Breaking the Ice

The night air was thick with tension as Warren, Hank, Amelia, and Alex braced themselves against the Marauders. The remnants of destruction—the shattered walls, the cracked pavement, and the lingering haze of dust—framed the battlefield, a war zone caught between the flickering mansion lights and the oppressive darkness beyond. The young X-Men stood their ground, facing a lineup of hardened killers; Blockbuster, Prism, Tombstone, Scrambler, and Harpoon.

Alex stood at a distance, his palms glowing with swirling energy, the barely restrained power crackling and illuminating the battlefield. Warren swept his wings open, sending a gust of displaced air rushing forward, his sharp eyes locking onto Harpoon, the man who had nearly impaled Hank earlier. Hank dropped low, his muscles coiling, body tensed for battle, prepared to move at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, Amelia melted into the mist, her form dispersing like a ghost as she began to weave through the battlefield, a whisper on the wind, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Blockbuster cracked his knuckles, towering over the group, his massive frame casting deep shadows. "You kids don't know when to quit," he growled, rolling his shoulders. "Guess we'll have to teach you the hard way."

Hank exploded into motion first, a blur of raw power and agility, leaping toward Blockbuster. His massive fists swung in a flurry of rapid, precise blows, forcing the behemoth to block rather than attack. Hank dodged to the side, flipping over a powerful counterstrike that would have shattered a lesser man's ribs. He landed behind Blockbuster and delivered a brutal dropkick to the back of his knee, staggering the larger mutant.

At the same time, Harpoon spun his energy-charged spear, his sharp eyes tracking Warren, waiting for an opening. But Warren was a streak of gold and white, dipping and diving through the air, his wings carrying him with graceful efficiency. He banked sharply, swooping low before shooting forward like a bullet. His boot smashed into Harpoon's face, sending the man stumbling backward, his spear dropping from his grasp for just a moment.

Alex took that opportunity.

A bright red burst of energy screamed across the battlefield, striking Harpoon directly in the chest and launching him backward, his body skidding across the broken pavement. "That one's for trying to stab Hank," Alex growled, his palms still wafting with from the blast.

Prism retaliated instantly, his crystalline body catching the ambient light and bending it into a concentrated beam. He fired directly at Alex, a searing golden-white lance of energy cutting through the night. But before it could reach Alex, Amelia materialized from the mist, solidifying just enough to pull Alex away at the last moment.

"Pay attention," she hissed before dissolving again, her misty form swirling around Prism, momentarily blinding him in a dense, disorienting fog.

Warren didn't let the opportunity go to waste.

With a powerful downward thrust of his wings, he rocketed forward, fists clenched. He drove his knee into Prism's midsection, then spun with inhuman grace, slamming his elbow into the side of the Marauder's head. Prism staggered, but his crystalline body absorbed the force. He retaliated with a wild punch that Warren narrowly avoided by twisting midair, banking sideways.

Meanwhile, Hank found himself locked in brutal close combat with Tombstone. The pale, corpse-like brute absorbed every punch with terrifying resilience, his expression cold and unchanging. Hank slammed a heavy strike into Tombstone's ribs, but the impact barely made the man flinch. Instead, Tombstone grabbed Hank by the throat, lifting him effortlessly off the ground.

Hank snarled, twisting his legs up and kicking off of Tombstone's chest with all his strength, forcing himself free. The moment he landed, he rolled under a follow-up punch and gripped Tombstone's ankle with both hands, twisting hard. The Marauder faltered, stumbling slightly as Hank drove a punch into the back of his knee.

But before Hank could follow up, Scrambler darted toward him, his hand outstretched, fingers crackling with his disruptive power. If he got close enough to touch Hank, it would be over.

Warren saw it first.

He folded his wings in and dove.

The wind roared past him as he accelerated, pulling them open at the last second to redirect his trajectory. His outstretched foot slammed into Scrambler's ribs, sending him flying backward before he could reach Hank.

"Gotta be faster than that," Warren called over his shoulder.

Hank grunted in acknowledgment before ducking a monstrous punch from Tombstone, narrowly avoiding having his skull caved in.

Meanwhile, Blockbuster had shaken off his initial shock, now charging through the battlefield like a wrecking ball, swinging wild, devastating haymakers at anything in his path. Amelia twisted through the air in mist form, evading his blows effortlessly, but she couldn't stay intangible forever. She swooped low, reforming just long enough to grab a fallen metal pipe before dissipating again.

As Prism regained his bearings, his body flaring with refracted energy, Alex took aim again, charging up another blast. But Prism grinned. He angled his body just right, catching the light from nearby flames and sending a brilliant burst of blinding energy in every direction.

Alex staggered, eyes burning, his vision completely washed out. "Damn it!" He hissed, stumbling back.

Before Prism could capitalize, Amelia appeared behind him, metal pipe in hand. She swung hard, smashing it into part of his crystalline shoulder, sending jagged fragments flying. Prism roared in pain, his concentration broken.

"I don't need to see you to hit you!" Alex snarled, gritting his teeth through the pain as he fired blindly toward the sound of Prism's voice. The blast connected, sending Prism crashing into the rubble.

The tide of battle was shifting, the Marauders no longer as confident as they had been minutes ago.

The X-Men weren't just surviving.

They were fighting back.

For the first time that night, Blockbuster looked uncertain.

-X-

Bobby shot across the battlefield, gliding effortlessly on a frozen trail of ice, his movements fluid and graceful. Behind him, the ground trembled, the pavement splitting like glass under a hammer as Rhino charged, his massive form a living battering ram, unrelenting in his pursuit. Each stomp of his heavy boots sent small shockwaves through the air, the sheer force behind his momentum enough to turn a car into scrap metal.

"You gotta be kidding me," Bobby muttered under his breath, flipping backward mid-glide to avoid a chunk of asphalt the size of a fridge that Rhino had torn from the street and hurled at him. He landed, his ice trail snaking beneath his feet like an extension of his will, propelling him forward. "Gotta say, big guy—" he called over his shoulder, "—for someone who can run through a wall, you're not exactly light on your feet!"

Rhino roared, his massive fists clenching tight, the veins in his neck bulging with frustration. "Quit runnin', ya damn snowflake! Stand still and fight me like a real man!"

"Yeah, see, that's kinda the problem," Bobby quipped, skating backward now, arms flaring out as he fired a blast of ice directly into Rhino's chest.

The ice hit like a tidal wave, engulfing the massive brute in a thick, rapidly expanding cocoon of frost. Rhino's momentum carried him forward for several more steps before his feet suddenly locked in place, the ice creeping up his legs, his body coated in a thick layer of frost.

Bobby exhaled, shaking out his hands. "Wow. That actually worked?"

CRACK.

The ice exploded outward, shards flying in every direction like razor-sharp daggers.

Rhino's fist tore through the ice like it was brittle glass, his eyes burning with rage. "That ain't gonna work again, kid!" He bellowed, breaking free, the frozen restraints shattering with each flex of his monstrous muscles.

Bobby's bravado cracked. "Oh…great," he muttered, turning on his heel and racing away, a fresh trail of ice snaking beneath him as he accelerated.

Rhino dug his feet into the ground and charged, his massive form bulldozing through whatever was in his way. Bobby barely had time to react as Rhino smashed through a parked car, tossing it aside like a toy, debris flying in every direction.

Bobby had no choice but to go vertical. He skated up the side of a light post, his ice curling around it like a spiraling slide, and flipped off just as Rhino plowed straight through it, snapping the pole in half.

"Alright, let's see how you handle this," Bobby growled, flinging his hands forward.

The ground froze over instantly, the pavement becoming a treacherous sheet of slick ice directly in Rhino's path.

Rhino didn't even try to stop.

Instead, with every step he took on his charge forward, he planted his foot with incredible force, breaking through the ice. His heavy footsteps barely slowing him down as he barrelled forward with a snarl.

"What?!" Bobby yelped, eyes wide.

Rhino grinned viciously, still charging forward on pure momentum, arms outstretched like a freight train with no brakes.

Bobby had one second to react.

He flung himself sideways, twisting in mid-air as Rhino roared past him, missing by inches. The sheer force of Rhino's movement kicked up a powerful gust of wind, sending Bobby tumbling across the ice before he recovered, flipping back onto his feet.

Rhino dug his feet in, carving deep trenches into the pavement as he skidded to a stop, turning with murderous intent.

"Okay," Bobby muttered, gathering himself, rolling his shoulders. "This guy doesn't fall for the whole 'slip and slide' routine. That's…unfortunate." He took a deep breath and forced a smirk back onto his face, covering up his growing panic. "Hey, uh, you ever consider ice skating professionally?" He called out, waving his hand. "I hear there's big money in that. You'd kill at the Winter Olympics."

Rhino snorted like an enraged bull, slamming his fists together. "When I'm done with you, kid, they're gonna need a shovel to scrape you off the pavement."

"Oh good," Bobby muttered under his breath. "Trash talk and murder threats. You're the total package."

Rhino charged again.

Bobby thrust his hands forward, sending out a freezing gale of ice, attempting to encase the behemoth in layers of thick frost.

But Rhino just kept coming.

Each step forward was like a miniature earthquake, the force of his run shattering the ice before it could fully form. Cold mist billowed around him, but it barely seemed to slow him down.

'I need a better plan,' Bobby thought, gritting his teeth.

Then, his eyes lit up with an idea.

Skating backward at full speed, Bobby twisted his hands, sending pillars of jagged ice spears rising from the ground, forming a makeshift obstacle course in Rhino's path. The massive brute plowed through the first, shattering it instantly, but Bobby was already moving, weaving between ice pillars, zig-zagging faster than Rhino could adjust his trajectory.

Rhino snarled, struggling to keep up as Bobby led him through a chaotic, frozen maze, the massive behemoth crashing through the obstacles but losing speed with every impact. Bobby ducked behind one last frozen wall, pressed his hands to it, and let loose a final, concentrated blast of ice, making it even thicker and denser than before.

Rhino slammed into it at full force and this time, the wall held.

The impact was thunderous, ice cracking but not breaking, Rhino staggering, momentarily dazed.

Bobby didn't waste the opportunity.

With a cocky grin that almost masked his relief, he lifted both hands and sent a final, bone-chilling wave of frost over Rhino's body, encasing him in ice up to his neck.

For the first time, Rhino stopped moving.

For the first time, Bobby won.

Breathing heavily, Bobby slid back a few feet, eyeing his frozen opponent warily. "Stay down, big guy," he muttered, hands still glowing with cold energy. "Please, for the love of everything, just stay down."

He exhaled slowly.

That had been way too close.