Alan tiptoed through the base, searching for the others. He had been so focused on hunting Sentinel robots that he hadn't noticed their evacuation.
Suddenly, a spatial rift appeared, and Illyana stepped out.
"My dear Magik…" Alan's face lit up, and he launched into a slow-motion run towards her, his expression shifting from excitement to a perverted leer, his tongue lolling out. "Haha… slurp… haha… My dear Magik, slurp… haha…"
He was the very definition of a pervert's pervert.
Thwip!
A vein bulged on Illyana's forehead. She regretted coming back for him. Her Soulsword materialized in her hand.
"Whoa there, hold your weapon, milady," Alan said, his expression instantly shifting back to a serious one. "I have dispatched the strongest agent on the surface, Megatron, to infiltrate the enemy's ranks. Soon, our Single Dog Protection Association's rebel army will launch a final assault on the evil Imperialists."
"…" Illyana sheathed her Soulsword, rubbing her forehead. She couldn't keep up with his train of thought.
Alan raised his arm in a Nazi salute. "Our motto is: Fear no difficulty, for a strong man conquers all men, and a man on top of a man conquers ten thousand men!"
The two returned to the new base, where everyone was gathered. Apocalypse had already settled the other students. Charles's face was etched with grief and anger. Over thirty students had died in the attack, a senseless tragedy. In their past conflicts, they had always adhered to an unspoken rule: families were off-limits. No matter how fierce the fighting, they never targeted the students at the school.
This attack had shattered Charles's long-held pacifist stance. He was now determined to retaliate with force. The X-Men, with their professor's approval, were ready to unleash their pent-up fury. Magneto was the most enraged. The Brotherhood of Mutants had been decimated, its reputation in tatters. Apocalypse, however, remained calm. His elite forces had suffered minimal losses; they were skilled enough to protect themselves.
"Are you all waiting for me to start the meeting?" Alan asked, casually taking a seat. The three leaders shot him strange looks. Magneto, unfamiliar with him, thought a madman would only be a hindrance, though he couldn't deny his combat prowess. Charles, already in a foul mood, had no patience for the man who had betrayed his school. But with Apocalypse protecting him and the base provided by him, he couldn't openly show his displeasure.
"The problem is, we don't know the Sentinels' location. We can't launch a proactive attack. We're completely on the defensive," Magneto said grimly. They had considered various options. Apocalypse had tried to gather information through the internet, but the enemy was clearly prepared, using a local network to block outside hackers. Trask was also incredibly cautious, using only paper documents to avoid leaving any digital trace. They had even considered having Charles use his telepathy to scan the entire human population for information, but the Cerebro chamber was destroyed, and rebuilding it would take time.
"It seems we can only remain passive for now," Charles said with a sigh of resignation. "We can't risk sending out mutants. The Sentinels' X-gene detection makes it a suicide mission." It was a frustrating but correct decision. It wasn't just the Sentinels; frequent, large-scale battles would attract public attention, and the government would surely use the media to stoke anti-mutant sentiment.
"Captain!" an agent of Apocalypse's reported, approaching the group.
Everyone exchanged confused glances. Who was the captain?
"Captain," the agent repeated, this time addressing Alan directly.
"Sorry, I forgot I was Captain Hydra," Alan said with an embarrassed smile. "Go on."
"…" The agent reported, "Black Widow has sent ten coordinates, and another set of coordinates has arrived from an unknown signal."
"Calculate the locations."
"Yes, sir!"
Alan leaned back, a confident expression on his face. "I'm sure you heard that."
"What do you mean?" Magneto frowned. They couldn't possibly guess the thoughts of a madman.
"Old Magneto, I'm not trying to criticize you, but it's obvious the enemy has nowhere to hide," Alan explained, flipping his hair. "When the Sentinels appeared, I dispatched my second-in-command, Natasha, to investigate. Obviously, the coordinates she sent are the manufacturing plants."
Alan put his feet up on the table, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "Of course, a charming villain as brilliant as myself would never have just one plan. That's not my style. So, I also awakened the already digitized Dr. Zola. During the Sentinel raid, he took over one of the robots and located their control center. And now," he said with a grin, "we have the locations of their factories and their control center. We can launch our final counterattack."
A stunned silence fell over the room. They felt like their intelligence had been thoroughly insulted. They had been deliberating for ages, while this madman had already been several steps ahead.
Clap, clap, clap…
Apocalypse applauded. "You truly haven't disappointed me. You are worthy of being my Third Horseman." Apocalypse's face beamed with pride.
"Your praise won't make me happy… hehehe…" Alan covered his face, giggling shyly. Why are you covering your face? You're insane!
With the enemy's location revealed, they planned their attack. The plan was simple: the X-Men and the Brotherhood would be teleported by Magik and Nightcrawler to the ten factory locations to destroy them, while Apocalypse and his forces would strike at the control center. There was no need for a complex strategy. The intelligent minds in the room knew that the longer they waited, the more disadvantageous their situation would become. The Sentinels were mass-produced. Right now, there were only a few hundred. But if they became a super-army of thousands, even Apocalypse would have to retreat.
At the data processing center hidden beneath a small town.
"Warning! Factory One under attack! Please provide instructions immediately!"
Trask and the five chiefs, who were preparing for a second raid, saw the warning on the screen, and their faces instantly paled.
"The mutants have found the factory locations!?"
"How did they do it?"
"The factories are unmanned and automated! How did the information leak?"
"It must be Hydra! They must have infiltrated Trask Industries!" Trask immediately realized the cause. The factories were automated, but the public-facing company still needed employees to function. Financial reports, purchase orders, and logistics information—all could be used to track the factory locations. He had no time to find the mole; they were likely long gone.
He pulled up the video feed. Magneto was floating in the air, his hands raised, using his magnetic powers to tear the factory apart. The production lines, made of ordinary metal, were ripped from the ground, twisted and compressed into scrap, and then rained down, burying the factory in its own ruins. The residents of the town above fled in terror, staring at Magneto in awe, as if he were a god.
The three leaders had already agreed: after this, they would no longer hide. They would declare the existence of mutants to the world and fight for their rights openly.
"Warning! Contact with Factory One lost."
At the same time, the video feed was cut. A few seconds later, another alert came in. Another factory was under attack. It was clear the mutants were retaliating.
"Don't panic. The factories can be rebuilt," Trask said calmly. "I have backup plans. There are manufacturing plants all over the world that can be quickly converted to Sentinel production lines. As long as the data processing center is intact and Skynet is operational, the Sentinels are an endless resource."
Hearing this, the five chiefs relaxed. If their investment in Trask Industries failed, the consequences would be unimaginable. Not only would they be impeached, but their entire department could be dismantled.
"What if the mutants know the location of the data processing center?" someone asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. There's no record of it here. Besides us, no seventh person knows," Trask replied confidently.
"Warning! Data processing center is under attack…"
Trask's face froze. The slap in the face was immediate and unexpected. One second, he was full of confidence; the next, a system alert. He couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. Of course, Trask had been wary of humans, but he had never considered the possibility of a digital lifeform like Dr. Zola getting involved.
He pulled up the video feed. Apocalypse was maintaining a force field, surrounded by elite mutants. He was using his sand manipulation ability to turn the entire town on the surface into sand, clearing away the earth and rock that covered the processing center. They were clearly planning to unearth the entire facility.
"Damn it!" Trask cursed, taking out a storage chip and inserting it into the mainframe. His ten fingers flew across the keyboard, entering commands. "Activate Skynet defense system! Unlock all weapons and eliminate any intruders!"
Before the fifth-generation Sentinels, there had been numerous prototypes. Though not suitable for fighting mutants, they had been stored in the data processing center and integrated into the Skynet defense system. Now, they were finally being put to use.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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