CHAPTER 71

[Draul St. Cross POV] 

Things just went from bad to worse.

We were being pushed back and from the looks of it, not all of us could keep up.

There were fifteen upgraded Sentinels and so far we've only been able to kill two and that was due to me and Logan immediately attacking them the moment they did the supervillain standoff.

Their skin was tough and for the abilities they've displayed we all could tell that we were up the creek. Flight, heat lasers, ice, claws, guns, retractable limbs, fire and electricity. 

The abilities were too diverse for one person to face alone. 

"I got it! I disabled the link between the Sentinels! Now they shouldn't be able to use the other's abilities except the ones they took themselves, and I think it should prevent them from taking other abilities!" Reed let out a joyous shout which was too soon as three Sentinels rushed at him; one made of fire, another of ice and the last one had electricity coursing through its body. 

Some of the Sentinels reverted back to their normal forms but while that didn't decrease their danger it increased our advantage. 

The Sentinel I was currently facing was a hard one. It had fire, ice, lasers, claws and heat lasers. Basically I was fighting a robotic and taller version of myself. 

One of the advantages we had against the Sentinels were that they couldn't use different abilities at once. They had to alternate it to suit their opponents, and that was an advantage I planned to use to the fullest. 

I grinned at the Sentinel in front of me as my body cackled with red sparks of electricity running through it. One thing I liked about my abilities was how forward they were. 

Ice for my defense, if I ever needed it. 

Fire and explosives for my attack. 

Electricity/Lightning to increase my speed. And while I haven't been able to train with it all that much like I did with my fire and ice, I could use it to boost my speed which was all good except for the slight numbness it gave me. 

It wasn't exactly numbness per se, it was just that my cells and sense of touch are just supercharged to the point that I couldn't feel light sensations of touch because they couldn't get through the almost minute static field around my skin since the electricity stops it and destroys those small signals which prevents my brain from interpreting them, hence the numbness. Which conversely means that since I can supercharge my sensory receptors, I can feel everything clearer if I focus on them. 

The Sentinel in response to me, coated itself in fire, which I called a bad move, not that I was going to tell it, and brought out its two pairs of claws from its hands. 

"Are you ready to rumble?" I couldn't help it as the pun just flowed out of my mouth followed by… 

RUMBLEEE! 

Sentinels were fast, yes. They could go up to Mach 1 if they were flying, but on the ground, with a lightning boost? I would blitz them in sheer speed. 

While I definitely couldn't outrun a bullet at Mach 1 or sound, with my lightning boost, on the ground, I was the fastest person here counting the Sentinels.

The Sentinel couldn't react until my red fist was firmly implanted on its face and sent it flying until it crashed into the wall. I didn't let up as I appeared in front of it again but this time I thrust one of my hands forward in a spear shape and coated it with thick ice and stabbed at its cracked chest near its neck due to its torn head. 

The force from my thrust sent it back into the wall it was trying to crawl out from as it pierced through its skin. Not stopping there, I formed a small ball of destructive energy on the tip of my finger lodged inside its chest and watched as it blew up from the inside which forced me back due to force. 

The moment my feet touched the ground I felt something behind me, with my heightened senses which were bothering on the realms, even though severely limited, of precognition made me sense the thing behind me; a Sentinel with some kind of long bull horns, swinging a huge spiked mace with lightning running along it. 

[A/N: The OG's would get the reference 😏😎] 

I ducked at the last second and watched as the mace swung over my head. 

I shot out an ice beam that slowed it down which was enough for me to create an ice axe that I swung at its head. It stumbled backwards only to be impaled by the Wolverines claws from its back through its chest. 

"You doing good bub?"

"Yeah, just a little excited is all."

"… Is that a lightning pun?"

"Yeah. It's not too bad is it?"

"No it's not. Can't say I'm not shocked though." He just laughed and walked away. 

"…"

I shook my head at the man and targeted another Sentinel and lunged at it. 

This time though I was facing two Sentinels which turned out to be magnitudes higher in difficulty which was evident by the number of slashes and stabs I had healed from in the few minutes I've fought them for. 

While the older Sentinels we fought outside were stronger than the base models we fought back in Moscow, these newer ones however eclipsed them in strength. 

"Arghh!" 

"Johnny!"

I heard Johnny's scream and Susan's panicked call only to turn and see a blade running through his sides. 

'Fuck!'

I used my entire force to stomp on the ground which created an explosion and blasted the Sentinels around me, flying them backwards. 

Ben was already duking it out angrily with the Sentinel who stabbed Johnny while Susan and Reed rushed to their injured brother/friend's side. 

"We need to get him out of here!"

I could get him out the fastest b- no, I was not the fastest here. 

"Kurt!" And like the devil he was, he poofed over my shoulders. 

"Can you get him to the jet along with them?" I asked him while at the same time, holding off a Sentinel. 

"I-I can try!" He stuttered as he looked at the bleeding Johnny. 

"Then do it!" I gritted my teeth as the Sentinel I was facing slashed a cut across my chest. 

I heard the 'poofing' sound of the Nightcrawler behind me and a quick glance told he was already on his way there. 

"Hey quack, where's the target?" Bucky asked me as he came to the area we were fighting at, since they didn't have anything else to do, having already destroyed all the remaining Sentinels outside. 

"Still don't know. We haven't broken through here yet." 

"I'll go after him. Wouldn't want to lose him for the second time." Bucky said before he and Steve left to go chase after Stryker. 

I focused back on my fight which was getting easier since there were only six Sentinels left. Our numbers weren't doing too good either since most of our fighters were injured and couldn't fight as good as before otherwise they'd be risking death which was a good sign on our part since the whole group was less than twenty. 

We continued fighting for a while until only two Sentinels were left before Bucky spoke through the speakers of the base. 

"Everyone get out now!"

"Bucks talk to me! What's happening?" Bucky sounded way too panicked for someone like him and that sent way too many wrong signals to my head. 

"Stryker set the dam to blow up in the occasion that he was captured. We have five minutes tops befo-"

Bucky's warning was cut short as the entire place rumbled. Cracks were already beginning to form on the structures of the base. 

"Everyone get out now!" Logan shouted which roused the others from their stunned states. 

We were too far inside the base so it would take a miracle to get us all out. 

Reaching that conclusion, I stopped even as the others continued running. 

I used my X-ray vision on the surrounding structures to see where the problems were coming from and saw that it was a lot. The water had already started coming in due to most of the pipes bursting due to the explosions. 

Looking through the walls for where the pillars that had broken down were connected to, I erected ice pillars twice as big as the normal pillars to hold the ceiling and prevent it from collapsing early on us. 

I could already see Bucky and Steve making their way over with Stryker hoisted over Bucky's shoulders. 

Sending my frost energy through the cracks, I froze the water coming through the leaks all the way to halfway across the base. This should be able to buy us a few minutes before it breaks down. 

"What happened Bucks?" I asked the moment they got into view. 

"The bastard blew the entire thing the moment he caught sight of us, going on about how we should choose 'if we want to capture him or escape the base', so I just knocked his ass out and dragged him over." From the grimace on Bucky's face I had a feeling it had not been as simple as he made it out to be. 

"Well let's go before this place buries us 50 ft underwater."

I made a huge snowboard to carry the three of us over as we slid through the base on ice. 

I pushed us to go faster since I could already feel the rumbling through the floors and I knew that the pillars I erected won't hold for much more. Something else might've broken which increased the strain on the pillars , and given the wave of water coming our way I doubt those pillars could continue standing. 

As we were sliding through the floors, the entire base shook violently as if something huge just went off before it became still. My heart was already beating too fast for comfort but now wasn't the time to think calmly, for the simple reason that there was nothing simple to think calmly about. 

It was a few seconds later before we all could feel the walls vibrating as cracks started appearing on the walls and ceilings. 

I continued pushing us forwards and a few seconds later before I could finally see the light from the outside. 

As we sped through the doors to the outside I couldn't help but furrow my brows as I saw a small crowd forming over someone. 

Fuck! 

It was Jean. 

I already knew what she wanted to do but that didn't mean I was going to let her become a cosmic entity in front of me. I would be fine if she did it anywhere else as long as I wasn't there. 

"Guys get out of here." I said to Bucky and Steve. 

"What are you going to do?!"

"Trying to help her with whatever she is trying to do!" I yelled and made my way over to Scott who was trying to convince her not to do what she was trying to do. 

Scott saw me coming forward and hissed before a huge scowl settled on his face. 

"What are you doing here?" I ignored him for a few seconds to look at the almost completely broken down dam. 

"What are you trying to do?" I directed the question at Jean who was looking at me with different emotions on her face, but I could feel a healthy amount of caution from the both of them. 

"I have to hold out for the others to get out safely." She spoke with conviction. 

I nodded at that while appearing calm but my beating heart was an impartial indicator of how I truly felt at the moment. "I'll help."

Before they could ask how I created an ice platform between the two of us, having been ignoring Scott for longer than intended but no one cares do they? 

I raised the platform under us and rose it upwards like a pillar with us at the top. 

I looked at the young girl besides who had won the cosmic lottery and got a resolved nod before we got started. 

I jumped away from the platform and blasted myself forward with small bursts of explosions coming from the sole of my feet. I created a small platform like the one I made for Jean and immediately got to work, standing directly in front of the cracking dam. 

The reason I kept Jean above the ground on a platform was to be able to save her in case the universe decided to play with m- I really have to stop jinxing it. 

I poured an ungodly amount of energy ice from my body towards the big ass cracks appearing over the dam freezing the damn thing, pun intended. 

I felt some sort of wave wash over me which was Jean using her powers to try to hold the tide back but it was barely doing a thing. Even the ice I made were cracking the moment I layered it which made me pour more energy into it to the point that the frost started creeping all over my body starting from my hands but I ignored it and pushed in more energy than all what I've ever used since coming to this world. 

It was like I was trying to stop the weight of the world from pushing me backwards. The ice coming from my body had already frozen me from my legs up to my neck but I didn't let up. 

I turned to look at how Jean was doing and almost cursed as I saw the flickering of the unmistakable glow in her eyes but I still continued with what we were doing. 

Could the day get any worse…. Damn it! I did it again. 

...

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Drop some stones to motivate me

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Read ahead at patreon.com/Draul_TheOminous.