30

— Cornelius... You finally gave me what I was chasing...—Mariusz climbed out of the pipe with unexpected ease.— And now I know that I can end up with you!—

A hand with curved iron blades instead of claws scraped the air, narrowly missing Cornelius' chest.

Mariusz moved too fast for a human... And not only for humans! There was no one in the world who moved faster.

Cornelius pushed us out into the corridor and covered us with a thick wall of his strength.

— Cornelius, don't you dare!— I hit a loose part of the fog wall. I know that I simply won't be able to break through it...

I see how Cornelius uses his full force, but Mariusz feels his blows like a pellet to an elephant.

— Now I'm not afraid of the light of the Purple Star... There's only one thing I'm missing...— Mariusz crawled, no, rather, leaked in his direction. The monster raised a limb.— Only the perfect body...—

— Sorry, perfect body is busy...— when Mariusz grabbed Cornelius by the throat, my beloved grabbed his limb with his fingers. It seems that Cornelius is trying to split it with his power, but now for some reason he is not succeeding...

Suddenly, a terrible sound cut through the entire street. I am sure that absolutely everyone heard this terrible noise, but it did not stop in their ears. This strange sound twisted into the ears, pulled the brain into a thin thread and seemed to pull the brain through the other ear.

Cornelius screamed and covered his ears with his hands, and Mariusz's sound caused an explosion of incredible emotions.

He hit the wall with an iron hand, strong concrete and bricks fell on the asphalt, and then Mariusz, like some kind of ugly genie, pulled into our water pipe, tearing it apart.

Cornelius fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

Darek and I ran in when the smoke screen disappeared.

— Is everything all right?—I asked Cornelius when we dragged him out into the hallway.

— Yes, my head is a little dizzy, but everything is fine... I told you Mariusz was alive...— Cornelius himself, without the help of any of us, sat down on the sofa. Sweat was pouring down his face.

— What should we do now?— I sat down next to my beloved, hugging him.

— That's not what you're thinking... Who drove him away? Who has such knowledge that they are not afraid of people like me?—

***

— And why do this?—Lukasz grimaced at the sight of the little scarifier.

— We need to check if he's put anything dangerous in your blood...—Dariusz put on his glasses.— Lukasz, either you give me your hand, or...—

He lowered his voice on the last word, as Cornelius very often does when he is angry.

Lukash's eyes bulged and immediately stretched out his hand.

— That's better...—Darek smiled and pierced his finger with a scarifier needle.

Blood spurted up in a considerable fountain. Small drops spread out on the finger.

— That's it...— Dariusz takes a glass from a laboratory case and smears blood on it.

Lukasz is grimacing.

In the light of the disinfecting bulbs, Dariusz's eyes resemble molten silver, and the glasses he puts on so as not to spoil his vision from the devices and radiation that was here give an eerie glow.

Dariusz turns a pen with a dragon engraved on it in his fingers.

— Strange cells... We'll have to do another analysis later...—Dariusz looks at me.— Adrianna, what did you want to know, did I forget?—

I looked after Lukasz who was leaving.

— I do not know how to explain it... Just wondering... I want to know what blood looks like after it is affected by Cornelius. Are there any changes?—I asked, leaning on the back of his chair.

— Hmm... I can't find a name for this, but I'll check it out. And I will definitely try to figure out what to call it!—

After giving some blood for analysis, I left his laboratory.

It was brought by Darek not so long ago. He didn't say a word about this rather big van that occupied our garage.

This lab seems strange to me.

If all these items were not brought from another planet, then they were clearly created by technologies not from this world.

Going outside, I examined the extent of the destruction. Yes, the club will have to close for a while…

— Hi.—I hear a voice behind me.

Even if I had forgotten about this man, his voice was so well etched into my memory.

— Adrian… I've talked to Darek, and unfortunately, you have even less chance than I have of becoming a supermodel!—I said, smiling.

— So I have a huge chance! After all, you have something to show the world. At least your fighting skills...—Adrian smiled.

— You made it in time.… I was already thinking of breaking through his shield and rushing to help my beloved!—I said.

— It feels like you don't have any brains at all...—Adrian said.— I'm glad that I managed to keep you from playing the hero. —

— It's a pity, I wanted to...—I sighed jokingly.

— No, you already have a lot of problems ... — Adrian reached into his pocket.— Give it to Cornelius. If he feels bad, it will help...—

Adrian left quickly.

— Again, you left me with this feeling of perplexity...—I said, looking after him.

How strange he is…

***

Cornelius oversees the repair team.

Dariusz and I sat on opposite sides of him.

— Is it an interesting sight?—Darek asked, smiling.

— Yes, I've never seen anything more interesting.—Cornelius said ironically.— And, as if by accident, Mariusz tore apart the residential building!He sighed long and sadly.— After all, all the upper floors are now folded… It's good that everyone managed to escape from there...—

— Yeah...—I said.— We would have been squashed like mashed potatoes...—

— Hmm, no… Most likely, there would be no trace of us left...—Cornelius hugged us with both hands.— well, let's go find a place to stay while the residential floor is being renovated...—

Ryan was sitting in the hall. He seemed to be gradually calming down from recent events, and now he was drawing something with a gel pen in a notebook.

— Ryan, have you decided to become an artist now?—I asked, sitting down next to my father.

— No. I sometimes draw what happened to me.… I ordered this notebook the other day, and I ordered the same ones for you and Kirby. Hold...—Ryan handed me two notebooks in a bag.

I recognized those faces right away.

— Mom and Dad! Ryan, where did you get such beautiful (and even more so) whole photos?—I asked.— And who is this cutie next to her father? —

— This guy?—Ryan asked, pointing at a teenager with a very long ponytail.—It's me... don't look at me like that!—

I suddenly couldn't stand it and laughed.

—You... were you really that pretty once? You're still handsome, but... the way you are in the photo, I wouldn't mind dating during my childhood...—I ran my fingers over the photo.— Did you do rhinoplasty afterwards?—

— No, what kind of rhinoplasty are you doing? I just grew out of it. When I met your father, I was a little boy... well, about eighteen years old according to the terms of the Earthlings! And your father was well over thirty...—Ryan sighed and smiled.— And there were no operations then. We were at war, I was always talking nonsense… I was hyperactive, you know. Several fields in ten seconds is the standard speed...—

— And now you're like a turtle!—I said.