As soon as he stepped out of his lab he could smell Wolverine coming. The little Canadian often wandered the halls of the mansion at night; his healing factor meant that he required little rest, and being on so many different teams at the same time meant that he had an awful lot on his mind more often than not. They shared an easy and playful relationship, and he was glad for it. Considering all they had been through together and with Scott, it was far too easy to fall into bitterness or melancholy.
"Hank?" Wolverine's gruff voice was low in the dark.
"It's me, Logan." Beast's voice sounded a lot deeper than before, and even though he tried to match Wolverine's tone it still carried quite a bit more than he meant it to.
"I should have figured you'd be up. What do you need, like thirty minutes of sleep at this point?" He could hear the weariness in the other man's tone. He wasn't up because he didn't need the sleep.
Beast chuckled anyway. It was best to keep the spirit light when he was like this. "Only slightly more as long as there are sufficient quantities of caffeine. I was...in the middle of a test trial, and thought I'd pop in to the Danger Room for a quick session."
"Got something on your mind, furball? I've never known you to resort to pretend violence to work something out." Wolverine had walked up so that they were standing face to face. Well, face to stomach. Logan had to have noticed how tall he was by now. He was likely waiting for Hank to bring it up himself.
"Not quite. As you can see, there's been an...unforeseen result of one of my tests. I thought the Danger Room would be the best way to measure its effect." He leaned back and looked down at his friend. He had always been bigger than him, stronger too -- but not the difference was undeniable. Wolverine looked like a child next to him. He felt like a bear.
The other mutant chuckled. "Just don't break anything on your way there. You look like you might have some trouble fitting through some of the doors in the lower levels now." Wolverine was about to squeeze past him when he stopped and looked up. "This ain't anything I need to be concerned about, is it?"
Beast smiled, his prominent fangs on full display. "My dear Logan, you wound me. Everything is perfectly under control."
Wolverine looked him up and down, then shrugged before walking away. "Sure, Hank. Just make sure you're back to something resembling normal by your next class. The students have a hard enough time concentrating on mutant physiology without having to worry about whether a bear-sized professor is going to eat them or not."
"One would think that would encourage better concentration," Beast said. He hadn't realized just how nervous he was until he head Wolverine's retreating footsteps. He took a deep breath before moving on. His clothes felt tighter than ever now, and he was sure he had popped a few seams on his lab coat and pants.
It turned out Wolverine was right; it was a challenge getting through some of the doors on the way to the Danger Room. He had to wonder how Colossus managed to fit down here, or if Piotr ducked all the time and he had just never noticed. Now that he was roughly his teammate's size, he had a newfound sympathy for how rough it was to be so tall in a world made for smaller people. He made a mental note to do something about that.
The Danger Room doors, however, were immense. Over twenty feet tall, rising from floor to ceiling in a monstrous replica of the X-Men logo. Beast smiled as he fumbled with the too-small keypad, rather pleased with his design. His plans for the new school were ingenious, even if he did say so himself. The Danger Room, where the X-Men trained for threats both real and theoretical, contained some of the most advanced augmented reality tech in the world. And he had designed it.
He stepped into the room and rose to his full height, which felt taller than it did just moments ago in the Lab. Was he still growing? A small shiver of alarm raced through him, though it changed into a small thrill soon after that. He had to admit he could get used to being this size. It made him look far more imposing, and, well, dashing when he wanted to. And, he theorized, he could be far more effective in combat out in the field.
"Computer," he rumbled, rolling his shoulders. His lab coat tore further, and he felt the seams of his pants split several inches inside his thigh. "Load routine X-233 please."
"Vocal identification verified. Loading routine X-233 now, Dr. McCoy." The computer's feminized voice filled the bare metal room before it changed completely. In the blink of an eye, Hank found himself...
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
