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Stryker's face had gone white. He had consistently believed he had a hundred ways to deal with mutants.
A hundred... Everyone important knew it. Deep inside the Alkali Lake dam in Canada, no one really knew how many mutants he had locked away, or how many had died screaming on his operating tables.
If he wanted someone taken, no mutant escaped his reach.
That was not arrogance. It was a fact.
The White House had signed off on it!
The Pentagon had armed him for it!
He had mutant-suppression technology built to shut down the X-gene itself. If Washington had not quietly told him to hold back, he could have attacked Professor X's school whenever he wanted.
But he had not.
Washington still needed Professor X. They needed a dove at the head of the mutant community. They needed a mutant who knew how to cooperate.
The logic was simple.
Charles Xavier had not become the mutant leader because he was powerful. He had become the leader because Washington allowed it. They needed him to stand in front of the cameras and sound reasonable when the situation called for it.
Whenever Magneto resurfaced, for instance, Professor X was supposed to step in and clean up the mess.
Washington could accept a scattered, disorganized mutant population. They could even tolerate Xavier running his academy as a political mouthpiece. But they could not accept mutants rallying behind someone like Magneto.
So, Stryker knew exactly where Xavier's school was. All he needed was authorization from above. Without it, any strike on the academy would end with him taking the blame.
But Magneto had been gone for ten years. Every year, the hardliners in Washington grew more confident. Stryker noticed the shift and pushed even harder.
As for mutants outside Xavier's protection, he did not care who they were. If they carried the X-gene, he hunted them.
This new arrival, Hawk Phoenix, was no different.
Stryker had already made up his mind. As soon as his teams brought in Hawk Phoenix, he would send him straight to the dam for full-scale vivisection.
Except that...
The plan had barely formed in his mind, and he had not even mobilized his teams, when Hawk arrived at the gates demanding his head.
But Hawk did not come peacefully. He attacked head-on, trapping Stryker's superiors inside their own base and forcing them to hand Stryker over in person.
William Stryker was angry.
SO ANGRY!
What good was anger now? What could he really do? Unless someone killed this mutant before the handoff—or at least drove him away long enough to buy time, Stryker was already dead.
Did such a person even exist?
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Stryker watched the helicopter land.
Behind it, the huge red dome covered all of Quantico, and he felt time slipping away. He searched his mind for any way to escape.
Then it hit him.
Stryker's eyes snapped open.
"PROFESSOR X!"
"...What?" Aditya frowned at him. Stryker had called out the name in sudden desperation.
Stryker seized the lifeline and turned on Aditya. "Contact Professor X right now! He's a telepath. Tell him a mutant has General Ross hostage. He'll step in. He can shut this bastard down with his mind!"
He did not need to kill him. He just had to subdue him for a while or drive him away.
They just had to survive this moment.
If Hawk were neutralized or forced to retreat, General Ross and the other brass could get out of Quantico alive. And if they got out alive, they would no longer need to throw Stryker away to save themselves.
It seemed perfect!!
Energy flooded back into Stryker. He barked at Aditya, "MAKE THE CALL! GET XAVIER ON THE LINE. NOW!"
"..." Aditya said nothing. He just stared at Stryker, his eyes dull and his face empty.
"Do I look stupid to you?"
"...What?"
"Can you guarantee it'll work?"
"I can..."
"You can't!"
"..." Stryker froze.
Aditya looked at him with clear contempt and deep exhaustion. "Stryker, we are not the same. I don't gamble when the stakes are this high. Do you really think you're the first to think of Xavier? You think General Ross never considered it? What Ross and the others decide to do with this mutant tomorrow isn't your concern. Today, your only job is to trade your life for this base. Honestly, they're getting a bargain."
The nerve of him.
A man already marked for death, and he still wanted to drag everyone else into the grave with him?
Not while Aditya was standing here.
Besides, Aditya had been the one to haul Stryker out here in cuffs. If Stryker lived through this, how was Aditya supposed to explain that?
If Stryker survived and somehow crawled back into power, Aditya was finished.
So—
Stryker could shout for Professor X all he wanted. Even if General Ross himself ordered Aditya to call Xavier, Aditya would find a way to block the call.
As long as Stryker still had a pulse, Professor X was not getting anywhere near this mess.
Aditya had made up his mind. Even if God himself came down to argue, it would not change anything.
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A moment later.
The helicopter settled into the clearing just outside the red dome.
Aditya looked at Stryker.
"Move. The General is probably out of patience by now."
"Bring him."
Aditya gave the order, opened the cabin door, and jogged out with his head down beneath the spinning rotors.
Unlike the people trapped inside, Aditya and his men crossed the red barrier without resistance, marching a handcuffed Stryker straight onto the Quantico base.
With two Sentinel agents on either side of him, Stryker's face turned red. He struggled and twisted against them the whole way.
It was pure survival instinct.
As soon as he passed through the red dome, Stryker realized he was about to be executed. He started to fight for his life with every step.
At that moment, no one on Earth wanted to live more than William Stryker.
But the soldiers, their families, and General Ross inside the dome wanted to live too.
So—
One man died, or everyone died.
The choice was obvious.
General Ross stepped out of the command building, his face hard and unreadable. Above them, Hawk, who had been hovering in the air and talking with Wanda, came down and landed on the tarmac.
Hawk's eyes went straight to Stryker, who was being forced to stand between the two Sentinel agents.
"..." Stryker glared back, his eyes full of both terror and hatred.
Hawk's gaze drifted lower, stopping on Stryker's trembling legs. One corner of his mouth lifted. He gave a quiet laugh. "Hello, Stryker."
That cold, empty greeting was enough to break Stryker.
"YOU DAMN MUTANTS! I KNEW IT! I KNEW ONE DAY YOU FREAKS WOULD TEAR THIS WORLD APART!"
"I WAS RIGHT!"
"THE ONLY WAY TO DEAL WITH YOUR KIND IS TO WIPE YOU ALL OUT!"
"MY ONLY REGRET IS THAT I DIDN'T GO FAR ENOUGH!"
The moment Stryker heard that deadness in Hawk's voice, he understood. There would be no deal. No last-minute bargain. He was dead.
His legs were shaking, but his mouth refused to stop.
Hawk listened to Stryker's ranting without any change in his expression.
To Hawk, he sounded like a beaten dog making noise.
He had heard the same desperate speeches from men on death row too many times to care. Men like this always tried to sound brave at the end. Hawk respected those who stayed quiet and faced death without speaking.
Alexander Pierce, for example.
Pierce was a villain, but a professional one. He did whatever the mission required, and when he lost, he accepted it. He did not beg or bargain. He would pour himself a drink and face what came next.
William Stryker?
Hawk glanced at him once and lost interest. He raised his right hand.
At that moment, the two Sentinel agents holding Stryker stepped back, dragging him with them.
Hawk tilted his head slightly and turned toward this world's Thaddeus Ross.
"You have Stryker. Drop the dome."
"Aha." Hawk paused, then let out a laugh. He stared at Thaddeus Ross. "General Ross. Are you trying to negotiate with me right now?"
"..." General Ross kept his expression locked down.
"This was a trade. We had a deal. Is Mr. Phoenix going back on his word?"
"Yes."
"What?" Ross finally lost his composure.
Hawk smirked. "Stryker is already inside my dome. Now I'm wondering if I should kill all of you anyway. My gut tells me that the second you walk out of here, you'll order every asset you have to hunt me down."
Ross's brow tightened. "You have my word. That will not happen."
Hawk sneered. "Your word means nothing to me. Especially yours, General. Did I mention that in my universe, I killed you and your daughter?"
Ross's expression twisted violently.
Hawk's voice stayed calm as he described what happened in his universe. He told Ross exactly how he killed him, what he did to Betty Ross, and how he scattered the ashes of the entire Ross family.
He gave him the times, the dates, and the places.
He left nothing out.
By the time Hawk finished describing the scene, he looked back at the General. "So, General Ross. You and I have history. You're a hardliner. Give me one reason I should let you walk out of here."
Ross's thoughts lurched. The image of his other self butchered and his family's grave desecrated stormed through his mind. He forced himself to inhale slowly.
"What do you want, Mr. Phoenix?"
"One thing at a time. The sun hasn't even set yet, General."
Hawk's face stayed completely blank.
Ross stared into Hawk's eyes. He drew another slow breath, closed his eyes, and snapped his right hand in a sharp flick.
The two Sentinel agents understood. They unlocked Stryker's cuffs and shoved him toward Hawk.
Stryker stumbled forward and nearly fell. Just before he hit the ground, a wild look came into his eyes. Metal hissed as he pulled something from his pocket.
And then...
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