Over the vast and scenic Alkali Lake, a sleek black fighter jet soared through the sky at high speed.
Inside, the team gathered around, discussing their next move.
"After learning that we were planning to go after Stryker, Fury eagerly provided us with intelligence," Ethan explained.
"He confirmed that Stryker has been using the Alkali Lake Hydropower Station as a base. On top of that, he managed to dig up the original construction plans of the facility."
As soon as Ethan finished speaking, Katie tapped a few keys on the control panel, bringing up a three-dimensional holographic blueprint of the hydropower station.
"Of course, Stryker has been operating there for decades," Ethan continued.
"Some internal structures have likely been modified, and while Fury provided us with updated layouts, there's no guarantee they're entirely accurate."
"I've seen this before." Storm adjusted the holographic display, zooming in on key sections of the facility.
"The hydropower station's infrastructure makes large-scale modifications nearly impossible," she stated.
"So the core layout remains the same. Based on the intel we've gathered, I have a pretty good idea of the base's structure."
Noticing everyone's eyes on her, Storm cleared her throat and continued.
"The base is equipped with anti-aircraft missile defenses, so landing directly is not an option. However, with our stealth systems engaged, we can land nearby.
That said, all known entrances to the base are sealed. The only viable entry point is here—the spillway."
"And what if Stryker floods the tunnel while we're inside?" Logan asked, crossing his arms.
"That's exactly the problem we need to consider," Storm replied with a nod.
"Then let me go first," Logan said, his voice steady and resolute.
"I have a feeling Stryker won't try to kill me outright."
Magneto raised an eyebrow. "You? People who enter will need to operate the flood control mechanisms.
Do you even know how? Or are you planning to slash the controls apart with your claws?"
Storm turned to Nightcrawler. "Can you teleport us inside?"
Nightcrawler shook his head. "Nein. I can only teleport to places I have seen before. If I teleport blindly, I could end up inside a wall."
"You're all overthinking this," Ethan interjected, stepping forward.
Magneto shot him a sideways glance. "I don't doubt your abilities, Ethan. My concern is that you'll be too forceful and bring the whole dam crashing down. Remember, Charles is still in there."
"That's not what I meant," Ethan corrected him, turning toward Katie, who was busy at her console. "She's the one who's getting us inside."
Shawdowkat smirked, flexing her fingers. "No door can stop me."
Storm took charge. "Alright. Bobby, John, you two stay with the Blackbird. Everyone else moves in through the spillway."
John immediately protested. "Why do we have to stay behind? Why does Ethan get to go?"
Storm frowned. "You two are still students. You don't have enough experience. Ethan can handle himself."
Magneto, however, smirked at John. "Storm, you're coddling them. The X-Mansion is a safe haven, but these kids won't grow stronger without facing real adversity."
"Magneto, you don't get to dictate what happens to my students," Storm shot back, her tone sharp.
In the end, her authority won out. Bobby and John, though clearly frustrated, had no choice but to stay with the jet.
Inside the base, soldiers monitored the security feeds when an alert flashed on-screen.
"Sir, we have an unidentified person entering the tunnel," one of the guards reported to Stryker.
"Shall I flush him out?"
Stryker walked over, glancing at the monitor. His lips curled into a smirk. "Well, look at that. Our lost wolf has come home."
His amusement quickly faded when he noticed Logan wasn't alone. A whole squad of mutants followed behind him.
Stryker's expression darkened.
"Bringing guests without permission? That warrants punishment. Open the floodgates. And increase security—no one gets through."
Deep inside the flood spillway, the team heard the unmistakable roar of rushing water.
"They're flooding the tunnel!" Logan called out.
"Everyone, grab onto me!" Katie shouted.
Jean's eyes flickered with power as she turned toward a wall.
"Katie, behind this wall—there's someone there."
Without hesitation, Katie phased through the solid structure, pulling the entire team with her just as a tidal wave crashed through the tunnel behind them.
Meanwhile, at the floodgate control room, soldiers stood at the ready.
A moment later, a girl walked through the wall like a ghost.
"What the—?"
Before they could react, Katie vanished into the walls again—only to shove Ethan through from the other side.
Gunfire erupted.
The room filled with the sounds of bullets ricocheting and pained screams.
Ethan dusted himself off, looking around.
"Well… that escalated quickly."
A nearby soldier, barely conscious, reached for his communicator.
"Sir… the mutants… they've breached the base. The floodgate control is lost."
Stryker's voice crackled through the radio. "How many of them?"
Before the soldier could answer, the communicator was yanked from his grasp.
"Stryker, we're here," Magneto said, his voice dripping with amusement.
Static filled the line, followed by a loud crash.
Stryker's fury was palpable.
He smashed his communicator against the desk. "Damn it!"
An officer turned to him, voice tight with concern. "Sir, what are your orders?"
"Lieutenant, gather your men and meet me in the Cerebro chamber. The rest of you—lock down the dam's control center!"
Meanwhile, inside the Cerebro chamber, a lone figure stood watch. A woman in a sharp black suit, her expression unreadable.
Stryker approached. "Status report?"
She bowed slightly. "Everything is proceeding smoothly, master."
"Good." Stryker pushed open the doors, stepping inside.
Two figures sat in wheelchairs.
The first was Professor X, his head slumped forward, trapped within an illusion.
The second—his own son, Jason Stryker, a powerful telepath twisted by years of psychological torment.
"Jason," Stryker whispered in his son's ear. "It's time. Make him do it."
...
"What should we do now?" Ethan asked, turning back to the group after clearing the last blocker.
"First, we need to get to the main control room of the hydropower station. Once we're there, we should be able to locate where Stryker is keeping the brainwave amplifier and Professor X," Storm said, recalling the facility's layout.
Without hesitation, she strode forward, leading the way toward their target.
Enemies appeared at every turn, but against this team of battle-hardened mutants—each at least Omega-level—Stryker's so-called elite soldiers were nothing more than fodder.
They barely put up a fight before being taken down one after another.
When they finally reached the control room, they were met with thick steel-reinforced doors designed to withstand even rocket launchers.
Unfortunately for Stryker, his security measures were useless against Magneto.
With a casual wave of his hand, the doors were wrenched apart, torn down the middle like paper.
Katie wasted no time, sprinting to the control panel and quickly scanning the data. "Got it! Most of the base's power output is being redirected to one specific room. That has to be where Professor X is being held!" she announced, turning to the others.
Storm's eyes narrowed as she focused on one of the security feeds. "Wait… there are mutant children here?"
Her expression shifted from shock to rage as realization dawned on her.
"That bastard Stryker is using them as test subjects. This is unforgivable."
"Storm, take Nightcrawler and get those kids out of here. We'll handle rescuing Professor X," Ethan instructed.
Storm nodded without hesitation.
"Understood. Keep each other safe." With a flash of blue teleportation energy, Nightcrawler vanished, reappearing deeper into the base with Storm close behind.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team pushed forward.
Any remaining guards barely had time to react before Magneto effortlessly disarmed them, sending their weapons clattering to the floor.
Then they saw him—the final obstacle.
Standing guard in front of the Cerebro chamber was a man with a familiar visor covering his eyes.
"Scott! You're okay!" Jean gasped, relief flooding her expression.
But Ethan tensed, sensing something was off. "No... Something isn't right."
Magneto's gaze hardened. "It seems Stryker has Cyclops under his control."
"Controlled or not, right now, our dear glasses boy is in the way," Magneto muttered.
With a flick of his fingers, the discarded weapons of the fallen soldiers lifted into the air and shot toward Cyclops like bullets.
Scott barely moved, simply adjusting his visor.
The next instant, a blinding crimson beam tore through the air.
Boom!
The explosion shook the ground as Magneto was blasted backward, the weapons disintegrated in an instant.
As Magneto picked himself up, a rare look of shock crossed his face.
"Well, it seems our friend here has gotten a serious power upgrade since last time."
"Last time, during the battle at the Statue of Liberty, few could stand against you," Jean explained, her voice steady.
"But the real reason Scott was never seen as a major threat was that his power was always partially restrained. He never unleashed his full potential. If he did..." She hesitated for a moment.
"Scott's optic blasts are strong enough to cut through an entire building."
As Professor X's chosen successor, Cyclops was anything but weak.
The idea that he couldn't take someone down with his power was absurd.
"Oh, that's not good news," Magneto muttered, glancing around the confined space with an uneasy expression.
"Especially in such a tight corridor."
As if to confirm his concerns, Cyclops suddenly gathered his energy, his visor glowing ominously.
The next second, a massive beam of blood-red light erupted from his visor, surging toward them like a tidal wave of destruction.
"Get down!" Ethan shouted as he moved to the front, shielding the others.
Cyclops' energy blasts wouldn't harm him, but there was a problem
—if he deflected the beam straight back, it might end up killing Scott.
That wasn't an option.
The powerful blast consumed the hallway in an instant, lighting up the entire base like a beacon of destruction.
Then, rather than redirecting the full force of the beam, Ethan dispersed it, shattering the energy like light refracting through crystal.
Tear—BOOM!
The unleashed force carved through the walls of the base like a blade slicing through paper.
The red beams tore through steel and concrete, extending far beyond the facility, stretching into the open sky outside.
"Alright, that's enough!" Ethan charged forward, pushing through the onslaught of energy.
He closed the distance in an instant and, with a precise strike, sent Scott crashing into the nearby wall.
"Scott!" Jean rushed over, kneeling beside him.
"Relax, I controlled my strength. He's just unconscious," Ethan reassured her.
"Still, we should get him back to the jet and check on him just in case."
Jean hesitated, glancing toward the brainwave amplifier room.
Weighing her options, she eventually nodded, placing a gentle hand on Scott's shoulder before dragging him away.
As Jean carried Scott to safety, Ethan turned back to the door.
Without hesitation, he grabbed hold of the reinforced steel and tore it open, stepping inside.
The moment he entered, his vision blurred, and his ears rang with an eerie buzzing sound—a powerful psychic force was pressing against him.
"Hello," a soft, childlike voice echoed in his mind. "What are you looking for?"
Ethan shuddered.
His entire body tensed as he realized what he was seeing.
In front of him stood what appeared to be a small girl with heterochromatic eyes, staring at him with an innocent expression.
But he knew better.
"Disgusting," he muttered under his breath.
"You really went this far, huh? Dressing up your delusions in a little girl's voice?"
In reality, what stood before him wasn't a cute child at all.
It was Jason Stryker, Stryker's son—a man confined to a wheelchair, with a half-paralyzed expression, yet possessing one of the most terrifying psychic abilities ever seen.
Jason's illusions were incredibly powerful.
Stryker had even developed a mind-control serum from his pituitary secretions, capable of bending other mutants to his will.
But against Ethan, it was as if Jason's powers were being thrown against an unshakable wall.
Jason's mismatched eyes widened slightly in shock.
Even though his father had turned him into nothing more than a living weapon, some part of him still processed emotions—just like a child desperately trying to follow a parent's orders.
Realizing Ethan was immune to his illusions, Jason's gaze darted to Magneto, who had just entered the room.
If he could control the powerful mutant leader, then the tide of battle would shift in his favor.
But once again, he miscalculated.
His psychic influence crashed against Magneto like waves breaking against a mountain. No reaction. No hesitation. Nothing.
Jason's confusion was evident as he stared at Magneto, who simply smirked and tapped the side of his iconic helmet.
"Oh, dear boy," Magneto said mockingly.
"You really thought you could manipulate my mind? You see this helmet? It's not just for fashion.
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