Second chapter after coming back! Isn't this just great? Not much to say, other than the fact that this quarantine has me thinking about starting a YouTube channel, so, you know, yeah. If I do, I'll be sure to tell you guys, and hey, why not subscribe? You could check it out at least, I'd appreciate it, really, I would.
That's all from me up here, on with the story!
First Strike
As we travel through space Shadowcat turns to me, she taps the side of her head, signaling for a telepathic conversation. I swap to my Professor X powers and create a connection between the two of us.
"First off, happy birthday, Nolan!" She begins.
"Heh, thanks. So, what'd you want to talk about?" I wonder.
Her smile drops and she looks down as she plays with her glove. She looks back up at me, worry clear in her eyes. "Are you ready for this?"
I mentally laugh. "Of course, I am, I've dealt with Mister Sinister, Sentinels, and whole bunch of other shit. The Brotherhood shouldn't be as bad. but don't worry, I won't underestimate them. Besides, shouldn't I be asking you that? This is your first time fighting a group of unified mutants."
"Yeah, I'll give you that one. But still, doesn't mean I won't stop worrying, got it?" She glares at me intensely.
I nod as a light smile plays on my face. "Got it, Boss."
Her strong demeanor then shifts into one of self-consciousness. I can feel the fear growing in her. She then looks at me, but I see her blush, she then looks everywhere but me. After taking a calming breath she makes eye contact. "Hey, about last night-"
"HOLY CRAP!" Jubilee shouts.
We all stop what we're doing to look outside the window, and holy crap indeed. In front of us we see a massive asteroid of stone and metal floating in space, a base clearly built into it. We see glass looking towards the planet, tubes running along the space rock, and metal hangar bay doors. Honestly, Asteroid M is impressive.
Cyclops takes a deep breath before looking back. "Marvel Girl, Storm, Mimic, and Colossus, get ready."
"Well, time for me to be a missile!" I tell her excitedly. I then become more serious. "We'll talk about last night later, alright?" I ask as I get up and head towards the back.
"Yeah. Later. Good luck," Shadowcat replies.
I then cut the mental connection as I shift to my Colossus powers, coating my skin in metal the same time he does. Once in the back, Marvel Girl puts her hand on my shoulder, gaining my attention. I look up to see a concerned look on her face. "You ready for this?" She asks.
I smirk and give her a thumbs up. "Of course, I am. You should be asking that question to Colossus."
He slams his fist into his palm, a clang of metal coming from the impact. "Da, I'm ready," He simply says.
Marvel Girl looks to Storm and nods. Storm's eyes become white as miniature tornados circle around her arms, creating a barrier between them and us. Our side has no air, while their side does.
The ramp eventually lowers, showing space in all its glory to us.
Holy shit, it's beautiful. I wish we had more time to appreciate the beauty of space, but no, we gotta stop a mutant terrorist group from wiping out humanity. Marvel Girl's telekinetic grip comes over me and Colossus. Let's go.
We're pulled back slightly before getting launched forward, streaking through space at high speeds. We both cross our arms over our faces as we near the hangar doors. As soon as I feel the door connect with my arms, we fly through the doors as if they were tissue paper. After a few moments, Colossus and I land in the hangar, our feet making loud booms as the doors repair themselves.
Looking up we see two people waiting for us, one's the blond guy with the black and silver suit and energy blasts, the other is a brown haired guy wearing jeans and a dark green long sleeved shirt that has horizontal lines going down it, two circles at each end of the lines.
The blond guy recovers first and fires his energy beam at Colossus, forcing him back a little bit. The green shirt runs at me, his fist raised to punch me. He doesn't look like much, but I should still be careful, he might have super strength.
Green shirt then sidesteps a lot harder than necessary, running to my right. The most interesting thing about his sidestep is that a clone came from it, this one running to my left. The two then run at me full sprint, making more clones as they rush me, all after stomping hard on the floor.
Once the first clone reaches me, I grab him by the head and slam him into a clone to my left, fusing the two together. Huh, I can use that. The clones then dogpile me, to no avail. Spinning around I create a tornado of green shirts, some of which hit blond hair, knocking him aside.
Colossus then looks at me and nods, I nod back. I dig my hands and feet into the ground as he claps his hands towards me, creating a shockwave that sends all the clones flying throughout the hangar.
Getting up and shifting to my Human Torch powers I flame on—something he made sure I got right when I got the powers—and float towards the two, Colossus towering over them. I turn to him as they moan in pain. "I'm gonna open the doors, make sure they're safe."
He just nods before picking the two up and throwing them through some doors at the end of the hangar. Thankfully these doors open, so they don't splatter their heads against it.
I float over to the buttons to open the doors, before I do, I get a mental call from Marvel Girl. "Mimic, Colossus, how're things?"
"Good. We ran into the blue energy guy and some other dude with brown hair. He can clone himself," I reply. Looking at the panel I'm thankful to see clear labels on the buttons. "Alright, I'm opening the doors now, be ready."
Inputting the commands, the doors open, instead of having to hang on to something a holographic barrier protecting us from the vacuum is activated. Cool. The Blackbird then comes flying in, landing at an open spot just as the doors open again.
From the door comes the two from earlier, and some reinforcements. Toad, Lance, Pyro, and Sabretooth. Okay, we can handle this. Pyro looks at me and smirks, he reaches his arms out to me and I feel my body move on its own accord. Yeah, this is a bad powerset against him.
I try to put my flames out but that doesn't work, so I swap to my Thing powers and become a rock golem version of myself, much to Pyro's annoyance. Colossus and I charge towards the Brotherhood as the rest of the team exits the jet. Immediately Nightcrawler teleports his team behind the Brotherhood and the five of them run through the door. Wolverine growls and pops his claws as soon as he makes eye contact with Sabretooth, who does the same.
Cyclops turns to Wolverine after dodging a blast of fire from Pyro. "Wolverine! Remember, you and Psylocke are supposed to rescue Forge and the Professor! Go! Now!" He then gets locked in a beam struggle with the blond guy.
The rest of us provide cover as the two then dash out of the hangar. Surprisingly—or not, depending on how you see things—Sabretooth turns around and chases after the two, leaving his team behind. Hey, I ain't complaining.
Pyro growls as he avoids lightning strikes from Storm. "Dammit, Victor! Havok! Call for backup!"
The blond guy—now known as Havok—rolls out of the beam struggle and activates the commlink in his ear. "Sabretooth left to go fight Wolverine! We need assistance in the hangar!" Cyclops then uses that moment to hit Havok with an optic blast, sending him skidding on his back. Surprisingly enough, Havok gets up as if nothing happened, which, by the look on his face, surprised him as well.
Havok then fires a blast at Cyclops' chest, pushing him back, but the same thing happens. While the two stare at each other in shock Marvel Girl lifts Havok up and throws him at Lance, who barely dodges his flying teammate.
Speaking of Lance, he's currently fighting me and Beast. Due to my powers I can't move fast enough to dodge his attacks, and I swear his earthquakes affect me more in this form, thankfully he's focusing mainly on me, allowing Beast to move around to get closer.
Sadly, Toad's tongue wraps around his leg and throws him aside. Just before what would be a nasty collision Beast recovers midair and somersaults off Colossus' head. Shit, that was scary. Just as I let out a breath the ground beneath me gives way. I swap to my Iceman powers and make an ice slide that brings me back up.
"Oooooh, so close but so far away, Lancy. How's it feel to lose to me? Again," I taunt.
I smirk as he growls. He then uses his powers to close the hole, smashing against my ice slide causing it to shatter. He then stomps on my chest and causes the ground below me to vibrate, keeping me pinned. "You've won the past battles, I won't lie. But I'm winning this war."
"Jesus, you can't help but be a cliché, can you?" I create a pillar out of my chest that knocks him off balance.
Beast then comes in and slams him into the ground. "Lance Alvers, was it? I must say, your powers are quite intriguing. May I study you?"
Lance struggles for a bit before placing his hand on the ground, creating a powerful earthquake that knocks everyone not flying off balance. "The name's Avalanche! And no, I ain't letting you study me!" He lifts his arms up and slams them on the ground, causing the hangar to shake violently and some of the lights to fall down. One actually falls on him.
Beast and I stand over a stunned Avalanche. Beast then turns to me. "It seems our ill-tempered friend isn't the sharpest tool in the shed."
I let out a chuckle as I shake my head. "Kit could've told you that," I turn to see the fight still going on, the cloning guy keeping Banshee busy.
"I will assist Banshee, you help Angel deal with Pyro," Beast orders.
Before I reply he leaps into the fray alongside Banshee, the two throwing clones around with their powers.
Turning around, I see Angel avoiding blasts of fire from Pyro. I go to help but get struck by an energy blast in the back courtesy of Havok. While I'm on the ground he stands over me and hits me with a continuous blast, but he's then stopped by Thunderbird shoulder checking him away.
I get up with Thunderbird's help. "Thanks," I breath out. Looking around I see us pushing back the Brotherhood. "This looks good so far. If we keep it up at this rate, we'll definitely beat them."
I turn to Thunderbird, instead I see Mystique. "Hello, Nolan."
I sigh deeply as I look into her solid yellow eyes. "Hey, Raven."
She places a bomb on my chest that detonates almost immediately, sending me flying towards a now recovered Havok who hits me with another blast as I fly towards him. Using my position to my advantage I slam my hands into the ground, quickly covering it in ice, trapping Mystique, Havok, and a now recovered Avalanche in place.
My victory's short lived, though. The hangar begins to shake, and all the metal begins to act up, forcing Colossus to transform back to normal.
Looking at the door we see four new fighters. Destiny and the Children of Magneto, the green haired girl being the one causing the shaking.
With assistance from Havok and Mystique Avalanche is taken to the four, followed by Pyro, Toad, and the cloning guy. What the hell's his name?
The rest of us then stand together, opposite the Brotherhood. As we stare each other down Marvel Girl creates a mental link for Cyclops to give his orders. "Alright, so far so good, but right now we've got a problem. Conventionally speaking we outnumber them by three, but Multiple Man's powers totally change that."
"How'd you know his name?" Gambit asks.
"It was in his thoughts," Cyclops answers. "Look, Gambit, I want you to take out the magnetic girl, that way Colossus can go full force. Beast, deal with Mystique and Destiny, I know you can take them on. Rogue, try to get Multiple Man's powers, you could easily turn the tide. Storm, Colossus, assist her. Marvel Girl, Banshee, and I will take on the twins."
"Pyro, Toad, and Havok?" I ask.
"Angel will take on Toad, I want you on Havok. Thunderbird can handle Pyro. Got it?"
"Got it." We all reply.
"Gotta say, you X-Men sure are predictable," Quicksilver taunts. "But I will admit, you got here a lot faster than we thought you would. Doesn't matter, just means we'll defeat you faster and then take the Earth for ourselves."
"And what makes you think the Avengers or Fantastic Four would just roll over?" Cyclops asks.
Quicksilver shrugs. "I'm pretty sure they'll be too busy to deal with saving humans than to deal with us. Two birds, one stone."
Marvel Girl then steps forward. "What about all the innocent people you'll be condemning? Hell, what about mutant sympathizers? You're willing to kill them as well?"
Quicksilver's easygoing demeanor quickly shifts into one of pure rage. "THERE ARE NO MUTANT SYMPATHIZERS!"
Scarlet Witch places a comforting hand on his shoulder, successfully calming him down. After some deep breaths Quicksilver points at us. "Take them down."
The two sides run at each other, ready to collide. This is gonna be fun.
Blue Team
"Zey have maps, ja?" Nightcrawler asks as Blue Team sneaks around Asteroid M.
"I'm not so sure about that. But if they do, it'd be great," Shadowcat replies.
Loud roars and general sounds of destruction sound out from a distance away of Blue Team, causing them all to pause and stare in concern. "Is that the hangar?" Sunfire wonders aloud.
"Nah," Iceman shakes his head. "The hangar's down a little more to the left, that's to the right. That Sabretooth guy's fighting Wolverine and Psylocke."
"Hope they'll be okay," Jubilee says with concern.
Sunfire puts his hand on her shoulder, he nods when she turns to look at him. "They can handle themselves. We need to worry about the engine."
"Hey, guys! Map!" Shadowcat calls out.
The rest of the team stand by her to look at the map on the wall. Iceman places his finger on the blinking dot that shows their current position. He then drags his finger, creating a trail on the map, heading towards the engine room. "Alright, follow this path, turn left at the second turn, enter the elevator then go to the bottom floor. Let's go."
Following Iceman's lead the four run down the hallway, but they are then stopped by two people, Blob and a man who looks to be in his early twenties. He has blond hair and a cowl similar to Gambit. He wears a mainly blue suit with silver boots that go up to the knees, silver gloves with blue knuckles that go up to his elbows, and a blue top half with silver sides that come together to make an M on his chest.
He and Blob study the group. Eventually the blond man's eyes narrow as he growls in annoyance. "He isn't here. Where is he?"
Sunfire, Iceman, and Jubilee clench their fists, their attacks being built up. "Who are you talking about?" Iceman demands.
The blond man's eyes narrow as he ices up, much to the surprise of Blue Team. Further surprising them is the fact that his left fist starts to give off energy similar to Sunfire, and his left matching Jubilee's. "Mimic! He took my name! I want—no, need to kill him, to be the one and only Mimic!" The newly realized Mimic roars.
Shadowcat narrows her eyes as she glares at him. "Hate to break it to you, but he's been Mimic for a year. We haven't heard of you until now."
Jubilee bounces in place as she laughs. "Yeah, dude, first come, first serve."
Mimic growls and opens his mouth, but before he can retort Blob stomps forward. "Quit your bitchin'. These X-Geeks invaded our home, common knowledge says we make 'em regret it," Blob then frowns slightly. "Too bad Thunderbird ain't here, I've got a bone to pick with him."
Iceman smirks. "C'mon Blob, he kicked your ass fair and square, just get over it."
Blob opens his mouth to reply, which Iceman uses to his advantage by firing a blast of ice into his mouth, surprising Blob and the Brotherhood Mimic.
Jubilee and Sunfire quickly follow up with attacks of their own, pushing Blob back into Brotherhood Mimic. The three continue their push, keeping the two pinned. Nightcrawler puts a hand on Shadowcat's shoulder. "Ve should make a nickname for ze other Mimic."
"How about B-Mimic?" Shadowcat offers.
Nightcrawler nods. "Ah, yes, because he is B-tier, as Iceman and Mimic would say," He then teleports the two behind B-Mimic. The two Brotherhood members don't react to their now disadvantageous position.
Shadowcat runs through B-Mimic and stands between him and Blob, surprising him greatly. Before he can react, he feels two three-fingered hands on his shoulders, turning around he sees a smirking Nightcrawler. "Let's find a quiet place, ja?" Shadowcat then puts her hands atop Nightcrawler's just before he teleports the three farther down the hallway, away from Blob and the others.
While B-Mimic's shaking his head to regain his bearings Shadowcat grabs a potted plant nearby and swings it into his head, sending him stumbling back into Nightcrawler's arms. The German mutant then wraps his arms around B-Mimic and teleports up near the roof, he then drops B-Mimic who slams into the ground, letting out a groan of pain as he writhes on the floor.
Lifting his face from the ground Nightcrawler and Shadowcat see that the ice making up his head has cracks all along it, much to their surprise. B-Mimic roars as he slams his hand into the ground, flash freezing the floor and keeping the two in place. With his other hand he throws some fireworks at them. Shadowcat quickly reaches forward and grabs Nightcrawler's arm, letting the fireworks phase through them.
B-Mimic gets up and runs at them head down, shoulder out ready to slam into them. Staying intangible Shadowcat and Nightcrawler fully expect him to run through them. Instead, he slams into them, freeing their feet from their ice traps and sending them skidding back.
On the ground Shadowcat face palms. "He calls himself "Mimic" of course he can copy powers."
B-Mimic then teleports behind the two, standing over them. He reaches down and picks them up before throwing them into a wall to the left.
"And it seems like he can copy more zen one power at a time," Nightcrawler replies.
The two roll out of the way of some fireballs and run into one of the rooms. Once inside they notice that it seems to be a gym. Shadowcat turns around and quickly reaches into the panel next to the door, messing with some of the wires. After a few minutes she backs up, just as B-Mimic yells.
"Vhat did you do?" Nightcrawler asks.
"Locked the door, not sure how much time it'll give us though. Hey, you notice his face when he slammed into the floor?" Shadowcat asks.
"Ja, it vas cracked. Vhat vas zat about?"
Before Shadowcat can answer a massive shockwave erupts, causing the two to stumble in place.
"Well, unlike Nolan, he can copy more powers at once. But it seems like being far away from his source weakens him. His fireworks were a lot weaker than what Jubilee would throw," Shadowcat answers, looking around expecting another mini earthquake. She then nods to the door, here the two can see two circles of heat on it, both slowly growing. "And he's trying to melt through the door. At this point Sunfire would have been in the room the moment I shut the door."
Nightcrawler nods, seeing the validity in her theories. His eyes widen before they narrow, a smirk growing on his face. "I have a plan."
Shadowcat turns to him, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "What do you have in mind?"
"He vants us dead, meaning he now has a one-track mind. Let's lead him away, eventually he'll lose the powers from the others," Nightcrawler tells her.
"But he'll still have ours," Shadowcat points out.
"Ja, but vho else could deal vith our powers than us?" Nightcrawler counters.
Looking at the door the two see that it's beginning to melt from the top down. Shadowcat then turns to him, a smirk now on her face. "Let's do it."
Taking his hand, the two run through the wall away from the door. Once outside they look over to see B-Mimic glaring at them, he then forgets about the door and chases after the two, causing them to smile.
'Hook, line, and sinker,' Shadowcat thinks victoriously.
The two run down the hallway, B-Mimic following close behind.
Blob eventually grunts in frustration before lifting his leg up as high as possible. He then stomps down, causing Iceman and Jubilee to stumble. Holding up an arm to block Sunfire's attack, Blob reaches for a potted plant with his other hand, and once he feels one, he wraps his meaty hand around it before swinging it into Sunfire, sending him into the wall to the right.
Attempting to turn to his left Blob jerks in place, looking down he sees that his feet are encased in ice, courtesy of Iceman. Looking up he sees Jubilee with both hands cupped together in front of her chest, she then smirks and throws her arms forward, hitting Blob with a massive firework that creates an explosion.
Once the dust clears, she's surprised to see Blob still standing in place, a smug smirk on his face as he breathes a little heavier. "I thought you X-Men knew about my powers. I can resist pretty much whatever you throw at me. Come on, try again," He taunts.
Iceman hits Blob's front with a continuous blast of ice as Sunfire attacks with a stream of fire to Blob's back. While this is happening Iceman then stomps his foot down, causing the ice under Blob's feet to jump up, forcing the massive terrorist into the air.
While in the air, Jubilee hits him with a barrage of fireworks that causes some stings against his skin. Just as he hits the floor Iceman and Jubilee jump, avoiding the shockwave from it.
Jubilee breaks out in a fit of hysterical laughter as one she points at Blob's prone form, her other hand keeping her steady on a nearby wall as she folds over laughing. "Oh, oh my god," She breaks out in another fit of laughter. "H-how much do you w-w-weigh?" She breaks out in another fit.
Blob growls as his vision becomes red, memories of growing up and his time at the circus coming back full force. Blob roars as he grabs another nearby potted plant and throws it at Jubilee. The vase connects with her head and sends her flying back, she then flies to the ground she skids back a distance, groaning as her head begins to bleed.
"Jubilee!" Iceman and Sunfire shout.
Blob breaths heavily as he gets back up, glaring strongly at her prone form. "Shut up," He mutters. Blob then repeats the same two words for a period of time, causing great confusion for the two, especially Iceman. "SHUT UP!" Blob then roars.
He runs full force at Jubilee, fully intending to kill her. Iceman gets in the way and erects an ice wall that knocks Blob off his path, Sunfire then swoops in and picks up Jubilee's prone form, flying down the hallway to take her a safe distance away.
Blinded by his rage, Blob just keeps punching the ice wall, small cracks growing with each hit, slowly forcing Iceman back. 'The hell? When Forge and I made fun of him last time he didn't react even half as bad as he is now. What's different about Jubilee?' Iceman wonders as he grits his teeth in determination.
Eventually, Blob headbutts the ice wall, sticking his head through it. Before he can push any further Sunfire hits him with a flame enhanced kick to the head, sending him back a couple of feet.
Sunfire lands beside Iceman, the flames of his body causing Iceman to become disoriented slightly. "Drop the wall on him, it should keep him pinned for some time," Sunfire orders.
Iceman nods as he complies. Blob continues to roar and thrash as he attempts to take the wall off of him, slowly breaking through again. "Can you back up a little? Your making me a little light-headed," Iceman asks. As Sunfire backs up he raises his arms and adds to the ice wall, making it more difficult for Blob to get out. "Thanks."
Sunfire keeps his fists aflame as he glares at Blob's struggling form. "In the short time I've known you I can safely assume you have made fun of Blob's weight before. What makes this time so different?" He wonders.
Iceman sighs as he slightly turns his head to look at Sunfire. "That's what I'm wondering. Every past fight we've had with the Brotherhood we always made fun of his weight. Huh, maybe now he's finally snapped."
"Yeah. Maybe he has."
Sunfire and Iceman look at each other, curious as to who the mysterious voice is. Turning around the two feel their hearts skip a beat.
A mountain of a man stands behind them. While Blob was big due to his weight, this guy's big due to his muscle. He wears mainly brown armor with a crimson red torso. He has two armbands on his right arm and one on his left, two metallic wristbands and brass knuckles of the same color. What really grabs their attention is the dome helmet over his head, leaving his eyes, nose, and viciously smirking mouth open.
This is the Juggernaut.
Juggernaut smirks as he cracks his knuckles, the sound echoing around the hallway. The sound of ice shattering catches the attention of the X-Men. Turning their heads slightly they see that Blob has broken free of the ice wall, he breathes deeply as he glares at the two.
Sunfire then stands back-to-back with Iceman, ready to face Blob.
During all of this Iceman has only one thing to say. "Well, we're fucked."
Gold Team
"Dammit! Does he have a hate-boner for you or something!?" Psylocke shouts.
After running past the Brotherhood, fully expecting them to stay behind to deal with the rest of the team Psylocke looks back just to make sure, but to her surprise Sabretooth's currently chasing after them.
Wolverine growls as the two turn the corner. He then stops and turns around, crouching low, ready for Sabretooth. As expected, Sabretooth comes running around the corner, Wolverine then leaps forward and tackles him away. "Go! Find Forge and the Professor! I'll keep him busy!"
"Oh no you don't!" Sabretooth roars. Placing his feet on Wolverine's chest Sabretooth kicks out, sending Wolverine flying towards Psylocke who barely dodges her airborne teammate. Sabretooth chuckles as he wipes his bloody mouth with his right forearm, his left arm extended to show his sharp claws. "I've spent countless years fightin' the runt, why not spice things up, ya know?"
Sabretooth then lunges forward, arm extended for Psylocke. She weaves under his attack and creates a psionic katana that slashes through his arm, cutting through the muscle and causing immense pain in Sabretooth's head. Disoriented, Sabretooth slams face first into a wall, Wolverine then stabs his claws into Sabretooth's feet, keeping him pinned.
Sabretooth uses his intact arm and lifts Wolverine by the head, lifting him up to be level with him. He then rears his head back and slams it into Wolverine's, causing an explosion of pain to erupt from both of their heads. Once his other arm has reattached itself, he punches Wolverine in the chest, sending him flying back a fair distance.
Sabretooth then ducks a swing from Psylocke, while down he grabs her extended arm, slams her into the wall then throws her at Wolverine, causing the two to tumble. Helping her up Wolverine glares at Sabretooth, still reeling from the headbutt. "What the hell was that?"
Sabretooth grins as he tilts his head to the right. "What the hell was what, little man?"
Wolverine growls. "That headbutt. First time you did that you caved your own skull in, why'd I feel it this time?"
"Is now really the best time to play Twenty Questions?" Psylocke asks in disbelief.
"Hmm, smart and beautiful, I like," Sabretooth flirts as he shamelessly looks Psylocke up and down.
She does the same, although with a not so subtle hint of disdain. "Can't say the same."
"Creed," Wolverine growls. "What the hell made you stronger?"
Sabretooth turns his attention to his rival. Instead of replying he just takes off his right glove, showing off his claws to the two. Eventually the claws extend, and they become silver after the natural part of his nails ends.
"Magneto gave me a little upgrade," He explains. "Adamantium."
Sabretooth then drags his claws along the wall, a sharp noise causing Psylocke and Wolverine to cringe, Wolverine especially. Sabretooth then puts the claws of his left hand in front of his face, studying them. "Sadly, he didn't have too much. Just enough for my claws and my head, but hey, who am I to complain," He then crouches low, ready to pounce. "Besides, it's more than enough to kill the two of you!"
Sabretooth and Wolverine then leap towards each other, colliding midair. Landing on the ground in a heap Wolverine struggles but eventually gets Sabretooth stuck in a headlock. "C'mon! Hit him!"
Psylocke hurries forward and stabs a psionic knife into Sabretooth's head, causing the feral mutant to growl in pain and thrash around even more, throwing Wolverine off him. Sabretooth's arm then lashes out, slashing Psylocke's leg, ignoring her reinforced suit entirely.
Sabretooth leans over Psylocke and draws his arm back, ready to stab downward. Thrusting down Sabretooth smirks. 'One down, one to go. Sorry, darlin'.' But just before his claws can stab through Psylocke's head Wolverine's claws stab through his arm, stopping them. Using this to her advantage Psylocke kicks Sabretooth in the crotch with her good leg, causing him to grab at the area by reflex.
Wolverine then takes advantage of the opening by grabbing Sabretooth's neck and begins to choke him. As Sabretooth drops to his knees and attempts to slap Wolverine's arms away the X-Man looks to his teammate. "Go! I'll keep him busy!"
Psylocke quickly looks at Sabretooth before looking back at her teammate. "You'd better not die," She then creates a psionic shuriken and throws it at Sabretooth's head, causing him to lose his grip on Wolverine's arms. She then turns around and runs down the hallway as fast as she can with her new injury, using her telepathy to search for Professor X and Forge.
Wolverine then places his full attention on Sabretooth, his grimace growing as he glares at his currently choking rival.
Unbeknownst to Wolverine, Sabretooth uses his right hand to slowly reach for a knife hidden in his left boot. Upon grabbing it he lashes out and stabs it into one of Wolverine's arm, causing him to let go of the feral mutant's throat.
Sabretooth then pushes his advantage by sinking his claws into Wolverine's other hand and reeling him in for yet another headbutt, sending the two away from each other.
Wolverine recovers first and tackles Sabretooth. After hitting the ground Sabretooth lifts his arms up to protect him self from a barrage of slashes from Wolverine. Sabretooth then jerks his knee into Wolverine's back, sending him tumbling over. Sabretooth then plants his hands down and leaps backwards, slamming onto Wolverine's back, pinning him down.
The feral mutant breathes heavily as he stomps two more times on Wolverine's spine. "What the hell happened to you? You're soft. Last time we fought you'd have cut my face off twice by now," Sabretooth then pauses before laughing heartily. "Don't tell me those X-Babies have been getting to ya!"
Wolverine jerks his elbow behind his back, hitting Sabretooth on the leg, causing him to stumble. Keeping his arm out, Wolverine then grabs Sabretooth by the leg and swings him into one of the rooms. Keeping the pressure, Wolverine charges after his rival into a room made to look like a jungle.
Sabretooth chuckles as Wolverine pins him into the wall at the far end of the miniature jungle, passing only because Wolverine punches him in the face. "Would ya look at that, we're in my training room. How fortuitous," Sabretooth then grabs Wolverine's shoulders and throws him into a tree, and while he's disoriented Sabretooth runs forward and stomps Wolverine's chest, kicking him through the tree.
Wolverine groggily gets up but is immediately hit by the part of the tree Sabretooth manages to hold. Recovering while in the air Wolverine stabs his claws into the ground, digging through it slightly. He then drags his claws up, kicking dirt and grass into Sabretooth's eyes. Wolverine then uses his right claws to stab into his rival's side, his left claws pierce through Sabretooth's chest, bursting his heart.
Sabretooth's eyes become red and his pupils dilate as he begins to foam around the mouth, his healing going into overdrive. He breathes heavily as his arm slowly jerks towards Wolverine's arms, digs his claws into his arms and lifts Wolverine up. Roaring in rage and pain Sabretooth then slams Wolverine down, causing pain to erupt from Wolverine's entire bottom half.
Sabretooth then claws at Wolverine's face repeatedly, tearing through his cowl and slashing out his eyes. He then grabs Wolverine by the head and digs his claws into Wolverine's eyes, causing the X-Man to roar in pain.
Wolverine then grabs Sabretooth by the wrists and pushes his arms away. He then begins to breathe heavily, also foaming at the mouth, once his eyes regenerate, they bleed red and his pupils dilate.
The two circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move or mistake. After some fake outs they crouch away from each other, entirely silent, the only noise coming from the distant waterfall in the enclosure.
Letting out roars the two leap towards each other, meeting in a clash of metal, blood, and flesh.
Main Team
I slam into the side of the Blackbird. God fucking damn, Havok's attacks really do feel like Cyclops', the hell's that about?
I swap to my Silver Samurai powers and charge up my arms. I hold them in front of me in an X formation, blocking some of Havok's attack. With a grunt I swing my arms out, breaking the energy beam and hitting Havok with an energy attack, blunted to avoid killing him.
I then swap to my Mister Fantastic powers and stretch my arm out, wrapping it around him. I lift Havok up and swing him into some boxes, they fall over to show computer parts in them. Stretching my neck, I hit him with a headbutt before slamming him into the side of one of the Brotherhood jets.
My arm becomes unbearably hot, so I let go to see Havok's silver circle on his chest is glowing blue. "You really can copy people's powers, can you?" He asks.
I narrow my eyes as I enlarge my fists. "What's it to ya?"
"I guess it still works even if the person you get it from isn't anywhere nearby then," He continues.
Where the hell is he going with this? I raise my fists as I lower my head behind them. "Yeees?"
He smirks as the glowing on his chest intensifies. "I keep telling him he "If you aren't as strong as him, there's no reason for you to have the name." But does he listen? No, of course not."
"Who're you talking about?" I ask.
"No one," Havok then fires a blast of energy at me.
Thanks to my elasticity my body just stretches back to absorb the damage, happy my suit is made out of unstable molecules, something Mister Fantastic found out when they visited. I sigh as I stretch around his attacks. These powers will keep me safe, but they won't help me take him down, I need to switch.
I swap to my Siryn powers, which, fun fact, are actually different from my Banshee powers. Siryn's screams are higher pitched, great for destroying glass or disorienting enemy's, on the other hand, Banshee's screams are great for creating a wall of force, such as keeping people afloat, or sending people and massive objects back.
Rolling away from an attack I stay on one knee as I hit Havok with a sonic scream, causing him to reel back and cover his ears, some blood seeping down his cowl. I then stop and look down, releasing a quick scream that sends me flying headfirst into his chest, tackling him into another box and knocking the two of us over it.
Keeping him pinned down I raise a fist and punch him in the face twice. Before I can go for a third punch a metallic band wraps around my wrist, keeping it in place.
Looking up I see Polaris floating towards us, glaring angrily as she keeps an arm extended towards me, her other arm keeping a metal panel over Gambit and Beast. Her eyes glow green as the band around my wrist tightens. "Stay. Away. From him," She growls.
While looking at her Havok hits me with an energy blast that sends me arcing through the air. I then slam onto one of the Blackbird's wings, gasping as the air is driven out of me.
Rogue then comes over and helps me up. "You okay?"
I nod as I let go of her, another Rogue helps keep me steady. Looking to either side of me I see two Rogues. Looking at the main battle I see three other Rogues helping a now recovered Gambit and Beast fight Polaris. Look's like she took out Multiple Man. Nice.
"He's strong. Hell, his powers remind me of Cyclops' honestly," I reply.
My eyes widen as I see Havok jump on the box, firing a burst of energy at the three of us (two of us?) I stand in front of the Rogue on my left and swap to the powers I gained from Dr. Cecilia Reyes, creating a shield that protects us.
Keeping the shields up I start to take steps towards Havok, slowly pushing him back, giving him less space to maneuver. The Rogues put their hands on my shoulders. The one on the left leans in towards my ear. "Keep 'im busy, Ah'll flank 'im."
She then runs behind the two of us, using the terrain as cover as the Rogue to my right stays with me. After a moment the attack stops, lowering my shield we see Havok blasting a small army of Rogues away from him. Each hit creating a new clone.
During the chaos the one to my right runs forward and tries to grab at his face, but before she can one of her clones kicks her hand away. The clone then shifts into Mystique, who looks at Rogue with a slightly sad but still disappointed face. "Oh, you poor girl you. The X-Men have done nothing but held you back. The Rogue I know would have taken Madrox out for good."
Rogue's eyes widen before they narrow. She clenches her fist as she glares at Mystique. "They ain't holdin' me back, they're pushin' me forward, unlike you or Irene!"
The barrel of a gun is placed on the back of my head. Lovely.
"Well, that hurts to hear, especially from you, child," A soft, refined voice says from behind me.
Rogue looks at me and whoever's holding me at gunpoint, but as soon as she does Mystique holds her at gunpoint. "Irene and I will give you one more chance to come back to us, if you don't take it, you're friend's dead."
"What makes you think you can kill him so easily?" Rogue asks.
"Well for one, if he had powers to handle the gun wouldn't he have dealt with it by now?" Mystique counters. "Now, what do you say?"
"Woah, hold up," Havok interrupts, grabbing Mystique's arm. "I thought we were just gonna take 'em out and imprison them, not kill them."
Even though her eyes are entirely yellow I can tell she rolls her eyes in annoyance and jerks her arm away. "Alex, please, they're the enemy, if they aren't dead, they'll completely derail our plans," She turns to glare at me. "Although, the rest can die, keep Rogue and Nightcrawler alive."
Wait, his name's Alex? I mean, it's a stretch, but isn't Scott's brother named Alex? And the fact that they have similar powers really helps my theory. Then again, Alex is an extremely common name. Stop, hold up. Banshee showed a resistance to Siryn and Black Tom, he said it had something to do with genetic mutations between family. Holy shit. Did we just—
Destiny slams her gun into my temple, nearly knocking me out. Rogue quickly uppercuts Mystique and avoids an attack from Havok. Shaking my head, I swap to my Wolverine powers and pop my claws out, and while I'm still down I swipe at Destiny's leg, causing her to fall over and clutch at her bleeding leg.
Thought she was a precog, she should've seen that coming. Whatever, I'm not complaining.
"Irene!" Mystique shouts.
She runs forward and hits me with a dropkick, sending me rolling away. Lifting my head Mystique shoots a bullet into my right eye, causing an unbearable pain to erupt as I cup my hands over the injury and shout in pain.
Mystique stands over me, ready to shoot out my other eye, but before she can some boxes slam into her. Looking to the left I see a glaring Marvel Girl with her arm extended floating towards us, boxes floating around her. "That was a big mistake," She threatens.
She then drops all of the boxes on Mystique's prone form, keeping her trapped. Satisfied she turns to me, her glare shifting into a look of concern. "Jesus, Nolan! Are you okay?"
I lift a hand as she helps me up. "Wolverine powers," I explain. Feeling my right eye grow back I blink rapidly as I look around, getting used to it. "See, perfectly fine."
A scarlet bolt of energy explodes against the boxes, sending them flying all over the place, freeing Mystique. Well, those powers look useful.
Mystique gets up and glares at Marvel Girl, wiping the blood off her lips. She quickly looks at Scarlet Witch and nods a thanks. A ruby red blast courtesy of Cyclops slams into Scarlet Witch's back, sending her to the floor.
Quicksilver then rushes forward and hits Cyclops with a barrage of punches before helping his sister up. Marvel Girl then stomps on the ground, creating a telekinetic shockwave that forces the three back.
Cyclops runs to stand next to us, looking at the blood around my right eye. "You okay, Mimic?"
I shrug. "Got shot in the eye, no big deal," I then swap to my Quicksilver powers. "I've got Quicksilver."
"Scarlet Witch is a little out of my league," Cyclops admits.
"Then you deal with Mystique, Scarlet Witch is mine," Marvel Girl says. Her eyes glow as she lifts some debris, throwing them at Scarlet Witch, causing her to take flight and dodge around. Marvel Girl follows her into the air and the two fly around, launching energy bolts and debris at each other. God, that's so cool.
Quicksilver and I glare at each other as Mystique and Cyclops begin to fight. He then does some stretches. "If I'm being completely honest, I hope you can stand a challenge, speedsters are hard to come by, and the fights between two are always great."
I lift my left leg and balance on my right, bouncing in place a little. I then repeat with my right leg. "Trust me, I'm more than ready."
The two of us walk towards each other, keeping eye contact. Upon reaching each other we both face forward and get into a runner's position. "Ready," He begins.
"Set," I continue.
"GO!" We both shout.
Two blurs, one blue and silver the other black and orange run through the hangar, occasionally colliding.
As we run, I turn to look at Quicksilver, after avoiding a right hook to my face. "So, why're you doing this?"
He raises an eyebrow. "What the hell do you mean?"
"I mean, c'mon, you can't be an evil villain just 'cause, life isn't a Saturday morning cartoon," I kick Quicksilver in the gut, sending him tumbling into some boxes. Pressing the attack, I pin him down with my left arm and hit him with my other fist. He weaves his head under another punch and kicks me back, the two of us continue running again.
"You really expect me to tell you my entire life story after meeting each other like four times?" Quicksilver asks. He moves to my right and punches me on the side of my face, slamming me into the wall to my side.
Recovering, I punch him in the gut before the two of us begin running again, looking a little worn out. "Why not? Like you said, we've met each other like four times, shouldn't we get to know each other? As enemies?"
He glares at me as he attempts to trip me. I jump over his leg and slow down a little and stay behind him, once in position I Sparta kick him in the back. "I mean, you seemed pretty angry about the "human sympathizers" thing."
Quicksilver's face becomes blank before shifting into one of anger. The two of us narrowly avoid a strike of lightning from Storm before stumbling to regain our footing thanks to an earthquake from Avalanche. "You really want to know why?"
He runs past the door and into the hallway. Well, I really do wanna know. I follow him into the hallway, but he's nowhere to be found. From a corridor to the right he sticks his foot out, tripping me down into a bench.
He kneels over me and punches me twice. "When Wanda and I were children we lived in a small village with our Mother and Father. One night, when playing with the other children Wanda's powers activated, scaring the other kids. They promised not to say anything. That was a lie."
I punch his chest with both fists before slamming him into one of the walls, punching his face a couple of times before we head down the hallway to our left. "What happened next?" I ask, genuinely invested in this story.
"My "best friend" betrayed us," He growls out. "The people of our village were a superstitious lot, they believed Wanda to be a witch," He pauses to take a deep breath. "One day, Father and I were away, fishing for dinner, when we returned home, we found Wanda on a pyre, the villagers ready to burn a child!"
He shoulder checks me into a door, it then opens and I fall into the room. Looking around I see it's a giant room in a circular shape. Walking past me, Quicksilver walks to the doors leading into a room. "This is where I go to test my speed," He breathes out.
Like earlier, I stand by him as we get in a runner's position. The ground beneath us glows red, then yellow, then green, the doors open. The two of us run into the room, slowly running along the walls. "What about your mother?"
He growls as he swings towards me, which I lean backwards to avoid. "She was already dead. Wanda, an eight-year-old child had to watch her Mother burn, smell her flesh cook, hear her screams as she was burned by the people she trusted!"
"Jesus," I breathe in shock.
Quicksilver scoffs. "He was not there that day. Or ever," He looks down, a forlorn look in his eyes. "My powers activated at that moment, I then saved Wanda, the villagers wanted to kill me next, but Father made sure that didn't happen. They had knives and pitchforks and whatnot, all metal. You can tell what happens next."
I slam my shoulder into Quicksilver's side harder than I meant to, sending us both to the ground. We both groan as we hold ourselves up with our arms. I look up and study him, looking at him in a new light. "Look, dude," I push off the ground and stay on sit on my legs. "I get it. Honestly, I do. If something like that happened to my Mom," I shudder at the thought. "Holy shit, that would be a massacre."
Quicksilver stands up and breathes deeply, but shortly after he stumbles and stays on one knee. "Then why are you against me?"
"Because I've seen the good in humans. Yeah, there are some bad people out there, but there are some good one's too," My mind goes to my friends, Peter, Harry, and Gwen particularly. "You can still change. I'm gonna go into cliché territory now, I may not know anything about her, but would your mother want her husband and children to wipe out the human race?"
Quicksilver's curious face breaks, I can tell he's starting to rethink things.
Wait, I'm asking the wrong question. "Was your mother human?"
Quicksilver avoids my eyes as he really begins to rethink his position. But seriously though, did no one else on the team think to ask these questions?
"Yes, she was a human. The only beacon of hope and beauty amongst savages."
Both of us look at the door and see who spoke.
Holy shit.
Standing at the door, arms folded as he floats towards us is the Master of Magnetism. Magneto.
Magneto magnetizes the competition! One of my favorite villains of all time has finally arrived, and man, I am excited to write him. Although, Magneto hasn't been a villain for a while, has he? Okay, so, we've seen the backstories to some of the Brotherhood, throughout this arc we'll see the motivation for the others, although some are on the team just 'cause they wanna wreck shit, you'll know who. By the way, Quicksilver and Mimic's fight is based off the battle between Flash and the Reverse Flash in Injustice 2, an amazing battle between speedsters if I've ever seen one.
Let me say this one more time down here. I have a DC comics story called The Vitruvian Man up and running! It's been going on for a while now, next Saturday will be the end of the second arc. Go ahead and check it out in the Justice League section.
That's all from me! Please leave a constructive review and remember to stay awesome! See you next Thursday!
