Arc Ten. Chapter Two-Hundred Seventy-Eight. Red Flags

As Peter stopped, changed direction and headed into Brooklyn, Fury was directing his quinjet through the narrow skyline of New York,

"Attention New Yorkers," he announced through the jets speaker system, "The Sentinels are harmless if not provoked. Please remain calm, and a team will be sent to deal with them. Stay indoors and stay safe."

Maria snorted from the controls, "you know telling people to stay calm never works."

Fury scowled but pointed. "There, we need to be out there. Well, you and Scott do. I'll take the jet."

Maria stood, undid her headset, and patted Fury on the shoulder, "Have fun."

As she moved to the back of the jet, Vengeance covered her, and she nodded as Scott, who was clipping on his new visor.

"Parker says they adapt to Augment powers. You still want to do this?"

Scott nodded, "With the new visor I can vary the intensity, they can adapt, but probably not that fast, and not to the explosive effect. I'll keep the energy effect to a minimum,"

Her mask pulled back and Maria kissed him on the side of the face, "for luck."

Scott laughed and finished putting on his uniform, "I yeah I need it, used it all up getting you."

As her own mask pulled back over her she snorted and laughed, "That attitude'll get you everywhere," and as the cargo door opened she blew him another kiss and fell backwards out of it. Shaking his head Cyclops test-fired the thrusters on the Wrath themed armour Peter had so kindly donated and moved to follow her out.

Wrath had become AIMs unofficial task force. Fury had no objections to keeping Parker up to date on the goings-on in the world of espionage, and Parker had no problems outfitting them with the latest toys and gadgets he and everyone else made.

It was a good business deal that kept everyone paid and in well-maintained equipment. Fury could take jobs that Parker would either turn down or need deniability for, and the team got maintenance. They had been all over the world, taking out mainly scumbags, and dismantling drug and slave trades, but a lot of crooks kept large amounts of cash so while it was good work, it wasn't exactly the life the professor had wanted for him.

Scott didn't care though, Even he knew the X-Men would eventually have to take on missions that were not so much saving the world but saving themselves. He kept in contact with Jean and the others, but his life led them to be distant, more concerned about his moral standing than his welfare, and his last conversation with the professor had devolved into an argument.

Shaw was a grade one scumbag, and Scott had no problems with taking him out, and he wasn't the only one in the world. Fury had been right, morality only took you so far, and when the chips were down, sometimes you had to get your hands dirty. Of course, Charles had argued, that using their powers for violence would only result in more violence. Scott disagreed, and that by not using his powers, he was depriving his team of a valuable asset, and would endanger more lives. Neither side would back down, and Scott hadn't been back at the mansion since.

He didn't care though. He had a good life, long breaks followed by intense combat, but he was learning and Maria was a good teacher, as was Fury. He had even snagged a few sessions with Captain America, but most of his mat time was with Maria, in fact, most of his time was with her.

She admitted Vengeance ramped up all her appetites and after watching her devour a large pizza, he had been pushed to his limit in the bedroom. Things started off spotty, he was mad when he found out about Parker, and they argued. Jean was still a sore point, and her supposed betrayal had stung once more.

While Scott had been upset at first, one severe talk later he saw that Maria had no feelings for him other than as a potential boss and that being mad over nothing was stupid. She had gone to him to make Scott's life better, and after she made good on her promise he realised that she loved him, and he really loved her.

She made him appreciate the small things. The contacts let him see the world as it was, and while a headache started if he wore them for too long he still got six or seven hours a day with them on. It even made sex better as he no longer had a huge visor threatening to slip off while his tongue was busy, and Maria had no complaints either.

So heading into New York to clean up the mess the Sentinels were making didn't even register on Scott's radar. Augments were in danger, Peter's friends were in danger, of course, he was going to help. Their feud was in the past, Jean was in the past, and as he prepared to jump from the jet, he was looking forwards at Maria, his future.

Vengeance was already dancing between several large Sentinels and Scott remembered his training. Against a larger opponent, such as a tank or in this case, a humanoid drone, limit their movement, their vision or request back up and retreat. Vengeance had a large two-handed claymore and was slicing legs off at the joints and crouching, Scott's visor split and a beam of red energy thrummed out and tore the leg of another Sentinel.

"Augmented Human Detected. Alien DNA Detected. Scanning. Scanning. Apprehension Ill-Advised. Initiating Combat Mode. Several Units Are Damaged. Programming Updated To Eliminate Hostile Resistance,"

"Shit," Cyclops yelled, "you hear that, "Fury, they've moved to kill mode. Head to the next group and we'll meet you there. Anyone resisting is now a target."

"Affirmative," Fury commed back and the jet spun and flew off, "Attention. The Sentinels are now hostile. Repeat Sentinels are now hostile. Do not resist, Stay indoors and we will take care of them," Cyclops heard announce over the jets loudspeaker.

"You okay there?" he asked as another beam took the outstretched arm of the Sentinel he had knocked down. It was immobile but still able to fire.

"Yeah, we are good," Vengeance said and ducking under another blast she took the leg off the Sentinel and then decapitated it as it fell. "Parker warned us they can adapt, manage your fire until they do," and he clicked an affirmative back.

Whatever the Sentinels were made from was resistant to his beams. But Scott had been spending time with Liv as Maria and Fury both were fitted for armour and she had told him his blasts were not just energy, but a concussive force.

Can't adapt to that, Cyclops thought as the Sentinel twisted and a portion of the energy split around the armour but still blew it backwards. As he adjusted the visors aperture, Liv had also told him that the energy didn't just emit from his eyes and needed to be focused but could be manipulated into different frequencies, similar to eyeglasses needing either convex or concave lenses to correct vision, Scott could use the same effects to alter the beam.

Adjusting it, the now more laser sliced off another limb before switching and the concussive force blasted it onto its back. Vengeance leapt over and took its head off and soon the Sentinel squad was nothing but scrap.

"I've located two more squads, one at my location, and one ten blocks south of yours, head to the second. My guns work just fine, so I can scout ahead and find more. Coulson said one hundred and I think we're about halfway. I'm getting chatter about Enhanced on the field as well, We're currently in the clear but I'll keep you apprised, Fury out."

Vengeance and Cyclops heard the jet zoom off and they both nodded to earth other and their small packs lit up. The armour had a Heads Up display and the pair saw the red dots on their maps,

As they flew, Vengeance moved closer and took Scott's hand, headache? but he shook his head,

I keep the visor active while I'm in armour, I only use the contacts while I'm with you, I don't want to risk something failing and them being stuck on or affecting my powers accidentally.

Good, but let me know if you do.

Peter hadn't been able to narrow down the cause, and with Scott hesitant to visit the mansion they could only guess that his powers were damaging his eyes while the dampner was on. He really wanted Hank to check him over, but his vision was fine, there were no lesions or other signs of brain damage and both Liv and Curt had put it down to eye strain.

His eyes, after years of always producing a concussive blast, were now resting and he was feeling it. It would simply be time, and as he wore the lenses the headaches would fade.

They found the group of Sentinels wandering Central Park, scanning every person that they encountered. As the park was full of families and joggers, there had been no trouble and as the pair landed one of the three sentinels in the group turned to scan him.

"Mutant DNA Detected. Please Remain Calm Citizen. Report To Mutant Registration Immediately. Your Cooperation Is-"

But Vengeance had already attacked,

"Don't just stand there, enemy robots are still the enemy even if they don't attack you, people no, robots yes."

The head of the first Sentinel slid free as she landed in an arc and the second and third pointed glowing hands at her,

"Hostile detected. Initiating Defensive Protocols. The Local Authorities have been contacted. Plese cese all hostile Activites."

A beam of red blasted its arm, which twisted and the beam slit and reflected off. Mentally commanding the Visor the beam narrowed, and the red intensified, drilling a hole through the new armour configuration,

"They're dumb, the armour can only adapt to one power at a time, so if I change beam it fails," Cyclops commented and fired off a combo attack. Parkers Visor let him manage preset apertures, and against machines like these, he was using a narrow focus laser to burn a hole, and then a much larger concussive blast to tear their insides to pieces.

"Good, less bragging, more blasting,"

Cyclops laughed and two more thin beams erupted from his visor, catching the Sentinel at the wrist and elbow. The machine looked at its arm which slowly crumbled and fell off. "Bragging? You're just jealous cause I'm winning,"

"Omega Class Mutant Detected. Back-Up Requested. Military Grade Armaments Required."

Vengeance finished the machine off, and as it toppled over, "Winning? I count me as three ahead, so who's winning."

Cyclops laughed, "I was joking, but nice to see you were counting,"

Vengeance shook her head and touched her com. "Fury, We've got incoming, they requested back up."

"I know, You're getting Blonsky, they're leaving me alone, probably don't want to start a dogfight in the air, but you were led to Central Park so they could have plenty of room to fight. Be careful, I'll finish the Sentinels off, and meet you back at base. Fury out."

Vengeance cursed and she looked over at Cyclops who shrugged. He hadn't met Blonsky, but Maria had, and he knew he was a Hulk. It was common knowledge that Bruce Banner had used the Stacy formula to reduce his gamma powers, and was living out west on a ranch with Betty Ross, tired of the fighting and smashing.

"Do we run?" He asked but she shook her head,

"You might need to use a bit more power, Bonskey's no pushover, and as A-Bomb, he'll be a tough customer." As she stared at the crowds, taking photos and generally gawking at the fights, she sighed. "Everyone. The military is coming, You need to run," she shouted, amplifying her voice and the sparse few visitors had already begun to escape the chaos. "NOW!"

News of the Sentinels had spread, and news of the heroes fighting to keep New York safe was spreading faster.

The message had been heard. Stay off the streets and only the brave, the bold, and the incredibly stupid were left. Some even counted as all three.