Within just a few minutes of the engagement, those fighting Nimrod realized something was wrong. Logan was the first to charge, but upon brief contact, he felt a wave of unprecedented weakness. It was a sensation he had only experienced once before: when he touched Rogue.
Consequently, Logan, who had just driven his Adamantium claws into the machine, opened his mouth in immense agony. He wanted to scream, but he lacked the strength even to part his lips. Fortunately, Colossus slammed into Nimrod with timely force, knocking Logan free.
However, Nimrod merely took a single step back. In the next second, his eyes released energy beams that felt hauntingly familiar to the two men, blasting Colossus through the walls of a nearby building.
X-23 quickly scrambled up Nimrod's neck, attempting to slice open his head, but Nimrod snatched her like a small chick and tossed her aside.
It was at this moment that Emma Frost received a signal from the future. Her expression shifted drastically, and she immediately used telepathy to relay a terrifying fact to everyone: the Nimrod before them was, in all likelihood, already in his perfect form.
"Fine. I originally wanted Blink to take the ladies and leave, but it seems that's no longer an option. Marrow, take the girls and hide." After a sharp whistle, Gambit hurled several playing cards at Nimrod, but the effect was negligible; the explosions yielded no results.
Logan gritted his teeth and hauled himself up, intending to charge back into the fray. Gambit ran up to him and asked a simple question: "Can you still stick your claws into that thing's body?"
"Why are you asking that, Frenchie?"
"I've got an idea. The bad news is you'll probably turn into a piece of charcoal. The good news is that giant robot across from us should die too." Gambit asked with a grin, "You aren't afraid of dying, are you?"
"To hell with it." Logan stood up and lunged at Nimrod with a speed Gambit couldn't hope to match. His Adamantium claws were as reliable as ever, piercing through Nimrod's metallic torso from behind. Nimrod turned his head to look at Logan.
"Your resistance is mathematically meaningless."
"That's not necessarily true, friend."
The arriving Gambit pressed his metal staff against Logan. Instantly, a massive surge of energy poured through Logan's body and the Adamantium claws into Nimrod's interior, flooding every one of the machine's molecules with intense power.
Then, Gambit seized the opportunity to retreat rapidly. Amidst a deafening explosion, Nimrod was blown apart... or was he?
He was not. Nimrod's entire body transformed into extremely cold ice, the extreme low temperature forcibly halting the explosive reaction. As he walked toward Gambit, he began to slowly undo the icing of his body.
Iceman, having finished reinforcing the surrounding buildings, rushed over, releasing a massive amount of cold to stop Nimrod. Under the low-temperature state, Nimrod's movements seemed to become slow and heavy, but in an instant, his body erupted in raging flames, completely dispelling the cold.
The wreckage of a massive Sentinel crashed down onto Nimrod. Moments later, the observers watched as Nimrod walked slowly out of the explosion site. Cyclops, who had dealt with the giant Sentinel, descended from the sky and attempted a full-force assault on Nimrod. However, the latter teleported directly above the descending Cyclops and kicked him into the ground.
"Your resistance is futile. I have already told you this."
The perspective shifts back to the Parker household. At this moment, Peter was unaware of the events unfolding across the Atlantic, nor did he know that the offensive on Earth-811 had begun. While the X-Men faced off against Nimrod, he was in the garage assisting Uncle Ben.
"Are you sure about this, son? It wouldn't be good if someone saw you."
"It's fine. I put the jack outside. If someone comes, I'll let the jack take the weight." Peter stood beside the family's old car, one hand braced on a low cabinet in the garage while the other lifted the old vehicle, holding it up so Uncle Ben could crawl underneath to fix it.
Uncle Ben looked at the old machine and couldn't help but sigh. "Heavens, back when you were small and I first got this car, I was practically the handsomest old man in the neighborhood. Now I'm just like this car—full of problems everywhere."
"You still are, Uncle Ben."
"I like the sound of that. How is school life, Peter?"
"Uh, I..."
In truth, there was hardly any school life; he was too busy saving the world. Peter scratched his head. He knew Uncle Ben and Aunt May surely noticed something was off, but he simply didn't want to trouble them.
"You have to remember, you're still a fifteen-year-old student. You won't be sixteen until this August, alright? Don't pile too much on your own shoulders."
Having finished changing the brake pads, Uncle Ben crawled out from under the car. Peter set the vehicle down, listening to Uncle Ben speak from across the hood. "Just leave these things to the adults."
Peter nodded, then caught a sound. He froze for a moment before suddenly turning and running to his room. Uncle Ben, completely unaware of what had happened, immediately followed. He stopped upon reaching the living room and looked at the news on the television.
"Emergency report: the X-Men are engaged in battle with a massive Sentinel robot in Paris. We do not know where this Sentinel came from or how it entered France. All we know is that the X-Men are locked in a bitter struggle, and a previously unseen team of mutants has appeared here to assist them."
Uncle Ben now knew where Peter had gone.
This godforsaken world.
On the Blackbird jet in Paris, a teleportation circle appeared. Illyana brought Peter to the scene of the battle. Since Peter's proficiency with the Sling Ring wasn't yet high enough to open a portal to a place he hadn't visited, he had gone to the Mansion to find Illyana for help.
Kitty, who had been ordered to stay on the plane, saw Peter and looked over in surprise. She then saw Peter hand her a palm-sized device.
"Inside this device is an Ultron program host shrunken with Pym Particles. Nimrod's essence is liquid metal, so every one of his molecules is the 'main body'; there's no way to directly destroy him." Peter explained the purpose of the item to Kitty. "So, Dr. Pym used a Super-Adaptoid sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to create the Ultron host. It's made of the same material as Nimrod's body."
"As long as we get this thing into Nimrod's body, he will be affected by another Artificial Intelligence," Beast, sitting in the cockpit, immediately drew a logical conclusion. "Will this help us defeat Nimrod?"
"We'll have to try it to find out."