The safe haven's walls bore scars from the last attack—cracks in the obsidian, scorch marks from Lily's fire—but Bill refused to let it falter. Days after the antidote news, tension hung thick, the radio silent since Beast's warning. Bill stood atop a turret, Iron Man's HUD scanning the horizon, Steve's pickaxe resting beside him. Clara tended the garden, her spear nearby, while Lily practiced fire control, shaping flames into shields. The comics' echoes—Trask's Sentinel swarms, Sinister's twisted experiments—kept Bill on edge, but the antidote threat felt personal, a blade aimed at his family's soul.A low hum broke the quiet—drones, dozens, cresting the trees. Then figures emerged: controlled mutants, their blank stares chilling, led by a Trask Industries enforcer in a sleek exosuit, his voice amplified. "Your resistance is futile. The antidote will cleanse you."Bill's grip tightened—comics' Days of Future Past flashing, mutants reduced to husks. "Over my dead body," he growled.The system chimed:
"Host emotional state: Defiant. Templates active: Iron Man, Steve. Threat level: Critical."Drones fired, lasers searing the moat. Bill blasted back with repulsors, Steve crafting TNT blocks to hurl—explosions rocked the air, downing three machines. Controlled mutants charged—a telekinetic hurling boulders, a clawed brute shredding turf, a speedster blurring toward Lily. Clara speared the speedster's leg, pinning him, while Lily's fire wall slowed the brute."Stay back!" Bill shouted, switching to Steve, mining stone to reinforce the wall. Iron Man's HUD locked targets, repulsors blasting the telekinetic mid-throw. But the enforcer laughed, deploying more—twenty mutants now, a relentless tide. A drone grabbed Clara, lifting her skyward—Bill's heart lurched, comics' mutant abductions replaying.Fear turned to dread, a primal urge to end this fast. The system responded:
"New Template Unlocked: SCP-173. Extreme speed and lethality when unobserved. Warning: Line-of-sight control required."Bill's body morphed—stone-like skin, jagged limbs, a neck that snapped unnaturally. He blinked, testing it—nothing. Then Clara looked away, and he moved. A blur, faster than Spider-Man, he snapped the drone's neck—metal crumpling like paper—catching Clara as it fell. She gasped, staring. "Bill?""Keep watching me," he rasped, SCP-173's gravelly voice alien. He turned to the speedster—Lily blinked, and Bill was there, snapping its arm before it reached her. The template's rules clicked—unseen, he was unstoppable, but observed, he froze.The enforcer sneered, sending a telepathic mutant to lock eyes with Bill, paralyzing him. "Cute trick." Bill's anger flared—Iron Man's repulsors fired from his static hands, stunning the telepath. Clara shouted, "Lily, cover me!"—her spear jabbing as Lily's fire blinded foes, freeing Bill's gaze.He moved again—unseen, a statue's wrath. The clawed brute charged; Bill waited, Clara blinking, and snapped its spine in an instant. Drones swarmed; he crafted Steve's TNT, tossing it mid-blur, Iron Man's precision detonating them. The haven shook, turrets firing Steve's explosive arrows, Lily's flames melting a mutant's armor.The enforcer advanced, exosuit gleaming, launching a missile. Bill switched—Steve mined a dirt shield, Iron Man's HUD redirecting it into the moat, the blast igniting Lily's fire into a wall of heat. But the controlled kept coming—thirty now, a telekinetic ripping the bunker door. Bill's dread peaked—SCP-173 surged, unseen by the distracted foe, crushing its skull."Enough!" Bill roared, combining templates—Iron Man's flight lifted him, Steve crafted a diamond sword, SCP-173's speed struck when the enforcer blinked. The blade slashed the exosuit, sparks flying, and a repulsor blast sent him reeling. Clara and Lily flanked, spear and fire driving mutants back.The enforcer retreated, drones smoking, mutants collapsing—control breaking. Bill froze, SCP-173 fading, armor retracting, pixelation vanishing. He stumbled to Clara and Lily, hugging them tight, blood and ash on his hands. "You okay?"Clara nodded, breathless. "You're terrifying—and amazing."Lily grinned, glow bright. "That statue thing… Dad, you're unstoppable!"The system hummed:
"Host emotional state: Relieved. New template mastered: SCP-173. Haven integrity: Compromised but defensible. Objective: Repair and brace for antidote escalation."Bill surveyed the damage—walls cracked, moat dimmed. The antidote loomed, Trask's controlled puppets a taste of worse to come—comics' Prime Sentinels, maybe. He'd rebuild, stronger, with every template. "They want to cure us?" he said, voice steel. "Let them try."Inside, Clara bandaged him, Lily stoked the fire. The haven held, their life intact—thanks to stone, steel, and a statue's deadly gaze.