Recovering from Superior

Chapter 6

Laura was a bit confused when Peter woke her up, he had asked her to help test some project he was working on. She didn't know how exactly she could help, maybe it was to test the strength and durability of something and he wanted her to use her claws to see how resistant it was.

Either way she was just glad to be able to do something rather than sleep, although her time spent sleeping was serene and peaceful thanks to her thoughts of Peter.

He led through the building until they were back in the testing room with some woman waiting for them.

"Peter? Who's this?" Anna asked gesturing to Laura.

"Anna, this is Laura. She's going to help test our prototype." He informed.

"Laura, this is Anna. She's my assistant and will be helping to conduct the test." He said to Laura.

"Nice to meet you Laura and thank you for helping with the test." Anna said.

"Speaking of... what exactly is this test? What do I have to do?" She asked the woman.

"Peter... you didn't tell her?" Anna asked Peter bewildered.

"I... thought she mightn't have come." Peter sheepishly explained.

"Peter." Anna said disappointingly.

"Okay, fine." Peter relented. "Laura. I want you to put on this ring and tell me what it is you feel, if there's any changes that you notice." Peter explained.

"Why? What should happen?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing bad. Just... tell us if you notice any changes." Peter answered.

Laura have a shrug at the vagueness of the experiment and decided to just go along with it, any worry that there may be some harm or lasting effects were quickly squashed as she remembered who was the one asking for her to participate in the test.

Peter. And he wouldn't ever put her in harms way, so she was confident that this test wasn't going to hurt her.

"So... just put on the ring and see what happens, yeah?" She asked picking up the ring.

"Yes, let us know immediately if you notice any changes." Peter confirmed.

Laura slipped on the ring and waited a few moments to see if anything happened, she wondered if there was meant to be an immediate affect or if they needed something to happen first and the ring would activate or something.

"So... anything?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Nope. I don't feel any different." She answered casually.

"R-really?" Peter said astonished.

"Yep. Is that a good thing?" She asked curiously.

"Hmm. Let's see. Laura, can you use your claws?" He questioned.

"My claws?" Laura said looking at her hands.

Laura tried to release her claws but was surprised when nothing happened. Popping out her claws was almost second nature to her so seeing that she was having difficulty releasing them was slightly worrying.

"N-no. I can't. What's happening?" She said sounding slightly scared.

Laura was flicking her hands trying to release her claws, her face was growing more concerned with each moment her claws failed to come out.

"Laura, Laura it's ok." Peter tried to comfort her.

"No. No it's not. Why won't they come out?" She asked frightened.

"It's the ring." Peter said calmly.

Laura looked at him confused. Her eyes drew to the ring on her finger and her fear was replaced with confusion as she looked back at Peter questioningly.

"The ring?" She repeated.

"Yes. We took the design from the inhibitor collar and simplified it into a smaller scale." He explained.

Laura looked back at the ring and then back at Peter. Her eyes started to water as she ripped the ring off her finger and threw it at him.

"Why would you do that?" She yelled storming past him.

"Laura wait-" he tried to call out to her but she slammed the door on her way out. Thankfully the door was reinforced as the door May have broken from Lauras strength.

"I told you, you should have told her." Anna said condescendingly.

Peter gruffed at her tone, but she was right. Laura's reaction was expected when she knew what the ring was made from. "Huh... yeah." He lamented.

"You should go after her. Try to explain yourself and apologise. I'll log in the results of the test but it's only a minor result since we didn't get a chance to fully explore its capabilities." Anna told him.

Peter went after Laura to do exactly that, apologise and hopefully not suffer the wrath of Logan's daughter... or worse yet... Logan himself if Laura reached out.

As he made his way through the building and back to his office, Peter tried to formulate an apology in his head so he didn't sound like a complete idiot when he caught up to her.

The best he could do was explain why he was utilising the inhibitor technology and hope she understood why he was making it and her importance for testing it.

Returning to his office Peter noted that Laura was not there, meaning she took up back in the spare room. He slowly opened the door just to make sure she didn't try and maul him to death if he just barged in.

When Peter got a good look in the room he was right on the money, Laura was in fact in the room and huddled on top of the bed. But what surprised him was the the stream of tears running down her cheeks.

"Laura?" He said lowly, getting her attention.

"Go... away." She said slowly and without any force.

"Laura... I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He apologised.

"Why? Why would you make something like that? After all the damage it's caused for mutants." She asked him still very upset.

"Because... I believe that... there are some people who might need something like this. And unlike the collar that is sometimes used for supervillains when they're locked up... I thought this could be an alternative for some." He explained.

"And I think we both know someone who might want that Laura." Peter emphasised, as he sat down beside her on the bed.

Laura thought on it for a moment before the realisation suddenly hit her and she reluctantly nodded her head in agreement. "Yea... I guess so."

"That's why you testing it was important. We needed to see how it affected mutants, if you noticed any changes. But you didn't, so that means that anyone can go about their life not worrying about their powers acting up." He tried to soften the damage.

"So why couldn't you test it? You have powers." She asked him firmly.

"We considered that. But I'm not a mutant, so we couldn't be sure the ring would work for everyone. Although... to be honest, we weren't sure how we were going to test it before you showed up. So thank you... really." He explained further, before thanking her sincerely.

Laura accepted his apology and gently rested her head on his shoulder. Peter returned the gesture and placed his head atop hers while pulling her closer with his arm wrapped around her.

"Big dummy." She said getting a light chuckle out of him.