Clone Wars
[[Markus Hanley]]
Cloning.
An ability that I have been using to rule the underworld while simultaneously maintaining my life as Markus Hanley.
And after more than half a century of running the underworld as Jester, it was time to remove that persona.
The Order was in charge of the underworld and even without Jester, it would run just fine.
It will cause a little chaos, factional wars at best… but I have more than enough members within the Order that can shut them up.
And then there is obviously the High Table.
Marcellus made his debut as a businessman… a philanthropist and now it was Markus' turn to make his debut as the saviour of this world.
*BOOM!*
"Yo! You alright, Red?" I asked the girl that stood baffled at my sudden arrival.
"M-Markus?"
"Yep." I looked at James. "Get her out of here, I will deal with this guy."
"You heard him, Jean." James said.
While Jean didn't seem to like the idea of letting me fight alone, Jester interjected.
"Well well, look who we have here… another little hero."
"Go!"
My yell made James pick up Jean and dash out of the way— much to her displeasure.
James took her to a safe distance where they could be out of Jester's range while making sure they were able to see us fight.
"You…No... I might have done a bit too much damage." I sighed as I looked around the place. Repairing it was going to be a pain.
"You can always repair everything from your pocket, that will help to increase your fame even more."
I shrugged. "Possibly. The backlash of this is already being handled by Magnus. People who hated mutants can use this as something against us, but he managed to persuade the committee using the logic that there are terrorists even among humans."
He laughed. "Well then… shall we start?"
"I thought you would never ask."
…
…
To the spectators, the discussion was inaudible thus it didn't seem to be a big deal for them.
Magnus and Fury watched things unfold from the sky while Jean and James were on top of a faraway building.
"Is this fine?" Fury asked, pointing at the reporters and cameramen recording Jester and Markus from afar.
"Don't worry about them. They should know what they are getting themselves into." Magnus smiled. "Look... they have started."
Jester and Markus clashed at supersonic speed which was invisible in Fury's eyes. So he had to take the help of a slow-motion camera.
Their clash sent shockwaves strong enough to shatter the glass of every building within a hundred-meter radius.
*Crumble*
Structures around them started to crumble as the two behemoths clashed.
*Zap*
Lightning swooped through the area which burnt the wirings and transformers near them.
*BOOM!*
Blasts of energy rays and psionic beams clashed, turning the area into a wasteland.
Fury felt his heart bleeding at the sight.
'This will take forever to rebuild… and the money…' He bit his lip in frustration.
Magnus noticed this and chuckled. "Don't worry. Hanley Group will pay for all the repairs. And thankfully the people evacuated before the place became this… Chaotic."
As they were talking about the cost of repair, Jean had her eyes and mouth wide open. She knew that Markus was skilled, far more skilled than she might ever be. But she never knew that he was this destructively powerful.
*BOOOOM!*
An explosion rivalling the size of a skyscraper swooped away everything around them and she was glad they got away in time. James had also managed to drag the unconscious X-Men away from the battlefield.
"*Arrgh…*"
Kitty slowly opened her eyes and saw a massive bolt of lightning fall from the sky.
"What the—"
She felt her body going numb as she saw Markus Hanley taking the bolt of lightning head-on— and surviving without taking any damage.
"Ah, Kitty." Jean carefully hugged her. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah, somehow." She answered, feeling the pain in her body. "But why is Markus here?"
"He said he was sent to help us." James finally spoke. "And knowing him, he might just pull this off."
"What do you mean?"
"Wait and watch…"
…
…
With S.H.I.E.L.D leaving the reporters alone, the media was able to scoop in perfect pictures for their newspapers and stream the fight live on television.
"Just when we thought everything was over, we got another hero!" The reporter exclaimed in front of the camera.
*SHATTER*
"The villain that even the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D couldn't defeat is being fought toe to toe by a teenager!" He continued. "Is he a mutant? Or a mutate! We will keep you all updated!"
It was a terrifying sight.
"Hahahhaha!" Jester laughed. "Magnificent! I haven't had this much fun in age—"
*BOOM!*
"Focus, clown face!" Markus punched Jester straight towards the half-destroyed Empire State Building. "I hate people that don't take me seriously."
"Magnificent! Magnificent! Truly Magnificent!" Jester cackled. "You are a worthy opponent!"
Even the reporters were nervous at the sight.
"We are covering live footage!" One of the reporters said. "But NYC is not the only place under attack. Our channels have been covering the battles of the other countries as well! Especially the fight against the Britain Corps!"
The people that watched the scene unfold through the television and the Internet had been nervous. The fights were escalating quickly and they knew if the heroes failed, they were doomed.
The Britain Corps was somehow handling the opponents but the rest of the countries were barely able to hold their ground against the terrorists.
"Why—" *Boom* "Are you even doing all this?"
Markus asked which made Jester laugh.
"Boredom? Lack of entertainment? Monotonous Life…" He sneered. "Whatever you want to call it."
"You launched such a wide-scale attack… because you were bored?
*Zap*
"Yep~"
Jester answered, dodging the electric bolt thrown at him.
Everyone was bewildered by the fight. They prayed for Markus to win despite having no information about the man. But that didn't matter.
What mattered was that he was fighting for their sake.
He was a hero.
And that's all they needed.
"Send reinforcements to the other areas. Markus can handle the Jester but the same cannot be said about the other places." Magnus said. "And make sure that they are your best agents, Fury."
Britain was out of Fury's jurisdiction but Magnus' order was absolute.
"Don't worry, I have talked with Mr. Argent. You are free to operate."
Fury nodded and walked inside the aircraft.
…
…
[[Markus Hanley]]
Yes, zoom in the camera. Broadcast it live!
*Boom!*
No one had any idea how much fun I was having. Despite using only a fraction of my power, it felt great to be able to fight without the fear of instantly killing the opponent.
"Hahhaha!" Jester, my mad evil persona laughed. "I know you are having just as much fun as me!"
"You bet!"
*Boom!*
Both of us punched each other straight in the face. And I did feel a slight burn from it.
Both of our powers were equally matched, well physically at least.
And I needed to use my abilities… otherwise, this fight will never end.
*Swish*
Using flight, I flew up to a distance from where I could drop attacks without much trouble.
Jester was about to do the same but there was no way I could allow him to reach me.
I intensified the gravity below me, making it nigh impossible for him to reach me without possessing the same abilities.
Which he didn't.
*Tsk*
He clicked his tongue and was about to explode the hydrogen around me. But I was quicker.
*BOOM!*
The cameramen were shaking at the sight yet they still continued to film us. Pretty courageous in my opinion and just as good for me.
*Cough* *Cough*
Unlike me who possessed invulnerability, Jester doesn't have it. So the explosion managed to deal quite a lot of damage to him.
"Jester!" I yelled. "Your evil ways end here! And I swear I am going to hunt every single one of your underlings down."
He kept cackling. "We will see."
I grinned. "Yes, we will SEE!"
My eyes glowed red and a ray hotter than plasma shot towards him.
He tried to move away, but that was not possible.
The insane gravity made it difficult for him to move and the ray's speed was faster than his reaction speed. He tried to enact a barrier— which I erased using my molecular manipulation.
Basically, he was fucked.
His body shuddered as the rays reached his mask and that was the moment he knew it was over.
*BOOM!*
*SPLATTER!
"Oh my god!"
I heard one of the reporters scream.
The ray had landed right on Jester's face, and without my regeneration or invulnerability, it was impossible to survive the shot.
So, his head exploded.
Putting on a tired smile, I looked at the camera.
"People of NYC… The Jester has been defeated!"
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[[A/N: Read ahead on Pat reon: Pat reon.com/Greedyfrog]]