CHAPTER 98 - DAVIS' DAY OUT

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Davis walked around the building that functioned as both a mutant boarding school and a stronghold, waiting patiently for Laura to finish her classes before he took her home.

Though it wasn't needed, he and Pietro sometimes came to pick up Laura despite the number of times she tried to skewer them with her claws for something she probably thought was embarrassing. 

Another reason why he was here was just to relax. 

Just sitting back and watching other mutant kids go about their day and playing with their powers was always a calming sight. 

Right now the students were doing their own version of PE which was them just having fun with their powers with little control exercises mixed to train their abilities in real time. 

He looked at Laura chatting with some of the older girls, fitting in nicely with a slighter older age group than kids her age. 

"At least she manages to speak a sentence or two every now and then." It was more like Laura listening than she actually doing the talking. 

"Maybe I should have followed Pietro to Australia and done some heroics and sightseeing at the same time." He mused to himself as he laid down under the shade of a tree. 

He cranked his head to the side and saw a group of the older students making their way towards his lazing spot. 

"Hey, anything up?" He asked. 

"Yeah. Laura said you were quite strong and since the professor won't let us out on our own, we thought it would be a good idea to see what sets us apart from those with actual experience." One of the boys, one he recalled was called Bobby Drake, said. 

"Cool, and you want to find that out how?" He asked. 

"I thought it was kinda obvious?" Bobby asked but seeing Davis' genuine confused look, he thought the guy was joking around or really slow on the uptake. Regardless, "We want to fight against you. A mock battle of course."

Now this got Davis' attention. He looked at the teenage heads before him and rounded up what he knew about them. 

'Telekinesis, optic blast, quakes, cryokinesis and a few others.'

"Got the old man's permission? I don't want him to think I'm just beating up his students for no reason." He didn't mean anything by that but he forgot how easily teenagers were to rile up and superpowered ones even more. 

Though his words pricked at them, Bobby just smiled and nodded. 

"Cool then. Hope you got a secluded area for us."

They led him inside the building and after a few turns, brought him to the Danger Room. Davis couldn't even begin to explain half of how this room worked so he just nodded and let them lead him on. 

"So are we doing this 1v1s or you all are ganging up on me? Either way I'm fine but I'd prefer the latter." 

In his defense, his words were completely reasonable as that was usually how it was whenever they sparred in the Compound. No matter who they were up against, it was usually a 1-vs-many match-up. 

Oblivious to their thoughts, he took off his jacket and stood across them as the setting changed to the middle of a destroyed city block. 

His transformation both surprised them and intimidated them a little but that was it. 

Seeing their opponent ready, they fell in sync as Scott called out their roles. 

"Lance and Bobby, you two try to probe him to see how he reacts. Since the others are sitting this one out, Jean and I will run interception. Jean link us up." 

If it had been anyone else, they might have commended how synced up they were or how they quickly deferred to their leader and didn't question his decision but none of those concerned Davis. 

Just like his predecessor, most of the time the orders he received were simple. 

Crush them. 

Lance and Bobby immediately pressed on with their advance as Lance shot seismic waves at Davis' huge frame while Bobby shot a wave of frost at him. 

With a quick glance, he immediately identified how annoying and strong these abilities were but that didn't faze him, not like he was planning to tank all of them. 

He dodged the frost wave and tanked the seismic wave just to get a feel of it and it ended up pushing him a few steps but that was enough. 

'All of them are good at mid-long range.'

A single jump and he covered the distance between him and the two other students who stayed back, surprising all four of them. 

It was easy to see what they were planning on a basic scale so he first disrupted that, increasing the mental toll on whoever was commanding. 

Scott and Jean jumped back to avoid his catastrophic landing and already knowing what was coming from Scott, he targeted Jean. 

Jean tried using the destroyed debris to form a shield but Davus easily smashed through it and punched her hastily erected kinetic field, effectively knocking her away from the rest of the fight from his first attack. 

He dodged another frost blast before he could turn to Scott, making him click his tongue for the two-in-one promo package he was going for. 

He grabbed a torn car and threw it at Bobby and leapt off the ground the moment he felt the minute rumble and the red lasers heading for him. 

'I can't afford to stay back and let them circle me. Guess I'll have to tank a few of those hits.' 

Landing on the ground, instead of dodging the threeway attack like he had done before, he brought his hand together for a block followed by an explosion as the three attacks hit him. 

"Did we get him?" 

"No don-" 

Before Lance could warn against a potential jinx, Davis burst through the smoke with a speed they never believed his hulking frame possessed. 

They all tried to attack again but Davis already expected such a hasty reaction and easily dodged them, bringing him within striking distance of the trio. 

The first to receive it was Bobby who tried to hastily freeze him but Davis smashed through the premature freeze blast and punched him with a reduced force, but one strong enough to knock him a few meters back, and left him wheezing on the flow. 

Lance stomped on the ground to affect his balance but all he saw was a grin on Davis' face as the latter copied him and stomped on the ground with a greater force that actually unbalanced him.

The small window was all the behemoth needed to pummel him to the distance. 

He grunted as a laser blast burned against his back. The pain irritated him for a brief moment, one that was apparently too long for him as his face turned unsightly and he did something out of all the spectator's expectations. 

He ran straight into the blast, not caring if it burned him or not. There was no way for Scott to escape this suicide attack but before he could surrender, his vision started spinning for a brief moment before he crashed into the ground. 

"Not bad to be honest." Davis said as he reformed back to his human form. 'Those abilities sure are a pain to deal with.'

He could see how Lance's and Bobby's abilities could prove extremely troublesome and the only thing holding them back was how to apply it. 

"1 minute 17 seconds." He scratched his head as that time was even worse than his time sparring with Vision. "Well you guys are strong no doubt, but I am a brute through and through. I'm built to run through things so don't take it to heart."

Just then, his communicator rang out. 

"Boss… really?" He asked with a little frown on his face but then shrugged a moment later. He cut the call and waved at the bunch of teenagers. "Later guys."

"Something important came up?" Lance asked while massaging where Davis had punched him. 

"Not that important. I need to run the fade on some rogue mutants. Just the usuals." He took his jacket and left them there, tending to their bruises. Both the physical and psychological ones.

"That was…"

"Embarrassing. That's what it was." Jean said, feeling particularly sour since she was the first one knocked out. 

"For some reason, he looks more menacing than the real Hulk. It's like he doesn't feel pain or something." Their discussion continued as they went over what they did, or what they couldn't do. 

Davis didn't give them enough time to showcase their skills and while they wanted to use that excuse as the reason they lost so badly, it became even more depressing when they realized that they didn't even last long enough to use their abilities the way they wanted. 

In his office, Charles, Colossus and Logan watched the whole match with Logan whistling with mirth in his eyes as he saw they got their ass royally handed to them. 

"They are still too young. The only thing that saved them for a quicker death is their ability and not what they've learnt so far." Logan said as he watched the match end. 

Charles nodded as he was thinking the exact same thing. He acted too much for them so the only way he would allow them the autonomy they were so eager for is when they prove that they can sufficiently protect themselves. 

"We can always make them more prepared. The world is changing rapidly. The conventional way no longer seems to be working as effectively as it once was." He sighed sadly. "At least we have the Avengers as an ally."

"Are you thinking about accepting that invitation?" Colossus asked. 

"I am considering what it can bring us but for now, no. Not when they are still this far behind."

"Probably a good idea."