NOVEL FROG Arc Sixteen. Chapter Four Hundred Seventy-Two. Mysterious Stranger
Laura hated the rain. Not because it was wet, or because she only really felt it being so high at the top of a building. No, Laura hated the rain as it drove idiots and assholes indoors. Sensible people took cabs or carpooled. Criminals hid in their dens, waiting for better weather to mug sensible people.
Laura hated the rain as she was bored.
It could be worse, Talon spoke in her head.
How can it possibly be worse, Laura replied.
She couldn't even enjoy the rain. It was freedom. to sit and stare at the sky, to eat a hot dog while watching the sunset. Peter loved moments like this and shared them with her, and she loved them too. Gone was me dumb, me talk funny Laura, and Laura Kinney, intelligent and dangerous young woman was born. The X-Force was just the end of that journey. She had taken up Venom's mantle and was willing to prove she could keep New York safe. There had been a few hiccups along the way, but nothing major. Nothing major as far as she was concerned.
She really liked to feel the rain on her skin and would patrol naked, in just her mask, but Natasha yelled at her. Someone was following costumed heroes and snapped a few grainy photos of her. The New York Nudist was born, in all her natural glory. Thankfully they didn't catch her face, but Natasha found out, Natasha always found out. Now, as she scaled a building, Talon covered her, under strict pain of more pain not to swing around New York bare ass naked.
It could be cold, Talon cackled.
Laura snorted at the memory of Bobby 'testing' her powers. She hadn't learned the phrase appropriate response yet. So, as his powers tried to freeze her solid, and failed, she screamed, let out her claws and leapt at him. He never lived down the joke that he was pissing icicles after she pinned him and stabbed the floor next to his head. At night, when it was raining like this, there was nothing to do but reminisce.
Until the mic in her headset clicked, "Uh Talon, we have a problem." It was one of the younger members. Wolfsbane.
She touched the side of her ear, "then hit it until it stops being a problem."
There was a brief pause, "that's the problem, we can't. It's some kind of Super Sentinel."
"Fuck," Talon swore. She tapped her comms twice, changing the channel. "Homebase, we have a Sentinel situation. We only have Augments in the field, please send Ghost or Spider-Man to assist." Tapping it again, "Wolfsbane, contain but do not engage. I will be there in two minutes."
Her HUD showed the rest of her team in Central Park, perfect to keep the Sentinel at bay. Tonight it was all brawlers, Wolfbane, Colossus, and her were around New York. They kept away from Hell's Kitchen as Daredevil lectured them if they touched his 'turf'. Talon had just rolled her eyes. Matt was a good lawyer but the joke was he had a Stick up his ass. Peter had scowled and told her off, but smirked and given her a thumbs up when Matt wasn't paying attention.
Swinging from Sunset Park to Central Park didn't take long, but she had to swing. Her flight suit wasn't ready, plus with her smaller size but much heavier skeleton, it would be the last one to build. She didn't mind though, as it was an excuse for Pete to take her flying.
As she arrived at Central Park, what she saw, she would describe as a colossal cluster fuck. Colossus was batting a giant mutated Sentinel with a park light. Further away, Wolfsbane was trying her best to corral the few visitors to the park. She was failing miserably as she was soaking wet, looked like a stray, and was only a hundred pounds. Everyone was ignoring her and taking pictures of the fight.
"What the hell?" Talon growled into her mic as she landed. "Right!" she shouted, "Fuck off or else!" and in a crude display unsheathed her claws. "NOW!" She got a camera flash in her face in response. Talon snarled and tendrils streaked out. They grabbed phones and she coated them in webbing. She pointed to a park trash can and tossed the phones into it. As they hit dead centre, she shouted, "Three points!" She turned to the group. "Last time they attacked people died. Go home, call the cops or whoever, but next time I web you and slam dunk you."
That didn't have any effect either. Talon cursed the fact that while she could bench a bus, she was also under five feet tall and looked like a kid in a onesie. It was Colossus smashing the Sentinel with the light that scattered the crowd. It furrowed the ground dangerously close to where the group was. As it stood, its eerie yellow eyes seemed to focus in on them.
"Mutant Threat Detected. All Mutant Life Must Be Eradicated." it intoned as it stood. Its muscles seemed to swell and it took on a silvery metallic sheen, just like Colossus.
"I did not touch it, I swear," Colossus yelled. They had all been at the brief concerning the Sentinels. The general tactic was adopted from the Autobot's approach to dealing with them. No powers, just smash them with whatever was handy. They were tough, but not indestructible.
"Doesn't matter, We need backup," Talon yelled back. She could use Talon, but nobody wanted a Sentinel that could regenerate.
"And it's here," a new voice said. There was a blinding flash and a tall, well-built armoured figure flashed into view. He stood, decked in strange gold and green armour. "I can deal with him. He might be able to absorb your powers," He raised a gauntlet and fired a blast of energy at the Sentinel. "But not my quantum beams." The Sentinel raised a hand and felt for the hole that the stranger had blasted through it. Talon would have been impressed, if the armour wasn't topped by a giant fishbowl helmet.
"Unknown Energy Detected. Failure To Assimilate. Retreat Advised." Its rocket boots ignited.
"Oh no you don't," the stranger shouted and darted forward. A lasso of energy shot from his gauntlet and wrapped around the Sentinel's leg. "Get these people out of here." As the Sentinel lifted off, the stranger was dragged with it.
Talon, and the crowd, watched as the man climbed the Sentinels leg. His hands glowed with energy as he punched handholds in its armour. Once he reached the top, he unclipped a device and slammed it on the Sentinel's head before leaping off. In a flash of light, he teleported back to the ground. "Watch this," the smug-sounding voice said, and he pressed a control on his bracer. There was a blip of light, then another, slowly building up as the Sentinel flew further away. Then in a giant flash, it was gone.
"I quantum-blipped it to my dimension for study. We need machines like that, and we uh don't have people like you there." The man stuck out his hand, "We also don't really do code names, and I'd like to remain anonymous."
Colossus was the first to shake his hand "Thank you, they are evil machines. Will your people be safe?" He asked as he gently extracted his hand.
Wolfsbane, feeling dejected she had done nothing, also shook his hand.
"It will. We don't have superpowers there, so no rampaging, plus, our tech is a bit more advanced than yours." He held out his hand for Talon to shake but she crossed her arms.
"We should still debrief you," Talon started. She knew Natasha was on her way.
"Sorry, no time." The stranger held up his wrist. "I can only stay here for so long before I destabilise the quantum brane of your universe. Maybe next time." In another flash of light, he was gone.
"He was strange," Colossus said, "and nobody else came?"
"We had eyes on you after the call. We just didn't interfere," Widow announced over the group's mic. "Head back to the warehouse, debrief, We've got food waiting."
"Blink, portal at our location," Colossus said and a wormhole opened a few feet away from them. "Thank you," he said as the trio walked through.
⁂
Laura provided memories for them to watch, and Natasha added her own. The group, linked in their minds, went through the fight, watching carefully.
"So, he was right, he never touched it but it still got his power. Have they improved again?" Natasha asked as the group relaxed back into the real world.
"Looks like it. So now they have adaptive bio-armour. Not like they weren't tough before. Strange though, energy is energy, so how did Mysterio affect them?" Peter asked as he leant back.
"Mysterio?" Natasha asked, she leaned forward and grabbed a mug of coffee. "He did say he was from a different dimension."
Peter shrugged, "If he was made of exotic particles he'd still have to conform to our laws of physics. Liv and I discussed it in case we needed to go back to the quantum realm."
"Think he's from there? I mean, they did kinda screw up two of their people."
Peter frowned at his coffee cup, "It would make sense. He did shout quantum this and that a lot, plus Logan said it was full of strange energy."
"So, more aliens?" Natasha said with a small smirk.
Peter leaned back, tipping his head and groaned, "Yup, more aliens."
Leaning forward, Natasha's smile lessened, "I think you need to go out and monitor the situation. You can gather more intelligence than anyone else, even me. If it is more aliens or someone from the Quantum realm we can't ignore it."
Peter couldn't help but hide a grin at that thought. He missed patrolling at night, spending his time working instead. Seeing the small smirk on Natasha's face he realised that was the point.
She stood, and leaned over, "just try not to have too much fun," she said as she kissed him on the side of the face. "Some of us actually have to work."
⁂
Charles sat at his desk, as Erik showed Peter and Laura out to the portal room. Once he had returned the pair sat and Charles nodded, "We are clear. So."
"Do we think he is the one to send the device?" Erik asked.
Charles shook his head, "Why did he not make contact if he did? No, I fear we have opened the door to multiple realms, some vastly different to ours. That is what my duplicate was warning us about, and what we must guard against. I would like you to remain on Genosha Erik, regardless of your feelings we need to remain together this time."
Erik stood, "For my daughter and my son. You have gone too far Charles, and it is only your willingness to share this that I am here. The device is too important, but this." Erik motioned to the belt on Charles's desk, "This is much much worse. No visitor ever came with good intentions. He may be a scout for a much larger force."
Charles frowned, "I agree. I shall alert the X-Men. Laura and her band need to be corralled for now. I will assign an adult to monitor them."
"And the Sentinel?"
"That we can do nothing about. I have Peter's assurance that he will deal with it."
⁂
"Did you get the samples?" The snooty voice asked, muffled by a mask.
"No. One was armoured and the other refused to shake my hand," the armoured man replied. "And the magnifier lens looks ridiculous. I could hardly see."
"And that is your own fault. Stuffing your technology into your own skull. Unless you want everyone to know what you are doing?"
"It just means we need to go out again. I'll make sure we get different teams this time."
