Laura

Outside the laboratory building, Laura's neck was trapped in a blue tail covered with barbs. The crushing lack of air left her mind blank.

"Mm!!"

She felt the tiny barbs scraping her skin, each struggle driving them deeper. On Night Demon's blue face, a cruel, mocking look made it seem as though he were admiring an entertaining toy.

Faced with Night Demon's threat, Laura bared her teeth. The feral instincts she had inherited from Logan surged to life!

The little wolf snapped her jaws open and sank her teeth into the iron-whip tail with all her strength!

"Hiss—!"

Night Demon sucked in a sharp breath. His tail sprang away as if burned, flinging Laura aside!

Bang!

Laura's back slammed into the cold wall, jarring every organ in her body. She had no time to dwell on it. The instant she hit the floor, she curled up and rolled forward, scrambling around the corridor corner.

She leaned against the wall, coughing hard and gulping down air.

Before she could steady herself, blue smoke burst into existence right in front of her.

"Where are you looking?"

Night Demon's voice came from directly before her, edged with irritation at the slight. Then his claws came down.

Clang!

Laura raised her hand on instinct to block. Sparks from colliding metal flashed through the dim corridor, and the impact numbed her arm. He was too fast. Every attack came like a teleport, leaving her barely able to defend herself on instinct.

This couldn't go on!

After trading several more blows with Night Demon's ghostlike claws, Laura broke away. She sprang back, scaled the iron bars outside a window in a few quick movements, and climbed onto the roof before diving into a narrow ventilation duct.

Smoke drifted across the roof as Night Demon appeared at its edge close behind her.

"Tch."

Night Demon curled his lip. He was too large for the narrow duct, and his teleportation would be severely limited inside it. One careless move could leave him stuck in a wall. There was no way he would follow Laura in.

With no sign of Laura, Night Demon searched briefly, then gave up and strode into the laboratory building.

Night Demon reached the genetics lab on a middle floor first. He pushed open the door and found the equipment still running automatically. Data continued to cascade down the enormous screen, but there was no one in sight.

The boy in the wheelchair mentioned in the intelligence was gone, as was Professor Charles Xavier, who was supposed to be with him.

"Hiding?"

Night Demon muttered to himself. No one on this mission carried electronic communications equipment, so he could not immediately contact the other team members or his commanding officer, General Lake. For now, he would have to search nearby on his own.

Meanwhile, at a vent in another section of ceiling, Laura knelt on one knee atop the metal panel, her head tilted. Holding her breath, she watched Night Demon's blue figure disappear down the corridor through the gaps in the grille.

She recalled the tactics she had discussed with Miles and Logan before the fighting began.

"Night Demon's power probably came from Wagner, the former Nightcrawler. He can teleport instantly to anywhere he can see, but he won't risk jumping into an unfamiliar, enclosed space. He could get stuck somewhere inside a complicated structure..."

As Laura worked out a plan, she took the miniature earpiece she had used earlier from her pocket and slipped it into her ear.

"Miles, are you there?" Laura called softly.

But it was not Miles who answered. It was Aurora.

"Do you need help, Miss Laura?" Aurora's gentle, clear voice came through the earpiece.

Laura paused, then lowered her voice. "How's Miles?"

"He is fighting Lightwave."

"Fighting?"

Laura froze. She remembered that all four members of The Purifiers wore headbands that protected them from Mind Control, and none relied on electronic devices. Lightwave could fly, too. He was plainly the most troublesome of the lot...

So how was Miles supposed to fight him?

Laura took a deep breath and gritted her teeth.

"Aurora, I need your help..."

Night Demon had just passed a room when he caught a faint sound from the ventilation duct overhead.

He looked up and glimpsed Laura's frightened face through the vent grille.

"Heh... found you, little mouse."

He chose not to teleport. Instead, he deliberately slowed his steps, following beneath her at an unhurried pace like a beast savoring the hunt. The sounds in the duct came and went as she made her stumbling way toward the lower floors.

At last, the sounds vanished into the basement.

Following her trail, Night Demon pushed open a creaking iron door. Beyond it lay a storage room piled with discarded equipment, its air thick with dust and the smell of rust.

He had taken only one step inside when every light in the room went out with a snap!

Absolute darkness swallowed everything.

Night Demon tensed. At almost the same instant, the ceiling directly above him burst open, and a small figure lunged down through the debris!

Slash!

In the darkness, Laura's prepared ambush caught Night Demon off guard. He could not bring his full strength to bear. He barely dodged the killing blow before Laura closed in.

Clang!

Their steel claws struck twice, flashing in the dark. Then Laura threw herself at him without regard for her own safety!

Squelch!!

Even with his vision obscured by darkness, the battle-hardened Night Demon drove his claws straight into Laura's abdomen!

At the same time, Laura fought through the searing pain and swung the claws of her other hand at Night Demon's head with all her might!

Night Demon jerked his head aside. Laura's steel claws swept past his temple, but their tips caught the silvery-white Anti-Mind-Control Headband he wore and tore it apart!

With a sharp clang, the broken headband flew upward and fell into a dark pile of junk. It made no further sound.

"Disobedient little brat..."

Her swing spent, Laura had no strength left. Night Demon held her in the air, his claws still piercing her body.

With his uninjured hand, he seized her throat and pulled her off his claws. Blood sprayed out.

He glared at Laura, cold fury at being tricked churning in his dark-yellow eyes.

With his hand crushing her throat, Laura could barely breathe. A soundless cough caught in her chest. Then, in a hoarse whisper almost too faint to hear, she called a name.

"Miles..."

Night Demon's body went rigid. He let out a pained grunt, threw Laura to the floor, and clutched his head with both hands.

Miles's Mind Control had taken hold!

Laura seized the chance. Ignoring the agony in her abdomen, she drove her claws deep into Night Demon's knee!

Crack!

The dull snap of bone sounded especially harsh in the silent storage room.

"Aaaagh—!!!"

Night Demon screamed, the pain briefly wrenching him free of the psychic attack. But his body buckled, and he dropped to one knee.

Laura gave him no chance to recover. With several more precise strikes, she severed the tendons in his arms and legs, leaving him unable to move.

Only then did Laura's strength give out. She slumped against the cold wall, gasping for breath.

The wound in her abdomen began to close as she breathed. Laura raised a trembling hand to her earpiece.

"Miles, are you okay?"

"I'm fine... ngh!"

A sudden groan interrupted Miles on the other end.

Inside the cold-storage room, the temperature had fallen to around fifty degrees below zero. The air was so frigid that each cloud of breath froze almost instantly.

Davis's skin had turned an unnatural red. The energy rampaging through his body left him in agony, and he took all his anger out on the boy who had put him in this desperate position.

"Open the door!"

"Damn it... open the door!"

Driven nearly mad by the threat to his life, Davis grabbed Miles's gaunt right arm and broke it.

Then he seized one of Miles's fingers...

He did not dare kill Miles outright, but that did not mean he could do nothing else.

Miles was pale and drenched in cold sweat, yet his expression never changed.

"How embarrassing, Mr. Davis..." Miles said with a sneer. "All you have to do is kill me, and it'll be over..."

"So why don't you? Are you afraid?"

"You're about to die yourself... You really do obey your commanding officer, don't you..."

"Shut up!!" Davis was on the verge of losing his mind. He planted a foot on Miles's neck. "Open the door!"

"I suggest you calm down, Mr. Davis..." Miles said quietly. "What if I told you I wouldn't mind working for Northern Command? I could also tell General Lake, 'I'll work for you, but only if Davis dies... because he offended me.'"

"Do you think... General Lake would agree to that?"

Davis's expression changed. Even the pressure of his foot on Miles began to ease.

From what he knew of General Lake, there was a good chance the general would agree!

"Tch..." Miles gave a soundless laugh. "You really do respect your commanding officer, Mr. Davis... Did he do that to you back in the day? Don't be nervous. It's not unheard of in the US military... I'm very understanding. I'm not judging you..."

While Miles kept provoking Davis aloud, he was also dividing his attention, using his ability to stay in contact with Laura far away.

"Laura, listen carefully..." Miles's voice continued through her earpiece.

"Kill Night Demon, then go to the side entrance... I used an automated emergency stretcher to hide Charles in Room 1034 over there. Take him and leave through the side entrance. Logan and X-24 should be able to hold out a little longer. Once you're safe, take Charles to another hospital for postoperative care. Aurora will go with you..."

"...Wait, Laura, what are you doing?!"

In the basement, Laura switched off her earpiece.

Miles's strained, urgent instructions cut off at once.

The world fell silent, leaving only the rough, uneven sound of her breathing.

The wound in her abdomen had begun to heal. The little wolf glanced at Night Demon, who lay on the floor like a dead dog, and slowly clenched her fist.

She was not going to obey Miles and flee with Charles. She could hear it in his voice: Miles had no intention of leaving here alive!

He had always been like that. Something was wrong with his mind, and he often treated his own life as if it meant nothing. Only after meeting Mr. Charles had he started to seem a little more normal.

But that had lasted only a few days...

Only a few days.

Laura went to the corner and lifted a heavy solid-wood cabinet. She carried it back and, with every bit of strength she had, brought it down on Night Demon's head!

Thud!

Night Demon twitched once, then fell completely unconscious without a sound.

Laura grabbed his long blue tail and dragged him out like a heavy piece of luggage.

Even with her training, a ten-year-old girl had only so much strength.

"Urgh!!!"

Laura gritted her teeth and hauled Night Demon by the tail up the stairs toward the lobby, inch by inch.

In the laboratory building's front courtyard, the military unit had already recovered the badly wounded, unconscious X-24 with a special restraint device and given him another dose of specially formulated anesthetic.

After fighting X-24, Fire Giant sat nearby with his eyes closed, recovering his strength. His enormous weight made his ability especially exhausting to use. He needed a short rest and had left the remaining work to the others.

"Done. That went more smoothly than expected." A young soldier wiped sweat from his forehead, about to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Save it. Get ready to enter the building. The general's orders are to capture every target alive," the captain barked.

They had only just turned toward the laboratory entrance when a scraping, dragging sound came from inside.

A little girl covered in blood emerged from the stairwell, dragging a man by his long blue tail one step at a time.

The man was their comrade Night Demon, a member of The Purifiers.

Everyone instinctively raised their guns and aimed at Laura, but they remained wary and did not fire.

The scene was too bizarre. A blood-soaked little girl stood fearlessly before a squad of armed soldiers, dragging a gravely wounded, unconscious superpowered agent behind her.

"Girl, don't move!" someone ordered. "Let him go, put your hands up, then crouch down!"

Laura ignored him. She stared coldly at them and stopped a few meters away, leaving a dark-red footprint with every step.

Under the soldiers' uncertain gazes, two sharp steel claws sprang from the back of one of Laura's hands with a shing. Without hesitation, she pressed them against Night Demon's temple.

"Don't move!"

"Go back!" the little girl shrieked. "Or I'll kill him!!"

That was Laura's decision.

She meant to use her hostage to save everyone.

The soldiers exchanged glances. For a moment, a child had actually brought them to a halt.

They had no radios and could not contact command immediately. The situation was far beyond anything covered in their mission briefing. Their targets were important, but members of The Purifiers held a special position within the military. The soldiers had no idea what to do.

Fortunately for them, the standoff lasted only a few seconds.

Then another figure walked in through the laboratory building's side entrance, taking his time.

The man codenamed Impact approached the group and tossed the mangled, barely breathing old wolf Logan off his shoulder like a sack of trash.

"..."

Laura shuddered at the sight. She bit down hard on her lip without thinking, drawing blood without even noticing.

Before Laura, Impact ignored the half-dead Logan on the ground and looked calmly toward her. Behind him, dozens of fully armed figures raised their guns in unison and aimed at her head.