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Leo's gut tightened. Worried for Logan, he blinked space folded and he reappeared at his side.
A hulking man stood over Nightcrawler's crumpled body, tucking away a slim syringe. He looked like a stronger, meaner echo of Logan in a long coat: Victor Creed Sabretooth.
"Well, well," Victor drawled, eyes glittering. "An angry little mutt… and the flea riding him. Tell me, brother why do you always pick up trash?"
"You're the trash," Leo snapped, eyes going cold. He vanished and reappeared at Victor's flank, snapping a whip-kick at his head.
Sabretooth caught Leo's shin with one thick forearm, then raked backhanded, claws flashing.
"Not today," Leo breathed and blinked. He dropped in from above and axe-kicked, cracking Victor across the crown.
Blood trickled down Victor's hairline. He grinned. "You're better than the blue one. Not bad." He flicked two fingers in a signal.
Boots pounded. A squad of soldiers rounded the corner, rifles up.
"Military," Leo hissed and teleported as a storm of bullets shredded the air where he'd been.
Sparks skittered across the brick. Sabretooth used the chaos, bounding wall to wall in feral bursts toward Logan.
First the guns, Leo decided. Logan and Victor won't end fast either way. He blinked into the formation, hands, elbows, and knees turning rifles aside, breaking grips, folding men before they could reacquire a target.
Laughter spilled out of him clean, bright. It was the first time he'd gone all-out since leveling up his body and technique. With his boosted strength and sharpened form, these elite operators barely made him take a second step.
"Fellow mutant," a calm, resonant voice rolled in from the darkness, "might I suggest you stop?"
Metal screamed. Every rifle tore itself free, whirled midair, and pivoted to aim precisely at the men who'd held them.
Leo blinked back out of the cluster, eyes narrowing.
"Do not fear, young man," the voice continued as a figure stepped into the light a man in a distinctive helmet, lines of age etched with purpose on his face. "I am Erik Lehnsherr. Most know me as Magneto."
"Magneto?" Leo echoed, stunned. Before he could ask more, a concussive blast jolted the street behind him.
"Logan!" He vanished and reappeared beside his friend, hauling him upright. In the center of the street, Gambit spun his metal staff, red eyes glinting. Sabretooth and Logan both staggered, disoriented Gambit's charged shockwave had blown them apart.
Magneto's gaze slid to Nightcrawler's still form. "One dead already?" he murmured, almost wistful. "A pity."
Footsteps whispered. Mystique sauntered into view behind him, draping an arm over his shoulder as she eyed the ring of soldiers now staring down their own muzzles. Her smile was sharp enough to cut.
"What about the errand I sent you on?" Magneto asked mildly.
"Dukes?" Mystique's voice was playful. "Swooned at your name and signed right up." She cocked her head. The guns fired almost lazily decisions made for the men holding them.
"Good," Magneto said. "Then let's settle the quarrel in front of us."
"Magneto," Leo and Gambit breathed together, turning toward the carnage.
Logan lifted his claws, wary. "You know this guy?"
"Not personally," Leo said, eyes on the bodies. "But he did that."
Magneto spread his hands, serene. "Since you recognize me, perhaps we can agree: the fighting ends here."
"You think you're our boss now?" Logan growled, fury still simmering. He wasn't about to let Victor walk.
"If you wish," Magneto said smoothly, "I can be."
"Cute," Sabretooth sneered. He ignored Magneto entirely, sprinting for a wall. Claws bit stone; he scampered up like a cat escaping a bath. Gambit's gaze flickered he knew too well what Magneto could do.
"Victor!" Logan lunged to follow.
Magneto's expression cooled. "I believe I said: stop."
Rebar shrieked from the ruined walls around them, slicing through the air like thrown spears. They lanced into both men.
The wet sskrrt of steel through flesh made Leo's skin crawl. Sabretooth barely broke stride. He vaulted the roofline, bleeding, and vanished into the night. Logan dug his claws into the wall, dragging himself upward through the pain.
"Healing factors," Magneto observed, displeasure narrowing his eyes. He clenched a fist. The unseen field around Logan tightened, yanking him backward off the wall and hauling him through the air until he hung caught before Magneto like a pinned specimen.
Erik looked him over, head tilted, as if reading instrumentation only he could see. "Adamantium," he said, disdain curling the word. "A skeleton of stolen metal. You poor fool."
Logan strained against invisible bonds, teeth bared. The claws in his hands started to… bend. Metal groaned as the spaces between each gleaming blade widened, Magneto tugging them apart with clinical cruelty.
"He's going to kill him." Leo didn't think—he moved. He blinked into Magneto's gravity well, clapped a hand on Logan's shoulder—
"Take me with you!" Gambit shouted from across the street, eyes wide. Magneto's absolutism was not his kind of revolution.
"Done," Leo said, and all three of them were gone.
Air rushed in to fill the space they'd vacated.
From the corner, Mystique emerged fully, amused. "Bit of a misread, Erik."
Magneto's smile returned, slow and untroubled. "On the contrary. Anyone who can slip my grasp so deftly is precisely the sort I want standing beside me."
He stepped through the aftermath without looking down.
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