Operation Golden Cage
"Romanov, Barton, take care of getting the children out of any unsafe areas. Pietro, if you're already there, give the X-Men a communicator. It'll be better if we can talk and come up with strategies on the go," ordered Steve as his motorcycle raced through the forest at full speed.
"Nicholas, provide suppressive fire," he added firmly.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," replied Nicholas, peering through the scope of his weapon. But his eyes widened as he saw a massive tree being ripped from the ground and hurled straight at him.
"Oops," he muttered before hitting the throttle. His bike shot upward, and with a sharp turn, he narrowly avoided the flying trunk by mere inches.
"Hey, Tony, tell me you built that thing Owen asked you for," Nicholas said quickly through the comms.
"Hey, hey! I was a bit busy, remember? I fought a lunatic who roasted himself alive and a bunch of fake super-soldiers he created," replied Tony from his position.
His armor spun in midair, pointing downward before opening up and ejecting him. Before he hit the ground, another suit appeared from above and assembled around him with perfect precision.
This new model had more golden tones than red, gleaming like pure gold—though, of course, it wasn't. Each plate shimmered with something beyond mere metallic reflection.
"Well… now I'm a bit more prepared," Tony commented from inside his new armor, while his previous suit switched to autopilot and aimed directly at Jean Grey.
At the same time, Steve's motorcycle reached the area.
Jean, seeing him approach, raised her hand and lifted the ground in front of her, forming a massive wall of earth and rock. But Steve leaped from the moving bike, skidding to a stop with his own strength before impact. With a powerful motion, he lifted the motorcycle and swung it like a projectile, hurling it toward Jean.
She moved her hand and compressed it with her power—but the bike exploded, filling her vision with fire and smoke.
"We just need to buy time," said Steve through the communicator everyone wore in their ears. "Pietro, help evacuate the kids."
"Got it. Don't let them turn the professor into dust," replied Pietro, who had just saved Charles. Beast had already arrived to protect him, so Pietro vanished again.
Jean, realizing what Pietro intended, turned her gaze toward the mansion. Through the destroyed façade, she could see the children inside. She raised her hand, ready to obliterate everything in one blow.
"Tony!" shouted Steve.
"Aye, sir," Tony replied as all the golden parts of his armor began to glow with a bright blue light.
He positioned himself in front of Jean's attack, and a massive energy field expanded from his suit, forming a golden dome that covered the area.
Jean's power slammed into the shield, making it tremble violently. For a moment, it held… but then glowing cracks began to spread across its surface.
"Hey, hey! Not even Hulk can break this shield that easily!" Tony exclaimed in disbelief.
Another blast, like a concentrated laser beam, came at high speed. Jean raised her other hand, stopping it midair while continuing to press against Tony's field that still protected the mansion.
"Are you guys gonna help, or just keep watching?" Tony shouted toward the X-Men, who hesitated—unable to bring themselves to attack one of their own.
Bobby reacted first. His body turned to ice as he aimed toward Jean, attempting to freeze her solid.
But the frost melted before it could reach her, evaporating into a thick cloud of steam.
"Well… I knew she was hot, but not that hot," Nicholas quipped with a grin.
"No jokes right now," said Steve seriously, hurling his shield toward Jean.
Ororo raised her hands, and the sky filled with dark clouds. A lightning bolt crashed down toward Jean, who stopped attacking just long enough to dodge aside. The thunder struck with a deafening roar, leaving a smoking crater in the ground.
Jean turned toward Ororo in fury, lifting her arm. The ground began to disintegrate as it advanced toward the weather goddess.
Scott, seeing another of his teammates in danger, finally moved into action.
"Jean, stop!" he shouted, pulling off his visor. A powerful crimson beam shot straight at her.
Jean raised both hands, halting the blast midair.
"Seriously…?" muttered Tony in disbelief. He knew exactly how destructive that damn beam was—he was watching the readings on his HUD. But to his astonishment, the laser began to push back.
Tony flew over the area, firing missiles and energy blasts toward Jean, who released Scott's attack.
Cyclops's beam continued uncontrollably, crashing into the forest and tearing through everything in its path.
"Jarvis, how long until it arrives?" Tony asked as he unleashed a rapid burst of shots at Jean. The others attacked as well, but she stopped everything midair with ease, deflecting or disintegrating every projectile before attempting to turn one of them into dust.
"One minute remaining, sir," Jarvis replied calmly.
"Damn it, that's an eternity right now," Tony growled, just as he realized he was next on her list to be vaporized.
His other armor moved in front of him, shoving him aside. Tony watched in shock as the suit—built to withstand Hulk-level impacts—was instantly disintegrated. A cold sweat ran down his back.
"Remind me to add air conditioning to the next model," he muttered wryly, flying backward without taking his eyes off Jean.
"Ah, ah… hello? Can you hear me?" came a young voice suddenly over the comms.
"Kitty? Is that you? How's the evacuation going?" asked Ororo as she summoned a storm of lightning that rained down over Jean. Yet each bolt only seemed to make her stronger, as though every attack fueled her power further.
"We're already far away. The kid who can teleport helped a lot," Kitty Pryde replied quickly.
"Professor, I hope you don't mind if your mansion ends up a little… destroyed. I'll build you another one," Tony said casually, glancing up at the sky where something massive was approaching at incredible speed.
Charles Xavier looked at what was left of the mansion and sighed. "There isn't much of it left anyway," he admitted with resignation.
Then everyone looked up. A colossal object was descending from the atmosphere, glowing like a golden satellite. Even Jean noticed it, raising her hand to stop or destroy it.
In that instant, hundreds of runes began to glow around the structure. The surface opened, revealing a design similar to the cage Tony had once used—only this one was far larger and far more complex. Inside, glowing symbols intertwined, combining Asgardian and Terran patterns.
Jean tried to move aside, realizing what they intended, but Steve barked quick orders over the communicator, coordinating everyone to stop her movement.
The heroes unleashed everything they had. Their attacks couldn't harm her, but they forced her to pause, deflect, or counter every strike that came her way. That was enough. The massive structure crashed down over her.
The moment it made contact, the cage released a network of spikes anchored by chains that shot out in every direction, piercing through walls, trees, and what little remained of the mansion. The chains drove deep into the ground, sending shockwaves that made the earth itself seem to sink.
The structure sealed shut, forming a glowing sphere. From within, golden light pulsed powerfully as the surface shook. Jean tried to break free, lifting the sphere off the ground and thrashing violently, but the tightened chains kept it locked in place.
"When we were talking about the powers Owen might develop, I came up with an idea to dampen the attacks of someone really strong—like Hulk or Thor," Tony explained proudly, watching the data streams on his screens. "After all, we've already had to deal with gods and frost giants. And, well… Owen convinced me to learn a bit of Asgardian tech. It wasn't easy getting it out of beach boy, but nothing a few bottles of liquor couldn't fix," he added with a satisfied grin.
The great sphere kept shaking, slamming against the ground. Each time Jean tried to break loose, the chains tightened and redirected the force, absorbing the blows as if designed to cushion them.
Eventually, she seemed to realize resistance was useless. She went still.
Tony studied the readings inside his helmet, focusing on the live feed from within the sphere. There she was—Jean—floating calmly. She glanced around with visible irritation before descending and sitting on the metallic floor. Then she raised her eyes, staring straight into one of the cameras as if she could see Tony on the other side. A faint, mocking smile curved her lips.
As if to say that this would only hold her for a while.
"Well, we've got a lot of questions that I hope you'll answer," Steve said, stepping closer to the X-Men.
They all stood there, gazing at the massive sphere with grave concern, knowing that what they had just contained… wasn't only Jean Grey.