A couple of days later
We were back at the base, gathered around Kamala as she tested the suit I built for her.
"This is so cool!" she said, practically vibrating with excitement.
She stretched, twisted, and tugged at different parts of her body, pushing them to their limits to make sure they wouldn't tear.
"She's gotten really good at controlling her powers," Peter said, hanging upside down in his Spidey suit like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Yeah, way better," Cindy added, also dangling beside him. "I heard she can even embiggen into a giant now, but it drains her fast."
I looked up at them. "Why are you two doing that?"
"Habit," they both answered at the same time.
Cindy shrugged slightly, or at least, as much as you can shrug while upside down. "And once you get used to it, it's actually comfortable. Just… not for too long."
I eyed them for a second, then shrugged and transformed into Spider Monkey. A web shot from my tail, and a second later, I was hanging upside down right next to them.
I folded both sets of arms. "Okay… yeah. I get it."
…It really was kind of comfortable.
"Hey, Franklin," Ned called out, looking back at Kamala. "Why does her suit have your Omnitrix symbol on the shoulder?"
"Oh, she asked for it," I said.
When I designed the suit, she'd been giving me input the whole time. Colors, fit, little details, and then out of nowhere, she asked for my symbol on the shoulder. I asked why, but she just brushed it off with a vague "it looks cool."
"The symbol shows I'm on Omni's team," Kamala said, glancing back at us. "You know… when I go public."
"I still think we shouldn't call ourselves the Omni Warriors," I added. "Which, by the way, still sounds questionable. I'm telling you, Hero Force is right there."
"No," everyone said immediately.
I still didn't get it.
Omni Warriors.
Out of all the names we could've picked, that's the one they locked in on. I wanted something bigger, something that sounded like Justice League or Avengers. A name that actually meant something. Something that represented all of us.
Instead, we went with something that just screamed me.
I rubbed the back of my neck and let out a slow sigh. "Tony is never going to let me live this down."
Yeah… Tony Stark was absolutely going to clown me for this.
I unhooked myself from the web, dropping cleanly to the floor before shifting back into my normal form.
"I'm gonna go on patrol," I said.
My armor activated over me as I turned toward the teleporter, and then the alarms went off.
Loud. Sharp. Urgent.
I stopped immediately, turning on my heel and heading straight for the nearest monitor. My fingers moved fast, pulling up the feed.
And then I saw it.
"What the hell?" I muttered.
"What is it?" Ava asked, stepping closer.
I zoomed in on the footage. People in some kind of tactical gear were flooding the streets, cornering civilians, grabbing them, and attacking anything that moved.
But that wasn't the part that made my stomach tighten.
The people they were chasing… weren't normal.
They were pouring out of a sewer system like something had driven them up from underground. Their bodies were wrong, twisted. Blue skin, wings, horns, oversized limbs… like their mutations had gone completely out of control.
Like they'd been forced out.
I leaned closer to the screen, eyes narrowing.
"…They're not attacking randomly," I said slowly. "They're flushing them out."
Ava frowned. "Flushing who out?"
I didn't look away from the monitor.
"Mutants."
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to hurt all of them," I said, anger bleeding into every word.
The mutants weren't even fighting back, and it didn't matter. The people in that strange armor kept swinging, dragging them across the pavement and shoving them into trucks stamped with a symbol I didn't recognize.
My jaw tightened.
I turned and started walking toward the telephone pole, already thinking about how fast I could shut this down.
"Franklin Waite."
I stopped mid-step and looked back.
Betty was staring at the screen, her face pale. "I know who those people are."
Beth frowned. "Who are they? And why are they rounding up mutants like that?"
Betty swallowed. "It's a new government branch, Sentinel Services. They've been talking about it on the news for a while… throwing around the idea that they needed a specialized force to deal with mutants." She shook her head slightly. "I didn't think they'd actually go through with it."
Silence hit the room.
Kamala's voice came out quiet, but sharp with disbelief. "So they have permission to do this?"
Betty nodded once. "Yeah."
That answer sat heavily.
No one said anything for a second, but I could feel it, the shift in the room. The anger. The disbelief.
Yolanda's hands clenched into fists. Beth looked like she wanted to be sick.
And me?
I just kept staring at the screen, my expression going cold.
Permission or not… that didn't make it right.
"I don't care if they're part of the government, I'm not going to let anyone in my city get treated like this," I said.
I turned back toward the teleporter, and the air snapped with motion.
A blur dropped in beside me, followed by the familiar thwip of webbing. Peter landed in a crouch, with Cindy M straightening up next to him.
"We're coming," Peter said, already rolling his shoulders like he was warming up. "Our city, too."
"Wait for us!" Courtney called out.
She tapped her watch, and her suit formed around her in a ripple of light and armor. Cindy B activated hers right after. The hum of power filled the air as Courtney raised her hand, and her cosmic staff snapped into it.
Both of them stepped forward without hesitation.
"Wait, I want to come too," Kamala said quickly.
I glanced at her, already shaking my head. "You're not ready yet, Kamala. Not fully trained." My tone softened just a little. "Wait until Hector or Ted clears you. For now, you stay back."
She looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn't. She just nodded, disappointed but understanding.
I turned forward again.
"Alright… let's move."
The teleporter flared to life, and we stepped through.
We appeared on top of a building, the city spread out beneath us, sirens, shouting, metal doors slamming shut on people who hadn't done anything wrong.
Cindy B crossed her arms, glancing down at the chaos. "So… do you have a plan, or are we just jumping in and swinging?"
I didn't answer right away. I watched for a few seconds, patterns, movement, where they were loading people, how many soldiers, and where the exits were.
Then I spoke.
"Spider-Man, Silk, you're on rescue. Get those trucks open and get the mutants out."
I shifted my gaze. "Stargirl, Dragon Queen, you're with me. We shut the soldiers down."
Peter cracked his neck slightly. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."
We jumped.
I hit the Omnitrix mid-fall.
"Big Chill!"
Cold energy wrapped around me as wings burst from my back. I grabbed Dragon Queen mid-drop and carried her down fast, wind screaming past us. The others didn't need help. Peter and Cindy M were already swinging into position, and Courtney shot forward on her cosmic staff.
As we got close, I released Dragon Queen.
She hit the top of a truck hard, metal denting under her boots, then launched forward. One clean strike sent a Sentinel soldier flying away from a terrified mutant.
I spread my wings and swept low across the ground, freezing the soldiers' feet solid to the pavement. When they raised their weapons.
A blast of golden light tore through them.
Stargirl hovered above, staff glowing, dismantling their guns with precise shots.
Behind us, Silk and Spider-Man ripped open the back doors of the trucks, metal screeching as it gave way. Mutants stumbled out, confused, scared, but free.
Silk moved like a storm, knocking soldiers away from anyone they tried to grab.
I swept over the trucks again, freezing their hoods and engines solid. No one was driving anything out of here.
Then I slammed the Omnitrix.
"Four Arms!"
I hit the ground with a heavy thud and charged. Every punch sent soldiers flying, controlled but brutal, no killing, just enough to make sure they stayed down.
I grabbed one by the vest, lifting him off the ground, ready to toss him.
"STOP!"
The voice cut through everything.
Movement froze.
Soldiers. Heroes. Everyone turned.
A man stood there with a megaphone, surrounded by armed personnel.
"We have government authorization to detain dangerous mutants," he said. "You are interfering with national security. Put my soldier down and leave."
I let the guy drop, but instead of stepping back, I walked forward.
Slow. Deliberate.
"I don't care if the government signed off on this," I said. "I don't care if the Justice League or the Avengers approved it. I don't care if the President himself told you to do this."
I stopped right in front of him, looking down.
"These people aren't criminals. You're just hurting innocent people."
His grip tightened on the megaphone.
"I'll give you to the count of ten to leave."
I didn't even hesitate.
"I'm going to count to four."
Silence.
Tension snapped tight between us, both waiting for the other to break.
Then every gun, every piece of metal, every loose bolt and plate ripped free from the ground and lifted into the air.
Heads turned upward.
And there he was.
Floating above us.
Magneto.
Not only was he floating in the sky, but he also stood on a massive disk of twisted metal, his cloak snapping behind him. Around him, members of his Brotherhood hovered or stood ready, weapons and debris orbiting like a storm.
With a flick of his wrist, Magneto crushed the empty trucks, metal folding in on itself like paper. The sound alone sent half the remaining soldiers scrambling.
The guy in front of me reacted fast.
He pulled out a plastic gun.
Smart.
Too bad it didn't matter.
I stepped in before he could aim, grabbed it, and crushed it in my hand. The force carried through.
crack.
"AAAAAAH!" he screamed, dropping to one knee, clutching his broken hand.
I looked down at him, expression flat. "Trust me, I did you a favor. Now call them off."
He glared up at me, fury burning in his eyes, but he wasn't stupid. Not anymore.
He pushed himself up and barked the order.
Retreat.
The Sentinel soldiers pulled back fast, dragging their wounded with them as what was left of their operation collapsed.
Behind us, the freed mutants started cheering.
I shifted back to normal, and the team regrouped around me.
"You do realize," Dragon Queen said, arms crossed, "we just made ourselves enemies of the government."
"Yeah," I said simply. "I know."
I turned, expecting Magneto to start rallying the mutants.
Instead, he descended.
Slow. Direct. Right toward me.
Dragon Queen's blades came out of her hands, ready for a fight.
I put a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at me.
I shook my head once.
After a second, she pulled back, the blades going back into her hands as she stood down.
Magneto touched down a few feet away, eyes locked on me.
"I am not often surprised," he said calmly, "but today… I did not expect a non-mutant to stand with us."
"We saw something wrong," I replied. "So we stopped it. That's what heroes do."
He studied me for a moment.
"Is that so?" he said. "Then perhaps you understand more than most." His voice lowered slightly. "Join me. A man with your power could make a true difference for mutantkind."
There it was.
The offer.
I didn't even hesitate.
"Three years ago, December 21st, you threw my car at the Avengers," I said.
There was a beat of silence.
"It took me two years to fix it. Cost me a lot of money." I shrugged slightly. "And you missed, by the way."
Behind me, Peter and Cindy snorted, trying and failing not to laugh.
Magneto didn't.
"I'm going to pass," I continued. "Mainly because of the car. But also because you're a terrorist who doesn't care who gets hurt as long as it pushes your cause."
His expression hardened.
"That is what your government calls me," he said. "I fight for my people."
I met his gaze without flinching.
"And I fight for whoever needs it," I said. "Human, mutant… doesn't matter."
Magneto didn't respond. He simply turned, cloak trailing behind him, and floated back toward the gathered mutants. Within seconds, he was already speaking, his voice carrying, drawing attention, pulling people in.
"Should we stop him?" Courtney asked quietly. "If he recruits them, that's more soldiers for him."
I watched for a moment before answering.
"A lot of them aren't fighters," I said. "Even if they go with him, his numbers won't jump the way you think."
I folded my arms slightly, thinking it through.
"And more importantly… I can't offer them anything right now."
That got their attention.
"Magneto can promise them safety," I continued. "A place where they won't get dragged into trucks or treated like targets. I don't have that. No base big enough, no city set up for them to just… live their lives."
I glanced back at Magneto, then at the wrecked trucks and retreating soldiers.
"Right now? The government's more afraid of him than they are of me. He shows up, and half their force runs."
No one argued with that.
I let out a quiet breath.
"For now, we let them go with him. But this doesn't end here. I'll figure something out, something better than just reacting after the damage is already done."
I turned away from the scene.
"Besides…" I added, a little more serious now, "we've got bigger problems. We just made ourselves enemies of the government."
That settled over the group.
"Come on. Let's head back."
A green portal opened behind us, energy humming softly in the air.
One by one, we turned and walked through.