Third Underground Floor
"I still think we shouldn't have let Kitty and Marie go on their own to search," Jean muttered worriedly. "Why don't we go upstairs and help them?"
"We can't do that," Scottie replied. "The most efficient plan is to stop whatever device is blocking the Professor's powers. The sooner we do that, the better help we can be to everyone else. So let's stick to the plan, okay?"
"You're right," Jean said, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.
Just then, a man in a lab coat appeared from the other end of the corridor, with a guard in a combat suit following close behind.
"Ah—intruders!" the scientist shouted, pointing at them. The guard behind him quickly drew his gun.
"No, you don't!" Scottie said as she turned the dial on her visor.
A concentrated red beam burst out.
ZARK!
It slammed into the guard like an invisible punch, destroying his gun and sending him flying back. He smashed into the wall and collapsed like a ragdoll.
"Stop—don't try to run," Jean said, touching her temple and extending her hand.
The fleeing scientist froze mid-step and was lifted off the ground, suspended helplessly in the air.
Jean couldn't help but smile. This was the first time she had ever lifted a grown man so easily—and she even sealed his mouth, preventing him from shouting for help.
"Hehe… are you surprised?" she asked smugly, glancing at Scottie.
"Did you drink that thing he gave you?" Scottie muttered as she walked toward the downed guard. "Good to know it works—and that he wasn't lying to me."
"Wait—how did you know?" Jean gasped. "No way—d-did he give you one too? That bastard! He could've told me. I just made a fool of myself."
Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Scottie ignored Jean's muttering and focused on the downed guard.
"He's unconscious," Scottie said, frowning. "Guess I used a bit too much force." She quickly searched his pockets, pulling out a small remote-like device. "This looks like a keycard or some kind of access controller."
"We can just ask him," Jean said, slamming the man in the lab coat back against the wall with telekinesis. "Hey—if you yell, she'll blast you," she added sharply, nodding toward Scottie, who rested her hand on the visor dial in warning.
Jean slowly released the pressure sealing his mouth.
"N-no—no, p-please, let me go!" he shouted, eyes wide with panic.
"Where is the device that's blocking telepathic powers?" Jean demanded.
"I—I don't know anything! P-please, let me go!" he cried, shaking his head frantically and squeezing his eyes shut.
Scottie scowled. "You really can't just read his thoughts? Dig around in his head or something?"
"No," Jean said, shaking her head. "There's still something blocking me. I can't access anyone's mind."
Scottie shot her a look. "Then how are you still using your mind powers? Shouldn't those be blocked too?"
"I don't know," Jean replied tightly. "Maybe it's designed specifically for telepathy. Or maybe something else is going on. We'll know once we find the device."
She slammed the scientist harder into the wall. "Talk. What else is on this floor?"
"O-on this floor, there is—"
Blood suddenly leaked from the man's eyes and ears. His words cut off mid-sentence as his body went slack.
"What the hell?" Scottie said, startled.
"I-it wasn't me," Jean said quickly, releasing her telekinesis. "I didn't do anything!"
The man hit the ground with a dull thud, unmoving.
"He's dead," Scottie muttered after checking his pulse.
"H-how?" Jean gasped, staring down at him.
Footsteps echoed from somewhere down the corridor.
"Forget it—for now," Scottie said sharply, standing up. "The device has to be big, and it'll be heavily guarded. So we head where the most guards are."
"Alright," Jean said quietly, averting her eyes from the dead body as she followed behind Scottie.
First Underground Floor
"Why is this place so empty?" Storm asked, closing another door with a frown. "We have searched so many rooms… yet there is no sign of your friends."
"I–I don't know," Katrin said quietly, trying to calm herself as she searched her memories. "We were never allowed to wander freely in zis place."
Her tail flicked behind her as she hesitated. "M-maybe… maybe I could use my powers to go back to ze room I was kept in, ja?"
"Let us search a few more rooms first," Storm said, resting a firm but gentle hand on Katrin's shoulder. "I am not comfortable letting you go anywhere alone."
"M-maybe I could try to bring you with me," Katrin said nervously. "If it is nearby, it should be fin—"
She stopped as Luke's voice cut in through both of their Focus devices.
"Storm, Katrin—I need the two of you to assist Logan."
Storm straightened immediately. "What has happened?"
"I caught a glimpse of Logan and Jubilee on the cameras," Luke said, his tone serious. "They're likely facing a very dangerous opponent. Logan isn't wearing her Focus, so I need you to confirm their status in person."
"Jubilee?" Katrin asked sharply, her ears twitching. "Is she… is she safe, bitte?"
"For now," Luke replied. "I'm opening a portal near them. Be prepared for combat."
A glowing portal formed in front of them.
"Understood," Storm said calmly. She and Katrin stepped through together.
"ARGHHHHH!"
A piercing scream echoed the moment they emerged.
"What manner of abomination is this?" Storm gasped.
At the far end of the corridor stood a massive, monstrous man, his twisted smile gleaming beneath the harsh lights. Thick, metal-like coils extended from his wrists, wrapped tightly around Logan's waist as she snarled and struggled in pain.
"You brute—leave her alone!"
Nearby, another girl stood her ground, arms thrust forward as bursts of colorful sparks slammed into the man.
BAM! BAM!
"Heh—zat tickles, little one," the man laughed, smashing Logan hard into the wall as another metal coil lashed out toward the girl.
"Th-that's Jubilee!" Katrin cried, her yellow eyes widening in horror.
"Quick—get her out of there! Don't let those coils touch her!" Luke's urgent voice crackled through their Focus devices.
BAMF!
Without hesitation, Katrin vanished in a puff of sulfurous smoke, reappearing beside Jubilee. She grabbed her wrist—and in the same instant, another BAMF, pulling them both back to safety as the coils snapped shut on empty air.
"H-huh? Katrin?" Jubilee stared at the blue girl in shock.
"Ja… it is really me," Katrin said, relief flooding her voice as she managed a small smile. "Gott sei Dank… it is good to see you again, my friend."
"Ohh…" The man's grin widened, eyes gleaming red. "More meals for Omega Red." His gaze lingered hungrily on Logan. "Though zis one… she is the finest feast I have ever had."
"ARRGH!" Logan screamed as she slashed at the coils with her adamantium claws—but they wouldn't budge.
The metal tendrils refused to break, and instead she felt her strength being steadily drained through them. Her muscles weakened by the second, pain flooding her body as the coils tightened, leeching the life right out of her.
"Get behind me," Storm commanded, stepping forward without hesitation.
1st Floor Control Room
"Fuck, it really is Omega Red," I muttered as my Focus shared Storm's view.
"Release her, you beast!" Storm called out, fury and authority ringing in her voice.
She raised her hands—and a roaring torrent of wind exploded forward, slamming into Omega Red.
He barely budged.
Laughing, he leaned into the gale and began walking forward anyway.
WOOSH!
"What kind of monster is he?!" Storm cried, forcing more power into the winds—it was barely enough to hold him in place.
"That man is Omega Red. Real name: Arkady Rossovich," D.A.I.S.Y. reported through their Focus devices.
"He is an extremely dangerous, bloodthirsty mutant whose abilities were augmented through experimentation by the Soviet Union. His presence weakens and eventually kills others in close proximity, and both his armor and wrist coils are composed of carbonadium alloy—an extremely durable material."
The AI continued, calmly.
"In addition to superhuman strength, agility and endurance, Omega Red can drain the life force of others through those coils, increasing his own power. He was officially reported deceased by the Soviet Union decades ago."
"But he's very much alive!" Katrin shouted, gripping a shaken Jubilee and backing away.
"How can he be defeated?" Storm asked through clenched teeth, struggling to maintain the wind barrier.
Omega Red was an exceptionally powerful mutant—one who wouldn't go down easily even against a seasoned X-Men team, let alone a group still finding its footing.
Even as my attention remained split between the screens and my hands flew across the controls, my mind raced through every possible scenario. I could already think of several ways to defeat or even kill him outright if I wanted to.
But this mission wasn't just about rescue. It was also a live training exercise for the X-Men. If I stepped in and ended this fight myself, I would be robbing them of a critical chance to grow.
If they didn't learn how to confront and overcome truly dangerous enemies now, they wouldn't survive the grim future I had already glimpsed through my Precognition!
"Listen carefully, Storm," I said over the comms. "His weakness is cold. Keep your distance, avoid the coils, and freeze him solid. You'll need to keep lowering his body temperature until he can't move at all."
It was the same method they had used to defeat him in the animated show—and right now, it was their best chance at success.
"Understood," Storm replied without hesitation.
"The winds of the Arctic—heed me!"
She thrust her hands forward as a brutal, freezing gale tore down the corridor, the air itself screaming as the temperature plunged.
I kept one eye on the fight, though most of my attention stayed locked on the wall of screens in front of me, my fingers flying across the controls as fast as I could manage.
The system here wasn't standalone. Everything—files, logs, biometric data—was being routed to a central cloud server through the internet. Pulling local data was easy with D.A.I.S.Y.'s help, but the moment I tried to breach the cloud itself, I hit a wall.
A very serious wall.
The security was insane—easily rivaling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s databases and uncomfortably close to Wakanda-level protection. I could brute-force it with D.A.I.S.Y.'s processing power, but that would almost certainly trigger a failsafe. Which meant Data wipe or Data transfer, most likely both.
And if what I had overheard earlier was true, then this wasn't the only Garden.
There were more facilities like this out there.
If I wanted locations, names, and—most importantly—the identity of whoever was pulling the strings, I couldn't afford to trip alarms. Whoever built this system was careful and secretive. If I missed this chance, tracking them later would be exponentially harder.
So instead of forcing my way in, D.A.I.S.Y. and I switched tactics—crafting innocuous-looking data packets and slipping fragmented code inside them. Tiny hooks. Harmless on the surface, but designed to quietly copy and siphon encrypted data back to us piece by piece.
But it was slow. Painfully slow.
If I were back at Watson Tower with my full setup, this would have been trivial. But working off my Focus device alone—with its limited hardware—meant this was eating up my time and concentration.
"When I get back," I muttered under my breath, "I'm finishing that portable quantum computer first thing."
"It was already on your schedule," D.A.I.S.Y. replied dryly, "but you ignored it and went on a beach trip. So this situation is, in fact, your fault."
"If I hadn't gone to the beach," I shot back with a grin, "none of this would've happened. So clearly, taking a day off worked out for the best."
"Should I take a day off too, then?" D.A.I.S.Y. asked, her tone unmistakably smug.
I cleared my throat. "Oh look—we're actually pretty close to cracking this cloud security."
"…Subject change acknowledged," she replied.
Suddenly, through my Clairvoyance, I felt someone approaching the control room door—then opening it behind me.
"So you're the rat who snuck in and shut down all our alarms?" a mocking female voice called out.
I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
Dr. Cecilia Reyes—the same woman I had seen with Jubilee earlier.
It wasn't surprising that she had realized someone was attacking the facility. Even so, it didn't matter. By now, I had already jammed their communications and disabled every alarm system. She couldn't warn anyone else.
"What are you doing to those systems—?" She stopped short. "Wait… you're that Aeon guy." Her voice sharpened with hatred. "Don't even think you're getting out of here alive."
In an instant, she raised a shimmering barrier around herself—and another snapped into place around me, cutting me off from the consoles.
"Don't disturb me," I muttered calmly.
I opened a small portal in front of me and slipped two fingers through it.
ZAP!
"AH—!"
Cecilia's eyes rolled white as she collapsed to the floor, her barriers vanishing along with her consciousness.
A second, tiny portal had opened inside her shield—right behind her neck. The concentrated shock I delivered there should keep her neutralized for a long while.
I didn't spare her another glance.
My attention returned to the screens.
A few minutes later, the last encrypted data stream finished copying over from the cloud.
And with it, the truth finally revealed itself.
"This is… bad," I murmured, my eyes widening.
"Incredibly bad."