Continued from here part 4
Brotherhood camp, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Exodus marched out of his tent to see what the camp was buzzing about. He stopped at the sound of something large and metallic marching up behind him. He turned ready to fight as he saw a large robotic form towering above him. The chest plate opened to reveal Killswitch inside, "Sorry to startle you sir, I just couldn't wait to show off my new toy."
Exodus was mildly impressed but had a somewhat annoyed look, "And what of the weapons for the others?"
Killswitch pointed with the armored hand, "All upgraded and ready to go, nothing short of a Buster could hold up to a shot from those. I made this out of leftover parts from the soldiers we took down and their vehicles. Trust me boss, you're gonna be happy as soon as you see the big boy in action."
Exodus gave a nod as he turned to the rest, "Break camp, we need to be on the move by noon."
***
7 and David arrived at the campsite after the Brotherhood had cleared out. 7 came across some scrap armor and noticed it had been picked clean of any useful components, "They're messy, but not wasteful."
David picked up a bit of waded paper and opened it up to reveal what looked to be a hand drawn propaganda poster, "This guy look familiar to you?"
The poster depicted Exodus standing ahead of many people with the ghostly visage of Magneto above. 7 stood with a concerned look, "If he has an army, we have a serious problem. He's not a revolutionary, he's a mutant supremacist that believes humans should bow to his kind."
7 then noticed the hum of an engine coming their way, "We have company coming."
They hid as a hover car pulled up. Agent Walker stepped out to investigate the scene. 7 eased up a bit when he saw her but told David to hold back as he walked out, "You just missed them."
She looked over and tensed up a bit, "You running with mutant revolutionaries now?"
"No, just trying to prevent a slaughter."
Her eyes narrowed, "Shield sent me to extend the olive branch if they're friends. I'm guessing you're thinking they aren't."
7 nodded, "They are under the command of Exodus, he's every bit as bad as the Supreme Commander. He won't hesitate to kill innocent humans if they get in his path."
"There's never any good news in this part of the world anymore."
7 shrugged, "The last Shield agent I encountered seemed to consider me a threat, can I assume that's no longer an issue?"
"Hard telling what Shield is thinking anymore but you're all right by me."
7 called David, "We're good."
David waved, "Hey Beth. Nice to see you without all the running and cover fire."
***
Altoona, Pennsylvania
The Brotherhood stood looking down on a Sentinel factory. Security had been beefed up in the last few days. Killswitch insisted on being allowed to show off his new armor. The rest of the group held back as he walked up to the first group of guards. One marched up, "Surrender or we'll open fire."
Killswitch grinned from inside his armor, "You're funny."
He then let out an energy beam that sliced the man in half as other soldiers ran in. He turned and shot out small spikes that embedded into the armor of his enemies. Explosions ripped them apart as Killswitch went on. Exodus watched from a nearby hill, "That will do." He then yelled back to his men, "Follow the path our brother has made."
A soldier hit his comm, "Call Allentown, we got a full scale assault coming your way."
Another line of soldiers arrived to block Killswitch but they we're surprised to see their omni-beams warming up, they fired backward killing the lot of them as Killswitch chuckled. He then looked back on the rest of the Brotherhood, "What kept you?"
The left shoulder of his armor opened revealing a small cannon barrel, "Watch this."
He aimed toward the factory and fired. It launched a small ball of plasma that ripped through the front entrance of the factory. It then began expanding and burning away everything it came into contact with until it had consumed the entire factory in a matter of seconds. The soldiers looked on in horror as the plasma ball extended. Exodus called his men to back up as Killswitch's weapon burned away the town of Altoona while the armored mutant cackled like a mad man, "Told you, you'd love it boss."
He then noticed his armor's power reserve was running low so he shot into the air and landed behind the lines of the Brotherhood, "Sorry sir, I guess that's a one shot weapon."
Exodus smiled back at him, "You did beautifully little brother, take a rest."
The rest of the Brotherhood charged on the terrified Iron soldiers and destroyed them without mercy.
***
Agent Walker and 7 were pulled over to try to catch the trail as David flipped through the radio stations. As a news report came on he yelled out, "Hey, I think I know where they went.
Castle Doom, New Latveria
Queen Carol watched a news feed as it showed footage of the mutant assault on Altoona. The room fell silent.
Ferrum HQ, Chicago
Stryfe glared at a large monitor as he watched the weapon at work then hit a comm, "I want that weapon."
***
A few hours later 7 and David arrived where Altoona had once been. 7 looked at the plasma burns, "Exodus doesn't have this kind of power and the odds against an Omega class mutant still being alive are about a billion to one. Best guess, they either have a genius working for them or a technopath. And given that they decided to unleash it here instead of a higher value target like New York or Chicago tells me it was more than likely the latter."
David shrugged, "Could be a genius technopath that wasn't sure it was gonna work."
7 nodded, "Possible."
Walker looked at them nonchalantly chatting about it, "Do we have time for this?"
7 growled to himself, "We need to focus on this weapon, I'm sure the Iron Army and arms dealers the world over are chomping at the bit for it. Seems like all the power of a nuke with none of the side effects."
Agent Walker had a moment of clarity, "Meaning those that have it would probably be a lot less careful about using it."
(To be continued)
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