Horizon University – Midnight Roofline
The campus always looked smaller at night. Horizon's glass spires and Xavier's gothic towers sat in the middle of the desert like a city dropped from space, their lights flickering against a black horizon. Jake sat cross-legged on the edge of the science dome, Rogue's jacket draped over his shoulders.
Below, Horizon students moved in tight clusters. Mutants moved in tighter ones. Between them was nothing but concrete, but it felt like a canyon.
"Don't take it personal, sugah," Rogue said softly, fingers brushing his arm. "They're scared."
"They think I'm a walking bomb." Jake stared at his glowing palms. "Maybe they're right."
Alloy buzzed from his backpack, tone unusually flat. "They're wrong about one thing. Bombs explode once. You've got a whole power plant inside you."
Rogue gave him a look. "You ain't helpin'."
Earlier That Day – Biology Lab, East Wing
Professor Essex's lectures were always… neat. Too neat. His coat pressed without a wrinkle. His handwriting perfect on the holo-board. His voice clipped and measured, like a metronome.
"Mutation is a spectrum," Essex said, fingers folded behind his back. "It is not a deviation but a direction. A refinement. Cells don't fail, they adapt. Or they perish."
He turned, eyes sweeping the room like scalpels. "And adaptation is… survival."
Jake shifted in his seat. Something about Essex's tone made the static in his chest crawl. Not just the words — the enjoyment behind them.
Alloy whispered from the desk console, "Okay, is it just me, or did the professor just sound like he was auditioning for the role of 'villain who monologues while petting a cat'?"
Jake pressed his lips thin. He wasn't wrong.
Deadpool meta-cut:
"CLASSIC foreshadowing, folks! Right there! Creepy teacher with perfect diction talking about survival of the fittest? If this were Jeopardy, the answer would be: Who is definitely evil but no one believes it until the cloning vats show up in Act Three? Ding ding ding!"
Essex continued, oblivious. "Consider how certain mutations grant immunity to radiation. Imagine… harnessing that, refining it, removing imperfections. Perfection is never accidental. It is… constructed."
For just a flicker of a moment, his eyes lingered on Jake. Too long. Too intent. Jake looked away, heart thudding.
Xavier's Campus – South Courtyard, Evening
Jean's voice brushed against his mind later that night. "I can feel minds here that shouldn't be. Someone's touched this place before me. Left stains."
Jake swallowed. "You think it's SHIELD?"
Jean shook her head, eyes shadowed. "Older. Sharper. Like a knife behind the curtain."
Alloy flickered turquoise. "I've been mapping Horizon's network noise. Ghost signals. Stasis pods. Some of them… feel like you, Jake. Cosmic. Magnetic. Psionic."
Rogue stiffened. "Magnetic?"
Jake's stomach dropped. "Like Magneto."
"Or Xavier," Alloy muttered darkly.
Deadpool meta-cut:
"Foreshadowing counter is now at FIVE! Ghost signals, creepy monologues, and vague mutant soup pods. It's like we're stacking ominous Jenga blocks and daring fate to pull the bottom piece."
Horizon Roofline – Present
Jake closed his glowing hands, willing the hum to stop. "Whoever Essex is, he's already in here. Watching us. Maybe even building something."
Rogue squeezed his arm, grounding him as his veins dimmed. "Then we watch back. Together."
Alloy's lens blinked once, faintly. "Then we're gonna need a bigger firewall."
Down below, lights flickered across both campuses. For the first time since arriving at Horizon, Jake wondered if the real fracture wasn't between mutants and metas — but between the people inside the walls and the patient, silent predator already waiting outside them.
Deadpool meta-cut:
"And scene! Tune in next time when Essex pretends to be harmless again, Jake pretends not to notice, and Alloy pretends he doesn't want a body. Spoiler: everybody's lying to themselves. Except me. I'm perfect."