Roberto and Lance heard sat in the control booth until they heard some pounding on the door. "Open up! Open up right now!" The two teens exchanged a look of concern.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Roberto.
After a few more pounds on the door, the soldiers outside managed to knock the door open. The soldiers stormed into the room. There was no one there. The soldiers fanned out, and moved towards the closet door. They opened it and found Roberto and Lance in the closet.
"Oh thank goodness you found us," said Roberto. "Those Rebel intruders broke in and locked us in here." The soldiers looked at each other after hearing Roberto’s story. Eventually, the broke off, leaving only one guard behind to secure the control booth. "I think my friend is injured. Can I take him to the infirmary?"
The remaining soldier looked at Lance and then at Roberto. "Go ahead." Lance and Roberto wasted no time leaving the control booth, and quickly getting out of sight.
The pair eventually found a data port. Lance decided to resume his search for the system to see if the tractor beam had been disabled. Suddenly, he got a bunch of screaming in his ear. "Ow!" yelled Lance.
"Lance! It’s Pietro!" shouted Pietro over the communicator. "We’ve got a problem here!"
"What is it?" asked Lance!
"No time to explain. Just – Hey, get your tail out of my face!"
Lance and Roberto looked at each other confused. Roberto grabbed the communicator and began to speak. "Uh, Master Pietro, would you remind repeating that?"
"Shut off the garbage compactors!" screamed Pietro.
"What?" asked Roberto.
"The garbage compactors shut them off! All of them!" cried Pietro.
"You heard them, Lance. Shut them off! Hurry!"
There was a loud commotion heard on the other end of the communicator. Roberto looked at Lance. "No! You were too slow! They’re dying! Listen to them cry out in pain!"
"No! We’re fine, Roberto," came Pietro’s voice. "Just open all the doors, now. We’ll meet you back at the ship."
Roberto nodded towards Lance. Lance then used the link to the data port to open the doors. He disabled his link and started back towards the ship in the hanger. When they got there, they saw that there were several troops there guarding the Blackbird.
"We’d better wait here," said Lance. "If we take those guards out now, the entire hanger will be crawling with soldiers." Roberto nodded and the pair decided to wait until the time was right.
Scott and the others looked down from above at the Blackbird below. Wanda pushed her way forwards so that she could get a peek. "You came here in that?" mocked Wanda. "I guess you guys are braver than I thought.
"Whatever Sweet-cheeks," said Scott as he looked at Wanda annoyed. "Just move it." Suddenly, a laser blast passed over Scott’s head. Instinctively, he turned around and fired at the soldiers with a laser pistol of his own. He turned to Pietro and Wanda. "Get back to the ship, we’ll hold them off. And keep your powers to a minimum!"
Pietro grabbed Wanda by the hand and dashed off down the corridor. "He’s very brave," said Wanda as she looked back at Scott and the others.
"Yeah, but it won’t do him much good if it gets him killed," said Pietro. "Come on."
Meanwhile, Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt continued to return fire with their blasters. Several of their blasts landed, taking out a few of the soldiers and putting the odds in their favor. The soldiers turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Scott got to his feet and started chasing the remaining soldiers. The rest of his crew followed him. Just as Scott rounded the corner, he found himself face to face with an entire squad of armed soldiers.
Suddenly, from behind, Kitty leaped into the air and tackled Scott. As they hit the ground, they phased through the floor. Kurt slid across the floor, grabbing Jean by the waist. Once he had a good grip, they both disappeared in cloud of brimstone leaving the soldiers pondering over their disappearance.
Pietro and Wanda found themselves being chased by more soldiers. They quickly rushed into room, and closed the door. Pietro reached out and blasted the controls. They looked out and found that there was a large gap in the middle of the room, with no bridge. Pietro looked down, and saw that it would be long drop if they fell.
"We’ve got to get over there," said Pietro. Suddenly, blasts started to rain down from above. Pietro raised his rifle, but his shots were off.
"Let me see that," said Wanda. She took the rifle aimed carefully, and hit her target. Suddenly, even more blasts began to rain from above. "This is useless. We’ll be at this forever," she said. "And pretty soon, those guys will get through this door."
Pietro swallowed hard. "Can you take care of those soldiers?" asked Pietro. Wanda nodded. She raised her hands, and the platforms that the snipers were standing on, slowly fell away. The soldiers that had been on them fell into the abyss along with the platforms. Pietro arched his eyebrow as the fell. He lifted Wanda up into his arms. She leaned over and gave him a small peck on the lips.
"For good luck," she said.
Pietro smiled. He started to race along the wall of the room. As he dashed along the walls, with his speed, he easily made it to the platform on the other side without falling. Once they were there, he sat Wanda down, and the pair rushed off to find the others and to get to the ship.
Storm entered the room quickly, and saw the reactor that powered the tractor beam. She took a few steps, and paused sensing a presence very close. For now, she chose to ignore it. The tractor beam had to be deactivated. She walked towards the reactor and heard voices coming. She quickly pulled herself out of sight as a pair of soldiers strolled past.
Once they were gone, Storm slipped back to the reactor and flipped the switch, turning the tractor beam off. She then reached around to the back, and opened the fuse panel. She reached in and pulled some of the wires out, and tossed them aside.
Storm got to her feet and walked to the next room, where she found someone there that she had been expecting to see. The large figure stepped out of the shadow, and glared at Strom. "I’ve been expecting you, Storm," said Magneto. Magneto moved his hand from underneath his cloak, revealing a lightsaber. He pressed the button, and a red light blade rose from the hilt. "You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment."
Magneto swung, and purely by reflex, Storm pulled her own lightsaber out and activated it, her blue light blade clashing with his red. Storm raised her hand and blew a gust of wind at Magneto’s chest. He slid across the floor, still on his feet, and brought himself to a stop. He looked up at Storm, who twirled her lightsaber in her hand. During mid-swing, she must have hit another switch, because a second blue light blade came out the other end. Magneto nodded slightly impressed. "I see you’ve learned a few new tricks, but I assure you that it’s nothing that will save you," said Magneto. "I am not only the Master of Magnetism, but I am an Alphi Master as well."
"A title you give yourself for the sake of your ego," protested Storm. "The only things you’ve mastered are evil and hatred."
"Either way, weather witch," began Magneto, "you will learn a lesson here today." He charged at her twirling his lightsaber. Storm moved her staff in a fashion to counter each of his blows. However, Magneto was physically stronger than she was. And each of his blows became harder and harder to block. "Your time is at its end," he warned. Both of their weapons clashed and they pushed against each other with all their might. The crackles of energy clearly heard as they pushed against each other.
"If you strike me down now, Magneto," said Storm, "I promise you that I will become much more powerful than you can imagine."
Wanda and Pietro came dashing down the hallway. At the end of it, near the hanger they saw Scott and the others crouching down. Scott turned around to see them approaching. "Well, what kept you?" he asked.
"We ran into some of your frat brothers, what else?" snapped Wanda. Scott took a deep breath after hearing Wanda’s comment.
"Is the ship okay?" asked Pietro.
"Yes," answered Jean. "We just have to get to it, and get out of here." She looked back at the others. "I hope Storm shut down that tractor beam."
"Fine," said Kurt, "but how do ve get there. I can’t ‘port all of you from here to there before more guards arrive."
Kitty tapped him on the shoulder. "Look!" she cried. Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing. The guards had all started dashing off into one direction. "Is that our cue or what?"
"Okay everyone, move!" cried Jean. Everyone got up and started dashing towards the Blackbird. On the way towards, the Blackbird, Lance and Roberto joined the brief run. They were almost to the blackbird and up the ramp when they noticed what had distracted the guards.
"Storm?" said Pietro just as he was about to go up the ramp. His eyes fell upon Storm and Magneto as they dueled with their lightsabers. Magneto swung his lightsaber with fury, as Storm did her best to defend herself. However, she was growing wearing, and it was obvious to both Magneto and herself that victory was close at hand. Seeing the duel, Pietro began walking in that direction for a closer look.
Out of the corner of her eye, Storm saw Pietro coming closer. She turned her attention back to Magneto, delivering one more volley with her lightsaber to push her opponent back. Once Magneto was back, Storm held her lightsaber up in front of her, and lowered both of the blades. Magneto showed no mercy as he swung the fatal blow. Her clothes and lightsaber fell to the floor, her body… gone without a trace.
"No!" cried Pietro. Suddenly, the distracted guards were distracted no longer. They turned their attention towards Pietro, and fired their pulse rifles. Pietro quickly raised his own rifle and began returning fire.
"Pietro! Come on, it’s too late!" cried Wanda.
"Hit the door, kid!" said Scott. Pietro still continued to fire at the guards. He then turned his attention to the control panel and blasted it. The door closed, leaving Lord Magneto and several other guards behind it. Only a few guards remained, and they continued to fire at Pietro.
Run Pietro! Run! Pietro heard the words. It was Storm’s voice. He quickly turned and ran up the ramp. The engines of the Blackbird roared to life and flew out the hanger entrance, leaving the guards behind, blasting after the large ship with no hope of stopping them.
TO BE CONTINUED…