"You're not going to gang up on one guy, are you?"
"You should at least show some fighting honor!"
Seeing Rorschach calmly brushing his hands together and starting to walk forward again, the dreadlocked mutant finally lost his composure.
He shouted loudly, almost desperately.
Unfortunately for him, Rorschach hadn't even been planning to attack him.
Among Shaw's remaining followers, this man was easily the weakest. His ability might look intimidating, but in direct combat it was extremely limited.
Compared to the large-scale destructive abilities of the wind controller or the tidal mutant, his threat level was almost negligible.
In fact, he had been fighting Darwin for quite some time and still hadn't managed to gain the upper hand.
From Rorschach's perspective, this opponent was little more than background noise.
His mission wasn't to eliminate every single subordinate Shaw had brought.
His mission was simple.
Kill Shaw.
As for minor enemies like this, there was no need for him to waste time.
Without even glancing at the dreadlocked mutant, Rorschach walked straight toward the massive opening Eric had torn into the submarine's hull.
Then he stepped inside.
"Looks like… they really couldn't stop you."
A voice suddenly echoed through the dim corridor.
Rorschach stopped.
Leaning casually against the wall inside the submarine stood a man wearing a gas mask. His arms were folded across his chest as if he had been waiting patiently for someone to arrive.
More specifically—
Waiting for Rorschach.
The Black Emperor had prepared a backup plan.
Rorschach raised an eyebrow slightly. At first the sight surprised him, but after a moment of thought it made perfect sense.
If Shaw had truly relied only on the few mutants stationed outside, that would have been suspicious.
The invisible assassin had certainly been a dangerous trump card. Without his super hearing, Rorschach might actually have been killed by that sneak attack.
But relying on only a single contingency would have been reckless.
Now it was obvious.
This masked man was Shaw's second line of defense.
"You were careless," Rorschach thought briefly.
Until now he had focused entirely on the battle outside and hadn't considered that someone might still be hiding inside the submarine.
The masked man had remained completely undetected.
And at this moment, he stood here unharmed.
But Eric was nowhere to be seen.
Rorschach immediately swept his gaze across the corridor, checking the surroundings.
"He's fine," the masked man said calmly, clearly aware of what Rorschach was looking for. "The man who came in earlier."
"Shaw seems to have… special expectations for him."
Rorschach ignored the explanation.
Instead, his eyes shifted as his x-ray vision activated.
Within seconds he located them.
Inside a sealed chamber deeper in the submarine, Eric was currently being thrown around like a ragdoll.
Shaw was overwhelming him.
To be fair, Shaw's power was truly ridiculous. Against someone who could absorb and redirect energy so efficiently, Eric's chances of victory alone were extremely slim.
At least Eric was still alive.
Satisfied with that, Rorschach turned his attention back to the masked man.
A cold smile appeared on his face.
His eyes began to glow.
He had no intention of wasting time here.
A heat ray would end this immediately.
However, the masked man had clearly prepared for that.
In one swift motion he removed the gas mask covering his face.
Then he exhaled.
A thick cloud of green gas burst from his mouth.
The vapor spread rapidly, expanding like a poisonous mist that instantly filled the narrow corridor and swallowed Rorschach completely.
The masked man smiled coldly.
"You must be Shaw's biggest headache," he said calmly. "Otherwise he wouldn't have released me."
"No matter how powerful you are… it's useless. No one can resist my poison—"
His sentence ended abruptly.
TSSSS!
A beam of heat vision punched directly through his chest.
A massive hole instantly appeared in his torso.
The impact blasted him backward, slamming his body violently into the metal wall behind him before he collapsed onto the floor.
The masked man struggled to lift his head.
Through blurred vision, he saw something impossible.
Rorschach was walking forward through the poisonous green gas.
Completely unharmed.
His breathing remained steady.
His face looked calm.
The deadly toxin—capable of dissolving a person's internal organs within seconds—had done absolutely nothing.
"How…?"
"How is that possible…?"
The masked man's eyes widened with disbelief.
After muttering those final words, his head tilted sideways.
His body went completely still.
Dead.
Rorschach glanced briefly at the corpse.
"Shaw really prepared quite a welcome for me," he said with a faint sneer.
Truthfully, this masked mutant had been extremely dangerous.
If used properly, his poisonous gas could wipe out nearly the entire X-Men team. Charles, Eric, and most of the others would have died almost instantly.
Only someone like Darwin might have survived.
But because the battle outside was taking place in an open area, the gas user's abilities had been heavily restricted.
Inside a confined space, however, he would have been terrifying.
From Shaw's perspective, sending this man to stop Rorschach made perfect sense.
Unfortunately—
They still didn't understand what Rorschach really was.
When someone possessed abilities bordering on the absurd, even well-designed countermeasures became meaningless.
Rorschach turned away from the body.
Without wasting another second, he began walking deeper into the submarine.
The corridor stretched forward for about twenty meters before he stopped in front of a solid metal wall.
His eyes ignited again.
TSSSS!
Heat vision cut a perfect square outline into the metal surface.
Then Rorschach punched forward.
The section of wall collapsed inward, revealing the hidden chamber beyond.
Inside was a sealed silver-colored room.
Eric was pinned against the wall.
Shaw stood in front of him, holding him in place with overwhelming strength.
Hearing the noise, Shaw slowly turned his head.
The moment his eyes landed on Rorschach, his expression hardened.
Coldness and killing intent radiated from him.
"So it's you again," Shaw said quietly.
"They really couldn't stop you."
His gaze grew darker.
"I knew you would become my greatest problem."
The Black Emperor stared at Rorschach with undisguised hostility.
This young man had ruined too many of his plans.
And this time—
No matter what—
Shaw intended to eliminate him.
.....
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