A man in a white suit, slicked-back hair, and gold-tinted sunglasses stepped into the VIP lounge.
His flashy outfit, combined with his tall and confident figure, immediately drew the attention of many women in the lounge.
The men, on the other hand, were not impressed.
Especially a few middle-aged men who clearly had money but had gone soft around the middle—they clearly disliked him on sight.
"I knew this would happen..." Raymond noticed everyone's reactions around the lounge and couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
This whole look was Beth's idea.
Once she learned he was heading to Europe for a major gathering in the supernatural world, she insisted on helping him change his style—said he couldn't show up looking so casually dressed.
To be fair, this outfit really did make him look more stylish than usual.
But yeah—it was a bit much.
People who didn't know him might easily assume he was a model or some D-list celebrity.
Still, Raymond didn't care much about what others thought. He just wasn't used to being the center of attention.
After all, in his past life, he was a private detective—a job where staying unnoticed was the whole point. If people stared at you everywhere you went, how could you work?
"Clari, your brother looks so cool today..." Behind him, Lorna, with her striking long green hair, whispered into Clarice's ear. (TL/N: Clari is the nickname, not a typo)
"Really?" Clarice didn't think Raymond looked that different—just more formally dressed.
"You two, stop whispering and come check in," Raymond called back to them.
"Coming!" they both answered and hurried to catch up.
The airline staff at the VIP counter checked their tickets, confirmed everything, and handed them back with a polite smile.
"Thank you," Raymond nodded slightly.
He glanced at the two excited girls beside him, their faces full of wonder like tourists stepping into a palace for the first time. It gave him a bit of a headache.
Originally, he had only planned to bring Clarice along—so she could experience something new and meet some of the elite mutants from the Hellfire Club.
He had even double-checked with Carl to make sure it was okay to bring someone along.
These kinds of year-end gatherings usually allowed members to bring a partner or junior. As long as the group wasn't too big, nobody minded.
But when he told Clarice about it, she immediately asked if her bestie Lorna could come too.
Not wanting to ruin the mood over a small thing, Raymond agreed.
Now, though… he was starting to regret that decision just a little.
These two girls had been chattering nonstop the entire way, giving Raymond quite the headache. Thankfully, his focus wasn't fully on the present—otherwise, he'd be completely overwhelmed.
After finding a seat in the VIP lounge, Raymond closed his eyes to rest.
At least, that's what it looked like. In reality, his consciousness had already traveled to the other side of the Earth…
This was a new technique he had recently discovered.
Even when a sub-personality was transferred into a shadow clone, he could still link with it and project part of his awareness into it—becoming a "spectator."
It was like how his sub-personalities could normally "watch" through his mental space if he allowed them. Only this time, the roles were reversed.
He became the spectator. The sub-personality receiving his awareness became the "actor."
Of course, this could only be used when he had downtime. Trying to split his focus too often could wear him out and leave him mentally drained.
At the moment, he had four shadow clones out in the world.
One, controlled by the Deadshot sub-personality, was teaching combat strategy at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy.
The other two—Itachi and Orochimaru sub-personalities—were helping Stephanie consolidate Hydra's four main factions.
The political faction had already been mostly brought under control. Even if some members still weren't fully loyal, they didn't dare show it. It was only a matter of time before they were completely tamed.
Half of the science faction had also been absorbed.
However, their current leader, Whitehall, had caught wind of something and escaped early. Because of that, some members were still in hiding, slowing the unification process.
Still, with no leader left, finishing the job was just a matter of time.
Next up would be taking control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. faction.
But the real challenge lay with the Secret Faction.
They held the largest share of superhuman power.
From what Raymond had observed so far, Baron Strucker—still alive—was nothing like the push-over villain seen in the MCU who died minutes after showing up.
So even with Itachi and Orochimaru's support, whether Stephanie could truly succeed was still uncertain.
But Raymond wasn't very interested in that situation right now.
What truly had his attention was another shadow clone—this one led by the sub-personality of John Constantine.
While Raymond headed for the Hellfire Club's gathering in Edinburgh, the John Constantine clone had already arrived in Nepal, using his own methods to search for the hidden mystical stronghold of Kamar-Taj.
Raymond had long planned to send John Constantine there, hoping to meet the Ancient One and learn teleportation magic.
John Constantine had gladly accepted. He'd been curious about this world's magic for a while.
"Hello, boss," came John Constantine's greeting inside Raymond's mind, sensing his presence.
At that moment, he was sitting in a rickshaw with a seductive Asian woman leaning on his arm, a beer in hand—looking far more relaxed than Raymond did.
He was also using his original appearance.
Because shadow clones were extensions of Raymond, he could first use the Transformation Jutsu to change their look, then transfer a sub-personality over—it wouldn't affect anything.
In fact, most of the sub-personalities—except those like Deadshot who lacked supernatural energy—could easily learn the Transformation Jutsu themselves.
They just didn't seem very interested in it.
Raymond had used it simply to avoid confusion—so people wouldn't think he was appearing in multiple places at once.
John Constantine himself didn't care what he looked like.