Готовый перевод Тейлор Поттер и философский виал / Taylor Potter and the Philosophical Vial: Глава 13. Тайна третьего этажа

Chapter 13. The Mystery of the Third Floor
* * *

As always, exams arrived unexpectedly. It seemed like just yesterday they were on holiday, escaping the Forbidden Forest's robot guards, and suddenly it was the end of spring and the school year. No one had disturbed the lock on the door leading to Fluffy, but Taylor remained vigilant and continued to keep watch. Her and Amy's suspicions of Snape were heightened by the fact that the Intrigue professor was so securely protecting his "base" — his quarters, his classroom, and the surrounding area for a hundred meters. Some form of mild electric shock reliably and quickly killed all insects, and as if that weren't enough, drones were also circling the area, their antennas flashing and their vigilant buzzing.

Still, it seemed the unknown villain had retreated after failing in the Sphere, and so Taylor was more or less at peace as she headed off to take her exams. The first was a basic survival test, and Potter handled it well, deftly finding her way, starting a fire, fighting off some strange six-legged bears, gathering berries and mushrooms, and so on. Lisa had once called it all "summer camp," and now, as Taylor roasted a mushroom on a stick, she wholeheartedly agreed. Nature, fresh air, insects fetching twigs for the fire, no mosquitoes buzzing around her ear—all the conditions for relaxation and a wonderful time.

The second exam was a real challenge. Timed assembly and disassembly of an AKSU (Kalashnikov assault rifle with a shortened stock) while simultaneously explaining the assault rifle's performance characteristics and how to use it against capes on the battlefield. Still, McGonagall was pleased and spent a long time reprimanding Lisa, who kept trying to prove she didn't need an assault rifle, but a pistol!

Professor Flitwick handed each student a personalized diagram, a tactical situation chart detailing the capes involved, their powers, and the current situation. Although the diagrams were hand-drawn, they seemed to have been created by some artificial intelligence obsessed with drawing and the strict harmony of lines. They were required to devise and justify possible scenarios within one hour, outlining the outcomes and consequences.

Taylor was confused at first, but then realized it was Quidditch, and the patterns gradually began to form. Beside her, Lisa was pensively struggling, grabbing pens of different colors, drawing arrows directly on the pattern, and comically sticking out her tongue so that the tip almost touched her nose. Amy, on the opposite side of Taylor, was puffing, poking her finger at the paper, as if coaxing it into becoming the answer. Potter saw Amy's pattern out of the corner of her eye; the answers had come naturally; now all she had to do was find a way to prompt them.

The problem was that the students certainly possessed superpowers, but the teachers knew about it and weren't shy about taking countermeasures. Standard procedure, for example, was to nullify all powers in the exam room. Surveillance cameras, darkened windows, and so on, including burning out Tinker devices with electromagnetic pulses.

The disappearance of power further confused and unnerved the young capes.

Professor Snape filled the room with terminals accessing the PHO, and it was necessary to plant information and convince others of its veracity. Not everyone realized they were competing against each other, and as a result, a heated argument, to say the least, erupted on the "school" branch of the PHO. Snape, keeping an eye on everyone, smirked and graded, expelling those who failed. He didn't resort to resetting their powers, and Lisa helped her friends through this stage by giving a sly hint to Taylor, who then transmitted the communication and the necessary answers to Amy using insects.

It also unexpectedly turned out that Amy could transmit sensations back through the insects.

*
Professor Sprout, smiling, placed a potted plant in front of each student. The students were asked to identify it, describe it, and explain its properties and uses. The diagram from Snape's lesson worked perfectly here, but Weasley acted as the source of information. She only had to touch the nearby plants when Ray Sprout wasn't looking (and the cameras were suddenly covered in dirt).
*

Jack Quirrell, smiling and stroking his beard, looked at the students, praised them all, awarded them good grades, and dismissed them, to the general delight of everyone present. Jack's words, that he already knew what everyone was capable of after nine months of lessons, found deep understanding and approval in the minds of the young capes.
*

The final exam was History of Capes with Jess Bins, and the room was once again power-nullified. The particularly clever students had prepared cheat sheets in advance, drawn on the walls and ceiling, and come up with a hundred other tricks, but none of them worked. The students' standard tricks weren't working, and Lisa, grinning (because her headaches had vanished along with her power-nullification), vowed to trick the system. Taylor, with difficulty, recalled why the Guild had been created, who had been at its origins, and quickly began typing out the answers while they were still spinning in her head.
*

One hour of torment and sweating, and the exams were over.

The joyful cry died on Taylor's lips before it was born.

"Someone tore down the cobwebs!" she turned to Amy and Lisa.

They froze, and a traffic jam formed at the door; the students, eager to get free, shouted in displeasure.

"We need to tell the headmistress!" Lisa shouted.

The traffic jam broke, and the friends were thrown into the hallway, pinned against the wall. Taylor, despite Chris crashing into her, was already sending a letter to the headmistress.

"The answering machine is on!" Potter bit her lip immediately.

"So she's not in Wormwarts! It has its own server, schtichs!" Lisa cursed. "We should have been hucking the communication lines, not the food delivery ones!"

"Deans should be able to contact the headmistress," Amy noted.

"What are you even talking about?" Chris asked, standing up. "Lisa, you broke into something and hacked it..."

"Quiet!" Lisa’s hand sealed Chris’s mouth. "Not in the corridor!"

- Мымы мымы, - промычал тот в ответ.

"Okay, let's go, I'll tell you everything, but not here," Lisa removed her hand and thought for a second. "Let's go to Hannah McGonagall, she's our Head of House, after all."

Along the way, she and Taylor conversed silently, agreeing that Chris was unnecessary. So, as soon as the four entered Herofindor's tower, Chris was paralyzed by a bite, and Amy added to the effect, simultaneously removing any potential damage.

"Contact Headmistress Dumbledore?" McGonagall asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Because someone broke into the third floor and wants to steal the Philosopher's Vial! It's Snape, I know it!" Taylor cried, unable to contain herself.

"You know, Potter?" Hannah's tone turned icy. "And can you prove it?"

"If you come with us to the third floor, you will see that Fluffy…"

"Stop," McGonagall raised a finger. "One more word, Potter, and I'll have to expel you from Wormwarts. Honestly, I don't want to lose such a wonderful Tactician."

Taylor bit her lip, trying to keep from speaking. Lisa tugged her sleeve roughly.

"Yes, it wasn't the best idea," Granger admitted in the hallway.

"What now? Should we go to another dean?" Weasley suggested.

"No," Taylor clenched her hand into a fist. "Let's go. There."

“So much time has been lost,” Lisa sighed.

"But the battle isn't lost yet," Taylor snapped. "I'm not going to lie down and surrender to the Dark Cape's mercy. Let's hurry!"

True, despite her own words, Taylor popped into the bedroom for a minute. Lisa had managed to arm herself with one of Chris's laser pistols, and Amy had transformed a palm tree standing in the corner into a semblance of armor.

"If you can't break the lock, break the door," Lisa commented on the spectacle.

The thick steel door slab lay on the floor, scorched and melted by something caustic. The room was no better; the smell of blood and flesh assaulted the nostrils. One of Fluffy's heads hung lifeless, its neck bent unnaturally. A broken paw, huge holes all over its body, Fluffy was breathing heavily, as if in agony. Seeing his three friends, he sat up and growled.

"He pushed Pushka into a corner and passed by; he didn’t need to kill, just pass by," said Lisa.

"I doubt it now," Amy began, but was interrupted by a whistle.

Fluffy snorted and growled, retreating to the corner of the room and opening the hatch frame in the floor. Taylor pocketed the whistle and walked toward the door. The security system had been breached; all it took was the press of a button.

"Local teleport," Lisa immediately narrowed her eyes. "This isn't a descent; we could be thrown out anywhere."

“It doesn’t matter,” Taylor snapped, stepping into the opening.

Lisa shrugged and followed. Fluffy perked up, growled again, and Amy quickly followed her friends. She could, of course, run away, but then their friendship would be ruined forever. Or she could try to paralyze the dog by plunging her hand deep into the wound, risking losing her head.

It would have been easier to step into the abyss.

Lisa wheezed, trying to tear the strangling appendage away from herself.

Taylor struggled silently, her teeth biting into the wood. Amy felt a grip on her throat and reflexively applied power.

"Strangler vines, I see," she snorted darkly.

A few touches and the plants froze, went limp, let go of Taylor and Lisa.

"He moved here and, cough, cough, cut himself a way through," said Lisa, pointing with her hand.

In one place, the vines were actually hacked and charred, forming a semblance of a tunnel. Immediately beyond the room filled with vines, a corridor carved into the rock was visible, with a high ceiling and flickering lights.

“We’ll go there,” Taylor said, rushing forward.

The corridor led them into a huge hall, filled with buzzing and humming. Enormous bees flew here and there, seemingly oblivious to the newcomers.

"These aren't bees," Taylor frowned, "they're fake."

"Mechanical, at that," Lisa squinted, studying the swarm. "These are key cards."

"There are the jetpacks!" Amy pointed.

"I think there's an easier way," Taylor cracked her neck, tilting her head from side to side.

A stream of mighty hornets poured from the sleeves of her suit, her backpack, and her back. The mechanical flyers immediately formed a wedge and attacked. Taylor's subjects dodging, spinning, knocking the keys to the ground, where Lisa snatched them up and screamed monotonously.

"Wrong!"

The battle was evenly matched, hornets and keys raining down, but Taylor was preparing a new trick. While the flyers were knocking each other down, the spiders spun new threads and reinforced the old ones Potter had brought with her. At the moment of readiness, the hornets seized the threads in unison and, with a graceful maneuver, dropped nine of the ten keys to the ground, jamming their wings, tying them up, and slowing them down.

"Then why are there jetpacks here?" Amy asked in surprise.

"To distract," Lisa replied, sorting through the keys. "To find the right key in flight, you need to be a Thinker, but to take it back while the others are attacking, you need to be… not a Thinker. Here it is!"

The door opened, but the light did not come on automatically.

"Screens, chairs, some kind of systems, I can't make it out," Taylor probed the inside of the room with the help of insects. "There's no switch... or I can't find it."

"The light will turn on when we enter," Lisa said.

"If this is ERISED, we won't get out," Amy added.

"No, the walls are stone," Taylor replied. "Let's go!"

As soon as the three of them stepped into the dark opening, the door closed behind them, a light flashed, and a pleasant female voice announced.

"Greetings, challenger! To advance, you must defeat me!"

"Oh, no," Lisa moaned.

The screens flashed, revealing a Quidditch chess field.

"If you lose, you will be destroyed," the voice continued.

- Кхак, - поперхнулась Тейлор.

"It's a limited AI, fixated on chess," Lisa explained. "Anyone who plays poorly is unworthy of life, in its opinion. What if there's a draw?"

"We will play another game, and another, until we find the worthy one!"

"Calm down," Amy said. "We can do this together. I can play Quidditch chess, Taylor is a natural Tactician, and Lisa is just a Thinker."

"Let the beating begin! Give the Snitch to Herofindor!" Granger hugged Weasley tightly, squeezing until her ribs cracked.

At one point, it seemed like everything was hanging by a thread, but Lisa's wisely diverted Tinker pawn managed to craft equipment and swiftly burst onto the battlefield, killing the enemy Rook-Blaster. The Brute Knights immediately went on the offensive, sweeping away the enemy Mover pawns and breaking through to the Thinker King.

“It’s good that the rules limit powers to no more than two categories per piece or pawn,” Lisa wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"If we had someone who was in three or four categories, we would have won a lot faster," Amy countered.

"For us, okay, but what if it's for the enemy? A Mover with teleportation powers, a Brute with regeneration, a Thinker with enhanced accuracy and vision, and a Blaster — and that's it, goodbye party," Lisa said, throwing up her hands. "And not even necessarily with high ratings, just a little bit here, a little bit there, and that's it. Sheer power is no match for variety... that's precisely why the Dark Capes are such a threat, and why they've been fought for so long."

"Well, what about Eidolon?"

"And what about Eidolon? The ability to gain any power, any three powers, and hold onto them, shifting as needed? We should be glad he sided with the heroes in those turbulent times," Lisa shrugged. "He could easily have become a Dark Cape, which the first, disorganized and disparate communities of superhumans would hardly have been able to cope with."

"Well, I don't know," Amy pouted thoughtfully. "Look, Taylor seems like just a Master, but she beats everyone at Quidditch!"

"Life isn't Quidditch," Lisa replied dryly, continuing to give orders to the figures. "There's always a counterpower, an ambush, an unexpected bullet to the head. That's why capes form teams to balance each other's weaknesses. Even though we crave conflict and combat, we still don't want to die, and we realize that it's easier to win as a team."

"Just like now," Taylor added.

“That’s how it is now,” Lisa agreed. “Checkmate!”

"It was a good match," the voice said immediately. "You deserve to go further!"

The door in the far wall opened, and the friends hurried through it. A long corridor, carved into the rock, twisted and turned. The light from the ceiling lamps cast a deathly hue over everything.

“It’s still unclear what all these tests were for, and what the trap in the last room was,” Taylor noted, unsuccessfully trying to feel around for insects.

"Every single one of the Hogwarts professors, the main professors," Lisa corrected herself, "set a trap, to the best of their ability and judgment. Taken together, it's a series of obstacles that a solitary cape simply won't be able to overcome... unless, of course, they possess multiple powers. If we'd refused to play Quidditch chess, we'd have been laser-cut and burned, and who knows what else. Those who don't play aren't worthy of life, yeah."

“I see,” Taylor said, dumbfounded. “So what now?”

"Vines, keys, chess, there should be two more traps."

"Wait, there are four deans, and the headmistress doesn’t teach!"

"DADA," Amy guessed.

“Ah-g-ha,” Lisa clicked her tongue.

But the next enemy — a troll, just like the one from Halloween — was already destroyed. It was still frantically attempting to regenerate, but the pool of acid around it left no chance. The troll was slowly melting, and the friends tiptoed around it along the wall, covering their faces with masks.

"It was probably the same acid that dissolved the door to Fluffy," Lisa noticed.

The corridor narrowed and sloped downwards, and Taylor sent the hornets ahead to scout.

"A dead end!" she said. "A small room, surrounded by stone and stone, nothing more!"

"Strange," Lisa responded, gnawing on her finger. "If this is a red herring, then where did the one who killed the troll go? Let's move on; maybe it will become clearer in the room."

And it became clearer as soon as the door behind them slammed shut and the force-nullifying device was activated.

“It seems like we’ve already passed all the exams,” Lisa grinned.

A screen flashed on the wall, and text appeared.

"Oh no," Amy moaned.

“What is this?” Taylor asked, confused.

"It's a logic riddle," Lisa dismissed. "You just have to figure it out, so-so... the one who wears a blue shirt keeps a canary at home, yeah, I think I get it."

"But what's the catch here?"

"An ordinary cape is so accustomed to relying on their powers. Deprived of it, they'll immediately become confused and unable to solve the riddle. Time is limited," Lisa responded absently. "The alarm systems, we'll assume, are autonomous... we're certainly not in danger, thanks to Taylor's band... although, if they were standing in that room with the keys, where we already untied our hands... well, I don't know, I don't know... that's it!"

Lisa ran to the screen and began arranging figurines, flowers, houses, birds, and cars, grouping them according to a principle understood only by herself. The word "Correct" flashed on the screen, and the frame of another portal opened, a glowing hexagon with unequal sides.

"Shall we go? Let’s go,” Taylor nodded.

The three of them stepped into the portal.

"I thought you weren't going to show up, Miss Potter," came the voice Taylor least expected to hear.

"Professor Quirrell?"
* * *

Внимание! Этот перевод, возможно, ещё не готов.
Его статус: идёт перевод

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/88456/594093

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP