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Title: The New Mutants II, Volume V: Fantastic
Author: kanedax
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Spoilers: The New Mutants I; TNM II I-IV (see above)
Pairings: Bobby/Kitty, Rogue/Peter if you squint
Rating: R for language in multiple languages and hopefully intense action sequences
Summary: The junior X-Men meet some new players
Notes: This is where things start getting interesting. As I've mentioned in chapters of the first series, it's difficult to write decent action sequences into a literary format, so I hope it comes across at least half as well as it did in my head. As usual, I don't own the X-Men, Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, or Daniel Radcliffe's junk. Thank goodness for small favors.
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“It was… interesting.”
“Interesting?” Kitty asked from the passenger seat.
“Yeah,” Bobby said, checking the rearview mirror as he merged into traffic. “I mean, it was a good movie. Well written. Great direction. But there was that one part…”
“What part is that?” Rogue asked with a smirk from the back seat, where Peter was quietly looking out the window as the quartet drove back into the suburbs of New York City.
“You know,” Bobby replied. “The part that seems to be in every Dan Radcliffe movie?”
“My mom always jokes that he’s the male equivalent of Kate Winslet,” Kitty said. “I guess ever since he did Equus he’s barely done a movie where he keeps his pants on.”
“Certainly spiced up that scene with Ginny in Deathly Hallows,” Rogue interjected. “My parents made the mistake of taking me when I was six. I was full of questions on the way home.”
“And the less I hear my mom talk about naked men the happier I am,” Kitty muttered.
“Little Radcliffe notwithstanding,” Bobby continued unabated, “It was a decent flick.”
“It was nice to get out,” Kitty said. “The four of us haven’t been able to hang out much, we should double date more often.”
“Wait, what?” Peter said, perking up. “Date?”
“What the hell is this?” Bobby muttered, looking at a car through his side mirror.
“No,” Rogue sputtered. “This wasn’t a date. Of course it… what?”
“Theresa and Remy like keeping to themselves,” Kitty said. “And I doubt any of the new girls are decent matches for the other guys. I haven’t been on a group date since before I manifested, so let a girl pretend at least? For tonight?”
“Bastard needs to learn how to drive,” Bobby said as a yellow Camaro blasted by him in the slow lane and drove past three other cars before crossing onto the bridge. “At least he’ll have to slow down for that bus.”
“Okay,” Peter said quietly.
“Fine by me,” Rogue said. “I don’t go to first base till at least the third date, okay, Pete?” Peter responded by turning a deep shade of red.
“Maniac,” Bobby said under his breath. The Camaro, instead of slowing down for the bus that was driving ahead ofit, flew into the passing lane and was attempting to pass it despite the left lane traffic moving much slower than it was.
“Calm down, Bobby,” Kitty said, patting him on the leg. “Can’t do much about bad drivers.”
“This guy thinks he owns the road,” Bobby growled. “He’s going to get somebody killed if he…”
As the words left his mouth, the Camaro jolted back into the right lane, within inches of the front of the bus. Bobby watched as the brake lights for the bus lit up, turned off, and flickered on and off.
“Holy…” he breathed as he watched the tail end of the tail end of the accordion bus began to veer back and forth across the two lanes. As it flew into the passing lane, an SUV slammed into it, causing the entire bus to swerve out of control.
“Oh my God,” Rogue said as the quartet watched the bus spin perpendicular to the road along the bridge. Sparks flew as the front end ground along the side wall into oncoming traffic. The wheels rolled up over a small sedan, and before they knew it the first third of the bus was hanging over the river below.
Bobby, along with everyone else on the bridge, slammed on their brakes to avoid crashing into the bus. The rear half of the articulated bus was blocking all four lanes of traffic, and he watched in horror as the weight of the front end was slowly pulling the rest of the bus towards the edge.
“Come on,” he said, jumping out of the car and running towards the scene. The other three jumped out and ran past others who stood their with their jaw agape. As they ran, they heard the squeal of brakes and a metallic crash on the other side of the bus.
“You!” Kitty said, pointing to a balding man with a Bluetooth in his ear. “Call 911!”
“But…” the guy said, helplessly pointing at his phone.
“Do it!” Kitty yelled. The man nodded and disconnected his call.
Bobby threw his hands out, launching streams of ice at the edge of the bridge.
“Pete,” he yelled, “Get over there and try to slow down the drag. Kitty, get in there and get the people off.”
“What are you doing?” Rogue yelled.
“Trying to give it a little more bridge to stand on,” he replied as the ice began to form under the wheels that were hanging over the edge. “Can you grab it with Magneto?”
Rogue closed her eyes and focused her energy on the bus as Peter ran towards it, his hands and face showing the steel that his skin had become under his coat. As he did, he slowed down, as if running through molasses.
“Rogue!” Peter said. “Your fields are slowing me down!”
“Shit,” Rogue muttered, pulling back her magnetic field.
“That’s fine,” Bobby said, “help me out here, would ya?”
“Okay,” she replied, and, pulling her gloves off, threw a second snow stream over the edge of the bridge.
“I think we’re getting it,” Bobby grinned as a large chunk of ice was developing, blocking the bus from sliding any further. Within seconds, Kitty phased through the bus, two very confused passengers at her side.
“That car that crashed on the other side is blocking the back door,” she panted. “I’m going to have to get them out this way.”
“Then do it,” Bobby said as Kitty ran back into the bus.
“Pete!” he yelled to the large steel man who was currently pulling the rear bumper. “Do you think you can tear it a new one?”
“Hang on,” Peter yelled back. He quickly let go, and was greeted by the screeching of metal and the cracking of ice as the full weight of the bus was placed on Bobby and Rogue’s work.
“Not until you give me more to work with,” he said.
“Should I ‘port inside?” Rogue asked. “Or phase through and help Kitty?”
“That might be smart,” Bobby replied, but the continuous sound of cracking ice gave him second thoughts. “Wait,” he said quickly. “I need you here. I don’t know how long the ice is going to hold it, but we should focus on getting it stabilized.”
Rogue nodded and continued pouring ice onto the shelf. Through the crowd, she could hear a helicopter approaching from the distance.
“Sounds like the police are on the way,” she told Bobby.
“Hopefully they can help,” he groaned. “I’m wearing out.”
“Blin!” Peter screamed as the fabric dividing the two halves of the bus began to tear. A squealing noise indicated that the metal connections were giving way.
“We’re losing it!” Bobby yelled as he and Rogue doubled their efforts on the splintering ice shelf. Just then the helicopter arrived, swooping low over the bridge.
“Sooskin!” Peter yelled in fury, his metal neck bulging with effort. “Shliushka! Svolotch!”
“ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHIT!” Rogue chanted.
The helicopter doubled back and hovered over the front of the bus. Just as the shelf completely gave way, Bobby watched as what appeared to be two long blue cords dropped from the side of the chopper and wrapped themselves around the bus, catching it moments before it took a plunge into the river.
“What is that?” Bobby said quietly. “Some kind of robotic tentacles?”
“No,” Rogue responded, barely heard over the whirling blades. “I heard it grunt.”
Just then the pair heard to loud crashes behind them. The spun around to see two huge creatures running towards the bus, with two streaks of light flying away from them in the darkness.
Bobby unconsciously dropped his stream of ice, as did Rogue, and both gazed with their mouths dropped at what they saw.
Both were at least seven feet tall, and wider than even the Juggernaut. One looked relatively human, if that human were a giant, green-tinted caveman with an over-hanging brow and a jutting chin. The other looked like nothing more than a sculpture made out of a pile of orange rock. Its face was built similarly to the green one, with a large jaw and eyebrows. Both were dressed in blue outfits, with what appeared to be harnesses or handles dangling from the back.
“Don’t worry, kid,” the orange one said as it approached Peter. “Help’s here.” The two hulking beasts (Mutants, Bobby thought, They have to be mutants) ran to the front end of the bus and started pulling along with Peter.
“You got it okay, Reed?” came a crackling voice from above, as though from a speaker. Bobby looked up to the sound of the voice and only saw two small jets of fire in the air. Darkness hid the rest of him.
“If you want to get underneath, Tony,” came a man’s voice from the pair of blue tentacles, which Bobby saw were connected to a body dangling from the helicopter, “it would be appreciated.”
“The view won’t be as good,” said the other voice, “but I suppose I could help. John, you want to give us a little more light?”
At that, a huge fireball erupted in the sky, lighting the night in a red and orange glow. Bobby shielded his eyes from the glare, but Rogue froze as she watched the flame.
“John,” she gasped. “But he’s dead…”
“I told you,” came a voice from the fireball, which, as Bobby’s eyes adjusted, wasn’t a fireball at all, but in the shape of a person, “It’s Johnny. Johnny Storm.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Tony replied flatly as he flew beneath the bus. “Just keep us lit.”
With five bodies now pushing and pulling on the bus, it slowly squealed its way back to the surface of the bridge.
“How’s it looking?” the rock mutant yelled.
“We’re good, Ben,” Tony said, landing on the bridge. “The bus is fine.” Bobby was able to get his first good look at him and his full body armor, painted blue and white.
“Great,” the orange beast called Ben sighed as he and Peter stopped pulling. Ben walked over to Peter and patted him on the shoulder as Peter’s skin reverted to flesh.
“You done good, kid,” he said, then turned to hear a grunting behind him. The other mutant, the large green one, hadn’t stopped pulling the bus, and was slowly moving it across the bridge.
“Bruce,” Ben yelled, running towards it and leaving dents in the cement with every step. “Bruce! You can stop now! Hey!” He grabbed his shoulder, and the mutant responded with a bellowing roar, which echoed across the river.
“Calm down, Bruce,” Ben said anxiously. “We’re done. We saved ‘em. Calm down.”
The green mutant, Bruce, stared blankly at Ben for a few seconds, then slowly put its arms around him.
“Hey, buddy,” Ben said nervously, patting Bruce on the back as he received a hug that would have killed a normal man. “Take it easy, would ya?”
“Enough with the PDA, you queers,” the flaming man, Johnny, said as he descended from the sky. Bobby watched as the growing crowd was slowly backing away from these strange new mutants.
“Watch your language, Johnny,” Tony said.
“Yeah, whatever,” Johnny replied as his feet touched the ground.
“Johnny!” Tony yelled. Bobby watched as a puddle Johnny landed in, a puddle which was apparently fuel from the bus, ignited at his touch.
“What?” Johnny asked as the bus exploded behind him. The crowd screamed, throwing their hands up, knowing that it would do them no good when the shrapnel started flying.
But there was no shrapnel. Bobby turned back and saw the smoke from the explosion hadn’t even gone past a certain point. It was, in fact, holding in a spherical shape, like smoke under a glass jar.
“Johnny, you idiot!” a woman’s voice screamed from next to him. Bobby spun around, but didn’t see a person where the voice had come from. “Did everyone get out?”
Then reality struck him.
“Kitty!” he screamed, running towards the wreckage.
“There was still someone in there?” Tony yelled in anger, running alongside Bobby. Johnny, who had changed into a normal blond man, stared at the globe of smoke in shock.
“Kitty!” Bobby repeated over and over. He ran through the smoke, but was stopped by some invisible force.
“Fuck,” Tony swore as Bobby bounced off and landed on the pavement. “Sue, pull back your shield.”
“Sorry,” the female voice answered, and Rogue jumped as a blond woman suddenly appeared next to her. At the same time, the smoke began to spread across the bridge as the force field abated.
“This is bad. I’m not reading any live bodies in there,” Tony muttered.
“Kitty,” Bobby croaked, his voice lost from the screams and the smoke.
“Ben, get this shit cleared away!” Tony yelled. He lifted his wrist to his face, and a panel opened, revealing a series of buttons. He began punching them, and a stream of blue fire erupted from one finger. With it, he began cutting away the charred, smoking wreckage.
“Everybody quiet!” Rogue screamed. Her eyes were closed, and her head was tilted as if listening for something through the drone of the helicopter.
“Under the bridge,” she said, running to the edge. “I’m hearing people splashing under the bridge!”
“I see them,” said Reed, who was still hanging out the door of the helicopter, his arms returned to normal length. “But I can’t reach them, they’re too far underneath the bridge.”
Rogue took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke. Agonizing seconds ticked by. Soon a second black bamf appeared near the first, with Rogue materializing from it, soaked to the bone. One arm was wrapped around the waist of a small boy, and the other was wrapped around Kitty Pryde. Both were just as wet as Rogue.
“Kitty!” Bobby wheezed as he ran and closed her in an embrace. The little boy looked up at Rogue.
“Thank you, lady,” he said.
“No problem,” she panted, trying very hard to make sure there was no skin contact. “Now go find your mommy, okay?”
“I thought I lost you,” Bobby croaked.
“You almost did,” Kitty said, wiping the wet hair from her face. “If I wasn’t phasing when the bus exploded, I don’t want to think about what would have happened.”
“Who are you?” said a man in the crowd.
Tony turned theatrically to the man. “You’ll know soon enough,” he said in a grandiose voice. At that, he and Johnny walked behind Bruce and Ben and grabbed their harnesses. Johnny exploded into a burst of flame, and the four lifted off the ground. At the same time, Reed stretched his arm down and wrapped it around Sue, pulling her up to the helicopter. It pulled away from the bridge and followed the two dwindling beacons of light over the horizon.
Peter slowly joined the trio, who, like the rest of the people on the bridge, were silently watching the group’s departure.
“I guess vacation’s over.”
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