nexus_crossings | When Life Slows Down

It is a major downer for Peter to have a leg cast right now. His whole life seems to be crawling along at a snail's pace. He is used to being the first to class... but is now the last. He is used to living life in the fast line... but is now stuck behind some senior going half the speed limit. And he feels like he is that senior.

And he can't focus right. Which is why he was headed to his hide-away in the attic, and took all that effort to drag himself up one step at a time...

When his head popped up in a whole new area that definitely was not the attic. His eyes went wide as sights and sounds surrounded him, and he was not even all the way out into the Nexus plaza yet.

He tosses his crutches onto the ground of the plaza, then pulls himself all the way up out of the hole in the ground that is his Nexus portal. And sits there on the ground for a moment. His eyes seem to move very quickly surveying everything around him.

He doesn't seem concerned about moving off the ground right now. His finger tap quickly on the floor beside him. More than anything in the world he wants to see everything... visit every Nexus shop... sample every exotic treat. But the cast has him contained. Sullen and contained.

"What would be your version of 'being between a rock and a hard place'?"

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"Good. I am glad I am special." Peter chuckles lightly. He could fall pretty fast for this one. He is a speedster.

"No. Thief. Mostly." He admits.

Special, in that he's a strange, distant alternate of someone Steve would have liked to have saved. Flirting is only flirting, but he's already decided he wants to get to know him, whether on a platonic level or otherwise. (Although, let's be real, Steve Rogers is pretty slow to move on anything other than a platonic level.)

But he's never been immune to charm.

"Thief? Really? And now you save the world instead?" He should probably tell him that stealing is bad or something. And it is! It's bad. But Steve's concerns are more life and limb and planetary infrastructure these days than petty theft.

Then again, "See, that sounds like another guy I know. Scott Lang. Haven't seen him in a while, though. I hope his family's doing okay."

"Well, a few other mutants... that is what they call people like me with special abilities in my world... showed up on my door. Asking for help."

"I helped get this powerful metal-controller mutant out of jail. And then the next thing I know, I am sitting at home watching him give this big speech on TV. And my foster mom decides that is the perfect time to tell me that he is my dad."

"And I went to find him... instead, showed up to the mansion when it was blowing up with students inside. So I saved them. And then got sedated. And then joined up with the others when they went to face an Elder Mutant, mostly because the guy who is my dad was working with that Elder Mutant. And I wanted to help my dad."

Peter knows that he went through his background really fast there.

"Okay, pal, sorry, but I lost you about halfway through there." Steve smiles nonetheless, amused. "We might need to take baby steps. Start with mutants. Are you saying you were born with your abilities?"

If it makes Peter feel better, Steve seems to have zero prejudice one way or another. He's just curious.

"I only ask because I'm a science experiment. If you'd seen me before, you'd hardly recognize me." Although he misses being bird-boned, crooked, asthmatic Stevie Rogers more than he can say.

"Big fan of baby steps?" Peter pats Steve's chest playfully.

"In my world, genetics have evolved that humans are born with the X-Gene. That X-Gene usually manifests with special abilities at puberty. Right now, not all humans are born with it. So it has created a bit of a divide."

Peter grinned. "A science experiment you say?"

"Did I say that before?" He laughs softly. "I guess I use that phrase a lot."

He heard a lot of it, when being introduced to modern technology. Small wonder it stuck.

Nodding attentively at the explanation, he takes a left around some kind of empty kiosk. Around that corner, the PINpoint vending machines are easy enough to spot. "That sounds rough. People are already prone to prejudice against anyone different."

"I worried about that after the experiment. What would happen if they made a bunch more of me." He shakes his head. "It was the second World War, and a German scientist, Dr. Erskine, was testing a serum to bring humans to the peak of performance. Strength, stamina, a little cognitive enhancement. It was called Project Rebirth. I was this short, thin, asthmatic kid and I was ready to do anything to help with the war effort, so I volunteered and was eventually chosen to be the first subject."

"The serum worked, but Dr. Erskine was assassinated so there was no way to duplicate it after that. Plenty of people have tried, though."

"So you are one of a kind..." Peter notices the PINpoint vending machines. He guesses that Steve will stop carrying him soon. Shame that.

"So how old does that make you?"

"Sort of. Like I said, there were attempts to duplicate it, just...the subjects ended up with a hell of a lot more side effects. But I also work with a group of people with extraordinary abilities. Not all enhanced the same way, but there's a guy with an exo-suit that enables him to fly, a couple really good spies, and--"

"Well. Wanda Maximoff. She has incredible telekinetic abilities, and probably more than that, things we haven't discovered she can do yet. But she wasn't born with them. She and her brother, Pietro, kinda volunteered for an experiment the way I did. Different era, different experiment, but..."

He shrugs. "I like the idea of natural evolution of these kinds of things better. I don't think, in the light of cruel people doing cruel things in the world we can sit back and just let evil win, but maybe some of us paid too high a cost to be able to fight back."

Once they're by the machine, he sets him down gently--and slowly, so he can adjust his balance without having to put any weight on that broken leg. "I'll be a century old in a few weeks. Go ahead with all the jokes; if you come up with one I haven't heard, I'll buy you an ice cream."

"Man... I have heard of mutants being experimented on. I would not wish that experience on anyone."

"Sorry you volunteered for it, not knowing what it was about."

Peter adjusts his balance. And starts glancing through the different options in the PINpoint vending machine.

"I am hoping that you will buy me an ice cream, just because." He admits, with a soft chuckle. "But you do look damn good for someone who is a century old."

"There's a difference between volunteering and being forced into something. I can't criticize anyone for volunteering, but I can sure as hell fight anyone who'd take advantage of their good faith."

He laughs, although he's heard that before, plenty often. "Thanks, pal. Seventy years of cryotherapy'll really do it for you. But sure, we'll have cream some time. I can always use a friend."

((ooc: since we have the newer thread, should we call this end scene?))

[Sounds good to me. Safe to say that Peter got Steve's contact number after he got his PINpoint?]

[[Absolutely!]]

When Life Slows Down

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