Chapter 21: July 4th 2010

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.