April 8 - An evening out

[Calvin Strong]

It was a nice enough afternoon. Good weather, nothing crazy going on, which was why Cal had picked a nice, simple little place to eat that had outdoor seating. Their food rested on a little black iron table, and gentleman that he was, Cal held Lana's seat out for her as she sat down.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

Lana smiles at Calvin as she takes a seat, "How sweet. Thank you."

[Calvin Strong]

Cal gave a little bow and a smile that said it wasn't any trouble. "Here's to the week being over," he sighed as he sat down in his own chair.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Trouble?"

[Calvin Strong]

"Nothing serious, I guess. Kind of aggravating, I guess. All this mess with the team disappearing, then I get called into town to deal with a house of, I kid you not, faeries."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Fairies?"

[Calvin Strong]

"Yeah. Little tiny guys, wings, the whole shebang. Even had a troll in the kitchen to try to ambush us."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Very strange," Lana says, "You sort everything out though, yes?"

[Calvin Strong]

"Sort of. I mean, short of swatting all the little buggers, there wasn't much to do, so we ended up sealing the place up and kicking the decision up to the bigwigs to sort out. Magic isn't my thing, I'll let them find someone to take care of it who gets it better."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Sounds like fun. Perhaps I should be joining teams," Lana says, smiling.

[Calvin Strong]

"Heh... read some of the reports before you decide. I mean... I did used to have two arms, y'know."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Is very careless of you to be losing one."

[Calvin Strong]

"I know. I'm just glad I paid my renters' insurance. They didn't catch the guy who took it, but they paid for a nifty replacement."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Well all is well that is ending well then."

[Calvin Strong]

"Yep. I'm just glad for a quiet weekend, y'know?"

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Me too," Lana says, "Is nice break from hustles and bustles."

[Calvin Strong]

"I know what you mean," he said. "We need the weekends to keep sane." A message scrolled across his visual display, and he frowned slightly, looking at the sensor readings it was refering him to.

[Narrator]

If they were not too distracted by flirtation, Lana and Cal might notice the huge shadow that passed over them, blotting out the sun.

[Calvin Strong]

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"If anyone asks later, you can blame me for saying that it was good to have a quiet weekend," he said, looking up at whatever it was.

[Narrator]

MUTANT LIFE SIGNS DETECTED. MUTANTS WILL BE COLLECTED FOR PROCESSING.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"You will receive proper punishment," Lana agrees, looking only a little scared.

[Calvin Strong]

"That better be a promise," Cal said, taking stock of the situation. No guns. No power staff. Minerva, contact Titan, link up with the school's bodyslide system.

Code: Select all

Acknowledged.  Error: Communication frequencies are being jammed.  Working to compensate.

Shit. He stood up, checking where the Sentinel was and what way he needed to lead it to keep from hurting anyone.

[Narrator]

The Sentinel landed in front of them "TARGET LOCATED. SURRENDER OR BE FIRED UPON."

[Calvin Strong]

"Yeah, like that's ever been a deterrent before," he muttered. "I'll draw its fire. You might want to find somewhere safe," he said.

He didn't have time to be gentle. He was completely unequipped, and cut off from his supplies at the school due to the jamming. That didn't, of course, mean he was helpless, it just meant he had to move fast.

He teleported, aiming to land on the Sentinel to deliver a lightning blast without the risk of getting people caught in the crossfire.

[Narrator]

The Sentinel ignored Cal, and fired on Lana. When Cal's electrical blast registered the Sentinel looked down, aiming an eye blast at Cal.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

Black whips flew from Lana's skin, blocking the fire of the Sentinel.

"Your friend is very rude," Lana says, standing up while still holding her glass of wine.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal dove aside, rolling through a calculated maneuver. "Not my friend! I just like cute or friendly robots!" he shouted back as he threw up his hand, discharging a powerful blast at the Sentinel's chest.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

Lana takes a sip of wine, "No excuses!"

Jagged and sharp lines fly towards the enemy, trying to ensnare it's hand.

[Narrator]

The Sentinel's right hand was ensnared, and its eyes flashed a bit, but it grabbed at Cal, trying to capture him with its left hand.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal reached for the wrought-iron fence around the patio with his left hand and, with a twisting wrench that could only be possible with his cybernetic hand, tore a bar from it. He held the pointed shaft of metal in his hand, and instead of running like the Sentinel might expect, he lunged forward, driving the now-electrified improvised weapon toward the robot's hand to provide a conduit past its insulated armor.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

The lines spin like a chainsaw, attempting to sever the hand from the robot's body.

"Little American robot," Lana says, "Ha! Pathetic."

[Narrator]

The Sentinel shot out a blast of energy from both hands, one aimed at Cal, the other at Lana.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal watched on his visual display as his optics translated the buildup of energy into a signal he could see. Then he timed a bodyslide, appearing above the hand. He slammed the bar's pointed tip down into the back of the robot's hand, then used his body weight to (hopefully) drag the hand around to point at some part of the Sentinels' body.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

A black tower shield slid off of Lana's chest and planted itself in between her and the blast.

[Narrator]

The blast was deflected by the tower shield, and the other blast hit the Sentinel in the face. It wasn't disabled yet, but it staggered around drunkenly, clearly stunned.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal scrambled up the Sentinel's arm, delivering a lightning-strength blast of electricity to the wound in the sentinel's head, looking for all the places that could bypass the thing's armor as he could find.

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

Meanwhile, a battery of tiny missiles launched off of Lana and fired towards the Sentinel.

[Narrator]

Cal's electricity wasn't able to get past the armor at first, at least not enough to do serious damage. Then, Lana's missles hit. By themselves they didn't do much damage, but they opened up enough of a gap in the armor that Cal's electricity was able to get in. It arced through the Sentinel's brain, a shower of sparks pouring forth as the eyes shot out one final blast before the robot shuddered and fell silent.

[Calvin Strong]

"Fucking giant piles of scrap," Cal muttered. The communication lines back open when the jamming died with the Sentinel, he opened his comlink as he climbed back down. "This is Cyber, with a priority cleanup order. Hm? There's a big fucking dead Sentinel in the middle of the street, that's what. I'm sending the coordinates. Get it back home, and get it secured for disassembly. Good. Cyber out." He sighed, looking at the robot, then back at Lana. "Yeah, about that 'should you join the X-Men' question? I'm going to have to go with 'yes'. Thanks for the hand."

[Svetlana Zaytsev]

"Is no problem," Lana says, "Easy peasy."