Chapter 50
Betsy sits on the x-jet, dressed in the standard New Mutant uniform, contemplating deeply whether she is ready for this. Uncle Charley tried to assure her he thought she was before they left. He told her she wasn't here to combat this other telepath because she probably isn't ready for a full scale psychic battle but merely to block the other telepath, protect the others from psychic attack. Betsy can probably do that.
"Relax girl. You'll do great," the reassurance comes from Tabitha 'Boom Boom' Smith who could see that Betsy was unsure.
Betsy turns her head in Tabby's direction. A Tabby dressed in a new costume. The 4th design she put up because the other 3 were rejected for being too 'provocative', whatever that means. Tabby thought they were both sexy and functional but still they got rejected.
In the end she came up with a sleeveless padded-like yellow vest that left her stomach exposed. With it were tight blue pants. Her lower legs were covered with what were like yellow shin-guards and on her feet were black boots. Blue gloves and elbow pads completed the ensemble. On the upper left-hand side of her top was a small circular patch with a black X on a red background to signify who she belongs with. Around her left thigh was a belt attached to which were all the little pouches to carry the other stuff they need.
Betsy lets put a shaky breath and tries to smile and hide her nerves. "Thanks. I can only try my best, right?"
"Absolutely!" Tabby agrees enthusiastically. "And lets face it your worst is a lot better than most people's bests so even if you are slightly off you'll still kick butt."
Betsy smiles a little wider. She had always liked Tabby from the moment she got to know the girl. So full of wild, fizzy energy yet she wasn't utterly irresponsible either. She seemed to have found a nice balance.
Tabby was stoked that they were going on their first proper mission and more than that this was the first time they could all go out with their new costumes. Her Sammy was in the one she helped him design...and then he ignored most of her advice and did his own thing. Ugh, really why is she dating him again?
Basically all he has done taken the New Mutant uniform, replaced the yellow boots with black, thrown on top of it an aviator's jacket with black Xs on red patches on the shoulder straps and had added a pair of aviator-esque goggles. Sam's defence of them that they help him see when he's flying.
Bobby's costume was blue and white. Blue across the shoulders and upper part of the chest and then running down the centre of his costume and the inner half of the legs. The arms and the outer sections of the costume were white. There were also blue gloves and boots. He wore a red belt with a blue X buckle and of course all those little pouches they have were attached to it. On the upper left part of his chest was a circular patch with a blue X on red background as well.
Roberto's costume consisted of a pair of black leather pants and a ribbed grey under-shirt worn with yellow X belt(with the standard pouches), a black and yellow leather jacket, black on the arms and collar, yellow everywhere else with a red X within a circle on each arm. There were also knee-high black boots with yellow X's across the shins.
Ray's costume was all black except for the image of a multi-arced lightning bolt over his chest in red, almost as if he had transplanted a photo of lightning strike onto it in red. He had kept the black X's on red patches for the shoulders and wore a red belt.
Theresa had basically copied her father's costume showing how close the two of them were. It was green and yellow with the yellow a stripe that went down the centre from neck, including a high collar, to the top of her yellow boots. Everywhere else was green. She had the same glider-wings as her father in yellow and black attached from her wrists to her waist. She wore a pair of yellow gloves with a yellow belt. Theresa was looking forward to this since it would be Siryn's real début as a member of the Xavier Institute.
Claire was in her normal costume as Volcana and despite her moonlighting as a hero with her brother was still part of this team and so here she was.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Tabby pipes up with the question for their pilot.
Logan growls. "Yes Time Bomb. We simply hone in on Space Boy's communicator signal."
"I was just asking," Tabby says, a little annoyed at the attitude. "Seriously, Badger, relax!"
"Not freakin likely with you around," Logan grumbles quietly.
"Can we please just get there before my brother gets fucking squished?" Claire asks irritably.
"I'm sure Clark is fine," Sam says, trying to be the reassuring one. "He's smart enough to know how to slow them down without a direct confrontation."
"Yeah but what about Bart?" Ray asks.
"Yeah. Does this thing have a higher gear?" Bobby wonders.
"How about I higher gear my foot up your ass," Logan grumbles. He's going as fast as he can.
Outskirts of Metropolis...
The Brotherhood of Mutants. Avalanche, Blob, Toad, Quicksilver, Puzzler, Plastique, Neutron, Haze, the Lady Mastermind that is Regan Wyngarde and a couple of newer members to bolster the numbers and diversify the power set, Burner and Unuscione.
Unuscione wore a red bodysuit, black around the neck that had extra padding on the shoulders in greyish-silver and the sleeves were greyish-silver too. She wore black pants and boots.
Burner preferred a simple blue bodysuit with a long brown trench coat on top of that.
And put in charge of this lot, Sabretooth. Mostly to register a major threat on the X-Men's little mutant detection system. To make sure they are pulled in different directions, pulled thin.
"Ok I have a couple of questions, yo," Toad raises. "Why did the Big Boss Man drop us off outside town and why doesn't Haze just teleport us in?"
"Magneto explained that," Haze replies, irritated sounding. She's irritated because she's with these losers instead of her boyfriend, Gambit. Apparently that Amelia lady makes Alicia like the understudy...which you know just isn't fair. Who was there when they were setting up the X-Men to fight the Sentinels? That's right. Her!
"You better explain it again," Avalanche says with a little weariness. Even he can't believe Toad can't remember.
"We're suppose to be a clear, sitting target that the X-Men can't miss. We want them to see us and force them to divide their numbers. Once they get here I take Avalanche to Star Labs so he can level the building while the rest of you keep the X-Men busy," Haze explains the plan.
"It's actually really brilliantly simple," Regan gives it praise. "Plus we have to make sure to clearly give a statement about how we're defending mutantkind while the X-Men are defending our human oppressors. PR is everything these days."
"That's why I'm tweeting!" Puzzler declares excitedly as she tweets using her phone.
"You have a twitter account?" Pietro asks. Why doesn't he have one of those?
"No. We, as in the Brotherhood of Mutants, do and although I love Uncle Erik that's kinda sexist calling it a Brotherhood," she complains.
"Perhaps you would prefer Fellowship of Mutants instead?" Neutron asks with a condescending roll of his eyes. He really wishes the X-Men would just get here so he could get on to beating them up.
"Well it is catchy," Puzzler points out in support of that name...and ok she may be a bit geeky at her core.
"We're here to fight a war against humans, not trivialise over a name," Unuscione complains that they are demeaning the very serious business of fighting for mutants' rightful place in the world.
"As Uncle Erik said, our war is fought on many fronts. We must also win over the hearts and minds of our fellow mutants."
"Whoa, major ass kisser alert, you know what I mean, yo," Toad whispers to Blob. Fred nods in agreement.
"How about you all shut up!" Sabretooth snaps at them.
That manages to illicit a silence.
That is when it starts. A breeze that increases into a strong wind that increases into a gale force almost enough to blow some of the mutants over.
Unuscione manages to expand her protective forcefield into a bubble against the wind. They all watch from within as a layer of ice starts to form over its surface until it covers it completely. Unuscione feels the pressure fade and assumes the attack is over and drops her field.
"Blob, punch it," Sabretooth orders.
Blob marches up to the icy dome and with one gigantic punch shatters it.
Sabretooth then sniffs the air and growls. "Superman!" he spits out in fury at recognising the scent.
There is a gust of wind and the next thing anyone knows is Superman, standing next to Sabretooth, his arm across the feral mutant's shoulder.
"I heard my name!" Superman cheers with a dorky grin. "Aw, Sabretooth, you missed me didn't you?" he teases and then his hand gives a bone crushing squeeze to Sabretooth's shoulder...a literally bone crushing squeeze. The rest of the Brotherhood can hear the crunching sound.
Normally Clark wouldn't but on Sabretooth you have to do something quite extreme to disable him a little for even a short period of time.
Sabretooth cries out in pain as his bones shatter under the pressure. Then before he can react he finds himself bouncing along the ground at a sharp pace.
Superman stands there, his hand still in the just flicked Sabretooth in the head position. "Oops," he says sheepishly. "Sometimes I just don't know my own strength."
He turns to the gathered crowd who still haven't reacted so in surprise are they to see him. He claps his hands together hard, making the air snap and creating a small shockwave, almost knocking a few of the Brotherhood over. "Well, well, well, if it isn't me old chums; the Brotherhood of Mutants. How ya doing?"
"We'll be fine once we deal with you traitorous scum," Unuscione proclaims, her voice full of hate.
Superman raises a finger. "One sec. According to the dictionary I memorised one day when I was bored the definition of a traitor is..." he clears his throat and talks in a very official sounding manner, "One who betrays one's country, a cause, or a trust." His tone returns to normal. "Now last I checked I don't belong to any nation that Magneto runs, I never signed up to his cause and I certainly never shared any sort of trust with him so I'm afraid your words just don't stack up, Miss."
Unuscione almost literally explodes right there and then.
Regan places her hands on her hips and gives Superman the once over. 'Hmm, hmm,' she moans approvingly in her head. He looks better in person. Oh she could just eat him up...but damn. Her father was right. His mind is totally weird and she can't affect it.
"You must be utterly stupid to come here alone, Super-Dork," Pietro insults him.
"Pietro...that' so hurtful," Superman says, choking up. "I mean I just came to say hello and you insult me. I won't cry, I won't," he insists while pretending to hold back tears. The act vanishes "And also whoever said I came here alone? And also it certainly wouldn't be a fair fight. Not after I've been cunningly distracting you while my colleague has been tying your shoelaces together."
Pietro takes a step forward. "That's not poss-whoa!" he cries out as he trips up and falls over face first. When he looks he finds his laces are tied together. In fact each and every member of the Brotherhood's laces are tied together.
They start to frantically try to untie the fiendish knots while wondering how this could have possibly happened.
There is a gust of wind and a kid in a red hoodie appears next to Superman. "I can't believe that actually worked," the kid remarks in complete shock.
"It's the costume," Superman replies. "It just gets their attention every time."
The kid blurs to stand over Quicksilver. "Are you sure this is the one you told me about? Who moves like us? He seems kinda slow to me. He didn't even see me."
"And who are you?" Pietro demands to know.
"Me?" the kid points at himself. "I'm the Fastest Man Alive, Muchachos!"
Pietro almost starts. "Just you wait until I get these laces untied then we'll see who is the fastest."
"Great!" the hooded kid cheers. "I love a good race."
"Do you love a good beating? Because you're getting one!" Blob declares.
Superman shares a look at the hooded kid before they burst into loud laughter, holding their stomachs.
"Oh man that's good," the hooded kid says as he seemingly wipes a tear away.
"What's funny?" Avalanche asks.
Superman points at the group. "You?" he queries before pointing at himself and his friend. "Beat us up? Puh-lease. You couldn't even catch us. Let alone do anything to us."
"Yeah. I mean seriously. I can be a thousand miles away before you can blink."
"And even if you could catch us, I think you guys have been out of the loop way too long. You've dropped down the rankings of the list of things I have to deal with. My average Tuesday is tougher."
"From the looks of these guys my average steak dinner is tougher," the hooded kid says even more disparagingly.
"Now maybe if you were the Acolytes we might worry," Superman tells them.
"Slightly," the hooded kid modifies. "Very slightly."
Pietro finally manages to sort out the knot in his shoes. He stands up, his teeth gritted and his face filled with anger. "Guys, who's up for teaching these two some respect?"
"Count me in," Blob says, punching one hand into the other.
"Yeah," Neutron says in agreement.
"Traitors need to be taught the price of betrayal," Unuscione vows.
There are several other murmurs of agreement from the rest as they all manage to sort out their laces.
Superman's lips curve up into a lazy grin. "Then come get us."
He and the hooded kid blur a short distance away and wave. "Come on! We promise to take it easy on ya!"
The Brotherhood chase after them...in the exact direction Clark and Bart were wanting. Away from Metropolis.
Appalachian Mountains, Virginia...
From the outside it didn't look much. It looked like an old abandoned coal mine. A dozen metallic spheres land at the entrance. They split apart and slide open and out from them step Magneto and his Acolytes. Polaris, Frenzy, Gambit, Ruckus, Sandman, Colossus, Pyro, the Lady Mastermind that is Martinique Wyngarde.
Of course Amelia was there, against her better judgement she might add. Her costume was black with red stripes in a V-shape running up the front to the shoulders where they merged into golden shoulder pads. There were also golden wrists guards and knee-high red boots along with a golden belt with pouches...which for Amelia she filled with miniature medical stuff. In her heart she was primarily a nurse.
Joining the Acolytes was, first up, the blond EM field manipulator known as Phantazia, dressed all in purple and yellow(her favourite colours). It is a purple top and pants with a yellow section down the middle. Joining Phantazia as a new member was the metal clawed hands and feet of Shocker dressed in a purple top and dark blue pants.
They were replacements for Live Wire. Shocker could produce electrical blasts but didn't have the ability to manipulate electricity as Live Wire could. Phantazia could and Magneto was certain it was merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of her power. That, as she aged, she could do and be much, much more.
As much as Magneto remained angered at Live Wire's betrayal he could not deny her power but as he is showing she can also be replaced.
"Martinique?" Magneto queries.
The brunette telepath closes her eyes as her mind stretches out trying to sense whoever was here and learn what she needed to. She can sense the men who guard the entrance. Quite effectively too...if it were humans they were trying to stop. There are also many technicians working overtime to prepare the place for its task. She reports this to Magneto.
"It will never complete that task," he states with complete confidence that this is so.
"Company!" Gambit reports.
All eyes turn to the skies and to what Gambit has spotted. A helicopter.
"Charles," Magneto says, recognising that particular model of aircraft. "Excellent," he says as if all this is exactly as he planned. "Everyone inside the facility, quickly," he orders.
"Won't we be trapped?" Polaris asks with concern since they will be going underground.
"Yes," Magneto says simply.
Lorna looks at him, wondering what it is her father is planning. He can't mean for them to really be trapped, right? No. Definitely not. He must have something up his sleeve. Something he hasn't told even her about.
Aboard the Velocity the X-Men manage to get just a glimpse of the Acolytes before they vanish into the mine entrance.
"Is that good or bad?" Kitty asks.
"Bad. Very bad," Scott replies grimly. They had been hoping, slight as the possibility was, that they could beat Magneto here and prevent him getting down into the facility. They had failed and that meant the battle would now be all the more difficult. "It's a tight, confined, underground space with who knows how many innocent civilians caught in the crossfire plus any battle will severely damage the facility."
"Which is probably on purpose," Storm assesses.
"But we have ta go in anyway, don't we," Rogue assumes.
"Afraid so," Dom says. "Ah a secret underground facility. Now that's taking me back," she jokes grimly about her past experiences.
Charles grimaces. Erik was going to make this difficult and dangerous but there was no choice. He has to confront his old friend if only to try and get some clue as to where Patricia is. As far as Charles can tell she's not here and Magneto had made sure otherwise not to leave any clues behind. He needs answers only Magneto can provide.
The Velocity lands and the X-Men disembark in a well practised formation.
Spider-Man takes in the surroundings. "Very...coal miney," he remarks jokily.
Kitty sniggers. God she loves his humour.
In the Velocity Beast stayed behind with the Professor for a moment. "Are you ok?" he asks his old friend.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Charles asks back.
"I saw Amelia. I know you must have as well."
Charles' face shows a slight hurt. He sighs. "She's obviously made a choice though I do not understand it...but this is not the time nor place to sort out the issues Amelia and I have, Hank. We must stop Magneto and find Patricia. Those are the only priorities."
Hank nods in agreement and then proceeds to help the Professor out the helicopter.
Charles needed to come. This was too important. He needs to talk to Erik, make him understand, however slim that possibility is.
Cyclops acknowledges the Professor's presence. "Alright, everyone. Cautious approach to the cave entrance, in pairs, covering each other..."
"Or how about not!" Rogue scoffs at the slow and cautious approach and she takes off at a 60mph plus sprint.
"Impetuous lass, isn't she," Banshee remarks.
"That's a polite term for her," Dom quips...and she says this as a loving sister.
Cyclops rubs his head. He can already see Rogue's in one of those moods where she chooses not to listen to him. "After her. She'll need our support," he orders, having no choice since Rogue will get in over her head if they don't back her up.
The X-Men rapidly chase after her, piling through the narrow mine entrance and hoping Rogue hasn't gotten too far ahead of them.
Outskirts of Metropolis...
Clark is pretty certain to an outsider this merry little chase would be funny with him and Bart being pursued by a bunch of cursing, superpowered, mostly teenagers.
Bart was really having fun mocking Quicksilver especially.
Really the whole thing was about mocking the lot of them, making the Brotherhood focus only on chasing Clark and Bart, away from Metropolis and the innocent people who might get caught in the crossfire.
Haze kept trying to teleport a couple of the Brotherhood in front of them and to give her credit even though it's failed miserably so far she isn't giving up as Blob and Burner appear in front of Clark and Bart.
"Freddy!" Superman greets with him with over the top enthusiasm. "You're looking good! That diet must be really working!" he falsely compliments the mountainous teen because if anything Blob is even larger than Clark remembers him to be.
Blob makes a roaring sound and charges at Superman.
"Right, charge at me because that's worked so well in the past," Superman mutters with an eye-roll. He stands there as Fred throws a punch, which he side-steps, grabs the arm and pulls Blob round, using Fred's own momentum as an aid because it is hard, even for him, to fight against the Blob's sheer mass. Superman then starts to spin faster and faster before letting go...right into the group chasing them. "Strike!" Superman cheers, his arms raised in the air as he knocks them down like bowling pins.
Meanwhile Bart is dodging the flame attacks of Burner. "Let me guess, you're hot stuff, right?" he quips.
Burner groans. Brings his hands together in front of him forming a bowl shape and projecting a stream of fire from them.
Bart raises both hands and moves them in a small circular motion out in front of him creating an incredibly strong wind that blows the flames out and sends Burner tumbling backward right into Haze.
"Ooh, sorry Señorita!" Bart apologises. "Really hate to hurt cute chicks!" he sincerely means that. Cute chicks like Jubilee. Man why is he here when he could be spending time with her? Now that's a very good question.
"The only one who should be worried about being hurt is you, you pathetic wannabe copycat!" Quicksilver shouts as he superspeeds at Bart who ducks under the blow before shifting into superspeed and he and Pietro race side-by-side exchanging punches and counters.
"STOP!" a roar of a voice makes both screech out of superspeed and almost fall flat on their faces. The command came from Sabretooth who had finally healed and caught up. "You idiots!" he yells. "You're letting them draw you off!" he berates the entire group.
"Well duh!" Superman says, confirming this. "I kinda thought you would figure that out Creed, which is why any sensible person would take you out first...oh wait. That's what I did. I am kinda disappointed that Haze didn't realise this. I figured Mystique's daughter would be better trained. I think the word sloppy applies."
Sabretooth growls at the boy who smirks in response.
"You shouldn't underestimate me just because I'm a pretty face."
"Dude, I totally feel your pain," Bart agrees as he slides in next to Clark. "People are always doing that but then again I have a very pretty face."
"I am going to tear you apart," Sabretooth promises.
"Uh huh. I think he might have an issue with that," Superman says as he points skyward.
Everyone looks up as the X-jet swoops in low and jumping from it comes Wolverine, claws drawn which he plunges into Sabretooth's chest eliciting a roar of pain. "Creed, always a pleasure to meet and stab ya," Logan says with way too much enjoyment.
Sabretooth manages to throw Wolverine off only that rips the wounds in his chest even wider.
Logan rolls as he lands and springs to his feet and the x-jet lands and Generation X pours out to stand with Superman and Bart. For the Brotherhood getting Blob off them and back to their feet buys the time necessary for that.
"Seriously?" Avalanche asks in disbelief. "We're getting the B-team now?" he complains at the level of mutant team Xavier sends after them.
Boom Boom steps forward one step and points at the dark-haired earth-shaker. "That's B as in brilliant, brave, brainy, beguiling, bodacious, breath taking, beautiful and last, but certainly not least, bootilicious baby!" she proclaims as she slaps her own ass.
"Thanks for that Boom Boom," Cannonball says.
"You're welcome my honey bunny!" Tabby jokily replies with sticky sweetness.
Sam groans.
The Brotherhood regroup as they line up against Generation X and Superman and Bart.
"Runt! I will rip your head off, I swear!" Sabretooth threatens Logan.
"Give it your best shot, bub!" Wolverine fires back.
"This is as far as you go," Cannonball tells the Brotherhood, taking charge. "The only way you leave is if you walk away after you tell us where Ms Patricia Swann is," he gives them the only condition in which this ends peacefully.
Siryn cracks her knuckles. "Personally I'd prefer it if you don't," she says, with an excited gleam in her eye that shows she loves a good brawl.
"We've fought and defeated the actual X-Men. What makes you think we're afraid of the reserves?" Quicksilver asks them.
"Actually Wanda beat the X-Men," Superman corrects Pietro. "Now what does it say that your little sister did all the work?"
"That these guys are complete losers?" Bart offers.
"That goes without saying," Iceman says.
"Ok can we stop talking and just beat up the traitors already?" Unuscione asks.
"Finally! Someone who knows what they're talking about!" Neutron agrees wholeheartedly with the idea of violence.
"Is that your choice?" Cannonball gives them one last chance.
"Yes. It is," Sabretooth confirms.
"Fine by me," Logan snaps back.
"And me!" Boom Boom says as she forms a little time bomb in her hand. "By the way, we're not the B-team. We're Generation X!" she says in a raised voice as she throws her time bomb into the air. "Tick, tick, tick...Boom!" she yells at the same time as the small energy bomb explodes and both sides use it a signal to start and they charge at each other.
Author's Note: You know when I was thinking up costumes for everyone I looked back at some of the past ones for inspiration and my god what were they thinking? Some of them are hideous. Ray never had one being a Morlock. In fact disturbingly he seemed to appear often in only, what could almost be called, a pair of underpants. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; the battles heat up.
