Chapter 18: The Elite Fighters
MJ sat in her classroom tapping her pencil and staring at the table, her hand was trembling. Peter noticed.
"What's going on? You okay?" The other Bat-Spiders came and sat down beside Peter and MJ, and interrupted their conversation.
"MJ, you missed it, we got our new combat instructor a few days ago. I thought the Professor was going to hire Batman, but they found this crazy guy, the Atomic Knight," Miles said.
"What's so crazy about him, he can't be better than Batman!" MJ's foot tapped nervously.
"I don't know about better, but he was at least as good," Mary Jane started.
"You fought him?" MJ asked still looking at her desk.
"We didn't fight him, but he trained the entire class, it was pretty rough. The six of us didn't have any problems, but the rest of the class...haha...well they suffered," Harry added. MJ gave a flat smile. This showed she was amused.
"He didn't even use his powers," Peter added.
"Even still, he took apart anyone in the danger room without breaking a sweat!" Miles added in.
"Batman can do the same thing," MJ muttered.
"Hey, what's going on with you?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah, you look nervous," Peter said.
MJ looked up and around at all of her friends.
"Nervous, yeah, I'm nervous, but mostly I'm excited," MJ's eyes sparkled.
"Excited?" Harry scrunched his face like he tasted something sour.
"Batman, he's terrifying!" a breathless MJ said with a faraway look.
"Yeah, his Batsuit is crazy, it's like he's trying to give everyone a nightmare," Gwen shivered.
"He's even scarier without his Batsuit," MJ half-smiled half-grimaced.
A loud sound came from the back of the room. A large man walked into the room, his blond hair and blue eyes sparkled. He walked with measured steps with his chest out. His clothes were a simple tunic over leather pants and shoes. At his side, a sheathed sword swayed slightly with each movement.
He mounted the platform and walked to the lecture. A collective gasp was released from the audience. The Atomic Knight, Jordan Jeffries, his left eye was black and blue, it looked fresh.
MJ laughed and whispered to her friends, "That looks like a Batman special." The others nodded.
Acting like nothing was different, Mr. Jeffries cleared his throat. "Mary Jane, Miles, Harry, MJ, Peter, and Ned; you are to report to Danger Room 11. You're joining the Elite Combat class today."
"I have a bad feeling," Ned shivered and looked pale.
"Let's go, Batman isn't very patient," Harry clearly understood what being part of the elite combat class implied.
"That's why he wasn't teaching the combat class," Peter's face lit up like he was blessed with a moment of enlightenment.
"Well, get going!" Mr. Jeffries spoke to the group. The Bat-Spiders quickly gathered their things and left the classroom.
The others crowded around MJ.
"MJ, what happened when you were with Batman?" Ned asked.
"I can't tell you, let's just say, it was terrifying. I'm still shaking."
"Why can't you tell us?" Gwen asked.
"Batman's orders," MJ hugged her books as she walked forward. No one asked her any more questions. Soon, they arrived at Danger Room 11. Instead of entering, they stared at the door like they were making peace with their coming doom.
The door opened but it was dark inside. The shadows showed the inside of a partially demolished Xavier School. The door to the Danger Room slammed shut!
Large humanoid forms, giants, descended from the sky.
"Sentinels!" Harry cried.
Peter jumped onto one of the partially destroyed walls. The others scattered around the room and hid.
Fifteen Sentinels landed and walked toward the School. Ned was nervous but started expanding his size, Harry looked at him and shook his head, no.
Ned stopped growing and returned to his original size.
Harry signaled MJ and the shadows surrounded the Bat-Spiders, like the tide rolling in and removing the traces of footprints in the sand.
One of the Sentinels turned its head and lifted its right hand. A burst of energy erupted from the hand and destroyed one of the walls. Peter leaped away, but a second blast struck him. He was turned to ash.
Ned rushed out from his place and transformed into his Goliath form. Mary Jane stepped out from an unexpected place and used telekinesis to send one Sentinel crashing into another.
Harry waved his hand and a mouse jumped out of one of his pockets. With another wave, the mouse grew to the size of a dog, its legs stretched and its tail grew a stinger. It ran to a Sentinel and dodged the energy blasts. Harry grabbed a chunk of stone and threw it at another Sentinel. The rat was able to get in front of the Sentinel, but another robot kicked it into paste.
Gwen's arm stretched from a shadow and one of her fingers changed into a flat-head screwdriver. Before she could open the Sentinel up, its hand grabbed her arm. It yanked at the arm and Gwen was pulled from her hiding place and faced Peter's fate.
Ned landed a powerful strike against the Sentinel, but four more joined the fight and pulled Ned to the ground. One mounted him and restrained him. The remaining Sentinels shot at Ned's head. Ned tried grabbing the Sentinel on top of him and pulling it in to give him some cover, but he failed. After a couple of minutes of thunderous punches, Ned was down.
Mary Jane and MJ attempted to sneak away but Sentinel beams attacked, Mary Jane was picked off first, but MJ followed her.
One of the Sentinel's back faced cascading energy surges until it fell. The other Sentinels started shooting at the flailing robot, but they only destroyed the struggling Sentinel faster.
Another Sentinel exploded, but this time, a nearby comrade grabbed something and crushed it in his hand.
Harry stood alone facing eighteen Sentinels. He rushed out from his hiding place, when he heard, "You've all failed.
The lights turned on as the field of battle disappeared and the "dead" Bat-Spiders appeared sitting on the ground.
"I'm gone a few days and your combat skills deteriorate so fast?"
The kids look at Batman with helplessness.
"Get to Conference Room A, let's talk about how badly you failed.
No one said anything, they only fled out of the Danger Room and walked to Conference Room A.
After a few minutes, Bruce Wayne appeared.
"Terrible!" Bruce spat out.
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