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MARVEL 2000 PRESENTS...
"WINGS OF A HERO"
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Remind me to never look directly at the sun as it sets. It's a great ending to a summer night. One thing nice about Salem Center is that the buildings aren't so tall that you can't see the sunset behind them. Yeah, that's right. It may sound kind of fruity, or like I'm trying to hard to sound noble and romantic, but I like watching the sunset. End that thought. Turning my head back around, I see Tanya there rubbing her arm. So I haven't known her for as long I've known some of my old teammates back with the X-Men, but I do know she does that when she's a little uneasy. "That's the last of it," I say after a moment of silence, loading the rest of her and Sherry's bags into the back of her car. "You really didn't have to help out," Tanya said as she squinted through the bright sun, putting a hand up on her forward to act as a visor. "Just the kinda guy I am, I guess," There ya go, Bobby. Put on that cool, nothing bothers you act. "I really hate to see you two go." Even though you know your feelings are gonna come out someway. "I'm really sorry for holding the news back," Tanya frowned, and took her eyes off of me. As much as I hate to seem like I'm condemning her, I really wish she would've told me. "I just... didn't know how to tell you we were leaving. I was never too good on 'Goodbyes.'" "No hassle," Shrugging, I close the trunk and walk around the car to her. "Least you told me. Some friends I know just disappear without so much as a letter," I haven't even known her that long, so it's not like it should bother me much. "Besides, I know all about parents with health probs." Least that's what I keep telling myself. "Yeah..." Tanya trailed off. "My Mom will be all right, I know she will be. It's just that I don't want her living by herself. And there's no way she would move to New York." "I'm guessing the crime and pollution?" "No, she's got this thing against 'Cats the Musical.'" "Ahh. I can understand that. See, when I was little my Mom never wanted to go through Idaho on summer trips. Long story though." "I better not ask. You know I think I have some cousins in Idaho..." "Heh...." You know, I've gotten so used to my body temperature rising and lowering at the drop of a thermometer, that I have to consciously allow myself to feel the cool breeze going by. I haven't felt a real coldness in a couple of years because of my body constantly adapting to keep myself comfortable. I can't say this isn't an awkward feeling. Looking at a woman I've known for barely a year, and knowing that her and her daughter will be leaving my life for a while. It's a little hard to say goodbye, since I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel towards the both of them. Pffft ... it's always about how you're supposed to feel, isn't it Drake? Slowly I start to wrap my arms around her. For a few moments, I can feel the cold coming from her skin until my body heat crosses over. "Hey Mom... are we going soon?" I hear Sherry say. Letting go of Tanya, I look towards the end of the corridor at the parking lot. She's standing there with her backpack on. "Yeah, honey," Tanya said. I could tell she didn't want to say it by the tone of her voice, but she smiled anyway. "Did you say bye to your friends?" Sherry kept that opaque look (did I just use the word "opaque?") on her face as she walked towards the car, and simply nodded her head. I catch myself biting down on my lip as I watch her small body open the passenger side door, and slip in. That girl is so stubborn, and so tough for such a little kid... Sometimes I don't like to think that she takes after her real mom. I'm sure the being psychotic thing is purely environmental when it comes to Marrow, and not genetic. "I guess you two will be on your way then," I find myself saying, looking back to Tanya. She wraps her arms around me, and I can feel her sigh. "Yeah," she whispers into my ear. "You'll call and write, right?" "Humph..." Echoes a laugh in the back of my throat. "You know it." "Goodbye, Bobby...." For some reason, I feel empty inside as her hand runs down my arm one last time before she moves away. I can't believe there's nothing I can do to make this moment any less difficult. Sherry looked up from the children's book she began to look at once she got into the car, and saw her mother stride away from Bobby. There wasn't so much as a kiss goodbye for her to witness, though she hadn't expected one. She watched as her mother opened the car door and slipped into the driver's seat slowly. I shove my hands into my pockets as Tanya turns away and walks towards her car. I watch as she opens the driver's side door and smiles at me one last time before she gets in. The keys are already in the ignition, so it only takes a moment to get situated and get the car started. Turning my head away, I look back to what was the sunset. It's already fading over the horizon, and the sky's blue is becoming darker. The clouds are still glowing from the little pieces of light irradiating from the horizon. Hnnh.... The headlights on Tanya's car flicker on, catching my attention. When I turn around though, I see the passenger side door open and Sherry walking towards me. How about that. I didn't think she was going to— Her arms wrap around me tightly, and she pushes the side of her head into my stomach. I can't help but smile, and reach down to her to return it. Her hair's thin and loose, I'd even say a little raggedy... but hey, she's a little kid. "Bye Bobby," she says carefully as she let go of me, taking one last look. I rub my hand into her head just because I can't help it. "See ya around, Sherry." Turning away from me, Sherry sprints back to the open car door and leaps in. After a moment, she slams the door shut and gets herself resituated. I wave to them as Tanya backs the car from it's spot, and waves back. She honks the horn once, and I watch as the car turns and drives out from the parking lot. Both hands return to my pockets as I watch them leave. It was over that easy. They were gone. For how long, I don't know. Suddenly I feel the air around me shift, and a large paw is on my shoulder. I spin around and almost fall from the sudden realization somebody was behind me. Two large figures in brown and rugged jumpsuits. It was Grizzly and Gibbon, almost lost as they looked out onto the night's streets. I almost find myself laughing at the sight of them. "Geeze, you guys." "Heh uh, sorry... we scare ya?" Grizzly grins almost stupidly. "Yeah," I say with a bit of strain in my voice that I'm almost embarrassed of, turning back around to face the street as I watch Tanya's car disappear. "Something like that..." Brooklyn, New York It was the same evening hour as it was when Tanya had left two days ago. Bobby Drake sat in the coffee shop chair sloppily, looking down to a yellow tablet of paper through blue tinted raybands. His leather trench coat jacket was hanging loosely around his chair, and he kept himself balanced in the chair by pressing his boot against the edge of the coffee house's table. Across from him was the Grizzly and Gibbon—two of his adoptive students, for lack of better term. To think that the X-Men's first class clown would become a teacher to two first rate losers who want to make a difference in the world. He wasn't sure if it was the whole feeling sorry for them thing, or the nothing better to do thing that lead him to humor himself with these two. "Okay, so are you two sure you don't want to change your gimmicks?" he asked, looking over his tablet to them with a cocked brow. Grizzly and Gibbon glanced to each other, then shook their heads. "Don't really have enough cash for new ones," Gibbon said bluntly. Grizzly took a sip from his cup of coffee, a white stash of cream appearing on his upper lip when he set it back down on the table. "Gotcha," Bobby replied, giving the Grizzly a glance before rolling his eyes with his usual smirk. "If you can stand making the grunts and growls, distracting criminals long enough to get in a few lucky shots isn't really that unoriginal." The two remained silent as Bobby marked off a few lines of the yellow tablet. The former X-Man's lips curled up slightly as he looked over the checklist he had made. He wasn't Scott or the Professor, but he had a pretty good idea at how to make heroes for whatever cause out of these two... "Alright, time for patrol you guys," he finally announced, leaning back and sitting upright in the chair. Enthusiastically, Grizzly and Gibbon stood out of their chairs at the table along with Bobby. "Oh, wait... first thing about being a super hero." Fishing through his jacket's pocket, Bobby pulled out a crisp dollar bill along with a few coins and tossed them on the table. He looked to Grizzly and Gibbon with a grin, nodding his head down to the table. "Always be a generous tipper," Lifting the jacket up from it's spot on his chair, Bobby slung his arms through the sleeves and turned to the door. The two fished through their heavy beast-like costume pockets, and tossed a handful of change onto the table before following behind their teacher. Bobby nodded to the woman behind the counter before he approached the coffee shop's door. He looked through his tinted glasses into the reflection of the coffee shop's glass door, seeing Grizzly and Gibbon behind him. They were following him without question. It was almost a cool feeling of power, yet it was so strange. Shaking off the sudden buzz, Bobby walked out of the coffee house door and held it open for his two companions. As their large forms followed through the doorway and behind him, he shoved his hands into his trench coat's pockets and led them towards a dark alleyway. He still couldn't get over the thought. It wasn't like back during the nation wide madness that was Operation: Zero Tolerance, where the inexperienced kids had no choice but to follow the only real X-Man left to save their own butts. These two had an almost childlike admiration for him that he didn't deserve. "Hang close you guys. It's gonna be a ride," Bobby said, turning around as he reached the dead end of the alleyway and looking to the two as they stood before him. They complied and stepped a bit closer. Within moments, a platform of ice appeared below their feet and pushed them up through the shadows to the rooftops. Grizzly and Gibbon looked around the dark city block as Bobby rose them to the roof tops. It was kind of a rush for them to not have to climb up fire escapes to reach suitable heights for super hero patrolling. "A couple of blocks from here it's Red Dog territory," Bobby said as he ran a hand through his hair, and leapt off the ice platform onto the rooftop. Grizzly and Gibbon followed. "They're kind of a weird inner city gang. From the rumors floatin' around an 'associate' told me about, they're actually pretty big in the cash flow." "So we gonna take 'em down and bust 'em up and get 'em off the street?" Grizzly made movements with his shoulders, fists balled up in mock preparation for action. "Uh... well no," Bobby rubbed the tension away from the back of his neck. "See, you can't just go bust up some people for being in a gang. Even though you know they're doing something wrong, or have done somethin' wrong, you gotta wait until you can prove it." "Makes sense," Gibbon snorted, crossing his arms as he stood beside Grizzly. "Du'h." "Basically, we're just gonna kind of look over this neighborhood and see what goes down. That purse snatcher you guys told me about? Probably one of them." In almost perfect unison, Grizzly and Gibbon flinched at the sound of screeching tires. The guy was a thief and an old lady beater, but it wasn't a pretty sight to see him get struck down by a taxi cab. "Alright, so any questions you guys?" Bobby looked to the two, silence falling upon them. Nodding, he fell into a position with his arm to the sky and wrist bent before his eyes. Grizzly and Gibbon fell into a runner's stance. "And... YOU'RE OFF!" As their leader dropped his arm, the two dashed across the roof top. Utilizing their amazing leg muscles, they slung themselves over the gap between buildings. Standing up right, Bobby Drake smirked as the two heroes in training begun on their first night patrol. I'm so high, I can hear heaven... I'm so high, I can hear heaven... Grizzly and Gibbon flew through the summer night's cool air with the aid of their powerful legs, bounding off various concrete ledges and shingled rooftops. Even through the thick, beast furred covered suits they wore, they could feel the air press against them. {{ Have fun ya guys. This is all you. I'll be around if you need me. }} "Why, I think he has faith in us..." Maxwell Markham noted as his large feet pounded into a building's ledge, and he propelled himself over his partner Gibbon. "You don't say?" Martin Blank smirked proudly, though it was mostly a put on. Inside he had an odd feeling that Bobby was sitting back in a lawn chair, enjoying the summer's night. "Grizzly and the Gibster over and out," Grizzly tapped the (on loan) large X communicator across his plain black belt, closing off the line with Bobby Drake - the Iceman. With that, they were on their own. And together, they could see smoke was slowly building on the night's horizon. They continued to fling themselves through the night freely, as if without a care in the world. Usually, they'd take the bus to get where they wanted to go. But not tonight. You couldn't take a bus to becoming noble and proud heroes, after all... Whoa, but heaven... no, heaven don't hear me. Sirens blared throughout the neighborhood blocks. Bobby Drake rose a curious brow as he listened for the sirens, then sat up from his lawn chair and set down the glass he had in his hand. He strode towards the building's ledge, leaning down and taking a peak to the streets below. Two police cars raced down the street, along with a fire engine. The former X-Man squinted as he heard the loud honking of the fire engine, and quickly stood up to stand away from the building's ledge. Within moments, the emergency vehicles were buildings away. Bobby walked towards the ledge overlooking the alleyway and squatted down, placing his hands on the ledge. In a graceful motion, he backflipped off the coffee house and landed leather boot first on a sled of ice that appeared almost out of thin air at his very thought. It took mere seconds for gravity to take it's toll, and draw Iceman down to the alleyway on his sleek sled of ice. Looking around cautiously, Bobby shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out of the alley to a forming crowd. "Hey, what's going on?" he said casually. He would go investigate the source himself, but Grizzly and Gibbon didn't need him carrying them. "Those friggin' Red Dogs were out startin' their shit again, is what happened," a rugged man commented in almost a fit of rage. "Some bus with kids coming back from some 4H day camp got over turned when some gang war broke out," the waitress Bobby met earlier followed up, still looking down the street. "With all the crazy stuff going on the world, rising gang warfare is something that's been overlooked." Bobby's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in shock. He looked to the waitress for more information, but before she could say anything else the man standing near the street's corner commented again. "You'd think with all the damn super heroes in this city, at least one of them would say fuck the other villains wantin' to make some money and be around when the people really need them." The building crowd of people staring down the street grew silent at his words, not knowing how they could possibly agree or disagree. Bobby Drake bit his bottom lip, and turned back towards the alleyway for coverage. He hadn't been an active super hero, or hell even an X-Man in some time, but he knew he could come out of retirement for just one more problem. He knew he had to. And they say a hero could save us. I'm not going to stand here and wait... As a former Champion among heroes, and a Defender to those who couldn't defend themselves, Bobby Drake nobly took to the night air on a sled of ice above the rooftops of Brooklyn. Without even listening, he could hear the gunshots and flames among horrible screams echoing throughout the block. The ease which carried him across the bridges of ice he created with a single thought was smooth and stealthy, with his knee length leather jacket flowing behind him. It was almost as if he was gliding through the air at incredible speeds across the short stacked buildings. It wasn't the hardest task to seek out the smoke rising above the buildings ahead of him. Within moments, Iceman guided the sled of ice into the center of a building's rooftop and he could now smell the smoke as it erupted from it's minor source of flames. He covered his mouth with his sleeved forearm as he crossed the rooftop. Looking down to the streets below, Bobby's face grew people as he could almost feel the blood in his head drop to his stomach. There was a yellow overturned bus with flames gaping out from the broken gas line in the center of the street, many children still close by crying for their dead or dying 4H leaders. Many police cars were already on scene in a gunfight with young men sporting red. Across the street, Bobby could see a tall and run down apartment building blazing as well. The shadows he could see dancing through the window looked as if men were falling by the sound of gunfire and physical body shots by the shadow of a tall and hooded figure. Bobby was lost for a moment at the scene... "Hang tight, kiddos!" a heaving voice shouted, catching Bobby's attention. He looked back down towards the streets, and almost wanted to shoot himself for spacing out. Grizzly was taking leaps and bounds to help the children away from the overturned bus. "Heya Griz, Gibb, I'm on the way down there!" Bobby shouted into his wrist communicator, which relayed the message to his comrades. {{ Wha? Don't have any faith in us? }} Gibbon replied through the comline with a hint of cockiness and sarcasm. {{ Hah, don't listen to him Bobb-o... we could use the help. }} Grizzly almost laughed, as if the situation they were in was too easy. With great confidence in his abilities, Bobby leapt off the ledge of the building as his clothes and body faded into ice as he fell. Weak icicles broke off from Iceman's body while he descended through the air, a sled of ice appearing off the edge of the building he leapt from to catch him and carry him down to the streets. "Y'guys know there's people dying here, right?" Bobby felt almost like a hypocrite for ragging on them about taking a heavy situation too lightly. But hey, it's one thing taking what you're doing lightly, and it's another thing taking what's happening to others lightly. Or something like that. A wall of ice rose up from the ground to cover the gathered children on the sidewalk as Bobby looked their way, a gloved hand following the rising wall's path. Grizzly bounded past him with the last of the children near the bus, giving the former X-Man a reassuring nod. However there were still young, teenage children near the burning building across the street, watching on with a sense of terror and excitement. "We're handlin' it best as we can, hero man," Grizzly said as he got behind the barricade of ice and set down the children hanging over his large frame. "Good," Iceman nodded, turning around and taking off into a run towards the turned over bus. "I'll put the flamin' yellow bus on ice before --" *BOOM!* ...I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles. Watch as we all fly away... The explosion of the bus's second gas tank rocked the street, sending Iceman flying onto his back and skidding back several feet. He gasped from the sudden shock, his vision blurring over as he found the air escaping his lungs. Iceman tried to focus on the sounds around him as he breathed in and out slowly. There was a thunderous crash as if wooden doors were being ripped off their hinges, followed by an ominous dead silence... followed by the sound of pounding gunfire. And that was all Bobby Drake heard as he sighed one last breath before the world around him swirled away into darkness. THE END...??? 
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