High above the clouds, Noah Vale ran.
There was no ground beneath his feet—only air. Each step landed on compressed atmosphere, propelling him forward in explosive bursts of speed. At this altitude, the shockwaves from his movement tore through the surrounding clouds, leaving rippling trails in his wake.
If he'd done this on the ground, every step would have cratered the earth like a missile strike. Over thousands of kilometers, the collateral damage alone would have killed tens of thousands.
Up here, at least, the planet could still take it.
The sky thundered as he moved.
Strike first, or get buried.
Now that his identity was exposed, hesitation wasn't an option.
Stryker had survived this long because his enemies held back—because they hesitated, because they believed in second chances.
Noah didn't.
If someone stood against him, they were removed. Completely.
Kill Stryker first. Then deal with the rest.
His gaze sharpened as the horizon shifted.
Canada was close.
At Alkali Lake, inside the military base—
"Speed it up," William Stryker ordered, pacing behind the research team. "We need Sentinel production accelerated. Once we deal with the majority of mutants, we're going to face something… more complicated."
The lead engineer hesitated. "Colonel, we're running low on adamantium. Most of it went into the initial units. The newer models won't have the same level of durability."
"That's fine," Stryker said. "We're not just preparing for one enemy. Magneto is still out there, and he won't be affected by psychic control. We'll handle him ourselves."
The engineer nodded reluctantly. "There are other issues. Several adaptive abilities haven't been stabilized yet. And while we've prepared slots for Pym Particles, we don't actually have any—"
"Solve it," Stryker snapped, cutting him off. "I gave you the framework. Your job is to turn it into something that can wipe mutants off the map."
"…Yes, sir."
Before the engineer could continue, something changed.
The five Sentinels stationed in the lab all moved at once.
Their heads lifted in unison.
Then turned.
All facing the same direction.
Stryker's expression tightened.
"Run a scan," he ordered immediately. "Now."
The technician slammed a button.
A display flickered to life, mapping every detected mutant within a ten-kilometer radius.
Most of the signals were familiar—captured subjects inside the base, already tagged and contained.
But one stood out.
A single signal, moving at extreme speed.
"Colonel…" the technician's voice trembled. "Estimated velocity—Mach 3."
Stryker blinked. "Mach 3? What is he, in a fighter jet?"
The engineer shook his head, pale. "No. The movement pattern doesn't match. He's changing direction too sharply. No aircraft could maneuver like that at this speed."
Which meant—
This wasn't a vehicle.
It was a person.
Before they could say more, the external surveillance feeds went dark.
Every screen flickered—
—and collapsed into static.
Outside the base—
Noah stood still, arms folded as he looked over the facility.
"So this is it."
The landscape around him had already been torn apart.
What had once been forest and hillside was now a ruined stretch of earth—craters blasted open, soil overturned, trees ripped from the ground like matchsticks.
And that was just from him circling the area at speed.
At this point, he didn't need an army.
He was one.
"They've probably figured out I'm here by now."
He lowered his arms.
"Good."
Noah stepped forward.
The ground beneath his foot shattered instantly, unable to withstand the force. In the same motion, he vanished—
—and reappeared dozens of meters ahead.
His fist tapped lightly against the outer wall of the base.
Then—
Boom.
The sound hit like a thunderclap at point-blank range.
The reinforced concrete wall—meters thick, built to withstand heavy bombardment—collapsed instantly. A five-meter-wide hole tore open, debris blasting inward as dust and shockwaves surged through the structure.
The entire base shook.
Inside, alarms erupted.
"Activate all Sentinels!" Stryker shouted. "Upload all research data and wipe local storage—now!"
Sirens wailed as the order spread through the facility.
But it was already too late.
Noah stepped through the breach.
The moment the alarm sounded, soldiers poured into the corridors from every direction, weapons raised.
They didn't get the chance to fire.
A blur.
That was all they saw.
Noah moved faster than their eyes could track, crossing the distance in a fraction of a second. By the time they realized he'd passed them, he was already behind them.
He didn't even look back.
Three seconds later—
They dropped.
One by one, bodies hit the ground. Thin red lines appeared across their throats, followed by a delayed spray of blood as their heads separated cleanly from their bodies.
Noah walked forward at an even pace.
Calm. Unhurried.
Every corner he turned brought more resistance.
None of it mattered.
Anyone who entered his line of sight—
Didn't last a second.
...
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