing. Just remembered something I need to take care of later."
He wasn't lying. Seeing that Hydra agent had reminded him of something important.
If I remember correctly, Hydra owns a company called Cybertek. Maybe I should drop by someday and borrow some equipment.
Advanced, high-tech devices weren't available for purchase through normal channels. He would have no choice but to "liberate" a few things directly from the enemy.
---
Ten minutes later, they entered Central Park and continued walking deeper into the trees. Ivan looked around at the lush greenery with confusion.
"What exactly are we doing here?"
"Going home," Mario replied cheerfully. "For the foreseeable future, this is where we'll be living."
Ivan's face immediately darkened. Internally, he couldn't help but complain.
Live here? What is this, some kind of camping expedition?
But when Mario dug into the ground and revealed a hidden underground entrance, he immediately stopped his wild speculation. Instead, his curiosity about Mario's abilities grew exponentially.
"Is it some kind of superpower, or advanced technology? Can I study it?"
"My ability runs pretty deep. Take my advice, you can't handle it. Just focus on building me that reactor."
Mario genuinely meant it. Even he didn't fully understand the nature of his abilities. If Ivan got obsessed with trying to study them instead of working on the arc reactor, it would be nothing but a waste of everyone's time.
He pointed at the tunnel entrance beneath their feet.
"You two go down first. I'll seal the entrance behind us."
He paused and gave Ivan a stern look. "And hey, if you really want to study something, wait until you've built me the things I actually need."
Ivan didn't press the issue. He climbed down into the tunnel, followed closely by his father. Mario came last, scooping earth back over the hole to seal it completely.
---
Back inside his underground base, Mario suddenly felt like a traveler returning home after a long journey. At heart, he was something of a homebody, if it wasn't absolutely necessary, he'd rather not venture outside at all.
Pearl, who had been sleeping in the corner, awoke instantly at the sound of voices. The vampire fluttered over and landed on the sofa beside Mario.
"You're back! Are these the new 'specimens' you brought me to study?"
Pearl's attitude toward Mario had grown more reverent over the past few weeks. His glowing red eyes were now fixed hungrily on Anton and Ivan who had followed Mario into the base.
"Easy there," came Garcia's voice from across the base as he emerged from the workshop area. "No snacking on the scientists."
Kerry and Gore appeared behind him, with Woody bringing up the rear. All four men looked like they'd been busy, there was sawdust on their clothes and the smell of fresh-cut wood in the air.
"I don't snack," Pearl protested. "I conduct careful extractions of vital essence for research purposes."
"Same thing, different words," Kerry pointed out, earning chuckles from the others.
The Vankos stared at the scene with bewilderment. A talking bat, banter about vampire feeding habits, and a group that seemed completely comfortable with the supernatural.
"All right, settle down. Let me introduce you all properly. From now on, you're colleagues, though your job descriptions are a little different."
Mario gestured toward Pearl. "This is Pearl. He's a vampire, obviously, but he's on our side."
Then he pointed to Woody. "And Woody here is our resident vampire hunter."
"And these three are Garcia, Kerry, and Gore. Like Woody, they're vampire hunters."
"So we got a vampire and a vampire hunter working together?" Ivan asked.
Mario didn't bother acknowledging the shock. He simply continued with the introductions.
"And these two gentlemen are Anton and Ivan."
The group exchanged handshakes and nods. It was about as normal an introduction as you could have when one party was an undead bloodsucker, several were professional hunters, and the rest were scientists.
"So," Kerry said, breaking the slight tension, "anyone else think it's crazy how normal this all feels now?"
"Speak for yourself," Garcia laughed. "I still jump every time Pearl transforms."
Mario lazily pushed himself up and walked toward the far end of the base.
"Anton, Ivan, come with me. I need to dig out a workspace for you to set up the equipment you brought from home."
"We've already started clearing an area," Woody reported. "Figured you'd want the lab space separated from the living quarters. Garcia and his boys have been helping. Turns out Gore's actually pretty handy with construction work."
"My cousin used to work construction," Gore explained proudly. "Taught me a few things about proper workspace layout."
"That's his cousin's friend's uncle's neighbor," Kerry corrected with a grin.
"Different cousin," Gore said. "This was my actual cousin Diego."
Mario stopped walking, turned to face Ivan and Anton, and fixed them with a serious look. "But let me be clear about something, there's no electricity down here yet. You'll have to figure that problem out yourselves. Once that reactor is complete, though, I'll tell you about my plans for Unit-01."
The father and son looked at each other, each seeing the same trace of helplessness in the other's eyes. They'd made their deal with this devil, and now they had to see it through.
---
The next day.
Mario stood in the small alcove where the vampire hunter npc was stationed.
"Time to level up."
He pulled out several vials of vampire blood from his inventory and fed them into the hunter interface system. Like always, there were no fancy visual effects, he simply gained enough experience to jump to Level 5, earning himself 2 new skill points in the process.
[Double it:
After learning this skill, the user can craft and use double crossbows and enhanced crossbows.]
[Enhanced Weapons:
Allows the user to strengthen weapons.]
"Perfect. Now I can make enhanced dual crossbows. With the right bolts, most vampires won't need a second shot to go down."
He smiled, though he wasn't overly excited about the upgrade. Ever since he'd acquired the sniper rifle, he didn't think much of conventional weapon damage output. The rifle could punch through a vampire's torso and keep going through the brick wall behind them.
If it weren't for the fact that non-mod weapons didn't generate proper loot drops when killing monsters, he wouldn't bother crafting any of this at all.
He walked over to the hunter weapon table, pulled out various materials, and assembled a metal double crossbow. After testing the balance and trigger mechanism, he tossed it into his inventory for later use.
Bzzzz... bzzzz...
His phone rang with an incoming call.
"The workshop has been purchased. It's located in the suburban industrial district."
Natasha's voice came through clearly as soon as he picked up the call. Her efficiency was simply incredible, she'd only returned from Siberia yesterday, and today she'd already handled the entire real estate transaction.
"Road trip time!" Garcia announced from across the base.
"Excellent! I'll bring the team over right away to check it out."
He carefully memorized the address Natasha gave him. For some reason, the location sounded oddly familiar, but he didn't dwell on it. After hanging up, he called out to the group.
"Pack it up, guys. The new workshop is ready for inspection. Let's go take a look at our new digs"
The Vankos began rolling up their technical drawings while Woody gathered his gear. Garcia, Kerry, and Gore were already moving.
He called out to Woody. "You're driving us over there!"
Though Mario had been living in New York for several months now, aside from Central Park and a few vampire hunting routes, he was completely unfamiliar with the city's layout. His nightly expeditions were usually just aimless wandering until his vampire sense picked up a target.
"Woody, you're driving again?" Garcia asked.
"I can handle it," Woody agreed. "Though we might need a bigger vehicle this time."
"Don't worry about transportation," Mario said with a grin. "I've got that covered."
---
Twenty minutes later, their group arrived at the address Natasha had provided. Mario's expression immediately darkened as he stared at the workshop building before them. The barren, scorched landscape surrounding the area looked like it had been "licked clean by hellhounds."
This was the aftermath of his own handiwork.
Damn it. No wonder the place sounded familiar.
Not far away was Blade's home, the two workshops were barely a hundred yards apart.
The sound of high heels clicking against concrete echoed from inside the building. A figure emerged from the workshop entrance, and every man in the group suddenly found something very interesting to look at.
It was the classic urban professional look, a tight black blazer over a crisp white blouse, paired with a black pencil skirt that was barely twelve inches long. Her legs were wrapped in sheer black stockings, and she wore black stiletto heels with red soles.
The woman was none other than Natasha herself. She wore black-rimmed glasses and carried a file folder, walking straight toward Mario.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard, and he could swear he heard similar sounds coming from the other men around him. His brain spun into overdrive, reaching a single conclusion.
Honey trap. My weakness is way too obvious.
"Damn," Garcia whispered.
"Focus, guys," Woody muttered, though his eyes hadn't moved either.
By then, Natasha had stopped directly in front of them. Through sheer force of will, Mario managed to drag his gaze up to her face.
"Here's the land purchase certificate and transfer agreement."
Mario took the documents and stored them in his inventory without really looking at them.
"That's a huge help. Really appreciate it."
He'd only given her some gold bars in exchange. Without S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assistance, buying industrial property on his own would have taken months of bureaucratic red tape.
He pointed toward the distant workshop that belonged to Blade..
"What about that building over there? You know anything about the situation with that place?"
Natasha had clearly done her homework and was well aware of Blade's operational status. She adjusted her glasses and replied, "Blade's place is rented month-to-month. The landlord's been trying to evict him for property damage, but he keeps paying just enough to stay ahead of the complaints."
The answer didn't surprise Mario in the slightest. Blade was so broke that he had to rob vampires and underground criminal organizations just to keep operating. Real estate investment was way outside his budget.
"Any chance we could buy that place too? I'm thinking it might be nice to be neighbors."
Natasha paused for a moment.
"Actually, yes. This entire industrial park belongs to a single owner who's eager to sell. As long as the price is right, we could probably acquire the whole complex."
"Perfect. Buy as much as you can, money's no object here."
With that settled, Mario led his entire team inside the workshop. The factory building was completely empty, just bare concrete floors and high ceilings. He nodded in satisfaction. If it had been cluttered with junk like Blade's place, he'd have wasted time cleaning it out.
"Anton, Ivan, I'm leaving the layout planning to you two. The others help coordinate the setup. From now on, this place is your home away from home."
The father and son looked around the wide-open space.
Anton said with enthusiasm. "High ceilings, solid foundation, plenty of space for ventilation systems..."
"We'll help with the heavy lifting," Garcia volunteered. "Setting up lab equipment's gotta be easier than moving cars."
"Redistributed automotive resources," Gore corrected automatically.
"Same thing, hermano."
---
Meanwhile, Mario glanced at his mini-map and noticed a green dot approaching the perimeter of the workshop. Only a handful of people showed up as green dots in his detection system: Blade, Coulson, Pearl, Garcia, Gore, Kerry and Woody. Since Coulson was busy recruiting Tony Stark in Los Angeles, and Pearl would be asleep during the day, that left only one possibility.
Sure enough, Blade appeared in one of the workshop's open windows. He dropped inside and walked toward their group.
"Mario. What the hell are you doing here?"
His gaze moved across the expanded group Woody, the three gang members, the two Russians, and the dangerous-looking woman in business attire. His hand moved instinctively toward his weapon.
His gaze immediately shifted to Natasha, and Mario could see Blade's instincts kicking in. Though he was technically a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant, he mostly operated independently. Natasha's current disguise made her look familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen her before.
Mario stepped forward with open arms and pulled Blade into what could generously be called a hug, though it looked more like a wrestling hold.
"I bought this factory. Planning to build a proper research lab here. From now on, we're neighbors, which means security is your department."
Just like that, he had assigned Blade a new job description without bothering to ask if he wanted it.