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“For the love of Blinky, Pinky, Winky, and Clyde!”
It took everything in Jubilee’s mental ability to not slam her hands on the Pac-Man/Galaga machine. She'd probably jinx it with her power if she did, but dang, the mall arcade always had the games that seemed to work against you more than it should. (Or maybe she just wasn't the best at Pac-Man.)
Jubilee slid her left hand into the pocket of her highlighter-yellow trench coat, only to find an old candy wrapper and her pack of gum. No quarters, though. Some other kids were already queuing up behind her. She scoffed as she walked away from the machine, but she didn’t let her slight frustration get the best of her. She was probably a bit hangry anyway.
She fished around in another pocket, this time in her shorts, and pulled out a crisp dollar bill. She glanced at the change machine before she heard her stomach growl. Time for pizza, she guessed.
Jubilee walked across the slightly sticky, Day-Glo carpet, eyeing the large slices on display across the mall at the food court. But she didn't have enough change on her for a soda. Crud.
As she continued, she contemplated shocking a vending machine a little to grab a cola, but before she could weigh the pros and cons of that maneuver, the sound of glass shattering knocked her out of her morally dubious thoughts. Other teenagers around her gasped, one or two yelling, but mostly they gravitated towards the balcony to see the commotion on the first floor of the mall. Jubilee hoped she seemed like just another face in the crowd as she approached the railing giving a view of the level beneath the arcade. While others were shocked, or maybe even horrified, she walked forward with bated breath, only apprehensive. But her fears were confirmed as she saw the gleam from the magenta and purple metal, the undeniable figure of a mutant-targeting Sentinel.
Holding back curses, Jubilee did her best to appear as calm as anyone else as she scurried back to the whirs and machinery of the arcade. And she slid a hand under her coat, feeling the cool plasticky surface of her badge. She tapped it gently, waiting for a response. After a few moments of agonizing radio silence, she started hitting it over and over, not realizing someone was talking until Rogue started shouting over the intercom.
“Hey, hey! I can’t hear a word you’re sayin’, stop hitting it!”
“Sorry,” Jubilee responded sheepishly. But her slight embarrassment was lost once she remembered why she was so urgent. “There’s a Sentinel that just crashed into the mall.”
Jubilee could already visualize the scowl Rogue had on the other end of the line. “We’ll be comin’ shortly, sugar. Just hang tight, ‘kay?”
She nodded before realizing that her teammate couldn’t see her. “Yep, hanging tight.”
There was a faint click when the badge realized the conversation was over. Jubilee smirked a little, not wanting to admit that she was in awe of Beast’s designs.
But fancy technology wasn’t always on her side.
The Sentinel’s gears and joints seemed to groan as its head swiveled around to find a target. Jubilee’s stomach churned as it scanned the mall, making cyber-notes on every individual. She hoped it wouldn’t notice her.
But just her luck, it stopped moving the second its eye-like headlights lined up with her.
<<MUTANT DETECTED. INITIATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL.>>
She released a sigh before letting her hot-pink visor shades fall in front of her eyes, running out of the arcade and ready to screw up some machines.
By the time she got down to the main floor, there was already chaos. The Sentinel was moving faster than she had hoped, and she wasn’t the most agile. A steely fist smashed into the ground next to her as she scrambled out of the way. Getting up and checking her surroundings, she saw from the new hole in the wall the Sentinel made upon its entrance that there were several silhouettes flying in. It felt like her heart sank into her boots. She would struggle against just one Sentinel, but a whole fleet? She didn’t stand a chance.
But her hope wasn’t exhausted yet, because she recognized a few silhouettes that weren’t quite robotic. She felt a grin stretch across her face. The Sentinel chose that moment to try and sucker-punch her again, though she dodged early and was able to get a hand on its shiny exterior, imagining all the sparks and shocks she could to mess up its circuitry.
The Sentinel hesitated. Did she slow it down? Its head started whirring around, and Jubilee let herself believe it was malfunctioning due to her. But instead, it had found another, more threatening target.
<<MUTANT DETECTED. RECOGNIZED THREAT. ALIAS: STORM. INITIATE PROTOCOL OMEGA.>>
Well, that didn’t sound good. But whatever Protocol Omega was, Jubilee knew Storm could handle it. Sure enough, hovering near the Sentinel, a figure with harsh wind blustering around her was focusing bolts of lightning onto the robot, causing its hardware to glitch. It started to fall, but Storm must’ve used winds to guide it so it crashed on the fountain near the food court instead of any people.
“Jubilee! Are you alright?” The teenager was constantly starstruck by Ororo. She appeared godly with her frost-white hair flowing in coils, her silvery hero outfit making her look even more powerful, if the gales and hints of lightning that made her an aura weren’t obvious enough.
“Y-yeah! At least, for now,” she answered, grinning. “Thank you!”
“No time to lose on gratitude,” Storm replied, though the white energy that typically surged through her eyes faded for just a moment. Jubilee could see the sparkles of pride in there before Ororo’s expression melted back into battle-ready solemnity, soaring up again to confront the next wave of Sentinels.
The hulking metal figures were approaching, looming larger and larger. Jubilee sucked in a tense breath before swiveling her head around and trying to figure out what to do next. Other mall-goers were screaming, most of them sensibly running to the nearest exit past the Wetzel’s Pretzels, though a few were crowding around the fallen robot, some of the snootier-looking kids pulling out pagers or even… cell phones? Jubilee remembered hearing about some new IBM thingamajig. A few pulled out Polaroids, too. Idiots, she thought, though she understood their curiosity. It wasn’t every day a giant anime-like mecha came crashing through–at least for most people.
“Knock it off and get to safety, you guys!” she shouted, running over to the gaggle of teenagers. However, none of them seemed to be taking her seriously. She wished she had more… what was the word? Gravitas, like Ororo, or Scott or Logan. Then again, they didn’t typically wave their hands around frantically. The neon yellow gloves didn’t help, either.
“Why should we?” a whiny boy younger than Jubilee asked, and a few of his middle-school cronies snickered. It took all of her willpower to not roll her eyes and scoff before letting them suffer the natural consequences of their actions. She opened her mouth, hoping that her next command carried more authority, but another booming crash echoed from a little outside the mall, a louder clang of gigantic metal boots hitting the tiled floor inside. The insolent kid’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
“Because of that!” And regardless of how much they respected her, the kids couldn’t really argue with that logic. They started dashing towards an exit, now hitting buttons frenziedly on their pagers to get their parents to come back as soon as possible. Jubilee turned around to the new Sentinel that just landed, knowing it would recognize her as a mutant soon enough anyway. “Hey! Big Ugly Metalhead!!”
Well, it didn’t actually respond to that, but it did lock onto her frame when its recognition software kicked in right after she called out. Behind the figure, though, a smaller person soared up, clearly the same one that just took out the husk of a Sentinel that now rested right near the parking lot. Jubilee grinned, hoping the Sentinel would be too distracted with her to notice.
<<TWO MUTANTS DETECTED. INITIATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL.>>
“Two?” she thought out loud, but she didn’t lose focus. She summoned fireworks to her fingertips, charging at the metallic fist swinging at her. It sparked and at least confused the Sentinel, but it clearly wasn’t ready to give up. Luckily enough, it got punched in the head before it could reconfigure. Unluckily, that head was removed from its automaton shoulders and flew straight at Jubilee. She thought a few curses in her head before focusing all the sparks and pyrotechnics she could into her right index finger, trying her best to make a concentrated firecracker that would blow the hunk of tech apart. But she still braced herself, holding her other arm up in front of her face, closing her eyes.
Time seemed to slow as she prepared herself either for shrapnel or a full-blown concussion after getting hit with a Sentinel head. Jubilee knew that it was a risky endeavor, but it would be better for her to try rather than let any bystanders get hit. Plus, she knew her powers better than she did from her first day with the X-Men. She had done similar things before… just not on this level.
After what seemed to be a few seconds too long for nothing to have happened, she opened her eyes to see it floating in front of her, the sparks on her hand eroding away at the hardware, but not close enough for it to be blasted apart. The energy surging around it could only be coming from one place.
Good job so far, Jubilee. But you aren’t ready for a straightforward attack yet. Try to get other civilians out of the way. We’ll take it from here.
Even though it was literally just in her head, she was elated to hear Jean’s voice. Alright! she thought as loud as she could, knowing the telepath could pick it up. The Sentinel head stopped floating, but it was picked up before it could hit the ground.
“Hey there, sugar,” Rogue said with a smile. She was always so kind, even after single-handedly downing at least two Sentinels.
“You couldn’ even give me a ride, chère?” a voice called from behind Jubilee. So that was the second mutant the Sentinel registered. Rogue’s friendly grin dissipated.
“Wasn’t talkin’ to ya, Gambit,” she spoke before scoffing. Jubilee was still a little too shell-shocked to tease them about their inane romantic tension, but she swore she could see the hint of a blush on Rogue’s face. Before Gambit was given the chance to retort, though, she flew away with the Sentinel’s head. He muttered a few phrases Jubilee would’ve gotten in serious trouble for if she repeated before deftly throwing a playing card at a Sentinel’s leg, where a kneecap would’ve been.
As more and more kept coming–probably a dozen or so–Storm and Rogue did their best to get most of them away before they even entered the mall, but one or two continued to slip in. Jean used her telekinesis to keep them away from bystanders, while Gambit rendered them unable to move further. Jubilee did her best to get people further from the scene, despite some people’s unwillingness. She even had to yank off the headphones from someone’s head, disconnecting them from their Walkman. After a while, the general hysteria had subsided, and Rogue downed the last Sentinel in sight. But Jubilee still had a gnawing feeling at the bottom of her stomach. It didn’t feel over yet.
Onlookers from other parts of the mall started to encroach forward, and she let out an involuntary sigh. She had just gotten everyone out of the way! Also, how did they not realize that they should just leave at this point too?
Rogue and Storm reconvened with Jubilee, Gambit, and Jean. The telepath seemed to register Jubilee’s uneasiness. “You’re not the only one,” she said, making eye contact through the pink visor.
“I also got a bad feelin’ about this,” Gambit added. “The Sentinels never go down this easy.”
Rogue nodded in assent. “It was almost like they were waitin’ t’ fall apart.” And on that note, Ororo’s eyes widened with fear.
“They were… they were intending to fall apart!”
Jean inhaled a sharp breath. “Oh… oh, no.”
Jubilee pivoted on her left heel, and witnessed the beginning of a monstrosity forming. Her teammates followed suit. Gambit wasn’t the only one swearing like a sailor now.
“Rogue, Gambit, start disabling it if you can. Try to keep it out of the way of civilian infrastructure.” Storm’s leadership instincts kicked in. Jubilee would never say it out loud, but she thought Ororo was a better leader than even Scott. (Well, Jean might’ve registered that thought. Oops.)
“Can I have that ride now, chère?” Gambit said with a grin.
Rogue scoffed, but her eyes were glittering. “Fine. But it’s because I’m helpin’ a teammate. Don’t get the wrong impression.” She reached over and grabbed him from the side, and they flew away, Gambit looking smug but pretty uncomfortable.
Jean smiled faintly and shook her head a little. “Those two…” But her humor quickly faded. “We have to act now.”
Jubilee’s stomach churned as the silhouette of the mega-Sentinel looming over them. Rogue was already trying to punch its lights out (kind of literally, as it had lights along its amalgamated body), but each time she knocked one off, another part just shifted to target her as other parts of the metal framework reassembled the most recent dismemberment.
“Do not worry, Jubilee,” Storm spoke from behind. “I will carry you over. Your abilities will be vital in this fight.”
And she was conflicted, because she was finally getting a chance to prove herself and be taken seriously, but she also wasn’t sure if she was up to the challenge. Before she could voice her qualms, though, Ororo deftly scooped her up in a fireman's carry and soared into the air, past the shards of broken glass and to the threat they were facing.
Once she was back on solid ground, Jubilee let instincts and adrenaline kick in, hoping that if she didn’t overthink this, her subconscious would be able to do the rest. She noticed that some of the Sentinel parts still laid dormant. So some of them could be disabled for good?
Turning her gaze back to Rogue, she saw the latter haul a forearm off the main robot before a throwing spike intercepted it and split it in two. One fell back towards Gambit, and the other towards Jubilee. She willed all the fireworks she could, making them as dense and power-packed as possible.
This time, she wasn’t worried when it was flying at her face. She trusted herself.
She could do this.
The Sentinel arm already started to twitch as it first felt her sparks. And like she hoped–no, anticipated –it flew apart, wires frayed at their edges. With a bated breath, Jubilee waited a moment. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three…
It stayed on the ground, and the mega-Sentinel didn’t try to reincorporate it.
She grinned, excited that she found a strategy that could spell this villain’s defeat. She turned back again, hoping to see more parts fall away from the robot, but instead, Storm and Jean were doing their best to incapacitate the Sentinel for the time being. Rogue wasn’t punching it down.
Jubilee’s face immediately fell.
Rogue was laying on the ground a few yards away, eyes closed. Gambit seemed to be frantically attempting first aid in some form, but he seemed at a loss. Without their power hitter, the whole squad was starting to fall apart. Jubilee certainly couldn’t do much on her own. Jean was using all her mental capacity to keep the mega-Sentinel away from everyone she could, and Ororo could only do so much to the Sentinel if its internal hardware wasn’t exposed.
This couldn’t be it, could it? The X-Men had gotten out of tighter spots before. But they didn’t have all hands on deck this time. And Jubilee could barely remember what to do. She was panicking, back to being like any other teenager, complete with a lack of self-confidence. What would she do?
Before she could even try to communicate to someone, though, she heard a strange sound emanate from behind the mega-Sentinel.
SNIKT.
Metal claws tore the robot apart from behind, slashing it into two halves and cutting through several cords in the process. And a familiar grin peered out from behind the falling Sentinel carcass.
“Wolverine!!”
Jubilee was, well, jubilant. There was no time to get overexcited, though. She ran over, sparks flying from her fingertips. The more she could damage the Sentinel, the better. Logan dashed over to one of the parts that was previously a head, cutting through it expertly so the program wouldn’t be able to even think about re-forming. And she could see Rogue’s eyes flutter open from a distance, looking kindly at Gambit before her usual slightly-affectionate spitfire scowl returned. So she was back to normal. Good!
Now with its inner parts exposed, Storm zapped all sorts of spots inside the Sentinels, charring the wires and gears with lightning. Jean had turned her attention to psychically reassembling the wall and window of the mall, though it was a painstaking process.
“Sorry for bein’ late,” Logan said in his usual gruff manner. “Looks like you guys did well without me, though.” He turned to Jubilee. “And nice job, kid.”
She beamed in return.
As the Sentinel was being deconstructed, Jubilee did her best to help out, even recovering some motherboard-looking thingamabob for Beast to study. Rogue wasn’t looking great, but she was clearly recovering from the hit the mega-Sentinel gave her. She even reluctantly accepted Gambit’s help.
Eventually, a figure caught Jubilee’s eye. Unlike some of the other ones, though, she didn’t recognize it.
She sprinted over to the little kid sitting on the curb of the parking lot, his eyes slightly puffy and his hair messed up. When he heard Jubilee approaching, he turned his head towards her.
“Is it over? Did you guys defeat the bad robot?”
“We did!” she replied with a smile. “But we also gotta clean up a little, too.” It struck her odd that this poor kid was alone. “Are you looking for someone?”
“My… my mom. She told me to go outside, but then she went back in.”
“How about I help you look for her?”
The little kid sniffled before looking at Jubilee gratefully. “Thank you… but aren’t you busy with the evil robot?”
And as she thought about it, there were so many different forms of heroism. The X-Men weren’t just around to defeat evil robots. They helped other mutants and they found community despite oppression. And it wasn’t just mutant-phobia they had to deal with; hate came from all sorts of different places, but they worked to fight it. Their powers weren’t the most important part of that. It was their care and compassion that enabled them to do the work they did. After all, powers didn’t come just from an individual. When everyone came together, that’s when they were the strongest.
Jubilee smiled. “We do lots of things. But the main thing is helping people.
“That’s what heroes do.”