----
Lightning crackled across the sky.
Logan's eyes narrowed.
"…Osborn's people?"
The streaks of electricity were a dead giveaway. There was only one person who lit up a battlefield like that.
Electro.
Max Osborn's first official enhanced recruit.
He landed in front of the team, his eyes glowing with blue arcs. The moment he spotted Kitty Pryde, his earpiece buzzed.
> "Target confirmed. Priority: Shadowcat."
That voice—A.I. E.L.L., Osborn's personal assistant.
Max looked around. Dozens of Osborn's agents, each in tactical gear marked with the Oscorp insignia, were flanking Sentinels head-on.
Logan noticed something strange. These agents weren't mutants. They looked… normal. But the Sentinels' bullets bounced off their skin like they were made of titanium.
"Wait… they're all enhanced?"
Logan muttered, eyes narrowing. What the hell kind of company was Osborn running?
"They're part of the Steel Corps," Max said proudly. "Osborn's elite. Genetically restructured, surgically reinforced. Each one can bench thirty tons and they're bulletproof."
Logan grunted. "You're proud of that?"
But Max was already strutting.
"Come on, man. You were getting your ass handed to you by a bunch of robots."
The Sentinels began to adapt weapon arms and shifted into drill-like spears. But then something unexpected happened.
A dark aura erupted from the Steel Corps soldiers. Their bodies bulked up again, muscles rippling under reinforced skin. One of them ripped a Sentinel in half like it was made of tinfoil.
Max tapped his earpiece. "Begin extraction. E.L.L., start the capture sequence."
Each soldier activated a specialized device. Magnetic fields pulsed from the gadgets custom-designed by Osborn himself disrupting Sentinel replication tech.
Logan could only watch as the Sentinels froze mid-transformation, reverting to base models.
"They're not even struggling…" Bobby whispered.
These same machines had nearly wiped out the X-Men. Now they were being captured like wild dogs.
Logan's face hardened. "We helped take them down too. We need at least one of those units for Stark."
Osborn's forces weren't the only ones researching Sentinels. Tony had has been itching to get his hands on one since Xavier first told him about them.
Max's smile vanished. His tone turned cold.
"You serious? If we hadn't shown up, you'd be dead."
He gestured.
Surrounding the X-Men, the Steel Corps had already formed a tight circle guns raised.
Alexei and Marco stepped beside Max, silent but ready.
Steel Corps soldiers aimed their weapons at the team… and the child.
Colossus spoke quietly into his comm.
"Orders?"
Logan stepped forward. "I want to talk to your boss."
Max chuckled, sparks flickering across his hands. "He's not taking requests from nobodies."
"…You calling me a nobody?" Logan's claws snikted out slowly.
Max tilted his head. "If the claws fit."
Logan's fury rose like a tide, but he held it back barely. If it were just him, he'd already be tearing through these goons. But Bobby, Colossus, and especially Kitty were still in the line of fire.
"I said we'll leave."
Logan took a breath. Not today. Not like this.
"…But she leaves something behind."
Max pointed at Kitty Pryde.
Logan tensed. "No."
He knew what that meant.
Even a scrap of Kitty's DNA in Osborn's hands would be a disaster. According to Charles, Osborn's genetic manipulation bordered on sorcery taking mutant traits and repurposing them through horrifying tech.
"You don't get to say no," Max replied coolly. "We saved your lives. We deserve compensation."
Alexei and Marco remained silent. Soldiers raised their guns again.
The tension was razor-thin.
Then—a gust of wind.
From the sky, a figure descended in a swirl of white hair and black leather.
Storm.
"Osborn's gone into the scavenger business now?" she said, landing between the X-Men and the soldiers.
"Storm!" Kitty and Bobby called in unison.
Ororo nodded to them, then turned to Max. Her voice was calm but the wind that followed her words was not.
"You saved them. We're grateful. But you don't get to dictate terms."
Max's earpiece lit up again.
> "Subject identified: Storm. Omega-level mutant. Weather control."
Ororo's gaze remained fixed on Max.
Just then impact.
A new figure crashed down from the sky, sending dust and debris flying. As the smoke cleared, a deep, commanding voice echoed across the battlefield—
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