Chapter 122
The Kurin Chain smoldered like a dragon's jaw rising from the sea. Volcanic smoke poured from the black teeth of its rocks, and Moses Magnum's fortress squatted at the chain's heart, ugly steel against ancient fire.
On the outer rim of the island, Storm and Banshee hovered in the winds like twin guardians.
"Keep their eyes on us," Storm called, her hair whipping like a silver banner. "Make the sky itself our ally."
Banshee grinned, then unleashed a scream that split the heavens. Searchlights snapped upward, alarms wailed, and stormclouds rolled in at Ororo's command. Together they became thunder and terror, bait for the fortress guns.
"Come on, ye bastards," Banshee muttered between cries. "Give the others a clean run."
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Beneath the sea, five shadows pressed through the dark. Cyclops led, visor faintly glowing like a coal. Colossus dug ahead, his metal fists tearing the seabed apart as easily as paper. Thunderbird steadied the rear, his breath hard but eager.
Sunfire hovered just above the water in a shimmering bubble of heat, seething. "Digging tunnels like moles. This is dishonor."
Cyclops shot him a sharp look. "It's survival. You want honor, Shiro? Live to see Japan tomorrow."
Sunfire scowled but fell silent, his pride burning louder than his words.
Logan brought up the middle, crouched low, one hand on the mud wall, listening. He'd been quiet for most of the crawl, the stealth burn in his gut simmering. Every vibration, every shift in the earth's skin sang to him. Something's off… can almost hear the bastard breathing through the ground.
Nightcrawler's signal should've come by now. But instead of the three-ping rhythm he expected, Logan caught a different sound—low voices, muffled through rock, one of them calm, assured, and far too close.
His lips curled back. "Hold it."
The others froze.
Logan pressed his ear against the soil, claws itching to break free. "That ain't our elf talkin' up there. Somebody else sniffed us out. Somebody who belongs here."
Thunderbird growled. "You sure?"
Logan's eyes gleamed in the dark. "Bub, I can hear his heartbeat. Slow as a goddamn drum. Whoever he is, he's waitin'."
Colossus cracked his knuckles. "Then we will give him more than he waits for."
Cyclops' visor glowed hotter. "Punch through. Now."
Colossus drove upward, stone exploding in a shower of mud and water. The tunnel burst into a steel chamber, and a figure staggered back, cloak whipping.
Moses Magnum himself slammed into a wall, eyes flashing with fury.
"You dare tunnel beneath my kingdom?" His voice boomed like shifting tectonic plates.
The five X-Men surged upward through the breach, dripping seawater, faces grim. Cyclops leveled his visor. "Moses Magnum. We've been looking for you."
Magnum straightened, dust rolling from his shoulders. He spread his arms wide, the ground trembling beneath their feet. "And I… have been listening for you."
The chamber shook. Steel groaned. Rock cracked.
Logan slid his claws free with a snikt, stepping forward. "Careful, bub. You just woke somethin' you can't put back to sleep."