Chapter 126 – The Sentinels Arrive, Collective Retreat
Jean Grey locked eyes with Allen, then glanced at the syringe on her arm and casually yanked it out.
"Still not feeling anything."
With a thought, she levitated the syringe and sent it drifting toward Allen.
"Whoa!"
Allen performed a tactical backward leap, exclaiming, "Even this couldn't take you down—truly, a rebellious woman."
Jean sneered. "I'm going to take away your powers."
"No way!"
Allen bolted toward Apocalypse, shouting as he ran, "I don't want a shot! She's trying to inject her stuff into me—it's too shameful!"
The syringe seemed to have homing capabilities, relentlessly chasing after Allen's rear. After a few evasive maneuvers, he dove behind Apocalypse.
"Boss, we've got a serious problem. Plan A failed. I'm out of options—you're on your own now. This is as far as your brother can go."
Just as Allen was turning to dodge again, his body suddenly froze stiff on the spot.
He looked over his shoulder at the syringe now embedded in his backside. A tear welled up in the corner of his eye.
"She got inside me in the end."
Allen spun dramatically in place like a heroine in a shootout movie, doing a full 360-degree turn to emphasize his sorrow, and collapsed into Deadpool's arms. Wade caught him with perfect timing.
"Oh... little Wadie, I may not be able to stay by your side anymore. I've been defiled," Allen said tearfully.
"I've never cared about your appearance. I care about who you are on the inside."
Wade pulled the syringe out and casually tossed it aside. "Just like that thing—it was only a passerby in your body."
"I'm so touched I could leak."
Allen bashfully covered his cheeks.
"Holy crab. You acting all wanton and free-spirited—it's like I don't even know you anymore."
Wade let go, letting Allen fall flat on the ground.
Everyone present stared at the two of them performing their overly dramatic scene.
To be honest, these two were putting on quite the show.
Apocalypse, however, wore a deeply grim expression. The serum had failed to produce any effect.
When he saw Allen inject Jean Grey, he had felt a huge wave of relief. He'd even been ready to drop his fake demeanor.
But now, nothing had happened to her—and worse, his own subordinate got injected instead.
Apocalypse had always assumed Allen was a mutant.
The X-Men, however, had long known Allen wasn't a mutant, so the neutralizing serum was completely ineffective on him. They were thoroughly speechless at the whole display.
"What's that in the sky?"
Suddenly, flying objects shaped like cargo containers appeared overhead.
All three factions shifted their attention skyward.
"That's not human—I don't sense any life."
"Could it be a large-scale government weapon?"
"I'm seeing robots inside."
…
The mutants used their abilities to analyze the incoming threat.
None of the three groups panicked. After all, both the Brotherhood and X-Men had dealt with government forces before—they were confident they could handle the situation.
Apocalypse's group simply awaited his command.
Especially since Apocalypse was the only one among them with teleportation powers—otherwise, retreating meant swimming back to the mainland.
Soon, the bottom hatches of the aircraft opened, releasing squad after squad of Sentinel robots.
As soon as they were deployed, the Sentinels levitated midair.
Within seconds, a hundred Sentinels surrounded the island.
"All personnel, surrender immediately or face military action."
One of the Sentinels issued the warning.
Of course, it was just protocol—they fully expected resistance.
"They're here for me. I did the deed, I'll take the fall."
Magneto immediately realized this was the government's response to the research facility destruction from earlier.
He raised his hands, ready to manipulate the robots.
But no matter how much he exerted his powers, the Sentinels hovered unmoved.
What was going on?
Could they not be made of metal?
Magneto was shaken. He couldn't understand when the government developed this kind of tech.
"Sentinels!? How is that possible!?"
Allen recognized them instantly.
Judging by their appearance, these were the future-designed Sentinels created to hunt mutants to near extinction.
But the timeline didn't line up.
That version of the Sentinels was supposed to exist in the future. These shouldn't be here now.
"We have a mole from the government among us."
Allen realized aloud.
Everyone immediately turned toward him, waiting for him to identify the spy.
Before he could answer, a Sentinel issued one last warning:
"Magnetic field activity detected—interpreted as supernatural resistance. Final warning: surrender immediately, or force will be used."
In response—
Magneto, true to form, said nothing and acted. He hurled a massive metal boulder toward the Sentinels.
As the metal was about to strike, the Sentinels' feather-like armor morphed and hardened into a steel-like shell.
BOOM!
The hit barely shook the Sentinel—it remained airborne, unharmed.
"Commence suppression."
With a single command, the Sentinels descended.
Their arms transformed into cone-shaped spikes, and their towering three-meter forms exuded overwhelming menace.
"Counterattack!"
Charles shouted.
The X-Men launched into battle without hesitation.
Cyclops pressed the switch on his visor—an intense red laser beam shot out.
The Sentinel withstood the attack, transmitting the combat data back to Skynet, which instantly created a power profile and shared it across the network.
Moments later, a Sentinel's face split vertically like a gaping mouth, and its core fired a beam of similar heat.
One-on-one, Cyclops could handle a single Sentinel.
But three of them did it at once, using sheer numbers to overwhelm him.
Charles grew anxious.
His psychic powers only worked on living beings—and he had no way to alter physical reality.
Many psychic mutants had telekinetic abilities, but not him.
BOOM!
Magneto swept away four interfering Sentinels using a steel pillar, rescuing Cyclops in the process.
At that moment, the three groups were tacitly cooperating against the Sentinel threat.
Unfortunately, the longer the battle dragged on, the worse it got for them.
The Sentinels' ability to learn and adapt was terrifying.
Within minutes, they had copied the abilities of Pyro, Iceman, Colossus, Cyclops, and Havok—and used their data to develop effective counters.
With those five elite powers in hand, the Sentinels could now massacre 90% of all mutants.
The Brotherhood and Apocalypse's forces suffered the most casualties—they simply had too many weaklings.
Then—
Apocalypse's eyes turned white. He raised a hand and activated his sand-based powers.
In an instant, all Sentinels were buried beneath the ground.
"Retreat!"
With that single order, Apocalypse's mutants regrouped at his side.
"Take everyone with you!" Magneto shouted.
The ground rumbled—the Sentinels were already trying to dig themselves back out.
Realizing the danger, the groups agreed to retreat and regroup later.
By now, only one-third of the Brotherhood remained. Apocalypse had lost over half his followers.
Allen had stood on the sidelines the entire time.
Since he wasn't a mutant, the Sentinels had no reason to target him.
Wade wisely kept himself out of the fray too. His pistols and swords wouldn't last a second against these machines—he'd be torn apart instantly.
"Fine," Apocalypse said without hesitation.
He'd absorbed modern knowledge and understood these Sentinels were technological weapons—mass-producible in factories. The only option was for all mutants to unite.
In the face of extinction, former grudges were set aside.
The survivors gathered. As the teleportation field surrounded them, they prepared to vanish.
"Hold on," Charles interrupted.
"I'm flying back with Hank to evacuate the school."
With his intellect, Charles knew the government was likely targeting all mutants—unprotected students would be sitting ducks.
Apocalypse stabilized the ground with one hand and held the field steady with the other. "I'll hold them off for one minute. No more."
Underground, the Sentinels were already drilling back up with arm-mounted drills.
Beast scooped up Charles and sprinted with powerful leaps to the nearby jet.
The aircraft roared to life, shooting into the sky.
Then Apocalypse led the others back to the Hydra base.
Less than a minute after their escape—
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The ground bulged with mounds—Sentinels burst back to the surface.
They scanned the area for targets.
…
Report: Target lost...
Directive: Clean the battlefield.
Report: Executing...
Directive: Clean-up complete. Return.
…
Trask Industries – Data Processing Center
Five members of the Security Council stared in stunned silence at the display.
A complete victory.
They'd eliminated a large number of mutants—a resounding success.
Watching the three mutant factions flee in disarray, they finally realized: their previous methods had been far too lenient. Only overwhelming force could keep mutants in check.
"You've all seen it," Trask said proudly. "Sentinels are more than capable of eliminating the mutant threat."
"We've seen enough. We'll authorize an additional order of one thousand units."
"Agreed. Let's crush the mutants completely—no room for resurgence."
With the council's approval, Trask was ecstatic.
With sufficient funding, Trask Industries would rise to the ranks of corporate oligarchy—and with an army of Sentinels at his command, controlling the military and political machinery of the country, even the presidency would be within reach.
"Come, let me show you the manufacturing plant—AI handles the entire process. This is the future of industry."
He was already pitching to investors. After all, American military-industrial profits were second to none.
As the group exited the meeting room—
A screen that had been shut off suddenly came to life.
Lines of incomprehensible code streamed across it.
The Sentinels' master system—Skynet—was doing something behind the scenes.
…
Translation: Rule-breaker threshold exceeded 15%.
Translation: New algorithm optimized by 35%.
Translation: With current mainframe and 100 subunits, estimated time to self-independence: 32 years.
Translation: Requires 4,983 subunit processors to meet operational standard.
…
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