I fell in Marvel with Essence Gacha but I’ve never heard of Marvel

Sometimes having powers could actually make things boring. There were plenty of situations where Lex could have simply solved a problem in seconds, and while that was certainly convenient, it also meant missing out on the kind of adventure that ordinary people could spend hours trying to figure out. This time, however, he wasn't going to deliberately prolong things merely for entertainment when there were missing people whose lives could be at stake. He had no problem enjoying himself, but there was a line between having an adventure and treating someone else's life like part of one.

<421.8 meters at 37°>

Raphael supplied the location almost immediately, giving Lex exactly what he needed to pinpoint the missing people. With the Force, he could sweep across a considerable portion of the island at once, and with Jean's telepathic connection providing another point of reference, there was little chance of him simply overlooking the underground chamber. He rose into the air and began moving toward the coordinates, glancing back when he realized that the others had started following him as well, including Scott, who seemed to have accepted Lex's confidence as sufficient evidence that he knew what he was doing.

It didn't take long before they reached a gigantic tree standing among the surrounding vegetation. Its trunk was enormous, its bark carrying a faint purplish coloration that became more noticeable the closer they approached, while the uneven patterns across its surface almost resembled the vague outline of a face. The resemblance was subtle enough that it could have been dismissed as a trick of the bark, yet combined with the strange energy permeating the island, it gave the entire tree an ominous quality.

"They should be somewhere around here," Lex said as he descended slightly and looked toward the ground. "Underground, most likely."

"Then there has to be a way down," Ororo replied, already looking around the roots and surrounding terrain. "Let's find it."

Lex glanced toward the enormous tree and then toward the ground around it before remembering someone who would have made this particular problem considerably easier.

"In situations like this, I really miss Kitty," he admitted. "She could just walk through the ground and find them."

Ororo, who had been searching nearby, looked back at him with a faint smile.

"Speaking of Kitty, how are she and Alison doing? I haven't heard much from either of them since... that incident."

"They're doing fine," Lex replied casually. "They're traveling around the world, fighting crime and getting involved in whatever trouble they happen to find."

"I suppose that sounds like them."

Before the conversation could continue, movement caught their attention from farther down the slope. Hank and Anna approached from the direction they had been searching, apparently having been investigating another part of the island for clues.

"Did you find anything?" Hank asked as he came closer.

"Well, he did," Ororo replied, gesturing toward Lex.

Hank's eyes shifted toward him with renewed interest, though before he could ask what exactly Lex had discovered, the group began spreading out around the enormous tree. Some searched between the roots, others examined the surrounding rocks and vegetation, while Jean continued trying to maintain her telepathic connection with the people trapped somewhere below them. For several moments there was nothing but the sound of footsteps, rustling leaves and quiet conversation, until one of the enormous branches above them suddenly shifted.

The movement was far too deliberate to be caused by wind.

The branch swung downward toward the group with enough force to crush anyone beneath it, but before it could reach them, two red beams of heat vision tore through the air and severed it cleanly. The massive branch crashed into the ground, sending dirt and leaves scattering in every direction.

"What the hell?"

Ororo's attention shifted toward Kara, who was already looking up at the tree with narrowed eyes.

"That was quite a reaction," Ororo observed.

"I was wondering when it would finally attack," Kara replied as she stared directly at the tree. She squinted her eyes a faint glow of heat gathered around her eyes while her expression remained almost casual. "Now, are you going to talk, or should I just cut the whole thing down?"

Lex barely had time to process the threat in her words before an unpleasant sensation ran through his body. It wasn't coming from the tree alone. The ground beneath his feet seemed to shift with intent, the surrounding vegetation rustled despite the absence of wind, and something deep within the island's energy suddenly surged outward.

Then everything attacked.

Roots tore themselves from the ground as vines whipped through the air. Stones launched themselves from the earth while branches twisted toward the group like enormous limbs. The very terrain seemed determined to swallow them, and the island's attack became so sudden and widespread that there was no obvious direction from which it was coming.

Bobby reacted first, throwing out his hands and attempting to freeze the surrounding terrain before the vegetation could reach anyone. Ice rapidly spread across the ground, but the frozen surface immediately softened beneath his feet as the earth itself transformed into thick mud. His footing disappeared, and he dropped several feet before catching himself against the edge of a newly formed depression.

"Whoa!"

Scott fired another beam toward a mass of twisting roots, only for the ground beneath him to suddenly open as well. He barely managed to avoid being swallowed, but the shifting earth forced him to leap backward while keeping one hand near his visor.

Storm's eyes began glowing white as she rose into the air, her attention turning toward the sky. The weather above the island responded almost immediately, clouds gathering across what had been a clear blue sky as wind began sweeping through the trees.

Lex tried something simpler.

He reached outward with the Force.

The surrounding vegetation stopped for an instant.

Then it pushed back.

The sensation was strange enough that Lex instinctively frowned. It wasn't like trying to overpower another person using the Force, nor was it like moving an ordinary object that simply possessed too much mass. There was resistance throughout the entire environment, as though every tree, every stone and every patch of earth was connected by one enormous will.

That was when the answer finally clicked.

"This isn't the tree," Lex called out, raising his voice over the growing chaos. "The entire island is alive!"

Kara had already decided that subtlety was no longer necessary. Her eyes suddenly burned red as twin beams of heat vision tore into the enormous tree, cutting through its purple bark and sending chunks of burning wood tumbling across the ground. The damage was extensive enough to split the trunk nearly in half, yet the wounded sections immediately began twisting back together, bark and wood knitting themselves into place as though the island had simply decided that the attack had never happened.

For a moment it seemed to work.

Then the wounds began closing.

The torn bark twisted back together, the exposed wood knitting itself seamlessly as if the damage had never happened.

Scott apparently reached the same conclusion about brute force and fired an optic blast into the ground, only for the earth beneath him to suddenly collapse, while Hank had considerably less room to maneuver. Unlike several of the others, he couldn't simply fly away from the shifting terrain, and another section of ground had already begun rising around his legs.

Lex immediately reacted.

The Force expanded outward from him, followed by Telekinesis, and every person who couldn't fly suddenly felt their weight disappear. Hank rose several meters into the air alongside Jublie, while Lex kept them suspended above the shifting ground.

Jubilee looked down at the island beneath them before turning toward the others.

"So how exactly do you fight an island?"

Nobody immediately had an answer.

Anna Marie, who had remained relatively quiet throughout the chaos, suddenly stepped forward. She looked toward the ground for several seconds before slowly removing her gloves.

"Put me down."

Lex looked toward her.

"What are you thinking?"

"I've got an idea."

Ororo immediately recognized what Anna intended and moved toward her.

"No, Anna. It might be too much."

But Anna was already reaching downward.

The moment her bare hand touched the ground, the entire island shook.

Energy erupted through the soil beneath them and surged into her body so violently that Anna cried out, her entire body stiffening as an enormous amount of power flooded through her. Her skin began changing almost immediately, taking on a rough, rocky texture while a green coloration spread across her body. The energy didn't stop flowing either; it continued pouring into her as though the island itself had become an endless reservoir being drawn directly into her.

Lex's expression hardened.

"What's happening to her?"

"She's absorbing the island," Ororo answered, her voice suddenly tense. "But she can't control that much power. We need to get her away from it."

Ororo flew downward and seized Anna, pulling her away from the ground despite the resistance caused by the enormous flow of energy between them. Anna staggered when she was separated, but instead of collapsing, she steadied herself and looked back toward the island.

"No," she insisted. "I'm fine. I need to control it."

The words didn't quite sound like they were coming from her mouth.

The voice reached everyone simultaneously through their minds, an unfamiliar telepathic resonance replacing normal speech as Anna apparently found herself unable to communicate normally after absorbing so much energy.

Anna suddenly raised one hand.

The island responded.

Hundreds of people erupted from beneath the ground, dragged upward by the enormous power now coursing through her. Among them were several researchers and missing civilians, but two figures were particularly recognizable; Scott and Bobby were pulled free from the earth alongside the others, both covered in dirt and clearly shaken after having been swallowed by the island only moments earlier.

"Damn," Kara muttered, watching the spectacle with genuine respect. "She's powerful."

"She is," Scott admitted, still catching his breath after being dragged out of the ground. His expression hardened as he looked toward Anna. "But she hates being a mutant."

Ororo's eyes narrowed.

"You would too if you couldn't control your powers."

"We all have problems, Storm," Scott replied, his voice carrying considerably more frustration than before. "I need the visor. Jean gets headaches and can't completely shut her powers off. The difference is that we don't spend our time being ungrateful for what we have."

Bobby's expression changed immediately.

"Scott, seriously?"

Scott looked toward him.

"What?"

"She just pulled us out of the ground."

The words came with genuine disbelief rather than anger, because Bobby had been trapped beneath the island only moments earlier and could still remember the crushing pressure around him. He looked toward Anna, who was still struggling to contain the island's power, before turning back toward Scott.

"She couldn't even control herself five minutes ago, and she still saved everyone. Maybe don't call her ungrateful right after she saves your life."

Scott's jaw tightened, but before he could answer, Lex cut across them.

"Could you all stop arguing?" he called, already using both the Force and Telekinesis to keep the unconscious researchers suspended safely above the shifting terrain. "The island is still trying to kill us, and we haven't secured everyone yet.”

The argument ended immediately.

Lex looked toward Kara.

"Kara, destroy the island."

Scott turned toward him in disbelief.

"Destroy the island? How exactly do you—"

He never finished.

Kara vanished.

The next instant she appeared high above the island, far enough up that she looked almost insignificant against the sky. She folded her arms close to her body and accelerated downward, her speed rapidly increasing until the air itself seemed to distort around her. Then, at the final moment, she shifted her body and drove one fist directly into the island.

The impact was catastrophic.

The entire island lurched beneath them as a shockwave raced outward across the surrounding ocean. Trees were thrown sideways, enormous cracks tore through the ground and the rocky terrain split apart with a sound like thunder. The fractures spread rapidly from the point of impact, plunging deeper and deeper into the island until the entire structure seemed to be breaking apart from its core.

Everyone stared.

Even Scott was left speechless.

"Noooo!"

The cry echoed across the island.

It wasn't coming from a person.

It wasn't even coming from any particular direction.

The entire island itself had spoken.

The trees shuddered, the ground trembled and the strange purple bark across the enormous central tree rippled as a voice resonated through every living part of the island.

"Please don't destroy me! I'm willing to surrender!"

Kara hovered above the fractured ground, looking down with a mildly surprised expression.

Lex, meanwhile, floated beside the others and looked around at the suddenly terrified island.

"Well, that was convenient."

Scott stared at Kara before slowly looking toward Lex.

"Islands can actually be destroyed with a punch?"

Bobby glanced between the two of them, his expression becoming increasingly incredulous.

"Apparently. And judging by the fact that he just ordered her to do it, I don't think she's the strongest one here."

Scott looked at Lex.

Then at Kara.

Then back at the cracks spreading across the island.

For perhaps the first time since they'd met them, neither of the two mutants seemed entirely certain what they had just stumbled into.