Ten chimeras surrounded them in a tightening circle. Jay's mind raced through tactical scenarios, but every calculation led to the same conclusion: they were outnumbered and outgunned.

  "Dom", Jay said quietly, his eyes finding hers, sending an unspoken signal.

  Domino's mismatched eyes widened. "Got it."

  Jay's danger sense screamed as the chimeras tensed. Wanting to not take any chances, he used his null field to expand outward in a fifty-foot sphere.

  Except the chimeras didn't falter.

  Beast-Colossus's metallic hide continued gleaming. Cyclops-Wolverine's eyes still glowed red. The Pyro-Iceman chimera's hands blazed with fire and ice simultaneously.

  "No," Jay breathed, his Vibranium form rippling across his skin. "That's not possible."

  Sinister's laughter echoed through the lab, high and manic.

  "Oh, Jay! My dear, predictable Jay!" The Victorian geneticist practically danced forward, his red diamond pulsing in rhythm with his excitement. "Did you truly believe I would be so foolish? That I wouldn't prepare for your nullification field?" He giggled. "The power you stole from that pathetic Morlock whelp... Leech, yes? Poor, pitiful Leech!"

  The chimeras advanced.

  "I knew from the very beginning that your nullification field had such delicious limitations! Physical mutations! Permanent alterations woven into genetic code itself! Just observe dear Henry McCoy, or darling Kurt Wagner. Their forms are locked, you see! Immutable! Unchangeable!" He spun in place, coat flaring. "So I made modifications. Glorious, brilliant modifications!"

  His grin showed too many teeth.

  "Every ability you see before you is now hardcoded into their very cells! Genetic locks your clever little trick cannot pick! And do you know the most delicious irony?" He leaned forward. "Kim Il Sung. My former student, my wayward protégé. He taught me so much about countering power disruption. Years and years under my tutelage! His techniques, his methods... all mine now. Which means, dear boy..." He straightened, arms spreading wide. "You cannot touch them! Behold! My anti-Power Broker dream team!"

  "To me, my Nasty Boys."

  Beast-Colossus charged. Eight feet of organic steel and feral muscle. The floor cracked under each footfall.

  Domino dove left, pistol already up. Tachyon field coating the bullets in silver energy.

  The first shot caught Beast-Colossus in the shoulder.

  The bullet punched through organic steel. Blood sprayed from the hole and the creature stumbled.

  It roared in unexpected hurt.

  "These bullets don't give a damn about your metal skin." She fired again. Knee joint this time and the chimera dropped with a howl.

  BAMF.

  Sulfur flooded the lab as Toad-Nightcrawler materialized behind Domino. Green skin covered in blue patterns, three fingers ending in suckers, and that prehensile tongue that shot out like a whip.

  Domino sensed the displacement as she spun. But the tongue was faster, wrapping around her wrist, yanking the gun away.

  BAMF.

  The chimera teleported to another side, and its tongue snapped out again.

  Domino's hands moved on instinct, plucking dozens of strands of her black hair. Tachyon field channeled through them as she flung them into the air in random directions.

  BAMF.

  Hair punched through his shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

  BAMF.

  More hair caught him mid-materialization. Through his thigh, causing the chimera to scream.

  BAMF.

  The last batch caught him in the gut as he appeared above her. Finally his body dropped.

  In reality, the hair randomly either served crucial nerves or punctured the stomach lining, letting the acid spill out into the body cavity.

  "Should've stayed in your pond." Domino retrieved her gun and reloaded. "Who's next?"

  Meanwhile, Cyclops-Wolverine came at Jay. Bone claws extended and ruby-red energy building behind a visor that was half-flesh, half-tactical gear.

  The optic blast hit him square in the chest. Kinetic force slammed into his Vibranium form. The impact rippled through his metallic body, feeding power into him.

  Cyclops-Wolverine didn't wait. Bone claws stabbed forward. They scraped across Jay's chest, leaving shallow scores despite it's hardness.

  "Looks like Sinister cheaped out on real Adamantium." Jay caught one set of claws and twisted. The Bone snapped, and chimera howled.

  Just as Jay was about to land the finishing blow, fire and ice hit Jay simultaneously.

  The Pyro-Iceman chimera stood twenty feet away. From its left hand poured flames hot enough to melt steel. From its right, ice cold enough to shatter diamond.

  Jay's metallic skin cracked under extreme temperature variations causing it to expand and shrink simultaneously. Fissures spread across his chest and arms. The Vibranium form began fragmenting.

  "Shit."

  As the last option, Jay released all the stored kinetic energy at once with a single punch at the elemental chimera.

  The explosion lifted Pyro-Iceman off its feet and hurled it backwards. The creature slammed into the far wall, and the concrete crumbled. When it slid to the floor, its neck bent at an angle that meant it wasn't getting up.

  Jay's Vibranium form was compromised. Sections glowed red-hot. Other areas had turned brittle.

  Then, despite his danger sense's warning, a fast optic blast caught him in the small of his back.

  Jay went flying. But he rolled and came up in a crouch.

  Cyclops-Wolverine charged again. Behind the chimaera, Shadowcat-Angel dove from above, wings spread.

  "This is bad" Jay muttered.

  Shadowcat-Angel phased through the pillars, aiming for Jay's eyes.

  Jay created light-daggers and slashed upward. His blades phased harmlessly through her intangible form. She solidified just long enough to strike. One wing-blade scratched across his cheek. She phased again and flew past.

  Cyclops-Wolverine was closing in.

  Jay's tactical mind raced. Shadowcat-Angel was the immediate problem. As long as she could phase, his attacks were useless. But she had to solidify to attack.

  Jay waited. Feigned focus on Cyclops-Wolverine. His danger sense tracked Shadowcat-Angel as she circled above. She dove again, wing-blade extended, aiming for the base of his skull.

  She phased through another pillar, getting closer.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Jay's hand shot up the moment before she solidified. His fingers brushed her wrist as his Power theft activated.

  But instead of stealing her power, he altered it.

  Changed the default state of her phasing from solid to intangible. Permanently intangible.

  Shadowcat-Angel's eyes went wide with horror. She tried to land but passed through the floor instead, disappearing into the Savage Land bedrock beneath Sinister's facility.

  "She'll suffocate eventually. Without air, she'll die slowly but surely." Jay said tauntingly to Cyclops-Wolverine

  The chimera roared. Charged again, with its claws extended and optic blast building.

  Jay met the charge head-on. His light-dagger extended, growing longer and thinner until it was more spike than knife. He sidestepped the claws with Taskmaster's perfect timing. Grabbed the chimera's shoulder. Drove the light-spike up through its jaw and into its brain.

  Cyclops-Wolverine went rigid. The optic blast fired wildly, carving a molten line across the ceiling. Jay twisted the spike, turned it into a blade, and swept it horizontally through the chimera's neck.

  The head separated cleanly. Hit the floor and rolled as the body collapsed.

  Jay kicked the head hard. It bounced across the laboratory, hit the wall with a wet crunch as the skull caved in.

  Jay finally straightened, breathing hard.

  Domino had dealt with Toad-Nightcrawler. Beast-Colossus was crawling toward them on one arm. Pyro-Iceman's twisted body lay crumpled against the far wall. Shadowcat-Angel was somewhere deep underground, phased and suffocating. Cyclops-Wolverine's headless body twitched feebly.

  Five down.

  But five chimeras remained.

  They hadn't moved. Hadn't attacked. Just stood in a semicircle, watching as the audience.

  Sinister began clapping. Not slow and mocking. But rapid, enthusiastic and almost childlike. "Bravo! Bravissimo!" He bounced on his heels. "Oh, you magnificent specimen! You glorious killer! The tactical acumen! The ruthless efficiency! The creative brutality!" His eyes gleamed with genuine delight. "Look at what you've become, Jay! A beautiful, terrible engine of death! I am so proud!"

  Jay's hands clenched. And Domino moved to his side, gun still raised.

  "But! That was merely Act One, dear boy! The opening salvo! The appetizer before the feast!" He giggled again. "Now we arrive at the main event! The pièce de résistance! My masterwork!"

  He gestured. The five remaining chimeras began to change.

  Their forms blurred, bodies losing cohesion. Blue skin replaced mixed features. They shrank, compacted and merged as five became one.

  The single chimera turned Humanoid with Blue-skinned and Grey, blank eyes that seemed to absorb light. Its face was eerily neutral.

  "Behold!" Sinister threw his arms wide, practically vibrating with manic energy. "My magnum opus! My perfect creation! A triple fusion that should be impossible, that every geneticist said was impossible, but I did it!" He was almost shouting now, spittle flying. "Mystique's shapeshifting! Multiple Man's duplication! Darwin's reactive evolution! All three! All together! All mine!"

  Ice crystallized in Jay's gut as he understood the danger this being possessed.

  "Do you understand what this means?" Sinister was pacing now, gesticulating wildly. "It can take any form! It can duplicate infinitely! It can Adapt to anything! He's unkillable, Jay! Unkillable!" His laugh bordered on hysteria. "And I was so fortunate! That fool Shaw, pompous and arrogant Sebastian Shaw, thought he'd killed Darwin! But at least he got me samples before dying! Shaw never knew! Never realized he'd destroyed a treasure trove!" He spun toward Jay, eyes wild. "Poetic justice, after all, the boy took on my name? Wouldn't you say?"

  The Darwin-chimera stood there, watching them with those empty grey eyes.

  "A one-man army," Sinister whispered, suddenly quiet. Then his voice rose again. "My one-man army!"

  Domino's face went pale.

  Jay forced himself to think tactically. His eyes swept the laboratory. As a plan formed in his mind.

  "Dom," Jay said quietly, "I need you to keep him busy."

  "What? How am I supposed to..."

  "You've got probability manipulation and tachyon bullets. The two most unpredictable forces I know. Just survive, please. Give me a few minutes."

  Domino saw the determination in Jay's eyes. She nodded.

  The Darwin-chimera attacked.

  It didn't single-mindedly charge but duplicated.

  One became two. Two became four. Four became eight. In seconds, sixteen copies surrounded them.

  Domino opened fire. Her tachyon-enhanced bullets tore through the copies, punching holes in blue flesh. The moment one duplicate fell, two more took its place. The Darwin-chimera was adapting in real-time, increasing its duplication rate. Developing a healing factor on the fly.

  "This is insane!" Domino backed toward Jay. Her probability field was working overtime. Bullets hit vital points. Duplicates tripped over each other. Chaos erupted in their movements. But there were too many.

  Jay wasn't watching her fight. His attention was on the laboratory's security system. His technomorphing ability flowed through the walls, interfacing with every camera, turret, plasma cannon, and automated defense.

  Jay used his powers to turn them all on, but with a new target.

  The ceiling turrets swiveled, locking onto the Darwin-chimera duplicates. Laser targeting painted red dots across blue flesh as the plasma cannons charged.

  Then the laboratory became hell.

  Laser fire crisscrossed the room in geometric patterns. Plasma bolts followed, superheated matter exploding on impact. Automated flamethrowers emerged from hidden panels. Cryogenic sprayers activated, freezing duplicates solid before pneumatic hammers shattered them into crystals.

  The Darwin-chimera adapted frantically. Some duplicates developed heat-resistant skin. Others grew ice-immune tissue. A few even started absorbing the laser fire.

  But they couldn't adapt to everything at once.

  Domino continued firing. Her tachyon bullets found gaps in the defenses. Every time a duplicate adapted to the turrets, her shot would catch it from an unexpected angle. Her probability manipulation turned the entire fight into controlled chaos.

  Equipment exploded around them. Glass vats shattered, spilling preservative fluids across the floor. Surgical tables collapsed. Computers sparked and died. The laboratory was tearing itself apart.

  Across the laboratory, Sinister had finally noticed what Jay was doing. "No! No, no, no!" The geneticist rushed to the nearest terminal, fingers flying across the keyboard with increasing desperation. "You can't! You won't! I won't allow it!"

  Jay had locked him out completely.

  "It doesn't matter!" Sinister shrieked, his composure finally cracking as he faced the computer screen. "Your toys mean nothing! Darwin will adapt! He'll evolve! He'll become immune to your pathetic machines! He's perfect! I made him perfect!" His voice pitched higher, more frantic. "You cannot win this, Jay! You cannot!"

  He was so focused on the computer that he didn't notice Jay's approach. Not until Vibranium-coated fingers punched through his back and emerged from his chest.

  Jay's hand clutched Sinister's still-beating heart as he slowly murmured.

  "First rule of fighting summoned monsters. Kill the summoner."

  He ripped the heart free.

  Sinister looked down at the hole in his chest. For a moment, just a moment, genuine surprise crossed his features. Then he laughed. That high, manic laugh that echoed through the ruined laboratory. Even dying, even with his lifeblood pumping out between his ribs, Nathaniel Essex laughed.

  "You think.... you think, you can kill me? Me?!" Blood bubbled through the words. "I modified myself, you fool! Years of work! Decades! My healing is permanent! Woven into every cell! I'm immortal! I'm unkillable! I'm..." He was almost giggling now, blood-soaked and delirious. "I'm anti-you, Jay! The one adversary your power cannot touch!"

  Already the wound was closing. New tissue sprouted from the edges, reaching across the gap. His heart was regrowing, cell by cell.

  Jay watched this with cold calculation. Sinister was right. The healing was too integrated, too fundamental. The null field couldn't touch it.

  But Jay had spent months testing his abilities. Pushing them to their limits. Combining them in ways that shouldn't work but did.

  Jay's hands trembled just for a moment.

  "I'm sorry, Tommy," Jay whispered. His voice cracked. Thinking of the pure healing aura he'd taken from the kid. The green light that represented hope and restoration.

  In his mindscape, he grabbed the Polarity symbol. The yin-yang of Light and Darkforce merged perfectly. His hands shook as he channeled it through Tommy's healing power. Forcing the energies to invert. Corruption spreading through something innocent.

  The green healing aura turned dark red.

  'Decay Aura', Jay thought.

  Jay's hands glowed with malevolent crimson light as he pressed them against Sinister's chest. The geneticist's eyes widened. His cells began to decay. Ageing at accelerated rates. Tumors forming. Cancer spreading. Tissue breaking down at the molecular level.

  "What..." Sinister's voice cracked, manic confidence finally shattering. "What are you doing? This isn't... this can't..."

  "I am turning your healing into decay. Your body's programmed to regenerate. But what happens when every cell that regenerates is a tumour? I'm turning you into what you are. A cancer to society."

  Sinister's skin began to sag. Age spots appeared, spreading across pale flesh. His hair fell out in clumps. "No! This is... this is wrong! The laws of mutation don't... they don't..." His voice rose in panic, all pretense of control gone. "Please! Please! I have knowledge! About everything! Just..."

  "I don't care."

  "I have clones!" Sinister screamed, desperate now, as his body continued its grotesque transformation. "Backups! Scattered across the world! You can't kill me! You can't! I'll come back! I always come back!"

  "Then I'll find them all. Every lab. Every safe house. Every hidden facility. I'll use this decay on each one. Until Nathaniel Essex is nothing but a historical footnote." Jay paused. "Just like those kids in Korea you were prepping for your experiments. Remember them? The ones Kim was trafficking for you?"

  Sinister's eyes widened in recognition and fear.

  "This is for them."

  Sinister's red diamond began to crack. Fissures spread across the synthetic gemstone as the flesh beneath it rotted. His eyes filmed over with cataracts as his skin took on a grey-green tinge. Decomposition set in while he was still alive.

  He tried to speak again, but his tongue had dissolved. The sounds that came from his throat were wet and bubbling. A final gurgle that might have been laughter or screaming. Even in death, Mister Sinister couldn't quite let go of his mania.

  Eventually, even those stopped.

  What remained was barely recognizable as having once been human. A shapeless mass covered in tumors and rot.

  Nathaniel Essex, Mister Sinister, the Victorian geneticist who'd lived for over a century, died as a puddle of his own liquefied organs.

  Jay stepped back. Letting the corpse collapsed.

  The decay aura faded, returning to green healing light. Nausea rolled through him. His hands still glowed faintly. Using Tommy's pure gift this way felt like a violation.

  Then automatically drain hit him then. Using so many powers all at once. Vibranium form, Technomorphing, Light constructs, Polarity, Decay Aura and Power theft tweaks.

  He'd been running hot for too long. His knees wobbled as his vision blurred at the edges.

  But this Sinister was dead at last.