Mirage_GSM wrote:...as a bullet slammed into the armor at a significant fraction of lightspeed.
Just for the record... What do you think of as "significant"?
as a brilliant black plane slammed into him point first at several thousand miles per hour.
What's the rate of acceleration for that thing?
Lets go with "Whatever the plot demands."
Anyway, here's the last chapter and epilogue:
Chapter 16: The Price That Was Paid
A few days later.
Hisao stared at the blank page of chemistry homework he had been assigned, then glanced at his watch.
“Two hours I've been working on this and I still haven't done a single problem...” he mumbled and set his pen down. He had a 107% in the class, so one assignment wouldn't be too much of an issue, but his work ethic meant it still bugged him.
He reached over and picked up a framed photograph off the side of the desk. In it, he was posing with Hanako and Lilly under a Christmas Tree during their first holiday together. He sighed and put it down, then rubbed his eyes.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Lilly asked, walking up to him.
“I....” Hisao begin, then paused. He picked up the photo again. “Lilly...”
“Yes?” Lilly asked.
Hisao paused again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, what he could say.
“Did I do the right thing?” He finally asked.
“Well, what do you think?” Lilly asked.
Hisao placed the photo back down, then scratched his head. “I don't know. I thought I did, but I'm not sure now.” He gave a guilty look, “I never thought I would see the day when Betsy cried...”
Lilly nodded.
Hisao sighed, “What kind of person am I, to decide who lives and who dies like I did? I'm not God, I'm not fate, I'm not even an X-man, really... Hanako's better, yes, but her survival came at the cost of a very good man. I left Armor pissed, Psylocke broken hearted and Angel dead. None of them deserved that.”
“Have you asked Emi?” Lilly asked.
Hisao shrugged, “During my run yesterday, yeah. Angel's soul has already moved on. She can't bring him back like she did Magnus or Yuuko...” He fiddled with his pen some. “I just don't know. I keep thinking there might have been something else I could do, but I don't know what....”
Lilly thought for a moment. “Let me give you a situation we discussed in my biomedical ethics class.” she stated.
Hisao nodded.
“Let's say you have three people.” Lilly stated, “A surgeon, roughly sixty years of age who is skilled in his field and well respected in the community. A writer, thirty years of age, who is still working on getting his first book published, and a teenage girl who is in high school who enjoys watching anime and playing the violin. All three of them need a liver transplant and will die in a few weeks if they don't get one. But you only have one organ. Which do you choose to save and why?”
“I... I don't know.” Hisao admitted, “Is this hypothetical?”
Lilly shook her head, “Not in the least. There are so many people who need organs in this day and age, and so few organs available, that this situation occurs literally every day. It is exactly like what you had to decide. Who deserved to be saved the most. There is not really a “right” or “wrong” in this sort of scenario. But, speaking for myself, I am very grateful you chose the way you did. Very grateful.”
Hisao nodded weakly, “Which would you choose? In that scenario you described?”
“Well, I thought about it for a long time, and I finally decided on the student.” Lilly shrugged, “Because there's a chance she could become a famous musician one day.”
Hisao thought for a moment and shook his head, “I don't think I can subscribe to that train of thought. By that same logic, she could also become a serial killer or scam artist.”
Lilly nodded, “What would you do?”
Hisao looked down at the floor. “Knowing just the professions and ages... I'd choose the surgeon. Because he likely saved thousands in his career and could go on to save thousands more. And he deserves to live after giving so much back.” he then hung his head, “And that makes me a hypocrite, doesn't it? Because I chose to save Hanako over the much more experienced Angel simply because I like her better...”
“I don't think that makes you a hypocrite.” Lilly responded, “It just means you have feelings. That you care about those who are close to you.”
Hisao fiddled with his pen some more. “It's not fair, you know? I was destined to die young, but I got an unexpected reprieve. Why couldn't Angel? We've got a ton of breaks most people would considering miracles. My heart won't kill me, you can see with my telepathy, Emi finally got to say goodbye to her father... Why didn't Angel get lucky like that?”
“You could say he did.” Lilly responded, “Do you know why he had metal wings instead of feathered ones?”
Hisao shook his head, “I haven't gotten to that file yet.”
“Well, I did some reading while you were gone.” Lilly sighed, “Long time ago, he had feathered wings, as you've seen in the old photographs of the team. There was an incident at one point where a band of trained killers started slaughtering homeless mutants in the tunnels under Manhatten. Warren was cornered by two of them.”
“But he was one of the most experienced X-men there was....” Hisao responded
“Bear in mind that Warren's wings made navigation in the cramped tunnels extremely difficult. He fought the best he could, but the close quarters proved to be too limited, and they got the best of him.” Lilly sighed, “They tore his wings out by the roots.”
Hisao flinched.
Lilly shook her head, “Shortly after he went to fly his plane, but it exploded in midair. His friends he had committed suicide. He hadn't, the plane had been sabotaged, but Warren would have died there.”
“But Apocalypse came in?” Hisao asked.
“Yes, teleported him out and gave him new wings.. Lilly replied”
Hisao nodded. “I just wish there had been a way to save both of them.”
“You have superpowers, but you're not God.” Lilly replied, “You can't rescue everyone.”
“I know.” Hisao responded, “I wish I could.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Are you expecting someone?” Lilly asked.
Hisao shook his head, “Not really...” he got up and walked to the door, “Laura, if this is about your writing, can we please do it some other-” he stopped dead in his tracks. It wasn't Laura.
It was Logan. Dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket, with a cowboy hat on his head.
“Evenin, 'Sao.” Wolverine stated.
“Uh, hey there. This my girlfirend Lilly, Lilly, this is Logan the leader of X-corps Toyko....” Hisao remarked, then looked down at his feet, 'Are you mad about Hanako?”
“What, that you chose her?” Logan shook his head, “Nah, I'm not mad. Pretty impressed you managed to maneuver around 'Locke like you did, actually. She hasn't been outwitted like that in ages. But that's not important.” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white envelope. “I'm here about the gun you built.”
“What gun?” Lilly asked
Hisao shrugged, “I built a neural disruptor to take down Angel.” he stated.
“Is that what you call it?” Wolverine shrugged, “Yeah, that. Pretty nice piece of work, that. Considering Flyboy's healing factor was somewhere between mine and Omega Red's, the fact you cobbled something together to take him down in the span of two weeks stood out.”
“Well, I did have help.” Hisao stated.
“From what Kenji said, you did most of the work yourself. All he did was supply materials.” Wolverine paused and added, “Yeah, he talked to me. Guy's a raving looney but after hacking into our secured line and pestered us for days on end, we decided to hear what he had to say.”
Hisao raised an eyebrow, “What did he do this time?” he asked reluctantly.
Wolverine chuckled.
“Hisao, what's this about?” Lilly asked.
“What's this about is that we want to hire your boyfriend here.” Wolverine shrugged.
“Seriously?” Hisao asked, “I don't want to be a combatant in this absurd lifestyle. I want to be a teacher, for crying out loud.”
“Not a combatant.” Wolverine responded, “We want you as tech support.”
“What.” Hisao stated.
“Tech support. Maintenance. Mission control. Whatever.” Wolerine threw up his hands, “Look, fact is, you're the most scientifically minded guy on base. I can't find my way round a schematic to save my ass, and the others aren't much better. We'd like you to build our junk. Forge and Beast can only do so much, and they live halfway round the world.”
Hisao looked Wolverine up and down.
Wolverine held out the envelope. “Here's our initial offer.”
Hisao hesitated, but took it and opened it up. Then blinked.
“There m-must be some mistake.” he stammered out. “My dad doesn't make this much in three years, and he's an aerospace engineer.”
Lilly reached over his shoulder and touched the piece of paper. “That is quite... substantial.” she remarked, a note of surprise in her voice.
“Between the three main teams of X-men, the half dozen spinoffs and the eight or so branches of X-corps that exist,” Wolverine stated, “We've got over a dozen millionaires on staff, plus two kings, three queens, two cosmic-powered women, a thief who once stole a gemstone worth more than a small country, a student whose touch turns base metals to gold, and the boyfriend of a rock star who has an entire continent made out of diamonds. Literally, an entire continent. We can afford to be generous.”
Hisao stared at the paper for a long moment. Then he glanced at Lilly.
“You don't have to quit yer studies or anything.” Wolverine added, “Just help us build our junk when ya get spare time.”
“It is a lot of zeros...” Hisao mumbled, “Lilly, what do you think?”
Lilly shrugged, “It's your decision sweetheart.”
Hisao stared at the piece of paper for a long moment, then wiped the sweat from his brow. It was a lot of money. If he took the offer, he could pay for his tuition, buy a nice house, a better car, help his friends with any problems that may arise....
And buy the best wedding he and Lilly could have.
“Alright.” he said to Wolverine, “I'll do it.”
Epilogue:
Elsewhere....
“What a disaster.” Ozymadius stated, “One dead, the other beyond our reach.”
“No.” Apocalypse intoned, “A minor setback, that's all.”
“Minor setback?” Ozymandius responded, “My lord-”
“Worthington was weak.” Apocalypse stated, “Ikezawa has rejected my blessing. There is no need for them in the new world to come. Soon, the Age of Apocalypse shall rise, and Xavier's dream shall be forgotten.”
The ancient mutant walked up to a video monitor showing images of Hisao, Hanako and Lilly.
“I believe... We shall be seeing them soon.” Apocalypse stared at the monitor and his stony face broke into a wide grin.
