[A/N: Hope everyone will have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's grind this Level 2026… Damn, it feels like 2019 was just yesterday. It's like we fckin skipped a few years.]
"Leave this guy to me," Ethan said calmly, stepping forward as the others ducked behind cover.
In a blur, he launched himself at Morris, landing a devastating punch that burst the villain into a spray of mist.
"You're asking to die!" Morris hissed, reforming quickly and leveling a gun-shaped water construct at Ethan's face.
Bang!
The instant the shot fired, the bullet reversed course mid-air, slamming back into Waterman and rippling harmlessly through his liquid form.
"Cute trick," Ethan muttered, backhanding him hard enough to scatter his body again.
Morris reformed several meters back, clearly shaken. "What the hell are you?!" he demanded, but before he could finish, Ethan was already on him again, splashing him into puddles with relentless precision.
"Physical force won't hurt me," Morris said, his form swelling as he drew in moisture from the surrounding fog.
In seconds, he loomed over them, a monstrous ten-meter-tall giant made of roiling water.
"Your ability is impressive," Ethan said, analyzing him coolly, "but that's not enough."
Before Morris could stabilize his form, Ethan seized the moment while he was still compact.
Ethan extended his hand, and the air around them fell unnaturally still. With a sharp motion, every molecule of water in Morris's body and the surrounding mist froze in place, suspended mid-air as if time had stopped.
The Morris' form trembled, locked in place, unable to shift or reform.
Ethan held him there with pure telekinetic force, manipulating the vectors of motion down to the molecular level.
"Looks like I've got you," Ethan smirked, strolling up with a casual swagger.
Morris' eyes widened in panic. "You... how did you—?"
"You're not the first enemy that I've had who thinks he's special," Ethan replied. "And you won't be the last."
Trying to keep calm, Morris scowled. "I can survive any state—gas, liquid, solid. You can't hurt me, only slow me down."
Ethan grinned. "Basic chemistry, buddy. What happens when water meets a high-voltage current?"
With a sharp twist of his hand, electricity crackled through the air.
The sphere lit up like a ball of lightning, and a tortured scream erupted from its center as the Hydro-Man convulsed inside the plasma.
With Hydro-Man neutralized, Ethan turned to survey the chaos. Frank was locked in fierce hand-to-hand with Hedgehog.
Thanks to Frank's enhanced healing factor, he was holding his own.
Thunderbird and Blink were holding back two armored, blue-skinned invaders, keeping them off balance.
The most intense fight, however, was between Polaris and Colossus. The towering brute had grown to a monstrous size, forcing Polaris onto the defensive.
"Need a hand?" Ethan called out.
The screams from the lightning orb had quieted. He knew Waterman wasn't going anywhere.
Polaris shook her head, eyes fierce. "I've got this."
She pulled a coin from her pocket, her fingers crackling with magnetic energy. As she flicked it into the air, the entire battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
Then—crack!—a beam of pure electromagnetic energy surged out, tearing through the air and striking Colossus dead center.
A blinding explosion followed.
When the dust cleared, a gaping hole had been blasted through the giant's chest.
"Magneto taught you that?" Ethan asked, genuinely impressed.
Polaris gave a small smile, her green hair fluttering with residual static. "My power's like his. When we met, he gave me some tips. I'm nowhere near his level, though. Right now, I can only channel enough power through small things... like a coin."
She twirled the still-hot coin between her fingers.
Ethan nodded, eyes glowing faintly with admiration. "Doesn't matter. You've got the spark. One day, the lightning dancing from your hands—people will never forget it."
With a final scream, the meta known as Quill dropped to the ground, defeated by Frank.
Enhanced with a powerful healing factor and trained as a top-tier operative, Frank was far more dangerous than his rugged appearance let on.
Seeing their allies defeated one by one, the two blue-skinned attackers began to panic. They tore themselves away from their skirmish with Thunderbird and Blink—well, mostly Thunderbird. Blink, as usual, stayed back, opening teleportation portals and offering occasional cover fire with her pistol. She wasn't built for direct combat.
The blue-skinned metas regrouped and exchanged a silent glance. One of them reached behind and pulled out a strange-looking pillar—about a meter long, golden in color, and textured like a fishbone.
Intricate runes lined its surface, glowing faintly. Unlike anything from the known magical artifacts or even those tied to Apocalypse, this relic clearly came from a different origin.
Without hesitation, one of the blue-skinned mutants sliced his palm open, letting blood drip onto the pillar.
"For Atlantis!" he shouted as he slammed the pillar into the ground. Both he and his partner knelt, their faces filled with solemn devotion.
At that moment, the ruby-red gem embedded at the top of the fishbone staff flared to life. A blood-red shockwave exploded outward.
Everyone caught in its radius groaned in pain, dropping to one knee.
Even Polaris, Frank, and Thunderbird were affected, their powers visibly disrupted.
Only Ethan remained standing, though even he grimaced as the wave washed over him.
"That must be the suppression tech Frank mentioned," Ethan muttered, narrowing his eyes. "That staff disrupts meta abilities. No wonder they were so confident."
He strode forward calmly, the pillar still glowing ominously. Reaching down, he gripped it firmly and pulled it free from the earth with one sharp motion.
"We'll take this back for analysis," he said coolly, storing the artifact in a containment pouch lined with energy-dampening material.
The two Atlanteans stared in disbelief. They had given everything to trigger the totem's full power. They looked completely shattered.
"Impossible... you're just surface dwellers," one of them whispered.
Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Tell me—who are you really?"
The kneeling mutant lifted his chin defiantly. "We are loyal to our King. We would never betray him, no matter what."
Frank stepped forward, squinting at the scales on their arms. "These guys aren't just any water-dwelling metas. They're Atlanteans. From the city deep beneath the Atlantic."
Ethan gave them a sharp look. "When you activated that relic and shouted your spell, you gave yourselves away."
The Atlanteans remained silent.
"..." 2x
Frank raised his gun, leveling it at one of their foreheads. "Why did you come here? Is your king the one pulling the strings?"
But instead of fear, the Atlantean stared straight into the barrel, his eyes full of resolve.
"Kill me if you want," he said, voice steady. "I'll never talk."
Ethan exchanged a glance with Frank. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.
Frank didn't flinch.
Instead, a slow smirk crept across his face as he holstered his pistol.
"You know," he said, voice low, "I'm actually better at making people talk than pulling the trigger. Food, pain... whatever it takes."
He gave Dazzler a look. Dazzler nodded and stepped in front of the Atlantean.
"If you live in the ocean, how do you handle heat?" Frank asked coolly, circling them like a predator.
Meanwhile Dazzler she lifted her hand, palm glowing with a soft golden light.
"I control light. Focused enough, it burns hotter than steel. Want to guess how long you'll last?"
"Easy, Alison. No need to rush," Frank said coldly. "Let's take our time cooking this fish. Ten minutes should do."
One of the Atlanteans cracked.
His eyes flicked toward the Punisher, then the beam of light in Alison's hand. "Alright! It's Namor... King Namor of Atlantis. He's the one who sent us."
Frank narrowed his eyes. "What's he doing on the surface?"
"We're not sure," the Atlantean muttered. "He came with a guard one day, to a desert. There were signs of a battle... and something else. After that, he brought us here."
Ethan, standing silently behind them, suddenly looked up. "A desert... That must've been a remnant site tied to Apocalypse. It drew Namor in."
"Where is he now?" Frank asked.
"He's on that island," the second Atlantean said, pointing across the bay. "Where the statue used to be."
"So he's already here," Ethan murmured, eyes glowing faintly. "Then let's go say hello."
Frank nodded, and the group turned toward Blink, who was standing off to the side. Her eyes widened as everyone stared at her.
"What? Oh—right. Portal. Got it."
Liberty Island, once a shining symbol of New York pride, had become a forgotten ruin.
Since the alien invasion, no one had bothered to restore it.
The remains of the fallen statue lay scattered, twisted metal and broken stone littering the ground.
When Blink opened the portal, the team stepped into silence and rubble. The sight stirred a strange feeling in Ethan.
Years ago, his first mission had been here. Back then, he was just a green horn, milking Xavier of his scholarship.
Now, he stood as a school's Student Council President, one of the strongest metas alive.
"My king, forgive us," one of the Atlanteans suddenly whispered, dropping to his knees.
Ethan followed their gaze. Sitting among the ruins was a short-haired man with bare arms and a golden trident resting casually in his grip.
Namor.
The moment Namor felt their presence, he rose, slamming the trident into the shattered stone beneath him.
A wave of blood-red energy burst out, washing over the group like a crashing tide.
The force of it dropped most of them to their knees.
Namor's voice rang out, powerful and commanding. "Surface dwellers... kneel before me."