Chapter 04:

As we enter the building, I sense the tension among the others, though oddly enough, I don't feel it myself. Wolverine halts us before we proceed down the corridor, taking a moment to inhale deeply as if searching for something.

"Bub, there are lasers," he states, pointing towards our path.

"Do you see ultraviolet light?" I ask, my words coming out somewhat foolishly. I'm uncertain about this Wolverine's abilities—whether he possesses superhuman sight or not.

Once this mess with Jubilee is sorted out, my first priority will be determining which universe we're in. There are certain universes I'd rather avoid, like the one overrun by zombies or the one where people hunt each other for sport.

The sooner I know where I am and what to expect, the better.

Wolverine looks at me and gestures towards his nose, saying, "I can smell the ozone."

'Damn! First, he's running at like a hundred kilometers per hour, and now he can smell the ozone the lasers produce!? This Wolverine is a whole different breed.'

"Storm, darling, can you produce fog in here so we can see what Wolverine apparently smells?" I ask her, trying to be as charming as possible.

"Sure thing, but don't call me darling, or I'll zap you," she replies, electricity crackling around her palm.

Storm swiftly conjures a mist, revealing the hidden beams crisscrossing the hallway. Without hesitation, I levitate myself and glide past the laser beams. It's clear they didn't anticipate someone being able to fly inside; the beams are positioned at knee height, densely packed together.

Eventually, I locate the energy supply box for the lasers. I'm torn between doing this the easy way or the smart way, but annoyance wins out eventually.

'The brute force way it is,' I think with a smirk.

I use telekinesis to rip the entire content out of the box, disabling the security system, as well as all the cameras. I float back to my two companions and tell them that we can move on.

'Seriously, this shit is so boring. I wanted to have an exciting adventure like in that Marvel movie where Black Widow is beating up guard after guard in an acrobatic style. But what do I get? A boring mission with the side note of staying hidden!' I think while following Wolverine and Storm.

*Sigh*

"We are here, Bub," Logan says in a gruff tone.

"Ajax, can you open a portal for Beast to come through?" Storm asks.

Finally, we have reached our destination. I instantly open a portal for Beast to move through, but the sounds of fighting and shouting greet us from the other side.

'God gracious! Have they been fighting while I've been stuck doing all the boring shit?' I think to myself, annoyed, as I step through the portal and witness Rogue tossing tanks around as if they were toys.

'Also, why the fuck can this girl fly? Isn't her power absorption or something like that?' I think, shocked.

I quickly use my telepathy to freeze all the soldiers in place before addressing my colleagues. "What the fuck are you guys doing?" I question them, irritated.

"We're buying you time," Cyclops responds in a serious tone.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Rogue adds, hovering above me.

I can't help but think, 'Damn, that ass is juicy.'

"What you're doing is destroying public property! And we don't need you to buy time! Just go sit your asses down in the Blackbird and wait for us, and don't pull any more of this crap!" I retort, annoyed, as I begin altering the memories of the soldiers while also destroying any camera footage they've had.

*Sigh*

'No wonder they're always getting attacked! They give no shits about deleting their trails,' I think, shocked.

But not before I send Beast in to delete the files, copy them, or whatever the fuck Mr. Hairy Blue Guy wants to do with the data inside their servers.

Once I'm finished with the soldiers, I pop back into the building and ask, "How much longer will you guys be needing? We're done, and we're getting bored."

"I'm done. We were just waiting for you to open the portal," Beast replies.

"Ajax, can you please move everything in this room to the school?" Storm asks me.

"Sure, no problem," I reply, opening a portal and letting the items drop into the school's backyard.

Next, I open another portal, and we all leave the building. But just as we're back in the Blackbird, I see those big-ass robots approaching.

"We can't take off like this! Someone needs to go out and occupy their attention so they don't attack us in the air," Beast says.

"I'll take care of it, Bub," Logan says, ready to go out.

"No, you won't!" I interject, using telekinesis to push him back into his seat and fasten his seat belt while opening a portal and jumping through.

'Finally, I can let loose!' I think happily as I dodge a laser aimed at my head in panic.

"Fuck!" I curse, annoyed, but this is a learning experience, so I'm grateful.

"Lesson number one! Robots do not have thoughts that I can read!" I say to myself as I jump off the robot's head and dodge behind it.

I wonder how they're powered; robots need an energy source. But what's powering up these four-meter monstrosities?

While I master the art of dodging attacks at the speed of light, I contemplate the life choices that led me to this moment.

Time manipulation is insanely useful. I can't freeze time yet, but I can speed it up.

And doing the latter allows me to have time while being attacked by around fourteen Sentinels, dodging every single attack.

"Lesson number two! Robots do not need a brain and won't stop just because I have ripped off their head," I say to myself as I am suddenly jumped at by one of the robots that I destroyed earlier—well, I didn't destroy it, its friends did by firing at it to get to me.

"Maybe that ought to be lesson number two instead: Robots don't give any fucks about friends or foes. Nah, that sounds like shit," I say as I keep on dodging yet another beam of doom.

I should give them a chance to capture me eventually because I want to see their base and find out who's behind this bullshit.

I do wonder who it is going to be. What kind of human wakes up each morning and decides to hate others just for the sake of hating?

'Like, let's build gigantic robots today that destroy everything just to kill mutants, and if some passerby is in the way then he's a human shield, not a human! Hating the minority that is already at the end of their ropes, because they're getting hate for being freakish or ugly, or maybe because they're both freakish and ugly.' Yeah, sounds like a very sane and normal train of thought.

"Hey, Mister Roboto! Can you understand me? I surrender!" I shout to the big-ass robots, and they stop almost immediately.

"Your surrender has been accepted, mutant," they all say collectively.