"Come on, runt!" Sabretooth snarled, baring her teeth in a savage grin. "You gonna do more than block?"
She seemed to take particular pleasure in taunting Logan, as though the fight itself wasn't nearly as entertaining as getting under her skin.
"Did you think changing your face would stop me from recognising you?" Sabretooth grinned, inhaling deeply. "I could smell your pathetic, weak self from miles away! Hahaha!"
She lunged again.
Logan gritted her teeth as another claw came dangerously close to her face.
"Cheap shot, bub."
"It's a fight," Sabretooth growled. "There ain't no rules. And it seems that after all these years, you've gone not only weak but soft, sister." Her grin widened as she glanced at Logan's tattered uniform. "Here, let me tear away some of that shyness!"
She swung again, this time deliberately targeting Logan's chest.
Logan crossed her claws just in time to block the strike, the impact sending sparks flying.
Sabretooth laughed.
"That's it! Keep protecting yourself, you weak little runt!"
Logan's eyes narrowed.
She'd had enough.
As Sabretooth raised her claws for another attack, Logan suddenly ducked low.
Her shorter frame worked to her advantage. She slipped inside Sabretooth's reach and drove both claws deep into her thighs.
"GRAAAH!"
Sabretooth staggered, blood pouring down her legs.
"You fucking runt!"
She brought one massive arm crashing downward.
Logan was already moving.
She slipped behind Sabretooth and drove both sets of claws into her back.
SNIKT!
Sabretooth screamed.
Logan kicked the back of her knee, bringing the larger woman down, then climbed onto her back before she could recover.
"Get... off... me!"
Sabretooth twisted violently, reaching behind herself, but she couldn't get a proper grip on Logan.
Logan dug her claws deeper.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Sabretooth thrashed beneath her.
Logan's face twisted with fury as she ripped her claws free and struck again.
Blood splattered across the ground.
Again.
And again.
Each strike tore through flesh, only for Sabretooth's own healing factor to begin repairing the damage moments later.
"You're gonna pay for that, you weak, cowardly runt!" Sabretooth roared, struggling desperately to reach Logan.
But Logan barely heard her. Her mind was consumed by rage, and all she could think about was shutting this bitch up.
She slammed her claws into Sabretooth's back again.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT ME BEING WEAK!" Logan screamed. "And quit calling me sister! I ain't your fucking sister!"
She ripped her claws free and drove them into Sabretooth's back again, twisting them before pulling them out.
"YOU WANNA KEEP CALLING ME A RUNT?!" Logan roared, striking again. "THEN LET'S SEE WHO THE FUCK'S THE RUNT NOW! HUH?!"
Sabretooth answered with another furious scream as Logan continued her relentless assault. The two feral mutants remained locked in a vicious battle of claws, blood, and rapidly healing wounds.
Not far from them, Jean stood with two fingers pressed against her forehead while Scottie stood beside her, one hand resting on her visor.
BAM!
A silver blur suddenly slammed into an invisible barrier directly in front of them.
Quicksilver bounced off the barrier and stumbled backward, clutching his face.
"What the hell is this bullshit?" Pietro muttered, rubbing his aching nose. "Why can't I reach you?"
Jean couldn't help but smirk.
A translucent almost invisible, semicircular barrier surrounded her and Scottie, created entirely from telekinetic force.
She had gotten the idea from her idol, the Invisible Woman.
Jean had never actually tried creating a barrier like this before. She hadn't even been sure she could. But when a punch had struck an invisible wall instead of her face, Jean realized something.
The forcefield built into Luke's bracelets could stop Quicksilver's attacks.
The bracelets had several danger settings that determined when the forcefield would activate, since using it would dig into its limited energy supply.
Jean had kept hers on a lower danger setting because she knew she wasn't particularly skilled at hand-to-hand combat.
Scottie, on the other hand, had kept hers on high.
Which was why her forcefield hadn't activated even after Pietro had repeatedly punched her. The bracelet simply hadn't considered the attacks dangerous enough to warrant using its limited energy.
Then Jean had quickly attempted to create a similar barrier with her own telekinesis, extending it wide enough to protect both herself and Scottie.
And somehow, it worked.
Jean stared at the translucent wall in surprise.
She could actually do this.
Her normal telekinesis had never been capable of creating anything even close to this precise or powerful.
It has to be the serum.
The gene-enhancing serum had pushed her abilities far beyond what she had previously thought possible.
Jean's confidence grew as she watched a silver blur circle the barrier, searching for an opening.
"Only defending won't solve this," Scottie muttered, her voice tense with frustration as she glanced across the battlefield. The other X-Men were already making progress against the Brotherhood.
Jean nodded.
"Right."
She focused on Quicksilver, who had suddenly stopped moving.
If he was going to stand still, she wasn't going to waste the opportunity.
She raised her hand, preparing to use her telekinesis on him.
Then Pietro turned his head.
"Sis! Little help here!" he called.
A female voice answered from somewhere behind him, carrying a similar accent.
"I knew my stupid brother couldn't do anything by himself."
Jean's eyes widened.
A tiny red spark had flickered across the surface of the forcefield.
Then the entire barrier vanished.
"Huh?"
Jean barely had time to react.
"Ugh!"
A silver blur shot forward.
Pietro slammed into Scottie, knocking her off her feet before racing straight toward Jean.
Her bracelet activated immediately, projecting another forcefield around her.
Then—
A second red spark flickered across the bracelet.
This forcefield disappeared too.
"Wha—?"
BAM!
Pietro's fist smashed into Jean's face.
"AGH!"
Jean staggered backward, blood immediately filling her mouth. Her jaw throbbed from the impact as she struggled to stay on her feet.
"Hehe..." Pietro grinned, kissing his knuckles. "Finally! Quicksilver gets them both."
"You're forgetting something, Pietro."
A young woman approached from behind him.
She wore a revealing red bodysuit with a flowing red cape, her auburn hair framing a confident expression.
Pietro's grin widened.
"Hehe. Thank you, sister."
He casually rubbed the back of his head.
Jean spat blood onto the ground.
She looked over and saw Scottie slowly pushing herself back to her feet, her face bruised and bloodied from Quicksilver's repeated punches.
Something inside Jean snapped.
She was tired of being pushed around.
Tired of being the one who needed protecting.
"AAAHHH!"
Jean thrust both hands forward.
BAM!
A powerful telekinetic wave erupted from her
Pietro and Wanda were both caught in it and hurled violently backward, crashing onto the ground.
Pietro groaned and immediately tried to push himself up.
But he never made it.
His body suddenly lifted off the ground.
"What the...?"
His eyes widened as he found himself floating helplessly in midair.
Jean slowly rose to her feet, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth.
She raised one hand.
Pietro rose higher with it.
"Put me down!" he demanded, struggling uselessly against the invisible force holding him.
Jean stared at him, breathing heavily.
"Where did all your speed go now huh?"
"Good job... Marvel Girl" Scottie said, a satisfied grin crossing her bruised face.
She spat a little blood onto the ground before straightening herself.
Then she raised her visor.
A concentrated red optic blast shot past the fallen Wanda, carving a deep crater into the ground beside her.
"Stay down," Scottie warned. "Next one won't miss."
Wanda froze.
Her eyes darted toward the smoking hole only inches from her.
For the first time, genuine fear flickered across her face.
Even Pietro's cocky expression disappeared as he looked from Scottie to the crater.
But just then a loud, arrogant voice rang across the battlefield.
"Ah! Looks like I gotta come save all your asses!"
A black-haired young man wearing a transparent visor covering half his face stepped forward with an arrogant laugh.
He slammed both hands toward the ground.
At that exact moment, D.A.I.S.Y. issued an urgent warning across the X-Men's communicators.
"Warning. New immediate threat detected. Lance Alvers. Mutant designation: Avalanche. Primary ability: seismic manipulation. He can generate and direct powerful vibrations through solid matter. Please move away from his location quickly."
"Fear the Avalanche!" Lance shouted just then.
CRACK! CRACK!
The earth split apart.
Massive fractures raced across the beach, tearing through the sand and rock beneath everyone's feet.
"Whoa!" Jubilee cried as she stumbled.
"Fuck!" Sam shouted, throwing his arms out to keep his balance.
"What the fuck is happening now?!" Tabitha cried, nearly falling as another violent tremor shook the ground beneath her.
The rescued mutants weren't prepared for it.
Several of the younger mutants lost their footing immediately, tumbling onto the sand as cracks opened around them. Some scrambled desperately to get away from the widening fissures while others grabbed onto whatever they could find to keep themselves upright.
Nearby, Jean's eyes widened as the ground suddenly shifted beneath her.
She instinctively raised both hands to steady herself.
That split second distraction was enough.
Her concentration broke.
And Pietro suddenly dropped several feet.
"Ha!"
The moment he felt the telekinetic grip loosen, Quicksilver twisted in midair and shot away.
"Pietro!" Wanda called.
"Come on, sis!"
The silver blur raced toward her.
Wanda barely had time to stand before Pietro grabbed her arm.
The two disappeared in a streak of silver, vanishing from sight.
"Damn it!" Jean shouted.
She staggered as another tremor hit, but before she could fall, Scottie caught her.
"Got you."
Elsewhere, Blob suddenly felt the ground around him crumble.
The earth trapping him around the waist collapsed beneath him.
With a tremendous effort, Blob pulled one hand free.
Then the other.
"Finally!"
He hauled himself upward, tearing free from the crumbling ground.
"I'm free!"
The ground buckled violently once more.
Then seawater came roaring through the newly formed cracks, flooding across the beach and sweeping debris along with it.
The old ship groaned as the shifting ground tilted beneath it, nearly throwing the entire vessel onto its side.
Lance stood in the middle of the chaos, grinning broadly.
"Go on you all can sing praises for Avalanche now!"
Just then Professor Xavier abruptly opened his eyes.
His expression changed instantly.
He stared at the scene before him in stunned disbelief.
Only moments ago, he had been speaking with Erik, nearly convincing him to take his people and leave. Yet now...
There was no peaceful battlefield.
No frozen Brotherhood.
Instead, the beach had descended into chaos.
The X-Men and Brotherhood were still fighting, blood staining the sand as cracks tore through the ground and seawater flooded across the battlefield.
What... happened?
His wheelchair suddenly tilted violently beneath him.
Xavier was thrown from his seat and crashed onto the ground.
He barely seemed to notice.
His mind was already working.
Telepathic energy spread outward from him, sweeping across the entire beach as he reached into the minds around him, searching for an explanation.
Then he felt it.
Something foreign.
Something that hadn't been there before.
Someone has been inside my mind.
Xavier's expression hardened.
Still lying on the ground, he slowly turned his head toward the enormous ship, now tilted dangerously to one side.
There.
A faint psychic presence.
Hidden.
Carefully concealed beneath the chaos of dozens of other minds.
But Xavier could feel it now.
"There's someone else hiding in there..." he murmured, his eyes narrowing.
His telepathy reached toward the faint presence aboard the ship.
For a moment, Xavier said nothing. His expression grew stern, and his fingers tightened slightly against the sand.
Someone had entered his mind, manipulated his perceptions, and used his own voice to deceive him while the people he was supposed to protect continued fighting.
He wasn't going to let that happen again.
"Whoever you are," he murmured, "you've made a terrible mistake."