ROAR OF THUNDER

Part I: Clash of the Titans

By Ryan Krupienski

Chicago, Illinois – also known as the Windy City. Home of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world; Lake Michigan; and the world-champion Chicago Bulls. Well, they USED to be world champions…

Recently, the city has also become home to the outlaw mutant heroes known as the X-Men, who stopped a band of bank robbers just a few days ago. And right now, the X-Men are enjoying themselves, having lunch at Michael Jordan’s Restaurant. And why shouldn’t they be taking a break? They’re heroes. They deserve it.

Sitting at a large booth for six, Scott and Jean Summers, Warren Worthington III, Betsy Braddock, Hank McCoy, and Cecilia Reyes are eating lunch, making small talk – being ‘normal’. Getting away from their lives as mutants for a while.

“So many things to chose from… what to eat?” Jean says as she curiously studies the menu.

Scott looks over to his wife. “Jean… honey, you do realize that you’re looking under the ‘family meals’ section, don’t you?” he asks cautiously.

“Oh… I am,” Jean responds with a laugh. “Do you want to… oh God,” she gasps, as she buries her face in her hands.

“Jean? Are you all right?!” Scott exclaims as he holds his wife in his arms.

Jean sits there motionless for a moment, her friends looking on with concern. “I’m… I’m okay, just a little nausea, that’s all. I’m just going to go to the ladies’ room, splash some cold water on my face. I’ll be fine,” she says.

“I’ll go with you, Jean,” Cecilia says as she and Jean get up from their seats and head towards the bathroom.

“Something’s going on with Jean… she’s been getting nauseous a lot lately. Hank, you’re a doctor… do you have any idea what might be going on?” Scott asks his best friend.

“Well, Scott, I have a few ideas… but I’ll leave it up to Cecilia, she’s more a traditional physician than I,” Hank responds.

“Perhaps I should join them, see what’s going on,” Betsy suggests.

“No need, Betsy. I’m sure Cecilia has everything under control in there,” Warren replis.

The four X-Men sit in silence, looking at their menus.

“Feel better?” Cecilia asks Jean, who’s just rinsed her face with cold water.

“Yes, I do. Thank you,” Jean responds with a smile.

“How long has this been going on? The nausea?” Cecilia asks.

Jean turns to Cecilia and says, “I’m not sure really… it happened a few times before, but this is the worst case of it yet.”

Cecilia stands and ponders for a minute. “Let me put my thinking cap on for a moment… you’ve been getting nausea frequently… that can happen to anyone, really. Have you noticed anything else odd?” she asks.

“Well… I’ve been getting headaches on and off, and I get some stomach pains at times. Also, I’ve been a bit hungrier as of late… I guess you figured that out from the fact I was looking under ‘Entrees For The Family’ on the menu,” Jean replies with a laugh. “Oh, I guess I should also mention something that happened back at the mansion the night that Scott and Charles… made their break. I felt some sort of… heave in my stomach, like something had moved…”

“Increase in appetite, nausea, headaches, stomach pains… and this little heave you mentioned… Jean, hold onto your hat… I think it’s possible that you’re pregnant!” Cecilia says in a prominent voice.

Jean’s face lights up with excitement. “P-Pregnant?!” she exclaims with joy.

“Yeah, pregnant. Your own little bundle of joy. Now, I’m not positive, so don’t get your hopes up. When we get home, Hank and I can run some tests, and hopefully it’ll turn out that you arepregnant,” Cecilia announces, trying not to act too excited.

Jean looks down at her belly, her face glowing. She touches her stomach gently. “Oh, I hope so. I want to tell Scott… but… but what if I’m not pregnant? I don’t want to upset him. Cecilia, I don’t want to tell him anything, not until I’m sure that I’m pregnant,” Jean says, looking at the doctor.

“You sure you want to do that?” Cecilia asks, slightly shocked. “Scott’s a strong man… he would be able to take the disappointment,” she says.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Jean says. “I just hope that it is a baby that’s doing this… and not some illness.”

“We’ll find that out later. Now come on, girl, let’s go eat!” Cecilia exclaims as she and Jean leave the bathroom.

Two hours later. The six X-Men have finished eating and are about to leave the restaurant to go and have a day out on the town.

“Time for a day full of fun and frolic in the city of the wind!” Hank says happily, as he and his fellow X-Men leave their seats and start walking towards the exit.

As they walk, they pass the bar, which has a television in it. What’s showing on the television must be very interesting, as everyone’s eyes are glued to it. Betsy stops to try to catch wind of what’s so intriguing.

“…Thunderbolts have been named the guilty party in the destruction of the small Colorado town of Robinette. This tragedy occurred only two days ago, on the twenty-sixth of March. Statistics on injury and survival have yet to be released at this time. More on this story to come. For NBC news, I’m Nesita Kwan.”

Betsy turns to face her friends, who have walked a bit ahead of her. She walks swiftly to catch up with them, and tells Warren that they all need to have a private conversation. Warren informs the other X-Men and they quickly move to a deserted area of the restaurant.

“You wanted to speak with us all, Betsy?” Scott asks.

Betsy begin, speaking quietly, “Yes, Scott. You know how you said you want us to identify threats to public safety, find them and bring them in? Well, I have a threat for us to deal with – the Thunderbolts. I just saw on that newscast in the bar that they bulldozed through a small Colorado town, Robinette I believe, two days ago. They are terrorists, Cyclops – the former Masters of Evil! They deceived the public and tried to pose as heroes in order to take over the world. Now they’re back to their old ways, and if we stop them, we’ll be doing the public a great service, finally putting away some horrible criminals. Not to mention we may get some good publicity out of it.” Betsy concludes her proposal, and Scott thinks about it for a moment.

“Well?” Betsy asks impatiently.

“It sounds like a plan to me, Betsy. But we have a problem – we don’t know where to find them,” Scott says.

“All of their recent activity has been in Colorado, Scott. If we can get there, then we can start searching for them. I can use my shadow-slipping abilities to…”

“No, Betsy. We can’t risk such a far transport with your shadow-slipping powers due to the fact that you don’t have your telepathy. You won’t be able to pinpoint exactly where we’ll end up. We’ve got an aircraft at the estate that we can use to fly there.”

Scott pauses for a moment, then continues, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do: we’ll all get back to the estate, suit up, and meet at the hangar bay. Let’s get moving,” he orders as he takes off toward the exit with his wife, the others following behind.

A mere twenty minutes later, the hangar bay at Warren Worthington’s Chicago estate.

“Cecilia? Are you sure you’re up to this? I know you’ve never been big on combat, especially when it comes down to using your mutant powers,” Beast says, as he and Cecilia Reyes stand near the X-Men’s aircraft in the hangar bay.

Cecilia, who is dressed in an official blue and yellow X-Men uniform, smiles and replies, “McCoy, you’re lookin’ at a girl who was born and raised in the Bronx. I can handle it, believe me. I may not be Miss Battlefield Operative, but I’m lookin’ on the bright side – at least I’m wearing a REAL X-Men uniform this time and not that ugly-as-hell Wasp costume I had on when we went up against the Ru’tai.”

“Err… I never did apologize for that…” Beast says with a smirk on his face. “But anyway… that’s a good enough explanation for me.”

Suddenly, a section on the floor goes black in the hangar bay and out come Psylocke and Shadowcat. Cyclops and Phoenix also enter the room, followed by Archangel and Colossus. All are in uniform, except for Shadowcat.

“Kitty, your uniform…?” Cyclops asks.

“Leave that to me, luv,” Psylocke says as Shadowcat is suddenly enveloped in a dark shadow. After it dissipates, Shadowcat is in her costume. She looks all around her body, fascinated yet slightly scared of what’s just happened.

Shadowcat looks at Psylocke with unease. “Uhm… th-thanks, Betsy.” Psylocke does not reply.

The other X-Men look shocked as well, but Cyclops, knowing that they have a task at hand, breaks the silence.

“Let’s load onto the plane,” Cyclops orders as the X-Men pile onto the aircraft.

The ramp closes up and seconds later, the engines fires up and the jet flies out of the hangar bay, into the vast, blue, cloud-covered sky.

“Okay everyone, we’re approaching Robinette. We’ll be arriving in about ten minutes,” Cyclops announces from the cockpit of the plane, turning his head around to face his teammates.

Along the sides of the aircraft’s walls sit the rest of the X-Men, except for the Beast, who’s busy fidgeting with a high-tech gadget at the rear of the plane, and Phoenix, who sits next Cyclops in the cockpit.

“Ah, there we go,” Beast says as he makes some final adjustments to the tracking device he holds in his hands.

“What is that thing?” Cecilia Reyes asks as she walks up behind him.

Beast replies, “This, my dear Doctor Reyes, is a Shi’ar tracking device. It can lead us to any super-powered being by copying energy residue left behind by the quarry, thus locking onto his or her energy signature and allowing…”

“Okay, okay, I get it McCoy! You could have just said it was a tracking device,” Cecilia says, not wanting to hear one of Beast’s long, drawn-out scientific descriptions.

Up in the cockpit, Cyclops and Phoenix are having their own discussion.

“Jean, how are you feeling now? If you’re not feeling well, maybe you should stay behind in the plane,” Cyclops says with concern.

“No, Scott, I’ll be fine, really. It’s just a little nausea, that’s all,” Phoenix replies.

“A little? Jean, you’ve been getting sick like this for days now…”

“Don’t worry. Cecilia said she’d check me out anyways, and she told me before at the restaurant it’s nothing serious.

“I just don’t want to see anything happen to you, Jean, that’s all. You know how much I love you,” Cyclops says as he takes his wife’s hand.

Nothing serious? Possibly being pregnant would most likely NOT fall under that category! What if Phoenix isn’t pregnant though? That would break Scott’s heart if he had to go through the anticipation of possibly having another child, only to be let down. So for now, that tidbit of information will remain hidden from Cyclops.

Ten minutes later.

The X-Men have reached Robinette, and are about to begin their search for the Thunderbolts.

The eight mutant heroes walk off the ramp and onto the ruins of Robinette. Beast immediately puts his tracking device to work, while the others look around at the devastation.

“Bozhe moi… this place has been completely destroyed!” Colossus exclaims.

“The Thunderbolts have really outdone themselves this time,” Shadowcat says sarcastically.

Cyclops walks over to Beast and asks, “Anything, Hank?”

“Almost… this place is not small when it comes to searching for energy signatures, so… EUREKA!” Beast exclaims loudly. “I’ve got energy signatures! I’ve picked up many different ones, and it may take a while to decipher them…”

“We’ll use what we have and track them down. You can work on deciphering them later if needed. Back on the plane everyone!” Cyclops commands, as the X-Men rush back onto the plane and take off.

“We’re getting closer,” Beast informs, looking at the Shi’ar tracking device. “Just keep going east, we’ll find them eventually…”

The plane flies for a while longer, through mountains and over tall trees. Then a small brown object comes into view.

“Scott, the tracking device is detecting exact matches of the signatures we copied almost directly beneath us! That cabin down there may be where the Thunderbolts are hiding!” Beast says.

“We’ll check it out, and hope that they’re in there.” Cyclops turns around from the cockpit and says, “Everyone, get ready! We may have finally found the Thunderbolts!”

Inside the cabin sits a group of unsuspecting heroes, widely known as the Thunderbolts. They are still reeling from the events of two days ago, when they were framed by the Masters of Evil for the destruction of the town of Robinette.

“What are we going to do? I mean, it’s bad enough that Abe’s in jail, but now this? How could everyone think we destroyed Robinette? We didn’t even show up until it was already totaled!” Songbird exclaims furiously.

The other Thunderbolts sit on the two couches in the cozy log cabin, watching their teammate pace back and forth, enacting her rage.

“Look, Melissa, you need to calm down! You’re getting too worked up over this! I don’t know how they did it, but the Masters somehow made it look like we showed up first and wrecked the place,” Atlas replies.

“Hawkeye, you said you were going to help us… some of that help would be good right about now,” Jolt says, looking at the former Avenger.

“I haven’t figured this out yet myself, but when I do, we’ll find a way to… wha?!” Hawkeye says in amazement, as he watches part of the cabin’s floor disappear and transform into a shadow. The other Thunderbolts all stand up, preparing for anything that may come out of the darkness.

“What is that thing?” Atlas asks.

“It’s a portal, luv. I use it to get anywhere I please, melting in and out of it. I like to refer to it as shadow-slipping,” says a cold, British voice.

A purple-haired female rises up out of the black hole, which closes up after she’s out of it. She stands facing the Thunderbolts.

“Psylocke? What are you doing here?” Hawkeye asks, approaching her and motioning for the Thunderbolts to back off.

“Well, why don’t you come outside, and I’ll show you,” she replies as she walks to the cabin door and opens it.

The Thunderbolts exchange puzzled glances, then follow Psylocke’s lead and go outside. What they find is seven more X-Men, with Cyclops at the lead.

“The X-Men? What are you doing here? How’d you find us?” Moonstone asks, eyeing the mutants suspiciously.

Hawkeye steps forward. “Cyclops, Hank… always a pleasure to see you. But why are you here? How did you find us?” he asks.

“We found you with this,” Cyclops replies, pointing to the device in Beast’s hands, “a Shi’ar tracking device. We just copied your energy signatures back in Robinette and found you here. As for why we’re here…”

“We’re here to take you in for what you did, namely destroying Robinette. Just come quietly, or we’ll have to use force,” Archangel says sternly.

Hawkeye turns to face the rest of his team, who are all absorbing what they’ve just heard. Then he turns back around to face the X-Men.

“You can’t be serious! We didn’t even d-do anything!” Charcoal stutters innocently.

“Didn’t do anything? You destroyed an entire town, costing hundreds of people their homes, their jobs, even their lives!” Shadowcat says angrily.

“Wait, hold on… if you just give us a chance to explain…”

“Stow it, Hawkeye. It’s obvious you’re not acting under your own free will, the Hawkeye I knew would never associate with criminals. Now, I’ll say it one more time… come quietly, and we won’t have a problem,” Cyclops orders.

Hawkeye knows for a fact that the Thunderbolts did not destroyed Robinette… but the X-Men are certain they did. The Thunderbolts have a responsibility to find and take down the Masters of Evil, and if they let the X-Men turn them over to the authorities, they won’t not be able to do that. They have one choice – resist the X-Men.

“I’m sorry, Cyclops, but that’s not gonna happen. We’re innocent, whether you believe it or not,” Hawkeye replies. He turns to face the Thunderbolts. “Do what you have to do to resist them… you know what’s at stake,” he sighs.

“X-Men – take them,” Cyclops commands, his visor glowing with energy.

The two teams charge at each other, and the battle begins.

“MASTERS OF EVIL, IT IS TIME!” the Crimson Cowl bellows. She stands tall on a platform, above the forty super-villains that compose the all-new, all-deadly Masters of Evil.

Klaw, Supercharger, Sunstroke, Dragonfly, Thunderball, Mr. Hyde, Joystick, Tiger Shark, Bison, and many others give their full attention to their leader, the Crimson Cowl, who is announcing the final phase of her plans.

The Cowl’s eyes glow with yellow energy, as she clenches her cape and speaks.

“It is time to enact the final phase of our master plan! We take a major city hostage, and state our demands to the United States government… if they do not comply, the city will be destroyed, and all its inhabitants will be killed!” she cries victoriously.

Many of the Masters smile with delight, intoxicated by the fact that they’re able to be part of something this large in scope.

“We leave within the next six hours, my friends. You have all been assigned to your aircrafts, and instructed what to do when we arrive,” the Cowl announces.

“What city, Cowl? New York? Dallas?” asks a curious Man-Killer.

“No, my dear Man-Killer… those would be too obvious. I have chosen a city that is one of the largest in this country, but remains unprotected by meddling heroes like the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Today, my Masters of Evil, we take control of Chicago!”

Meanwhile, back at the Thunderbolts’ cabin…

“Arrgghhh!” Atlas cries, as Cyclops shoots an intense optic blast straight into his face.

The Thunderbolt known as Atlas, due to the fact that he can increase the mass of his body, falls to the ground, causing it to shake. He falls unconscious, as the other Thunderbolts continue their fight against the X-Men.

“Colossus, you take the rock man, and I’ll go for the Siryn wannabe,” Shadowcat says, leaping at Songbird.

“Of course, Shadowcat,” Colossus obliges, charging towards Charcoal. He strikes Charcoal with a punch to the chest, which has little impact, only causing the diamond-hard Thunderbolt to stumble backwards a bit.

“I’m tougher than you thought, huh?” Charcoal says, regaining his balance and knocking Colossus away with a swing of his arm.

Just a few feet away, Shadowcat is engaged with Songbird, whose sonic powers are proving useless against the intangible X-Man.

“Keep trying, Songbird, but you won’t hit me, not while I’m phased,” Shadowcat boasts, as sonic objects pass through her body.

“You can’t stay phased forever!” Songbird yells, ceasing her attacks for a moment to regain her strength. That’s about to be proven a mistake on her part.

“You’re right… I just waited until you shut your big mouth so I could do this!” Shadowcat exclaims, kicking Songbird in the face and knocking her to the ground. The Thunderbolt mumbles groggily, struggling to get up.

‘We’re winning!’ Archangel thinks to himself, as Hawkeye shoots an arrow at him which the X-Man easily dodges. Hawkeye takes out another arrow, and takes a moment to aim where it will hit. He observes Archangel’s flight pattern, and shoots the arrow right where he expects the winged mutant to fly next. Archangel is hit and stunned, and falls to the ground like a stone.

“Are these people nuts, bringing a kid into battle?” Cecilia says, as she deflects Jolt’s blasts off her force-field. “Who did you used to be? Da Brat, Mistress of Mischief?” she asks sarcastically.

Jolt continues her assault on the mutant doctor. “You can stop with the ‘kid’ comments, lady. I choose to be here, and I’m standing by my friends all the way!” she exclaims, sending a powerful blast to the ground underneath Cecilia’s feet, causing the X-Man to fall to the ground.

“Good going, Jolt! Now take her out!” Moonstone calls from above, “Don’t give her a chance to recover! Remember what these people are here to do!”

‘She’s coming more and more under my control,’ Moonstone thinks, a grin plastered across her face. All of a sudden, a telekinetic bubble forms around Moonstone, trapping her. She turns around to see Phoenix.

“No, Moonstone, no one dies today,” Phoenix says, slowly shrinking the bubble around Moonstone’s body. Phoenix is not in a good mood.

“You think this thing can hold me? Think again!” Moonstone boasts.

There’s a brilliant flash in the sky, as Moonstone’s powers explode, destroying the telekinetic bubble, and sending Phoenix hurtling to the ground. Her head hits a rock as she lands, and she lies there, not moving.

Cyclops turns sharply, and sees his wife lying on the ground, motionless. “JEAN!!!” he cries out, rushing to her side.

“Jean… wake up! Tell me you’re okay!” he cries, turning his wife around and holding her in his arms. She still does not respond.

The rest of the X-Men and the Thunderbolts gather around Cyclops and Phoenix. Beast and Cecilia rush to Phoenix’s side to see if she’s all right, while Moonstone stands far away, her face emotionless.

‘Serves her right… she got in my way, and she got hurt,’ she thinks. Phoenix might be seriously injured, or even dead. Moonstone cares not, though; she looks out for one person and one person only – herself.

NEXT ISSUE: Roar Of Thunder Part 2! The tragic injury of Phoenix brings the X-Men and the Thunderbolts together! Now that the two super-teams have united, they have a job to do – take down the Masters of Evil once and for all! But the Masters are way ahead of them, as the villains arrive in Chicago and plunge the city into a state of utter chaos!