Title: Red Steel #3: Showdown! Part 2
Author: Rabbitearsblog
Universe: X-Men
Rating: T - For strong violence
Summary: Now that Colossus has discovered the true motives of his new friend Jerome, he will soon be in an epic battle that will determine the fate of Earth as Nigel's plans come to light and an alien invasion is threatening the world!
Notes: Please be gentle with the criticisms! :D
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Read the Previous Story.
Chapter 2: Confrontation!
“What? The X-Men are here?” asked Jerome uncertainly.
“Yes, and it appears that I had signed my death certificate,” said Red Steel.
As Red Steel stood there, he can slowly feel his heart breaking as he saw his former teammates fighting off the aliens. Wolverine was as usual, slashing away at the aliens with his admantium claws. Iceman was blasting the aliens with his ice powers while freezing them. Beast was ripping through the aliens’ bodies with feral fury and Storm was shooting lightning bolts down at the aliens. But the last person that Red Steel expected to see was Kitty Pryde, his one true love (or at least used to be his one true love). What would he say to the X-Men now that he is a fugitive? Would they even turn him in because he’s a wanted man or would they forget everything that just happened and let him go?
Not likely.
Jerome then quickly ran up to Red Steel and shook him gently while saying, “Come on, Peter. Pull yourself together! Listen, I know that you’re in shock about seeing the X-Men here, but there are innocent people in danger of being killed. If you want to prove to everyone that you are still the same Colossus that was a true hero, then now is the time to do it!”
Red Steel was silent for a few minutes and then said, “I do not know…”
Suddenly, he saw an alien hovering over the very spot where Kitty Pryde was fighting another alien. Even though Kitty was doing a fine job of fighting off the aliens as she phased through them and then punched them from behind, there was no way she could see the alien above her while she was fighting.
“Oh no! Katya!” At that moment, Red Steel didn’t care if he was trying to stay low or not, all he cared about was reaching Kitty before the alien got to her. Red Steel started running towards Kitty and then he quickly jumped over her and grabbed the alien by the neck. Kitty ducked quickly as this mysterious man in red jumped over her and looked on in shock as she saw the red suited man snap the alien’s neck in two.
As Red Steel threw the alien’s body to the ground, Kitty took a closer look at him and whispered in disbelief, “Peter?”
Red Steel then froze as he heard Kitty’s voice, not sure about what to say to her. He then cleared his throat and told her, “I am not Piotr, I am Red Steel, the savior of…”
“It really is you! I mean, who else would have a steel body and is able to snap anyone’s neck in two with his bare hands?” exclaimed Kitty.
Red Steel looked a bit embarrassed for a moment and then said, “Well, you are still as perceptive as you have always been, Katya.”
“Yeah. So, you’re Red Steel now, huh?” Kitty said quietly.
“Well, yes. I guess you could say that I am. Katya, I want to talk to you about…what happened at the school…” Red Steel started.
“Kitty!” several voices cried out at once and Red Steel looked on with a shock expression on his face as the other X-Men came running towards him and Kitty.
“Peter! Is that really you?” asked Bobby as he and the others approached him.
“I…ah…” Red Steel then sighed sadly and said, “Yes, it is me. For the moment, I am known as Red Steel, but that probably does not matter at this moment. You have all found me, so I guess I will be turned over to the Avengers for my crimes against humanity.”
The X-Men all looked at each other uncomfortably and then Bobby said, “Yeah, well, you can’t really be blamed for this. I mean, it was the Phoenix Force that took over…”
“But it is more than that!” Red Steel broke in. “I know that we were never intended to be the hosts of the Phoenix Force, but we should have known that the Phoenix Force is not easy to control! Even I knew about the dangers of using the Phoenix Force, especially…after what happened to Jean Grey…”
“You mean when she turned into the Dark Phoenix?” asked Kitty.
“You and Bobby weren’t there when it happened, Pumpkin. But it did put a hurting on us…physically and emotionally,” said Logan.
“So we heard,” said Bobby.
“Peter, we remembered what happened that day and it had affected us all. But in knowing about what happened to Jean Grey when the Dark Phoenix took over her, it would be most difficult to just forget about what the Phoenix Force does to its hosts. We are just sorry that you had to go through this ordeal,” said Ororo softly.
“Ororo’s right. I know that we haven’t really been…close to each other ever since M-Day started, but we should have never forgotten about our friendship with each other,” said Hank helpfully.
“You…all still forgive me, even after what has happened?” said Red Steel surprised. “I…do not know what to…”
“Hold it right there!” a voice boomed across the street. The X-Men, Red Steel and Jerome turned towards the voice and saw the Avengers running towards the aliens with Captain America yelling out “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”
The Avengers then started attacking the aliens using their fighting techniques to their full extent. Black Widow started using her karate moves to punch out the aliens, Iron Man used his laser beam guns to shoot down the aliens, and Captain America used his shield to ward off the aliens’ attacks.
“So, the Avengers finally showed up,” said Logan.
“Oh no!” said Red Steel. “I must get away from here!”
“Wait Peter! You can’t leave just yet!” said Hank.
“You do not understand! I am a fugitive! If they catch me, they will…” Red Steel started to say, but was suddenly interrupted by a low humming noise from the sky.
“What is that noise?” asked Ororo.
Suddenly, a mysterious airship landed on the ground and once the door opened, Nigel Faust rushed out of the ship and shouted into his speaker:
“RED STEEL AND JEROME! GIVE YOURSELVES UP AT THIS MOMENT OR ELSE, I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE FORCEFUL ACTION TO MAKE YOU SURRENDER!”
“Red Steel?” wondered Captain America. “Is he the new hero that the news reports have been talking about?”
“I don’t know, but if he is, this Nigel guy is not happy about his existence,” said Iron Man.
“Watch out! Nigel’s up to something!” yelled Jerome.
Before anyone had a clue what Jerome was yelling about, a purple gas started coming out of Nigel’s ship and started engulfing everyone.
“What the…?!” exclaimed Bobby as he suddenly felt sleepy.
Then all at once, the X-Men, the Avengers and Jerome all fell down to the ground, knocked out by the gas.
However, since Red Steel was in his steel form, he was not easily affected by the gas and he started running towards Nigel’s airship, trying to get to Nigel. But, Nigel saw Red Steel coming and since the gas did not work on him, Nigel pressed a button beside him and a large steel ball came out of the ship and flew towards Red Steel at break-necking speed. Red Steel tried to stop himself from getting too close to the ball, but the steel ball struck him in the head in full force and knocked him down unconscious.
After this stunt, Nigel and his guards started coming out of the ship and since they were wearing masks to protect themselves from the gas, they were not affected. Nigel then told his guards, “Bring forth Red Steel and Jerome to the ship and dump the Avengers and the X-Men somewhere where they cannot get to my headquarters.”
Two of Nigel’s largest guards then went over and picked up Red Steel and Jerome while the rest of Nigel’s guards picked up the Avengers and the X-Men and took them away from the area.
Then Nigel got into his airship and flew away with the unconscious Red Steel and Jerome.
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