The Evil God Beast's Bad Luck

At a secret military base.

Colonel Stryker stood in a dim room before a one-way mirror.

On the other side was a bed. A young man lay on it, with brown hair, pale skin, and closed eyes. He looked terribly sick.

Tubes and wires covered his body, connecting him to several humming machines. On their screens, his brainwaves jumped at an abnormal frequency.

Mastermind. Stryker's son, Jason Stryker.

A Mutant with extraordinary mental-control powers. Not telepathy like Professor X's, but something more primal: the ability to create hallucinations directly inside a person's mind.

He could make you see what you feared most, what hurt you most, what you least wanted to see. Then you would go mad.

Stryker stood before the glass, hands clasped behind his back, his expression unchanged.

Behind him stood a subordinate in a black suit, holding an intelligence report that had just arrived from New York.

"Colonel, the Xavier Institute has been devastated. Our investigation confirms that Cyclops and Beast are dead, Storm has had both legs amputated, Professor X is gravely injured, and the school building has suffered extensive damage.

The X-Men have now evacuated the school." The subordinate spoke without emotion, as though reading a weather report.

Stryker's mouth twitched. "Russell did it?"

"Not entirely. According to reports from the scene, Jean Grey lost control. Russell was there, but he was caught up in it. He didn't initiate the attack."

"Jean Grey." Stryker repeated the name, picturing the red-haired woman. Professor X's prized student. The Mutant with the Phoenix Force sleeping inside her.

"She finally lost control. I told them all Mutants would lose control sooner or later. If not today, then tomorrow. If not this one, then another. They should never have existed."

He then watched the footage of the Battle of New