Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. But first, let's answer some reviews!
Brian.H.H: Yes, Phyllis is based off of F.I.L.S.S. from Red vs Blue. A fairly obvious reference for sure, but still fun to use. The Ruby pilot thing was a bit of a nod to Hunters of Justice, where there's a scene where a character (want to say Batman, but not 100% sure) is teaching Ruby to drive. Ruby's "bad piloting" skills may very well become a running gag in the series going forward.
superjoeyf721: I have seen both those movies, and while they were...interesting to say the least, I'd much rather them focus on getting the main series out instead of side projects like RWBY x Justice League and Ice Queendom. I don't really want to use the designs from those movies either because I kind of want to do my own thing.
SuperSaiyanFever: It gives me a good excuse to introduce X-Men associated characters.
Blackmetalzane22: I've also seen Weiss as someone that wants to get back to Remnant ASAP and not really getting into the whole "superhero" idea. As for Ruby's birthday, I'm not sure if I'll address it at this point due to the differences in time between Earth and Remnant (hell, I just picked a random date in the fall for when everything started), but if the storyline goes beyond a year story wise, then I'll probably address it. Or address another one of the characters' birthdays.
Guest: We'll see if your guess holds up after the big villain reveal here.
Ironchef13: I know the episode you're talking about, but I prefer the similar idea in the far superior Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon a few years earlier, in which most of the Avengers are turned into gamma monsters under the Leader's control while the dome that turned them into the monsters slowly expands, and it's up to Hawkeye (who was framed of being a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D. early in the show and is hunting down the real culprit, Black Widow), Hulk, and Thor (who isn't affected by the gamma radiation) to stop him.
CRUDEN: It really is. I'm sure you can already imagine him getting frustrated with characters like Ruby and Nora.
Guest: No, it's not Mister Sinister here, but I will say that I have plans for him.
Guest: I currently don't have too many plans for the younger heroes like the ones you're mentioning. However, never say never!
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the story.
Remnant HQ—October 25th
"Wolverine?" Jaune repeated.
"I've read about him in the Avengers' files," Ren said. "He's what is known as a mutant. His powers include an advanced healing factor and retractable metal claws."
The man known as Wolverine approached Steve. "You owe me big for this, Rogers," he growled slightly. "I aint a babysitter."
"This isn't exactly a babysitting job, Logan," Steve told him gently. "You're just here to help train them and make sure they don't bite off more than they can chew."
"Don't worry about it too much, Logan," Tony said with a small smirk. "I hear you're great with kids."
Logan pointed a finger in Tony's face. "Watch it, Stark."
"Well, we have to be going," Steve said. "Good luck everyone." With that, he and Tony walked back to the elevator. As the doors closed, he added, "Keep an eye on things, Phyllis."
"Affirmative, Captain Rogers," Phyllis answered.
Ruby and the others turned to look at Logan. He gave them all a cold stare, then turned and walked away without another word.
"Well, he's a great conversationalist," Nora commented.
"All right guys," Ruby said, "What do you say we all head down to this training room for a training exercise?"
"You just want to see what kind of weapons they have down there, don't you?" Weiss guessed.
Ruby flashed her an awkward grin in response.
"Yeah, I thought so."
Manhattan, New York—October 25th
"What do we know about what happened to the others?" Rogue asked as she drove through the bustling streets of New York.
"Not much," Remy admitted, his feet on the dashboard as he casually shuffled his cards. "It appears that that each one was targeted when he or she was alone. Whoever took them planned this out very carefully."
Rogue turned her head to face him. "Magneto?"
Remy shrugged. "Don't know. Last the Professor knew, he was still lying low in Genosha." He turned to face her as well. "You knew him once. Does this sound like something he would do?"
Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't know him that well, Remy."
He put his hands up. "I don't mean it like that, cher. I just meant that you might know if this is what he would do."
Rogue turned back to focus on the road. "I know what you meant, Remy."
She had to admit that she was worried about the others. All of them disappearing was troubling. The Brotherhood had been unusually quiet lately. Magneto was clearly planning something, and the disappearance of the X-Men could be the start of whatever scheme he had cooked up next.
Not that she would be accepted by the others anyway. Yes, she had switched sides, and Professor Xavier had welcomed her with open arms. But she had still felt like an outcast, even with the support of Remy, Kurt, and Logan. That's why she had taken a break from the hero life. She needed to clear her head and think things through.
But now, with the X-Men vanishing, she had no choice but to return to the fold. She had to make sure they were okay, despite many of them not liking her that much. Maybe saving them from whatever villain took them would help in her efforts to finally be accepted by the entire team.
Of course, that would mean potentially confronting her old teammates in the Brotherhood once more—especially if they were indeed involved in what happened to the X-Men. But they had been asking for it for a while now. And she was certainly ready to show that she had indeed cut all ties with them and was now fighting for peace rather than domination.
Rogue gripped the steering wheel of her car tighter. If the Brotherhood was behind the kidnapping of the X-Men, she would be ready for them.
Remnant HQ—October 25th
Ruby's eyes widened with awe when she and the others reached the training room. It was essentially a large, paneled dome covering a massive empty space. It didn't look like much at first, but she knew by now that looks on Earth could be deceiving.
"Are we sure we're in the right room?" Nora asked, looking around. "I don't see anything big and destructive."
"No, this is the right spot all right," Jaune told her. "It's just inactive."
"Well, how do we turn it on?" Weiss asked.
"Maybe Phyllis can help," Ruby suggested. "Uh, Phyllis? Are you there?"
"I am here, Miss Rose," Phyllis' voice echoed throughout the room.
"Could you turn on the training room please?"
"Affirmative. What training scenario would you like to run today?"
"Uh…"
"Perhaps I should pick one for you?" Phyllis suggested.
"Thank you, Phyllis," Ruby answered.
"Affirmative. Running Scenario 718-2013." Suddenly, all the panels around the dome began to flip over and projections began to appear. In seconds, the group was now standing in a vast looking arid wasteland.
"Woah," Jaune breathed. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"I don't think even the technology in Atlas was ever like this," Ren agreed.
Everyone turned to look at Weiss for her opinion. "What?" she asked. "Ren's right. I've never seen anything like this in Atlas. I don't even think the training room in the Academy even had holographic technology like this, even with the Hard-Light Dust."
"Generating enemies," Phyllis announced. A few seconds later, several humanoid shapes began to form, eventually transforming into men wearing green and yellow uniforms.
"Hydra foot soldiers?" Jaune asked.
"Affirmative," Phyllis confirmed.
Ruby and the others pulled out their weapons and prepared themselves for the fight. Once all the Hydra soldiers had formed, several mech walkers also appeared.
"Beginning simulation in 3…2…1…begin," Phyllis said. The Hydra soldiers sprang to life, raising their rifles and opening fire on the group. Everyone instantly scattered to avoid getting hit, with Ruby and Weiss darting one direction and Jaune, Nora, and Ren running in the other direction.
Ruby quickly leaped into the air, using her Semblance to dart around the soldiers and propelling herself with Cresent Rose, shooting down each soldier that was near her. When they were hit, each one exploded into tiny, dissolving particles.
Weiss, meanwhile, ran at the same group of Hydra soldiers, activating the fire blade on Myrtenaster and cutting through several of them. A few of them got off a few lucky shots, hitting her in the side and causing her Aura to flicker for a few seconds. Fortunately, Ruby saw that she was in trouble and darted in next to her, converting Crescent Rose into its scythe form and slicing through several of the Hydra soldiers as well as the legs of an approaching Hydra mech. The entire machine fell over with a CRASH, dissolving like the soldiers had.
Jaune was going blow for blow with a beefy looking Hydra soldier with his own blade. Just from briefly watching him, Ruby could tell that he had vastly improved since she had first met him. All those lessons with Pyrrha and, apparently, Thor and the Asgardians, were clearly paying off as he eventually knocked the blade out of the soldier's hand before stabbing him in the gut.
Ren ran around the edge of the battlefield, firing StormFlower rapidly at the soldiers as he ran by them. Many of them eventually fell and dissolved, overwhelmed by the sheer number of shock darts that were hitting them. When a few managed to reach Ren and engage him in hand-to-hand combat, he blocked and punched and slashed with his weapons with ease.
Nora jumped onto Magnhild in its hammer form and fired it, launching herself directly at one of the mechs. Once she reached it, she leaped off and swung the hammer directly onto the mech. The machine shattered instantly, and as Nora dropped to the ground, she slammed her now electrified hammer onto the ground, creating an electric shockwave that took down another three surrounding Hydra soldiers.
A larger mech launched a volley of missiles at where Jaune and Ren were now fighting side by side. "Get down!" Jaune yelled, running forward and pressing a button on his shield. An energy barrier formed, expanding outside the shield itself. When the missiles impacted the barrier, the force made Jaune stumble back a few paces, but otherwise, he and Ren were fine.
Ruby slammed Crescent Rose's scythe point into the ground, taking aim at the mech and firing several times. The rounds did enough damage to get the mech to turn on her, firing another volley of missiles that she evaded using her Semblance.
Nora hefted Magnhild in its grenade launcher form and fired several shots at the mech. The machine sparked as explosions rocket it, beginning to tip over right on top of Weiss, who raised her own blade and ran at it, slicing through the metal with ease and letting it collapse around her.
In less than five minutes, the entire area had been cleared of Hydra forces. "Simulation complete," Phyllis announced as the scenery faded, the room returning to its original state.
"Aww, is that it?" Nora complained.
"Hydra isn't really known for having the best foot soldiers," Jaune explained.
"But their heads can really pack a punch," Ruby piped up, remembering how brutal her fight with Grim Reaper was.
Weiss checked the new gauntlets that they had all been given. "Well, these seem to be working," she announced. "I'm getting our Aura levels precisely."
Nora checked hers as well. "Based on how little our Auras depleted, that was hardly a workout."
"It only gets harder from here, kid." Ruby and the others turned around to see Logan leaning against the wall. He then stood up straight and walked towards them.
"You were…watching us?" Ruby asked.
Logan nodded. "Wanted to see what I was getting into." For some reason, he didn't look too happy.
"Everything okay, Mr. Logan?" Jaune asked.
"Just call me Logan, bub," the grizzled hero told him. "And l don't like having to watch children go into war."
"War?" Ruby asked. "Do you mean with Ultron?"
"I meant with the creatures you fight. The Grimm."
"How do you know about that?" Weiss asked.
"I read the files the Avengers gathered on you and your stories of your world. A bunch of kids trained to be soldiers to fight against monsters."
"And that's…bad?" Ruby questioned, looking confused.
Logan crossed his arms. "I've seen more than a few kids being sent off to war in my time. It's never a good thing training kids to be soldiers."
The team stared at him for a moment. "This is a life we all chose," Ruby eventually said. "We all wanted this. We wanted to fight the Grimm and save lives."
Logan crossed his arms and looked like he was about to speak again when alarms suddenly began to blare. "Intruder alert," Phyllis announced. "Intruder alert."
"Intruder alert?!" Nora repeated. "Someone's already breaking into our new base?"
Logan turned around and ran for the elevator. The Remnantians quickly followed, squeezing in after him.
When they arrived back on the main floor, Ruby saw that the window glass had been shattered, as if someone or something had smashed right through it. But the living room was completely empty of any other living being.
"Well? Where's the bad guy?" Nora demanded to know.
"Quiet," Logan ordered. He sniffed the air, and his eyes suddenly narrowed. With a growl, a pair of three claws popped out of his knuckles with a small snikt.
A low laugh came from around the corner as a huge man with wild blonde hair appeared, scratching the walls with his own claws on his fingers. "Well, look what we have here," he said. "Making new friends, Wolverine?"
Logan growled again. "Sabretooth."
"Who?" Nora asked.
"Evil mutant," Ren explained. "Very dangerous."
"Aw, the little twerp knows who I am," Sabretooth mocked.
Logan stepped forward, putting himself between the kids and Sabretooth. "You want a fight, Creed? Fine. But this is between you and me."
"Oh, don't worry, runt," Sabretooth shot back. "I brought enough friends for everyone."
Logan let out a growl. "Your buddies in the Brotherhood?"
Sabretooth laughed. "Oh, no—these are your friends."
More people stepped out from behind Sabretooth. All of them wearing various superhero uniforms, with many of them having the letter "X" somewhere on them. And all of them staring directly at Ruby and the others without a hint of emotion.
Logan snarled in fury. "The X-Men. What the hell did Magneto do to them, Creed?"
Sabretooth laughed again. "Magneto aint calling the shots anymore, runt. There's someone else in charge now—someone more willing to bring you and your friends to their knees. Someone that will destroy your reputations and prove that mutants were meant to rule over humans." He flashed his claws in front of him. "And he wants to see you too."
"Can someone explain what the heck is going on?!" Nora demanded to know.
"Someone's placed the X-Men under mind control," Logan growled. "Don't hurt them if you can help it. Now's the time for you to prove how well you can fight." He started marching forward. "Sabretooth's mine."
"Get them!" Sabretooth ordered, and the room exploded into combat.
Manhattan, NY—October 25th
"Look over there, cher," Remy said, pointing off in the distance. Rogue looked in his direction and saw a small plume of smoke rising in the distance.
"What's going on over there?" she asked.
"Don't know, but it looks like trouble. Gambit thinks we should investigate."
"Fine. Hang on to something." Rogue stepped on the gas pedal and her car zoomed forward as she swerved around traffic.
"Hey, watch the road, cher!" Gambit shouted. "Where'd you learn to drive?"
Rogue smiled slightly. "With good old boys on country backroads," she told him. "Best teachers in the world." She shifted gears. "Now hang on; I'm kicking this thing into overdrive."
Remnant HQ—October 25th
The instant everyone started running, the man in the red visor fired a laser from it, which Ruby and Weiss were barely able to dodge in time. "What the heck?!" Weiss yelled in complaint.
"Scott Summers. Codename Cyclops," Ren quickly explained. "Laser vision contained by—" He was cut off as a slim looking girl took several swings at him. He flipped backwards and swung StormFlower at her. But the blades simply phased through her body, allowing her to kick him in the chin and knock him back.
"Forget the roll call!" Nora shouted, firing Magnhild at a hulking man with dark hair, whose skin instantly began to transform into metal until his entire body was covered in it. "If these guys are supposed to be heroes, why are they attacking us and wrecking our new house?!"
Logan let out a snarl as he traded blows with Sabretooth, knocking the latter into the back wall. "They're under mind control! Someone's making them do this against their will!"
"How is that possible?" Ruby cried.
"No time to explain!" Logan lunged at Sabretooth, who slashed him down and forced him to roll away while the villain leaped after him. "Just subdue them!"
"Alright, team!" Ruby exclaimed. "Let's get them and—gah!" Another laser blast from Cyclops blasted her clear through a wall.
"Ruby!" Weiss moved to help, but a beam of ice nearly stopped her in her tracks. This came from the man that seemed to be completely made up of ice as he slid on his own makeshift ice path towards her, shooting more ice spikes at her. She quickly activated the flame blade on Myrtenaster, slicing through the spikes and then the ice slide as the man slid by her, sending him flying.
Jaune extended his energy shield as the dark-skinned woman hovered overhead. She raised her hands and lightning crackled, striking down on his shields. He grunted with effort, trying to hold the lightning back. "Nora! Lightning!" he called.
Nora hopped over a couch, hammer at the ready. "I'm on it!" She jumped in front of the lightning, getting hit instantly and getting blasted off to the side. The metal man ran at her, pulling a fist back to pummel her. Nora climbed back to her feet and held a palm out, her body now crackling with energy. She easily caught the fist, but still strained to hold the massive metal man back.
Ren jumped and rolled, firing a series of shock darts at the phasing girl, who suddenly dove through the floor, vanishing from sight. Ren scanned the floor quickly with StormFlower, trying to determine where the girl would appear again. As he did, the girl rose up behind him. But at the last second, he turned around, blocking her strikes with his weapons and engaging in a fierce hand-to-hand combat duel with her.
Jaune was now blocking lightning from both the dark-skinned woman and Cyclops, and the energy shield was quickly taking a beating. But then Cyclops buckled as he was hit with a repulsor round courtesy of Ruby, who had climbed back through the massive hole in the wall she had been blasted through and was now firing with Crescent Rose on him.
Meanwhile, Logan raked his claws down against Sabretooth's arm, who snarled in pain and backhanded him, sending him flying into the kitchenette. "Come on, runt!" Sabretooth shouted. "Show me what you've got!"
Logan picked himself back up, cracking his neck muscles. With a roar, he charged back at Sabretooth, slicing at him with his claws, which the villain blocked with his own.
Weiss found herself still locked in battle with the ice guy. He was shooting more beams of ice at her, forcing her to keep moving, deflecting the ice shards that got too close to her. She once again cursed her lack of an effective Semblance keeping her from mounting a better offensive against him. All she could do was keep moving and hope that she could get a good chance to strike at him.
At the other side of the room, Nora was starting to lose ground against the metal man as he slowly began pushing her towards a corner. But then she suddenly let go and ducked. The man, pushed by his forward momentum, tripped over her and crashed behind her. Seeing her chance, Nora grabbed the man by the foot, grunted with effort, and threw him directly into the dark-skinned woman, forcing both back down to the ground.
Ren stumbled back from a kick to the face from the phasing girl. She moved forward and attacked with another flurry of punches and kicks. Ren blocked with his hands before suddenly grabbing one of her fists. Before she could react, Ren slammed his elbow down on her arm, forcing her to her knees. He then tried to kick her in the head, but she phased through his body, ending up behind him, where she then kicked him in the back. He stumbled forward, his aura flickering slightly, before turning around and continuing the fight.
"Shouldn't the security systems be kicking in right about now?" Jaune asked, blocking another blast from Cyclops. "I thought Phyllis had some sort of defense grid!"
Ruby sped over to him, firing several more blasts with Crescent Rose at Cyclops. "Maybe they disabled it?"
Sabretooth threw Wolverine across the room, where he landed next to the two. "It's probably the friend or foe tagging system," he guessed. "The system doesn't register the X-Men as enemies because they're heroes."
"Then why isn't it activating because of Sabretooth?" Jaune asked.
Logan growled. "You're asking me if I know how Stark programs his toys?"
"Couch!" Ruby shouted as Sabretooth threw a couch at them. Logan sliced through it with ease.
"Phyllis! Can you activate the defense systems?!" Jaune asked.
"I am sorry," Phyllis answered. "But most of my security systems cannot target singular enemies. I cannot fire my main cannons without significantly injuring everyone in the room."
"Forget about it, kid!" Logan ordered. "Just keep holding them back!" He ran back at Sabretooth, tackling the large man and crashing through another wall.
Weiss sliced through another pillar of ice. "Hold them back, he says," she grumbled slightly. "As if we weren't going already doing that—"
"Weiss, look out!" Ruby cried. Weiss quickly turned, but it was too late. The ice man's beam of ice slammed into her, pushing her into the wall and freezing her there. She struggled to free herself, but she was stuck.
"Oh, this is just perfect," she complained. The ice man approached her, a long ice spike forming in his hand.
"Leave her alone!" Ruby cried, sprinting over and slashing the ice off Weiss. She now stood in front of the broken window, aiming Crescent Rose at the ice man and firing several repulsor rounds at him, forcing him back. "If you want her, you're going to have to go through—"
CRASH! A winged man suddenly burst through the same window, widening the hole further. He quickly grabbed Ruby and yanked out, flying away.
"Ruby!" Weiss cried.
"Weissssssss!" Ruby's scream echoed as she was flown out of earshot.
Weiss couldn't believe it. Ruby was just…gone. She turned back towards the ice man as he shook off his momentary daze. Anger began to rise up within her. She pointed Myrtenaster at him and charged, slicing expertly at him. But he quickly recovered, shoving Weiss back the way she had come. She tripped over a piece of rubble, falling flat on her back. As she did, a glyph quickly appeared on the floor where her hand was. In an instant, a shape grew from the glyph, quickly forming into a familiar shape.
Weiss blinked in shock. The white boarbatusk snorted slightly before charging directly at the ice man. He didn't even have time to react before the beast slammed into him, sending him sprawling. Ren, seeing this, managed to kick the phasing girl back so that the ice man slammed into her, sending both to floor. A few seconds later, the creature dissolved away into nothing.
Weiss stared at what had happened. Had she just…summoned a boarbatusk? It almost reminded her of the one that she had killed in Professor Port's class back at Beacon. Was she finally starting to get the hang of summoning?
"Weiss!" Jaune's shout snapped Weiss back to her senses. But his warning came too late as Cylcops' laser beam struck her in the shoulder. She stumbled back from the force a little too far, slipping on the edge of the hole in the window. She tried to save herself, swinging her arms to regain her balance, but it was too late; she fell out the window with a cry.
She plummeted several stories, fully expecting to hit the ground hard. However, strong arms caught her before she hit, and she was met face to face with a handsome looking man with red eyes.
"Where you going, petite?" he asked charmingly.
Jaune tried to slide in to grab Weiss' hand as she stumbled backwards out the window. But he was too slow. "Weiss!" he called fruitlessly as she fell.
Another laser blast almost hit him in the back. He rolled over and jumped back to his feet as Cyclops readied another optical blast.
At this point, Jaune had had enough of his laser attacks. He ran directly at Cyclops, ducking his head behind his shield as he shot a beam directly at him. He gritted his teeth and continued his march, straining as the pressure built with each step towards his opponent. With a final rage filled cry, he took the final steps forward and slammed the shield directly into his face.
Cyclops stumbled back, holding his face in pain, and that's when Jaune swung his sword directly at his side. The sword struck home, not slicing due to the energy field over the blade, but causing Cyclops to grunt in pain, stumbling further back.
Jaune got back into his fighting stance, ready to continue engaging Cyclops, but someone slammed into him from behind. He hit the wall hard, quickly seeing that it had been the metal man, who was now running directly at him again. "Oh, great," he said, raising Crocea Mors and preparing for a fight.
Strong, gloved hands suddenly grabbed him from under the arms, lifting him up and throwing him aside with ease. "Sorry about that, Petey!" the woman that had thrown him aside said. Behind her, Jaune could see, to his relief, Weiss, along with a man in a brown trench coat.
Sabretooth looked over from his grueling fight with Logan. "You!" he growled. This momentary distraction allowed Logan to strike, digging his claws in deep in Sabretooth's chest before wrenching them free and kicking him, which sent him flying back towards the rest of the X-Men, who were backing up slowly from their opponents.
"Game's over, Sabretooth," Logan growled. "Let the X-Men go and get out of here while you still can."
Sabretooth laughed. "The game hasn't even started yet, Wolverine! We may not have gotten you, but we managed to snag a consolation prize."
"Don't even think about it," the new woman warned. "You let the X-Men go!"
"Listen to the lady, bub," Logan ordered.
"I have a better idea." Engines suddenly whirled as some sort of hovercraft appeared outside the window, occupied by a green skinned man and a blonde man dressed in orange with a pair of tanks on his back. In the back of the hovercraft, to Jaune's horror, was an unconscious Ruby.
"Ruby!" Jaune sprinted at the group.
"Kid, don't!" Logan yelled as Cyclops fired another optical blast. The shot hit Jaune in the chest and knocked him back. Seeing their chance, Sabretooth and the X-Men quickly hopped onto the vehicle.
"Oh no you don't!" The woman shot towards the hovercraft, flying quickly through the air. But the blonde man raised his hands and twin bursts of flame shot from the nozzles, engulfing the area in front of the window, while the dark-skinned woman shot bolts of lightning that hit her, blasting her to the ground.
"We'll be seeing you again real soon, Wolverine!" The green-skinned man shouted as he flew the hovercraft away, joined by what appeared to be a winged man alongside it. "Count on that!"
"Alert. Fire detected," Phyllis announced. Sprinkler systems activated, dousing the now completely wrecked living room with water, and putting the fire out.
Logan bent down and helped the woman up. "You okay, Rogue?"
She brushed her hair back. "I'm fine, Logan."
"How'd you and the Cajun wind up here?"
"Looking for you, mes ami," the other man answered. "The Professor needs our help to figure out what happened to the X-Men."
"I think we just got our answer of what happened, Gambit," Logan answered.
"Hey, excuse me," Jaune interrupted. "I hate to interrupt, but—"
"—what the heck just happened?!" Nora finished.
"Taking up a babysitting job, Logan?" Gambit asked.
Logan growled. "Watch it, Gumbo. They're from another planet that got taken over by Ultron. Rogers asked me to keep an eye on them."
"Hello?" Weiss interjected. "I think we're missing the important thing here—Ruby got taken!"
Rogue put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get her back, sugah," she assured her. "We'll get them all back."
"Who was that guy on the hovercraft?" Jaune asked.
"The one that took control of the X-Men," Logan answered. "His name is Mesmero. And he apparently took control of the Brotherhood."
"What about Magneto?" Rogue asked.
"From the way Sabretooth was talking, Mesmero must have found a way to get rid of him. He and the Brotherhood are up to something big, big enough that they want the X-Men under their control."
"What about Ruby?" Weiss demanded to know.
"Mesmero wanted me specifically," Logan went on, "but I don't think he was expecting this much resistance. He couldn't get me, so he took that kid instead to be a pawn in his game."
"How do we find them?" Jaune asked.
Logan was about to explain when a shout came from the other side of the room. "Over here!" Ren called, carrying the motionless body of the phasing girl in his arms.
"Oh, Kitty," Rogue breathed as Ren set her down.
"You took her down?" Logan asked.
Ren nodded. "She put up a fight. But I managed to subdue her."
The corners of his mouth peeled back into a slight smile. "Not bad, kid. Not bad."
Bamf! Suddenly, there was a flash of smoke, and a blue, furry…thing was standing before them. "Ah, Logan, there you are," he said.
Nora raised her hammer. "Another one of them!" she yelled, lunging forward to attack, only for Rogue to grab her by her shirt collar and hold her back.
"Easy, sugah," she told her. "Kurt's with us."
"What are you doing here, elf?" Logan asked.
"The Professor sent Hank and I in the X-Jet to collect you and bring you back to the school," Kurt explained. "Along with both Rogue and Gambit. We landed on the roof."
Logan folded his arms. "He'd better have some explanations for all this." He started for the elevator.
"We're coming too," Jaune decided.
Logan turned back to face him and the others. "Look, kid—"
"That's our friend that was kidnapped," Weiss interrupted.
"We're going to help get her back," Ren added, also stepping forward.
"No matter what it takes," Nora finished.
Logan let out a growl of frustration. "Let them come, Logan," Rogue suggested gently. "We're going to need all the help we can get."
"Fine," Logan relented. "I guess you proved you can hold your own in a fight." He headed for the lift, while Rouge took Gambit and flew with him out the window, presumably to the roof landing pad that way. Kurt, meanwhile, teleported away with the unconscious Kitty with another bamf!
"Come on, guys," Jaune said, following Logan to the lift. "Let's get to the bottom of this."
"And hope we can find Ruby before its too late," he added to himself.
Whoo boy, a lot just happened. Let's talk about what all just happened.
First off, Mesmero. Probably one of the last villains you expected to show up as the main villain of an arc. But, as much as I'd like to use Magneto, I'm saving him for later. And, as mentioned before, other X-Men related villains-such as Mister Sinister-I do already have future plans for. And after a lot of arcs with big, insanely powerful enemies like Asgardians, Doctor Doom, and the Champion of the Universe, I really didn't want to use someone incredibly powerful like the Shadow King or the Hellfire Club. Mesmero seemed like a perfect blend of someone that is powerful, but beatable. After all, he has been described as a "second-rate" villain who tends to fail simply because he's never had the right plan.
Of course, he's going to have the Brotherhood backing him up. We've already seen both Sabretooth and Pyro. There will be more later. Originally, I didn't really plan for any of the Brotherhood to make appearances. But I decided that it worked better this way to get more characters going as well as to get some Wolverine vs Sabretooth brawls.
As for why Ruby was taken, this was kind of on purpose. Weiss, Jaune, Nora, and Ren didn't get too much of a chance to shine in their respective introduction arcs due to the enemies they were fighting being completely out of their league. This gives me a chance to really focus on them as they work with the remaining X-Men in stopping Mesmero in whatever scheme he's cooked up this time.
We're almost all set for a big superhuman brawl. So far, most of the fights in this story have been mostly one-on-ones or battles against random armies. We've yet to have a bunch of characters duking it out all in the same area. But we're about to. And it will hopefully be epic.
I included several X-Men cartoon references in this chapter, pretty much all of them quotes from the 90s cartoon. I recently started rewatching it to get myself even more hyped for this arc, and boy does it still hold up. Cable's entrance to the series is still one of my favorites. And no, that's not a hint to say that Cable's coming.
I also kind of spoofed a little the scene from RWBY where Weiss accidentally summons a boarbatusk, though in this case it actually helped. It also shows that her summoning powers are growing further. Whether they'll be ready for true combat soon will be a tossup.
But anywho, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.