BOOM!
The void-infused bullet tore through the tornado. Despite its house-leveling power, the storm couldn't stop the projectile's trajectory.
As the bullet pierced the heart of the vortex, a scream rang out and the whirlwind instantly dissipated.
A long-haired man staggered into view, blood flowing freely from his wounded arm.
"Two down," Marcus announced coldly.
His casual confidence terrified Riptide. The mutant had never encountered such an inexplicable power—one that could simply ignore his storm and strike him directly.
As Marcus approached, Riptide desperately tried to summon another cyclone, only to discover with horror that his abilities had been completely suppressed.
"You could have lived a perfectly normal life," Marcus said conversationally. "Why insist on removing yourself from the category of 'human'?"
Without waiting for an answer, Marcus delivered a savage kick to Riptide's leg. The limb snapped with a sickening crack, sending the already-wounded mutant crashing to the ground. The pain proved too much, reducing him to helpless wailing.
As Riptide's cries echoed across the lawn, a torrent of flames suddenly erupted behind Marcus.
Shhhhink!
In one fluid motion, Marcus spun around, his body enveloped in void energy as his dagger cut through the incoming fireball.
BOOM!
The severed flames fell to the ground and exploded, engulfing Marcus in a conflagration.
Through the wall of fire, everyone saw the source of the attack—a man wearing a distinctive helmet that gleamed in the firelight.
"Good evening, everyone," he announced with theatrical flair. "I am Sebastian Shaw. Though you may know me better as the Black King." He glanced at the fallen mutants, raising an eyebrow. "Azazel? Riptide? I'm impressed someone managed to incapacitate you both."
Despite his surprise at finding his lieutenants seriously injured, Shaw remained utterly composed. His confidence in his own abilities was absolute—in his mind, no mutant on Earth could possibly surpass his power.
"Where's the telepath?" he asked suddenly.
"Not here," Azazel replied through gritted teeth, still nursing his severed tail. "I searched the entire facility. Xavier is gone."
"A pity," Shaw sighed, removing his helmet. "My fellow mutants, the revolution has begun. When humanity discovers what we are, we'll all face the same choice: slavery or dominance."
"Freeze!" The CIA agents surrounding the area trained their weapons on Shaw. "Hands on your head! Get on the ground, now!"
Shaw glanced at the shouting agents with mild irritation before returning his attention to the young mutants.
"The choice isn't actually yours to make. Your only decision is whether to stand with your own kind or against us. Will you fight another war for humans who despise you, or join me and rule as kings and queens—"
BANG!
An impatient agent interrupted Shaw's speech with a bullet that struck him squarely in the chest. The projectile flattened on impact before dropping harmlessly to the ground.
Shaw picked up the deformed bullet, examining it with academic interest.
"You see?" he said, addressing the mutants again. "This is humanity's nature. They fear what they don't understand, and they'll always fear us—their evolutionary superiors."
With that, he flicked the bullet toward the agent who had fired at him, propelling it with his absorbed energy.
Before the bullet could find its target, Marcus burst through the wall of flames, snatching it from mid-air. The projectile spun violently in his palm before going still, its kinetic energy completely neutralized.
"Nice speech," Marcus said, dropping the bullet to the ground. "If I remember correctly, you were running with the Nazis twenty years ago. Seems you learned a lot from that little-mustached Adolf."
Shaw's expression shifted subtly. This was unexpected. These recruits were supposed to be untrained novices, barely able to control their own mutations.
Yet here was someone who could apparently negate kinetic energy just as he could absorb it. Intriguing.
With growing curiosity, Shaw studied the group of young mutants.
His recruitment pitch hadn't moved them as he'd expected. They were regarding him with wary hostility, as though facing an enemy rather than a liberator. While he pondered this, the CIA agents opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets that only complicated the situation.
Marcus winced at the agents' impulsive action. They were only making things worse.
Bullets peppered Shaw's body, causing him to vibrate slightly as he absorbed their kinetic energy, but otherwise leaving him unharmed. The attack merely snapped him back to the present moment.
"Perhaps a demonstration of true power is in order," he announced.
Shaw stomped his foot, channeling the accumulated energy into the ground beneath them. The floor of the entire facility suddenly dropped several inches, cracking and buckling from the force.
His unexpected attack triggered an instinctive response from the trained recruits. Alex launched an energy blast while Sean unleashed a sonic scream, both directed at Shaw.
They expected their combined assault would at least stagger their opponent.
Instead, Shaw simply absorbed both attacks, showing no sign of discomfort. The energy coalesced around his hands—the crimson glow of Alex's power in his right, the shimmering distortion of Sean's sonic waves in his left.
"I see you've made your choice," he said with genuine regret.
Shaw thrust both hands forward, redirecting the stolen power back at the group with amplified force. Since they had chosen to be enemies, mercy was no longer an option.
Darwin was the first to react, leaping in front of his teammates as the sonic wave approached. His body instantly transformed into sound-absorbing material, neutralizing that portion of the attack.
On the other flank, Alex unleashed another energy blast to intercept the redirected crimson beam. For a moment, the opposing forces balanced precariously before exploding in a shower of energy.
Marcus was genuinely impressed by their coordinated defense.
"The training's paying off, I see," he muttered, raising his pistol and taking careful aim at Shaw.
"Look out!" Azazel shouted in warning.
Shaw immediately dropped to the side, acting on instinct. Though he didn't know exactly what threat the gun posed, the urgency in Azazel's voice was enough to trigger evasive action.
The bullet tore through Shaw's jacket, missing his torso by inches before embedding itself in a fire door behind him.
"Good dodge," Marcus acknowledged. "You must trust him a great deal."
Glancing toward Azazel, Marcus noticed another mutant had appeared beside him—someone capable of manipulating earth and stone. This was the one who had created the protective barrier earlier.
"Handle the others," Marcus instructed his team before turning his full attention to Shaw. "Absorption and release—impressive abilities. I wonder if the Nazis taught you how to actually fight, though."
Marcus vanished from sight, reappearing instantly before Shaw with his void-infused dagger slashing toward the man's chest.
The sudden attack caught Shaw off-guard. Reacting quickly, he channeled energy into a concussive blast aimed directly at Marcus.
Unfortunately for Shaw, Marcus's void power made him immune to conventional attacks. The void energy spreading throughout his body could neutralize virtually any incoming force. Unless an opponent's power significantly exceeded the void's capacity, Marcus remained effectively invulnerable.
Instead of harming Marcus, Shaw's energy blast began to transform as it made contact with the void field. The pure destructive force gradually converted into void energy, becoming part of Marcus's arsenal rather than Shaw's.