The question of whether Professor X or Magneto was stronger had no easy answer. Most agreed the two operated on the same level.
But if you asked who had fewer weaknesses and the broadest adaptability, Magneto was the clear choice.
Professor X was still just a man of flesh and blood. Magneto was something else entirely. Through electromagnetism, he possessed superhuman physical abilities far beyond normal limits. He could control metal, generate lightning, interfere with an enemy's bio-magnetic field, and create energy barriers.
Right now, for example, Magneto couldn't see or hear anything. But through the magnetic fields of living bodies, he knew someone was standing right in front of him.
"I knew it. Charles is still too soft-hearted. He walked right into your ambush. I assume you tampered with the Cerebro amplifier while we were all at the global summit."
Magneto's face showed no expression, yet it had become the most terrifying sight in the world... seething with volcanic fury.
Across from him, Mastermind's face twitched. The cold detachment Stryker had engineered into him flickered for the first time.
"No need to be surprised, child. Your tricks might fool the others, but they don't work on me. Who would think to hide their own bio-magnetic field?"
Magneto looked almost benevolent as he raised a hand. Mastermind froze in place, unable to move.
"Are you a mutant, or something else with the power to deceive?" Magneto glanced at Professor X slumped in his wheelchair. His voice grew lower, colder, carrying a bone-chilling intent that nearly shattered the mental locks in Mastermind's brain, bringing a flicker of clarity back to his eyes.
"So you're just another puppet. That doesn't mean you're blameless. You knocked Charles out, planning to keep him asleep forever as your tool? It's a clever idea. There was a time I thought the same."
Magneto extended a single finger and tapped it toward Mastermind. In an instant, the man's body suffered catastrophic internal damage. If he'd had clear senses, he would have felt like he'd been hit head-on by a speeding train... his body creaking like rusted iron on the verge of collapse.
Blood began seeping from every pore.
Even now, Magneto couldn't see Mastermind's form, and he didn't care. He simply tortured the man in front of him with cold indifference... partly as a message to whoever was pulling the strings.
"Who organized this operation? Stryker? Or S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Magneto increased the pressure, on the verge of crushing Mastermind into pulp.
"Enough with the cheap tricks. Let go of my son."
A voice... Stryker's... emerged from a button on Mastermind's clothing.
"This is your son? No wonder. With an ability like that, it's no surprise your wife died. Surviving would have been the real anomaly." Magneto let out a cold laugh. The seething rage he'd been suppressing finally found a sliver of dark satisfaction.
If not for Professor X reminding him countless times, his temperament would have led him to slaughter everyone in sight long ago.
It didn't matter who the killers were. Humans were behind it, so killing humans was the only logical response.
"Stryker, you should thank Charles. Without him, every last one of you would be dead." Magneto released his grip and tossed Mastermind... bones dislocated and twisted... to the ground. He glanced down with detached indifference.
Mastermind's ability was interesting, but in Magneto's eyes, it was little more than an advanced parlor trick. Useful if employed well, but hardly world-ending if ignored.
"What do you want?" Stryker's voice rang out.
"Withdraw your people. Clear a path. I'll take Charles and leave this damned country... far away from humanity." Magneto stated.
Stryker replied, "My biggest mistake was assuming your departure from the summit was a feint, that you'd rendezvous with the X-Men by the coast. I never imagined you'd stay right here the whole time."
"I had no need to go to the coast. The Brotherhood has members who can manipulate space. If not for Charles's softness, you wouldn't have had a chance."
"You're right. But if he weren't soft-hearted, would he still be the Charles you know?"
Stryker's voice grew icier. Magneto heard the gunfire and explosions outside gradually cease, yet he sensed something was increasingly wrong.
The volcano on the verge of erupting was suddenly doused with freezing water. Shock flashed in Magneto's eyes as he realized the source of the problem.
Whoosh!
Magneto thrust out his hand and crushed Mastermind into a pulp on the floor.
"Too late. Do you know where you fall short compared to Charles? You're too arrogant. You underestimated my son, William Stryker's son! Charles would never have let his guard down! Who says ordinary people can't produce terrifyingly gifted monsters? I did! The Preacher did!"
Stryker's laughter was horrific, laced with madness. "Feeling a little off in your head? That's right... my son has flooded your mind with psychic fragments. Your psyche is riddled with suggestion traps!"
"Erik, Magneto! You thought to lurk near the Professor to protect him, and you didn't think I'd anticipate that? From the start, this assault had contingencies for you. Running into you meant I'd lose my son."
Stryker's voice held no grief over his son's death... only deep regret. Perhaps mourning the loss of such a useful tool. But trading it to neutralize both Professor X and Magneto? Worth it.
His existence had found its greatest fulfillment and purpose in this brief operation.
"My mind... what the hell..." Magneto looked incredulous. He felt his thoughts growing chaotic, while the negative emotions and dark impulses he'd long suppressed now swelled without limit.
Mastermind wasn't some simple trickster. He could drag even Professor X into endless illusions. Implanting suggestions in Magneto wasn't difficult.
"Impossible. My helmet blocks all psychic intrusion..."
"Did I ever try to invade your mind with psychic powers?" Stryker cut him off harshly. "Your helmet only prevents mind control. It doesn't stop you from seeing, hearing, smelling, or sensing the outside world!"
As long as he could still perceive his surroundings, he could be deceived by Mastermind's illusions!
Mastermind was Stryker's hidden ace, the monster he'd spent years brainwashing and controlling through countless methods.
"If my son were still alive, I could let you experience something fun while you were still conscious... like false flames, burning you alive over and over, dying and reviving endlessly."
Stryker's voice was chilling. "But now there's no time. You'll remain trapped in the illusion I've crafted for you: a mutant facing extinction. You, the last of your kind, losing your sanity in a nightmare of madness and despair."
This was Magneto's deepest pain, his greatest fear... the future he'd glimpsed from Destiny.
Stryker had struck the bullseye by accident. Otherwise, Magneto might have resisted longer.
If Professor X were awake, he could remove the helmet and use his powers to restrain Magneto directly. But Professor X was unconscious.
Stryker's perfect trap had closed.
"Come on, Erik. Become my servant. Only I can prevent that future. You should obey me... the Preacher's commands!"
Cold as Stryker was, he couldn't hide his excitement. He was about to control Magneto and capture Professor X, wiping out the two strongest mutant factions in one stroke!
Want to secede from humanity and found your own nation? Bullshit. Go build it in hell!
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
Magneto clutched his head, eyes bloodshot and bulging. He couldn't tell what was real anymore. The whole world might be false, and his fracturing mind could no longer distinguish truth from lie.
Crackle!
Terrifying energy poured visibly from Magneto's body. Clinging to the last shred of sanity, he blasted through the roof and fled far from Professor X.
The deafening noise drew every eye... human and mutant alike.
"Magneto? What's wrong with him? Wasn't he protecting the unconscious Professor X?"
"Something's off. His magnetic fields are completely chaotic..."
Magneto roared. No one could imagine the horror and despair of the illusions assaulting him. A circular energy net formed around his body.
Violent lightning brewed and erupted outward in all directions. Like the Thunder God summoning storms, countless bolts rained down with increasing density, scouring the earth.
Unlucky souls caught in the barrage were vaporized on the spot.
"What's happening? I didn't see anyone sneak in... we guarded the Professor perfectly!" Wolverine tanked a lightning bolt with his body, healing rapidly, his face grim.
Lightning was the least of it. The real terror was the expanding energy field. Anything it touched disintegrated into powder.
Even Wolverine felt a chill, wondering if his healing factor could withstand that level of destruction. Maybe the adamantium laced with beta self-healing properties in his bones would give him a fighting chance.
"I'll stop him! The rest of you check on the Professor and get him to safety!"
Storm... Ororo... gritted her teeth, eyes turning white. With her weather manipulation, she had no choice but to push forward and try to disperse the raging thunder.
"I'll help you..." A faint red glint flashed in Jean's eyes before vanishing. She moved to join but was shouted back by Storm, so she turned to find Professor X instead.
But Storm's well-intentioned effort only made things worse. The lightning grew denser and more violent. Helicopters were struck and crashed one after another.
Missiles veered wildly off course, twisting through the air before exploding.
On the ground, tanks and armored vehicles were shredded or hurled skyward and torn apart.
Ordinary soldiers? Surviving intact was already a miracle. Reassembling bodies would have been impossible.
No one had time for the regular troops now. Anyone with strength left joined the effort to stop the inexplicably rampaging Magneto.
The X-Men still didn't understand what had happened to him. They'd fought the enemy while keeping their lines tight... no one had slipped past.
Had Magneto been attacked? Or was he using the chaos as an excuse for his own breakdown?
The massive disturbance and unnatural weather guaranteed the entire city of New York would feel it.
Millions in the metropolis only had to look up to see the roiling clouds, dark storm fronts spreading, and a black-hole-like vortex forming over the Westchester area... like the gates of hell slowly opening.
The ground shook violently, cracking open. Grand buildings swayed in the intensifying winds, terrifying everyone who saw it.
Lightning. Storms. Energy fields. Earthquakes...
New York plunged into panic. In the past, people might have blamed a massive earthquake or freak weather. Not anymore.
Even ordinary citizens seeing this apocalyptic scene had the same thought: Which superhuman is responsible this time?
Wait... this time? When was the last time?
Screams of terror rose everywhere. Cars honked frantically as people tried to flee.
In other circumstances, it might have worked. But the one causing this was Magneto.
With his energy field at full power, nearby metal slowed and seized up.
Magneto's furious roars were more terrifying than any demon from hell... if anyone had actually seen one.
Westchester, at the epicenter, suffered the worst. Countless people were slaughtered by the rampaging Magneto, their bodies erased in the onslaught, families torn apart.
Faces paled in shock. No one understood why this was happening. Realizing it was Magneto only deepened the disbelief.
"That's Magneto? How? He said earlier today he was reconciling with the X-Men. Why is he massacring people at night?!"
"You call this massacring? I'd believe you if you said he was trying to end the world! Have relations between humans and mutants really deteriorated this far? No room for peace... he's gone straight to genocide!"
Yes, this was an unprecedented "extinction."
Magneto's powers were inherently area-wide. At full output, a casual attack could wipe out vast regions. That was the terror of someone who commanded the electromagnetic forces of the universe.
This moment, countless heroes across New York sprang into action. But against Magneto, they fell far short.
Some, like Daredevil, risked everything to save civilians. Sending him against Magneto? Magneto was flying high; heroes without flight or strong long-range attacks would be slaughtered if they got close.
Even those who could fly lacked the raw power to breach his energy field and would eventually be reduced to slag.
Others were smarter, taking to the skies with weapons for sustained bombardment.
"Tony Stark, what are you doing?" Fury's voice cut into Tony's comms.
"Dammit, I just upgraded Jarvis's firewall. How did you break in? As you can see, I'm trying to stop the maniac."
Tony pushed the Mark V armor to its limits... repulsors, lasers, missiles... every weapon he had. But... it did nothing.
Frankly, the Mark V's firepower couldn't match a squadron of fighter jets, and even massed aerial bombardment barely scratched Magneto.
"Sir, the Mark armor is showing instability. The opponent's magnetic field continues to expand," Jarvis reported faithfully.
"What? I'm at least three kilometers away and it's still affecting me?" Tony was stunned. This was his first time seeing a top-tier superhuman cut loose. It was insane.
Even Magneto himself probably hadn't realized the full extent of his unrestrained power. After decades of holding back, he'd never unleashed everything like this.
But Tony had no choice. He didn't know what else to do. Fly off and watch from afar?
Watch Magneto rip up buildings and tear apart living things like they were ants?
Getting closer? Tony knew better. Storm or Doctor Grey might interfere up close. He couldn't. Electromagnetism countered him completely... metal and delicate electronics alike would fail in seconds.
Tony felt truly lost. What could he do? Nothing.
"I need to build an anti-magnetic suit, but there's no time..." Defeat weighed on him as he watched vast sections of Westchester erased.
How many dead? Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand? No bodies left.
Another comm request came in.
"Your futile efforts remind me of Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill."
"Adam?" Tony's eyes brightened briefly, then dimmed. "I wish Sisyphus would come stop this madman. But it'd probably take Zeus himself to handle Magneto... if Zeus even exists."
"Zeus does exist, but he won't bother with Earth's petty problems. You'd be better off praying for Asgardian support." Adam's voice held no unease, a stark contrast to Tony's anxiety.
"Will the Asgardians come?"
"No. My Xenomorphs have died in wave after wave. The fighting is too intense... they can't spare anyone. Besides, few could handle a rampaging Magneto anyway."
"So we just watch until he gets tired or bored?" Tony stared at the feed, already growing fuzzy from the magnetic interference.
It would cut out soon. He needed to pull back farther to keep his armor from dying like an old clunker.
"Of course not. I've already figured out why he's like this. Even without him, someone else would have snapped." Adam's voice was rock-steady. "I'll stop him."
Tony started to say you can't even fly, but then he whipped his head around in shock.
As night fell, a figure streaked in at incredible speed, bathed in golden light like a descending god. The high-velocity trail left a long, comet-like streak across the sky.
Fast... and accelerating constantly!
"Jarvis?"
"Extremely high energy readings. Speed exceeding Mach 10... now Mach 11, sir. This isn't his limit. No records of this superhuman in my database."
Boom!
The figure rocketed forward. The winds he generated clashed violently with Magneto's storm.
Tony saw a powerfully built man with long, muscular arms radiating explosive force. Within his golden skin-tight energy field, flowing golden hair whipped upward, defying gravity and scattering like threads of gold... as if painted by the world's greatest artist.
Dignity and grace. Power and charisma intertwined.
Even through the mask, Tony felt overwhelming confidence radiating from him.
"Adam, that's not you. Who is he?" Tony asked, astonished.
Powerful. Mysterious. Unknown. Flying under his own power. "Don't tell me he's Ikaris's brother."
"Of course not. No relation to the Eternals. Actually, he's at least twice as strong as Ikaris... probably."
A rare note of uncertainty crept into Adam's voice.
Adam wasn't entirely sure about Reynolds's current state. How much power could this freshly awakened Sentry truly wield?
They'd find out soon enough. Nothing tested strength like real combat.
Notably, Adam hadn't even ordered the newly awakened Reynolds. Reynolds had sensed the rampaging Magneto... some primal instinct or deep-seated heroic urge awakening... and volunteered to fight him.
Adam had agreed immediately. He never discouraged his subordinates' initiative.
"He's one of yours? Never heard you mention him."
"You'll remember him, Tony. And you'll be shocked." Adam said.
Tony adjusted his flight path. As the speeding Reynolds passed, he shouted, "Hey, buddy!"
"Tony Stark? I've heard of you."
Reynolds glowed in golden light. He'd barely adjusted to his super-vision and super-hearing, but he clearly "saw" countless people gazing up at him in awe, like worshiping a god. He "heard" desperate souls on their knees praying.
It filled Reynolds with unprecedented satisfaction. His addiction surged, carrying him to ecstatic heights!
Look at him... he wasn't the washed-up drunk or pill-popper anymore. He was a revered superhero! Even the famous Tony Stark spoke to him with respect!
Reynolds stopped, instinctively puffing out his chest to look taller and more imposing. He deepened his voice, trying to hide his inexperience.
"Buddy, but I don't know your name yet. I will soon," Tony said quickly. "Only advice I can give: be careful. Magneto lost it for some reason... probably a mental break!"
"Crazy? Mental issues?"
Reynolds feigned calm, running a hand through hair that hadn't been washed in years but was now pristine from the energy field. Projecting supreme confidence, he declared, "As if anyone's completely sane!"
Boom!
He accelerated again, breaking Mach 13!
Tony opened his mouth, then after a long pause, muttered to Adam, "I'm shocked."
"Terrible line, but in a way, he's one of the few honest guys left in this messed-up world. Even in this situation, he didn't lie to you." Adam thought for a moment. It was probably one of Reynolds's few virtues.
Short-sighted, gullible, drug-addicted, with some mental issues... becoming the Sentry hadn't erased any of it. But that didn't mean he was worthless.
His craving for recognition, love of showing off, and pursuit of adoration left him euphoric. He still had some capacity for pity and empathy.
"This guy is seriously powerful. What's his name? When he beats Magneto, we should throw him a private victory party." Tony said sincerely.
In a crisis like this, having such a powerhouse step... fly... up was incredibly reassuring.
There were a few logical quirks in his speech, but it didn't matter much for now. At least Adam could control him.
"Robert Reynolds, my most loyal guardian. Or, as you can call him now... the Sentry!"
Adam's view extended through the Xenomorph embryo in the Sentry's chest, reaching the front lines of the battlefield.
He watched Reynolds plow into Magneto's magnetic field like a cannonball wrapped in golden energy, piercing the barrier like a spear. He advanced straight to Magneto, arms crossed, expression cold.
"It's starting. The unprecedented Xenomorph-enhanced Sentry versus the rampaging Magneto."
Adam had every reason to believe this fully unleashed, berserk Magneto ranked among the stronger versions across the multiverse... excluding a few special cases.
Similarly, this Xenomorph Sentry was unique across countless universes. Fresh out of the gate against Magneto? The outcome was anyone's guess.
But one thing comforted Adam: Reynolds's surge of unprecedented confidence had ignited his inner "addiction," potentially giving him a slight edge in combat.
BOOM!
A terrifying crash split the sky. Reynolds charged in brutally, visibly tearing open the energy field.
His form slowed only slightly... clearly not effortless... but he quickly accelerated again, arriving before the roaring Magneto.
Bam!
One punch.
Magneto and his entire magnetic field shuddered as if struck by an ancient behemoth. He shot backward, the sheer force of being launched creating a sonic boom!
Reynolds floated where Magneto had stood moments before, golden hair whipping wildly, powerful chest thrust forward.
In that moment, he looked more like a god than anyone else.
"Who is this guy?!"
"Never heard of him! Is there a superhero like this in New York?"
In the midst of apocalyptic darkness, this domineering golden powerhouse appeared. Everyone was stunned. Even the most optimistic hadn't expected such a mighty hero to emerge.
It was a world-shaking revelation.
Reynolds himself realized just how insanely powerful he'd become.
"Did I just do that?"
Reynolds maintained a dignified expression... mostly because he had no idea what face would look impressive. His limited mind defaulted to imitating Adam.
Inside, however, his thoughts churned wildly, too excited to form coherent words.
"I'm this strong now? That's Magneto, and I sent him flying with one punch? How is he so weak... No... I'm just that strong! I, Robert Reynolds, have become an incredible powerhouse!!"
Reynolds was overjoyed, breathing faster. His heart, like a nuclear fusion reactor, pounded furiously.
He wanted to roar it to the world... he was Robert Reynolds, and everyone should respect him!!
"I... " Reynolds looked down at the chaos, wondering if he should say something.
The next second, a pulse of another life throbbed in his chest, intimately linked to his own.
Then a cold voice echoed in his mind.
"Reynolds, now's not the time. Your opponent is Magneto!"
Reynolds shuddered, a fawning expression flashing across his face as his massive frame bent slightly.
"Of course, Lord Adam. I will obey the one who granted me everything..."
The Xenomorph embryo in his chest filled him with dread.
The stronger his instincts and senses became, the more he understood how deeply fused the embryo was with his genes.
It could burst from his chest at any moment.
Whatever Reynolds had, the Xenomorph version of himself... sharing near-identical genes and abilities... had too.
What would happen after it burst out?
Would they split this endless power? Or would he die on the spot?
Reynolds's already chaotic and unstable mind spiraled further.
But he soon had no time to dwell on it. Magneto came roaring back, eyes blood-red with madness and fury, locked onto Reynolds.
Reynolds squared his shoulders. "Come on. Even if you're Magneto, I'm not afraid. I am the mighty Sentry!"
^^^
If you'd like to read up to 50 chapters ahead, feel free to visit our patron: pat reon . com/XElenea