by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
The figure steps out from the darkness. At first I think I'm still high, but no, the effects of heroin wore off a long time ago. There really is someone in my room. Was the trip -- the agent looking for me -- not a dream?
"Cicciotto, dress yourself. We have to go, if you want to stay alive..."
The voice... the voice is hoarse, but definitely feminine. And it's a woman who comes out from the shadows, tall, fitted with a black leather suit, dark skin and black eyes. She appears to be South American. There is grace in her movement, and yet also a hidden force, which I can't help but think makes her resemble a...
"Lioness. That's my codename. But you can call me Lorena." Then her eyes fall over the syringe. Her nostrils enlarge slightly, and a half smile appears on her lips. "A speedster on heroin? You should call yourself 'Speedy the Smackhead'!"
I don't understand the joke. She's speaking in English, and I'm not very fluent in the language. I did have to learn some English when I was a champion, but that was many years ago now.
I'm still on the bed. She stiffens for an instant, her head pointing toward the ceiling. Then she grabs the first piece of clothing she finds, folded on a chair, and then me, and -- throwing me over her right shoulder -- jumps out of the window. A short run to a black Ferrari parked by the door of my restaurant, and she throws me over the backseat.
"Dress yourself!" she orders, while the engine begins to roar. The car screeches off, and while I put on my runner's vest, I catch a glimpse in the rear window beams of light from a flashlight in my apartment over the restaurant. "One more minute, and you would've been dead meat, mister," Lorena says.
"I don't understand. Who are you? Who is the one in my home?"
"What his name is, I don't know, but I know for certain that it's an agent of the MCCA."
"MCCA?"
"MCCA. Americans striving to locate every metahuman on Earth who could be useful for TriVext."
"I'm totally lost..."
"Someone will explain it eventually. Quick, get out of the car."
The car brakes, stopping in the middle of open country. A few meters away, in the middle of a field, a black helicopter shines under the full moon. We jump inside, and the 'copter takes flight, heading east. The pilot is dressed in a leather outfit similar to Lorena's. The Lioness sits near him. They kiss passionately, and then she turns to me.
"Cicciotto, this is Agent F7." He also turns to me, and, impossibly, he has my face!
Lorena continues: "He's a master of disguise. You'll never see him with the same face. Even I haven't ever seen his true face."
"But why?" I ask.
"It's a precaution, if the MCCA should intercept us."
But the voyage is not interrupted by anyone. The sunrise hits us as we pass over the sea. Then the helicopter flies over a big city nested between the mountains and a long, white beach, with both tall, modern skyscrapers and Medieval buildings of stone.
We land over the top of a tall building. Instead of usual the H, the sign painted on the roof where we landed says M-X.
An old, bearded man is waiting for us. He offers a handshake and says: "Welcome to Mandelovia, son. I'm Dr. Henry Quantos, head of the research department of Malvan-X Corporation."