"Are you the mutant who broke into the Garland Detention Facility?"
Dr. Campbell's voice was steady, but there was tension beneath it. Even though Liam had worn a mask during that incident, the man in front of him had still pieced things together. Body structure, posture, hair color—Campbell had drawn his conclusion from fragments.
"Yes," Liam replied with an easy smile. "Looks like you've done your homework."
"How did you get in here?" Campbell asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied him.
Liam waved the question off dismissively. "That's a boring question. Why not ask what I actually came here for?"
Campbell's brows furrowed, suspicion deepening in his gaze. He didn't like the shift in control, didn't like how easily this young man dictated the pace of the conversation.
"What do you want?" he asked bluntly. "Are you here to kill me? Because I attacked your mutant stronghold?"
"No, no," Liam said, shaking his head with a faint laugh. "I won't deny that you pissed me off. But I didn't come here to kill you."
Campbell paused for a moment, clearly caught off guard by that answer. "Then what is it?"
Liam's smile widened slightly, calm but unmistakably dangerous.
"I came to make you my servant."
For a split second, silence filled the lab.
"Servant?" Campbell's expression changed dramatically, the meaning of that word hitting him immediately. He understood exactly what kind of power could force such a result.
His body reacted before his mind could catch up.
His hand moved sharply toward the alarm button.
Too late.
An invisible force crashed into his mind like a tidal wave.
Liam's telepathic power surged forward, invading his consciousness without resistance. There was no struggle, no drawn-out battle—just overwhelming dominance.
Campbell's thoughts froze.
Then they began to change.
Memories shifted subtly, directions altered without being erased entirely. Liam didn't remove his hatred for mutants. That emotion remained intact, buried deep within his psyche.
But its target changed.
The purpose of his research twisted.
Instead of building weapons to exterminate mutants, his mind now turned toward something else entirely—the activation of the X-gene in ordinary humans.
The transition was seamless.
Campbell didn't even realize it had happened.
In truth, every human carried the X-gene within them. For most, it lay dormant, hidden so deeply that it would never awaken naturally. Only a small fraction of people ever manifested it.
The Sentinel program had been designed to hunt mutants, but its logic was flawed at its core. If every human possessed the X-gene, then technically, every human qualified as a target.
That was the true danger.
Left unchecked, the system would eventually classify all of humanity as a threat.
That was how entire worlds had fallen.
But now, the direction had been reversed.
If the X-gene could be awakened safely in ordinary people—without side effects—then the entire balance of the world would shift. Mutants would no longer be a minority.
There would be no "other side" left to fear.
And with Campbell's existing research into genetic modification and Sentinel technology, Liam believed it was entirely possible.
The man who once sought to destroy mutants would now unknowingly pave the way for their normalization.
Satisfied, Liam withdrew his telepathic influence.
He didn't linger.
There was no need.
With a simple step, space folded around him, and he vanished from the laboratory, returning directly to the underground mutant headquarters.
The moment he appeared, all eyes turned toward him.
"Well?" Thunderbird asked immediately, stepping forward. "Is it done?"
"Relax," Liam said with a light smile, nodding once. "It's handled."
A wave of relief passed through the room.
They didn't need details.
His confidence was enough.
"Dr. Campbell won't be a problem anymore," Liam continued. "But that doesn't mean we're in the clear. There are others like him out there."
He wasn't wrong.
Campbell wasn't the only one who despised mutants. Figures like William Stryker carried the same hatred, and there were countless others who shared that ideology.
Eliminating one threat didn't erase the system behind it.
"We understand," Thunderbird said seriously. "We won't let our guard down."
Liam gave a small nod, satisfied.
With that matter settled, he turned his attention inward.
Over the next few days, he focused entirely on studying.
Molecular structures, electromagnetic theory, physical principles—he immersed himself in it all. His abilities didn't require him to understand the science behind them to function, but without that knowledge, they remained crude.
Power without precision.
A rough stone.
If he wanted to refine it—if he wanted to push it further—then understanding was essential.
Even when Polaris or Clarice invited him out, he declined. For now, everything else came second.
At the same time, he continued signing in with others.
Andrew was next.
Surprisingly, the first attempt failed.
It was the first time something like that had happened, and it caught Liam off guard. He took a moment to think it through, eventually narrowing it down to one likely cause.
Andrew's attitude.
The rebellious boy clearly didn't like him, and that resistance seemed to interfere with the system's process.
It made sense.
Everyone he had successfully signed in with before had at least a neutral—or friendly—relationship with him.
On the second attempt, it worked.
[Ding! Sign-in successful. Ability obtained: Molecular Destruction.]
The moment the ability integrated into his system, something changed.
His previous "Condensed Molecules" ability merged seamlessly with it, forming something far more complete.
Molecular Manipulation.
A true evolution.
The description was simple, but the implications were immense. The ability allowed him to control molecular structures freely—creation and destruction at will.
Of course, that didn't mean he had become omnipotent overnight.
His current level still imposed limits.
He could manipulate molecules, but only within a certain threshold. The upper bound depended entirely on his own strength and development.
Still, even in its current state, it was already terrifying.
Shortly after, he signed in with the Strucker twins as well, further stabilizing and enhancing his molecular control.
The following day, he signed in with Evangeline.
[Ding! Sign-in successful. Ability obtained: Dragon Incarnation.]
The name alone was enough to hint at its nature.
It granted him the ability to transform into a dragon.
He hadn't tested it yet, but the implications were clear. Massive defensive capability, overwhelming physical strength, and likely access to abilities such as dragon breath.
There might be side effects—unknown variables he hadn't discovered yet—but that was something he would explore later.
Over the next few days, he continued signing in with other members of the underground mutant network.
Among them was a girl known as "Computer Girl," whose ability granted her brain the computational power of a supercomputer. That alone significantly enhanced Liam's ability to analyze and refine his own powers.
After that came Dreamer, Pedro, Skyler, and several others, each adding another piece to the growing arsenal he was building.
....
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