Good news travels slowly; bad news spreads like wildfire.
The moment the FBI knocked, almost every Pioneer employee knew Trask's crimes had caught up with him—and no one tried to stop the Agents.
With the CEO about to be cuffed, the staff figured it was smarter to spend the time job-hunting.
But the Awakened security team Trask had hand-picked saw it differently: thugs and sociopaths who cared nothing for badges, they opened fire on the raiding Agents.
BOOM!
BZZZZT!
On live TV, the Awakened guards hurled flames and lightning at the agents—yet the public didn't turn on the Awakened, because the X-Men arrived moments later.
Erik flicked a hand and tore a gaping hole in Pioneer's outer wall; the team stepped from the Blackbird onto the stage.
Angel darted in first, guiding them from above; Alex tagged the targets he pointed out and unleashed optic blasts.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The Pioneer security squad reeled under the barrage.
They simply weren't that powerful—Vought had already screened them once. Anyone truly mighty would have been kept on Vought's payroll.
Though Vought claims it only vets an Awakened's values, the truth is the rowdy and the weak get tossed out.
If anyone were genuinely strong, the White Queen would have quietly funneled them to Fang Yuan long ago.
Come on, it's Vought—without backroom deals it wouldn't be Vought.
Inside Pioneer HQ, Alex held nothing back, shredding everything in sight—except civilians.
Walls ended up pock-marked with blast craters.
Personal grievance dialed up to eleven.
Truthfully, Erik alone could have handled the lot; the full team was overkill.
But this entire raid was a performance.
Fang Yuan wanted the World to watch righteous Vought punish evil Pioneer.
And after weeks of Pioneer's stunts, the team needed to blow off steam—legally.
Erik, Alex and the rest vented gloriously, trashing their rival's HQ on live broadcast—pure catharsis.
Warren swooped around in a sleek new suit; when gunmen fired, he folded his wings like a shield, then dove, sweeping several Awakened off their feet.
The Angel of today was no rookie—he wielded his wings so deftly that he outperformed many energy-projecting Mutants.
If middling Warren shone this bright, the rest were unstoppable; even low-combat Darwin struck heroic poses for the cameras, Pioneer's HQ serving as the perfect backdrop for Vought's stars.
Pioneer's Awakened guards were quickly routed; the X-Men felt great, and the audience loved every second.
Seeing uniformed superheroes blast criminal Awakened into retreat was like watching a blockbuster—only live.
With x-men: first class already trending, viewers now watched real heroes in action; their sympathy was obvious.
But the real shock was yet to come.
Alex's blasts were potent yet precise; walls were pierced but the building's core stayed intact—no evacuation needed.
Then Charles, still in his wheelchair, sensed something wrong.
He looked toward the anomaly: a wall had been obliterated, revealing an unmapped section beyond.
Beast, acting as Professor X's bodyguard, sniffed the air and blanched. "Blood."
Professor X pointed and barked, "Erik!"
The FBI cameraman swung to Magneto; Erik spread his arms, metal flowing like liquid to peel the wall away and expose the hidden room.
"A… laboratory?"
"God—*gag*!"
"Damn it, they're experimenting on Awakened!"
This was Trask's secret lab, tucked inside HQ for rapid deployment; he'd planned to relocate, but never expected a raid this soon.
He had never imagined the enemy would break down his door so quickly.
TV audiences worldwide froze in disbelief.
Human experimentation on Awakened?
Under Frye's orders, the FBI kept the feed rolling; the camera panned across the lab, broadcasting every horror.
Battered, bleeding Awakened in holding cells shocked viewers, but the sight of dissected bodies and organs floating in tanks triggered mass outrage.
The World exploded in fury.
"Pioneer recruits Awakened just to cut them open?"
"Wait—Pioneer backed the awakened one act! If every Awakened were registered, how many more would end up on those tables?"
The brutality was unbearable for any decent human being.
As the X-Men burst in, Bolivar Trask had just silenced the last lab tech; the next instant Raven and Sean caught him red-handed.
Banshee's sonic echolocation led Mystique straight to the last living souls in the lab.
With the Psi-Scramblers smashed, Xavier took control of Trask's Awakened guards; Sean seized Trask, but Raven froze at a workstation.
Her face contorted in horror; the cameraman behind her caught every frame.
On the table lay the dismembered-and-re-stitched body of Black Queen—Salvador.
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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