The sneer on Magneto's face said it all. The rage, the raw fury over the mention of his mother—it had all been an act. In that chilling moment, Sebastian Shaw understood. He hadn't been betrayed by a mole. His plan had failed because he had fundamentally misjudged the man in front of him. The years of imprisonment hadn't broken Eric Lehnsherr; they had forged him into something far more dangerous. He hadn't just been stewing in a metal-free box; he had been mastering the very magnetic field of the Earth.
Shaw's own power, the colossal amount of nuclear energy he'd absorbed, was now a ticking time bomb inside him. It was so immense that it pinned him to the spot, but it was useless if Magneto wouldn't step into his range.
"You've grown up, Eric," Shaw said, the words sounding strange coming from his youthful face to the old, weathered man before him.
"And you," Magneto replied, his eyes burning with a hatred he no longer bothered to hide, "should die."
He raised his left hand and flicked his wrist. An invisible wave of force slammed into Shaw, compressing the unstable nuclear energy within him. For a split second, it was as if a star was being crushed, and then, it was released.
"You wish, Eric!" Shaw snarled, his voice drowned out by the roar of his own detonation. "Let's die together!"
A blinding white light consumed everything. A mushroom cloud, vast and terrifying, clawed its way into the sky, and the island began to tear itself apart. The lush jungle, the tranquil lake, the small town—all were instantly vaporized.
But amid the incandescent chaos, a shimmering dome of magnetic force held firm. Inside, Magneto stood untouched, along with Juggernaut, Sabretooth, and the illusionist, Mastermind. All the other mutants who had filled the clearing—Mystique, Pyro, and the rest—were gone, because they had never been there at all.
"Is he gone?" Magneto asked, his gaze falling on Sabretooth.
Sabretooth grinned, a feral, triumphant look on his face. "The blast stunned me for a second. Azazel used the opening to teleport away with Shaw's body."
"Then let him deliver the news of his master's death," Magneto said calmly. "Our work here is done." With a wave of his hand, the force field lifted them into the air, carrying them swiftly out over the sea, leaving the burning husk of the island behind.
On the scorched earth, only one body remained: Angel Salvador, the spy. She had been the only other real mutant present. Duped by Magneto, she had been a pawn in a game she never understood, and now she was its only true victim.
Or so it seemed.
Moments after Magneto's departure, at the very epicenter of the blast, a figure materialized out of the shimmering heat haze, collapsing to the ground with a wracking cough. It was Shaw. His clothes were gone, his body was a canvas of horrific burns, but he was alive. A flash of red light enveloped him, and he was gone.
"Tsk, tsk."
A new figure appeared, stepping out from behind a shimmering energy shield that had protected him from the blast's fallout. It was Daniel. He had arrived a little late, but just in time for the grand finale.
He had to admit, it was an impressive show. Magneto's large-scale illusion was a masterstroke. But Shaw's countermove was even more brilliant in its sheer desperation. He had turned himself into a tactical nuke, not to win, but to force a stalemate. The blast was a smokescreen, powerful enough to make even Magneto retreat and give Azazel the opening he needed for the rescue.
And the resurrection... Daniel had heard of an Inhuman with a similar ability to self-destruct and regenerate, but Shaw's version was on another level entirely. Still, it wasn't perfect. Shaw was alive, but badly wounded.
Daniel pieced it together. Both sides had gotten what they wanted. Magneto believed his old nemesis was finally dead, the grudge settled. Shaw, in turn, got to fake his own death, escape a losing fight, and now had a much clearer picture of Magneto's true power for their next encounter. The only real losers were the world's governments, who would soon believe two of their biggest threats had conveniently eliminated each other.
'But Magneto is safe with his followers,' Daniel thought. 'Shaw, on the other hand... injured and on the run... this is the weakest he'll ever be.'
Magneto had failed to kill him. Perhaps it was time for Daniel to finish the job.
The lingering spatial energy from Azazel's teleport was easy for him to track. "Paris. Interesting choice."
He dispersed his shield and was about to follow when his eyes caught a flicker of movement on the blackened ground. He crouched down. It was the girl, Angel Salvador, lying in a bloody heap. He reached out and touched her neck.
She was still breathing.