PROMETHEAN DAWN

CHAPTER 10

The Taskmaster is silhouetted between the darkness and the opening of the door.  

Xavier: "Extraordinary that ability such as yours exist in this world... 

Taskmaster cocks his head; there is no central location where the voice emanates from. 

Xavier: "you are proof that my theory that the human species is doomed to extinction... 

Taskmaster cocks his head again and notices a peculiarity in the voice, he begins to smile. 

Xavier: "If mankind considers himself at the top of the evolutionary ladder it only means one thing.  

Taskmaster begins to walk into the darkened room. Ignoring Xavier's taunts, he brushes the tip of a lampshade, caressing its circumference. 

Xavier: That the human species is an evolutionary dead end. Do you not agree? 

Taskmaster is closer to the edge of the room; he lifts his right hand in time to catch a dart in mid-flight. 

Xavier: Your existence only validates that a new specie is being born, a superior human. 

Taskmaster docks in time to let a barrage of silenced projectile fly by him. 

Xavier: Together we could unlock the potential of this evolutionary genome.. 

Taskmaster is at the end of the room. Opens a glass panel and punches a button. 

The light turns back on. 

Taskmaster pushes a lever and everything in the room vanishes leaving a square concrete husk. 

Sabretooth is standing behind Taskmaster. 

Sabretooth: The fabled "Danger Room. He fooled you. 

Taskmaster faces Creed while taping the right side of his head.  

Taskmaster: Hardly, I had the layout of the entire room photographed into my brain moments before Xavier turned off lights. 

Sabretooth: Heh! 

Taskmaster: His voice lacking an epicenter meant they were coming from speaker arrayed across the room. The drop from of decibel from his original voice meant it was recorded. Kudos for him for recording it while we killed his brother. 

Sabretooth: You should have that memory of yours patented. Ever remember the first thing you did when you got out of your mother's womb? 

Taskmaster: Yes, I took a scalpel an inserted into the doctor's right eye. 

Sabretooth cocks an eyebrow: Really? 

Taskmaster: No.

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The night illuminated trees whip past by as Xavier races on a beaten path. He finds the groan of the Harley Davidson in cadence to his pounding heart. He was sorry for the loss of his half-brother but was more intrigued by his would be assailants. They did not seem to be human. 

Ever since his half brother Cain's transformation he has thought long and hard of the potential of the human species. He was drawn to the conundrum but for now he has to get away or there will be no intellectual musings later. 

The Harley's lights caught a silhouetted figure ahead of the road. It turned out to be a man holding a fireplace poker. Others might find such an opponent silly but Xavier having witness the man's prowess earlier was wary. 

Xavier tucked his head lower and squeezed every ounce of torque from the accelerator. The Harley became a bullet but bullseye simply stood his ground.