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Logan's snarl echoed through the night as he kicked the iron doors open. The heavy slabs screeched against their hinges, and the sound carried like the roar of a beast entering its den.
He charged inside the experimental building without hesitation, claws gleaming faintly in the sterile light.
Leo didn't dare let him go alone. Even though the system's prompt had already sounded in his mind moments earlier, he knew Logan couldn't be left unchecked in his current state.
[Congratulations, Host, for completing the mission: Aid Logan when he falls into the trap.]
[Reward granted: 1000 Exchange Points, 1 Lottery Draw Chance.]
Leo barely registered the words. He ignored the gleaming golden text in his mind, forcing the system's hollow promises to the background.
Rewards meant nothing if Logan lost himself or if Stryker's experiments succeeded.
In a blur of motion, Leo vanished from the entrance and reappeared inside the stairwell, his body flickering with the pulse of teleportation.
Ahead of him, Logan was already tearing up the steps two at a time, his heavy boots pounding against the steel like war drums. Rage propelled him upward faster than any bullet.
Leo tensed, ready to teleport directly to Logan's side to steady him. But then, unexpectedly, a whisper curled inside his skull.
"Help us…"
The voice was faint, almost fragile, as if it had traveled across vast distances to reach him.
Leo froze, his expression darkening.
"Who's there?" he whispered aloud.
"…Emma… I'm Emma. We're locked inside… please… help us…"
The words broke apart, stuttering as though dragged out of a dying throat. Her voice weakened, cracked, and then dissolved into silence.
---
Elsewhere, in the suffocating prison of Stryker's underground laboratory, Emma Frost knelt against the cold concrete floor. Her diamond-pale skin flickered between flesh and crystalline facets, her strength drained by the desperate psychic projection she had just attempted.
Emma's face was chalk-white, sweat dampening her hairline, and her temple throbbed with pain.
She didn't know if her message had reached anyone. She didn't know if the one who heard her would be an ally or simply another of Stryker's dogs sent to torment them further.
But she had no choice.
Even if the devil himself answered, Emma swore she would follow him out of this hell if it meant freedom.
And then she heard an unfamiliar man's voice echoing in the silence of the prison.
"Someone just called for help? Who's Emma?"
Heads lifted in the gloom. Dozens of mutants, broken and shackled, turned their hollow eyes toward her cell.
For so long, the only footsteps they had heard belonged to guards, scientists, or soldiers. And those footsteps always led to pain.
At first, they thought this man was no different from another servant of Stryker's cruelty.
Suspicion shadowed their gazes, but then he shimmered, vanished, and reappeared inside Emma's cell in a flicker of light.
Their doubt broke instantly.
---
Leo stood before Emma, his sharp features cast in the dim glow. His gaze swept over the woman kneeling on the floor, and for a brief moment, surprise flickered in his eyes.
Her beauty was arresting even in her weakened state. Golden hair was pinned loosely, strands falling across a face sculpted with elegance. Her pale blue eyes, though dimmed by exhaustion, sparked with sudden hope at the sight of him.
As emotion welled up, her body instinctively shifted, diamonds sprouting across her skin like blossoms of crystal, refracting light into dazzling shards.
Leo let out a low whistle. "Damn… beautiful."
"No-o, time to Goon!"
Emma blinked, startled. A faint flush colored the crystalline glow along her cheeks.
Leo extended a hand, his smile tempered with urgency. "Come on. We need to move. There's a battle raging upstairs."
Emma hesitated only for a moment before slipping her trembling hand into his. The world shimmered, the bars dissolving around her, and then she was free. For the first time in years, she stood outside the prison that had chained her.
Emotion overcame her. She stumbled forward and threw her arms around Leo, burying her face against his chest. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"
Leo winced as her diamond-hard skin collided with his ribs, 'Fuck!'
"You're… welcome," he groaned, teeth gritted against the ache.
The moment was shattered when cries rose all around them.
"Save us too!"
"Please, sir, don't leave us here!"
"Help us!"
The mutants in the surrounding cells had seen hope, had seen freedom, and they couldn't let it slip away.
Leo nodded once, determination hardening his jaw. "I'll get you all out."
Pushing Emma gently aside, his body flickered again and again, teleporting from one cell to another in rapid succession.
The sound of locks snapping open and startled gasps filled the air. In seconds, the cages that had been filled for so long stood empty.
The freed mutants gathered in a cluster, their faces pale, their bodies frail. Many were children, their small frames covered in scars.
The sight tightened Leo's chest like a vice. Fury coiled inside him like a storm, his hatred for Stryker deepening into something absolute.
---
A thunderous crash shook the facility. The sound reverberated through the walls, followed by Logan's feral roar from somewhere above.
Leo's head snapped up. "Stay here," he ordered, his voice sharp but steady. "I need to get two people from upstairs. Wait for me."
Before anyone could respond, he vanished.
---
He reappeared inside the lab just in time to see chaos. The reinforced windows were shattered, glass littering the floor. At the far end, Kayla Logan's lost love stood frozen near the broken frame, her face stricken with guilt and grief.
But what seized Leo's attention was the operating table.
The creature, once strapped there, was moving. Muscles twitched under pale skin. The chest rose with a mechanical breath. Energy flickered like heat waves across its form.
Deadpool.
The "ultimate weapon."
Stryker was gone, having vanished like the coward he was. But his creation remained and it was awakening.
Dread surged through Leo. The danger radiating from the figure was unlike anything he had felt before. He had to end it now.
His eyes locked on the surgical tools scattered across the table. He snatched a scalpel, its edge gleaming under the light.
Without hesitation, he drove it straight into Deadpool's chest, aiming for the heart.
The blade pierced flesh. Blood welled. For a split second, Leo thought he had done it.
Then the wound closed.
The flesh knit itself back together, erasing the damage as though it had never existed.
Leo's breath caught. "Healing factor… Logan's ability. Shit."
He tightened his grip on the scalpel, raising it to sever the creature's head. But before he could strike, Deadpool's eyes opened.
They were empty cold, inhuman. And they locked directly onto Leo.
Danger prickled across Leo's skin. His instincts screamed. He vanished.
A split second later, a blinding beam of red energy erupted from Deadpool's eyes, lancing upward through the roof and into the sky. The heat was overwhelming, the sound a roar of destruction.
Leo reappeared at Kayla's side, grabbing her arm. "No time to explain. Hold on."
They vanished again just as another blast seared through the shattered window, carving molten scars across the wall outside.
"Logan!" Leo shouted as they materialized near the center of the battle. He saw Logan standing over a battered Sabretooth, chest heaving, claws dripping. "We need to move! That thing's awake!"
Logan's head snapped toward him, eyes blazing.
But Kayla clutched his arm, desperation in her face. "Logan please! My sister! Save Emma!"
Logan hesitated, caught between fury and anguish. He looked at Leo. "Leo?"
"I know where she is." Leo's voice was sharp, decisive. "But we don't have much time."
Without waiting for argument, Leo pressed his hand against Logan's shoulder. In the same instant, he seized Kayla as well. The three of them vanished.
---
They reappeared in the prison chamber. Emma's eyes widened at the sight of her sister, and she broke into a run.
"Emma!" Kayla cried.
"Kayla!" Emma's crystalline tears glittered as they embraced, clinging to each other as though they could undo years of pain in a single hug.
Leo allowed them a heartbeat, but no more. "Sorry to ruin the reunion, but we don't have time. Something terrifying is about to come for us."
Logan's nostrils flared. He didn't know what Deadpool was capable of yet, but he trusted Leo's urgency. "Let's move!" he said.
His claws flashed as he tore through the reinforced doors, leading the way out.
Behind him, Leo herded the sisters forward, every muscle in his body coiled in preparation for the nightmare that was surely on its way.
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