I drummed my fingers impatiently off of the side of a wall I leaned against as what was left of our ragtag group of mutants and extraterrestrial agents/soldiers gathered together at the bridge of Danger's freaky giant insect transport.
There wasn't anything I could really do. Miss Pryde and Mister Rasputin were off rallying the local resistance movement. Mister Logan and Hisako were getting themselves caught so they could be Mister Summers' inside team when it was time to storm the palace.
It made sense for her to be there, really. He could basically regenerate any injuries that befell him, and she could protect herself from almost anything. That made them the most durable and prepared for that kind of fight. I just wasn't used to it. I didn't like it. I wasn't used to being relegated to the roles I found myself in. For me, it was one of those 'before you can lead, you have to learn how to follow' situations. It was an exercise in patience.
Meanwhile, it seemed like everyone else had accomplished their objectives.
Miss Frost sat in a chair behind Danger's driver's seat, a hand held to her temple, "Sorry, my head is stuffed with building plans. What's not the sun?" She asked Dr. McCoy.
Our furry, blue friend seemed to be taken aback by whatever he'd found out, "The prophecy. It talks about pulling the light from the Breakworld, through the 'Temple of Power'."
Agent Brand took over the explanation, "Kruun's thronehouse sits on a reactor. It powers everything, literally by pulling energy from the planet's core."
"It's not a prophecy though, it's a plan," Dr. McCoy jumped back in, "The inscription we found at the tomb is absurdly specific. It's practically an instruction manual on destroying the Breakworld."
Miss Frost's brows furrowed as she tried to take note of this and what she was trying to do psychically, "And who do you think would want to-?" She stopped when she got a ping of what she had been looking for, "Hold on, I found Scott. Are we close?"
"We'll be at the prison in thirty seconds," Danger replied, the calm countenance of an analytical machine. To that end, I pushed myself off of the wall and loosened myself up. Even more fighting was ahead.
"God, he's in so much pain," Miss Frost lamented. Having been subjected to torture before, I could only imagine how bad it was when it was of the high-tech alien variety.
It was only fair play that in exchange for that, Mister Summers got to unleash an optic blast that tore a gaping hole in the ceiling of the fortress. Just in case anyone forgot that he actually had the raw power in addition to the tactical know-how to lead the X-Men.
When we hit the fortress, the place was madness. Guards were scrambling all over the place, caught between trying to get to wherever Mister Summers was, to trying to get their hands on Mister Logan and Hisako – both of whom had gotten loose within the building, and dealing with us; a handful of mutants and some well-armed and pissed off other-worldly soldiers.
Also worth mentioning, Mister Rasputin and Miss Pryde arrived and jumped in with the leader of the Breakworld resistance. The more the merrier.
We caught them on our way in and mashed our way past. Sometimes we caught pockets of enemies facing the entirely wrong way. To say they got rolled over was an understatement. When we caught up with Mister Logan and Hisako, they just folded into the rest of our group and joined us in the smack down.
"Miss me?" I said, running up to her side as I kept my eyes ahead, shooting anything with greenish skin and Breakworld metal armor, "I mean, I know it's only been like three hours, but still-."
"Getting captured sucks," Hisako said, taking the opportunity that came with my ranged shooting to armor down before she exhausted herself, "Especially when you're throwing the fight. Do you know how hard it is to lose on purpose?"
I focused on taking a few distance shots, sticking close to protect her so she didn't have to use her powers unnecessarily. Losing to the people on this planet, even intentionally, probably hurt, so she was likely feeling it, "No, because I'm a winner. And winners like Bellamy Marcher lay down for absolutely no one," I paused for a moment to add something else, "...Unless you're a lady. Then I might lie down for you."
I could feel Hisako roll her eyes next to me. If I weren't shooting bad guys left, right, and center, she probably would have punched me in the arm, "We're fighting an army here, and you're making awful jokes."
"It was more of a double meaning kind of thing, but I catch your drift," I said, sending a burst of energy through my body to speed up and dropkick open the doors to Kruun's torture chamber. It was there we found a thrashed and shirtless Cyclops standing over his captors, including the 'Powerlord' himself, "Oh captain, my fucking captain!"
I saluted that man when I landed through those doors, completely unironically. How could I not do it seriously? He literally DIED to use himself as bait. All to give us an opening and get people inside of the main facility of the planet. That's some real leader shit.
"Bellamy, language," Mister Summers chided, sounding a bit worn out at the ordeal he had undergone. He did spare a bit of a smile though, "Also, thanks."
A soldier started getting up in the corner of the room. I went to go and shoot him, but Mister Summers did it instead, barely turning to blast him with his eye beam, "Uh... nevermind. You've got it," The man was in charge for a reason.
At that point, others started swarming in and securing the place. Mister Summers directed traffic, pointing out the main Breakworld guy, Powerlord Kruun. Mister Rasputin grabbed him and wrapped him up in metal to keep him in place.
As the guy in charge of the alien force threatening our planet was subdued, Mister Summers spoke to the rest of us, "So, here's where we stand. We have their Powerlord inside his most impregnable prison."
Mister Logan let out a snort, "We pregged it quick enough," Cocky, even if it was true. It sounded like something I'd have said, actually.
Mister Summers raised an eyebrow, "We're the X-Men," That did too.
"We're not," Hisako and I said at the same time, pointing out the obvious.
Mister Logan gave me a smack on the back of the head, "You basically are now."
I didn't even mind getting hit like I was a misbehaving seven year-old. I was just happy to hear that come out of someone's mouth. Not only was I easy to goad into a fight, apparently I was easy to satisfy.
The Breakworld resistance leader moved forward to provide input, "Soldiers will come. Sylatin, Kruun's underling, will be massing a force, even now. He'll know how to get in."
The idea of a prolonged siege of that dump didn't appeal to anyone, "What kind of fight can we put up?" Mister Summers asked. We needed the planet's core. That was the only reason we had broken into the place to begin with.
Agent Brand's top S.W.O.R.D. soldier responded, "We've secured the facility and picked up some impressive weaponry. If they come hard, we can still buy you a few hours."
A bunch of pissed off soldiers with fancy new toys they could use to get some revenge on enemies that would be running straight at them to take the fortress back. It sounded like a good defensive fighting force to me.
"Can we use this guy as a bargaining chip?" Mister Summers asked Aghanne, referring to the captured Kruun.
Aghanne hesitated, but eventually shook her head no, "They will do everything in their power to protect him, but bargaining is not exactly a Breakworld concept," Things like mercy, surrender, retreat. Soft terms like that weren't recognized there, "If they begin to see Kruun as weak..."
They would take him out and have him replaced. Weakness was unforgivable to this culture. It was visible in the way they carried themselves and how advanced and overbearing their military complex was.
Agent Brand spared Kruun a glance, probably thinking of the best way to use him while we had him, "There's a chance Sylatin may nuke the place anyway. He's after Kruun's throne. He was making a deal with us."
I stopped her right there. This just didn't seem smart to me, "Wait. You made a deal with the guy's second-in-command?" I remembered something she'd told us before we'd ever arrived. Back when we'd been getting briefed on S.W.O.R.D.'s main ship, "That was your source on Breakworld? Not any of these... resistance people?"
You know... the lady that seemed to know the inner workings of the planet's command? The person with the underground army that was fighting against the tyrant in charge, instead of the guy going along with his every whim?
Agent Brand scowled at me. It probably pissed her off to be questioned by a teenager, "Kid, what do you know about espionage?"
Age meant nothing when it came to logic, "I know you don't make a deal with anyone's right-hand man!" This wasn't a movie. Not everyone was ambitious beyond loyalty. Some people actually were fine with where they were in life. In a position like someone's underboss, this was normally the rule instead of the exception, "How do you think they got that high up? Because whoever the boss is can trust 'em! Why are we not dead?"
"Sure ain't from lack of trying," Mister Logan cracked, looking around at the large group standing around, getting information, "Can we get this show on the road already? I'd like to finish this while we've still got a planet to go back to."
Time was indeed of the essence, something Mister Summers understood, "Our priority is the missile. We can either disable it up close, or convince Kruun to stand down. We work both angles. Two squads."
Yay. We were all splitting up again. It seemed that life wouldn't let us all stay together and handle everything as a complete unit for too long. Granted, when we all came together, we could take down whole fortresses full of armed guards in less than twenty minutes. Maybe it was a little unfair to ask.
"Hank, you get Kitty to the missile. If the two of you can't disable that thing, it can't be done," Mister Summers said, "Agent Brand knows the terrain, so she's in. Logan and Armor are the escort. That whole satellite is going to come down on you once they realize you're there. Solaris has the most firepower out of the lot of us."
Right. Me, Miss Pryde, Dr. McCoy, Mister Logan, Hisako, and Agent Brand playing the role of the away team. Fantastic.
It was the first time Hisako and I had been stuck together since we'd been teleported from the Institute, "Paladins, mount up," She said under her breath. I laughed.
One of the people who didn't seem to agree with this arrangement was Mister Rasputin, "Scott..."
He wanted to go with Miss Pryde. He wanted to be away from the planet that he was supposed to be destined to destroy. Mister Summers didn't bend to sentiment, "I'm not asking, Pete. You're our ace in the hole. You can actually do the thing Kruun fears most – kill the planet," Colossus winced at the thought. Mister Summers set a hand on his shoulder, "It's ugly, but it's a card we've got to hold."
Seeing as how the other outcome was our planet being destroyed, most of us didn't have a lot of sympathy for this place getting the ax. We were supposed to be superheroes though, so it wouldn't come to that if we could help it. Still, Earth came first. We lived there, after all.
Mister Summers continued issuing marching orders, making sure we were all organized, "Aghanne and Emma are with us. The rest of you are holding the fort. Make a big noise of it. The more forces you draw here, the better chance everyone else has."
The S.W.O.R.D. soldier from before held the weapon in his hand tightly, "Our boys who were captured got worked over pretty bad. We're ready for some fireworks."
"Outstanding."
What else needed to be said?