Arlo's joke hit like a pebble in still water. Ryuuto glanced up from the flight console and smirked. "Jealous?" he tossed back.
"If you say that and I'm not jealous, then I must be lying," Arlo said with a grin. Susan hissed delightedly from beside them while Katie Dee blushed and looked away.
Ryuuto didn't linger on flirting. Pepper was in Rowell Women's Prison, and Ryuuto's patience had a very short fuse when people he cared about were threatened. He set the ship's autopilot, downshifted the engines, and Arlo shoved the speed to max. Time was currency; Ryuuto didn't waste it.
Thirty-five minutes later they were low over the prison. Arlo opened the drop hatch and shouted over the wind, "We get thirty minutes on the ground. Fuel's tight—no dilly-dallying!"
"Got it," Ryuuto said, slinging his cloak and slamming the Light-and-Heavy Rock Technique into place. He grinned at Susan and Katie. "Hug tight."
They locked arms. Ryuuto activated Augmented Descent and they dove—straight, vertical, the ground rushing up. Katie's legs trembled; she gripped Ryuuto hard enough to bruise his ribs. Susan? Calm as a cloud. Ryuuto thought about lecturing Katie on not peeing pants mid-fall but contented himself with a teasing eyebrow.
They hit the perimeter and melted into invisibility. Katie's voice was small. "I didn't mean to—"
"You're human," Ryuuto said. "Nice, embarrassing, human. Now let's move."
Rowell was worse than Ryuuto expected. The control room smelled like rust and stale coffee; guards dozing in folding chairs. On the way, they saw the casualties of neglect: women on thin mattresses, empty stares, a dozen things that shaped a rotten system. Ryuuto's stomach tightened. Pepper Stark didn't deserve any of this.
They ghosted through the corridor by cat's steps—Susan's invisibility and Katie's phase-walk a perfect pair—until they reached cell block 203. Katie tapped the console with nimble fingers. "Pepper — cell 203."
The door opened. Pepper Stark sat on a steel bunk in a prison jumpsuit, hands folded, gaze distant. She looked thinner than the Pepper on TV—no armor plating, no quick grin—just someone sunk into the grind of being watched. Ryuuto's chest went cold.
Then the door unlocked again. A fat-faced man came in with a guard. He smiled like a leech. "Miss Stark," he said, oiled and smooth, "you're even prettier in person."
Pepper stood, voice steady but tight: "Leave. Now."
The man laughed and took another step. He believed the world owed him. Ryuuto let the invisibility slip for a fraction—enough to let his shadow cut that room like a blade. The man stopped mid-advance, mouth open.
"Don't you move," Ryuuto said, voice quiet and hard as iron.
For a second the only sound was the HVAC and the man's breathing. He turned, eyes flicking around, searching for the speaker. He didn't see Ryuuto. He saw the guard—then the guard saw Ryuuto behind the man. The guard's face went pale.
"You—are you a mutant?" the man stammered, suddenly terrified, clutching at the guard like a talisman. He'd expected compliance, not the hush of something dangerous.
Ryuuto stepped forward, no theatrics, calm as a blade drawn. He didn't need to shout. He didn't need to break bones. Men like that moved on fear. He made it simple: one look, a cold promise.
"Back off," Ryuuto said. "Now. Or I'll tear this place open and everyone on duty will feel it."
The man's bravado evaporated. He scrambled backward and left the cell like he'd been burned. Pepper's lips quivered with relief; Ryuuto felt—annoyingly—relieved too. Not everything had to explode to be fixed sometimes.
They escorted Pepper out under Susan's invisible cover and Katie's phased scouting. Pepper's eyes followed Ryuuto the whole time—equal parts grateful and assessing. As they reached the ship, Pepper mouthed a single word: "Thank you."
Ryuuto shrugged, annoyed at feeling anything like a hero. "You're welcome. Keep your head down and your company's legal team on speed dial."
Once they were airborne, Arlo joked about Ryuuto's soft spot and Susan barked because he'd teased her again. Katie held onto her shopping bag and laughed, the earlier embarrassment forgotten in the adrenaline.
Ryuuto looked at the prison below—tiny, fenced, insufficient—and then at Pepper sitting beside him, clutching a blanket. SHIELD and the scepter were still a far worse problem, but one ugly man in a cell had been neutralized without slaughter and that counted for something. For now.
Ryuuto flexed his hand, thinking of the battles to come. The scepter, Abomination, the invisible spider-strings of politics—he had more than enough fights waiting. He reached out to Shion with a half-grin that barely touched his face.
[Ding! Mission: Pepper Rescue — Success.]
Shion's reply popped like a cheeky poke in his head: Good work, Host. You didn't make a mess this time. Selective mercy suits you.
Ryuuto smirked. "Shut up, Shion." He looked at Pepper again. Then at Katie. Then forward—toward the larger fight.
....
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