As the audience rose to applaud, the ballet dancers stepped out to take their bows, marking a perfect end to the performance. Right then, the three familiar idiots walked back in, looking exactly like people who'd been standing outside rehearsing their lines for an hour. And, of course, a woman in military uniform followed behind them.
The woman stepped forward. "Hello. I'm Larina, Ministry of Defense, Special Operations Group. The motherland needs you now."
"Oh?" Raj smiled lightly. "You know I'm not Soviet. Actually, I've contributed far more to the Soviet Union than I ever did to my own country. I don't owe you anything, so… I don't need to answer your country's call."
"But both of your wives are Soviet," Larina replied.
"No." Raj shook his head. "My Ksenia darling is Ukrainian, not Russian. And my Anna darling is Belarusian, also not Russian. Any new arguments you want to try?"
Both women smiled at Raj. At moments like this, they didn't need to speak. Raj's decisions had never harmed them—only protected them and secured the best possible outcome for all three.
"Dr. Raj, don't you want to fight alongside your comrades?" Iron Bear said.
Raj coughed. "We are comrades. Otherwise, I would have killed you on the Chechen battlefield. You three are all muscle-headed idiots… including you, Dr. Nikolai Dolgov."
"Hey! Raj, that's too much!" the Stone Man snapped.
Raj raised a brow. "What? You want to teach me a lesson?"
The teleporting show-off clearly couldn't hold it in. His body flashed into a swirl of black mist as he appeared in front of Raj and swung a punch—only to be instantly slammed flat to the floor by Raj's telekinesis like a dissected frog pinned for display.
"No one taught you to show a little respect to your creator?" Raj asked calmly.
"…You too?" Stone Man stared wide-eyed.
"Well," Raj shrugged, "as one of your creators, how could I not give myself something useful?"
Of course, this was just Raj's excuse—his way of using his abilities openly. If he alone could solve every detail from ability creation to stabilization, he wouldn't be here hunting for industrial-scale production methods. He'd just let Red Queen and White Queen handle everything.
Raj's apartment, St. Petersburg.
Being from the Celestial Dynasty, Raj had the deeply ingrained instinct of "buy property first, talk later." He had houses in nearly every major city, all purchased dirt-cheap back when the Soviet Union collapsed.
After a round of intimate exhaustion, Ksenia lay against him, breath soft, eyes hazy. "Darling… you really don't want to help them?"
Anna leaned in as well. "Yes, please help them. After this, we can leave this world without any weight on our shoulders… we won't feel like we owe the motherland anymore."
"You both want me to help them?" Raj wrapped his arms around them, his hands still exploring leisurely, teasing their sensitive tips— "Mmm—" x2
Both women nodded. Anna spoke softly, "Just this once. After that, everything is clean."
"Ksenia? Same thought?" Raj asked.
Ksenia's braid slipped over her shoulder as she nodded. "Yes, darling. The same."
"Alright then. I'll help them." Raj sat up, pulling the two upright with him. "But as compensation, the two of you owe me something special tonight, for your country."
"…Raj, you're terrible!" Ksenia, a Cold-War-era Soviet girl through and through, still couldn't fully accept these "special" things—though she certainly enjoyed them. At least today she had an excuse: it's for the motherland. Whether that was true or just convenient for her own pleasure… who knew.
And so the battle horn sounded again in the bedroom. Anna, of course, had no chance of escaping.
Meanwhile, in the underground base of the former Patriot Project—
"What do we do now?" Iron Bear asked, frowning.
"I believe we can beat Kuratov even without Dr. Raj and Ksenia," Stone Man said, trying to act like a proper captain.
"Don't kid yourself," the teleporter scoffed. "If it weren't for Dr. Raj's planning in the past, we'd be dead ten times over."
"You're too dependent on that Indian!" Stone Man snapped.
"I depend on no one. I'm stating facts."
The air grew tense until Larina stepped in.
"Enough! Maybe Kuratov isn't as strong as we assume. Maybe we can resolve this without Dr. Raj."
"Fine. Let the results speak." Stone Man pulled on his monk-like hooded robe and walked out.
"Hope you're right," the teleporter muttered, following. Iron Bear hesitated, sighed, then followed too.
The three teamed up to fight the boss.
Results:
Stone Man was knocked out by three RPG-7 rockets. Stone coating or not—shockwaves don't care.
• Iron Bear got captured by a specialized beast-capture net.
• Teleporter defeated a squad… then got tranquilized mid-pose by a sniper.
They didn't even get to see the boss before being cleaned up. From atop a high tower, Raj covered his face.
"…They're embarrassing my research program."
Was this really the "fighting nation"? Or were the Ministry of Defense officials just asleep at their desks? Not even dispatching the Spetsnaz Signal Flag unit? Fine, even if not them, there were still the Warriors…
"Master…" Dr. Kuratov stood beside him nervously. "Did I hit them too hard?"
"No. I'm the one embarrassed." Raj exhaled. "Forget it… blame the director for giving them abilities but not brains."
Raj composed himself. "Kuratov, I heard you took something from the weapons testing site."
"Yes, master." Kuratov offered a memory module with both hands. "This contains all data and schematics for the new intelligent individual-combat spider system."
"Good." Raj smiled. This, after all, was the real reason he kept Kuratov alive. He could steal the data himself… but having someone steal it for him and hand it over obediently was simply more comfortable.
"Anything else you need, master?" Kuratov asked.
"That's it. Go work." Raj turned, then paused. "Actually—one more thing. Teach those three idiots a lesson. Don't kill them. Don't let them enjoy themselves either. I have something for you… a Russian version of the Ten Great Tortures. Study it. Choose whichever suits their physique."
Raj handed him a thin printed booklet from his storage bracelet. "Your will is my principle, master." Kuratov bowed low.
After Raj left, Kuratov waited a few minutes before lifting his head. Instead of leaving, he opened the booklet. What he saw inside seemed to open a whole new world for him…
Back at headquarters,
Larina stood in front of the blanked-out display screen, anxiety tightening her chest. Due to signal shielding, the technicians couldn't get anything back.
When confirmation came that the feed could not be restored, she made her decision. "Prepare a plane. I'm flying to St. Petersburg immediately."
"Yes, Major!"
The aircraft took off from a military base outside Moscow, heading straight toward St. Petersburg.
After landing, Larina didn't pause. She hopped into a military vehicle with two orderlies and drove directly toward Raj's residence—the location firmly locked in.