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 7: Third Strike

They didn't even get to the base proper.

When they were about to arrive, an electromagnetic pulse shot out across the skies and coursed through their ship, shutting everything off. Ororo was first to the wheel to take manual control of the airship. Meanwhile, the gadgets in their ears fizzled, shocking their heads. Each and every one of them winced and pulled the ear pieces out.

"What's this? I thought the Blackbird was inoculated against EMPs," Ororo protested, as the bird started to glide. Well and truly powered out.

"I guess someone invented a way around it," Bobby said, grimacing. "Do we bail?"

Ororo was managing to keep the ship balanced, which was good. But the fact they had no airship was severely worrying, and they had also lost their communication devices. All of a sudden, the mission was in real danger. That said, Ororo had a good idea of what to do.

"We will land the ship safely. We will take control of the base and use its communication systems to get a hold of Beast. He will let me know how to recover the ship."

"This will at least delay us a lot," Hisako pointed out. "How are we going to get to the next base in time?"

Ororo frowned, displeased beyond belief. "Hopefully, the Avengers will be able to take an extra base. There was only one left after these two." It was also possible that Henry would preempt that decision and ask the Avengers to do so before she could even contact him.

It was important to be be honest about the fact there was nothing she could do about that.

Ororo had to focus on the fact her team was about to be stranded in hostile territory within range of nuclear weapons. Breathing deeply, she focused and knew her eyes began to shine. The ship rocked as a powerful gust of wind took hold of it. "Go, Iceman," she commanded, with an echoing voice.

"You got it," he said, all too willing.

Bobby waited for the airship to be gliding slowly enough, then he opened the emergency door, which had a manual handle, and left it. Once he was sliding outside, he generated a lot of snow and ice to help break the fall. It worked very well.

It was almost like Iceman had had to do the same thing many times before.

They left the ship and walked out into the freezing Artic, but Ororo expended some concentration to keep the cold winds away from them. It wasn't warmth, but it would help. With that, she walked on, leading them forward.

They landed quite far away from the base, but it had still been visible as they were falling, so they knew where to go. Bobby was leading their charge, and Hisako had the armor turned on since it helped with the cold. Oddly. Sooraya was also transformed, and so a dust-cloud with a human face was following them.

"All and all, really good thing we're the ones here, huh?" Bobby asked, encouragingly.

"I don't know. Amara would be keeping everyone warm," Hisako pointed out.

"I'm not sure even she could do that in this environment," Bobby pointed out.

"Stay focused," Ororo said, calling them to attention. "They obviously expected us, and their counter-offensive has already begun. Do not hold back and watch over each other no matter what."

"Right!" Hisako agreed, frowning with dedication, which made Bobby chuckle. "What was that?" Hisako asked, immediately.

"Nothing, nothing," he said, waving his hand. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, Armor."

"I think I see them," Sooraya reported, and they all stopped to take a good look.

The base was pretty visible in the distance, and indeed, vehicles were lifting up snow in the wake of their movement. Ororo nodded and pulled the winds to lift herself into the air.

"X-Men," she said, and pointed forward. "We have a mission to carry out." The winds blew, and her body shot forward. Bobby gave birth to an ice platform and jumped onto it, and it pushed him forward. Dust caught the tailwind of Ororo's gust and followed after quite rapidly.

Hisako was left behind, fuming. "Hey! What about - ah, man!" Awkwardly, she took the first sinking step of her run to keep up, but then a strong whirlwind caught hold of her and pulled her along. "Whoah!"

A couple of hovering tanks stopped with a slide, and at least twenty soldiers took position behind them, all while the guns and cannons were taking aim. Fire came shooting at them in quick succession and numbers, and Ororo moved the wind, bobbing and weaving the three of them through the projectile and laser fire. Hisako yelled a bit as she was pulled to and fro, and meanwhile, Bobby had ice pop up to block whatever he didn't dodge.

It really was terrible terrain for their enemies. Once he came close enough, Bobby had the entire party frozen in a matter of seconds. Not their heads, but definitely their weapons and vehicles.

Ororo tried to interrogate a few of them, but they either didn't know anything, or knew she wouldn't hurt them that seriously. With time being so short, she couldn't find out. Annoyed and inconvenienced, she kept moving towards the base.

It was about the same kind of experience once they got there. It wasn't even funny how outmatched their forces were against her X-Men, but mostly, Bobby was doing all the work. They met with another line of defense and easily got through it using the exact same tactic. They got through the gate by freezing it solid, after which Ororo flung Hisako at it like a projectile. They did the same to infiltrate the actual building. Ororo was mainly focused on unseen angles of attack, employing vicious gusts of wind to blow away any and all attempts to come at them from a flank. Hisako and Sooraya were doing a good job of intercepting whatever she missed, but in general, it really was the Iceman's show.

Iceman was truly at home in a place such as that, freezing large areas instantly and with ease. All the while, he joked and gloated, oblivious to the tension and concentration that the rest of them were maintaining. Or maybe, he was very aware of it. Maybe that was why he was acting with such levity.

Once inside the base, they started searching for the bombs, first of all. Even though the entire facility was trying to attack them, there was little they could actually do against them. The enclosed space allowed for a lot less flanks and surprise attacks, and for that reason, Ororo was finally capable of interrogating their enemies more efficiently.

Once they found some soldiers of higher rank in a room, she had Bobbie stand outside to keep others from interrupting her and, along with Sooraya, hurt the men in a non-fatal, non-permanent way.

"Tell me how to get to the bombs. Give me clear and perfect instructions, or Dust shall push your eyes out of their sockets, and that will merely be the start of your unpleasantness." She knew Sooraya would never do that, and hopefully, the girl knew Ororo would never ask her to really do it. But for the sake of the interrogation, the girl knew to stay quiet and wait.

The man felt Dust's sand crawling inside his ears, and plugging his nose. Crying, he nodded. "I will tell you. I swear, I will tell you!"

"Good. You will also tell me how to find your leader, or failing that, your communications room." Ororo squinted her eyes. "I need to make a call."

"Ah, two of the originals," said a familiar voice coming from the door. A voice which Ororo had a tough time placing, but could still recollect, and with not an ounce of friendliness.

Turning her eyes, Ororo immediately recognized him, and knew looking had been a mistake. The bald head, the painted symbol around the forehead, and that look of utter arrogance that only an old-school villain could employ. "That explains it," he said, and it was already too late.

Ororo had met the eyes of Mesmero.

Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time.

WHO IS MESMERO?! He's pretty old school. Likely, only Iceman and Storm even know him. Check back next part when we meet the other "contractor" hired to lead the defense of this third base. One who is very familiar to our X-Men.