bookpower Chapter 84: Attacking The Haters: Part 03
Chapter 84: Attacking The Haters: Part 03
Chapter 84: Attacking The Haters: Part 03
*Boom*
The ground rumbles and opens like a cardboard box.
From the cracks, something erupts like a volcano expelling solid lava, but it's not lava. It's a Building... an underground structure that is being ripped off the Earth by a greater power.
"..." Magneto floats on a metallic platform as he slowly raises his hand, exerting his powers. Fabian Cortez is at his side, ready to give him some support with his powers.
The entire base is slowly uprooted from the ground by the Omega-level meta. After raising the base enough that he is on the same level with it, he approaches floating in his metal platform.
He opens a part of the facility's wall like a sardine can and from there Mystique and Sabretooth appear, Leading a ragged group that one can easily guess that are prisoners, experiments, or worse. He added Mystique to his group on his own after the meeting, no reason to follow Eidolon's orders so thoroughly.
With a flick of his hand, the platform beneath his feet grows enough to accommodate everyone to step in.
Some are fearful because of the height.
"Don't look down, and even if you fall I will catch you." Magneto says to comfort them.
Eventually, they all stepped on the platform, no one was left behind.
"Is this everyone?" He asks
"Yes." Mystique answers
"Are you sure?"
"I double-checked, Sabretooth 'interrogated' many too, and this thing here..." Mystique raises her wrist "...hacked the computer, showing a map of the base."
"..." Magneto finally gives a nod of acknowledgment, bringing his metal platform away from the floating base.
When he is far enough he squeezes his hand and the huge base is crumbled into a ball like a sheet of paper, then he dismissively lets it fall into the open hole in the ground, not fitting very well but he doesn't care.
He just showed great feats of power and control, making the rescued victims gasp in awe.
"What is the next location?" He asks
Mystique checks her wristband for some time, getting used to the device.
"A little far way, the one unmarked by the other groups... Should we drop those people in Charles's mansion?" She points at the rescued people with her thumb
"..."
"Apparently if I press this button, I can communicate with his teleporter." She says
The Brotherhood teleporter is with other groups, raiding other bases. Magneto asks himself if that was deliberately made by Eidolon to separate them.
"Do it then..."
Mystique calls "A portal to the X-men mansion." She says, waiting to see what happens.
No one answers from the other side, but her wristband beeps two times and a portal slowly appears a meter in front of her.
"..."
"Okay, people... It's safe on the other side." Mystique leads the people to step into the portal.
Some are too fearful or wary to do that, so she even went to the other side with them. After a little work, she comes back and presses the same button on the wristband, asking the portal to be closed.
And it's done without another word.
"Handy." She praises
"What do you think of Eidolon, Raven?" Magneto suddenly asks as he starts flying in a certain direction, taking them with him on the platform.
He would not ask any of Eidolon's people to teleport him.
"We talked about it before, no?" She gives him a glance
"I'm asking again now..."
"..."
This is a tricky question to ask because her view of Eidolon changed since they talked after his debut. Her lover, Destiny, had that vision, and she finally met him personally... That's why Magneto is asking again.
"You're probably the best judge of people that I know. Tell me what you think of him." Magneto continues
"..." Mystique looks forward a little to organize her thoughts, to decide what to say and what not to say "He is a good person..."
"..."
" 'Good' in the sense he is truthful in what he said to us, truthful in his actions too, that's the most important." She explains "Not that I think he doesn't have a dark side or an agenda. Maybe he has some personal objective and vendetta... I don't believe he is a saint, but he is more a good person than a bad one."
"..."
"He could have approached this differently..." She gesticulates around her, to talk about the whole situation "I can think in many different ways that he could have manipulated or misguided us... But he was upfront, hence why is reliable. Truthful... And in general a good person. At least about what matters to us and our race."
She finishes, giving her true feelings but hiding a little too. Like the fact that Destiny said that Eidolon was "their best chance", their last/only hope.
Whatever Eidolon is doing, even with some hidden intentions, will result in the best outcome for the mutant race.
She just needs to make sure to be alive at this "happy ending".
This is one of the reasons why she is subtly trying to stop Magneto from antagonizing the black-clad hero. Nothing good will come if they fight. Literally nothing.
"...I agree." To her surprise, Magneto agrees with her
"..." Mystique almost lets her well-trained and permanent mask slip for an instant. "You like him..." It's not a question.
"There's any reason to dislike him? Beyond his big mouth, he never did anything to me..." Magneto comments offhandedly
"No, I guess not... I'm just surprised."
"I can humor him for some time... After all, it's not like he is sitting and doing nothing, right?" They finally arrive at the next location. Magneto can feel the hidden amount of metal inside the mountain "And I know if he fails... He will tilt more to mine than to Charles's side." Magneto prepares himself to destroy their defenses and let Mystique and Sabretooth go inside.
"Are you gonna pause your plans? We are so close to the method of forcefully awakening x-genes, or meta-genes if you want to call that way." Mystique asks
"No hurry... Like I said, it's not like we are doing nothing..." They are saving his people "And from everything he rambled about... I can agree wholeheartedly with one..." He raises his hand to the mountain
"..."
The side of the mountain explodes as Magneto opens many entrances in the hidden facility "...we are on the winning side."
.......
Project Psyche...
Jean is starting to understand the reason why Eidolon assigned this location to her. A branch of the Weapon Plus Project, a still-in-the-beginning investment, focused on creating weapons to fight one of the most fearsome types of mutants, the psychics.
Obviously, they want this type of power for themselves too.
Project Psyche is the non-official Weapon XIV, they research everything regarding the mutants' mind-based powers. From trying to replicate Magneto's helmet, to creating living weapons that can use psychic abilities.
Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops invaded this facility, which is isolated on a small private island, without a problem. They invaded just after one of Eidolon's clones attacked the place with an EMP blast.
The time before the laboratory recovered was enough for them to infiltrate the first line of defense. Their strategy is simple... Jean would shut off the mind of any enemy, and Cyclops deals with the enemies "without a mind" like gun turrets and other defensive machines.
"There's a room behind this wall..." Jean says in Nightcrawler's mind, as bullets rain on them and they take cover.
*Bamf* The demon-looking meta disappears leaving behind the light smell of súlfur.
That's their coordinated attack, Jean would detect the enemies' minds and tell Kurt their location. He would act on the sidelines as she and Cyclops would advance steadily.
It works pretty well, the laboratory defenses are subpar at best. They advance without problems to the depths of the facility till they reach the heart of Project Psyche.
"Jesus..." Jean can't help but exclaim.
A scene straight out of a horror movie stretches around them in all directions... Brains floating and being preserved in unknown liquids, dissected human bodies in metal tables, screens showing scenes of torture...
It is more of a slaughterhouse than a laboratory.
"Now I understand why he is okay with killing those people..." Jean comments, receiving a tight nod from Cyclops.
It's simply too infuriating to see how they treated people just like them like they were animals. Those people evil knows no bounds.
Eidolon decided to leave how to deal with the enemies with them because he wanted them to reach their own conclusions. So that his disdain and prejudice against those people would not influence the X-men members' heads and morals.
Many of them are really nice people, some are made of tougher stuff, but most of them are soft. Let them see for themselves and see how the experience will mold them.
They notice some movement between the rows of bodies and screens.
"Stop!" Jeans shouts as she extends her hand and her mind, reaching for whatever is there, stopping its movements.
The person trips, revealing himself to be a scientist tunning to some controls, but in his fall he is able to touch a panel.
*Tsssss*
The sound of pressure escaping a previously sealed space comes from the wall, and then a chamber slowly moves, opening itself...
"Be careful! It's a person!" Jean warns
Cyclops' hand goes to his visor
"Wait! We don't know if it's an enemy!"
"But the chances are high! And can be out of control!"
"It can be someone that was experimented on, like Logan."
"...just to make sure then." Cyclops shoots his optic beam into the panel, trying to stop the emergence of whatever is being released
At the same time, Jean tries to connect with the individual but she feels some instinctive resistance.
It's someone with telepathic powers too, or other kind of psychic power.
Cyclops makes the machine stop, just enough to stop the coffin-like machine from fully opening.
*Boom*
But the person inside woke anyway and with an invisible blast the confinement was open.
Slowly, a woman appears from behind the steam, she has red hair like Jean but that is where the similarities end.
Her hair is dark red and curly in an afro style, and her face is divided in two, like she only put make-up on one side, creating a goth aesthetic.
She is garbed in medical clothes and has some wires connecting to her head.
Jean once again tries to communicate with the woman telepathically.
"Out of my head, bitch!!" The woman shouts and sends a mental attack back at Jean, but the member of the X-men is more experienced and skilled than her.
"I'm trying... to help... you!" Jean tries to calm the woman down, but luck is not on her side.
Suddenly flames fly in her direction, it appears that the other woman has fire powers too...
'...too.' Jean gets annoyed for some reason, she is being completely ignored and dismissed when she is trying to help.
Unfortunately for her, it's an uphill battle.
Once again, Weapon XI teleports away... But dangerously close to Logan, the feral mutant doesn't waste the opportunity in jumping the clone.
Fearing that his opponent would simply teleport away, Wolverine latches on him like a rabid animal. His claws sank into Weapon XI's flesh, meeting the resistance of an adamantium skeleton.
The two living weapons roll on the ground in an ugly fight.
Deadpool recovers and finally reaches his backpack "Yeah, yeah. Hold this almost handsome evildoer there." He opens the back of the fluffy unicorn and puts his arm till his elbow inside without a problem "I have just the thing to deal with him. I love that prepared bastard~" He starts taking things out of his Bag-of-holding-unicorn-backpack
"RPG? No. Chinchilla? No. Strap-on? No..." He takes Random things out, cursing himself for not being a more organized guy.
He drops the random things on the ground, the little animal running away "Chimichanga? No. Latex BDSM costume? Almost... Spiderman's ass Picture? *Mwah* But no." He gives it a kiss before keeping it in his pocket
"Can you hurry up?!" Logan shouts as his fight gets more and more problematic.
The two can't do much to each other, even if Weapon XI options and attack potency are higher, is still not something that can deal with Logan permanently, and the same goes for Wolverine.
They are simply cutting each other like two perpetual motion machines that produce blood.
"Don't attract his attention to me- Kyaah!" As he feared, Weapon XI disengages from Wolverine and teleports to attack Deadpool.
In a hurry, Deadpool takes the first thing he can grab from his backpack unicorn and shoves it a Weapon XI.
"♪Num, num, num, num, eat it up, foreplay, okay, three, two, one~♪
♪You know I'm the hottest, you ain't ever gotta heat me up~"♪
A smartphone showing She-hulk twerking...
"..."
*Swish* *Crack*
Weapon XI swings his imbued katana down and cuts the smartphone in two.
"I would do the same... You're really my clone." Deadpool nods impressed.
The clone in question goes for another swing, this time aiming at the head of the red anti-hero.
Luckily Logan intervenes by jumping on the other living weapon. Another bloody battle ensues, but this time it seems something unlocked on Weapon XI, he is using more of his teleportation, completely dominating Wolverine.
Deadpool continues to go through his backpack.
Again, Weapon XI reappears above him, ready to strike.
"I was waiting for you..." Deadpool says, his back turned to his clone, then he suddenly turns around with a strange weapon in hand. It looks like a gun, but the barrel is a comically large and cone-shaped.
"I'm Batman." He says in a deep voice before blasting the clone.
Instead of bullets, what hits him are small black balls that get stuck in his body. Not only that, but the balls start growing at an incredible rate. In seconds the dozen balls are already covering 70% of Weapon XI as he struggles to move.
He erratically teleports around, but the balls continue to be stuck on him, at some point he can't teleport anymore. It's unknown if it's because he has a weight limit on his power or for another reason.
Not only did the balls increase in weight, they finally got stuck on the ground, so he would have to have a really strong teleportation power to carry all that weight and fight all that resistance.
Those balls are a neat invention of Syndrome from The Incredibles, an excellent restraining weapon. Hector improved it even more by having Minoru Mineta's quirk as a base. In the instant, the balls come in contact with Oxygen, and at the normal ambient temperature, they start expanding. The same principle of fermentation.
The weakness is the cold, so if someone freezes it, it would not only stop the expansion but also make it fragile and brittle. Unfortunately to Weapon XI, he doesn't have Ice powers in his kit.
As a side note: Heat makes the balls increase even more and faster, making them lose their structural integrity tuning in an amorphous mass that retains the sticky propriety but becomes more like a liquid.
"If you had that, you should have used it earlier..." Wolverine still finds something to complain about while watching the completely stuck-in-place Weapon XI.
"Give me a break. All those toys are new." Deadpool sighs from the ground "Uppies~" He extends his arms and closes and opens his hands, like a toddler asking to to be carried.
"...no."
"C'mon! I don't have legs, man! I thought that you of all people, a teacher who came from an institution like the Xavier School for Gifted Students, that values equal treatment to all, would be the first to help! But here we are! Wolverine is an ableist! I'm a war veteran too! Injured in combat! Did you know that I'm a cancer survivor too?? Canceled! Canceled! Twitter, do your thing! White man said something controversial!" He trashes on the ground like a Geodude.
"..." Wolverine ignores Deadpool's yapping not only because it's annoying, but also because he is hearing something coming from above.
Looking up he has a pleasant vision of the helicopter that escaped crashing down. A small explosion occurs and the helicopter bursts in flames. It seems that Polaris was capable of blocking their escape.
But to the surprise of Wolverine and Deadpool who watched the seemingly fatal crash, a man walks out of the flames, apparently unbothered by it.
"Stryker..." Logan growls again, narrowing his eyes to the strange scene.
There's more than the eye can see in the seemingly normal Sergeant of the army.
"I suffered an accident two years ago..." Stryker comments
"Karma." Logan spats
"Heh~ A blessing in disguise." The sergeant smiles a little crazy "You are not the only one that went through a procedure, Weapon X."
Wolverine bristles at the mention of the name but he doesn't attack. He observes as Stryker's skin ripples, changing and revealing the truth. His arms, and unknown what more, are made of metal.
Stryker is a half cyborg. And is not hard to guess which metal he is made from...
But Wolverine doesn't care. With a roar, the mutant runs to his enemy, claws already out, his face contorted in fury.
A metallic sound echoes when Wolverine's claws meet Stryker's forearm. The sergeant goes for a punch with his other arm, but Logan crouches down and swipes at his torso.
Once again a scratching metallic sound echoes. It seems that Stryker's modifications went beyond his limbs.
*Crank*
Logan is kicked in the chin by Stryker's adamantium foot, sent flying far and hitting the ground like a heavy wrecking ball.
"It's your fault, Logan." Stryker gloats "If you're not so successful, the Project would be shut down, but with such great living proof that is possible... How could we stop, right?" Stryker jumps, trying to step on Logan's with his full body weight.
Luckily, Logan is able to roll down to avoid the impact. Just in time because a small crater was formed on the ground where he was previously.
"Project X was just a little uncontrollable... We can fix that in the next ones, right?" Stryker kicks Logan in the ribs, sending him flying again "First we took their mind, like with Weapon XI over there. Not much different from a robot made of flesh. But you don't imagine what we did later..." Stryker shows an evil smile.
Like he knows a very funny joke. Something that Logan doesn't know... The existence of another clone...
As he talks he approaches Logan for another strike, but the mutant is ready and retaliates fast. Twisting his torso with a spin Logan lunges at Stryker, his claw drawing blood from the Sergeant's face.
The wound is not deep enough, just leaving a cut from jaw to eyebrow, thanks to Stryker's fast response. He lost an eye and Wolverine will not let the opportunity pass.
The feral mutant attacks relentlessly. Overwhelming his opponent with sheer brutality. One factor is decisive in this battle, Stryker does not have a healing factor. The blood from the wound covers his face, but the sergeant is still able to use his arms to stop Wolverine's attacks.
Suddenly something hits Stryker, a small net that when touches him lights up with electricity.
*Bzzzt* "Aaaargh!" He screams in pain as he is zapped
"This for making me relive my cringe past..." Deadpool says with a grave voice, still on the ground, holding a strange weapon in his hands.
Wolverine does not let the moment pass. With a shout, he pulls his arm back, and a full swing with his claws goes directly through Stryker's head.
*Swish*
"..." The sergeant now a cyborg stops in shock, his eyes wide.
As he turns to look at Logan his head slides off piece by piece... It's over.
William Stryker is dead.
........
Extra
"About Deadpool crazy talk? I asked myself about that too..." Hector sits with his legs crossed while he nurses a juice in his hand.
He takes a sip "I was worried about his 4th wall breaking, but at the same time I don't plan to touch his mind not even with Phoenix Force backing me up."
"But I have a guess..."
He takes his time taking a snack and savoring it.
"After a lot of probing and observing his behavior, I think I have the answer..." He pauses dramatically
"The truth is that not even he is fully aware of what he is talking about." He reveals with an amused smile, resting a cheek on his fist. "So I'm not worried anymore. Huhu~"
"Are you asking 'how'? Well..." He ponders the questions
"It's like the knowledge beyond the 4th wall goes in and out of him. He says something outrageous, about some hidden deep secret that he totally shouldn't be aware of... But in the next instant, he forgot about that"
"Maybe his mind can't bear all that knowledge... Having a 'reader' perspective is basically being Omniscient, right? Maybe the jokes are a form of escapism, of putting the knowledge out..."
"His brain, with a limited memory capacity, 'downloads' the information and 'sends' it through his mouth permanently."
"That's why I'm not worried..." Hector takes a sip of his juice "Deadpool can't use his meta-knowledge properly."
"Obviously I will keep an eye on him... If for some reason, his mind develops a focus in... I don't know, killing the universe for example. "He chuckles "Maybe dangerous knowledge will be poured into his mind. Like heroes and villains weaknesses..."
"A problematic guy..." Hector sighs tiredly "But I'm here to give everyone a chance..."
"To hope and help them to become the better versions of themselves... No Dark Phoenix, no Superior Iron Man, no Black Suit Spider-Man... And Wade is no different." Hectos smiles softly
"Ownt~ Aren't you cute?" Suddenly Deadpool appears, lying on the ground on his stomach, balancing his feet like a maiden in love.
"Shut up, Wade. How did you get into my 'interview moment'? You know what? I don't even want to know..." Hector shakes his head
"He can do this too... Appear out of nowhere, have items that he shouldn't have... But the driving force behind his abilities appears to be purely comedy." Hector explains
"I can't get in the way of your wish-fulfillment story, after all. The readers that self-insert in you will get their feeling hurt."
"See?"
........
Deadpool's Note: Hello People, Wade here~
If you like this chapter go fund our dear author's degenerate lifestyle in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n. You know what to do~
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If you guys don't do it~ *Points Gun* I'm gonna appear in your dreams with a pineapple pizza and meatloaf made of my male parts and force-feed you while making you watch the Phase 4 of the MCU!
Hehe~, I'm just kidding. But seriously, he is literally keeping me alive here. Do you wanna kill old Wade? Do you want my blood in your hands? Do you want to deny me my toe-curling kissing scene with Wolverine??
*Points Gun Again*
Damnit this is annoying! Does every action is written like that because is a novelization???
Hmm~ *Unzips Pants- Gah, gruk!!
Author's Here, Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Stay good y'all, till next time.
Eidolon comes back next chapter to close this little arc.
Bye Bye.