Chapter 109: Recruiting More Members
POV Rio
It had been a few weeks since the fight with Alduin and we had just received word that Hydra had begun a thorough search for Logan. I had decided it was time to talk with Mr. Howlett. Finding him was easy. He was in a small town outside Ottawa Canada. I walked inside the bar and found him drinking. I sat right next to him.
Logan: "Whatever it is you are selling I am not interested."
Rio: "Hmm, is that so? First, let me give you this so you will at least hear me out."
I hand him a bottle of an old whiskey that would have been very expensive if I hadn't taken it from some random mob boss.
Logan: "Okay, I am willing to listen but I do not guarantee I will accept or buy anything."
Right as he takes a sip of Whiskey I drop a bomb on him.
Rio: "You have a daughter."
Logan: "SPPFFFFFFF!"
He looks at me with a surprised and slightly angry face.
Logan: "Not funny bub."
Rio: "And I wasn't joking. You are missing your memories are you not?"
Logan extends his claws and looks at me with a dangerous look.
Logan: "Choose your next words very carefully."
Rio: "Look around you. Notice anything strange."
He looks around and notices that no one has reacted to him at all.
Logan: "What are they all your agents?"
Rio: "Nope all of them are ordinary citizens. Except for that one, he is an informant for Hydra. He is celebrating finding you before he sells that info to the guy who took your memories by shooting you in the head."
Logan: "Why are they ignoring us?"
Rio: "A simple notice me not spell. Simple magic."
Logan: "Magic, what do you take me for a little kid?"
Rio: "No, you are James Howlett. You go by Logan. You were born to Elizabeth Howlett in 1832. You have a brother named Victor Creed also known as Sabretooth. You and your brother fought in numerous wars throughout history. However, your brother killed their commanding officer for trying to stop him from doing something wrong. Both of you were executed but due to your regenerative powers, they couldn't kill you. One thing led to another and you were used as a weapon and then experimented on. They covered your skeleton in Adamantium. The procedure caused you to go mad and the man in charge of the experiments lost everything due to your rampage. It was stopped when he shot you in the head with an Adamantium bullet. Which is still in your skull."
Logan: "Either you are the best liar I have ever met or you really know my past. Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?"
Rio: "I want to help you and help your daughter who is under my protection. Hiding from Hydra. The place the man who took your memories is currently working. I want you to join me."
Logan: "Why, why do you want to help me? You have never met me. Or at least I don't think you have."
Rio: "If I don't help you, you will be free to go but Hydra will eventually capture you and when they do they will clone you. They will create an army of brainwashed supersoldiers. I would honestly rather not have to deal with supersoldiers popping up everywhere and causing chaos. The other reason is that your daughter needs a family. She was created by taking your DNA and putting it in a surrogate mother. Said mother is dead. She has no one left. I have my hands full with 2 kids already and she needs a blood relative. The next reason is it's the right thing to do. I can restore your memories. I can give you a nice safe home to live in. All I would want in return is for you to take care of Laura and be a good father to her."
Logan looks down at his glass and seems to be thinking. I can sense his inner turmoil. Most of it seems doubtful. But none of it is towards me. All of it is towards himself.
Rio: "Take your time deciding. I have all the time in the universe. You have a long time till the metal will kill you."
Logan: "Wait what? What do you mean by that?"
Rio: "Your body is constantly fighting the metal in your body. It's a foreign object and is poisoning you but you are healing the damage constantly. Eventually, it will be too much and you will die. But don't worry it is still a decade or so off from now."
I just wait for a bit. After about half an hour and most of the bottle of booze, he makes a decision.
Logan: "Sigh. I will come with you. It beats being here being moody and bored. When do we leave?"
Rio: "Whenever you want. I didn't want to presume you may not have anything to deal with before we leave. Like the $600 tab you have here."
Logan: "Oh, you know about that?"
I roll my eyes.
Rio: "Yes, in fact, most of the town knows about it. It is actually how that informant found you."
Logan: "Oh, well uh hate to ask this bub."
I summon some money and put it in the cash register before implanting a memory of Logan paying his tab before leaving town.
Rio: "There that is dealt with. Do you have any other unfinished business?"
Logan: "Nope. That was it. I don't have any luggage other than what I have on me."
Rio: "Very well."
I wave my hands and a portal opens. I motion for him to walk through.
Logan: "Christ, you weren't joking about using magic. Good thing I trusted my instincts."
Rio: "What were your instincts telling you?"
Logan: "Running away or fighting was pointless. Play dead and hope you leave me alone."
Rio: "Hmm, what about now?"
Logan: "Huh? Now you feel normal. Which is confusing me."
I chuckle and lead him to his room in Sanctuary. I wanted him to get cleaned up after I restored his memories. It was likely going to get messy.
The Next Day...
I just left Laura's house to let Logan and her have some time alone to bond. While they did that, I went to New York City to offer Flint Marko a job. I rang the doorbell. Emma Marko answered the door.
Emma: "Yes, who are you?"
Rio: "I am Rio and I am here to offer a job to Mr. Marko."
Emma: "This job isn't illegal right?"
Rio: "Of course not. I am the CEO of the Techno Union. I wouldn't come here just to lie."
Emma: "That's where I have seen you before. Please come in. I will go get Flint."
I wait for a little bit before Flint comes to meet me.
Rio: "Mr. Marko it is nice to meet you. I come here as a representative of a great opportunity for your family."
Flint: "Please just call me Flint."
I shake his hand and nod.
Flint: "Now what is this opportunity?"
Rio: "I offer to cure your daughter and give you an opportunity to do good things."
Flint: "What!? You can cure her? What is the price?"
Rio: "Please calm down. I will cure your daughter regardless of what you choose today. That being said if you allow me I can show you what you can become if you want. I want to hire you as well. As I can tell you are a good man at heart and I need good people to work for me."
Flint: "You will cure her regardless? How can I trust your words? They seem too good to be true."
Rio: "You have my word. I do not need to lie. I quite despise lies. That and to be blunt if you refuse I will erase your memories of me being here and instead you will awaken to a miracle."
Flint goes a bit pale when I casually mention erasing his memories.
Flint: "What is it you want to show me? And how will you show me?"
Rio: "I will implant the memories of what you could become. I will use what you could call magic."
Flint: "Very well show me."
I tap his forehead and wait for him to recover.
Flint: "I would do all that?"
Rio: "If Ben Parker died then most likely. That being said you have something very few on this planet have. A special trait that allows you to gain great powers. There are maybe a few dozen people like you on the planet. Mind you if you don't want those powers I will still hire you. If you accept those powers or not and get hired I will have you sign a magical non-disclosure agreement."
Flint: "Can I talk about this with my wife?"
Rio: "By all means. She has already been listening to us from the beginning."
Emma: "Wait you knew I was here."
Rio: "Ma'am no offense but trying to hide from me is a dumb idea. I can hear your heartbeat from here."
Emma: "Oh."
Rio: "Yeah. Now I will let the both of you discuss things."
They left to discuss things and I waited patiently. After a few minutes, they returned.
Flint: "Can I know what you would have me use these powers for?"
Rio: "I would like for you to assist in defending the planet. An alien invasion is coming. It's a few years off but it will happen. Your potential powers can help greatly. Beyond that, I would have you defending the innocent and weak. I would also have you work as a bodyguard for some businesses or people. More often than not you will have free time. You will get paid on salary so how much work you do doesn't matter. What matters is the quality."
Flint looks at his wife and then back to me.
Flint: "I will join you and accept the powers if you heal my daughter right now."
Rio: "Very well. Once I heal her I will have all three of you sign a magical contract stating you will not disclose what happens here today and that you will not betray me. The rules on pain of death will also bind me."
When I walk into the room, Penny is lying in bed. I move over to her and introduce myself.
Rio: "Hello my name is Rio and I am going to heal you."
Penny: "Hi Mr. Rio. My name is Penny. Is it going to hurt?"
I smile reassuringly.
Rio: "No it won't hurt. If you are brave I will show you something cool."
She nods shyly and I begin playing my song.
(AN: Play Lugia's Song (Original) on YouTube if you want.)
As the song comes to an end I see everyone is teary-eyed from the song.
Rio: "See it didn't hurt. Now since you were so brave to do you want to see something cool."
She nods rapidly. I laugh a little and create an illusion to hide my transformation then drop the illusion so she can see my true form. Everyone gasps.
Penny: "Are you a Unicorn?"
Rio: "Hahaha, no I am technically not a Unicorn but more instead I am an Alicorn."
Flint: "Wait I thought you were from Earth."
Rio: "Oh I am from Earth and was born on it as well. I may not be human but I am an Earthling. I hope this doesn't make you unwilling to join me."
Flint: "No, I am still going to honor my word. I will admit I am somewhat excited to work for a mythical creature. But then again I shouldn't be too surprised based on the fact you can do magic."
I summon up the contract and everyone signs it.
-----------------
Authors Note:
Rio is gathering more allies. I didn't show Logan getting his memories back as I imagined it would be quite messy to suddenly remember over 100 years of history in just a minute. The few dozen people Rio is talking about are people who could be considered to have the potential to gain superpowers. Think Hulk, Spiderman, Sandman, Pietro, Wanda, etc. This doesn't include people who get their powers from technology. Some are removed others are recruited or made to never get their powers.