The central computer's alert shattered the quiet of their workshop.

  Jay's expression shifted. He pulled up the drone surveillance feed, and Domino moved beside him, watching the screens flicker to life.

  "What am I looking at?" she asked.

  The aerial footage showed a structure carved into a cliff face fifty kilometers north of their position. Modern architecture with reinforced concrete and a security perimeter with armed guards.

  "Three weeks ago, I deployed advanced drones to map the Savage Land," Jay said. "Looking for tribal gatherings, special locations and more Anti-Metal deposits. You know, standard reconnaissance."

  He cycled through more images as the guards came into focus.

  Domino leaned closer. "Those don't look like any demi-human I know."

  "No, they're not." Jay zoomed in on individual figures. One had a thick-scaled hide, massive and brutish. Another moved with amphibian quirk, green skin glistening and gills visible on his neck. "Savage Land Mutates! Barbarus and Amphibious."

  "You recognize them?"

  "They're Sinister's pets. Enhanced through genetic experimentation. He uses them as muscle when he needs something protected." Jay's jaw tightened. "An hour ago, the drones flagged this installation. When I saw who was guarding it..."

  He didn't need to finish.

  "You think Sinister's here."

  "I know he's here." Jay pulled up more surveillance footage. "I've been trying to track him for months. And now he builds a lab in the one place isolated enough that no one would think to look."

  Domino studied the structure. "So what's the plan?"

  "We go in." Jay's words came out quiet. "We find Sinister. And this time, we make sure he stays dead."

  "You mean we move to kill him?" Dom said, asking.

  "I mean exactly that." Jay turned to face her fully. "Dom, you remember how I told you about Korea? About Kim Il Sung and the M-Gang?"

  "Wait, you mean the M-gang were Marauders. They were conducting the mutant trafficking operation. I thought you saved those kids."

  Jay's hands clenched. "Kim Il Sung was Sinister's right hand. Those children weren't just trafficked. They were prepared to be lab specimens."

  Domino's expression hardened as she said, "And now you get another chance."

  "Now I get another chance. The Marauders went silent after Korea. I've been trying to track him for months." Jay moved toward the door. "Get your gear ready. We leave in twenty minutes."

  The off-road vehicle Jay had teleported in weeks ago rumbled through the Savage Land jungle. Built for extreme terrain easily with its reinforced frame, powered by modified Stark technology.

  Domino sat in the passenger seat, checking her weapons with methodical efficiency. Special ammunition, backup magazines and her knives strapped to her thighs.

  Jay drove in silence. His jaw was set tight, and his knuckles had gone white on the steering wheel.

  "You're worrying me, Jay", Domino said finally. "You haven't said a word since we left."

  Jay was quiet for another moment, navigating around a fallen tree. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.

  "In the comics, Sinister is one of those villains who never stays dead. He's too smart. Too careful. He has clones hidden everywhere, backup plans for his backup plans. In the comics, heroes kill him all the time. And he just comes back. New body but same malicious genius."

  Domino processed this. "So you're worried this won't stick."

  "Yeah, I'm worried that even if we kill him today, there are a dozen other Sinisters waiting in labs around the world." Jay's fury leaked through. "And I'm worried that I'm not angry enough about it. That I'm becoming too comfortable with killing as a solution."

  "Jay." Domino reached over, placing her hand on his arm. "You're not becoming a monster. Monsters don't worry about becoming monsters."

  "That's what monsters tell themselves."

  "No. That's what heroes tell themselves when they're making hard choices." She squeezed his arm. "Sinister has spent centuries torturing mutant children. You told me yourself he's personally responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed against our people. If killing him makes you a monster, then I'm a monster too. Because I'm going in there with you, and I'm not losing sleep over it."

  Jay was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded.

  They drove in silence after that.

  Finally, they stopped two kilometers from Sinister's installation. Close enough to approach on foot. Far enough that the vehicle wouldn't give away their position.

  Domino climbed out, stretching. "Alright. What's the play?"

  Jay pulled her closer in a hug, and the shadows below them came alive. They were submerged like quicksand, moving quietly around the shadow the noon sun was casting until they came out inside the base itself.

  Domino stumbled as they emerged, gasping. "We...are...not...doing that again!"

  Jay touched a digital panel nearby. The interface lit up under his fingers, blue circuitry spreading through the walls.

  "Jay?"

  "Give me a minute. I'm mapping their security network."

  Domino watched as Jay's expression shifted. The Sage powers combined with his technomorphing turned him into a living hacking tool.

  A minute passed. Then Two and Three.

  Jay's eyes snapped open. "Got it. Twenty-one guards total. Seventeen are basic security, enhanced locals, but nothing special. The other four are the Savage Land Mutates I recognized. All dangerous. And all loyal to Sinister."

  He pulled up the display in his digital watch, showing the facility's layout in three dimensions.

  "Sinister's in the basement level, lab three. He's alone, which means he's working on something he doesn't want witnesses for."

  With a thought, Jay triggered the lockdown.

  Throughout the facility, doors sealed shut, alarm systems disabled, communication systems jammed. And in lab three, reinforced blast doors slammed shut.

  Sinister was completely trapped.

  "Done." Jay pulled his hand back, and the blue circuitry faded. "The whole place is on lockdown. He can't escape. Can't call for help. Can't even see us coming through his cameras."

  "You really take the fun out of infiltration." Domino teased.

  Jay just shrugged. "I can't help it."

  The first thing that hit Domino was the smell.

  Antiseptic and copper. Bleach trying to hide blood. Underneath it all, something organic and wrong.

  "Jesus," Domino muttered. "This place smells like a hospital had sex with an abattoir."

  "Probably accurate." Jay's danger sense pinged softly. "Stay sharp. The Mutates will respond once they realize something's wrong."

  The corridors were too white, clinical white. The kind that showed every spatter. Domino noticed the floor tiles, as some were newer than others. Recent replacements.

  They moved deeper into the facility, navigating corridors that all looked the same. White walls. Numbered doors. Warning signs about biohazards and genetic containment.

  They passed laboratories filled with equipment Jay recognized. Gene sequencers running analysis on samples that looked disturbingly human. Centrifuges spinning vials of separated blood. Microscopes connected to computers displaying DNA helixes that twisted in patterns that shouldn't be stable.

  One room had a surgical table with restraints. The leather straps were worn smooth from use. Dark stains marked the drainage channels built into the steel.

  Jay didn't let himself think about how many people had died on that table.

  Footsteps echoed ahead. Three guards rounded the corner, human but clearly enhanced. Too much muscle. Moving with predatory grace, with eyes that reflected light like a cat's.

  Before they could react, Domino made her move.

  The shot cracked through the corridor.

  The bullet left her pistol spinning. It struck the far wall at an angle, ricocheted off the concrete.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The first guard's eyes widened as the bullet changed trajectory impossibly mid-flight. It caught him in the throat. Blood sprayed as he went down, clutching his neck.

  Then the bullet hit his falling rifle. The impact changed its trajectory again, as now it was moving parallel to the floor.

  The second guard tried to track it. His mistake. The bullet caught him directly in the visor, spiderwebbing the reinforced glass before punching through into the eye socket beyond. He dropped dead.

  The third guard dove for cover. Good instincts, but not good enough.

  The bullet clipped a support beam, changed course one final time, and buried itself in his chest cavity. He made it two more steps before his heart stopped.

  Silence fell as three bodies hit the floor almost in sync.

  Domino lowered her pistol, smoke curling from the barrel.

  She'd fired once. But three men were dead.

  When the gunsmoke cleared, Jay was staring at her.

  "Okay," he said. "I have been seriously underestimating your training these past two months."

  "You may have upgraded my powers." Domino grinned, reloading. "But they are my powers, Babe."

  They continued deeper. More guards came, drawn by the gunfire. Each time, they dealt with threats with brutal efficiency.

  Jay absorbed Vibranium, his entire body becoming living metal. When five guards with energy weapons opened fire, the blasts splashed against his metallic skin. He moved through them like inevitability made flesh. His arm, now a blade, found throats and hearts with Taskmaster's precision. Bodies dropped like flies.

  Domino's probability manipulation made her untouchable. She moved through the chaos like she was dancing, each step perfectly placed. Bullets that should have hit her struck walls instead. A thrown knife veered off course at the last second, embedding itself in the wall beside her head. When a guard got close enough for hand-to-hand combat, he slipped on blood that hadn't been there a moment ago and cracked his skull against the wall.

  "This is fun," Domino said as they cleared another corridor. "We should do infiltration missions more often."

  "This isn't a mission."

  "Same skill set."

  They reached the stairwell leading to the basement levels. Jay's technomorphing confirmed that Sinister was still trapped in lab three, the blast doors holding. But his danger sense was screaming now.

  They descended the stairs. The temperature dropped. The walls down here were reinforced concrete instead of sterile white panels. Water damage stained the corners. The air tasted worse down here.

  The lighting was different too. Harsh fluorescents that cast sharp shadows. No windows, thus no natural light.

  The corridor leading to lab three was empty. Too empty.

  Heavy footsteps echoed from behind them. Multiple sources and moving fast.

  Domino turned, her weapons ready.

  Four figures emerged from the shadows.

  was massive, easily eight feet tall, covered in thick scales, moving with predatory grace despite his bulk. His eyes glowed faintly yellow.

  had slick green skin, gills pulsing on his neck, eyes too large and too far apart, webbed hands ending in claws. He moved with amphibian fluidity.

  was a humanoid wolf covered in matted grey fur, lips pulled back to show teeth like daggers. He moved on all fours, claws clicking on the concrete.

  was the smallest, but with a cranium expanded to twice normal size. His eyes glowed with malevolent intelligence, and the air around him crackled with telepathic energy.

  The Savage Land Mutates. Sinister's enforcers were here.

  "Well," Domino said. "They really are uglier than they looked on camera."

  Jay stepped forward, putting himself between Domino and the approaching threats. His Vibranium form gleamed. "Dom, your normal bullets won't work on them. Remember your training and use that. Aim for Lupo. I'll handle the others."

  "Got it."

  Barbarus charged first.

  The massive Mutate moved faster than something his size should be able to, closing thirty feet in seconds. The floor cracked under his footfalls. His fist came at Jay's head with enough force to crater concrete.

  Jay caught it.

  The kinetic energy absorbed into his Vibranium form. Barbarus's eyes widened in surprise.

  Then Jay punched back.

  The stored kinetic energy released in a focused blast. Barbarus flew backward, airborne for a moment, before crashing through the reinforced wall behind him. causing the concrete and rebar to explode outward. The Mutate disappeared into the room beyond.

  The sound was deafening.

  "One down."

  Amphibious hissed. His throat swelled as he spat.

  A stream of corrosive acid flew toward Jay's face, trailing vapor. The smell hit him as chemical burn and organic decay mixed together.

  Jay formed a Darkforce shield. The stream splashed against it, sizzling. Where drops hit the floor, concrete bubbled and smoked.

  On the far side Domino's probability field hummed. She needed an opening. A weakness.

  And as luck would have it, she found it. A crack in the ceiling above Amphibious; the stress fractures from Barbarus's impact. The concrete was already compromised. It just needed the right push.

  She fired at the ceiling.

  The bullet struck perfectly. The crack widened. Spread like lightning across the surface. Then the concrete gave way.

  Half a ton of debris came down on Amphibious. He tried to dive, but Domino's luck didn't miss. A chunk of concrete the size of a microwave caught him directly in the skull. The impact drove him into the floor. The rest of the debris buried him.

  "Two down."

  Lupo snarled. He launched himself at Domino, moving with speed that made him a grey blur, claws extended, jaws open wide.

  Domino raised her dagger, laced in tacheyon filed to intercept, but Brainchild's telepathic assault hit her like a freight train.

  Psychic claws dug into her mind. It wasn't subtle, just raw psychic violence.

  Domino felt her sense of self fragmenting. Was she Domino? Was she Neena? Was she anyone at all?

  She dropped to one knee, screaming, the dagger clattering from nerveless fingers.

  Lupo's jaws closed on empty air as Jay shadow-shifted just out of reach, pulling Domino with him. Lupo's momentum carried him into the wall instead, claws gouging deep scratches in the concrete.

  They materialized three feet to the left. Jay had the Vibranium blade pressed against Lupo's throat before the Mutate could recover.

  "Stay down."

  Lupo's eyes blazed with feral rage. Intelligence warred with animal instinct behind those yellow eyes.

  He lunged again.

  Jay's blade took him across the throat. The Vibranium cut through enhanced hide, through muscle and cartilage and vertebrae. Blood sprayed in an arterial arc.

  Lupo's body hit the ground still twitching. Then the twitching stopped.

  "Three down."

  Jay's danger sense spiked when he saw that Domino was still down, still writhing, and Brainchild's eyes were glowing brighter now.

  Jay was on him in a heartbeat. His hand blade sang through the air.

  One precise strike and Brainchild's head separated from his shoulders. Both parts hit the floor. The head rolled until it hit the wall. The eyes were still glowing when it stopped.

  "Four down."

  Jay dropped beside Domino, hands on her shoulders. "Domino, are you alright? I'm sorry I was late—"

  Domino blinked hard, consciousness returning in fragments. "No worries. It ain't my first rodeo against psychics." She huffed, accepting his hand to pull herself up.

  But Jay's eyes had gone murderous, fixed on Brainchild's severed head. The glow was finally fading. Good. He wanted him dead. Really dead.

  "We need to move on, Jay."

  The corridor was silent except for their breathing. Barbarus groaning from somewhere in the rubble. The distant sound of alarms. The wet drip of Lupo's blood still running down the wall.

  "I know." Jay moved back to the blast door leading to lab three

  "Stand back."

  The Vibranium blade cut through the reinforced blast door like it was made of paper. Jay carved a circle large enough to step through, sparks raining down as metal parted.

  He kicked the cut section inward. It fell with a heavy clang.

  Beyond it was a laboratory straight from a nightmare.

  Cloning vats lined one wall, each containing a figure suspended in green liquid. Some were recognizable as humans or had been. Others were twisted chimeras, bodies that had too many arms or faces in the wrong places or organs visible through translucent skin.

  On the ceiling, insect-like drones clung like mechanical spiders. Mister Sinister's data collectors, designed to harvest DNA from mutants without them ever knowing.

  Surgical tables held restraints stained with old blood. Equipment for genetic manipulation hummed with power, displays showing DNA sequences that made even Jay's enhanced mind stagger.

  Screens mounted on every wall displayed data of genetic code scrolling past too fast for normal human comprehension. Simulation results from experiments that should never have been attempted.

  And in the center of it all, standing calm, was Nathaniel Essex.

  Mr. Sinister.

  He looked exactly as Jay remembered from the comics, but worse in person. Pale skin that glowed faintly. Black suit and cape. That iconic red diamond on his forehead, gleaming like a third eye, pulsing faintly.

  When he smiled, it was the smile of a shark sizing up prey.

  When he spoke, his voice carried the refined accent of someone who'd learned English in a different century. Victorian, proper and utterly devoid of empathy.

  "Ah, Jay. You're finally here." The smile widened. "I'm really quite the fan of yours, you know. Your blood. Your genetics. No matter what I try, I am never able to decipher it properly. You are my biggest hurdle and rival."

  His red eyes gleamed with admiration mixed with hunger.

  "Thanks to the samples I obtained from Korea, I've been able to refine my work considerably. My skills, which had been growing rusty after centuries of the same experiments, are now sharper than ever." He gestured at the lab around him. "You've inspired me to reach new heights, Jay. I should thank you."

  Domino had enough of this creep talking about her boyfriend's blood maniacally; she aimed her gun at his face without a word.

  She fired.

  The gunshot cracked through the lab. Sinister's head snapped back, a neat hole appearing in his forehead right below the red diamond. For a moment he stood there, frozen.

  Domino looked at Jay. "What? He was being creepy about you…."

  Then a laugh came as Sinister straightened his neck.

  The wound closed. Flesh knitted together. The bullet pushed itself out of healing tissue and clinked on the floor.

  "Yes, quite the spirited companion you have," Sinister said, still smiling. "But I'm afraid simple bullets won't suffice here, my dear."

  More laughter echoed through the lab.

  From the shadows behind the cloning vats, figures emerged. Not one. Not two. Footsteps synchronized. Breathing synchronized. They moved like a hive mind, and when they stepped into the light, Jay's danger sense exploded into screaming alarm.

  And they all wore that same red diamond on their foreheads.

  But they weren't normal clones.

  They were chimeras.

  Jay's comic book knowledge identified them instantly. One had Beast's blue fur and massive frame combined with Colossus's metallic skin. Another had Kate Pryde's intangibility merged with Angel's wings. A third had Wolverine's claws extending from hands that could fire Cyclops's optic blasts.

  More emerged. Toad's agility combined with Nightcrawler's teleportation. Iceman's freeze powers merged with Pyro's fire manipulation. On and on, each one a horrific fusion of multiple mutants' powers.

  Ten stable chimeras, each combining two or more X-Men into a single nightmare.

  "You see?" Sinister's voice carried genuine pride. "Thanks to your blood, I was able to refine my chimera creation process significantly. I'd been attempting these combinations for decades, but the genetic compatibility was always problematic. Although I couldn't understand your unique DNA and powers, it inspired me to complete the missing piece."

  He gestured at his creations.

  "Look at them, Jay. My own X-Men. No, better than that. My Nasty Boys. My masterpieces. Each one stable, functional and utterly Loyal."

  The chimeras moved as he spoke, surrounding Jay and Domino in a circle. Their breathing was synchronized. Even their heartbeats were synchronized.

  "All thanks to you."

  Jay's mind raced. Taskmaster's tactical analysis kicked in, processing the threat level. Sage's computational abilities catalogued each chimera's probable power set. His own danger sense was screaming warnings.

  "You've been busy," Jay said quietly.

  "I've had months." Sinister's red eyes gleamed. "Ever since Korea, I've been preparing for our inevitable confrontation. Did you really think I wouldn't account for you? Did you think I'd make the same mistake Kim made?"

  His smile turned predatory.

  "I know what you can do, Jay. I know about your power theft. Your adaptations. Your various transformations. I've studied you. Analyzed you. Planned for you." He spread his arms wide. "So I created an army specifically designed to counter everything you might try."

  The chimeras moved forward as one.

  "Now then," Sinister said softly. "Shall we begin? To me, my Nasty Boys!"

  The chimeras attacked.

  And Jay and Domino found themselves fighting for their lives against an army of monsters.