Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

I couldn't move or speak. I could only stand and watch the scene in front of me unfold passively.

“What the hell is this!? You've been raising my secret weapon for all these years and this is the result!?”

“What's wrong my Lord? Are you displeased with her?”

“Of course I am!? Look at her, you blithering moronic woman!”

“Isn't she beautiful? She's completely docile as well. She listens to everything I say because I've had her on loyalty potions her entire life!”

“I didn't want some obedient docile sex slave! I wanted a weapon I could unleash on my enemies! A weapon I could turn against…Him! You have failed me. You know the price of failure.”

“M-my L-lord…Give me another chance please! I can make the girl useful to you.”

“Forget it! You've wasted enough of my precious time as it is! Avada Kedavra!”

The man who looked exactly like Voldemort, from Harry Potter, pointed his wand at me next. I still couldn't move. “It's a pity. You are remarkably beautiful, but you're useless to me. Avada Kedavra!”

The green light hit me next…

…

I awoke with a start and a very dry throat.

“That was a weird dream.”

I clutched my aching head. Something wasn’t right here. Something felt wrong! I reached underneath my pillow to grab the knife I always had underneath.

It wasn’t there! This wasn't my bedroom!

“What the hell is going on!” I quickly hopped out of the bed. The sheets slid off my body. I looked down and blushed to myself in embarrassment when I realized that I was completely naked. And were my boobs bigger?

“Not only am I not in my own home, for some reason, I went to sleep completely naked last night!” I muttered. I hoped I wasn’t kidnapped last night! I needed to find something to wear and then get out!

I looked around the dilapidated room I was in for anything useful. Thankfully, there was a new looking dresser across from the bed. Both pieces of furniture were new and looked very out of place.

I walked over towards the dresser. Next to it was a large ornate full body mirror.

I paused when I caught my own reflection in the mirror…

“Is that me!?” I exclaimed in shock when I saw my reflection. It was not what I was expecting!

The reflection in the mirror was not my normal plain self.

“Have I been transmigrated or Isekai’d or something!? Am I still dreaming?”

I pinched my cheek hard and whined when it stung!

“Ow! I’m not dreaming.” The reflection in the mirror really was me! I'm in a completely new body!

I wasn’t a vain person, usually… But at this moment, looking at the reflection in front of me, I couldn't help but feel a bit vain.

“I'm absolutely gorgeous!” I grinned in excitement at my new looks! “This new body is amazing!” I started bending and turning so I could take in every detail of my new reflection. I was looking at utter perfection!

“I look like I'm somewhere between 18 and 20 years old. About 5 and a half feet tall. My skin is flawless and almost as pale as snow. I have long flowing blond hair down to my waist. I have a heart shaped face free of any blemishes. My breasts are very large and perky and I can't see an ounce of fat anywhere on my body. If anything, my body is well toned everywhere!”

What really drew my attention though, were my new eyes. my eyes are bright red! Almost like two beautiful hypnotic rubies had adorned my face. When I looked in the mirror closely though, my pupils almost looked a tiny bit…slitted?

“Am I a vampire or something?” I reached a finger inside my mouth and felt around. Everything was normal except my canines. They were longer than they should have been and felt incredibly sharp…

“Ow!” I directly poked one and it easily pierced my finger.

It was bleeding! But not for long. I held my finger out in front of my face and to my shock, the tiny puncture wound healed immediately! My skin was visibly stitching itself back together “Holy crap, I am a Vampire!”

[Close! But not quite! You're not a Vampire. You are a Dhampir.]

I jumped when a new voice came out of nowhere!

“Who said that?”

The voice sounded strange. Almost androgynous and slightly robotic?

[I did! It's nice to meet you, new Host! I hope you last longer than my last one…He was an arrogant prick.]

The voice was laced with disdain as it said that.

“Host!?” I asked in surprise. Was this actually happening right now? Was this what I thought it was?

[Indeed! I am your Gamer System! I hope we get along well! ]

Holy shit! This really was happening!

“I hope we get along too…?”

[We might as well get to it. You have been transmigrated into a new body! The previous body's owner was killed, not by me, so don't feel too bad about it. You can do her a favor by avenging her/yourself!]

I couldn't help but feel bad that such a beautiful girl was killed so young. “What happened to her?” I asked.

[Find out for yourself! You are her now. What was leftover of her soul fused with your own and you have her memories! ]

“What? I have her… Aaaarggh!!!!” I grasped my head in pain as years of memories flowed into me. My name is Valerie now. I was a sweet and kind girl who never wanted to hurt anyone. I lived alone with my mother my whole life.

I loved my mom a lot! What I didn't know was that that woman wasn’t my mother! She was some kind of evil Witch! My fake mother and her group had been raising me, my whole life, to become a weapon to use against my father… whoever he was.

That dream I saw before I woke up wasn't a dream! That was how I/Valerie died!

“Holy Crap! Voldemort is real here and he tried to kill me with the killing curse… and I lived. Does that make me the Girl-who-lived now?”

[Technically yes, but that's not important. You're not strong enough to face a guy like that yet.]

“Face Him!?” I exclaimed. “I’m going to have to face him? Isn't that Harry Potter's job?”

[So you don’t want revenge?]

I clutched my head in pain as my new memories settled in. Was I just going to take my abduction and murder lying down? “NO! We have been raised as a mindless slave for our entire life! We were hopped up on loyalty potions and could barely think for ourselves! We had my entire childhood taken from us!”

I vowed that I would get revenge myself! I was a gamer after all! What was a little thing, like Voldemort, compared to a Gamer?

[Damn right!]

“Thanks for saving me, System!” I said sincerely.

[You're welcome. It’s time for your New Game!]

“So why did you pick me? Not that I'm not grateful. The last thing I remember was going to sleep in my own bed last night after another horrid day of work!” I spat out.

In my last life, my horrible extended family stole all the inheritance my parents left for me when they died. My relatives then threw me out on the streets to die. When I went to my friends for help, none of them offered to help me except for a small handful. I had even given money to a lot of those people who refused to help me in the past. “Ungrateful pricks…” I muttered to myself.

[I picked you because you know hardship. You've learned that you need to be ruthless to people who go against and hold those precious few, who are on your side, close.]

I supposed that made sense. Not all of my friends turned their backs on me. I had some pretty amazing ones as well. I was going to dearly miss them. “How did I die?” I asked the System.

[There was a carbon monoxide leak and your detector's batteries hadn't been replaced…]

I facepalmed. “Fuck… I knew I should have got batteries last time I was at the store!” I lamented. “Now I'm going to be another freaking statistic! At least I had a peaceful death in my sleep. And now I have been reborn with a Gamer System of all things!”

[Any questions about your new System?]

“Do I have any stats or anything?” I asked.

[Of course you do! You're a Gamer after all. Here you go!]

Valerie Tepes (Dhampir Princess)
Lv = 0 (0/100 XP)
Health = 100/100 (Constitution x 10 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute)
Mana = 100 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:
Constitution = 10
Strength = 10
Dexterity = 10
Intelligence = 10
Wisdom = 10
Charisma = 30

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s Body
Observe

A blue screen with a bunch of information materialized in front of my face. “So these are my stats, hmmm?” I looked them over. Everything was at Level 10 except my Charisma, which was Level 30! I obviously saw the results of that when I looked in the mirror earlier. “If I am this amazingly beautiful with only 30 Charisma, what would I look like at 100?” I asked myself with a grin.

[So much for not being vain…]

I pouted. Ok, maybe I was actually a bit vain. I couldn’t help who I was!

[It's ok. As a Gamer, you're allowed to be vain. Just don't become an arrogant asshole…that's how my last Host ended up kicking the bucket. He made enemies out of absolutely EVERYONE and his ENTIRE multiverse rallied to kill him! They almost ended up sealing me away as well!]

I was surprised to hear that. What kind of asshole must that guy have been to turn his ENTIRE MULTIVERSE against him!? I wondered how that was even possible…

“How come I don’t have a Luck stat?” I asked while looking over my other stats.

[As a gamer, you either have the best possible Luck or the worst possible Luck depending on the situation.]

“So I basically have the same type of luck as a typical protagonist then?” I figured. I supposed I could work with that.

I also wanted to ask more about the System’s last Host but decided to save those questions for another time. It was best to not bring up bad memories for my new System so soon into our new…partnership? I wasn’t exactly sure what to call our relationship.

[Partnership?…I like it! We can be partners! Anyway, do you have any more questions about your stats?]

I didn't have anything to compare them to, so I didn't know if those stats were good or not. I was assuming they were not because I was currently Level 0.

Of course, what really drew my attention was my new name. It was vaguely familiar somehow…

{Valerie Tepes - Dhampir Princess}

I pondered where I had heard that name from. I recalled vague memories of a certain ecchi anime/light novel series that I followed in my past life.

“WAIT!? Wasn’t that the name of that vampire girl from DxD? Am I her? Am I in DxD as well as Harry Potter!?” I asked with a hint of panic. “That would not be a great universe to be in if you were a beautiful woman like me. Idiot Devil’s would be constantly chasing me to get me in their harems/peerages! Especially since I’m also a Dhampir! I’m basically like a rare pokemon!”

[You don't have to worry about tha–]

I cut the System off! “...As if! I’m a Gamer now…I’ll have my own Harem thank you very much!” I declared passionately!

[Right… As I was saying, you don’t have to worry. You are not in DxD... At the moment. You might go there in the future though since you are technically your universe's version of Valerie Tepes. All of you are linked through some weird multiverse-causality mumbo-jumbo, that's too complicated to explain right now. Okay?]

I sighed in relief hearing that. I would hopefully be much stronger before I ever went over to the booby-harem world. Also– “I can't believe my Gamer System just said my mumbo-jumbo…” I muttered with a giggle.

[Hey! It's not 2024 anymore. You're going to have to get hip with the time’s local vernacular!]

“It’s not!” I wondered what year it was then. I figured that I'd find out for myself soon enough. “So what should I do now?” I asked my System.

[Now you start your new life as a Gamer. Grind to become one of the strongest beings in the multiverse and all that! But first, you should probably get dressed because you're still naked.]

I opened the dresser and checked what was inside. The clothing selection was pretty bland, but it would have to do for now. Inside were 10 pairs of white shirts, 10 pairs of blue jeans, 10 bras, 10 panties, and 20 socks.

I slipped on the clothes for one of the outfits. Everything fit me perfectly. On the floor nearby was a pair of brand new white tennis shoes that I assumed were going to also be in my size.

[You assume right.]

“Do I have a starter quest? Or any starting gifts?” I asked as I sat on my bed and slipped my shoes on.

[You do have a Starter Gift Box!]

A different blue screen popped up in front of me.

{You have received: Starter Gift Box x 1! Box has been placed in your inventory.}

I wasn’t exactly sure how to check my inventory. Under the System’s advice, I hesitantly reached my hand forward while imagining an empty space being in front of it. My hand vanished as it slipped inside some kind of black portal. As soon as my hand reached inside, I felt like I instinctively knew everything that was inside my inventory space.

Currently inside was the Starter Gift Box and a wallet that held around $200 in cash along with some ID’s for my new identity.

I pulled out the Gift Box along with the wallet. I giggled when I saw the Gift Box was just a cardboard shoebox. I put that aside for now and looked at my ID cards.

“Hey System, why does one of these ID’s have me as a Highschool student for…Midtown High?” I asked skeptically.

[Oh right! I almost forgot! Here you go: ]

{Quest Started: Attend your first day of High School!}

{Objective: Make it through the whole school day! +50 xp}

{Bonus Objective: Make three new friends! +100 xp}

Valerie grimaced. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to go back to school.

“At least I’m a senior transferring in according to the student ID. I only have to attend for half a year or so.”

That 50 XP looked easy enough to get. I figured that I could easily sit through an entire day.

Making three friends though…

…I would have to see how that goes.

[Sex friends count as friends too!]

I sputtered hearing that! “S-sex friends? I never even had those in my last life! How would I get those now?”

[It’ll be easy, you’re super hot…]

“That is true,” I said with a smile while my head immediately went to the gutter. I already knew my new life was going to be amazing just from having 30 Charisma at the start!

I shook my head to dispel any naughty thoughts. “Before that though, I need to open that starter gift box. Anything will help right now because I'm a squishy useless Level 0.” I opened up my shoebox to see what was inside. There was a flash of light, and I instinctively felt some items had just been deposited in my inventory space.

{Congratulations! You have received: Revives x 3, one Iron Knife, and Sacred Gear: Sephiroth Graal!}

I had a deadpan expression on my face as I read that last reward from the screen that just popped up.

“Hey, System? I thought you said that I was not Valerie Tepes from DxD. Why did I get her Sacred Gear?” I asked with some skepticism.

[You’re not the one from DxD, but you are still this universe's version of her. She’s always destined to be the one to find the Grail!]

I nodded at the explanation. I supposed it made sense. “I'd rather not have a Sacred Gear that drives all of its users insane though.” I said.

[You don’t have to worry. This Sephiroth Graal has been modified. Its abilities were changed. The Grail will allow you to produce Unlimited Holy Water, Healing Water, or Water of Youth. Of course, all that depends on if you have the Mana for any of that.]

I held up my hand, and a small Golden Chalice materialized in it. “It’s beautiful, but not as ornate as I thought it would be.” It wasn’t covered in gems or runes like I thought it would be. It wasn’t the average wooden cup from Indiana Jones. It was just a small Golden Chalice. One that I could feel radiating some kind of energy, though.

I wondered if what I felt coming from the Grail was Holy Energy. It felt warm and comforting. I was also amazed that I was literally holding the Holy Grail in my hands so casually. Millions of people searched the world for thousands of years, and here it was sitting in my hand.

As I gazed upon it, I felt something lock in place inside of me. I could feel the Sephiroth Graal reaching out to my very soul and fusing itself with me forever!

I willed the Grail to disappear and felt it settle back inside… my soul. It felt weird, but I was sure I would get used to it in the future. “Thanks for the awesome gift, System!” I said with a cheerful smile!

[Just having such an amazing starter gift is already a massive advantage for you. You basically have unlimited healing as long as you have an MP to spare.]

Now that I was dressed and had some starting equipment, I looked around the apartment I was in. It was a complete dump, tiny, the floorboards were visibly rotten, and the ceiling was moldy with obvious signs of water damage. I needed to get the hell out of there.

“This is not the residence of a Gamer! I should be living in a large Mansion or Penthouse being waited on by dozens of servants! Maybe surrounded by my found family/harem members as well?” I said as I started grabbing the spare outfits and stuffing them into my inventory space. There was no point in wasting perfectly good clothes after all. While I was at it, I decided to take the bed, dresser, and ornate mirror as well. They all looked brand new, and I figured they were worth taking as emergency furniture at least in case I couldn’t get a better place by the end of the day.

With that done, I was ready to step outside and start my new Isekai life! I went towards the door and tried to open it.

It did not open…

“Fuck.”

…

I had to crawl out one of the windows because the apartment I'd woken up in was actually a condemned building. All the doors were boarded up! “The hell, System!?” I exclaimed in frustration.

[It was hard enough transporting you across the ocean and then creating fake ID’s for you. How did you expect me to create a genuine lease as well?]

The System’s tone was a bit snappy with me.

I sighed as I stepped out onto the streets. I grimaced when I took in my surroundings. To put it nicely, I was currently in a ghetto. To put it not nicely, I was in an area that made ghettos look nice in comparison.

The sidewalks and streets were cracked with weeds growing through them, and every single building around me was covered in boards and graffiti.

Also the moon was high in the sky and it was the middle of the night. A very dark night because none of the street lights around here were on.

And here I was, an incredibly beautiful Level 0 girl, in the middle of an area like this…

“Hey, you! What are you doing in our territory!?” A man across the street who was covered head to toe in tattoos yelled towards me.

“Yeah? What’s a pretty bitch like you doing out here all by yourself?”

They were both obviously gang members of some kind. It looks like they were standing guard in front of the building across from me. Unlike the one I had just crawled out of, this one actually looked to be in use. And unfortunately for me they were both holding guns.

{Now commencing Surprise Sutorial Mission: Eliminate T-bone and his men! }

{Rewards: Level up x 1, Random Skill Book x1}

{Failure: Death and you lose your Gamer System!}

“E–liminate!?” I sputtered out loud. “I’ve never killed anyone before, System!” I complained. I was not ready for that! I couldn't even reject it either otherwise I would lose my system?

“Who are you talking to girly!?” The man on the right yelled out again as they started walking across the street towards me.

Dammit, they heard me talking to the System! And now they are coming over to my side of the street!

‘Do I have any attack abilities or anything?’ I asked nervously in my head as the two armed gang members approached me. ‘Maybe a starting Class?’

[Classes don’t unlock until you reach Level 1…]

XXX

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

[Classes don’t unlock until you reach Level 1…]

‘Fantastic.’ I thought sarcastically. Here I was barely an hour into my brand new life, and I was already going to have to fight for it. This was not how I thought things would be going.

Especially considering I have to fight without any Gamer abilities!

What did the system think I was supposed to do, summon my Sephiroth Graal and chuck it at their heads!?

[I'm sorry, but it wasn't up to me. It's been hardwired into my programming. All new Gamers have to go through surprise trials like this to prove that they're worthy of their Systems. Luckily for you, these people only have guns. My last Host started in a more Supernatural world, and he had to go up against magic wielding demons at level zero!]

I'm pretty sure that Harry Potter counts as a Supernatural world too. I just happened to luck out and not have to fight a bunch of evil wizards right now.

I'm thankful for that at least. Guns are incredibly dangerous, but one guy with a gun could never be as dangerous as a trained wizard with a wand could be. A single fiendfyre spell can burn down an entire city if no other wizards stop it in time!

The two gang members crossed the street and stood directly in front of me. My new body wasn't very tall, only about 5 and a half feet, so they both intimidatingly towered over me.

It was very dark out, and there weren’t any working street lights, yet I could make these two out perfectly. It seemed that I had perfect night vision as a Dhampir.

“What do you think you're doing in T-bone’s territory?” The one on the right spat at me. He was the taller of the two and also had a lot more muscle. No doubt he could break me in half with my current pitiful stats.

“You some kind of a narc? You wearing a wire? We heard you talking to someone a second ago!” The paranoid one on the left reached into his waistband and pulled out a glock! He pointed it directly at my forehead. “I say we waist this dumb bitch here and now!”

“Please don't…” I practically whispered.

Was I afraid? Of course I was afraid! I had never had a gun to my head before.

I could feel tears start to form in my eyes, but as soon as they did, they vanished along with any fear that I was feeling. No emotions seem to remain except for calm logic.

{Gamers Mind Activated! It is set to activate in all combat encounters by default.}

I felt unnaturally calm. Normally, I would be freaking out over my emotions being blatantly manipulated, but at this moment all I could be was thankful. I was preparing to reach into my inventory and pull out my knife. I wasn’t going down without a fight!

Thankfully, the fight didn’t start just yet.

The man on the right placed his hand on his friend's gun, and lowered it away from my face.

I sighed in relief.

“Now, now, Marco. No need to get so jumpy. It's dark but I can tell that this bitch has a pretty good figure. It would be a shame to do her in like that and waste a fun opportunity. I'll tell you what, girly. Why don't you have some fun with my friend and I, and then we'll let you go? What do you say?” He asked me while licking his lips.

I was disgusted by his offer and obviously knew what kind of fun he was talking about. I begrudgingly had to lie, and agree, to get the other guy to put his gun away.

“Heh, good idea! We've been standing guard out here all night, and I think we deserve a little reward.” The other one said to his friend before also giving me a lewd look and placing his pistol back in his waistband. He pointed off to the side. “There's a nice alley right there, follow us bitch, and don't try to run!” He demanded and started walking over there.

I was thankful that it was so dark out and neither of them could see my face very well. Otherwise, with my beauty, these disgusting creeps might have pounced on me right then and there…

Unlike them, I could see perfectly though. That was my best advantage over them. That pitch black alley he was leading us to was even better for me!

I calmly did as I was told and followed the two men. I had to bide my time till they were completely defenseless. I only had one Iron Knife in my inventory and I had to pick the perfect time to strike both of them with it!

These disgusting dregs thought they were going to touch me…they were in for a very rude awakening!

…

I followed them off the dark streets to an even darker back alley. Why would they lead me back here? I could tell they couldn't even see a few feet in front of their own faces.

“So which of us is going to go first, Marco?” The trigger happy one asked.

“I need to go first!” The one named Marco replied. “My bitch of an ex thought she could break up with me last week and I'm on a dry spell! I showed her what happened to anyone who dares to leave me! No bitch is allowed to dump me! Her body ended up in a dumpster like the trash she was. Just like that last one that thought she was too good for me!” He hatefully spat out.

“Damn straight!” The other one enthusiastically added.

If I wasn't already planning on stabbing this pig, I would have done so just for that comment! He literally just admitted to murdering at least his last two girlfriends…

The other guy laughed menacingly. “Heheh! It seems like Marco is really pent up, girly. I hope he doesn’t break you before I get a turn!”

I didn't comment anything back no matter how much I wanted to. That would have put them on guard and been stupid. It was better for me to pretend to be a meek little victim at this point. “Please don’t hurt…” I said as meekly as I could.

They both laughed so I figured my acting was believable enough. Marco led me further into the dark alley, while the other guy went back towards the street to give us some “alone time.”

When he was far enough away, a menacing grin appeared on my face. My blood was pumping as I reached into my inventory and grasped the handle of my iron knife.

I heard the sound of a fly unzipping and pants falling to the ground. Marco was now defenseless! The idiot had also set his gun down on the ground next to his pants!

“Alright, bitch! Get on your knees and gaaah!” His words were cut off brutally!

I thrust the iron knife directly into his throat as hard as my current strength would allow me! Thankfully for me, it was soft tissue, and no matter how much muscle this guy had, he couldn't make his throat any tougher.

I yanked it back out just as quickly! Blood splattered my form as Marco stumbled backwards clutching at his throat.

There was so much blood oozing out, that I knew he was already dead. He did as well, judging by the horrified look he had in his eyes.

“Marco are you ok!? What’s going on?” The other guy panicked at the gurgling noise and called out. He came rushing back, gun drawn, when he heard the noise.

I quickly hid behind a dumpster in case he started randomly shooting.

“Marco? This isn't funny, man! It's too dark to see! Make some noise or something? Marco!” He was stumbling forward pointing his gun around in every direction. Thankfully, he hadn’t fired yet.

He walked directly towards his friend's body, but he couldn't see it. He ended up stumbling over the corpse and falling directly on top of it. As he did so, his gun fell out of his hand and clattered on the ground.

“Fuck!” He cursed. “What the hell did I trip on?” He tried to reach for the weapon he dropped, but he couldn't see where it fell.

He would never get to find out.

He lost his gun and that was all I needed! I leapt out of my hiding spot and sprinted at him!

He spun around quickly when he heard my loud footsteps, but it was too dark and he was too late. I thrust my Iron Knife forwards and stabbed him directly in the same spot as I had Marco!

I had just killed another man…

More blood was now splattered across my form as I once again yanked my knife out of another body. My white shirt was completely stained red at this point.

“Holy fuck! I actually did it!” I exclaimed in pure relief…and excitement!?

Why was I feeling so happy about killing them? I thought I would be more horrified with what I had just done, but I felt nothing for them!

All I felt was pure elation! “Killing those two was easy! I can't wait to rip all the other gang bangers apart like the juicy meat sacks that they ar–”

[Whoa! Calm down Valerie! Take some deep breaths to calm down before you accidentally go into a blood frenzy! Take some deep breaths to calm down before you accidentally go into a blood frenzy! Even Gamer’s Mind can’t protect you from that!]

I followed the System’s advice and took some calming breaths. A let out a long sigh as I calmed down. “What the hell was that? I was ready to storm that building with no hesitation just now!” That would have ended very badly for me!

[You’re a Dhampir currently covered in the blood of your enemies for the first time in your life. All that blood splattered on you got you a bit worked up is all. You should be alright now that you know that bloodlust you felt is just your Vampire instincts kicking in.]

“Thanks for snapping me out of that, System.”

Still though, I could hardly believe that I was afraid of these two men earlier. Killing them…had been easy. Not so much physically, but mentally. Was I some kind of heartless monster now?

[...You’re half a monster at least.]

“Well, that’s reassuring…” I said sarcastically. I didn’t know how to feel about becoming a monster so suddenly. I had felt pretty normal, in my new body, until now.

[Don’t forget, you’re still half human. Just don’t lose that part of yourself. I believe in you! Also, don’t feel bad about killing scum like these two. They don’t deserve pity.]

“Thanks, System! And you’re right. Fuck these guys!” I kicked Marco’s corpse in the balls just to be extra spiteful! At least I had avenged his past girlfriends if nothing else. “Do I get any XP for killing these two?” I asked.

[Here you go!]

{You have slain: random gang member x2. You have gained 20 XP!}

…Seriously?

All I get for risking my life there is a measly 20 XP? That’s crap! I’d have to take out 10 guys total just to get to level 1!?

[Yeah, we System’s can’t give too much XP for killing low level enemies anymore. Past Gamer’s abused it and went on city wide killing sprees to ‘Level Up’ faster.]

I let out a noise of complaint as I stood up and tried my best to psych myself up to go and kill some more gang members! “Fuck it! Let's do this! I'm a Gamer and I'm not going to give up against some two bit street gang!”

I walked over to the corpses and picked up both of their guns. I didn't know more than the basics on how to use one though.

[Point it at the person you don't like, and pull the trigger?]

Yep. That was about all I knew as well!

I stashed the guns in my inventory for now. I would switch to them only if I had to since I didn’t really know how to use them.

No matter how much I wanted to, I wasn’t going to storm the building, guns blazing, like Selene from Underworld. I wasn’t that kind of Vampire…yet.

I exited the pitch black alley and made my way towards the gang building. It was a run down apartment building covered in graffiti. I noticed that there were lights on in some of the windows. Unlike every other building on this street, this one seemed to be getting power.

That gave me an idea!

I put my finger to my chin in thought. The only reason I was able to take down those two was because they couldn’t see in the dark like I could as a Dhampir. Who’s to say I couldn’t use that same advantage here? It was still night time after all.

I would just need to find the breaker box on the side of the apartment building and kill the power. Once the whole building is plunged into darkness, I can move in and start picking people inside off!

[Great plan!]

I walked over towards the side of the gang building. I was glad that the two guys I killed hadn’t made nearly enough noise to alert the people inside. On top of that, I could also hear some loud music blaring loudly inside.

I didn’t find anything on the left, so I circled around to the right side.

“Bingo!” I said with a grin. There on the side of the building was a breaker box that wasn’t even covered or locked. That just made it easier for me.

The switches were labeled and I put my hand on the one labeled “main.” I pulled down and shut off the building's power.

Every single window immediately went dark and the music echoing went silent. I did it!

“What the hell?”

“The fucking power went out. What do I bribe those big city idiots for!?”

“Miguel! Get off your ass and go check the breaker.”

“Shouldn't Marco and Rick do that? They're already guarding outside.”

“Those retards couldn’t screw in a light bulb correctly if you showed them how! Why do you think I only let them guard the door!? Now move your ass!”

“Ok…Ok, I'm going, T-bone!”

I could make out multiple voices coming from inside the building. The guy giving the orders was obviously T-bone, the gang leader. His voice sounded like it was coming from the third floor. He was my main target, of course, but I had to get to him first.

From their conversation, I knew that another guy was coming down to check the breaker. I decided to wait in ambush for him. There was no reason to alert everyone and start shooting immediately if I could quietly pick another guy off quietly.

The gang member, who I assumed was Miguel, stepped out of the building front door. He had a flashlight in his hand and was waving it around. “Marco? Rick? Where the fuck are you idiots? Why are you not guarding the door!?” He pointed his flashlight up and down the street but there was obviously no sign of them. “Fuck…T-Bone is gonna be pissed at those two idiots when he finds they slacked off again.” He mumbled to himself as he walked around to the side of the building.

I was hiding behind a pile of discarded waste near the breaker. Thankfully, Miguel didn’t shine his light in my direction and was focused solely on the breaker in front of him. Marco and Rick apparently had a habit of slacking off and that was beneficial for me.

I crept out of my hiding spot and snuck up behind him quietly. I was surprised at how quiet I could creep along actually when I was trying to be silent. That must have been another vampire thing…

“What the hell? Who flicked the main breaker off!?” Miguel asked out loud while inspecting it with his flashlight.

He was so engrossed, that he didn’t notice someone was standing directly behind him…

I stood on my toes and leaned forward. “I did…” I whispered in his ear.

“Fuck!” He jumped in fright, but it was too late for him. My knife reached around and slashed him directly across the throat! I was getting pretty good with this knife!

He tried to let out a scream, but all that came out were strained gurgles as he started stumbling around the alley we were in while clutching his throat. Blood leaked down his front in a steady stream as he eventually fell to his knees. The last thing he did was look at me in shock before he collapsed lifeless to the ground.

{+10XP}

I reached into his waistband and grabbed another pistol off of the corpse. That brought my makeshift gun collection up to three!

I hurried to the front door. I figured I didn’t have a lot of time before anyone else in the dark building realized something was wrong since Miguel didn’t reset the breaker. I opened the door quietly and snuck into the main lobby. The interior was rank. It was filled with garbage, used needles, and old fast food wrappers.

I made sure not to step on anything pointy as I crept towards the stairwell.

“What the fuck is taking Miguel so long…”

“I don’t know man, it's dark as shit and Miguel had our only flashlight. “

Two gang members were standing in the stairwell, between the first and second floor. Neither of them could see me even though I was only a few meters away from them.

“I wish our boss wasn’t so paranoid and let us bring our phones with us. It's too damn dark and this place is creepy without lights!”

“Shhhh! Don’t let T-Bone hear you saying that! He’s super paranoid, and he thinks cell phones are the devil! He doesn’t trust anything that’s been designed by Stark or Richards!”

They were having a very enlightening conversation that had me very curious, but I couldn't waste anymore time listening in. I needed to make my move now

Even though it was dark, the two of them were still too close together for me to take them down with a knife one at a time. The stairwell was narrow and they could easily grab me even if they couldn't see.

I didn't want to take that risk.

I let out an internal sigh. It looked like I was going to be imitating Selene afterall…

I reached into my inventory and pulled out one of the handguns. I made sure the safety was switched to off before pointing it at the two of them. This was going to be very loud from here on out.

I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger!

XXX

Chapter Text

Chapter 3:

Bang! Bang!

{-2HP!}

“Ow!” My ears ached in agony after I fired my gun twice in succession!

Gunshots were so much louder than Hollywood made them out to be! On top of that, I fired indoors, making them even louder!

It took a few seconds for my ears to stop ringing in agony and my HP to return to 100.

As for the two gang members, they were both down for the count. I could see blood already pooling in the stairwell around them. I shot them both in the chest from only a few feet away after all. There was no surviving that…

“What the fuck was that!?”

“Are we under attack!? Which idiot is shooting at shit!?”

More voices echoed around the building. They all sounded panicked–as was to be expected.

“Rex! Curtis! What the fuck is going on down there!?” T-bone’s voice shouted loudly from two floors up. When no response came his tone changed to rage. “Fuck! Wake the fuck up everyone! We're under attack!”

And that was that. They knew I was here now. I wasn’t going to be able to catch anymore of them off guard.

“Whoever you are, what the hell do you want? Do you know who I am? Who I work for!? You're dead! Your whole family is dead!” T-Bone shouted down the stairwell.

He was understandably upset…

I didn’t grant him a response, that would have told everyone in the building where I was after all. I still had the advantage of darkness with me.

{+20XP}

I grinned when I got that notification. I was now at 50/100 XP to level one! Then I would finally have access to my racial abilities and some Gamer abilities as well hopefully.

I giggled quietly to myself. Before I started this little spree, I was dreading having to face so many men at once. Now I was hoping there were enough to fill my XP bar.

[And that's why we lowered the amount of XP from killing low level enemies. I told you it was addictive.]

I pouted at the System’s words. I couldn't really refute them at the moment either…

I carefully stepped over the two still bodies and silently made my way up the stairwell. My eyes were wide open and searching for an ambush the whole way to the second floor. To my surprise, one never came. These gang members clearly had no idea how to employ tactics. The power was out, which meant the elevator wasn't going to work. The only way to even get to them was to come up the stairs…

When I reached the second floor, I could hear whispering coming from a nearby room. The door wasn’t fully shut, and had been left open by a crack. I crept up to it and peeked through the slit. Three gang members were inside scared out of their minds. I slowly started prying the door open, doing my best to not make a sound.

“Fuck, man! None of the guys downstairs are responding! They’re all dead and we’re next!”

SMACK!

The one who spoke got slapped by one of the others. “Pull your shit together! Those guys got taken out because they were stupid and couldn't set up a proper ambush.”

The third one spoke up while nodding. “That’s right! This room doesn't have any windows and there's only one door! If anyone tries to open it, we blast them! We can’t see, but we’ll for sure be able to hear the door opening!”

“You shut the door and locked it right?”

“Huh? I mean…O–of course I did. I’m not stupid!”

And yet, here I was slowly pushing the door open so I could slip inside. Maybe if they had actually properly closed it in the first place, their plan might have worked.

“What about T-Bone? Shouldn't we get to the third floor and meet up with him and the others?” the first one asked.

“Man…Fuck T-Bone. We’re only in this mess because he obviously pissed off someone important. I told him it was a dumb idea to try and seize multiple streets for ourselves. That’s too much territory for a small gang like ours!”

That was interesting information, but not important for me at the moment. I quietly crept my way through the dark towards one of the gang members who was standing alone in his half of the room. The other two were standing next to each other.

He was jittery and gripping his gun tightly as he faced the door. Had he been able to see, he would have noticed it was already open and his plan had failed.

I raised my gun and pointed it at his head. There was a moment of silence that was broken when one of the guys across the room spoke up. “Man…why is it so quiet all of a sudden? Did they skip our floor and go right for T-Bone?”

“Who cares, just listen for the door!” The one right next to me shouted out.

I put my finger on the trigger. “Sorry, but I’m already here.”

His eyes widened in shock when I spoke right next to him! “Oh sh–” All he could do was twitch before I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

{+10XP}

“Fuck!”

“Andre! No! I’ll kill you!”

The other two people in the room screamed and cursed!

I rapidly turned my gun and pointed it towards the two of them across the room. They couldn't see me, but they pointed their guns in my direction and did the same.

This was when I realized that maybe I should have gone for the two of them first.

All of us started shooting at the exact same time!

Gunfire and bullets tore through the room! They couldn’t see me, but they knew my general direction. I could see them, but I was a very mediocre shot from so far away. All my kills so far had been point blank.

“Gah! Fuck im hit, cover me!” One of the gang members took a shot to the arm. He dropped down and took cover behind an old rotten couch.

“Die!” The other one pulled out a second, fully automatic, Uzi from his waistband and started rapidly shooting everywhere in the room!

“Crap!” My eyes widened when I noticed that his bullets started hitting much closer to where I was standing. I rapidly dove out of the way and tried to scramble behind a pile of wooden crates nearby. I didn't quite make it in time.

I felt something bite into my leg and a scream erupted from my mouth! I got shot!

{-70HP}

It really hurt! Just getting hit once in the leg almost cost me all of my HP! Had he shot me anywhere vital, I would be dead…

The guy kept spraying bullets all around the room as he laughed wildy. He had heard my scream and started insulting me while he kept shooting. “HAHahahah! Die, Bitch! Who would have thought we were fighting a woman!?” Bullets tore through almost everything nearby, but thankfully the wooden crates I was hiding behind held on. After a few more seconds his gun clicked, signaling that it was empty. I kept quiet and pretended to play dead.

I grit my teeth as I looked down at my leg to inspect it. My Flesh was slowly starting to knit itself back together as my HP began to refill. With my current Constitution, it would take me 5-6 minutes to heal completely. That was time I didn’t have though. I also couldn't heal myself with my Sepiroth Graal because it glowed golden when I summoned it. I would give away my hiding spot.

I stashed my empty gun in my inventory and pulled out one of my spares. My leg ached, but I shakily stood up and assessed the other side of the room. The gang member I shot was still hiding behind the couch, but the other one was standing proudly and grinning to himself. “Ha! Looks like I got the Bitch! You heard that scream, right? She's dead for sure.”

“Good work! Let’s get the fuck out of here and get me to a hospital. She got me good and I’m losing a lot of blood.” The other one said as he stood up.

“Don’t we want to check her corpse? Find out who she was?”

“Who cares? We can’t even fucking see and I’m not caring a body down the stairs while my arm is all fucked up. We’ll let T-bone deal with the bitch.”

The two of them started slowly making their way towards where they thought the doorway was. Unfortunately for them, that just brought them closer to me. I didn’t feel like saying any witty quips this time while my leg was killing me. I simply waited for them to get close before I pulled the trigger two more times.

{+20XP}

Two more bodies hit the floor and I let out a sigh of relief. I slumped down to the floor and started massaging my leg. I still had around 3 minutes until it fully healed.

I had gotten a bit cocky there, and almost paid the price. Things had been going so well, that I had temporarily forgotten that I was still very squishy. I’m glad I only had one more floor to go.

…

–T-Bone–

“Jesus Christ! What the fuck is going on down there!” One of his boys shouted in shock when they heard machine gun fire go off below them for almost 20 seconds straight! “It sounds like a warzone!”

“Boss, what the hell is going on? Who's attacking us?” The other one asked in panic. These were the last two members of his gang that were currently in the building. T-Bone, didn’t know if the boys on the second floor were dead, but he was going to assume they were unless proven otherwise. He was a cautious man, and that caution had saved him many times throughout his life growing up on the streets.

T-Bone grit his teeth and cursed internally! How could everything have gone so wrong!? He had finally grinded his way to the top! He owned multiple blocks of territory and his gang was feared and respected by the neighborhood! Anyone who dared go against him ended up in a ditch or a dumpster!

And in only a matter of a few minutes, it had somehow all almost come crashing down…

“You two go and stand by the top of the stairs. That’s the only way up to this floor. If you hear anything–anything at all–you start blasting! Do not let them get up here!” T-Bone commanded his two men.

They both were scared, but followed his orders anyway. He smirked at that at least. The one thing he had done right was primarily recruiting dumb brutes for his gang. They may not be very smart, but they follow orders fine and don’t bother questioning him!

While they slowly stumbled in the dark down the halls towards the stairwell, T-Bone decided to do the smart thing and get the hell out of this death trap apartment building.

Yes, he was using his subordinates as a temporary distraction to escape. He didn’t care, he still had a few guys in the gang who weren’t here currently, and he could always recruit some more later. He made his way towards the emergency exit that he knew had an emergency fire escape.

Bang! Bang!

He cursed, internally, when he heard two more gunshots. He knew the last of his boys were probably dead now. He hopped out the window while swearing revenge.

…

{+20 XP! You have leveled up!}

{Skill gained! Guns Level 1!}

After dropping the two guys trying to ambush me at the top of the stairs, the world seemed to freeze around me. I couldn’t move and my Gamer Screen appeared directly in front of my eyes. It was unnerving.I hoped no one would attack me while I couldn't move.

[Don’t worry. Time is currently frozen. This will happen whenever you level up.]

{Congratulations! You have reached level 1!}

{All Stats +5! Please select a Stat to advance by an additional 5 points.}

Valerie Tepes (Dhampir Princess)
Sacred Gear: Sephiroth Graal
Lv = 1 (0/200 XP)
Health = 250/250 (Constitution x 10 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute)
Mana = 250 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 15
Strength = 15
Dexterity = 15
Intelligence = 15
Wisdom = 15
Charisma = 35

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

Getting to level 1 was worth it! My HP and Mana were both more than doubled now. I was also surprised that every stat I advanced by 5 points. That was awesome! I put the five extra points I was given into Constitution to get my HP to 300. Hopefully I can now survive a bullet to the chest at the very least.

Not that I was planning on getting shot again anytime soon…

{Your Racial abilities have been unlocked! Your starter class has been selected based on your current skills. Congratulations, you have been granted the starter class Gunslinger!

{Gunslinger: All bullets do more damage and are more likely to hit their target. Gunslinger is currently at 7/100.}

Gunslinger? I was hoping for something more magic oriented to be honest. I supposed it wasn’t a terrible first class though. What was the 7/100 for though?

[You can always pick another class later after you max your current one. The starter class usually doesn't take long to max. You only have to defeat 100 enemies with your class. That just means shooting 100 people for you…]

93 more people to go then…

{A gift has been awarded! You have received Magic Revolver x1!}

{Time is now returning to normal!}

I could suddenly move again and sighed in relief. A small flash of light appeared in front of me and a black revolver materialized out of thin air. I deftly caught it before it fell to the ground. “What does this thing do?” I asked while inspecting the black gun in my hands.

[It has unlimited bullets. It uses a few MP for every shot to conjure bullets in the chamber. It also never needs to be maintained like a regular gun.]

I grinned at the gun in my hands. That would be incredibly useful. “Who even needs magic when you have infinite ammo!?” I said with a smirk.

[You sure flipped your tune fast… What happened to wanting a magic class?]

I ignored the System and headed down the hallway. There was still one more person I had to take care of before this tutorial quest was complete. T-Bone should be close by. I started checking the floor room by room. If any doors were locked, I simply shot the door handles off. My magic revolver packed a punch and was pretty awesome!

After searching every other room on this floor, I finally made it to the final one. It was locked and I blasted the door handle off before I kicked in the door. I rapidly pointed my gun everywhere in the room searching for my target. T-Bone was not in the room…

I felt a draft. There was an open window in the back that was wide open and led to an emergency fire escape.

“Son of a bitch!” I cursed out loud. “He ran away!”

[ I hope he didn't get too far.]

It couldn't have been long so he shouldn't have gotten very far. The only problem is that I didn't know which way he ran. I needed to find him fast because there was no way I was going to fail this tutorial!

I hopped out the window and landed on the fire escape. I quickly dashed up the ladders and made my way towards the rooftop. From the high ground, I looked around below trying to spot him. There was no sign of him though. I needed to get higher.

I grinned to myself excitedly! “It's a good thing that I reached level 1 and unlocked my racial abilities.” After I said that, two black leathery wings sprouted forth behind me.

…

–T-Bone–

T-Bone’s hands were on his knees as he panted raggedly and tried to regain his breath. “Fuck this shit…” He had sprinted for three full blocks and was currently hiding in a small alley. He hoped that he was far enough away from whoever was after him. Also, the sun was starting to come up and he could finally start to see again.

He heard movement behind him! T-Bone spun around and drew his gun! He rapidly fired three shots where he heard the noise coming from. A stray cat screeched at him and ran away in fright. “Fucking cats…” He muttered to himself with a sigh of relief. “This has been an awful night…” He muttered angrily while kicking over a nearby trash can.

Now that the sun was out, he figured he was safe and stepped out of the alley. As he walked down the street, he was still cursing up a storm and swearing vengeance upon whoever it was that had come after him.

“I'm afraid you won't be getting any vengeance. This is the end for you T-Bone.” An almost Angelic voice called out… from above him?

He glanced up in the sky and gaped in shock. “An Angel…?” He muttered when he saw her. Directly above him, hovering in the sky with literal wings, was a girl of unparalleled beauty. Her blood soaked clothes didn’t diminish that. It was only when he saw her glowing red eyes and her black leathery wings that he realized he wasn't looking at an Angel…

The beautiful girl giggled at him before she pointed a black gun downwards. “Goodbye.”

XXX

Thanks for reading! Valerie finally completed her tutorial mission! And now she has school…she’s also still covered head to toe in blood.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4:

{You have reached level 2!}

{All stats +5! Please select a stat to add another 5 points to!}

I put the extra five points in intelligence this time so I'd have more Mana for my magic revolver. It used Five Mana per shot, so now I could shoot it 90 times in one go.

Valerie Tepes (Dhampir Princess)
Class: Gunslinger (8/100)
Sacred Gear: Sephiroth Graal
Lv = 1 (0/400 XP)
Health = 450/450 (Constitution x 10 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute)
Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 25
Strength = 20
Dexterity = 20
Intelligence = 25
Wisdom = 20
Charisma = 40

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

I looked down at the outfit I was wearing and I grimaced. I was covered almost head to toe in blood. I looked like a freaking serial killer!

…Which I may or may not be at this point. And now I remembered that I still had to go to school today! All I wanted to do was lie down and take a nap but the sun was already starting to rise. I needed to get out of the bloody clothes I was wearing and rinse off. I'm glad I remembered to grab all the spare clothing from where I woke up.

With my new enhanced strength, I was able to pick T-Bone's body up off the street and I dragged him towards a nearby alley. I nonchalantly opened a dumpster and tossed him inside. With that handled, I flapped MY new wings and took off back into the air. Being able to fly was absolutely amazing! I flew back towards the scene of the crime…

The gang building had working electricity, so I was assuming it also had working water. I couldn't go to school covered in blood after all. I slipped back in through the fire escape window. I kicked in the doors of one of the random apartments and made my way towards the bathroom. I let out a sigh of relief when I turned a rusty shower knob and water started pouring out. It wasn't hot water, but I would take what I could get at this point. The cold water running over my naked body felt nice after I had exerted myself so much.

Once all the blood was completely rinsed off me, I put on a new outfit and decided to leave this building for good. I'm sure someone would discover it in the future and be absolutely horrified at all the bodies they would find. That wasn't my problem anymore though.

“This is going to be annoying.” I muttered to myself. I was thinking that I could simply fly to school–wherever it actually was. Unfortunately, the sun was now high in the sky. A girl flying through the city with giant bat wings would stand out quite a bit. There was no need for me to go breaking the Statue of Secrecy right now.

I was going to have to walk. With a sigh of irritation, I started walking towards the city.

I made it a couple of blocks when I heard the sound of a car pulling up behind me. I expected them to keep on driving by, but to my surprise the car slowed to a crawl.

“Girl! What in the hell are you doing walking out here? Do you want to get robbed and murdered!? This is not a safe area!” A woman's voice yelled at me.

I was well aware this was not a safe area. However, it was a lot safer now than it was a couple hours ago…

[Good job clearing out that entire place, Valerie.]

I turned around to see who was driving the car. It was a pretty pale woman with black hair who looked to be in her mid twenties. She had been initially frowning at me. When I turned around and she saw my face, that frown quickly disappeared though. My eyes locked on her neck and I could see her gulp at my appearance.

She had a sudden blush on her cheeks, and I thought it was pretty cute to be honest. I wondered what a cute girl who didn’t look any tougher than me was doing out here as well?

[Try using your Observe skill on her.]

{Jessica Jones - Level: ???
Thoughts about you: She is confused why an extremely pretty girl like you is walking around such a dangerous area on your own. She wants to help you so you don’t get hurt…like she was long ago.}
It took a second for my brain to compute the information I just read. When it did…

‘Jessica Jones!!?’ I thought in shock! ‘HOLY SHIT! I’M IN MARVEL TOO NOW!!!??? What the hell, system? You should have told me that!’ Now I knew where I recognized the name Stark and Richard from, that the gang members were talking about earlier. I couldn’t even see Jessica’s level either. I figured Jessica must be a lot stronger than my current self.

[I knew I was forgetting something…]

The System was snickering at me in my head so I knew it absolutely did not forget.

“Are you going to say something? Are you alright? What are you doing out here in this area?” Jessica asked me in a much kinder tone than when she was scolding me before.

“Sorry. I was trying to think of what to say, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you why I was out here. If I give you $100 can you drive me to Midtown High?” I asked her randomly.

She was looking skeptical, but as soon as I mentioned money Jessica’s eyes seemed to light up! She let out a polite cough and unlocked her car doors. “It’s none of my business what a pretty girl like you is doing out here anyway. Hop in and I’ll be happy to give you a ride. I know where Midtown High is. I went there myself a few years ago.” She said.

I walked around the side of her car and got in. Jessica started driving again once I closed the door! “Thanks for stopping. I’m Valerie Tepes.” I introduced myself.

“I'm Jessica Jones, and you’re damn lucky that I stopped.” As we drove down the road Jessica pointed towards the sides of the street.

I could see three heavily tattooed gang members of some kind loitering around. They were all glaring at us in hatred as Jessica drove by. Were those members of T-Bones gang? Shit, it looks like I didn't get all of them when I raided the building. They were going to be pissed when they found all their friends' bodies later.

“I'm sure those fine gentlemen wouldn't have done anything untoward for such a beauty like myself.” I told Jessica as I glanced at them. Even if they tried, I had a magic gun now and I would just shoot them all.

Jessica snorted. “Those are T-bone’s men. He’s some new wannabe gangster that just rolled into Hell’s Kitchen. Have you noticed that these past three streets are completely deserted? T-bone drove everyone away from this part of the Kitchen so he could run his drug business here.” She spat out.

“And the police just let him?” I asked her. I had wondered why the streets have been so completely empty surrounding the area I woke up in. That wasn't normal, there should have at least been homeless people occupying most of those buildings.

Jessica scoffed. “They don’t give a shit what happens in Hell’s Kitchen. They've pretty much written off the area and don't even respond to 911 calls anymore. Don’t come back here again.” She told me sternly.

“I won't.” I lied directly to her. I'd probably be back in a couple days to finish off the remnants of the Gang. ‘Will I get any extra rewards for completely finishing them off?’ I asked the System in my head.

[No, without their leader they'll end up being swallowed up by another gang. If you want more XP you can get it by doing things like Completing Quests. Defeating Enemies. Healing People. Crafting things. Some Gamer’s even prefer Cooking to level up.]

That was good to know, and it gave me somewhere to start my level grind that didn't involve murdering a bunch of gangsters and criminals. Not that that hadn't been surprisingly cathartic after I got over the fear of dying.

I had the Sephiroth Graal in a lot more Mana now. I wondered how much XP I could get for healing sick people?

“So what were you doing out here?” I asked Jessica while we drove. We had officially made it into the city at this point. The streets became a lot more crowded and a lot cleaner.

“I'm a private detective,” Jessica said. “I was looking for a girl who went missing near where I found you. I didn't find her…” She said bitterly.

Was she out there last night as well? I'm glad she didn't hear all the shouting and gunshots and came stumbling upon me… That would have turned out badly.

Jessica seemed touchy about that topic, and I decided not to push further for my own sake as well. Hell's Kitchen was in a pretty bad spot right now, so I'm assuming that girl didn't have the most pleasant of endings.

I figured we needed a change of topic, and I grinned when I thought of one. “So Jessica, are you single?” I asked her bluntly.

Jessica sputtered at the suddenness of my question, and her car swerved for a second. I giggled when other drivers angrily honked at us!

“The hell, girl!? You just came right out and asked that?” She asked me while gripping her steering wheel tightly. I could see her finger suddenly leaving indents in from her super strength.

I shrugged. “You’re good looking and were kind enough to stop for me. I can’t help but be a bit interested in you.” I said to Jessica with a smile.

Jessica's cheeks were still red and she let out a scoff that sounded forced. “A-aren’t you still in High School?” She asked me.

“I’m 18.” I said. “I'm just transferring in for the last few months anyway.”

“What about college?” Jessica asked me.

“I'll go… eventually, but for now I have other plans.” I replied.

Jessica hesitantly reached into her pocket and pulled out a small business card. “My number is on the back.” She mumbled with her eyes solely on the road.

I took the card and pocketed it with a grin. I was in this world less than a day so far, and I already had a potential date with a hot Superheroine! I was making some great progress!

[I think you just set a record there among all the other new Gamers…]

She was hot and single. I was hot and single… for now. Why shouldn't I ask her out?

[You're the Gamer. You do you…]

After that, we drove in silence through the city for about 20 minutes. Jessica was a bit embarrassed, and I didn't want to push her too far and have her rescind. I also had some other things on my mind. What was I supposed to do now? I was a gamer and my future was limitless. Where did I go from here?

[You’ll figure it out eventually…]

…

Finally, we pulled up in front of Midtown High. I could see a bunch of students waiting around outside for the school day to start. I let out a small sigh of irritation knowing this was going to be my life for the next couple months at least.

“Thank you for stopping and driving me here, Jessica. Anyone else would have just kept on driving and ignored me on the side of the road.” I told her with a smile.

Jessica smiled back at me. “No problem, Valerie. Now pay up!” She said with a grin and held out her hand. I laughed and handed her a $100 bill. She looked surprised that I had actually paid her. She quickly slipped the money into her pocket in case I decided to take it back. I obviously would not have done that.

“I'll call you…” I said as I handed Jessica the money that was promised and stepped out of her car. “The two of us can have lots of fun the next time we meet~..”

With a red face, Jessica drove off a second later without saying goodbye. I giggled at that. She had super strength and kicked ass on a daily basis, but she was acting shy around a pretty face.

[A supernaturally pretty face that puts pretty much every single supermodel in the world to shame.]

‘Am I going to get even more beautiful the more my Charisma raises from now on?’ I asked.

[No, your looks are pretty much at the peak of what's physically possible. Instead, higher Charisma will draw more people towards you and give them more favorable impressions of you. It has other benefits too that you will discover in the future.]

I started making my way towards the main school building. I figured that I would need to pick up a schedule or something.

[Don't worry! I signed you up for all the hardest classes! You better raise your Intelligence Stat soon!]

“...”

I was hoping the System was joking about that, but judging by its laughter, I didn't think that was the case.

“Hi there, can you tell me where the administration office is?”

“Y-you're talking to me!? It’s um…uh…that’s…uhhhhhh.”

I tried to ask a nerdy looking boy standing by his locker for directions, but he froze up upon seeing my face. My 40 Charisma was too much for his hormonal teenage brain to handle. I sighed and decided to find it for myself. As I walked down the hall, I could hear laughter behind me as some other boys made fun of the one who failed to even answer me.

Thankfully there were signs and it wasn't that hard to find. I entered the administration office and saw an older heavy-set woman digging through a file cabinet in the back. “Hello, mam. I'm Valerie Tepes. Here to pick up my schedule.” I called out to get her attention.

“It's in the basket there!” The woman didn't even turn around and just made a shooing motion with her hand.

I found what she was talking about easily enough. There were a few files with different students' names on them. I found my own and opened it up. My schedule was inside along with a map of the school that was easy to follow. I headed towards my first class of the day.

It was AP Calculus. I hadn’t even taken regular Calculus in my last life… I was screwed. The school year was already halfway over!

‘Thanks, System!’ I thought sarcastically.

[You're welcome!]

The bell had rung while I was grabbing my schedule, so the hallways were devoid of any other students. I followed the map towards my first class of the day. The school was pretty big, so it took me around five minutes to find the classroom.

On the other side of the door, I could hear the teacher giving a lecture. I opened the door and stepped inside. The teacher stopped talking and turned towards me with a scowl on his face because I interrupted his lecture.

The second he saw me, though, his attitude immediately changed.

Being supernaturally beautiful really has its benefits…

His scowl slipped off his face, and he sputtered. “Er-um…Hello. And who might you be?” He asked.

“Hi. I'm a new student. I'm Valerie Tepes. It's nice to meet you all.” I introduced myself to him and all the students gaping at me.

“God damn! That's the hottest girl I’ve ever seen in my whole life! She makes all the other girls in this class look plain!” One boy yelled loudly from the back of the classroom. A couple of the girls in the room turned and glared at him. He shrunk back in his seat.

“Thank you!” I replied honestly. I was still getting used to my new looks and appreciated the compliment.

I turned back towards the teacher. The man literally gulped. “Sorry for interrupting your important lecture.” I said to him.

“N-no problem, Miss Tepes. Feel free to speak up anytime you have a question!” He said to me. He turned back to his students who were all also staring at me. “Does anyone have any questions for Miss Tepes?” The teacher asked the class.

Tons of hands immediately shot into the air, and I giggled.

One overweight student had even pulled out a cell phone and started recording.

Wait…

‘Cell phone!? The hell, System? I thought you said we were in the past and technology like this didn't exist yet?’ Now that I thought about it, I remembered one of the gang members mentioning a cell phone as well.

[I guess I forgot to account for all the geniuses of this universe. It seems that technology here is at least 30 years ahead of its time. Maybe more.]

I supposed that was the only explanation.

A beautiful girl with flaming red hair and bright green eyes raised her hand. “Your eyes are so pretty? Are they natural or are you wearing contacts?”

“They're natural. I've always had red eyes,” I replied. I was thankful that my partially slitted eyes were only noticeable from very close up.

“What brands of makeup are you wearing!? You look amazing!” A blond girl next to the redhead asked.

“…I'm not wearing any makeup right now.” I said.

All the girls in the class blanched at me.

“Naturally beautiful and good at math! She's an angel!” The boy who was recording with his phone exclaimed.

“Oh, I'm not actually all that good at math. I was actually going to inquire about tutoring. I'm joining halfway into the school year, after all.” I admitted. Immediately after I said that, a bunch of boys in the class started shouting out loudly.

“I'll tutor you!”

“No, I will!”

“Pick me! I'll tutor you in whatever you want! All night long!”

The teacher clapped loudly to get everyone's attention and stop the pandemonium that had just gone off in the classroom.

He shut down all the thirsty boys vying for my attention. “Half of you idiots are barely passing my class as it is! None of you are tutoring anybody. Miss Tepes can be tutored by Miss Grey, Miss Stacy, or the Parker siblings. You four are my best students.” the teacher declared.

I felt like having four students assigned to tutor me was a bit much, but I didn't complain after he mentioned their names.

Miss Grey? Miss Stacy? The Parker…siblings? ‘What were the odds that these four are all main characters of Marvel?’ I wondered.

[Pretty high odds considering you're the Gamer. Main characters of whatever universe you're in will naturally flock to you.]

I suspected as much.

“I have a question for the new girl!” One boy called out with an aggressive tone. He was wearing a letterman jacket declaring he was on the Varsity Football team. He was also glaring at me for some reason…

The teacher facepalmed and sighed next to me. I felt like that was a bad sign. Clearly, this guy was the class troublemaker.

“Yes, Flash? What would you like to ask Miss Tepes? Keep it short because we still have class after all,” the teacher asked the guy.

Flash scowled, then pointed his finger at me. “I'll keep it short alright! Are you a mutant freak!?” He asked me. He spat out the words “mutant freak” with pure hatred in his voice.

Students all over the room also gasped at his question.

I had to admit that I was completely taken aback.

“A mutant freak?” I repeated.

“That's right! You're impossibly beautiful, and your red eyes aren't natural! You've got to be some kind of mutant freak! Your kind isn't welcome here! Get the hell out of my school!” He spat out hatefully at me!

XXX

Chapter Text

Rewrote this chapter because I didn't like it the first time I posted it.

Chapter 5:

"Get the hell out of my school!" Flash spat at me, his face flushed with anger.

The amount of hatred Flash seemingly had for me was impressive. It almost felt personal, but I had never met him before. Before I took over this body, the old Valerie was a sheltered slave living in Britain. She had never even left the area of the small cottage she grew up in.

{Flash Thompson - Level 9:
Thoughts about you: Thinks you're a mutant Freak and hates you! He would attack you if you were alone with him.}

‘Jesus…’ I thought after reading that. This guy has some serious issues.

"Shut the hell up, Flash!" A pretty blond girl sitting nearby yelled at him. "Why are you so afraid of mutants? They've never done anything to you!"

Flash scowled at her. "That's bullshit! A mutant tried to attack me a month ago. You were there." He said.

"That's not true!" The girl spat back at him. "A guy with blue skin walked up to us and asked us for directions. He was very nice too. You screamed in fright and punched him in the face! If he wasn't a mutant, you would have ended up with an assault charge!" She explained loudly. The majority of the students in the room started sending judgmental looks towards Flash.

He growled at the negative looks he was getting. "He was planning on robbing us. It’s true!" Flash exclaimed, standing up suddenly. "The police said so when they took him away in handcuffs like the freak deserved!"

"Those police officers were racist pieces of shit!" The girl retorted. "They didn't take anyone's stories. They just arrested that guy because he was a mutant."

"No, they didn’t! They were good guys." Flash said but at this point no one in the room believed it. He scanned the room for support in the argument, but no one met his eyes.

The pretty girl scoffed at him. "You're such a bad liar. This is why we broke up." She mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned back to me and gave me a soft smile. “Just ignore Flash. Everyone else does anyway.”

I didn't know who this girl was, but I appreciated the pretty blonde sticking up for me.

Flash crossed his arms with a huff and angrily sat back down. I didn’t like the way he was now glaring at the girl who was apparently his ex-girlfriend.

Also, I wasn’t expecting to get verbally harassed as soon as I walked into the classroom. I was not even a mutant! I was a Dhampir! And yes, I understand being a Dhampir is arguably worse than being a mutant, from a regular human's perspective at least. Since I need to drink human blood to survive. However, it’s not like anyone here knows that yet.

[It’s probably better for people to think you’re a mutant over a Dhampir anyways. Do you want a Vampire Hunter like Blade coming after you when you’re currently weak?]

‘Shit, is he a real thing here?!’ I asked in my head. I did not want someone like him coming after me. That would be very bad for my prolonged health…

All the students were muttering amongst themselves about the argument that just happened between Flash and the blond girl. Some of them spoke up and asked me if I was a mutant as well?

The teacher apologized to me before he yelled at all the disruptive students to quiet down. He then turned to me. “You do not have to answer whether you are a mutant or not. It's against District Policy to out students for being mutants. Our school does not discriminate.”

"That’s okay." I said loud enough for the whole class's attention to shift back to me. I looked Flash dead in the eyes and didn't back down from his glare. I might only be a Level 2, but I certainly wasn’t scared of some high school bully. I was a damned Gamer!

“Yes, I am a mutant.” I lied to the whole class.

[Wow, you’re really doing this? Good luck.]

There were a couple of audible gasps from the students at my sudden admission. Flash had a smug look on his face. Unfortunately for him, he forgot one thing. I was a supernaturally beautiful girl. This wasn’t going to go the way he thought it was.

“I’m not going to hide the fact that I was born with awesome superpowers!” I said smugly to everyone in the room before I continued. I placed my hand across my chest and smiled at everyone in the room. “Nor am I going to lord my powers over other people and pretend that it makes me intrinsically better than all of them.” I lied again. “Whether or not someone has powers does not define them as a person. Every single person is different after all. Having superpowers doesn't make anyone better than anyone else. And not having powers doesn't give anyone the right to jealousy discriminate against the people who do either. People should only be judged on who they are instead of what they are.” Most of the people in the room were sending me looks of admiration when I finished talking.

They were the same looks as I was getting before Flash had spoken up in the first place, so nothing had really changed. Even if I was a ‘mutant,’ I was still supernaturally beautiful. Therefore, people still liked me.

[Being pretty is a real cheat in life…]

That, or I was just apparently really good at giving speeches. It might have actually been the latter.

Did I honestly believe any of what I just said? Not really. Having powers and being a Gamer did make me better than everyone else. That was simply a matter of course. That didn't mean I was going to start spouting that fact out loud though. I didn't want to end up sounding like Homelander or Magneto and turn everyone against me.

Another reason why I just ‘outed myself’ as a mutant was because the technology in this world was already advanced to the point that cell phones and the internet were commonplace. Cameras were everywhere. I knew that, realistically, it wouldn't have taken very long for me to have been exposed as having powers anyway. Maybe a couple weeks at most. Agencies like SHIELD probably had half the cameras in the city tapped.

Therefore, I decided then that it was better to proudly ‘out myself’ and be in charge of my own narrative. I’d prefer people to think I was a mutant instead of a blood-sucking monster for now. And if mutant haters wanted to kill me when the cameras weren't rolling… I didn't mind using them as XP or blood banks.

“She’s so awesome!” One girl in the back shouted out.

“Hell yeah! You tell them, sexy new girl!” Another boy added on. “Please go out with me!”

“It’s like this girl is getting more beautiful and perfect by the second!” The student recording me exclaimed. “This is going to get so many hits online!” He declared as he pressed stop on his recording.

I almost spoke up and asked him not to post it, but I stopped myself. I supposed it was a pretty good impromptu speech and it could only help people’s stance on mutants and myself.

[Good job almost making the whole class worship you with only a few words! Here you go:]

{Your Charm has risen by 1!}

{You have gained the Perk: Commanding Voice - When you speak, people listen. People will always stop to listen when you start talking. Your words will also reach much farther than they normally would be able to, even in a loud room.}

I thought that that was a very interesting perk. It honestly sounded like the perk a Super Villain would have. Could I just start monologuing mid-battle and everyone would stop and listen to me? That would be hilarious.

I turned back to the teacher and saw that he was wiping a small tear out of his eye. “That was a truly beautiful speech, Miss Tepes. I’m proud to have a student like you!”

“Thanks?” I was barely even his student yet…

“Please take your seat now. This is still a school despite the clownery we have seen this morning.” He pointed me at the empty desk at the back of the class next to the window. It was the designated main character seat. It was also directly behind Peter Parker. That was pretty cool. I got to sit right behind Spiderman!

I started making my way over before Peter stood up with a scowl on his face! He pointed his finger directly at me! “She’s not sitting behind me! She’s probably just waiting for a chance to attack all of us! I'm with Flash on this one! Fuck this new girl! She’s an evil monster!”

‘Never mind then… Fuck Spiderman. What the hell is this guy’s problem!?’ I wondered in surprise. This was another outburst that was catching me completely off guard. And it was coming from Spiderman of all people? Spiderman was supposed to be a good guy. I didn't recall him ever being racist. I used Observe to try and figure out what was going on with him.

{Peter Parker - Level ???
Thoughts about you: He loathes your very existence! He is currently contemplating how to seriously hurt you or even get rid of you…permanently.}

‘What. The. Fuck!? Am I in some kind of AU with an Evil Spiderman now, System!?’ I asked in my head.

[Huh… I’m honestly just as confused as you are. I can absolutely confirm that he never met the old Valerie once in his life. This is a mystery.]

“Peter! How could you say that!? You’ve never even seen this girl before today!” A girl sitting next to Peter yelled at him. She had very similar features to him.

{Penny Parker - Level 13
Thoughts about you: She thinks you're very pretty and admired you for your bravery to out yourself as a mutant. She wanted to be friends with you. She is scared her twin brother has just ruined that chance…}

“Hell yeah, Parker! When did you become cool like me? I knew you’d come around to the good side one day!” Flash bellowed cheerfully. “We should hang out more, buddy.”

At this point, the teacher looked livid. This was the second hate filled outburst after all. This was also coming directly after he told me this school was ‘mutant friendly.’ “Detention Mr. Parker and Mr. Thompson! With me after school. For now, though, both of you leave my classroom and head for the dean's office!” He yelled at both of them and pointed at the doorway.

Peter scoffed as he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He gave me a vicious glare before he left the classroom and slammed the door behind himself.

Flash followed after him and almost got comically smacked in the face by the door. The class laughed when he yelped and leapt backwards. “Fuck you guys!” He yelled before slamming the classroom door shut himself.

With both of them gone, I awkwardly took my seat by the window. A couple guys nearby tried whispering to me, but I pretended like I didn’t hear them.

The teacher started teaching class once everyone quieted down again. I had a hard time paying attention, though. I was trying to figure out why Peter hated me so much. Unfortunately, I was drawing complete blanks. I jokingly wondered if I’d wronged him in a past life, but I actually remembered my past life. The answer was obviously no.

I was still lost in my thoughts when the bell rang an hour later, signaling the end of my calculus class. Students started clearing out to get to their next classes. A few students stayed behind to talk to me. The pretty girl who had argued with Flash was one of them.

{Liz Allan - Level 9
Thoughts about you: Liz is bisexual and thinks you are the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen. She loathes her ex-boyfriend, Flash, and was more than happy to stand up to him for you. She hopes that you’re single, but she doesn’t care if you’re not and is still going to try and make a move on you later...}

‘Wow…’ I thought after reading that. It was nice being referred to as "the most beautiful girl someone has ever seen."

The girl next to Liz Allan was also a recognizable character.

{Mary Jane Watson - Level 8
Thoughts about you: She wants to be a reporter one day, and is wondering if he would do an interview for the school paper with her? She's been best friends with Liz for years and can clearly see her friend is attracted to you. She thinks you’re very beautiful too, but she’s never been very interested in other girls.}

I was glad that the MJ of this universe was the familiar redhead who wanted to be a reporter. The MCU version of MJ was just plain cringe. Her only purpose was to provide sarcastic one liners.

As for giving her an interview, I wasn't quite sure about that yet. Everything I currently knew about my new life was not something I’d like to share with the public. I was a Dhampir that was supposed to have been raised as a secret weapon for Voldemort. I later became a Gamer and am currently plotting my way to reach the pinnacle of this Universe…

Yeah… I’d rather not broadcast any of that information.

Other than Mary Jane and Liz Allan, there were two more girls who stayed behind and hovered near my desk. Once again, they were two recognizable names.

{Jean Grey - Level ???
Thoughts about you: She was incredibly impressed with your speech and your bravery for almost openly declaring to be a mutant. She wants to be friends. She can’t read your mind or Peter’s and is very curious why.}

I would love to be friends with the best Mutant girl in X-men. I just hoped this wasn’t a Dark Phoenix universe. If it was, I’d do my best to stop it.

The fourth girl who stayed to talk to me was Penny Parker. I figured she stayed behind to apologize for her brother. I tried to use Observe on her again to confirm that but it failed to work.

[Observe can only be used on a person once a month…]

‘What is that about?’ I asked the System. ‘Why the cooldown?’

[It's an OP ability that reads into a person's very essence. Of course, it has to have a cooldown.]

That was annoying to find out. I supposed it made sense though and I shouldn't be relying on it anyways. Constantly spamming Observe would take all the fun out of ‘The Game’.

Penny Parker was a cute nerdy girl with short brown hair and a lithe build. She shifted uncomfortably as she stood in front of my desk. “Hi Valerie, I'm Penny Parker. I’m Peter’s sister… I'm so sorry for what he said earlier. It was wrong!” She bit her lip nervously and waited for my response.

The other three girls were all watching my reaction as well. They were kind of putting me on the spot here, but I obviously wasn’t going to snap at Penny for the way Peter acted with me. I wasn’t that petty of a person.

I looked up at her. “I can’t accept your apology because it wasn’t you who wronged me. I can tell you and your brother are two very different people. I wouldn't mind us being friends if you would like?” I suggested.

Penny smiled brightly and innocently at me. “Y-yes! I would love to be your friend! We should sit together at lunch.” She suggested.

“Sure.” I said. I didn’t see anything wrong with that. At the very least, her friendship would shield me from Penny's twin brother Peter… maybe.

“Great, I’ll see you there!” Penny said as she excitedly ran off to her next class.

I stood up to get to my next class as well. According to my schedule, it was… AP Biology. ‘Fuck you, System!’

[Tehe… you're welcome!]

Liz Allan couldn’t seem to hold herself back from talking to me anymore. She ran up to me. “Hi Valerie! I'm Liz! What class do you have after this? I can show you wherever it is. I don't mind being late to my next class.” She told me with a faint blush on her cheeks.

I passed the girl my schedule so Liz could take a look at it.

She smiled when she looked at it. “Oh, we all have that class next. We should walk there together.” Liz suggested. She didn't give me any room to argue as she latched onto my arm and started leading us down the hallway.

As we walked and she held onto me, I didn’t miss the way Liz was subtly pushing her breasts up against my arm to judge my reactions. They were very perky and felt nice pressed up against me.

“Your arm is very toned!” She complimented me. “Do you work out?”

“Kind of…” I replied. Does killing people for XP to boost my stats count as working out? I guess it does in a way…

“I love your accent, Valerie. Are you from England?” Mary Jane asked me.

“Yes. Lived there most of my life in a tiny boring village.” I said. I didn;t have anything else to say about it because I honestly didn’t know anything else about it.

“That’s so cool. New York must be a whole new experience for you though! If you want anyone to show you around the city, I would be more than happy to!” Liz said. “I can give you a very personal tour~”

I caught her obvious innuendo but pretended like I did not. “Thanks, maybe we can all go check out the city.” I suggested and she pouted. She obviously wanted the ‘tour’ to be just the two of us.

Mary Jane snickered at her pouting friend and winked at me. She caught on that I was messing with her horny best friend next to me and clearly found it funny.

Jean Grey had been following us this whole time, but hadn’t spoken up yet.

“Hi, I'm Valerie. You're Jean, right? The teacher said that you might be able to tutor me?” I asked the beautiful red-headed mutant. She had a toned hourglass body, long fiery red hair, and brilliant emerald eyes. She was a total knockout. All three of these girls actually were, but Jean was objectively the most beautiful.

Jean smiled at me. “Yes, I’d love to tutor you! We can figure out a schedule later,” She told me. “There are some other things I'd like to talk to you about as well… in private.” She trailed off while glancing at Liz and MJ. I was pretty sure no one else in the school knew she was a mutant.

Liz practically hissed at Jean and held onto my arm tighter. “What do you need to say to her that you can’t say in front of everyone?”

“N–nothing too important. Just some study stuff.” Jean lied unconvincingly.

“Uh huh, sure…” Liz trailed off jealously.

Mary Jane laughed at her friend. “Don’t be jealous of Jean just because she gets to tutor the pretty new girl and you don’t, Liz.” She said jokingly.

Liz pouted cutely while turning to me. “I would totally tutor you myself, Valerie. But… I’m also struggling a bit with Calculus. Penny Parker has actually been tutoring me herself. She’s pretty smart and way easier to talk to than her creepy weirdo brother.” Liz grimaced when mentioning Peter Parker.

Mary Jane sighed. “...Peter used to be so nice when we were kids. About a year ago he almost completely changed.” Mary Jane said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Liz snorted in clear disdain while she explained to us. “It's obvious what happened. Peter asked MJ out last year and she rejected him. He got butthurt from the rejection and ever since then he’s been totally weird and creepy! Stay away from him, Valerie.” She warned me.

That was definitely my current plan. Liz’s explanation didn’t explain Peter’s personal hatred for me though. I still wondered where it came from?

{Quest Started: The Dark Spider - Find out why Peter Parker wants to kill you. +500XP}

{Bonus Objective: Defeat him and permanently dissuade him from attacking you! +5000XP}

‘Thanks for the quest, System. I definitely want to get on this one asap!’

[Yeah you do. Worst case scenario…Spiderman isn’t bulletproof.]

I grimaced. ‘He may not be bulletproof, but he can practically dodge bullets with his Spidey Sense. If we fought, I’m sure he’d destroy me almost immediately.’ I replied.

When we made it to the next class, Liz made sure to sit directly next to me. She pushed our desks closely together. “You don’t have your books yet, so you can share with me, Valerie.” She said as she leaned closer into me.

[This girl is very thirsty…]

‘So am I, now that I think about it.’ I wasn’t making any moves to push the cute blonde girl off of me at least. I could admit that I was enjoying the attention she was giving me. I was enjoying it a lot actually…

…My instincts were telling me to take this girl right then and there and claim her. I had to resist those thoughts because we were in the middle of a classroom.

[Vampires are naturally VERY sensual creatures. You're half vampire. You’re going to have to regularly satisfy your bloodlust and your…lust-lust.]

The System snickered in my head over its own pun.

‘What happens if I don't?’ I asked.

[You’ll go crazy and attack someone! Whether that’s to drain their blood or sexually assault them will depend on how pent up you are. It should be pretty hard to get to that point though.]

‘Well, isn’t that just awesome…’ I thought sarcastically.

The biology teacher walked in the room a moment later. She was a lot more strict and didn't allow any interruptions during her class, no matter how many students wanted to speak to the new girl. Personally, I was glad for the hour and a half of silence so I could collect my thoughts. She also made Liz back off me and push our desks back apart.

This class went by peacefully after that. The bell rang later when class ended and it was time for lunch.

I made my way to the cafeteria ahead of the other girls. They all had to use the restroom first. I noticed that I hadn't needed to do that in a while now. Not since I had woken up in this new world actually.

[Gamers don’t have to ever relieve themselves…unless they want to for some weird reason. They still have to eat, or in your case, drink blood though.]

I added that to my growing list of known abilities. It was probably one I wasn't going to talk about openly.

‘What's my superpower you ask? I never have to poop…’

[Hehe! Still a cooler power than some poor bastards in this universe end up with.]

‘Yeah, I remember reading about a mutant whose power was being able to make himself explode…exactly once. After he exploded…he died.’

As I was chatting with the System in my head, I was following the campus map towards the cafeteria. When I got there, I found that it was almost completely full already. I didn't see any open tables. I had forgotten about this annoying aspect of highschool life.

The most open table I saw had one guy sitting at it by himself. I actually thought the lone guy was pretty cute–if a bit little sickly looking.

I decided to sit at his table since it had room for the other girls as well. I had also been solely talking with pretty girls so far and now I wouldn't mind throwing in a cute guy. I wasn't one to discriminate based on gender…Only looks.

[Wow, that’s shallow!]

As I walked over to the guy’s table, I noticed that he looked vaguely familiar to me. As if I had seen him somewhere before. He wasn't in any of my previous two classes though.

“Hi there, I’m Valerie. Do you mind if me and my friends sit here for lunch?” I asked him.

The cute guy was staring at his phone and didn't notice me until I spoke up. He was startled and let go of his phone. My hand shot out and grabbed it mid-fall before it could hit the ground. My enhanced reflexes were on point! I handed it back to him with a grin!

“Thanks.” he said as he took it from me. His eyes finally caught sight of my face and he momentarily blanked out. He just stared at me as his brain rebooted and told him that the gorgeous woman (AKA: me) in front of him was actually real.

I knew that this was going to be a typical reaction whenever I meet new people for the rest of my hopefully immortal life.

I waved at him to snap him out of his staring.“Hello again. I’m Valerie Tepes. Who are you?”

“I’m Harry. Harry Osborn.”

XXX

Thanks for reading. Future chapters of this story are going to be longer. I'm thinking like 7-10k words from now on. I just wanted to post something so you guys know i'm not dead or anything. As I said earlier, I've just been busy with work. If there’s no steamy scenes in the next chapter then there will be in the one after it. I want to start writing longer chapters so I can have a scene every other chapter or two while still keeping the story on point.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6:

“I'm Harry Osborn.” He introduced himself to her.

Valerie now realized why he had looked so familiar to her. Harry Osborn was a prominent character in Spiderman. Sometimes he was Peter Parker's best friend, and other times he ended up becoming a villain who tried to kill Spiderman.

Valerie was proud of herself for not freezing up after he said his name. She sat down on the seat right next to him. “Nice to meet you, Harry. Why are you sitting alone?” She asked him. She was confused. Harry was supposed to be rich and popular and yet he was sitting all by himself. She wondered if it had something to do with how sickly he looked? Harry’s complexion was currently even paler than her one. That was saying something considering she was half vampire…

Harry was surprised that this beautiful girl he didn’t recognize decided to sit down right next to him. “If you care about your popularity, you should probably avoid sitting with me. Ever since everyone found out I’m dying, they avoid me like the plague.” Harry warned her.

Valerie scoffed when he mentioned something as petty as high school popularity. She then heard the second thing he said and her eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re dying?” She asked him. “Then why are you even at school? Screw that! If I was dying I’d be partying every day and living the high life with whatever time I had left!”

She wouldn't have even bothered showing up to this school if it wasn't for the Quest. She was glad she did though. She was meeting all of these main characters of Marvel here! They were even becoming her friends–and possibly more. If someone had told her this would be her new life a few days ago she would have never believed them.

Harry snorted. He had to admit, he wasn’t expecting that kind of response from her. He expected the beautiful girl to tell him that she was “sorry” or that she “wished him the best.” That’s what everyone else had done when they all found out about his condition a month ago. All of his old friends–who he later realized were never his real friends–stopped hanging out with him after that. They were afraid of catching his illness, even though it had been proven to not be contagious!

It was a genetic disease that targeted the men of his family. Every generation they seemed to die younger and younger. His grandfather barely made it to 60 years old and his father was already very sick at 42. Harry was 18 and the doctors gave him less than two years to live!

Unbeknownst to Harry, Valerie had used Observe on him and gotten most of this information as well. She had promised herself earlier to not be overly reliant on Observe, but she figured that a main Marvel character saying he was dying was extenuating circumstances. She was concerned with the information she read about him and this disease he had. To her, it sounded more like a curse.

That would have been silly of course, if she didn’t know that this world was also a cross over with at least Harry Potter. Bloodline curses were a real thing there. She remembered something about the Greengrass family suffering from a bloodline curse.

“Partying was never really my scene anyways. I’d rather spend all my dad’s hard earned money elsewhere.” Harry said with a laugh. He loved having lots of money, but always wondered how other people could waste so much of it on drugs and alcohol? There were way cooler things to spend it on. Like awesome cars, or every single video game and console ever made. Harry was a bit of a nerd…

Valerie laughed as well. “Your dad’s hard earned money, huh? And how much has he spent searching for a cure?”

Harry shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I know it’s a lot. At least hundreds of millions at this point. If there was a cure, science would have found it by now.” Harry sighed.

Valerie coughed suddenly. Harry was acting like he didn't just list off a frankly ludicrous amount of money! Valerie’s mind started racing at such a monumental amount of money! She now knew that Norman Osborn was filthy rich in this world. ‘System, can my Sacred Gear heal curses? Can it cure Harry and his father?’ Valerie asked in her head.

[Hmm, it should be able to. Dark curses shouldn’t be a problem for the Holy Water. If it is just a disease, even if you can’t cure it you should be able to send it into remission.]

…

–Valerie–

This was a golden opportunity for me! I’m homeless and left with only a hundred dollars to my name after paying Jessica earlier for that car ride. Harry here was my ticket to fixing all of that. Did I feel bad for Harry? Of course I did. No one should die so young and I was absolutely going to heal him.

But…That doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind being paid for my miraculous cure. I wasn't a saint after all. I was a half-monster that lusted after the finer things in life. A beautiful girl like me shouldn't be out on the streets. If the universe decided to throw this opportunity into my lap, who was I to pass it up?

I cleared my throat and batted my lashes at Harry. “Hypothetically… If someone was able to cure you and your father. How much do you think that would be worth to him?” I asked.

He scoffed at me of course. “What? And that someone is you?”

“Possibly.”

“You think you can heal us? When the best scientists and doctors money could buy failed?” Harry asked.

“Yes.” I replied immediately.

He was taken aback by my quick response. He glared at me in disbelief. “Uh huh…sure. And how exactly would you heal us? Do you happen to have some magic healing powers or something?” He asked me sarcastically.

Wow, he nailed it right on the head. I wasn't going to tell him my Powers were magical though. That would just make him think that I was crazy. I already had the perfect excuse lined up anyway. “I’m a Mutant.” I told him. “I’m surprised you haven't heard. I pretty much announced it to my entire first period class. I'm surprised the whole school doesn't know by now.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “So you’re telling me that you just happen to be a Mutant with miraculous healing powers. And you just happened to sit next to the son of a billionaire who desperately needs a miracle cure.” Harry said.

When he put it like that, I did seem very suspicious. From my perspective this all was a coincidence though!

This must be my non-existent Luck Stat acting up. The System did say that I would either have the best or worst Luck at any given time as a Gamer. What are the odds that I just happened to find Harry Osborn of all people sitting by himself in the cafeteria? The son of a world-renowned billionaire alone with no friends or bodyguards nearby? This was beyond a coincidence. The same as this morning. My first class of the day just happened to have a bunch of Marvel characters in it?

[Yep. That's pretty much how the Gamer's life works. Get used to it.]

I was getting used to it as fast as I could. “Your table was the only one with enough space for me and my new friends.” I told Harry. “And I’m going to be super real with you, Harry. The only thing I want from you… is money.” I admitted shamelessly.

Harry sputtered. “That’s the only thing anyone ever wants from my family!” Harry exclaimed while throwing his hands up in the air.

This time I shrugged at him. “That’s a fair point.” I responded. “How about we finish our talk after school. I swear to you that I’m not lying.” I gave him my most sincere smile possible. I was relying on all 41 of my Charisma to win him over for this!

It clearly worked, because he started blushing at me adorably. “F–fine! I’m going to text my dad and see what he says! Can I have your phone number so we can talk later? A–and I’m not asking you out on a date or anything!” He added with another blush.

I knew I had pretty much won him over at this point. “I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you.” I told him.

“Wait!? You wouldn’t?” He asked me, clearly surprised.

“I think you’re cute. You could definitely use a bit more meat on your bones, but that should come along after I heal you and your dad. Also, just so you know, I’m planning on having a harem and might be going on a date with a girl or two sometime soon.” I added on.

Harry sputtered at me in disbelief. “Seriously!? A H-harem!?”

I nodded my head. Monogamy was nice and all, but it wasn't for me.

His face was red, and he was probably imagining me with a bunch of other girls. “Whatever, can I just have your number please?” He asked me, done with this conversation.

“I don't have a phone. I’m dirt poor.” I told him. “Have you seen the clothes I’m wearing?” I pointed at my extremely bland outfit. I was wearing a mass produced white T-shirt that probably cost a few cents to make and Jeans that probably only cost a few dollars as well.

[They’re the best clothes I could find quickly…]

Harry looked at me up and down. “Huh? You are wearing really cheap clothes. You’re so beautiful that I didn’t even notice.” He told me before he realized what he just said and blushed again.

“Awe, thank you! And to be fair, I don’t think anyone else noticed so far either. Except maybe Flash and Peter Parker…” I said while remembering the unpleasant experience I had with those two. I glanced around the cafeteria and didn't see either of them amongst the students.

“Peter?” Harry started to question but both of our attention was drawn away.

“Valerie! There you are!” I heard someone call out my name across the room. I turned and saw a group of girls was making their way across the cafeteria. Liz sent me an enthusiastic wave from the other side of the room as she made her way over.

Harry leaned over and whispered to me. “How do you know Liz Allen? She’s the most popular girl in school.” He said as if that actually mattered to me.

“I just met her today. She seems to be really into me.” I told him.

“Ok then…” He replied in confusion. “I guess that makes sense?” His confusion was adorable.

Liz smiled brightly as she sat down right next to me. Mary Jane sat down on her other side followed by a relatively quiet Jean Gray. Penny Parker was following behind on the fringes of the three girls.

“This is an odd group.” Harry commented when all the girls sat down. “Hello Liz...”

“…Hi Harry.” Liz answered him while fidgeting awkwardly.

“I'm surprised you're sitting with me again. Wouldn't you rather be out in the parking lot with Flash and the popular crowd?” Harry asked her a bit condescendingly.

That explained why I didn't see Flash or Peter in the cafeteria. I could also tell that Harry and Liz used to be friends, or at least in the same friend group.

“I dumped him.” Liz replied to Harry. She glanced down nervously. “I wanted to apologize to you. I was a bitch of a friend for abandoning you with everyone else when we found out you were sick.” Liz said to him. “I just want you to know that I was never your friend because you were rich. I didn't care about any of that.”

“Me neither, and I'm sorry too, Harry.” Mary Jane spoke up from across the table.

Harry’s tension faded after their apologies. “It’s ok. I know that neither of you two have ever asked me for money. Not like everyone else has…” He grumbled to himself.

“I’m sorry Peter stopped being your friend last year too, Harry. I don’t know what’s been wrong with him. He barely even talks to me lately.” Penny added next.

The rest of the lunch period was relatively peaceful. Most of it was just spent with us all talking and getting to know each other better. I found out Liz was the captain of the cheerleaders and she was now nominated as the Homecoming Queen. She made sure to specifically tell me that she was currently single and no longer had a date after breaking up with Flash.

Mary Jane was part of the school paper and very passionate about journalism. She had been friends with Penny and Peter Parker for years since they were neighbors. They stopped hanging out once High School started because Peter asked her out and she rejected him. She was actually happy to start talking with Penny again even if it was years later now.

Penny Parker was a legitimate genius. I don't know if she was Tony Stark levels of smart, but she was close. She had full scholarship offers sent to her from pretty much every single college in the area. I inquired if Peter was similar to her. She told me that he was, but he had stopped focusing on his academics last year.

Jean Grey was mostly quiet during lunch, but I was still able to find out quite a bit about her. She used to go to another school upstate called Bayville High. Last year, the school ended up burning down because of a ‘gas leak’ and all of its students had to be transferred to other schools across the state while it was rebuilt. It had been fully rebuilt, but Jean and her parents thought it was best that she simply stay here at Midtown High and finish her senior year. Jean mentioned having problems with her old classmates and certain after school programs she was a part of.

I wondered if she was having problems with the other X-men? I didn’t see any other Mutants in this entire school besides her after all.

Jean didn’t necessarily have a lot of friends at this school, but because she was a sexy gorgeous redhead, she was never exactly excluded from any groups or parties either. She occasionally hung out with Liz’s crowd or Gwen Stacy who was apparently her closest friend. The Calculus teacher had mentioned Gwen Stacy being one of his top students, but she was absent today.

The lunch bell rang, and the other girls all had to get to their final classes of the day. The System had finally chosen to be merciful towards me. My final class of the day was registered as ‘Self Study.’ The System had fudged my records to show I already had enough credits to graduate. That meant I could pretty much leave school every day at noon if I wanted to. I could even leave before lunch if I didn't have actual friends now.

“Here, take this.” Harry handed me his cell phone and $500 dollars in cash.

“Are you giving me your phone?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I can easily buy a new one wherever I want. At least this way, I know your number.”

I thanked him. That was really nice. The money would also help me out right now.

Harry went on to tell me that his dad was busy today. He was, of course, very interested in being healed by me, but wanted to hold that off until tomorrow. In the meantime, I could keep Harry's phone so we could stay in touch, and use the money to put myself up in a hotel room for the night. Before he headed to his final class, Harry smirked at me and told me that Liz’s number was already programmed into his phone.

I smirked back at Harry and asked him if he had left any nudes of himself on it?

“Uhh… You know what, why don’t you give that back for a second and let me check real quick!?” Harry asked in embarrassment. That meant that yes, he had.

I stashed the phone in my pocket. “Nope! It’s mine now!” I said childishly while giggling. “No take backs! Obviously I won't ever spread any pics…if there are any. I would never betray any of my friends. NEVER.” I told him seriously. There was nothing worse than betrayal in my mind after all.

Harry sighed in relief when he heard how serious my tone was.

“That doesn't mean I won’t look at them though…” I said playfully to his blushing face. He was muttering to himself about “crazy blondes” as he walked off towards his next class.

…

–Nick Fury–

Shield’s mobile command center was an amazing piece of technology known as the Helicarrier. It was an aircraft carrier that was capable of flight! Well, it would be one day. It didn’t exactly fly just yet, but SHIELD’s top scientists and technicians were trying to solve that problem.

Nick Fury, the current leader of SHIELD, was sitting in his private and secure office aboard the carrier. His computer was set up in front of him and he was watching a new video that was quickly going viral.

It was titled ‘World’s Most Beautiful Mutant Stands Up to Bullying!’ The video was already at over 2 million views in less than three hours. Fury was even getting reports that News Agencies across the country had picked up the story and were starting to run with it. By tonight, the name and face of ‘Valerie Tepes’ was going to be known in millions of households across America.

As the world's greatest spymaster, it was his job to stay up to date on what was currently trending worldwide. Especially when anything regarding Mutants was trending. They always garnered special attention.

Being African American himself, Nick Fury wasn’t racist by any means, but that didn’t mean he didn’t see Mutants as a potential threat. Especially Mutants who popped up out of nowhere and didn't seem to be registered in any global databases. Mutants like the beautiful young woman in the video.

Valerie Tepes didn’t exist. Fury had SHIELD’s best algorithms searching every database on the planet for any information on her. She was a ghost who had never existed before registering at Midtown High the day before. With information that was clearly forged.

There was a knock on his door before a woman stepped inside. Natasha Romanoff, otherwise known as the Black Widow, was one of SHIELD’s most effective assets. She also wasn’t as deployed as often as she could be because Fury wasn’t entirely certain she was trustworthy. She had been brought in by Agent Barton only a year ago.

Fury had tasked Barton with killing her, but instead his Agent somehow managed to befriend her instead. Her loyalties shifted and she agreed to join SHIELD. Fury was certain that she was loyal to Barton and his family for saving her life, but he wasn’t yet certain how loyal she was to SHIELD and the United States. Hence, he usually sent her on less important missions, like the current one he had planned for her.

“Yes I did, Agent Romanoff. I have a mission for you. It’s not of critical importance, but I would still like it handled to the best of your abilities.”

Natasha straightened up. “Of course sir. I never give any less than my all when fulfilling my duties.” She had never disappointed him before.

“Good.” Fury said with a small chuckle. “I’m sure you’ll give your best for this one then. You’re going to be infiltrating a High School. As a teacher of course. I’m sure you could blend in with the students if you tried, but that’s not really necessary.” Fury said. It was easy enough to get her an identity as a substitute teacher. He just had to figure out a way to make one of Valerie Tepes’s regular teachers go away for a while. Maybe they won an all expenses paid cruise? For some reason, that always seems to work…

Natasha Romanoff didn’t argue her latest assignment and simply asked him for further details.

He sent her the video he had just watched and any details they had on the unknown Mutant she was to investigate. If the girl proved harmless, then Natasha would simply return in two weeks for another assignment. If Valerie Tepes was dangerous, they would have to plan from there.

…

–Valerie–

I waited a couple minutes before leaving the school grounds. I wanted to make sure Peter Parker wasn't still out in the parking lot. If he spotted me leaving school he'd no doubt follow after me. If that happened, it would come down to my trigger finger vs his spidey senses. I wasn't sure that was a fight I could win just yet.

{Quest Complete! You made it through your first day of school and made more than three friends! You have earned 150 xp!}

Valerie Tepes (Dhampir Princess)
Class: Gunslinger (8/100)
Sacred Gear: Sephiroth Graal
Lv = 2 (150/400 XP)
Health = 450/450 (Constitution x 10 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute)
Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 25
Strength = 20
Dexterity = 20
Intelligence = 25
Wisdom = 20
Charisma = 41

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

Nice! That’s my first quest, not counting the tutorial, completed. I wondered if I should celebrate? Maybe get myself some better clothing? I had some money to spare at the moment. A single night's hotel room shouldn't cost me more than $200 anyway. I currently have $600 on me thanks to Harry.

[You should get a new outfit if you want to. Gamer’s need to represent after all!]

I opened up Harry’s/my phone and searched for the nearest women's clothing stores. There were a few of them on the same street about 10 minutes walk from the school. I started heading in that direction.

It was still lunch time, so there were people everywhere, but I found myself actually enjoying the crowds of people. That was a bit strange because I never really liked large crowds in my past life.

[It's because you're a hungry vampire and you are basically walking through a buffet at this point…]

And now that burning feeling in my throat was back…

I had been doing so well at ignoring it so far as well. I was going to need to find a way to drink blood tonight. For now, I did my best to ignore it again.

I arrived at the nearest clothing store and stepped inside to see what they had. It was mostly thrift and nothing inside excited me. I walked back out while following my GPS to the next store. This one had a higher rating, but it also seemed to be a more high-end store. I wasn't sure if I could afford it.

I noticed a limo was parked out front as I stepped inside. At first glance, everything in this store was extremely high end and gorgeous. It was also clearly out of my price range. There were a pair of heels sitting on a nearby display that were listed at $1000.

I was about to walk back out and find another store when one of the women inside called out to me.

“Oh, honey! What are you wearing!? It's atrocious.” One of the four women in the store spoke up. She looked like she was in her 30s and was frankly gorgeous. She had bleached blond hair down to her shoulders and the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen before. She was wearing a beautiful white blazer and a white skirt that showed off her long legs. Her body was curved in all the right places, and with hips like hers she was clearly a mother at some point.

She also had two female bodyguards standing next to her. Both women were dressed in black suits and I could see they were both carrying sidearms. They also both sighed when the woman spoke up. One of them even mouthed "sorry” to me.

What was she sorry about?

The hot milf strutted over to me. When she got closer, I could see that her eyes were partially dilated. Was this gorgeous milf on drugs right now!?

[I think you might be right. She is.]

“Wow, you are absolutely stunning! Your clothing looks like you fished it out of a dollar store dumpster though.” She told me as her eyes raked me up and down.

“Thanks, and probably.” I said.

“That won't do at all. Janet! Quit standing around and come help this beautiful girl! I'll pay for everything of course!” She said to me before yelling at the saleslady.

“Of course, Mrs. Frost.” The saleslady hurried over towards us.

“Wait, what? I can't accept that–”

“Nonsense! Of course you can! I offered after all!” She cut me off with a smile that was hard to read because of her current mental state.

I was facing a dilemma. This woman was clearly loaded, because she had literal bodyguards. She was also high though, and possibly hitting on me by trying to show off her money. Did I still accept her charity despite that? Was I that shameless?

I glanced around the store and my eyes lingering on all the gorgeous high end outfits inside.

Yep, I was that shameless!

“Thank you so much!” I told her with a practiced bright smile.

She grinned back at me! “Of course, dear! A beautiful girl like you should get whatever she wants! I'm Wilma by the way.”

“Hello Wilma, I'm Valerie.”

“That's a beautiful name for such a beautiful young woman.” She told me.

Ok, I was pretty sure the beautiful/high milf was hitting on me at this point. It's like I had just run into an older version of Liz. I had already accepted that this was going to be a common occurrence for the rest of my life.

A few feet away, I noticed that both of her bodyguards were facepalming.

“She's doing it again…” One of them muttered.

I walked by them and shrugged as the salesday and Wilma started picking a lot of amazing outfits for me to try on. I made it to the dressing room in the back and slipped out of my clothes. I picked up a pencil skirt to try on when a notification from the System made me pause.

{Congratulations! Over 10 million people now know your name and face!}

Wait? WHAT!?

{Achievement unlocked! Your Mutant bloodline will now be awakened!}

Latent bloodline?

“Argggg!” My body suddenly felt like it was on fire! It felt like my blood was boiling in my veins! I bit my lip to stifle the screams that would have erupted from my throat otherwise. Thankfully, the pain only lasted a few seconds before my Gamer’s Body kicked in and it went away.

{Your Mutant bloodline has been awakened. Your blood has the ability to heal all physical injuries and illnesses.}

“Ok then? My Sacred Gear already did that though.” I muttered. I awakened as a Mutant and got a power that was useless to me.

{Error!! Redundancy Detected! The System is attempting to find a solution...}

{Solution discovered! Now combining the Host's Mutant Bloodline and Sacred Gear!}

‘Combining!?’ The burning pain came again and it was even harder to hold back my screams. If before I felt like my body was burning, this time I felt like my body and soul were on fire! “Fuck!” I cried out loudly.

“Are you ok in there, Miss?” The Saleswoman asked in concern from the other side of the dressing room door.

“I–I'm ok. I just…tripped.” I lied when the burning stopped. I was breathing hard and my skin had turned bright red! I could literally see steam coming off of me!

Thankfully, once again, Gamer’s Body kicked in and my glowing red skin faded away. It was replaced by the flawless pale color I had grown used to.

[That was interesting. Sorry, I couldn't do anything to stop the pain or at least warn you. When my automated functions kick in I can't stop them.]

“Haaaahhh.” I sighed as my breathing finally calmed down. “It's fine, System. What just happened to me?”

[You had a latent Mutant Bloodline that just awakened once you gained the acknowledged of 10 million people as a Mutant.]

‘10 Million? How in the fuck!?’ Was it from the video my classmate recorded earlier? How the hell did that already have over 10 million views? That was only a few hours ago!

[I think I know how. It's your Commanding Voice perk. Its description says that your words will reach a lot further than they should when you speak. You gave a speech in your classroom and your words definitely reached a lot further…]

If that's the case, then I'll have to be careful about speaking in front of cameras for now on. The perk is a lot more powerful than I thought.

On the upside, I'm famous now? At least for a few days until people forget about me and move onto the next story.

[You should check your stats.]

“Did they change?” I did as the System asked and pulled them up again.

Valerie Tepes (Mutant-Dhampir Princess)
Class: Gunslinger (8/100)
Mutant Gear: Grail of the Night Queen
Lv = 2 (10/400 XP)
Health = 2750/2750 (Constitution x 100 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute x 10)
Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 25
Strength = 20
Dexterity = 20
Intelligence = 25
Wisdom = 20
Charisma = 41

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

The first thing I noticed changed was that Instead of being a Dhampir Princess, I was now the Mutant-Dhampir Princess.

Next I noticed my HP had shot through the roof! I went from 450 to 2750. On top of that, my HP regeneration had increased by 10 times as well. I could now regenerate 250 per minute.

Finally, my eyes noticed one more change to my stats. I held out my hand and summoned my Sacred Gear–except it was no longer a Sacred Gear. It was no longer the Golden Sephiroth Graal. It had mutated into something completely different. It was now a small Grail that was pitch black and covered in blood-red gems.

Instinctively, I already knew how to fill up this empty cup.

{-100HP}

Instead of needing mana to fill, my new ‘Grail of the Night Queen’ required me to sacrifice HP to fill. Instead of Holy Water, my Grail was now filled with red blood!

{Grail of the Night Queen: The Grail of Valerie Tepes. Drinking the blood from this Grail will heal any and all injuries, illnesses, or curses. {It will also restore people to perfect health and they will gain an extended lifespan!}

Wow… That was a lot. On the upside, this Grail really was my Mutant power now. It was even called a ‘Mutant Gear’ now. At least I wasn't technically lying anymore when I told people I was a Mutant.

“Valerie? Are you alright in there? I'm coming in.” Wilma’s voice called out from the other side of the door. The knob started to turn.

Huh!? “Wait, Wilma! I'm not…”

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

“…dressed.” I finished. I was standing completely naked in front of her. I had been so focused on awakening as a Mutant that I'd forgotten why I was in this dressing room in the first place.

I was standing completely naked in front of her holding my Grail filled with blood.

Wilma’s inebriated eyes shamelessly roamed over my naked body and she giggled. “Are you trying to seduce me, Valerie?” She asked me playfully. One of her hands moved towards my chest and she groped my naked breast. “Well, you have certainly succeeded!”

I let out a small moan when she pinched my nipple.

Wilma shook her head. “We can't have any fun here unfortunately though. I'm not allowed to cause any scandals for my husband anymore or he'll cut down my allowance again. My daughter will also bitch at me too for embarrassing her.” Wilma lamented casually. “She really needs to get laid…” She finished and stopped groping my chest.

I'm sure my face was already flushed. I had underestimated how horny and pent up I was as a Dhampir. My thighs were squirming together already and they felt moist.

Wilma's eyes finally noticed the Black Grail I was holding. She grinned. “You even found some red wine? I suppose I shouldn't waste it!” She took the Grail out of my hands and gulped the entire thing down in one go! She licked her lips afterwards and handed the empty back to me. “That was absolutely delicious!”

I was staring at her in shock! She drank the entire thing!? What was going to happen to her!?

…

–Wilma Frost–

Wilma Frost was born the daughter of Harold Frost. A World War 2 hero who later founded his own very successful business. While Harold Frost wasn't as smart as someone like Howard Stark, he was a lot more personable and was able to use his connections to build Frost Industries. A world renowned economic powerhouse.

Wilma's mother passed away giving birth to her and her father never remarried. Despite that, Wilma Frost grew up happy as Harold's daughter and only child. Wilma was the sole Heiress of Frost Industries and would have gone on to become the world's richest woman.

Because of that, she had many suitors throughout her life. None of them ever caught her eye though. Not until college…Where she met her future husband.

Ed Smith grew up as a poor boy, but later became a very ambitious young man. When he initially approached her, Wilma dismissed him. He had a certain way with words though. He also never gave up in his pursuit. just to get him to go away, she finally agreed to go on one date with him. To her surprise it went very well! Ed took her on the perfect date and absolutely swept her off her feet!

Little did she know, at the time, that he had been stalking and studying everything about her for months. Every move of his on that date was coldly calculated. He never cared about her at all, only her name and money.

She fell for his fake charms, and they ended up engaged after they both graduated school. Her Father didn't approve of Ed, but she put her foot down and he begrudgingly gave his blessing for the marriage.

A few months later Ed and her father went on a bonding fishing trip her husband had suggested she set up for them. Ed had told her that he wanted to try and get along with his father-in-law better and Wilma thought that was a wonderful idea.

Her father never came back from that fishing trip…

The doctors said he had a heart attack, and it was only years later that she learned that wasn’t the case.

She was emotionally devastated while also a few months pregnant with her first child! She was in no shape to take over her father's massive company. Her husband talked her into handing him the reins…

That was when her life began to spiral. After she gave her husband three children, he never so much as touched her again. He ended up changing the name of the company to Cold Steel, and he fired all of the men loyal to her father and her. The company had solely become his.

Once he had all the money power he was extremely cruel to her and her children. Wilma threatened to divorce him, and he threatened to have her and the children killed if she ever did. A few days later, a ‘doctor’ visited her house and gave her some drugs to ‘calm down’ on the orders of her husband. Only once she was addicted to them did she realize they were opioids. Her ruthless husband had silenced her by turning her into an addict.

To her shame, she spent the next ten years of her life as a shell of herself. Over a decade of drug use had addled her mind and she had become nothing more than a trophy wife puppet. Her children had no one to protect them from her husband all this time.

Her son, Christian, had come out as gay about a month ago. She recalls her husband ranting and raving furiously that his heir was an embarrassment! Her son died in a car accident a few days later. Wilma was too high to even care.

Even now, she was out shopping instead of preparing his funeral.

Her oldest daughter, Emma, was announced as the heir. Emma was then inducted into some secret club that Ed was a member of.A few days ago, Ed told her that Emma was engaged to a man named Sebastian Shaw. This man was even older than Wilma herself. Emma was only 19.

Once again, Wilma was too high to care and simply congratulated her miserable daughter on her nuptials.

Wilma was a failure of a mother and a fool for marrying such an evil scheming man. He had killed her loving father and her only son!

For the first time in a decade, Clarity returned to Wilma's eyes. The fog that had addled her mind for over a decade was lifted completely. All of these thoughts and memories hit her like a freight train and she stumbled backwards.

A hand reached out and caught her from falling over. She was being held up by arguably the most beautiful naked girl she'd ever seen in her life. A girl she had just blatantly groped a few seconds earlier when she was still not whole. Wilma was embarassed that she had blatantly groped a girl the same age as her daughter.

She did notice that the gorgeous red eyed young woman didn't seem to particularly mind it. Those were thoughts for later though…

“Valerie?” Wilma questioned while collecting herself. “What was in that cup?”

…

–Valerie–

It didn't take more than a couple seconds for Wilma to change before my eyes. She was already very beautiful, but now she has become even more so. Her complexion became less pale and more warm. Her body filled out even more. Her dilated eyes returned to perfect clarity and her body language shifted as she became much more focused.

She suddenly stumbled and I reached forwards and caught her! I helped her steady herself and she took a few calming breaths before addressing me. “Valerie, what was in that cup?” She asked me. “That certainly wasn’t wine.”

“I–It was my blood.” I told her awkwardly.

“Your blood?” She asked in disbelief. “Why would you have a cup of your blood!?”

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to drink it!” I exclaimed. “…Well I was actually, just not right now! I’m a Mutant and my blood can heal pretty much everything when people drink it.” I told her. I held the Black Grail up to her and she watched as it faded into motes of light that vanished back inside my chest. “See! The cup was created by my Mutant powers! It can summon my blood inside it for people to drink.”

Wilma was staring at my breasts, the spot where the Grail vanished, in shock before she shook her head suddenly. “Ok then. First of all, never ever tell anyone about your powers! If people find out you can heal anything, you will be abducted before the sun gets close to setting.” She warned me seriously.

I nodded at her warning. I’d have to make sure Harry and his father kept quiet after I healed them. “Are you feeling alright?” I asked her. “You’re the first person I’ve ever healed.” I told her.

She paused at my words. She smiled at me teasingly. “So, I'm your first~?”

I pouted at her. She was clearly teasing me and obviously knew that wasn't what I meant.

Her eyes once again raked up and down my still naked form. This time I found myself blushing more because she was actually sober now. “Maybe later…” She muttered to herself with a small grin.

“Do you mind stepping out? I haven’t tried on any of these clothes yet? That is if you're still willing to buy them for me?” I asked her.

“You just healed my brain from years of drug damage and gave me a second chance at life! I’ll buy you whatever you want!” She declared. “As for the clothes, just buy all of them. If they don’t fit, I'll just throw them out for you.”

I pointed out that there were thousands of dollars of clothes here and she just shrugged. Damn, I wanted to be that rich! I hoped again that Harry’s dad is willing to pay!

Wilma stepped out of the room and I threw on one of the outfits I was really liking. It was a black top with cute red buttons down the middle. It matched my vampire aesthetic quite nicely. I matched it with some black designer skinny jeans. A pair of two inch black heels and my new look was complete. I looked hot as hell. If I wasn’t turning heads before, I certainly would be now.

I stepped out of the dressing room and handed all the other clothes to the saleswoman. “I’ll take them all, thank you.”

“Of course, Wilma already paid for everything. She’s waiting for you outside in her limo.” She replied.

I raised an eyebrow at that. I took my bags from her and stepped outside. One of Wilma’s bodyguards was holding a limo door open for me. The two guards looked very confused at Wilma’s sudden shift in attitude. They slipped into the limo after me and sat across from Wilma.

Wilma was on the phone, talking to someone heatedly! “No, I told you I want the best attorneys possible! Money is not an issue! I’m going to be taking my husband for everything he has and then some!” She said angrily before she hung up the phone. She smiled at me as I scooted next to her. “Wow, Valerie. You look amazing!” She complimented me.

“Thanks!” I grinned. “What do you need a lawyer for?” I asked.

“Let’s not get into that right now.” She waved her hand and the car started driving. “I feel like a whole new woman now and I have so much to fix with my life. You’ll have to tell me more about your powers later so I can figure out everything your blood did to me.” She said and I nodded. “Why don’t you and I go get some dinner so we can celebrate?” She suggested.

“It’s only 1 pm in the afternoon.” I pointed out.

“Ah, so it is…”

“We can get lunch though.” I suggested. I didn’t actually end up eating lunch at school. The cafeteria food looked very unappealing to my enhanced senses.

Wilma smiled at me. “Let's do that then!” She ordered her driver to take us to a nearby restaurant that she told me had food to die for!

…

–Sir Integra Hellsing–

“Excuse me, Mum. I've brought your tea.” Her ever competent butler, Walter, said as he walked into the room. He always had the best timing. Integra really needed a pick-me-up about now. She could feel a migraine forming with how much stress she was currently under.

“Thank you, Walter.” She told him as he set the steaming cup down on her desk. She picked it up and took a sip. It was perfect, as he always prepared it.

Integra placed the cup back down and sighed to herself.

Her home country has been an absolute flurry of Supernatural activity these past few weeks! Vampires, werewolves, evil witches and wizards! They were all popping up in droves. It was getting more and more difficult to hide the existence of the Supernatural world from the blissfully unaware public!

The Crown was expecting the Hellsing Organization to deal with it all at once. The only problem was that the organization currently didn't have enough competent soldiers! It took years of training for a soldier to learn how to properly face all the Supernatural threats that went bump in the night.

“You seem stressed, my Master. What's wrong? Are those pathetic Stick Wavers giving you trouble again? I don't mind storming their not-so-secret underground base and shooting the place up.” Alucard said as he materialized from the wall. That technique used to startle her, but he’d done it so many times at this point that now it barely even fazed her.

“Don't tempt me, Alucard. It just might come to that if they don't get those damn terrorists under control.” Integra replied. If there was one thing that she along with everyone else in the know destested, it was the so called ‘Wizarding World’. For many…many reasons that she didn’t want to get into.

“Walter, did you get the other thing I asked for?” Integra asked her butler.

“Of course, mum. Here you go. It’s set up with your accounts already.” Walter reached into his pocket and pulled out the newest and most expensive smartphone currently on the market.

Integra wasn’t great with technology and tended to break her phones every few days. With technology evolving so quickly though, Hellsing needed to keep up with the times as well. Ironically, social media actually made her job easier since people tended to post about supernatural sightings or events frequently.

DING!

“Walter, you forgot to turn off those annoying notifications for me again.” Integra complained. She swiped up on the screen to turn them off herself. Just because she had to get used to the technology didn’t mean she liked hearing those annoying notifications every few minutes. She had no idea how the current generation put up with it.

By chance, the notification caught her eye right before she dismissed it. It was a trending video about a Mutant girl from America. Integra was now curious. Mutants weren’t technically in Hellsing’s jurisdiction but she clicked on it anyway.

“Hi everyone, I’m Valerie Tepes.” The beautiful girl on her phone screen introduced herself to the American classroom. Integra’s eyes widened. Not just at the girl's last name, but at the girl’s very familiar ruby red eyes. Eyes she saw frequently–whenever Alucard took off his sunglasses at least.

“Tepes?” Alucard had been listening in. “Interesting… I didn’t think there were any humans brave enough to use that last name.”

“She’s no human…At least, not entirely.” Integra said and showed the phone to a curious Alucard and Walter.

“Yep,” Alucard said casually. “She’s definitely a Vampire. No mistaking those eyes.”

“This is in America, correct?” Walter asked with a shrug. “She’s not our problem.” He pointed out.

Integra nodded at Walter. He was correct about that. The girl technically wasn’t Hellsing’s problem. America had its own vampire hunters.

One thing was confusing her though. “How is she standing directly in the sunlight? The sun was shining in from the classroom window.” Integra asked him. The only vampire she knew that was capable of that was Alucard himself. Even then, the sun still irritated him and made him uncomfortable. The girl in the video looked completely fine.

“Maybe she’s a half-breed?” Walter replied. “We have been getting roomers of one of those named Blade that has been hunting vampires across the colonies.”

Integra supposed that was the most likely explanation. If the girl was like Blade, then Hellsing had even less of a reason to bother with her. Although… “A half breed…with the last name of Tepes…?” Integra questioned out loud. “The girl, Valerie Tepes, looks to be around 18 or 19 years old. You didn’t happen to sleep with any mortal women 20 years ago did you, Alucard?” Integra asked him jokingly as she unwrapped a cigar for herself.

Her vampire slave scoffed at her. “Me? Of course I didn’t…

Integra laughed as she lit the cigar. I didn’t think so. It’s just a coincidence–” She was cut off.

“...Wait? Did you say 20 years ago? I might have, now that I think about it. There was a woman. She was very beautiful and I think her name started with an S or something.” Alucard admitted while taking a pondering pose.

“Well, isn’t this an interesting twist?” Walter snickered.

Integra’s cigar fell out of her mouth as she stared at Alucard in shock. “What the bloody hell, Alucard!? Are we seriously finding out from a random video of all things that you suddenly have a half-breed daughter!?” She stood up and shouted at him.

Alucard shrugged. “Maybe.”

Integra glared at him before turning back to her butler. “Walter…Please book us a flight to America.” She sighed. This was the worst possible timing, but if the most dangerous vampire in existence truly had a daughter, she couldn't exactly leave that to lie.

XXX

Chapter Text

Chapter 7:

–Valerie–

“Mmmm! This is so good!” I moaned as I took another bite of my filet. It was delicious and perfectly tender. I would not be surprised if this steak cost a few hundred dollars. It was the best one I had ever eaten. Wilma had taken me out to a very upscale restaurant that apparently only served the upper echelons of society. The kind of place where they didn’t put the prices on the menus. If you had to ask, you couldn't afford it.

“I'm glad you like it.” Wilma said. She was sitting across from me eating a smaller salad. “You must have been really hungry.”

I wiped my mouth with the napkin as I finished my meal. “I really was! I haven't eaten in…” I pondered for a moment. “A few days?” I said questioningly. I definitely haven't eaten anything since the old Valerie was still in England at least.

Wilma looked alarmed. “A few days!? What happened to you?” She asked me in concern.

“You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. It's a pretty crazy story to be honest.” I said.

“Try me.” Wilma said playfully. “I doubt anything you say isn't something I've heard before.”

I doubted she'd believe me, but here goes nothing. I'd been working on this cover story for a few hours now anyway. Eventually, people were going to start asking me about my background. I would have to tell them something. The closer to the truth the better.

“You probably won't believe this, but here it goes: There's a global Secret Society of Wizards and Witches that live in the shadows of our society–”

Wilma immediately cut me off as she started giggling. I pouted at her and she waved her hand for me to continue.

“Sorry, please continue.” She said. I was well aware of how ridiculous this sounded of course. What was worse, that my story was completely ridiculous or that it was actually true?

I continued, “ This secret magic society has been hiding for hundreds of years. They have the ability to mind control and memory wipe any regular people who discover them. This society is currently in the middle of a civil war where an Evil Wizard, who’s name I don't want to say, is currently trying to take over Magical Britain. Once he succeeds, he’ll set his sights on the rest of Magical Europe before he decides to attack the mundane world.” I told her, trying to convey that I was actually serious.

“This sounds like quite the interesting plot.” Wilma giggled again. She didn't yet believe me up to this point. “So you are from england? I can tell you have an accent. What does that evil wizard have to do with you though?” She asked me playfully.

“The evil wizard is an extremely prideful manchild. He tried to kill me and failed. When he finds out I survived his death curse, he will for sure try to finish me off. That’s why I'm currently in America. I'm here hiding from him while I also grow strong enough to eventually go back and face him myself.” I said.

That was my cover story so far. I obviously made sure to leave out anything about reincarnation or the Gamer System. That information would never be spoken out loud.

As for Voldemort wanting to finish me off, I had no doubts about that. I was basically Harry Potter 2.0 since I survived his killing curse. There was no way he'd allow a girl-who-lived and a boy-who-lived to both exist at the same time. Considering I was famous now in the Muggle world, it was only a matter of time before he found out about me.

Wilma frowned after my short explanation. “Are you actually serious about all this?” She asked and I nodded seriously. “Well, what do you know? …A secret magical society? I suppose I've heard stranger things. Do you have any proof of this?” She asked me.

I thought about that for a second. “I have a magic gun with infinite bullets.” I told her. I would have to show her later if she wanted to see it. I wasn't going to pull it out in the middle of a restaurant obviously.

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “Does it work for everyone or just you?”

That was a good question.

[Just you, Host. The Black Revolver is bound to you solely. It's not quite an Object of Power, but it's close.]

I relayed the Systems words to Wilma. She shrugged at me. “If it only works for you, then that could still be explained as your Mutant power. Got anything else?” She asked me again.

I took another couple seconds to think. “...My other biggest proof right now is the Osborn family. I don’t think Harry and Norman Osborn are actually sick. I think they are cursed! A curse on their bloodline to be specific. One that makes them progressively die younger each generation.” I told her. Knowing that we were in a crossover universe, it made sense to me.

“...Interesting.” Wilma said as she picked up a wine glass and swirled it. “I have heard in certain social circles that Norman has spent a ludicrous amount of money on trying to find a cure for himself and his son. Of course, nothing has worked out. It won't be much longer until he's on his deathbed.” Wilma informed me.

I nodded. “Harry and I became friends earlier. I offered to heal him and his father…For a price.” I explained to Wilma that I probably would have healed them for free if I wasn't currently broke and in need of a place to stay. Besides, it's not like they didn't have the money to spare.

“You need somewhere to stay?” Wilma asked me with a glint in her eye. “Why not stay at Frost Manor with me and my daughters then? The Manor was my father's, and it is one of the few properties directly in my own name. I'm planning on kicking out my piece of shit soon to be ex-husband as soon as he returns from his overseas business trip!” She added hatefully.

From her tone, I had definitely gotten the message that she did not like the guy. “You want me to shoot him for you?” I asked her, only half-jokingly.

Wilma playfully grinned at me. “Would you really? That would save me a tremendous amount of time.” She laughed.

I shrugged. If he was a true piece of shit like I was suspecting he was, then I wouldn't mind doing it. “Maybe. It depends on what he did to you.” I said. After wiping out an entire gang earlier this morning, I had embraced the fact that I was a killer now. Especially when I realized I didn't feel anything after getting rid of those men. That didn't mean I'd end up killing all of my enemies, I just wouldn't hesitate to put down the really horrible ones.

“…Wait? You're serious!?” Wilma asked me in surprise. She leaned in and whispered to me, “Would you really–”

“Why don't we save such a heavy topic for some place less crowded?” I suggested. I glanced around the restaurant. No one was paying attention to us, but it was always better to be careful when discussing heavy topics like premeditated murder…

Wilma sighed and straightened herself out. “You're right. Let's not talk about that asshole right now. We're supposed to be here celebrating my recovery! So, let's do that!” Wilma called the waitress over and ordered more wine for the two of us.

Since I knew she was filthy rich, I also decided to order the entire dessert menu. It was nice being able to eat as much delicious food as I wanted without any repercussions. I never got any stomach aches and I never had to use the bathroom again if I didn't want to.

Being a Gamer was awesome.

…

–Norman Osborn–

Norman Osborn clenched his fist in anger. Not since the death of his beloved wife had he been this angry!

Unbeknownst to Valerie, Harry’s phone was bugged. Harry was the son of a billionaire. It was only natural that his phone was hooked up with tracking and listening spyware. Ever since Harry had given it to her, Norman had been able to listen in on everything said around her for the past few hours. Harry felt bad about tricking Valerie, but he had been listening in as well.

After lunch, Norman had Harry leave school early. One of their company drivers fetched him and quickly drove his son back to their penthouse at the top of Oscorp tower. Norman wanted to hear everything about the Mutant girl who claimed she could heal them from him directly.

Norman had to admit that he was impressed his son had giving the girl his own phone so they could listen in. At the same time, he was furious with what he had heard!

“Magic? A curse on our bloodline!?” Norman exclaimed in anger. “Who the hell are these wizards!? How dare they try to destroy our legacy!” He was absolutely furious to find out the source of his illness all these years had come from some secret magic society he’d never heard of!

It made so much sense now! This was why the brightest minds he could hire were never able to help him. How was science supposed to cure a magical illness!?

“Dad…this is deep. This is like some Men in Black shit right here! Except, instead of Aliens, it’s magic!” Harry exclaimed. “What do we do!?”

“Obviously, I’ll pay your friend to heal us. She said she’d do it for free, but it would be better to have the world’s new best healer indebted to our family. A single cup of her blood completely restored Wilma Frost's mind after all.” Norman said. Just like he figured Wilma was, Norman was already planning on ways to endear the girl to his own family. Norman was sure that her powers were the real deal at this point. Norman had met Wilma Frost at numerous social events over the years. The woman had never spoken or acted anything like she was currently. The difference was as clear as night and day. She was a completely different person now after her mind had been healed.

So yes, Valerie’s Mutant power was obviously the real deal. Norman would do anything to get access to it! If all the girl wanted was money, then he could easily accommodate. He had plenty of that to spare. He'd also be able to save hundreds of millions of dollars each year now, no longer having to fund all those scientists and projects he commissioned to heal him. If the girl also wanted to date his son, then Norman didn't mind throwing Harry at her either. Norman always had a fascination with evolution, he wouldn't mind his possible descendants having actual superpowers.

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow at lunch then.” Harry said and Norman agreed. “I cant believe we’ll be fully healed tomorrow. I just…wow! This is amazing.” Harry said in pure relief.

Norman took a second to calm down and smiled at his son. He could admit to himself that he had been hard on Harry over the years. Norman knew that he had been too hard on Harry. He just wanted his son to have the best life possible with the short amount of time that Harry was sure to have.

He wanted to pull Harry out of that public school he attended and put him in a proper private school. One befitting of Harry’s status as the heir to an empire. Harry refused, claiming all of his friends were at that school. It was one of their bigger arguments that his son ended up winning. Norman told Harry that he would regret sticking around that useless public school.

It turned out that Norman was the wrong one. He could be the bigger man and admit that Harry was right. Had Harry not been at Midtown High, he never would have met this girl.

Having gotten everything he needed, Norman turned off the spyware and stopped listening in on Valerie and Wilma. There was no reason to push their luck and keep listening. For all he knew, the Frost Manor might have technology to detect spyware. He knew that his penthouse did.

Besides, he wanted to hear everything Harry knew about Valerie from his own son's mouth. Norman decided to start trying to be a better father, and he figured he could start by teasing his son about his obvious crush.

“So, harry? Tell me about Valerie. …Is she pretty?”

Norman laughed at the embarrassed expression on his son's face

…

–Valerie–

We rode in the limo back to Frost Manor. Wilma's personal guards left us when we got here. Having people following us around, constantly watching, had been a bit unnerving.

When the limo pulled up, I realized that I had been underestimating Wilma's wealth. Her mansion was beyond extravagant. According to her, it had dozens of bedrooms, multiple swimming pools, its own basketball court, a movie theater, multiple recreation rooms, and a bunch of armed guards guarding the whole property…

She offered to give me a tour later. For now, we were taking a break. I was sitting on an elegant couch in one of the Manor’s guest rooms. The beautiful woman was sitting on the couch next to me, nursing a small cup of coffee.

“This room is absolutely gorgeous!” I said while looking around in awe. I'm pretty sure that a lot of these decorations were made of real gold and silver. I might have spotted a couple rubies and diamonds as well. And this was only in one of their guest rooms. I ran my hand along the couch I was sitting on. It was unbelievably soft. I couldn't guess what it was made from, but it felt expensive.

“Opulent wealth has its charms, but I feel that it loses its luster after a while. Besides, all these pretty trinkets can't shine when placed in the same room as you, Valerie. Your sheer beauty outshines everything else I can think of.” Wilma said to me.

I found myself blushing at her elegant compliment. “...Thank you.”

“Of course. I was only speaking the truth.” Wilma set her coffee cup down on the table. She smiled warmly at me. Her hand then reached out and settled itself on my upper thigh.

I blushed even more at her comment and at her hand resting on my leg. This beautiful older woman was obviously coming on to me right now.

Wilma's hand gently moved up and down my upper thigh as she spoke. “You're truly amazing, Valerie. I don't know if I've ever felt better in my entire life than after I drank your blood. I definitely feel much…healthier.” She added huskily.

“I–Is that so…” I said while glancing down at her hand rubbing my leg. It felt nice, and to be honest with myself, I was feeling incredibly horny right now.

The System wasn't kidding when he said vampires were creatures of lust. A few touches and nice compliments and I was almost pudding…

Was I really going to let a beautiful older woman I'd only met 2 hours ago take advantage of me though?

Wilma smiled at me beautifully. “If you want me to stop, just say so at any time. You're my savior who gave me my life back, I would never want to take advantage of you.” Her hand slipped between both of my thighs and started rubbing my jeans directly above my core.

I moaned at the sensation. A pleasant tingle washed over me. “...Please don't stop.” I whispered almost pleadingly.

Wilma grinned at me. “Your wish is my command~”

I let out another small moan as she started slowly rubbing her hand up and down over my jeans. I could feel my panties quickly growing damp underneath.

Wilma scooted closer until she was pushing right up against me. She gently placed her right hand on my cheek. Her left hand was still slowly caressing me between my thighs. “You are so beautiful.” She said again to me. Her face leaned in and she placed her lips directly against my own. Her kiss was very tender.

I knew it was slutty to kiss an older woman who I barely knew, but I found it difficult to resist right now. My lust was on overdrive. I started kissing her back. She didn't seem to mind my inexperience.

“That's a good girl.” She said as we broke our kiss. Her red lipstick was a bit smudged and that only made the kiss hotter to me. “Why don't we move over towards the bed?” She suggested. Her face was a bit flushed and her eyes raked over me with desire.

…

I sat on the edge of the bed, wearing only my new bra and lacy black panties.

Wilma stood in front of me. She was slowly stripping out of her own clothing. I found myself gulping when she removed her top and her large breasts spilled free. My eyes had trouble looking away from the beautiful sight.

Wilma giggled at me. Her breasts bounced as she moved. “I still got it, huh~?”

“Have you seen yourself? You're gorgeous, Wilma.” I told her.

She smiled at me fondly. “Well, aren't you just the sweetest as well~” She said while winking at me. She started shimmying out of her skirt next. Her thumbs hooked around her own panties and pulled them down as well.

She wasn't shy as she stood in front of me in her full glory. She kicked off her panties as she strutted over towards me. “Because you've been so sweet and amazing to me, I'm going to rock your world, Valerie~” In one smooth motion, she reached behind me and effortlessly unhooked my bra.

My perky breasts spilled free and Wilma licked her lips. “I saw them earlier, but your breasts are absolutely flawless. I love them.” Wilma said as she pushed me down onto the bed. She crawled on top of me with a grin. Her large bare breasts squished directly against my own.

Wilma started kissing my collar and neck passionately as one of her hands reached down to my panties. Her soft fingers easily slipped underneath them and started brushing up against my lower lips.

My breath hitched and I tensed at the sensation.

“It's ok, let me take care of you, Valerie.” Wilma whispered to me. She raised her head until we were face to face. She smiled down at me.

I smiled up at her nervously. “This is my first time physically with another person…ever.” I admitted.

Wilma looked surprised to hear that before she grinned at me. “I'm touched. I promise that I'll give you a wonderful first experience.” She promised me as she leaned down and kissed me again. Her tongue pushed into my mouth and at the same time, one of her fingers slipped directly inside me!

I moaned into her mouth! I could feel her finger rubbing against my inner walls. She seemed to know what she was doing. Her finger deftly explored inside me until she found a certain spot that had me quivering.

Wilma pulled her tongue out of my mouth and she kissed my cheek. “I did a lot of experimenting back in college. I know exactly how to make other girls scream.” She said as she started massaging my g-spot with her finger.

“Fuck!” My back arched and I cried out. My legs started spasming as I felt a powerful orgasm build between my legs.

“God, I missed this. I forgot how much fun making beautiful girls cum could be~” Wilma laughed as her finger continued to massage my inner walls.

It didn't take long before my body spasmed and a powerful orgasm erupted through me. “Wilma, I'm cumming!” I moaned loudly. I could feel my inner walls clamping down around her finger as I came undone.

My head flopped down against the soft bed as I tried to regain my breath. I'd never cum that hard before when I touched myself… Having another person do it was an amazing experience.

“That was beautiful, Valerie.” Wilma said as she sat up a bit. She scooted her body until she was sitting on my legs.

My eyes widened and my breath hitched again when Wilma took hold of my left leg. Were we about to–?

“Let's have some fun together this time.” Wilma lifted up my leg and hugged it close to her own body. She turned and positioned herself so that her bare pussy was pressed up directly against my own. She slowly started stirring her hips back and forth while holding my leg for support. I was right, we were scissoring!

“Oh my god!” I gasped. The friction felt amazing!

“Your pussy is so wet for me. I love it~” Wilma purred out. She smiled down at me tenderly as she slowly rocked her hips back and forth.

Another moan escaped my mouth. The friction of our bare pussies rubbing together felt incredible.

“Aaaahhn. This feels so good~” Wilma sighed pleasantly. “You like my clit rubbing against yours?” Wilma asked as she gazed down at me with a flushed smile.

“Yes. It feels so good!” I moaned

Wilma grinned at my response and started moving her hips faster in a circular motion. As she did so, her large breasts started bouncing up and down on her chest. The sight was mesmerizing. This older woman looked so beautiful as she fucked me.

She continued rocking her hips back and forth. It felt so good and I could feel that crescendo slowly building inside me once again. My breath hitched. I moaned loudly. It felt so good! So much better than masturbation ever had in my last life! I grasped the bed sheets tightly and begged Wilma not to stop!

Her own face was red and flushed at this point. She laughed playfully and never stopped her hips. “As if I would ever stop after seducing such a beautiful girl into my bed. You're mine for the next few hours, Valerie!” Wilma declared as she trailed some kisses along my leg she was holding.

Hours!? Her words set me off even faster. “Wilma, I'm going to cum again!”

She started rolling her hips even faster. Our pussies were rubbing against each other rapidly. Wilma gasped and her eyes went glassy. “Me too! Valerie, I'm cumming!” She started trembling on top of me as she moaned loudly.

Another powerful orgasm ripped through me as my moans joined hers! Wilma let go of my leg and collapsed forwards on top of me. Her mouth found my own and we sloppily kissed as we both came undone~

…

–Emma Frost–

A bit earlier…

“I'll see you later, my dear future Queen.” Sebastian Shaw kissed the back of Emma's hand as she got into her family limo. Once the door was shut behind her, she cringed and immediately started wiping her hand off on the seat.

“Disgusting!” She spat out. She hated Shaw so much! She hated how he looked at her like she was nothing but a piece of meat. She hated that she couldn't do anything to stop it. She hated feeling so powerless.

Emma had just spent another torturous day at the Hellfire Club. It was a secret ‘Good Ol Boys’ club that her piece of shit father joined when she was younger. It was founded decades ago as the most exclusive club in the world. Only the elite of the elite could join as members. Unfortunately, nowadays, it was nothing but a hive of scum and villainy. It was a haven where the world's most ruthless and corrupt businessmen banded together and made countless backroom illegal deals.

Emma sighed as she reached into a nearby cooler and pulled out a seltzer water. She wasn't a fan of alcohol. It weakened her powers. She took a sip while contemplating how she had gotten in this terrible position…

…Emma awakened her mental powers when she was 10 years old. In her foolish youth, she immediately told her father about her mind reading powers, thinking he would praise her. Instead, he slapped her and told her to “stay out of his head, freak!” He stormed out of the house and left her crying on the floor.

The next day he came home and to her shock, she could no longer read his mind. It was only recently that she found out how. The Hellfire Club was well aware of mind readers and provided a way to block them to its higher ranking members.

Her father thought she was a mutant “freak” but that didn't stop him from using her talents as his own. He started taking her to many of his business meetings and used her to read the minds of other people for him to exploit them. This went on for years.

As a little girl, Emma tried to complain to her mother, to beg the woman to help her. It didn't work. Once Emma read her mother's mind, she found out that her mother was nothing but a useless addict. Knowing that nobody was going to help her, Emma decided to grow up fast. The fastest way she could think of was to master her mental abilities.

Emma started using her powers more frequently. The more she used her telepathy, the more powerful it became. She went from only being able to read the minds of people a few feet away, to being able to hear anyone's thoughts within a mile if she concentrated. She tended to only do that sparingly though. It gave her quite the migraine...

Thankfully, her father never found out about her growing abilities. If he had, she had no doubts he would have done everything he could to exploit her even more.

When her mental powers reached the point where they no longer grew stronger, she was surprised when a new power manifested inside of her! She found that she could suddenly turn her entire body to solid diamond! Her speed and strength increased massively in this form, but at the cost of temporarily losing her mental powers. Of course, she also kept this power secret.

For someone who could read minds, Emma was a woman who actually kept many secrets. She was the first person to know that her own brother was gay when she caught him thinking about the nice butt one of the security guards had. That was when she started questioning her own sexuality. Her father had always told her that she was going to have an arranged marriage to another powerful businessman to expand his business empire, but Emma realized just the thought of being married to a man made her sick to her stomach.

She realized that she was very similar to her brother. She wasn’t attracted to men at all. She was only interested in women. She was glad that no one else knew this fact except for her.

A few months ago, her older brother came back from college. Emma remembered that he was almost a changed man. Months away from their abusive father had made her brother much more confident with himself. He proudly came out of the closet just to spite their hateful father.

Emma still remembers the look of shock and outrage on her fathers face. She had never seen him so angry and humiliated before. He ranted about how his legacy was tarnished as he had two “freaks” as his children. Neither her siblings nor her mother knew that she was a mutant…

Her father stormed out of the house, and Emma fondly remembered having a nice evening with the rest of her family that night. Even their useless mother was happy. It was one of Emma’s last happy memories…

A few days later, her brother died in a car crash.

Emma was suddenly announced as the Heiress of Cold Steel. She didn't care about that though, she only wanted revenge. She knew her father had killed her brother and she was going to make him pay for it!

Unfortunately, her father was smart. Emma knows that he clearly suspected she was going to move against him soon. That's why he preemptively tried to get rid of her first. Since he couldn't have two of his children die so suspiciously, he did the next best thing. He literally sold her off!

He forcefully engaged her to Sabastian Shaw! A King in the Hellfire club, and secretly, a man who was in the process of building his own mutant army behind the scenes. Shaw was a megalomaniac who had actual dreams of conquering the business world. His mutant followers had been secretly killing off or sabotaging all of his competition for decades.

Shaw also had a way of detecting mutants, because he knew that she was one the moment he laid eyes on her. Emma even suspected that Shaw had been spying on her and knew the full extent of her abilities. Shaw was absolutely enamored with Emma and wanted her as his wife and Queen. In his eyes, she already was. She had absolutely no say in the matter…

“We’re back home, Miss Frost.” The limo driver snapped Emma out of her thoughts as they pulled up to the front of her family manor.

“Thank you, William.” Emma said robotically as she hopped out with a sigh. She wanted to get to her room and shower. The Hellfire Club doubled as a high end gentlemen's club/brothel and she felt filthy whenever she had to go there. Sebastian Shaw hadn’t yet touched her sexually, but she knew it was only a matter of time. She knew she couldn't resist him if he assaulted her. He was rich and powerful and his mutant ability perfectly countered both of her own. She couldn't read his mind and her Diamond form wouldn't be able to put a scratch on him with his kinetic energy negating ability.

Sometimes, Emma found herself wishing a beautiful heroine would come and rescue her from all this. She knew that that was only a fantasy though...

Emma made it to her room and shrugged off all her clothing. She was probably going to burn it all later. She sat down naked on her bed and let out a sigh. “I'll figure something out.” She said to herself. “I'm not going to give up or roll over! For now though, I just need to take a break and destress.”

She was about to get up to hop into the shower when her mind picked up someone's very loud thoughts nearby. Sometimes people's thoughts were loud and sometimes they were quieter. Right now, someone in this manor had some very loud thoughts.

Curious, Emma extended a psychic tether to see who was making so much ‘noise.’ The mind felt slightly familiar to Emma. To Emma's surprise, she quickly found it was her own mother.

Except…it wasn’t?

This woman’s mind was completely different from the mother Emma knew. Her mother’s mind had been practically ruined by years of drug use, but this woman's mind felt perfectly healthy.

How had her mother suddenly recovered? Emma needed to know! Emma decided to psychically slip inside her own mother’s mind to find out what was going on. She would be able to see through her mothers eyes and hopefully find out for herself.

“Oh, fuck yes! That feels so good, Valerie~”

Emma blushed madly when she found her mother currently in bed cheating on her father! Wilma Frost was in the middle of having passionate sex with an unbelievably beautiful girl–who seemed to be the same age as Emma!

How scandalous…

Emma watched through her mother’s eyes as ‘she’ made passionate love to the beautiful young woman named Valerie. Emma’s breath hitched and her own body started to heat up as she felt and saw everything from her own mothers perspective. Emma knew that she should have pulled out of her mother’s mind when she realized what was happening, but she couldn't… In her entire life, Emma had never so much as touched another girl and now ‘she’ was having incredibly passionate sex with a girl who practically stepped out of her wildest dreams. It was incredible for her.

Emma stayed in her mother’s mind the whole time…

Emma felt every single touch, every delicious sensation, and she experienced every single mind blowing orgasm as the two women had sex for what felt like hours straight. By the time they stopped, Emma’s bed was completely soaked with her own juices and she was panting wildly.

“That–That was amazing…” Emma moaned to herself. She had no idea sex with another woman could be that intimate and amazing. “Her name is Valerie, huh? I can’t wait to meet her myself~”

…

–Valerie–

“I can't go anymore. I'm done.” Wilma said as she slumped down on the messy sheets next to me. She was a sweaty mess but had a beautifully tired grin on her face.

I was pretty much the same. Wilma told me she was going to rock my world, and she definitely did. “That was amazing.” I told her.

Wilma tiredly kissed my cheek. “It sure was. The best sex of my entire life.” Wilma told me fondly as she yawned. “Why don't we take a small nap for a bit?” She suggested while snuggling closer to me.

That was a good idea. I was also exhausted from all the fun we had. I placed my head on her chest and used her large breasts as my pillows. She wrapped her arms around me as I closed my eyes. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

…

…I woke up later and realized I was alone in the bed. Wilma must have woken up before me and headed out. I wasn't upset about that, I knew she had a lot of things to take care of.

So did I.

I tried to sit up, but failed when my whole body felt limp. I flopped back down on the bed face first and giggled. I felt deliciously sore all over.

[I could remove those feelings, but most Gamer's like feeling that way after sex. It's a sense of normalcy and all that.]

I agreed. I might be sore, but it was a good kind of sore.

‘You can leave the feelings.’ I told the System as I sat myself up successfully this time.

[Gamer's also have perfect control over their Strength so they don't ever accidentally hurt someone if they don't want to.]

That was good to know as well. Sex and super strength didn't always go well together. The TV show ‘The Boys’ from my last life pointed that out.

I scooted myself towards the end of the large bed. My feet touched the floor and I giggled when my legs actually wobbled. Wilma was incredibly passionate–and pent up. I shakily stood up and made my way over to the bathroom. When I caught a look of myself in the bathroom mirror I started laughing. My hair was a complete mess and I was covered in lipstick marks all over my body. I desperately needed a shower.

…

I emerged sometime later from the bathroom after cleaning myself up and making myself presentable again. I threw on another one of my new outfits and decided to see if I could find the kitchen or dining room in this manor. I was hungry and very ‘thirsty.’

[You need blood soon. Especially after you had such a vigorous workout this afternoon.]

As I was walking down the hallway, I spotted an honest to god maid cleaning the area. She noticed my approach and curtsied at me. I knew the Frost family had guards, but I didn’t think they had actual servants too. Damn, I was jealous…

“Hello, miss. You are the Madam’s guest, correct? Is there anything I can do for you?” The maid asked me.

I told her I was looking for the kitchen or dining room.

“You can find that down this hallway and to the left. You’ll find another hallway where you’ll want to take a second right followed by a third left, and then one more second right. Did you get all that?”

“…Yes?”

I ignored the System snickering in my head.

She smiled at me and walked away to resume her duties. I shrugged to myself and figured I’d find the dining area eventually. I followed her directions as best as I could but knew I’d messed up somewhere along the way. I ended up stumbling into a large entertainment room. On the wall was a 100 inch flatscreen TV. Underneath it looked to be a couple video game consoles, although I didn’t recognize any of the brands. This was someone's game room.

“What are you doing in here?” A girl’s voice asked behind me.

I spun around and saw a teenage girl standing in the doorway. She was wearing a black tank top, black shorts and combat boots. Her hair was also dyed black, but her eyes were the same piercing shade of blue as Wilma’s. I figured this was one of her daughters.

“Hi, I’m Valerie. I'm a friend of your mothers and was trying to find the kitchen or dining room.”

She looked at me skeptically and put her hands on her hips. “I didn't know our junkie mom even had any friends. You don’t look like a tweaker.” The goth girl said. She obviously didn't have a very high opinion of her own mom.

Wilma was going to have a hard time reconnecting with her daughters if this was how they saw her.

“I don’t do drugs, and neither does your mom anymore.” I told her.

She scoffed. “I literally saw her popping pills at breakfast this morning.”

“Yeah…the situation is complicated. Do you mind showing me to the kitchen at least. What’s your name by the way?” I asked her.

“Whatever… Follow me. We have dinner at 6 every night and it's almost time anyway. I’m sure mom and Emma will already be down in the dining room. And I’m Cordelia.” She told me.

I followed her out of the room “Your sister is named Emma?” I asked.

Cordelia nodded her head. “She’s a bit of a stuck up bitch, but she’s the only sibling I've got left now…” She said with a touch of sadness.

Emma Frost…

That name sounded really familiar to me. WAIT!? Wasn’t Emma Frost an X-men villain! The sexy blonde woman who could turn her entire body into diamonds and read minds? Did I just have sex with a villain's mom!?

Was Emma even a Villain at this point? Wilma said both of her daughters were still teenagers.

[Holy shit, you're just realizing this now! I thought you knew the whole time! Wilma’s last name is Frost after all!]

‘I can’t memorize the name of every single marvel character in existence!’ I replied with a pout.

Dinner hadn't started yet when we got there. Wilma obviously wasn't cooking herself and I realized this family also had personal chefs. I was just going to stop being surprised at this point…

“Hello, Valerie. Did you get some rest?” Wilma asked me as I sat down next to her at the large table. It could easily seat 20 people, but the four of us sat close together. Cordelia sat on the other side of the table, next to her sister.

I glanced forward and noticed Emma Frost was blatantly staring at me. If she was a mind reader, did that mean she already knew what happened between her mom and I?

“So mother, who is your friend?” Emma asked blatantly. “I didn't know that you had any younger friends~.”

Yep, she knew…

{Emma Frost- Level ???
Thoughts about you: Emma knows you slept with her mother. She was watching the whole time with her psychic powers. She wishes she could have taken her mother's place in that bed…}

I found myself blushing in embarrassment. There was a lot to unpack there. Emma continued blatantly staring at me and I did my best not to meet her eyes.

Wilma coughed awkwardly. “Girls, this is Valerie. She'll be staying with us for a while…”

“Why?” Cordelia asked.

“I'm homeless after an evil wizard tried to kill me in England and I fled to America. I'm going to get stronger here then go back and kill him.” I said with a straight face. Wilma sighed next to me.

“Uh huh, sure.” Cordelia said sarcastically. She didn't believe a word of what I just said. She turned towards her mom. “Valerie told me you're off the pills now? How long is that going to last? A week, a day, a few hours? You've told us this before.”

“You do seem a lot healthier, mother.” Emma noted. “How did that come about?”

“I healed her of all her addictions. I'm a Mutant with healing powers.” I told them. It was interesting that she didn't already know that, but maybe she didn't like reading the minds of her family members.

Wait!? Can she read my mind?

[No. Gamers Minds are impenetrable unless you choose to let someone in.]

I sighed in relief.

Emma looked at me in surprise. “A mutant with healing powers? I've never heard of that. Every single mutant I know of only has combat based powers.” Emma said. “That's why humans are so afraid of us–I mean them.

Wilma startled next to me at Emma's words. I don't think she even knew her daughter had powers until that little slip up. Wilma didn't say anything right now though. I figured she'd want to talk to her daughter in private.

Cordelia also looked at me in disbelief. “Our mother has always been a piece of shit junkie who never cared about us! All she cared about was her next hit! You're telling me you just walked up to her and BAM–she's cured forever!?” She asked in disbelief while glancing between me and her mother.

I nodded at her. “That's not exactly how it went down, but pretty much.”

“That's bullshit!” Cordelia exclaimed. “After she sat by and did nothing while dad treated us like trash!? After she let him get away with murdering our brother!?”

Wilma and Emma both gasped. Also, Wilma’s husband murdered his own son!? Maybe I should shoot him after all…

“I'm not stupid, I know he did it!” Cordelia told Wilma and Emma.

“Don't ever mention that out loud again!” Emma warned her sister. “Don't think father won't try and get rid of us as well!”

Wilma sighed sadly and turned to me. “Would you mind giving me some alone time with my daughters, Valerie? I can have dinner sent up to your room. I have to have a long conversation with both of them.”

“Actually, I was thinking of heading back into the city for a bit. There's some things I need to take care of.” I said.

Wilma nodded. “Feel free to have one of our drivers take you. We have multiple drivers on standby at all hours.” Wilma said.

I thanked her and made my way out of the dining room. Honestly, I was glad to be out of there.

Whatever the chefs were making smelled amazing, but I would have had trouble eating in a room with such a tense atmosphere. Wilma and her daughters had years of baggage to unpack and I didn't want to be there for it.

I accepted Wilma’s offer of letting a driver take me where I wanted to go. During the drive, I checked over my stats once again.

Valerie Tepes (Mutant-Dhampir Princess)
Class: Gunslinger (8/100)
Mutant Gear: Grail of the Night Queen
Lv = 2 (160/400 XP)
Health = 2750/2750 (Constitution x 100 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute x 10)
Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 25
Strength = 20
Dexterity = 20
Intelligence = 25
Wisdom = 20
Charisma = 41

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

I noticed that my current XP had gone from 150 to 160. How did that happen?

[You got 10 XP for healing Wilma Frost.]

‘I can get 10 XP for every person I heal?’ I asked. That’s the same amount as when I took down those gang members.

[I said it before. Some Gamer’s like to play as healers while others prefer combat. Some people enjoy a mixture of the two or neither at all. You’d be surprised at some of the ways Gamers in other Universes gain XP. Healing curses or more serious injuries will grant more XP as well. The same is true if you take down higher level enemies.]

I smirked. That opened up a whole new avenue of XP grinding for me. I could theoretically get hundreds if not thousands of XP every night if I went around healing people!

I would only have to be careful and make sure people didn’t blab about my identity afterwards. I wasn’t like Spiderman who wanted to hide his identity forever, I just didn’t want to advertise that I could heal pretty much anything until I was strong enough to fight off all the groups that would absolutely try to abduct me once they found out.

I closed my stat sheet when the car arrived at my destination. I got dropped off in Central Park and told the driver I would find my own way back. I might be out here for the next few hours.

The sun was just setting and pretty soon it would be night time. The creatures of the night would be on the prowl. Creatures like me. My throat was burning and I knew that I NEEDED to drink blood tonight. My instincts were telling me something bad would happen if I didn’t. The old Valerie used to regularly receive small cups of her fake mother’s blood every few days.

It has now been days…

Could I have asked Wilma for her blood? Probably. However, there’s a part of me that is still afraid of a possible rejection, no matter how slim that chance might be. I know I’m being silly and paranoid, but I want to keep my full nature hidden just a little bit longer.

Vampire’s don't have the best reputation after all. There is no ‘Twilight Series’ in this Universe. Vampires aren’t sparkly creatures who are just misunderstood. There is no animal blood option.

Blade and Harry Potter are both real here. Vampires are monsters that feed on people. And the blood has to be fresh.

[Blood that has been sitting in a frozen blood bag for months is basically ‘dead.’ It's completely useless for you to drink.]

As the sun set, I found myself walking through Central Park. Searching for a possible target. I'm not going to go after any innocents obviously, but anyone else is fair game.

XXX

Chapter Text

A/N: Happy Easter!!! …If you celebrate it. Otherwise, Happy not-Easter!!

Chapter 8:

The sun had set, and night had fallen as I made my way through Central Park. There were still a few people wandering around, but the crowds were quickly disappearing. That was perfect for me. I made sure to stay on the path as I walked through the park. A few people gave me curious looks, but nobody stopped to talk to me.

After about 15 minutes, the majority of normal people had completely vacated the area. The only people I could see remaining were the homeless, who were all starting to pitch their tents for the night and band together. There are groups of them sporadically strewn around the park.

Nearby, between a pair of large trees, there was a small group of five men setting up their tents for the night. They looked like the cleanest and friendliest of the nearby groups, so I decided to approach them first. I walked over to potentially offer some healing to get some easy XP and to inquire about any gang activity nearby at this time of night.

As I walked over, I noticed one of the men was in a wheelchair. He was wearing a Vietnam vest, showing he was a veteran, and he was missing an entire leg. It was cut off right at the knee. He had a battery-powered lantern hanging off the side of his wheelchair. He was using the light to read a romance novel of all things.

That drew a small chuckle out of me.

When I approached, he glanced up at me and frowned. "You shouldn't be out here at this time of night, girl. It's not safe for you." He warned me.

I stood in front of him and smiled at his concern. Here he was with some pretty shit circumstances in life, yet he was still worried about other people. “Thank you for your concern. You don't have to worry about me, though. I find that… I'm quite at home in the dark." I said while grinning. The night was my domain after all.

His eyes met my own, and I noticed that he quickly stiffened. He was no longer looking at me in concern, but wariness instead. He gulped nervously before he spoke again. "I'd heard rumors from other drifters over the years, but I never thought I'd meet one of your kind myself…"

"My kind?" I asked him. Did he somehow know what I was? That was surprising.

"I know what you are! Your kind prey on people like me and my friends all over the country! You stalk us in the night and pick us up when we least expect it! The government might not believe us, but we know what you are…Vampire!" He spat out.

My eyes widened in surprise. Leave it to the homeless community to be the only ones who actually believe in the supernatural.

Although, when his words truly sunk in, I grimaced. It sounded like other vampires specifically preyed on the homeless. It made sense in a way. They were easy targets that wouldn't be missed, but it was still wrong from my standpoint. I wanted to only go after evil people.

I raised my hands placatingly. "You have nothing to fear from me. I don't believe in going after innocent people. I actually approached you to ask if you knew about any particularly bad gangs nearby that I could target. Has anybody been causing trouble lately around here?" I asked him.

"Is everything all right over here, Tony?" Another homeless man walked over towards us. He had been busy setting up a tent this entire time. He noticed our raised voices.

The man in the wheelchair, called Tony, glanced at his friend quickly before his eyes returned to me. He was still looking at me warily when he let out a sigh. “Yes, Larry, everything's fine. Isn't that right?” He asked me.

“It sure is.” I replied.

"If your kind has to go after anybody, then I suppose it's not so bad that you target the worst kinds of people. Yes, there have been some people giving our community a lot of trouble. Some people I know in passing have been grabbed out of nowhere and thrown into the back of unmarked vans. We never see them again after they’re taken." Tony told me.

"How many people are we talking about?" I asked him.

The new guy, Larry, spoke up. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on over here, but if you're asking about the missing people, so far it's around 10–maybe 20 people in total have disappeared in the past month." He said before he pointed around the park. He pointed at all the other small encampments nearby. “As you can see, no one wants to sleep alone anymore. Everybody's banding together in groups of five or more so they can't pick us off."

{Quest Started: Investigate who is abducting the local homeless population and put a stop to them!}

{Reward: +1000 XP}

{Failure: You’ll feel bad for not trying.}

“Is there any specific area where the most people have disappeared?” I asked.

Tony lifted his arm and pointed off into the distance. “Over that way, there's a lot more trees. It's a lot darker. Mary and Jesse went over that way about three nights ago and never came back. Most of us avoid that area now but a couple of the crazier guys are too stubborn and still go over there at night. It's only a matter of time for them.” He lamented.

Even though he was afraid of me and very nervous, he was still very helpful. I kindly thanked him again. “Before I go, I can't help but notice that you're missing your—erm—leg.” I said while glancing down…

Me pointing out the obvious seemed to have broken the tension. He actually cracked a small smile. "I see you've noticed old Stumpy here!" He said boisterously while patting his missing left leg. "Me and him didn't get along very well at first, but we're all right now!"

“...”

[Hehe! I like this guy, he's funny.]

Meh, I give that joke a solid B at best. “I was wondering if you want your leg back?” I asked the veteran. He had been helpful so far, and I did feel bad that he had lost some of his friends recently. The less altruistic part of me also couldn't help but want to experiment with my Mutant Gear as well. Would it be able to regrow entire missing limbs? I wanted to know.

"What!?" Larry exclaimed.

“Are you trying to mess with me, girly?” Tony said. His scowl was back.

"I'm not messing with you. Truth be told, I'm only half vampire. I'm also half mutant. My mutant power is healing. I've never healed a missing limb before and wanted to see if I could do it. What have you got to lose?" I asked him with a grin.

I didn't care about giving any of this information away either, at the end of the day he was still a homeless man. He could run right up to CNN's headquarters and start shouting to the heavens that a Mutant Dhampir had healed his missing limb, and absolutely nobody would pay attention to him at all…

[That's sad, but absolutely true.]

…

I walked away from their small group a couple minutes later with a little bit extra XP.

{+10 XP}

Obviously, the guy didn’t have anything to lose. He was already down a leg and homeless, it couldn’t get much worse from there.

He humored me and let me experiment on him a bit. I summoned my Grail of the Night Queen and told him to drink from it.

After he downed the entire cup, he started to grit his teeth in pain while his body started to shake. I feared he'd start convulsing or frothing at the mouth, but it thankfully didn't come to that. Instead, there was a squelching noise as the skin around his knee tore open. A brand new lower leg shot out and started to rapidly take form. To everyone's shock, including my own, it only took a few seconds for his entire limb to completely reform!

[A few VERY gross seconds.]

That was true… But, I now knew for sure that my Mutant Gear was OP as hell! The Grail of the Night Queen was absolutely amazing!

[Of course, ALL the rewards that I bestow upon you will be absolutely amazing! Only my awesomeness could combine a Sacred Gear with a Mutant Bloodline and actually get it to work. If anyone else had attempted such a feat, you would have exploded into a bloody pile of goo!]

‘Thanks for putting that lovely thought in my mind!’ I thought sarcastically as I made my way through the trees. I didn’t see or hear anyone nearby yet. Tony had mentioned that most people tended to stay away from this area at night, but there should still be a few of the more stubborn ones around here somewhere.

[You're welcome!]

I crouched under a few low-hanging branches to avoid getting smacked in the face. ‘I have a question for you, System.’

[And I might have an answer.]

I rolled my eyes at the System’s sitting reply. ‘What do my Stats mean exactly? Like, how do the numbers match up to other people?’

Valerie Tepes (Mutant-Dhampir Princess)
Class: Gunslinger (8/100)
Sacred Gear: Grail of the Night Queen
Lv = 2 (170/400 XP)
Health = 2750/2750 (Constitution x 100 + Lv x 10)
Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute x 10)
Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)
Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 25
Strength = 20
Dexterity = 20
Intelligence = 25
Wisdom = 20
Charisma = 41

Perks:
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s body
Observe
Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1

[You're just asking this now!? This is usually one of the first things Gamers ask…]

I puffed my cheeks in annoyance. ‘Yeah, well… I had more important things to think about.’

[Like getting laid by a hot milf?]

‘Exactly! Now can you just tell me, please? Actually, I understand pretty much every stat besides Strength and Dexterity. How are those two quantified?’ I asked.

[Both of them represent how much weight you can lift and how fast you are respectively. Strength is measured in kilograms and dexterity in kilometers per hour.]

Wait… I did some quick mental math in my head since I was more used to the English system. Doesn't that mean I'm incredibly weak and slow!? I can only lift 44 pounds and run at 12 MPH!?

It must have been a miracle that I took down those gang members when I was so physically weak…

[You're about average at this point for a girl your age in Dexterity. And your strength is only slightly below average. You can increase those two stats by doing physical training, or every time you level up all stats increase by 5 respectively. You're also in the Marvel Universe, and there are plenty of ways here to make yourself stronger and faster.]

That makes sense. At least I knew where I stood physically. The other Stats were all pretty straightforward, except maybe Intelligence. ‘Does Intelligence make me smarter?’ I asked.

[Intelligence affects your total Mana Pool and VERY slightly affects your actual intelligence as the Stat increases.]

‘Why only slightly?’

[A rapid increase in intelligence can completely erase a person's personality. You wouldn't even be ‘you’ anymore if your IQ jumped dozens of points in an instant!]

That made sense. I would like to be a bit smarter, but not so smart I basically become a new person. I like myself the way I am right now and I wouldn’t want to become some shut-in egghead, stuck in a lab all day long, wasting my undead life away.

I thanked the System as I made my way through the darkest section of the park. I almost thought tonight was going to be a bust when I heard muffled voices up ahead.

“Let me go you bastard! I'm a sovereign citizen and you can't do this to me!” I heard a man's muffled cries followed by a short scuffle and other men letting out plenty of expletives.

I peaked my way around a tree and saw a homeless man had been bound and ganged by a group of three other men. All of them dressed like typical gangbanger thugs.

The homeless man was thrashing around wildly and giving it his all to get away from them. Even with his limbs tied up he was putting up a good struggle. One of the thugs got too close and ended up getting a headbutt in the face. There was loud crunching noise.

“Gah! My fucking nose! Fuck you, you homelass trash!” He said while clutching his broken nose.

I gulped at the sight of blood pouring down his face. I had to hold myself back from immediately charging forwards.

“Dammit! His yelling might attract the whole park over here! We gotta go!” Another of the thugs spat angrily. He kicked the homeless man in the stomach to get him to stop struggling.

“What!? We're only grabbing one tonight?” The third guy asked. “ These wastes of space are worth 1000 bucks a head and we were told to come back with at least 3!”

“That's too damn bad, they'll have to settle for one! Besides, we won't be able to spend the extra cash if we get swarmed by a mob of pissed off hobos and beaten to death ourselves! Throw this piece of shit in the back of the van and let's go!” The first one said as he grabbed their prisoner by his feet and started dragging him to an unmarked blue van. The other two thugs quickly helped.

I considered drawing my gun and shooting these three, but I decided against it. I would probably end up failing the quest. Judging by their words, somebody was paying cash for all these people getting abducted. If I followed the van now, I might be able to find out who.

My leathery batwings sprang out from behind me. I slowly levitated off the ground until I was directly above the treetops. The three men hopped in the van and it started driving out of the park. They had to drive slowly to avoid all the trees in the dark. In case it wasn't obvious, people weren't supposed to be driving cars through the middle of the park. It was easy enough to follow after them from above.

These guys were incredibly paranoid. Once they cleared the park, instead of driving on the main roads, they went out of their way to take every single back alley possible to get to their destination. On the upside, it made it a lot easier to follow them. They couldn't drive much faster than I could fly.

I had noticed, as I was following them, that in the air I could fly about twice as fast as I moved on the ground. With my wings out, my Dexterity was basically doubled. Also, I discovered that I was able to push mana into my wings and make myself fly even faster. For only a couple hundred mana, I was able to fly as fast as the average car could drive on the highway. This would make getting back to Frost Manor later a lot easier at least.

After following the van for around 10 minutes, it finally pulled out of its last back alley and drove forward towards a large warehouse. This warehouse had five other blue unmarked vans currently parked outside of it along with at least a dozen men currently unloading all of their ‘cargo.’

There were another couple men watching them, and they belonged to a completely different group. They didn't look like thugs at all, they looked like professional soldiers. They were all wearing dark tactical gear, along with bulletproof vests and carrying assault rifles. These were professional soldiers or mercenaries of some kind.

Just what kind of operation did I stumble onto here?

I quietly landed on a rooftop across from the warehouse and peaked over the ledge to spy on them. With my enhanced eyes and ears, I was able to make out what was going on.

The armed mercenaries were happy with the other four groups, but upset with the group I had followed here. The three men were getting scolded for only being able to abduct a single person when the other groups all brought back two or three people each.

“We promised a thousand dollars a head, but that was only contingent on you guys bringing us multiple people! You only brought one man, so you don't get any pay!” One of the mercenaries said as he grabbed hold of the bound homeless man and started dragging him into the creepy warehouse.

“What!? That's bullshit! We did our fucking job!” One of the thugs complained. “That's our money, we deserve it! My nose got broken for this shit!”

“Yeah! We couldn't help it, man! This fucker here started yelling loudly and he was going to bring everyone nearby down on us!” Another one added.

“Give us our fucking grand or we’re going to cap your ass!” The last one pulled a pistol from his waistband and started brandishing it around. Every single mercenary raised their assault rifles and pointed them right at him. He gulped and glanced around nervously. “I–I’m just playing... We’ll get more people for you…We promise.” He said as he shakily put his gun back in his pants and backed away slowly.

It looks like the mercenaries were taking a second to decide whether or not they should shoot the idiot. I guess they decided not to when they lowered all of their weapons. The lead one spoke up. “Don't try that shit again or we’ll fill you with lead and drop your corpse down the sewer with the crocs! Now get in your fucking van and bring us more people! Our employers wanted 15 people tonight and we only have 13. Do the fucking math and bring us more!” He commanded threateningly.

“Ok ok, we’re going!” The group I followed here all got back into the van. They drove off hastily while the other four groups of thugs laughed at them.

“What a bunch of pansies…”

“This is one of the easiest jobs ever, how could they fuck it up?”

The lead mercenary addressed them all next. “You all did good work tonight. Come inside and collect your money.” He then spoke to a couple other mercenaries. “You three patrol around the warehouse, we don't want any uninvited guests like last time. That damn vigilante almost exposed our entire operation already!”

All of the thugs followed the lead mercenary inside the warehouse. They sealed the door shut behind them. Only three people were left outside with four empty vans.

“All right, let's hope the boss can finish up quickly inside. Spread out and keep your fucking eyes open. We don't want that ski mask wearing mother-fucker sneaking up on us again!” The three mercenaries outside split up and started patrolling different sections of the warehouse exterior.

I knew that I wasn't going to get a better opportunity to pick them off than right now.

One of the mercenaries started patrolling around the darkest side of the building where the street lights didn't reach. I could see that he was gripping his weapon tightly, and his head was rapidly shifting left and right as he walked forward. One place he wasn't looking, though, was above him.

I took a step off the rooftop and silently hovered in the sky. I started flying quietly towards the mercenary. I lowered myself towards the ground as quietly as possible.

When my feet touched the ground directly behind him, I reached into my inventory and grabbed hold of my Black Revolver. I hesitated before shaking my head and putting it back inside. A gunshot would be way too loud and would end up alerting all the other mercenaries outside.

Instead, I grabbed hold of the iron knife and gripped it tightly.

"Man, I hate patrolling this creepy fucking warehouse..." The man in front of me whispered to himself. “It's so dark, and it feels like something's going to jump out at me any second…”

A cruel grin spread over my face before I whispered behind him. "I don't need to jump out at you… I'm already here." I said with a creepy sounding giggle.

“Wah!” He was startled and jumped a few inches in the air. I didn't want to make any more noise.

My left hand quickly snaked around his head and covered his mouth! My right arm lifted the dagger, in my hand, and slammed it directly into the side of his neck!

A quiet muffled scream left his mouth. His body immediately started spasming in my hold. He was quickly going into shock. The rifle he was holding fell from his hand onto the ground where it clattered harmlessly. He desperately tried to reach for it but quickly lost all his strength.

When I knew he wouldn't even be able to scream anymore, I pulled my left hand away from his mouth. I held on to the other side of his neck, and with my right hand, I yanked the knife back out. A small fountain of blood started spurting out and landed all over me! It completely covered my upper torso and my hands.

Thankfully, I had changed outfits back into the crappy clothes the system had acquired for me. I knew I would probably end up covered in blood tonight. I didn't want to ruin one of my multi-thousand dollar designer outfits.

His body started to go limp. I wasn't strong enough to hold him up, especially with all the extra equipment he was carrying that made him even heavier. I let him fall to the ground as I examined the bloody knife in my right hand. My breathing picked up and my eyes were honed and on the red liquid coating the metal. I tentatively brought the knife up to my face. I stuck my tongue out and carefully licked it.

My senses exploded in delight! It was amazing! It tasted absolutely divine! The only word I could use to describe it was ambrosia itself! The nectar of the Gods!

I quickly started licking the knife all over to make sure I didn't miss a drop of the delicious blood! When it was completely clean I started licking my hands and fingers next. It wasn't enough. I needed more!

I glanced down at the body at my feet. I actually felt regret when I noticed blood was pouring out of the man's neck and onto the dirty ground below.

What an absolute waste!

I quickly crouched down and put my face right up against his wound. With zero hesitation I opened my mouth wide and bit down. I began to drink more of that delicious nectar from his neck until there was none left.

When he was drained dry, I stood back up and wiped my lips.

{+10 XP}

“Thank you for the meal.” I grinned at the unmoving body on the ground. The body was a lot more pale now. I also had a feeling that I might be a bit of a glutton. The burning thirst in my throat had receded, but it wasn’t completely gone yet. I think I could use one or two more people…

[Don’t go drinking so much that you puke.]

I spread my wings and flew back upwards into the air. I was trying to spot the other two mercenaries. ‘Is that even possible?’ I asked the System.

[Maybe? I’ve never had a vampire as my Host before, so I wouldn’t know.]

I spotted another one of the mercenaries behind the warehouse. He looked like he might have heard my scuffle with his buddy. He was slowly making his way around the side. His gun was aimed out in front of him as he warily pointed it everywhere he looked. His finger was on the trigger as he looked around nervously.

I might have been a bit blood drunk at this point. I was a lot less hesitant at how I chose to go after this second mercenary. Instead of sneaking up quietly, I flipped myself around and dive bombed him! I pumped 200 Mana into my wings and rocketed downwards like a falling star!

He must have heard my body cutting through the air, because he looked up at the last second. His eyes widened in shock when he saw me hurling towards him. He brought up his rifle and tried to shoot me down. His aim was off as a few bullets whizzed through the air past me. Our two bodies collided at high speed as I tackled him!

{-500HP}

There was a sickening crack as I smashed directly into his torso. I wasn’t sure whether he had broken some bones from the impact, or I had. Maybe both of us did as the momentum carried us downwards. We both hit the ground hard.

The man let out a cry of agony. “Oh God! *cough* What the fuck!?” He groaned loudly in pain. He was on his back facing the sky, but wasn’t moving.

My HP was already starting to quickly refill as I achingly stood up. That would have been a really dumb move if I couldn't heal quickly.

I crouched down over the seriously injured mercenary and looked him in the eyes. He was absolutely terrified as he looked back up at me. He was pretty messed up. I’m pretty sure that the sickening crack I heard was his collarbone getting broken. Maybe some of his other important bones as well.

“Please…help me… I don’t want to die. It was just a job.” He begged me between strangled coughs.

“I don't really know what’s going on here, but what I do know is that you shouldn't have worked for slavers.” With that said, I didn’t hesitate anymore and plunged my fangs directly into his neck.

The blood hit my tongue and I might have even started moaning as I began to drink my fill! I would have loved to savor it, but I knew I couldn't. I started taking big gulps and tried to drain him as fast as possible. I knew that the third mercenary had probably heard the gunshots and was most likely rushing over. The mercenary I was feeding on started shaking and gasping for mercy, but I ignored him and just kept drinking delicious gulp after gulp.

After a full minute, I finally reached the point where I felt truly sated and full. It was a very nice feeling. Valerie’s memories from England never had her feeling like this. Her ‘mother’ only ever fed her enough blood to sustain Valerie. Never enough to let Valerie feel like I did right now.

“What the fuck!” Someone had snuck up on me while I was feeding. I unlatched my fangs from the corpse's throat and stood up. I turned around to see the third mercenary shakily pointing his rifle at me.

“Y–your eyes…They're glowing red! And James–Did you fucking drink his blood!? Jesus Christ! Are you a vampire!? I knew we were working with aliens, but vampires are a thing now too!?” He asked in fright. “Fuck! I knew we shouldn’t have taken this job!”

“Aliens? Interesting…” I said while smiling at him. Of course, my face was covered in his buddy's blood, so my smile must have come off as terrifying to behold. “Why don't you tell me more about that?”

The mercenary shakily took a few steps backwards. “Stay the fuck away from me! I’m not telling you anything!”

CRACK!

{-200 HP}

There was a muzzle flash and my leg exploded in pain! I grit my teeth but did my best not to show any pain on my face. Why was I always getting shot in the leg!? My beautiful legs were one of my best features!

He noticed the first shot got no reaction out of me. “Fuck!” He fired his gun a second time.

This time a bullet impacted my shoulder. It hurt even more!

{-300 HP}

I jerked backwards a few steps, but I kept the same insane smile on my face. Getting shot still really hurts though! Holy shit, I didn't think my acting was this good. I managed to keep a straight face as I casually pretended to dust myself off.

“Come now, unless those are wooden bullets, you’re just wasting both of our time.” I lied to him. “Let's make a deal. You tell me what you know and I’ll let you live. Sound fair? Now, what’s this about aliens?”

He was still trembling but he lowered his gun and nodded at me. He actually believed me and thought his gun wasn’t hurting me!

“I–I don't know much. All I know is that the Life Foundation hired my mercenary squad to bring them bodies to experiment on. One of the boys in our unit sneaked a peak and told us all that the Foundation has some kind of alien parasite or virus that they are testing on people. None of the people we’ve given them have survived it yet. We're also in charge of disposing of all the bodies…” He explained. He didn’t seem remorseful at all as he spoke about casually sending people to their deaths.

Alien parasite? Was he talking about Venom? Or maybe something else? Either way, this was big! Way bigger than I want to deal with right now. I wasn't ready to take on a situation like this right now.

I decided that I was going to stop the rest of these mercenaries, finish my quest, and then get the hell out of here. Someone else can fight Venom for all I care!

I nodded at him and smiled again. “Thank you. You can leave now.” I told the mercenary.

A sigh of relief escaped him. “Thank you so much! I swear I won't tell anyone what I saw here. You have my word.” He turned around and started to run away as fast as he could.

“I know you won't tell anyone what you saw here…” I whispered to myself. I reached into my inventory and grabbed hold of my Black Revolver. I pointed it at his retreating back and fired. The magic bullet struck true and hit him right in the back of the head. There was a spray of blood and brain matter. He collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

{+ 10 XP}

[For a second there, I actually thought you were going to let him go.]

I scoffed. “Of course not.” That guy was a slaving asshole who shot me twice! There was no way I was letting him get away alive. Especially since he'd seen my face too.

I took a moment to regroup and calm down. I was sure that I currently looked like quite the sight. I was covered in even more blood than I was this morning.

With my bloodlust sated and everyone outside taken care of, I decided to head into the warehouse. I don't know if the people inside had heard the gunshots, but I was expecting a fight anyways. By my account there were four mercenaries left, and about 12 thugs. I don't know how many of those thugs were armed, but I was just going to assume all of them were.

I casually walked around the building to the front of the warehouse. It gave my HP time to refill itself to full.

I reached the warehouse's main door and slowly pulled it open. I was ready to slam it closed in case the bullets started flying at me from inside. Thankfully, no shots came. Maybe the warehouse was soundproofed and no one inside heard the gunshots outside?

I quietly creeped my way inside with my revolver at the ready. I wasn’t hearing any noise inside the warehouse for some reason. That was strange considering there were over a dozen people in here, without including all the kidnapped people they also brought in.

There was a stack of crates directly inside that I crept up to. I climbed on top of them and peeked over to get a better view.

What I saw, I was not expecting.

[Huh? That’s weird… Why are they all sleeping?]

In the middle of the warehouse, I could see a pile of unconscious bodies. Every single mercenary and thug were lying in the pile unconscious, bruised, and bloody.

Someone had gotten in here when I was outside and dealt with all these people already! My senses went on alert immediately!

‘Shit!’ I hoped it wasn’t Spiderman! If it was, then he wouldn't hesitate to kill me right now!

I felt like someone was watching me, but I couldn’t tell from where. I started backing my way slowly towards the door while keeping my gun ready for anything. It wasn’t ready enough.

WOOSH!

I heard the sound of something zipping through the air. I grunted in pain when whatever it was smacked into my hand. My gun flew out of my grip and went clattering to the floor! I cursed loudly in my head. I was defenseless! I started sprinting towards my gun to try and pick it back up.

[Look out!]

The System’s warning saved me. I ducked my head in time to avoid someone kicking me directly in the face. I dove backwards as they followed that up with a low punch aimed at my torso.

“Who the hell are you supposed to be!?” I exclaimed as I took a few more steps back. My attacker was wearing black sweatpants, a black hoodie, and even had a black cloth visor over the top of his head.

[I’m noticing a theme here…]

The interesting thing was that his mask didn't have any eye holes. It was completely covering the upper half of his face as if he was–blind!?

Fuck…

Was this Daredevil? I used Observe on him.

{Matt Murdock - Level ???
Thoughts about you: He is disgusted that you killed the men outside! He believes that killing is never the answer! He wants to capture you and bring you to justice. He doesn't want you to escape because he’s having trouble nailing down your distinct features. His enhanced senses aren’t working correctly with you for some reason...}

That last part was good for me at least. Daredevil is blind. So long as I escape from here, he’d never be able to come after me.

I glanced over at my revolver on the ground. It was about 15 feet away and I don’t know if I could get to it before he got to me. If I tried fighting him hand to hand, he would tear me apart.

“I have nothing to say to a murderous monster like you. I heard you snuff out the lives of those three men outside. Are you proud of yourself? Are you proud of those lives you ended? Those were human beings that probably had families.” Daredevil said as he took a step towards me. I instinctively took another step backwards.

[For someone with nothing to say, he sure does like asking questions.]

“Did you not hear that last guy say they were literally abducting people and sending them to be killed in experiments?” I asked the vigilante. I took a few more subtle steps towards my gun. He probably knew where I was going, but I didn't care.

“As if you care about those people, you monster! My master, Stick, told me vampires were real. I never believed him till now. Hearing those men's heartbeats slowly fade away as you slurped their blood…that was a horrifying experience that I will never forget as long as I live!” Daredevil said as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth. “I’m going to capture you and expose your kind to the world!” He kicked off the floor and started sprinting towards me!

My eyes widened in panic! Holy shit, he was fast! He was superhuman fast! He was on me in seconds. I put my hands up to try and fight him off! I couldn't do a thing though. He instantly got through my feeble guard and started wailing on me!

{- 20 HP}
{- 20 HP}
{- 30 HP}
{- 20 HP}
{- 40 HP}
{- 50 HP}

His vicious punches were landing everywhere on me, and his hits had me crying out in pain when they landed. Every time I tried to hit back, he easily dodged and hit me even harder with the next couple of blows!

{- 20 HP}
{- 25 HP}
{- 20 HP}
{- 25 HP}
{- 55 HP}
{-100HP}

“Fuck!” I cried out. I hated this self righteous asshole so much right now! I really wish I knew some magic or something to fight back. I couldn’t even reach into my inventory to pull out another weapon, because he was hitting me so fast!

Daredevil finally hit me with a devastating stomach punch that drove the air out of my lungs. I stumbled backwards and couldn't dodge his next hit. He spun around rapidly, his combat boot upwards and connected with the side of my head! I saw stars as I spun around and fell to the floor.

{- 200 HP}

Once I was on the ground, he paused his assault on me. Maybe he thought I had been beaten? I didn’t try to move, and pretended like he had. He had only done around 800 damage to my Health and I was already starting to recover.

Daredevil scoffed haughtily. “I honestly expected better from a Vampire. I guess Stick was wrong when he said your kind are incredibly dangerous.” Daredevil said condescendingly as he started walking away from me.

I grit my teeth when I noticed him crouch down and pick up my Black Revolver. “Cute toy. Maybe I’ll keep it as a souvenir from my first time taking down a supernatural monster.” He said out loud tauntingly. He tucked it on his belt.

He dared to take MY gun from me! Now I was really pissed off!

I reached into my inventory and grabbed hold of one of the spare pistols I had kept from the gang members in case of an emergency. I quickly drew it out and pointed it at him. “Fuck you!” I exclaimed and started pulling the trigger as fast as I could!

“Dammit!” He yelled in shock and started rapidly dodging in every direction. “You didn’t have another gun on you! I checked–AAaargh!” One of my shots nailed him directly in the arm! He screamed and clutched it in pain.

I grinned vindictively as I stood up. The bruises all over my body were already starting to fade away. “Give me back my goddamn magic gun!” I demanded while pointing my pistol at him.

“I don’t think so!” Daredevil quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a black pellet with his good arm. He threw it down on the floor and it exploded into a cloud of smoke. The smoke rapidly started to come towards me and my eyes widened. I would be helpless against him again if I couldn’t see!

My wings sprang out of my back. I rapidly flew up towards the warehouse ceiling. It was about 30 feet off the ground and I was sure he wouldn't be able to reach me all the way up here. I pointed my handgun in the smoke as I waited for it to clear.

[I don't think fighting you was his plan…]

The System’s words had me looking towards the warehouse entrance. I saw Daredevil leaping over obstacles with superhuman agility. I aimed my pistol at him and fired more shots until the magazine was empty. Unfortunately, I didn’t land a single shot before he got to the door. He wrenched it open and made his escape–along with my Black Revolver…

“Fuck!” I cursed again in annoyance. I tossed away the useless empty gun to the floor below! “That asshole beat me up and robbed me! Some hero he is!”

[Yeah, he got you good. Sorry you lost your gun. At least he won’t be able to use it since it’s bound to you. It sucks, but you’ll get better weapons in the future...]

I huffed out a sigh and did my best to calm down. The System was right. It was a cool weapon, but it was only a starter magic weapon. I knew I would get better rewards in the future.

“That gun was really cool looking though…” I whined as I started making my way towards the warehouse floor. That feeling that someone was watching me was now gone. I figured Daredevil had left the area. He was going to need to get that arm of his checked out asap.

I just wanted to complete this quest and go back to Frost Manor and get some sleep. I saw the piles of thugs and mercenaries on the floor, but wondered where all the homeless prisoners were being kept? I started searching around the warehouse for them. As I did so, I made sure to pick up all the weapons scattered nearby. I lost my magic gun, but I had gained 4 assault rifles and 22 handguns–along with a bunch of spare ammunition and even a couple hand grenades.

After a few minutes of searching, I found a latch hidden in the ground towards the back. I grabbed hold of it and lifted it up with my meager strength. Underneath was a ladder that led to a dark hidden room about 10 feet under the warehouse.

I climbed down and saw all the homeless people still tied up and cluttered together. It was pitch black down here, but I could still see thanks to my night vision. That worked to my benefit.

I carefully walked up to the nearest woman and removed the gag from her mouth.

She spat at me as soon as I did. Thankfully she missed because she couldn't see. “Fuck you, you piece of shit! I ain’t going nowhere with you!” She yelled loudly. Her voice echoed around the small room and hurt my ears a bit.

“It’s okay,” I told her softly. “All the thugs and mercenaries are taken care of. They're all knocked out upstairs. I'm here to rescue you.”

“Oh…sorry. I thought you were one of them. We heard the scuffle upstairs. What happened?” She asked me as I started to untie her hands and feet.

A thought crossed my mind. A vindictive grin formed on my face. “Ah, that? Another person attacked me as I was trying to save you all. He called himself the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.” I said. “He didn't want me to save any of you for some reason…” I lied.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “I’ve heard of that guy! They say he’s the boogie man! Anyone he comes after ends up seriously messed up! He’s even scarier than the Spider-Guy!”

I finished untying her and we both started untying the others who were all listening to us. She was doing a good job, even though she was fumbling in the dark.

I continued. “Yes, it was him. He killed some guys outside before he tried to kill me too. I don't know what he was after, but I thankfully managed to scare him off.” I told them. “Otherwise, none of us would be here.”

[Oh, you are devious! Blaming those three deaths on Daredevil!? That’s brilliant!]

I smirked. He’s not here to defend himself and I have 13 ‘witnesses.’ Obviously, they didn’t see anything, but the police won't care. I’m the hero who saved all these people after all. Also, it’s so dark in this hole that none of them can see that I'm covered head to toe in blood!

“Thank you so much for saving us! Who are you?” She asked me.

“Are you some kind of hero?”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

All of them started thanking me as I made my way back towards the ladder. I wanted to get away from here before they could get a good look at me. “It was no problem. I was happy to help. As for my name–you can all call me The Night Queen.”

[Cool moniker!]

“...I’m technically a vigilante and would like to avoid the police for now. So, I'm afraid I have to go before they show up. Can you all tell them what happened here?” I asked them all sweetly.

“Of course we will!”

“We’ll tell them all about these assholes who kidnapped us and our friends!”

“We’ll tell them the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is a murderer and he tried to hurt us too! Thank you for saving us, Night Queen!”

“No, thank you all for being so understanding and brave!” I told them as I climbed up the ladder quickly. I hurried over to the warehouse door and threw it open. I spread my wings and flew into the night sky, heading back home for now. I could hear police sirens approaching the warehouse rapidly. All those gunshots had drawn some attention.

I was tired and felt gross. I wanted to get back and take a long hot shower before getting some sleep. I still had school in the morning after all.

{Quest Complete! +1000 XP! You have received a bonus reward! You have received a one-time use Dungeon Key!}

XXX

Chapter Text

Chapter 9:

Erik Lensherr (Magneto):

“We've successfully rescued another three of our brethren from the Russians.” Mystique reported to him.

“That's excellent.” Erik said with a small smile. “And their captors?” Erik asked.

“Dealt with…permanently.” Mystique grinned maliciously. “We burned the facility to the ground and seized all of their research.”

Erik smiled at her. She truly was the most loyal and effective subordinate a man like him could ask for. It also helped that she deeply believed in they're cause as well. “You've done well, Raven. Why not take a few days for yourself?” He suggested.

Mystique, or Raven Darkholme, nodded. “I was thinking about visiting New York. Maybe check up on what Charles is up to. See if he’s planning anything nefarious…” She said darkly.

Erik sighed. “Raven, Charles is a complicated man, but he’s still my friend…”

She scoffed. “I know that you just tell him you're friends to placate him.” She said. Charles had completely broken Raven’s trust and Erik didn't know if it could ever be fixed.

“Was he always like this, or do you think this is a recent development?”

Raven pondered for a moment. “Part of me always knew Charles had a desire for control, but I never wanted to admit just how bad it was. He was the first person to accept me for who I was despite my appearance. I turned a blind eye to his actions for years, because I was afraid he would reject me otherwise. I ignored how he puppeted the minds of his own parents our entire childhoods. I ignored how he used his mental powers to force numerous millionaires to sign their fortunes over to him. I thought he was using that funding for the betterment of our race. I ignored the numerous other times he used his powers on the politicians to force through certain legislations. But after I found out he was using his powers on our kind as well–”

Erik cut her off. “...I know, Raven. I know. There’s a reason I always wear my helmet around him.”

“So you agree that I should go and check up on him. See what he’s up to lately? He’s been far too quiet with his actions.” She said. Erik had to agree with her there. The X-men had been far less active as of late.

“I could also check on the fiery redhead while I'm in Manhattan.” Raven added to try and coax him further.

Erik gave in and decided to let her do as she pleased. “Fine, you can go. But, make sure you don’t get caught–especially by Miss Grey” He warned her and she nodded. Erik didn’t want her antagonizing the Omega level girl.

Jean Grey… Was quite the impressive Mutant. To be honest, she was pretty much the single biggest thorn in his side and the reason the X-Men were able to fight on par with his own men and women. That was no longer the case however. Ever since Charles’s most powerful soldier slipped away from his control, the X-men had been on their back feet.

Erik thought about approaching her and inviting her to join his cause. He eventually decided not to however. Jean Grey was one of the very few mutants to truly slip from Charles’s leash. She left Xavier’s institute permanently and returned to living with her human parents. She seemed perfectly content where she was, and he didn't want her to run off back to Charles if she didn’t have to. Erik knew that he would be no match for her the day she truly comes into her powers. If the time ever came that he truly had to rid the world of his old friend Charles, then Erik would rather not have to face Jean Gray at the same time.

Raven smiled at Erik before she plopped down on a nearby couch and grabbed the tv remote. “Good! Now that that’s settled, why don’t we watch some TV together. You can’t just sit around here reading boring books all day by yourself.”

Erik grumbled. The ‘boring books’ he was reading were written by famous generals of the past who led their own successful rebellions. “I need to study all these books for the day the war between us and the humans truly breaks out. The hatred between our groups is too great and it's not just going to magically disappear overnight!” Erik told her.

Raven nodded in acceptance. “I truly wish that our two races could see eye to eye, but you're right. I don’t see that ever happening. It would take a miracle springing up for humans to suddenly let go of their hatred of us.”

Raven clicked the remote and the TV flickered on. “The top story of today is of course the now world famous mutant Valerie Tepes. The young woman went viral in a video that was released yesterday on youtube. In it, she can be seen confronting anti mutant bullies and inspiring her entire class with her brilliant speech about equality. She is quickly becoming something of an inspiration for young adults and teens all over the world who want to stand up against racism and prejudice. Thousands of people online have even started posting apologies for harmful past actions or comments against mutants.”

Erik and Raven both stared at the TV in shock.

“...”

“...What?”

…

–Valerie–

I found Wilma and her two daughters eating breakfast when I walked into the dining room. I hadn't checked in with any of them since dinner last night. I flew back to the manor and snuck into the guest room through a window I left open. I was tired and immediately went to bed after a very long shower. There was a lot of blood I needed to scrub off myself.

The family of girls looked to be doing much better. Wilma's daughters weren't actively glaring at her at least. They must have had quite the conversation last night.

Wilma stopped her conversation with Cordelia and smiled at me fondly when she saw me come in. I smiled back at her. There was definitely something going on between the two of us. I don't think either of us wanted the previous day to be a one time thing. The look Wilma was giving me right now definitely told me it wouldn't be.

“Good morning, Valerie.” Wilma greeted me. “You look very nice. Are you going out somewhere?” She asked me curiously.

“I'm going to school.” I told her.

Wilma sputtered a bit at my words. “O–Oh…you're still in High School?” She was looking a bit panicked all of a sudden.

Did she not know that?

[You did meet her at a store at 1pm on a school day. She probably thought you were older. Now she's panicking, wondering if you're underage…]

Emma started snickering at her mother. “Valerie is a Senior student at Midtown High a few miles from here, mother. Also, she is 18 so you don't have to freak out so much…” Emma told her mother. I wasn't even going to bother asking how Emma knew all that about me.

Wilma sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God…”

Cordelia looked around the table confused. I think she was the only one who didn't know I slept with her mom yet. “Why does it matter?” She asked.

“It's nothing, sweety.” Wilma told her youngest daughter. She turned back to me. “I admit, I wasn't expecting a mature girl like you to still be in school, Valerie. Come have some breakfast. One of our limos will drive you afterwards. In fact, they'll take you to and from class every day if you want.” She suggested. I accepted her offer.

“Do you have a phone, Valerie?” Emma asked me while a maid started piling the plate in front of me with bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

“I have my friend Harry Osborn’s phone. He gave it to me yesterday to use.” I told her while salivating at the gourmet breakfast. Did this family eat like this everyday? How were none of them fat? The Frost women had some amazing genetics.

“Harry Osborn, the son of Norman Osborn?” She asked and I nodded. “You can give his phone back to him later. I'll have a brand new device waiting for you after breakfast.” She informed me.

“This family is really trying to spoil me.” I told them all.

Wilma laughed. “You deserve it after what you did for me. If there's anything else you want, never hesitate to ask me. Anything at all~” Wilma said suggestively. Emma let out a sigh at how blatant her mother was openly flirting with me. Cordelia was too invested in the pancakes she was eating to pay attention.

I'd be sure to take her up on that offer again in the future. For now though, I wanted to try some of those pancakes myself…

…

I was riding in the back of a limo heading off to school. It was hard to believe I had only spent a little over a single day in this new world so far. So much happened.

I was wearing one of my newest outfits. A black and red jacket, a short red skirt to show off my long legs, and my new favorite pair of heels. I gave people quite the impression at school yesterday, but this time I figured I would absolutely blow them away. I was certainly drawing the eyes of the young woman riding to school with me.

“You didn't have to come with me, Emma. I'm sure you have more important things to do than drop me off.” I told her while crossing one leg over the other teasingly. I'm sure Emma was able to see a small flash on my red panties. It was easy to see at breakfast that Wilma's beautiful daughter had a crush on me as well. I didn't know what that meant for me, but teasing a beautiful future super villain did seem kind of fun.

Emma blushed at being caught. Her ogling wasn't as subtle as she thought it was. She coughed politely. “It's no problem at all, Valerie. I got my GED at 16 so I could travel around with my father to help him with his business. I haven't been to school in years and I'm curious about it.” She said.

“I don't think you'll see anything special. It's just a normal school.” I replied.

Emma smirked at me while looking out the tinted window. “I wouldn't be so sure about that. Look outside.” She told me.

We were pulling up to the parking lot now. I turned my head and gaped at what I saw. There were half a dozen news vans in the school parking lot. Reporters were all over the place with camera men trailing behind them.

Emma laughed at my shocked look. “You probably didn't watch the news this night or this morning. You're pretty famous, Valerie. They've pretty much made you the face of Mutant-kind in the media.” She informed me

THEY WHAT!?

Emma then went on to explain that I was the major topic last night on every single news network in America. My speech had made a really big impression on the general public.

[Weird… Your Commanding Voice perk should not have been this powerful.]

I started to regret taking a limo to school. It was drawing a lot of attention. I wasn't naturally shy, but there were a lot of reporters out there. Were they even allowed on school grounds? No one was making an effort to drive them away.

“Good luck, Valerie.” Emma said playfully as the limo pulled up to the curb.

I opened the car door and stepped out. It didn't take long before the reporters spotted me. The closest ones nearby immediately ran over to me as I started walking.

“Valerie? Valerie Tepes!? Do you have a moment to talk to America? Everyone is curious to know more about you!” A woman ran up to me and stuck a microphone in my face as I walked towards the main school building.

“What's it like being a Mutant? Why did you out yourself? Are you single!?” Another man came running over. He was wearing a news badge for a network I didn't recognize.

A bright camera flash temporarily blinded me and a scruffy looking man jumped in front of me holding a camera. “I'm Mark Phisher with the Daily Bugle! Why were you getting out of a limo just now? Was that Emma Frost inside? The future CEO of Cold Steel? What's your relationship with her!?”

“I won't be answering any questions at this time! I have to get to class now. Thank you everyone.” I said as I hurried into the school building.

Thankfully, the media didn't follow me inside…

“Valerie, there you are! Are you ok? It's a circus out there! I can't believe Ned’s stupid video went viral! We should punch him in the face for causing all this!” Liz Allan was waiting inside the entrance for me. “Oh, wow! You look amazing by the way! I love your outfit!” Liz added, while checking me out.

“Thank you, I picked it out yesterday.” I told her as we started walking away from the main entrance so all the cameras were no longer on us.

“I can't believe how famous you are all of a sudden.” Liz said in amazement. “Just look at all the looks you're getting. Although, I'm pretty sure you were getting all these stares yesterday because of how beautiful you are anyway.” Liz added with a small blush.

As we walked down the hallway, I noticed that everyone's eyes were on us–more specifically me. The looks I was receiving from the student body varied quite a bit. Some of them were looking at me like I was a celebrity, others gave me jealous sneers, and a fair few were just gazing at me with pure lust.

“Quit staring at her you creeps!” Liz yelled at everyone nearby. They all started looking away. No one wanted to get on the wrong side of Midtown High’s ‘queen bee.’

“I don't mind all of the stares. I'm just surprised at how quickly I blew up. Did Ned have a lot of followers on his social media or something?” I asked her.

Liz scoffed. “Him? He had like 20 people subscribed to his YouTube channel before yesterday. Today he has over 100,000! They’re all following him hoping he’ll post more about you. Did you not see the video yet?” She asked me.

I shook my head. “I was really busy yesterday. I got a new living situation. I'm currently staying with…a friend.” Technically, she might be more of a sugar mom, but I definitely did not want to announce that.

Liz grinned as she wrapped her arm around my own. “Your friend must be pretty rich. You came to school in a limo. I'm so jealous!” She said excitedly.

The two of us chatted more as we walked towards our morning calculus class. We saw Penny, Jean and Mary Jane standing outside the classroom door with the rest of the students. The teacher was apparently running late this morning.

We moved to the other side of the hallway and chatted a bit while we waited. Emma had given me a new phone on the ride here, and I gave all the girls my new number. I'd be giving Harry back his phone at lunch. Emma mentioned something about it “not being safe to have the old phone of a billionaire’s son.”

“How did you handle the homework yesterday, Valerie? I know you mentioned you needing tutoring and I was worried you might have struggled with it.” Penny Parker asked me.

I looked at her blankly. “We had homework?”

The other girls looked back at me in concern. “We get homework every day in Calculus. Were you not paying attention at the end of class?” Mary Jane said.

I shook my head. “No, I had a lot on my mind. It was my first day here after all.” I said.

My first day here in an entire new reality…

Liz shrugged, “I'd let you copy mine, but it was pretty long and I don't think you'd have time. It's probably fine, Mr Brenner usually gives detention for missed assignments, but he should make an exception after Flash and Peter were such assholes to you yesterday!” Liz told me.

“I'm still sorry about Peter by the way.” Penny added and I once again told her it was fine.

“What happened with Peter at home yesterday evening?” Mary Jane asked Penny. “Is Aunt May mad at him? Peter and Flash went viral as well. They both got A LOT of hate comments online from people defending Valerie and Mutants. I'm actually surprised both of them even showed up at school today…” She trailed off while glancing across the Hallway.

Sure enough, Flash and Peter were sending looks of pure loathing over at our whole group.

Penny grimaced. “May was mad… Really mad. Peter has been grounded for who knows how long! If he wants to keep living under her roof, then he's not allowed to go anywhere but school and home for the next few months at least.” Penny explained.

Our conversation came to an end when the teacher showed up. It wasn't the same man from yesterday though.

“Whoa…” I muttered when I saw a gorgeous tall redheaded woman strut down the hallway. She walked up to the classroom door and unlocked it. Was she our substitute teacher? She looked more like a supermodel. A supermodel that actually seemed somewhat familiar to me for some reason.

“Come inside, everyone…” She said as she walked in the classroom.

…

–Natasha Romanoff–

Natasha Romanoff entered the High School’s grounds prepared for one of her most ‘interesting’ assignments yet since joining SHIELD. She was here impersonating a substitute teacher to investigate the beautiful Mutant girl who's name and face had taken the world by storm.

Natasha strutted through the crowded parking lot while dodging all of the journalists. She was a great actress and it was hard to put on an unapproachable ‘bitch face.’ Not a single person bothered her as she made her way towards the administration building to check in as the new substitute teacher.

The guy she was replacing has won a sudden all expenses paid vacation–which he didn't accept because he thought it was incredibly suspicious. He was obviously correct. Still, he was in the way, and needed to be dealt with. He was arrested last night on charges of tax evasion. They wouldn't stick of course, but they would be good enough to keep him locked up for a while.

“He should have just shut up and taken the free vacation…” Natasha chuckled darkly as she made her way down the school hallway. She saw ‘her students’ waiting out in the hallway for her. She spotted her mission assignment among them. Valerie was chatting with a small group of girls away from the rest of the waiting class.

Natasha’s assignment was quite a mystery. Valerie Tepes was a complete unknown until yesterday, and now she was the trending topic all over the globe and the new public face of Mutant rights and equality. Valerie might just be the most high profile target Natasha has ever been assigned.

Natasha smirked to herself when she realized that Fury was most likely kicking himself right about now. Natasha knew that Fury still didn't completely trust her. She had a lot of red in her ledger after all. He usually assigned her missions that weren't very important. This was supposed to be the same yesterday when he assigned it to her. Neither of them expected the girl to become a borderline superstar overnight though. This mission now became of top importance to SHIELD. On top of investigating Valerie, Natasha was also supposed to subtly guard the beautiful Mutant.

Valerie was now, unknowingly, the public face of Mutants everywhere. Natasha knew that would make the girl a target for pretty much every single hate group out there in the world. If something bad happened to Valerie, there would be pissed off Mutants revolting all over the world in protest.

It would be bad.

Natasha shuddered slightly at what someone like Magneto’s reaction would be. That man could destroy the Helicarrier–SHIELD’s greatest weapon–with a single wave of his hand. She had no doubts that he probably had his own agents already watching Valerie as well…

“Come inside, everyone.” Natasha said as she entered the classroom.

She sat down behind the teachers desk and waited for all the students to take their seats. Valerie's group of girls all sat together at the back of the classroom while the ‘two bullies’ Natasha recognized from the video sat as far away from the group as possible. Natasha forgot those two racists would also be in her assigned class. Judging by the glares they were both sending Valerie, Natasha knew they were both going to be trouble. Maybe she should find a way to get rid of them for the two weeks she's here as well? That was something to decide for the future.

She picked up the attendance sheet and started going over everyones names. Not a single student was missing. Once that was done, she introduced herself.

“Good morning, everyone. I am Natalie Rushman. I’m your new substitute. Your previous teacher is currently indisposed due to…personal reasons.” She told them. Natasha walked over to the chalkboard and started drawing out a basic math problem. “Why don’t we start today with a simple problem so I can see where the class is at. Can I get a volunteer to come to the board and solve it? How about you, Miss Tepes?” Natasha asked before anyone else even had an opportunity to volunteer first. This would allow her to observe Valerie up close.

The beautiful mutant shrugged and walked to the front of the class. She picked up the chalk and gave the problem her best shot.

Valerie's best shot was…completely wrong. Natasha now knew that this girl was not good at math.

Valerie put the chalk back down and smiled at Natasha. “Did I get it right?” Valerie’s smile was so beautiful and sincere that Natasha actually found herself hesitating on telling her that she did not get it right.

“Hell yeah you did!”

“You nailed it, babe! 10/10!”

“You're so smart, Valerie! I can't believe you solved such a hard problem so easily!”

A bunch of the boys in the class used this opportunity to throw compliments at the beautiful blonde. Valerie looked happy with herself, and Natasha hated having to be the one to tell her the truth.

“Sorry, Miss Tepes. Your answer is not correct. Have you been struggling with this class?” Natasha asked.

Valerie sighed sadly. “Sorry, it’s only my second day here. I know I'm a bit behind.”

Natasha saw an opportunity here to get closer to Valerie. “Very well then. Since we can’t have that, I will personally tutor you from now on. A few days a week until you’re able to catch up with everyone else.” She said.

Valerie momentarily had a look of alarm on her face that Natasha didn’t miss. “T–that’s– You really don’t have to. Our teacher already assigned a couple students to tutor me.”

Natasha nodded but didn’t let up. “I understand, but I will have to insist. I have a master’s degree in mathematics and I’m sure I will be much more effective as a tutor.” Natasha said. She did not have that degree, but her current fake identity did. Natasha looked back at the chalkboard and internally shrugged. Valerie was so bad at math that she wouldn't notice Natasha wasn’t a true expert anyway.

As Valerie walked back towards her seat, Natasha wondered what type of character she should come off as? Natasha was an expert at playing almost any role. How would she make Valerie spill all of her secrets? Should Natasha come off as a helpful and friendly substitute teacher? Or maybe she should get a little bit more ‘personal’ with the beautiful mutant? Natasha never liked using the seduction skills she’d learned in the red room, but she had to admit that Valerie was hitting all of her strike zones.

Decisions, decisions…

…

–Valerie–

I was only stupid when it came to math. I wasn’t stupid enough to not know who our ‘substitute teacher’ really was. I recognize the fake name she used from the second Iron Man movie. Natalie Rushman was Natasha Romanoff–The Black Widow.

[You're not going to bother asking why she's here?]

‘That's pretty obvious. My morning class has myself, Jean Grey, and Peter Parker. She's clearly here to spy on one of us. Judging by my recent fame, it's most likely me.’ I replied.

[You can use Observe on her.]

I thought about it, but decided against it. I could only use that on people once a month. Observe could potentially be more effective if I used it on her later.

To be honest, I'm actually kind of flattered that SHIELD sent they're best agent to spy on me. I didn't think I warranted that kind of attention yet. Clearly, I was wrong. It's also a bit ironic. Had they sent literally anyone else, I probably would have never found out that our new sub was a SHIELD spy. Natasha was just too recognizable to me.

Although, Jean would have still discovered them immediately. She probably heard Natasha’s thoughts the moment the spy walked down the hall. I noticed that Jean is currently staring off into space with a worried look on her face. Occasionally she will glance at myself or Natasha at the front of the room.

“We can work out a proper tutoring schedule tomorrow.” Natasha told me as I exited the classroom with my group of friends.

When we got into the hallway, Liz scowled and moved closer to me. “That new substitute bitch was totally checking you out, Valerie!” She complained. “I don't like her. You should report her for harassment.”

“She was? Are you sure?”

“She was really interested in you. Her eyes kept glancing at you the entire lecture.” Jean said in concern but looked like she didn’t know how to approach me about it yet. I wondered what she'd discovered from reading Natasha’s mind? Jean didn't know that I already knew she was also a mutant. I'm pretty sure that no one in this school knew she was one.

“That's super unprofessional!” Liz complained after hearing Jean's words. “Don't accept that thirsty bitch’s offer for tutoring! She clearly has a different motive and is using it as an excuse to get closer to you.”

“How scandalous!” Penny gasped with a blush on her face. “A student and a teacher in a forbidden relationship…”

“I can lend you a hidden recording device. If she tries anything we can expose her in the school paper!” Mary Jane suggested. “This scoop could be my big break to get a scholarship to a journalism school!” Mary Jane turned to me in excitement. “You have to accept her offer! Do it for me!”

“I’ll think about it.” I said non-committedly. If I did accept, I wasn't going to do it for Mary Jane. Out of the four girls, she was the only one who didn't really want to be friends with me. She mostly hung around us because she was friends with Liz.

The next class was spent in silence due to the teachers strict non-talking policy during class. Once that class ended, I headed over to the cafeteria ahead of the other girls to meet up with Harry.

I handed him back his phone when I sat down.

“Do you not need it anymore? Was something wrong with it?” He asked me. Harry looked a bit nervous as he took his phone back.

I shook my head. “I didn't even use it. Thanks for lending it to me, but I got my own phone now. Also, you don't have to worry. I didn't look at any of your naked pictures.” I finished with a small laugh. His embarrassed face was adorable.

…I did look at his pictures.

The rest of our group showed up a few minutes later. Lunch was pretty fun today now that everyone was past the awkward getting to know each other stage. It was pretty funny listening to Liz rant and complain about Natalie Rushman.

“That thirsty bitch will probably try and seduce all the famous students at this school! Watch out for her, Harry!” Liz warned him next and anyone else who would listen.

Harry wasn't in our morning classes so all he could do was take her word for it. He just nodded his head at her placatingly as she ranted to everyone at the table.

When lunch ended for the day, I prepared to call a Frost family limo to come and pick me up. Before I could, I was approached by three people. Jean, Liz and Harry all wanted to talk to me at the same time.

“Valerie, I was wondering if we could have a private conversation after school?” Jean asked me.

“Valerie, you haven't had a chance to properly take in the city yet have you? We should go out together later. Just the two of us.” Liz invited me on an obvious date with her.

“Valerie, I wanted to let you know that my father has accepted your offer. Are you free today after school?” Harry told me.

The three of them all looked at each other in irritation.

[The woes of being popular…]

The System started snickering at me in my head.

“One second, Valerie.” Liz told me. She grabbed hold of Harry and Jean and dragged them off into a corner to chat with them. I decided not to listen in, but it was funny watching them obviously argue with each other. Whatever they were discussing with each other, it seemed like Liz had taken charge of the conversation judging by everyone's body language.

…

–Liz Allan–

Liz Allan thought that Valerie was beautiful yesterday, but today she had been absolutely blown away by the gorgeous girl with blonde hair and beautiful ruby eyes. Valerie looked like sex on legs in her short red skirt, and Liz would have loved nothing more than to strip the other girl out of it. She’d been attracted to other women before, but never as much as she currently was to Valerie.

That’s why Liz Allan was currently very annoyed at her two friends who were blatantly trying to cockblock her! Metaphorically of course, she didn’t actually have a–

“Liz, this is important! My dad and I really need Valerie today.” Harry told her. “You can go on a date with her anytime…if she’s even interested in you.” He added just to annoy her.

Liz scoffed. She was well aware that Harry obviously had a crush on Valerie as well. Who didn’t at this point? “Of course she’s interested in me! Have you seen me? I'm gorgeous!” She said while gesturing to herself. She knew what she had to work with and she was proud of it.

“Whatever…” Harry muttered in clear jealousy. “I still need Valerie today.”

Liz turned to Jean. “And what about you, Jean? What do you need to talk to Valerie about? Are you trying to confess to her behind the bleachers or something?”

Jean blushed. “NO! That’s not it. I need to talk to her…about private stuff.”

“Uh huh…” Liz was unconvinced. She didn’t believe Jean at all. Liz had noticed the subtle glances Jean was sending Valerie all morning long. Liz let out an irritated sigh. She had never had this much competition before in any of her past romantic endeavors! Was she going to end up having to share Valerie with others at this point? Liz didn't necessarily mind that thought depending on who the other people were.

Her mind started drifting off to a fantasy of Jean, Valerie and herself all in bed together. She actually felt herself growing a bit wet at the fantasy. She wouldn’t mind it at all actually.

Jean suddenly sputtered and started blushing profusely out of nowhere. “T–that’s not…I just wanted to talk to Valerie. T–that’s all.” Jean said in embarrassment.

Liz was confused at Jean’s sudden change in attitude but shrugged it off. She turned to Harry first. “Fine! You can have Valerie today after school, but she’s mine and Jean’s on the weekend! Don’t try and seduce Valerie with your money either! You have to win her over fair and square.” Liz said while grabbing hold of the still blushing Jean and dragging them all back to Valerie who had been waiting for them all patiently.

…

–Valerie–

“Harry’s stuff sounds important, so he’s all yours for today. Make sure your plans are cleared for the weekend though.” Liz told me and I smirked at her.

“I’ll be sure to clear my schedule.” I told her. I turned to Jean next. For some reason she kept glancing between Liz and I with a bright red face. “You needed to talk to me, Jean?”

Jean was going to answer but Liz cut her off and took hold of Jean’s hand abruptly. “She can talk to you tomorrow as well. She and I need to have our own conversation first. Maybe we need to bring Penny in on it too, I’m not really sure…” Liz trailed off as she led them both out of the now empty cafeteria.

…

“Hello, you must be Valerie. I’m Norman Osborn.”

Harry’s father looked a lot like him, but older and sicker. Norman was only in his early 40s and yet he looked closer to 70 right now. I tried searching him online on the drive over here, but there were very few pictures of him available. I could see why now.

Regardless, I was here to heal him and Harry told me they had agreed to pay me 10 million dollars! I had a large smile on my face as I shook hands with the man. Did I care that I was shaking hands with a potential future villain? Not really. I wasn’t out to police the world. I didn’t know if the Green Goblin would ever come into existence anyway. There was no reason for Norman to take the Goblin serum if he and his son were perfectly healthy.

“What do you need to heal us, Valerie?” Harry asked me nervously as he walked me over to a couch in his penthouse living room. This room had a pretty great view of the city from 80 floors up.

“I don’t need anything from either of you. You can just take a seat. Being suddenly healed can be disorienting.” I told them. Wilma had almost collapsed on me. “Before we start though, are your security cameras disabled? I'd rather not have knowledge of my abilities spread to the public just yet. The entire world is already speculating on what my powers are.” I said. Norman and Harry did as asked and took a seat on the couch.

Norman chuckled. “Ah, yes. I looked you up a bit online, and your ‘unknown’ mutant powers are highly debated. A lot of people think that your beauty is part of your power.” Norman said with a chuckle.

I shrugged. “Maybe? A lot of mutants I know are really good looking.” Jean and Emma were both 10s easily. Or it could have been my vampire genetics. It was probably a combination of both.

Norman pulled out his phone and checked the cameras. He nodded at me and assured me they were off.

“Here we go.” I said while calling on my Grail of the Night Queen. The black cup covered in blood rem gems materialized from my chest. I held it in my hand and willed it to fill with blood. “Who's going first?” I asked father and son.

{-100 HP}

“I'll go first.” Norman said as he took the cup from me. He held it carefully and stared at it for a moment. He threw his head back and downed all the blood inside in one go. “That tasted better than I thought a cup of blood would taste…”

{-100 HP}

I took the cup and filled it again before handing it to Harry next. He didn’t even hesitate before drinking from it next. Now we just had to wait…

{+20 XP}
{+20 XP}

The XP notification told me that something was happening. I leaned forward to get a closer look. Harry was gritting his teeth and shaking in pain as a wispy black aura seemed to almost waft off of his body.

I was right! It was a curse! I glanced at Norman next and saw that an even darker whisp was coming off of him! It must have been because he had been alive longer with the curse.

An unholy shriek filled the room as the aura around the two men was banished away from them. That curse reminded me of the Horcruxes from Harry Potter. The two separate whisps each dissipated a few seconds after being removed.

Harry and Norman were both panting hard but I was 100% sure the curse on them had been lifted. My blood inside them started going to work immediately after. It wasn’t hard to notice the immediate changes. Both Harry and his father started to fill out. They didn’t suddenly become muscular, but they both looked a lot healthier. Norman in particular looked like he had gained an extra 30 years of life! He finally looked his actual age, maybe even a bit younger.

“How do you guys feel?” I asked them.

“Haa…” Harry let out a sigh as he caught his breath. “I feel good. Like a weight that was on me has been lifted. All the pain is gone! Is this how healthy people feel all the time?”

“I feel amazing.” Norman said. He pulled out his phone and faced the camera towards himself. He gasped and I actually saw tears start to roll down his eyes. “I’m young again…”

“Listen…” I spoke up. “I don't know if you noticed those black wispy things that seeped out of you two. I don't think either of you were actually sick. I think your bloodline was cursed.” I told them that magic was a real thing in this world. I gave them a quick explanation on blood curses and how they can ruin entire family lines as most of them are considered incurable. I might be the only person in the world currently who can actually cure them.

Norman and Harry didn't seem as surprised to hear about the existence of magic as I thought they would be. “Cursed?” Norman asked. “By whom? And why?”

I asked him when the curse first popped up and Norman explained he wasn't quite sure. He knows that his own father had it and that was when it was first diagnosed by physicians. He is unaware if his grandfather, Harry's great-grandfather, suffered from it as well. They didn’t keep great records back then.

“Somewhere in the past your family ran afoul of a dark wizard or witch. I doubt it's an issue anymore though. They would probably be dead by now.” I said.

Harry sighed. “That's a relief...”

Suddenly, I felt a chill go through the room. As I exhaled, I noticed that I could see my breath.

{Emergency Quest Started: Slay the Dark Wizard!}
{Reward: 1000 XP!, ???}
{Failure: Death of Harry and Norman!}

My instincts were screaming at me that I was in danger. I immediately sprang forward and tackled both Harry and Norman. I pulled them over the couch and hid us behind it.

“Ow! Valerie what the f–?”

“Shhh! We've got company!” I cut Harry off by covering his mouth with my hand. I could hear that we were no longer alone in this penthouse. A black hole materialized in front of me and I reach into my inventory. Harry and Norman both gave me odd looks as I practically stuck my whole arm inside. I grabbed what I was looking for!

I pulled out three handguns and handed one each to Harry and Norman. Harry was holding it in trepidation while Norman took it from me with a look of determination. “I was wrong. I think the wizard who cursed your bloodline is still alive, and now he's here somehow.” I whispered to them while I carefully peaked around the couch.

“Shit…” Norman cursed quietly.

I heard footsteps in the next room followed by a deranged cackle. “Hehehe… Come out, come out you filthy muggles. What did you do? How did you cure my curse? I've been using it on disgusting muggles for generations now!”

From his use of the word “muggle” I was able to infer that this was a dark wizard from Europe. His accent was hard to place though.

“What do we do?” Harry asked me nervously while clutching the pistol in his hand tightly.

“We shoot him.” I replied. “Stay hidden for now. Let me get his attention first.”

“How did you break my blood curse? I'm going to enjoy torturing the information out of you! Only after you tell me everything will I grant you the death your kind deserves! Reducto!”

I jumped a bit when I heard an explosion nearby. A chair across the room just exploded into scraps of wood and leather! “I know you're hiding somewhere nearby. Where are you? Homenum Revelio! There you are!”

I cursed internally and quickly stood up while pointing my gun. I pulled the trigger rapidly hoping to take him down quickly.

“Protego.” The dark wizard said casually. A transparent shield of magic materialized in front of him. My bullets all slammed into the magic and fell to the floor harmlessly. The gun in my hand clicked when I ran out of ammo. I tossed it to the side in annoyance. One of my hands slipped behind my back and sneakily reached into my inventory again.

I finally got a good look at the dark wizard as he turtled behind his magic shield. He was old–really old. He made Dumbledore look like a spry chicken. His face was completely covered in wrinkles and warts, his hair had probably all fallen out decades ago, and he stood with a hunch. Despite all that, he still felt dangerous to me.

His beady eyes locked onto me and he locked his lips. “You're a pretty one aren't you? If you agree to be my slave I promise to keep you alive longer than I usually do my other muggle pets. What do you say?”

I glared at him. “I'd rather jump out the window than be near you willingly. Why are you here, you old troll?”

“Bah! You're just another filthy muggle that doesn't know her place! I don't know how you broke my curse, but your puny muggle mind didn't realize it included a tracking element that would notify me if it was ever broken. You'll pay for that! Look at me, LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” He exclaimed while gesturing to his decrepit form.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn't do anything to you.”

“Liar!” He spat out. The magic shield in front of him faded away and the tip of his wand started to grow a sickly red. “My beautiful curse siphoned away the longevity of my victims and gave it to me! When you broke my curse, you stripped away the hundreds of extra years of life I had gathered! I want it back!”

“Sucks to be you then.” I told him while pulling out the grenade I had hidden behind my back. I flicked off the pin with my thumb and tossed it forwards.

“Crucio!” He cast his spell at the same time. The two projectiles passed each other in the air as they hurled at their respective targets. I was ready to dodge whatever spell he was casting. I dropped to the ground as it sailed over me.

The dark wizard's eyes widened when he saw what was flying towards him. “Protego Maxima!” An even bigger blue shield formed in front of him a second before the grenade exploded.

“Fuck!” I cried out in pain and clutched my head. My ears were ringing loudly. Setting off a grenade in a closed room was not a great idea in hindsight…

{-70 HP}

“Dammit!” The Dark Wizard cursed at the same time. His shield easily blocked the shrapnel and concussive force, but it did nothing to stop the noise. He dropped his wand and clutched his bleeding ears in anguish. I wouldn't be surprised if both his ear drums were ruptured.

Despite my own ears ringing, I got up as quickly as I could and raced over towards the wizard’s discarded wand. He seemed to have the same idea as me. He dove for it at the same time. Both of our hands reached out, but I was faster! I smacked his hand away and smirked in victory.

He glared at me and his mouth was moving aggressively. He was definitely cursing at me. I still couldn't hear him.

Bang Bang Bang!

I heard that though! Three bullets zipped by me and impacted the wizard's chest. He collapsed backwards with a look of anguish and regret. He was dead as he hit the floor.

I turned and saw that the person who shot the man dead was actually Harry. He was still trembling slightly, and slightly freaked out he had just killed a man, but otherwise he looked proud of himself. His father Norman patted his son on the shoulder and was smiling at him.

Harry looked concerned and started talking to me, but I cut him off.

“Sorry, I can't hear you. My ears are still ringing from the grenade. Why don't we just take a small rest for a second?” I suggested.

My half-undead heart was still pounding from that dark wizard's sudden attack on us. I was caught completely off guard and didn't even consider tracking magic. I'd have to be a lot more careful when dealing with curses in the future.

Ignoring the heavily bleeding corpse in the half destroyed room, I popped myself down on the couch as my HP started to restore and heal my damaged ears. I patted the cushion next to me and signaled for Harry to sit next to me. I leaned to the side and rested my head on his shoulder. His embarrassed fidgeting, at being so close to me all of a sudden, brought a small smile to my lips.

{+1000 XP, +Grimoire of Blood Magic!}

XXX

Chapter Text

Chapter 10:

Two days passed after Valerie cured Harry and his father. Two days passed since they took down that dark wizard and stopped him from torturing and killing them all. 

Valerie never did find out who the guy was though. Her Observe skill didn't work on the dead. His identity and why he specifically targeted the Osborn family would remain a mystery for now.

Valerie had spent the past two days going through a pretty standard routine. She'd get up early every morning and have breakfast with the Frost family before heading off to school. There, she would meet with her friends and pretend to pay attention in her classes. She had a feeling she was going to bomb her future tests, but she hardly cared about academics at this point anyway. She hardly cared about school at all outside her group of friends. She knew that her future did not lie in academics.

Norman Osborn had set up a Swiss Bank account under her name after healing him and his son. Valerie now had 10 million USD in her own account. A smile crept across her face whenever she thought about all that money. It wasn't exactly life changing, because she was already living a life of luxury thanks to Wilma Frost, but Valerie appreciated having her own accounts nonetheless.

Valerie had also been doing some physical training the past two days to try and raise her Strength and Dexterity stats. She was aware that leveling up wasn't the only way to increase her stats and she wasn't afraid of exercise… She just didn't particularly like it. Regardless, she spent a few hours in the Manor's gym to try and raise her physical stats.

Valerie Tepes (Mutant-Dhampir Princess)

Class: Gunslinger (9/100)

Sacred Gear: Grail of the Night Queen

Lv = 5 (640/1000 XP)

Health = 4050 (Constitution x 100 + Lv x 10)

Health Regeneration = (Constitution Per Minute x 10) 

Mana = 450 (Intelligence x 10 + Lv x 10)

Mana Regeneration = (Wisdom x 10 Per Minute)

Stats:

Constitution = 40

Strength = 55

Dexterity = 43

Intelligence = 40

Wisdom = 35

Charisma = 56

Perks: 

Gamer’s Mind 

Gamer’s body 

Observe 

Commanding Voice

Skills: Blades 1, Guns 1, Blood Magic 1

Valerie had been moderately successful with her training. Both her Strength and Dexterity rose. Although, not at the same rate. Raising her Strength required lifting heavy (to her) weights until her muscles burned. Raising her Dexterity required running herself ragged on the treadmill for extended periods of time. She was not a fan of either, but she especially hated the latter. 

At least she didn’t have to exercise alone…

Valerie had noticed that Emma Frost tended to use the gym at the same time that she did every day. Emma also tended to always pick the treadmill that was directly behind Valerie. Emma always picked that spot so that she could stare at Valerie’s ass while the beautiful dhampir jogged. Not that Valerie minded Emma watching her…

Hitting the gym definitely had its benefits. Valerie was proud that she wasn't a total weakling anymore! She could now lift 55 kg (120lbs) and she could now run at a speed of 43 kph (26mph). That was faster than most Olympic athletes. With a couple more points in Dexterity, Valerie's speed on land would become superhuman. She couldn't wait to even the odds the next time she encountered an enhanced opponent.

Daredevil had clearly been superhuman himself when he beat the crap out of her. He was so fast that she couldn't even fight back at close range. She wanted to return the favor as soon as possible and get her damn magic gun back! 

Beyond all that, the other thing she did with her free time was to properly investigate this world. The Internet existed here and she made liberal use of it to try and figure out the Marvel timeline. It was pretty obvious to her that she was not in the MCU. The world was somewhat similar, but there were some major key differences.

For one thing, mutants didn't even exist in the MCU until phase 4. For another, in this Universe Tony Stark was Antonia Stark. That definitely threw Valerie for a loop. There was no billionaire-playboy-philanthropist in this universe. Antonia still made weapons of war and was the CEO of Stark Industries, but the woman was a lot more private about her social life compared to her male counterpart in the MCU. Antonia had also been missing for months now in the Middle East and was presumed dead. If the woman was still alive, then Valerie knew she should be found any day now and the plot of Iron Man–er–Iron Woman 1 would start soon after. Unless the entire timeline was completely fucked because of the butterfly effect from Tony being a woman of course… 

Valerie was hoping that wasn’t the case. Either way, Valerie made a mental note to keep tabs on when Antonia made it back to the US. Valerie could make even more money by offering to heal the woman. The Dhampir was also planning on investing some of her millions in Stark Industries if the stocks ended up tanking. 

November 5, 1993:

On Friday morning, Valerie rolled out of her bed with a tired yawn. She had been up a bit late the night before. She checked her phone to see if she got any messages the night before. She had been busy, and had set her phone to silent.

2:03 am, Jessica J: Hey, cutie! Are you still awake? Thinking about your sexy ass ;)

2:10 am, Jessica J:  Guess you're asleep :( Guess I'll have to have fun by myself. I'll be thinking about you…

7:03 am, Jessica J: Please ignore those texts!! I was drunk and I'm so sorry!!!

Valerie laughed at the drunk texts Jessica Jones sent her the previous night. She wasn't offended since she was the one who asked Jessica for her number in the first place. After getting her own phone, Valerie had texted Jessica her number two days prior. The super powered detective had occasionally been texting her back since then. 

Valerie wanted to set up a proper date to hang out with Jessica, but her weekend was already booked by Liz and Jean. Jessica was also hesitant to hang out with Valerie due to Valerie's newfound fame. Jessica preferred to stay low profile and Valerie was currently anything but that. The Dhampir understood that Jessica was afraid of the world finding out about her super strength. Jessica was rightfully afraid of being captured and experimented on…or worse.

The bed shifted next to Valerie and she looked over. With a slightly tired yawn, Wilma Frost sat up next to her. The sheets slid off her voluptuous figure, and gave Valerie an eyeful of what she had enjoyed the night before. Wilma was the reason Valerie was up late last night…

“Good morning, Wilma.” Valerie leaned in and placed a quick kiss on the older woman's lips.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Wilma replied fondly. “I hope you're not too tired from last night. I wouldn't want you falling asleep during your classes later.” She said with a teasing smile. 

Valerie still found herself blushing when the older woman called her beautiful. She was a sucker for praise and compliments. Especially when they came from people she was fond of. “I should be alright.” Valerie smiled back. “I can nap during my first period class. I'm pretty sure our substitute has been trying to flirt with me anyway and won't care.” Valerie told her.

Wilma raised an eyebrow at that. She chose not to say anything, because she was in her 40s and sleeping with an 18 year old girl herself... 

Although… Wilma wondered if she was even physically 40 years old anymore? Valerie told Wilma that her blood was supposed to also increase the lifespan of whoever drank it. After drinking it, Wilma definitely looked years younger, and physically, she felt like she was in her 20s again. Wilma wondered if Valerie's blood would work more than one time on a person? If that was the case, then wasn't Valerie, herself, the secret to immortality? 

Wilma would have to remind Valerie to keep that part of her power hidden. If being able to heal any disease or injury on the planet made Valerie valuable, then Wilma couldn't imagine how unbelievably valuable Valerie would become when the elites of the world found out she could grant immortality. Wilma was well aware of how the people in power thought. They would stop at nothing to get their hands on her younger lover.

“If your new teacher tries anything with you, just let me know. My lawyers will tear her to shreds.” Wilma said protectively. They'd known each other less than a week, but Wilma suspected she was already falling in love with this girl next to her. Wilma knew there were other people interested in Valerie, including Wilma’s oldest daughter, but she didn’t really mind. She had tried the monogamy route with her soon-to-be ex-husband and that didn’t work out for her at all. She was perfectly content and happy just having a part in Valerie's love life. 

Valerie smiled at Wilma’s protectiveness. She wasn't sure that sueing Natasha’s fake identity would work out though. Valerie was pretty sure SHIELD Agents operated above the law. They could probably have any lawsuits immediately dismissed.

[Or Natasha would just burn the identity and disappear for a while…] The System added.

Valerie had her first tutoring session with Natasha Romanoff on Wednesday. The tutoring session took place after lunch and lasted an hour. The session was less about math, and more about Natasha subtly getting Valerie to answer questions about herself. Natasha was a very engaging conversationalist, and Valerie had almost found herself slipping up a few times. By the end of the session, Natasha had changed her tactic and decided to not-so-subtly flirt with Valerie. 

[You're lucky she only started doing that in the last 10 minutes. You were a blushing mess by the end of that ‘tutoring’ session…] The System added with a laugh.

‘I know. Natasha Romanoff is just too sexy.’ She thought back. Valerie would need to be more careful around the sexy spy in the future.

“Ready to start the day?” Valeria asked Wilma.

Wilma sighed. “I’d rather stay here in bed with you some more, but i suppose so…”

Valerie grinned at Wilma. She decided to give her beautiful older lover a small show. Valerie stood up from the bed and started to stretch. Of course, she was completely nude as the sheets draped off her. Valerie blatantly pushed out her chest as she raised her arms above her head. Her breasts bounced on her chest as she did so. She followed that by turning her back to Wilma. Valerie bent over and touched her toes to stretch out her long legs. She could practically feel Wilma's eyes intensely locked onto her backside. 

“You’re such a tease, Valerie.” Wilma said as she felt herself growing excited again.

“I'm going to take a shower. I definitely need one after all the fun we had last night.” Valerie said with a teasing wink.

“I think I'll take a shower with you…” Wilma smirked at Valerie.

Valerie giggled while giving Wilma a sultry look. “You didn't get enough of me last night?” 

“Of you? Never.” Wilma said, causing Valerie to blush again. 

“Come on then~” Valerie said over her shoulder while she sauntered over to the bathroom. Wilma hopped out of the bed and immediately followed after Valerie.

…

Emma Frost never thought the day would come when she would be so jealous of her own mother. Emma had also been up late last night. She had once again been watching, through her mother's eyes, as Wilma made love to Valerie for hours on end. 

The psychic feedback made it so Emma experienced no less than 6 consecutive orgasms last night before her mother and Valerie exhausted themselves. Emma’s sheets were soaked by the time they went to sleep. That's why Emma was surprised when she started picking up intense emotions from her mother again…

“They're still going?” Emma muttered to herself in near disbelief. 

Emma's fingers drifted between her already moistening lower lips as she decided to once again slip into her mother's mind and spectate. Like her own mother, Emma was quickly realizing that she may be a bit of a nymphomaniac. Emma slowly started to finger herself as she watched Wilma and Valerie in the bathroom.

…

Wilma absolutely adored kissing Valerie’s body. She loved leaving possessive love marks all over her younger lover’s otherwise flawless skin. They always healed quickly–unusually quickly–but Wilma enjoyed looking at them while they lasted.

“Yes, Wilma! Please don't stop!” Valerie cried out in bliss. Wilma had Valerie pinned against the shower wall as warm water trailed down both of their naked bodies. Wilma was passionately kissing Valerie’s neck while her fingers pumped in and out of the girl’s love hole. The erotic noises Valerie was making only encouraged Wilma more.

“You're so beautiful and perfect. I'm so lucky to have met you~” Wilma said in between the loving kisses she planted on Valerie’s neck and collar. Valerie trembled in her embrace under her loving ministrations. Wilma’s finger was massaging Valerie's inner walls, directly over her G-spot.

Wilma knew Valerie quite intimately at this point. She knew exactly how to move her fingers in a way that made Valerie scream.

“Fuck!” Valerie cried out in pleasure. Her arms wrapped around Wilms instinctively to hold herself up as she felt a powerful orgasm building. “Wilma… It feels so good!”

Wilma loved hearing Valerie moan her name. Her fingers started pumping even faster in and out of Valerie's dripping pussy. She could tell Valerie was close to her release. 

“I'm cumming~” Valerie cried out in pleasure. She was always amazed at the things this woman made her feel.

Wilma stopped kissing Valerie’s neck and instead stuck her tongue in the younger woman’s mouth as Valerie came undone. Wilma loved passionately kissing Valerie through her orgasms. She loved it when Valerie moaned into her mouth. Wilma’s tongue dominated their kiss as she felt Valerie’s tight pussy squeezing down on her finger.

When her orgasm passed, Valerie’s legs went weak and she slumped down with a blissful expression on her face. Wilma giggled as she smiled down at her lover. She lovingly stroked Valerie’s wet hair before she gently grabbed the back of it.

“Since you're already down there, would you mind…?” Wilma trailed off while spreading her own legs where she stood. Valerie’s face was currently directly in front of Wilma’s pussy anyway.

Valerie nodded and leaned her head forward. Wilma shuddered as she felt the beautiful blonde girl start to lick her aching lower lips.

“Yes. You're such a good girl aren't you, Valerie~” Wilma moaned as she felt Valerie’s tongue lick her clitoris. 

Valerie, of course, couldn't respond because her mouth was currently busy. Valerie had discovered that, as a Dhampir, giving oral was actually a very enjoyable experience. Her taste buds were no longer the same as when she was human. It was no exaggeration that Wilma’s juices tasted like literal nectar to Valerie.

Valerie latched her lips around Wilma's clitoris and started to gently suck on it while flicking it with her tongue. Wilma shuddered above her and let out a long drawn out moan. It was music to Valerie’s ears. She wanted to hear more!

Wilma gently grabbed the back of Valerie's head with both hands as her breathing picked up. Valerie was getting quite good at eating pussy. “Oh God! That's it! Right there!” Wilma cried out in bliss. Valerie plunged her tongue inside Wilma's love tunnel. Valerie was currently tasting Wilma's everything.

“I'm cumming!” Wilma’s breathing picked up as she threw her head back and let out a final loud moan. Her legs, on both sides of Valerie’s head, started trembling as she came from her lover's amazing tongue. Valerie never stopped eating her out throughout her entire orgasm.

When she came down from her high, Wilma let go of Valerie’s head and steadied herself against the shower wall. She had almost collapsed from the pleasure. “Thank you, Valerie. That was an amazing way to start the day.” Wilma said blissfully.

Valerie stood back up and placed a quick kiss on Wilma’s cheek. “It sure was. Unfortunately, we have to stop now and actually shower. I will be late for school otherwise.” Valerie lamented while kissing Wilma one more time.

“I suppose you're right.” Wilma said while kissing Valerie back. She reached over to the soap and started lathering her body with it. “I have a bunch of paperwork to finish up by the end of the day anyway. My soon to be ex-husband should be coming back from his overseas trip in a couple days. I want the divorce and lawsuits I filed against him finalized by then.” Wilma said. She couldn't wait to kick him to the curb and take back everything that was hers. It would be even better if he ended up in prison for life after what he did to her only son!

“That's great. Just remember that my offer is always on the table.” Valerie reminded Wilma that she was more than happy to simply shoot the man and be done with it all. 

…

An hour later…

Valerie had learned from the previous days. She had the limo drop her off at the back of the school. Away from any prying eyes. The media was still out front of her High School every single day, trying to get an interview with her. Her fame had not reduced even a little bit as time passed. If anything, it seems to be growing for some reason.

Valerie was thankful that the media had not yet found out where she lived, despite the fact that she showed up to school everyday in a Frost family limo. 

Valerie thanked the driver as she got out. She made her way past the bleachers and towards the school's back entrance. Students weren't really supposed to enter through here, but the faculty had made an exception for Valerie during these times.

She stopped walking when she heard sniffling nearby with her enhanced senses. She searched for the source, and discovered Penny Parker sitting by herself on the bleachers. Valerie was immediately concerned.

The tiny brunette was crying in the stands with no one else around. Valerie walked up the bleachers and made her way over to find out what was wrong. “Hi Penny, are you alright?” Valerie asked in concern as she sat down next to her friend.

Penny wiped her eyes and hiccuped. “Hi Valerie.” I'm ok.” Penny lied unconvincingly.

Valerie frowned. “That's not true. What happened? Did Peter do something?” 

Penny nodded.

Valerie grimaced in annoyance. Peter had been really getting on her nerves the past few days. Hw never missed an opportunity to make snide remarks or comments in class. Valerie asked Penny what happened between the two of them.

Penny clenched her fists. “Peter is such an asshole! He didn't even remember that today was our birthday!” Penny explained in disbelief. “When I asked him what type of cake he wanted, he told me to fuck off and that he didn't have a sister! I d-don't know what's wrong with him anymore.” Penny finished with a sad whisper.

Valerie’s eyes widened. “It's your birthday? Why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten you something!” Valerie felt like a bad friend now. Sure, Valerie hadn't known Penny very long, but she already knew that Penny was the type of loyal friend she wished she had in her past. Penny went against her own twin brother to defend Valerie after all.

Penny shook her head. “I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.” She turned to Valerie and smiled. “Besides, this has already been one of the best weeks I could ask for.” Penny added.

Valerie tilted her head. “How so?” 

“I know it's kind of sad, considering we're graduating this year, but I've never really made any friends here at Midtown High. Peter and I mostly just hung out together. It was us against the world… And then he changed and it was suddenly just me against the world.” Penny explained and Valerie nodded along. Penny continued, “I didn't really have any hope of making new friends. I was actually surprised when you accepted my offer to sit together at lunch.” Penny said with a soft smile. Penny had never been part of a friend group before, nor had she ever had any kind of significant other.

Valerie was surprised to hear that last part about Penny never having dated anyone. She wrapped an arm around the smaller girl and hugged her. Penny was actually a very cute girl all things considered. Sure, she wasn't a knock out beauty like Jean Grey or Liz Allan, but Penny Parker definitely had her own charms. Penny had the slightly nerdy girl next door look that Valerie knew a lot of people were into.

“It's ok, you've got me now as a friend. Liz, Harry and Jean too. I'm not too sure about Mary Jane though…” Valerie finished with a small laugh. She was still on the fence about Mary Jane. Valerie really wanted to like the girl because she knew Mary Jane would grow up to be a badass journalist. As a High Schooler though, Mary Jane wasn't the easiest girl to get along with. 

“MJ will come around eventually. She takes some getting used to, but she and I were best friends in elementary school.” Penny explained. “Peter ruined that when he tried to ask her out in Middle School.” She added in annoyance.

Valerie shrugged. “As long as you're happy…”

Penny leaned into Valerie happily. “I am. Thank you, Valerie. Thanks for caring. This is already turning out to be a great birthday!”

“Still, though, we should do something special.” Valerie suggested with a wide smile. “Something exciting! This is your 18th birthday right?” 

“Yes.” Penny replied. “Something special? What do you have in mind? I'm fine with anything really. Maybe just a small party with our friends?” She suggested.

Valerie thought about it for a moment before she grinned. “We'll do that too, but before that, we should do something with just us. Tell me, Penny, are you afraid of zombies?” Valerie asked. A plan was already forming in her head.

Penny shook her head. “No, I love zombie movies! Horror is my favorite movie genre. Monster movies especially!” Penny said enthusiastically. She had her own monster movie collection in her bedroom.

Valerie smirked. “Is that so? How do you feel about Vampires?” She asked Penny curiously. Valerie was still hesitant on telling anyone what she really was. 

“Vampires? Vampires are really cool!” Penny said cheerfully. “If I had to pick a monster to be, it would definitely be them…” 

“Interesting…” Valerie remarked, mostly to herself. “Why don't you skip your afternoon classes and I'll take you somewhere exciting instead. I promise you'll love it.” Valerie told Penny. 

[Wait… you're taking her with you?] The system asked Valerie.

‘I don't see why not. You said this is a low level one right?’ Valerie asked for confirmation.

[Yeah, it's hardly even dangerous except for the final boss. Even that will be a pushover considering how much firepower you have in your inventory.] The System added.

Valerie figured it would be fine to take Penny along then. The first dungeon was apparently a low level zombie dungeon to get the Gamer acclimated. The zombies were slow moving and not really a threat to someone who was properly prepared. Valerie might have lost her magic gun temporarily, but she still had dozens of guns in her inventory, along with hundreds of bullets. 

Valerie also had her new blood magic to test out as well. She had more than enough means to keep Penny safe.

Penny smirked at Valerie. “I've never cut class before! You're making me become a bad girl.” She said with a playful giggle.

Valerie scoffed. “Hardly. Aren't you the valedictorian by like a mile? I think you can afford to skip a class or two.” It was no secret in the school that Penny was the top student. The number two student was apparently Gwen Stacy, but that girl hadn't shown up the entire week so far.

Penny nodded with a grin. “Yep! I've already got a bunch of colleges lined up with scholarship offers too!” She was one smart cookie.

“See, you'll be fine. After lunch, I'll show you something special that no one else has seen before.” Valerie told her.

Penny was intrigued. “Is it your Mutant powers!? Am I going to find out what they are? The whole internet is still speculating on what you can do.” Penny said. She really wanted to know what they were.

“You'll just have to wait and see.” Valerie said slyly. She didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Penny pouted cutely. They stood up and started heading towards their first class. 

…

–Lunchtime–

Peter Parker sat by himself in the corner of the school cafeteria. He could only sit with Flash so many days in a row without punching the bigoted jock in the face. Peter didn't hate Mutants like Flash and his posse. He only hated one specific ‘Mutant.’ 

No…

Hate is not enough for what he felt for Valerie Tepes. Peter loathed her. Valerie Tepes was nothing but a monster! Peter knew that to be true better than anyone.

He was disgusted that no one else could see it besides himself. Especially his twin ‘sister.’ Peter scoffed at the thought of her. He didn't have a sister. He wasn't even supposed to be here. Something had gone horribly wrong, now he was stuck in this place that wasn't his true home. 

The target of his ire entered the cafeteria and interrupted his thoughts. As Spiderman, all of his senses were far above normal humans. Even across the loud cafeteria, he could hear everything that was being discussed.

“Did you guys know it was Penny’s birthday today?” Valerie Tepes enthusiastically asked everyone at the table. “We have to celebrate!” They all looked surprised by her declaration.

“Penny…” Liz whined. “Why didn't you tell us!? I would have gotten you a present!”

Penny giggled. “That's what Valerie said too. It's fine, I didn't want to make a big thing out of it. Maybe just a small party or something?” She suggested.

“We can have the party in my penthouse.” Harry suggested. “My dad will be fine with it. He loves parties. I can order pizza and cake. You all can invite anyone you want too.” 

Peter noticed that Harry had been looking much healthier lately. He wasn't sure what the cause of that was, but he wasn't happy about it. He would have preferred if Harry ended up biting the dust early without Peter having to put him down first. Peter wondered if Valerie had something to do with it? He wouldn't put it past the bitch to spite him like that by healing another person he hated.

“That's a great idea, Harry!” Liz exclaimed. “I can't wait!”

“That sounds fun. I haven't been to a normal party in a while.” Jean Grey added. “Text me your address.” She said to Harry who pulled out his phone.

Penny smiled widely. “Thanks Harry, and everyone! I'll text my Aunt May after school! She said she was going to take off work early tonight.”

“That's great. I've really wanted to meet your Aunt May.” Valerie said.

“What about Peter…?” Mary Jane asked. “Is he coming?”

Peter smiled to himself when MJ brought him up. ‘Oh, MJ… Are you worried about me?’ He thought fondly while reminiscing about the past. MJ was the best…

“…We don't want him showing up and ruining the party.” Mary Jane said bluntly. “He's a total buzz kill!”

‘What the hell, MJ!?’ Peter immediately felt crushed. He couldn't believe she of all people actually thought that about him.

Valerie snickered at Peter's expense. “You know, I wasn't sure about you Mary Jane, but that's the best thing you've ever said!” 

Peter clenched his fists and anger hearing the monster laugh at his expense…

Mary Jane shrugged. “I only said what everyone else was thinking.”

“Peter won't be able to come anyway. He's still grounded for months. Aunt May told him under no uncertain terms that he is not to leave the house after school.” Penny explained and everyone at the table sighed in relief.

Peter clenched his fist in anger! Here he was miserable and alone, and these people were going to go off and have a happy party!? Peter wasn't going to let that happen. ‘Aunt May’ might have grounded him, but she had no say over Spiderman. 

Spiderman could go wherever he wanted…

…

–After Lunch–

After lunch, it was time for Valerie to show Penny her surprise. Of course, that involved Penny skipping her afternoon classes. The others in their friend group found it amusing that Penny had never skipped a single class in her life.

“I don’t know what you two are up to, but don't cause too much mischief before the party tonight.” Liz teased them both as she headed towards her afternoon classes. 

“We’ll see you guys later.” Valerie waved to them as the cafeteria started to clear out. She turned to Penny.

“So, what now?” Penny asked. “Are we going to leave school? I’ve always wanted to ride in a limo.” 

“You’ll be riding in one later, but for now, we don’t have to actually leave the school grounds. We just need to find an unused room.” Valerie said while looking left and right down the hallways.

“I know a couple of empty rooms.” Penny said. Valerie followed after Penny as she led them to the closest one. “This used to be a science classroom, but there was some fire damage and the school hasn’t got the budget to fix it yet. The door is locked though.” Penny said while trying to turn the handle. 

It didn't budge.

“That doesn't matter, I have a key.” Valerie grinned and pulled her Dungeon Key out of her pocket. It was jet black, and looked like it came directly out of an old movie. “Here you go, why don't you try it.” Valerie handed the key to Penny who took it from her skeptically. 

Penny thought Valerie was pulling her leg but decided to play along. Penny took the large key and pushed it towards the lock it was obviously not compatible for. To her shock, the lock morphed before her very eyes and the key slipped right in.

The locked classroom door opened, but it didn’t lead inside the classroom. It didn't lead anywhere inside the school at all. There was a flash of light, and a second later, both girls found themselves in an artificial dimension.

“Welcome to the dungeon!” Valerie exclaimed while holding her arms out. 

“D–Dungeon!?” Penny squeaked. “Like from a game?”

“That's sort of a way to think of it. Here you can defeat enemies that will drop various rewards. The essence of the enemies taken down here will also flow into each of us, making us slightly stronger.” Valerie explained. Penny wasn't a Gamer so she couldn't actually control which of her stats would increase. According to the System, Penny would see an equal increase in all her stats instead.

“That's crazy!” Penny exclaimed while looking around. They were standing in a residential neighborhood that she didn't recognize. It was eerily quiet all around them. 

“Here you go.” Valerie handed Penny a pistol along with a few extra clips of ammunition. “You said you liked zombie movies.”

Penny’s eyes widened in shock. She'd never seen a gun in real life, let alone hold one! She held it nervously, afraid it could go off at any second. “Why are you giving me a gun!?”

“Grrrrrrrraaaaaggghh…” The silence around them was broken. A disgusting growl echoed from nearby!

Valerie whistled and Penny squeaked again. A lone zombie started slowly walking towards them from out of a nearby house. Its flesh was rotted all over, and one of its legs didn't even seem to work as it hobbled forwards with hunger in its eyes. 

Penny didn't know what to do. Was this really happening right now? 

Valerie poked her friend in the shoulder playfully. “Come on, Penny! How often are you going to get the opportunity to shoot an actual zombie! It's your birthday, go for it!” She encouraged her.

“You want me to shoot it!?” Penny exclaimed in disbelief. “It's a freaking zombie!” She was half wondering if this was actually happening right now, or if she was just in a dream?

Valerie smirked at her. “I know. It looks crazy real, doesn't it? That is not a guy in a costume. This is real and you don't want it biting you, so shoot it.” Valerie told her again while making playful finger pistols towards the zombie. Valerie knew that Penny needed to unwind and what better way was there to do that than to shoot some actual zombies?

“Ok then…” Penny shakily pointed the pistol at the zombie that hadn’t made it very far with his limp. She’d never fired a gun before, but she knew how to aim from video games. It helped that the zombie was barely moving.

BANG! 

{+10 XP}

“Good shot!” Valerie said in appreciation. Penny landed a perfect headshot first try. The zombie fell over dead, before it exploded into moats of light!  

“Are those gold coins?” Penny asked while she walked over towards where the zombie fell. In its place, two gold coins sat on the grass. Penny daintily picked them up and stared at them in disbelief. “They're real… I can’t believe it.” 

Valerie recognized those coins as Galleons, the magical currency from Harry Potter. “Happy birthday, Penny. There's more zombies where that one came from. A lot more!” Valerie gestured all around them. Hearing the gunshot, more and more zombies started pouring out of the woodwork.  Valerie pulled out her own pistol and cocked it back. “Let's have some fun and make some money.”

“Ok, Valerie.” Penny was hesitant at first, but she quickly got into it. Shooting zombies in the head was surprisingly cathartic and they weren't really that dangerous with how slow they were. Valerie also never seemed to run out of bullets either. Every time they ran out, Penny watched her friend reach into some kind of pocket dimension and pull out even more guns and ammo! Penny was fascinated by the power and wanted to know how it worked, but she would ask later. She was having too much fun!

The two of them spent the next couple hours blasting away at them all. By the end of it, Penny was smiling brightly and had completely forgotten about all the drama with her brother from the morning.

BANG BANG BANG BANG…

…

–Outside Midtown High–

“Hey there, Captain Stacy. Here's your coffee.” One of his officers handed him a cup of coffee.

“Thanks, Mark,” George Stacy said while taking a sip. “I hope the circus outside this school doesn't last for much longer.” He commented while looking at all the crowds and reporters crowding the High School parking lot. They'd been here for days at this point. Captain George Stacy was the police officer in charge of keeping them all out of the school. He and ten other officers from his precinct. 

“How's your daughter?” Mark asked in concern. “I heard that she was sick.”

George sighed. “Yeah, she had a really bad reaction to a spider bite and has been in bed all week. I took her to the hospital, but there wasn't much they could do except give her some antibiotics to help Gwen ride it out.” George’s daughter, Gwen Stacy, actually went to this school as well. He didn't like seeing her so sick, but part of him was glad she had dodged this crazy school week. 

George, and the other police officers outside the school, had to arrest over a dozen people every single day this week. All of them were trying to sneak inside to meet the in/famous Valerie Tepes. Unfortunately, the Mutant girl's beauty attracted quite a few creepy fans. One creep, they arrested the day before, had shown up at the school with a bottle of chloroform and six rolls of duct tape in his trunk. He was sent straight to jail of course.

“Heads up.” Mark nudged George's shoulder and pointed at someone approaching. It was another creep.

George grimaced. A very tall man wearing a red trench coat, yellow sunglasses and a floppy red fedora was slowly walking towards them.  

George and Officer Mark stepped in front of the man and held their hands out to stop him. “Woah there, buddy. What are you doing here? And what's your name?” Officer Mark asked a bit nervously. Something about this man in red unnerved both of them. Both of them had their hands on their guns, but thankfully they didn't need to draw them.

“Hello... You desire my name, humans? I am Alucard.” He said with a wide grin. “As for what I'm doing here, my daughter goes to this school. I'm just here to pick her up.” Alucard told them casually. He tried to walk past them after saying that, but they stopped him again of course.

George and Mark exchanged looks of exasperation. “Let me guess,” George said sarcastically. “Your daughter is Valerie Tepes?”

Alucard nodded with a wide grin. “That's some mighty fine intuition, Officer. You are right. I'll just be heading inside now.” He said and attempted to stroll past them for a third time and head inside the school.

“I don't think so.” George said while pulling out his handcuffs. “Sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to place you under arrest. Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of law.” George said as he placed handcuffs on Alucard who was looking at them in both surprise.

“Why am I under arrest!? Is it a crime in this country to see my own daughter?” Alucard asked them as they tightened the cuffs.

“Nice try, pal. We all know that Miss Tepes is not your daughter.” George said while they led the handcuffed Alucard over to a squad car. “You're the third guy today who claimed to be her relative. We New York cops aren’t stupid!”

Alucard sighed and let them place him in the cop car. “My master will be most displeased about this arrest, but I made a promise not to harm any regular humans.” He lamented out loud.

“Uh huh, whatever you say, pal.” Mark said while they shut the car door in Alucard’s face. A moment later, the car started driving off to the nearest station.

“Man, where do all these freaks keep coming from?” George asked out loud.

“Who knows, Captain… Who knows…” Officer Mark shrugged. “At least it's the weekend.”

“You can say that again.”

XXX