The old subway platform had never seen this many people. Makeshift seats carved from concrete and salvaged materials formed rough circles around where Jay stood, the air thick with whispered conversations and nervous energy. Nearly a hundred Morlocks had gathered—not just locals, but people who'd risked dangerous journeys through the underground to witness what they were calling a miracle.
Jay scanned the crowd from behind his mask. Children sat wide-eyed next to their parents while the older residents watched with careful suspicion. The leadership clustered at the front in defensive formation: Callisto at the center, flanked by Sack and Beautiful Dreamer, with Caliban lurking in the shadows.
And there, sitting slightly apart, was Masque.
"Before we move forward," Jay began, his voice carrying easily through the chamber, "we need to address something that's been troubling me. We need to cleanse ourselves of any rot within our ranks."
The temperature seemed to drop. Conversations died.
Callisto's scarred face hardened. "Careful, Power Broker. You're walking into dangerous territory."
"Am I?" Jay turned his gaze to Masque. "Tell me, friend—with your power to reshape flesh and bone, why have you never helped your fellow Morlocks? Why haven't you offered to give them normal appearances?"
Silence. Masque's grey, waxy features rippled slightly. When he spoke, his voice was smooth, practiced at deflection.
"I don't know what you're talking about. My mutation gave me this hideous—"
"Bullshit." The word cut through his explanation like a knife. Jay stepped forward, and several Morlocks instinctively leaned back. "I've done my research. Your power could help everyone here, but you've used it for nothing."
"You don't understand—"
"I understand perfectly. Taking resources from people who need them while giving nothing back? Living off your community's charity while hoarding your gifts? That's the rot I'm talking about."
The crowd stirred uneasily. A young woman with scale-covered skin spoke up.
"Masque helped us build this place. He's been here since the beginning."
"Has he? Or has he simply been here? There's a difference between contributing and just existing."
Callisto rose, her enhanced senses picking up the rising tension. "That's enough. You're an outsider here. You don't get to come into our home and make accusations."
"Your people?" Jay's laugh was cold. "Look around, Callisto. How many of the most severely disfigured Morlocks are here? How many are still hiding in the deep tunnels, too ashamed to show themselves even to their own kind?"
Sack's massive form shifted forward, radiation scars glowing faintly. "Watch your tone. Callisto's protected us for years."
"And I respect that. But protection isn't progress. And sometimes, protecting the wrong person does more harm than good."
Caliban emerged from the shadows, pale features twisted with suspicion. "You seek to divide us. To turn us against each other."
"No," Jay said quietly. "I seek to reveal what's already there."
He closed his eyes.
In his mental landscape, Jay stood on a white plain under starless sky. Five distinct forms of power waited, but his attention focused on his Power Theft ability—humanoid white light resembling himself—and the newly acquired essence of Leech's suppression field, manifested as a massive reptilian creature coiled in on itself. Its scales shimmered with dark green that seemed to devour light.
The creature's eyes opened as he approached—weary orbs that had spent a lifetime rejecting everything. It radiated exhaustion, the bone-deep tiredness of a power that had never known rest.
"I know you're tired," Jay said softly, extending his hand. "You've spent so long pushing everything away that you've forgotten what it feels like to connect."
The reptile hissed like steam escaping a broken pipe, pulling back defensively.
"You've suffered enough. But now I need you to become part of something bigger. Something that can choose when to push away and when to pull close."
The white light of his Power Theft began circling the creature. Slowly, tentatively, the reptile began to uncurl.
The fusion was seamless—two puzzle pieces clicking together. The reptile dissolved into streams of green energy that wove through the white light, transforming it into something new. Still resembling Jay, but pulsing with controlled authority, with the power to dominate.
When Jay opened his eyes, he felt the change in his bones. Five powers dropped to four, but the fusion had created something far more versatile.
"I'm going to show you something," Jay announced, his voice carrying new resonance that seemed to vibrate in the air itself. "Something that will make the truth impossible to ignore."
He didn't speak any words of power. He simply expanded his presence.
An invisible sphere erupted outward from his position, encompassing thirty feet in every direction. Within that bubble, active mutation simply stopped.
Callisto stumbled, hand flying to her temple. "I can't... I can't hear anything beyond this room."
Caliban still as pale let out a strangled cry, pressing palms against his skull. "The connections... they're all gone! I cannot sense any of you!"
Beautiful Dreamer's ethereal glow died, leaving behind an ordinary woman with worried eyes. "This is... what it feels like to be human?"
Sack stared at his disfigured body in wonder. "The burning stopped. I'm not dangerous anymore."
Throughout the crowd, reactions rippled outward. Scales went slightly smooth and fleshy. Children stared at suddenly partially normal hands with fear and fascination.
"My power is suppressing all of your non-physical mutations," Jay announced calmly. "You're experiencing what it's like to have no active powers."
But it was Masque's transformation that drew every eye.
The grey, waxy flesh that had defined his appearance for decades began shifting, smoothing. Drooping features pulled tight. Melted-looking skin regained healthy color and texture. Within moments, where the grotesque figure had sat, there was instead a normal-looking man in his thirties with dark hair and unremarkable features.
The silence was absolute.
[A/N]: I write across multiple fandoms. Support my writing and get early access to 20+ chapters, exclusive content, and bonus material at my P@treon - Max-Striker.