Meeting the Prisoners

AN: Thank you, Patrick Hayes and Lewd Hina for the subscription!

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Callisto was confused for a moment and thought she was hearing things so she asked again.

"You want me to join HYDRA? Did I hear that right?"

"Yes. You seem quite skilled and it would be a waste not to use your skills. Ophelia, or rather, Madame Hydra, as she is better known, is one of ours. For a while now, she has been leading HYDRA and slowly changing it from the inside. I figured she could use an extra set of hands."

Benjamin figured Ophelia might need some help instead of her being alone all the time.

Granted, she has a lot of people working for her but there wasn't anyone who was really on our side.

Callisto raised an eyebrow after hearing that.

"And you choose me? Aren't you worried I'm going to double-cross you or this Ophelia girl and take over HYDRA?"

Benjamin chuckled at that.

"One, did you really think I would leave Ophelia on her own without any sort of protection or trump cards? And two, do you really want to double-cross me and risk everything? For what? Taking over HYDRA? World domination?"

"Well…if you put it that way…"

Callisto shrugged.

She was just saying it to see if Benjamin would hesitate. After all, she wasn't the type to try and conquer the world or take over a huge criminal organization.

So double-crossing Benjamin was something that only had a lot of negative consequences and no benefits.

Benjamin then stretched his hand forward and asked her again.

"So. Are you in?"

Callisto looked at his hand and thought for a moment.

After a while, she smiled and shook his hand.

"Why the hell not? Sounds fun."

It was at least better than staying in this cell or living a normal boring life.

Benjamin nodded.

"It's good you accepted. Frankly, it was either this or I send someone to monitor you 24/7 in case you do something stupid. And I don't really want to waste any manpower on that."

"..."

Seeing her speechless, Benjamin laughed and left to find the next prisoner he wanted to visit.

As he left, he turned and spoke to Callisto again.

"I'll contact Ophelia later and send someone to pick you up. Feel free to go wherever in the meantime."

"How will you know where to find me?"

"Just call my name."

Benjamin left with a mysterious smile.

After some time, he finally arrived at a cell.

In the cell, Selene Gallio was chained to the walls and ground on her hands and feet. Her mouth was also covered tightly with a metal device that only enables her to breathe but not speak.

She also wore a metal glove on both hands to prevent her to move her fingers.

In a sense, it would be very uncomfortable for her if she gets an itch on her nose right now…

It can't be helped. To a sorcerer, speech and hand movement are quite important to form a spell.

And if she tries to use her powers, she'll immediately get an electric shock throughout her body.

Benjamin opened the cell door and walked inside.

As he did, Selene glared at him quite fiercely.

If looks could kill, he would probably be dead a hundred times over.

Benjamin chuckled when he saw her like that and thought of something.

He picked up a bundle of her hair on the end and used it like a brush to stroke her nose for a bit.

The feeling must be so uncomfortable right now that she wanted to itch it so bad!

Tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes.

This devil!

After having his fun for a bit, Benjamin stopped and closed his eyes.

The next moment, he read her mind and searched through it just to make sure of something.

After a while, he opened his eyes again and sighed.

Her life was indeed quite tragic.

About 17 thousand years ago, before she could even speak her first words, her mother died giving birth to her. Not only that, but her tribe elders also sacrificed many people for her sustenance.

They treated her like a goddess because of her abilities.

And she also considered herself as one.

But because of her abilities, she also outlived everyone she knew.

She spent her life going from one place to another. Eventually, meeting Sebastian Shaw and joining the Hellfire Club.

Well, Although she 'joined' she was the actual leader behind the scenes. Sebastian Shaw was just the figurehead.

Benjamin also searched her memory regarding the Frost sisters and as she said, she did buy them from someone. John Sublime.

Back then, they gave him a sample of Emma's DNA to see if he could replicate her abilities.

Instead, Sublime cloned her a thousand times with only five successes.

The rest, he killed since they were failures.

Benjamin could tell from her memory that she felt quite disgusted when she learned that fact. It seems she was reminded of her own childhood.

Still, she didn't bother doing anything with it and just bought the five girls.

She didn't buy them just to use their unique ability to shield mental powers.

She also wanted to use them as her backup.

Although she may be near immortal, she's far from truly being immortal.

She could still die if killed. It's just that she can't die from age like normal people.

So she studied dark sorcery.

With it, she found a way to split her soul and place them in another person.

That way, if she were to die, she would take over that person's body and continue to live again.

The Frost sisters' unique ability plus their potential for mental powers made them the best choice for her if she were to take over someone's body.

Benjamin thought for a moment and took out something from his inventory.

It was something he bought in the System Shop that was worth a few million MP.

With the success of the EPD, each time a member solves a crime or stops a bad guy, Benjamin still gets a few hundred MP for every arrest.

Right now, his MP has almost reached a billion points.

If this continued a bit more, he might reach 10 trillion and buy an Infinity Stone.

Or he could buy other powers worth a billion points.

But having this many points made it hard for him to also decide which power to get. After all, right now, he doesn't even use all his powers.

So Benjamin is just saving it until he encounters a situation where he needs a different power or an item. That way, the points will be well spent.

Like right now.

What he took out was none other than the Slave Collar.

Selene can be considered one of the more powerful people and it would really be a waste if she's just gonna rot in this cell.

Benjamin knew how dangerous this Marvel world is.

Thanos is just one of the big bads. There are many more that are much much worse than him.

In fact, Benjamin was even thinking if he can get Apocalypse to fight with them if he used a Slave Collar on him too but according to the System, it wouldn't work on powerful beings like Apocalypse, Thanos, Death, and such.

Actually, the collar wouldn't work on Selene too. Well, in her peak anyway. That's how strong she is.

But the current Selene is still quite far from her peak.

Until then, Benjamin can only hope that she will turn out for the better. Otherwise, he'll have to either lock her away again or…put her down for good.

Benjamin didn't waste any more time and put it on her neck.

Still confused, Selene could only glare at him.

When she felt the collar around her neck, she suddenly felt something lock onto her mind.

She could already vaguely tell what just happened.

Then, Benjamin removed everything that bound her.

The instant she was freed, her hands glowed as she quickly tried to use her powers to blast Benjamin but…]

"Aarghh!!!"

A splitting headache immediately assaulted her mind.

"You can't harm me. I'm your master now."

"You…what did you do to me!?"

"Can't you tell already?"

Benjamin smiled and lifted her chin up with his finger.

"You're my slave now."

Selene grounded her teeth in anger.

Benjamin sighed and shook his head.

"Don't glare at me like that. It was the only way if I want to let you leave here."

"Why!? What do you need from me!?"

Selene asked.

Benjamin looked at her for a moment and saw that she was trying to cover her body.

Benjamin rolled his eyes.

"Relax, I'm not going to assault you."

"Hmph! I can tell you're a pervert just from your eyes."

[So this is why the host bought a Slave Collar. As expected from a sex maniac.]]

That's not why!

Benjamin was speechless.

Lately, it seems the System has been enjoying making fun of him…

Is it because I'm not spending much MP lately? Is it lonely or something?

Benjamin shook his head and no longer thought about it.

He turned to Selene and spoke.

"There are many being in this universe that are very very powerful. It might not be enough with just me. When the time comes, we're going to need all the help we can get. I just figured it would be a waste to let you remain to rot here."

"...So you want me to be what? A canon fodder?"

Benjamin just chuckled.

"Who knows? In any case, there's nothing you can do now that I put the Slave Collar on you. So just shut up and follow me."

"..."

Because of his order, Selene was no longer able to speak and could only glare at him again as she followed him out the cell.

Benjamin didn't mind her and continued to walk along.

He still had one last stop to make.

The Strucker siblings.

When he arrived, he saw the two in separate cells glaring at him.

"Did you come here to gloat?"

"What do you want?"

Benjamin answered.

"I want you to tell me where I can find John Sublime."

"Heh, as if we're going to answer you."

"Leave."

Benjamin narrowed his eyes.

"It seems you're misunderstanding something. I'm not asking."

Not wasting any more time, he went through both of their minds.

It didn't take long for him to know what he wanted.

"Thank you for the information."

"..."

The two were a bit speechless.

What information?

We didn't say anything?

Although they were confused, Benjamin had already turned around and left.

His next destination.

Sublime's Lab.