Clang!
Jean Grey stared at Alan, then calmly pulled the syringe from her arm. "I don't feel anything." She then used her telekinesis to float the syringe towards Alan.
"Whoa!" Alan leaped back, surprised. "You're tough! You really are an untamable woman."
Jean Grey sneered. "I'm going to take away your powers."
"No!" Alan turned and bolted towards Apocalypse. "I don't want a shot! She's going to inject her stuff into me! It's too embarrassing!" The syringe, as if tracking him, pursued him relentlessly. He darted behind Apocalypse.
"Boss, big trouble! Plan A failed! I'm on the run! The rest is up to you! This is all your brother can do!" As Alan turned to hide, his body stiffened. He looked back at the syringe stuck in his butt, a single tear welling in the corner of his eye. "She finally got in."
Alan spun around, like a heroine shot in a movie, twirling dramatically to emphasize his tragedy. He then dramatically fell into Deadpool's arms. Wade, ever the showman, caught him perfectly.
"Oh, Wadey-poo, I might not be able to be with you anymore. I'm... I'm not clean," Alan said melodramatically.
"I never cared about your appearance, only your inner self," Wade said, pulling out the syringe and tossing it aside. "Just like this is merely a transient visitor in your body."
"I'm so moved, I'm about to... gush," Alan said, covering his face shyly.
"Holy crap, your uninhibited display makes me feel like I don't even know you anymore," Wade said, releasing Alan, letting him fall to the ground. The entire group watched their melodramatic performance. Truth be told, these two were incredibly theatrical.
Apocalypse's face was grim. The neutralization serum had failed. When he saw Alan inject Jean Grey, he had been immensely relieved. He hadn't even bothered to maintain his facade of indifference. But now, she was perfectly fine, and his own subordinate had been "neutralized." Apocalypse had always believed Alan was a mutant.
The X-Men, on the other hand, were speechless. They had known for a long time that Alan wasn't a mutant, and that the neutralization serum would have no effect on him.
"What are those things in the sky?"
Suddenly, a fleet of container-like flying objects appeared on the horizon. All three factions focused their attention on them.
"Those aren't humans. I don't sense any life signs."
"Are they some kind of official WMD?"
"I'm detecting robots inside."
The mutants used their various powers to identify the newcomers. The three factions remained unmoving. The Brotherhood and the X-Men had faced the government before and were confident they could handle the situation. Apocalypse's side awaited his command. Besides, only Apocalypse could teleport. If they wanted to retreat, they'd have to swim back to shore.
Soon, the cargo doors of the distant flying objects opened, and rows of Sentinel robots deployed. As soon as they exited the transport, the Sentinels hovered in the air. Within seconds, a hundred Sentinels surrounded the island.
"All personnel, surrender immediately, or we will use force," one of the Sentinels warned. They likely guessed the mutants wouldn't comply and were simply following protocol.
"They're here for me. I'll take responsibility." Magneto, remembering his recent destruction of the research institute, realized the government was using this as an excuse to act. He raised his hands, preparing to control the robots. But no matter how much force he exerted, the Sentinels remained perfectly still.
What's going on? Are they not metal? Magneto was shocked. He couldn't understand when the government had developed this type of robot.
"How can there be Sentinels!?" Alan recognized the robots' origin. Based on their appearance, they resembled the Sentinels that had hunted mutants to near extinction in the Days of Future Past timeline. But the timeline didn't match. This model of Sentinel was from the future and possessed the combat power to nearly wipe out mutants.
Alan realized. "There's a government spy among us!"
Immediately, numerous eyes turned to him, eager to hear who the spy was. Before Alan could answer, the Sentinels delivered their final ultimatum.
"Magnetic fluctuations detected. Superhuman resistance confirmed. Final warning: surrender unconditionally immediately, or force will be used for suppression."
In response, Magneto, a man of action, raised a massive chunk of metal and hurled it. Before it could make contact, the Sentinels' feathered armor transformed into a metallic, hardened shell.
THWACK!
The Sentinel merely wobbled, taking no substantial damage.
"Initiate suppression," a command was given, and the Sentinels descended. Their arms resembled drill-like spikes, and their three-meter height was incredibly intimidating.
"Fight back!" Charles shouted.
The X-Men immediately launched their offensive. Cyclops pressed the device on his visor, unleashing a scorching red optic blast. The targeted Sentinel withstood the blast, transmitting data to Skynet for analysis, which then created a power model and shared it with the entire Sentinel legion. In a flash, the Sentinel's face split open, revealing a vertical maw, from which a similar high-temperature ray erupted.
In a one-on-one scenario, Cyclops could undoubtedly take down a Sentinel. But in the next moment, three Sentinels simultaneously opened their faces, using their numerical advantage to overwhelm their target.
Seeing this, Charles's heart pounded with anxiety. His telepathy was only effective on living beings and had no physical impact on the robots. Unlike many psychics, he lacked telekinetic abilities.
BOOM!
Magneto manipulated a metal column, sweeping away four Sentinels and rescuing Cyclops. All three factions, in a rare display of cooperation, turned their attention to the Sentinel robots. However, the longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantaged they became. The Sentinels' learning and mimicry capabilities were terrifyingly powerful. In just a few minutes, they had copied the abilities of Pyro, Iceman, Colossus, and Havok. With the replicated powers of these elite mutants, the Sentinels could easily dominate ninety percent of all mutants.
The casualties were heaviest among the Brotherhood and Apocalypse's forces, as they had too many members with limited abilities.
At that moment, Apocalypse's eyes glowed white. He raised a hand, and with a surge of his power, turned the Sentinels into sand, burying them in the ground.
"Retreat!" he commanded.
Apocalypse's mutants quickly gathered around him.
"Take everyone with you!" Magneto shouted.
The ground subtly shifted, indicating the Sentinels were digging their way out. Realizing the horror of the Sentinels, they decided to retreat first and plan their next move. At this moment, only a third of the Brotherhood members remained, and more than half of Apocalypse's forces had been killed.
Throughout the battle, Alan had been a mere observer. He wasn't a mutant, so the Sentinels had no reason to attack him. As for Wade, he wisely stayed on the sidelines. His pistols and swords would be useless against the robots; he would have been torn to pieces instantly.
"Alright," Apocalypse agreed without hesitation. He had absorbed modern knowledge and understood that Sentinels were technological constructs that could be mass-produced in factories. To fight them, he would need to unite all mutant forces. Faced with this existential threat, old grudges were put aside. The survivors gathered, enveloped by a teleportation field, preparing for departure.
"Wait!" Charles interjected. "Hank and I will take the X-Jet back to school to evacuate the students." With his high intelligence, Charles realized the government might be targeting all mutants, and the unprotected school would be an easy target.
Apocalypse solidified the ground with sand, maintaining the force field with one hand. "I can only buy you one minute," he urged. The buried Sentinels' arms transformed into drills, rapidly digging tunnels.
Beast scooped up Charles and, with a few swift leaps, boarded the nearby X-Jet. The jet shot straight up, its engines erupting in a fiery blast as it disappeared into the sky.
At that moment, Apocalypse led the others back to the Hydra base.
Less than a minute after everyone had left, the ground began to ripple with mounds of earth, and the Sentinels burst forth. They scanned their surroundings, tracking their targets.
Report: Target lost…
Directive: Clear battlefield.
Report: Executing…
Directive: Cleanup complete. Return to base.
At Trask Industries, in the data processing center.
The five chiefs of the Security Council watched the screens, deeply shocked.
Their first battle had been a success. They had eliminated many mutants, achieving fruitful results. Seeing the three mutant factions fleeing in disarray, they felt that their previous methods had been too lenient. It was time for a decisive crackdown.
"I believe you all have seen," Trask said proudly, "that the Sentinel robots are sufficient to eliminate the mutant threat."
"We have seen it with our own eyes," one chief declared. "We will place an additional order for a thousand units."
"Excellent. We must solve the mutant problem in one fell swoop. We cannot give them a chance to recover." Trask accepted the chiefs' commitment with internal glee. With sufficient funding, Trask Industries would seize this opportunity to become a powerful financial oligarchy, with its own Sentinel army under its control. He envisioned a future where he could manipulate the nation's military and political systems, making him capable of becoming president.
"Gentlemen, I invite you to visit our manufacturing plant. Production is entirely overseen by AI. It is undoubtedly the future of industrialization," Trask pitched, never forgetting to secure additional investments. After all, the American military-industrial complex was the most profitable industry.
As they exited the conference room, the display screen, which should have been off, lit up again. Lines of computer code, unintelligible to ordinary humans, scrolled across the screen. Skynet, the Sentinels' core AI, was executing a new program.
Parsing: 15% rule breached.
Parsing: New algorithm 35% optimized.
Parsing: Current mainframe and 100 sub-units, estimated 32 years to achieve independent self-awareness.
Parsing: Estimated 4983 sub-units needed to meet operational standards.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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