[A/N]:You guys asked for longer chapters, so I've been doing that. I've put out four already, but I haven't really heard if it's working for you.
If you like the longer format, I'll stick with it. If not, I can go back to the old length. Just let me know.
The First goal for this week is 250 PowerStones. Comment, vote, and share if you're enjoying the chapter.
Scott Summers stood in Xavier's destroyed office surveying the utter chaos with Magneto, the Master of Magnetism himself, lying unconscious on a makeshift medical gurney while the Brotherhood members were scattered across the floor in various states of injury, Trinary's blood still staining the carpet where she'd collapsed, and electrical fires smoldering in three different places.
His jaw tightened behind his visor.
"Professor," Scott said, his voice carrying that controlled tension of a man trying to maintain order while everything crumbled. "What happened here? I thought we were going to handle the Cabal raid, not the Brotherhood. What did you read from their minds?"
Xavier's hands shook as he pressed two fingers to his temple with his voice strained, weary in a way Scott rarely heard. "It's better if I show you, Scott."
The telepathic connection snapped into place as Scott felt the familiar sensation of Xavier's mind touching his, then broadening to include every X-Men present with Jean, Kurt, Bobby, Kitty and Colossus all suddenly experiencing the Brotherhood's collective memories.
The scene unfolded like a nightmare made real.
The memory began with Astra's teleportation flash as the Brotherhood materialized inside the submarine's lower levels, and Magneto's floating suddenly stopped, which he chalked up to the sudden teleportation.
Behind him the rest of the team spread out with practiced efficiency.
"Remember," Magneto's voice echoed through the metal corridors. "We need them alive. Charles was quite insistent on that point."
Mystique's form rippled as she shifted into a generic crew member. "When has Charles ever been wrong about caution?"
"When he suggested I should try meditation," Magneto replied dryly.
That got a few chuckles as even Exodus cracked a slight smile.
But Magneto's attention was elsewhere as his powers reached out, feeling for the submarine's metal structure and ready to twist it like a tin can if necessary.
Except nothing happened.
Magneto's brow furrowed as he pushed harder with his abilities, reaching deeper, but still nothing came as the submarine should have been responding with every bolt, every rivet, every structural support singing to his magnetic senses.
Instead, there was only silence.
His posture shifted awkwardly as he tried again with arms extending in that dramatic pose he'd perfected over decades, but the gesture looked strange without the accompanying display of power.
Behind him Boom-Boom giggled. "Boss, you okay? You look like you're trying to push out a really stubborn dook."
"I wasn't attempting humor," Magneto cut her off, his voice tight. He lowered his arms slowly with confusion bleeding into concern. "The ship. It's not made of metal. Or rather, it is, but something non-magnetic. Something completely outside the scope of my powers."
Toad's long tongue flicked out nervously. "That ain't good, yeah?"
Exodus stepped forward, placing a hand on Magneto's shoulder as his telekinetic abilities hummed while he reached out to sense threats. "My liege, why waste time with these charlatan tricks? Just finish them using your mighty powers."
"I am not trying to make any of you imbeciles laugh," Magneto snapped. His hands clenched into fists. "The ship's construction is specifically designed to counter me. Xavier was right to be cautious."
He turned to Exodus with his voice dropping. "You go launch a frontal assault. Astra, you stay back here as backup reserve, keep an ear on the comms. The rest of you, go find any of our brethren detained here. And if you encounter anyone else..." His eyes hardened. "Finish them on sight."
The Brotherhood members exchanged glances as being given free rein to cause chaos was rare these days, too rare.
Pyro's lighter flicked open. "Bloody hell, finally. Been too long since we've had proper fun."
Mystique approached Magneto as the others moved out with her blue skin reflecting the submarine's red emergency lighting. "Eric, without your metal manipulation, you're the weakest of us here in a direct fight. You need to be careful."
"I'm aware," Magneto replied curtly. "Which is why I'll be coordinating from a tactical position. Now go."
The team split up, moving through the submarine's corridors with practiced efficiency, but as they turned a corner into the main corridor a sound stopped them cold.
Laughter.
Not just any laughter but a truly Sinister laughter, evil and mocking, echoing from hidden speakers throughout the ship.
Then more laughter joined in with different voices overlapping.
Thick metal walls slammed down from the ceiling at both ends of the corridor as the Brotherhood found themselves trapped in a metal box with no visible exits.
"What the hell?!" Avalanche's hands went to the walls, his seismic powers trying to activate instinctively.
The screens built into the corridor walls flickered to life as the Cabal members appeared, all of them grinning like sharks that had just spotted blood in the water.
Whitehall's face filled the largest screen with his German accent thick with barely contained rage and satisfaction. "So, Magneto, how does it feel? To be cornered and trapped like the Jewish vermin you are? Just like you were back in the camps? Tell me, do you remember the cattle cars? The stench of your people packed like animals? The screams when the doors opened at Auschwitz?"
Magneto's face went white, then flushed with fury.
John Sublime joined with his voice dripping with venom. "You know, you've been quite the headache for me. Destroying my facilities one after another. Cornering me. Causing me to lose billions. But now here you are, trapped. And more amusingly, you came of your own volition. Like lambs to the slaughter."
Boom-Boom's hands glowed with her explosive plasma charges. "Shut your fucking Nazi mouth!"
She hurled an energy orb directly at the screen, but before the explosive could make contact a cylindrical device dropped from a hidden panel in the ceiling and activated with a high-pitched whine.
Invisible waves pulsed through the corridor.
Boom-Boom's plasma charge flickered, sputtered, and died, reduced to nothing but harmless sparks that fizzled against the metal wall.
"What the..." Boom-Boom stared at her hands in shock. "My powers! They're fucking gone!"
Sinister's face appeared on another screen with his theatrical nature on full display. "This here, my dear, is our latest innovation. Inspired by my delightful encounter with Jay, the Power Broker! His power scrambling ability is really quite convenient when used against enemies. Especially mutants like yourselves who are far too over-reliant on your abilities. HAHAHA!"
Every Brotherhood member tried to activate their powers as Pyro's flames wouldn't obey him, Avalanche couldn't generate seismic waves, and even Mystique's shape-shifting flickered and failed, leaving her stuck in her natural blue form.
Magneto watched his team flailing around like beheaded chickens while his strategic mind raced through options, but each one dead-ended against the simple reality that their powers were neutralized.
"How are you doing this?" Magneto demanded, his voice carrying the authority of someone who'd faced down gods and governments. "And how did you even know about the Brotherhood's arrival? We took every precaution!"
Whitehall's laugh was harsh and ugly. "Shut your mouth, you Jewish swine! Our trusted friend Zola was most helpful. He told us about the X-Men's attempts to find our location. So naturally, we prepared. Though I'll admit, I expected Xavier's little mutant pets, not you second-rate Untermensch revolutionary filth. But you degenerate vermin will do just fine for testing our new toys."
His face filled the screen close enough that they could see the hatred burning in his eyes.
"And don't worry, I won't brand you again. Not like Herr Red Skull did to you subhuman Jews in the camps. We don't need to tattoo numbers on your arms anymore. We have much more sophisticated methods now for dealing with genetic refuse like you."
Magneto's rage finally boiled over as he charged forward, intending to use pure physical force if his powers wouldn't work, and his fist connected with the metal wall while pain shot up his arm, but the wall didn't even dent.
But Blob did make an impact as his massive frame slammed into the opposite wall with all his considerable weight behind it, and the metal buckled slightly, groaning under the pressure.
That triggered another trap.
Madame Gao's ancient face appeared on the screens with her expression serene despite the violence unfolding. "How impatient and trigger-happy. Now see what your recklessness has earned you."
The floor beneath them split open as panels slid aside with mechanical precision.
Sentinels rose from the hidden compartments.
Not the massive mechanical monstrosities from the past but smaller, more refined versions that were ten feet tall, humanoid, with that distinctive circular eye glowing red, and their adaptive plating shifted and flowed like liquid metal while already analyzing the Brotherhood members and adjusting.
"Sentinels," Magneto breathed. "But the program was shut down. Trask is dead. How..."
"These are from a decommissioned line," Sinister's voice purred through the speakers. "Courtesy of our dear friend Zola. He was so helpful and kept such wonderful archives of old projects."
The Sentinels attacked.
Their movements were precise, efficient, brutal as each one had already adapted to counter its assigned target with the Sentinel facing Toad extending adhesive nets that caught his tongue mid-strike while the one fighting Avalanche generated counter-vibrations that nullified the remains of his seismic powers and reversed them, causing his body to convulse under seizure.
Exodus tried to use his vast telekinetic abilities to crush the robots, but Sinister's presence flooded the mental space with a psychic assault that felt like being drowned in tar, and the mutant screamed while clutching his head as Sinister's consciousness invaded his mind.
"Did you really think you could match me in the realm of the mind?" Sinister's voice echoed inside Exodus's skull. "I've had over a century to perfect my techniques while you wasted your time searching for messiahs, you blind fool."
The only one protected was Magneto as his helmet, designed specifically to block telepathic intrusion, kept Sinister's assault at bay.
But that just meant he had to watch helplessly as his team was systematically dismantled.
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