Magneto suddenly lost consciousness, his body going limp as though he were about to drop straight out of the sky. Just before he could fall, however, Ethan Cole raised a hand slightly, and an invisible force caught him. The unconscious mutant floated beside Ethan, his body gently suspended in midair as though held up by unseen hands.
With another casual wave, the strange phenomena filling the sky disappeared. The violent arcs of electricity faded instantly, and the howling wind quieted into an unnatural calm. Yet the destruction below remained painfully real. The small town beneath them looked as if it had just endured a brutal war, buildings shattered and streets torn apart.
Smoke drifted through the air while terrified residents ran in every direction. Some stumbled through rubble searching for safety, while others tried desperately to help the wounded lying in the streets. Shouts of panic mixed with cries of pain, and the sound of sirens had not yet begun to reach the disaster zone.
Ethan looked down at the ruined town and simply shook his head slightly. When powerful mutants clashed, the shockwaves alone were enough to devastate an ordinary community. For normal humans, the consequences of such battles were often catastrophic.
Against forces like these, ordinary people had no means of resistance whatsoever. It was precisely because of this imbalance that human society feared mutants so deeply and often treated them with suspicion or outright hatred. When a handful of individuals could level entire blocks during a fight, fear was almost inevitable.
Groups like the Brotherhood of Mutants had only worsened the situation. Compared with Professor Xavier and his more moderate followers, the Brotherhood had always embraced confrontation and destruction. They disrupted social order openly, making them appear to many people as the natural enemies of a stable society.
To countless civilians, the Brotherhood represented the most dangerous side of mutant power. Every violent incident strengthened the belief that mutants were uncontrollable threats. That perception spread through society again and again, turning fear into resentment.
"In that case," Ethan murmured quietly to himself, "the gene pool just gained a few more powerful mutant samples."
Below him, the battle inside the factory complex was still raging. The fifteen operatives from the Dark Division's three teams had completely seized the momentum of the fight. The remaining members of the Brotherhood of Mutants were struggling to resist, but the pressure from their opponents was overwhelming.
Each of the fifteen operatives possessed regenerative abilities comparable to Sabretooth's legendary recovery power. Combined with their own unique mutant talents, they held a natural advantage in combat. Against enemies with that kind of durability and strength, the Brotherhood fighters were rapidly losing ground.
In a brief flash, Ethan's figure vanished from the sky and reappeared inside the factory building, Magneto's unconscious body still floating beside him. The structure itself had been almost completely stripped of metal. Every beam, plate, and machine had been torn away earlier when Magneto unleashed his magnetic power.
What remained now was little more than the concrete skeleton of the facility. The metal structures that once filled the factory floor had long since been ripped away and absorbed into Magneto's previous attack. The open space echoed with the sounds of combat.
The moment Ethan appeared, every pair of eyes in the building turned toward him. The operatives from the Dark Division immediately straightened their posture, recognizing their leader. On the other side, however, the Brotherhood members froze in shock the instant they saw Magneto hanging unconscious in the air.
"Control all of them," Ethan said quietly.
"Yes, sir!"
The operatives responded instantly, their voices sharp and unified. With Ethan personally overseeing the battle, their morale surged as if they had just been injected with adrenaline. Their attacks became even more aggressive than before, and the Brotherhood fighters were quickly forced into complete defensive positions.
Sabretooth, Victor Creed, roared in fury as he lunged forward with savage claws. Two Dark Division operatives intercepted him immediately, engaging him in brutal close combat. Their blows landed with bone-crushing force, fists slamming into flesh while claws tore through skin and muscle.
Blood sprayed across the shattered factory floor as the three figures clashed violently. Victor's claws slashed deep wounds into his opponents, yet the injuries barely slowed them. Their regenerative abilities repaired the damage almost as quickly as it appeared.
Gradually, however, the two operatives began to overpower him through sheer coordination. One of them suddenly transformed his entire body into a liquid form, surging forward like a massive sphere of water. In an instant, Victor was trapped inside the churning liquid prison.
The enormous water sphere floated above the ground, completely enclosing him. Victor struggled violently within it, thrashing and clawing, but the liquid prison shifted constantly around his movements. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn't break free.
Minutes passed as the oxygen inside the sphere rapidly dwindled. Victor's movements slowed, his strength fading as suffocation began to take hold. Eventually, his resistance weakened until his body went limp, leaving him drifting motionless inside the floating prison.
The water sphere collapsed a moment later, reforming into the human shape of the operative. Victor's unconscious body dropped heavily to the ground. Two other operatives immediately stepped forward and secured a metal collar around his neck.
The device was a mutant ability suppressor developed in Ethan's laboratory. Once activated, it neutralized a mutant's powers and left them little different from ordinary humans. Even someone as dangerous as Sabretooth became effectively harmless once the collar locked into place.
The other members of the Brotherhood fared no better in the fight. Pyro was struck directly in the head by a brutal punch from one of the operatives, knocking him unconscious before he could react. Mystique suffered a shattered arm during the battle and screamed in pain as a suppressor collar was fastened around her neck.
The remaining fighters were all injured during the struggle. Within moments, each of them was subdued and restrained by the Dark Division operatives. The entire confrontation ended with shocking speed, taking less than three minutes from beginning to end.
At that moment, the distant wail of sirens finally reached the area. The roar of helicopter rotors soon followed, growing louder as aircraft approached from the sky. Ethan glanced upward and saw more than twenty helicopters racing toward the town.
"The activity here has been detected," he said calmly. "We're leaving."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a crack of pale crimson light opened in the air before him. The glowing fissure spread outward like a doorway made of flowing energy. Without hesitation, Ethan stepped directly into it while guiding Magneto's floating body along beside him.
One by one, the fifteen Dark Division operatives followed. Each of them carried or dragged their newly captured prisoners into the glowing portal. Within seconds, every member of the team had disappeared through the shimmering doorway.
The portal itself was a manifestation of the Phoenix Force, functioning somewhat like a directional gateway similar to the ability once demonstrated by the mutant known as Shadowcat. Ethan's version, however, was far more flexible and unrestricted in its range.
Once the last person passed through, the crimson gateway collapsed instantly. It vanished so completely that it was as if it had never existed at all.
Moments later, the helicopters thundered overhead while police sirens echoed through the shattered town. The entire area looked like the aftermath of a military strike, with buildings destroyed and fires still smoldering in several locations. The exact number of casualties remained unknown.
Police officers, special operations teams, and federal agents quickly flooded the streets. Personnel from both the FBI and the CIA spread through the ruined district, examining the damage and gathering evidence from every corner of the battlefield.
After a rapid investigation, they reached a simple conclusion. Powerful mutants had fought here, and the scale of the incident had affected tens of thousands of civilians.
Investigators soon discovered Congressman Kelly, who had been left behind during the chaos. From his testimony, authorities confirmed that Magneto and members of the Brotherhood had participated in the battle. However, the identity of the opposing force remained completely unknown.
None of this concerned Ethan in the slightest. By the time investigators began piecing together what had happened, he had already returned to one of his laboratories with the unconscious Magneto.
Meanwhile, the Dark Division operatives had transported their prisoners to the research facility located in District Six.
Here, Ethan intended to begin analyzing Magneto's abilities.
.....
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