Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The Fastest Man Alive

Are you my daddy?

 

 

Malibu, California

Benjamin Blake, Jason Todd, aka Red Hood.

King, Father, Brother, Survivor

After my little revelation to him, Peter had gotten silent, but I allowed him the chance to think. I had my chance to think, hell, I had one hundred years to think. Things were going to change, and that would start here with Peter and Tony.

One hundred years of running to save my life and during that time, I got a better understanding of myself. I was neither Xavier nor Magneto. While I had compassion for my fellow man, I was not above bringing untold death and destruction or schemes to bare to ensure my plans succeeded. I was neither weak of will nor was I an overbearing tyrant.

I was, but a soul lost, yet I found meaning within my new life.

Putting my thoughts aside, it was best I interrupted Peter. I could see the thoughts spin in that head of his.

“Alright, talk to me, Pete,” I spoke up, dismissing the holo-screens. The grunt from the front passenger seat had me shoot Logan and Salt a look, telling them to stay out of it. Logan paid me no mind with his seat laid back while drinking one of the craft beers we were starting to produce on the island. Looking to the side, I pressed the control activating the divider shield blocking out the two in the front.

Peter released a sigh, then looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.

“Why is he dying? Who is he, and how long have you known?”

Peter had that determined look on his face; I flicked a finger in the air to reveal the image of Tony Stark. Next to the image of Tony Stark was a DNA sample from the night I had helped him. Then the image next to that showed the DNA sample from Peter’s last check-up last year.

“You have known for eight months!” Peter asked me, anger bleeding into his voice.

“Technically, it’s been one hundred years, nine days four hours and thirty seconds,” I answered with a shrug. “Do you want me to break it down to the nano-second?”

Peter glowered at me, but I paid no mind to his anger. This was something that was always going to happen and the sooner he got that, the better. Hell, we had already reached the surrounding air space of California.

“The reactor in his chest is slowly poisoning him,” I said with a shrug as I changed the holo-images to the tack lines on Tony’s neck. Fury had sent me the images with his smart band asking for any way to deal with the situation.

“So Tony Stark is my biological father.” Peter slowly intoned as he looked everything over.

“Yeah, and we are coming up on the mansion right now,” I answered as I noticed the little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. I knew that he was happy deep down, but Peter was Peter and was as bullheaded as they come. There was a ding overhead alerting us that we were on the final approach to Stark’s mansion.

The view out the side of the flying sky car was amazing, but the mansion was totally underwhelming. The glass all over the mansion was broken while part of the roof was nothing but rubble. Hell, even the garden surrounding the driveway was also messed up. Just looking at it all made me want to smack Tony upside the back of his head. I know I had told him to give me a call, but then he had to be his party boy overdramatic asshole self.

Once the sky car touched down, Peter was the first one out, but I noticed the nervousness of his walking gait. Getting out of the sky car, I turned around and waited for the VTOL to touch down in Tony’s parking lot. The Astartes were taking the job of guarding extremely seriously. Then again, as praetorian guards, that was their job. Hell, with some of the training Natasha and I had put them through, there was no way in hell they were going to just become figureheads like all of the rest throughout history.

The way the guards came marching out of the Halo styled Pelican had the hairs on the back of my neck tingling. I didn’t have to wait more than a few seconds before I watched as my girls trooped out with their brother in the back. The triplets were wearing some sort of color-coordinated flight suit while Maya was in a flaming onesie. On the other hand, Alfred only had his mega blaster set in camouflage mode on his wrist.

The look I shot the spartan in charge had him jumping to attention.

“They snuck on board and stowed away your majesty.”

I looked at them and I noticed that Maya and the triplets did not have a care in the world. They walked up to me and placed their hands on their hips, classic Wonder Woman pose.

“Daddy, you said we would go out and play hero!” Maya said with a cute little scowl on her face.

“You then.”

“Went missing.”

“For a week.”

The girls said, cutting in and out of each other’s sentences.

“Damn cute kids,” Tony said at my side. I could only glare at him and I shot Peter a look, but he had that intense concentration face on. I knew that face, it was the face he made when he was trying to solve some complex equation.

Turning to Tony, I gave him an evil smile before pushing my tablet into his chest with the DNA test on the front. Tony’s face went stark white as he looked over the information. I then turned to my kids; running a hand through my low buzz, I knelt down in front of them.

“Daddy is a hero, but he is off the clock right now,” I said with the most sincerity I could put into my voice. “But…. You can still help daddy be a hero and save Mr. Stark.”

My kids looked at me, then looked at Tony before getting into a huddle amongst themselves. The kids then looked at Tony before turning back to speak amongst themselves. Phoebe came out of the little group and did a little finger motion asking me to come near.

Bending down, I received a kiss on the cheek before Alfred opened a portal back to the island.

“Love you, daddy.”

Maya said before also giving me a kiss on the cheek before dashing through the portal made of golden sparks.

“What the what!” Tony spluttered, but the spartans had set up a perimeter allowing the girls to give me a kiss before leaving. Alfred tried to dash through after his sisters, but I was faster. Pulling Alfred back with a little bit of force applied power. I gave him a kiss on the forehead before ruffling his hair and letting him join his sisters.

“Was that a portal? How can you just make a portal? That’s impossible! What’s the power source? Where did they even go?” Tony started to fire out question after question, but I was more focused on the relaxed platinum blonde head of hair holding my hand.

Phoebe had decided to stay while her sisters and brother had gone back to the island. Shaking my head at it all, I swung her up and let her latch onto my back like a koala bear. Phoebe had her arms wrapped around my neck while she clung to my back. Turning around, we both looked at Tony who was now looking at Peter. On the other hand, Peter had his head held high, even though I could tell that his clear and confident look was a bluff. I have known him long enough to pick up on the bluff and his underlying nervousness.

“Sooo…. I umm…. I guess you know.” Tony muttered, stunning me and causing Peter to frown, trying to understand. His reaction said it all and I had the gut feeling that I already knew where this was heading. Tony sighed before asking us to follow him into his rubbled mansion. Peter looked at me before following behind Tony.

Turning around, I gave Roslow the command to set up a perimeter around the mansion. From the blacked-out vehicles around, I knew SHIELD had already set up their own. But, I was not going to rely on them knowing that HYDRA was amongst their ranks. My three hundred spartans spread out and started to take up positions. The Pelican VTOL took to the skies only to vanish under its camouflage.

Phoebe poked my cheek before pointing towards the mansion, with a sigh, I followed behind Peter and Tony.

It was time for family drama.

The inside of Tony’s million-dollar mansion was trashed beyond recognition. Most of the glass to the house, if not all, were broken and needed replacements. The educated guess was that the cause of such a thing was due to the combined clash of repulsor beams. I kept Peter and Tony walking through the destroyed house in my peripheral vision as I slowly made my way around the wreck. Phoebe poked me in my cheek again and pointed in the direction of some sound.

Checking the living room found Coulson standing by the balcony while SuperNanny played on the big screen. Agent Coulson projected a calm demeanor as he turned around, he then gave us a smile before walking over.

“Mr. Todd, SHIELD appreciate you coming over so swiftly.” The agent said smoothly with refined control as he walked over. Shaking Coulson’s hand, I introduced him to Phoebe who was hanging over my shoulder like a koala bear.

“Thank you for calling, but I would think all the paperwork would be keeping someone like yourself busy,” I said, smiling as I released Coulson’s hand.

“Ahh, yes, I had to pass along all of that paperwork,” Coulson replied with a small smile. “So, are you here to help Mr. Stark?”

“Maybe, I have to scan him first before seeing what my people can do for his condition,” I answered before turning around. “Talk with you later, Coulson.”

Walking over the broken glass, I went down the stairwell and found Peter and Tony. Tony was sitting at an L shaped desk while Peter was standing at the side, reading a hologram. The hologram that Tony had on display was of a letter from one, Mary Fitzpatrick Parker.

Well, shit, I was expecting something, but I was not expecting that.

The letter went on to tell Tony about her finding out about her pregnancy and how she would like him not to claim the child. In her letter, she stated that Tony was not in a place in his life where he was ready for children, but he would be welcomed once he grew as a person. Enclosed with the letter was a form for Tony to sign over his rights to the child. On the form, it was clear that Tony had signed the thing, but the rest of the folder had so much information in it. That I knew, he had followed Peter’s life progress.

I had to tear my eyes from the holoprojections and folder to listen to what Tony was telling Peter.

“Mary… saw right through me, man,” Tony sighed as he leaned back in his chair. The palladium poison was clear on his neck for all to see. “We met back at MIT during a conference, hell, I remember being drunk off my ass, right. And here comes this little thing walking up to me, right. At the time, I thought she wanted to get down, but instead of bringing me back to her room. She brought me to the girl’s locker room and dumped me in the shower.

Tony gave a sad chuckle as he retold his first meeting with Peter’s mother.

“So here I am cold and sober with a showerer pouring down on me. And you know what she said next?.” Tony let out another self-deprecating laugh. “You can now finish your speech sober since that’s what I paid for with my tuition and I was not going to short change her. She didn’t care who I was, and she didn’t care what I did. All Mary cared about was getting her degree and refusing to be given anything less than she knew she was worth. She was a spitfire, and I fell in love instantly. I chased her for four years before she gave me a chance, and I messed it all up.”

Tony released a sigh before speaking up again. “You see Peter, back then I did know what love really was and when I had gotten all that I wanted, I self-destructed… Slept with her roommate on a dare.”

“And you’re telling me because why?” Peter growled, and I noticed the red at the corners of his eye.

“No point in taking it to my grave; besides Pepper, Mary was the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Tony replied, then let out a huff of air. “Am going to die, and I never had the balls to be a father to my son. I should have been in your life, yes, was I? No, do I regret that? Yes, with every fiber of my being. I should have been there for you and am eternally sorry that I never got to meet you until today.”

Tuning him out again, I noticed the video reel of Howard Stark on the back wall and I finally understood. He had watched the video of Howard and got to the end. I remember that at the end of the tape, Howard had left a message telling Tony that he was the greatest thing that he has ever made in his life.

Tony had finally understood that and was trying to set his regrets straight. Phoebe poked me in the cheek before trueing my head to show me something. What I found was Peter and Tony sharing a man’s hug. I guess I missed something there, ohh well.

“So, what’s the plan to give up and die or solve the problem?” I asked, interrupting the two. Peter and Tony did their little awkward untangling of limbs before turning to outlook at me.

“Yeah, what Ben said,” Peter spoke up, brushing away a tear. I facepalmed, and Phoebe did the same.

“Your childhood friend, he isn’t here, wait…” Tony’s eyes started to dart back and forth as he put the puzzle pieces together. “Your, your, your.”

Sighing, I pressed the side of my neck and deactivated the holo-mask of Jason Todd.

“Tony,” I said while giving Peter the evil eye. “Benjamin Blake, also known in some circles as Jason Todd.”

“Sumbitch!”

“Aye! Language man, my daughter is right here.” I growled at him with a frown.

“Kid, how can you have a kid when you’re a kid?” Tony said aloud, shocked. “No, no, you can’t be him.”

“Responsibility doesn’t have an age and I haven’t been the same age as Peter for like the last one hundred plus years.” I replied with a shrug.

“What! How?” Tony breathed, looking at me from head to toe.

“Got caught up in a situation that caused me to activate the paradoxically fluid time neutral subset of my powers. Trust me when I say I was not happy about any of it because I’m an avid hater of time travel.” I replied with a sigh of my own, almost laughing at the shocked face of Tony.

“Daddy, look,” Phoebe said. I turned to see her pointing at the Stark expo behind Howard Stark.

“Yes, pumpkin?”

“The thing he is sitting on, doesn’t it look familiar?” Phoebe asked, with her eyes squinting at the paused frame of Howard Stark.

“What do you think, Pete?” I asked my brother.

“There is something there, but we would have to see the whole thing” Peter muttered as he walked closer.

“I know, right? Wanna help me solve it?” Tony asked Peter with some hope in his eyes.

“Why? What’s it for?” Peter turned and asked Tony.

“I don’t know, but the video said it was unfinished. I think, well, I think that’s going to solve my arc reactor problem.” Tony said with clear excitement.

“Okay, but how is that going to solve the palladium poisoning in your blood?” I returned with a question. The look on Tony’s face was a clear indication of just how far the MCU movies were with solving this issue. Even Tony knew that just punching in a new reactor in his chest wasn’t going to magically clean his blood.

Lucky for him, I actually came prepared.

Pulling a medical arm bracer out of my pocket, I then threw it over to Tony. Peter looked at me with clear surprise because it was something that he had a major role in creating.

Yeah, I know: how Slytherin of me.

Having my brother create the one tool that was going to save his father’s life without him even knowing about it.

“That’s, isn’t that the advanced dialysis machine for sickle cell treatment and for those with iron deficiency?” Peter asked clearly, not putting the two together. Tony had caught the device and had a look of a man who just found water in the desert.

“Yeah, I had you create this for them, but I had someone else in mind first,” I replied, then looked towards Tony. Peter followed the direction I was looking at and then started to put the parts of the puzzle together.

“How long did you know?”

With a shrug that caused Phoebe to giggle, I answered.

“Since I first met him, I had an idea but didn’t get the confirmation until the Monaco races,” I said, stunning them both. “My smart band at the time had picked up the irradiated blood within my proximity when I first met Tony in the cafe.”

“So, tell me, what will this do?” Tony asked while looking at me, but before I could answer him. Phoebe activated her flight belt before flying over to Peter, becoming a koala bear once more and latching onto his back. The look of shock on Tony’s face quickly changed to one of concentration as he zeroed in on the anti-gravity belt that Phoebe wore.

“Peter?” I prompted him.

“Ohh, it’s a medical scrubber, kinda like a dialysis machine. Basically, you connect it to your arm, then it links into your brachial artery. The scrubber is compact enough to allow those with sickle cell anemia freedom while it’s doing its job. The mark two that I am working on would be able to administer chemotherapy and some of the cures we discovered.” Peter said, firing off lines after lines at Tony. “Let me see that I can set it to target blood poisoning while also giving you a little nx5 booster for the immune system.”

Tony had the exasperated smile on his face like he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he looked at Peter. My brother was completely oblivious to Tony’s reaction as he looked on as Peter did his thing. He rolled up his sleeve and allowed Peter to connect the device. The slight hum in the air and the relieved expression on Tony’s face spoke volumes.

“So, are we going to work on the thingy?” Phoebe asked from Peter’s shoulder.

“Ohh, yes, yes, of course,” Tony answered with some shock as he realized what she was asking. “Hmm, Peter would you…. Would you like to stay?”

Phoebe gave Tony the look of, ‘are you stupid’ then she opened her mouth.

“Of course he wants to stay; we came all this way. What kind of question is that?” Phoebe said, then put on the cutest pout, rivaling even her sisters.

“Be nice, you rugrat.” I snarked, trying not to laugh at the gobsmacked look on Tony’s face. Taking her off my brothers back, I retreated to the side and allowed them to hash it out.

O.O.O.O

Tony and Peter had made up while the medical scrubber did its work on his blood toxicity levels. During their little discussion, I had taken Phoebe with me back upstairs to watch SuperNanny with Coulson. Somehow during it all, Phoebe had talked him into showing a little magic and I found out that Coulson could now use his magical gloves without incantations.

While that was going on, Tony used me as a distraction while he and Peter ran off to the Stark Industries building. Tony looked a little down, but I said nothing as Peter came walking in with the Howard Expo display. I knew why Tony was looking a little down, but I paid him no mind as Coulson picked up the phone.

“Yes sir, he is right here sir, I will ask him sir,” Coulson spoke into the phone. He then went silent for some time before I watched him hang up the line. Coulson then turned towards me as I looked at him. “Would you happen to know of any storms of an anomalous nature within New Mexico’s vicinity?

“I might have an idea or two, but I would suggest following protocol,” I answered back seriously. “I would also recommend that you wait and watch, then when it goes south, call Ororo for backup.”

“Why not yourself?” Coulson asked.

“Because, if this is who I think it is, then I don’t want to be on their radar just yet,” I answered back. Coulson had that thoughtful look on his face but millions of ideas and plans ran through my own. We spoke for a little longer before I got up ready to head back home. I had procrastinated enough, it was time for the Savage lands.

Phoebe squealed in joy as I rushed us both out of Tony’s mansion and over the ocean.

“Faster, daddy! Faster!” Phoebe squealed out as she watched from over my back as I ran across the ocean. With a hard step on the ocean’s surface, lightning arced across us both as I poured on the speed.

O.O.O.O

Jean Grey AKA Phoenix

Queen, Avatar, Explorer, Lover

Location: Space Station Titian

Her hands flew across her control panel as the ship rotated in its docking procedure. At first, she was excited that they had found a derelict ship just floating out here in space. Yet, she had to temper her excitement as her hubby came screaming across her comms unit; clearly panicked.

Granted: once he told her what he was panicking about, Jean couldn’t help, but agreeing with his worries. So now here she was one week later looking through a viewing panel as she waited on one of the leading scientists to give her the all-clear. It didn’t take that long to secure the derelict ship, but it did take a week to create a secure docking area for the ship.

Jean turned around from the viewing window to take a seat in her command chair when the bell chimed at her desk. Checking the ID on the call, she noticed that it was from down in the shuttle bay of the space station.

Pressing the answer key, Jean spoke, “Yes, Jean Grey here.”

“My queen, the engineers are here. Also, medical officer Watson said the air filters have been cleared of particulates, but strongly recommends full quarantine protocols stay in effect.

“Okay,” Jean replied as she changed the channel to another. “Team one, prepare for boarding actions, full quarantine protocols.”

Closing down the communications unit, Jean turned and looked at her quarantine suit that hung up in her armory. With an outstretched hand, Jean summoned over her suit with some minor use of her telekinesis. The quarantine suit was fully rated not only for space but also for full underwater submersion and could withstand forces of gravity multiplied by one thousand.

Urgh, she just wished that they could have come up with something far better than the standard emergency orange with yellow lines. Once she had gotten dressed, Jean walked up to the armory to get her utility belt before leaving her office. Flexing all ten of her fingers, Jean found she had no issues with her dexterity before looking herself over in the mirror once more.

A small burst of telekinesis took her beautifully flaming red hair out of her eyes and into a braid that fell down into her suit. Giving a smile and a wink to her beautiful self in the mirror. Jean grabbed her helm and headed out her office door.

Ignoring the artificial gravity, she flew down the hallway before taking a right into the flight shaft. Jean couldn’t help but muse to herself about it all. Ben had first told her about such things, Jean had shrugged it off and chalked it up to the needs of the few over the many. Yet, when he pointed out that everyone’s base suit unit could fly, she still dismissed the shaft as just lazy. That was until the emergency power outage a few nights ago.

One of the main capacitors blew due to power fluctuations since the space station was still being built. Turned out the flight harness and a cleared ten by ten shaft was actually needed in space. She had thought that Ben was far too paranoid about trapped elevators; but yet again, he turned out to be correct. The capacitor that they needed to replace the one in the power room was stuck in shuttle bay six when the power went out and closed the elevators down. All it took to fix the situation was for someone to fly it down to the power room.

She was never going to tell him that his paranoia saved the day, though.

Humming a small tune to herself, Jean placed her hand to the F20 on the wall. There was a ding signaling the recognition of her clearance before the doors opened for her. Checking her left and right, she then flew to the observation deck to wait on her team.

Within moments of her arrival, Jean smiled as she heard the sound of her ten-man team trooping in. Lowering herself back down to the ground, Jean then looked her team over as they stood at attention.

“Fall in,” Jean commanded before doing an about-face and walked out from the observation deck. Walking in the front, Jean led her team down the hall, across the gangplanks, and into the air dock that separated Space Station Titian from the derelict ship.

On the other side of the airlock, the derelict ship floated there five hundred meters away in an enclosed white dome.

“Helmets,” Jean commanded as she stopped before the airlock leading out into the open vacuum. There were ten clicks, and her team inspected her seals before checking their own.

There was a series of clicks before.

“All helmets, all clear, ma’am.”

Jean couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips as she heard the helmets behind her lock into place before securing. She wanted to do a little dance inside, but this was no time to be frivolous and let the power go to her head. Removing the smile she then turned and gave her team a nod after everyone’s confirmation before stepping into the large airlock. Giving the command, Jean waited for the door to close, they then checked their gear one last time. With another all clear, Jean pressed the button to open the airlock leading to open space.

Jean waited for her team to activate the flight functions to their suits before leading them in a flight wing towards the dome. Jean flew the five hundred meters with her team towards the entrance on the north side. Lightly touching down, she held her hand up to the scanner and breathed a sigh of relief as the tracking weapons powered down.

Knowing better, she hurried her team along before the thirty seconds were up and the weapons started to shoot. Jean would say something about all the paranoia, but safety came first in the face of alien encounters.

Walking through the second airlock, Jean and her team walked past the interior crew quarters. On the other side of the crew, quarters were another lab, a cafeteria, and a gym. Walking past all of that, they finally came to the interior airlock that would lead into the domed off area.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the airlock and walked in with her team.

“Rose, Dillian and Mathew, I want you guys to head to engineering first and report back all findings,” Jean said as her hand hovered over the control panel to the interior domed area. “The rest of you will be with me as we search for the bridge.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The team spoke as one.

As she flew, Jean could help but take in the giant donut-like superstructure of the spaceship. There was a set of double boosters on both sides of the structure that Jean couldn’t help but label as the rocket engines.

Gliding past the rocket pods, Jean and her team searched the outside of the ship. What they did find though on the outside were scorch marks and blast creators along the hull. Jean couldn’t help feeling stunned at the battle damage before her as she flew over the donut ring-shaped ship.

“Ma’am, we have found the airlock.”

Jean’s head snapped around towards the southwest direction and her eyes instantly locked onto the bright green dot on her HUD with Fuller’s name clearly written underneath it.

“Team, regroup on Fuller’s position,” Jean spoke into her comms. Flying low, she listened to a smattering of confirmations as she sped over to the airlock. Landing softly beside Fuller, Jean took in the sight of the airlock. Just from a glance, she could tell that the airlock had at least a radius of twenty feet. Jean waited on the side for Dillian to do what he could with the device that looked like a control panel.

Lights started to flicker on the device before she heard a low hum from the doors.

“Talk to me Dillian, what do we have?” Jean asked her technical officer.

“Low power, failing auxiliary and backups, ma’am,” Dillian responded as she took a step towards the gap the airlock offered. Then with a mighty heave, she wrenched the airlock the rest of the way open.

The first thought that crossed Jean’s mind was dust. The light on the top of her helm activated with the rest of her teams. Pulling an Omni-scanner from her utility belt, she outstretched her arm as it activated. The scanner picked up particulates in the air, then beeped to let them know that it was safe to proceed.

Putting out an arm to stop her team from proceeding, Jean handed over the scanner. She then gathered psionic energy within both of her hands. The red glow of power reflected off the hull of the ship; then without warning, Jean slammed both of her palms together. This caused the forces that she had gathered in her hands to blast out in a wave of telepathic and telekinetic force.

Jean and her team waited and watched as the red force of power flew through the nooks and crannies of the ship. She could feel the astonishment of her team as her powers searched every corner and section of the derelict ship.

“Initial psionic testing shows no sign of…. life?” Jean was interrupted as a flare of red deep within the ship sparked a trace of interest. A tap on her utility belt brought out a sphere controlled by her onboard computer systems. The sphere didn’t have any name, but Jean had heard Ben calling them, Ghosts.

“How may I be of service? The little sphere asked.

“I want you to scan the ship. Then make a 3D map for examination.” Jean answered as she pulled out ten more scanner spheres. The font of the sphere lit up with a smiling face hologram, then they split into teams of two before vanishing into the depths of the ship.

“Rockwood, Allen head to the bridge. Rose, Dillian, and Mathew, you have your jobs already. The rest of you are with me, let’s go check out that sign of life.”

Her team broke up into their groups and started towards their task. Pulling up the scanner once more, Jean checked her corners as she walked down the ship’s hallway. In one hand, she had the scanner and before her, Jean had a psionic tether directing her towards the one life available.

Jean lined up her HUD and the map that was being scanned and uploaded with the psionic line and proceeded forthwith. Ignoring the beep from the hovering sphere, Jean followed the red line down a hallway until she came to a closed bolt hatch. Instead of asking one of her spartans to try and override the locking mechanism, she flared a small percent of her power. The hatch that blocked the passage glowed red and groaned from the amount of force she was applying.

The hatched groaned and groaned before buckling and giving way as she moved her hand to the side. With the motion, Jean watched as the pathway opened up before her and her team. Hiding the smile on her face, Jean gave her team a follow motion before heading past her handiwork.

“Ma’am, we have reached the engine room. From our brief search, only two of their power cores are viable, but they seem to be in use for something already.” Mathew spoke over the communications line.

“Yes, I believe I might know what those last two cores are powering,” Jean answered back over the comms. “Make sure to scan everything.”

Cutting out the communications, Jean and her team walked further into the derelict ship. From the look of an internal map that one of her teammates had copied off the wall. Jean knew that they were getting closer and closer to the med-bay. They couldn’t read the writing, but it was only common sense to have the med-bay in the most secure sections of a ship. This might be another moment when Ben might be right about not placing human norms on an alien species. Pushing that thought to the side, Jean persisted forward with her team.

After going down a set of oddly shaped stairs, Jeans HUD showed the outline of a room. A quick signal to her team had them posted up on the sides of the door. Ignoring them, Jean kept following along her psionic tether deeper into the ship. Jean was certain that she was getting closer to amid-ship from her own scans paired with those hover spheres.

“Ma’am, we have found the bridge.”

Jean listened to Rockwood’s report as she walked. Once he was finished, she answered him.

“Scan everything, also look for a port, and try one of the universal jacks. I want the AI collective to gather as much data as they can.” Jean replied as she came up to the room she was looking for. Jean could see the red psionic line leading inside clear as day. Holding up her scanner to the door, Jean watched as the readings gave her the all-clear.

Once her team took a step back, she flexed her powers once more and the door opened like a can of sardines. A flick of Jean’s wrist sent the doors flying past her and her team as she strode forward with confidence. Following her psionic tether, Jean found a pod with frosted glass resting at a forty-five-degree angle.

This was the mind she felt calling out for help. Putting her gloved hand to the glass, Jean wiped away some frost. This allowed her to get a better look at the sleeping occupant inside. The first thing she noticed besides the oriental features was the markings along the person’s brow and unique clothing. Sending a mental command to her suit, an image was snapshotted and sent to Ben for his input on what she was seeing.