Charles had made sure that the warehouse knew Peter would be on Avalon for a few more days. Fixing the limb system to stop it from shaking itself apart would make adjustments, and while Forge was happy to help, having the original creator and a fellow technopath was more than helpful.
Pietro wasn't happy that Peter was manhandling him. The CLS bridge he was working on was attached to the base of his spine, where the Sentinel blast had damaged the nerves and Peter would touch the device, grab Pietro's leg, twist and pull it, and make the necessary adjustments.
"Hey, I know you've got a thing for my sister, but that smile doesn't work on me," and Forge hid a smile while Peter laughed
"and that roguish charm you've got going on doesn't make my heart go boom boom either, now shh, unless you want to run into walls all day."
Pietro hadn't taken his injuries too badly, and Angel had been round most days to keep him company while Forge had tried to get the implant to work.
"The problem isn't the implant, it's your powers. And, that's why this might hurt."
Pietro tensed, and Forge watched in amazement, as Peter stabbed a symbskin blade into his back.
"Sorry, but the fused part of the nerve was the issue, everything else was trying to move super fast, and it was stopping it, transferring all that power into the implant." Thankfully, there was no blood, as Peter used delicate micro tendrils to work inside the incision. Since he had started to branch out, covering not just mechanical and electrical studies but medicine, chemistry, physiology, and neurology he found that with his symbskin he could perform microsurgery, with each tendril acting like a tiny hand.
"Uh, can I ask what you are doing?" Forge said, leaning over Peter but unable to see more than just the black skin over the shiny metal CLS.
"Right now, I'm severing and micro suturing the CLS directly into Pietro's nervous system, adding the device to his body, using one of Charles's little clone devices as a base to adjust it to fool his powers into thinking the device is just a weird bit of spine."
As Forge's powers were technopathic and non-enhancing, he couldn't see the work being done. "Put your hand on my shoulder," and as Forge touched Peter, he shared his senses with him and Forge marvelled at the level of surgery being done, and could link to the device to monitor what Peter was doing.
"Right, now, slow lift yourself, and try to move your foot," Peter said as he washed the healing cut with symbcells and once it had vanished with alcohol to sterilise the area, just in case.
Pietro took a breath and let it out. "Woah, I can feel my foot." and the big toe began to vibrate, "I can feel my legs" and before Peter could want him about using his powers and taking things slowly, Pietro was gone in a blast of air, and a loud crack of noise.
Peter leaned back, tensing himself, sending out a tendril and grabbing Forge as Pietro went from one to sixty in a few microseconds. The rooms as trashed, and glass and other shattered equipment sparked and tilted over.
Peter, what the hell was that? We're got alarms going off all over the place. I wanted you not to mess around with things up here, Charles angrily messaged him,
Peter laughed, I like how I'm getting the blame, that was Pietro. He can run again, I'd like to say walk but he thought he'd start at full speed and work down.
Peter could hear the exasperation in Charles's message, fine, fine. I'll send someone to find him before he either smashes through a wall or hits someone.
Peter helped Forge upright, "You okay?" and
Forge nodded, brushing himself down, "I think you should have given us more warning though," he said as he looked around in dismay at the destruction of his equipment.
"That wasn't me, I only fixed the damage, not whatever the hell that was. We already know that enhancing an Augment is fatal, I never touched anything else." As Peter finished Pietro zipped into the zoom, blowing everything over again
"Guys, this is amazing. I feel like, like, I dunno, like I'm juiced or something," and as Charles walked into the room,
"Yes, we noticed, and that is a problem. Pietro, you need to control your powers while on Avalon. But, ask Breach if she can take you back to Genosha, you have plenty of space to run there." and hopefully tire yourself out, Peter caught him thinking as Charles grinned at him.
Leaving Pietro to zip around, Peter discussed with Forge the device, where it had been attached and what diagnostic tools he could use to interface with it. Peter had purposefully used his symbskin to repair the damage but nanofibres from the CLS to bridge them. Forge, with his own powers, was more than capable of running diagnostics and set about creating a graphical program to allow Pietro and Hank to not only monitor but adjust the device.
To celebrate Charles decided to host one last meal for Peter. A small affair, as Pietro was off zipping around with Hank making sure he didn't hurt himself, and Angel for company. They would be making one last trip to Genosha, to make sure nothing personal, and nothing important was left before the military swooped in and reclaimed it. Selene and the other Genosians had opted to stay on Avalon, and Erik, Charles and Selene were now acting as a de facto council.
At dinner, Charles and Erik all sat and smiled as Jean walked in, but her face fell as she saw Peter, he heard her hiss at Charles, "you didn't tell me he would be here," she said, before turning and walking out again.
Peter shook his head. He had been trying to get hold of Jean for months and been either blocked or received the briefest of messages, and with the almost angry look on her face, and her reaction to seeing him, he had a good guess as to why.
"Well, that went badly. I'm sorry Peter, Jean has been-" but Erik cleared his throat, "yes, I shall stop interfering and leave that to Jean. Dinner?"
The meal went slowly, Charles and Erik were both acting strangely since Jean's declaration. Peter barely tasted the food as he hoped that this wasn't going to be a repeat of Charles's mind-altering interference the last time, and as he looked around the room he did feel several of the small ACDs. "Charles, do you have psychic dampers installed?"
Charles nodded, "Unless you are programmed into the system it blocks any psychic interference. Not as a defence though, Some young telepaths, like Jean was, struggle to keep their thoughts and emotions from others. As you are aware." Peter knew exactly what he meant. "We also found a young Augment who can use his own powers to block another. We have several key systems guarded by not just power dampers but security as well. We do realise that there is a fine line between reducing our brethren and blind stupidity when it comes to security."
"Seems like you've got everything under control. And the government?"
Charles laughed, "Until someone invents a decent way for us to fly here within minutes, then we aren't worried. Even Starks repulsor technology has its limits, Peter. It would be no different than attacking anywhere else, just the population is a bit more capable of defending itself."
Peter nodded, The failure of the Sentinels was a testament to just how capable Augments and Enhanced were,
"But, that is not what this dinner was supposed to be for. Rather than sulking and picking at that steak, why don't you go find Jean, and actually talk to her?" Charles said, smiling as he lifted a glass, "Stop being stubborn." Peter frowned and raised an eyebrow. "I might be younger than you now, but I am still almost eighty, young man." Peter laughed, wiped his hands on the napkin and made his way to try and find her.
She likes a quiet spot around section 14B, intersection 12. You can see the earth, and it is a very popular place, especially for the more amorous young couples. Charles said,
Following his directions, Peter approached the intersection Charles mentioned. It was a corner of one of the geodesic domes, where two panels met and gave a much clearer view of the Earth, but Peter was too busy watching Jean to care.
Jean was there, pacing back and forth, rubbing her hands. She had styled her hair, applied fresh makeup and the breath was caught in Peter's throat as she changed outfit, from casual to smart, and then to racy and daring.
Unwilling to embarrass her, he retreated a few steps. He could also hear her, muttering, "I can do this," over and over. If he hadn't seen the outfits she had tried, he would have suspected she was going to give him terrible news, but a low cut sheer figure-hugging scarlet dress, with a side split so high Peter had seen her lack of underwear was not a break-up dress. As he watched, she seemed to settle on an outfit, her more casual red and white tracksuit that she liked to wear, he approached with a small smile,
"You saw?" and he shrugged and nodded, "stupid, stupid stupid."
Peter just smiled, "I don't remember Jean Grey being so nervous."
Jean snorted and shook her head, "You don't remember Jean Grey at all. I finally got rid of all the blocks. This is me, stupid, nervous, and apparently a bad girlfriend."
Peter frowned, "Yeah, six months Jean,"
Jean slumped against the bulkhead, "Sorry, but uh I was helping build Avalon. Long days of training, building and using my powers so that Augments had a place to live. I lost track of time-" but Peter lifted a hand,
"Jean. I'm glad you're safe, I'm glad you're happy. But spending almost six months out of contact was a nightmare, the Sentinels-"
It was Jean's turn to interrupt him, "I don't want to break up," she blurted out. As she turned red, "I'm sorry. I uh, are we even dating? I mean, I want us too, so uh." Jean looked apprehensively at him, "so I uh, I've been practising my powers, in space. So I don't hurt anyone. I can uh, survive in the vacuum."
Peter was amazed. "Wow, that's great, I mean, wow. So definitely omega class then?"
Jean nodded but bit her lip, "So uh, you promised, and I want a request." Peter shrugged, she had been distant all evening, and now standing in front of an airlock he wasn't exactly sure what was going on.
"Sure, anything," he said, and Jean leaned over and pressed the top button on the airlock.
"Do you trust me?" Peter was hesitant but he nodded. "Then out we go." and she hit the button on the bottom and the air cycled out.
Peter slid into his armour but Jean's fiery aura enveloped him, and as she lifted them both up and the outer doors cycled and then opened she took them out onto the surface of the moon.
"I've tested this with rats, dogs, and one cow. You should be fine."
Peter laughed, "Yeah, tell my stupid lizard brain that. Hurr Durr space bad."
Jean laughed with him, "Took me a few attempts to come out here as well. But I tried underwater first, like the astronauts."
Peter realised that a vacuum was easier on his armour than underwater, the pressure was easier to deal with and the biting cold just required more insulation. The radiation might be a problem but right now, he was fine.
"So, a test to show me your powers are stable, and you can control them?" but Jean shook her head.
"I already know my powers are under my control Peter, and I really don't need to prove that to you. Charles might have the wrong idea about a lot of things, but we decide how to control our powers, not anyone else."
Peter frowned, "So, this is what?"
Jean turned to face him, a bright fire burning in her eyes, and an unmistakable look on her face,
"Want to join the million-mile high club?"