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What Stryker pulled from his pocket was a syringe.
Inside, a clear liquid shimmered with an eerie glow.
The X-Gene Suppressant.
Everyone knew what it was.
Mutant abilities came in every possible shape. Some mutants controlled fire, some soared through the sky, and some could absorb or shut down the powers of their own kind.
If some mutants could absorb powers, it made sense that others could suppress them.
The liquid in Stryker's syringe had been extracted from the blood serum of a mutant whose ability could shut down other mutants' powers.
Sentinel Services had stumbled upon this mutant by complete accident.
Sentinel Services used that mutant's blood to create their own X-Gene suppressors. They also improved the original serum—the very liquid in that syringe. Once injected, it guaranteed a one-hundred-percent power nullification for any mutant.
"DIE!"
"YOU DAMNED MUTANT!"
Stryker's face twisted with hatred. He lunged forward like a mad dog, driving the needle straight at Hawk's neck before Hawk could react.
At least, that was what Stryker believed.
Clink!
As soon as the needle touched Hawk's skin, it was like hitting granite with an eggshell. It didn't pierce him. The needle just broke apart.
The savage grin froze on Stryker's face.
Wanda stood off to the side, tilting her head and watching Stryker the way someone might watch a performing monkey.
Hawk kept his eyes cold and empty as he stared at the man who had just attacked him.
For a moment, it felt like even the air stopped moving.
Then came the next sound...
"Ghk!"
"Urgh!"
Stryker's feet lifted off the ground. His hands clawed at the arm holding him up, while his legs kicked and thrashed in panic.
Hawk held Stryker by the throat with one hand and caught the falling syringe of X-Gene Suppressant with the other.
He looked at the syringe in his hand, then at the choking Stryker, before turning his gaze toward General Ross and the other officers nearby.
"..." The generals' faces changed quickly, almost too fast to follow.
First, they were shocked by Stryker's reckless attack. Then came horror when the needle broke, followed by a forced calm as they tried to act like they were still in control.
He had to give them credit...
As that thought crossed his mind, Hawk looked at General Ross and lightly tossed the syringe in his hand. "Congratulations, General Ross. You just raised the odds of me slaughtering every last one of you by another fifty percent."
When he said that, General Ross went pale, and the other officers looked just as shaken.
General Ross had only just opened his mouth to speak.
Snap!
Hawk clenched his right hand, crushing Stryker's windpipe and snapping his neck in one smooth motion. Then he tossed the corpse to the ground at Wanda's feet. "Rip his soul out. Drag it back to my Underworld. Make him suffer forever."
Someone like Stryker, who had no real strength, didn't deserve a dramatic execution.
For Hawk, breaking Stryker's neck was as easy as crushing an ant.
Wanda said nothing. Chaos Magic flared between her hands. In front of General Ross and the horrified military brass—a screaming, thrashing soul was torn straight out of Stryker's corpse.
The soul screamed and wailed.
General Ross and the others turned pale with fear.
It wasn't death itself that was so terrifying. The real fear came from realizing that death was not the end, but the start of something much worse.
Stryker's soul was swallowed by the Chaos Magic. After one last ear-splitting shriek, it disappeared into the void.
Hawk closed his eyes, and his body slowly rose into the air. "Since you refuse to negotiate, then let's go to war."
"WAIT!"
Seeing Hawk lift off the ground, General Ross felt his own soul almost leave his body. He shouted in panic. "We can negotiate!! Let's talk!"
Hawk opened his eyes as he hovered above them. He looked down at Ross, whose panic was clearly real—and spoke without any emotion.
"We can negotiate?"
"Yes! We can."
General Ross almost tripped over his words. His eyes flicked to Stryker's pale, shriveled body, now empty after its soul was taken. "You have my word, Mr. Phoenix. We have no ill will toward you. None at all. We will not take any hostile action against you."
Hawk's face remained cold. "I'll say it again. Your word means nothing to me."
"But..."
Before Ross could say anything else, Hawk interrupted him. Still floating, he moved closer and stopped right above the General. Ross had to look up to meet his eyes.
Hawk stared down at him. "I am giving you one chance to live. If you choose to be stupid, remember this. I gave you that chance, and you threw it away. The next time I come back, I won't let you speak."
General Ross nodded over and over. "Understood."
Hawk let out a short laugh. He didn't believe Ross for a second.
Hawk quickly shifted his focus to his next targets.
"Charles Xavier!"
"Xavier?"
General Ross froze, then the realization hit him. "Professor X?"
"Yes." Hawk nodded.
"You want him?"
Hawk saw the look Ross gave him and said. "Charles Xavier. Jean Grey. I want both of them."
He only truly wanted Jean Grey.
But... If he asked for Jean alone, it would be too obvious and reveal what he really wanted.
Including Professor X in the demand would only make things more complicated.
With the plan settled, Hawk looked down at General Ross. "Before sunset, bring me those two mutants. Hand them over, and I leave immediately. I will never interfere with this universe again. But if the sun sets and I don't see them... all of you die."
The way Hawk said "die" sent a chill up General Ross's spine and into his head.
He swallowed and looked up at Hawk. "We can do that. But you have to promise..."
"..." Hawk looked down at General Ross, calm and steady. "I'll say it again. Once the sun sets, you have no leverage. You can't bargain with me. Hand over the mutants, or die."
Everyone knew the rule. Negotiation only works between equals.
Right now? Ross had no leverage, and these people respected force more than fairness.
It made sense to humiliate them.
General Ross's face shifted between anger, disbelief, and barely hidden humiliation.
A beat later.
He turned toward Aditya, who had not said a word since marching Stryker into the dome. "Aditya..."
Ross was about to tell her to mobilize the New York Sentinel branch, raid Xavier's school, and arrest Professor X and Jean Grey.
Then it happened.
A soldier ran out of the command building, pale and out of breath.
"GENERAL! THE NUKES..."
"THE NUKES JUST LAUNCHED!"
"WHAT?"
Ross went pale. The other generals turned and stared at the soldier as if he was talking nonsense. "Who gave the launch order?! Where are they launching from?! What are the targets?!"
The soldier looked like he might collapse.
"They're going straight up! Into space!"
"Holy shit!"
"Look!"
"Up there!"
Panic spread through the base. Everyone looked up through the red dome at the sky.
There they were.
Nukes.
Nuclear missiles shot up into the stratosphere.
It looked like every missile silo in America had fired at once.
General Ross and the senior officers just stared, speechless.
Hawk drifted back down next to Wanda and looked up at the rising missiles.
Wanda's brow tightened.
"That trajectory... it looks like..."
"Outer space."
Hawk finished her thought, and the understanding dawned on him. He knew exactly when they were in the timeline.
He had thought this universe was about ten years after the events of Days of Future Past.
But seeing those nukes rise brought back a specific scene from the few mutant movies he remembered.
Apocalypse had awakened.
This was when Apocalypse took over Professor X through Cerebro and used him to control the world's nuclear arsenal. Every nuke on Earth was being sent into space, disarming humanity all at once.
Apocalypse wanted to rule the world, not destroy it.
To him, a planet ruined by nuclear fallout was no place for a mutant empire.
If humanity were to die and the world became radioactive, who would he rule?
But that was not Hawk's real problem.
Hawk's real problem was that his entire plan had just gone up in smoke. Unless a miracle dropped out of the sky, Professor X would not be handing over Jean anymore.
Because right now, Apocalypse was kidnapping Professor X.
So—
Whoosh!
Hawk took a step and appeared right in front of General Ross. "The address for Xavier's school."
"Xavier's..."
"I will not ask again!"
"Westchester County!" Aditya saw Ross hesitate and stepped in at once, eyes fixed on Hawk. "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is in Westchester County."
Hawk glanced at Aditya, then back at Ross. "Remember, I gave you a chance to live. Don't waste it."
With that. Hawk turned, reappeared next to Wanda, put his arm around her waist, and looked straight up.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A loud sonic boom shook the air. The shockwave knocked General Ross and the others flat on their backs.
By the time they got back up, the red dome around Quantico was gone.
So were Hawk and Wanda.
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