"Aaah… ahh…!" John groaned as another wave of pain ran through him, his body tightening against the restraints as the chains rattled softly. It had been over a month since he woke up in this place, and every single day felt longer than the last. The pain never really stopped. It only changed. Sometimes it burned, sometimes it felt like pressure crushing him from the inside, and sometimes it was just a constant dull ache that made it impossible to think straight. On top of that, his mind felt unstable, like he was slowly losing his grip on himself.
There were moments when he thought dying would be easier. At least it would end all of this. But they never let him get that far. No matter how bad things got, they forced him to stay alive. Pills, injections, whatever it took. His condition did not matter to them as long as his body kept functioning.
A nurse stepped forward and grabbed his arm, holding it steady as the needle went in. John flinched slightly, the sharp sting adding to the constant pain already running through him. He barely reacted now. Standing at the side of the room, Dr. White calmly went through his papers as if none of this concerned him.
"Take him back," he said, his voice flat and uninterested.
The guards moved immediately. They removed the chains but left the cuffs locked around John's wrists. His arms dropped weakly, and he did not resist as they dragged him off the bed. His vision blurred, fading in and out, but he still forced himself to speak.
"I will… kill you…white…" The words came out weak, almost empty.
Dr. White glanced at him for a moment, mildly amused. "Tch… still talking," he muttered before returning to his work.
The door to the holding room opened, light spilling in briefly before John was thrown inside. His body hit the concrete floor hard, sending another sharp jolt through him. The door shut behind him with a loud sound, leaving the room in darkness again.
For a few seconds, he just lay there, his head spinning and thoughts unclear. Slowly, he tried to push himself up. His arms trembled as they pressed against the floor, the cuffs biting into his already damaged wrists. Ignoring it, he focused on one simple goal, reaching the corner of the room.
He dragged himself forward, each movement slow and exhausting. His legs barely responded, and every breath felt tight and shallow. The air smelled of sweat and blood. He could hear others nearby, shifting slightly, but no one spoke or moved to help. Everyone was dealing with their own pain.
It took longer than it should have, but eventually he reached the corner. His body gave out as he leaned against the wall, his head dropping forward as he tried to steady his breathing.
Sitting there, his body trembling, the exhaustion hit him all at once. The pain, the confusion, the constant strain, it all blended together until he felt completely drained. He could not remember the last time he felt normal, or even whole. Now he just felt empty.
But even through that, a thought surfaced.
Why am I here?
He had avoided thinking about it, but now he could not ignore it anymore. None of this made sense. This was not supposed to be his life.
Then there were the memories of Pyro. John Allerdyce. The loneliness, the fear, the anger when his powers first showed up. That constant feeling of being different, like the world had already decided he did not belong. On top of everything he was going through here, those memories only made it worse. The torture, the constant pain, it was all building up inside his head, pushing him closer to the edge.
Letting out a quiet sigh, he stared blankly ahead.
Was this it?
Was this really his life now?
He took a slow breath and forced himself to focus on the only thing that gave him even a small sense of control in this place. The system. Ten cards hovered infront of him. All what he had unlocked in a month.
Shoto Todoroki Hero Costume ( MHA)
Ring of Warmth x3 (DnD)
Grapnel Gun (DC – Arkham knight)
Thousand Sunny (One Piece)
Chocolate Frogs x12 (Harry Potter)
Background Customisation Card x2
Inventory (SSS-Class Gacha Hunter)
Kong's Battle Axe (Godzilla vs. Kong)
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu Scroll (Naruto)
Kaneki ken Mask (Tokyo Ghoul)
He looked over them again. They were useful, sure. But not enough. Not for a place like this. Not for getting out. Unless something changed… unless a miracle happens. That was what he needed.
He looked at the points.
[Points – 3]
Once again he tried his luck making the points zero but before he could check the card, gunfire suddenly echoed from outside.
"Ahhh…! Bang! Bang!"
"Arghh… stop… stop, you freak!"
"Da-da-da-da-da!"
Shouting followed right after, voices overlapping, panicked, angry, desperate. The whole room went still. Everyone heard it.
No one spoke, but something shifted. Even through the pain and exhaustion, there was a bit of awareness in their eyes now.
They did not know what was happening. But for the first time… it sounded like something had gone wrong outside. And maybe, just maybe… that was their chance.
After a few moments, the noise stopped. The room went quiet again. Everyone stayed still, waiting to hear something more, but nothing came. A few people shifted where they sat, some looking toward the door without saying anything. John did the same. He wasn't sure what to expect, but a thought stuck in his head. Maybe someone had actually hit this place. Maybe a mutant group.
Then the door opened with a loud bang.
Light from the hallway spilled inside, and a figure stood there. Blue skin, red hair, yellow eyes, no attempt to hide who she was. Some of the people in the room recognized her right away. Mystique.
Even with all the control over information, some names still reached the public. Usually the ones marked as dangerous. She was one of them. Known to be linked with Magneto, someone the government had made sure everyone feared.
"Come on. No time. Move," she said, tossing a set of keys into the room. The keys landed near them, clinking against the floor. She looked at them for a second, noticing no one was moving. Most of them were just staring, unsure. She didn't say anything else. Just turned and walked off.
For a moment, no one reacted. John glanced around. No one was getting up. He picked up one of the keys and brought it to the collar around his neck. It took him a second to line it up properly, his hands still a bit shaky.
Then it clicked. The lock split open, and the weight dropped off with a dull sound against the floor. For the first time in weeks, his neck felt… free.
He paused for a second, then looked around. Everyone was staring at him. He picked up the key again and tossed it toward one of the boys nearby. "Unlock everyone," he said in hoarse voice. Then he turned and started walking toward the door, to follow the direction Mystique had gone.
As he stepped into the hallway, the smell hit him first. Blood. Strong enough to make him pause. He looked down and saw bodies scattered across the floor, some near the walls, some right in the middle. There was blood everywhere.
For a second, his stomach turned and he almost gagged. But he forced himself to steady his breathing and kept moving.
His steps slowed as he walked past the scene, but he didn't stop. Instead, he turned toward the room where they had been experimenting on him. When he reached it, the door was already open.
Everyone was dead. The staff, the guards… none of them had made it. Only one person was still alive. Dr. White.
He was on the floor, shaking, his calm expression from before completely gone. His face looked pale as he tried to speak, but nothing proper came out.
Standing in front of him was Mystique. She had him by the collar, holding him in place while questioning him.
"Are you done?" John asked as he walked in. Under normal circumstances, he might have paused, he would have just stared at her given how cool she looked to him. But right now, none of that mattered. His eyes were locked on the man in front of him.
There was only one thing in them. Anger.
Mystique glanced back at him, then let go of Dr. White's collar. The man dropped to the floor, struggling to steady himself. She didn't pay him much attention after that. Her focus shifted to John, taking in the bruises, the scars, the state he was in.
"Do you want something from him?" she asked though already foresee what's going to happen seeing the bloodlust in his eyes.
"Yeah," John said, stepping forward. He crouched down in front of the doctor. "Do you remember what I said before?"
For a second, something like hope flickered across Dr. White's face. Maybe he thought this was his way out. His voice shook as he spoke. "Please… you're young… you have a future. Don't ruin it. Don't do something you'll regret…"
He couldn't finish. John had already grabbed him by the face, forcing him to look up.
"Sounding like some saint all of a sudden." John let out a small breath, almost like a laugh.
"I don't know about a future," he continued, his voice calm, almost too calm. "But yeah… I'm definitely getting my hands dirty."
A faint smile appeared on his face. It wasn't a nice one. Dr. White's expression changed immediately. Panic set in. He tried to pull away, to crawl back, anything. But then he froze.
"…Heat…?" he muttered. John didn't move. At first, it was just a faint warmth. Then it grew. The air around his hand started to distort slightly.
Small flames flickered to life.
Red. Orange.
Dr. White's eyes widened. "Fire…? You can—" He didn't get to finish. The flames spread quickly, catching onto him before he could react.
"Aaah! Aahh! It burns! Stop! Stop!" His screams filled the room, loud and desperate as he thrashed around on the floor.
Looking at Dr. White burning in his flames, John then looked at the system.
Characters Assimilated: None
In Progress:
[Toya Todoroki – 14%]
"It's really my lucky day," John said, looking back at the burning corpse. The card he got today contains the template of Dabi from the MHA. Now he had overcome a major weakness of the original John. He could create fire himself.
When I unlock those blue flames… will it affect me? It shouldn't. Pyro was resistant to any fire he controlled. That much he knew. Still, he couldn't help thinking about what would change as the template progressed.
"How old are you?" The question pulled him out of his thoughts. John paused, then stood up.
"Fifteen… no, sixteen," he corrected himself. He had been fifteen before coming to this world, but this body had turned sixteen two months ago.
"Hmm… don't you regret killing him? I was going to do it anyway. People are going to treat you differently now," Mystique said, watching him with a bit of amusement. It wasn't the first time she had seen a mutant take revenge for what had been done to them. If anything, she knew how most of these stories ended.
"They were already treating me differently before," John replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I was just stupid enough to think we were the same." He paused for a second before continuing.
"Anyway, thanks for the help. So… are you taking us somewhere, or are we on our own?" He wanted to know if this had anything to do with Magneto's group.
Mystique didn't answer right away. She just looked at him for a few seconds. "You're so young but you already get it," she said with a suprise.
"We're never going to be seen the same way as them." By them, she meant normal humans.
"If Charles had that kind of clarity earlier, things would've been a lot easier for us." She shook her head slightly.
"I already contacted the X-Men. They'll be here soon to take everyone somewhere safe." She paused, then added, "You probably don't know much about them, but they'll help you settle."
John frowned slightly at that.
Wasn't she supposed to be with the Brotherhood? Had she left Magneto and gone back to Charles again?
"Or you can come with me to the organisation I belong to," Mystique said.
"Brotherhood of Mutants?" John raised his brows. "If you belong to them, why are you sending us to the X-Men? Also how are they different from you guys?"
"We don't take children. That's what they're for," Mystique said with a small shrug. "And joining us means hunting down the people who harm mutants… and getting targeted by the government." She slowly explains difference in their ideology. One seeks for peace talks other wants to use fist.
So they let Charles do the babysitting, John thought. It made sense, in a way. Even if Magneto and Charles stood on opposite sides when it came to their beliefs, they were still aiming for the same thing in the end. Protect mutants.
Magneto went around the world pulling mutants out of places like this, dealing with anyone who stood in the way. Charles, on the other hand, gave them a place to stay. Somewhere they could actually live without being hunted.
"I will join you guys," John said after thinking it through. He knew the X-Mansion would be the safer choice on paper. A place to stay, food, some kind of normal life. Maybe a few problems here and there, like the military, some crazy threats, or whatever else showed up. Still better than being out there with the Brotherhood and getting hunted all the time.
But right now, he knew himself. He wasn't in the state to just sit around and live peacefully. And if he was being honest, he didn't fully trust Xavier's approach either. For all he knew, this version of him might not be as harmless as people believed. Mind powers were never something to take lightly.
"Good, let's go," Mystique said, already expecting his answer after seeing him burn the doctor. She turned and started walking out.
John looked at her back for a second, then glanced at the burned corpse on the floor.
"It was my first kill… and I don't feel any remorse," he muttered. "But then again, after what he did to me… it makes sense."
He let out a quiet sigh.
"It was really an eye-opening experience," he added, his voice calmer now. "At least now I know what I want."
He took a step forward, following after her.
"If they're going to hunt me… then I'll hunt them first."
**************
MHA characters in Marvel Mutants Ranking