AN: Couldn't think of a better name for this chapter. Oh, give some ratings.

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  "Should I kill them at once?" Aron asked. He saw what they did down there in the cells and those poor kids being brainwashed to bee soldiers of The Hand... He just wao kill them all, painfully.

  "They killed my tact. I need you to leave some for me," Natasha said, g her fists.

  "Will do. Just be careful..." He summohe Phoenix fmes.

  The metal hissed as his Phoenix fmes melted through the bst door, spilling molten steel onto the floor in fiery rivulets. The chamber beyond was wide and dim, with only flickering lights casting shadows over the grim se. Waiting for them, a line of Bakuto's mutants stood with hardened, brutal faces, eyes gleaming with the madness of Bakuto's ruthless indoation. At the end of the room, Bakuto himself watched with cold satisfa, encased behind a barrier like a predator waiting for his prey to exhaust themselves.

  "Wele, Natasha," Bakuto called out with a mog grin. "And your friend. I've been waiting. This is as far as you go."

  Aron's face hardened, his fists g as the Phoenix fmes around him fred brighter. "We're finishing this," he murmured, voice cold with deadly resolve.

  At ohe mutants lunged forward, a vicious snarl tearing from their ranks as they charged. Aron's eyes narrowed, and in an instant, he vanished in a burst of fmes, his form phasing through their strikes. He reappeared behind a hulking mutant with thick, scaly skin, his hand seizing the man's shoulder. Without hesitation, Aron released a bze of Phoenix fire, igniting the mutant from the i. "Die, motherfucker!"

  The man's skin bubbled up, flesh melting away as he screamed. "ARGGGG!!!!" His body colpsed in a smoking heap on the floor.

  Natasha was already on the move, weaving through the fray with deadly precision. A mutant with bde-like arms swung at her, his attack swift ahal, aiming to gut her on the spot. She ducked beh his swing, bringing her knee up to shatter his ribcage with a siing ch. As he gasped, Natasha seized his head, twisting it with a brutal snap that sent him to the ground, his limbs twitg ih's final throes.

  Two more mutants came at her, their fists and cws aimed to tear her apart. Natasha slipped between them, dropping a fsh bomb as she darted past. The blinding light disoriehem, and she wasted no time, driving her baton into one's eye, feeling the satisfying squelch as it sank deep. He screamed, blood and fluid spurting down his face, and she wrehe baton free, kig him i so he fell bato his panion.

  Meanwhile, Aron tore through his oppos like a living inferno. He grabbed one by the throat, his Phoenix fmes spreading to engulf the mutant's body, skin and bone alike charring aing in seds. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, and Aron threw the lifeless husk aside, his eyes log on his arget.

  A speedster tried to dart behind him, but Aron phased out and reappeared mid-strike, plunging his hand into the man's chest.

  "Using speed against me? A bad move," Blood sprayed as he ripped out the mutant's heart, crushing it in his fist before dropping it onto the floor.

  Natasha dodged a swipe from a mutant with metal cws, sidestepping his attack before smming her baton into the back of his skull. The blow cracked bone, and as he staggered. She quickly grabbed his arm, twisting it until it snapped. "YOU FU' BITCH!" His howl was cut short when she drove her elbow into his face, shattering his jaw and sendih scattering across the blood-slick floor.

  Another mutant with spiked knuckles closed in, jabbing toward Aron's gut. Aron didn't flinch, catg the mutant's arm mid-punch. The Phoenix fmes around his hand grew hotter, turning the mutant's skin bck as it seared through muscle and bone. With a grunt, Aron twisted the charred limb off, hurling it aside before sweeping the mutant's legs and sending him sprawling. He raised his foot, stomping down oant's skull, bones splintering uhe force. Blood pooled around his foot as he stepped forward, leaving the crumpled remains behind.

  Natasha turned, only to be caught by a mutant's fist smming into her shoulder. She winced, feeling the bone crack, but eled the pain without even screaming in pain. Dodging his attad tering with a knife drawn from her belt, she stabbed it into his gut, twisting the bde, ripping through muscle and an. "Humff!" She yahe k, blood spraying across her suit, then sshed his throat in a single, swift stroke.

  "Kuggg!" He gurgled, clutg at his neck as he fell to his knees before colpsing in a bloody heap.

  Only a few mutants remained, and they faltered, their fidence shaken as they watched their allies sughtered in moments. Aron didn't wait, leaping forward with a feral snarl, his fmes scorg the floor as he reached them. Oant tried to run, but Aron caught him by the hair, yanking him bad f his head back to stare into his eyes.

  "Leaving so soon?" Aron sneered. With a surge of Phoenix energy, he ied the mutant's face, leaving nothing but a charred skull as the body fell limp.

  The st remaining mutant backed away, but Natasha was on him in an instant. She drove her fist into his face, feeling his nose break under her knuckles, and then drove her ko his groin. He doubled over, and she seized his head, smming it repeatedly into the floor until it was nothing more than a bloody mess beh her hands.

  The room fell silent, broken only by Bakuto's slow, mog cp as he stepped from behind his barrier.

  "Impressive, Natasha. And your pet fme. But you're still out of your league."

  He gestured, and a hulking figure emerged from the shadows—a mutant covered in grotesque, jagged stone, each footstep a rumbling tremor. His arms were made of metal and rge cws on his fiips. From the looks of it, that guy was a b-made mutant.

  "Well," Aron looked toward Natasha. "That's the guy who killed your tact." He extended his arm toward her. "Let me give you a little gift."

  Natasha nodded and took his arm. She was surprised to feel the sudden surge of fn power. She felt strong. Then memories surged into her mind, letting her know how to use the power. It was the Shaw's power.

  "Thank you." She gave him a nod and moved forward.

  Bakuto smirked, gesturing for his behemoth to attack. "Kill them." The mutant thundered forward, swinging his cws, his strike so powerful that it cracked the crete beh his feet. Upon ing in tact with Natasha, the attack was nullified as she absorbed the energy with Shaw's power.

  "WHAT?!?" He stared at her in shock.

  Natasha walked in and flicked his forehead with her finger.

  [Baaam!] The giant flew across the room, crashing into the energy barrier. But he was quite sturdy, and he immediately got back up to his feet. Then he charged at Natasha like a freaking truck. However, she stopped him with just a single finger, abs the kiiergy.

  "DAMN YOU!" The giant yelled in rage and began to throid punches and sshed at a blinding speed.

  However, they were all absorbed by Natasha's power.

  "WHY WON'T YOU BITCH JUST DIE?" He yelled before opening his mouth and throwing an energy bst at her from point bnk.

  But, she again absorbed it with Shaw's power.

  "WHAT ARE YOU?!!?!?!?!?"

  Without waiting any more time and words, Natasha pced her palm on the giant's chest, pushing all the absorbed energy into him.

  The giant exploded, blood spttering everywhere.

  "Well, that was something," Aron walked toward her.

  Natasha huffed in exhaustion. A regur human using mutant power, although it was ued before... But it worked.

  Now, both of them gred at Bakuto, who was all alone now...

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  [13 advance chapters] [No double billing] -------

  AN: Alright, that's it for this week. See you again on Sunday night.