Metal screamed.
At Magneto's command the gathered mutants surged forward. They expected resistance — but not the sort of trick the government had set: soft, plastic firearms. Magneto's brow tightened. He should have had Quicksilver scout first.
A sudden cry cut through the air. One mutant fell, clutching a shoulder where a dart had struck—an injected suppressant. His power flickered out like a broken bulb. Trap.
"Quicksilver—don't stall!" Magneto barked. His voice was steel. Concrete and rebar groaned, lifting into a jagged barricade.
Quicksilver obeyed. He blurred in a silver streak, snatching guns, tripping officers, dragging down would-be shooters before they could raise an alarm. In ten heartbeats the field was a mess of sprawled uniforms and ringing radios. The Brotherhood surged: "Raze this place! Destroy the injections!"
They charged, boots and fists and metal, and for a moment the island looked like a stampede.
Then the shadow hit.
Something huge crashed out of the research tower — a black thunderclap of muscle and fury. The Hulk descended like an angry mountain and smashed into the first line of mutants. Those who'd been bragging a heartbeat before were sent flying like toys. Nightcrawler tried a teleport behind the Hulk and was swatted aside like a fly.
Magneto's lips curled. He hadn't planned for the Hulk.
The green behemoth landed and roared, punching through concrete and metal as if they were paper. He met Juggernaut head-on — two unstoppable forces colliding. The impact threw out a shockwave that toppled people and shredded a stretch of the island like peeling cardboard. Juggernaut's confidence crumpled; his bones shattered against the Hulk's immovable strength. With a single brutal kick the Hulk sent him tumbling into the surf.
"Banner!" someone cried. "Step back—this is not the way!"
But Banner was not in anyone's control tonight. The Hulk moved with terrible clarity, eyes narrowing on Magneto as if naming an enemy. He pummeled through the concrete barricade Magneto wielded and tore steel like tissue.
Quicksilver, fastest of the fast, zipped in to shield Mystique — a single strike would have broken ribs, but speed let him take the hit instead. Magneto hovered, fists clenched, and for the first time in weeks a slow, hard calculation crossed his face.
Steve Rogers stood apart, watching from the research facility's upper floors. He didn't need to run in; the Hulk was a force that required containment, not conversation. The Avengers — or what remained of them — had set an ambush here before dawn. They'd expected Magneto might try something on Devil Island. They'd expected trouble. They hadn't expected the whole thing to detonate into this.
Magneto sneered. "You think you can stop me with your shields and your righteous speeches, Steve? From the moment my power awakened, I swore I would not kneel. Those who would erase us must pay."
He lashed out. Hundreds of metal shards flew from the rippling cloak at his back, a silver storm aimed at the Hulk's face. The projectiles slashed through the air like a thousand knives, and for a heartbeat it worked — the Hulk staggered, losing momentum.
Then the ground itself answered. The Green Giant recovered, spat a mouthful of rubble, and came back with twice the force. Landing from a hundred-foot leap, he slammed the island so hard the concrete fractured in concentric veins. He shook his head, a living wrecking ball, and the pieces of Magneto's attack were brushed away like dust.
Ryuuto — on the island with Susan and Katie Dee — watched from the fringe, bread still half-eaten in his hand. Breakfast had never felt less important. He'd counted on Magneto making the first catastrophic move; he'd hoped to show up as the reasonable rescuer. Instead, the battlefield had become a blender of ideologies and raw power.
Lovely, he thought. Everyone decided today was a good day to go big. Could've been coffee instead of carnage.
He hugged the sandwich to his chest, not because he needed to but because habit steadied him. Across the chaos, he saw Quicksilver dart and Mystique shift her form to dodge a crushing blow. He saw Steve step forward, shield raised, voice steady as a metronome: "Magneto — I don't want to hurt you, but stand down."
Magneto laughed, a sound that tasted like iron. "Stand down? I will never submit to a government that would erase us. I want to see how the Hulk ends you, Steve. Let us begin."
The Hulk answered with an earth-shattering roar and surged toward Magneto again, and the island became a furnace of clashing legends.
Ryuuto dropped the last bite of his sandwich and slipped his hands into the folds of his jacket. There was no time for theatrics. This was the war's opening bell.
He breathed in, tasted salt and metal and smoke, and felt an old, steady hunger rise — not for conquest, but survival.
The first blows had been struck. Now the real fight would begin.