Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.
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Chapter Eighteen
Battle
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The fragments of the sixth Sentinel vanished into the waves as the bridge finished settling, then Magneto stepped forwards, his eyes fixed on the mixed military and security personnel running to key positions.
"Homo Sapiens and their guns." He sneered as he reached out, then he frowned. "They're learning. They have no metal on them."
The defenders waited, guns at the ready and Magneto shrugged. "We have come this far, let us go the rest of the way. Attack!"
With a roar, the horde of mutants surged forwards and Magneto thrust out one arm, stopping Galatea in her tracks.
"No, only the pawns attack first."
"I thought I was one." Galatea growled and Magneto shook his head.
"No. You are my weapon, but your powers make you more than a pawn. Wait for now."
Even as he spoke, a dozen more Sentinels appeared and he sighed.
"There are your targets, Galatea. Destroy those Sentinels."
Galatea blurred forwards, gaining altitude even as the first guns fired.
"Those do not sound like regular guns." Magneto frowned, then he spread his fingers. Behind him, the empty coaches that had blocked the bridge slid to the sides of the road.
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Quill waited impatiently as the quartet of mutants whose powers gave them control over steel and concrete melded the end of the bridge to the road. After a moment, one of them waved and Quill turned to the driver.
"Let's go!"
With a grin, the driver accelerated up the newly-formed ramp and Quill glanced behind him, seeing the first of the other coaches moving to follow his coach onto the bridge.
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Galatea tore into the giant robots, firing beams of cutting heat from her eyes as she ripped them to shreds, taking out her rage against the one who controlled her on the metallic war machines.
Spotting one that looked more human-like, she swooped down on it, ripping its head off and ignoring the plastic darts that ricocheted off her skin. Hurling the wreckage at a second Sentinel, she growled as a missile exploded, temporarily deafening her.
"Right!" She growled. "No more Miss Nice Clone!"
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Although significantly outnumbered, the guards had several notable advantages.
They were backed up by a military platoon. Although this almost doubled their numbers to fifty-one and they were facing over a thousand adversaries, their reinforcements were highly professional and refused to panic, their steadfastness supporting the willingness of the guards to hold the line.
Their attackers were running uphill towards them. This gave them a better range and meant that most of the attackers were beginning to tire by the time they reached the outer fence.
The attackers were unused to actually fighting together. This meant that rather than an army of mutants, the guards merely faced a mob. Although still a challenge, it was far less than a true army would have been.
And the attackers were relying on their powers. Many had trained themselves, seeking ways to maximise their abilities, but none of them had considered what they would do if their powers failed them.
Or were removed.
The first volley was targeted at those who were obviously an immediate threat, those holding balls of energy or who were throwing projectiles. The second took down many of those in the front rank of the attacking mob, an action that did not go unnoticed.
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"They've weaponised it." Magneto growled. "Arclight, can you take out those guns?"
"Not without touching one first." Arclight admitted, then she blinked as Pietro blurred to a halt in front of her, a rifle in his arms and two more landing at his feet.
"Got one." He smirked as the sounds of combat in the background increased. Arclight took the rifle and an instant later, it suddenly shattered.
"Got it." She smirked. Magneto smiled as she took a step forwards, energy pooling in her outstretched cupped hands, then she snapped her arms forwards, slamming her palms together to unleash a wave of crackling energy that slashed across the battlefield, passing through the combatants without doing more than distracting them, but causing the rifles to crack and splinter into uselessness. With their primary weapons removed, the tide of battle quickly turned.
"Good work… kid?" She finished in confusion, looking round for the teen who had given her the gun.
"You get used to Quicksilver's impatience." Magneto said, catching her attention. "You must remember, his heartbeat at rest is twenty beats a second, all of us are in slow-motion to him."
Arclight nodded, then her eyes widened as she saw a silver blur weaving through the guards.
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Pietro raced through the mob, laughing as he struck out, sending the guards and soldiers flying. Slowing slightly, he pushed at a handgun, only for it to fire, sending a trio of plastic darts into the mob, depowering three of the attackers.
"Oops." Pietro winced as two of the affected started panicking while the third stared at his no-longer-scaled hands before fainting. Lashing out, he took down the soldier, then looked round.
"It's clear!" He shouted. "Let's move!"
The roar of the mob rose and he turned to face the building in which the so-called Cure was being made, then a beam of red light slashed across the ground before him as a plane roared past. Jerking his head up, Pietro stared as the Javelin finished its roll even as it decelerated at a rate that no plane should have been capable of.
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"Approaching Angel Island." Scott announced. "Scanners indicate that the last soldiers are being overwhelmed… everyone hang on!"
Alex gave his brother a confused look which turned to shock as Scott spun the Javelin upside-down.
"What are you doing?!" He yelped even as screams and shouts echoed from the main compartment. Scott spared him a quick grin, then raised one hand to his visor.
"SCOOOOTTTTT!"
Even as Alex shouted in protest, Scott activated his visor, sending a beam of ruby light straight into the cockpit's windscreen…
…and straight through without causing any damage to it at all.
"…how?" Alex gasped as Scott pulled the Javelin out of its inverted flight and reversed the thrust of the engines at the same time.
"Clark installed special cockpit windows so that I could fire through them." Scott shrugged as he settled the plane on the helipad of the building. "Alright, we're down! Everyone out and ready!"
Alex glared at his brother as the ramp hissed down and the passengers began to debark at a run.
"I'll remember this, you know."
Scott laughed as he finished powering down the Javelin and unbuckled himself. "Come on, let's not miss this."
Alex sighed as he followed his brother. "Why did I leave Australia?"
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Pietro picked himself up and shook his head.
"What the hell was tha-WHOAH!"
A second plane flew past barely five meters above the ground, swinging round to land in front of the research building. Even as it landed, a ramp extended from the black aircraft and people started to pile out.
Pietro paled as the leading newcomer spotted him.
"Oh hell!" He yelped as he ducked a purple blast. "I'm so outta here!"
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"Coward!" Wanda screamed as her brother vanished in a blur.
"Concentrate!" McCoy snapped as he ran past on all fours. "Hold the line!"
The scene was briefly illuminated by a red blast and Hank grinned as the beam slammed into the ground in front of the mob, the concussion wave sending a dozen attackers flying.
"There's too many of them!" Jubilee gasped as she raised her shades to see the mob better, then Lance stepped past her, cracking his knuckles.
"Oh, they won't get past us, sweet cheeks. Let me show you how the Brotherhood does things."
As the attackers started to wrk themselves up into a charge, Lance inhaled deeply, then stretched his hands out.
"Let's SHAKE THINGS UP! " He shouted, stamping on the ground and sending a wave through the earth, sending the entire front rank of the mob sprawling.
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"Avalanche." Magneto snarled. "It would seem that the Brotherhood has truly chosen to betray me."
Arclight glanced at him, then she blinked as the first coach trundled past with Quill hanging out of the door.
"Attaaaaack! Fooooooorewards! Now for guts and gloooooooryyyyyy!"
Magneto half-turned, a disbelieving expression on his face and Arclight shrugged.
"He sometimes gets carried away…"
Magneto continued to stare at her.
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Quill leapt out of the now-stopped coach and started to push his way forwards, only to stumble as the ground rippled underneath him.
"Dammit, Richter!" He shouted. "Be careful how you use your power!"
"Hey, it ain't me! It's commin' from them!" The grey-haired man snarled as he strode forwards. "They've got a groundshaker of their own!"
"Can you block him?"
"Never done it before, but… yeah. I'll need protecting, though, gonna hafta concentrate for this."
Quill nodded and motioned for several people to protect Quake, then he finished pushing through to the front. Looking round, he saw that only a dozen or so were blocking them.
"Omegas lead the way!" He shouted, his cry quickly picked up by the other Omegas. "Chaaaaaarge!"
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"Shit." Lance swore in a flat tone of voice. "There's another seismic-type out there, he's cancelling my powers. Either one of us goes down, the other gets free rein on shaking things up. Ain't gonna be able to do much while I'm matching him. Sorry."
"Just move to back and stay ready." Colossus rumbled as he checked the small device on his belt was still working. "Form lines, strong in front."
Jubilee stepped back, then blinked as a small boy stepped past her to stand next to Colossus. The metal man looked down in concern.
"Chris, you ready for this?"
Chris nodded, then smiled as Laura slid into position beside him, extending his claws. "Superboy and Kunoichi, ready."
Colossus nodded, then looked at the charging mutants while above them, lightning flashed out, knocking one of the flying mutants from the sky.
"All others, hold line, front row, attack!"
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Warren Worthington III swooped down, his gloves glowing with the stunning field emitted from the circuitry integrated into them by Lexington. His target never saw him coming and paid the price as Angel slammed into him, the field knocking him out almost instantly.
As he pulled up, a beam of red passed just below him and he heard it impact on someone behind him. Pausing only to give a nod of thanks to Cyclops for intercepting whoever it was who had been about to attack him, Angel beat his wings to gain more height, looking round to find another target.
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Chris slammed into the largest of the mutants before him, trusting hin his Kryptonian heritage to protect him. The nine-foot-tall woman was knocked off her feet and sent flying backwards, knocking over at least another dozen mutants like skittles, then someone grabbed his arm.
"Time for you to get some sleep, brat!" The man snarled as his hand glowed green and Chris grinned at the proof that, like his father, he was also immune to mutant powers.
"You get some sleep!" He countered and the man's eyes widened just before Chris delivered an uppercut that somersaulted the man into the crowd. A roar attracted his attention and he whistled at the sight of Frank McCoy balancing on one hand, spinning as he used his other hand and both feet to throw a trio of mutants back.
"Go, teach!" He whispered in awe.
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"Whoah." Bobbie Drake whistled as he watched the young Kryptonian forge a path through the attacking crowd. "Remind me to not tease him about having an older girlfriend."
"Less talk, more action!" Tabitha snarled as she hurled a spray of explosive spheres at a small group that had managed to slip between the first line of defence. Bobbie blushed slightly as he covered the slope before them in ice, causing the attacking mutants to slide back into the running battle, cursing as they did so.
"Très bon travail." Gambit complimented him and Bobbie grinned at the newest teacher.
"Hey, what can I say? I'm cool!"
"C'était une blague terrible." Gambit groaned as he unleashed a spray of exploding cards.
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"Logan."
"Creed."
The two stared at each other for a long moment, then Creed tilted his head slightly.
"Not attacking yet? What happened, short stuff?"
"We fought together before, but something happened." Logan growled. "I want answers, Creed. How long did we fight alongside each other, brother?"
Creed's eyes widened in shock. "You… remember? How?"
"DNA don't lie." Logan snarled. "You gonna talk, bub, or am I gonna hafta drag your worthless carcass back to the Institute for answers?"
Despite the rampaging battle around them, it almost seemed silent, then Sabertooth sighed.
"Not today, little brother. I got a job to do. Grab that so-called Cure so that Magneto can reverse it and turn everyone into mutants like us."
"Like he tried to do with the Gem of Cyttorak?" Logan countered. "You remember that, right? He almost wiped out all humans, normals and mutants!"
"It's different this time." Creed growled, dropping into a combat ready stance. "Sorry, but you ain't going to stop us."
"That's what you think." Logan replied, clenching his fists.
Snikt!
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Author's Afternote: Yeah, one nasty place to stop, ain't it?