The last of the ki in Ethan's body dissipated, and he exhaled slowly, the controlled energy leaving a pleasant warmth tingling through his limbs. In the soft glow of the bedside lamp, Wanda and Pietro were sound asleep, tangled in their blankets on the spare bed he'd pulled out for them. Wanda was curled into a ball, while Pietro was sprawled out, one arm flung dramatically over the edge. A fragile peace settled over the room. Ethan glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly midnight. Time to rest.
He lay down, the mattress sighing under his weight. But just as his mind began to drift, a sound pricked at his heightened senses. It wasn't the normal groaning of an old manor settling for the night. It was the soft, rhythmic tread of heavy boots on the floorboards directly above him. Calculated. Coordinated.
Suddenly, the ceiling above him seemed to shimmer, to lose its solidity. A ghostly, flickering image of a girl resolved itself, and with a soft gasp and a shower of plaster dust, she fell right through the ceiling and into the room. Ethan shot up from the bed, moving with a speed that was pure instinct, and caught her before she hit the floor.
"What's wrong?" he asked, recognizing her as Kitty Pryde, the girl who could walk through walls. Colossus had pointed her out earlier. Her face was pale with terror, her breath coming in ragged hitches.
"Men," she stammered, clinging to his arm. "In my room… with guns. They were trying to grab me!"
Before Ethan could process her words, a sound tore through the silence of the school. It was a scream, but not one of fear. It was a weapon. A high-frequency shriek of pure sonic force that vibrated the very air, made the glass in the windows hum, and felt like superheated needles being driven into their ears. Ethan, Kitty, and the now-awakened Wanda and Pietro cried out, clamping their hands over their heads as the wave of agony washed over them.
"Teresa…" Kitty whimpered through the pain.
The scream cut off as abruptly as it had begun, plunging the school back into a ringing silence. But it was immediately replaced by a more terrifying sound: the heavy, thudding footsteps of multiple armored soldiers, right outside their door.
There was no time for deliberation. "Panel," Ethan commanded in his mind. "Load protagonist template: Son Goku, Age 13."
A supernova of power erupted in his core. His pajamas vanished, replaced by the familiar orange fabric of the Kame-Sen style gi. His hair defied gravity, shooting up into wild, black spikes. The solid, reassuring weight of the Power Pole materialized on his back. The entire transformation took less than a second.
CRASH! The door splintered off its hinges, kicked inward by a black-clad soldier. Two others fanned out behind him, their rifles tipped with the glint of tranquilizer darts, already aiming at the children on the bed.
"Follow me!" Ethan yelled to the terrified trio behind him.
He became a blur of orange. Before the soldiers could even process what they were seeing, he was on them. It wasn't a fight; it was a removal. A swift, open-palmed strike to the first soldier's chest. A precise chop to the second's neck. A sharp kick that sent the third crashing back through the ruined doorway. They collapsed like puppets with their strings cut, an entire fire team neutralized in the blink of an eye.
His initial plan had been simple: get Wanda, Pietro, and Kitty to safety and assess the situation. But as he burst into the corridor, the sight of other children being dragged away by soldiers ignited a fire in his chest—the pure, uncomplicated, righteous fury of Son Goku. The plan dissolved. He couldn't run. Not when others were in danger.
"Let them go!" he roared.
He was a whirlwind of motion. The soldiers, well-trained and disciplined, reacted instantly, a volley of tranquilizer darts hissing through the air. Ethan ripped the Power Pole from his back, spinning it with impossible speed. It became a whirring shield of crimson wood, batting the darts away with a series of sharp pings.
Tranquilizers won't work, and even live rounds would just sting, he thought, his own tactical mind asserting itself through Goku's battle lust. But the eyes, the throat… still vulnerable. No need to be reckless.
"Switch to live ammunition! Take him down!" a squad leader shouted.
The command was a death sentence. As the first soldier reached for a new magazine, Ethan closed the distance. There were no flashy moves, no wasted energy. Just brutal, overwhelming efficiency. The Power Pole was a blur, a series of crushing impacts against helmets, body armor, and limbs. Men were thrown against walls and crumpled to the floor before they could even raise their weapons.
"Whoa!" Pietro breathed from the doorway, his fear momentarily forgotten and replaced with pure awe. Wanda and Kitty stared, their mouths agape. They knew Ethan was strong, but this was something else entirely. This was the power of a demigod.
"Everyone, with me!" Ethan commanded, gathering a small group of rescued, crying children. He led them downstairs, a one-boy wrecking crew clearing a path through the invading soldiers. Near the main staircase, he found Colossus, his body a gleaming wall of organic steel, shielding another group of students.
"Ethan! This way!" the big Russian yelled, gesturing toward a hidden panel in the wall. He was holding an unconscious student in one arm while fending off soldiers with the other. "The emergency channel!"
This wasn't a battle to be won; it was a crisis to be survived. For every soldier Ethan took down, two more seemed to appear. The students, for all their wondrous abilities, were just scared children, not soldiers. Evacuation was the only logical choice.
"Where is Professor X?!" Ethan yelled as he kicked away two more soldiers and herded his group towards the secret door. "His power would end this in a second!"
"He is out!" Colossus grunted, his steel form absorbing several tranquilizer darts without effect. "He and the others, they will not be back until morning!"
Just then, two more screams echoed from a corridor to their right, these ones choked with pain and fear. A new figure exploded into the hallway. He was a compact, muscular man in a vest and leather jacket, a wild animal in human form. The sickening SNIKT of metal claws extending from his knuckles cut through the chaos. He lunged, a berserker roar tearing from his throat, and plunged the six gleaming blades deep into the chests of two soldiers, pinning them to the wall. He held them there until their struggles ceased, then retracted his claws with a wet, grisly sound.
Ethan recognized him instantly. Wolverine.
"Logan! What is the plan?" Colossus called out, his relief palpable.
Wolverine shook the blood from his adamantium claws and stalked towards them, his eyes burning with fury. "Are all the kids here?" he growled.
"Bobby, John, and the little Rugrat are still missing!" Colossus reported.
"I'll find 'em," Logan grunted. "You get these ones to safety." He turned to go, but Ethan stepped into his path.
"I'm going with you." The words were out before he could stop them. The chance for Justice Points, the thrill of a real fight alongside a legend—it was too much to resist.
Logan stopped and gave him a dismissive once-over. "Go play with your friends, kid," he sneered. "This ain't a game."
CRASH!
Glass at the end of the long corridor exploded inwards. A blinding white searchlight flooded the hall, bleaching everything of color and casting long, monstrous shadows. The deafening WUMP-WUMP-WUMP of a combat helicopter's rotors filled the air. Its side-mounted machine gun swiveled, its black barrel aimed directly at them.
"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Wolverine roared, and charged. He didn't get ten feet.
The machine gun opened up, its thunderous roar drowning out all other sound. A hail of bullets slammed into Logan's body, tearing through his jacket and flesh, throwing up sparks as they ricocheted off the indestructible skeleton beneath. The sheer kinetic force of the onslaught stopped him dead in his tracks, pinning him in place as his body was shredded and healed in a continuous, violent cycle.
Support by power stones .