Ten minutes later, on the mutant island of Utopia, Erik Lehnsherr arrived in a hurry.
"What's the situation?" he asked the moment he saw Raven.
"It's bad," Raven Darkhölme replied, her expression tight. "Charles isn't responding, and our contacts inside the school have gone silent. Whatever Noah said—it's already happened."
Erik's jaw tightened. "Noah, do you know who's behind this?"
On the other end of the call, Noah Vale answered without hesitation.
"Stryker. The assassination attempt, the attack on the school—it's all him."
"…Stryker again." Erik's voice dropped, irritation bleeding through. Raven's expression darkened as well. The name alone was enough to sour the air.
That man never stayed gone.
"What do you need from us?" Erik asked. "If this conflicts with your plans… I can abandon Charles and the others."
Noah paused for half a second.
He hadn't expected that.
For Magneto to say something like that—it meant he'd truly handed over the future of mutantkind.
"That won't be necessary," Noah said. "Stryker's building his own version of Cerebro. He plans to use Xavier to locate every mutant on the planet… and wipe them out."
Silence.
Both Erik and Raven stiffened.
If they hadn't known this in advance, they might never have seen it coming.
"Do nothing," Noah continued. "I'll handle it. Just wait for my signal."
Before either of them could respond, he hung up.
—
The moment the call ended, something pressed against Noah's mind.
Subtle. Invasive.
A foreign presence trying to rewrite his thoughts.
He noticed it instantly.
Psychic intrusion.
Under normal circumstances, even Xavier at full strength would have struggled to affect him. But Noah didn't take chances.
His body flickered—
—and slipped into a phased state, stepping out of reality entirely.
The connection snapped.
—
Inside a military facility, William Stryker frowned as he watched Charles Xavier, who had been injected with a hallucinogenic compound.
"Well?" Stryker demanded. "Did you take control of him? Alter his thinking—make him denounce mutants."
Xavier's voice came out fragmented, strained.
"…No…"
Stryker's eyes widened. "No? Why not?"
Xavier's expression twisted as he fought through the drug's effects.
"He's… a mutant," Xavier forced out. "That's his ability."
Stryker went still.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his face darkened.
So that was it.
Noah Vale wasn't just some anomaly—he was one of them.
Pieces clicked into place.
The so-called protector of mutants. Xavier's presence at the public signing event. The timing.
Stryker's hand clenched into a fist.
I've been played.
The urge to eliminate Noah immediately surged up—
—and just as quickly, he suppressed it.
No. Not yet.
If Noah was immune to psychic control and had that level of mobility, killing him wouldn't be simple.
The Sentinels?
He only had five operational units, and even those were incomplete.
Mass production was still out of reach.
I need time.
As long as Noah didn't realize who was behind everything, Stryker still had the advantage.
Once Cerebro was complete, he could eliminate the rest first.
Noah could come later.
—
Back at the factory, Noah stood in the empty control room, his expression cold.
That wasn't Xavier.
Xavier wouldn't attack him like that.
Which meant—
Stryker.
The realization settled in quickly.
Xavier knew his identity. If Stryker had access to Xavier's mind, then—
I'm exposed.
And once Stryker locked onto a target, he didn't stop.
Noah exhaled slowly.
"Sitting around isn't an option anymore."
Originally, he'd planned to take his time—expand his influence, build power gradually, shift control in a way that felt almost natural. Given a few more months, he could've pushed both his reputation and his strength to an entirely different level.
Now?
That plan was dead.
He glanced at the time. Noon.
Then he turned to Smith and Rogue, who were still in the room, unaware of what had just happened.
"Take the day off," Noah said. "I've got something to deal with."
"Another day off?" Rogue blinked. "Didn't we just—"
Smith cut in at the same time. "Everything okay, sir?"
"It will be," Noah replied.
Then, without warning, space folded.
Both of them vanished, pulled into a sealed pocket dimension.
"For now, stay inside," Noah said calmly. "Don't leave unless I come back."
He turned to the remaining staff.
"Operations are suspended for the day. Stay inside the facility."
Before anyone could ask questions, he was gone.
A shockwave followed in his wake.
—
Across New York, the sky rumbled.
It was midday, but a series of thunder-like explosions echoed overhead, drawing confused looks from pedestrians as they glanced upward.
—
Inside a villa, Camilla looked up just as Noah stepped through the window.
"You're back already?" she asked, surprised.
"We need to relocate," he said. "This place isn't safe anymore."
Before she could respond, space warped again—
—and she disappeared.
Noah paused for a fraction of a second.
Gwen.
That was the complicated part.
He had too many people to protect.
Fisk wasn't one of them. Noah had never trusted him beyond convenience. Men like Fisk stayed loyal as long as things were going their way—and switched sides the moment they weren't.
Noah didn't rely on variables like that.
"…Fine."
Decision made.
"I'll move them too."
And once Stryker was dealt with—
Noah's eyes hardened.
Maybe it's time to deal with the rest of the system as well.
His figure vanished.
—
Three minutes later—
Rogue, Smith, Camilla, and Gwen Stacy along with her family found themselves standing on unfamiliar ground.
Utopia.
Erik turned as Noah appeared, releasing the group from the pocket space.
"These are mine," Noah said simply. "Keep an eye on them."
Erik nodded once.
That was all the confirmation needed.
A moment later—
A sonic boom split the air.
Noah shot into the sky, accelerating rapidly as he set his course.
Destination:
Alkali Lake, Canada.
Distance: 4,800 kilometers.
Estimated time: under an hour.