Inside the conference room at Xavier's School.
Magneto and Professor X were seated neatly side by side. Across the thick wooden table, a Black man wearing an eyepatch sat calmly in holographic projection under the two men's fixed stares.
"Nick Fury. As you said, Fenris once made a deal with you. In exchange, you were to help investigate the details of the Sentinel program."
After pausing deliberately for a moment, Magneto looked at Fury's calm, unflinching expression and spoke first.
"Since you've uncovered a new lead, then go ahead. Let's hear it."
Faced with Magneto's overwhelming presence right from the start, along with Professor X sitting quietly beside him with a mild smile and saying nothing, Nick Fury still felt an invisible pressure crashing down on him, even through a hologram.
The two men across from him were not harmless old gentlemen.
As the two most renowned mutants alive, the recognized leaders of mutantkind at this stage, both Professor X and Magneto possessed unquestionable power and influence.
Fury had never expected that he would only be coming to see Fenris, yet not only would he fail to find Fenris, he would end up facing both of these men at once.
Very few people in the entire world would ever receive this kind of treatment.
"Gentlemen, I came here for Fenris. He traded me a piece of information concerning S.H.I.E.L.D.'s life or death."
Fury answered word by word. Even as he spoke, however, his presence did not weaken in the slightest. "Before I receive Fenris's definite commitment, I also need to act responsibly for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Director Fury, since you are already sitting before us, I trust you now understand something about the Sentinel program."
Professor X lifted a hand, stopping the frowning Magneto. "To guard against my abilities, these mechanical monsters use a hive mind. Once activated, they are very difficult to stop.
I believe that with your strategic insight, you cannot possibly fail to see the danger hidden behind this program.
At a time like this, there is no meaning in scheming against one another here. If we continue hiding things from each other, it will only lead to mutual destruction. Don't you agree?"
Professor X looked at Fury calmly. "When Fenris was sent back yesterday, the person who returned him told me that he is at a critical moment right now. I cannot allow you to disturb him.
"If S.H.I.E.L.D. falls into danger because the deal Fenris made with you has not yet been fulfilled, then as his friend, I can personally take action and solve your problem in his place."
"Well?"
"Charles!"
The instant Professor X finished speaking, Magneto was visibly startled and turned to stare at his old friend.
"You're actually willing to make that kind of promise for Fenris?"
Hearing that, even Fury on the other side straightened in his seat and adjusted his posture, looking again at the old professor who usually kept his sharpness hidden.
A man who had climbed to Fury's position was certainly no fool. He had raised conditions only to negotiate better terms for himself.
But no matter what, he had never expected Professor X to change his usual style so completely and become this decisive.
"Your word is worth a thousand gold. Naturally, I believe you."
Fury said it without the slightest hesitation, as if afraid Professor X might change his mind, locking the promise in place immediately.
If Professor X was truly willing to help, then forget a crisis at S.H.I.E.L.D. If Fury wanted several S.H.I.E.L.D.s, several could appear in this world.
"I'm not doing this only for Fenris. I'm doing it for the future of mutantkind as well."
Professor X shook his head lightly.
Fenris held a special place at the school. He was not formally one of the X-Men, yet he had rescued both the X-Men and the school from disaster multiple times.
Even if he were only an ordinary teacher at the school, Professor X did not feel that making a promise for Fenris, or paying some price on his behalf, was anything difficult.
More importantly, with such a powerful existence constantly watching over Fenris from the shadows, even if every mutant fell to the Sentinel robots, there was no way Fenris himself would come to harm.
But ordinary mutants were different. They did not possess Fenris's power. They had no one to rely on. Their abilities were often weak, and when sudden crises like these came crashing down on them, they could do nothing except be swept along helplessly.
In Professor X's eyes, truly powerful individuals would always be the minority. The vast mutant population was the real future of mutantkind.
"Director Fury, the fate of countless people rests in your hands and mine. I hope you won't cling to your own secrets and hide everything away."
Professor X cast Fury a light glance. Fury's eyes flickered, but under that unmistakably threatening gaze, he still nodded and said sincerely, "Of course."
"The battle in the Arctic between Fenris and Magneto drew a lot of attention. Because Magneto's reputation precedes him, those people didn't dare entertain any improper ideas. But aside from him, there were still many curious eyes turning toward Fenris."
On the projection, Fury pulled up a dizzying flood of data and displayed it to the two of them.
"Fenris wasn't exactly polite to me, but my trust in him has never changed. Consider these dirty hands I blocked on his behalf a show of good faith."
"Good."
Knock knock.
The knock at the door came at just the right time, and Fenris's voice sounded from outside.
"Professor, I'm here to pick up the restored data from Hank."
"You're awake?"
Professor X immediately lifted a hand and called out, "We can discuss the data later. Come in first."
"Alright."
"When you come into my office, how come you never remember to knock?"
Watching Fenris sit down nearby, Fury's hologram could not help muttering under his breath.
Then he noticed a dangerous glance sweep across him, and the gloom on his face vanished instantly. He squeezed out a smile.
"Fenris, the highly enriched uranium has already been delivered to you, so S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking the credit for saving Tony Stark."
"Suit yourself."
Fenris waved a hand dismissively.
The two of them had always been getting what they wanted. Fury wanted the reputation. Fenris wanted the practical gain. Everyone came out satisfied.
"Fenris, we've already gone through the restored data."
Professor X spoke up. "Thanks to you, this time we gained quite a lot."
"How so?"
Fenris leaned in at once.
"Mainly the data on the latest Sentinel models."
Magneto picked up the thread. He understood this kind of material much better than Charles did.
"The material used in these Sentinel robots is primarily a polymer-based organic substance. A new kind of polymer with no prior record. It contains no metal, so it is affected only minimally by magnetic fields."
At that point, Magneto was visibly annoyed.
"Their bodies are made up of nearly a hundred thousand scale plates. Beneath the surface are almost a thousand moving components. They can repair themselves, and they can also open up to facilitate the firing of laser weapons.
"Their primary capability is adaptive mimicry. They operate through something like a hive-mind structure, which means they require no manual control. That gives them extremely high autonomy and makes them completely unafraid of Charles's abilities. But at the same time, it also makes them easier to lose control of. They're a dangerous double-edged sword.
"Their internal databases are fully shared, allowing them to store enormous amounts of mutant genetic information. In addition, the Sentinel design also incorporates nanotechnology, enabling them to transform at the molecular level."
"What? Nanotechnology?"
Fenris was suddenly shocked.
Tony Stark's nanotech armor was still who knew how many years away from becoming reality, and yet the military's Sentinel program was already putting that technology into practical use?
This Bolivar Trask was actually an even greater genius than Tony Stark?
(End of Chapter)
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