"So we're being hunted now?" a mutant muttered, voice tight.
"Damn it, I'll smash their factory to scrap!" Colossus roared.
A male mutant beside him sagged in defeat. "And then what? You forgot what those monsters are like? Tearing down a plant is easy—surviving them isn't."
He wasn't wrong. Even outnumbering the Sentinels ten to one, they'd been routed with no chance to fight back. Revenge? With what capital?
Shadowcat raised her hand. "I traced the origin of the Sentinels." She turned to Mystique. "You… remember a man you killed? Trask?"
Mystique shook her head. She'd killed too many to recall every name—and there were plenty of 'Trasks' in the world.
"Trask? Who is that?" Jean asked, sensing Shadowcat had something concrete.
"Bolivar Trask," Shadowcat said after a breath. "A scientist decades ago. Trask Industries began with him. He proposed creating anti-mutant weapons. Once you learned that, Mystique, you went to assassinate him."
Mystique's eyes narrowed, then flickered with recognition. "You mean the project's initiator—the scientist I hit back then? I remember… I took a contract, made the hit, got captured, and Old Man saved me later. You're saying he survived, doubled down, and kept researching?"
"No." Shadowcat pressed her fingers to her brow. "He died. But the plan didn't. When you were captured, the government harvested your stem cells. Trask's facilities were nationalized, and your biology was fused with machines to birth the ultimate anti-mutant weapon—Sentinels."
A hard swallow rolled across the room.
For the first time, some who had opposed Mystique found themselves almost… grateful. If she hadn't taken out Trask then, maybe what they faced today would be even worse.
Mystique's face went cold and stormy. "So if I hadn't gone after him back then… maybe…"
"Hey," Saitama said, scratching his cheek, "if someone could change what happened back then, couldn't we change the present?"
Shadowcat nodded, then shook her head. "In theory, yes—if we can go back. But we don't have a safe way to send someone."
"Isn't your ability time-phasing?" Saitama asked.
"Impossible," Shadowcat answered flatly. "I can send a mind back by keeping it phased through its past self, but people aren't objects. The process puts impossible strain on the brain. Best case, catastrophic damage. Worst case, instant death—even if the jump 'works.'"
"Uh… sounds scary," Saitama said, wearing a face that was decidedly not scared.
Magneto frowned. "Saitama… you're not actually considering this."
Shadowcat stared between them, baffled. "Were you listening? A time-phase like that fries the brain. As in dead. As in no coming back."
Saitama suddenly clapped. "Oh! If we do this, the device won't have been broken yet, right? Then Magneto can still turn the whole world into mutants, yeah—"
Magneto, inwardly: You're still on that?!
Shadowcat balled her fists. "It's the only path. Are you sure you want to try? Any model, any theory—making a jump like this will kill you. I'm not exaggerating."
Saitama smiled. "Relax. I'm ready."
He'd been through worse and stranger than a little 'time travel.' Turn him into a drooling idiot? Yeah, right.
"Either way," Shadowcat said, steadying her breath, "we move somewhere secure first. Right, Jean?"
Jean nodded.
They shifted their base to the Brotherhood's side.
The Brotherhood wasn't thrilled. They'd been pounded by the X-Men often enough—and Storm had a habit of dropping by to wreck the place for 'justice'—which was beyond irritating. But none of them argued; if their own leader, Magneto, said to take the X-Men in, their only job was to shut up.
Magneto led Saitama, Shadowcat, and Jean into the underground chamber—about as safe as the Brotherhood could offer. Which still wasn't much. The Sentinels could break into anywhere; the room Charles died in had been touted as 'unbreachable,' and look how that ended.
Sirens moaned far above. The clock had started.
(End of Chapter)
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