Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Ten

Genocide

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"Nick, what's going on?"

Nick Fury glanced at one of the constantly-updating tactical holoscreens before he replied to Clark's question.

"It isn't good, Clark. We've already passed the alert to every single organisation that uses powers that we know of. Something is turning random people into… bio-Sentinels, and we don't know what's causing it. Several of our agents were affected… Clark, whatever causes the change wipes their personalities beyond recovery! Sage was training up some of SHIELD's telepaths when one of them changed, she felt his soul pass beyond."

The silence from Fury's earbud was more eloquent than any amount of cursing.

"My people are trying to find the pattern, there's no way that this is just a random phenomenon." Fury continued. "In the meantime… there's only one thing you can do.
"Destroy the bio-Sentinels.
"Before they wipe out all of Mutantkind…"

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The bio-Sentinel fired a blast of energy at the small girl screaming in terror in the middle of the playground, only for the blast to be deflected by someone jumping in the way.

"Not today, tin man!" Jennifer Walters growled as she grabbed the Sentinel and punched it so hard that its head caved in. With its primary control computer destroyed, the Sentinel collapsed and Jennifer tapped her earbud.

"Destroyed another in Central Park, it was about to kill a small girl." She stated. "Need a pickup and transfer to New Krypton for her ASAP."

"Already here!" A voice said and She-Hulk's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Pietro Maximoff appeared in front of her. "Dad told me to help out wherever I can, so here I am. What needs doing?"

"Get her to the Angel's rest." Jennifer commanded. "They'll get her details, contact her family and take it from… Watch out!"

A blast lanced towards the sobbing girl as She-Hulk tried to block it, but the angle was too wide for her to get to where she needed to be and she could only watch as the blast…
…lanced through the empty space where the girl had been.

"Thanks, Quicksilver." She breathed in relief even as she grabbed a tree, ripping it from the ground and using it to smash the new Bio-Sentinel into the ground. "She-Hulk to all points, Quicksilver is in New York and he's on our side for now."

The shattered tree shifted as the Sentinel forced its way up, only to be met by a descending fist. The sparking, leaking remains slowly toppled over as She-Hulk jumped away, seeking out more of the things to destroy.

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"…and in breaking news, terror strikes America as humanoid robots go on a killing spree!" The Newsreader stated, his face showing none of the levity he was normally known for. "Casualty reports have already exceeded thirteen thousand despite the best efforts of the combined Superhero teams. Early reports indicate that Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain are also under attack by these strange entities, beings which seem to exist to only kill mutants, no matter their ages…"

"No kidding!" Hawkeye gasped as he dived below another attack that removed the last of the glass from the panoramic window, taking out the giant television in the process. "This sucks!"

Another beam lanced towards him, only to be deflected by a well-thrown shield and Hawkeye used the chance to nock and fire an arrow at the Sentinel that had just tried to kill him.

"Sirs, you need to hear this." JARVIS declared.

"Bit busy here!" Hawkeye yelped as a Sentinel landed and strode forwards in an attempt to engage him in hand-to-hand, only to be decapitated by Steve Roger's well-aimed throw. "Where the hell is Tony when we need him?"

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"Please disperse peacefully and return to your homes!" Iron Man broadcast as he hovered in front of the growing mob.

"Hell, no!" The leader shouted as he waved a 'Church Of Humanity' flag. "It's time to wipe out those mutie freaks! Let's purify humanity!"

"Of all the times to get infected by Cap's preference for non-lethal actions…" Tony grumbled to himself as he prepared the flash-bangs for firing.

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"…what."

"It's confirmed, sir." The operative reported. "Every person who has been confirmed as being transformed into a Sentinel was once cured by Project Rao's Blessing."

"Dear God." Fury whispered. "Millions of people have been treated by the med-pods…"

"Early indications are hopeful that no more than a hundred pods have been compromised." The operative offered hopefully. "Forge and Tekmage are already examining one of the pods in question."

"Tekmage?" Fury repeated, caught by surprise. "Isn't he one of Magneto's Acolytes?"

"He is." A voice said and Fury spun to see Magneto himself striding onto the bridge, a quartet of SHIELD agents following him warily. "I have tasked all of my Acolytes with countering this newest threat. My powers… do not seem to affect these new Sentinels, though, so I came here. Do we yet know what, or who is behind this?"

"Not yet." Fury growled. "But when we do…"

"Then I shall volunteer to be on the team you send." Eric Lensherr said, his face set with determination. "I shall aid them to the best of my capability, mutant, human, Olympian or Kryptonian. You have my word."

"If whoever or whatever is behind this situation had just waited one more week, we'd have been able to get enough help to stop this ongoing catastrophe." Fury growled and Eric lifted an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"Let me tell you about Kandor…"

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"…and so, with the aid of the protectors who have been bestowed upon humanity by the will of God Almighty, humanity shall regain its true state of purity!" The Supreme Pontiff declaimed as he stood on the hastily-assembled stage in Times Square, four of the Bio-Sentinels standing guard, one at each corner. Occasional shadows flashed across the crowd as silver-skinned Sentinels, each standing twelve feet tall, flew overhead, scanning the city. "Let us embrace the power granted to those selected to protect us from the wiles of the Devil and they shall lead us into a new day of peace and prosperity, a new Eden unsullied by the stench of mutants! The light of the Lord shines through his chosen instruments and the darkness shall be burned away! Let us celebrate the Guardians and may the Church of Humanity be preserved under their benevolent gaze forever!"

As if to punctuate his speech, a bolt of lightning arced out of the Stark Tower, catching almost thirty of the flying Sentinels and turning them into burning balls of flame.

"Behold the struggles of the mutant-lovers, the traitors to humanity!" The Pontiff shouted, pointing at the tower. "Join with the Sentinels and let us reclaim first this city, then this country, for the true humans!"

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"Sir, the crowd around the base of the tower has just changed into a violent mob." Jarvis stated.

"I hadn't noticed!" Tony snarked as several bullets bounced off his armor, leaving smears of lead but no other evidence of impact. "Secure all the lower levels while I go and help Point Break with those knockoffs buzzing my tower. Where's Legolas?"

"He is currently safe at the Moonbase, sir, receiving treatment for his broken arm. However, due to recent developments, all of the Med-Pods have been taken off-line until they can be checked for sabotage."

"Fuck." Tony growled as he arrowed upwards, his gauntlet-laser neatly decapitating a bio-Sentinel that hadn't seen him coming. "That'll keep him out of action for several weeks."

An alarm sounded and Tony reflexively spiraled out of the way, his conscious mind not even registering the slight flash of red that had told him where the attack was coming from, nor did he pay attention to his own instinctive counter-attack which resulted in one of the silver sentinels being blasted to pieces by a micro-missile.

"What are those larger models?"

"Analysis of the sensor reports indicates that they are comprised of reinforced actuated skeletons holding a processor unit and power supply. Over three-quarters of their mass, however, is comprised of re-actively-adjustable micro-units that can be reconfigured into a variety of shapes and systems, including projectors for various attacks or energy fields."

"Damn things are able to modify themselves to counter their targets?" Tony gasped. "Who the fuck came up with such a thing?"

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"Losses seem… higher than anticipated." Doctor Zola mused as he perused the datastreams.

"Nevertheless, our reserves are still above the levels estimated for this portion of the plan, Bastion." Master Mold replied calmly. "Have you completed the programming to allow the bio-Sentinels to generate their own transformation nanites?"

"Almost." Zola replied as he turned his attention back to the code that was de-bugging. "I would like more time to test it to ensure that it doesn't conflict with any of the other programming… Perhaps we should only upload it to a small number first, just to be safe?"

"…A valid concern, Bastion. Very well, queue the program for uploading to half a percent of the bio-sentinals and have them report any problems so that they can be corrected."

"As you command, Master Mold."

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"Where the hell's the programming code?" Tekmage growled, looking at the relatively small bundle of coding that he and Forge had teased out of the compromised med-pod. "There's no way that this causes the changes, there isn't enough coding for that!"

"I agree." Forge said, using his power to interface with the console and highlight three-quarters of the scrolling text. "This is the instructions on how to build the nanites. This part is the programming loaded into the nanites… there's nothing left over and the amount of coding isn't enough to replicate what we've seen. This must be what's causing it, but there's no way that it can be causing it."

Tekmage stared at the coding, a contemplative frown on his face. "Maybe it isn't… directly."

Forge turned to look at the technopath in confusion. "Directly?"

"This coding is enough to build… a small memory drive and central processing unit, with enough left over for a wireless modem. The nanites construct it… probably in the lower abdomen as there's enough room, and then contact a central processor via the internet. New instructions get uploaded and acted upon, a stage at a time. New systems get uploaded and constructed, changes made to the host's body and feedback tells the central control what stage the host is at, whether or not it can be activated."

Forge stared at Tekmage, then his gaze was almost dragged back to the screen.

"Shit, yeah. This is so not groovy, but I think you've nailed it. Just here are the instructions for the internet link… looks like a rotating code of some sort. Must be a heavy load of security at the other end… not sure we can trace this link. It goes through a server too well known for its privacy policy…"

"I heard a rumor that the Kingpin uses it to control his businesses." Tekmage confirmed. "The security on it is insane. Even I bounced off when I tried to hack it."

"So… we've come this far to hit a dead end…" Forge sighed.

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"Smythe!"

Alistair Smythe stared at the form crumpled on the ground, then up at his boss who was wiping his hands clean as around the office, several of his underlings stared in shock at his display of strength.

"That… was a Bio-Sentinel…"

"He was one of my best employees." Wilson Fisk ground out. "Smythe, I want you to find out everything you can about who caused this and how it was done. I don't care how you do it, but I want answers!"

"Of course, sir." Smythe replied, his fingers already flashing over his touchscreen. "May I ask Doctor Octavius and Mysterio to assist me? Their scientific abilities may prove advantageous."

"Do whatever you need to do." Fisk stated. "And get a fake body made for his funeral. I refuse to subject his wife and children to the knowledge that their father was transformed into a killing machine."

"Of course, sir." Alistair replied, having regained his calm.

Wilson Fisk was a criminal mastermind of the highest order, but like the most successful masterminds, he only sought to strike at peoples emotions when there was a true reason to.

Anything other would have been… unprofessional.