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{Chapter: 54 - Give Me A Reason To Let You Go}
Aiden approached the unconscious reptilian figure, his boots crunching against the dusty, cracked tiles of the abandoned underground chamber. The dim flicker of the overhead lights cast eerie shadows across the space, briefly illuminating the crumpled green form that had once been Professor Curt Connorsāa once-revered scientist who had succumbed to his darker, primal instincts. The Lizard lay sprawled against the far wall, chunks of broken masonry around him from the impact of Aiden's brutal punch.
He examined the creature with narrowed eyes. The Lizard's thick scales shimmered under the faint light, his long tail twitching faintly. Aiden crouched down, taking a moment to observe the result of their short but fun skirmish. Despite the damage, the professor was still breathingāshallow, but steady. Aiden hadn't even needed to unleash his full strength; his super strength and durability alone had been enough to take down the monster. His other abilitiesātelekinesis, fire control, even speed boostsāremained untouched, lying dormant like coiled serpents in his arsenal.
There was something exhilarating about the raw physicality of it. The feeling of cracking bone against fist, of being so in control of a fight that it barely even counted as one. It wasn't the rush of pleasure or euphoria some people might describeācertainly not orgasmicābut it was satisfying in its own primal way. A surge of adrenaline pulsed through his veins, awakening a dormant side of him that relished direct confrontation.
"Wake up, Professor," Aiden muttered, straightening up and giving the Lizard a light but deliberate kick. "You're not fooling anyone. Stop pretending."
Another kick. This one a bit harder.
"Come on, Curt. I know you're a smart guy. You didn't crawl out of your lab to get knocked out cold and left for dead."
On the third kick, the Lizard's yellow eyes snapped open, pupils contracting with cold-blooded instinct. With a violent snarl, he lungedāhis clawed hands whipping through the air like serrated blades, aiming directly for Aiden's throat in a burst of sudden violence.
"Look out!!" Marrow screamed, her voice filled with alarm from behind.
Aiden didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.
With a flick of his finger, an invisible force surged out from his body. The Lizard's deadly strike came to an abrupt halt mid-air. His claws, inches away from Aiden's neck, stopped as if frozen in time.
The Lizard growled in confusion, then roared in frustration as he began to resist the invisible pressure locking his limbs. His entire body trembled as he fought against the powerful telekinetic hold. Thick green veins bulge beneath his scales, and his muscles spasmed violently as he strained to break free.
Aiden tilted his head slightly, calm and unimpressed. He could feel the mental pressure in his mindāan exertion not unlike holding up a heavy weight with just his thoughtsābut it was manageable. Containing a creature like this was child's play compared to the enemies he would face.
"Stupid lizard," Aiden muttered coldly. "You better stop flailing around unless you want to find out what lizard meat tastes like charred."
He lifted his hand, and with a soft crackle, a plume of flame ignited in his palm. The air around them heated instantly. The fire was concentrated, controlledābut its temperature exceeded a thousand degrees Celsius. The intense heat licked dangerously close to the Lizard's face, blistering the air and sending sweat beading across his scaled brow.
The Lizard's eyes widened, his resistance faltering. The threat was real. Aiden could incinerate him in less than a second if he chose.
"Youā¦who are you?" the professor asked in a hoarse, trembling voice. His arrogance and rage now replaced by a wary, reluctant respect.
Aiden stepped closer, lowering his flame just a fraction but keeping the heat on. "Who I am isn't important right now," he said, voice low. "What is important is why you came all the way out here, crawling through sewers and tunnels like some scaly predator, to kidnap a mutant girl."
The Lizard bared his teeth, then sighed, defeated. "She has the ability to grow and control bones. That kind of cellular manipulationāit's... unique. Valuable."
Aiden's eyes narrowed with understanding. "Ah. So that's it. You didn't come here for politics. You saw an opportunity. She grows bonesāyou thought she might hold the key to regenerating your own lost arm without becoming this grean scale beast. Isn't that right?"
The Lizard's silence confirmed it.
"You used to be a brilliant man, Professor," Aiden continued. "A pioneer in genetics. A scientist people respected. Now? You're just another desperate monster preying on innocent people for personal gain."
"If you were in my place," the Lizard growled, "wouldn't you do the same? Wouldn't you do anything to get back what you lost?"
Aiden's jaw tightened. The question hung in the air for a moment. Behind him, Marrow and Blink listened in silence.
"Yes," Aiden said quietly. "But that doesn't give you the right to destroy others in the process of healing yourself."
The Lizard looked away, ashamed.
"I don't want to be your enemy," he muttered. "Let me go. I won't touch her again. I promise."
"Oh, that's rich," Aiden said with a dry chuckle. "You think you can just show up, terrorize people, and then walk away without consequence? You think you're gonna pull a 'Spider-Kid' routineāget captured, get released, come back in a few months for another round like it's some kind of messed-up game?"
He stepped closer again, the flame in his hand flaring with renewed intensity.
"I'm not Spider-Man. I don't play games with repeat offenders. You're on SHIELD's most-wanted list, Curt. You're not getting out of here without answering for what you've done."
The Lizard's eyes widened with alarm as Aiden's flame touched the edge of his scales. He screamed, a loud, guttural sound that echoed through the underground tunnels, traveling for blocks in every direction.
"No! Don't! Pleaseā¦ please let me go! I was wrong! IāAAAGHHHH!!"
The pungent scent of charred scales clung to the air as the flames around Aiden's hand slowly dimmed, retreating back into his palm like a tamed beast. Before him, Professor Connor ā or rather, the monstrous reptilian alter-ego known as the Lizard ā writhed pitifully on the scorched pavement. The scaly flesh along his chest and limbs bore ugly scorch marks that hissed faintly, smoke rising in lazy curls into the broken night air.
But beyond the burns, what truly weakened the professor was the look in Aiden's eyes ā cold, merciless, and utterly devoid of the compassion that so many heroes were known for. This wasn't Spider-Man. This wasn't Captain America. This was someone else entirely ā someone who didn't hesitate.
Aiden exuded something far more primal: raw dominance.
The Lizard gasped, his claws scraping uselessly against the pavement. The pain etched across his mutated face seemed almost secondary to the terror crawling up his spine.
"Youā¦ You're not like the othersā¦" the professor choked, his deep voice cracking as he lay there, scorched and shivering despite his regenerative abilities already knitting his wounds together.
"No. I'm not," Aiden said flatly.
The Lizard swallowed hard, his forked tongue twitching nervously. "Pleaseā¦ IāI can be of use to you. I am willing to surrender to you, I am willing to be your henchman, I can do a lot of things for you, I have knowledge, experience. I'm not just muscle and scales. I'm a professor, a scientist. A man of intellect. I can assist you in ways others can't."
Aiden didn't reply right away. He tilted his head slightly, regarding the creature with eyes that flickered faintly ā the residual embers of the fire still smoldering within him.
The professor continued, desperate to seize the moment of hesitation. "My field is biology. Genetics, cellular regeneration, mutation theory ā it was I who created the serum that made me like this. My own design. I have an entire underground lab that S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't even been discovered. Give me a chance, and I'll devote it all to your cause."
"And what exactly is my cause?" Aiden asked, his tone unreadable.
The Lizard blinked. "Whatever you want it to be," he whispered.
For a few seconds, silence hung between them. Marrow and Blink, standing a few feet away, held their breath as if witnessing a scene that could shift the trajectory of the world itself. The soft creak of metal and distant sirens were the only interruptions to the eerie stillness.
"You expect me to trust you?" Aiden asked, a slow, deliberate flame flickering back to life in his hand.
The Lizard flinched. "No. IāI expect you to control me."
Aiden narrowed his eyes, amused despite himself. "That's more honest."
"Count yourself lucky,"
The flames in his hand vanished in a sudden whoosh as he clenched his fist. With a motion of his hand, the invisible telekinetic grip holding the professor shattered like glass. The Lizard collapsed fully to the ground, wheezing as the tension left his limbs. His body steamed faintly as his accelerated regeneration began closing his wounds with visible speed.
Aiden stepped back and folded his arms. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. For now. Crawl back to your lab, lick your wounds, and get your situation in order. When I form my team, I'll call you. Maybe I'll even help you regrow that precious arm of yours."
The Lizard's breath caught. "You can do that?"
Aiden didn't answer ā he merely stared.
"But," Aiden continued, and now his tone darkened, "if you try to betray meā¦ if you think for even a second that you can outsmart meā¦ I will end you. I will tear you apart molecule by molecule and scatter your ashes across the city so thoroughly that even God's resurrection won't bring you back."
The threat, calm and surgical, made the Lizard's heart skip a beat. The weight behind those words was not the boastful growl of a villain, nor the righteous warning of a hero ā it was the cold promise of a predator.
"Iā¦ I understand," the professor said, bowing his head, more beast than man now.
"Then run along," Aiden said, turning away dismissively.
Without another word, the Lizard scrambled to his clawed feet and sprinted into the shadows, the smell of burnt flesh lingering in his wake. Somewhere in his mind, he knew the humiliation of this encounter would never fade. He had thought himself the hunter tonight ā instead, he had narrowly escaped being prey.
Aiden watched him disappear without emotion. "See?" he muttered as he turned to Blink and Marrow. "That's how you deal with a problem at its root."
The two mutants stood in stunned silence for a moment, still processing what they'd just witnessed. Blink, normally cool-headed and confident, found herself genuinely awed by how decisively Aiden had handled the situation.
Marrow, however, looked even more shaken. Her gaze lingered on Aiden like that of a lost girl seeing the dawn for the first time. And then, something shifted in her expression ā an earnest resolve that hadn't been there before.
"Iā¦" she began hesitantly, "Can I come with you?"
Aiden looked at her. "Why?"
Marrow clenched her fists and stepped forward, swallowing her nerves. "Because I want to be stronger. Because I saw what you did tonight. That kind of strength ā it makes people listen. I want that. I want to protect people like meā¦ and myself."
Her words weren't coated in flattery. They were desperate. Honest. Determined.
Aiden smiled faintly. "I'm building a team. A group that won't have to bow down to governments or hide in the shadows. If you're serious about this, you're welcome to join."
"I am," Marrow said quickly, eyes shining.
"Then from this moment on, you're one of us. Code name: Marrow."
She blinked, stunned at the immediate acceptance. Then she smiled ā wide and full of relief. No one had ever given her a title before. No one had made her feel like she belonged.
"You'll need training," Aiden said. "Discipline. Control. Your powers are impressive, but they're too raw. Unfocused. That ends now."
Marrow nodded. "Yes. I'll do whatever it takes."
"Now you see why I told you both to train. I'm not always going to be around to save you. There will be more like him. Bigger. Stronger. Smarter."
Marrow swallowed hard and looked at her hands. Slowly, she extended a sharpened bone spear from her palm.
"I want to learn," she said. "Pleaseā¦ teach me how to fight. How to survive."
Aiden nodded, his tone softening for the first time. "Good. That's the first step. The restā¦ we'll build together."
Blink smiled faintly, the warmth of shared resolve flickering between them. A small grin curling her lips. "Guess the team just got a bit bigger."
"Only the beginning," Aiden murmured. He turned his eyes to the horizon ā the ruined skyline of the city etched against the night sky, dim lights flickering in distant buildings. "There's a storm coming."
*****
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