The serum enhanced his strength and gave him beast-like instincts.
He could sense the dangerous energy radiating from Ethan, and he knew deep down—if he fought this guy, he might not make it out alive.
But none of that mattered.
For the sake of his daughter, Daisy, even if the entire world—or the gods themselves—stood in his way, he'd fight through them all.
"Give Daisy back to me!" Mr. Hyde bellowed, his voice feral.
Like a wild animal, he lunged across the road.
Bang!
Ethan raised a single hand and caught Hyde's fist mid-air. Reality wasn't some dramatic superhero comic—it was far harsher.
"A question," Ethan said coolly, eyes locked on Hyde. "You're a mutant, aren't you? A forced awakening type."
He'd come to that conclusion after witnessing Hyde's brutal fight with John Pete.
Mr. Hyde wasn't an Inhuman, that much was clear.
That's part of the reason he stayed out in the shadows, searching for Daisy, unable to be with his wife.
The Inhuman community didn't exactly welcome outsiders—especially not someone without Inhuman blood, not even if they were married to their leader.
But calling him an ordinary human? Please.
A regular guy doesn't go toe-to-toe with two class 3 mutants after downing just two bottles of serum—especially not ones with the potential to hit Class 4 someday.
And rumors claimed that, back in his prime, Hyde once went up against Thor himself and held his ground. Seriously?
There's a rule in this world: the rich rely on tech, the poor rely on mutation.
You can't just take two shots of miracle juice and suddenly be punching through walls like the Hulk.
This isn't some fantasy novel where a drunken author dreamed up superpowers after a few drinks.
And yet… here he was.
The drug resistance alone—this stuff could take down ten elephants, but Hyde tanked it like it was nothing.
Call that ordinary? Yeah, right.
By that logic, one bottle gave you Captain America's strength, two gave you ten Caps, and three… well, the math breaks down.
But the point stands. If it were that easy, then what's the point of mutants with X-genes training their whole lives?
So yeah, Ethan figured Hyde had to be a forced-awakened mutant.
Being the husband of Jiaying, the Inhuman leader still on Earth, he probably had access to some of their tech.
The roots of Inhumans and mutants were similar, after all.
Combine that with Hyde's raw talent, and maybe he figured out how to whip up a potion that triggered latent mutant genes.
Still, even if his awakened ability wasn't all that impressive, Hyde made it work—with the combo of his serum and whatever dormant power he unlocked, he turned into a powerhouse.
"Can you stop and listen to me for a second?" Ethan frowned slightly, trying to deescalate.
"We'll talk right after I rip your damn head off!" Hyde snarled, grabbing Ethan by the throat with his other hand.
"Totally out of control. What a headache," Ethan muttered.
Words clearly weren't working anymore, so it was time for action.
Physics always had a way of clearing things up.
But just as Ethan was about to counter, a confused voice broke through the tension.
"What the hell is going on?" Skye stepped out from the hallway, hair messy, still halfway through changing with Katie.
She'd heard the commotion and rushed over, only to find this chaos unfolding in front of her.
"You are... Daisy~!" The moment he saw Skye, Mr. Hyde froze.
His body trembled, and the murderous rage on his face faded in an instant.
The beast within him suddenly quieted.
"My little girl... it's really you. I can't believe it," he muttered, his voice shaking. "It's like a dream—I'm afraid I'll wake up and you'll be gone again... But I finally found you." He stumbled forward, each step slow, as if afraid she'd vanish.
Just moments ago, he punched Colossus aside without effort—now, he could barely keep his hands from shaking.
Skye, facing him, instinctively took a step back. The man before her—massive, wild, terrifying—didn't feel like family.
He looked more like something out of a nightmare than someone to embrace.
"Don't... don't come any closer," she said, fear creeping into her voice.
"Daisy, wait—" Mr. Hyde froze. He looked down at his hands, rough and twisted, more claws than fingers. A grim realization settled over his face.
"This... this isn't what I meant. I wanted to look better, to be... presentable," he stammered.
But his clothes were torn, his suit shredded and dirty, and he knew how monstrous he must seem.
"It's all a misunderstanding," Ethan's voice cut through the tension like a lifeline.
Mr. Hyde turned, grateful for the intervention. "Yes! That's right. This is all just... one big misunderstanding. I look like this because—"
"Because he thought we kidnapped you," Ethan continued smoothly, stepping in to fill the silence. "He transformed himself to save you, Daisy. Skye... this man is your father. He's been searching for you for years."
"My... father?" Skye looked at Mr. Hyde in disbelief. Her tone was hesitant, almost confused.
It wasn't her fault. She had grown up without parents, clinging to a hopeful dream that someday, somehow, she'd find them. In her mind, she had painted a perfect picture of what they'd be like.
And now, someone was telling her that this... monster from a horror story was her dad?
Anyone would struggle with that kind of emotional whiplash.
"Maybe I should explain a bit more about your father's past," Ethan said gently. Then he turned toward Mr. Hyde, lowered his voice, and whispered, "Want to make a better first impression on your daughter? Then just follow my lead."
"Please," Mr. Hyde whispered back, barely able to speak.
The man who faced death without flinching now sounded like a desperate, broken soul.
He looked at Ethan like a drowning man clinging to his last hope.
"If you help me... I'll do whatever you ask. Anything."
"That's all I need to hear," Ethan replied.
He'd been planning to scold Hyde, maybe even humiliate him a bit—but something about the man's pleading expression hit him.
He couldn't go through with it.
Ethan signaled to Bobby, who nodded and led Mr. Hyde away to get cleaned up and into new clothes.
Ethan, meanwhile, gently guided Skye into a nearby room.
"Let's take a few minutes," Ethan said, sitting with her. "I want to tell you a little more about your dad."
He spun a careful story—part truth, part polish.
He told her how Hyde had sacrificed everything to find her, how the years had twisted his body but not his love.
He left out the darker parts—the violence, the moments Hyde lost control.
That could come later.
For now, the focus was on one thing: showing Skye that behind the monster was a man—a father—who never gave up on his daughter.
"So... my dad became like that, all for me?" Skye whispered, her hand covering her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
Even though she was deeply moved, her mind was still sharp. "But if he and my mom cared about me so much... then why did they abandon me?"
Ethan paused, not because he didn't know something, but because this was a question only one person truly had the right to answer.
"That's something your father should explain himself," Ethan said, just as Bobby signaled that everything was ready.
Ethan stood up and walked to the door.
Mr. Hyde—Calvin Zabo—stepped in.
He was no longer the monstrous figure from before. Now, he wore a clean suit and looked like a respectable man.
But his eyes were filled with a mix of guilt, hope, and nerves as he looked at Skye.
"Da—Skye, I mean," he corrected himself, then took a breath.
"Things didn't happen the way you think. Your mother and I... we didn't have a choice. We were desperate."
Calvin began to explain it all.
How Hydra had captured them. How Skye's mother had been used in cruel experiments. How Calvin had tried to fight back, gaining power through a serum he created.
How he spent years searching for the people who hurt their family—and searching for Skye.
As their conversation slowly found its rhythm, Ethan gave them space.
He quietly led the others out of the room.
He still had his own reasons for helping Calvin, but he wasn't so heartless that he'd rob them of a moment to reconnect.
After all, no one was leaving the facility without his say-so.
The next morning, true to expectations, Calvin approached Ethan privately.
"You're taking Skye with you?" Ethan asked, already knowing the answer,
"Her name is Daisy," Calvin corrected with a soft smile.
He seemed calm, not like the wild man from before. "I want to bring her home, to her mother. I'm sure she'll be overjoyed to see her."
"I think so too," Ethan nodded.
"So tell me—what do you want in return? Daisy mentioned your institute is involved in mutant research.
If it's my research you're after, no problem. You helped me find my daughter. I'll give you everything I've got."
"That's generous. But the research is only part of it," Ethan replied. "I want something more... something original. I want access to the 'Afterlife.' The Inhuman sanctuary."
The room's temperature seemed to drop. Calvin's smile faded.
"That's not happening," he said flatly.
"You can ask for something else—but not that. The location of the Afterlife is sacred to the Inhumans. Its secrecy is vital to their survival."
"I understand. But maybe you've misunderstood me," Ethan said, a calm smile spreading across his face.
"First, we're not looking for the Inhumans to harm them. We want to cooperate. Mutants, like Inhumans, are also outcasts. There's no need for us to be enemies. Second, if I really wanted to force you, I could."
He pulled a small vial from his coat and placed it on the table.
"Hallucinogen. Just a drop and you'd start talking, whether you wanted to or not. But I don't want to do that to you. You understand?"
Calvin's eyes narrowed. "So this is a threat."
"If that's how you see it, I won't deny it," Ethan replied coolly.
He wasn't pretending to be a saint—he never was. And in a world like this, idealism rarely got you far.
Even the most righteous man America ever knew had spent seventy years frozen in ice.
Calvin stared at the bottle, then at Ethan. A long silence stretched between them. Finally, he let out a slow breath.
"Fine. But if you're playing me... I'll make sure you regret it."
Forced by the circumstances, Calvin agreed. The door to Afterlife would open—but under careful watch.