William’s shout attracted others with Wolverine and Cyclops tackling the student that shot the Doctor. The kid changed shapes for a while. Sabretooth picked up the gun and examined it. “That’s a Skrull gun all right,” he said. “But why didn’t it kill her instantly? There’s no stun setting on this thing?”
“Never mind that!” insisted Amy. “The Doctor’s hurt and-!” She stopped when she saw the exposed collar area stitch itself up in a glow. “…Oh no!”
“What’s going on?” asked Nightcrawler.
“It’s the regeneration process!” replied Amy. “It’s started.”
“D-Damned gun hit me just above the vessels between my hearts!” strained the Doctor.
“Doctor, take it easy!” insisted William. “We’ll get you to a safe room where you can regenerate and-!”
“Why are you weeping over that trash?!” scoffed the student as they exhausted themselves in the struggle.
“The Doctor’s not trash!” snarled William.
“She’s a mutie-supporter and-!” retorted the student.
“You know, you Skrulls have been classified as mutants!” remarked Wolverine.
“WHAT?!” shouted the student. He dropped the disguise. His skin turned green, his ears became pointy, his hair shortened, his chin became bumpy, and his muscle-mass increased. “Our shapeshifting is NATURAL, thank you very much!” snarled the Skrull.
“And you’ve forgotten to activate your anti-psychic technology, Infiltrator Trakis,” said Professor X calmly.
“So you’re not part of the Skrull colony here,” hissed the Doctor as she picked herself up.
“Doctor, lie still!” insisted William. “You’re already regenerating!”
“A form of accelerated healing?” scoffed Trakis.
“Bodily regeneration,” replied the Doctor. “I’m delaying the end result until this matter is resolved. The strongest of my people can do that.”
“And what kind of mutants are your people?” smirked Trakis. “They’ll be next on my list.”
“I’m an alien like you, Trakis.”
“From what planet then? Mars? Ooh! Vulcan!”
“Gallifrey, actually.” Trakis’ eyes widened.
“Impossible!” he whispered.
“Not impossible,” replied William. “I traveled in her TARDIS.”
“LIES! THE TIME LORDS WERE EXTERMINATED!” shouted Trakis in fear.
“What are you, a Dalek?” asked Amy.
“Let’s see, has a hate for people not like him,” mused Lurra Rus, “wants to kill people not like him, and the word ‘Exterminate’ is used as easily as breathing. Yeah, I’d mistake him for a Dalek.”
“I’ll rip you apart for daring to compare me to those inferior creatures!” snarled Trakis.
“What’s your mission here?” demanded Wolverine as he extended his claws.
“Fulfilling our prophecy!” replied Trakis.
“Lovely, a Veranke follower,” sighed William.
“…Creed, you wanna do bad cop, worse cop?” Wolverine asked Sabretooth.
“Sounds fun to me!” replied Sabretooth.
“Pah! Do your worst!” scoffed Trakis.
After the Doctor was taken to the mansion’s medical center, Amy peeked in to see the Doctor and William glaring at one another. “What’s going on here?” she asked.
“What’s going on here,” replied William, “is that there’s a painful buildup of energy inside the Doctor and she’s not releasing it.”
“That’s because I can’t afford to regenerate just yet!” retorted the Doctor.
“Erm, the pain Rassilon went through when she held back her regeneration until the Weeping Angel incident on Popstar says otherwise,” interjected Amy.
“Come on, what went wrong during that?!” argued the Doctor.
“Do you want the list alphabetically or in descending level of stupidity looking back?” asked William.
“Forget it! I’m not regenerating until this affair is over!” insisted the Doctor.
“William, can’t you do something?” asked Amy.
“Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot I can do in this time zone,” replied William. “Several medical and ethical practices say I can’t do anything when the patient makes a decision like this, even when all the evidence is stacked against them. …All right, fine, Doctor. Go ahead and hold your regeneration back, but you’re signing this.” He pulled out an Against Medical Advice form.
“You’re not serious!” protested the Doctor.
“I told you the risks according to the evidence in our quest for the Key to Time,” replied William. “You wanna hold off on the regeneration? You’re signing this.”
“…Fine!” sighed the Doctor. She signed the form. “May I go now?!”
“Very well,” said William. The Doctor got up and strode off, her hand briefly glowing.
“…I don’t like this at all,” shuddered Amy. “William, are you sure the law prevents you from doing anything?”
“I’m afraid so,” sighed William. “Especially in this time and we’re in my home state. A breach of those laws would mean I lose my medical license and I can’t practice medicine without it.”
The Doctor made her way to the room where Trakis was being interrogated. The Bad Cop, Worse Cop scenario didn’t work, according to Wolverine and Sabretooth’s faces. “Little piece of-! HE BIT ME!” snarled Sabretooth.
“Why are YOU complaining?” asked Wolverine. “You should be vindicated.”
“How the hell do you figure that?!”
“Because someone from a more advanced civilization descended to your level!” Wolverine blew the smoke from his cigar into Sabretooth’s face.
“Do you really need to do that?” asked the Doctor as she approached them.
“Whatever, Doc,” replied Wolverine.
“Come on! You must know that smoking can kiiiii……” The Doctor trailed off as she remembered Wolverine and Sabretooth’s healing factor. Both men looked at her with deadpan looks.
“…No, go on,” offered Wolverine. “I believe you were about to say something funny.”
“R-Right. Never mind,” mumbled the Doctor. “Where’s Trakis?”
“In there,” replied Sabretooth. “You gonna go all Time Goddess on him or something?”
“Time Lords aren’t gods,” corrected the Doctor, “but I AM going to use a bit of Gallifreyan tech on him.” She pulled out her sonic screwdriver, then Wolverine sniffed.
“…Your scent’s changing,” he remarked.
“Regeneration,” replied the Doctor. “Gonna be a totally new person when this is over.” She entered the room and Trakis looked up.
“…Doctor, was it?” he asked. “We know you.”
“‘We’ meaning?” asked the Doctor.
“Meaning the Skrulls in general, Doctor,” explained Trakis. “You are many. The stories about you are legion.”
“I get around,” said the Doctor as she took a scan with her sonic screwdriver. Trakis arched an eyebrow.
“…A sonic probe?” he asked.
“That’s sonic SCREWDRIVER!” retorted the Doctor. “And there’s something very interesting about you, Trakis. …Wolverine, is there some sort of training area here?”
“There’s the Danger Room, why?” asked Wolverine.
“Because Trakis needs some exercise,” replied the Doctor.
The Danger Room, a training facility meant to push a mutant’s powers to their greatest capabilities. The room has been upgraded over the decades, even with alien technology. “Doc, what’s the idea?” asked Wolverine after he and Sabretooth put Trakis in the room and joined the Doctor in the control room.
“Let’s just say I want to demonstrate the anomaly I picked up,” replied the Doctor. She started the Danger Room at its lowest setting. A few flamethrower traps popped out of the walls and the floors, but Trakis rolled out of the way and fired on them.
“He’s using a gun,” remarked Sabretooth. “That’s cheating.”
“Relax,” soothed the Doctor.
“Level 1: Complete,” said the Danger Room computer. The Doctor then increased the difficulty. More traps appeared, this time adding nets. Trakis accomplished evading them. “Level 2: Complete,” said the computer. This went on and on with Trakis starting to get tired by the time level 43 rolled around. By then, Professor X and Cyclops had arrived.
“Doctor, don’t you think this is a bit much?” he asked.
“Trust me,” assured the Doctor.
“Doctor,” interjected Cyclops, “he’s tiring out! Even our strongest mutants need a break between-!” Then, it happened. A laser shot hit Trakis in the knee!
“ARGH!” Trakis grabbed his knee.
“Injury detected!” reported the Danger Room computer. “Danger Room shutting down.”
“Rgh! Dammit! It’s starting!” grunted Trakis as he clasped his knee.
“So there IS merit to that reading I took,” mused the Doctor.
“Doc?” asked Wolverine.
“When I scanned him with my sonic screwdriver,” replied the Doctor, “there was a gene that didn’t conform with the known Skrull genome.”
“A gene?” asked Sabretooth.
“Hold on a minute, you’re not serious,” remarked Cyclops.
“Well, when a bigot spews anti-gay rhetoric, what’s the conclusion some reach?” asked the Doctor.
“That the bigot is a heavily closeted gay themselves,” replied Wolverine.
“Exactly,” confirmed the Doctor. “Does the same hold true among the mutant community?”
“It does,” replied Professor X. “I’ve met bigots that spew anti-mutant rhetoric only to read their minds and find that they’re hoping no one else finds out they’re a mutant themselves.”
“Well, observe,” directed the Doctor. Metal then spread from Trakis’ knee!
“Holy crap!” said Wolverine. “That’s Colossus’ power!”
“And Trakis is no Super Skrull!” confirmed the Doctor. The metal had fully encased Trakis. He looked like a metal statue of himself that moved as fluidly as any living being. “Behold! A Skrull mutant!”
“…YOU SIGNED MY DEATH WARRANT, TIME LORD!” shouted Trakis as he tore a chunk of the floor out! “I’LL FLATTEN YOU FOR THAT!” He threw the floor chunk at the control room!