Chapter 26: A New Leaf

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"People tell us who they are...but we ignore them because we want them to be who we want them to be."

- Don Draper, (Mad Men)

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<(Omniscient POV)> 

"Shit, there are just too many of these bastards here. We have been here on this mission for the past four months and yet we still haven't made a single breakthrough in our objectives. It's like these... 'wolf people' just do not have an end." Logan, aka, Wolverine said with clenched teeth as he channeled his rage and piled through a dozen 'Lupines' or the so-called 'wolf people' at once, killing them all.

"I think the fancy term used to describe them in modern media is werewolves even though they have been historically called lupines by the locals. But yes, you are right. It seems that this Romulus guy who supposedly commands these forces has been trying his best to delay us from getting close to his hideout. Every time, we find his newest hideout and reach there after cleaning up the small personal army he uses to protect it, we never find him. I wonder why?" Hank McCoy, aka, the Beast crushed the head of a lupine nearest to him and asked with a frown as he looked at his friend and colleague in frustration.

"Yeah, but we can just solve this dilemma by gutting as many of these wolf-men as we can, can't we? That is always a valid option. That is what I have been doing on my own even before you two came as backup." Laura Kinney, aka, Talon helpfully exclaimed as she snorted and ripped two lupines close to her to shreds using her claws.

"Just a thought here but maybe, we should have listened to that Remus woman when she told us to sneak in while she was trying to divert her brother's attention. Instead of doubting her intentions and insisting on killing every single being, you came across today, you could have chosen to take up stealth. Plus, I thought that you would be quite accepting of her advice since you were really receptive to her advances as well. The heavy rizz you were laying on top of her even made me wonder if Laura would have gotten a new stepmother so soon after meeting her father, by the way, no offense to you or your mother Laura." Beast expressed while crushing a lupine's head with just his fingers.

"None taken. Also, I quite liked the woman named Remus. She seemed cool." Laura gave her own seal of approval as well as she looked at her 'father' with a suggestive look.

"If you both think that I am going to fall for the first woman I meet with similar powers and abilities as me, then you have another thing coming bub." Wolverine snorted as he pierced his claws into the skull of the last standing lupine, killing him and then began to clean his blood-stained claws with a small cloth hidden in his uniform.

These lupines they were killing like lambs weren't humans at all contrary to what a person first seeing them would think. At first, the group had thought that they too were metahumans or maybe some sort of experimentally created mutates who were under the control of Romulus and had tried to keep them alive but that had resulted pretty badly after they quickly found out that they were nothing but cannibalistic wild monsters with an extremely low IQ bred artificially by Romulus in his laboratory as his personal 'no questions asked' army. 

Infact, some of the lupines that the Beast left alive before had tried to attack and destroy an entire nearby village of innocent people which they would have succeeded in, had Romulus' sister Remus not interfered and informed them of it. It was after this event that they vowed to kill every single Lupine they came across in their battle against the evil metahuman, Romulus who according to Remus' intel was planning to use specially designed viruses to mutate and turn every human being on earth into wolfish beasts like the Lupines.

*Beep Beep* The wristwatch on Beast's hand suddenly beeped with a strange sound resulting in his expression directly going from one filled with sarcasm and humor to extreme seriousness.

"Based on the expressions on your face Beast, it doesn't seem to be such great news. Don't tell me that Romulus succeeded in escaping again." Laura sighed depressingly as she began to rub her head to ease the annoyance and regret she was currently feeling at having to let go of her target again.

"It's Remus. She just informed me that Romulus had already escaped the castle we were going to storm tonight after realizing that we were coming... I think we should take a break from this mission and return to the base to get our priorities straight. I doubt we would be able to get our hands on Romulus that easily. Plus we still have time before Romulus can complete the virus he was working on. According to our intel, he still doesn't have access to one of the primary components required to make the virus.

Additionally, Remus said that Romulus even had a certain degree of control over other lupine-type metahumans like you and Logan, so there is a considerable chance that he might just start mind-controlling you to do what he wants which will be a major reverse uno card for us. Going back to the Academy and doing some proper planning will be very useful in our case. Who knows maybe we might even receive some clues or help in this regard." Beast advised.

"Fine. Call back Remus, we are retreating... for now." Logan regretfully said as he grunted in anger. He too was like his daughter, a wolverine and wolverines didn't like letting go of their targets in the middle of a hunt.

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<(Atem POV)> 

There was a time when I used to think that ninjas and shinobis were the coolest type of fighters, that there was nothing cooler than a ninja in dark-colored clothing, assassinating people in the dark of the night. Even when I watched a certain anime where my entire notion of a shinobi was flipped upside down by an orange jumpsuit and pink dress-wearing ninjas who didn't even bother to use the art of stealth, I still didn't stop believing in the shinobi culture. I was a believer after all.

But this, this was too much for me. An army of crimson-red costumed ninjas with swords on their backs wanted to attack me because apparently according to one of them, I had declared war against their so-called masters somehow, even though I myself had no idea how.

"Look, guys, I don't know why you have been trying to 'hunt' me for the last few weeks but believe me when I say this, I have no desire to kill any of you guys. I am trying to turn over a new leaf and embrace the concept of peaceful coexistence. I don't want any trouble. So just let me be and go bother someone else instead. I am not in a great mood right now, so don't try to antagonize me, believe me, you will regret it." I gave them a proper warning as I raised my hands as a sign of offering peace.

"There will be no peace fake god, you have disrespected the Hand by acting against one of its representatives and thus the Fngers of the Hand have decided to grant you a slow and agonizing death." One of the ninjas who was dressed in a slightly deeper shade of red replied with a venomous voice filled with disgust and utter arrogance.

"First I still haven't gotten the system reward for the Dr. Doom mission and now, this farce with where I have to beat up a bunch of street-level ninjas. How the mighty have fallen! Maybe, I shouldn't have made Zoya remove all traces of me fighting and defeating Apocalypse and Magneto from the global internet servers after all. That decision might have been plain stupid since everyone now thinks that they could take me on. Now, I can't even go on drives in my multi-million-dollar sports cars anymore without dozens of ninjas trying to claim my head for their bosses." I mumbled annoyedly as I looked at the 'crowd' of ninjas here to defeat me.

"The Hand however is generous and merciful. So, now that we have finally found you, we will give you two choices. One, you can kill yourself in which case you will be able to have a quick clean death without any form of induced pain or torture... Or two, I will be the one who will be dealing you your sentence for the insult that you have caused the fingers to bear. You will be begging for death but you won't obtain it so easily. You will be tortured slowly and suffer every second you are still alive and by the end of it all, death will be a mercy on you." The Ninja captain threatened in a deep voice sounding like he was copying Liam Neeson from Taken.

'... Wow. That was actually a great line. Now I am feeling bad for them. It's truly unfortunate since it's mostly the fault of their masters that they are in this position. It's a wonder they never even considered that I could possess powers and could just bitch slap their asses to samsara.' I thought as I snickered inwardly, getting ready to finally do away with this joke of a showdown.

Also, I have a feeling that the reason they found me this easily while I was out for a drive wasn't because of their amazing tracking abilities but because of the familiar figure in armor draped in a green cape watching me silently from a few buildings away.

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