"Professor, have you spoken with Magneto?"
"I just asked him a moment ago. Erik really did not send anyone to assassinate the President."
Professor X glanced at the anxious Scott and reassured him, "Don't worry. As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to the school."
"You can all go get some rest for now."
"Okay."
Since the Professor had said so, Fenris left without hesitation.
A gust of wind brushed past him, and in the next instant he was already at the highest point of the school, where every movement around the grounds could be seen at a glance.
Since he did not know exactly when Stryker would come, Fenris thought it over briefly, then simply slipped the Sling Ring back onto his hand.
Focusing his mind, he pushed his right hand forward slightly. The space in front of him shifted and began reflecting light like a sheet of glass.
This was the Mirror Dimension, cut off from the real world. The outside world could not perceive its existence at all, but from within it, Fenris could observe reality as he pleased.
He casually stepped inside and, with a wave of his hand, opened two dimensional portals. One connected to his little cabin, and the other to the reactor chamber in the research base.
In an instant, the intense radiation poured through the portals and onto Fenris's body, and a warm, comfortable sensation spread through him from head to toe.
"Now this is the proper road to becoming strong like Godzilla..."
Fenris simply pulled out a recliner, closed his eyes halfway, and stretched out on it in complete ease. The deeply satisfying feeling made him let out a comfortable sigh.
As his magic grew stronger, the number of dimensional portals Fenris could open and maintain at the same time would only continue to increase. Naturally, his efficiency in absorbing radiation would rise with it, snowballing higher and higher until it formed a self-reinforcing positive cycle.
"With nothing better to do, I might as well bother Dormammu a little and borrow something from the Dark Dimension..."
With no one to disturb him in the Mirror Dimension, Fenris maintained the dimensional portals while his consciousness suddenly sank. Wisps of black-violet light began to flow around him once more.
As those powers were gradually accepted and absorbed by his body, Godzilla inside the Titan Encyclopedia also began to undergo faint changes so subtle that even Fenris himself did not notice them.
Sunrise and sunset passed in turn. Several days slipped by without a sound.
Then, a sudden unusual noise came from far outside the school, instantly dragging Fenris's awareness back.
"They're here?"
His eyes snapped open, and from within the Mirror Dimension he looked off into the distance.
The forest, calm on the surface, seemed strangely unfamiliar at a glance. A sudden discordance immediately drew Fenris's attention.
"Stryker's people are here."
Fenris stepped out of the Mirror Dimension and called Professor X. "Do you want to tell the kids to hide now?"
"No need to worry. I've already had Logan take the children to the tunnel. Think of it as an emergency drill."
Professor X's steady voice came through. Fenris nodded, finally reassured.
As time passed, more and more unfamiliar presences grew clear within his senses. His ear twitched, and from very far away he could even hear the thunderous whir of dozens of helicopter rotors.
"So he really came in force."
Fenris raised a brow, inwardly surprised that Stryker had actually managed to persuade the President to mobilize this much force to attack a school.
Ding.
A crisp alert tone sounded. Fenris paused. Who would be contacting him at a time like this?
"Fenris, I just got highly classified information. Someone has mobilized dozens of helicopters, armored vehicles, and a large number of heavily armed soldiers to attack Professor X's school."
"Are you at the school right now? If not, notify Professor X as quickly as possible and tell him to prepare. At the very least, do everything you can to keep the innocent mutant children from getting hurt."
A familiar voice came through from the other end, rattling off the whole message in one breath. The speaker even sounded a little short of breath afterward.
"Coulson, I appreciate the warning."
Fenris narrowed his eyes toward the horizon, where several tiny black dots were already beginning to appear. "I'd appreciate it more if they hadn't already arrived."
"Then you all..."
"With the Professor here, we're fine."
Telepathic shielding helmets were not exactly something you could buy off the shelf. Fenris had no reason to believe every single soldier would be equipped with one.
"That's good."
Coulson seemed to let out a breath of relief, but he also sounded hesitant, as if he wanted to say something more.
"Nick Fury sent you, didn't he?"
Fenris said abruptly. "Put him on."
Fenris did not believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. would dare leak even a shred of intelligence about a military operation this classified without Fury's approval.
There was a pause on the other end. After a stretch of silence, Nick Fury's voice finally came through, just as expected.
"Fenris, I need your help. You're the only one who can help me with this."
"Sure. No problem. I need you to grant me access to the helicarrier's nuclear reactor."
"What?" The other side froze, apparently not sure he had heard correctly. "What helicarrier?"
"If that's your attitude, then there's no point in continuing this conversation."
Fenris curled his lip and made a show of preparing to hang up.
The President had just been attacked, and the assassin was a superhuman. Once something like that happened, someone always had to take the fall.
And it definitely was not going to be the CIA, the Pentagon, or the FBI.
That black pot could only land on the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., the agency specifically responsible for extraordinary incidents. And the fact that Fury was suddenly trying this hard to win Fenris over made his intentions perfectly obvious.
"Wait!"
Fury went silent for a moment. After a few beats, he finally ground out his terms through clenched teeth. "I don't know how you know about that, but the helicarrier is absolutely not something we can open to anyone."
"If what you need is a nuclear reactor, I can apply for temporary access to other reactors inside the country."
"I want permanent access. Or at least ten years."
"...Fine!" Fury bit out the answer.
"How many?"
"How many do you want?"
"All of them."
"That's impossible!"
Fenris's lion-sized demand left Fury speechless.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s authority was indeed high, but it did not answer directly to the U.S. government. It was under the World Security Council, and the resources it could move were not nearly that outrageous.
"At least five. After that, when I need them, you can open them to me one by one."
Taking his current magical ability into account, Fenris finally relented a little.
"Three."
"Four."
"Deal!"
"So what do you need my help with?"
Fenris grinned. His original expectation had only been access to one reactor.
"..."
Fury sounded utterly exasperated. Every time he dealt with Fenris, he felt like his blood pressure jumped.
"My intel suggests the group behind the assassination attempt on the President is most likely a faction within the military. And the people attacking the school tonight are probably the same group."
"If possible, find out exactly who they are. Better yet, get evidence."
"Can do."
Fenris knew perfectly well who the attackers were, so he agreed immediately without the slightest hesitation.
As for evidence, that was just a side task.
"Pleasure doing business."
Nick Fury hung up through gritted teeth.
(End of Chapter)
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