"What's… what's going on?!"
Siryn gripped the windowsill with both hands, as if only by holding on could she find some sense of security.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Alex the Ravager swallowed hard, his throat bobbing visibly.
"It's mutants—other mutants!" Hank, more mature than the rest, made the call calmly.
In a situation like this, only mutants could pull something like this off. Regular humans? Not a chance.
"Alex, how are you staying so calm?!" Mystique turned to him, eyes wide with disbelief. "How are you not freaking out?"
After all, the base was under siege. There was a massacre going on!
And yet Alex didn't seem afraid at all.
"That's easy." Alex gave her a cheeky grin. "I'm pretending."
Mystique: "…"
Even the others—siryn, Havok, Darwin—were completely floored.
To think he still had the presence of mind to joke around at a time like this… His nerves were something else. They were practically pissing themselves over here!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Gunfire erupted in the distance. The CIA agents had begun a full-on firefight with the intruders.
"Fall back! Get back to your rooms—we're under attack!"
A squad of special agents burst in, rifles raised, shouting at the group of mutants.
They might have mocked the mutants before, treated them like zoo animals…
But now, in the heat of crisis, they still did their duty, placing themselves between the enemy and the mutants—even if it meant facing death.
---
[New Mission Generated:]
[Objective: Prevent Black King's group from taking any mutant.]
[Reward: 300 Origin Points]
Right then, a familiar mechanical voice echoed in Alex's mind.
A new mission—finally triggered!
Alex felt a jolt of excitement surge through him.
"Wait, only 300 Origin Points?"
His excitement instantly deflated, and he silently cursed the system.
Last time, taking down Sabretooth netted him a hundred.
But this time? He was going up against three powerful mutants—Black King Shaw, Azazel, and Riptide—all of whom were far stronger than Sabretooth.
The difficulty was easily triple, and the system was only offering 300 points?! Seriously?
But then again… maybe it wasn't that unfair.
After all, the mission wasn't asking him to kill the Black King and his crew—just to stop them from taking any mutants.
And if he recalled the storyline right, Shaw had gone to great lengths to break into this secret facility… only to end up taking one mutant: Angel. Just her.
Which meant the mission could basically be summed up as: Don't let them take Angel.
There were plenty of ways to make that happen.
He could knock her out right now, for example…
But that would be insane. No way was Alex doing something that random without cause.
As for facing Shaw and the others head-on?
Alex wasn't worried.
He had the strength now. He might not be able to kill Shaw, but Shaw wouldn't be able to kill him either.
Three hundred Origin Points? Fine. If Daddy System said so, then so be it!
---
Whoosh!
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a blur appeared at the entrance of the lounge—Azazel.
He struck a dramatic pose, arms spread wide like Rose on the Titanic.
"He's behind you!"
"Watch your backs!"
The mutants inside the room screamed warnings at the CIA agents.
The agents whirled around and opened fire on Azazel without hesitation.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
A hail of bullets rained down on where Azazel had just been standing.
Whoosh!
But he vanished like a ghost.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared beside an agent, grabbed the rifle out of his hands, and fired on another agent.
The team reeled in shock, trying to respond—but before they could act, Azazel disappeared again, reappearing elsewhere like a specter of death.
---
Meanwhile…
A sudden tornado erupted in the courtyard outside, tearing toward the massive "orb" structure at its center.
Within seconds, it was obliterated.
That "orb" was the cerebral amplifier Hank had built for Charles Xavier—one of the few things Sebastian Shaw genuinely feared.
So Shaw hadn't just come to abduct mutants. He was here to destroy Cerebro, too.
Whoosh!
The tornado, as if it had eyes, shifted direction and headed straight toward the building.
Then it stopped just outside another window.
There stood a man with long, flowing hair, clad in a neatly tailored suit—Riptide.
Frontline slaughter by Azazel. Rearguard sealed by a wind-wielding mutant. There was no way out.
Mystique, Siryn—they were all drowning in despair.
"Alex, what do we do?!" Siryn turned to him, eyes pleading.
"Yeah, Alex, think of something!" added Havok.
At a time like this, with Charles and Erik absent, Alex had become their pillar of support without even realizing it.
"Stay here. Don't worry—you'll be fine."
Alex's voice was calm and steady.
"But those guys outside won't last long! We have to leave, now!" Darwin argued urgently.
"That red-skinned freak can teleport. What's the point of running?"
Alex shot back with a single sentence, shutting Darwin up completely.
"Just stay put."
Leaving those words behind, Alex didn't waste another breath.
With speed surpassing that of any car, he launched himself toward Azazel.
Those CIA agents were trying to protect them. Since he had the power, he couldn't just stand by and watch them die.
---
Shing!
In the plaza, Azazel stabbed one agent clean through the chest.
He was just about to finish off another when—whoosh—a sudden gust of wind and a blur of motion slammed into him.
Alex had arrived.
A fist rocketed toward Azazel's face.
Whoosh!
Azazel vanished.
Alex's punch hit nothing but air.
"Hmph. What's the fun in bullying regular people?"
Alex turned, scanning the area. "If you've got guts, come at me!"
This wasn't posturing.
He was baiting Azazel, drawing his attention.
Because Azazel's teleportation made him nearly impossible to hit head-on—even at twice the speed of a car, Alex couldn't keep up.
The only way…
Was to get Azazel to attack him instead.
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