30th Septermber 1995
17:43 GMT -5
Parker luck…
The sentinel swivels its head a hundred and seventy degrees and warms up its eye-mounted plasma weapons, easily burning off Mr. Parker's somewhat hopeful web coating. Anne-Marie should be in the control room running through the deactivation process-
"What
is this?!"
-but Mr. Parker's already taken a couple of nasty knocks and this
really isn't doing anything to encourage cordial relations going forwards.
"Training!"
I
throw up a shield to block the sentinel's shot, then
stick a friction-free sheet under its feet before
grabbing its right calf with a construct gauntlet and
pulling. First time I tried this I embarrassed myself because I couldn't generate enough force, but with the friction gone-. Yes, over it goes, and that's one that Henry or Forge won't have to rebuild later because its internal mechanisms can easily survive something like that.
"I think you guys take the 'no soliciting' thing a bit
too seriously!"
Yes, its control system has realised that it can't get up quickly so it just raised its hands and fired from
there, red beams slamming into
my shield and being blocked, though the shield is looking a bit ropey.
"When I joined? I phoned ahead!"
"Well
excuse me, Princess! I wasn't expecting giant robots at a
school!"
He looks up, eyes… I'm assuming they're getting wider, but the mask makes it look like they're wide all the time, as two more sentinels trudge our way. Scott blasts one in the neck from the entrance, sending the head flying into the side wall. The other extends an arm in both directions, a volley from each palm forcing Scott into cover and wrecking my shield.
I
dart aside as Mr. Parker leaps, plasma bolts raining down where we were an instant before.
"Your tax dollars at work. Maybe you remember the Mutant Registration Act?"
"I want a rebate!"
Psh
hhhhhuuuuuu!
I relax
slightly as the robots lose power. Not
completely relaxed, because these things can be worryingly clever at times.
"Is that it?" Mr. Parker has attached himself to the side wall and is
twitching with adrenaline. "My work-out routine usually involves less
lasers, but I guess I'm not too old to learn new tricks."
Scott steps back into the open, right hand hovering near the activation switch for his visor. "We fought things like this for real before. We don't intend to forget how to beat them."
Mr. Parker pushes off the wall into a front flip, landing in a crouch just in front of Scott. "And who are you supposed to be, Cyclops?"
Scott nods. "Yes."
I
fly over as Anne-Marie makes her way down from the control room and Mr. Parker takes a moment to get his head around how on the nose Scott's codename is.
"Oh. Okay, I guess that makes sense. I'm looking for a guy named Professor Charles Xavier? He's supposed to be an expert in genetic mutation."
I wince. "I'm sorry, but he and his girlfriend are taking a short break out of the country. They'll be back in a few days…" I shrug awkwardly. "If you'd phoned ahead we could have told you that."
Mr. Parker punches the floor plating. And.. leaves a dent. "
Damn it!"
Yeah, I… Forget how much stronger than a normal man he is sometimes. Anne-Marie and Jean walk in as he gets himself back under control.
"Ah, Doctor McCoy should be back later this evening if you've got a scientific enquiry? If you're looking for physical backup, we can-."
"No, that's not-. I'm looking for someone who knows how to
stop me mutating before things get even
worse!"
…
My x-gene bearing colleagues go
very still for a moment.
I raise my hands. "Why don't
I handle this?"
Scott breathes out. "Yeah. I think that's probably a good idea. Spiderman, Orange Lantern will handle… Whatever you're looking for."
He turns and leads Anne-Marie and Jean out, the Danger Room door slamming closed behind them.
"What did I say?"
I exhale. "You basically did the equivalent of walking into a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People annual general meeting and announcing that
you didn't want to be no no-account nigger no more. Now, I don't think you
meant it-"
He recoils. "No!"
"-like that, but that's what it sounded like to people who've been attacked in the streets by the Friends of Humanity for
years, and they're a lot more
physical in their attacks than Mister Jameson is. So: breathe in. Count to five."
I wait for a mental 'five' count.
"Breathe out." He does. "Now. You've been active as a superhero for years, with the same powers. You've maintained a secret identity, so if you want to quit then you
can. What's the problem? With a little more detail, this time."
"I got my powers in-. I got them a few weeks before I started out as Spider-Man. But lately they've been randomly cutting out in the middle of fights. I went to see Doc Conn-. Doctor Curt Connors, he-."
"I'm-" I nod. "-familiar with his work. Attempting to grant humans the regenerative abilities of reptiles?"
"Yeah. I thought I might just have the flu or something, but I watched my D.N.A. literally
fall apart under the microscope."
"Oh. Sugar."
Scan. "Um, do you have a preserved sample of blood or tissue from before that started happening?"
"Ah, yeah. Why?"
"It's a bit invasive, but I should be able to reset you back to that state myself. Ah, obviously you'd.. eventually progress to the point you're at now
again-."
"Hey, if it gives me more time to work on this then I'm all for it. But I was kinda hoping that Professor Xavier had some way to fix this. I'd like to keep my powers, but I'd kinda like to avoid falling apart genetically even more."
"Heh. Ah. See, if you'd
started with 'I'm losing my powers and I want to keep them', then it would have gone over a lot better. For people with the x-gene, suggesting that it's a disease or something that needs to be 'cured' is
really insensitive. But in your case… Yeah, if it's actually killing you then you
do need to do something."
He nods. "You seem to be taking it a lot better than the others."
"Oh." I raise my left hand. "I'm the token baseline human on the team. The orange force fields come from this ring, not from anything innate to me."
"Oh. Guess
you don't need to worry about your D.N.A. decaying."
"No. Going crazy because it messes with my emotions, yes. D.N.A. breakdown, no. So, ah, why don't I fly us back to Doctor Connor's laboratory and we can go from there."
He turns towards the door, then hesitates. "I… Guess I should probably apologise to your friends, first."
I nod. "I think that's probably a good idea."