Welcome to pt.3. This is where I start to deviate a little bit from normal comicdom. I will be introducing a character at the end that may not be very familiar to most, but I will do some more explaining at the beginning of pt.4. For those of you who know who he is, I would rather save the surprise.

 

Wildfire

by Tanyalynn

 

Sentinels- The bane of every mutant's existence. I was in terrible danger and stuck in the body of a 13-year-old girl to boot. At least I now knew the source of my new body's powers. So, where was I going to find a way to get a huge electrical charge? I dashed back into the house, past my new mom, who said, "Tanya, what the hell is going on?" I told her "mom, stay in the house- you're in terrible danger. I have to do this". I ran up the stairs to my bedroom and into my bathroom. I grabbed my hairdryer and plugged it in and turned it on. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes, and shoved it into the toilet. I heard a loud popping and felt a huge surge of energy go through me as I heard one of the Sentinels starting to tear the roof off of the house. I heard my mom screaming as the power went off. I was moving on instinct as I saw the Sentinel's face appear and ripped out the toilet and hurled it at the Sentinel. Not nearly the strength I had demonstrated earlier in the other body, but effective. It went staggering off with a gaping hole where its eye had been. Then, the other one came after me. I heard what sounded like another one coming in for a landing as well. Just great. I would have been lucky to beat one and now there were three. I was desperately searching for a weapon when being hit by an energy beam suddenly rocked the other sentinel. Now who the hell was that? Then, I heard voices. I hoped it would be the other X-Men, but suddenly I realized it was my parents- I mean my parents as Dave! What the hell was going on?

Then, I figured it out- the others must have been sent to tell them of the accident.

I didn't know how much they knew, so I said, "thank you whoever you are." My mom said, as she finished off the last sentinel with some kind of blaster, "its ok, honey, we know who you are. Your friends went to check out the mansion while we came looking for you. The question is, are these robots after you as a mutant or because of who you really are"? My mind was spinning to say the least. I thought that as far as they knew that I was unaware that they were my adopted parents. I mean, they were college professors for Pete's sake! My mom told me to get into the car and I did without arguing. I was going on instinct here. Tanya's mom came out and yelled, "where are you going and who are these people? Get out of that car!" I could only yell, "I'm sorry" at her and we split.

I then said to them, "I need to get to the mansion now. There may be some way to get my power back- I think I will need it." My mom held up a belt and said, "Logan gave this to us. When we get to where we're going, you can put it on and activate it. It should take care of the problem." I looked it over and quickly realized it was some kind of device to store energy and release it. My mom said, "that has all of the energy that was siphoned off of you. It is a unique kind of energy that Hank couldn't identify." I asked them, "so where are we going? I may need this power at any time." My mom said "just wait and see".

We drove for an hour, and then stopped at a house in Indiana. We went up to the door and my dad pushed the doorbell four times, then two, then five. A panel opened and a palm print reader came out. My dad put his palm on there and the door opened. We went in and saw the view through the window was false. There was a computer in there, and an armory. There was also a worktable, and some kind of communications system. I was beginning to wonder about dear old mom and dad. I started to ask a question, but they told me to hold on and I would see. We went through to a garage, and I saw a peculiar looking car. I wasn't a car guy, so I didn't get it right away. My dad pulled it out of the garage, and almost as soon as he did, the wheels pulled up, and we were flying! As we soared upward, my breath was taken away by the experience. I remembered Wil Smith in Independence Day and yelled, "I have got to get me one of these"! My parents just laughed and said "I don't think so, dear, since you're only 13". Damn, they would have to remind me of that. My mom also pointed out a few things a mom would notice. She said, "your body is reacting mostly by memory, honey, but you need to learn to keep your knees together. You also need to think like a girl better when you're not around us or others who know who you are". That was the problem. I wasn't a girl, not on the inside. In college, I had had a friend who was transsexual. I had found out because my roommate had tried to date her, and stuck his hand up her skirt without permission. He had spread the word around, but I thought he was a jerk anyway. I went to her and apologized for him- my parents had taught me to be open minded. We actually became friends. I had been trained in martial arts since I could walk, although I wasn't supposed to know why. But, then, I wasn't supposed to find the links to my real identity either. I figured I would have to give Sarah a call- she would probably get a kick out of this. That and the fact that she was a scientist who specialized in bioelectric fields.

I started paying attention to where I was again and realized we were approaching some kind of flying-fortress that could be only one thing. I had never been there, but Logan had told me over beers about the legendary SHIELD headquarters. I looked at my parents and said, "I guess this explains a lot- your with SHIELD. Does this mean that all I have ever been to you was an assignment? Don't you know that I know who I am? Who my parents are?" My mom was obviously hurt by this and said, "how do you think you found the trail that led you to your real identity? We put you on it by leaving documents out. We're the ones who should be hurt. You could have told us what was going on." I said, "what, that my mom and dad had disappeared around 1950 along with my dad's five men, and were never heard from again until she appeared 24 years ago in the middle of the New Mexico desert and sent out a signal that SHIELD picked up? Was I born yet or was she pregnant with me? And where is she?" My mom said, "I think we'll let the boss explain that". We came in for a landing on a massive hangar deck and got out to see Nick Fury standing there. I walked over to him where he had his hand outstretched and instead knocked him on his ass. I must have had some of the charge still in me, because he obviously felt the effects. I was suddenly surrounded by SHIELD agents with weapons pointed at me when Fury said "leave it be- she has good reason to be upset". I said, "you're damn right you bastard. You worked with my father during the war. What the hell happened to him and where is my mother"? He said, "remind me to never let you have a free shot again. I told him, "let me get near a power source, and I'll tear this place down around your ears. I want answers now". If I had stopped to think about it, I would have realized that the stress of all this and my female hormones that I wasn't used to were combining to make me lose all control. Then, a voice I was so happy to hear said "David, you need to calm down". I turned around and saw Sarah. She was beautiful. It was the first time I had seen her since she had the operation. We had stayed in touch, but hadn't had time to keep in touch. I couldn't help it; I broke down crying and ran into her arms. She gently led me to a room where we could have some privacy and let me cry it out. When I dried my tears, I told her "your beautiful- I hope it all worked out the way you wanted". She said, "hey, you make a cute 13 year old girl yourself". I couldn't help it- I laughed at that, which is what I needed. Then, it occurred to me- what was she doing here? I got mad and asked, "so what, were you a SHIELD plant keeping a watch on me as well"? I could tell that hurt her and she said, "no, I already have top security clearance due to a project I have been working on and your parents remembered our friendship and thought I could help you. Besides my scientific background, they knew I knew what it felt like to be a girl trapped in a boy's body, so they thought I would be uniquely suited to help you. And, if I know you, you were probably thinking of calling me anyway". What could I say- she had that pegged right. I said, "so what do you know"? She said, "everything- I read your file. I probably know more than you do at this point. I know that upsets you, and I understand, but we will have to work around it". She showed me that someone had managed to salvage some clothing from my house and took me to where I could shower and change. What was it with people with skirts? This was a red sweater with checked skirt and black tights. I guess they thought I should dress more formally here or something.

I went back to the office where Sarah was waiting and she said I looked very pretty. I blushed (blushed!) and said I wished she wouldn't say that. She said, "you better get used to it. Wait till the boys see you". I told her, "yeah, but they will have to deal with a girl who is both a martial arts expert and has super powers". I went with her to a big meeting room and found Fury and my parents there with some unexpected guests- Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, and Rogue- all of those who had been away from the mansion when the attack occurred. Fury said, "we are here to try to determine if the attack was purely based on the fact that you were a mutant, or if it was the enemy". I said, "you mean the one that caused my father and his men to disappear"? He said, "yes, that's who I mean. The other man, who worked with your father that is still alive, Captain America, is on a mission with the Avengers. He will be here as soon as possible". I said, "so have you told them?" and pointed at the other X-Men. He said yes. I looked at Wolverine and started to apologize, but he cut me off. He said, "why? Why couldn't you tell me that your dad was once one of my best friends? That the reason you were so familiar to me is that your dad was Doc Savage"?

 

To be continued- note- to those who are not familiar with Doc Savage, there will be an explanation in pt.4.

  

  

  

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