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Mutant secret Base.
When Darian returned with Red Devil, the entire Base was already packed to the brim with the rescued Mutant prisoners.
Storm was busy leading a few people to maintain order; the air was filled with the noisy chatter of voices.
Fortunately, this Base had been built large enough, or it really wouldn't have been able to hold so many Mutant prisoners.
Darian pushed through the crowd to find Charles and asked, "How is the situation?"
Charles nodded, his tone relaxed. "The operation went very smoothly, much better than expected. We rescued several hundred Mutants in total."
"Is anyone causing trouble?"
Charles smiled slightly.
"There were some, but I've already had a 'chat' with them. They quickly realized their mistakes and decided to repay our kindness in saving them with their very lives, proactively requesting to contribute to the Mutant cause. They even insisted that we give them the hardest and most exhausting work, saying that if we gave them something easy, it would be looking down on them."
Darian was very gratified to hear this. "Not bad, not bad. There's no greater virtue than correcting one's mistakes. Since they have this heart, let's fulfill their wishes."
"Hehehe!" * 2
Everyone else: "..."
Why are these two laughing like villains?
However, the Mutants from the Days of Future Past group didn't say much, and even Professor X didn't speak up to stop them.
Having experienced so much, they had long since come to terms with it; sometimes, necessary means were required.
Even if Charles hadn't done it, Professor X would have done the same.
As for how to settle these five hundred-plus Mutant prisoners, Darian didn't need to worry. He left it all to Professor X and the others to handle. After all, they were professionals and best at dealing with such matters.
Just then, news came from Hank's side saying there was a new breakthrough in the research.
Darian immediately rushed to the laboratory.
Pushing open the doors, he saw a large figure standing in the center of the lab at a glance.
A humanoid robot over two meters tall, with a silver-gray metallic shell and sleek lines.
Moving closer for a better look, the surface was covered in a layer of fine metal scales, each capable of moving independently. A small Arc Reactor was embedded in the chest, emitting a faint blue light.
It looked like a fusion of Iron Man armor and a Sentinel Robot.
"You put this together so fast?" Darian said in surprise.
Hank smiled and nodded. "Thanks to the help of Erik and Magneto. Having them around saved me a lot of trouble."
When humans manufactured the Sentinel Robots, they specifically used non-metallic materials to prevent Magneto's abilities from working.
Hank didn't have such concerns and directly used metal as the primary material. After all, metal was much more practical than those composite materials.
The key was that they had Erik and Magneto, two masters of metal. They didn't need precision instruments at all; the metal could assemble itself. The efficiency was ridiculously fast.
Darian walked around the robot. "Can this robot copy Mutant abilities like the Sentinels now?"
"Not for the time being."
Hank shook his head and said seriously, "I was just about to tell you about this. I've studied it carefully and found that the Sentinel Robots' main design is actually divided into two layers. The first layer relies on Raven's genetic shapeshifting, which I've already solved. But the ability-copying part of the function comes from another special gene."
"It's Rogue's gene," Magneto suddenly interjected.
"Rogue?"
Darian had some impression of this Mutant.
He had seen her in another parallel X-Men Universe. Her ability was to copy other Mutants' powers through skin contact. At that time, she had even been captured by Magneto to serve as his surrogate in an attempt to turn all of humanity into Mutants.
Magneto nodded. "Yes. The reason Sentinel Robots can copy Mutant abilities is mainly due to her gene. Raven's gene only allows them to autonomously change their form."
"I was wondering how Raven's gene could copy abilities."
Darian suddenly understood.
Hearing before that Sentinels could copy abilities, he had wondered if Raven had some undeveloped potential.
Perhaps her true ability wasn't just copying appearances but copying abilities along with them.
For this reason, he had specifically sought out Raven to test her.
As a result, he had put her through the wringer for ages, but she never manifested any hidden abilities.
It turned out the Sentinel Robots' ability-copying function didn't come from Raven's gene at all, but from someone else.
Darian asked, "Where is Rogue now?"
Magneto's expression darkened.
"She was captured by humans and is being held at the old site of the X-Mansion. That place has been occupied by humans now and is guarded by a large number of Sentinel Robots."
Darian was somewhat speechless.
What kind of female lead protagonist constitution did this Rogue have? How was she getting captured every day?
Hank adjusted his glasses.
"Her gene is very important. It's the key to the Sentinel Robots' ability copying. Only by finding her can we complete the final upgrade of the Whiplash Robot."
[NPC Hank McCoy has issued a new quest to you]
[Quest: Rescue Rogue]
[Objective: Rescue the imprisoned Rogue]
[Rewards: Experience +2000, Anchor Shards * 2, Random Item * 1, Random Equipment * 1]
"I'll go bring her back."
Upon hearing Hank say that, Magneto took on the quest without a second thought.
No one was more practiced than him when it came to snatching Rogue.
"I'm going too."
Erik followed suit and suggested, "We can continue to dig a tunnel to get in, bypass the Sentinel Robots' defenses, and secretly bring her back."
After trying out the tunnel tactic, he had already fallen in love with burrowing through the ground.
Darian shook his head.
"No. We just attacked the Mutant prison, so the humans will definitely be on guard now. The same trick can't be used twice."
"In that case, we can only charge in directly."
Magneto's gaze was resolute.
In his mind, he had already begun to conceive which famous landmark to uproot this time. Would it be the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, or the Golden Gate Bridge... Oh, that one had already been used and still hadn't been fully repaired.
Beside him, Erik was also lost in thought.
But he wasn't very familiar with the surface of the U.S. in this future World, so he planned to borrow a national map to study it later.
His requirements weren't much; as long as it was a building larger and more shocking than the one Magneto found. He absolutely couldn't lose when it came to the scale of the spectacle, not even to his future self!
Hank was a bit worried.
"Won't this be too risky? Last time we were able to easily take down those Sentinels, it was all thanks to Darian's EMP bombs, but Darian said that item has already been used up."
He had studied the data on the Sentinel Robots and knew exactly how strong they were. Moreover, once their numbers increased, it would be a catastrophe. Darian grinned.
"What are you afraid of? Don't forget, we've brought a weapon of mass destruction with us this time."
Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters, abbreviated as the X-Mansion.
This was originally the home Base of the X-Men, the only school in the World specifically for teaching Mutant children.
But now, everything had changed.
Ever since the Sentinel Robots appeared, the X-Mansion had become a primary target for human strikes.
The X-Men had fought to the death, but the Sentinel Robots were simply too strong and too many; they couldn't hold them off. In the end, they could only painfully abandon this home. Now, the Xavier Estate had completely fallen into being a human military stronghold.
The vibrancy of the past was long gone, replaced by a deathly silence.
The once brightly lit castle was now as eerie as a haunted house.
Under the night sky, searchlights from the top of the castle constantly swept past, their beams of light crisscrossing through the woods and over the lawns. Many figures could be seen patrolling the surroundings, all human soldiers armed to the teeth.
In the night sky, several giant transport planes were slowly circling. The searchlights under their bellies lit the ground as bright as day. Combined with the ground lights, there were almost no blind spots.
The reason for such tight security was mainly because an extremely important Mutant was imprisoned here.
At this moment, the soldiers in the estate were all on edge.
They had received word long ago that Mutants had recently attacked a prison, digging a tunnel from underground to rescue a large group of Mutant prisoners. It was likely that those Mutants would attack this area next.
So they had specifically deployed a large number of men inside the castle. As soon as a tunnel appeared on the ground, they would immediately notify everyone.
In their view, as long as they guarded against an underground sneak attack, there would be no problem.
With a massive number of Sentinel Robots stationed outside, they doubted those Mutants would dare to launch a frontal assault...
Just as they were thinking this, the soldiers stationed at the top of the castle suddenly discovered a massive dark shadow drifting in the distance.
"What is that?"
As the shadow drew closer, everyone finally saw its outline. It was actually a complete stadium!
"WTF!?"
The soldiers were all dumbfounded.
The massive stadium streaked through the night sky, crashing straight into the transport planes in the air.
Boom!!
With a thunderous roar, the transport planes were directly blown apart by this tens-of-thousands-of-tons behemoth. Sparks flew everywhere as they traced an arc and plummeted toward the ground.
At the same time, several more dark shadows flew in from the distance.
These shadows were much smaller than the stadium, consisting of various buildings. Under the control of some force, these buildings were slammed into the other transport planes like baseballs.
Amidst the massive sounds of impact, one transport plane after another fell.
In mid-air, two figures, one old and one young, appeared.
Magneto, controlling the giant stadium, glanced at Erik, who had only controlled three or four buildings, and shook his head.
"Still young. Your mastery of your ability is a bit lacking."
Erik's face turned dark upon hearing this.
There weren't many large buildings nearby to begin with.
He had set his sights on that stadium first, but this old geezer was shameless and had used his power to snatch it away as soon as he arrived.
Although he had now learned the preliminary use of magnetic force, in terms of metal control, Magneto, who had been the King of Iron for decades, was still more experienced. Erik simply couldn't compete with him.
Left with no choice, he could only pick several larger buildings nearby to make up the numbers, at least to keep up appearances.
Erik muttered under his breath, "Old man, you deserve to be suppressed by Professor X for a lifetime."
Magneto shot him a sidelong glance.
This idiot. Isn't cursing me the same as cursing yourself?
Professor X and Charles: "..."
Are these two idiots?
At the moment they launched the attack, ear-piercing alarms rang out on the ground.
From the wreckage of those crashed transport planes, dense swarms of Sentinel Robots poured out. Their mechanical eyes locked onto Erik and Magneto in the air, and they flew toward them at high speed.
"They're coming."
Magneto's expression turned solemn, and he slammed his hands downward.
The massive stadium turned in mid-air and swatted at the swarm of Sentinel Robots like a giant brick. Dozens of Sentinel Robots couldn't dodge in time and were hit squarely, falling from the sky one by one.
The stadium followed, crashing into the ground with a thunderous boom, crushing the swatted-down Sentinel Robots into fragments.
But even more Sentinel Robots bypassed the stadium and charged up from below.
Erik raised his hand, and the metal frames of those few buildings were instantly stripped away, transforming into countless sharp fragments that shot out violently.
Simultaneously, the two Adamantium Spheres orbiting him also flew out. Under the influence of magnetic force, they ricocheted back and forth between the Sentinel Robots at extreme speeds, bursting into clouds of mechanical parts.
Magneto watched with some envy.
He thought for a moment, beckoned toward the ground, and immediately a figure was forcibly dragged up by him.
Logan: "???"
"Coordinate with me."
After Magneto finished speaking, without waiting for Logan's response, he threw him directly at the Sentinel Robots.
"Magneto, I'll **** your ****!!"
Logan cursed and swore, but he still obediently extended his Adamantium Claws and went into a frantic slashing frenzy against the oncoming Sentinel Robots.
Logan: ######
Although the Sentinel Robots' defense wasn't bad, it was like paper in front of Adamantium; parts went flying with every slash. Erik had two Adamantium Spheres, but Magneto had an entire humanoid-shaped piece of Adamantium.
Under their operation, one Sentinel Robot after another crashed down from the sky.
However, no matter how fierce they were, they couldn't withstand the sheer number of Sentinel Robots.
The Sentinel Robots soon broke through their defensive line. Their head faceplates suddenly flipped open, and several energy beams tore through the night sky, firing toward them with a roar! Boom!!
Just as they were about to hit Erik and Magneto, a translucent protective shield suddenly appeared in front of the two, firmly blocking those few blinding beams of light.
The energy beams hit the shield, exploding into a burst of dazzling light, but they couldn't penetrate that seemingly thin barrier.
Jean slowly floated above the two, her long red hair fluttering wildly in the night wind, her eyes flashing with an orange-red light.
She didn't speak, only lightly raised her hand.
In the next second, the first few Sentinel Robots suddenly began to tremble violently.
The mechanical parts on their bodies began to be stripped away layer by layer, exposing the wires and electronic components inside. Then, they twisted and snapped under invisible pressure, sparks flying everywhere.
The Sentinel Robots' mechanical eyes flickered a few times before going completely silent.
Jean possessed Telekinesis and could control all objects.
Anything Magneto could control, she could also control; anything Magneto couldn't control, she could still control.
In other words, in front of Jean, the Sentinel Robots were much like metal was in front of Magneto.
But Jean was young after all, and her control over her own power was far inferior to the other two. Controlling these few Sentinel Robots at the same time was already her limit.
Magneto glanced at Jean and reminded her, "If you can't hold on, leave immediately. Leave this to us. Whatever you do, don't force yourself."
Hearing Magneto's concern, Jean felt a warmth in her heart. "Don't worry, I can keep going. There won't be any danger."
Magneto: "..."
I'm afraid if you force yourself too much, we will be the ones in danger.