When I tapped the Omnitrix to shift back into human form and dropped down in front of Rogue, she jumped in shock, staring at me. “Whoa! Wha-”
We were in a small park, with benches and pathways, and a small fountain in the distance. More importantly, nobody was around, so her secret was safe in case someone saw a random girl talking to Dial the Avenger. She stared at me as I walked over. “Hi. Rogue right?”
“Who wants to know?” she said, surprising me. I expected her to sound like that, but her accent was stronger than I realized. Very Southern. And adorable.
Rogue wore the same green see-through top over a black tank top, a collar around her neck, and a pair of gloves. Basically covering herself entirely. Her hair was in a tight bob, and dark green lipstick shined just a bit.
Just like the X-Men kids, she was cute as a button. Probably wouldn’t have appreciated that opinion though. I kept back a safe distance, and Rogue took a good look at me.
“Yer an Avenger!” She sounded surprised. And scared. She backed away from me, holding a stack of books close. “What do you want?”
“To say hi, partially,” I waved just a bit, smiling as non-threateningly as possible. “I’m Dial. And you’re Rogue, one of the X-Men’s friends.”
She scoffed. “They ain’t no friends of mine.”
“That wasn’t what they said,” Scott was a big believer in her actually.
Rogue eyed me suspiciously. “Good for them. What do you want? You gonna arrest me?”
“For what, being a teenager?” I asked honestly.
“No, for my powers!” she spat out. I think she was trying for defiant anger. She seemed more scared to me.
“...Rogue. I’m an Avenger. We arrest bad guys. Fight demi-gods, armies, monsters. Not high schoolers,” I looked around the park. After a second, I moved over to a bench near us and sat down. “I’m not here to hurt you, Rogue. I know about your issue controlling your powers.”
She hesitated at the sight of me sitting, then brushed some hair back from her eyes. “It ain’t… really about control.”
I motioned for her to sit, feeling like I was dealing with a skittish cat. It was similar. Rogue hadn’t had a good time of it. Never knew who to trust. Half of that was likely Mystique. That blue woman lied so much for a living that she couldn’t tell the difference between loving someone and gaslighting them.
Rogue finally lowered down next to me. “You know about my power, right?”
“Absorption,” I said immediately. “With a touch, you can take on the abilities of anyone you touch. But it takes a toll on the people you touch.”
“More like nearly kills them!” she waved a hand in the air and turned to face me. “I can’t control it! I don’t mean to! But every time I get close to someone now I just end up hurting ‘em!”
She turned away from me and stared at her hands. “I just wish I never got these stupid powers…”
“...Rogue. You have incredible powers.”
“How can you say that!?” she snapped, spinning around. “The last person I got close to-”
“Is recovering,” when I said that, she stopped in shock. I smiled sadly. “Slowly. But Cody is being looked at by some of BRIDGE’s top people. They’ve managed to wake him up. He might be slow to get out of bed. But the fact we knew what to look for meant we could wake him.”
Rogue looked as though the sky had opened up. “R-Really?”
“Yes. And Rogue. I don’t think your powers are as uncontrollable as it seems, based on the science,” I reached for my pocket and took out a large watch. An exact copy of Scott’s actually. “I think, with time and practice, you might be able to choose when and how your powers activate. You’ll be able to take in powers for longer periods of time, mix and match them… and touch people without them being harmed. But until that time.”
I reached out for her hand. She jumped, startled. I stopped. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
The moment it took for her to finally reach out as well was longer than I expected. But she finally did, placing her gloved hand carefully in mine. I took my other hand and wrapped the watch around her wrist.
“Now, this model is a bit cumbersome,” I attached the clasps. “But it’s going to work. Made by Iron Man, Jury Rigg, and a bunch of the smartest people I know. Based on the research we did on Cody. And…”
I touched her glove. And removed it in a movement Nat had taught me. Turns out even gloves are easy to steal when you have enough pickpocket skills. She gasped in horror. “No-!”
My palm pressed into hers. And it began.
God. I hadn’t expected the pain of it to be so all-encompassing. Still. I’d felt worse. I’d seen literal hell.
“Relax,” I told her, watching as the watch beeped loudly. It didn’t need much. As I’d told her, we had plenty of data. The watch shone a familiar green. And the pain ended. I sighed in relief. “There. That wasn’t so bad.”
Rogue’s jaw dropped open.
“Well, it was pretty bad,” I admitted. “But it’s over now. How do you feel?”
“I’m… touching you…”
I chuckled. Then I turned her hand around and took it in a shaking position. “Let’s try this again. I’m Dial, of the Avengers.”
She stared at our bare hands touching. “How-”
“The watch,” I took a hold of her other glove and removed it, folding it together with the other one. “It’s meant to negate the powers of the wearers. You can turn it off anytime you wanna take down a moron or two who makes the mistake of ‘messing with the Rogue’. And I still think you should train your powers. But for now, you can touch people agai-”
I stopped when a pair of arms wrapped around me. I felt her shake against me as she hugged me. Closing my big mouth, I held the crying girl close, sighing sadly. “Hey, hey. I got you. I got you.”
Later, maybe, she’d ask me what the big catch was, or would wonder if there was something I was hiding. Hard to counter all the trauma, fear, and lies she’d been hit with.
But right then, Rogue hugged another person without fear for the first time in what must have been weeks. That was enough for me.
----------------------------------------
We were like that for a good while. Not going to say how long. Rogue needed time to get herself together.
Afterward, I gave her a card. If she noticed the X-symbol on it, she didn’t mention it. “I can call you with this?”
“Yeah. It’s also got a few other numbers. Jen, my girlfriend, put the number of her law firm there, in case you need legal assistance. Tony is on there, if you want to ask about the watch.”
“She-Hulk and Iron Man?” she asked, startled.
“Man, if those surprise you, wait till you find out the God of Thunder might stop by to say hi.”
“Ha!” she grinned, looking up at me as I stood to my full height. “Does that mean I need to watch out for lightning?”
“Naw. Just keep an eye out,” I said honestly. After all, Storm was in the area. I sighed. “Rogue. You can live whatever life you want from here. I’m not going to force you. But if you want help practicing with your powers, or just need a friend. Well. Try reaching out. Okay?”
“...No promises,” she said softly.
That would have to do.
“Oh, and if anyone tries to pretend to be me, know that the card works to ID others carrying one,” I added. “So if I show up screaming about how you’re evil or something, it’s bullshit.”
With that, I twisted the dial. In a flash of light, I was in Fasttrack form.
“Whoa!” Rogue said, surprised.
“Later, skater,” with a wave of two fingers, I spun around and zoomed off at super-speed, leaving the Southern belle behind me.
Thank god that hadn’t been more awkward. I’d had a huge crush on her as a kid. Can you blame me? I was ten and she was a hot goth girl.
As of now, she was just a kid who needed help. A dangerous kid, with a possible bright future. Hopefully, I could help with that.
----------------------------------------
Running at Fasttrack speed was always so addictive. There is something so damn fun about blazing around while the world stood still. Granted, I could tell why Pietro sometimes got annoyed with how slow the world could be. Or why La Vent considered his speed a curse.
Thank god I could turn it off. For me, the fun moments between heartbeats was a choice.
As I ran past people, I thought about the watches I’d given Rogue and Scott. They were… expensive. Prohibitively expensive. Each one had been made for a specific problem, put together based on designs Tony had already been working on for a while to do the job.
Poly-tectic adaptive materials let it survive a whole lot of abuse. The on-board software to adjust to the power needs. Oh, and a specialized power source. The watches cost as much as a Quinjet. Each.
And of course, they were imperfect. If Scott really wanted to blast out a laser, if he put his full focus on forcing it out, his powers would eventually overload the systems and shatter the internal mechanism. Rogue, despite what she thought, might have enough control that she could do the same.
Which was fine. Last thing I wanted was for some techno villain to break through the safeties and force their powers off against their will. Did mean Magneto wouldn’t let it work on him though. Maybe the next iterations.
Of course, one other thing. It did nothing for physical mutations. Sorry, Kurt. Blob. Toad. And a whole list of others.
As these thoughts ran through my head, I came to a skidding halt at my destination. There, a familiar man waited. “Huh. I guess I’m late.”
“Not at all. I was just early,” Fury, leaning against his new car. Well, old car, renewed. His Chevy Tahoe, a heavily modified and upgraded version, was a standard SHIELD one that Fitz had worked on with Shuri to restore and give to the superspy.
“How’s she running?” I asked, joining the older man. He looked pretty happy, in his relaxed suit and long coat, his classic eyepatch on.
“Like a dream. How about yours?” he said with a nod to the Omnitrix.
“Same,” I looked over at the building Fury had been waiting in front of. “I guess I don’t need to ask?”
“Yeah, they’re in there,” Fury said. “Except the big fish. She’s probably at work.”
“Easier this way, I guess. After you, old man,” I said, turning back into my human form in a flash.
“Kid, you’ve gotten real uppity lately,” Fury grumbled with no real heat.
“Naaaah, I’m just fond of you now,” we passed a sign as we walked. It read ‘The Brotherhood Of Bayville Boarding House’.
We came to the steps of a large building. I knocked on the door, stepping back with Fury. As I waited, I wondered a couple of things.
Back in my universe, I’d watched X-Men Evolution. I remembered it fondly. And one thing I remember was that Quicksilver was a member of the Brotherhood, with Scarlet Witch following. That was clearly not the case here. Man, what is the point of meta-knowledge if it’s useless a lot of the time?
So when the door opened and an unfamiliar young teen stood there, I was unsurprised. He was tall, fairly athletic for his young age, with brown skin a few shades lighter than my own, slicked-back black hair, and dark brown eyes. He looked us over, confused. When he spoke, it was with a bit of an Italian accent.
“Who the hell are-” then he stopped. His eyes widened.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
First, he looked at Fury. The famous former head of SHIELD. More famous since he shot the leader of Hydra in the face on live television.
Then me. Dial.
His fingers clenched on the door. I spoke quickly before he could unleash hell. “We wanted to speak to you guys. Just speak. Nothing else.”
He glared at me. “Or what!?”
“...seriously?” I asked him pointedly. I looked over at Fury. Fury rolled his eye and walked forward.
“Boy, you really don’t want to ask questions like that,” Fury pushed past the kid with the confidence of decades. “The guys you ask might answer.”
I followed him after while the teenager sputtered. Fury stepped into the living room, where a massive mound of flesh was sitting on the couch. He stared at us weirdly as Fury sat down on a beat-up old armoire. I took a spot just behind Fury while looking around.
The place was cleaner than I expected. Granted, still messy, since, you know, teenage boys, but the garbage was empty at least. Guess Mystique ran a tight enough ship that the place wasn’t a toxic wasteland.
“Uh, who are you?” the big kid asked, sounding just a bit lost.
“I’m Nick Fury, Agent of BRIDGE,” Fury sat back in the seat with his usual Sam Jackson cool.
“Some people call him a bad mutha-”
“Shut your mouth,” Fury cut me off.
“I’m just talking about Fury.”
Fury didn’t laugh, but he did give me an amused smile. The large kid on the other hand looked confused. Not a fan of classic blaxploitation films probably.
Three others rushed into the room. One, the slick-haired kid who’d opened the door. Then, a long-haired kid wearing a black t-shirt and a brown vest. Finally, a kid who literally hopped into the room, with pallid grey-green skin and the worst teeth I’d ever seen in a teenager. Their appearance seemed to spur the large kid into action, who stumbled up to his feet.
The long-haired one took the lead. “What is going on here!?”
The room shook. Something fell in the house. Impressive stuff. One clenched fist and suddenly there was an earthquake.
“We came here to talk,” Fury said. “Just that.”
“Yo, what if we don’t want to-” the green-skinned kid said.
“Todd Tolansky,” I pointed at him. “Frederick Dukes,” the large kid. “Lance Alvers,” long hair. “And Gunther Bain.” That was the slicked-back hair one.
Fury took over. “Or, as you have codenamed yourselves. Toad. Blob. Avalanche. And Unus the Untouchable… little ostentatious on the last one.”
“Fuck you,” the aforementioned Unus spat out.
“Told you,” Toad whispered. “Plus, it sounds like Anu-”
“What the hell do you want!?!” Lance spat out.
“Like Fury said. To talk. Because obviously, we know what you are. Mutants. Powered humans. And we came here to make you an offer.”
The batch of teenagers glared at us with varying levels of anger.
“Part of the offer is a massive bundle of cash,” I added helpfully.
The anger lowered a significant amount.
“...We’re listening,” Lance said hesitantly.
“It’s pretty simple,” I began. “We know you guys have powers. Not insignificant ones either.”
“Did the X-Nerds tell you that?” Gunther asked.
“No, our research did. It’s how we know you can form force fields around you, for example.”
Unus the Untouchable. I had never heard of him, back in my world. Likely he was one of those X-Men characters that just didn’t show up too often. In this world, Gunther Bain, born Angelo Unuscione was an Italian immigrant who had moved to Bayville after spending some time in New York City. He’d gone to the same school as Spyke actually, confirming he’d taken on, at least in spirit, the role that Pietro had in the X-Men Evolution universe.
I wondered who had taken Wanda’s role before focusing up.
“But, despite what your principal would say, you guys have been using your powers to bully, attack, and otherwise abuse others,” I said without holding back.
“Hey, you can’t prove it,” Toad said quickly.
“We don’t have to right now. As I said, we came with an offer. I’m just letting you know why we’re extending it, rather than having Hulk drop out of the sky.”
That last part stilled them. Even Blob looked worried.
“Here’s the basics, boys,” Fury said. “I’ve been authorized to offer you all a job. With BRIDGE’s Grappler unit. Come work with us. We’ll provide you with pay, training, and a place to live. You want an education? We can provide the best.”
“What if we don’t want to go to school?” Blob asked, looking worried.
For a moment, I felt for him. His school records reminded me that modern education dropped the ball in a lot of ways, especially for kids like him with possible developmental issues.
“Then we’ll talk it over,” Fury said diplomatically.
“Fuck that,” Lance snapped, the ground shaking again. “What do you want? Why are you even making this offer?”
“Because you guys might end up in jail if we don’t try to intervene. Or dead,” the sigh that left me then shook my lungs. “Lance. You can quake buildings apart. In fact, you have. If you cause that kind of damage wily-nily, and you don’t stop, then cops will have to intervene. And they’ll likely kill you. Because you are powerful. Not bulletproof.”
I looked over at Unus and Blob. “Now, you two are bulletproof. Which means I get called in. And one of my options to beat you is tossing you into lava.”
The smug looks on their faces faded.
“Hey, what about me!?” Toad squawked.
We all looked over at him.
"Well you are very agile and even fairly strong for your size… but would you really like to have The God of Thunder or the Doomslayer of Rio come after you?"
Toad paled. And yeah, Doomslayer of Rio. You’re welcome, Frank.
After a long moment, I continued. “So we are making you an offer. But beyond that, we have an ultimatum.”
“Stop causing trouble,” Fury said. His smirk was gone. Instead, a single intimidating eye glared at them. “We know about you. We know what you can do. And we don’t mind you having powers. But you are done. No more buildings quaking apart. No more kidnapping others. No more random fights.”
The ground began to shake. Blob’s face began to twist in rage. Unus glared at us.
I stepped forward then. I looked them over one by one.
The teenagers tried to glare me down.
Then, the ground calmed as Lance slowly unclenched his fists. Blob stepped back. Unus eyed me warily.
Guess my reputation proceeded me.
“You’re lucky,” Fury said. “If you were adults, we’d have taken you in. As of now? Those are your choices. Join BRIDGE and get paid handsomely. Stay as you are and stop causing trouble. Or cause trouble.”
That last one didn’t need any additions.
Fury got up. I followed him calmly. “Think about it. Here’s a card,” Fury handed Lance one. Similar to Rogue and the X-Men’s versions, with a G for Grappler. And a fuckton more restrictions. “My number is in there.”
“‘In’?” Unus asked, confused.
“It’s a phone,” I said, not explaining further.
We walked up to the door, not looking back at the kids.
“Hey,” Blob said.
Fury and I stopped, turning to look at him. He looked hesitant. “Um… how much money do we get?”
I named a figure. A very large one.
Then Fury and I left the shocked kids behind.
----------------------------------------
“I feel kind of bad, bugging their place like that,” I told Fury as we entered his car.
“Had to be done,” the older man started up his car. “We need to monitor them.”
“Yeah. I’m just happy we got out without a fight. Those kids are damn volatile. I think Blob was ready to start swinging.”
Fury scoffed. “These kids are going to end up causing a lot of damage if they continue as they are. Same with the X-Men.”
“Fury-”
“I don’t care what kind of soft spot you’ve got for them. The kids on that team have caused a lot of damage. Both of them are teenagers. That gets them a lighter sentence, not a get-out-of-jail-free card for stupidity…”
“I was going to say I agreed completely.”
“...Huh,” he blinked at that.
I may have been a fan of the X-Men, but I’d spent enough time around other heroes, being a hero, that my hero-worship was way lower than my pragmatism. I leaned against the window as I sat there, thinking. Fury wasn’t wrong. We hadn’t had time to talk about it. But the two groupss of kids had caused some property damage recently. Nothing that couldn’t be repaired, and no one hurt so bad they couldn’t heal.
But enough that they would have been sued a couple of dozen times.
An argument could be made for Scott since he didn’t ask for the lack of control, but even he’d done some damage on purpose.
Either way, I felt uncomfortable misleading the Brotherhood. The way we’d worded it, they would get training in their powers. But they weren’t about to become Avengers anymore than the X-Men were. Maria had gotten some therapists ready to go, unorthodox teachers, had Creel, the Grapplers, and a few former criminals turned BRIDGE Elites to drop in.
Training, schooling, and pay. And maybe, when they turned 18, they could decide for themselves what they wanted, after plenty of mentoring.
Like I’d told the X-Men kids, we weren’t down for child soldiers.
“Also, that green kid-”
“Smelled.”
“Like absolute shit, he needs a few showers. But also, he’s leaving,” I looked up to see Toad leaving the house. He was talking in towards… the same place we were going.
“Makes sense they’d try to reach out to her,” I said softly.
“Then we need to beat them to it,” Fury started driving. “If you’re right, she might be trouble.”
Yeah. Maybe we’d get lucky and she would look like Jennifer Lawrence.
Unlikely, but hopes were high.
----------------------------------------
We got to Bayville High. Fury and I walked into the office, striding past the secretary. When we entered the Principal’s office, she was shocked to see us.
She had short brown hair, high cheekbones, and brown eyes. None of which mattered.
“Raven Darkhölme? I’m Nicholas Fury,” he said with a grim look on his face. “This is Dial, of the Avengers. We’re here to talk to you about-”
The brown-haired woman’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here? Who let you in?”
“The law,” Fury snapped. He glared at her. That led me to remember that Nick Fury in the comics was actually one of the first people to take on Mystique. Along with Captain Marvel… Huh, what is Carol up to?
Fury sat down again, while I stood behind him. “We came here to talk to you about a few things. Namely, your powers.”
She stared at him. Then she looked over at me. Then she leaned back in her seat, harsh eyes glaring. “Do you?”
“Yes… Mystique,” I paused. “You’ve got blue skin.”
That was enough apparently.
Pale white flowed into soft blue. The smart pantsuit became a flowing white dress. Brown eyes shifted to gold. Brown hair became long and scarlet, the color of blood.
Mystique leaned back in her chair. “Then it seems you know more than you should. Are you here to arrest me for having powers? Because while I may lose my job, I don’t believe you could hold me for that.”
“Oh sweetheart,” I smirked. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
She smirked back. “You have no idea.”
Doubt that. Sorry Mystique. But this is my house now.
Still… I kept an eye on the metal in the room. Just in case.