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Chapter 22: Lady Fortune! I Will Fuck You Up!
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They hadn't freed these broken souls. They had simply delivered them from one master to another.
Adam took a deliberate, measured breath, his mind a fortress of cold calculation despite the agony constricting his body.
He watched as several members of the Mutant Brotherhood moved through the ravaged facility with the casual arrogance of conquerors.
They stepped over the dead; not just the M.R.D. personnel he and Logan had put down, but also the mangled bodies of the rapid response force that had surrounded the building.
Magneto had dealt with them with dismissive, brutal ruthlessness.
The "rescued" mutants offered little resistance.
After the horrors they had endured, the Brotherhood's message of mutant supremacy and violent retribution resonated with a dark, seductive logic.
Their hatred for humanity had been forged in fire and scalpels. Yet, Magneto was ruthlessly pragmatic.
His followers assessed the freed prisoners with cold eyes, separating those with useful, combat-ready abilities from the weak, the sick, the old.
The latter were left cowering, a painful reminder that to Magneto, they were all pawns, and some were more expendable than others.
Adam observed it all, his surprise carefully hidden. His focus was internal, on the instinctual feedback from his power.
Envy was whispering to him. He felt a resistance around Magneto, a psychic and metaphysical shielding that made his curses feel… blunted.
Stupefy, in particular, would be half as effective.
The helmet was part of it, but the protection felt deeper, as if it guarded not just the physical brain but also the electromagnetic field around Magneto.
His power, he concluded in a flash of insight, was a form of targeted reality manipulation, and like all such forces, it had counters.
He smiled then, a small, unsettling curve of his lips. A good thing he never relied on a single tool.
Doom's stolen intellect was already integrated, a prize that couldn't be so shielded against.
The path was clear: improve all aspects, become a jack of all trades, and then, methodically, master them all.
Never be reliant on a single strength.
[He's smiling. HE'S SMILING WHILE BLEEDING ALL OVER!]
[Adam Cypher is one of the most unhinged, charismatic bastards I've ever seen.]
[The aura is immaculate.]
[Does he, like, not feel pain? I'm confused.]
Magneto's gaze, sharp and perceptive, caught the expression. "Why do you smile?" He boomed, his voice echoing in the ruined space.
"Do you place your faith in the X-Men? Do you think I am unaware of their approach?"
His tenacity is… notable. Magneto must admit. The metal grinds against his flesh, yet he stood there as if it were a gentle embrace.
He was aura farming, even in captivity, projecting an image of unbreakable calm.
"But without power, nothing else matters. Very well, you don't want to join, but you must tell me, how did you find this place? Are there similar facilities you've found?" Magneto pressed.
Adam's smile didn't falter. "How did I find this place?" He mused, answering a question that hadn't been asked.
"I've been investigating an organization called Hydra. Their goals seem to be world domination and mutant extermination. My investigation led me here."
Magneto's regal brow furrowed. "Hydra? I have never heard of this group." Suspicion hardened his features. "How would you know of them?"
A dry chuckle escaped Adam's lips. "I should know better than most. I was their lab rat for over a decade until recently."
"The reason you haven't heard of them is because they don't want to be known." He tilted his head, a mocking glint in his eyes.
"Though I must admit, I'm surprised Professor X hasn't mentioned them. Given the… bromance you two have going, I thought he would have told you."
He laughed, a genuine sound of amusement at his own crude joke.
Magneto did not share his humor.
The metal embedded in Adam's suit constricted violently, threads of steel digging deeper into his flesh.
Fresh blood welled up, staining the white fabric. Magneto's face was a thundercloud of offended pride.
But before he could act, the familiar roar of the Blackbird's engines filled the air.
The X-Men had arrived.
Adam, however, wasn't finished. He let out an amused, pained giggle. "Consider this a bonus," He rasped.
"Hydra has mentioned your name more than once. They spoke of manipulating you to achieve their goals."
"From their records, it seems they've succeeded more than once, all without your awareness."
He met Magneto's livid gaze. "I'm not sure how or what they did, but that's… fucking hilarious. Hahahaha!"
[OH MY GOD HE'S POKING THE BEAR WITH A NUCLEAR MISSILE!]
[He's just making shit up now! The absolute madman!]
[The amount of bullshit he's spewing at Hydra is comedic gold. They're gonna have so many new enemies.]
[God fucking damn, the amount of bullshit coming out of his mouth is disgusting.]
[The fearless amusement and the laugh make his words so much more believable.]
A prominent vein throbbed on Magneto's forehead. His hands clenched into fists.
He let out a short, harsh laugh that was pure, undiluted rage. "Hydra," He muttered, the name a poison on his tongue. "I will show them what true manipulation looks like. The manipulation of life and death."
The X-Men descended from the Blackbird; Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, Colossus, and Nightcrawler; their postures tense.
The confrontation was immediate, a standoff etched in years of conflicted history.
"Let them go, Magnus," Cyclops commanded, his hand hovering near his visor.
"Or what, Summers? You will blast your own comrades to get to me?"
Magneto retorted, gesturing with his hand. Adam and Wolverine grunted in fresh agony, their bodies used as living shields.
"I will leave you these… broken remnants. They should keep your bleeding hearts occupied, hahahaha... Worry not, I'm no longer interested in them, just wait, and it all shall pass."
It was a stalemate. The X-Men were powerless without risking their friends' lives. Magneto knew it.
Then, everything changed in a heartbeat.
Magneto's eyes widened slightly. He felt… slow. His thoughts, usually razor-sharp, became muddled, struggling to form a coherent chain of reasoning.
Simultaneously, a jolt of pain rebounded through his own body, a faint echo of the torment he was inflicting on Adam. Slow. Recoil.
In that moment of disorientation and pain, he felt a tiny, sharp sting on the exposed skin of his neck.
His hand flew to the spot, his fingers closing around a minuscule, dissolving plastic injector.
The source was a nearly invisible, plastic mechanical spider that launched the injector from far enough.
Dizzy. Magneto slurred, his vision blurring. His magnificent control over the metal faltered.
The platforms holding him and his prisoners wavered. He raised his eyes, his gaze locking with Adam's bloody, unsettling smile.
"You… Damn…" He managed, before his eyes rolled back into his head.
He plummeted from his perch, the neurotoxin; a contingency Adam had engineered, overwhelming his system.
He hadn't expected to face Magneto any time soon, but expectations and preparations are two different things, just in case, as he usually says.
The collapse of their leader sent shockwaves through both groups. The Mutant Brotherhood stared in bewildered horror.
The X-Men reacted with trained speed.
Jean's telekinesis flared, catching both Adam and a now-freed Wolverine before they could hit the ground.
Cyclops, Storm, and Beast moved as one, surrounding Magneto's unconscious form, forming a protective circle.
Logan landed on his feet, his healing factor already sealing the internal damage, his claws popping with a furious snikt. "About damn time," He growled.
The X-Men might've reacted fast enough, but they still couldn't quite comprehend what just happened.
Adam had just brought down Magneto on his own? He's their nemesis, someone they've always struggled against.
Yet, he fell down just like that? So easily... Just what's happening?!
[Peak! That's what's fucking happening!]
[I hadn't expected that at all! WTF!!]
[It wasn't a full-blown fight, but it was Peak!]
[How did you expect Adam to win without outsmarting Magneto? Pull out a start destroyer cannon from his arse?]
[It was so unexpected, I think, because he waited til the perfect moment before acting. He took his sweet time while bleeding all over and smiling!]
[Cinema]
Adam staggered as Jean helped him up, leaning against her. He stood fully conscious, a bloody testament to his own tenacity, before his legs buckled and he fell to his knees.
It wasn't because his body betrayed him... It was worse.
For God's Sake, he bellowed in his mind! It just doesn't fucking end. Lady Fortune definitely hates him!
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[ 1000 Power Stones For An Extra Chapter!!! ]
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