Coulson sat across from Li Jie with a cup of coffee in his hands. A polite smile rested on his face, though the expression clearly carried a hint of complaint. Leaning forward slightly, he spoke in a tone that sounded half friendly and half accusing.
"Jack, now that you've got information about mutants, why didn't you let me know?"
Li Jie took a relaxed sip of his ice-cold beer and rolled his eyes at Coulson before answering. His voice carried a casual indifference, as if the question barely deserved a response.
"Why would I notify you? So S.H.I.E.L.D. can march straight into a war with the mutants?"
"That's not what I meant." Coulson shook his head and sighed softly. "I just feel like we might have missed a great opportunity."
His feelings about mutants had always been complicated. On one hand, he desperately wanted to harness the power that mutants possessed. On the other hand, that very power made him deeply wary.
Much of that contradiction could be traced back to the Scarlet Witch. She had once stood proudly as a member of the Avengers, someone who fought to protect the world and contributed greatly to humanity's safety. Yet in the end, she had turned into an enemy everyone feared.
Coulson coughed lightly, clearing his throat as he tried to organize his thoughts. "Maybe we could arrange for a psychologist to talk to them. Some professional counseling might help them understand that we're not their enemies."
The moment psychologists were mentioned, Li Jie immediately thought of Professor X. With his powerful telepathic abilities, Professor X often acted as both a counselor and a spiritual guide for mutants. Without him, many of the people who later joined the X-Men would likely have fallen into darkness and become villains.
"If we could convince Magneto to join our side, then—"
Li Jie abruptly raised a hand and cut him off.
"Stop right there." He leaned back in his chair and stared at Coulson with mild amusement. "Professor X and Magneto have been friends for decades. Professor X has spent that entire time trying to change Magneto's mind, and he still hasn't succeeded. Do you really think you have a better chance?"
Coulson fell silent for a moment, considering the point. After a short pause, he straightened slightly and answered with stubborn determination.
"We still have to try."
Seeing how serious Coulson looked, Li Jie couldn't help but laugh quietly.
"Fine," he said. "Next time you get the chance, I'll let you have a nice long conversation with Magneto."
"That works for me."
Coulson nodded with surprising confidence.
Just then, the office door creaked open with a sharp sound.
Melinda May walked in carrying a stack of documents.
"Mei, is something wrong?" Coulson turned his head and asked casually.
Li Jie glanced at her. Something about her gaze seemed strangely unfocused, almost empty. After watching her for a moment, he suddenly asked Coulson in a flat voice,
"Does she usually walk into your office without knocking?"
Coulson reacted instantly.
The moment Li Jie spoke, realization flashed across his face. He immediately reached for the pistol at his waist and pulled it out.
But Melinda moved faster.
She flung the folder in her hands straight at Coulson's face and followed up with a swift kick that knocked the gun out of his hand.
"Ah!"
Coulson cried out as blood burst from his nose.
Melinda snatched up the fallen gun and turned it toward Li Jie without hesitation, pulling the trigger.
Bang.
After the shot rang out, Melinda suddenly realized something was wrong. Li Jie, who had been sitting there drinking just moments earlier, had completely disappeared.
She instantly swung the gun around again and fired.
"Mei—"
Coulson barely managed to shout before the second gunshot echoed.
At that same moment, Coulson's chair slid abruptly to the side as if pulled by an invisible force. The bullet skimmed past his ear, missing him by inches.
Melinda's lips curved into a faint smile. She adjusted the angle of the gun slightly and fired again.
Bang. Bang bang bang.
A rapid burst of bullets slammed into a mechanical frame that had suddenly appeared nearby.
Melinda clearly had no intention of fighting Li Jie directly. While firing continuously, she sprinted toward the window. With a loud crash, she smashed through the glass and leaped outside.
Coulson struggled to his feet from the floor and looked toward Li Jie.
"Jack… May looks really strange."
Li Jie rolled his eyes again.
"You think?" he said dryly. "If she were acting normal, why would she try to kill you?"
Remembering what had just happened, Coulson felt a chill run down his spine.
"Jack, seriously… thank you for saving me just now."
Li Jie shrugged lightly before replying.
"It looks like Melinda is under mind control. Why don't you come with me and chase after her?"
"Me?"
Coulson froze.
Li Jie nodded.
"That's right. Weren't you just complaining about missing an opportunity? If we follow Melinda, we might find the person controlling her. That's when your legendary negotiation skills can finally shine."
Coulson forced an awkward smile.
"It's not that I don't want to go," he said carefully. "It's just that I have a mountain of work waiting for me. Besides, Mei has probably already gotten far away. There's no way we could catch—"
"Jack, what are you doing?"
Before he finished speaking, the mechanical armor that had blocked the bullets suddenly unfolded and began assembling around his body.
In the next second, Coulson was launched straight out the window.
Melinda might not have superpowers, but her agility was extraordinary. Ordinary S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were no match for her. More importantly, no one realized she had been controlled.
They only watched in confusion as she ran past them.
Moments later, she roared away on a motorcycle.
The vehicle raced through the streets of downtown New York before finally stopping in front of an abandoned warehouse.
A mechanical buzzing sound cut through the air.
Coulson arrived almost at the same moment.
This time, however, Melinda didn't attack. She simply stood there quietly.
"Mei… are you okay?"
While speaking, Coulson cautiously scanned the surrounding area. The sensors in his mech armor swept through the warehouse, but they detected nothing unusual.
"Hey, whoever you are," Coulson called out. "Why don't you come out? I think we can have a good talk."
"What exactly do you want to talk about?"
A voice suddenly came from behind him.
Coulson instinctively spun around.
A nearby concrete pillar twisted strangely, as if the space around it were bending. From that distortion stepped a pale man with a dark, eerie appearance that made him resemble a vampire.
"Hello," Coulson said quickly, extending a hand. "My name is Nick Coulson, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I believe we can talk."
The pale man tilted his head.
"Are you crazy," he asked coldly, "or did you lose your hearing? I already asked you a question. What do you want to talk about?"
Coulson slowly pulled back his hand and forced out a dry laugh.
"Well, you see… I think there may have been some misunderstanding between us." He paused before adding cautiously, "By the way, are you a mutant? I'm fairly certain you must be. What you just did isn't something an ordinary human could accomplish."
He smiled politely.
"Sir, I don't believe you've told me your name."
"Shut up!"
The pale man roared.
He took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself down.
"My god," he muttered, staring at Coulson like he was looking at a lunatic. "You might actually be insane. You should see a doctor."
"A doctor?" Coulson replied seriously. "I actually have a private physician. I get a full checkup every year, and my health is excellent."
He continued politely.
"Sir, you still haven't told me your name."
Coulson kept talking nonstop, like a relentless preacher who refused to stop.
"Shut up! I said shut up!"
The man finally snapped.
Clutching his head in frustration, he took another deep breath before speaking again.
"Fine," he said coldly. "You can call me Mr. Sinister."
"Mr. Sinister," Coulson asked immediately, "are you a mutant?"
"Oh, I've fucking had enough!"
Mr. Sinister grabbed his head with both hands and let out a long, irritated groan. Then he suddenly smiled at Coulson with a chilling expression.
"You wanted to talk, right? Fine. I'll talk with you."
He raised a finger.
"But first, let's play a little game."
"A game?" Coulson said thoughtfully. "I do enjoy games, but Mr. Sinister, don't you think this might not be the best time for one? I mean—wait. What did you do to me?"
Coulson suddenly felt his body move against his will.
He turned and began walking toward Melinda.
Mr. Sinister laughed darkly.
"This game is very simple," he said. "Kill the woman standing in front of you, and I'll happily have a proper conversation with you."
"Kill Mei?"
Coulson shook his head immediately.
"No. Mei is my friend. I can't kill her."
"Oh really?" Mr. Sinister chuckled. "If you don't kill her, she'll shoot you."
Melinda slowly raised the gun and aimed it at Coulson's head.
Coulson calmly removed the helmet of his mech armor as several weapon barrels emerged from its shoulders.
"Coulson," Mr. Sinister said with amusement, "I'll count to three. You'd better make your decision quickly."
"One… two… three."
Coulson closed his eyes.
"I can't kill May."
"Mr. Coulson," Mr. Sinister said mockingly, "I respect your decision. Goodbye."
He snapped his fingers.
"Kill this talkative guy."
Bang.
Melinda pulled the trigger.
But the instant the gun fired, the muzzle suddenly twisted toward Mr. Sinister.
Unfortunately for Melinda, Mr. Sinister was faster than the bullet. He dodged effortlessly.
"Heh… heh heh…"
He let out a string of cold laughter and glanced behind Coulson.
"So you finally came out," he said. "What should I call you? Jack?"
Li Jie stepped forward from behind Coulson.
The moment Coulson saw him, he looked relieved.
"Jack! I think I was wrong earlier. This situation is definitely your problem now. Also, my body is out of control, so could you maybe do something about that?"
"Coulson," Li Jie said calmly, "take Melinda back first."
"Didn't you hear me?" Coulson protested helplessly. "My body isn't under my control. How am I supposed to take—"
Before he finished speaking, the mech helmet snapped back onto his head. A powerful force lifted him into the air and carried both him and Melinda away from the warehouse.
Mr. Sinister slowly clapped his hands.
"Very impressive," he said with a grin.
Then he suddenly noticed the surrounding space distort.
"Wait… is this the Mirror Dimension used by the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj?"
His eyes lit up.
"Wonderful. I'll take this power for myself."
After being genetically modified by Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister possessed an extremely long lifespan along with incredible strength, endurance, and speed. Over the years, he had repeatedly experimented with mutant DNA, granting himself a wide range of abilities.
Telepathy. Telekinesis. Cellular manipulation. Force fields. Flight. Shockwave energy.
Compared to mutants who only had a single power, Mr. Sinister's abilities were astonishingly diverse.
"Mr. Sinister," Li Jie said calmly, "if I'm not mistaken, you're one of Apocalypse's followers, right?"
Mr. Sinister looked genuinely surprised.
"How did you know?"
"Tell me where Apocalypse is," Li Jie said.
Mr. Sinister burst into laughter.
"Jack, you defeated Magneto and ruined our plans. According to Apocalypse's orders, I should have captured you and brought you to him."
He slowly raised his hand toward Li Jie.
"But I've changed my mind."
He smirked coldly.
"Let's see how much punishment you—and this mirror world of yours—can handle."
As soon as he lifted his hand, Li Jie felt the Mirror Dimension tremble violently. It felt as if a massive earthquake had struck, threatening to tear the sky apart and swallow the ground.
Li Jie immediately altered the structure of the Mirror Dimension. The world twisted and rotated around them.
Unfortunately, the maneuver barely affected Mr. Sinister.
Since he could fly, he simply hovered in the air and continued firing destructive shockwave energy.
"Jack," he sneered, "I'm starting to feel disappointed in you. Is this really all you can do?"
He laughed again.
"If someone like you can defeat Magneto, then Magneto must truly be the worthless piece of trash I always believed he was."
Realizing that altering the space itself wouldn't work—and that the shockwaves might even collapse the dimension—Li Jie stopped manipulating the environment.
Instead, he asked calmly,
"Mr. Sinister, how fast are you?"
Mr. Sinister frowned slightly.
"What kind of question is that?"
Li Jie continued.
"Can you move faster than light?"
"What exactly are you talking about?"
Li Jie smiled faintly.
"There's an old saying where I come from. In martial arts, speed is the only way to break every defense."
Mr. Sinister scowled.
"What the hell are you talking ab—"
Thud.
Before he could finish the sentence, Li Jie's fist slammed straight into his mouth.
"That's what I mean."
Li Jie smiled.
When Mr. Sinister opened his mouth again, half his teeth were gone. Shock filled his eyes.
He had just dodged a bullet earlier, proving his speed was greater than a bullet's. Speed had always been one of his proudest advantages.
But he hadn't even seen Li Jie move.
It was too fast.
Faster than light.
And the power behind that speed was terrifying.
The punch instantly destroyed any thought Mr. Sinister had about competing with Li Jie in strength.
As he tried to think of another way to fight back, a second punch smashed into his stomach.
The impact felt like a blender tearing through his organs.
Then the punches kept coming.
One after another.
Mr. Sinister finally understood the meaning of "speed breaks all techniques" while being brutally beaten.
He couldn't fight back at all. His thoughts couldn't even keep up with the speed of Li Jie's fists.
In the face of such overwhelming speed, every ability he possessed became useless.
No matter how many powers he had collected over the years, he never had the chance to use them.
"Is he dead?"
Looking at Mr. Sinister lying motionless on the ground, Li Jie suddenly felt slightly guilty.
Maybe he had gone a little too far.
If he accidentally killed Mr. Sinister, who would take him to find Apocalypse?
Li Jie crouched down and checked his breathing.
Thankfully, he was still alive.
....
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