After figuring out who had taken the Struckers, Liam wasted no time contacting Storm. He knew that if there was any chance of finding the family quickly, it would come from leveraging the X-Men's reach and resources. Every second mattered, especially with a newly awakened high-level mutant involved.
The call connected after a few rings, and Storm's voice came through, heavy with sleep. "This better be important."
Liam didn't hesitate. "Storm, we've got a serious situation."
There was a pause, followed by a sharp exhale. "You woke me up for this, so it had better be. Start talking, or I'll personally teach you what respecting your teacher means when you get back."
Liam grimaced slightly at the irritation in Storm's tone, but he didn't let it slow him down. Anyone would be annoyed getting dragged out of sleep in the middle of the night, but this wasn't something that could wait. "The Strucker family's been kidnapped. I tracked it down—it's the Hellfire Club."
That got Storm's full attention. The irritation vanished instantly, replaced by alert focus. Liam quickly explained everything he had uncovered, from the sudden awakening to the abduction itself.
By the time he finished, Storm was already moving. A fourth-level mutant had appeared, and worse, they had fallen into the hands of the Hellfire Club. That wasn't just a problem—it was a crisis.
Storm didn't waste a second. He got up and headed straight for Professor X's room, knocking firmly on the door. Within minutes, the key members of the X-Men had gathered in the conference room.
Professor X sat at the head of the table, calm but clearly attentive. Cyclops stood nearby, arms crossed, his expression serious. Jean leaned slightly against the table, her gaze thoughtful, while Logan remained off to the side, silent but watchful.
Cyclops broke the silence first. "A fourth-level mutant? Are we sure about this?"
Jean shook her head slightly, though there was no real doubt in her voice. "If it's coming from Liam's intel, then it's probably accurate. He doesn't jump to conclusions."
Storm stepped forward, pulling up the latest data they had gathered. "Our investigation shows that powerful mutants did exist in the Strucker bloodline. They were known as the Strucker Twins." He tapped the screen lightly. "But after that generation, nothing. No notable abilities in the descendants—until now. That suggests Liam ran into the reawakening of that lineage."
Logan narrowed his eyes slightly. "So what's the play?"
Professor X finally spoke, his voice steady and decisive. "We support Liam. No matter what, we cannot allow the Strucker family to remain in the Hellfire Club's hands."
No one objected. The stakes were too high for hesitation.
Storm glanced at him. "Do we send reinforcements?"
Professor X shook his head after a brief moment of consideration. "No. I believe Liam can handle this." There was a quiet confidence in his tone. "What he needs is support, not interference."
Cyclops gave a small shrug. "Then we feed him everything we've got on the target location and let him do his thing."
…
At the same time, Liam received the coordinates Storm had sent.
The building stood tall and imposing, its exterior sleek and corporate, but the atmosphere around it felt wrong. This was one of the Hellfire Club's fronts, a place where appearances hid something far more dangerous beneath.
Liam arrived with Polaris, Clarice, Thunderbird, and the others not long after.
Thunderbird glanced up at the structure, his expression tense. "So what's the plan? We going in loud?"
Liam smirked faintly, rolling his shoulders as he looked toward the entrance. "Of course. It's the fastest and simplest way, isn't it?"
There was no hesitation in his tone. Subtlety had its place, but not today. With his current power set, there was no need to overcomplicate things.
Without waiting for further discussion, he stepped forward and headed straight for the building.
The others exchanged brief looks before following. Whether they liked it or not, Liam's approach had a certain logic to it. When you had overwhelming power, sometimes the direct path was the best one.
The moment they stepped inside, they were stopped by security.
The guards were ordinary humans, clearly unprepared for what they were facing. Before they could even react properly, they dropped one by one, taken out by an unseen force. Invisible vectors twisted and struck with precision, knocking them unconscious without a struggle.
With no resistance left at the entrance, the group moved deeper into the building.
The interior grew darker as they advanced, the atmosphere shifting into something tense and expectant. When they reached a wide, shadowy hall, the lights suddenly flicked on all at once, flooding the space with harsh brightness.
Waiting for them were Reeva and the three Stepford Cuckoos.
They had clearly been expecting this.
Reeva stood at the center, composed and calm, her posture relaxed as if she were greeting guests rather than intruders. The three identical sisters flanked her, their expressions unreadable, their presence unsettling.
"Welcome, fellow mutants," Reeva said smoothly, her voice carrying easily through the hall. "I understand why you're here. But before things get messy, how about you let me finish speaking?"
Liam didn't slow his approach, his gaze cold and direct. "There's nothing to talk about. Hand over the Strucker family."
His stance made it clear—this wasn't a negotiation.
Reeva's eyes lingered on him, studying him with interest rather than hostility. "So you're the one who broke into the Garland Detention Center and walked out without a scratch." There was a hint of curiosity in her tone, almost admiration. "Impressive."
She tilted her head slightly, as if reassessing him. Someone with that kind of power wasn't just useful—he was valuable. If she could bring him into the Hellfire Club, it would be a major step forward for her plans.
Her gaze flicked briefly to the three sisters beside her.
The signal was subtle, almost imperceptible.
"Spare me the speech," Liam said flatly. "I don't care about your goals. If you don't hand them over, then I'll—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
A sharp, piercing sensation stabbed into his mind, like a needle forcing its way into his thoughts. It was invasive, cold, and deliberate, pressing inward as if trying to pry something open.
Liam's expression hardened instantly.
"...Pathetic."
He let out a cold snort, and in the same instant, his vector control activated. The foreign force trying to invade his mind was detected, analyzed, and immediately reflected.
The backlash was instantaneous.
A sharp cry echoed through the hall as the three Stepford Cuckoos collapsed to the ground at the same time, clutching their heads in pain. Their coordinated mental attack had rebounded on them completely, the force of it knocking them out in a single moment.
Everything happened so fast that no one else had time to react.
Polaris's hands lit up with green energy, her powers instinctively activating as she ripped metal from the surrounding structure. Steel bars twisted free from the walls, hovering in the air as she prepared to strike at any moment.
"What just happened?" she demanded, her voice tense.
Thunderbird shifted into a defensive stance, his eyes locked on Reeva. The air in the room turned sharp with anticipation, everyone bracing for the next move.
Liam stood at the front, his expression now completely cold.
He knew exactly what had just happened.
The Stepford Cuckoos had tried to invade his mind, using their combined telepathic abilities to take control. Together, they were strong enough to overwhelm most third-level mutants without them even realizing it.
Polaris herself had once fallen under their influence before.
But Liam was different.
The moment their psychic intrusion touched him, his vector manipulation treated it as a hostile force and reflected it back with precision. The result was immediate and brutal—the three sisters had been knocked out by their own power.
Now, the balance in the room had shifted completely.
....
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