"When you are sad, the most fitting thing to do is to understand, to learn. That is the only thing that endures forever."
The old man softly recited the words from the book.
"The collars are open. You're free now!"
A commanding male voice suddenly burst into his mind, cutting Charles's reading short.
"What's wrong, Professor?"
A child of about six looked up in confusion and asked.
"Nothing, my child."
Charles gently closed the book and smiled kindly. "Class is over early today. Go get some rest."
"All right!"
Amid a burst of cheers, Charles's expression suddenly turned grave.
"Scott, bring Ororo to me."
A moment later, a man in ruby-quartz glasses and a white-haired woman with a striking figure knocked on the door to Professor X's office.
"Just now, a military-affiliated genetics research institute suddenly erupted into chaos. Only then did I realize it was actually a secret mutant research facility disguised extremely well."
Professor X delivered the shocking news in an even tone, leaving both of them stunned. "The army will arrive there soon. We need to get there first and bring those children out."
"A secret mutant research facility?" Ororo looked astonished. "In New York State?"
Putting a mutant research facility in New York State was practically the same as placing it right under Professor X's nose.
"When do we leave?"
As the successor Professor X had chosen, Scott was far more decisive by nature. The moment the Professor finished speaking, he was already ready to move, prepared to start up the Blackbird at any moment.
"Now. Immediately."
Professor X's voice dropped low.
...
New York State. Wilderness.
On a deserted highway, a dark figure sped past at a velocity the naked eye could barely track.
At the end of the road stood a small, quiet town.
Outside a modest motel, Ryan (Lane) killed the engine, still shaken. After roughly calculating the distance and realizing he was already nearly a hundred kilometers from the base, he finally let out a long breath.
"I ran this far. I should be safe now."
He slammed a hand hard against the steering wheel. The moment he thought of that lizard-man, anger flared in his chest again.
"Forget it. It wasn't even my lab anyway. I'll rest for the night and head back to New York tomorrow."
Only after seeing that several hard drives had been preserved intact did Ryan manage to squeeze out a reluctant smile.
A short while later, the gray-haired middle-aged researcher appeared in the town bar.
Ryan slapped down a large bill. "A Moscow mule. Easy on the lime."
About three minutes later, a tall man came over and sat beside Ryan.
"Hey, buddy, get away from me," Ryan said impatiently.
"Make me one of the same."
Ignoring Ryan's warning completely, the man spoke calmly to the bartender. "He's paying."
"No, seriously, man, you..."
The man's cavalier attitude sent a surge of fury rushing straight through Ryan. He shot to his feet, his right fist drawing high.
But in the very next moment, when he saw the half-smiling face in front of him, the anger on Ryan's face froze solid.
"Sit down. Talk properly."
Fenris was wearing a dress shirt he had apparently taken from the base. His lean but powerful muscles stretched the fabric tight, making him look like a completely different person from the frail figure he had been before.
"You weren't..."
"How did you get here?"
One hand pressed lightly onto his shoulder and forced Dr. Ryan back into his seat as if he weighed nothing. Disbelief filled Ryan's face.
What kind of power could let a person be utterly transformed in the space of a few hours, break through the base's heavy lockdown unscathed, and cross more than a hundred kilometers to appear at his side?
"All thanks to you."
Fenris took the drink from the bartender and casually sipped it.
"The radiation... you mutated?"
Ryan's eyes swept Fenris up and down several times. "But even mutation shouldn't happen this fast... Do mutants really just ignore science entirely?"
"There's no time. Come with me."
Fenris did not explain. He drained both drinks in one go, then casually hooked his left hand around the back of Ryan's neck and hauled him to his feet.
"What are you doing?"
Ryan instinctively struggled violently, but Fenris's arm felt like it had been cast from steel. It did not budge in the slightest.
Under the gaze of everyone in the bar, the two of them walked right out the front door.
"The hard drives?"
Fenris casually threw Ryan beside his car. "Hand them over."
"What hard drives?" The moment he heard the words hard drives, Ryan's heart skipped a beat. He denied it instantly.
"Sarah already told me everything."
Fenris folded his arms over his chest. "I like your car. I don't want to waste time fixing it."
Seeing Fenris stare at him so directly, Ryan's face turned deathly pale.
"That bitch Sarah!"
Cursing under his breath, Ryan opened the car door and, with obvious reluctance, took out the hard drives and handed them over to Fenris.
But at such close range, as a faint trace of blood reached Ryan's nose, a horrifying thought suddenly sprang into his mind.
"What happened to Sarah?"
Fenris put the hard drives away, then with a light flick of his hand tossed the doctor into the back seat. "Worry about yourself while you still can."
The engine roared to life, and the rugged SUV tore away from the town at high speed.
"My G63... I spent five hundred grand modifying it... go easy on the pedal..."
Less than forty minutes later, the Alkali base appeared in Ryan's sight once again.
Only now, compared to before, the base looked shockingly ruined.
Ryan stared blankly at everything around him. Just a few hours ago, this place had still been bustling and fully operational.
Now the ground was a complete mess, covered in bloodstains and scraps of torn fabric that gave off a nauseating stench.
The main building looked as if it had been struck by a catastrophe. A long fissure had split it cleanly in half, and shattered glass and scattered instruments lay everywhere inside and out.
"Are there mutants in the prison with destructive power on this level?"
The enormous base was completely deserted now. Faced with the scene before him, Fenris could not help frowning.
"Everyone's gone?"
Ryan sucked in a sharp breath and stared at Fenris with wide eyes. "You did this?"
He had guessed that Fenris's mutant ability might have evolved under the effects of nuclear radiation. But he had never imagined that a mere Class Two mutant could turn around and cause this level of destruction in the blink of an eye.
"Not me."
Fenris got out of the car, yanked Ryan out of the back seat, and seized him by the throat as he dragged him toward the main building. "I killed most of them. I let the mutants out. But why the base is empty, I don't know."
"But none of that matters. I have something more important to do right now."
Inside the main building, because it had been split in two, dust kept sifting down from the ceiling, covering the blood-soaked floor and the bodies of the soldiers.
The stench of blood hit them head-on. Looking at the hellish scene in front of him, the expression on Dr. Ryan's face instantly turned to horror.
These had all been fully armed elite soldiers, and yet every last one of them had been killed by a single person?
He had always prided himself on being ruthless, but how was it that everyone in this base was even worse than he was?
"What kind of monster are you?"
Ryan's body trembled helplessly in Fenris's grip. But when he saw Fenris heading for the emergency stairwell and kicking open the heavy iron door to go underground, he no longer had the luxury of being shocked.
"No... please, no..."
"There's a radiation leak. If I go down there, I'll die. I really will die..."
Looking at the once-arrogant Dr. Ryan, now clinging to his arm with tears and snot streaming down his face, Fenris's right arm rapidly swelled in size, the sharp tips of his claws aligning precisely beneath Ryan's jaw.
Sensing him go rigid and stop struggling, Fenris let out a cold laugh and stepped forward to head downstairs.
Bzzzt, bzzzt.
A thick red laser suddenly shot out from behind them, carving a blackened line across the ground right in front of Ryan.
A young man's voice came from behind Fenris.
"Hey. Maybe right now we need to sit down and have a proper talk."