Template:Featured Articles/20-2016

Moment of Awesome - Stephen Strange: Caught up assisting in a multi-vehicle pile up, Stephen has a Moment. But the important part is he gets through it. Things were happening way too fast, first the crash then the bang and people running from the crash scene and someone saying they should help, the teenager couldn't ever remember who. But now he was slowly picking his way through the remains with Matt trying to follow the older man's steps exactly. But where Matt seemed so sure of his footing, able to avoid tripping or sharp point Stephen found that his feet kept slipping and he'd send random pieces of debris skittering across the floor. Maybe this is what Julian had meant when he told Generation-X that they all needed training. Right now, Matt was wishing for better shoes than the ankle boots he was wearing. Those shoes with the toes he had would be good. Or even his Daredevil boots. These didn't give him as much traction as he would prefer. He almost took them off, but it was both too cold out and too dangerous. Unlike most people with heightened senses, he didn't get healing or invulnerability or anything like that. Nope. Grade-A normal person with a few enhanced senses. Those senses were helping lead him through the rubble of the crash to find people. Pausing on top of a car, he sniffed, cocking his head to one side and trying to focus on some more fainter sounds. "You okay?" he asked Stephen. The kid was keeping up, but Matt was pretty sure he was glad he couldn't see the rubble and mess of this wreck. It was massive. The smells were bad enough. 'Okay' was a relative term after all. "I'm o...you know what, no I'm not," Stephen admitted, "It's dark, and I think I've slipped and fallen onto shards of metal at least 3 times." The teen started as the wreck of one of the cars creaked and gave Matt a weak grin, "I'm terrified. How do you guys do this all the time? This might only be my first time but I'm constantly scared that one of the cars will slip and drive me over the edge or I'll screw up somehow." Pausing, Matt realized that while the dark didn't matter to him, it was likely affecting Stephen. So was the cold and the wet. They affected him too, but he put them out of his mind the best he could. "You're not going to screw up," he said confidently, to reassure the teen. "and you're not going to go over the edge," getting cut by metal was a real concern for them both though. Moving back a little to where he was, Matt sat back on his heels for a minute, then said softly, "It's okay to be scared. You are absolutely entitled to have a melt down....later. Right now, we have a job to do, okay? Can you do it?" Stephen nodded slowly, "I'm not gonna freak out on you. I mean in a way this is like every childhood dream I've had of playing a hero at an accident and saving the day. Only when you dream you don't think about any of this other stuff or how I have water dripping down my back or almost sprained my ankle. I really need to think through my daydreams better. I'm not gonna fall apart on you Matt, just well...if you hear any squeaks or something can we just ignore them, and not tell Clea? She'd never let me live it down, like ever." That made him grin, "They will be very manly squeaks," he agreed. "Now, let's keep going, I hear something up ahead."