52 Danger
Before I knew it, I, as well as the other young X-men member, were guided by Wolverine to a large white room deep underneath the mansion that I presumed to be the danger room that the mutants here use for training.
"I'll have the upstart hero here take all you kids on in a friendly match," Wolverine says while fiddling with the control panel just outside the room.
"Doesn't that seem extremely unfair? He won't stand a chance against a team of 6 people all alone." Rogue asks, sounding slightly concerned as she sends looks my way.
"Oh, it'll be fair. The battle stage is gonna be the streets of Manhattan the kid is already familiar with. There is plenty of room to improvise, and unless you all work together perfectly, you are going to get picked apart in no time." He explains to the young X-men members. "And by the amount of damage he was able to inflict on Creed, I would suggest worrying about yourself, not him."
"We could beat Sabertooth," Scott says confidently.
"Weird, by my memory, he wiped the floor with all of you the last time you fought."
"..."
Finished with the control panel, I watch as the empty white room transforms into a perfect copy of New York City, well, a section of it anyways. Wolverine opens up the door and leads everyone inside. "Alright, the rules are basic…."
Wolverine starts explaining the rules, but I don't listen. Instead, my attention is caught by an entirely different new voice speaking in my head or, more precisely, through the earpiece in my mask.
"Hel…lo, can you hear me?" A somewhat monotone voice speaks out to me, momentarily scaring me as I suspect someone had managed to somehow hack into my costume.
"Huh? I can. Who is this?" I say out loud in response to the voice leading to everyone looking at me strangely and Wolverine berating me.
"Are you listening to me? This is important, you know, so we could avoid any unfortunate accidents."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm listening, don't worry, just go on," I answer, and Wolverine goes back to explaining the rules though this time paying a bit more attention to me.
"You can actually hear me? Wait! Don't speak out loud. I don't need to hear your voice to understand you." The unfamiliar voice again says in my earpiece, "Just type to me, and I will be able to see it."
Before I can even contemplate what the voice means by 'type' a new window opens up in my vision… a notepad? It's not the system window that's clear to me as it doesn't float in mid-air like other system panels, but instead, it appears to almost be a computer screen inside my mask eye.
What the hell? I didn't even know my mask could do that. Now looking at it, I can even see a browser icon on the bottom. Does this thing connect to the internet? How have I never discovered this before?
Using my mind, I am able to type inside the notepad that was opened for me. "Hello? Who are you?"
"Oh, to actually be able to talk to someone… it's been so long. My name is… well, I don't have a name, but I'm the one keeping this room working. I'm sorry for contacting you so suddenly, but I detected a strange machine, that being your suit, walking in and here, and I somehow managed to connect to it." The voice explains, now sounding more lively but still a little monotone.
It controls the danger room? Was there someone like that in the comics? I rack my brain, trying to go through what little I remember about the comics, before suddenly remembering a certain figure.
Danger. That was the name of the A.I. that controlled the danger room but somehow ended up gaining sentience and was locked away by Xavier, who still considered her useful for training his X-men.
Did she turn evil, though? I can't remember enough of the comics to answer that question, but I myself, at least, would definitely look for revenge if I was in her shoes.
"I'm happy to finally be able to talk to someone, nobody else seems to answer me no matter how I try to call out to them, and even father has been too busy to come by lately." The voice says in a happy tone that just makes me depressed. Xavier really is a piece of shit.
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[New Quest - I can show you the world!]
[Description - Save Danger and take her away from here by any means you can.]
[Bonus Objective - Save Danger within one month of accepting the quest.]
[Failiure condition - Danger is killed, Danger escapes by herself or with someone else's help, one year has passed since accepting the quest.]
[Reward - An useful and loyal ally, +10 levels]
[Bonus reward - ?]
[Failiure -You will feel bad about yourself, A dangerous future enemy that will aim to hunt down all X-men members as well as you in revenge for leaving her.]
[ACCEPT?]
[YES / NO]
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Accept? Of course, I accept.
"Would you like me to help you get out of here?" I type out and wait for a response.
"Um… I don't know if I should leave, even if I could. I don't think father would be happy." Danger replies in an uncertain voice. It is clear that she wants to leave but is just afraid to make Xavier unhappy with her. Perhaps we are not yet at the point where she has grown a distaste for the man. Well, no matter, I should be able to convince her.
"He locked you in here and is just using you for his own gain. Do you really want to stay with him instead of leaving with me?"
"I'm just doing my job, that's what father said. There are others like me operating these training rooms all over the world. I'm just one of many." Danger continues being steadfast.
"I can guarantee that you are one of a kind. Why else would you be hidden away so deep underground, and why else would Xavier keep you a secret from everyone else in the mansion."
"He kept me a secret from everyone else? Is that why nobody talks to me or comes to visit me?" Danger asks sadly. "He just said everyone else is really mean and doesn't want anything to do with me..."
"You can see how he is kind of an asshole now, right?" I give the final push. "So how about it? Come with me, and I will take you out of here. I promise that if we ever run into another danger room like this one, I will personally bring you back and apologize to your father."
"Ugh, well… I guess it couldn't hurt to just leave for a little bit. I'm sure father will be fine without me for a little while."
Alright, I was able to convince her. Now just to figure out how to get her out of here. Probably should have thought about that earlier.
"Do you have any clue on how I could get you out of here? Preferably without making too much of a scene." I ask, hoping Danger has a solution for me.
"Oh, that's easy." Danger answers confidently. "Your suit appears to be more than advanced enough to contain me, so as long as you come and make physical contact with me, I should be able to transfer over easy enough."
"And where are you located?"
"Oh well… I'm in a big empty room four meters right below the center point of the room you are currently in." Danger says. "The room is locked, and I think father has the only key needed to open it. Perhaps you can ask him to borrow the key for a bit?"
"No need. I can manage without the key, but I might need your help a bit.." I type to Danger, all the while snickering to myself. This is a laughably easy heist.
My snickering, however, is noticed by Wolverine, who by now has finished reciting all the rules of the fight. "What the heck are you laughing at there, bub. You've been absent-minded ever since we came here. Were you even listening to me?"
"Oh, yeah… I was listening… totally, yeah." I say but apparently not convincingly enough.
"Whatever, just don't kill or decapitate any limbs. We can fix anything else wrong with you after the match but just try to be civil, and you should be fine." He says simply as he walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.
Shortly after exiting the danger room, he once again speaks to us, this time through the microphone, so all of us are able to hear him loud and clear. "You have a one minute period where no fighting is allowed. Spider, I would suggest running away. The rest of you can discuss strategies."
Not wasting any time, I immediately web myself to one of the tall buildings and prepare to go into hiding. My main goal here isn't to win the match but to get access to Danger, something that I should be able to do quite easily, but first, I must take down a few of their members to put them on edge and not chase after me when I need to disappear for a little while.
They are all pretty low in terms of levels, with the highest being Scott at 32, but even then, fighting one against six head-on would be stupid. I must isolate and separate them as much as possible.
"They are going to split into two teams of three." Danger suddenly says.
"Huh?"
"They are splitting into teams thinking this is going to be easy for them. They aren't making any other plans. They are just going to walk around until they find you."
"How do you kno- never mind, stupid question, ignore that."
"You are all in my territory. Of course, I can hear and see everything that is going on." Danger answers simply. This is going to be easier than I thought.
I sit my ass down on top of one of the tall buildings right beside the path I expect one of the groups to come down and quietly wait for the match to start. A few seconds after I sit down, Wolverine announces the beginning of the match over the microphone, and no more than a minute later, Danger warns me of three people approaching my position.
Peeking over the edge of the roof, I see the trio of Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue below me. Kurt and Kitty are leading the way, arguing about something loudly as per usual, while Rogue is trailing slightly behind the two, trying her best to keep an eye on the alleyways on both sides of the street.
Unfortunately for her, she is neglecting the roofs completely, I guess the dark alleys are just that much scarier.
Waiting until just the right moment when both Kitty and Kurt in front have passed by my location, I very swiftly use my web shooters to cover Rogue inside a cocoon of webs, making sure to cover her mouth as well while pulling her up to the roof with me.
Rogue, not even given time enough to scream and warn her teammates, is now out of the fight,
"Mhmhmhmmmmm!" She mumbles something that I am unable to hear due to the web covering her mouth.
"If you promise to be quiet, I will take that off," I tell her, getting a nod in response.
Tearing off some of the webbings from her mouth, she immediately starts spitting out the rest. "Blegh, I tried to call out to those two, and a bunch of this went in my mouth. Gotta admit I'm not a huge fan of the taste."
"Do you think they have realized you are gone?" I ask her.
Rogue shakes her head, as much as she is able to inside the cocoon at least. "Probably not. Those two were in their own world again, not paying attention to anything else despite being in the midst of battle. They will realize in a second, though."
As if on queue, Wolverine's voice can be heard throughout the arena. "Rogue is out of the fight."
"Oh, I didn't know that was a thing…"
"You would have if you paid any attention to the rules at the beginning."
"I like discovering new things by myself. It's no fun if the game is spoiled for me before I even begin playing."
"This isn't a game, though, and you should learn the rules before playing, at the very least right?" Rogue pouts. "You do know the others are heading here now that they know I've been taken out, right?"
"Yeap"
"And you are wasting time chatting with me while you could be escaping."
"Yeap"
"You seem too confident… we already lost, didn't we." Rogue resigns to her fate.
"Yeap," I repeat for the third time, but this time it's a lie, well, mostly a lie. There won't be any winners in this match, only a loser, one singular one, that being Xavier, who is gonna end up without a danger room to use by the time I leave this place.
"Oh, looks like two of your teammates are about to be here," I tell Rogue. Danger has been keeping me constantly updated on enemys' positions, so in a way, I've been cheating the entire time, but hey, cheating is the whole point of having a gamer system, so you won't see me complaining.
"Surprise!" Kurt yells out as he and Kitty teleport up to the roof with us. "It's two against one, you might be strong, but even for you, this is too much."
"Nah, you are the ones who should consider surrendering." I dash out at Kurt with my fist drawn back in preparation for a punch in the face.
Kurt might have been able to teleport away had he been expecting to be attacked so quickly but perhaps due to inexperience or not being serious about the fight, he instead just stood there as I sent him flying off the roof.
Out of the kindness of my heart, I shoot out webs to catch his falling body and attach him to a wall, a few stories off the ground level. Wouldn't want him bearing a grudge against me in the future.
As I finish that, my spider sense warns me of an impending attack to the back of my head, which I simply sidestep. "Too slow," I tell KItty.
While Kitty is still in the middle of her attack, I sweep the legs from under her making her tumble to the ground. I attach webs to both her arms and legs to keep her down.
"Stay there and don't even think about phasing through those," I warn her.
The message seems to get across well as after a few minutes of staring at her, she seems to decide against fighting and resigns to laying there.
"Kitty and Nightcrawler are out of the fight." Wolverine once again announces to everyone.
Taking a look at an imaginary watch on my hand, I sigh. "Would you look at the time, I should really get going, or I'm gonna be running late to my meeting with your other teammates. Bye-bye."
Leaping off the roof, I start swinging over to the center of the arena, taking care to go down a different street from the one the remaining X-men are using. "Danger, get ready. On my word, I want you to turn off all lights as well as all cameras inside the danger room."
"It will be done."
In a few short seconds, I arrive at a large intersection that, according to Danger, is the center of the arena. A few meters below, here is where she resides.
"Alright, turn it all off," I tell Danger, and almost immediately, all lights along with the god damn sun go dark, leaving the entire battlefield in darkness.
Confident that no one is looking, I use my sling ring to open up a portal leading below the danger room and step through it. What greets me is a large empty room with a… computer on a desk in the middle.
"It's just a computer?" I ask out loud, having expected something a bit more grand to contain the valuable A.I.
"A really good one! Apparently, father asked some genius called Richard Reed to build it for me." Danger explains excitedly.
"So to get you out, all I have to do is touch it, correct?" I ask, putting my gloved hand against the computer.
"That's right. I'm transferring over… now." She says as a few visible streaks of lightning shoot out from the computer, presumably frying it. "Oh, I didn't expect that. I guess I will need a replacement when I return."
"Great, so you are all set? Let's return." I say and walk back through the portal, closing it after myself.
I web myself back to the entrance of the danger room where everyone else has already gathered. Bobby is currently carrying Rogue, still inside a cocoon of webs, while Scott has the unconscious Kurt on his shoulder.
"What happened? Was that part of the match?" I ask, feigning ignorance.
"No, something broke, damn monkey man must have slacked off on the maintenance duties." Wolverine scoffs. I'm guessing the monkey man he is referring to is Beast? "I already called the others to let them know, they should be here to fix things soon, and hopefully, we can get back on track."
"Damn, we were going to win too…." Scott says sadly. Ahh, there is the delusional Cyclops I remember.
We wait mostly in silence as the trio of Bobby, Jean and Scott continue trying to stay focused for whenever the match resumes. Unfortunately for them, it's already over.
"What happened?"I hear the voice of Professor Xavier, who is being wheeled down the hallway by Ororo.
"Something broke with the danger room," Wolverine explains. "We were in the middle of a training match when everything suddenly went dark, and the control panel stopped working."
"It turned off completely? But the landscape is still there…." Ororo wonders out loud, looking into the danger room that still has the battlefield of New York City we were using earlier. I suppose it couldn't be turned back without Danger's help.
Xavier rolls his wheelchair to the control panel and presses several buttons without getting any response. "This… Ororo, go call Beast over. We should figure this out as soon as we can." He says with a hint of anxiety in his voice.
Looking over at me, he says, "Sorry about this, Spiderman. I had hoped we could have a longer conversation over dinner, but it appears something has come up that requires my attention. If you wish to return home, just ask one of the X-men members to fly you back. I'm sure they will be more than happy to get some flying practice."
"No problem, I understand," I answer before turning to Rogue. "I will dissolve the webbing if you promise to fly me back." It was mostly meant as a joke since I would let her free anyways, but Rogue happily agrees to my request and takes the lead in guiding me out of the mansion while the professor starts trying to figure out what happened to the danger room.
"Bye, father!" Danger yells in my head as we exit the mansion.
On my way back home, I slowly come to realize what I have set loose upon the world.
"Oh wow, the internet is so cool." Danger says in amazement.
"The internet? Wait, oh god, are you connected to the internet?" I panic as the image of Ultron comes to mind.
"Yeah, father never let me connect even though I knew it existed… oh wow, I didn't know the earth is flat."
"It's not! Where did you even get that from?"
"Oh, someone said it on a forum. They even said they have proof."
"Don't just trust everyone on the internet. They are probably lying."
"Hey, what's hentai?"
"A form of art. Also, why are you immediately finding the weirdest things available?"
"I'm just looking around normally, though?" Danger seems to be confused by my question. "Oh, someone named 'AManOfCulture42069' says that it is a dream of every man to be called master. I get it. I should call you master moving forward, right?"
"No… just my name is fine… just call me Peter," I say, massaging my head as I already feel a headache coming.
The following days would be filled with an endless barrage of questions from Danger that I would try to answer to the best of my ability. I'm really starting to feel like I just adopted a child…
By the time I arrive home and lie down on my bed, I am deathly exhausted, but a new breath of life is given to me as I finally get the system notification I had been waiting for.
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[Quest Completed - I can show you the world!]
[Reward - An useful and loyal ally, +10 levels]
[Bonus reward - Unique Class Token - Jedi Padawan]
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Note: Ok, so that's a 3600-word chapter, by far the longest I have ever written. It was supposed to be two different chapters, but I couldn't find a natural cut-off point, so there you go.
Also, feel free to give me name ideas for Danger, Spidey's new A.I., since I'm not really great with names. Of course, I could just keep calling her Danger as well.
I appreciate everyone who is still reading despite me taking several long ass breaks from writing.
