Chapter 83: A Pink Electric Bike on the Streets of New York
On a weekday morning in Manhattan, New York, the terrible congestion of the morning rush hour had just faded. Yet, the streets were still bustling with a seemingly endless stream of traffic. The loud sound of car horns, the lively chatter from street-side cafes, and the acoustic guitar playing of struggling street performers naturally intertwined—this was the chaotic hustle and bustle carved into the very bones of this city.
Amidst this clamor, a top-of-the-line, bright pink-and-white electric cruiser bike was moving leisurely along the side of the road. It looked completely and utterly out of place next to the sleek private cars and yellow taxis whizzing by.
The person casually riding the bright pink bike was tightly wrapped in a dusty gray hoodie. A black baseball cap was pulled low over her head, and a black medical mask covered most of her face. Even her signature long silver hair was tucked tightly into the hood, leaving absolutely nothing visible except for a pair of curved, highly amused azure eyes.
It was Mira Vale, so heavily disguised that even her own mother wouldn't be able to recognize her.
On the back seat of the cruiser, a small figure sat perfectly quiet.
Compiler was wrapped tightly in a pure white windbreaker. The large hood was pulled directly over her head, completely covering her short white hair, revealing only a pair of calm, pale golden pupils. She obediently, tightly gripped the hem of Mira's gray hoodie, sitting perfectly upright like an exquisite, silent porcelain doll, letting Mira wander the chaotic streets of New York with her.
"The red flag flutters in the wind, our songs are so loud—!"
Mira casually rode the electric bike, singing "The People's Navy Marches Forward" with full-throated, energetic vigor.
Her vocal pitch was absurdly, perfectly accurate, and her Siren voice carried great penetration even over the noisy street traffic. In the passing vehicles, many New Yorkers rolled down their windows one after another. They curiously stared at this mysterious teenager riding a bright pink electric bike while loudly singing a foreign military march, their eyes full of deep confusion.
"Mira Vale," Compiler's flat voice came from behind, precisely interrupting her singing. "Your loud singing has already attracted the continuous attention of 21 unique pedestrians, and your physical disguise concealment level has dropped by 47%. Additionally, the bright pink electric bike you chose has a visual pollution level of 78%. It is extremely likely to attract the attention of passersby, completely contrary to the tactical purpose of your disguise."
"What do you know? This is called 'hiding in plain sight'." Mira stopped singing resentfully and retorted, unconvinced. She casually twisted the handlebars and smoothly overtook a luxury Mercedes stuck in traffic.
"The more flashy the vehicle is, the less people will actually suspect it's me! Who on earth would legally think that the Midtown High School top student, who is currently rumored to be in a scandalous relationship with Iron Man, would ride a pink electric bike around Manhattan? Besides, this highly expensive bike was fully reimbursed by Tony Stark's corporate account, so it would be a total waste not to ride it."
Today was a standard weekday, and Midtown High School was holding AP classes as usual.
Mira had long ago flawlessly split her cybernetic consciousness, leaving a highly realistic physical clone to sit quietly in the classroom and attend AP Calculus properly. Meanwhile, her main body took Compiler and snuck out into the city to head to the New York Sanctum Sanctorum to pick up Purifier.
To avoid being recognized by the lurking tabloid reporters or the highly trained agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA, she had specifically come up with this mundane street disguise. But she definitely hadn't expected to almost fail at simply finding the physical address.
"I say, Miss Civil Engineering White-Hair, is the digital navigation correct or not?" Mira turned the pink bike onto a narrow side road, looking in sheer annoyance at the blue arrow spinning aimlessly in place on her smartphone's navigation app. Veins practically bulged on her forehead.
"This crappy Apple Maps has led me in circles three separate times! Sometimes it leads into a brick dead end, sometimes directly into a random bodega. Can't that old geezer Ancient One build her magical Sanctum in a place that's actually easier to find?!"
She originally thought that since the New York Sanctum was located at 177A Bleecker Street in Manhattan, it would logically take ten minutes to get there by simply following the GPS.
However, she didn't expect the historical streets of Greenwich Village to be exactly like a chaotic maze, with one-way streets constantly winding around. The GPS navigation was also glitching out from the ambient magical interference, causing her to blindly circle the streets during the morning rush hour for almost half an hour without even seeing a shadow of the Sanctum building.
"The target location is exactly 317 meters northeast of our current location. 177A Bleecker Street," Compiler's voice remained perfectly calm and waveless, precisely reporting the geographical coordinates.
"It is recommended to turn left at the intersection ahead, go straight for exactly 200 meters, and cross the pedestrian crosswalk to arrive. The error rate of the smartphone map's path planning is currently 68%. It is highly recommended to turn off the digital navigation and simply follow my verbal instructions."
"I knew that! I just wanted to take a scenic detour to see the classic New York street architecture and experience the local Manhattan customs," Mira muttered stubbornly.
But she still obediently followed Compiler's precise instructions and turned left directly onto Bleecker Street.
Just after turning the street corner, Mira's azure eyes lit up instantly.
Both sides of the street were lined with unremarkable, classic New York old apartment buildings, delis, and convenience stores. Only directly in the middle of the street stood a highly distinctive, old, three-story townhouse that looked completely out of place with the surrounding modern architecture.
The dark brown brick exterior wall, the heavy carved wooden door, and—most conspicuously—the massive, circular stained glass window that took up almost the entire top floor, painted with complex, geometric magical patterns.
Even from directly across the busy street, Mira's bionic sensors could clearly feel the faint yet incredibly majestic magical aura radiating from within the building.
The New York Sanctum. Finally found.
"Finally here. If I kept circling around any longer, I would have memorized the entire street grid of lower Manhattan." Mira breathed a sigh of relief. She rode the pink electric bike to the side of the road directly opposite the Sanctum, stopped steadily, pulled out the key, and stretched her arms out.
Compiler also gracefully jumped off the back seat. She raised her small hand to pull down the hood of her windbreaker, and her short white hair fell down instantly. She brushed the city dust off her pristine clothes. Her pale golden pupils swept across the magical townhouse opposite them, and a faint stream of binary data flashed across her fingertips.
"Detected a high-intensity magical barrier inside the Sanctum, operating with 17 layers of dimensional defense barriers. There are highly unknown, chaotic energy fluctuations in the core area. In addition, a Siren energy signal sharing the exact same source code as Mira Vale was successfully detected, located currently on the first underground floor of the Sanctum."
"The energy fluctuation is highly stable. It is perfectly consistent with the standard energy spectrum characteristics of the Purifier model's body."
"Okay, perfect. As long as the idiot is physically fine." Mira nodded in relief, then frowned deeply again, circling the pink electric bike twice.
"Where exactly should I put this thing? I can't logically push a bright pink bike inside a magical temple, right? Wouldn't that old geezer Ancient One laugh at me for the rest of her immortal life?"
She absolutely didn't want to push a loud, pink electric cruiser into the highly dignified, ancient New York Sanctum. That visual scene would simply be far too discordant.
Mira waved her hand, snapped her fingers, and casually dumped the entire electric bike directly into her spatial rigging inventory.
After easily dealing with the parking situation, Mira clapped her hands, turned to look at Compiler, and showed a cunning, tactical smile on her face.
"Okay, next we need to deal with ourselves. Although we are wearing mundane disguises, there might be some off-duty agent from S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA randomly passing by. It would be incredibly annoying if they recognize us. After all, thanks to Tony, I am now basically half a celebrity in New York."
As she said this, she casually snapped her fingers again. Two wisps of faint, deep blue Siren light flew from her fingertips and landed smoothly on herself and Compiler respectively.
The faint light flashed and instantly disappeared. There was absolutely no earth-shattering noise or movement, but the ordinary pedestrians passing by on the sidewalk suddenly seemed completely unable to see the two girls at all. Even if a pedestrian was walking directly head-on toward them, their brain would subconsciously force them to step aside, and their eyes would never stay on the girls for a single second. It was exactly as if they were just two invisible balls of transparent air.
Her optical camouflage engaged, Mira held Compiler's small hand, safely crossed Bleecker Street, and walked right up to the front door of the New York Sanctum.
The heavy, dark brown wooden door carried a profound sense of ancient history. It was intricately carved with complex Kamar-Taj magical runes, faintly glowing with a warm, golden light.
Mira stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. The smugness on her face instantly turned back into a bratty expression of absolute disgust. She muttered quietly to the inside of the door:
"Ancient One, you old geezer. I'm here to pick up my person, so don't you dare hide inside and pretend you can't hear me."
After muttering her complaint, she raised her hand and firmly pushed open the heavy wooden door.
The scene inside the Sanctum instantly came into clear view.
Unlike the chaotic hustle and bustle of the Manhattan street outside, the inside of the Sanctum Sanctorum was quiet to the absolute point of stagnation.
Under the high, ornate dome of the ceiling, a massive, grand wooden spiral staircase spiraled elegantly upwards. The walls were completely filled with glass display cases holding all kinds of ancient magical artifacts, relics, and heavy leather-bound spell books. The air inside was thick, filled with a faint, calming scent of sandalwood and burning magical herbs. Warm, floating golden magic lamps quietly illuminated the entire grand hall.
In the exact center of the hall, the Ancient One was sitting peacefully at a quaint, carved wooden table. She was holding a delicate porcelain cup of steaming clear tea. She had a gentle, welcoming smile on her face, quietly watching the two Siren girls who had just pushed the door open and entered.
She looked exactly as if she had been patiently waiting for them for a very long time.
"Ms. Mira Vale. Ms. Compiler. Welcome to the New York Sanctum." The Ancient One calmly put down the teacup in her hand and said with a knowing smile. "I honestly thought you would stand out there and mutter insults about me at the door for a much longer time before you were finally willing to come inside."
Mira: "..."
Well. It seems that her quiet muttering at the door just now was perfectly, clearly heard by this Sorcerer Supreme.
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