Dial: Call Resumed

EVERYTHING past "The Infinity Saga" info is completely off the rails and cannot be taken as a reliable Canon for Dial. And even post-Phase 2 stuff might be changed.

Chapter 1

Laura/Blood Diamond

Laura dreamed. It had been a long time since she’d done that. She dreamed of the past. Of what once was.

Her home was a soft yellow, painted over brick. Her grandfather had smoked cigars. She liked the smell, hanging about softly in the air, mixing with the smell of homemade tortilla. She dreamed of it. Then of those smells, marred by the copper scent of blood.

She dreamed of Mama dying. Of men with guns and machetes slicing into a face that had kissed her forehead and smiled so softly. She dreamed of killing those men with tattoos and guns. Feeling skin rip between her fingers, bones crunch as she snapped them, the harsh feel of wrapped hilts under her fingers as she stole their machetes and used them.

Laura had never fought until then. She could still taste the blood. Smell the urine and bile as she killed the men who killed her mother.

Then when it was over, she cried. She cried forever, standing over Mama.

That was how the men in black suits found her. They took her from Mama. They put her to sleep. When she woke up again, she was in a cage.

Every year since then, she was there. They cut her open. They tested her. Shot her. Forced her to kill more. She learned to fight quickly. No one taught her. But she had to learn if only to end it sooner before they knocked her out again. She didn’t question why it happened anymore.

Laura knew why.

She was in hell. She’d been a bad girl. And God had sent her to hell. That was why she didn’t have her Mama anymore. Mama had been good. She went to heaven. Laura wasn’t allowed to go with her.

They took her apart, put her back together, and kept doing it over and over. No more hugs. No more real food when they could just feed her with a tube. Just hell.

Then, something changed. January 12th, 2014.

She remembered the men screaming as they began to fight. The cage was moved. But as they moved her, she listened. Listened to them talk about Hydra, and SHIELD.

And the Avengers. She’d hear a lot about them.

Laura was in hell. But she’d never heard about demons being so afraid.

They went to a castle. And she kept on listening.

The bad men had been scared. Except two. Strucker and Sterns. They spoke to her, sometimes. Told her about things. She didn’t talk unless they told her too. Her voice was still raw. It had been years since she spoke.

She didn’t have a lot of context. Some of what they said sounded like fairy tales. Gods, aliens, men with powerful bodies and suits, women who could disappear and reappear.

She learned that SHIELD had found out that Hydra was hiding within them, and had begun fighting against them. As a scientist inserted a needle into her, he complained that they had become BRIDGE. Another one said the Avengers were chasing them.

Sterns showed her some blue-green crystals. “Beautiful, aren’t they?” the green-skinned man with a massive head said, smiling at her. “A gift from Dial. They’ll be yours now. Be sure to thank me, will you?”

Dial. The Hydra people called him an alien. She saw a video once. A dark-skinned man with a short beard and hair, fighting on the news one time, talking with Captain America another. He sometimes changed into monsters. Giant wolves, flying dinosaurs, small demons that cackled.

And sometimes, he changed into pretty crystals.

Hydra did something to her. She could feel it, when one day they forced her to watch TV for days. The colors were so pretty. And then she didn’t want to fight them anymore.

The next day, the crystals were inside her. She felt them all through her. They were heavy, and if she wasn’t careful, they were sharp. She got used to it. To the feeling of something inside her slicing through her, to feeling her own skeleton and knowing she could control it.

From then on, she was almost always close to Strucker. She saw everything he did. And he had seen a lot.

She saw Hydra kidnap a pretty woman and turn her into a pretty green giant. She was forced to go with them when they ran away from the Avengers and BRIDGE, seeing a storm in the distance as they ran from a god.

Strucker had ignored her as she watched the news with him later. March 15th, 2014, the news said. Rio De Janeiro had been struck by an earthquake. Then, more news came in. Monsters from all across time. Dinosaurs. Demons. Knights in shining armor.

The Avengers and BRIDGE went in. Footage played of them fighting in the streets. Saving people. Dial smashing through groups of enemies. Captain America leading men and women into battle. Black Widow carrying a girl in her right arm as she fired a submachine gun into the head of a massive lion. Laura found something warm as she watched them.

An armored man with a white skull painted on his chest pressed a shotgun into a creature out of nightmares. Just before he took its head off, Laura took pleasure in the fear on the demon's face.

And then Laura saw her. The green woman. Giant and strong, fighting alongside the others. She looked happy.

Laura hated her. Hated her happiness. Hated that she had been captured for barely anytime, but the Avengers had saved her. Made her one of them.

Under the sea of fog that Hydra had made of her thoughts, Laura felt that hatred. She clung to it. In that sea of fog… hatred of that green woman was the only thing that was hers.

March 12, 2014, Laura went on a mission with two others. Former SHIELD agents, taken in and brainwashed. Agent Trip and Agent Sharon Carter. They were fascinating. Efficient, and very skilled. But beyond that, they were also somehow… alive. In a way that she didn’t feel. That most of the others didn’t. Trip gave her a protein bar on the way to the mission. Sharon told her to sleep.

They were worried about her.

It made sense. What was the point of hell, if only one person could go.

That comforted her. That after years of demons, she had found people like her. They went into a Chinese facility together, killed everyone within, and stole a computer chip. On the way out, Trip reminded her to clean some blood that landed on her. It was a nice thing to do.

After they gave Strucker the chip, he woke up a robot with a green face in its chest. And then they watched the news.

Dial and Creel had gone to Russia. Creel, as Strucker had helpfully told her, was the first person to survive the same machine that made her. She found that interesting. That they were similar like that.

And then, Russia apparently became something insane. She didn’t get to find out all of it, but she heard about parts of it. Monkey robots, other heroes, someone named ‘Kragoff’ that was described as a James Bond villain.

Her training was adjusted to account for the Winter Guard. Kraven, a hunter, and Vanguard, a Captain America copycat were ignored. Chernobog, the dark god, she was told to run away from while an army of Hydra-Hulks attacked him. Crimson Dynamo, she was to slice through the armor and pull out the pilot for capture. Fantasma was also someone she had to be wary of, since Hydra’s knowledge of ‘magic’ was limited. And Ursa Major was hers to fight, with a focus on slicing apart real bears that Hydra sent towards her.

She liked fighting the bears. They were fluffy. Sometimes she could lie against them after she killed them, enjoy the warmth before she was forced to kill more.

All the while, all across the world, more superhumans appeared to follow the Winter Guard. A team in Japan called Big Hero 6, China had the Ascendants, Canada revealed Alpha Flight. Strucker kept an eye on all of them, even the pretty Korean girls.

The first time in years that Laura heard music was from those girls. The sound of it. So powerful. Beautiful, but also like it was challenging everyone. She listened to it with avid interest whenever Strucker would play the videos. He used the videos to try and prepare for a day he might have to fight them.

Laura listened because they made her feel like she could fight the entire world.

March 20th, 2014. They heard very little from BRIDGE. She-Hulk had had a very public fight with a redheaded woman, the battle becoming a legend among wrestling fans apparently. There were rumors about BRIDGE hiring paleontologists, biologists, experts in Antarctica, and outdoorsmen for a special project, something Strucker had been confused about.

The only thing Laura focused on was a question Strucker asked while they visited Zola with Josef, a strange man Strucker said was one of the ‘Winter Soldiers’.

“Blood Diamond. What will you do if you ever meet Dial?”

“Kill him,” Laura said blankly.

“Do you consider him a father, for donating the crystals in your body?”

She’d shaken her head. She didn’t. But she did feel strange when it came to him. The diamonds in her always seemed to weigh just a bit more when she thought of that odd man. Even as she killed an alien man later, she thought about the human who could turn into aliens.

The feeling continued four days later, when she caught footage of him and Captain America on a tv show. At one point, he smiled at the camera. She thought about that. That happened a lot.

Under the fog of soothing voices telling her to comply, she watched. Watched Strucker hire a red-haired man that made the base into a shifting moving fortress. Watched Zola create a strange gelatinous creature. Watched Strucker turn the aliens into his own personal army.

And then, one day, Strucker sent her on a mission. To kill Tony Stark. She was given a dress and a quinjet.

She went. She was happy to comply.

It all went wrong when she arrived. The small girl. The Blonde one. Strucker had called her Ruby Hale, a candidate for the Destroyer of Worlds project. The girl was with Tony Stark and pegged her immediately. She attacked. Iron Man and Ruby fought back.

At one point, Iron Man shot her with a blast of sonics. She felt her bones shatter in her own head, slicing through her eyes. She felt her cheekbones break and cut into her. It was the worst pain she had ever felt.

It happened again and again. And she kept on trying to kill him. She was happy to comply.

And then… Tony got new armor. He stared at her.

“Sorry about this kid. But this is over.”

And something in her… for just a moment. Just one. The thought filled her.

If I die. Maybe I’ll see Mama again.

“...kill me.”

She’d been so desperate for it. The thought consumed her. It broke through the fog.

Then the moment was gone. She complied. And she attacked again.

Then, when she had no way of succeeding in her objective, she ran. Strucker had ordered her too.

But she sliced out the stomach of Ruby Hale. She never knew if the girl died.

When she got back to base, Strucker punished her. He’d cut her open down to the bone diamond bone, burned the flesh there, then timed how long it would take for her to heal. Then again. And again. For hours.

“After all,” he’d said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this again.”

And then. The next day. War. June 5th, 2014.

BRIDGE came down, on three great ships, with an army pouring out of the doors. She watched as they fought Hydra forces, and knew that this was hell. Where else but hell could have such a battle, such horrors? Giant monsters, inhuman speedsters, demons from the sky, alien warships.

Blood was a common factor in Laura’s life. But that day, she saw more than she thought possible.

The aliens came down. They killed hundreds. For a moment. Just a moment. It looked like Hydra would win.

Then Godzilla exploded from out of one of the ships.

Silence filled the room around her. Laura stared in awe at the sight. A crystal monster, the size of a mountain. Roaring.

“...Holy shit,” Strucker chuckled, surprising Laura. He looked to his right. Laura looked back at him, her brainwashing keeping her from showing the shock she felt. “It seems your ‘father’ still has many surprises.”

He never saw Laura look back at the screen. She stared at it as the ground continued to shake. The echoing voice of a monster reverberated through her body, her blood… right into her crystal bones.

From there, Dial infiltrated the base along with a few others. And Strucker told her to go get him.

And for the very first time, in the shifting rooms that the strange laughing red-haired man had made. Laura met Dial.

He was standing there. Long black hair. Brown eyes. He was shorter than Strucker by about an inch, but was built like Josef, with the same powerful muscles and stance, wearing an armored shirt with a hood, jeans, and the famous Omnitrix on his arm.

His face when he saw her… it was shocked. But he looked… warm. Like Trip and Sharon sometimes did. But there was more there.

“Laura…”

For a moment, Laura stared at him. He stared back. She felt so lost-

A voice that sounded like Strucker roared. “Comply!”

Twin blades left her knuckles. His eyes hardened. He reached for the Omnitrix. The dial pressed down. She moved, lunging at him. Green light shone across his body, transforming him before reaching golden eyes. Eyes that matched her own now.

A fist punched her. But she barely felt it.

He was in Diamondhead form. And she could feel him.

She’d felt it with the giant crystal monster. But this was more. More intimate, warmer. A sensation like she was connected to him. Not just in her crystals. For a moment, it was like every part of Laura was calling out for him.

COMPLY.

Then she was trying to kill him.

They fought for a while. And Laura continued to comply. To draw him in. To bring him towards the target.

Until they fell into the trap.

And Strucker sprung it.

Laura felt herself raise a blade to her own throat, the diamond slicing just a bit. She stared at Dial as Strucker spoke.

Stand in the center of sonic weapons in Diamondhead form. Or she would kill herself.

And Laura felt the warmth and hope within her fade. She was going to die. He would let her die. He was a hero. Heroes stopped bad people. Dial would let her die, and then Strucker would die. That was fine-

Dial transformed into Diamondhead. And Laura broke.

Shock and horror filled her, breaking through her conditioning. Then the sound weapons struck.

And Dial began to break too.

“GAAAAAAH!”

He screamed. He cracked to pieces. And then he healed. And broke. His eye shattered. He fell to his knees. Broke. Healed. Over and over.

But he didn’t die. He refused to. She watched him scream. Watched portions of him crack. Bleed a strange fluid. When Tony Stark had hit her with sonics, she felt her bones snap apart and shred her own flesh. This… this was so much more. The sounds of his face, chest, and back snapping open, his right eye exploding, crystals growing into the gaps to fill the holes only to vibrate apart and break again.

Then the sound stopped. And Strucker and Dial spoke. Strucker sounded powerful, domineering. Dial should have sounded weak. His voice was soft, filled with pain.

But his voice still echoed.

“What is the point of allowing this level of pain? For a girl you don’t know? A woman who tried to kill you. Tried to kill your friend?”

Laura looked at Dial and wondered the same. He should have just changed. Turned into one of those other aliens. Killed Strucker. Laura had hurt so many. Killed more. Why didn’t he want to let her die?

“You realize the point of brainwashing is you don’t blame the person being forced into it?”

Strucker chuckled. “Yes, I suppose. Still, I believe a reasonable person would have given up when their fingers began to explode.”

“Heroes aren’t reasonable,” Dial growled out. “That’s the point of heroes. Always meddling in things that aren’t our business. Helping everyone who needs it. We.. I’ll take the pain. I’ll break. If it’ll make sure she doesn’t die.”

The words shook her.

The increase to the sonic weapons did more than that. They had been loud before, but now she could see the air shake.

Her own body was shaking, breaking, just from standing in the same room as the sonic weapons. She fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. But Dial was dying.

“¡Basta!” the word left her lips without thinking. The first time in months she said something without being ordered to.

The light of Dial’s eyes began to flicker. His chest fell open, revealing his inner core. And for a moment, just a moment, Laura thought he was dead.

A single arrow stabbed into a speaker to her right. Laura didn’t understand at first. But Dial and Strucker seemed to.

Nine more arrows seemed to appear in the other speakers. Then they exploded apart.

Laura barely acknowledged the sudden feeling of relief. Instead, she stared upwards as Hawkeye came down from the ceiling. His arrows flew so fast they seemed to be fired at the same time. They never missed. Not a single shot.

He landed beside Dial. Strucker screamed at her to kill him. And he didn’t even flinch. The next thing she knew, electricity was pouring through her, and she couldn’t move.

Then she was on the floor. She couldn’t stop shaking. Her head hurt. The arrow pumping electricity into her was worse. She stared into Dial’s eyes. He smiled around crystal lips shattered to pieces.

“...I’m sorry.”

The words echoed even over the sound of Hawkeye taunting Strucker in the background.

“But you’ll be okay. We’ll get you out. I promise.”

She didn’t believe him.

She was proven right when, moments later, Strucker was in her mind again.

“Ah… of all the minds in this sea of souls. You are the one I don’t need to manipulate.”

That hurt worse than anything else. The reminder of her constant violation. Years of horror had broken her even before the mind control. And now, Strucker didn’t even need to try.

Then Dial exploded in a wave of green light.

So. Even he’d given up on her.

She barely registered his new appearance, the thin muscular frame, the four arms, the white robes. She only saw Strucker speak.

“Do it.”

Laura couldn’t stop herself. She reached to remove her own throat.

Then a voice echoed in her mind. A soft and kind mumble.

“Rest kid. I’ll see you when it’s over.”

And then the voice was gone. And so was the haze over her mind. Laura fell asleep. For the first time in a long time, her dreams were peaceful.

June 9th, 2014

She woke up in a room later. There was a plate of food on a table in front of her. She got off the comfortable bed and ate the steak and rice. It was the best food she’d had in years. Ignoring the utensils to shovel it into her mouth, she looked around.

The room she was in was a pale white in color, with a concrete floor, another table with a couch and a sofa next to it. It was big. The biggest room she’d ever woken up in.

She created a diamond blade and tossed it at a wall. It bounced off. Not impale, not even scratch. Just bounced off.

Still a prison then.

The TV was on. She turned to watch it. A news broadcast of the battle was on, with various people talking about what had happened. Something about a psychic battle and a battle in space. But none of that mattered to her.

The important thing was the remote.

She stared at it as she ate. A remote. It was black, and covered in buttons, resting on the table next to her food. She reached out, hands slippery with steak juice, and fumbled. With a press of a button, the channel changed.

Laura stared at the screen. And changed the channel again. And again. Over and over.

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

In another part of the Triskelion, Natasha watched on a camera with Director Maria Hill as Laura changed channels on the TV with an odd fascination. The young woman seemed to be in shock.

“What is she doing?” Maria asked Nat.

“She’s been imprisoned for most of her life, since she was a kid. Told what to do, where to go, who to kill,” Natasha looked over at Maria sadly. “Changing the channel? That might be the first time she’s ever had a choice in something since Hydra kidnapped her.”

Maria looked back at Nat, then sighed sadly. “Fair enough, but she’s going to be a problem. Even if Dial broke her out of her brainwashing, she’s still someone who was raised in captivity to kill others. She’s a timebomb.”

“I’m getting a lot of Deja Vu right now,” Natasha said sadly.

Maria chuckled, turning and walking towards her desk. Natasha joined her, sitting in front of the desk as Maria leaned against it. “Yeah, I guess you would. What do you suggest?”

“Therapy,” Natasha said without hesitation. “Lots of it. Someone needs to speak with her first, get a handle on just how feral she might be. Dial asked to speak with her.”

“Because he stupidly feels responsible for her,” Maria pointed out.

Natasha didn’t respond to that. Maria shook her head. “I’ll schedule a time for later. We already called in Professor Garner for her, so that’s one more among a fleet of therapists we’ve called in.”

Maria shrugged. “Okay, Laura is in custody at least, but we’ve got a lot on our plate besides her.”

“That’s an understatement,” Natasha noted. “We’re things supposed to be less complicated after we beat Hydra?”

“We’re BRIDGE, even back when we were SHIELD our lives were never going to become less complicated. Speaking of which,” Maria raised a hand and snapped her fingers in a complicated pattern. A screen appeared before her, revealing two people on different screens. Trip and Sharon. The two were in a cell of their own, similar to Laura’s.

Trip was roaming back and forth in his cell. Sharon was lying in bed. And both looked like they had been through hell.

“How are they?” Nat asked carefully.

“Enhanced, for one,” Maria’s face twisted just a bit. “Apparently Hydra managed to crack the code on a weaker version of the super soldier serum. Nothing like Steve, but the same as Bucky and the other Winter Soldiers. Sharon and Trip were given it.”

“Everybody is some kind of enhanced nowadays,” Natasha said. “How are they really doing?”

“They’ll probably retire at some point, if my guess is right. Peggy Carter asked to see them. Same with Steve, Coulson’s team, Mack, Bobby, Izzy-”

“Long list,” Nat flashed a smirk.

The Director didn’t disagree. “Natasha, I want you to monitor Laura.”

That didn’t surprise her. “You think she’s like me.”

“I think she’s similar to you, with some severe differences, but at her core she’s got a lot in common with you and Ruby.”

“Oh, Ruby is going to love that.”

Maria barked out a laugh. “She’ll have to suck it up. Laura has an easy weakness for us to exploit, but she’s also one of the most dangerous people in the world. We need to defuse this tykebomb.”

That was a fair statement.

“When did I become the big sister of every dangerous girl in the world,” Natasha said more than asked. As the words left her lips, an old memory hit her. A tiny blonde girl, smiling at her as she colored in a notebook.

“...Your request for time-off was approved, by the way.”

“You didn’t tell anyone else about it?”

“No, but you should.”

Natasha and Maria looked at each other for a moment. “...Fine. Well, best of luck when you head out.”

“Thank you.”

Maria looked over at the screen again and waved a hand.

“You’re following Dial.”

The Director nodded. “He left in Big Chill form. He’s almost to Westchester County already.”

Natasha didn’t speak, but she could see Maria hiding her own stress.

The world was getting crazier and crazier. There had to be a breaking point.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial/Back At It

I twirled through the air on wings of blue, chilled air following in my wake, contemplating the past few months.

On July 15, 2018, I had been in my home universe writing fanfiction. Then, Professor Paradox showed up in my room and shoved me into the Marvel Universe. Well, one of them anyways.

I went from my world, to New York City, Fall of 2013, in a place where Tony Stark, Thor, and all the other heroes I loved existed and lived.

At least Professor Paradox didn’t leave me entirely in the cold.

He gave me an Omnitrix.

One of the most powerful weapons in multiversal history. Allowing me to turn into aliens to obtain their powers.

Currently I was Big Chill, a frozen insect. I had faster aliens, but few that I could just kind of relax in the air with.

I needed it. I’d been dropped in the middle of November and It was the beginning of June now. And in that time I’d fought in five different wars, various battles, and navigated several dangerous waters across the Earth. I needed a break man.

But there is no rest for the wicked, and thus none for the righteous either. I think someone said that once.

I flew through clear skies, enjoying the air fluttering across my insectoid form, and tried to breath softly. With New York City having disappeared behind me long ago, I was now away from the skyscrapers, had left behind the warehouses, the suburbs, and was full on in the countryside. Hopefully, me flying overhead in broad daylight wouldn’t lead to Mothman rumours in the area.

I say hopefully, but I could have avoided sight… Okay fine, I just thought it would be funny if it happened. I waved at a car full of kids as I passed, grinning at the shocked looks on their faces.

I flew through a cloud and appeared out the other side with a small layer of frost. Below, I could see my destination.

1407 Greymalkin Lane Westchester, North Salem, NY, 10560.

The building I was reaching was beautiful, large. A mansion with a large yard in front, a pool in the backyard… And a tennis court. And a baseball diamond. And a basketball court… and I was pretty sure the property was even bigger than that!

“Good lord,” I breathed out, reaching out mentally. “You really spring for the full package.”

“The benefits of an inheritance and careful investments,” a voice echoed in my mind.

I landed by the front door and transformed back into my human self. I walked up to the doors of the giant mansion. As I did, I noticed someone staring at me from one of the windows. I hid a grin when they tried to hide, but didn’t stop staring at me. The teens were looking me over. That was just… Wild man. Absolutely wild.

I almost knocked on the doors before they opened up. Behind the door was, to my surprise, someone I did and did not recognize.

Since coming to this world I’d gotten used to many things. One, was that for some reason, every hero I met looked like an actor or actress from my world.

Captain America looked like Chris Evans. Natasha Romanov was Scarlett Johanssen. Hell, Fantasma, one of my best friends, was a dead ringer for a cosplayer named KalinkaFox.

So when I first met Ororo Monroe, I was surprised I didn’t think of any actress I knew that looked like her. On the other hand, she was a dead ringer for her X-Men Evolution counterpart.

The same straight pale white hair, blue eyes, and dark skin, all while looking incredibly beautiful. She was wearing a red shirt and a long blue skirt with some interesting flower designs along it. She smiled at me as she held the door open.

“Good Morning, Mr. Schahed. Please, come inside,” her voice had a hint of an African accent. Just like I remembered!

“Thank you, Ms. Monroe,” I stepped in, grinning at her.

“Please, right this way. The Professor is waiting.”

She led me inside. The mansion was beautiful, very old school-looking, with marble and hardwood everywhere. We went up to the staircase in the center of the lobby, Storm just in front of me. I couldn’t help a bit of the fanboy coming out.

“Gotta say Ms. Monroe. It’s a real honor to meet you.”

She gave me an odd look. “Oh? Oh!” she seemed to come to a realization. “Right, the Professor did mention the… multiverse, and that you were familiar with other versions of us.”

Her voice’s odd timbre drew my eye. She was still very calm, almost zen, but she also seemed uncomfortable. I winced.

“Sorry, I didn’t even think about that. The whole knowing about different versions of you and their history. The other Avengers, a lot of the BRIDGE folk, they got used to that pretty quick. Just, keep in mind, I basically just have an impression of-”

Storm stopped me with a laugh. “I understand, Mr. Schahed. I live with a telepath. I do not mind you knowing a bit about me, I am simply trying to comprehend the idea of a multiverse.”

Ah, that was fair.

“Well, at least we don’t live in the one where the Earth got turned into a sea of orange goo by insane lunatics.”

We’d gotten to a door by that point. Ororo looked over at me, surprised. “Really?”

“You want to see the most insane, beautiful, wonderful sights possible, Ms. Monroe? The multiverse is the best way to see it all. I’ll let you know when we figure out how to travel through it safely, show you some cool shit.”

She seemed amused by that. “I’ll keep that in mind. And please, call me Ororo.”

“Dial.”

That surprised her. “You want people to call you by your codename?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, it’s one I’ve earned.”

Somehow she seemed to understand, based on the small smile on her face.

She opened the door, letting me into the room. Within, two men waited.

One was short, but thickly built with muscle, his bare arms fuzzy with hair, hair cut into an interesting pattern like a combination of mullet and ducktail. His skin was darkly tanned the way hunters get, and he had a scowl so deep I was reminded of some of my angrier friends.

Wolverine. I was surprised he didn’t look like Hugh Jackman, rather looking a lot like his X-Men Evo counterpart just like Storm.

The other man was in a wheelchair. And he was a dead ringer for Patrick Stewart.

“Thank god,” I said as I walked in. “After Logan and Ororo, I was starting to feel like things had gone weird.”

The two mentioned looked at each other in confusion. The austere man in the wheelchair, on the other hand, knew what I was talking about.

Charles Xavier grinned. “I’m glad I could reassure you, Mr. Schahed. I believe we have much to discuss.

“A fuckton’s worth,” I agreed, Ororo wincing at the language as Logan snorted. “So, let’s talk shop, because I need you to convince me and my boss that hiding the existence of mutants is in our best interests.”

The door closed behind me and I sat down to talk.

Author’s Note: Patreon. For now… I’m so damn happy to be writing this again.

I missed Dial.