Cyclops and Thunderbird began moving slowly into the thick tropical jungle. Neither Scott Summers nor John Proudstar were much fond of the jungle. In the case of John, it was because he was used to a dry heat and an expanse of sagebrush and cactus rather than the sweltering rainforest he found himself inside. For Scott, it was a laundry list of things. The Savage Land, Krakoa the first time around, the Savage Land, that time in Genosha with Cameron Hodge, the list continued on and on. Mainly it was the Savage Land, though.
Scott was not looking forward to all those repeats of the Savage Land.
So lost in thought, Scott actually completely forgot what would happen next until it was too late. The vines in front of him and Thunderbird reached out, grabbing both of them and hoisting the two into the air.
"The vines!" Thunderbird shouted in surprise, using his enhanced strength to try and rip them apart, "They're alive!"
"Damn it," Scott cursed his brain, cursing getting distracted when he should have his head on straight, "Take them out!"
Thunderbird strained against the vines, snapping enough for him to drop back to the ground. Grabbing the broken vines, Thunderbird let out a mighty yell as he was able to yank the tree connected to it from the Earth itself. "Any suggestions, fearless leader?" he asked, throwing the tree off into the distance.
"Not really. I think you've got this down, Thunderbird." Cyclops replied, slicing through vines faster than they could reach out for him, then slicing their source tree in half.
Their attackers handled, Scott and John stood still, looking around for more threats and keeping a careful ear out. After several minutes passed with no movement, the two let out a held breath.
"I hate the jungle," John sighed, wiping sweat from his brow.
"You're not alone," Scott agreed, wishing he had gone in with a t-shirt and shorts rather than in full uniform.
The two began to move to the temple again, before Thunderbird held an arm out to stop Cyclops. "Wait... " Thunderbird began, his head tilted slightly to one side, "Do you hear that?"
Nothing.
"...not even a bird." Cyclops felt unnerved at that. It was something he hadn't noticed the first time around: a tropical jungle devoid of life beyond that which was Krakoa.
"I hate the jungle." Thunderbird nodded in agreement before they began their hike again.
Cyclops and Thunderbird made it to the temple at the center of Krakoa first, which Scott had also chosen as the rendezvous point during the mission briefing. Sitting on the steps of the temple, Scott Summers took the chance to decompress his brain while Thunderbird sharpened a knife he'd taken with him and stored in a boot sheath. Scott couldn't help but take a moment, finally, and wonder if this was actually real.
The problem with being slightly neurotic and introspective as Scott tended to be is that Scott Summers had a ton of time to think back and wonder how different life could have been if he'd made a different choice here, or taken a left when he went right instead. The first time he truly noticed it was when Thunderbird himself had actually died, and his angst over the man's passing left him a wreck for a day and a half. Now, it could be different.
Somehow, it felt like he was in that old Bill Murray movie, the one with the Groundhog.
"I never asked for all of this, you know," Scott finally spoke up, his eyes closed as he let the sun fall on his face. He'd pulled the hood of his costume back and separated his visor from it to let some heat escape his body before he overheated.
"Really?" John looked at Scott like he'd just admitted he was an elephant in disguise, "You're a natural, then, Bossman."
Scott scoffed as he rested an arm on his upraised knee, "I was a scared kid, only 15 and orphaned. I don't remember much of my time before the Professor found me," and Scott was telling the truth here. Thanks to Sinister keeping him in a coma and gaslighting him from about age ten and onward, he genuinely was no longer sure what was a legit memory, what was Sinister playing house, and what was an implanted memory, "Imagine it, a skinny malnourished kid forced into a black and yellow costume and told that he can save the world if he tries hard enough." He paused, "Oh. And training time was a bunch of buzz saws, massive boulders, and any other kind of deathtraps a good James Bond villain would think up."
Silence met him, so Scott continued, "And for the first mission, of course, you're fighting against the Professor's old friend, who controls magnetism, and planned to hold the nukes of Cape Citadel hostage until the US Government surrendered to him."
"Sounds like a peach." Thunderbird replied, sheathing the knife once more while keeping an eye out for any movement from the jungle, "How'd you win?"
"We didn't." Scott explained, shrugging, "The fight took out the base almost entirely, though Magneto throwing every single ground-to-air missile at us didn't help." Cyclops let his head hang low as he let out a breath, "We fought others, like mutant supremacists Factor Three, robots dedicated to killing all mutants, a guy who could Mimic other mutant powers, the Professor's step-brother…" A pause, and he laughed loud, "Oh, and some jackass who was also a were-pterodactyl when he absorbed mutant powers."
Thunderbird plopped down beside Cyclops and laughed, "Seriously?"
Cyclops looked to Thunderbird with a grin, "You have no idea. The robots were easier to beat?"
"...ok, you got me. How?"
Scott tried his best to keep a straight face, "I talked them into fighting the sun."
Thunderbird's laughter could be heard echoing throughout the jungle for miles.
Author's Notes:
A shorter 'issue' this time, entirely due to panic cleaning for Thanksgiving preparations.
I do also want to make things clear, though, on something. Since this is taking from (currently) Giant-Size X-Men #1 and will later subsequently take from Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men, I'm also taking from the stories to an extent. Things like the opening narration for the scenes in chapters 2 and 3, for example, were from Len Wein and Dave Cockrum's story. Same with Colossus cheerfully leaping out of the plane. However, I don't feel comfy just writing a novelization of the book, so I try to brush over those details so I don't lock someone out of understanding or comprehending a story. I appreciate the comments on Colossus' attitude, but it is so far just from the original story.
I'm also choosing so far to focus more on character moments so far, but I would love to expand these chapters to much longer lengths. This one is the shortest one by far just because of the rush I have for Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a happy binge-eating holiday for those who celebrate it, and I'll be back with another (hopefully longer) chapter soon.