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  Chapter 125: Two Lovely Cheat Codes

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  High above, the Mephisto Scratcher's thrusters ignited. It descended, hovered high over the crater, and fired again. And again. And again.

  Three more psma bsts, each one erasing any possibility that anything beneath could have survived.

  Just in case, Adam thought. Can't be too thorough with cockroaches.

  He turned away from the glowing pit, his expression shifting to something strange; a mix of amusement, curiosity, and genuine delight.

  His gaze drifted eastward, toward a location more than a hundred miles away.

  Toward Domino and Rogue.

  He had been watching them throughout, his technopathy maintaining a constant thread of awareness.

  The Null-Suit's sensors fed him data. The drones and spiders he'd left with them provided visuals. He had seen everything that transpired on their end of the operation.

  And what he saw had made him chuckle.

  The chuckle was followed by a joyful ugh, like a child on Christmas morning who had just spotted the exact gift they'd been hoping for.

  "So fucking exquisite," He murmured to himself, already moving, already calling for his backup suit; a sleek, armored unit stored in a concealed compartment a mile away.

  It would take him time to reach them. Time to cross the distance. But he didn't mind. The journey would be entertaining.

  Because of the show they were putting on.

  Absolutely chef's kiss.

  The Hydra biological research facility, not that far off, had never experienced anything like the two women who just walked through its front door.

  Domino entered first, and the universe immediately began conspiring against her enemies.

  Her mutant ability; Psychic Probability Manipution; was a passive, subconscious field that bent reality in her favor.

  Not through overt force, but through the elegant mechanism of improbable coincidence.

  Guns jammed. Footing slipped. Peripheral vision failed at critical moments. Reinforcements took wrong turns.

  It wasn't that Domino was invincible; it was that the universe, when she was in danger, became her personal wingman.

  She strolled through the corridor like she owned it, pistols raised, her white hair a beacon in the fluorescent lighting.

  A Hydra agent rounded the corner, rifle raised; and tripped over his own bootces, sprawling face-first at her feet. She shot him without breaking stride.

  Three more appeared at the far end of the hall. Domino dove sideways, not toward cover but toward the chaos.

  Her body twisted in midair, acrobatic and fluid, and as she rolled, a stray bullet from one of the agents ricocheted off a support beam, hit a fire sprinkler, which exploded, which shorted out an electrical panel, which sparked, which ignited a canister of cleaning solvent, which exploded, which sent a piece of shrapnel directly into the face of the nearest agent.

  The other two, distracted by their comrade's sudden death, failed to notice Domino's return fire until it was too te.

  "Having fun yet?" She called over her shoulder.

  Behind her, Rogue was having the time of her life.

  The Null-Suit fit her like a second skin; not literally, but Alice had been programmed with her fighting style, and the AI moved the six mechanical arms in perfect synchrony with Rogue's own body.

  She leaped, she spun, she flew through the air with thrusters, and wherever she nded, she touched.

  And touch was all it took.

  Rogue's mutant ability was a curse and a gift wrapped in the same velvet package.

  Through skin-to-skin contact, she could absorb the life force, memories, and powers of anyone she touched.

  For mutants, this meant temporary power theft; she could fly like Angel, phase like Kitty, control metal like Magneto, for a limited time.

  Sure, she had never tried such a thing in this world, but Adam remembers from the comics her capabilities, and if there is something he doesn't know, the audience tells him.

  For normal humans, the effect was simir, temporary theft of strength, durability, reflexes, and so on.

  And in both cases, depending on the length of the contact, it would leave them in a vegetative state for a long time, if not forever.

  But like any power, it has weaknesses, limits. Powerful existences can resist or even nullify her absorption.

  Moreover, the time she can hold their powers depends entirely on the length of the contact, being approximately sixty times the time.

  So if she touches someone for a second, she'd have their capabilities for sixty seconds.

  It naturally all comes with the risks; one of them was her ck of control over her powers, which she rgely solved.

  The most worrying risk, however, is that her ability also absorbs personalities, personalities that can impact her own.

  That's something Adam made her focus on, to see if she can control what she can absorb, but it proved to be much more difficult than simply controlling whether she wants to absorb or not.

  Eitherway, Hydra today has to face this cheat code.

  The Hydra agents learned this the hard way.

  Domino's luck delivered them like gifts. A soldier would stumble, and Rogue would be there, her bare hand pressing against his cheek.

  His eyes would roll back, his body going limp as his consciousness drained away, and he'd colpse in a heap; alive, but forever empty.

  Another would be thrown by a sudden explosion directly into her path. She'd catch him, and he'd join his comrades in the ranks of the living dead.

  The mechanical arms weren't just for show; they were for smashing, blocking, mobility, protection, and for looking cool.

  But the real weapon was still Rogue's hands.

  "Hah! Did y'all see that one?" She crowed, backhanding a soldier into unconsciousness. "He flew right into me! Like a gift-wrapped present!"

  "The universe likes us," Domino agreed, sliding under a burst of automatic fire and coming up inside an agent's guard. Her pistol pressed against his temple. Bang. "Probably because we're pretty."

  [DOMINO'S LUCK IS BROKEN! Tripping over shoeces mid-combat!]

  [The universe likes them because they're pretty. Accurate.]

  [Fuck, I was wrong! The yandere warfare may be won by Rogue! She can absorb all the other yandere's personalities and be a compact yandere simutor!!]

  [There will be no fucking warfare, you idiot!!]

  They moved deeper into the facility, leaving a trail of unconscious bodies and empty-eyed vegetables in their wake.

  The Hydra agents; trained, fanatical, prepared for almost anything; were utterly unprepared for this.

  Their weapons malfunctioned. Their communications failed at critical moments. Their reinforcements kept getting lost in a facility they'd worked in for years.

  And always, always, Domino's luck delivered them to Rogue's waiting hands.

  Hell, sometimes it was comedy, so ludicrous it would make a Karen ugh. A firefight in the cafeteria.

  Domino dove over a table, and a stray shot hit the CO2 tank on a soda machine, which exploded, which sent the machine spinning across the room, which crushed three agents against the wall.

  Two more tried to fnk; one slipped on a puddle of soda, the other tripped over his fallen comrade, and Rogue was there, one hand on each, and just like that, they joined the ranks of the hollow.

  A desperate st stand in the medical bay. A dozen agents, heavy weapons, a defensible position.

  Domino threw a fshbang randomly; it bounced off a door frame, off a cabinet, off a hanging light fixture, and nded perfectly in the center of their formation.

  While they were blinded, Rogue came through the ceiling, the Null-Suit's arms having torn through the ventition shaft, and she danced among them, her touch a one-way ticket to oblivion.

  The survivors broke. They ran. They didn't get far.

  By the time they reached the deepest level; the research wing; Domino and Rogue had seen enough to understand why this pce existed.

  Cells. Row after row of cells. And in them, children.

  Mutant children. Normal children. Some so young they could barely walk. All of them subjected to experiments that defied comprehension.

  Tubes in arms. Scars on scalps. Hollow eyes that had seen too much and understood too little.

  Rogue stopped. Her hands, those deadly beautiful hands, trembled.

  "Dom," She whispered. "Dom, look."

  Domino looked. Her expression, usually sardonic and amused, went ft and cold. "Oh," she said softly. "Oh, they're going to suffer."

  The next phase of the raid was not funny.

  Rogue moved through the research wing like an avenging angel, and there was nothing comical about it.

  The scientists; the ones who had designed the experiments, who had overseen the procedures, who had enjoyed their work; learned what true helplessness felt like.

  She took her time with them. She made sure they understood, in whatever faculties remained after her touch, that they would never hurt anyone again.

  Domino provided backup, her luck ensuring that no reinforcements arrived, or if they did, they were silenced, and no arms were raised, no one escaped.

  But her eyes kept drifting to the cells, to the children, and her jaw tightened with each gnce.

  When it was over, when the st scientist was an empty shell on the floor, Rogue stood in the center of the carnage and forced herself to smile.

  For the children. For the ones who might be watching through the bars of their cages. She couldn't let them see her despair.

  They needed hope, even fake hope, even the smile of a stranger who had just committed mass murder in their name.

  "Hey there, little ones," She called, her voice warm despite everything. "Ain't no one gonna hurt ya now. Y'all are safe."

  The children stared. Some cried. Some just... stared.

  Alice's voice came through the Null-Suit's speakers. "The X-Men have been notified of the situation. Estimated arrival: twelve minutes."

  "Good girl," Domino muttered.

  [Guys, I said Hail Hydra before as a joke, I'm sorry.]

  [Rogue forcing herself to smile for them is HEARTBREAKING.]

  [Hydra's so easy to hate, man, and Adam just found more ammo that he will no doubt release to the world.]

  [So ready to smoke on that Hydra pack.]

  [I'm praying for their downfall every day.] [+1] [+1] [+1]