Chapter 440 - 17-20

Chapter 17

After he broke up the fight between Bakugo and Logan, Deku helped clear the area. Once the rest of Xavier's students had been calmed down and returned to campus, Logan led the UA students back to the underground bunker they had entered the mansion from. They tried to find Bobby and Todoroki on the way there, but they were surprisingly nowhere to be found. Scott, Pietro, and Wanda met up with them shortly after they arrived at a certain door, already dressed in uniform for combat.

"You two find Bobby or that other kid?" asked Logan.

"No," replied Wanda, shaking her head.

"I swept the whole campus," said Pietro, "couldn't find him."

The other X-Men looked confused, thinking that was strange.

As if on cue, the door they were standing in front of opened, and Bobby and Todoroki walked out, having a jovial conversation about their respective powers. The two boys stopped suddenly, surprised to find a large crowd gathered outside.

"There you are," said Logan.

"We were wondering where you had gone, Todoroki," said Uraraka.

"Oh, well since Drake and I both have ice powers, I figured it would make for good training if we sparred a bit."

"What are all of you guys doing here?" asked Bobby.

"Some training of our own," answered Scott. "Good thing you two are already warmed up, no pun intended; you're joining us."

"We're doing a team battle, us versus them," explained Logan, leading them all into the room. "We're gonna see if these otherworld rookies really have what it takes to go into the field."

"Still going on about that?" asked Bobby.

"Yea, and I'm still with him on that," said Scott, as he went over to the computer and began adjusting settings.

Within the large room beyond the glass, the floor and wall panels in the room began to rearrange themselves into the shape of a city, with real props brought up from below and hologram projectors on the walls completing the illusion. Even the ceiling was made to look like a partly cloudy blue sky, save for the blue and yellow spotlights beaming down to opposite ends of the miniature cityscape.

"Alright, you kids are team blue, we're team yellow," explained Scott; "report to your spotlight and, when both of them turn green, fight's on."

With that as their only explanation, the heroes split into their respective teams, one for UA High School and one for the X-Men of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and entered the Danger Room. Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Asui made their way to the left towards the blue spotlight; while Wolverine, Cyclops, Iceman, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver headed right towards the yellow spotlight. It took them about two minutes to get to the spotlight; despite being underground, the room was surprisingly expansive, almost like a full-blown coliseum.

When all of them had arrived beneath the spotlight, it changed color from blue to green, before promptly turning off. Todoroki turned on his heel and immediately engulfed the entire opposite end of the city in frost and frigid air.

"That should hopefully slow Quicksilver down a little; Asui, stay on this side of the city on the defensive."

"Good idea, ribbit – I wouldn't want to start hibernating in the middle of the fight."

It was a sound starting point – Quicksilver was a major threat due to his superspeed, and Asui's versatility made her fit for any role, offense or defense. With no time given to them to discuss their opponents or devise a strategy, Todoroki had made the best opening move they could ask for; now, they just needed to capitalize on that foundation and cautiously—

"All right, LET'S GO!" shouted Bakugo, as he blasted off towards the X-Men's side of the city. "I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU REGENERATING BASTARD!"

Deku knew better – there was no chance they were going to make any sound strategy with Kachan on the war path the way he was; he charged up to twenty percent power and used his Air Force gloves to blast himself in the same direction, then used eight percent power and Blackwhip to maneuver between the buildings, always making sure to keep Bakugo in sight. At this point, it would be easier to build a strategy on the fly around their team's resident loose cannon, rather than waste time trying to convince him to comply.

Back on the ground, Yaoyorozu and the others scouted out a building with an overhang in front of its main entrance; while the buildings were all fake and had no actual interiors, the overhang itself would make for an ideal position to fortify. Yaoyorozu began creating barricades using her Creation, pulling the thick, metal barriers out of her leg; meanwhile, Uraraka used her Zero Gravity to move stone blocks and any other heavy objects she could find to surround the edges of the overhang. The plan was to build an impromptu fortress – somewhere that could serve as both a gun battery and a place their frontline fighters could fall back to in a pinch; as for the guns for said gun battery, Todoroki had some ideas of his own, and advised Yaoyorozu as she worked.

With little she could contribute to the fortifications, Asui climbed up the side of one of the taller buildings to scout the area from above. It didn't take long for her to spot something unusual heading their way at high speed.

"We've got incoming, moving fast!" she called down.

Todoroki got out in front of the building. As expected, Pietro Maximoff was the first to arrive on the UA side, running onto their street faster than any car ever could, but quite a bit slower than Todoroki had seen when they were fighting Ultron together. The moment Todoroki saw that familiar flash of silver, he froze the entire road solid and beyond.

"HEAVEN PIERCING ICE WALL!"

All of the entrances to the street were now blocked by a massive wall of ice, and Quicksilver now stood stock still, as he was bound up to his neck in that very same ice. Todoroki wasn't sure of Pietro's full capabilities, so he made sure to make the icy prison especially thick so that the speedster couldn't easily escape.

"Not bad," praised Pietro, "this was a smart move."

"You're the fastest member of their team, and you seemed pretty cocky back when we worked together with the Avengers, so I figured you'd rush right over here," Todoroki explained. "Yaoyorozu, I'll hold him for now, but make a pair of those heavy-duty handcuffs we have back home so we can restrain him properly – I don't know if they'll dampen his Quirk, but it's at least worth a shot!"

"Sure you have that kind of time!?" called out a voice from above.

Todoroki quickly found himself encased in ice, as Iceman flew in from over the ice wall. Shoto didn't stay imprisoned for long, as he immediately used his fire side to thaw out one side and roll out of the way of a follow-up attack.

"Since we've got the opportunity, what d'you say we continue our sparring match from earlier!?" asked Iceman, as he pressed the attack.

Todoroki melted the ice with wave of his hand, then took off into the air on an ice slide of his own. "Fine by me!"

The two ice wielders practically danced in the sky as they fought. Iceman took the offensive, as he tried to either pin Todoroki in a corner or force him out of the general area, but Shoto wasn't having any of it – he blocked Bobby's attacks with his own ice, and used his fire to counterattack.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Pietro took a deep breath and concentrated; he began to vibrate his body, slowly warming himself up and rattling against the ice.

"FOUND YOU, YOU CONDESCENDING ASSHOLE!"

On the other side of the city, Bakugo quickly found Wolverine and wasted no time continuing their fight from earlier. Large explosions rocked the street, but did little to stop the yellow-clad mutant from ferociously counterattacking. More than once, Logan went for Bakugo's gauntlets with his claws, but despite his feral attitude, the explosive hero-in-training was not blinded enough to allow his trump cards to be destroyed; Bakugo saw how easily Wolverine's metal claws were slicing up the pavement, so he knew one misstep would mean his stored up sweat leaking all over the ground.

What Bakugo was blind to, though, was the red-jacketed woman hiding in the shadows. Wanda Maximoff began throwing trash cans, cars, street signs, and other pieces of debris at the angry boy fight. She was careful with her timing, so as not to hit Logan by mistake; not only was she giving Bakugo more attacks to dodge, but she was also cluttering the airspace around him, restricting all of the aerial acrobatics he was so used to doing. Her more ranged powers made an excellent complement to the Wolverine's close-quarters fighting style, but they required immense concentration to use to such a fine degree of control – concentration that could be exploited.

Wanda realized too late that she was not alone, and found herself sent flying to the side as she barely shielded herself in time. Deku had come in with a sneak attack to keep her off Bakugo's back. She quickly retaliated by throwing objects at Midoriya instead, but he easily weaved between them or knocked them away, as he rapidly closed in on her; he was fast and nimble, and his attacks hit like a truck – she was barely able to react fast enough to shield herself, and even when she did, she was getting pushed back.

Deku, for his part, wanted to overwhelm Wanda and knock her out as quickly as possible; he knew from their time working together that she was potentially the biggest threat among the X-Men on the opposing team. He used the rapid movement provided by his Full Cowling to dodge the debris she was throwing at him, and he was seriously pushing her back, but the Scarlet Witch wasn't going to go down that easily. When psychically thrown objects failed, she opted to grab Deku directly using her powers. Suspended in the air, Deku charged up to twenty percent and forced his body to move; he struggled against her hold on him, only barely able to move one of his arms, but it was enough to just get it to line up. A tendril of black energy shot out from his glove and hit Wanda in the face, breaking her grip on him.

Deku got right back to work keeping her occupied, and her defenses were rapidly crumbling. As a last resort, she let him get close; she used her powers to redirect his momentum so that he missed a flying kick, then quickly grabbed the back of the boy's head. Her pupils constricted, and her body felt like it was rushing forward through a dark tunnel, as she entered his mind. Once she had control, he would be helpless for at least long enough for the battle to be over. All she needed to do was find some kind of memory she could trap him in; now where to look…

Suddenly, eight silhouettes of different colors appeared before her.

Wanda shrieked as she was forcibly ejected from Deku's mind. She stumbled back with a splitting headache from the sudden pushback. Seeing his chance, Deku grabbed Wanda by an arm and a leg, and threw her towards the brawl in the middle of the street.

"Kachan!"

Bakugo looked over using his peripheral vision, seeing the horrified realization on Wanda Maximoff's face as she approached him; she did what she could to slow herself down midflight, but it was already too late. Bakugo blasted Wolverine back with one hand, and blasted Wanda with the other. Unable to get out of the way, Wanda opted to shield herself instead, but Deku closed in from behind to hit her in her unprotected back.

A metallic clang rang out through the streets. Logan went flying back and slammed into Wanda, who broke their fall with a light burst of energy, before quickly righting the both of them back onto their feet. Wanda was a little worse for wear, but would have been worse off had Logan not taken the hit for her.

Deku and Bakugo wasted no time squaring up to continue the fight, but a red laser beam slammed into Deku from the side and knocked both of the boys to the ground; they quickly got up and saw that Cyclops had entered the fray. Deku wrapped his arms around Bakugo from behind as they got up, prompting his spiky-haired friend to blast them both backwards into the air. Cyclops fired another beam after them, but Deku caught it with his feet and kicked off of it, propelling himself and Bakugo even further.

Back on the other side of the city, blasts of ice flew back and forth, caking the sides of buildings in frost. Todoroki and Iceman flew around each other in a stalemate; Bobby's ice powers were stronger, but Shoto managed to keep pace by mixing in his fire.

"Not half bad," said Iceman, "I'm actually having to push myself a little!"

Iceman strained himself as he built up a tremendous amount of ice; he encased Todoroki in ice and pushed him down to the ground. Shoto withstood the ice by surrounding himself with fire, but that wouldn't last for very long – he needed help.

And help arrived when the stone blocks lining the girls' makeshift fort were moved aside, revealing a row of some kind of mounted cannons – it was the small flame and perforated metal shrouds that gave away their true nature; jets of flame erupted from the turrets, dousing Iceman in fire and pushing him back. With his opponent no longer bearing down on him, Todoroki melted the ice around him and contributed to the scorching barrage. The amount of fire was too much for even Bobby to push back, and he was forced to concentrate on defense.

A little up the street, however, Pietro Maximoff had gotten a good momentum going in his body; the rapid vibration of his body was generating a large amount of heat, and was also chipping away at his icy prison like a blender crushing up ice cubes. He shattered through the ice and, now that he all warmed up, rushed at blinding speed towards Todoroki.

Shoto felt himself get pushed sideways before he could even react; he went flying down the street at incredible speed. This was not a new experience for him, however, as he had been knocked away in a similar manner during a fight he had had against Deku as part of his school's Sports Festival; he managed to catch himself by making an ice formation ahead of his flight path.

Back in front of the fort, Quicksilver ran to Iceman and grabbed him, pulling him out of the path of the flamethrowers and helping him to his feet, but didn't stick around to ask him how he was doing. The speedster immediately rushed the fort the girls had constructed, battering aside the barricades they had built around it – once he was inside, there was no way either of the two girls was fast enough to stop him from taking them down; or so he had thought. When Quicksilver cleared the fortifications and entered the fort, he nearly fell flat on his face, just barely managing to catch himself; his hands did not land on solid pavement, but in something viscous and sticky. His feet, and shortly afterward his knees and hands, found themselves in a deep, wide metal channel filled with some kind of powerful adhesive. He tried to pull himself free, but it was completely useless. He looked up at Yaoyorozu, the girl with the spiky ponytail, with an exasperated expression on his face.

Seeing his teammate hadn't cleared the enemy base already, Iceman moved in to check the situation, but was pushed back again as soon as he entered the range of the flamethrower turrets.

Pietro started to vibrate his body again in an attempt to break free of the adhesive; he was churning the thick fluid, but it would take a long time to push it away from his body. Uraraka didn't give him that time; she made both Pietro and the metal channel he was trapped in weightless, before pushing them out of the fort and kicking them into the air.

Asui, who had been observing from above until that point, wrapped her tongue around the helpless Quicksilver and slammed him into the side of the building, before kicking him away and repeating the process; he was completely at her mercy.

Iceman flew up to try and help, but was cut off by a wave of flame from down the street; Todoroki was back up and ready for more. Knowing he would have to take down Shoto before he could do anything else, Bobby rushed forward, only to find himself blasted backwards by an explosion.

Deku and Bakugo had arrived, careening in from above directly into Iceman's path; Bakugo blasted him on their way down, before using smaller explosions to break his and Deku's fall. They did not come alone, however; the Scarlet Witch flew in after them, carrying Wolverine and Cyclops with her powers.

Cyclops assessed the situation quickly and blasted Asui off the side of the building with one of his eye-beams. After setting Scott and Logan on the ground, Wanda turned her attention to her brother, and used her powers to pull him back down from his floating position. Without hesitation, Bakugo launched himself skyward and caught the falling Asui.

Back on the ground, Wolverine rushed the fort head on, completely unfazed by the flamethrowers peeling away his flesh. He sliced the flamethrowers and the barricades surrounding them apart and entered the base; his eyes blanked and his ears rang, as Yaoyorozu dropped a number of flashbang grenades in front of him – when his senses returned, the girls had escaped.

Iceman tried to rejoin the fight, but Todoroki restarted their fight, keeping him away.

Wolverine reemerged from the base and spotted Yaoyorozu and Uraraka trying to fall back; Deku spotted him and rushed in to stop him. He punched the indestructible hero across the face with a right cross, then reversed direction and kicked him twice, and grabbed him using Blackwhip and slammed him into the ground. Logan was barely slowed down; Deku would need to hit him harder – he jumped into the air with his left leg raised.

One for All charged to twenty percent. "MANCHESTER…"

Wolverine crossed his arms, widened his stance, and braced for impact.

Now! Deku brought his foot down, not onto Wolverine, but the ground. The pavement shattered, flipping Logan into the air. Deku planted his feet and solidified his own stance, and his right hand's Air Force glove primed itself. "DETROIT SMASH!" His fist made contact, followed by a rush of air pressure, sending the yellow-clad X-Man flying down the street.

At the same time, Wanda used her powers to separate her brother from the adhesive he was stuck in; once he was free, she focused on levitating every piece of rubble she could see around her. Bakugo spotted her from above and threw Asui directly at her. Wanda flung the frog girl aside, but was immediately set upon by Bakugo; meanwhile, Asui restrained Pietro with her tongue. Their offensive didn't last long, though, as they were both blasted away by red lasers from Cyclops' visor.

"Wanda, Pietro, restrain everyone!" he ordered.

Pietro ran after Uraraka and Yaoyorozu, catching up to them and dragging them both into the middle of the street; he then punched both Deku and Todoroki and dragged them both to the same spot. With all of the UA Students dumped in the road, Wanda used a wide wave of energy to hold them all down. With the students unable to continue fighting, the battle was over.

After the fight, all of them reconvened in the Danger Room's control room, with the UA students curious what the X-Men now thought of them.

"You put up a good fight," said Logan. "I'm still not a hundred percent convinced, but I like what I saw in there."

"You did pretty well for trainees," said Scott. "I'm a bit more open to the idea of working together now."

The outworlders cheered, smiled, and breathed sighs of relief between the six of them, glad to be working with the X-Men going forward.

"We still have the final say on what missions you'll be going on," continued Scott, "and I'm sure the professor will have something he'll want to give you for this partnership."

It was a caveat the students were willing to accept, having already gotten used to that type of restriction from their internships with pro heroes back home. They were curious, however, about what the professor's gift would be.

Chapter 18

It was evening when the UA students and their newfound X-Men allies convened in a small lounge in the underground bunker; Scott explained that the room had been used as a break room, conference room, briefing room, and everything in-between over the years. With classes finished for the day, Professor Xavier soon joined them.

"I'm glad you've all managed to resolve your differences," said the professor, as he rolled up to the table in the middle of the room.

"I'm more confident in their abilities and their teamwork now," said Scott.

Logan still scoffed a bit before responding. "Well, I can at least trust they won't get themselves killed."

"That will do for now," said Xavier, turning to the UA students. "I'm happy to be working with all of you; this will be my first time having foreign exchange students on my campus," he said with a laugh.

With the mood lifted, the two teams began their meeting in earnest.

"Now, for you to all work together properly, I'm having a few other members of our team put something together for each of you."

"Mr. Summers mentioned you'd do something like that, Professor," said Uraraka. "What exactly are you making for us?"

The other UA students looked to Professor X with curiosity.

"Well, I mentioned in our earlier meeting that you would need something to help you fight the Brotherhood and Magneto; when I read all of your minds at that time, I took the liberty of examining your equipment and relaying the details to our own equipment team – we will be making X-Men uniforms for each of you."

Deku's face immediately lit up. "Wow, we got our own uniforms!? It'll be like we're part of a proper hero team!"

"Lame!" exclaimed Bakugo. "The Avengers didn't have us wear any kind of uniform."

"Yeah, well, unlike us, the Avengers don't really have a dress code," grumbled Logan.

"Now, now, there is good reason for it," continued the professor. "While we cannot reproduce every part of your current equipment, our uniforms should be suitable for each of your abilities; but more importantly, these uniforms are made with entirely out of fabrics and polymers, with no metal components, which means they will not be affected by Magneto should you encounter him."

Deku wracked his brain. "Huh, yeah; come to think of it, none of your gear had any metal, apart from Wolverine's shoulders, gloves, and boots," he said, turning to the X-Men.

"It's a necessary precaution for fighting Magneto," said Scott.

"My whole skeleton is covered in metal," added Logan, "so that rule's not gonna do much for me."

"This will let you fight him if you have to, but I still can't stress this enough," continued Scott, "if you see Magneto, your first priority is to run."

"What does he look like?" asked Yaoyorozu.

"He's looks like an older man, but don't let that fool you," said Wanda, "he may be around a century old, but his mutant genetics has kept him in his physical prime far longer than a normal person."

"He wears red and purple armor, a cape, and a red helmet," added Pietro.

The UA students committed the description to memory.

"Now, the next step is finding out where the Brotherhood is going to strike next," continued Professor Xavier. "Deku, Scott, please come with me after this meeting is adjourned; the rest of you, please go upstairs – there are some new teammates that will be joining you, and they should be returning from their reconnaissance mission soon."

After the meeting, everyone went their separate ways; Deku and Scott followed Professor Xavier further into the underground bunker. He led them down a long hallway with a single door at the end of it; the door was a bit different from the others Deku had seen – this one had some kind of optical device in the center. When the professor stopped in front of the door, rays of blue light projected from the optical device and passed over the professor's body, revealing the device to be a biometric scanner. With the professor's identity confirmed, the door hissed and slowly unsealed itself.

"That's pretty high-tech security; should I really be here?" asked Izuku.

"I agree," said Scott, "I know we're working together, but I'm not sure we should be letting him see all of this."

"Now, now; he's a trustworthy boy with a good heart," said the professor. "I want both of you here since you're the leaders of your respective teams."

"Understood," said Scott.

"I don't know how I feel about being called the leader of my classmates," said Deku, running his hand through the back of his hair.

The professor smiled. "You give yourself too little credit."

With the door fully opened, the trio entered. The room inside was a massive sphere made entirely out of panels similar to the ones on the walls of the Danger Room; hanging over the middle was a simple platform with a desk in the middle of it, and on that desk was a metal helmet connected to the floor by a pair of thick metal cables. The three approached the desk as the door sealed the room behind them.

"What is this place?" asked Deku.

"We call it Cerebro," replied Scott. "The professor invented it."

"Will this help us find out what the Brotherhood of Mutants is up to?"

"Allow me to show you," said Professor Xavier, as he placed the helmet upon his head.

The metallic room darkened, and then filled with light once again; a massive holographic projection of the Earth floated in the middle of the spherical room, with countless lights shining upon its surface.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Deku, as he took in the marvelous sight. "Are those lights…people?"

"You catch on quick," said Scott. "Cerebro amplifies the professor's telepathy to a global scale; he can use it to find any human or mutant in the world."

"That's…incredible! But, wait…can't he read their minds, too?"

"He sure can."

Deku suddenly became very uncomfortable. "That sounds…really invasive…and dangerous."

"Indeed," said Xavier. "In fact, if I focus on someone hard enough, I could even kill them at any time."

Deku stepped back.

"That is why this machine is my most closely guarded secret, and why using it comes with an immense amount of responsibility."

Deku looked down at his own hand. "Like having a power that the entire world relies on."

"I knew you would understand."

"Fortunately, the professor's mind is the only one that can handle Cerebro," added Scott. "It doesn't just amplify telepathy, but every part of the brain's activity; normal people would be killed or go braindead if they tried to use it."

Deku suddenly felt very thankful he hadn't asked to try wearing the helmet himself. "So, how do you tell humans and mutants apart?"

"Like so." The professor focused his mind, causing many of the dots of light on the globe to dim, while the others shone a bright blue. "Those you see there are humans," he said, before focusing again; the brightness of the dots on the globe inverted, and the ones that shone turned red. "And these are the mutants."

"Wow. How do my friends and I come up."

The professor waved his hands. The globe zoomed in, showing the world in more detail; people appeared as realistic models, while the world around them took shape in varying levels of detail. As Deku wondered why the world looked like that, the professor answered, "People are paying different degrees of attention to their surroundings, causing some of the world to appear hazy; their collective thoughts are what forms the image of the Earth as a whole."

The globe zoomed in even further – across New York State, to the manor, underground, into Cerebro's chamber; the whole way through, Deku saw the shapes of his friends and Xavier's students pass by. The three of them were shown in precise detail within the hologram of the very room they were standing in, Xavier and Scott modeled in red, and Deku in a dim blue, though slightly different from the other blue lights he had seen.

"So, I come up as human?"

"Perhaps because you were born 'Quirkless,' as your world would call it; let us have a look at the others."

The hologram panned upstairs to a large, empty room containing only a vase in the middle. All of the figures in it were red, though about half of them were a slightly different shade.

"So, they're considered mutants by this world's rules," mused Izuku. "Why are we different shades, though?"

"Likely because you are all not from this world; your 'aura,' to put it in simple terms, is different than ours."

Deku was suddenly sucked into his thoughts, and then his face lit up. "Can you find the strange man who brought us here?"

Xavier focused and brought the globe around again. "I cannot – it is almost as if he does not exist in this world; although, I can sense his energy blinking in and out of this dimension," explained the professor, as he highlighted bright flashes of light scattered across America. "His thoughts are chaotic, panicked."

Deku's face went solemn for a moment, but he quickly got back on task – it was a though he would need to consider later. "So, can you use this machine to find Magneto and find out what he's planning?"

"Sadly, I cannot."

"Magneto's helmet is made of a rare metal that blocks telepathy," explained Scott. "He almost always wears it so that the professor can't find him."

"It will let us find his subordinates, however, like the ones your friends encountered earlier today," said the professor, as he panned the globe again to focus on a group of four mutants. "There. They call themselves Pyro, Toad, and Sabretooth, along with a new addition – Avalanche."

"He wasn't with them at the mall, but maybe he was on standby," said Scott.

"No, he was waiting for them to rendezvous with them not to long ago; it seems they are headed to Niagara Falls," said the Xavier, having read their minds. "And then there is this group."

The globe panned again to a large helicopter going over the Gulf of Mexico. Inside were three figures; Deku could hear their thoughts in the air this time.

"Another few hours and we'll be hittin' the beach!"

"Rio, here we come!"

"I hope these two don't just slack off the whole time."

"Sounds like they're headed to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil," said Scott.

"Those two locations are where some of the flashes appeared," added Deku.

"Yes, it seems they are tracking the same being that brought you all here," concluded the professor.

"That's not good," said Deku, worried. "That means that the Brotherhood also has some way of tracking him, or at least predicting where he'll appear next."

"Then we must make all haste to find him first."

Above ground, the other X-Men led Deku's friends upstairs to the third floor. Students of Xavier's school generally weren't allowed up there, and even with so many in attendance, the mansion was so large that it had a number of unused rooms, particularly in the west wing. There, the heroes entered a large, empty room, with nothing in it save for a rather ornate decorative vase sitting in the exact center of the room, surrounded by a large Christmas wreath on the floor.

"The hell is this place?" asked Bakugo.

"This vase is beautiful," Yaoyorozu observed, "but why is it here?"

"It's a reference point for one of our friends to return to the mansion," explained Bobby.

"What do you mean 'reference point?'" asked Todoroki.

As if answering his question, the room suddenly began to fill with dark blue smoke, spread out at first, but it rapidly coalesced around the vase; as quickly as the smoke had appeared, it puffed outwards and dissipated, leaving a man with dark blue skin and a tan-skinned woman with white hair standing next to the vase.

"Whoa!" shouted Uraraka. "Did they just teleport!?"

"Sure did," said Logan.

"Oh!" exclaimed the blue-skinned man. "I was not expecting such a large welcoming party." He had a thick German accent, with his W's being pronounced more like V's. He had a red and black outfit on, with white gloves, and an X-Men badge on his chest; behind him, they could see he had a long tail with an arrowhead shape on the end of it.

"Did something happen? New recruits?" asked the dark-skinned woman. She wore a black bodysuit with yellow detailing running up the sides, a black cape, and a yellow encircled X on her chest.

"Something like that," replied Logan, "the twins brought them in."

"These two are members of the X-Men, as well," said Wanda. "This is Nightcrawler," she said, gesturing to the blue man.

"Kurt Wagner, at your service," he said, in a gentlemanly greeting.

"And this is Storm."

The white-haired woman was a bit more hesitant to give her name, but quickly read the room and assessed that the newcomers were trustworthy. "Ororo Munroe; pleasure to meet you all."

The UA students took turns introducing themselves to the new faces. Once everyone was acquainted, they walked back downstairs to re-enter the bunker, assuming the professor and the others had finished their own task.

"So, were you two out on a mission?" asked Uraraka.

"We were investigating previous sightings of the Brotherhood of Mutants," explained Storm. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to find out what they were after, but I assume that's why all of you are here."

A short walk later, all thirteen members of the team sat in the bunker's lounge, with Professor Xavier presiding over the meeting once more. Storm and Nightcrawler were filled in everything that had happened so far, including what exactly the Brotherhood seemed to be after.

"Amazing, I never thought I would meet people from another universe," said Kurt, with an innocent excitement.

"It's worrisome that an entity exists that can cross time and space like that," said Storm.

"At least now we have some idea of where to find him, ribbit," said Asui.

"With that said, we should divide into two teams to intercept the Brotherhood," said the professor.

"Well, Pyro's going to be at Niagara Falls, right?" said Bobby. "So, Todoroki shouldn't go with that team, since Pyro will just use his fire against him."

"He has a point," said Shoto, "I'll go on the Rio team."

I'll go to Niagara," continued Bobby. "I wanna take a crack at Pyro, and they'll need my ice to neutralize him."

"Uraraka and I can go with you," said Asui. "If we end up fighting in the water, my Quirk will come in handy, and Uraraka's would do well in high places, ribbit."

"You can count on me!" exclaimed Ochaco.

"Then I'll join you two," said Deku. "That way we'll have plenty of offense on our team, as well. That leaves Kachan to go with Todoroki to Rio, with Yaoyorozu for support."

Bakugo groaned at being given orders by Deku, but he couldn't argue. "My Quirk actually works well at maneuvering through tight quarters, so a city's perfect for me."

"That balances out our end of the team distribution," added Momo.

"Then I'll go with the Niagara team," said Storm. "I can fly, and my powers would be best used in an open environment. Scott, can you go with the Rio team?"

"On it."

"I'll go to Niagara," said Wanda. "I'm not very well suited for an urban area just yet."

"Then Pietro and I will go with the Rio team," added Logan. "We're good at working in tight spaces."

"What about Kurt?" asked Deku.

"An excellent question," said Professor Xavier. "Kurt, you will bring the Rio team to their destination; after that, please go back and forth between the two sites for reconnaissance, and stay on standby in case the two teams need to meet up in a hurry."

"As you wish, Professor."

With their teams and destinations set, all that was left was for the visitors from UA to get the suits the professor was having made for them. The X-Men led the UA students to the armory, where their newly finished uniforms had already been dropped off.

Deku finished putting his uniform. It was mostly yellow, with black linework done in the same style as his own costume, with an X-Men logo on the buckle of his new utility belt; he could feel shock-absorbing padding lining his arms and legs, and his gauntlets, shoes, and greaves were made from hardened composites.

Bakugo wore a bulky, black suit, with a yellow X going across his chest, not dissimilar to his usual costume. He also had armor on his lower legs and forearms, and despite the bulk the suit was actually quite flexible, letting him use his full range of motion. Like his own suit, this one had permeable gloves to allow his explosive sweat to wick through. He was able to keep wearing his usual mask over his eyes.

"We couldn't recreate your gauntlets without any metal," explained a young woman around their age – the same one with the ponytail that walked through a wall after setting their tea when they first met the professor. "Sorry about that."

"No big deal," said Bakugo. "I don't really need them."

Todoroki's uniform seemed a bit more cobbled together; the right side was mainly red with black siding, while the left side was mainly yellow with red detailing on the chest and shoulders.

"It was a bit of a rush job," explained Bobby. "Half if that is one of my old suits, and the other half was taken from a suit we had originally made for Pyro, before he betrayed us."

"I'll take good care of it," he said, understanding the significance of the uniform he had been given.

Uraraka got a uniform not much different from her usual one, just with the pink switched to yellow, an X-Men badge on her chest, and her arm and leg armor and cable launchers made from polymers and non-metal parts. Asui received a blue dive suit with yellow accents running up the sides and converging in an X on her chest; she was able to transfer most of her gear from her old costume, though anything with metal buttons or clasps had to be replaced with new ones that had plastic alternatives. It didn't take them long to adjust to their new looks.

Yaoyorozu wore a yellow bodysuit with green trim that completely exposed her arms, and had clearly been cut and adjusted recently to give it a plunging neckline and make the legs only cover halfway down her thighs. She had to leave her reference book behind, as it contained a magnet inside of it, and the shelf it was usually attached to was made of metal.

"Momo, right?" asked the ponytailed girl. "You look good. That uniform was originally a prototype for another X-Men member called Rogue; both of your powers require exposed skin, so we though it would be a good base."

"Thank you. We never got your name."

"Oh. Kitty Pryde; I'm just helping out for now, but I'll be happy to back you up if I'm needed."

"We ready to go?" asked Scott, as he entered the armory.

The UA students all voiced their acknowledgement. With that, they went with their respective X-Men and headed for the hangar. They all got on the X Jet and prepared for takeoff.

"Hey, if we're teleporting with this blue guy to our mission, why're we on the plane!?" asked Bakugo.

"My apologies, Sir Bakugo. Truth is my range is only about fifty miles or so, and that's if I really push myself; so, we're going to fly part way and I will drop each team off when we are in range."

"Huh, makes sense."

"The jet will be on autopilot and head back home to refuel once we arrive, then be sent back out when we're ready for pickup, or in case of emergency," explained Storm.

"And why's Speedy on the plane!? Can't you run there!?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, the plane is faster than me."

The team had a good laugh, as Bakugo's impatient rambling went on until the hangar doors opened and the X Jet took off.

Chapter 19

In the inky night sky of New York, illuminated only by stars and moonlight, a barely perceptible ripple rushed through the stratosphere. The X-Jet would already be well hidden, jet black as it was, but its retroreflective panels made it almost completely invisible. Inside, the UA students and most of the X-Men sat strapped in their seats in the troop bay, dressed in civilian attire and awaiting their arrival at their first destination. It was a surprisingly smooth and quiet ride considering how fast they were currently flying.

"This plane is incredible!" exclaimed Deku, fascinated by yet another high-tech aircraft in this world.

"It's based on an SR-71 Blackbird that Professor Xavier and the original X-Men used in the Cold War," explained Storm. "The original was destroyed, but the professor and a friend of his designed this new one with the latest technology; it's a state-of-the-art stealth jet with unrivaled speed."

Deku's face only lit up more the more he heard.

"She's right," said Pietro, chiming in, "even I can't beat this thing…yet."

"Heh, puts the Avengers' Quinjet to shame," said Bakugo.

"I wish I could've met these Avengers you guys keep talking about," said Uraraka. "I wanna know what you guys were up to before we got here."

Pietro looked mildly offended at that, perhaps due to being overlooked as an Avenger as well as an X-Man, but his sister's hand on his wrist told him to let it go.

"I'll tell you more about it later," said Deku, "Promise."

"Heads up," said Scott's voice, over the intercom, "We're approaching Niagara Falls airspace; going into low altitude hover."

Despite the sharp, sudden drop in altitude, the passengers barely felt a thing. Kurt got out of his seat and motioned for the rest of the Niagara team to do the same; Storm, Iceman, Wanda, Deku, Uraraka, and Asui all got up and gathered around him. As they did so, a small screen swung down from the ceiling, displaying a video feed of the town below – it was mostly a residential area, but became a bit more urbanized closer to the falls, true to form as a tourist trap; the camera continued to zoom in further and further on the street and its general surroundings.

"Do we need to zoom in that much?" asked Bakugo.

"It is so I can get a visual of the area," said Nightcrawler. "To use my powers, I must see where I am going."

"We're close enough, Kurt," said Cyclops. "Take them down when you're ready."

"Everyone, please hold on to me."

The team did as instructed. Before long, they were surrounded by indigo smoke; the troop bay around them was completely engulfed by the smog, they all felt dizzy, like they were being picked up and swung around, and the next thing they knew the smoke cleared and they found themselves standing in the middle of a city road.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Deku. "We really just teleported!"

"Kind of reminds me of Kurogiri from the League of Villains," said Todoroki, "except not quite the same."

"Well, good luck to you all. Call me if you need me," said Kurt, before he vanished into a puff of dark smoke.

Up above, the X-Jet retreated back into the upper atmosphere and flew off to its next destination. Their mission in Niagara Falls had officially begun.

It was still the middle of the night when they arrived, but they made their way to the hotel regardless. Scott had made arrangements for a place to stay in advance. When they got to the door, the receptionist was a bit concerned at first, but quickly opened the door when she saw that there were a group of teens among their group.

"We're terribly sorry," said Storm, "we have rooms booked here, but we got stuck in traffic and only just got to town now."

"I understand," replied the receptionist. "Let me check you in."

The woman swiftly worked the computer and got them checked into their rooms. They got two rooms – one for Deku and Bobby, and another for the girls. Their mission would start in the morning, so they all decided to turn in early for the night.

The next morning, the warm sunlight filtered through the window onto Deku's face, rousing him from his slumber. He got up and started doing stretches and a light workout to warm himself up for the day; Bobby got up just as he finished.

"Guess you're an earlier riser than me," Bobby commented. "You always work out like that when you get up?"

"Yeah. I have to keep training every day so I can master this power. Isn't it the same for you?"

"Yeah, but my powers don't exactly need as much strength training. You can have the first shower; make sure you suit up."

Deku nodded and headed into the bathroom, bringing his civilian clothes and his new X-Men costume with him. Bobby did a few minutes of stretches and warmups of his own, but nothing as intensive as what his new companion had done. When Deku emerged from the bathroom, he was wearing a baggy hoodie and similarly baggy pants, with a thick jacket; his boots looked fairly normal with the leg-guards covered up, and his gloves were currently stowed in his backpack. Bobby took his own shower and came out wearing a similar ensemble. The winter weather gave them a good way to cover up their hero costumes under their layered clothing, meaning they wouldn't have to suit up in the field.

They left the hotel room and found the girls already in the hallway.

"Morning Deku!" greeted Uraraka.

"Morning."

"I'm glad to see you're all so diligent," commented Storm. "The school you all study at must be quite effective."

"I guess Uraraka and Asui filled you in last night?"

"Yes, we all had a nice chat before turning in for the night. Now, let's have another over breakfast."

The team went down to the first floor and picked out their complimentary breakfast. Deku loaded up on eggs, bacon, and sausages; Bobby got the same, though not as much, as he didn't need so much protein; Uraraka and Storm got pancakes, Wanda took oatmeal, and Asui piked out some fresh fruit. When they all sat down, they started their briefing.

"Based on what the professor found with Cerebro, the Brotherhood team should have arrived here a few hours ago," said Storm. "Our job is to find what they're looking for and get to it first, and to make sure they don't harm any civilians in the process."

"Should we try to apprehend them, too, ribbit?"

"If possible, yes; but if not, our priority is to ensure public safety and force the Brotherhood to retreat."

"Got it," said Bobby. "Where do you want us?"

"You and Asui should survey near the water, while Midoriya and Uraraka go through town; Wanda, I want you on overwatch at the top of the falls, and on evac if a fight breaks out."

"Wouldn't Wanda be a huge asset in a fight, though?" asked Deku.

"Yes, but out of all of us, she's best suited to getting large numbers of people evacuated as quickly as possible; she can join the fight after the civilians are safe."

"Where will you be, Ms. Munroe?" asked Uraraka.

"I'll be at a nearby café monitoring the operation; I'll be able to get to anyone who needs me promptly, so don't hesitate to ask for help. Blend in with the crowd, and assume the Brotherhood is doing the same if you don't spot them right away. I've forwarded the locations of the energy spikes that the professor detected to you, so investigate as you patrol."

With their plans made and their breakfast finished, the team split up to their assigned areas. Wanda made her way to the observation decks at the top of the falls, looking down the walls of water for any sign of people poking around where they shouldn't be. Asui and Bobby were down by the bottom of the falls, doing the same.

"It's beautiful here, ribbit."

"Yeah, I've never been; kinda sucks I have to come out here for work. Maybe I'll bring Kitty out here for a vacation some time."

"Kitty was that girl that gave us these new uniforms, right?"

"Yeah, that was her."

Across the river, in the heart of town, Deku and Uraraka walked the crowded streets.

"And then Doctor Banner turned into a giant green man called the Hulk; he was super angry and tried to hit me right away."

"Whoa, that reminds me of how Ryukyu can transform into a dragon. So, what happened, did you two fight?"

"Yeah, for a bit, but he seemed to take a liking to me strangely enough; then, we rejoined the other Avengers and—"

"Deku," whispered Uraraka, as she clung closely to him; Deku regarded her with a shocked and confused expression, and the two of them blushed quite heavily. "Sorry. It's just, I recognize that man over there," she continued, as she hid her head behind Deku to ensure she wasn't spotted.

Deku looked over and saw a young man, about Bobby's age, with blonde hair and a heavy coat. "That guy?" he asked, as he turned their bodies so they were facing away from him.

"Yeah, that's Pyro; I recognize him from when Tsu, Yaoyorozu, and I fought him in the mall."

"Alright, let's keep an eye on him, but make sure he doesn't notice us tailing him."

"I'll let Storm know."

Back at the bottom of the falls, Bobby and Asui noticed someone acting suspicious by the river; he slipped off his hat and trench coat, revealing his oily, green hair and rough skin. The man jumped in the water when he thought no one was looking.

"That's Toad," said Bobby. "Wanda, you see him from where you are?"

"I've got him, standing by."

Asui, shed her heavy clothes and donned her goggles, as she pursued the evil mutant into the water. "He's headed for one of the points the professor told us about."

"Following your lead," said Bobby, as he exposed his own X-Men uniform.

"Bobby, behind you!" yelled Wanda.

It was too late for him to turn around. Bobby felt large hands grab him and pull him backwards, throwing him like a ragdoll through the air. He caught himself with a small ice formation, as he iced over his whole body. Charging straight at him was Sabretooth.

As soon Uraraka told her the Brotherhood members were in the area, Storm made her way into the café's bathroom, talking off her winter clothes and stepping out wearing her black, leather suit, cape billowing behind her. The ground was shaking and the café falling apart the moment she emerged. She quickly summoned a rush of wind to prevent the roof from caving in.

"Everyone out, quickly!"

The civilians cleared the building, followed shortly by Storm herself; the café imploded behind her. She flew into the air and looked around, spotting a tall, muscular man wearing grey armor nearby – Avalanche; he had his hands planted on the ground, which cracked and undulated in front of him, shaking the earth and collapsing structures. Storm swooped down, dragging a huge gust of wind behind her; she threw her hands forward and directed the wind toward the enemy mutant, sending him flying back and off of the ground. Avalanche raised his hands and vibrated the air above him, pushing himself back towards the ground; he then aimed his hands at her, vibrating the air and throwing off her balance, sending her hurtling to the ground. Storm caught herself with air pressure, righting herself before using more wind to send the debris Avalanche had recently created back at him; he broke the rubble apart, then punched the ground and sent a tidal wave of rock and earth towards her, smacking her away.

Not far away, people were starting to panic from the earthquakes and inclement weather, and began to run away. Deku and Uraraka kept their eyes on Pyro, despite the panicking people around them. A wicked smile crossed the blonde man's face, as he loosened his sleeves; Deku rushed forward and grabbed his wrists. Pyro was surprised by the boy in front of him, wordlessly ordering him to stand down with a stern expression. Pyro didn't falter; he activated the flamethrowers on his wrists, surrounding himself with flames and forcing the green-haired boy to back off. Deku charged up to twenty percent and kicked the air in front of him, blowing out the flames with a gust of wind; but Pyro was undeterred and continued to produce more fire.

Uraraka moved quickly, leaving Pyro to Deku, and helped tripping people to their feet; she used her zero gravity to stop people from falling and to help them escape faster. But Pyro was not about to let them go so easily; he controlled the fire he created, whipping it around the area. Before he could burn anyone, however, a film of red energy enveloped the inferno and pushed it away from the fleeing civilians.

"Wanda!" called out Uraraka.

"Help me get these people out of here!"

The young women directed the people to safety. Some stopped and marveled at the fact that an Avenger was on the scene, but the girls quickly kept them moving. Deku swept the air and cracked the ground, trying to blow away Pyro's flames and trip him up, but the pyrokinetic mutant had already created an impressive array of fire, and was guiding it around himself like a flurry of dancing flames, keeping Deku on the defensive.

Down by the water, Froppy caught up to Toad. The two swung each other around using their tongues, and matched one another's kicks blow-for-blow. They swam up the river and climbed up the slick rock walls behind the waterfalls. Their powers were nearly identical, locking them in a stalemate.

In town, Sabretooth smashed through ice formations and leaped towards Iceman. Bobby tried to freeze the savage man, but his superhuman strength overpowered the ice and broke him free; the feral mutant pounced with claws outstretched, but Iceman blocked the attack with a wall of ice, only for Sabretooth to rip his hands free. The skin peeled from his fingers, but the mangled flesh grew back almost instantly.

"Where's Logan!?" he demanded.

"He didn't come along; can I take a message?" taunted Iceman.

Sabretooth's response was a roar and another leaping attack.

Back by the ruins of the café, Storm kept Avalanche off the ground, preventing him from making anymore earthquakes, but he was still able to vibrate the air around her, throwing off her balance and making it difficult for her to control her powers. Still, she had to hold him until Wanda finished getting all of the civilians out of the area. They were almost cleared out, with the area around Deku and Iceman's fights already empty. She noticed Wanda had sent Uraraka back into the fray, now that the evac was almost finished.

"Deku!" called Uravity.

"Uraraka, I've got this; go help Asui up at the falls!"

Uravity looked up. In the distance, her frog-powered friend could be seen fighting with her toady counterpart in and out of the water, as they made their way up the falls. She nodded and ran to the edge of the water, using her Zero Gravity to float up the falls towards their battle.

Meanwhile, Deku was still on the defensive against Pyro, not being able to breach his constantly replenishing wall of fire; his civilian clothes had already started to burn off, but his new X-Men uniform held strong against the embers licking at his heels. Across the square, he could see Iceman fighting against a savage-looking man. Charging to twenty percent again, Deku punched the air towards Pyro, pushing the flame mutant backwards.

Iceman noticed the huge fireball in the middle of town. He bobbed and weaved around Sabretooth's superpowered swings, occasionally having to block one with an ice wall, all the while steering the fight closer to the other battle. When they got close enough, Iceman flew into the air using and ice slide and began dousing the flames with his ice, going around the top of the fireball and over to Deku.

"Wanna switch?"

"Read my mind!" replied Deku.

With Iceman countering Pyro's fire with his ice, Deku was free to rush towards Sabretooth.

"John! Stop this!" called out Iceman.

"Good to see you again, Bobby! Let's settle this!"

Fire and ice clashed, cancelling each other out.

On the other side of the elemental clash, Sabretooth rushed the green haired boy that had switched places with his opponent. Deku charged eight of his fingers and fired them all at once, not having his Air Force gloves to be able to aim properly; the bursts of air pressure slammed into the wild man, slowing him down and putting him off balance. Deku flung himself at his imbalanced opponent."

"ST. LOUIS SMASH!" he cried out, as he rotated the man with a horizontal kick.

Deku delivered two punches, then a three-hit combination of kicks, sending the man flying backwards. The man rebounded almost immediately, but a black tendril of energy stuck to the ground next to him; when he looked up, his face was met by a flying kick that sent him sailing into a wall.

Up on the waterfall, Asui and Toad's stalemate continued. The two of them stuck to the rock face, being constantly doused with water. They were both out breath. They were getting nowhere; something needed to change. Toad made a break for the top of the falls, but was cut off by a composite cable shooting through the waterfall and embedding itself in the wall ahead of him; he looked over and was met with a pair of feet kicking him in the chest; he recovered and continued clinging to the wall. The brown-haired girl from the shopping mall arrived through the water to back up her froggy friend.

"I'm here, Froppy!" she said, as she clung to the wall using the polymer grappling cable.

Toad clicked his tongue. He took on an even sicklier tone than usual and made a strained expression; his throat bulged, and when he opened his mouth, a green fluid sprayed forth. Froppy and Uravity jumped out of the way, but the cable tethering Uravity to the wall melted; she quickly pressed her fingertips against her stomach and began to float in the air. Toad used the distraction to jump and climb up the wall.

"He's getting away!" shouted Uraraka.

"Got it!" replied Asui.

Asui leaped forward, wrapping her tongue around Uraraka in the process; she swung her long tongue around and launched her gravity-less friend at the mutant villain. Uravity kicked the amphibious mutant right as he reached the top of the falls. Toad recovered and shook himself back into alertness; the two girls chasing him arrived at the top of the falls shortly after.

Toad groaned. "I meant to do this at the bottom, but here will do, too." He reached into his waterproof backpack and pulled out a strange mechanical rod. With a twist, the rod extended; he drove the spike at the bottom into the riverbed.

The water bubbled, twisted, and roiled. A crack in the air itself appeared in a flash of light; a luminous haze filled the air and began being drawn into the gash, while the river water surrounding began oscillating violently.

"What is that!?" asked Asui.

"I don't know, it looks like it's sucking in some kind of energy!"

"Let's get out of here!"

Toad was already ahead of them, and had made himself scarce.

Back in town, the chaotic situation became even worse. The earthquakes, stormy weather, and flying fire were bad enough, but now all of the Niagara Falls was flying into the sky and spraying out towards the town. Something at the top of the falls was lighting up the sky and twisting the waters of the Niagara River in erratic directions.

Deku didn't hesitate – he dashed over to Pyro and threw him into the surging water; the flame mutant was doused and thrown to the ground, knocking him out of commission.

"Iceman!" Deku called.

"I'm on it!"

Bobby flew into the air and began freezing the water as fast as he could, keeping it from flooding the town below. Deku moved over to the unconscious Pyro and removed his flamethrowers, before placing special power-dampening handcuffs on him that had been provided with his uniform, made of polymers in case they encountered Magneto.

Nearby, Storm had begun calling lightning down from the sky, putting Avalanche at a massive disadvantage. He could hold off Storm's wind, but he was helpless against the electric wrath of the sky. Just as he seemed beaten, a rush of water came their way, before quickly being frozen. Avalanche shattered the frozen falls with a blast of vibration, causing it to break apart and fall on Storm. The weather mutant used wind and lightning to hold up and disintegrate the falling ice, but that was enough of a distraction for Avalanche to get away.

The grey-armored mutant made his way through the frozen falls to his amphibious companion, blasting the two girls with the X-Men away for good measure. He grabbed Toad, who grabbed the mechanical rod he had planted earlier, and the two escaped along the frozen river.

"What about Pyro and Sabretooth?" asked Toad.

"Leave them for now. We'll get them back later if we can!"

Back on the ground, Sabretooth emerged from the rubble he had been blasted into, savage and angry, but he was quickly subdued by a wrap of red energy, as Scarlet Witch descended from the sky.

"All the civilians are safe," she said. "Now what?"

Storm and the other members of the team arrived, looking over Pyro and Sabretooth.

"Now," said Storm, "we figure out exactly what their after."

Chapter 20

Todoroki and Yaoyorozu clung to their restraints rather anxiously. Neither one of them had ever been in an aircraft capable of flying quite this fast, and the X-Jet was rocketing southward at full throttle, well above the speed of sound. Logan, Pietro, and Kurt sat calmly in their seat across from them. Bakugo, meanwhile, was grinding his teeth in frustration; he had been excited at first, but once that excitement faded…

"Are we there yet!?"

They had been flying for nearly 2 hours, and Bakugo had begun to lose his patience.

"Relax, we're almost there," said Logan.

"I get it, you're bored," said Pietro. "Same here. Ten more minutes."

Those ten minutes hardly went by peacefully, but they all made it to the airspace above Rio de Janeiro without trouble. Scott left the jet hovering in autopilot, then got out of the pilot's seat to join the others in the back.

"Alright, Kurt, plane's all yours once you come back up."

"Yes, Sir; I will be careful bringing it back to the mansion. Should you need anything on your mission, simply call."

With that, the group huddled around Kurt and, in a puff of dark smoke, vanished from the passenger bay of the X-Jet. The world turned black around them, as the felt like they were flying and spinning in the air; and in an instant, they found themselves planting their feet on solid ground. They looked around and found themselves at the foot of an enormous statue – the Cristo Redentor that was an icon of Brazil.

"Wow, I never thought I'd ever get to see this statue up close like this," said Yaoyorozu.

"It is impressive," added Todoroki.

"Hey! What gives!?" shouted Bakugo. "Why the hell did you teleport us to this statue instead of down in the city!?"

Logan clamped his hand over Bakugo's mouth, much to the blonde boy's annoyance. "Shut up. It's the middle of the night; do you wanna wake up the whole area?"

Pietro vanished for a moment. "We should be okay – only a couple of security guards, and they're by the road."

"My apologies, Mr. Bakugo. I need a clear image of where I am going in order to go there, so the Cristo Redentor being a recognizable landmark makes it an easier destination for me; that and it was closer to the plane than the city."

Bakugo groaned, but nodded in understanding.

"That's not the only reason, right Kurt?" asked Scott.

"Um, well, if I may? Since we have the time."

"Of course."

"Thank you."

Kurt kneeled down in front of the statue and clasped his hands; he closed his eyes and began whispering softly. Bakugo raised an eyebrow, but said nothing further.

"Kurt is deeply religious," said Scott. "If you don't mind, can you give him some space."

The UA students nodded quietly and went off on their own. Bakugo went to the end of the observation platform to contemplate the coming mission; Logan went for a smoke on his own, away from the students, but keeping an eye on Bakugo. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu took in the view of the city below.

"It's a beautiful view," said Yaoyorozu.

"Yeah, this country has a lot of natural beauty, and we can get a good view of the land from up here," responded Shoto, as he mentally mapped out the landscape before him.

A short while later, Kurt finished his prayers, and Scott gathered everyone together at the edge of the observation deck where Bakugo had been. Using a pair of binoculars, Kurt spotted an empty rooftop in the city that would make for an ideal teleport point; once more, the team entered a world of inky smoke, and before they knew it, they were standing on that very rooftop.

"You remember where the hotel is, right?" asked Scott.

"Yes, over to the northeast."

Kurt spotted where he wanted to go, and several "jumps" later, they were in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, on their way towards their hotel. The Rio team bid farewell to Kurt, who began retracing his steps back to the X-Jet. When they arrived at the hotel, several other guests were going in and out, likely participating in Rio's vibrant nightlife, so their arrival didn't particularly stand out. Logan and Pietro got their own room, while Scott had booked a larger room for the students and himself as a chaperone.

Once they were settled in, the team convened in Scott's room to go over the plans for tomorrow one last time.

"The Brotherhood's agents – that's Blob, Havok, and Mystique – should already be in the city by now," said Scott. "We need to find the anomaly that they're looking for and get to it first."

"Do we have any information on their powers?" asked Todoroki.

"Plenty," replied Scott. "The simplest among them is Blob – that bulky body of his is incredibly durable, and he's incredibly strong, too."

"He sounds similar to Fat Gum," said Yaoyorozu, "That's a Pro Hero back in our world who can convert calories into a defensive layer of fat over his body, almost like seal blubber."

"Well, Blob doesn't convert calories, he's like that all the time."

"He might be harder to deal with, then," added Todoroki.

"We'll just hit him more and hit him harder!" said Bakugo.

"My optic blasts can damage him," continued Scott. "Target his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth if possible – those areas are more vulnerable. Logan's claws can also deal some decent damage."

"Makes sense; he's still human at the end of the day, so some weaknesses should still be the same," added Bakugo. "Who's next?"

"Next up is Havok – he has the ability to passively absorb energy and discharge it from his body as plasma," explained Scott, pensively.

"So, physical attacks only?" asked Bakugo. "Otherwise, he'll just absorb my explosions or Icy-Hot's flames?"

Scott swallowed a little harder than usual to clear his throat – something only Shoto and the other X-Men seemed to notice. "That's right, though Todoroki's ice should be able to slow him down or temporarily incapacitate him."

"Lastly, there's Mystique," said Logan.

"She is arguably the most dangerous one of the three," said Scott. "She's Magneto's second-in-command and one of the best shapeshifters on the planet."

"Shapeshifter? So, she can turn into other people?" asked Yaoyorozu.

"That's right. Anyone you meet tomorrow could potentially be her in disguise, especially when things start getting hectic."

"Trust your instincts," said Logan, "if something feels off, question who you're speaking to."

"And maybe come up with actual questions," added Pietro, who had been lying back and relaxing in the corner of the room. "You know, the kind only the other person could possibly know the answer to."

Everyone agreed that was a good idea – it made the UA students in particular really think about how well they knew each other. Then, with the briefing over, and the clock ticking, the team turned in for the night, ready to get some sleep for what would undoubtedly be a long day.

In the middle of the night, not all sleep was restful. Todoroki tossed and turned in bed, plagued with worries, not just of being stranded in this strange new world, but of the family he left behind and all of the unresolved conflict therein. His eyes slowly opened and he sighed, knowing with frustration that he wouldn't be able to sleep again without stretching out his body and getting some air. As he rolled over to get out of bed, he noticed that one of the other beds was already unoccupied – Scott was gone.

Shoto got up and scanned the room, finding the door to the balcony open, the cool summer air drifting into the room. He stepped outside and found their supervisor there, staring out into the city lights pensively.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" asked Scott, as he sensed the boy approach.

"I'm used to it," replied Todoroki. "What about you, what's on your mind? I noticed you were a little on edge during the briefing."

"You saw that, huh?"

"Yeah, it was when you were talking about that villain, Havok, that we have to fight tomorrow. Is he someone you've fought before? Is he particularly strong?"

Scott sighed deeply. "Truth is, he's my younger brother."

"Your brother? How did you—"

"End up on opposite sides of the mutant issue? Well, we were separated for a long time and our lives ended up taking drastically different paths."

"You don't want to fight him, do you?"

Scott sighed again. "No, but I know I have to. I would just rather be able to convince him to join us instead."

"I can relate; family is complicated. I lost my own older brother when I was very young, and my father has been demanding and even abusive; and yet, despite it all, I've come to see that there's a part of him that still wants to do good and to atone."

"Ah, we hear a lot of that back at the school, particularly parents that couldn't accept that their kids were mutants. Can't say I've experienced it myself. I'm sorry about your brother; do you have any other siblings?"

"Another older brother and an older sister; we've done what we can to support each other despite our father."

"Well, it sounds like you still have a pretty good family, all things considered. Take good care of them, and hopefully it all works out for you."

"Same to you. Take care of your brother out there tomorrow, and hopefully you can get through to him one day."

Scott smiled and patted Shoto on the shoulder. "I think that's enough sharing and fresh air for one night. C'mon, let's go get some shuteye before the big mission tomorrow."

Having gotten a lot off their respective chests, the two restless heroes slept soundly for the remainder of the night.

The next morning, the hot Brazil sun woke the heroes from their slumber. The team got together and had a quick breakfast before heading out on the town, with Pietro taking the lead and speeding off into the city. The rest of them were barely a block away from the hotel when Pietro reappeared in front of them.

"I found the anomaly, but you're not going to like where it is."

"Where?" asked Scott.

"Top of the favela, and the Brotherhood is already on the way."

Scott pulled off his backpack and handed it to Momo. "Take Creati and the scanner there and keep watch; don't leave her until she's all set up, and only if it's absolutely necessary."

Without another word, Quicksilver grabbed Yaoyorozu and disappeared, with the rest of the team following him in what looked like slow motion. Before Yaoyorozu knew it, they were at the top of the mountain, between several abandoned buildings.

"Set up the scanner, I'll handle defenses," said Creati.

In the blink of an eye, Quicksilver opened the backpack and turned on the scanner, holding the large yellow device in front of him to analyze the area; it pinged louder and louder, until it put out a consistent tone, and the screen showed an erratic thermal reading in front of it, invisible to the naked eye. Pietro pulled the handles out, deploying the tripod and anchoring the device to the ground; with the push of a button the scanner began analyzing the anomaly.

Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu was pulling various metal objects out of her forearms and navel, setting each one up on the concrete until she had created a perimeter around the site.

Down below, at the bottom of the favela, the rest of the team had suited up and were ready to climb the mountainside slums. Before they even touched down on the beaten concrete roads, however, Wolverine shouted just as they were knocked down into the alleys. An enormous man wearing a padded, grey bodysuit stood atop the ledge they had just been standing on. Walking out of one of the dilapidated houses, wearing a black bodysuit, his face covered by a cowl, and blue circuitry lighting up from a circle on his chest down all four limbs; Todoroki just barely put up an ice wall in time to shield them, only for it to get blasted apart immediately, sending the heroes flying back into a wall. The massive man jumped down into the favela, joining his fitter-looking counterpart, and the two ran for the top of the mountain.

Bakugo took off with an explosion, while Todoroki shot himself forward with a rapidly formed pillar of ice; Wolverine got to his feet, no worse for wear and dragged Cyclops off the ground. The four heroes took off at full speed after the villains. Bakugo effortlessly maneuvered through the narrow passages of the favela using small, controlled explosions from his hands; Wolverine was hot on his heels, running either upright or on all fours like an animal. Taking the more direct approach, Shoto flew over the buildings on an ice slide, but was quickly shot down by a plasma blast from Havok; he recovered by creating an ice slide on the side of a house, and then skated along the ground to catch up to Bakugo.

"Heh, that's why I stayed on the ground!" taunted Dynamight.

"At least now we know the air isn't an option," replied Shoto, coolly.

With their superior speed and agility, the three heroes rapidly closed in on the two villains running up the hillside.

"Hey, fatass!" shouted Bakugo, as he closed in for a strike.

Blob knocked down and wall, causing a family inside to make a run for it. Bakugo carefully shifted his flightpath to avoid them, but lost some speed in the process. Shoto used his ice to slide the family safely downhill. The villains, meanwhile, continued blowing holes in the walls, causing civilians and armed gangsters alike to come pouring into the streets.

"Dammit, get them out of the way!" shouted Wolverine.

"They're making it harder for us to pursue them by going through a populated area," said Todoroki, as he moved more civilians to safety, while putting up an ice wall to block a hail of bullets from AK-47s.

"Think I don't know that!? Just get them out of here!" yelled Logan, as he slices several rifles to pieces lengthwise, before knocking their respective owners into nearby brick walls.

"I'll catch up!" declared Bakugo, as he weaved between fleeing civilians and pinballed off of each armed thug in his path, sending them flying to the ground in the process. He took to the air and kept a close eye on Havok; the villain's suit circuitry lit up blue and then he turned around. "Gotcha!"

Bakugo shifted in the air to avoid the plasma blast, then launched himself at full speed towards the man who had just shot at him. Blob tried to body block him, but Todoroki caught him in an icewave before he could get there, clearing the way for Bakugo to send Havok flying back with a large explosion. It had little effect, as the villainous mutant was back in action, charging a massive plasma attack; but, before he could fire it, a red beam of light engulfed him and dissipated the energy around him.

"He's mine!" declared Cyclops, from around the corner of a house.

Blob took the opportunity to launch himself forward and continue climbing the favela, but Bakugo and Todoroki pursued immediately; Havok tried to stop them, but was shot by another of Cyclops' kinetic beams.

"Didn't you hear me – I said, you're mine!"

Havok stared his opponent down. "Alright, Scott."

Havok's hands shot up, plasma already forming in hand, but Cyclops knocked them aside with an optic blast. Havok stomped his foot and created a shockwave of plasma energy, sweeping Cyclops' legs out from under him, but he caught himself and was quickly back up. A sustained optic blast put Havok on the defensive, using a sphere of plasma emanating from his body to block the ray of kinetic force; when Cyclops got close, Havok discharged the energy to create a shockwave in the air. Cyclops endured the blast, and engaged his brother in hand-to-hand. The two brothers' martial skills were just about even, with each blocking or evading each other's punches, kicks, and grabs; at one point, they grappled with one another, but neither could definitively pin down or throw their opponent, so Havok blew his brother away with another concussive blast.

"Looks like we're just about even, both in powers and martial arts," said Havok, somewhat mockingly.

"Come on, Alex, stop this and come home," Cyclops pleaded.

"I can't do that, Scott, not until mutants are free from the oppression of humans" he said, as he threw out a flurry of small plasma blasts, which quickly found themselves shot down by Cyclops' optical beams.

"That's what we're trying to do, Alex, the right way!"

"Your way is too soft; it doesn't get results fast enough."

"And the Brotherhood does? They make everything worse for mutants; we gain nothing by having everyone fear us!"

Havok shook his head. "Scott, don't you get it – they already fear us. Don't believe me? Let's see how they react to you."

Havok blasted open a wall, revealing a woman cowering in fear inside. Havok prepared a surge of plasma in his hand and aimed straight for her, ready to fire.

"Don't!" yelled Cyclops, as he opened his visor a little wider than usual, blasting his brother back several meters.

Scott immediately rushed to the woman's side. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Não, não vems cá; deixa-me em paz!" she screamed in Portuguese.

Scott could speak English and Russian – he didn't know Portuguese – but he did the best he could to calm her down. "Don't worry, ma'am, I won't hurt you; I just want to get you to safety," he said, placing his hands around her shoulders and trying to get her to stand.

"Of course you hurt me," she whispered in his ear.

The woman moved faster than he could track with his eyes; before he knew it, she had moved behind him. He felt her unfasten his visor, and then heard her run into the favela, her footsteps changing entirely as she ran. His eyes, now uncovered, hemorrhaged kinetic beams that smashed through everything in his field of vision. Scott screwed his eyes shut to stop himself from obliterating the entire favela. He heard a heavier set of footprints approach him.

"Sorry, Scott," said Havok, just before he ran off, leaving his older brother sitting there.

Further up the favela, Bakugo, Todoroki, and Logan stuck close to Blob, not letting up for a second. The large man's attacks were powerful, smashing through walls and sending masonry flying, but they were far too slow to keep up with his far more agile pursuers. Dynamight rocketed him back with explosions, while Shoto hammered him with fast-formed ice constructs. Wolverine got in close and slashed at the man's morbid gut with his claws. Blob was showing visible signs of damage, but it was hardly slowing him down.

"Damn it! What's it take for this guy to go down!?" asked Dynamight.

"Spilling his guts would do the trick if I could fuckin' get to them!" swore Wolverine.

"Afraid that's not an option!" said a familiar voice.

Havok closed in on them from behind, prompting Shoto to block a plasma blast with an ice wall, which quickly shattered from the impact.

"Great, Scott got his ass kicked. You two keep him busy; I'll cut up fatso here!"

Bakugo and Todoroki nodded and immediately flew up to meet Havok halfway. Explosions and fire met plasma, heating the air before burning each other out. Shoto created a pair of ice waves and trapped Havok inside, but the mutant melted his way out quickly. The three danced in the sky in a brilliant display of light and heat, with the heroes-in-training holding back considerably as far area of effect was concerned. There were still civilians in the area that hadn't gotten out, and the two heroes couldn't risk hitting them with the crossfire. Havok had no such convictions, however, as he thoughtlessly unleashed large-scale bursts of plasma into the streets, forcing the three teammates to snatch civilians out of the way and throw them out of the battlefield.

Worse still, there were gang members still running around with automatic rifles, firing them indiscriminately in their panic. The heroes didn't feel particularly protective of them, sending them flying away with explosions and ice slides – they did just enough to make sure their weapons were destroyed and that they didn't accidentally get incinerated by Havok's plasma.

The distraction was enough, however, and after a few close calls, Havok finally landed a solid hit on both of the boys, knocking them down to earth. The villainous mutant held them down with waves of energy, causing the UA students to groan in pain as they felt their bodies heating up; both had a fair share of heat resistance thanks to their respective Quirks, but even they could only take so much; Shoto did the best he could to protect the both of them by continuously producing ice around them to counter the plasma, but he didn't know how much longer they could hold out.

Meanwhile, Wolverine continued his assault on Blob, raking the chunky villain's stomach with his claws, but with no visible effect on the thick defensive hide. Seeing that the UA boys were in trouble, Wolverine tried to disengage and go after Havok, but the semi-giant man grabbed him by the leg and swung him around like a bat, face-first into the brick wall of a nearby house.

While all of the fighting continued in the favela, Creati finished laying all of her traps in a defensive perimeter around the scanner. Pietro had helped her set everything up, but was now pacing back and forth.

"Quicksilver, you can go down and help the others now."

"Will you be alright on your own?"

"I'll be fine; I can defend the scan site on my own with all of this. Go evacuate any remaining civilians."

"If you insist," he responded, coolly. "I'll run by once in a while to see how you're doing."

With a quick stretch and a kick off of one of the nearby walls like it was a starting block, Quicksilver ran down the hill into the favela. The cramped neighborhood was a slow-motion scene of chaos, as civilians ran from the mutant battle making its way to the top of the hill. As he found unarmed residents, Quicksilver grabbed each one; he cradled the backs of their heads to prevent whiplash, and then ran them through the streets to the bottom of the mountain. For each of the civilians with firearms, he did much the same, making sure to disarm them first, and then give them a well-deserved smack across the face when he dropped them off. At the bottom of the favela, once-armed gang members went flying to the ground, while innocent civilians looked around in confusion before leaving the area.

Quicksilver made sure to take routes that steered clear of the battle while he carried each person to safety, but on his way back up, he would land a punch on Havok or Blob, making his teammates' jobs a little easier. On one such trip, he spotted a rather suspicious-looking man, running not down the hill but up it; what's more, the man held Cyclops' visor in his hand. Knowing what was going on, Quicksilver nodded and let out a chuckle, before he ran up to the man and snatched the visor out of his hands, then forcefully pushed the man towards a nearby wall. Surprisingly, or perhaps not quite surprisingly, the man stopped himself from hitting the wall, catching himself on it in a wide-stanced four-point landing; his head snapped towards Pietro, and his eyes flashed yellow, before he flipped off of the wall like a gymnast swinging from a trapeze and smashed through the window into the building.

Quicksilver could have pursued, but decided to prioritize helping his downed comrade first. He around near the unfolding battle and found Scott taking cover in one of the houses.

"You drop something?" he asked, tapping Scott's shoulder with the visor.

Cyclops grabbed the headgear and fastened it back to his head, before getting back up. "Thanks. Where's Mystique?"

"She vanished into a building. I think she's heading for the anomaly, but builder girl can handle her."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, she's got it."

"Alright, then let's help the others for now."

Quicksilver grabbed Cyclops in much the same way he grabbed the civilians from earlier, and ran both of them over to the battle taking place. As they arrived, Pietro threw Scott directly at Blob; Scott opened his visor to full aperture and blasted Blob to slow himself down – once he landed, feet firmly on the ground, he continued to blast the villainous mutant until the front side of his body was completely worn down.

"Logan, now!"

Wolverine ran forward on all fours, before jumping through the air and jamming all six of his claws into Blob's stomach. The Brotherhood mutant cried out in pain as Wolverine pulled up and tore his gut open. Cyclops ran over and fired one last concussive beam straight at Blob's face, slamming his head into the pavement and knocking him out.

"Think he's down for the count?" asked Cyclops, as Wolverine flicked the blood off of his claws.

"With his body, he'll live, but he should be out for a while."

"Good. Next, my brother."

With the civilians cleared from the area, Bakugo and Todoroki had stopped holding back. Bakugo was launched himself at high speed, battering Havok from multiple angles; while Todoroki weaved webs of ice constructs between the claustrophobic buildings, using his flames only to warm himself up and prevent icing over. The two young heroes made sure not to attack Havok directly with their explosive or fiery attacks, so as not to give him more energy to absorb.

Backed into a corner, Havok drew out as much of the energy he had left as he could. As he released the blast, Wolverine, propelled by Cyclops' optic blast, slammed directly into him; Havok reflexively unleashed his charged blast directly at Wolverine. The yellow-clad mutant stood his ground and took the blast – his suit burned and singed, his skin boiled and melted, but still he stood his ground. When the searing beam had ended, Wolverine's skin and muscle grew back and stitched themselves back together, recovering his metal skeleton, as he unleashed a flurry of punches on Havok, beating him to the ground.

"Wolverine, head's up!" yelled Bakugo, as he launched himself forward and back, grabbing Logan in the process.

With Wolverine out of the way, Shoto buried the entire road in ice, pinning the villain down with only his head exposed.

Cyclops walked up to his restrained brother. "Sorry, Alex, but you're coming with us."

Up at the top of the favela, the analysis of the anomaly was just about complete. The sounds of fighting below had died down, signaling the battle's end.

"Hey, fight's over," said Quicksilver, having arrived without Yaoyorozu noticing. "How's the scanner, almost done?"

"Yeah, almost."

"Good. Once it's finished, let's pack up and get back with the others."

Yaoyorozu's brow furrowed; she couldn't let herself relax yet, not until the mission was done. She watched as Pietro walked towards her; nothing seemed off, but…

As Quicksilver crossed the perimeter Creati had set up, electricity arced from all directions; the fair-haired man let out a feminine shriek, as he was brought to the ground. He stumbled back, out of the electric field; his skin peeled and rolled over itself, revealing a nude, blue-skinned woman with red hair and yellow eyes.

"So, that's what you really look like," said Creati, as she drew a bo staff out of her thigh. "Mystique, I take it?"

The blue woman groaned in pain as she got to her feet. "So, they told you about me?"

"They did. I figured you'd try to sneak up here and steal the scanner, so I took measures to prevent that," said Creati, as she held up a small pill-shaped device. "I gave everyone a sensor before the mission started; without one, the electric field projector I made won't let you through."

"Thanks for the tip."

"As if it'll be that easy!"

Mystique and Creati each stood their ground. It was a standoff, as Creati stayed just within the range of the electric field, only intent on fighting if it was somehow breached. While the two women stared each other down, the scanner pinged, having completed its task; and just as it did, the sensor fob Creati had just shown off rose out of her belt and into the sky. Yaoyorozu jumped back just before the arcs of electricity fully triggered, leaving her and her opponent trapped on either side of the invisible cage. The forced stalemate didn't last long, however, as all of the traps Creati had laid were quickly pulled off the ground and crushed together.

"An impressive effort, young lady," said an aged male voice from above, "but I'm afraid it won't be enough to stop me."

Creati looked up, keeping Mystique in her peripheral vision. Descending down from the sky was a middle-aged man in a suit of red and purple armor, cape flowing behind him, and a red helmet framing his face.

"Magneto."