Merge:Syndicate

Syndicate are the mutant conjoined twins Matthew and Luke, from the Ultimate Imprint of Marvel Comics. Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Dillon, they first appeared in Ultimate X-Men #58 2005.

Character Biography
Matthew and Luke first met Charles Xavier when they attempted to rob a bank where Xavier has been banking for nearly twenty years. Xavier was there to inquire why all his assets were suddenly frozen. Apparently his account was under investigation ever since his recent falling out with the Hellfire Club and they were trying seize all his assets. Because of Syndicate's mutants powers, he was able to fry the security systems and easily hold everyone in the bank hostage. Xavier attempted to telepathically force them to give themselves up but was unable to due to Syndicate's interlinked grey matter which made them immune to his telepathy.

In order to get out alive, Xavier concocted a plan with his fellow hostages. Xavier tapped into the recesses of his fellow captives' minds and removed their mental blocks so that they could fight off their captors. After Xavier successfully got his fellow hostages out of the bank, he opted to stay behind. Xavier tried to reason with the boys but when that failed, he used his telepathy to read their minds and found out that Matthew and Luke were only robbing the bank so that they could get enough money to pay for their ailing sister's operation. Xavier threatened to telepathically order their sister Alice, who was at Central Bronx Hospital, to throw herself off the roof to her death. However Syndicate did not believe him since no one was that powerful or that evil, but Xavier boasted that Alice's cancer-ridden brain was quite easy to pick and began commanding her to limp to the stairwell leading to the rooftop. Syndicate finally agreed to give himself up to the authorities, but Xavier had something else in mind.

Xavier telepathically broadcasted an invent scenario where Matthew and Luke were gunned down by the police into the minds of everyone gathered there to give them closure. He offered them a chance at redemption, but not as one of his X-Men, but to become one of his many undercover agents. Syndicate's mission was to get back the assets and funds that the Hellfire club took from him and Xavier offered to pay for their sister's operation if and only if they completed the mission without taking a single life. They are currently in one of Xavier's safehouses in Manhattan awaiting further instructions.

In early shots for Issue 75, Syndicate is seen.

Powers
Syndicate's unusual heart pumps out electromagnetic pulses with each beat which allows him to disable almost any security system. Their interlinked grey matter also makes them immune to telepathic control, but they are still susceptible to mind readings.