Location: London Ruins — 72 Hours After the Magneto Event
The city still smelled of ozone and scorched metal.
Collapsed streets formed black veins across the riverbank, and under them — silence. The Sinister Grid's pulse had faded, but its echoes hummed in the air like dying electricity.
Four figures emerged from the fog.
Steel scanned the wreckage, the glow of his visor casting pale light through the dust. "Residual Takonian energy confirmed," he said, voice low and metallic. "Essex's signal originated here, but the source moved before the collapse."
Natasha Romanoff adjusted her rifle, eyes sweeping the debris field. "Hydra used these tunnels during the Blitz. If Essex had ties to them, we'll find something buried beneath all this."
Forge's portable scanner clicked softly. "Subsurface magnetic disruption — layers of shielding. Probably Essex's fail-safe to keep anyone from tracing his network."
Katherine Ryan — N-Tek cryptologist and Forge's field partner — crouched near the remains of a steel archway, brushing off soot. "This metal's too new to belong to the ruins. Nanite fusion. He was building something alive down here."
Steel's voice tightened. "Then it died screaming."
They descended through a fissure into the earth — a tunnel lined with pulsing conduits, dim but still breathing. The deeper they went, the more the walls seemed to hum in rhythm with Steel's chest-core.
Natasha glanced at him. "Your tech's syncing with this place."
"I know," Steel said. "That's what worries me."
The Ghost in the Tunnels
The passage forked into an older section — red brick and rusted iron gates, HYDRA emblems barely visible under decades of grime. Forge stopped, frowning. "This isn't Essex's architecture. This is World War II Hydra."
Katherine looked up from her datapad. "Cross-referencing serials. These conduits match early SHIELD prototypes — before Fury purged the records."
Natasha exhaled sharply. "He didn't purge enough."
From the dark ahead came a metallic click — the unmistakable chambering of a rifle.
Steel's sensors flared red. "Contact."
A shadow moved between broken lights — fast, precise, deliberate. Then came the flash of a muzzle, the hiss of suppressed rounds deflecting harmlessly against Steel's chest.
Forge ducked behind cover. "Friendly fire my ass!"
The shooter stepped into view, winter-cold eyes glinting behind a half-mask. The metal arm caught the faint glow of Steel's visor.
The Winter Soldier.
Natasha's grip tightened on her weapon. "Bucky."
He froze. Just for a heartbeat.
Then his voice — flat, conditioned, almost synthetic. "Romanoff. You shouldn't be here."
She didn't lower the gun. "Neither should you."
Behind her, Steel analyzed his arm's resonance. "Vibranium hybrid. Hydra augmentation tech, same era as Essex's early experiments."
Forge added, "Guess we found our cross-pollination."
Katherine whispered, "Then Essex wasn't working alone."
Bucky's gaze flicked to her — sharp, assessing. "Essex. Project Sinister Grid. Shut it down." His tone was automatic, like an old program trying to override itself.
Natasha frowned. "You're working against Hydra now?"
Bucky's expression didn't change. "Orders conflict. Objectives unclear." A flicker — almost pain — crossed his eyes. "But I remember your face. Once."
She took a cautious step closer. "Then remember who made you forget."
He turned away. "Too late. They're everywhere."
A dull explosion rumbled through the ground — further down the tunnels.
Steel's sensors spiked. "Secondary lab detonation — remote triggered."
Bucky grabbed a fallen HYDRA tablet and shoved it into Steel's hand. "Blue key. Data hub. North tunnel. Use it before they wipe it."
Forge frowned. "You're giving us intel?"
The Soldier's jaw tightened. "No one owns me anymore."
Before they could respond, he fired his grappling line into the shadows and vanished up the corridor, swallowed by darkness.
Natasha stood frozen for a moment, then exhaled shakily. "He's still in there. Buried under whatever programming Hydra left behind."
Steel's voice softened. "He's fighting it. Like I did once."
The Hidden Vault
They followed the coordinates Bucky had left — a dead-end corridor that unfolded into a hidden vault lined with old HYDRA insignia fused with Essex's crimson latticework. The center console pulsed faintly — a living terminal.
Katherine moved to it, hands flying over her device. "Encryption's a mess. HYDRA shell code layered over Essex's AI framework."
Forge peered over her shoulder. "Can you crack it?"
"Maybe," she muttered. "But this looks like a backdoor into SHIELD's own network. If Essex used it—"
Natasha finished grimly, "He's been inside our systems for years."
Steel's tone sharpened. "Fury needs to hear this."
Natasha hesitated, eyes darting to the ceiling as if expecting cameras. "You know how deep this runs, right? If HYDRA's still in SHIELD—"
Steel cut in. "Then he already suspects. He just doesn't have proof."
Forge activated his comms array, routing through a secure channel. "This'll burn every cover we have, but screw it."
Static crackled — then the voice of Nick Fury filled the line, rough and unimpressed.
"Someone better have a good reason for hijacking my secure frequency."
Natasha sighed. "Director… we found a buried HYDRA-Essex facility under London. It's still active. They've got ties to old SHIELD infrastructure."
Fury's tone dropped to a dangerous calm. "I told Pierce I smelled rot before I left that office. You got evidence?"
Katherine transferred the decrypted files. "Sending now."
A long silence followed. Then Fury:
"…Son of a bitch. How many more of these are buried under my feet?"
Steel said, "Too many."
"Then dig, Agent," Fury growled. "Burn them clean. And if Essex's name comes up again — I want his ashes, not his clones."
The line went dead.
Aftermath — Surface Dawn
They emerged from the tunnels hours later, soot-covered, silent.
The sky over London was pale grey, clouds tinted faintly turquoise from the lingering Takonian energy still bleeding through the atmosphere.
Forge looked back at the ruins. "Think Fury's gonna play this quiet?"
Natasha holstered her weapon. "He'll deny everything until he's ready to bury the truth himself. It's what he does best."
Steel's gaze lingered on the horizon. "And when the truth can't be buried?"
She met his eyes. "Then we make sure it burns."
Katherine sealed the vault coordinates into her datapad. "I'll lock the files behind six layers of quantum encryption. Essex won't use this line again."
Steel nodded. "Good. Because next time we trace it… it leads to Genosha."
Elsewhere — The Crimson Echo
Deep under Genosha's shattered cliffs, a new Essex clone awoke.
The stasis fluid drained, revealing a smile too calm for something just born.
"Subject Lensherr has awakened," he said to the room's empty air. "And he will come."
He touched the console beside him — one covered in faint, green-gold code lines.
"Perfect. Let the old gods of metal rage. Every storm refines the species."
Above him, the magnetic field quivered — as if answering the call.
Deadpool Meta-Cut
"Spy team's back, baby!
– Steel, Natasha, Forge, and Katherine sneak through London's post-Magneto rubble like it's Mission: Impossible — Mutant Protocol.
– Winter Soldier shows up, half-brainwashed, half-helpful, all tragic.
– Fury gets the world's angriest phone call.
And somewhere under Genosha, another Essex is brushing his evil scientist teeth, ready for Act Two.
Next chapter? Daddy Magneto meets his evil twin. Bring helmets."