X-Men: The Gifted Ones

64. MY LAI, VIETNAM

Banshee flew high above the canopy trees. He was prepared to fire on anyone who was in the Brotherhood. He couldn't believe he got roped into this war. He looked up and saw Angel flying toward him, her eyes gleaming and smiling deviously. She took a deep breath and shot a fireball at Banshee.

"Not again!" Banshee muttered as the fireball hit the left wing to his suit, burning a hole through it. He felt sick as he started to fall toward the ground.

Sway was on the ground running when an explosion above made her look up. She saw Banshee falling. She held her hand up. She was relieved as she was able to stop time and reverse it to where his suit was undamaged and he was able to continue flying. The unexpected rescue caught him off-guard. He looked down and saw Sway looking up at him. She winked and kept running towards the village. He couldn't let her distract him too long. He encountered Angel again and screamed at the traitor. It caught her off-guard and she began to tumble in the air and fall.

Cannonball and Havoc looked up and saw Angel falling. Cannonball prepared to send a fireball her way.

Havoc pushed him aside. "Sorry," he grinned. "This one's mine!" He puffed up his chest, building the energy inside of him, preparing to target the bitch in the air. He sent off an energy beam from his suit and aimed it at her. The beam killed her, slicing her into two pieces. She fell to the ground in front of them, each section cauterized closed.

Hank caught up to them and saw Angel on the ground, dead. "Nice job finishing what you started!" he congratulated, slapping Havoc on the back.

Havoc looked at Angel, his expression sad.

"Why are you stopping," Sway demanded, catching up to Havoc. "We have to stop the other members of the Brotherhood!"

Havoc didn't know what to say. He couldn't rightfully say that Angel was his friend anymore. She had been, in another life. He tried to remember that she had betrayed all of them, that she was willing to kill any of them. She had almost killed Banshee and only Sway had stopped her from that. He began to run but paused to look back at the slain woman one last time. He continued running.

Hank kept running. He suddenly ran into a man who put up his forearm to block him. The man had thick sideburns and a face that reminded him of a wolverine rather than a human. They stared eye-to-eye. Hank bared his teeth. The man smiled and claws emerged from his hand. Hank's eyes grew wide. "Who are you?" the man demanded. "Are you with them?"

"We're here to stop them!" Hank growled, pushingpast him, not stopping to explain. The man's uniform said "Logan", and hewondered why the man was leaving the village and decided he didn't care. Hankcontinued to run into the village. He looked back one last time. The claws had retracted into Logan's hand.Logan was shaking his head, laughing, and stalking away from the village. Hankwondered what he was up to, but concluded the man was either a coward, or therewas something he had in mind and he didn't think Hank or the X-Men would stophim.