Katie Dee's jaw nearly dropped.
"Brother, you're way too calm! I wasn't asking for praise — I meant that even you can't tank poison gas. One whiff and your body's toast!"
Ryuuto waved a hand, eyes sharp. "Then stop yapping and go find where they're keeping the mutants. I'll handle things here."
Susan's expression tightened. She knew that tone. Ryuuto had already made up his mind — and once he did, there was no point arguing. So she grabbed Katie's wrist and phased downward.
The moment they vanished into the floor, the guards opened fire.
Pale green-tinted rounds hissed through the corridor — bullets laced with compressed venom gas.
Ryuuto's crimson eyes narrowed. Gas weapons, huh? Classic.
He'd seen this trick during the mutant riots — the cops used these rounds to paralyze mutants without killing them. As long as the bullets didn't burst mid-air, the gas inside stayed sealed.
He tracked every shot in real-time, his superhuman vision catching each bullet's arc like streaks of light. But the passage was too tight; there was nowhere to dodge.
"Tch."
With a burst of chakra-like energy, Ryuuto vaulted onto the guardrail and sprinted along it — his body a streak of scarlet motion. In the next instant, he vanished.
Then—
shhk!
The guards turned just in time to hear footsteps behind them.
By the time they spun around, Ryuuto was already there — massive blade in hand.
The Decapitator Sword shimmered into existence, its edge reflecting the flicker of red alarms.
Ryuuto's voice was quiet, almost bored. "Wrong place, wrong time."
He swung once.
A gust of sword energy ripped through the air. Limbs, armor, and rifles scattered like paper. Over twenty officers fell before they could even scream.
Ryuuto stood in the middle of the carnage, expression colder than steel.
This is what it means to be a traveler between worlds, he thought. If I'm going to play by their rules… I might as well write my own.
Anyone who got in his way — died. Simple as that.
He exhaled, stepping over the bodies. "No regrets."
With a flick of his coat, he ran downstairs.
"Ryuuto!" Susan's voice crackled through the communicator. "They're all locked in the basement — ten mutants total! Each one in separate cages, like animals! It reeks down here, it's disgusting!"
Ryuuto wrinkled his nose as he arrived. The stench of sweat and ammonia hit like a wall. He instinctively covered his face with his sleeve.
The imprisoned mutants rushed to the bars, shouting for help. All but one.
In the corner sat a massive man, arms chained, eyes dull. Juggernaut.
He didn't move, didn't even lift his head.
Figures, Ryuuto thought. Once Magneto's prized thug — now rotting in a basement.
Word was, Juggernaut had fought Hulk on Devil Island and lost his arm in the process. Magneto dropped him from the Brotherhood afterward. Now he was just another failed weapon — discarded and forgotten.
Ryuuto's mission was clear on paper: Kill or rescue Juggernaut.
But the more he looked, the less it felt like a choice.
"Shion," he muttered. "If this turns out to be another trap, I'm uninstalling you."
[Aww, don't be so cold, Host~ I'd miss you too much.]
Ryuuto ignored her teasing. His gaze swept the cages — each mutant had a metallic collar, blinking red.
Bombs.
His brows furrowed. Manual detonators. One wrong move, and every mutant here could go up in smoke.
He turned to Susan and Katie. "Guard the entrance. Anyone with a badge — kill on sight."
Susan hesitated, but Ryuuto's voice left no room for argument.
"Got it," she said grimly.
Katie checked her pistol and dagger, hand trembling slightly. "I'll handle the first one that shows his face."
"Good."
Ryuuto faced the mutants again. "Listen up. Which of you joined the riots while being mind-controlled?"
Three hands shot up.
"I did!"
"Same!"
"Me too!"
"Then tell me—who controlled you?"
The first mutant shook his head. "I don't know. One moment I was at home, then I woke up surrounded by corpses."
"Same here," said the second. "My mind just… blanked."
The third muttered, "I was buying groceries. Then suddenly—I was killing."
Ryuuto clicked his tongue. "So we've got nothing. Perfect."
He turned as one of the prisoners — a heavyset man with scars — gripped the bars. "Please, let us out. They treat us like pigs! Every day they take two mutants away, and none come back! Yesterday I heard screaming—someone was being dissected alive!"
Ryuuto's expression darkened.
Experimentation.
He'd once spoken to Tony about enhancing the X-gene artificially — but this? This was the twisted version of that dream.
If this was happening in one shelter… then there were hundreds more across the country.
He clenched his fist. "I just need the one pulling the strings. The rest of this rotten world can burn for all I care."
The mutants looked at him, trembling — uncertain if he was their savior or executioner.
Before Ryuuto could speak again, gunfire echoed down the hall.
Katie's voice came through the comm. "Two officers approaching! Leave them to me!"
Susan raised a hand to generate a barrier, but stopped when Katie vanished into the floor like a shadow.
The two officers froze mid-step, realizing too late the ground below them was no longer solid—