We were winning, it looked like Bastion was finally starting to run out of Sentinels. The amount of Omega Sentinels coming out as reinforcements had slowed to a trickle and even the pace of Prime Sentinel reinforcements was slowing down. As I aimed another Ferromantic Anti-Tech Spell at one of the last few Omega Sentinels remaining, this one aiming some kind of nanomissile launcher at Thor, I figured that we might actually finish up out here before the infiltration team got out of the base with the X-Men at this rate. My spell struck the nanomissile which exploded in its launcher, depositing a payload of nano-machines that force-converted the Omega Sentinel and themselves into inert blocks of carbon with a loud screeching noise.
"Well struck, Sorcerer!" Laughed Thor as he proceeded to blast a hole through a pair of Omega Sentinels with a single throw of Mjolnir. Way to make me feel inferior there big guy.
"They're running out of steam! Pour it on!" Called out Captain America as he deflected a photonic blast from one Omega Sentinel into another with his shield.
"What is taking your infiltration experts so long? At this rate, we'll have to go in and rescue the X-Men ourselves!" Scoffed Emma Frost as she beat an Omega Sentinel into the ground by using a Prime Sentinel as a telekinetic bludgeon.
"I don't know, Barton was trained from childhood as a professional Thief, and Widow was trained by the Red Room, those two have forgotten more about being sneaky than most people ever learn." Frowned Tony as he blasted one of the few remaining Omega Sentinels with a double repulsor blast.
"Well whatever it is, it sounds like they oughtta be able to handle it, yeah?" Questioned Jubilee as she fired her powers through the Fireshrieker at a pair of Prime Sentinels sneaking up on Husk, even as Husk ripped a third Prime Sentinel's head off with her super-strength.
"Undoubtedly. There may have been certain defenses that were unforseen, however. We'll just have to trust in their skills!" Offered Beast before using his hyper agility to backflip off an Omega Sentinel, causing a tracking missile from a second Omega Sentinel to dump its plasma warhead into the First Omega Sentinel at the last second.
"Like what kind of Defenses?" Queried Sync, using a combination of Jubilee's powers and Emma Frost's powers to telekinetically accelerate a plamatic burst into and through another Omega Sentinel.
As he said that, the ground began to shake as if a freak earthquake was on the way. That caused a Prime Sentinel to lose its footing and stumble into a punch from Monet that tore its head off. Monet kicked the torso away and it exploded near a second Prime Sentinel, detonating both.
"I think we're about to find out!" I warned, cleaving a Prime Sentinel in half with my Wan-Shen even as I tossed an Amber Spear into the back of the last remaining Omega Sentinel. The unexpected blow hit it right between the shoulders, knocking it forward and into a strike from Mjolnir.
"Aye, that is Teamwork! Well done! Let whatever is coming come, it too shall fall before us!" Boomed Thor.
As he said that however, the blast doors of part of the Base exploded off their hinges as a reddish-brown blur skidded to a halt. The blur resolved itself to reveal the armored form of the fucking Juggernaut, sans helmet, the unmoving form of Bastion held up by the neck in a single, meaty hand. Interestingly, Bastion's legs were missing, but rather than gory stumps, we instead saw black nanofluid and sparking wires. Huh, apparently he'd started going Nimrod earlier than he had in canon.
"Is that the Juggernaut?" Exclaimed Tony.
"Verily." Nodded Thor.
"Still think we can stop whatever may come?" Snarked Emma Frost.
"We have fought before. Each time the battle was. . .indecisive, however, I do not believe him to be our enemy this day." Intoned Thor.
"Thor's right, from the looks of things, he's on our side, at least this time." Nodded Cap.
"Cap's right, I got one guy here whose lights I wanna put out tonight an' that's this tin can wearin' a person suit right here!" Scowled the Juggernaut.
"I say we just let the Big Guy pound Bastion into the ground and call it a night." I suggested.
"Heh, yer all right, Kid!" Laughed Juggernaut.
"No, that isn't how we do things. He should stand trial." Frowned Cap.
"The guy tried to sic a couple replicant Synthazoids on the President, if that's not Treason, I don't know what is." I pressed.
"In truth, the Young Sorcerer has a point. Methinks we should radio Colonel Fury." Offerex Thor.
"That does sound like a plan. What do you say, Big Guy? You all right with that or are you gonna make an issue of it?" Asked Tony.
"Ya think ya could stop me if I did? This asshole thought he could, an' look at him now. Nobody but nobody stops the Juggernaut!" Scowled Juggernaut.
"You seem to be lacking one part of that equation, my friend." Chimed in Beast.
"Whattaya talkin' about furball?" Demanded Juggernaut.
"He's talking about your helmet. You know, the thing that let's you no-sell psychic attack?" Added Jubilee.
"Indeed. Much as I am loathe to admit it, my students seem to have brought out something of my better nature. If you don't agree to appeal to SHIELD Authority, I assure you, I can make you agree." Warned Emma Frost.
"Fine, take the fun outta all this why don'tcha." Grumbled Juggernaut.
With that, Cap radioed into Colonel Fury up on the Helicarrier. For a few moments, there was nothing but radio chatter back and forth between Cap and Fury, even as Agent Hill led SHIELD Troops into the base to round up all human personnel and render assistance to any captives. Then the word came down from on high. Bastion was to be taken into custody, not summarily executed by Juggernaut. Juggernaut, realizing that Emma would be able to take him out of play without his Helmet, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and let SHIELD have Bastion. In the meantime, I realized just what a mistake this was. Mind you, I had no idea if any of the stuff with Orchis was ever going to happen here, but letting any version of Nimrod live wasn't exactly good for Mutant Survival.
Still, Bastion was taken into custody, alongside row after row of Human Base Personnel. Guards, technicians, researchers, clerks, medical staff, even the janitorial staff. All were rounded up and marched into SHIELD hovercars for booking on the Helicarrier. Then came the captives from the detention level and my bad mood got worse.
Dozens of Mutants, most Civilians with useless powers, some just kids, were escorted out of the wrecked base by SHIELD medical personnel. They all had signs of having been tortured. One, a girl whose only crime seemed to be that she had prehensile hair, looked to be no older than twelve. The X-Men were the last ones out of the base, being helped along by Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, and another Mutant Prisoner whose face I couldn't place. Jean Grey was unconscious and had to be carried out of the base on a stretcher. How the living avatar of the Phoenix Force could be knocked unconscious, I didn't know, but given the state of the other Victims, maybe I didn't want to know.
The look on Scott Summers' face was certainly worrying me, though. From what I remembered of the guy, Scott was always a stickler for regulations, a fan of the chain of command, and a true believer in Xavier's dream of coexistence. I was pretty sure it took a bunch of tragedies, including M-Day, to radicalize him enough to actually become a revolutionary. Now however, when I looked at Scott Summers' face, I saw a rage bubbling under the surface. Hadn't one of the drawbacks of my new life been that he'd not only start growing in power, but also start becoming more unstable? Was this anger a part of that or was it a natural reaction to seeing what was essentially Mutant Auschwitz in miniature? I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell the difference.
I was certainly livid, but was able to keep a lid on my emotions until I was able to return to my tower and let things out in a way that wouldn't cause a scene, thanks to my powers.
Regardless, the pogrom was, at least for the moment, over. Scott Summers' potential instability was a tomorrow problem. I was, frankly, beat and wanted nothing more than to hitch a ride back to my Tower and sleep. So that's what I wound up doing, courtesy of a SHIELD Chauffeur Hovercar being driven by the younger Agent Maria Hill. Fortunately, she was just as non-inclined toward conversation as I was at the moment. All the conversation that passed between us was me giving directions to my island. As it suddenly appeared from out of the mystical mist, I got the most emotion I'd ever seen out of Agent Hill, a brief amused snort.
"Cute magic trick." She huffed.
Then we landed on my Island and I marched right inside without even saying goodbye, willing the internal geometry of my tower to take me to my quarters. I turned the corner and found myself in my bedroom where I proceeded to shuck off my gear and lock myself in the shower. For a good hour, I sat there, letting the water run over me as I screamed in anger at what I'd seen. Children! Some of them had been Children! Beaten, starved, tortured, children! All because of a few pointless mutations! What was the point? Hadn't we, as a society, all agreed no more of this shit?
As I raged in the shower, my grip on my emotions finally allowed to slip, I didn't quite have the presence of mind to realize that this must have been a lighter version of the rage that Scott Summers had been feeling. I realized it after I'd screamed myself hoarse and gotten out of the shower, though. I'd only seen the results, Scott had lived it. Was that enough to tip him over the edge into drawback-mandated instability? Did it matter even if it was? The drawback implied something catastrophic would happen if left to go unchecked. Did that instability having an understandable reason for it change anything at all?
I found I didn't really have any answers right now. I was tired, sore, and emotionally drained from this whole thing. All I wanted right now was to make like my Totemic Patron and hibernate. I crawled into bed and fell asleep. I wouldn't wake up until a full thirty-six hours later. When I did, I found two cards had been stuffed into my bag of holding before I'd left while I was busy scrutinizing Scott Summers. One was a small piece of paper with a telephone number, Jubilee's name, and the words 'call me sometime' written on it. The other, more pressing one was an Avengers ID Card.
Apparently, I'd just been drafted. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
So here we see the end of the Alternate Operation: Zero Tolerance Arc. Here we see the end and some of the aftermath. Scott's drawback-mandated instability is coming from having lived through a mini version of Mutant Auschwitz, with Bastion playing the part of Mengele. A big part of dealing with that drawback is going to be grappling with the fact that having understandable reasons doesn't make immoral actions right.
Also, we finally get a hint to the next Arc. It's going to involve the newest Avengers Team, which Jan has been drafted into. Effectively going from an X-Book to an Avengers Book in terms of comics lingo.
That will be coming up next.
Stay tuned. . .