In a secure SHIELD facility buried deep beneath the Nevada desert, alarms blared through the corridors as red emergency lights flashede. Scientists and staff fled in panic while guards in tactical gear rushed the other way with rifles primed and their safeties off.
"Intruders in Sector 4, multiple hostiles, engage and lethal force is advised!" The attackers however had already made it very deep into the base, far enough that most of the people they tried to radio were already dead.
The rest of the guards moved into standard formation and raised their rifles. They did so just as the intruders walked around the corner; they expected to face an enemy spec ops squad, perhaps a terrorist group. What they didn't expect was to face three men. One who looked like a human/lion hybrid, the other a toad-human and the last one an old man wearing a cape.
The confusion this caused them managed to give the three men the initiative. Which they took, as these men were none other than Sabertooth, Toad and Magneto.
Sabertooth charged before they could adjust. The first guard recovered and fired, numerous bullets flying through the corridor. Sabertooth dropped low to the ground and slid under the fire, then came up into the man's chest. His claws punched straight through Kevlar, ribs snapping under the force. He shoved forward until his claws tore out the man's back in a spray. Sabertooth ripped his hand free and slammed the dying guard into his teammates, knocking two of them off balance. The next in line fired on reflex. The rounds stitched into the wall as Sabertooth dragged the first body in front of him like a shield. Bullets thudded into the corpse, jerking it in his grip. He snarled and flung the body forward. It crashed into the shooter, knocking him flat. Sabertooth followed, stomping down with one boot until the man's skull caved in against the floor.
Toad vaulted over sabertooth, springing off the wall. His tongue lashed out and coiled around a rifle barrel. With one hard yank he tore it free and flipped over the man holding it. Mid-spin, Toad snapped his leg across the guard's jaw. The helmet cracked, teeth spraying out as the man crumpled. Toad landed on his shoulders, slammed both knees into the base of his neck, and rode him to the ground. Another guard tried to fire, but Toad spat a line of corrosive saliva straight into his visor. The liquid hissed, eating through the polymer. The man screamed as it burned into his face. Toad cut him off with a kick that bent his knee sideways and left him howling on the ground.
Behind them, Magneto entered as if he had all the time in the world. A second detachment of guards open fired on the three of them after witnessing the horror of what happened to the first. Magneto raised one hand. Every bullet froze mid-air, inches from their targets. With a curl of his fingers, he reversed their path. The rounds tore back through the shooters' throats and helmets. Three dropped instantly, gurgling as blood pooled across the floor. The surviving guards broke formation, panic flashing across their faces. Sabertooth pounced on the nearest. He caught the man's wrist as he tried to draw a sidearm, twisted it until the bone broke through the skin, then slashed across his midsection. His belly split open, intestines spilling down his legs. Sabertooth shoved him into the wall and left him to die choking on his own blood.
One desperate guard rushed in with a baton crackling with electricity. He swung at Sabertooth. Sabertooth stepped in, letting the strike hit across his shoulder, then drove his claws up under the man's chin. They tore through his throat and came out the top of his skull. The body jerked, spasming, before he ripped free and tossed it aside.
At the rear, another guard unslung a shotgun. He managed to get off one round. The blast ripped across Sabertooth's ribs, tearing cloth and skin. Sabertooth roared, staggered, then lunged through the smoke. Before the guard could reload, Magneto pinched two fingers together. The shotgun barrel crumpled flat. Toad leapt from the wall, both boots slamming into the man's chest. The impact drove the guard back into the deck with enough force to snap his spine.
The last man tried to retreat down the hall, shouting into his radio. Sabertooth was on him in three strides. He caught the man's collar, spun him, and smashed him headfirst into the wall. The helmet split, blood spraying across the concrete. The body slumped, twitching.
Magneto raised his hand again, tearing a steel beam free from the ceiling. It bent and twisted around the final survivor's arms and chest, pinning him to the floor in a bloody heap. The man thrashed, sputtering, but couldn't break free.
The corridor was silent now, apart from alarms and the groans of the half-dead. Blood slicked the floor. Rifles lay in pieces. Shredded bodies were strewn across the hall, some still twitching, most already still.
"Forward," Magneto said. "The lab is ahead."
Sabertooth bared his teeth, stepping through a pool of blood without hesitation. Toad hopped after and followed. Magneto walked behind them floating over the blood. A few corridors later the Brotherhood reached the final blast door. It was reinforced, steel layered over a hydraulic lock. Magneto stopped in front of it, his hand rising. Metal groaned as bolts tore free from their housings and hinges buckled inward. The entire frame twisted like foil. Sabertooth shoved the remains aside and stalked in first, shoulders brushing the doorframe. His claws dripped with blood from the corridor fight, leaving streaks across the white tiles.
The room froze. Scientists stood rooted at benches and consoles, their eyes wide behind their glasses. A few screamed and dove for cover, others raised their hands, shaking. "Run!" One of them shouted before turning around.
Sabertooth moved fast. He snatched a man by the throat before he could run, lifted him off the ground, and hurled him across a workstation. The impact shattered the table, shards of glassware scattering across the floor. Another scientist scrambled for the emergency door, but Toad bounded across the lab and lashed out his tongue. It wrapped around the man's ankle, dragged him back kicking and clawing. Toad landed on his chest, pinning him down with his knees, and struck him in the face until blood sprayed across the tiles.
Magneto followed them in, his cape brushing the floor. He raised both hands, and every loose tool and instrument in the room lifted from the benches. Scalpels, clamps, screwdrivers—all floated in the air like shrapnel waiting to fly. He gestured, and they shot across the room, embedding themselves in walls, consoles, and human flesh alike. Three scientists were pinned against the walls, their arms and legs nailed in place, screaming as steel dug into muscle.
Sabertooth prowled among the others, dragging one out by his collar and throwing him at Toad's feet. Toad spat a stream of acid onto the man's lab coat, the fabric hissing and burning away as it touched skin. The scientist shrieked and writhed, but Toad pressed a foot on his chest and kept him pinned, watching with cruel satisfaction as the flesh blistered.
The room filled with panic. One woman cried out, "We're researchers! Please! we're not combat staff, we don't know what you want!"
Magneto spoke in a calm voice. "You are not here by accident. SHIELD does not waste resources on simple research. There is something more beneath this facility. A device. A project. You will tell me where it is."
The scientists exchanged terrified looks, no one speaking.
Sabertooth reached down and tore the jaw clean off the nearest man with a swipe of his claws. Blood sprayed across the floor. The man collapsed, gurgling in shock, dead before he hit the ground. The silence afterward was deafening.
Magneto stepped closer, his eyes fixed on the group. "It is called the GeoCore Stabilizer." His hand closed slowly into a fist. Metal rods from a nearby rack twisted around two men, constricting tighter and tighter until bones cracked and ribs snapped through skin. Their screams filled the lab, then cut short as the rods crushed their chests flat. The broken bodies sagged in the bindings, dripping blood.
Another scientist sobbed. "We... we don't know what that is—"
Toad struck before he could finish. His tongue shot out, wrapped around the man's neck, and pulled hard. The cartilage gave way with a sharp pop. The body twitched once, then slumped. Toad spat him out and licked his lips.
Magneto's voice sharpened. "Where is it?"
Silence. Only the whimpering of those still alive.
Sabertooth grabbed a woman by the hair, dragged her forward, and raked his claws across her stomach in one savage motion. Her intestines spilled onto the floor, steaming in the cold air. She collapsed forward, gasping once before she went still.
Magneto turned his gaze on the last cluster of survivors. "Every moment you hesitate, another of you dies. Where is it?"
They wept, shaking, pressed against the corner. Still no one spoke.
Magneto extended his hand. Metal tools rose from the floor, reshaping into jagged spikes. With a flick, they shot forward and skewered two more. Their blood ran down the clean tiles, staining the white floor red. That was enough. A young technician broke, dropping to his knees with his hands raised high. "It's not here! They moved it last week. Please I can show you in the logs. Just don't... don't kill me."
Magneto lowered his hand slightly, the weapons dropping back to the ground.
"Then show me where they are."
_____________________________________
In the Baxter Building on the 34th floor, in a private room on the south side, Susan Storm... or Sue, as her friends knew her stood in front of the mirror. "Come on," she muttered to herself. What stared back was not her reflection but emptiness, just the blank wall behind where her body should have been. "Come on, focus."
She had practiced this numerous times since the accident, so she knew the drill. Calm your thoughts. Take control. It is your body. Slowly but surely, she started to reappear; her blonde hair materializing first in soft waves framing her face, followed by bright blue eyes that blinked into view, then the rest of her features sharpening, high cheekbones, full lips, and a defined jawline leading down to her neck and shoulders.
She breathed a sigh of relief, rolling her neck to shake off the tension. She supposed it could be worse. Ben had it bad, his body transformed into a hulking mass of orange rock that made every movement a struggle, while her brother Johnny could burst into flames at will, but risked burning everything around him if he lost control. Reed stretched like rubber, which came with its own set of complications, and her father had escaped unscathed at least they hadn't been able to see any of the cosmic ray effects in his body despite his blood being irradiated by it.
Compared to that Invisibility and the occasional force field felt manageable by comparison, though the daily ritual of willing herself visible still unnerved her.
Sue reached for the hem of her pajama top, pulling it over her head to reveal her body. Breadts that sat high on her chest with rounded curves and nipples centered on each, leading down to a flat stomach with faint lines of muscle from her active lifestyle, hips that flared out slightly from her waist, and legs toned from years of running and yoga. She slid off the pajama bottoms next, exposing thighs that met at a patch of trimmed blonde hair above her folds, her skin smooth and pale from lack of sun during quarantine. Stepping into the shower, she turned on the hot water, letting it cascade over her shoulders and down her back, soaking her hair as she lathered soap across her arms, chest, and stomach, her hands gliding over the curves of her breasts and the dip of her waist before rinsing clean.
As the steam filled the stall, her mind wandered back to the incident at the Marriott—the cosmic ray explosion that had changed everything. It started as a routine science convention, her father's foundation showcasing various scientific experiments, including Reed Richards' prototype for trans-dimensional travel, a device meant to bridge realities through controlled wormholes. But something went wrong... sabotage, she suspected, though she hadn't voiced it yet.
The core overloaded and it would've ended up destroying the city if not for one person.
For Mark.
Or invincible as he was now called, he stepped in and contained it, his quick thinking turning a city-level catastrophe into a contained implosion. That blast had altered them on a cellular level. They called it an accident publicly, but Sue knew better—the tampering was definitely deliebrate, though she couldn't pinpoint who.
SHIELD had swooped in immediately after, quarantining them in the Baxter Building for weeks of tests to check if they were dangerous or contagious, isolating them from the world with no calls, no visitors, just endless scans and questions. Being stuck with Johnny was torture, her brother turned every moment into a joke or a complaint, his flames accidentally scorching furniture more than once. Reed buried himself in guilt, convinced his design flaw caused it all, while Ben sank into depression over his monstrous appearance, barely speaking some days.
Her father tried to mediate, but his admiration for Reed clouded everything, having invited him personally after months of praise. The tension built like a pressure cooker, and Sue kept her sabotage theory quiet, not trusting Reed or Ben enough yet—they were the only ones with the expertise to tamper with the device apart from herself and her father—and knowing Johnny couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it she couldn't tell him about her thoughts.
The only person she trusted at the moment was Mark. He had saved them all without hesitation, a true hero who flew into danger and out again like it was nothing, and his genius shone through when he helped stabilize the core. How he had contained the explosion was nothing short of amazing, even she hadn't been able to think of it!
She hadn't stopped thinking about him since, replaying their brief conversation in her mind, wishing she could contact him, but trapped in this lockdown with no way out she couldn't. If anyone could help unravel the sabotage, it was him.
Sue turned off the water, stepping out to towel dry, the steam clearing from the mirror as she wrapped herself briefly before heading back to her room. She dressed in a white button-up blouse tucked into slim black pants that hugged her legs, paired withboots and a light gray cardigan draped over her shoulders for the chill in the building's AC. She pulled her blonde hair into a neat bun, securing it with a clip, then sighed deeply, her reflection staring back with tired eyes before she turned and left the room, the door clicking shut behind her as she adjusted her cardigan, her mind already wandering to the day's potential experiments. Before she could take more than a few steps, Johnny came barreling around the corner, his eyes wide with excitement and a grin splitting his face.
"Sue! Hey, Sue! Guess what?" he said, skidding to a stop in front of her and grabbing her arms.
She pulled back slightly, her expression souring. "What, Johnny? And slow down, have you been drinking Dynojuice before breakfast again?"
He ignored her words, bouncing on his heels. "SHIELD's here! Some agent's upstairs talking to Dad right now, come on, this has gotta be it!"
Sue's face hardened, her dislike for SHIELD bubbling up immediately after weeks of being caged in the building like lab rats, poked and prodded without a say. "SHIELD? Great... I can't wait for our next battery of tests."
Johnny waved off her sarcasm, still buzzing. "Nah, this could be good! Maybe they're finally letting us out, no more lockdown, no more tests. Freedom, sis!"
She crossed her arms. "Do you even know what they want, or are you just hyped for no reason?"
He shook his head, but his grin didn't fade. "No clue, but it's gotta be about us getting out, why else would they show up now? This is it, I can feel—" His excitement peaked, and suddenly his hair burst into flames, the tips flickering orange as heat radiated off him.
Sue stepped back, chiding him sharply. "Johnny—control it! You're gonna set off the sprinklers again."
Johnny blinked, patting his head quickly to snuff out the fire with a sheepish look. "Sorry, sorry, got carried away. It's out, see?"
Sue sighed, rubbing her temple. "Let's just go see what they want before you burn the place down."
They headed to the elevator and rode up to the 35th floor, the conference room where her father, Reed, and Ben were already seated around a large table with Agent Coulson at the head, his suit impeccable and his expression neutral as always. Coulson looked up as they entered. "Thank you both for coming, please have a seat."
Sue rolled her eyes but sat next to her father, crossing her arms tightly while Johnny plopped down beside Ben, immediately leaning forward. "So, is this the part where you finally let us out of this damn building?" Johnny asked, not waiting for Coulson to start. "Cause I've been climbing the walls. Literally! Sometimes. When do we get our lives back? Is it today? Please say today."
Coulson opened his mouth to respond, but Johnny kept going. "And what about our powers? You guys done poking us? Cause if I have to sit through one more scan—"
Ben growled from his seat, his rocky form shifting with irritation. "Kid, shut it and let the man talk, you're giving me a headache."
Johnny shot him a glare. "Hey, I'm just asking what we're all thinking—"
"Johnny," Sue chimed in firmly, "sit down and listen."
Johnny huffed but leaned back, crossing his arms as Coulson cleared his throat.
"Thank you," Coulson said. "First, I want to thank all of you for your patience during this process and apologize for the confinement, it's not something we take lightly. Our scientists have determined that the incident at the Marriott was a one-off event, and any secondary effects are limited to your unique abilities. You're not contagious or a danger to the public in that sense."
Johnny fist-pumped under the table, but Coulson continued. "Quarantine will be lifted effective immediately, you're free to resume your lives."
Franklin leaned forward. "That's a relief, Agent, but I sense there's more."
Coulson nodded. "There is. The reason I'm here today is because SHIELD wants to work with the Baxter Foundation for the foreseeable future, partner on projects that could benefit from your expertise and... recent developments."
Franklin shook his head immediately. "Absolutely not. I won't make weapons for the government, that's why I broke away from those contracts in the first place; this foundation is for pure science, not military applications."
Coulson raised a hand reassuringly. "I understand your concerns, Doctor Storm, and I can guarantee that the projects we're proposing won't be used as weapons. This is about technology advancement, saving lives, exploring the unknown. We're not asking you to build bombs; we're asking for collaboration on tech that could change the world for the better."
Reed tilted his head, intrigued despite himself. "You'll have to give us more than assurances, Agent Coulsen, what kind of projects?"
Sue interrupted the back-and-forth, her voice cutting in. "Yeah, let's hear what exactly would we be working on?"
Coulson leaned back slightly. "For starters, a device called the GeoCore Stabilizer. Our scientists hit a dead end with it, and we think your team could get it operational."
Reed's interest piqued. "What does it do?"
Coulson explained. "Its job is to stabilize earthquakes and protect against tsunamis by dispersing the magnetic and seismic stresses inside the Earth's crust. It works by generating a controlled, rotating magnetohydrodynamic field around molten metal deposits deep underground. This keeps pressure from building in tectonic plates, potentially saving millions of lives from natural disasters."
Reed's eyes widened, leaning forward. "That's incredible... the implications for global safety alone... modulating crustal stresses in real time? We'd need to refine the MHD field calibration, but with the right data..."
Sue nodded slowly, impressed by the humanitarian angle. "It doesn't sound like a weapon...."
Franklin rubbed his chin, still hesitant but swayed by the description. "If it's truly non-military..."
Coulson pressed gently. "It is and we have more like it. Will you work with us?"
Franklin glanced at Sue and Reed, who both nodded encouragingly. "Alright we'll give it a shot, but if anything smells like weaponry, we're out."
Coulson smiled faintly. "Fair enough. Thank you— we'll send more information soon, along with the device itself. You're free to come and go as you please now, but for security reasons, we'd appreciate it if you continued living in the Baxter Building for the time being."
They agreed with murmurs around the table, and Coulson stood, shaking hands before heading out. Johnny bolted from his seat the second the door closed, pumping his fist. "Yes! Freedom! I'm outta here!"
Sue walked quickly behind him, her steps extremely fatst as she ignored her father's calls from the room—"Sue, wait, we should discuss this!"—her mind set on finally escaping the confines that had felt like a prison for too long; she needed to get out, to breathe fresh air and clear her head.
...
Sue sighed a big breath as she walked out onto the streets of Manhattan, the wind brushing against her face and tugging at her bun, a welcome change from the stale air of the Baxter Building's recycled ventilation. The balcony up there offered a view, but it couldn't match the actual city; the honk of taxis, the chatter of pedestrians weaving past her, the faint smell of pretzels from a nearby cart. Even if calling New York's air "fresh" made her smirk at the irony, being out here felt like freedom after weeks locked inside, and she let herself soak it in, as she moved through the crowd.
She tucked her hands into her cardigan pockets, dodging a guy on a skateboard who nearly clipped her, muttering an apology over his shoulder. The bustle of the city was... nice, especially after being kept inside for so long, but even as she enjoyed her walk her thoughts kept drifting to Mark—Invincible, the guy who saved her, her family, and half a city without a thought. She wanted to reach out, to talk about the sabotage she suspected at the Marriott, to pick his brain on the GeoCore Stabilizer now that SHIELD was handing it over. He was a genius, not just a hero, and she trusted him in a way she couldn't yet extend to Reed or Ben, not with her doubts lingering.
The problem was finding him. No phone number, no address, just a name and a face from a day she wasn't even sure she remembered properly. She passed a newsstand, the headlines screaming about Invincible's latest save, a blurry photo of him lifting a bus in Chicago. "Guy gets around," she muttered, pausing to glance at the paper before moving on, sidestepping a spilled coffee cup someone had left on the corner. SHIELD's lockdown had cut her off from the world, but now that she was free, maybe she could track him down, though she wasn't exactly a manhunter, so that might be more difficult than she thought. Perhaps she would run into him in the city, it seemed to be the place he frequented the most. A long shot, but it was something.
A street performer strumming a guitar caught her ear, the melody cutting through thee sounds of the cars, and she tossed a dollar into his open case, earning a nod of thanks. She kept walking, her mind turning over possibilities. Social media was a mess of fan pages and conspiracy threads about Invincible, but sifting through them might yield a lead. The thought of seeing him again, not as a savior in a cape but as Mark, the guy who talked her through stabilizing a device that could have leveled a city, made her smile faintly. She stepped around a group of tourists snapping photos of a billboard, the wind picking up and carrying the scent of hot dogs from a vendor nearby.
*Rumble*
Sue's stomach let out a loud, unladylike growl, loud enough that she glanced around, half-expecting passersby to stare, but the Manhattan crowd kept moving thankfully. She needed food, she hadn't had breakfast yet. What to have though? She wanted something she hadn't eaten in a while, something to celebrate being out of the Baxter Building. The walk felt too good to cut short, so she decided to head to Chinatown, where the streets were always filled with vendors and restaurants serving dishes that could make her forget the past weeks of confinement and boring food.Smiling at the thought of her freedom, she weaved through the bustling sidewalks, dodging a bike courier and sidestepping a spilled soda can as she headed south.
When she reached Chinatown, the air hit her with the warm scents of sizzling dumplings, roasted duck, and spiced broth, each stall and restaurant vying for her attention. She wandered for a moment, stomach rumbling again, struggling to choose between the neon-lit noodle shops and steaming bao carts. Finally, her eyes landed on a small place tucked between a pharmacy and a tea shop, its sign reading "Mr. Wong's" in faded red letters. It looked cozy, unpretentious, and busy enough to promise good food.
She pushed through the door, the bell jingling softly.
Inside, the restaurant hummed with the chatter of a few lunchtime regulars, the tables packed close under paper lanterns. A waitress with a warm smile and a notepad approached as Sue slid into a booth by the window. "Welcome to Mr. Wong's, what can I get started for you?"
Sue scanned the menu quickly. "I'll have the beef noodle soup, extra chili, and an iced tea, please."
The waitress jotted it down, then looked up with a grin. "Good choice, good choice, you're gonna love it. A good choice for such beautiful girl."
Sue smiled, a flush creeping up her cheeks. "Thank you, that's really sweet."
As the waitress walked off, Sue pulled out her notebook, its pages worn from constant use, and flipped to her notes on the Marriott incident. She had been piecing together the sabotage, scribbling theories about how someone had tampered with Reed's trans-dimensional device to trigger the cosmic ray explosion. On a fresh page, she listed the names she remembered being near the exhibit that day:
Franklin Storm
Johnny Storm
Susan Storm
Ben Grimm
Reed Richards
David Greiger
Sasha Goodman
Lauren Phillips
Michael Philips
Aria Alexandra
Victor Von Doom
There were others, faces she couldn't place, but these stood out, scientists, assistants, and attendees close enough to have had access. She tapped her pen against the page, frowning. Everyone on the list was brilliant enough to pull it off. But without a motive, it was impossible to pin down a suspect. What would they gain? She sighed, circling Doom's name absently, his arrogance at the convention lingering in her memory, but no clear evidence tied anyone to the act. He had tried to hit on her early in the day, but she had brushed him off due to how busy she was. After that he'd just left? She wasn't entirely sure where he went after that.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the waitress returned, setting down a steaming bowl of beef noodle soup, red with chili oil, and a tall glass of iced tea. "Here you go enjoy!"
Sue smiled, tucking her notebook to the side. "Thanks so much." She took a sip of the tea, cool and slightly sweet, then dug into the soup, the rich broth warming her instantly as tender beef and chewy noodles hit her tongue with a kick of heat. It was better than she'd hoped, the flavors a stark contrast to the bland cafeteria food of quarantine. She savored it, letting the meal distract her from the puzzle in her notebook.
As she ate, another woman walked in, her dark hair tied back in a loose ponytail, moving with an easy confidence as she greeted the owner at the counter. "Hey, Mr. Wong, long time no see! Can you make me the usual? I'm starving."
Mr. Wong chuckled, waving her off like a favorite niece. "Always in a rush, huh? Usual order, kung pao chicken, extra spicy?"
"You know me too well," the woman said, leaning on the counter as they chatted like family, her laugh carrying across the small restaurant.
Sue glanced up briefly, then returned to her soup, absentmindedly jotting a few more notes with her free hand, a question mark next to Doom's name, a scribble about checking security footage if SHIELD ever released it. Her mind drifted back to Mark, wondering if he had seen something that day that could point her in the right direction, her need to find him growing stronger with every bite.
Sue glanced up from her notebook as the door to Mr. Wong's swung open, admitting a group of five men in dark jackets, their postures aggressive and eyes scanning the room like predators. They zeroed in on Mr. Wong behind the counter, who paled instantly.
One, the leader with a scar across his cheek, slammed a fist on the wood. "Wong, you old fool! you haven't paid your protection money this month. We don't run charity here."
Mr. Wong bowed his head, hands trembling as he wiped the counter. "Please I apologize, business has been slow. Just a little extra time, a week maybe? I'll have it then."
The leader sneered, pulling a short sword from under his jacket. "Time? You think we're a bank?" He slashed the blade down, carving a deep gash into the counter with a splintering crack. Wood chips flew, and Mr. Wong flinched back.
The woman from before stood up from her table, her voice firm. "Hey stop bothering Mr. Wong and get out of here. He doesn't owe you anything."
Mr. Wong waved frantically. "No miss please don't get involved. They'll hurt you. Just sit down."
She ignored him, stepping forward. "I said leave."
The leader laughed, turning to her with a leer. "Look at this bitch thinking she's tough. Stay out of men's business, or I'll make you regret it." He shoved her shoulder hard.
She twisted into the shove, her elbow snapping up to crack against his nose with a crunch. Blood sprayed as he staggered, and she grabbed his arm, flipping him over her hip onto a table that shattered under his weight.
The others charged. One swung a fist; she ducked, sweeping his legs out from under him so he face-planted into a chair. Another grabbed a stool to swing like a bat; she sidestepped, using his momentum to yank him forward into the counter, his head bouncing off the edge. The third pulled a knife, slashing wildly; she blocked with a menu tray, disarming him with a twist that sent the blade flying into a wall, then kicked a nearby mop bucket into his path, tripping him face-first into the spill. The fourth tried to grab her from behind; she elbowed his gut, flipped over his shoulder using a table for leverage, and drove her knee into his back, sending him crashing through a stack of crates.
The last one, recovering from the initial shock, drew a gun while she finished the fourth, aiming at her back.
Sue shouted, "No!" and reached out instinctively. An invisible force field shimmered into existence, blocking the bullet mid-air with a ping, the round flattening harmlessly against the barrier.
Colleen spun at the sound, delivering a final kick to her opponent, then stared as Sue extended the field, slamming it forward into the gunman and sending him flying into the wall with a thud, knocking him out cold.
The restaurant fell silent everyone shocked, Mr. Wong's mouth agape, the few remaining customers frozen in their seats.
Colleen calmed first, breathing steady as she straightened up and turned to Sue. "Thank you... that was... incredible."
Sue lowered her hand, the field vanishing as she nodded shakily. "You're welcome."
"I'm Colleen Wing," the woman replied, extending a hand with a grateful smile.
(AN: oooo a large chapter. We finally meet the main villain for this part and we have two women that Mark know meet, that shouldn't happen btw. If you're ever trying to bang multiple women make sure you live a different life with each of them. It's the only way… anyway hope you enjoy.
Support for more. Still got like 55,000 words to go before the parts finished.
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