Kitty, who had previously been trapped within an illusion where the X-Men had killed her parents so that she would have nobody holding her back, could not stop herself from crying when she finally learned the truth. In that illusion, it had been Jason who bravely stood against them and revealed what had happened. The reality was infinitely better than the nightmare she had been shown, yet the experience had still taught her something important.
People like Jason would not hesitate to use her parents against her if it suited their goals.
As she phased back up through the floor, she found Alison waiting nearby. The singer quickly explained everything that had happened during the rescue.
“So we still need to go through the door?” Kitty asked. “Why don't I just phase us all out or something?”
“Isn't your control over phasing not good enough to phase other people yet?” Alison asked skeptically.
“I think I can do it. I mean, in the illusion I was able to... so maybe I can do it in reality too.”
Alison stared at her for a moment.
“...I'll pass.”
“Boring.”
By the time Sharon had recovered enough to move around normally, the five of them entered the elevator. Raphael had already hacked the system, ensuring that it would take them exactly where they wanted and nowhere else.
As the elevator doors opened behind Jason, five figures stepped out.
His reaction was immediate.
An illusion spread outward the moment he saw them.
It failed completely.
Lex was already immune. Donna possessed absurdly high mental resistance, while Sharon had received Lex's blood and with it resistance against a wide variety of harmful effects. When Lex had awakened Kitty and Alison earlier, traces of that same protection had been passed on to them as well.
Jason's expression darkened.
The Brimstone Mutation Disruptor had stopped functioning.
Or more accurately, the power source feeding it had stopped functioning.
Jason was furious. In his mind, there was only one explanation.
Azazel had betrayed him.
What he didn't know was that Azazel wasn't responsible at all. Earlier, while attempting to interfere with Azazel's teleportation, Lex had unconsciously used the Force to obstruct access to the Brimstone Dimension itself. Azazel's personal connection was powerful enough to force its way through the interference, but the machine powering the disruptor wasn't nearly so fortunate.
Without access to the Brimstone Dimension, it simply stopped receiving energy.
Fortunately for Jason, reinforcements arrived at that exact moment.
“Well, this is certainly interesting,” Sebastian Shaw remarked as he entered the room alongside his adopted son, Shinobi. “Making the X-Men and the Brotherhood fight each other? I have to admit, I didn't expect this.”
Not long afterward, Emma Frost entered as well.
“My, my,” Emma said, looking toward Lex and his group. “A man surrounded by four beautiful girls. Are we interrupting something?”
Outwardly, Emma appeared as composed and amused as ever.
Internally, however, she was surprised.
All five individuals possessed unusually strong resistance to telepathy.
“Oh?” she continued, her gaze settling on Lex. “It seems our newest member has decided to rebel.”
Emma's eyes narrowed slightly.
The others possessed mental defenses.
Lex did not.
Instead, he possessed the same strange psychic emptiness she had only ever sensed from one other person. It wasn't resistance. It wasn't a shield.
It was as though there was no mind there at all for a telepath to touch.
Lex was genuinely surprised that Emma had recognized him.
Did they already know about his shapeshifting?
<Likely. You have been cautious, but also inexperienced in maintaining a hidden identity.>
Raphael's response was blunt as always.
Ignoring Emma entirely, Lex began walking toward Jason.
“Now, now,” Sebastian said as he casually stepped between them. “I knew you had potential, Lex, but this is impressive even by my standards. A team of your own, enough power to challenge established players... honestly, I'm proud.”
Lex didn't stop walking.
“But let's not be hasty. We're all members of the Hellfire Club. Whatever disagreement exists here, surely we can resolve it like civilized men.”
“Sebastian, I might have considered you a friend once,” Lex replied. “That ended the moment you forced me into your club.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
“As for the Hellfire Club, I don't give a fuck about it. There is no way in hell I'm associating with people who sell mutant meat to be eaten, experiment on mutants, and traffic children.”
With every crime he listed, an invisible pressure spread through the room.
Even Lex himself didn't seem fully aware of it.
The Force responded to his emotions instinctively, pressing down on everyone present.
The X-Men and Brotherhood members, who had only recently escaped Jason's illusion after Jean finally managed to break everyone free, found themselves turning toward the confrontation.
Their minds had recovered.
Their powers had not.
Most of them could barely access a fraction of their normal strength.
Yet none of them could look away.
Shaw, however, remained completely calm.
“Come on, Lex,” he said with a dismissive chuckle. “You're a wealthy young man who enjoys beautiful women. Whatever this misunderstanding is, it can be resolved. If Jason has something you want, I'm sure arrangements can be made.”
His smile widened slightly.
“Exclusive arrangements.”
Jason immediately understood what Shaw was doing and joined in.
“Of course. In fact, since you've already gone through all this trouble for those two, I'll make it easy for you.” He gestured toward Kitty and Alison. “Ninety percent off.”
The room went silent.
Even Emma Frost looked stunned.
She had always known the Hellfire Club was dirty.
Drugs.
Political corruption.
Organized crime.
Prostitution.
She had seen all of it.
She had even suspected worse things existed beneath the surface.
But throughout it all, the club had always preached one thing above everything else.
Mutants first.
Mutant superiority.
Mutant prosperity.
And now one of its Inner Circle members was casually trying to sell two mutant girls in front of her.
Emma's expression remained neutral.
Inside, however, disgust churned violently.
Cannibals.
Rapists.
Traffickers.
She could tolerate many things.
This wasn't one of them.
Still, she forced herself to remain calm.
The X-Men were here.
The Brotherhood was here.
If Lex stalled long enough, both groups would recover enough strength to kill these two pathetic bastards themselves.
And if Shaw and Jason died...
Emma's influence inside the club would increase dramatically.
“Donna.”
Lex spoke a single word.
A moment later, Donna's fist slammed directly into Sebastian Shaw's face with enough force to shatter concrete.
Shaw's head snapped backward.
Then he smiled.
“He absorbs kinetic energy,” Mystique warned from the sidelines.
“Is that so?” Lex asked.
Donna immediately stepped aside.
Shaw straightened his suit jacket.
“You see? This is why I keep telling people not to solve every problem with violence.” His smile grew wider. “I can absorb kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy. Quite frankly, Lex, killing me is far more difficult than you think.”
Then his eyes drifted toward Kitty and Alison again.
“Now let's stop wasting time and discuss prices before I decide to pursue less pleasant options.”
Lex looked at him for a few seconds.
Then he raised a hand.
“Nihil Light.”
A brilliant green radiance erupted from his palm.
The moment it appeared, everyone present felt something fundamentally wrong about it.
The air in its path vanished.
Not burned.
Not displaced.
Gone.
As though existence itself had been erased.
The beam struck Shaw directly.
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
He tried to absorb it.
Nothing happened.
Because there was no energy to absorb.
There was only annihilation.
The green light passed through him effortlessly, carving a hole through his torso before continuing onward into the distance.
Even Lex wasn't entirely sure where it would stop.
Shaw stared down at the gaping void where a large portion of his chest had once been.
For all his power, influence, and manipulation, Sebastian Shaw was still flesh and blood.
And flesh and blood could not survive a hole through the center of its body.
His legs gave out.
Then he collapsed.
Dead.
An eerie silence filled the hall.
Every eye remained fixed on the fading trail of green light.
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone present had felt it.
The absolute destruction contained within that single attack.
Lex moved forward, completely ignoring the lifeless body on the floor with a massive hole carved through its torso. As he approached, Jason finally seemed to have a reality check. He had never imagined the day would end like this when only hours earlier he had been on the verge of gaining control over both the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
“Lex... there might have been a misunderstanding...” Jason said hurriedly, panic creeping into his voice. “If you're concerned about mutants, I understand completely. I'll stop the experiments immediately. As a mutant myself, I agree that we should be helping other mutants. Yes... yes, of course we should—”
Lex had already stopped listening.
“Raphael, is there any way to trap him in an illusion too? Take away his powers or something?”
<The Brimstone Mutation Disruptor has been analyzed. A similar effect can be created to disrupt his X-Gene. As for trapping him within an illusion, his daughter can be utilized. She possesses both a similar mutation and deep resentment toward him. However, there is currently insufficient information to determine whether that hatred is genuine or whether she is merely a spy placed within the Brotherhood by Jason.>
As Raphael spoke, information regarding Regan appeared within Lex's vision.
Without hesitation, Raphael guided the Force and the Eyes of Depth toward Jason's X-Gene, replicating the same principle the disruptor had been using.
Jason froze.
Then his face turned pale.
“No... no, you can't do that to me...” he whispered before panic completely overtook him.
The familiar connection he had relied on for decades suddenly vanished. The mutation that had defined his life, his influence, and his power simply wasn't there anymore.
Lex barely spared him a glance before pointing toward Regan.
“Do you truly hate him, or are you a spy within the Brotherhood?”
At the same time, he activated Milim Eye.
Regan immediately stepped forward.
“No! I'm not a spy.” Her answer came so quickly that she nearly stumbled over her own words. “Actually, I wish I could torture him to death. Just give me a chance. I'll trap him in his own mind. I'll make him live inside illusions just like he made everyone else. Please, just give me a chance. I'll do anything as long as I get my revenge.”
She wasn't simply trying to prove herself innocent. Faced with a man who had casually killed Sebastian Shaw and stripped Jason of his mutation, she also saw the first genuine opportunity for revenge she had ever been given.
Milim Eye showed no deception.
Every word was true.
“Be my guest,” Lex said.
At that exact moment, Jason noticed Lex's attention shift elsewhere and immediately tried to run.
He made it three steps.
Then Sharon's boot slammed into his side.
Jason flew across the room before crashing into a wall and collapsing in a heap.
“Actually...” Regan said awkwardly as she walked forward. “My powers still haven't recovered completely. Could we wait a little?”
“No problem.”
Lex immediately turned his attention toward Raphael.
“Can you fix that?”
<It is currently not possible. While disruption of an X-Gene is relatively simple, restoration requires substantially more information.>
“Oh well.” A faint smile appeared on Lex's face. “How about normal torture until then?”
Jason's expression immediately lost what little color remained in it.
With a casual gesture, Lex lifted him into the air using telekinesis. Jason struggled desperately, but without his mutation he might as well have been a normal man.
“Raphael, break one bone every minute.”
<Understood.>
A moment later, a sickening crack echoed through the room.
Jason screamed.
Lex simply turned away.
He walked over to a nearby table and sat down as though the matter had already been resolved.
Sharon and Donna joined him shortly afterward. Both of them understood that, despite everything Jason had done, this was the first time Lex had chosen cruelty so deliberately.
Neither tried to stop him.
Sharon quietly took his hand while Donna patted his back.
Neither said a word.
Meanwhile, Storm approached Kitty and Alison.
“I'm really sorry we couldn't get here sooner,” she said, genuine guilt visible on her face. “Or rather, I'm sorry we allowed you to be kidnapped in the first place.”
Kitty lowered her gaze.
“Thank you, Ms. Ororo, for coming to save us,” she said quietly. “But... I also wanted to tell you that I might not be able to attend Xavier's Institute anymore.”
She hesitated before continuing.
The illusion was gone. She knew that.
She knew her parents were alive and safe.
Yet the memories still lingered.
And more importantly, so did the realization that people like Jason would never hesitate to use the people she loved against her.
She simply didn't feel safe anymore.
Not with the X-Men.
Not with anyone.
Storm seemed to understand immediately.
“I can understand that,” she replied gently. “You may have lost trust in Xavier's. But it is still the best place to learn how to control your abilities, understand your mutation, and live peacefully in the world. Whatever you decide, our doors will always remain open to you.”
She then looked toward Alison.
“And you?”
Alison shifted uncomfortably.
“I... I want to be a singer,” she admitted. “I don't want all this mutant stuff. I'll stay in touch, but I need some time before making a decision.”
“Understandable.”
Before Storm could say anything else, Mystique stepped forward.
“Indeed,” she said smoothly. “Finding yourself kidnapped despite the X-Men having information about the threat is certainly unfortunate.”
Storm immediately frowned.
Mystique ignored her.
“The Brotherhood, on the other hand, looks after its own. We fight for mutantkind, not just ideals. If you're looking for a place where mutants protect other mutants, you should consider us as well.”
It was shameless recruitment, and everyone present knew it.
“We'll think about it,” Kitty replied diplomatically.
With that, both girls excused themselves and began walking toward Lex's group.
Behind them, another crack echoed through the room.
Followed shortly by Jason's scream.