Beast fell to the ground face-first, his broad shoulders growing more so as he rocketed down to the ground. He could feel the tug of gravity increase as his height steadily grew, pulling him down that much faster. It would be fascinating if he wasn't in severe danger of slamming against the metal floor of the Danger Room. He had to act fast to prevent that from happening.
He twisted his spine until he faced away from the massive Sentinel, then doubled over. He could touch his toes with his fingers, but instead he spread his legs and pushed forward. His claws met the reinforced metal of the giant robot's back and dug in. His arms jerked with the sudden slow of his descent, and he could feel his body change direction. His feet caught the metal as well, cushioning his fall a bit. Short, thick toes spread to give him a good grip. He slowed to a stop right over the Sentinel's belt.
Hank sighed in relief, then felt the odd sensation of his fingers and toes outgrowing the small tears they made. He was still getting larger, a little faster than before. His mind raced for a moment as he tried to think about how this could be. Did activity trigger some sort of second reaction? Could he expect more? How bad would this little growth spurt be? It wasn't good for him to be out in the field if he was still unstable. There was no telling what--
A bright light appeared to his right, and he looked to see the Sentinel's palm beginning to fire. Beast barely leapt away in time, slamming into the automaton's metal back just below the shoulder blades. He felt his weight hit it with much more force than he was used to, and his claws sunk into the metal a little more firmly. He shook his head and tried to focus on the mission at hand. There'd be time to sort through the growth issue later. Right now, he had to focus on making sure this thing didn't make it to the school.
Even still, he was careful when he jumped on the robot's shoulders. His heavy paws landed squarely on the giant's neck, and his eyes widened for a moment when he saw them expand visibly. How big was he getting? The access panel underneath the neck and right between the shoulder blades looked astonishingly small, and it was growing more so all the time. He put that thought aside for now and slammed his fist into the panel. Claws ripped through the metal easily, and he dug in his fingers and yanked. It ripped away easily, exposing a collection of blinking lights, small moving pistons, and a labyrinth of wires.
The schematics of this particular model flashed before his eyes in an instant. He knew just where to hit it to disable it. Without a second thought, he squeezed his paw through the hole and ripped out a few wires to the right of it. That should take out the redundancies that help it recover from catastrophic damage. He ripped a bigger hole to the left of the panel and slammed his fist through a circuit panel. Now its weapons and targeting systems were off-line. Another swipe of his claws broke small pistons and a bundle of tubes that provided the super-computer located inside its head with necessary coolant.
All the while, the Sentinel stumbled around the grounds of the school, leaving footprints in the carefully manicured lawn, shaking the walls of the building's lobby. Beast nimbly twisted out of the reach of blind, grasping fingers, then took out its navigation system, its programming matrix, and the cable that connected its CPU to all secondary systems. He worked with a savage efficiency, and as his paws blossomed and his strength grew, the work got easier and easier. By the time the Sentinel was crashing to the ground, his fist barely fit within the expanded hole he had made, and his weight crumpled its shoulders when it slammed to the ground.
The disorienting feeling of expansion was nothing compared to the vertigo experienced by being on the shoulders of a giant robot as it fell. It took him a few moments to get himself situated, and by the time he did it felt like his 'little' growth spurt had finally stopped. He hopped off the back of the Sentinel and felt the concrete powder under his paws. He winced, then stood up tall to look around. Everything looked so small.
His mane could be seen from the second story, and if he stood on his toes he could just see inside its window. His shoulders were far too broad to fit within the school's front doors now, and he would take up an entire hallway walking on all fours. Monstrous didn't begin to describe what Hank was now. He was simply enormous...
"Hank...what happened to you?" Iceman's voice sounded behind him. He turned and hunched over to see his friend, who was still quite a bit below his eyeline. The staggering difference in their heights took his breath away.
"I'm...not sure I have time to explain." His voice was deep and booming, even when he tried to be quiet. It was hard to recognize it as his. "We have to make sure the Sentinels don't reach the School."
"Actually," a gruff voice behind him said, "I think the Sentinels can wait. Tell me what's going on, Hank."
Beast turned to see...
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