Emma Frost's diamond form reflected the inferno as Dean landed in 1980's Hellfire Club. The **STATUS SCREEN** stuttered:
**LOCATION: [HELLFIRE CLUB - PRE-PHOENIX SAGA]**
**OBJECTIVE: [SABOTAGE SHI'AR EXPERIMENTS - 3000 SP]**
Sebastian Shaw's fist connected with Dean's jaw before the NZT could warn him.
**STATUS SCREEN ALERT:**
**HP: 100% → 84%**
**THREAT IDENTIFIED: [ENERGY ABSORPTION MUTATION]**
Dean spat blood. "Charming."
Loki materialized behind Shaw, pressing a dagger to his spine. "Let's discuss thermodynamics."
Emma's psychic probe shattered against Dean's **STATUS SCREEN** firewall. "Who the hell are you?"
Dean's grin was a bullet in the chamber. "The guy who's saving your species."
The air smelled like burning diamonds and spilled cognac. Dean's boots skidded across the Hellfire Club's polished obsidian floor as Shaw's energy-absorbing fist grazed his ribs—**STATUS SCREEN** flaring crimson:
**HP: 84% → 77%**
**ENERGY SINK DETECTED: [SEBASTIAN SHAW]**
**RECOMMENDED COUNTER: [KINETIC OVERLOAD - 200 SP]**
Dean grinned through the pain and bought it. His fist glowed white-hot mid-swing, physics screaming as Loki's dagger carved a containment rune into Shaw's back. The moment Dean's knuckles connected, every joule of stolen energy rebounded through Shaw's nervous system like a lightning storm.
The **STATUS SCREEN** logged the convulsions in real-time:
**SEBASTIAN SHAW: HP 100% → 41%**
**NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE: [TEMPORARY PARALYSIS]**
**SP AWARDED: +500 (ELITE MUTANT SUBDUAL)**
Emma Frost's diamond form shattered a champagne flute against the bar. "You realize you've just made enemies of every mutant on the planet."
Loki kicked Shaw's twitching body aside. "We're here to prevent extinction." He tossed her the Tesseract fragment. "This is your cure."
The **STATUS SCREEN** pulsed:
**EMMA FROST BOND: 23%**
**RECOMMENDED APPROACH: [PSYCHIC REVELATION]**
Dean didn't hesitate. He projected the memory—Jean's corpse floating in space, the Phoenix Force incinerating galaxies, mutantkind's last stand in 2035. Emma's diamond facets rippled.
A telepathic scream echoed through the club's gilded halls. The **STATUS SCREEN** blared:
**WARNING: [PROFESSOR X DETECTED]**
**THREAT LEVEL: [OMEGA]**
**RECOMMENDED PURCHASE: [PSYCHIC FIREWALL - 1000 SP]**
Dean swiped **CONFIRM** just as Xavier's mental probe hit like a freight train. His **STATUS SCREEN** cracked under the strain but held—displaying a single line of stolen cerebro data:
**LOCATION: [SHI'AR WARSHIP IN ORBIT]**
**EXPERIMENT STATUS: [PHOENIX FORCE CONTAINMENT FAILED]**
Loki's laughter was knives. "You mortals never learn."
Dean ejected the spent magazine. "We're going orbital."
Emma's diamond fingers caught his wrist. "You'll need a teleporter."
The **STATUS SCREEN** updated:
**RECRUITMENT OFFER: [NIGHTCRAWLER - 1500 SP]**
**MISSION CRITICAL: [YES]**
Dean's grin was a bullet in the chamber. "Bring the fuzzy elf."
---
Smoke and brimstone filled the Hellfire Club's ruined parlor as Nightcrawler materialized in a sulfurous puff. The **STATUS SCREEN** tagged him instantly:
**KURT WAGNER: [TELEPORTATION RANGE - 3 LIGHTYEARS]**
**MORAL COMPASS: [CATHOLIC GUILT]**
**RECRUITMENT STRATEGY: [SAVE A NUN]**
Dean tossed him a photo of a burning convent in Munich. "Sister Margarita's alive. For now."
Kurt's yellow eyes widened. The **STATUS SCREEN** logged his pulse spiking:
**NIGHTCRAWLER BOND: 35%**
**LOYALTY TRIGGER: [INNOCENTS IN PERIL]**
Loki rolled his eyes. "Sentiment." He carved a rune into the floor—green fire outlining the Shi'ar warship's silhouette. "They're jamming teleports."
Dean checked his SP reserves. "Then we go old school." The **STATUS SCREEN** flared:
**PURCHASE CONFIRMED: [SHI'AR STEALTH SUIT - 2000 SP]**
**EFFECT: [THERMOPTIC CLOAKING]**
**REMAINING SP: 8500**
Emma's diamond form reflected the unfolding armor as it sheathed Dean's body. "You realize you'll die in vacuum."
The **STATUS SCREEN** displayed a live feed of the Shi'ar warship—its hull crawling with Phoenix-corrupted soldiers.
Dean cocked his pistol. "I've died in worse."
Kurt grabbed his shoulder. "God be with you."
The world twisted inside out.
---
Space was colder than the **STATUS SCREEN'S** glow. Dean's boots magnetized to the Shi'ar warship's hull as the vacuum tried to peel his skin off. The **STATUS SCREEN** blinked emergency alerts across his retinas:
**WARNING: [PHOENIX CORRUPTION DETECTED - 200m]**
**OXYGEN: 47% REMAINING**
**STEALTH SUIT INTEGRITY: 89%**
**OBJECTIVE: [SABOTAGE GENESIS CHAMBER - 00:04:59]**
A pulse of psychic static nearly ruptured his eardrums. Through the observation window, Jean Grey floated in a containment field—golden energy whipping around her like solar flares. The **STATUS SCREEN** tagged the three Shi'ar scientists adjusting dials:
**THREAT LEVEL: [NONCOMBATANT]**
**RECOMMENDED APPROACH: [NEURAL DISRUPTOR - 300 SP]**
Dean bought it mid-stride. His suit's wrist-mounted emitter flared purple. The scientists collapsed before they could scream.
Jean's eyes snapped open. Blood trickled from her nose as she mouthed two words through the glass: *Too late.*
The Genesis Chamber exploded.