Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc.
Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.
(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as Spider-Man: Repulse, Bruce Banner: The Abysmal, Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest, and The Mighty Thor: Moxy. but it's self contained!)
PART 6: Divided.
The contractors seemed to have been dealt with, so Ororo considered leaving with Bobby and the girls, and proceeding with the separation. She had originally planned to separate into two teams, each with a telepath, since it made it much easier to infiltrate and find the bombs, and knowing how to disarm them.
The situation was not really conducive to that. Iceman and the girls were already aboard the blackbird, and Ororo could join them in seconds. Plus, they had Henry on call, and he would always know how to disarm the bombs. They could find them the old-fashioned way.
"Phoenix, what's your condition?" Ororo asked.
"The Collective caught us off guard and sucker punched Karma and me, the assholes. But I took it harder," Rachel admitted, annoyed.
"Or maybe you're just not as resistant," Xi'an teased.
"You see my nose bleeding? My nose is bleeding," Rachel argued, thankfully not really insulted, but more playing loose with banter.
Ororo clicked her tongue and took a breath. "Team, time is of the essence. Please stop arguing and answer me. Are you fit to engage the next base on your own?"
There was a pause, and that was enough to make Ororo worry.
"Monroe," a different voice said, through the gadget in her ear. "There's no time to wait. We can strike at the artic base if you guys are having too much trouble."
"Probably," Rachel finally answered, not having heard that particular call. "Depends on what we meet there."
"What? We can absolutely take care of it," Amara said, confident. "Go, Storm."
Ororo frowned, feeling slightly conflicted. Yet, at the end of the day, she had gathered that team to tackle the most dangerous of threats. It didn't have the most powerful X-Men to ever live. Colossus wasn't a part of it, and neither was his sister, whose teleportation would be helpful. There were reasons behind all of those choices. In the end, if Ororo did not separate her team, Stark would most likely separate his. He was a man who would send each member of his team out alone, if he wasn't doing that already.
Ororo didn't like it, but she had to do it. "Keep in contact at all times. Beast, signal our backup so they're ready, just in case they're needed."
"Backup?" Xi'An asked. "We have backup?"
"Hello?" Stark's voice called again. "Is this thing on - can you hear me? I'm pretty sure I hacked the right channel."
"If we need it," Ororo said in reply to Xi'An, trying to make it clear that they shouldn't need backup.
"We won't need it," Rachel promised.
"Same here," said Bobby, defensively, and Ororo shook her head and turned the winds, flying up and towards the respective Blackbird.
"We'll be done in five," Rachel said. "Good luck."
"Hello?" Stark called once again, impatiently. "I can hear you fine, and I know you can hear m-"
"Stay focused on your task, Iron Man. We will fulfill ours. And I would appreciate it if you used our handles during the mission."
"You're sure about this? It's no trouble at all for us," Stark pressed, defensively. He was a genius, but much like T'Challa, wholly evident in his intentions. He felt responsible for breaking stealth and making the mission more dangerous for everyone, and so now, he wanted to make it up to them.
As if failure motivates confidence.
Ororo let out a breath in exasperation. "Get off my channel, Iron Man. Beast is your contact."
"Well yes, but he wasn't responding," Stark explained.
"Because I was thinking," Ororo said, unnerved.
"Well, think faster next time," Tony told her, defensively, and exited the channel.
Ororo flew herself into the cargo hold, accepting Bobby's hand and assistance to step properly onto its floor. She saw how Sooraya had her sleeve on her arm completely tore away, and it was slightly burned. Hisako was leaning back, head turned upwards, and her nose was plugged with something white. She was holding an ice pack on her head, as well.
"You said you were fine," Ororo accused in Bobby's direction, and he simply shrugged.
"Dust got a little singed. Armor was just pushed a little too hard on her power, she wasn't actually hit."
"If I'm not wrong, I just got nuked," Hisako argued, glancing sideways at Bobby. "A nuke hit me. I'd like that to be in the report, please. Do we write reports?"
"It wasn't that big of a nuke," Bobby argued, and Hisako rolled her eyes.
"An island off Madripoor will be coming next," Hank said. "Be ready, I'm certain the contractors will already have arrived. They will be fully prepared for your arrival this time around."
Ororo shook her head and looked up reflexively. "No. Send us to the artic. Send Phoenix to Madripoor."
"As you will, my dear," Henry agreed.
There was no going back now. Ororo stepped closer to the two girls and watched as they looked up at her. Waited for it.
"Are you two able to fight?" Ororo asked, pointedly.
Sooraya nodded meaningfully, her eyes wide open. Hisako sighed and closed hers. "Yeah yeah…just promise me no nukes."
"That was a large explosion, but it was nothing next to what these bombs are capable of. Even one of them." Storm took a breath and finally relaxed somewhat, taking a seat. "Beast, what are the chances this human bomb can come after us?"
"None whatsoever," Henry answered at once. "Samurai is his codename, and he cannot fly that fast. It would take him days to get there."
"Good," Ororo said. "Very good. We will be employing an even more straightforward approach on this next base. No diversions, no different tasks. We strike as four, and we do so violently. None among us is a telepath, so we need to find the bombs by seeking them out, or by convincing someone to tell us under threat of death."
"We'll do what we have to," Hisako said with a shrug. "This is a bit crazy but when isn't it? I want to stop these maniacs."
"I agree," said Sooraya.
Storm stepped back and sat down. She was wondering who those contractors were, and how they had been convinced to help terrorists such as the K.I.A.
"I'm the reason we're going to the artic, aren't I?" Bobby asked, sitting next to her.
Ororo knew the girls would be listening intently to their more personal exchange. "It would be idiotic to send Magma to the artic," Ororo said, breathing as carefully as she could. She needed to catch up on a lot of breath, but she didn't want to make them think she might be as tired as she was. It might affect their confidence.
"Bombs cleared. These guys are really not happy," Xi'an reported.
"Who cares how they feel," Amara said, vindictively.
"Exactly. We're on our way to the Blackbird, Beast," said Rachel.
Ororo was happy that her two seconds naturally took the reigns, and that the rest of the members instinctually accepted it. She didn't have to say anything about how they should listen to Rachel and Bobby.
"Any idea about who is in the artic, Beast?" Ororo asked.
"I'm afraid not, my dear," Henry said, apologetically. "And I have lost what access I had to their systems. I'm afraid you'll be going in blind."
"Great," said Hisako, punctuated by a heavy sigh coming from Sooraya.
"It's okay, girls. We got this. I dunno anyone these guys can get that'll stand a chance against our leader here," Bobby said, gesturing to Ororo. "And that's before you even get to this guy!" he added, proudly pointing at himself with two thumbs.
The girls rolled her eyes and looked away.
"Hey, what was that?!" Bobby asked.
Ororo smiled.
Hopefully, Robert Drake was right to be confident. She knew she was, but then again, she had tasted the sour taste of defeat too many times to allow hubris to infect her.
They all had.
Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time.
Foreboding. Next part, the team splits up! Will Storm be alright with just the rookies and without telepaths? Check back and find out! :)