The draiunnel was narrow, dark, and rancid with the stench of stagnant water and decay. Natasha was used to moving through unpleasant ditions, but even she had to grit her teeth against the filth ging to her skin-tight nano suit as she slithered forward. She activated her night vision, sing ahead for any security measures hidden withiunnels. This was Bakuto's main facility; she wasn't expeg a straightforward infiltration.

  Ahead, she spotted the faint glint of a motion sensor tucked between rusted pipes. Natasha froze, letting the ser on her wrist interface with the sensor's frequency. A few seds ter, she scrambled its signal, temporarily disabling it as she slipped by. Her heart pounded, not from fear, but from the pressure of the mission. Time was against them, and every step ted.

  After a few mrueling minutes, she reached a maintech leading into the building's lower level. She pushed it open just enough to peer into the dim corridor beyond. The guard rotations were as tight as she'd anticipated—guards patrolled with military preaking rounds every 30 seds. She waited until they moved out of view before slipping through the hatd fttening herself against the wall.

  Every step felt like an intricate dah danger. She sidestepped a ser tripwire barely visible uhe corridor's faint emergency lights, moving in rhythm with the meical whirs and footsteps eg off the crete walls. Her destination was two floors above: a security room where the nullifier trol panels were likely stationed.

  The hallway e a ventition shaft. Natasha pried the grate open silently and slid into the narrow, metal tunnel. She crawled upward, careful not to make any noise. Just as she he shaft's exit, she heard muffled voices below.

  "…thinks there's a rat among us, huh? Bakuto's furious."

  "He's n. I heard they found somethierday in ste. They're skinning him alive, I swear."

  A shiver ran down Natasha's spine, and she ched her fists, staying low. If they'd caught her tact…

  Pushing the thought aside, she focused on the pn. The trol room was just ahead. She edged out of the vent and into the shadows of the empty corridor, moving swiftly to the door. Ohere, Natasha crouched beside the trol panel, examining the access lock.

  "Guess it's time to improvise," she murmured.

  Using her multi-tool, she bypassed the keypad security. A small hiss annouhe door unlog. Natasha slipped in, shutting it behihe trol room was deserted, but not for long; she estimated she had no more than two minutes before anuard rotation passed by. Her invisible mode has also reached its limits. It's in cooldown mode now.

  She g the panels, her fingers flying over buttons and switches as she examihe system. A diagram of the building flickered on one of the ss, and she spotted the nodes responsible for trolling the nullifiers. She quickly deactivated one zo a time, watg as red zones on the diagram turned green.

  But then, a soft thump behind her.

  Natasha spun around. A guard stood in the doorway, his expression one of sheer surprise. They both moved at the same time, but Natasha was faster. She lunged, catg him off-guard and sileng him with a quick jab on his throat as she climbed up on his chest, and smming down her elbow on his head with all her might. His eyes rolled bato his skull as he went limp in her arms.

  She dragged his body behind the trol desk and resumed deactivating the nullifiers. She khe dey had cost her precious time, but the st nullifier node was almost down.

  Finally, the building's dampening system was disabled, and the nullifiers went offline. She allowed herself a breath of relief, but it was short-lived as she remembered her tact. He would likely be in the holding cells below. She exited the trol room, creeping silently through the dark hallways until she reached the stairwell leading to the lower levels.

  "Aron," she called through the s. "The power dampeners are dow Chat and run."

  "Got it!" Aron's voice replied through her earpiece.

  [Outside]

  Aron used his super speed and phasing ability to run straight for the holding cell.

  As he reached the room within seds, he saw Chat sitting in the er, looking at nothing in particur. Her eyes were cold aionless. He looked around and saw many children locked up in cells. He grabbed her and took her in his arms, then used his teleportation power to teleport ihe jet. Emma quickly ran toward them. Finally, after years of searg, she finally found her friend... Sister...

  "Chat!" Emma hugged the girl tightly as tears streamed down her face. "You're okay... I'm so sorry! I thought I lost you!"

  Chat blinked a couple of times but didn't react. Bakuto's brainwashing was to to be broken with a simple hug.

  "No time to cry," Aron grabbed both Chat and Emma by their shoulders and teleported them back to Xavier's school's med bay. Professor X was waiting for them in the med bay, alongside Hank. "Take care of them. There are too many kids in there. I'll bring them here. Make sure to have Jean and the others ready. Some of them may be unstable."

  "Alright, go," Professor said with a nod. "Leave them to us."

  Aron teleported away, leaving Chat and Emma with them.

  [Back to Natasha]

  The holding cells were a grim pce. Fluorest lights flickered overhead, casting a harsh glow over the rows of barred rooms where Bakuto kept his captives. Natasha's heart sank as she sed each cell, hoping to find her tact alive. But when she reached the st cell, she stopped in horror.

  There he was—her tact, but only barely reizable. His face artially intact, enough for Natasha to identify him, but his skin was mutited, and his body y twisted in a pool of blood. Fury boiled within her, her fists g as she fought to keep her posure.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling a fierce resolve harden in her chest. Bakuto would pay for this.

  Steeling herself, she pressed forward. She had a mission to plete. If she let her anger dictate her moves, she risked promising everything. She pushed the image of her fallen tact aside and tinued, gathering any intel she could from the cell's rudimentary unication sole.

  Natasha worked quickly, accessing the rudimentary sole in the holding cell. The data she needed was buried in encrypted files, but her fingers flew over the keys, bypassing firewalls aing the feed to a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. server while copying another copy just in case. She didn't have long—the entire facility would soon be on high alert after her as in the trol room.

  A faint noise prickled at her senses as she was transferring the data. She stilled, her fingers h over the sole as her keen instincts picked up on subtle movements arouhe sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, apanied by the metallic scrape of onry being drawn.

  Her heart rate slowed, a battle-honed calm desding over her. She g the sole s, watg the data bar inch toward pletion—63%, 78%, 85%. It couldn't go faster. She ched her jaw, her mind calg escape routes as the noises grew louder.

  Just then, the data transfer was pleted with a soft beep. Natasha exhaled aed the fsh drive, slipping it into a hidden partment on her belt. She rose from her crouch, her hand reag for her stun batons just as the door slid open, and a group of assassins poured in, bck tactical suits with Bakuto's insignia on their chests.

  She had seen this kind before—elite fighters traio execute without hesitation.

  "Going somewhere?" the lead assassin sneered, his eyes glinting with a mix and malice.

  Natasha gave a slight smirk. "Nope. Waiting to kick your asses."

  Without another word, she sprang into a, spinning low and sweeping her baton across the assassin's knees, sending him crashing to the ground. The others reacted swiftly, lunging at her with a dagger, but Natasha was faster. She deflected an ining bde with oon, tering with a powerful strike to her assaint's temple. He dropped, unscious before he hit the ground.

  The others circled, closing in like wolves on a wounded prey, but Natasha was anything but defenseless. She feinted left, then unched herself into a backflip, her legs snapping out in midair to catch two of the assassins in the face. They staggered back, and she nded on her feet, immediately dug beh a sweeping kick from the lead assassin.

  As he recovered, Natasha twisted around him, grabbing his wrist and leveraging his ow to sm him into atacker. Close-quarters bat was her specialty. She used it to her advantage, trolling her movements to keep her oppos colliding into each other. Her strikes were swift, every pund kick broke their bones or tore their muscles.

  One by ohe assassins fell, but as she dispatched the final one, a hreat emerged. A squad of heavily armed reinforts ehe room, their rifles raised, eyes narrowed with deadly i. She backed up, her options narrowing as her mind raced through possibilities.

  "End of the liruder," one of them said, fiightening origger.

  Natasha held her hands up in mock surrender, her mind tig over an escape pn. "You really think so?" she taunted, casting a quice at the ventition shaft above.

  But before anyone could move, the reinforts froze solid just like that as the temperature dropped rapidly. Aron appeared before Natasha and stopped his super speed.

  "I took out all the kids. And found Bakuto's location. Bastard hiding in the underground chamber. So, you ready to kie asses?" He asked while looking at the frozen soldiers.

  "You bet I am." She cracked her neck. "Let's go!"

  Arron nodded and teleported both of them to the underground chamber.

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