Battle for the Prison

The piercing alarm blared throughout the Mutant Secret Prison.

Red warning lights flashed in the dim corridors, their intermittent glow bathing the passageways in crimson. A drop of water slid down the wall, looking particularly eerie beneath the alarm lights as it fell to the floor like blood.

This aging facility, built at some unknown time, had not been this "lively" in a long while. Ever since President X ordered it rebuilt, no one had dared cause trouble here for years. Even the occasional disobedient escapee was usually dragged back soon afterward by Warden Fisk.

The soldiers here had grown accustomed to mocking these Mutant Monsters. No matter how powerful those monsters might have been outside, here they had all been trained into the most obedient dogs.

But today, the situation seemed to have reversed.

The soldiers roused by the alarm did not even have time to get dressed. They knew what the alarm meant: someone had opened the prison without authorization and released the inmates. If those monsters got out, things would get troublesome.

What was even more troublesome was that if they did not gather quickly and capture the prisoners, Warden Fisk's inhuman torture would be waiting for them.

Within Mutant Secret Prison, Warden Fisk was the only person besides President X whom they feared. It was not just the imprisoned mutants who feared him; even the guards were terrified of him.

More than once, they had watched Warden Fisk torment mutants by every means imaginable, simply to draw amusement from their suffering. More than once, they had also seen people who provoked Warden Fisk cruelly thrown into mutant cells, reduced to food for those monsters.

At that thought, the soldiers could not stop themselves from trembling. No one wanted to meet such an end. They rushed from their dormitories at top speed, racing toward Mutant Secret Prison.

But when they reached the second level, the sight before them left them stunned. Dozens of soldiers clutching submachine guns all froze in unspoken shock.

More than ten meters from the passage gate, Warden Fisk's enormous body lay limply on the floor. There was a gaping hole in his stomach, and Beast, Nightcrawler, Toad, and other Mutant Monsters who had originally been confined to the third level were feasting on his body.

Judging from Fisk's wide, unclosed eyes, Nightcrawler had teleported behind him and killed him while he was completely unaware. Until his death, he had not even seen who had killed him.

But to the soldiers, how these monsters had escaped was not important. How Warden Fisk had died was not important either. What mattered was that if they did not do something now, they would be the next to die.

"The M3 Mutants have broken free! Open fire! Don't let them get close! Hurry!" someone who appeared to be a squad leader shouted. But judging from his trembling voice, he had already been scared out of his wits.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!!

Flames burst from the muzzles as countless bullets rained down on the mutants like a violent storm.

Beast let out a roar, seemingly enraged that someone had interrupted his meal. His savage eyes locked onto the humans who dared attack him, while his sharp teeth ground together with a chilling scrape.

"Suppress them! Don't let them—don't let them come over!!!"

Meanwhile.

Zhang Ye, still opening cell doors on the third level, twitched his ear slightly. Amid the alarms, he vaguely heard noises from upstairs. It seemed the first batch of mutants who had rushed out had already exchanged fire with the soldiers.

Zhang Ye was not worried at all about whether these mutants could defeat the soldiers. Though their powers had been weakened in this universe, they were not something ordinary people could kill with guns. Of course, if someone happened to die, they could only blame themselves.

Whether it was the soldiers or the mutants he had released, Zhang Ye did not care in the slightest whether they lived or died. This world had long been riddled with holes and swallowed by darkness. It was no longer worth saving. For Zhang Ye, getting out of here was what mattered.

After releasing the last prisoner on the third level, Zhang Ye stopped beside Shadowcat Kitty. This world's Kitty looked to be in her twenties, even older than Pietro, vastly different from the young and energetic Kitty Zhang Ye remembered.

Aside from the comics, Zhang Ye's only impression of Shadowcat was the little girl from the movies. He had once wondered whether she would play Shadowcat again, but he heard that actress had later undergone gender reassignment surgery. It seemed impossible for her to return in the films.

Putting those stray thoughts aside, Zhang Ye lowered his head and looked at Kitty. "Do you need help?"

Kitty slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze toward Zhang Ye was filled with complicated emotions. In the end, she spoke softly. "You can't help me. This is a nightmare."

Hearing that, Zhang Ye closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Then he slowly placed his left hand, equipped with the Iron Suit, on the iron pillar fused with Kitty's body.

Watching Zhang Ye's movements, Kitty seemed to realize what he intended. She did not refuse. Instead, she closed her eyes as well and quietly waited for what came next.

Crack!

Enhanced by the Iron Suit's arm, Zhang Ye used brute force to wrench the iron pillar straight out of the cell.

Perhaps because of Kitty's mutant ability, Warden Fisk had not made her cell from especially sturdy materials like those for the other monsters, using only basic materials instead. That made Zhang Ye's violent demolition remarkably smooth.

The next moment, Kitty's internal organs spilled across the ground with a wet crash, like a bowl of red-hot oil hot pot.

At the sound, even Zhang Ye's hand could not help trembling.

"Thank you."

Kitty used the last of her strength to utter those words, then stopped breathing.

Zhang Ye knew she could not be saved. Her mutant ability had failed, fusing her body with the iron pillar. Forget him—even if Tony Stark from this world came back to life, he would have no solution in the short term. Rather than leave her here, it was better to end her suffering sooner.

"..." Zhang Ye fell silent. He closed his eyes slightly, then reopened them a moment later. This time, his gaze was exceptionally resolute.

He followed the stairs up to the second level. The battle here was still ongoing. The soldiers had the advantage in numbers and heavy firepower, which had temporarily suppressed the mutants Zhang Ye released, forcing them to hide behind cover without daring to show themselves.

Nightcrawler, Beast, and other powerful mutants had launched several charges, but without coordination and fighting alone, they had all been driven back by the soldiers and the guards who came to reinforce them.

The soldiers knew that the instant these mutants escaped, the entire prison had been surrounded by an Electric Barrier. In other words, even they had been locked inside the prison and could not escape.

So if they could not kill these Mutant Monsters, then no one here would get out alive!

The mutants were not fools. After realizing how powerful the enemy's firepower was, they immediately hid, seemingly searching for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack. The soldiers also stopped firing and held their positions. Without knowing whether reinforcements were coming, firing recklessly would only waste ammunition.

For that reason, both sides had tacitly ceased fighting. Neither side made a rash move.

But at that moment, darkness descended. Every light bulb in the passageway went out in an instant, as if someone had cut the power. Most people lost their sight at that very moment, and everything before them became pitch-black!