The base was silent.
Where there had once been layers of security and armed patrols, there were now only bodies. Soldiers lay scattered across the corridors, motionless, the aftermath of a fight that hadn't even lasted five minutes.
William Stryker braced himself against the wall, breathing unevenly as he stared at the man in front of him.
Beside him, the lead engineer had already collapsed to his knees, trembling uncontrollably.
From the moment Noah Vale breached the base to now, barely four minutes had passed.
And in that time—
Everything was gone.
"So… even the Sentinels failed," Stryker muttered, his voice hollow.
He had spent years developing them.
They hadn't lasted two minutes.
"You mean those robots?" Noah said, tilting his head slightly. "I'll give you this—they were impressive. Took a bit more effort than I expected."
His tone was casual.
Too casual.
As he spoke, the wounds across his body—burns, cuts, torn flesh—shifted and closed, healing at a visible pace until his appearance returned to normal.
Stryker's eyes widened.
"Noah… Vale?" he said hoarsely. "You were in New York—"
He stopped himself.
The speed. Of course.
Distance meant nothing to someone like this.
"But why me?" Stryker demanded, forcing himself to stay composed. "How did I even end up on your radar?"
From his perspective, it made no sense. They had never spoken. Never crossed paths directly.
Noah smiled faintly.
"You think this is a TV drama?" he said. "I'm not here to explain everything to you."
He lifted a small device in his hand.
"And don't bother trying to record anything. Signals aren't getting out."
Stryker let out a dry, humorless laugh.
"Of course," he said. "Who would've guessed? The man who introduced this new power to the world… is a mutant himself."
His gaze hardened.
"I told them. I told them all—mutants should've been eliminated before things got this far."
Noah stared at him for a moment, almost incredulous.
Even now?
Still the same obsession.
"You're the last one here worth talking to," Noah said. "So let's keep this simple. Those Sentinels—where did that tech come from?"
That was the real problem.
Those machines didn't belong in this era.
Not at that level.
Stryker's lips curled into a sneer.
"You really think I'd tell you anything?" he said. "You mutant freak."
His eyes gleamed with something close to triumph.
"Your secret's already out. I transmitted everything before you got here. By now, the whole world knows what you are."
He leaned forward slightly.
"And you didn't exactly arrive quietly. Moving at that speed? Satellites would've tracked you. They've got your data already."
Noah shrugged.
"So what?"
He smiled.
"Not everyone's as committed as you are, Colonel. Most people don't pick fights with something they can't beat."
He took a step closer.
"And I still have more to offer them."
Another step.
"They'll work with me."
One more.
"Especially when they realize they don't have a choice."
Stryker tensed.
Noah reached out—
—and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Then pressed down.
There was no buildup. No visible effort.
Stryker exploded.
One instant, he was standing there.
The next—
A burst of blood and bone painted the wall behind him, leaving nothing recognizable behind.
The engineer screamed, collapsing backward as blood soaked into his clothes.
For a moment, he couldn't even process what he'd just seen.
Noah crouched in front of him, expression calm.
"I knew he wouldn't talk," he said. "Some people are that committed."
He rested a hand lightly on the man's shoulder.
The engineer flinched violently, his entire body shaking.
"But you?" Noah continued. "You don't strike me as the same type."
His voice softened slightly.
"Tell me what I want to know, and you walk away from this. The only human in this base who does."
The engineer's lips trembled.
Noah's tone didn't change.
"Otherwise…" he added quietly, "we'll get creative."
He started counting.
"Three…"
The engineer froze.
"Two—"
Noah's fingers tightened.
There was a sickening crack.
The man's shoulder collapsed under the pressure, bone shattering instantly.
The scream that followed echoed through the corridor.
"Ah—sorry," Noah said, almost absentmindedly. "Guess I used too much force."
He adjusted his grip slightly.
"Let's try that again. Three—"
"I'll talk!" the engineer cried, tears streaming down his face. "I'll tell you everything!"
Noah paused.
"Good."
The man choked on his own breath, forcing the words out.
"A nuclear strike," he gasped. "Three minutes. Ten kilotons. This whole place is going to be wiped out."
Noah nodded once.
"Good answer. You can live—for now."
He straightened slightly, then blinked as if remembering something.
"…Actually," he added, almost apologetically, "that might not matter."
The engineer's face went pale.
"Xavier's here, right?" Noah said. "Once he's conscious, I can just read your mind directly."
He smiled faintly.
"Guess I didn't need to hurt you after all."
Before the man could react—
Space twisted.
He vanished.
—
The engineer hit the ground hard in a dim, unfamiliar space.
For a second, he thought that was the worst of it.
Then he looked up.
And froze.
Five Sentinels stood in front of him.
Or what was left of them.
Their bodies—adamantium shells—were still intact, but everything inside had been ripped out. Internal systems torn free, scattered across the ground like scrap.
Their blade-like arms were still extended—
Locked into each other.
Each machine had been forced to stab into the others, their own weapons used to destroy themselves.
The engineer stared, numb.
So that was how Noah had done it.
Used their own adamantium against them.
He slumped back, clutching his shattered shoulder, all resistance draining out of him.
There was nothing left to fight with.
Nothing left to hope for.