"Is everyone ready?" Mr. Hank asked from the control room one last time.
"We won't be here if we were not ready." Laura snapped back from the Danger Room.
It had been a whole month since my parents and Laura had settled down at the X-Mansion and my days since then could only be said to be better than they had ever been.
At first, things were really awkward between my parents and me because we seemed to have nothing in common.
They knew literally nothing about martial arts and learning about the existence of magic had caused them to almost faint from the shock. Not to mention that they didn't have any proper human interaction in a normal civilized location for more than a decade.
Fortunately, this situation didn't continue for long. Once we started going through the data obtained from the HYDRA base, I finally began bonding with them. While they knew nothing about martial arts and magic, both of them were masters in the field of genetics. This finally gave us a common point, allowing us to start bonding and leave all the awkwardness behind.
While the situation was still a little awkward between us, we were no strangers now. Not to mention that Aunt May and Uncle Ben visited as often as they could in order to reconnect with them and also to ensure that I was also bonding with them.
This had allowed them to also grow familiar with the rest of the students. Aunt May also went out of her way to bond with Emma since she was my girlfriend.
"Are you sure that they are ready to face the Sentinel given that it is the last stage of the Danger Room?" Father asked worriedly.
Even though he knew how powerful all of us were, he didn't get to see our training often and as such, didn't have the trust in our abilities which the teachers had.
"Be assured that nothing wrong can happen." Mr. Hank declared proudly.
"Not only do the students have shield artefacts with them, the Sentinel's software has been personally updated by Tony Stark." Mr. Hank answered why there was no chance for an unfortunate accident.
"Still, I believe that it was a mistake to include Laura in the team so soon. She still can't communicate well with the others." Father said, knowing how Laura was.
While my parents didn't have much difficulty settling in the X-Mansion, Laura was another story. Having been raised in a HYDRA base from her birth, she was instinctively distrustful of everyone, no matter how nice we were to her.
This worsened during the training sessions where she refused to listen to orders and often acted on her instincts. This often led to the team's formations being compromised and tactics being broken before they could even be used.
"It is something which can only be cured with time. Besides, Laura listens to you a little, Peter." Mr. Logan commented, knowing Laura's behaviour since he often trained her because of their similar powers.
"That is only because she respects me. And her respect is something which I only have because I saved Mom and Dad. Even then, she only listens to me and doesn't act on my words completely." I replied.
"I am releasing the Sentinel. Good luck!" Mr. Hank announced from the control room and pressed the release button.
The wall in front of the students slid away as the giant Sentinel slowly started entering the Danger Room. Moreover, it was not alone.
Several small doors opened on the side walls as robots entered the Danger rtoom while skating. To make things worse, many laser turrets had also appeared, their barrels pointing at the students.
"I would have vehemently opposed this training exercise if I didn't know that all the weapons were fake." Father commented.
Indeed, all the weapons in the Sentinel as well as the laser weaponary in the turrets were mere facsimiles. After all, the teachers couldn't afford to put the students in danger.
As such, all the lasers being released by the were were mere harmless laser lights. Professor had put a no touch policy instead where any student being touched by the laser light was out.
As soon as the Sentinel as well as the robots and turrets appeared, Laura suddenly rushed towards them without taking the team in consideration.
"Not so fast, Laura!" Emma admonished Laura as she pulled her back with her telekinesis.
"But I will fail if I let any laser hit me." Laura complained.
"You need to trust us, Laura. You are not alone." Emma said to Laura as she pointed towards the rest of the team.
As soon as her words finished, Jean pointed her hands towards the turrets on the right side, crushing them one by one with her telekinesis.
"Let me take care of the turrets on the other side." Scott shouted as he released his signature eye beam on the turrets on the left side.
Jean and Scott's actions immediately lessened the pressure on the rest of the team, allowing them to easily dodge the few laser beams the remaining turrets released.
By now, the skating robots had reached the team. Yet, even they were nothing against the team's might.
Laura easily slashed through the robots while Emma crushed their legs with her telekinesis, rendering them immobile. Kurt teleported them to the ceiling and dropped them. Even Kitty, who didn't have any offensive ability easily phased through a robot who somehow managed to approach her and ripped apart its circuitry.
Bam!
While the team was busy dealing with the turrets and robots, the Sentinel had managed to approach them from the front.
"Bobby!" Scott shouted, ordering Bobby.
Bobby immediately activated his cryokinesis and encased the Sentinel's legs in ice. But he didn't stop there. He continued cooling the Sentinel's legs so that its mechanisms would be completely frozen, thus rendering the Sentinel immobile.
The Sentinel, upon realizing that it was immobile, didn't try to move its legs what instead pointed its left arm towards the team, revealing several gun barrels on the arm. Of course, the bullets in them were still made of rubber so that the students won't to be in danger.
"Emma!" Jean shouted towards Emma, having finished crushing the turrets.
Emma nodded, realising what Jean was talking about. Before the Sentinel could begin firing the bullets, its left arm was suddenly moved upwards by a sudden force, likely because of Emma and Jean's efforts.
Scott then fired his eye beam right at the Sentinel's left arm joint. Although the plating was quite thick, making it impossible for the beam to pierce through it in a few seconds, the beam melted the plating enough that the metal arm would not be able to move.
Realising that its left arm was useless, the Sentinel's eyes suddenly started glowing red, signifying that it was about to release a laser beam with its eyes.
"Not on my watch!" Scott targeted the Sentinel's eyes with his own laser beam before the Sentinel could fire its own. As a result, the Sentinel's laser eyes destroyed which was not that hard given that they were actually laser lights.
"We can stop the Sentinel from attacking but how do we destroy it?" Laura asked as she slashed through the last of the robots.
"You would have known if you had deemed it necessary to listen to our attack plan." Scott replied with a frown, still angry at Laura for not trusting the team to hear their plans.
"Kurt, Kitty! Finish the job." Scott ordered.
"With pleasure!" Kitty replied chirpily as Kurt teleported her to the Sentinel's chest.
Kitty then jumped inside the Sentinel's chest with her phasing ability and soon after, the Sentinel turned off without any prior warning, likely because of its circuitry being destroyed by Kitty.
"Why did you not do it from the very start?" Laura asked in a puzzled voice.
"What do you think the turrets and the robots were for? They were here so that we didn't finish the Sentinel at the very start." Emma explained.
"Good job, everyone!" I congratulated everyone as I stepped inside the Danger Room.
"By the way, why did you not participate in the battle, Peter? I know that you are quite powerful but still." Laura asked curiously.
"Because he had made a big hole in the Sentinel with a single attack when he had faced it last time." Mr. Hank replied as he stepped inside the Danger Room with the others.
"Well done, everyone! Your teamwork was almost impeccable if we exclude Laura. At this level, you can be considered official X-Men. Although you would still not be sent on a mission without Ororo or Logan, I can now deploy you on a mission without any worry." Professor Xavier said, praising the students.
"But would this level really be enough to fight someone like Thanos?" Scott asked, knowing what kind of ordeals were likely to come in the future.
"We can only prepare ourselves to the very best, Scott. However, there is no need for you to worry needlessly when there are many others working on this situation. You just need to improve yourselves currently." Professor Xavier advised.
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"Did your training exercise went alright?" Mom asked as she joined us on our way to the lobby. She had been working in the lab so she could not join us.
"It went perfectly, Mrs. Parker. However, you need to tell Laura to listen to us. At this rate, she would fall into grave danger one day." Kurt replied.
"You know how much I try, Kurt. But she never listens!" Mom said with a huff, disappointed by Laura's behaviour.
"But I am trying!" Laura tried to defend herself.
"Anyways, go and fresh yourself. I will prepare a big dinner for all of you." Mom said.
"With pleasure. After all, your food is to die for." Kurt said, already salivating for the dinner.
"Don't ever let Mystique hear you. She will be very upset." Mom replied with a laugh.
This was another change after Mom and Dad had joined the X-Mansion. The food's quality had risen tremendously.
While the quality of the food prepared by the girls previously was not that bad, they were just not experienced in the art of cooking. On the other hand, Ms. Ororo and Mystique had never focused on cooking previously.
Fortunately, all of this changed after Mom and Dad joined. Mom, despite being a scientist was also a great cook. Moreover, she didn't have a chance to cook previously while under HYDRA's captivity. As such, she often made several dishes for us to enjoy.
Ring! Ring!
After we arrived at the lobby, my phone suddenly started ringing. To my surprise, it was a call from Dr. Connors.
"Dr. Connors! Why did you call? Do you need any help?" I asked.
"No, I don't need any help, Peter. I called to give the good news. Ready the best suit you can. Because ParCon has been selected for Nobel. We are going to get a Nobel Prize!"
"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.