First Sighting

[Stern]

It had been a long day for Michael Stern. His family wouldn't give him a moment's peace. His mom kept checking on him in his room to see if he was still there, his dad kept asking him about the same details from his exile. His extended family all came over for a day to celebrate the fact that he was still alive. One of his uncles and the cousins attached to them didn't seem terribly thrilled that the mutant of the family was still around to help outcast them from society, but everyone else was mostly glad to see him. The smallest cousins regarded him curiously, like they would a small animal. They kept asking him to show off his powers and take them to the moon at the speed of light. That was two days ago and Stern still didn't feel like he recovered.

He went back to the hospital that day as well for a check up on his shoulder. It was healing fine. The bone had set and stayed in its setting. They prescribed him some more painkiller.

The police department was another thing entirely. At a total loss as to what to do about his identity, he visited the local station to get some leads on how to get himself off the "Dead list" and back on the "Living Breathing List." As usual, the government was in fact the government and the process took hours of painstaking records searches, witness statements, fingerprint indexing and matching, and a questionnaire as long as Stern was tall. But at last they assure him that if he took all that paper to the city hall it would be taken care of. So he did and nearly wound up repeating the same process with the old woman there. But at last he was confident things would return to normal. He could finally get a job and such.

Last of all, Stern returned to ESU to see about re-enrolling. He was politely declined owing to the fiasco at the commencement ceremony. Apparently word was getting around that he was one of the two mutants at the event, and was causing quite a stir among students, their parents, and the board of trustees. No more school.

It was a bad good day and Stern had had enough. He needed to blow off some steam. He wanted to see Anita, but she was booked solid all day and couldn't be reached.

Ultimately it was all Neutron's fault. This whole sticky business started with a random act of violence from one man. Stern could almost see the terrorist standing in front of him until he realized that the man standing before him waiting at the bus stop was him.

"You there!" Stern shouted. "You're the guy!" Stern pointed at Neutron with his good hand. "You're going to pay for what you did!"

[Neutron]

Aslan Sagidev knew that voice.

He turned his head casually to Stern. A heavy-gloved hand rose to gently tilt his sunglasses down his nose, allowing brown eyes to peer at the younger mutant.

"Ah, is you."

Casually, the man known as Neutron folded up his subway schedule and tucked it away. He smiled at Stern's tenacity.

"I'd make careful, Cowboy. Lot of peoples here."

To the side, the Chechen watched a pair of kids standing in line with a woman who was possibly their mother.

"You has balls, Cowboy. How as keffir Jew say? Chutzpah? Da."

[Stern]

Stern spat. "I have a lot more than that."

Before he knew what he was doing, Stern was already in fighting stance despite his wounded arm. His glow was intensifying. He was determined this time.

"You won't be able to beat me as easily as last time. I will see an end to you."

Passersby started to well up with panic as they noticed a startling similarity between the situation now and the one they read about in the papers a short time ago. People flooded out of the area, trying to give the mutants room.

"You know, for all this time it's been hard cursing you seeing as I don't even know your name."

[Neutron]

Aslan cast the younger man a slightly bemused expression.

"You...not know me?"

All of this vitriol and rage, he thought he had cut this boy deeper than he did. Pushing his sunglasses back up, he gave an easy smile that only a sociopath could feel at ease with.

"Come on train with me. We talk before the fightings, if that is for what you wish."

[Stern]

Stern's blood boiled. "Do not get on that train," he hissed.

The sunglasses were going to make blinding Neutron difficult, but if Stern could somehow break them or at least get them off of his face, things would be easier for him.

"Just tell me your name, so I can curse it to hell before I break every bone in your body."

[Neutron]

Aslan wasn't moving. He still waited for the train.

"Let me asks you, who you was before you had the power?"

He looked at Stern, top to bottom.

"Young yankee, you read books? Go for to school? That was you, da?"

[Stern]

"Yeah, that was me," Stern growled. "Just trying to make my way in the world and not rile people up. I wanted to live."

The younger mutant flared. "For the past I don't know how long, I haven't been living--only surviving and then just barely. And now I'm home and I'm still trying to scrape by. I have no life. I'm still surviving."

The people on the train had started to unload onto the platform, but once they understood what Stern was shouting about, they began to worry. Some of them simply ran past as quickly as they could to get clear. Still others changed their minds about stepping off and decided to stay on the train.

"And you? Who were you? A man with no future destroying others for no reason?"

[Neutron]

"A reason for allthings, Cowboy."

He glanced over his shoulder.

"Come. This is ride for us. We go nicer place. Or I turn city block into how you say, hamsborger."

[Stern]

Stern didn't want to risk another catastrophe like ESU, so he agreed. "After you."

He boarded behind Neutron and when the doors shut he shifted so he could keep one wary eye on his nemesis. There was no room to maneuver or fight him on the train and the people were much too afraid to move. He would have to wait.

"Why do you care about going somewhere else? And what keeps you from destroying the city block regardless of if I follow you? I got no guarantees from you."

[Neutron]

Aslan smiled.

"No you didn't, Cowboy. But this prices is you pay for making revenge."

The train began to move. The two mutants had the car all to themselves, as everyone else had either left the train, or fled to the front or back.

"When you was little boy, I was freedom fighter against Russia."

[Stern]

Stern felt his scarred arm twitch as he was already starting to remember their last fight. He said nothing to Neutron right out. Freedom fighter indeed. He needed to be careful what he said. He didn't need to give Neutron any information that might help the terrorist defeat him.

"And?"

Stern hoped an air of indifference might do something to disrupt the man's dangerous calm. Stern saw a camera flash from one end of the train car. He would be on the internet again very very soon. He wondered if these people knew what it was they were dealing with at that moment.

[Neutron]

"Is not for no reasonings! All reasoning, more than you understanding!"

Anger flared in Aslan's voice.

"These pigs is never going to let us lives in peace. We both knows this."

[Stern]

"Yeah, I know."

In high school he was pranked, bullied, pushed around. He got his first nickname--Glow Worm. It had not been what he had hoped for in a first nickname.

In college he was a curiosity. Something to be studied and fought over. Mutant Rights students would clutch at him like a pet going to the pound that they wanted to save. They had no idea what rights he really wanted.

People picked on him, made fun of him, called him in the middle of the night to find their cell phones. But over time he gained their trust. Earned their respect.

"I don't see how blowing everything up fixes that. It's just going to make them hate us worse."

[Neutron]

"They will make hate no matter what. Is natural I think, hating what is better than. They know we are better, which for is why the hating."

Aslan gestured to the frightened faces plastered on the far window from the other car.

"These is sheep, Cowboy. You and I, we are difference."

[Stern]

Stern felt the train stop. The waiting passengers on the platform saw the two mutants locked in a deadly staring contest and hesitated. Some of them backed away. No one boarded.

"Yeah, you and I are different."

Stern flared up with impatience, dazzling the onlookers with light. "Now are we going to joyride all day or is there a purpose to all this?"

[Neutron]

"Yes. I likes you, Cowboy."

Aslan smiled, put at ease in spite of the kid's anger.

"You are with passion. We is enemy, for yes, but I wishes to know my enemy."

[Stern]

"Then know this," Stern said, his voice rising to match the light, "My name is Michael Stern, and when I'm done with you night lights are going to make you uncomfortable!"

The mutant stood his tallest and got right in Neutron's face. "Now, are you going to tell me your name, or should I just beat it out of you?"

[Neutron]

Not one to let Stern's intimidation take root, Aslan fished a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

"I name is Aslan Sagidev. I comes original from Grozny what is inside Chechnya. You know it?"

[Stern]

"Aslan? Like a lion?"

The man's relaxed posture and idle smoking was getting to Stern, making him lose patience even faster.

"Grozny and Chechnya sound Russian. But what do I care where you're from?"

At last no longer able to contain himself, Stern turned his functional hand into a closed fist and swatted at Aslan as he made to take a pull from the cigarette. "Don't be so casual with me!"

[Neutron]

Aslan rested one gloved hand at the gasket seal of his other glove, the cigarette dangling from his lips as he spoke.

"How should you want me to feels, Cowboy? You for want me to return you in hating?"

He searched Stern's stormy expression as the inertia of the train shifted slightly. They were slowing, nearing the stop at the edge of the park.

"I don't. You is having much things what to know. You remind me of of me."

[Stern]

Stern felt the train stop and the doors open. He stood there a moment, totally lost for words, but feeling more and more disgusted every minute he replayed Neutron's last statement in his mind.

You remind me of me.

Suddenly Stern wished for something, anything that he could use to beat this Aslan character to a pulp. Setting him on fire was much too good a way for the the terrorist to die. He needed to suffer a lot first.

Rage welled up from deep within Stern. It darkened his vision around his periphery. All he could see was this...this...man acting like he was blameless. Like he was justified.

No longer able to contain himself, Stern lifted his foot and shoved Neutron at the doors to the train as they closed. They detected the older mutant and opened again--the train's safety measure from preventing people from getting trapped as the train was preparing to depart. Nothing would keep Neutron safe from Stern's anger.

The younger mutant followed up his shove with a shoulder tackle which moved the two out of the train and onto the platform in the middle of five dozen frightened and awestruck passengers.

Stern flared again, placing his right side forward so he could make better use of his good arm. People began to back away. Whereas others ran to get off the train before, they now nearly trampled each other to make it on in the split second before they closed to let the train move on.

"You and me," Stern said. He was poised to strike and determined to win despite his handicap. "No escape for you now."

[Neutron]

Aghf...

The Chechen could see the kid telegraphing his intentions, but even still the brute force of the tackle stunned him. He blinked for a moment as he fell against the platform, and then his lips turned up in a smile.

"Do you see making run?"

He reached up, wrapping an arm around Stern's neck, pulling his head alongside his own. There, he whispered

"Ask these kafir for help. Thinks they will?"

He gave a sharp punch to Stern's side, and with his teeth, popped the glove gasket on the arm at his neck. The seal hissed.

[Stern]

"I don't need their help," he grunted as he took the punch. "They can stand back and see the light show while I knock you out."

Stern phased into light and jumped behind Neutron. He took a moment to roll the kink out of his neck that appeared there with Aslan's headlock. Then he sent his own punch rocketing towards the man's kidneys.

[Neutron]

The surprise shot sent Aslan off balance and he spilled forward, gathering his footing as he pulled one gloved hand free. He spun about with a growl, sending a radioactive haymaker back at Stern.

"Ah, so you learn fancys trick Cowboy!"

[Stern]

"Your fault--" the rest was cut off as Stern phased in place. He reappeared and tried a return punch in Neutron's gut. He only had his left to work with, but he was going to make it work.

"Learned a lot more after that."

Stern did not like the fact that the gloves were coming off. The last time Neutron took off the glove, Stern's only good arm was burned and his skin nearly ruined. He was very afraid of that bare hand.

"You're not laying a hand on me this time! I'll take you apart."

[Neutron]

As they grappled, Aslan noticed that Stern was clearly favoring one of his arms. He smiled, even as he took a shot to the midsection that dropped him to a knee momentarily.

He braced with his bare hand as he rose, the intense radiation causing the grass around him to wilt and catch fire.

With a laconic grin, the Chechen's gloved hand eased behind, and drew out a Makarov pistol from the waistline of his pants.

[Stern]

Stern took a sudden step back as the grass blazed from Aslan's hand. He did his best to keep his eyes off the landscape and on his enemy. He dropped into a lower defensive stance and kept his right side back. He didn't want the scars on his left arm to get worse, but he had no other choice.

He locked up for a moment: it was just like last time at ESU. His mind scrambled with suddenness of the situation and the fact that there were people around.

The memory and the anxiety flared rage in him. Aslan was on the ground. Another memory of the terrorist on the ground in front of him begging for mercy. Like then, Stern aimed a hard right kick to Neutron's head.

[Neutron]

The Chechen could see the kick coming, braced for impact, and fired off a shot at Stern from his pistol. If he was seriously daft enough to bring a boot to a gunfight, then he'd have a course in the school of hard knocks.

Aslan squeezed off a rapid series of three shots.

[Stern]

Stern saw the gun coming. The first shot took him in the thigh--the inside. A little too close to the sensitive areas, which caused Stern to phase in place again out of reflex. The second one went through the man turned light source and rematerialized in time to feel the third one inside him and move out of the back of him.

It hurt. A lot.

Now it was Stern's turn to take a knee. The two looked like reflections of one another as they crouched down. Stern was familiar with this kind of thing. He'd probably bleed out soon.

"A gun? The man who is a walking A-bomb needs a 9 millimeter to take down a kid half his age?" Stern laughed.

Suddenly the laughter stopped as the rage returned to the front burner, cutting through the pain of the bullet wounds. He grabbed for the gun and tried to get it out of Aslan's grasp.

[Neutron]

"That is thing about radiations. Gets over everything."

Stern's lunge seemed to be lunacy, and by the time the Chechen reacted to it, the gun was already tilted away. Another few shots cracked out in the general direction of a frantically fleeing crowd.

In the midst of the struggle, Aslan grappled the light-bending mutant with his unencumbered, ungloved hand.

[Stern]

Stern shouted in pain and jumped out of Aslan's grasp. Neutron's bare hand passed through light and then the light was gone.

He rematerialized on the edge of the crowd in time to see two people go down. one had a graze along his temple. He'd live. The other one got her bullet in the stomach. Stern's skin was burning and blistering like the last time he felt Neutron's touch.

"Get an ambulance!" He shouted to one of the people staring at the bloody mess. "When I'm finished with him, there's going to be four people here in need of emergency medical attention."

Stern whipped around to face the terrorist. "HERE COMES THE SUN!" He shouted, then he closed the distance at light speed and came back to his physical form in a flying kick.

[Neutron]

"What in..."

In an instant he was gone. The Chechen rose to his feet, scanning around to see where his enemy had disappeared to.

"There!"

He leveled his pistol to fire again...

...and was dropped to the ground by a boot across his face. As he tumbled to the ground, the pistol discharged, and tumbled from his grasp.

[Stern]

Stern jumped on the gun and said, "Five people that need medical attention."

Six shots fired so far. Stern wasn't sure how many were left, but decided to find out by firing as many rounds as was left into Neutron. At last the gun clicked to let him know it was empty. he turned it around in his hand and used it to beat Neutron across the temple.

[Neutron]

Aslan had taken two shots, one in the thigh and one in the shoulder. In a bit of shock, he lay on the ground, working at the gasket on his second glove when Stern's strike came in. He tilted his head forward to take the strike across his brow rather than on the temple. The impact left a two inch laceration which bled freely as the Chechen grabbed at Stern's wrist.

[Stern]

Stern managed to dodge Neutron's grasp, but still felt the wave of heat from the radiation. The blood loss was getting to him, and things were turning dark at the edges of his vision. Not a good sign.

Piled on top of that, Neutron hadn't started losing blood as soon as Stern had, so if things went way south, Stern would at least faint before the terrorist did.

Not good. Plus, the guy had two bare hands to lay on him. It was going to happen one day..

"Ok, let's get this done," he said and made for Aslan's throat.

[Neutron]

Again, the Chechen bore his jaw down against his chest, batting upwards with both forearms. His left arm stalled in pain from the bullet he took, and he rolled on his side with a groan. Again, the grass caught fire when he tried to press upwards, and he slowly staggered to his feet, turning off balance to face Stern again. The blood from the laceration on his head had run down across his face.

"Very good Cowboy. We is stalemate for now."

A smile, and Aslan spit a bit of red on the scorched ground.

[Stern]

Stern was sure he was burned on his chest and possibly even his neck. He fell over as Neutron bodily moved him away. The two stood like a set of shaky towers ready to crumble and fall over.

"Stalemate? You should thank whatever serves you for a god that I only had one good arm. You'd be dead by now."

The ambulance arrived along with the police. Stern wanted to run, but after his interaction with Jackson and Stiles, he figured he would have an edge if he were brought in. Besides, the ambulance would take them (maybe even both of them) and treat them before they could be locked up.

"They're here for us." Stern smiled. "I wonder if we'll make the news this time."

The mutant kept his feet by sheer force of will. "Know that I can follow you anywhere you choose to run. As long as light can reach you, I can too. And once I'm fully healed, your life is going to become one giant game of hide and seek. I will find you."

[Neutron]

Aslan lay back on the ground.

"My friend, we is go for to a place where you do not understand. What you think they will do with the two us both?"

He shook his head with a slight smile.

"I know. So too will you I thinks."

[Stern]

"It doesn't matter," Stern said, finally taking a knee. "I kicked your sorry--"

He never finished the sentence. Michael Stern fainted from blood loss.