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Hawk saw a dozen armed mutant guards running for the emergency exit. He glanced at the handgun the manager had pressed into his hand.
It was a last resort.
In case their defense failed.
Getting caught by Sentinel Services was worse than dying. Hawk knew this without question, because he knew who was in charge.
Colonel Stryker.
He was ruthless. Calling him the executioner of mutantkind didn't even cover it. Any mutant taken by him faced only one fate: a lab table and dissection.
"HAWK." Wanda's voice snapped him out of it. She raised a hand, frowning slightly. "My energy... SOMETHING IS SUPPRESSING IT."
Hawk frowned slightly, remembering what a guard had shouted earlier.
"X-Gene Suppressor."
"What is that?"
"A device built to shut down mutant powers."
"I'm not a mutant."
"That's just what they call it. It probably dampens all superhuman energy."
Wanda frowned, then looked at him. "Do you think that's why your powers aren't working?"
Hawk shook his head. "Hard to say."
They'd only been in this universe for a few hours. It was too soon to say for sure.
Gunfire erupted from the emergency exit down the hall. At the main doors, surviving Epsilon-level mutants scrambled into the fallout shelter under covering fire. Some were drenched in blood, though there was no telling whose blood it was. Theirs. Other mutants'. Or the agents'.
The manager's roar came from the escape tunnel.
"Grenade. Move!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
A violent explosion interrupted him. Smoke and concrete dust blasted from the corridor in a wave.
"Mark!"
"Make them pay!"
Screams resounded through the dust as the gunfire got frantic.
Mark. The manager.
Hawk narrowed his eyes.
A blood-covered guard stumbled out of the smoke with Mark in his arms. The manager's body had been shredded by shrapnel. The guard's legs gave out, and both men crashed hard onto the concrete.
"Boss!"
"Dolby!"
Another guard rushed over to help them.
"Leave me. Get the boss."
Dolby pushed the others away and stood up, blood on his teeth. He grabbed a jagged piece of shrapnel in his thigh and pulled it out with a sickening sound.
He didn't look back as he ran into the smoke again.
For mutants, there were only two ways out of a fight with Sentinel Services.
They die.
Or the Sentinels die.
There was no other option. For them, even hell was better than being caught.
In the tunnels, the Sentinel agents fired with precision. The mutant guards screamed but kept holding the line.
Hawk saw Mark bleeding on the floor. In the corner, terrified Epsilon mutants huddled together, shielding a group of children.
For a moment, the lines between sides blurred.
Who were the heroes here?
Who were the villains?
It did not matter... Hawk glanced at the gun in his hand and let out a dry laugh. He shook his head and turned to Wanda.
"You good?"
Wanda didn't answer right away. She noticed the cold resolve in his eyes and smiled, then raised her right hand.
Scarlet Chaos Magic flickered between her fingers. The light was faint, but the X-Gene Suppressor hadn't stopped her.
"It is trying to," Wanda murmured. "But it is not strong enough."
"Good to know."
Hawk smirked.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Automatic gunfire tore through the two guards at the main entrance. The Sentinel advance team had reached the door.
"Fuck!"
"Abby, get them to the emergency exit!"
Two surviving guards called out to a woman in the back, then raised their rifles and ran toward the breach, firing as they went.
They knew the emergency exit had been compromised too.
If their deaths gave the others a few more seconds, it was worth it.
The two guards ran into the line of fire and straight into a group of Sentinel agents. The agents were fully armored, expressionless, and already aiming their rifles.
No warnings.
No demands for surrender.
They pulled their triggers in perfect unison.
A hail of bullets filled the air, heading straight for the two mutants. The guards squeezed their eyes shut.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
Clack-clack-clack.
The moment the guards broke cover, Hawk moved.
He stepped into the line of fire, right in front of them. Bullets slammed into his chest, and in seconds, his suit was torn to rags.
The two guards felt nothing, just the deafening sound of bullets bouncing off something solid.
"..." They opened their eyes.
A huge figure stood between them and the firing squad.
They stared at Hawk's broad back, stunned.
"Who is that?"
"Did the suppressors go down?"
The Sentinel agents froze.
Through the smoke, the man was still standing.
Not a single scratch marked his body.
His suit, however, had not survived.
Hawk looked at the ruined fabric. He grabbed his lapel and tore off the shredded jacket and shirt, revealing a muscular, unmarked torso.
He looked up at the tactical squad and smiled.
He gave a cold, predatory grin.
"You done shooting?" His voice was calm.
"My turn."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
The concrete cracked under his right heel.
Hawk vanished from the doorway and reappeared in the center of the Sentinel formation.
Crack.
Squelch.
He reached out and grabbed the heads of the two nearest agents. Before they could scream, he squeezed.
Their skulls burst instantly.
"Holy shit!"
"Open fire! Open fire!"
The Sentinel agents' discipline broke, replaced by terror.
One agent jammed the barrel of his rifle against Hawk's face and pulled the trigger. Hawk ignored the bullets sparking off his cheekbone and swung his open hand.
The blow snapped the agent's head to the side. It twisted until the spine broke and the head came off.
Five seconds later, the gunfire stopped.
The screaming stopped.
The tunnel went silent.
Hawk was the only one left standing in the blood-soaked corridor, except for the two mutant guards still frozen near the fallout shelter doors.
He turned and crossed the distance in a single stride, stopping in front of them.
The guards stared at his bare, blood-spattered torso.
They looked at him with awe.
To the Sentinel agents, Hawk was a demon. To the mutants, he was a god.
Hawk recognized that look. People he'd relocated to his World Tree universe had looked at him the same way.
His voice remained calm.
"Watch the door. If more agents come down, yell."
The two guards snapped to attention.
"Yes, sir."
Hawk vanished from their sight.
The breach team was dead, but the squad at the emergency exit was still breathing.
He was already committed.
If he killed one, he might as well kill two.
Or ten thousand.
It did not matter. For someone used to wiping out bloodlines and even whole species, taking out a few tactical teams barely made a difference to his conscience.
Then a thought clicked into place. Why was he wasting time trying to track down Professor X?
What was that line again?
You don't find the X-Mansion. They find you.
Heh. Fine by him.
Hawk was done searching.
He would let Professor X come to him.
Everyone knew that if Magneto was mutantkind's militant hawk, then Professor X was its peaceful dove—a dove who preached cooperation with humans, at least in public.
Hawk was curious about one thing.
When mutants were being slaughtered in the streets, Professor X was nowhere to be found.
So if Sentinel agents were the ones getting slaughtered...
Would Professor X finally make an appearance?
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