The SuperStarr Chronicles

Disclaimer: "Guess I'm just super excited for Die Hard 5."

Review Response Time!

LycoX – Thanks! I'm glad you liked the chapter! I don't think I've ever really portrayed Ronnie as only being able to be seen and heard by Razor. As far as I can remember, I've always imagined that he can determine who sees and hears him. Which can make things a lot less awkward, ha ha. Jubilee did raise a good point. The X-Men's big weakness is not using the media to promote their message, in my opinion. It's kind of something I want to explore a bit in this story.

Chapter 9: Phantazia of the Rock Opera, Part 3!

Bayville, New York

"And in other news, witnesseses have described this new superhero as wearing sleek blue armor, with a helmet that brought to mind the winged helmet of the Roman god Mercury..." The newscaster stated

"Huh." Roger Gruenwald thought as he watched the news on his phone, chewing on a sandwich. "New York, Cleveland, now Cincinnati. New age of superheroes indeed." He was sitting at the counter in a diner. This guy's gimmick is clearly speed, like the Whizzer of the Liberty Legion, Hurricane of the Monster Hunters, or Major Mercury of the First Line.

"Our resident little superhero expert at it again?" A voice asked. Roger looked up and saw a redheaded bespectacled boy smiling at him. He was wearing a gray Space Invaders t-shirt and blue jeans with black sneakers.

"Oh hey, Ed." Roger greeted. The redhead rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I told you. It's Webber. Webber Torque."

Roger snickered. "Really? That's what you want people to call you? What's wrong with your regular name?"

"What do you think? Edward Baer. It sounds so...boring." He grunted as he sat next to Roger. "And I like to go by Arcade, anyway. And you should talk. I mean, Roger? That's such an 80s name."

"I was named after Steve Rogers himself. Captain America." Roger grinned. "Just saw this. Some new superhero popping up in Cincinnati. Calls himself Sonic Blue." He showed the phone to his compatriot.

"Sonic Blue?" Webber snickered. "That's a lawsuit waiting to happen."

"I doubt Sega would care." Roger said.

"Hey, the local arcade's got some new games in!" Webber recalled. "You wanna check 'em out?"

"Yeah, sure." Roger shrugged. "I still hope they have that Galaga cabinet."

"Yeah, she's never getting rid of that old cabinet." Webber snickered. "She loves it too much."

"Hey, nerdos!" A voice yelled at them. Roger and Webber looked up and saw a smirking teenager walk towards them. He was a broad-shouldered redhead wearing a blue t-shirt with a white star on it, brown slacks, black sneakers, and his head was topped by a red wool hat. Around his right wrist was a chain.

"Oh." Roger frowned, putting away his phone. "Hi, Ethan."

Ethan Meyer sneered at the two teenagers. "I thought I told you two never to come in here."

"You don't own the place." Roger sneered.

"Well, as long as you're here, you may as well make yerself useful." Ethan sneered. "I want a milkshake, and I got no money right now. Buy me one."

"I normally believe in helping people in need, but in your case, I think you should get yourself a job." Roger mocked.

"Ho ho, funny guy, huh?" Ethan sneered.

Webber sighed. "Alright. How much you want, Ethan?" The redheaded gamer moved to take out his wallet as Ethan walked towards him. Unseen by the bully, Roger stuck out his foot. Ethan's foot caught on it, making him fall flat on his face with a grunt. The patrons all "oohed" in response. The infuriated bully got to his feet and glared at Roger, getting to his feet. His shoulders went up and down as he breathed and hissed in rage.

"Alright, punk..." Ethan snarled. "You wanna know what it's like to receive a Fatality?"

"Oh calm your boobs, Meyer." Roger rolled his eyes. "You're not the first person in the world to trip and fall on their own feet, oh my God, what is that?" He pointed at the wall behind him.

"What?" Ethan turned his head and blinked at the wall. "There's nothing there, you-!" He saw Roger's fist heading towards his face.

POW!

The big teenager fell over as Roger knocked him for a loop.

"Agh! Gonna kill you-!" He saw Roger flee for his life. He glared at Webber. "After I kill him, you're next!" He ran off after Roger. Two girls at a nearby table saw this.

"What. Was. That?!" Sandy Hawkins blinked in confusion at the scene. Taryn Fujioka sighed.

"Roger's going to get himself killed one day." Taryn muttered. I wonder what Scott is doing now...

Cleveland, Ohio

"JUBILEE!" Scott yelled.

"Hello there, Little Miss Stowaway." Ronnie greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hello, I...Oh! My! Gawd!" Jubilee yelped. "You're Ronnie Rocker!"

"One and only." Ronnie said. Scott gave Ronnie a look. "What? I was a famous influential musician, after all." He shook his head then turned back to Jubilee.

"The hell you doing here?!" Scott snapped.

"I...I wanted to come on a mission!" Jubilee explained. "You X-Men get to have such cool adventures, and I wanted in!"

"Jubilee, you're a trainee!" Scott groaned. "You flunked out of your last Danger Room session!"

"Danger Room?" Ronnie asked.

"Never mind!" Scott retorted. "Jubilee, this is some serious stuff here!"

"I want to help!" Jubilee insisted.

"Maybe she can get the coffee." Ronnie suggested jokingly.

"Thanks, that's a great idea." Scott half-snarked.

"I'll do it!" Jubilee yelped. "I want to be on the mission!"

"Jubilee, you should stay in the jet." Scott argued.

"You might need my help!" Jubilee countered.

"You're not fully trained." Scott pointed out. Ronnie smirked and let the two young mutants argue it out. He floated out of the plane.

"So?" Polanski asked the ghost.

"They had a stowaway." Ronnie confirmed with a nod. The policeman frowned at Ororo.

"You all have superpowers, yet you all didn't notice somebody hiding in your damn plane?!" He glared at Jean. "Aren't you the one with the mind powers?!"

"To be fair, I wasn't actively looking." Jean defended herself.

"So, who's the stowaway?" Rogue asked as Scott emerged from the jet, Jubilee right behind him. "Oh. Hey, Jubilee."

"Who is that?" Briscoe asked Ororo.

"Jubilation Lee. One of our students." The African woman facepalmed.

"So, she's one of those 'mutant' things, too?" Polanski deduced. Ororo nodded.

"Yes, and we are people." Ororo corrected. Jubilee's jaw dropped as she saw Kid Razor watching the entire thing in slight boredom. The Chinese-American girl let out a scream that threatened to deafen half the Forest City.

"OHMYGAWDIT'SYOU!" Jubilee squealed as she ran up to and caught Razor in a massive glomp. "IT'SYOUIT'SYOUIT'SYOUIT'SKIDRAZOROHMYGAWDYOUARESOAWESOMEILOVEYOUSOMUCH!"

"Ackackack..." Razor hacked out as Jubilee unintentionally started crushing his lungs.

"Okay, this is pretty funny." Polanski snickered as he recorded this on his phone.

"Uh, Jubilee? You, like, may want to let him go. He's turning blue." Kitty noted.

"Uh...you want me to taser her?" Briscoe offered, holding up her taser gun.

"...no." Jean sighed. "I got this." She telekinetically pried the firecracker off the super-rocker.

"AIR!" Razor coughed and wheezed.

"You alright, Razor?" Ronnie asked.

"Thanks for the help, pal!" Razor coughed out.

"Anytime." Ronnie chuckled.

"Alright, as admittedly amusing as seeing Kid Razor nearly get killed by a superpowered fangirl here is..." Polanski chuckled, making Razor glare at him. "I would like to point out that we have a missing girl." He glared at Razor. "I saw that finger, punk."

"Good." Razor sneered. "Wanna see it again?" Ronnie put a hand on Razor's shoulder to calm him down.

"Take it easy, rockerboy. We're all friends here."

"And even worse, we have no leads." Briscoe added. She let out a sigh. "I hate cases like this."

"Nobody ever said fighting crime was simple, Amanda." Polanski said sagely. "Wait a minute..."

"What is it, Polanski? Timmy fell down the well again?" Razor mocked, making Jubilee giggle.

"Shut it, rockerboy." Polanski grumbled. He glared at Ororo. "You said you had a device that could detect mutants."

"We do." Ororo confirmed. "Cerebro."

"Cerebro?" Razor snorted in amusement. "Sounds like a vegetable grown in Hell." Jubilee giggled.

"Isn't he funny?" Jubilee grinned, elbowing Ororo. "Razor's known for his joke-cracking when fighting super-villains."

"So is that youth with the spider motif in New York." Ororo reminded.

"Ja, he seems cool." Kurt nodded.

"Like, I think he's creepy." Kitty shuddered. "Of all the animals you can use as a gimmick, why a spider? They're yucky bugs!"

"Technically, spiders are arachnids." Polanski pointed out. "Spiders have eight legs and two body sections. Insects have six legs and three body sections."

"Whatever, they're still icky." Kitty grumbled.

"Cerebro can detect when a mutant's powers are emerging." Jean added. "It's how we were able to discover Eileen's emerging mutantcy."

"Can this thing also tell us what kind of powers she has?" Amanda asked.

"Some kind of ability to manipulate electromagnetic energy." Scott answered. Amanda blinked.

"Yeah, we have no idea what that means either." Evan patted Amanda's shoulder sympathetically.

"Like, it means that Eileen can manipulate electromagnetic fields." Kitty said. "Electromagnetic fields are generated by electricity going through objects. Every electronic device generates a field when it is being used, from computers to phones."

"So, if this kid can manipulate these fields, and these fields are generated by any electronic device, then that means..." Amanda blinked, then her eyes widened. She and Polanski looked at each other in horror.

"Yeah." Polanski put it together. "This girl, under the right circumstances, can create a really bad day."

"No wonder somebody is after this kid." Razor muttered.

"That still leaves another piece missing to this puzzle besides the obvious one." Ronnie pointed out. "How did the kid's mysterious kidnapper know that she was a mutant, much less has those particular powers?"

"That's not odd." Scott answered. "Somebody could have developed their own mutant-detecting technology."

"But to do that, somebody would have to know mutants exist." Polanski pointed out.

"Yeah, that's what worries me." Scott sighed. "But we can figure that out when we find Miss Harsaw." A crackling of a radio could be heard.

"All units! Be advised there is a bank robbery in progress at the Central Business District." The radio called out. "Suspects have been described as looking like a combination of riot cops and military men, gray and black."

"...the Dark Watch." Ronnie realized.

"Who?" Ororo asked.

"The Dark Watch." Ronnie repeated. "A mercenary company. Been around since the 1950s. They've tangled with the First Line a few times back in the day. The Fantastic Four also encountered them about a month ago."

"And Thor, that so-called God of Thunder, beat them up last week." Razor added. "Why are a mercenary company robbing a bank?"

"Guns and uniforms aren't cheap?" Evan offered.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Scott muttered.

"Me too, kid." Polanski grumbled, the policeman pinching the bridge of his nose. "Me too."

"It's clearly a trap." Briscoe agreed.

"Still, we have to help those people." Ororo said.

"Tina Turner's right." Razor agreed, jerking his thumb at Storm. "Besides, the Kid of Rock is here. Whatever the Dark Watch have planned, they're forgetting one thing." He smirked and punched his hand. "The Kid of Rock is a hard-rockin', ass-kickin', kiss-stealin' SOB! Ain't nobody on Earth tougher than him!"

"I think Captain America can take ya." Scott smirked.

Razor snorted. "Please. He's a goofy-lookin' musclehead with a fancy painted hubcap."

"Razor's right!" Jubilee agreed. "We can take them! We got Kid Razor with us! We can't lose!"

"Heh. Nice to see someone has a little faith in me." Razor snickered. Ronnie looked over the X-Men, and a frown crossed the ghostly rocker's face.

"Hold it." The glam rock legend held up a ghostly hand. "You kids want to act like proper superheroes?" He smirked and his hands started to glow.

"What is he doing?" Jubilee asked Razor in concern.

"Ah, it'll be fine." Razor shrugged. "If Ronnie wanted to mess you all up, you'd all be messed up by now." He smirked. "You see, before he was doing the ghost gig, Ronnie fancied himself a bit of a sorcerer."

"Then you need a little something to be proper superheroes." Ronnie waved his hands, and the X-Men's heads (except for Cyclops) started to glow white with multicolored Kirby dots for a short time. When the glow faded, the X-Men found that Ronnie had...modified their costumes a bit.

"Wha-?" Kitty felt some fabric on her face.

"He gave us masks!" Kurt whooped. "This is awesome!"

"Why is mine yellow and pointy?" Jean asked. True to her question, her costume had an addition: A yellow mask with two points on it.

Ronnie shrugged. "I dunno. I think it fits you."

"Cool..." Jubilee felt the mask on her face. She grinned at Razor. "Look at my mask! Don't I look awesome?"

Razor blinked. "...yeah, sure."

Ronnie looked at Cyclops. "I figured the visor was needed."

"You figured right, Rocker."

"What's with the bandanna on mah head?" Rogue asked.

"That skunk hair of yours is pretty distinct, Scarlett O'Hara." Ronnie explained. He shot a quick glance at Storm. I wonder if she is related to Veronica... "Hiding it will help hide your identity."

"Okay, let's go. Dark Watch wants a beating, let's give 'em a beating." Razor waved, then flew off.

"You heard the man! Let's go! Let's go!" Jubilee yelped.

"...can we get in the car first?" Scott sighed.

A bank in Cleveland

The tellers quickly stuffed cash into sacks. After all, when a group of men march in clad what looked like futuristic black and grey riot armor and carrying AR-15s burst into a bank demanding money, you provide it, and fast. The tellers did not ask any questions about the figure in the black bodysuit, silver mask, and purple cloak and hood standing quietly in the corner. Nobody in the bank did. Two of the Dark Watch stood guard over her.

"You think those...superfreaks will show up?" One of the guards asked quietly.

"The boss said they should be on their way." The other guard answered just as quietly. "Then..." He nudged his head in the figure's direction. "They'll see what this girl can really do." The Dark Watch heard a loud guitar riff, and the door of the bank exploded open in a blast of white light with multi-colored Kirby dots. A smirking Kid Razor strutted in, the X-Men flanking in.

"Hey there!" Razor greeted in a cocky tone. "The Kid of Rock met some tourists here..." He jerked his thumb at the X-Men. "And being the good host he is, the Kid of Rock thought that he'd give them the grand tour of the city. You know, show 'em the sights, the historic locations, yada yada yada..."

"Is he always like this?" Scott muttered.

"Yup." Ronnie nodded. "You get used to it." Scott was very grateful that his eyes could not be seen under his power-containing visor, because he was rolling them harder than he ever had before. Outside, Polanski and Briscoe had joined some other cops in front of the bank.

"You sure these...'X-Men' can stop these Dark Watch guys?" One asked.

"Other superheroes could take 'em." Briscoe shrugged. Meanwhile, back inside...

"Who are you clowns?!" One of the Dark Watch mercs asked.

"We're the X-Men!" Jubilee whooped. "And you guys are about to get whupped."

Razor smirked at Cyclops. "I like her. She's got energy."

"Ugh." Scott pinched the bridge of his nose.

"...yeah, let's shoot 'em." The Dark Watch aimed their guns at the X-Men.

"Alright, people..." Scott told the other X-Men, thanks to Jean linking their minds telepathically. "We got hostages here, limited room..." He glanced at the masked and hooded figure. "And an unknown. Be ready for anything. Here's the plan-!"

"LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!" Razor whooped, plucking his guitar's strings.

"Awww, blast it..." Scott muttered.

"X-MEN CHARGE!" Jubilee whooped, shooting her plasma bursts at the Dark Watch men.

"Aw for the love of God..." Scott muttered. And with that, the battle had started.

The tellers and customers were used to Kid Razor and his antics, but the X-Men were new. And they were going to get a show. The Merry Mutants couldn't go all-out with their powers due to the lack of room in the bank's lobby, but they had training. Which they demonstrated with the Dark Watch.

"Where did this fog come from?!" One of the Dark Watch mercs yelped as Ororo created a thick fog around them.

"One of those costumed clowns!" Another realized. They both felt taps on their shoulder. The two turned around and saw Razor and Evan smirking at them.

"Hi. Knuckle sandwiches made to order!" Razor whooped as he and Spyke downed them with punches.

"These guys aren't so tough." Evan snorted.

"Yeah, but they're fun to beat up." Razor shrugged. He frowned at this fog. "You'd think that Storm chick would make it so we can see."

"Watch what you say about my Auntie O, man." Evan rolled his eyes. "And we can see fine." Rogue was fighting one of the mercs when ended up tearing a patch off the man's uniform, under the pauldron on his right arm.

"Hey, that uniform ain't cheap!" He noticed Rogue taking off her glove. "What're you doing?"

"You need a nap." Rogue's arm lashed out like a striking cobra and touched the patch of skin with her bare hand. The mercenary went down with a grunt. Rogue grunted and held her head as the mercenary's memories flooded into her mind. "You should really delete your search history." The two Dark Watch guards watching over the masked figure looked at each other.

"They're getting wrecked." One of the guards noted. He looked at the figure. "Alright, kid. Let's see if the boss is worth the hype." The figure walked towards the fight. Purple electricity ran up and down her arms as she pointed them at the fight. Jean noticed this.

"Everyone! Watch out! She's gonna-"

VWUMMMM!

The figure fired energy bolts at the X-Men and Kid Razor. The fog dissipated, and the heroes were blown out of the bank.

"Holy-!" Polanski and Briscoe yelped as they ducked behind their car to avoid being hit by being pieces of brick, mortar, and glass. The heroes landed in front of them.

"I think we found Miss Harsaw..." Kurt groaned as he and the others go to their feet. He noticed purple electricity running up and down his body. The other X-Men noticed the same.

"Yo, you guys alright?" Razor blinked.

"No problem, Razor!" Jubilee grinned, giving Razor a thumbs up. "We're X-Men! We're tough as nails!"

"What is this?" Evan asked as he looked at the electricity.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Scott muttered. He noticed the Dark Watch fleeing the scene, the figure flying behind them. "Oh, no you don't!" He commanded his visor to open, letting him unleash his optic blasts, but...nothing happened. "My powers! They don't work!" Ororo tried to fly, but found she couldn't. She eyed the electricity.

"I think our powers have been shut down."

Razor strummed his guitar, and his body was covered in the Power of Rock.

"Mine still work! The Kid of Rock will handle this!" He flew towards the fleeing mercenaries. The figure waved her hands. Razor found his body going stiff. "What in the name of Bon Scott's ghost?!" He yelled as the hooded figure caused him to fly towards the X-Men. "GANGWAY!" He tumbled into the mutants, and the figures fled. "Dammit!"

"Oh, brother!" Polanski groaned, putting his head in his hands. Briscoe shot the chief a big embarrased grin.

"Well, to be fair, this is unusual?" She held her hands up.

"They're getting away!" Polanski yelled. "After them!" The cloaked figure fired purple electricity at the police cars, causing them to shut down as well. "OH COME ON!" He groaned as Briscoe and some other cops went into the bank.

"It's not a complete loss!" Briscoe assured him as she ran up. "The X-Men took down some of the Dark Watch guys!"

"Well, there's at least that." Polanski sighed. "Let's pump them for info."

The police station

"I'm surprised that nobody finds this...unusual." Ororo said as she looked around. True to the windrider's observation, despite the X-Men standing around in their full costumes, the police station was still bustling with activity. It's like the people there weren't even bothered by the X-Men's presence. To her surprise, one of the cops flirted with her, and a couple more asked if they were sticking around. She even was asked for a couple autographs!

Razor snorted. "Babe, this is Cleveland. We are very used to the weird here. Remind the Kid of Rock to introduce you to Howard sometime."

"Howard?" Jubilee asked.

"He's a PI. The Kid of Rock helped him out with a couple cases. Also, the man's a duck." The X-Men's jaws dropped in disbelief at Razor's statement.

"A duck." Rogue repeated in disbelief.

Razor sneered. "Did the Kid of Rock stutter? Yeah. A duck. What, you got a problem with a duck being a private investigator? Guy's actually good, too."

"...how can a duck be a PI?!"

"It's easier when the duck is anthropomorphic and can talk." Razor answered. "His girlfriend Beverly's got her own band going. Cherry Bomb. They're good. Not as good as me, of course. But still good."

"...I wanna meet him." Jubilee said. "And I think I got their last album on vinyl..."

I haven't been here long, but I already want out of this crazy city. Scott sighed.

"Vhat did she do to our powers?" Kurt asked, remembering the battle earlier.

"She somehow was able to shut them down." Kitty frowned. She looked at Razor. "Yours still worked. Why is that?"

"The Kid of Rock isn't a mutant." Razor shrugged.

"His power comes from the guitar." Ronnie added. "It's magical. But she still was able to move Razor around. Telekinesis, maybe?"

"I think it's a electromagnetic thing." Kitty theorized. "Like, when you want to move your arm, the brain sends electrical signals to the muscles in your arm to make it move."

"And since Miss Harsaw can manipulate elctromagnetic fields..." Ronnie put it together. "Great."

"I'm just glad it wore off." Jean said. Rogue frowned. Polanski and Briscoe emerged from the interrogation room, looking a bit disappointed. Briscoe sighed and Polanski rubbed his eyes.

"I take it that you could not get any information?" Ororo deduced.

"You got it." Polanski muttered.

"Ah think Ah may be able to help there." Rogue offered. Everyone looked at her. "Ah absorbed one of the mercs' minds. And a name kept popping up. Zora? Zona? Something like that."

Ronnie's eyes widened as the southern mutant's statement triggered a memory in the ghostly glam rocker. "...Zola. Rogue, did you mean Zola?"

"Yeah, that's it!" The Missippian mutant confirmed with a nod.

"Who's Zola?" Razor sneered.

"...that crazy Twitter thread?" Briscoe blinked. Polanski just facepalmed.

"No." Ronnie shook his head. "Arnim Zola. Swiss scientist, particularly in genetics and chemistry. Considered a brilliant mind, but he was not a good dude. Threw in with the Nazis during the war." he waved his hand. "Ya see, ol' Zola was not a fan of the idea that one should consider ethics when doing science. And the Nazis were all for that."

"Wait, you said this Zola guy was a geneticist, right?" Polanski asked.

"Yeah."

"That probably is why he knows of the existence of mutants." The officer realized.

"But considering how long it's been since World War II, it's likely this Zola guy is dead now." Briscoe said.

Ronnie shook his head sadly. "I doubt that."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked. Ronnie cleared his throat. Technically, he didn't need to do so, being a ghost and all, but...he felt a need to do so now.

"Let me tell you all a story. The year was 1981. The place? Oregon. Yours truly was going to perform in Portland. But beforehand, the First Line had recruited me for some help on a mission they had there. Word was that a group of prominent robotics experts had vanished. You see, it was the early 80s. Robotics had become a rising science at the time..."

"And you wore an onion on your belt because it was the style at the time. Yo Grampa Simpson! Get on track!" Evan snapped.

"Alright, alright." Ronnie snickered. "I'm rambling like an old man. Imagine that. Anyway, a group of First Liners and I went over to the wooded Calapooya Mountains..."

The Calapooya Mountains, 1981.

A figure gazed at the cabin, surrounded by fir trees. He was joined by a group of other costumed heroes.

"This tiny cabin?" Ronnie Rocker snickered at the First Liners with him. "It sounds like something Abe Lincoln would live in!"

"Don't get cocky, Rocker." The man in the black costume with the high collar vaguely in the shape of a fox's head grunted. Robert Paine, the Black Fox, folded up his binoculars and put them on his yellow utility belt. It had a silver buckle in the shape of a fox's head. "Even at his advanced age, Zola is still a dangerous man."

"He's not you, Fox." A Native Hawaiian woman snickered. She wore a red and yellow costume with a fire motif, with red gloves and boots. Tandy "Firefall" Waihe'e had been a mainstay of the First Line, a member since the 1960s. She had claimed to have been a descendant of Pele, Hawaii's volcano goddess. Which had explained her fire powers and that she seemed to have barely aged in the twenty years she was on the team. "He lacks my divine blood, nor was he exposed to the energies of the Chronobreaker like you were in the 1940s. At least, as far as we know."

"Fox is right about one thing, Firefall." A man in a white and red uniform with blue boots and gloves said. It bore a chest emblem of black scales. The white utility belt had a holster with a gun in it. He was checking a machine gun in his hands. Tim Carney, aka Mr. Justice, was once known as Kid Justice, the sidekick of his older brother Patrick Carney, aka Yankee Clipper. "The man is a Nazi. That makes him a threat to freedom everywhere." Too bad the bastard wouldn't just let his pancreatic cancer kill him...

Ronnie rolled his eyes. "We get it, Justice. Don't you worry." The glam rocker smirked and plucked his guitar's strings. It glowed with white energy and multi-colored Kirby dots. "We'll hand that old Nazi his ass and make him hobble on his walker to the Hague, crying the whole way." He noticed another member of the First Line squad. A Black woman, she had long white hair, and wore a dark blue costume. Her identity was hidden by a blue two-pronged mask. Over her arms and hands were sleek silver-and-dark blue gauntlets. She was staring out at the trees. Ronnie's face showed concern as he walked over to her.

"Hey, Snowhead. You alright?" Ronnie asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Veronica Grier, aka Positron blinked at him, then nodded.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I was just thinking about...Jack." The other First Liners knew who she was talking about. Jack Benson, aka Blackjack. Like Positron, he was a reformed criminal. A master fighter, he had been killed in action a year earlier.

"...you don't have to do this mission if you don't want to, Veronica." Mr. Justice assured.

"None of us will hold it against you if you want to sit this one out." Black Fox agreed. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love." He momentarily thought of his beloved Miriam Wentworth, who was murdered in 1958 by his archnemesis, the vampiric Nocturne.

"Same here." Mr. Justice agreed. "Although in my case, I have no idea if Pat is even alive..."

"It's alright." Positron said. "I could use some action." She smiled at Ronnie. "Thanks for helping me through it."

"It's fine, Snowhead." Ronnie said. "Happy to do it. No bigger downer than seeing a pretty lady be sad." He took her hand and kissed it. Black Fox rolled his eyes, then smiled at them.

Reminds me of Clara. The veteran costumed adventurer thought. God, she was a life-saver after Miriam was killed. Kept me off the deep end. I wonder what she's up to now. Shame I wasn't able to bring her along here. She'd love to kick some Nazi heads in right now...

Cleveland, Present Day

"You and ol' Snowhead had a bit of a thing at the time, right?" Razor recalled.

"We didn't start dating until '84." Ronnie said. He looked at Storm. "You remind me so much of her looks-wise. Were you related?"

"I doubt it." Ororo said.

"So, what happened next?" Scott asked.

"Well, we investigated the cabin and found...nothing. At first." Ronnie explained. "We found a secret passage in the floor that led to an underground lab..."

Oregon, 1981

"Ah, I see the Fearless First Line have arrived." The Swiss-accented voice of Arnim Zola taunted the superheroes.

"Show your face, Zola!" Mr. Justice pointed his rifle around. Firefall transformed into her fiery form and took to the air. Positron's fists shook with unreleased vibrational power. Ronnie's guitar glowed, ready to fire magical force as he followed Firefall into the sky. Black Fox whipped out some of his boomerang-like projectiles that he called his "Fox Claws". The five heroes heard stomping.

"The hell is that?!" Black Fox growled.

"If watching monster movies had taught me anything, that noise is not good." Ronnie winced. Zola's cackle echoed through the building as the source stomped up to them. It was a large bulky purple and orange robot, about one story tall. The "head" was a purple security camera-like device with a red glowing lens. And in the center was a large screen depicting Zola's smug smirking mug.

"Like the new look, First Line?! I have managed to bridge the gap between man and machine! The Grim Reaper will never claim me!"

"...Mother and Country." Mr. Justice muttered in shock.

"I think I saw that thing fight Godzilla once." Ronnie blinked.

"Justice! You and I will find the hostages! Firefall, Rocker, Positron! Take that robot down!"

"To paraphrase a certain punk band, this giant Nazi punk can f$%# off!" Ronnie pitched his guitar at the robot.

Cleveland, Present Day

"...what?" Jean's jaw dropped.

"Yeah." Ronnie nodded. "The bastard managed to find a way to transfer his twisted mind into a robotic body. We managed to bust him up, and free the robotics experts. The lab was destroyed in the process, but..." The ghostly rocker shook his head. "We never saw Zola again after that, but I always had a feeling he was still alive."

Polanski threw his arms up. "Sure. Nazis in robotic bodies. Why not?"

"Welcome to the circus, Sergeant." Ronnie chuckled.

"Why are you weirded out by this, Pole-ass-ski?" Razor laughed. "This stuff's been a thing for decades!"

"If he was able to download his brain into a robotic body once, he could likely do it again." Scott realized.

"Right." Ronnie nodded. "He likely had a spare robotic body stashed off-site somewhere. Friggin' cockroach."

"Alright, so if this Zola guy is still around, where is he?" Briscoe asked.

"Ah think Ah might be able to help there, too..." Rogue said. "Ah'll need a map of the city."

The Whizzer first appeared in USA Comics #1 (August 1941).

Major Mercury and Hurricane were aliases of Makkari, who first appeared in The Eternals #5 (November 1976). Hurricane was a Golden Age hero who first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). You may know Makkari from the Eternals film, who was portrayed by Lauren Ridloff.

"Baer" is a nod to Ralph Baer (1922-2014), a German-American engineer who created a device known as a "Brown Box". This would lead to the creation of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. A little bit of video game history to homage for a kid who is known as Arcade.

Ethan Meyer was the big kid who tried to bully Kurt and Rogue in the episode "Operation: Rebirth."

If you know your X-Men comic history, you may get why Jean's mask is yellow and has two points on it. A little Mythology Gag, as TV Tropes would put it, on my part. :)

Howard the Duck first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 (December 1973). Beverly Switzler first appeared in Howard the Duck #1 (January 1976). Her band Cherry Bomb is a reference to the 1986 film Howard the Duck.

Firefall, Mister Justice, and Positron first appeared in Marvel: The Lost Generation #12 (March 2000), and Tim Carney was established to have adventured as Kid Justice before he became Mister Justice in Marvel: The Lost Generation #3 (December 2000). Firefall's being a Native Hawaiian demigoddess is my expansion of her as very little was revealed about her in the Lost Generation miniseries. Positron's surname being Grier is an homage to actress Pam Grier.