The Battle Begins

"Listen up," Hawk told the group as they waited for instructions. "This will be a two part mission. The first part is the most important, Rescue and Recovery. The second part will be to take down Magneto's base."

"And this is gonna be our key to get in," Breaker showed the team the inside of one of the Stormwhirls. There was a huge platform in the back and a strange monitor/computer system with a crystal on top. "It's kind of like that Mass Transporter Device that Cobra had a while back," Breaker told them.

"What does it do?" Kurt asked.

"It's a teleportation device," Mainframe explained. "It should work. I hope."

"You hope?" Evan blanched. "Please tell me you've tested this thing before!"

"Not on people," Mainframe said. "It took decades to get the thing not to screw up simple things like rocks and stuff. Don't worry. It should work."

"And if it doesn't?" Logan asked.

"Then we'll know what a set of broken Legos feels like," Roadblock told him.

"Wonderful," Scott groaned.

"Here's the plan," Hawk said. "Xavier you and Storm get Magneto's attention in the X-Jet and X-Copter. While he's busy with you, we'll fly in two teams using the two Stormwhirls equipped with these transporters. The Stormwhirls have stealth capabilities so we should get close enough without being detected."

"Then we transport the teams inside Asteroid M and get the kids out," Duke explained. "You'll each wear a mini homing device on you so that the transporter can pick up your signal." He handed one out to all of them. "Pin it to your uniforms securely."

"After we rescue the kids, we then kick major Magneto butt!" Roadblock told them. "Now let's do this thing!"

"YO JOE!" All the Joes shouted as they ran to their flying machines.

"Oh…Whoopee," Lance gulped. "I hate flying."

"I'm not exactly looking forward to playing a scene out of 'Star Trek' myself," Scott grumbled.

"We're all going to die aren't we?" Ray groaned.

Althea watched with her sisters as they took off. "They're gonna bring 'em back right?" Quinn asked, hugging her sister.

"Yeah kid," She watched as they left. "I hope so."

************************************************************************

It had been easy enough. Xavier had distracted Magneto enough to have them transport the first team into the hanger bay. Shipwreck, Falcon, Duke and Mainframe were the Joes leading the team of X-Men. Logan and Storm went with the team of Joes into another area.

"I told you it would work!" Mainframe said cheerfully.

"Okay now here comes the fun part," Duke told the team. "Let's stay together until we have an idea where the others are."

"Let's get a move on already! I ain't gonna rest until my son is back in my arms!" Shipwreck snapped.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind. To his surprise, he found Claudius happily gurgling in his arms. "Well that was quick," Shipwreck blinked.

"Shipwreck take the baby and head back to the jet!" Duke ordered. "The rest of you keep moving! We ain't finished yet!"

Another gust of wind came in. It was Pietro carrying an unconscious Wanda in his arms. She had bruises on her face as well. "She's drugged," He told them, handing her to Falcon. "Magneto did this to her. Get her out of here!"

"Kid wait!" Falcon called out. Too late, Pietro took off again.

"I'll call in Breaker to transport Shipwreck and me off with the kids," Falcon hit his communicator. "You guys go ahead and get the others."

Duke nodded. He spoke into his communicator. "This is Group Leader One to Group Leader Two. We have the baby. Over."

In another area Roadblock answered his communicator. "That's some good news, but the rest of us need some clues! There ain't no one else around, and the other kids we have not found!"

"I got a scent," Logan sniffed. "Rogue…Toad…Gambit…and Magneto."

There was a loud explosion. "Let me guess, that way?" Dial Tone asked.

"Oh yeah!" Logan nodded. They stormed the area and found Magneto trying to subdue a flying Rogue with a metal beam. "What the heck?"

"Wolverine, Storm," Magneto said. "How good of you to join us." He used his powers to knock the beam into Rogue and then throw some more metal at the Joes.

Logan charged, only to be caught in midair. "Fool!" Magneto snarled as he stuck Logan's claws into the wall. "I am the Master of all Metal!"

"And I am the Mistress of all Elements!" Storm shouted as she created lighting and flashed it at Magneto.

Magneto simply created an electromagnetic barrier around himself to deflect the lightning. Then he took the metal plates of the door and enclosed them around Ororo. She screamed in horror. "Storm!" Logan lashed out with his claws, managing to free himself.

Some of the Joes were freeing the kids. Magneto sent waves of metal at them as well. Sabertooth and Mystique and the other new recruits left behind started fighting the Joes. Once again Magneto used his powers to throw Wolverine into the wall.

"Did you really think that you could succeed with only two mutants attacking me?" Magneto sent a wave of metal at the Joes. "You're all doomed!" He sent some metal towards one solder. Suddenly the soldier stretched out his hands and the floor rose upwards. It created a shield blocking the impact of the metal.

"What?" Magneto shouted as the floor went down again.

The 'soldier' removed his helmet. "Yo Joe!" Lance sneered as he glared at Magneto.