51 Chapter 51: Heated

"I haven't even begun to show you what Romulus will do to you…"

As if the Black Panther of all people needed to give Bronte a lesson on that. As if he hadn't gone through a million scenarios involving his paternal boogeyman with Daken and Laura. As if he hadn't slain the Mutant Titans underlings while still fearing the storms that followed him.

He'd fantasized, read and theorized about him so much, Romulus was no longer a mystery. He was….. inevitable. He was the next breath. The next ominous snare pattern in a drill beat. He was the smoke rising from an encroaching forest fire.

Speaking of fire.

The waters bubbled. They bubbled and vortexed like they all were part of an oversized Mutant Stew. Ororo worked to cool the waters— to add the well known ingredient of struggle to the mix. Brontë turned up the heat.

"RRRAAHH!" He roared a torrent of hot bubbles at the Black Panthers face before slashing at him with superheated claws. Claws once fully exposed to the bone from T'Challa's expert skill with his claws.

He could feel the waters move as the slippery king dipped below him, aiming his Vibranium rifle from below to shoot him with a pulse blast.

"Come on, Bronte. When you blind me, you're also blinding yourself. You can't afford a sacrifice play like that down here. This isn't your home."

Brontë couldn't see the action, but after being hit twice he knew the sound of the rifle. The heavy boom of forces held within the firing pin and chamber used as energy for the blast. That small window of opportunity.

Brontë swung his hands, twisting the waters around them into a small hurricane of bubbling water and dissipating energy.

"Ugh !"

Black Panther swirled. Brontë found him in the turbulence. He maintained the deep sea violence— even as Ororo dropped the water temperatures. He didn't have her speed and skill. As quickly as he could he swapped elements— a difficult mental task, sending a focused blast of lightning into the underwater hurricane.

In a light show of twisting colors and bubbles the Black Panther absorbed the blast.

Brontë could see his black suit glow with the absorption of energy.

He dove into him, pushing the waters at his feet until he crashed into the aquatic panther king.

His hulking muscles tensed as the slim panther suit vibrated against him. The Vibranium laced into the fabrics like a second skin heated and pulsed. Brontë tensed as the blast ripped through his skin and clanged against his bio-metal skeleton, ripping the skin off his chest and face in a flash.

He didn't let go. Even as Vibranium claws ripped into his back like fishing hooks.

They breached the water. He took in air for what felt like the first time and called to the clouds that had collected overhead, eating another blast of lightning mid-flight.

It bit into the black panthers armor with a crackling boom, leaving them both steaming and his once flaming dreads white as the clouds. But only one was made into a bomb once again. This time infinitely closer to his teammate. The weather witch.

"Sorry, Mrs. Munroe but I gotta get you out of the way." Bronte threw Black Panther towards the wind rider in the skies as he reached his lightning supercharged capacity. Glowing white hot, ready to reflect the damage.

Brontë was already diving back into the water when Black Panthers suit went off. Even so he could feel it shake the surface. Rupture the slowing hurricanes he sifted through the grab the Wakandan Warriors and…..

A blue barracuda swam beside him with red hair and an all too cursed smile.

His siblings…

"So glad you could make it Brontosaur! If you could leave the attackers that would be wonderful, I was just about to dine in." Raze mumbled beneath the water. How he was speaking was a mystery like the rest of him.

Brontë shoulder checked him as he collected the unconscious fighters.

"Yea yea fuck off. I'll get the others." Raze replied before swimming off ahead.

A minute later and everyone was above surface, surrounding Bronte as he froze a landing pad into existence.

All for nothing apparently as the water levels dropped at astonishing speeds.

In a minute they were standing on a sheet of eight inch thick ice over wet ground.

"Well that was embarrassing." Laura grunted from beside Bronte.

"As hell." Bronte added as his Storm-State faded, leaving his glowing dreads to fall to his shoulders and his eyes returning to their dark brown coloring.

"I hate water." Gabbie wrung out her rich brown hair that looked so much like Laura's.

"Learn to love it." Daken looked as if he wasn't just stuck in an ocean storm for the last…. Unknown amount of time.

"Hey get up you steroid junky.." Raze kicked Gentle. The Vibranium suit sent a spark back at his foot and cracked the ice beneath him.

"OU! Spicy…"

Gentle groaned and sat up, pulling off his cowl.

"You all failed. Well, mostly one person."

Black Panther announced as Ororo flew them both down to the ground.

"Yea you said we'd fail." Daken waved him off.

"I said you'd die. And who are you to roll over, Dark Wolverine?" T'Challa replied as he peeled off his mask.

Daken growled.

"Who was the main person to fail, father?" Azari asked.

"You." T'Challa replied.

"Man how?!" Bronte raised his hands in confusion.

"You're playing hero."

"Ya'll have to chill on this no Hero stuff. If I can help my people I'm there. It's that simple."

"War is not simple!" T'Challa raised his voice. "In this combat scenario I was your antagonist. I was Namor, I was Romulus. I was your worst nightmares. And you half faced them. You held back on behalf of the very people attacking you. Your siblings. Gentle, the next Panther."

"What, so you want me to shred everyone in a combat simulation for the sake of immersion?" Bronte's thick nose scrunched up in anger and confusion.

"I want you to test your limits. He could be here any day. Work your muscles or they atrophy, Bronte. These people we face do no care for the morals of a hero or villain. They'll use it against you. You think they won't play on your altruism to take you down? Your smart, Bronte. Not book smart, but you are intelligent. You have to see this."

Ororo nodded beside him.

Brontë paused for a moment, "Wait wait wait….. why just me? This feels more direct. This isn't a team assessment."

Azari rolled his eyes.

T'Challa pointed at Bronte, "You are the last child of Wolverine technically. And one of two children to evolve beyond his initial X-Gene. You are the only of his children to share genes with an Omega Level Mutant and a Sorceress. Brontë you are a golden goose in Romulus' eyes. Whatever he has his sights on. An unbreakable hunting dog— a berserker of the storms. A splicing base to create an army of Lupine Witch-Beasts. A prize to cut up and sell in a mutant black market. Whatever it is, it is you, Bronte. You are his target. And you're still evolving."

Gabbie grabbed Bronte's arm. Even with her two hands she couldn't fully wrap it. But she held him strong, "He won't touch him."

"Oh he will. But when he does I need you to hit back like your siblings instead of Spider-Man. We don't do that here."

Brontë pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Heard you…"

"Training simulation is over for today. Finish out in the gym and then we'll discuss strategy over dinner. And Bronte….."

Brontë hovered as he flew above everyone.

"Using my technology against your mother. That was smart. More of that."