"Fuck! Fuck! Nothing happened to this fatso!" Tabitha yelled, backing away with Jubilee and Katrin.
Blob's already-angry face twisted with even more irritation at being called "fat" again. He planted his massive feet against the ground and charged after them.
Seeing this, Xavier knew the farce had gone on long enough.
"ENOUGH!"
He raised two fingers to his temple and reached out with his telepathy, touching the minds of everyone on the battlefield.
"No more violence."
The instant he finished speaking, the battlefield fell silent.
For a moment, everything seemed to freeze.
Blob stopped in the middle of his charge, one foot still raised.
Pyro's flames died down, his hands remaining frozen in the air.
Pietro stood completely motionless, one foot barely touching the ground.
Sabretooth's claws remained inches from Wolverine.
Even the members of the Brotherhood who had yet to enter the fight stood frozen in place.
Xavier slowly looked across the battlefield.
The X-Men looked back at him with relief. Even the younger mutants, who appeared stunned by what had happened, seemed to understand that the danger had finally passed.
Xavier then turned his wheelchair toward Magneto—the only mind on the battlefield he could not reach.
"Erik," Xavier said, his voice carrying disappointment rather than anger. "This has gone far enough. These young mutants have already suffered more than enough. You don't need to turn them into soldiers in a war they never asked for."
Magneto said nothing.
Xavier continued.
"We can still end this without anyone else getting hurt."
Seeing no resistance from him, Xavier's voice softened, becoming more earnest.
"You believe humanity can never accept us, Erik. But you are allowing your fear of what humans might do to become an excuse for what you are doing to them."
For a moment, Magneto simply stared at him.
Then Xavier felt something strange.
A flicker.
Not from Magneto.
From somewhere else.
His brow furrowed slightly.
There were so many minds around him that it was difficult to distinguish one from another, yet for the briefest moment, he sensed something... distant. A presence that seemed strangely disconnected from the chaos around them.
Before he could investigate, the sensation vanished.
Xavier dismissed it as nothing more than the strain of maintaining control over so many minds at once.
He focused on Magneto again, happy that he was finally listening to reason.
"You and I have known each other for a very long time, Erik. Surely you don't want this to become another battlefield between us."
A few moments earlier.
"Fuck! Fuck! Nothing happened to this fatso!" Tabitha yelled, backing away with Jubilee and Katrin.
Blob's already-angry face twisted with even more irritation at being called "fat" again. He planted his massive feet against the ground and charged after them.
Seeing this, Xavier knew the farce had gone on long enough.
"ENOUGH!"
He raised two fingers to his temple and reached out with his telepathy, touching the minds of everyone on the battlefield.
"No more violence!"
Kitty glanced toward the charging Blob.
"Professor, wait for me! I'll help them!"
Before Xavier could respond, she took off toward the massive mutant.
Just as Tabitha, Jubilee, and Katrin began backing away, someone stepped forward to face Blob.
It was Dinah.
Her long blonde hair whipped wildly in the wind, while her white patient uniform fluttered around her. Despite the massive mutant charging toward them, her blue eyes remained steady, without even a hint of fear.
"Cover your ears," she told the girls calmly.
Then she took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and unleashed her scream.
"AAAHHHHH!"
The air itself seemed to explode.
A visible wave of force blasted outward from Dinah, tearing across the sand and slamming directly into Blob. Sand erupted around him as the sheer power of her voice sent him staggering backward.
"Ugh!"
Blob clutched both ears as he dropped heavily onto one knee.
"So fucking loud," Tabitha muttered, covering her ears.
"Okay... now I kinda feel bad for the fat guy," Jubilee admitted, wincing as she rubbed her ears, "My ears hurt even when I'm standing behind her!"
"American girls are so very loud," Piotr muttered from nearby, still covered in steel.
He reached down and helped Sam and Bobby back to their feet.
"I did not hurt either of you, did I?" he asked guiltily.
Sam brushed the sand off his patient uniform and gave him a grin.
"I won't break that easily."
Bobby, however, was clutching his arm.
He could have sworn he heard something crack when Piotr's Steel body slammed into them earlier, and his arm was hurting like hell. But he wasn't about to complain about it.
Instead, he quietly covered his arm in a layer of ice, using the cold to numb the pain.
"Good. Then let us finish this," Piotr said, nodding.
He turned toward Blob.
Then stopped.
"Huh?"
Blob was sinking.
Slowly, his massive body was being pulled down into the ground.
"What the—?"
Blob looked down in confusion as the sand and earth swallowed him up to his knees.
"What is happening?!"
He struggled wildly, blood beginning to trickle from his ears as he flailed his arms.
Then Kitty suddenly emerged from the ground beside him, popping up as casually as if she had just climbed out of a swimming pool.
"No more running around, big guy," she said with a mischievous smirk.
She stepped backward.
Blob's eyes widened.
Kitty had phased into the ground, grabbed his legs, and phased him downward with her. Once she released him, his body became solid again, leaving him trapped in the ground from the waist down.
Even his hands were buried beneath the surface.
Blob struggled furiously.
"Get me outta here!"
"Whoa! That was amazing!" Jubilee exclaimed with a huge grin.
Katrin let out a relieved breath, her shoulders finally relaxing.
"Wow, Dinah, you were so fucking loud! And so fucking cool!" Tabitha shouted, throwing an arm around Dinah's shoulders. Then she pointed at Kitty. "And you were amazing too, missy!"
Kitty grinned, her ponytail swaying as she put her hands on her hips.
"I know, right?"
"ARGHHH! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" Blob roared, his massive body squirming as he tried to pull himself free.
Suddenly, thunder rumbled overhead.
And a furious rain began to pour down.
Everyone looked up.
High above them, Storm floated beneath a swirling mass of dark clouds, her long white hair flowing wildly around her as lightning flashed behind her.
Across from her, Pyro's flaming serpent was already looking far less impressive beneath the sudden downpour.
"Hahaha! See? Girl power!" Tabitha shouted excitedly, throwing both arms into the air. "Who needs those loser boys?"
She turned around and flipped off the group of male mutants behind her.
"Hey!" Sam protested.
"Seriously?" Bobby muttered.
Before Tabitha could celebrate any further, something whipped through the air.
A long tongue suddenly wrapped around both Tabitha and Dinah around the waist, smashing them together.
"What the—?" Dinah muttered.
"AH!"
In the next instant, both girls were yanked off their feet and flung through the air toward the water.
"Tabby! Dinah!" Jubilee screamed in panic.
"AAAAAH!" the two girls cried as they sailed toward the shoreline.
Then—
BAMF!
A cloud of blue smoke suddenly materialized in front of them.
"Gotcha!" Katrin exclaimed.
She grabbed both girls.
BAMF!
A second burst of blue smoke erupted.
The next instant, all three girls reappeared safely on the ground.
Katrin stumbled slightly as she released them.
"Vhew... that was close."
"Thanks, Katrin," Dinah said, breathing heavily as she steadied herself with a hand on Katrin's shoulder.
"Wow, Katrin! I didn't know you could teleport with two people!" Jubilee exclaimed, one hand pressed against her chest as she caught her breath.
"I... I didn't know either," Katrin admitted, looking a little surprised herself.
"Fuck... Fuck! Who the fuck was that?" Tabitha snarled, her face turning red with a mixture of anger and lingering fear as glowing yellow spheres began to materialize around her hands.
The girls' eyes locked onto a small, hunched figure in the distance.
Toad stood there with his long tongue hanging out, a smug perverted grin spread across his face.
With the rain coming down harder by the second, their thin white patient gowns had become soaked and clung tightly to their bodies, leaving them feeling uncomfortably exposed.
"Disgusting," Dinah muttered, instinctively trying to cover herself.
"Ugh..." Tabitha grimaced, looking equally disgusted. "What a creep."
"Do not worry, girls," Piotr said, his steel-covered body already charging toward Toad. "We will take care of that sneaky bastard."
Sam and Bobby immediately followed him.
This time, Tabitha didn't say a word about helping.
She had absolutely no intention of getting anywhere near that filthy tongue.
Above them, Pyro's earlier laughter at the "little" bit of rain had completely disappeared.
His entire body was drenched.
He hated water.
And he hated being soaked even more.
The flames surrounding his hands were shrinking, his control over them becoming weaker with every passing second.
Storm had steadily established her dominance over the fight. She had manipulated the wind and humidity, drawn the clouds overhead, summoned the rain, and filled the sky with thunder.
Now, with a simple sweep of her hand, she prepared to unleash a bolt of lightning directly onto the device on Pyro's back, cutting off his supply of fire and ending the fight so she could turn her attention to the others.
Slash! Slash!
"AGHH!"
Wolverine cried out as she threw up her arms to block the incoming claws.
Blood sprayed from her hands.
For a brief instant, the metal of her adamantium bones was visible through the torn flesh. Then her healing factor kicked in. Flesh rapidly knitted itself back together, sealing the wounds almost as quickly as Sabretooth could inflict them.
Logan barely had time to breathe before another swipe came.
SNIKT!
She crossed her claws against Sabretooth's attack, the impact sending sparks flying.
Even Logan's reinforced uniform was hanging by threads in several places, though she had done her best to keep her private areas covered. Sabretooth, however, had no such concern. Her own uniform had been reduced to little more than blood-soaked rags, leaving one of her breasts completely exposed.
She didn't seem to care in the slightest.
Instead, Sabretooth took full advantage of Logan's hesitation, deliberately aiming her claws toward Logan's chest and face. Every time Logan moved to protect one, Sabretooth attacked the other, forcing her to constantly shift her guard.
Sabretooth was having the time of her life.
Every spray of Logan's blood only seemed to fuel her savage grin, turning the battle into exactly the kind of vicious fight she lived for.
And Logan was only getting angrier.