The ultimate balancing act: Lynn's imperial art of control
Lynn sat on a mahogany Throne twisted from a desk, his fingertips casually tracing the rim of a wine glass. The cold glass contrasted sharply with Wanda's burning body temperature in his arms.
The air still carried the pungent smell of Ozone from the Chaos Magic eruption, mixed with the acrid sensation of Susan's Force Field rubbing against the air. The vast top floor of the Baxter Building was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, but Lynn could clearly sense that beneath this calm surface, an undercurrent powerful enough to tear the earth apart was surging.
Susan's breathing was rapid and erratic, her blue eyes fixed on Wanda, and Invisible Force Field emitted a dangerous buzzing at her fingertips. Deep in the shadows of the ceiling, Gwen Stacy's Bioelectric Charge emitted extremely faint crackling sounds, like a venomous snake lurking in the dark, ready to pounce and bite off its prey's neck at any moment. Meanwhile, far away in the basement, Natasha, though not in front of him, could be heard through Lynn's micro-terminal from the dull thud of her fingertips, bleeding from excessive typing, striking the keys.
Four Yandere were forcibly crammed into a small space.
Lynn knew very well that suppressing them with violence would only push them further into extreme violence. These women's possessiveness towards him had become twisted to an inhuman degree. To maintain balance, he had to put a chain on them and transform this terrifying internal strife into a meat grinder for external expansion.
"Wanda." Lynn's deep voice echoed in the hall, breaking the deathly silence.
Wanda raised her head like a lioness guarding her food, the Scarlet in her eyes not yet completely gone. She stared greedily at Lynn's jawline, awaiting his verdict.
Lynn's fingers ran through her dark red hair, pressing against the back of her head, forcing her to tilt her head back and look at him. "A fifty-kilometer absolute defensive barrier, perfect. But defense has never been my style."
"Who do you want me to kill?" Wanda's tone was devoid of any hesitation, only a morbid craving for killing. With just one word from Lynn, she could tear the Pentagon to shreds right now.
"Infiltrate your magical network into the entire underground system of New York. Any rat bearing the insignia of the military or S.H.I.E.L.D.., daring to approach the edge of Manhattan, drain their life force without reporting." Lynn's thumb rubbed heavily across Wanda's lips, wiping away the trace of blood, his tone laced with extreme indulgence. "Use their blood to nourish your barrier. Can you do it?"
Wanda's breathing instantly became heavy. Lynn's unconditional trust and the privilege of killing were more addictive to her than any sweet words. She rubbed her hands together forcefully in Lynn's palm, a fanatical glint of ferocity flashing in her eyes. "I will tear them all to shreds, leaving not a single piece of flesh for anyone else."
After saying that, she glanced defiantly at Susan not far away, as if showing off her unique right to execute.
Lynn patted Wanda on the shoulder, gesturing for her to stand up. Then, his leather shoes slammed onto the carpet, making a dull thud, and he walked straight to Susan.
Susan instinctively held her breath, her blue eyes filled with anxious anticipation. Wanda's Causality Barrier had just left her feeling incredibly defeated, and she feared that Lynn would deem her worthless because of it.
Lynn didn't speak, but simply reached out and grabbed Susan's collar, roughly pulling her in front of him. Their noses were almost touching, and Susan could even smell the faint scent of cologne mixed with gunpowder on Lynn.
"Master..." Susan's voice trembled, and her legs went weak.
"If you're only using the energy of the Negative Zone Matrix to light up this building, then you've disappointed me greatly." Lynn's gaze swept across Susan's face like a knife. "What Reed dared not do, I dare. I want you to use the Matrix's energy to restart the weapons production line on the building's ground floor within forty-eight hours."
Lynn released her hand, straightened her disheveled collar, and said in a cold and inflammatory tone, "Stark Industries claims to be number one in the world, right? I want you to use your futuristic technology to crush Tony Stark's market share bit by bit. I want the entire dark side of the planet to be using weapons bearing your name, Susan Stone."
Susan's pupils contracted sharply. Lynn's words were like a heavy hammer, shattering her last moral shackles and instilling in her unprecedented ambition. Reed Richards had spent her entire life being overshadowed by Tony Stark, and now, Lynn had given her the power to trample that arrogant playboy underfoot!
"I will! I will turn Stark Industries into a pile of scrap metal! I will prove that only my technology is worthy of you!" Susan trembled with excitement, her eyes brimming with a morbid adoration.
Lynn turned around, her gaze seemingly casually sweeping across the shadows on the ceiling.
He didn't look up, but simply took a coin from his pocket and flicked it with his finger. The coin traced an arc in mid-air and shot precisely into the deepest darkness.
"Snap."
A very slight thud. A hand wearing a white glove caught the coin steadily.
"Since you've chosen to be a shadow, then do the job to the best of your ability." Lynn's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly into the darkness. "The military has planted many sentries in New York. Go and gouge out their eyes. Remember, I need absolute silence. Don't let me hear a single unnecessary scream."
In the darkness, Gwen, hanging upside down from the beam, clutched the coin Gwen Stacy in her palm. The coin still retained Lynn's warmth. This sense of exclusivity, this secret interaction between her and Lynn, greatly filled the void of her deep-seated inferiority complex.
She didn't utter a sound, but silently grinned in the shadows, revealing an extremely cruel and obsessive smile. Then, her body instantly merged into the darkness, disappearing from the vent like a breathless breeze, to hunt for her Deity.
Finally, Lynn pressed the miniature Communicator next to his ear.
Natasha's slightly heavy breathing came through the channel. She was still enduring the throbbing pain from her recently healed abdominal wound, but her typing speed did not slow down at all.
"Sir." Natasha's voice carried a suppressed fervor.
"Find out all of Stryker's financial flows, the Secret Base Coordinates, and his communications with Nick Fury." Lynn walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the brightly lit New York City. "Before dawn, I need to see all of his cards. If he's missing even one..."
"If I'm missing one, I'll chop myself up and feed myself to the dogs," Natasha answered without hesitation, her ruthless tone chilling.
"Very good." Lynn ended the communication.
He looked at his reflection in the glass window, a satisfied, cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
This is the ultimate art of imperial manipulation. Wanda needs her bloodlust to be indulged to prove her irreplaceable nature; Susan needs her ambition to be ignited to completely sever ties with the past; Gwen Stacy needs secret, exclusive missions to fill her possessiveness; Natasha needs high-pressure commands to satisfy her morbid instinct for obedience.
With just a few words, he perfectly bound these four women, who could destroy the earth at any moment, to the same war machine, turning them into the sharpest butcher's knife in his hand.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the Pentagon, at the secret base of the Weapon X Program.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of disinfectant and the stench of engine oil. William Stryker stood in front of the enormous monitor screen, his obese body trembling uncontrollably. Cold sweat soaked through his military uniform, trickling down his spine.
On the screen, the vital signs representing Sabretooth and the Brotherhood of Mutants had all turned into a deathly gray.
On the other side of the screen, a blurry satellite image is being magnified. It shows a massive magical mark made of pure Scarlet Energy above the ruins of Outskirts of New York. Like the eye of a Deity, it coldly mocks the military's incompetence.
"They're all dead... Even a monster like Sabretooth was crushed alive..." Stryker nervously bit his thumbnail until it bled without realizing it.
He recalled the brief audio clip he had just intercepted. The man named Lynn, with just one sentence, had caused those terrifying women to Carnage his elite troops like mad dogs. Especially the force analysis diagram of the Sabretooth's fractured bones—that was a physical force that no human could possibly possess!
"Sir! Director Fury has rejected our communication request. He has cut off the shared frequency band for the Blind Spot Program!" an adjutant reported in a panic.
"That one-eyed black bastard wants to use me as a pawn!" Stryker slammed his fist on the control panel, his eyes flashing with desperate madness.
He knew Lynn would never let him go. That man's revenge would be more terrifying than Hell. Since he was already backed into a corner, he had no choice but to fight to the death!
Stryker, panting heavily, abruptly turned his head and stared intently at the three-meter-thick blast-resistant Alloy Door deep inside the base. Behind the door, a muffled mechanical roar could be faintly heard, as if some colossal creature was breathing in its slumber.
"Conventional weapons are useless... Mutants are useless too..." Stryker's face contorted in pain as he yanked out his sidearm and pressed it against his adjutant's head. "Go! Wake up those three lumps of iron that Trask Industries sent!"
The adjutant's legs went weak with fear. "But sir! The ' Sentry ' Prototype are still in the Underlying Logic testing phase. If we force them to start, they might attack indiscriminately..."
"I told you to activate it!" Stryker roared hysterically, spitting all over his adjutant's face. "Lock down the Stark Industries Stock Corporation Building! That's the property Lynn acquired! I'm going to blow it all to smithereens before that monster comes knocking!"
With Stryker's frantic commands, the red light on the blast door suddenly lit up.
The piercing alarm ripped through the deathly silence of the underground base. Three colossal mechanical Beast, each ten meters tall, slowly lit up their Scarlet electronic eyes in the darkness.