The Fastest Man Alive
Chapter 21
July 4th, 2010

 

With Mystique assisting the now crippled Magneto and removing him from the scene of battle, it was time to clean up this mess. Since I wasn't strong enough to move any of the vehicles, I relegated myself to clean up the debris and any of the small miscellaneous things around. But one of the group must have blinked, and the streets were clear, thankfully, because for me, it would have been a few hours of work.

Peter did a little squirrel jumping from the sudden disappearance of the mess. I tried hard not to laugh at him, with limited success. Then, with a few words of encouragement, Luke and Peter began to flip the cars back over that Magneto had tossed around.

I waved a hand signal to Peter that we both should vanish since I just had Alfred, our Overwatch, send the word to the police, letting them know everything was handled and under control. With a press of a button, Peter vanished while in his Spiderman suit, which was one of the inventions that couldn't see public release. 

My utility belt had a retro-reflective hologram tech made for personal use. With a nod to Luke, I also vanished. With a swift change, I re-appeared out of the elevators like a concerned boyfriend of Jean’s.

"So you can lift cars now?" I softly asked Jean while I rubbed her back.

"Yes! It was like your memories showed, don't focus too hard, just be in the moment and go for it," Jean stated as I gently put my arms around her and held her in a comforting embrace.

"Yeah, overthinking does a lot more damage than anything else. I will make a call to the Professor and see if he can teach you a few things. Also, where is Gwen?" I responded to Jean as I watched my security force that Natasha trained deal with the police and firefighters.

"She went with her family to Jersey to visit her dad's friends.” Jean told me. So is that the Luke you have been thinking about?" as we walked back into the building.

"Eww, Jean please don't say it like that! Otherwise, I will have to keep you out of my head!" I groused as Jean laughed at the frown on my face.

"Ben: seriously though, I am proud of what you are doing, but these raids are bringing out the worst in you,” Jean whispered as she held me close. Titch, I forgot about her being such a gifted telepath. That caused Jean to smile at me, letting me know she was still in my head. With a peck on the lips while imagining a much more sensual one, I also sent her a mental kiss and made my way to where Luke was waiting, looking lost. I can worry about Jean's situation later.

I guided Luke back to my building with Jean by my side. Jean went back to the danger room to test out her new understanding of her abilities, and I placed a reminder with Alfred to make sure the girls went out shopping and get mani-pedi appointments set. There was no point in all this money If I didn't take care of everyone. I showed Luke around some of the usual labs and tech that my company creates and makes while engaging him in small talk.

"So, you said something about getting me exonerated and getting me legit papers?" Luke asked while leaning against the wall of the elevator. I smiled and shrugged at him as we got out on my private floor. Luke raised his eyebrows at Natasha's knife collection that was on full display behind her desk. I could only smile at that because I had a similar reaction when I first saw her collection after learning she was getting Alfred to make some oddly shaped dagger. Natasha's exhibit deftly showed how every knife made was a picture-perfect creation, a work of art.

Moving us into my office and around behind my desk and taking a seat, I twirled my pen at high speeds as I brought up what I had planned to show him on a holo-projector. “One of the significant advantages of being in my employ is medical care facilities. Everything for you, Luke, is taken care of, from dental to physical, minor aches and pains you might have to major injuries. Full time tutors for anything you might want to learn as well as access to all the toys you can get your hands on from my R&D department.”

I noticed he chuckled at the medical part and shook his head once he came across the suit I had made for him. Luke's super suit was his signature yellow shirt with a POWER written on the back. I also recreated the arm gauntlets from the comics but added in my mix, and they could now pop up a massive nanite shield, each within a shell of Adamantium. This was paired with a sizeable, black, bulletproof pair of pants with shin guards built in, just like the arm gauntlets, although I left out the holo-projection feature since these were located on his legs.

Though, when Luke got to the bottom of the list of things I was offering, he crushed the tablet. The last item on the list was DIAMONDBACK, the name of the person that framed Luke in the first place. Luke was staring at me hard, but I spoke up before he even had the chance to ask. 

"When I looked into your case, I came across something, or someone interesting.” I told Luke as I started to bring up my discoveries on another projector.

“Like what?” Luke asked, fuming from his seat.

“You see, nothing was adding up, the evidence was all wrong, and you got convicted far too quickly, even for a state like Georgia. So I dug and got myself a name, I'm pretty sure it's his Alias, but he does have a connection to a persons named SHADES and COTTONMOUTH who own a certain club in HARLEM. Since part of the job is being a hero smashing up the club that runs drugs is going to bring out the BOSS man, don't you think?" I told Luke as I watched the display of emotions stream across the man's face.

Luke was torn, and I knew it. I was the proverbial devil's temptation of which stories were made. I came saying all the right things, and all I wanted was his name on the contract: and his soul was mine. Luke just sat back in his seat, and I knew he already knew who COTTONMOUTH was. POP'S barbershop was notorious for being Switzerland when the block got too hot, and the gangs were out. It was a strict rule not to shoot up POP'S barber shop.

"What do you want?" Luke finally asked me. And that caused me to smile because I had him right where I wanted him.

"I know you have your limits, that's why I don't have any huge demands of you. I want you to be a public face as part of a designed plan. I am sure that's going to draw DiamondBack here to New York like a moth to a flame, but, as I said, that is part of the plan." I told him as I pressed a few more buttons for him to underscore the fact I was not bluffing. With a few rapid dings, everything was approved. Sometimes having Alfred break into other systems is such a cheat. With a wave in the air, I brought up what I was working on.

"See here Mr. Cage your passport, Social Security number, and everything else has been approved. And you are also now the owner of your bar. All I need is a public face, and you can help us smash up a few bases." I stated as I stood up and held out my hand for him to shake. Luke looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. That would be fine since I just solved almost all of his issues with just the press of a few buttons and some cash. When I walked up to face him and held my hand out, he finally broke out of his stupor and gave me a firm handshake.

"Honestly I didn't know it would be that fast, when do you want me to begin?" Luke asked me as we walked out and back into the elevator.

"Now, but before we start anything, I am going to have Dr. Kenny put you through some tests and then we are going to spar to see what you can do. I am sure you have never had any actual test to find your limits. Alfred, get Luke a key card and access to living quarters whenever he visits." I was telling Luke as I also spoke out into the air. He looked a little confused until Alfred replied with a confirmation.

Some time later, I led Luke to our infirmary where Dr. Kenny took Luke's blood with an Adamantium needle and ran tests to evaluate his health and stability. The blood part gave Luke a shock like no other since I was reasonably certain that after he became virtually invincible to reasonable means, he hasn't experienced any pain. And now I also had a DNA sample of someone who has survived the bullet proofing procedure and lived over a prolonged period of time. With that wrapped up in a pretty bow, it was time for the danger room.

The physical testing process started with Luke on the strength lift scoring him a substantial thirty tons of weight supported with both his hands. Then swapped to the treadmills, Luke was able to push out a little over forty mph, but I think that was mainly due to his enhanced muscles since he was running like he was a human tank. Last, but not least, was a friendly spar within the danger room. Luke laughed at that, but when I told him he wasn't going to be fighting me, but the second on the strength ranking, he quickly got more serious.

Peter had come in second right after Natasha's number one spot at about eighty tons solid, but she was a cheater because she was already in her prime and had a perfectly trained body from the beginning. When I Peter showed up after I had buzzed for him to come join us in the danger room, Laura was right along beside him. I couldn't even make a joke out of it, but I did have to step in between Luke and Laura because of the look she was giving him. The encounter felt weird, so I took a closer look and noticed red fading spots that were healing on her neck, wait that was more than just a few red spots. 

It would seem Peter had been a little busy. With a sigh, I snapped my fingers at everyone to get their attention.

"Alrighty then, this is going to be a test spar between Peter and Luke." I clapped my hands, bringing up the holo-projectors which would keep track of the rounds and boundaries.

"You want me to fight the kid? Seriously? How is he the second strongest.?" Luke asked with more than a little disbelief in his voice.

"Luke you have to understand, everyone else that hangs around here can tear you apart piecemeal like you're a toy. His girlfriend over there, giving you the death glare has claws made from the same materials as the needle and tools the doctor used to draw your blood. Also, don't look down on his size; he is packing some real power." I told him, as I said this, Laura flashed her claws at Luke, but Peter was quick to push her hands back down. 

"Hey, why do I have to fight him?" Peter asked while holding Laura's hands so that she didn't pop her claws again. Hmm: That was interesting, and it would seem he already figured some things out as well.

"Peter, you are the best person for this fight with your reflexes, because if I paired Luke up with anyone else, it would be overkill for his first time here. I am not looking down on either of you, but everyone else is kinda way overpowered." I told them both as I headed for the control room to give them space for fighting.

"Then I will fight him," Laura spoke up instantly. And that was what I was worried about, the little death ball that has been trained from birth would make this test a failure for the man.

"Can't have that, your training put you way out of his class. Peter won't just K.O. Luke right off the bat, this allows us to gather more data for Natasha to review and build a training plan later." I replied to the room, staring her down. Laura stared back at me then snorted after a while, with that as a sign. I gave them time to get changed while I finished the set up for the little test.

Luke came back wearing our extra large gym gear, and so did Peter. Now that I had a better look at them both, I noticed that Peter wasn't that much smaller than Luke. That was interesting; I wasn't aware that his height had increased, maybe that was due to his constant slouching. Leaving that train of thought, I turned to Laura, who was growling while giving me the continuous stink eye. I was sure that she would have taken a swipe at me if she knew it would connect.

I just laughed and gave her a shrug. "Alright guys, the rules are simple, this is a spar, not a knock out so tap out wins," I told them as I hit the button labeled GONG to start the match. On the mini-holograms were full model renders of both Peter and Luke recording every punch or kick thrown. All sensors were gathering stats such as breathing rates, balance, glucose levels, everything one can think up, and the scanners were keeping track of all of it.

Watching the two fight, I saw I was right with my assumption, Luke was giving as good as he got, but he wasn't connecting a lot of hits with Peter's spider-sense helping him cheat his way to victory. I was getting a good gauge on Luke's combat skills though, and it would seem he had a high mastery of the standard military combative course after basic, maybe more from the way he was throwing a few strikes and scoring hits.

Peter though, was all over the place, but I did notice him landing a few good hits. Maybe I should cut down his lab time so that he can get some solid training in. Peter will need acrobatics training, parkour, and a fighting style. That would have to come later though. After they had been fighting for a solid thirty minutes and I was sure this was going to go for hours considering the way Logan, Natasha and I spar with inhuman stamina and endurance.

I was about to hit the buzzer to end the match when Peter connected with a flying knee to Luke's face which left him open for a smooth grab from Luke who then finished with a slam outside the ring. And that was how Peter lost the match. I chuckled at the look Laura was giving Luke, but that went away as she watched how Luke helped Peter back up and brushed him off.  I watched them interact for a while as I sorted through all the data collected from their little bout. The amount of force used to hit each other was going up after each traded blow. 

I smiled at the numbers I saw because, from my personal experience, it must have been incredibly cathartic to be able to go all out for once. Holding back all the time would only create mental blocks after a while and then when you're truly in need of all your abilities and power, your only going to be in your own way. Everyone was slowly getting help and coming out of their shells they were forced into because of circumstances in the comics. Luke and Peter went to change, but I sent Peter a ping letting him know we needed to talk after he was finished. 

Luke gave his goodbyes since he had left someone in charge of the bar while he was out of contact. The whole suite of tests only taking up about four hours of his time. With a new Star Industries phone in his pocket, Luke rolled out on his Harley. So now it was Peter and me, since I made up an excuse to send Laura away by concocting something up about checking security and other things. It worked like a charm and I punched Peter in the arm as we walked out.

"So, about Laura, please tell me your plans?" I asked him.

"I didn't know I needed to have a plan," Peter replied, looking shocked. With that answer, I was trying hard not to facepalm and let Peter know how worried I was.

"Okay, You have a lot of money now, so take Laura out somewhere nice nothing fancy but it has to be out of this building. She hasn't dialed in any taste preferences, so keep it simple, but fun. It's summertime, so Coney Island is open, go out and have fun." I told him, but Peter looked at me like a deer in the headlights.

"Wait, you're sending me out on a date? What about all the work I haven't finished yet?" Peter asked as he waved his arms around in the air.

"Pete, you're smart, you can always finish tomorrow. Right now this is your first girlfriend, and you're not going to mess it up, so get out now." I told Peter while pointing him in the direction of his living space.

 

---

Benjamin Blake / Super Fast Semi-Functional Moron / Genius / Hero’ish

With the final papers signed and delivered to the lawyers, it was official that Star Industries was going to be rebranded as Vega Industries, after the star. Jessica Jones had finally shown up at Luke's bar, of all places, and I had to slap my head for not recognizing such a simple possibility. I hadn't approached her yet since that asshole KillGrave hadn't shown his face in New York again. 

Although, I had to put that out of my mind for the moment because the President decided he wanted to show up at the little party I was throwing in a few weeks in July. It would seem that getting most of the politicians in my pocket in New York and throwing a bash to do some humanitarian work for a new cause was enough to get him to come out to earn a few brownie points. It would have been fine if he wasn't also bringing the fucking prince of Wakanda with him. 

Wakanda was never invited, and any of their contact requests were being declined. I knew what they were after, but I wasn't going to buy into any of their shit. Ororo and her bloodline was the only reason that they even had any interest in showing up. With the PANTHER insinuating himself into my plans, I might have to prepare something special for him to express how welcome he truly was.

Anyway, the search that I had going for the big man that could stand up to the Hulk was going nowhere; but if my hunch was correct, he might still be stuck under a mountain like his comic book origins. So if I wanted that gem, I would either have to wait for his appearance or check the mountain he was under and then take it from him. Unfortunately, by taking the gem, I would be condemning the Professor's stepbrother to death under the mountain, since I would essentially be taking what's keeping him alive.

Putting those thoughts and troubles out of my mind for the moment, I returned my focus to the watch I was working on for Hank. The idea came to me from one of the recent raids that was pulled on a Weapon X facility in the Philippines. They had the Meta's in inhibitor collars, and one of the more interesting Meta's couldn't change shape because of it. The boy's metagene was almost identical to Hanks, but the boy was normally able to transform from his Beast form to a hybrid and then human form. After I watched him a few times, I decided to replicate the same effect with an inhibitor watch, but this wasn't any standard inhibitor. 

The watch was dubbed the quantum bio-aura control node. It's function was to jack into a person's natural X gene signature. From there, it allows a person to control their transformation energy/signature.  Almost instantly, I realized this watch I was creating was turning out to be something extremely hazardous. 

The watch quickly became something I had to stick OMEGA level security on because if it fell into the wrong hands, it would be disastrous. So I included more than a few redundancy protocols as a precaution. With this, I can recruit my main poster boy for my movement. But, before leaving for the X-Mansion for the end of the day, it was best I checked on a few things.

I brought up the nano-fly feed in Tony's small home away from home and watched as he put his plan together for his escape. It had scared me to find out how bad he looked in the cave once my nano-flies found him. I almost went and rescued him as soon as the image came up on my holo-feeds, but I stayed my hand and only delivered a medi-gel first aid when no one paid attention. One high-speed injection saved his life while they were operating on him, which gave me more heart issues, like my heart wasn’t beating fast enough already. 

Then I had to deliver another high-speed injection when he got an infection from installing the arc reactor in his chest. The risk he took installing that thing in his chest in such an unsanitary cave was beyond me, but Tony had that glint of survival in his eyes, so it was the best show on my holo suite. Though no one other than Natasha even knew I had live video feeds in Tony's little cave/cell. Yeah, it was a complete dick move leaving him in the cave, but this was his life-changing experience, and it would have been far worse to stop him from learning from this. 

Shutting down the video on Tony, I brought up the next. Peter was in the lab working on something he told me would knock my socks off, granted there wasn't much that could wow me, but at least he was trying. I then checked on the girls and they were down in the danger room. That view instantly made me wish I was there right now. Natasha, Ororo, Gwen, and Jean were in workout gear yoga outfits that were so soaked in sweat; everything was almost see-through. 

From what I could see on the scoreboard Gwen and Ororo were teamed against Natasha and Jean. They were playing a game of basketball, and Ororo and Gwen were winning by only one point. I was trying to figure out how that was even possible when I watched as Gwen sank a three-pointer like it was nothing. I shook my head at that and pinged the locators for Logan, Laura, and Luke since these were my leading trouble makers anyway. Logan pinged at the school, Luke pinged at his bar, and Laura pinged at the sixteenth floor in the air ducts, I could only facepalm at this.

I pinged her radio, "Laura, why are you in the vents?".

"Making sure the security was installed properly," Laura answered back like it was nothing new. 

I just shook my head and left for the last place on earth I might currently be welcomed, even if the owner doesn't say it: the X-mansion. I was only keeping up pretenses by this point, since the last time I was there I had asked for the Professor's help with Jean's training. And yes, I had left the Professor with a strongly worded warning. The Professor was now aware of his imminent death if Jean's mind was in any way or form altered from when she arrived. There will be no mental blocks, no alterations of personality or suppression of emotions or any ideas to help her manage her powers. 

I made it clear that Jean was going to keep full control of all her omega level abilities. I didn't tell him outright that I was going to kill him if he performed any tampering, but I made sure to imply his neck was on the line. I was desperate to avoid the dark phoenix storyline at all costs. Having some triple personality bullshit was not something someone gaining near-infinite power should be dealing with. That's how so much shit went wrong in the movies and comics.

So, avoiding all the pleasantries, I went right to Hank's lab upon arrival. When I got into Hanks lab; I found the Professor, Michelle, and Warren. He was shirtless and had Michelle all wrapped up in his wings, trying to hide them kissing. I could only snort at that which shocked them out of their little moment. Michelle turned around giving me the eye daggers, but I ignored her as I registered that Warren had a sheepish look on his face. If only he knew I wasn't the one he should be worried about since I was sure she didn't tell him anything about who her father was.

Ignoring the little love birds, I went over to the Professor's location, talking to Hank who was at one of the monitors. "Professor, Hank I completed and brought what I promised I would," I told them both as I held up the watch for them to see. Hank instantly stopped what he was doing and zoomed in directly on the watch while the Professor was more muted in his response. I understood why. If this worked, I was about to change almost everything around here.

The agreement made between us was, if I could figure out a way to assist Hank in controlling his transformation, the Professor would support me in my Metahuman Support and Assistance Division, going public with his school. That was more than just a new territory for all of us, and it didn't help that Salem was quickly becoming far more secure than Washington D.C. itself. 

I had built aerial drones to patrol and monitor Salem all day, every day. And, there were over two thousand drones at any one time in the air running scans and tracking suspicious people. Alfred had complete control, and all the adult staff at the school had access to any discoveries Alfred made. While Hank went away to change into more expandable clothes It was time to at least make peace with the Professor.

"So, Professor, are you excited for the upcoming reveal," I asked, trying to reduce the tension between us.

"You do realize that this will change everything, Benjamin. I appreciate everything you have done, but this publicity will change things." Stated Xavier with a slight tilt to his brows expressing his concern.

"Charles, we can not keep being that dirty secret the world tries to hide? This town and state are about to become a boon for Metahumans. This movement has to start somewhere and why not here at the school that's built to help them?"

"I just hope we aren't taking on too much to fast Benjamin." Stated Xavier in a master understatement.

"I have been investing millions to upgrade the township with homes, facilities, and defenses. We will be ready, Professor, I hope you're ready to teach." I replied with a shrug.

"I thought you would be ready to retire me." Said the Professor with a smile, but I knew the true meaning behind that statement.

"No retirement Professor, as long as we understand our limits with another's mental faculties, we will have no issues." I returned. There was no need to call him out on his hypocrisy, but he needed to understand messing with someone's mind has its consequences. Even though this man had my respect, history had shown his mental tampering caused massive damage. 

I'm unapologetic for my actions since finding out about some omega level Meta unleashing all their powers because of the instability from their emotional imbalance due to not having had the necessary experience to effectively deal with raw emotions. It was one of my worst fears.
 
Coming to a tacit understanding with the Professor, we answered the buzz when Hank called us into the testing room.

---

Jean Grey  Metahuman Extraordinaire / Dancer / Sexy RedHead

With the game over, Jean had returned to the showers with the rest of the ladies with whom she had played. She heard light talking between Ororo and Nat, but she was too focused with her eyes on Gwen to pay much attention to them. When she did refocus her attention though, Jean began to notice light scarring on both ladies. Natasha had what appeared to be two fading bullet holes, and Ororo had a slash placed right by her ribs. 

Both the scars were faded, close to non-existent, but she noticed them nonetheless since they were on what could have been nothing but flawless skin. That was such a shame Jean thought as she got into the showers. After they had finished using the facilities, they returned to the locker room to get dressed. Jean decided to help Gwen shower, and while they were both drying off, she shared a light kiss with her, smiling at the blush that played across her face.

"So how's Ben?" Asked Ororo from behind Jean. She turned around just in time to watch as Ororo pulled her lace garments over her body.

"Ben's being Ben, he tells everyone he is okay when he isn't." Gwen said, speaking from her place in Jean's arms. That caused Jean to raise her eyebrows.

"Yes, exactly as she says." Replied Jean, backing up Gwen with what she also knew about Ben.

"Is this related to his raids he keeps performing?" Asked Ororo.

"Yes, it's changing him. When he let me in his mind, I noticed that something changed when he watched a person die. It would seem that the person was of importance and Ben felt he wasn't fast enough." Stated Jean while Gwen was drying her hair with the towel.

"That's the job he signed up for girls, and Benjamin is trying to save everyone he can. Anything other than that is a failure to him. What I am really interested in is this little thing between the three of you." Natasha finally spoke up from her locker as she pulled her shirt on.

"No, they didn't!" Asked Ororo, scandalized. She turned around to find the two girls blushing at her.

"So tell me more girls what's the deal with you and SPEEDY." Asked Natasha.

“It's something that we are exploring together.” Spoke Gwen 

"So you're both okay with this sharing amongst yourselves?" Asked Ororo with a raised eyebrow. Jean and Gwen looked at each other for a moment then looked at Ororo.

“We will let you know after we know.” Jean relied to Ororo with a small smile.

"Good! Good, come let's go have lunch, and I will give you girls tips on how to always win." Stated Natasha as she ushered everyone out of the locker rooms 

 

---

Benjamin Blake / Super Fast Semi-Functional Moron / Genius / Hero’ish / Not Quite A Spymaster

The watch was a complete success! When Hank first put it on, it did give quite a scare though. The micro quantum-resonator knocked Hank over once it was introduced into the bio-field generated by his X gene. After Hank was able to recover, he went through the small general post routines, and then it was time for the full test.

I was already tired of looking at some sad cat man motif, but when he pressed the activation button, it was spectacular. Hank went down on all fours into a massive five foot tall blue lion. Then he reversed into what had to have been his true hybrid form from the Brian Michael Bendis X Men comics which placed me seconds away from geeking out. That was the Hank McCoy that I wanted to meet from the beginning, not that lame cat-man shit I was greeted with. 

Then Hank brought his transformation even further and became human again, a very buff and naked version of Kelsey Grammar. I was stunned because I wasn't expecting Kelsey Fucking Grammar of all people to be the Beast. I never heard it in his voice, but that might also be due to his vocal cords being changed with his transformation.

Hank walked around a bit to test his balance, and then once he looked at his hands, Hank froze on the spot. Speaking in a husky voice through shed tears, "I honestly can't tell you the last time I was able to see my actual skin. My transformation happened during my college days, and I have been trying to put the memories out of my mind ever since. Thank you for this Benjamin.".

---

July 4, 2010

Benjamin Blake / Super Fast Semi-Functional Moron / Genius / Hero’ish

I was sitting in my office listening to the Governor tell me how the President had outmaneuvered me. Since I was going to do an entirely new Humanitarian Aid in July and the President complicated things and made it about America and the American drive for equality and independence. But, I could use that to my advantage. This was going to be big, so it is time to play this up to its maximum scale, especially since everyone wanted to stick their hands in. I was going to make sure that no one could bail at the last second. 

With an assembly a few days ahead of us, I placed massive bribes of money up to play for those on their best behavior. I was going to bring the whole X-School out in force, all two hundred and eighty-two kids. From fliers to water wielders, small energy manipulators, to Spiral's sister that looks so much like POISON IVY you start worrying about antidotes. Yes, the world was going to get a massive surprise today.  And the big finish was Warren flying in. We had the FURRY community locked in with Hank's beast transformation and with my advertisement to the greater African American Community to come out for support, we were looking at one massive 4th of July event.

As it turned out, the event was going to be so massive that we had to book the entirety of Central Park. I spent money like it was water, but that was the cost of doing business. Most, if not all, of the politicians in the city were sucking up to the President in the days leading up to the big event. That was fine by me because they were keeping him busy and out of my hair.

Natasha wasn't happy when she found out that the secret service was going to usurp her security protocols, but when I gave her the new stealth suit, mark 2.0, I was instantly forgiven. It was a significant struggle in juggling everyone, but if I could pull this off the prize was more than just a seat at the big table. Vega Industries would be the end all be all when it came to Metahuman affairs, and I would be officially moving this reality from that dreaded Marvel Canon blade I felt positioned over my neck.

 

---

Mystique

Mystique watched the latest news from the couch with her daughter Anna. Today was the day that the Americans like to act extra boisterous and hold their parades while watching explosions. She had nothing against it since she did enjoy the changing customs with the changing years, then the ceremonies were interrupted with breaking news.

Mystique watched with bated breath as he walked out on stage with the United States President and unveiled his Meta-Human support and Health Department to the American people. The crowd watched with hushed breath as he spoke of how the hero LIGHTSPEED and a few others were doing their best to save and help the city, so he took it upon himself to search out others like those heroes. 

Mystique couldn't help but snort at that since Benjamin was the hero and most didn't even know it. Then he introduced Charles' school and all the ones he saved, then someone walked out and transformed. He changed as she could but what surprised her, was the fact that the person turned out to be DR. Hank McCoy and when he was on stage, the crowd went wild with acceptance for him. 

Then Ororo flew in, then a kid with wings followed her. This was the moment: the moment that Mystique realized she was indeed on the wrong side. Benjamin not only got Charles to go public with his school but he had indeed orchestrated the general acceptance and declaration with the President by his side.

They had somehow figured out how to control Hank's mutation allowing him to gain full control. Mystique gave her daughter a look; it had been a few years since she was last able to provide Anna with skin to skin contact. Anything other than fabric between them had always lead to disastrous results. If they can help Hank control his uncontrollable ability, then they must have a way to assist Anna.

"Anna, pack your things we are going on a trip," Mystique told her daughter as she went to pack herself. Charles would always have a place in his school for her because of their past, but she hoped that Benjamin had a seat at his side for the revolution she knew he was bringing.