Outposts

"Ms. Walters says you don't know about the ongoing situation. So, if I were to guess, you aren't from here, are you? Where are you from?" Fury asked. He was seated in his chair, his gaze was on Bruce, whose face was still covered in the nanite mask.

"I think you got bigger problems than me right now, Fury. But let me assure you that I'm not your enemy and I don't like this war. So, if I were to help you end this war, I'd need you to answer some of my questions," Bruce said as he removed his mask, revealing his real face. "I'm Bruce Wayne."

"Well, Mr. Wayne. Ask away," Fury replied.

"When did the Thanos incident happen? How long?" Bruce asked.

"Ten years," Fury answered simply.

'Ten years! Dang!' Bruce thought. Then he asked, "What happened to the infinity stones?"

"Captain America returned them where they belong to avoid time paradox or in simple words, you can call them alternate branches of time."

"When did Magneto start this war?" Bruce asked.

"Two years after Thanos incident. Thor, Wanda, and Dr. Strange went missing and Black Panther died due to an unknown illness, not to mention Captain Marvel was stuck in another dimension, Magneto took this chance and wiped out the X-Men and Shield. We tried to fight back, but there was nothing we could do. The New Avengers, The Fantastic Four... No one was able to stop Magneto's force. He reprogrammed those sentinels to kill anyone with superpowers. So we had no choice but to hide and gain back our strength," Fury explained, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"What about Jean? With her power, defeating Magneto is like an easy walk in the park," Bruce commented as he considered the scenario. Back when Thanos attacked, Jean fought alongside the other heroes, but back then her ability to control the Phoenix Force was limited. Now ten years later, who knows what could she do.

"Jean's situation is complicated. She locked herself up within a forcefield after her power went berserk and she ended up killing Professor Xavier and several other X-Men," Jennifer continued when Fury didn't reply. "Fighting against Magneto in that condition is impossible."

"What about Wakanda?" Bruce asked. After all, this country had the best technologically advanced equipment in the world.

"After Black Panther's death, his sister Shuri became the queen. But due to the war with the underwater kingdom of Talokan, they suffered huge losses and Magneto took that chance to launch a full-scale attack on Wakanda, destroying their Capital and capturing Shuri and the others. After that, he set up his base there. How else do you think he was able to create those insane numbers of sentinels? He uses Wakandan technology," Jennifer continued, massaging her temples.

Bruce sighed. He was beginning to understand what kind of a situation these people were in.

'That bastard! Wakanda of all places! God knows what kind of shitty tech he forced them to make for him. Rushing in head-on won't work in this situation. Gotta move carefully. But before that, I've to find Selina and Harley. I know Selina will be fine, but the main problem is Harley and her unpredictable nature... God knows what kind of stupid things she's doing in this reality. I just hope she isn't in any trouble.' He closed his eyes for a moment, pondering about the upcoming developments.

"So, any more questions?" Fury asked again after a few minutes.

"If it's Wakanda, things won't go as smoothly as I imagined, but it isn't impossible, though," Bruce said, his mind wandering, as he calculated various scenarios.

"What do you need?" Fury asked.

"I need info on Magneto's sub-bases and his operations outside Wakanda. I'll destroy them all and cut him off from the outside world," Bruce said with a smile as he cracked his knuckles.

"He got surveillance all over. He'll find out before you even hit a base," Clint pointed out.

"Exactly, I'll give him a target to focus on while you people find the other mutants and heroes scattered over the world and rebuild the resistance force. I'll make sure to annoy that bastard so much that he'll only focus on me which will take the heat off your backs and give you guys a chance to do things in the dark. By the way, what about regular people who aren't mutant-kind, what's their situation?" Bruce asked.

Both Jennifer and Fury pondered about that question for a second.

"For some reason, he didn't harm the regular people. He only targeted the mutants under Professor X, superheroes, and Shield. If I were to take a wild guess, he wants to make sure there is no resistance when he takes over the world," Fury assumed.

"So, he wants to get rid of the resistance first to avoid future troubles later on," Bruce mumbled to himself. He felt that there was something wrong with how Magneto was doing things. This war and all... As always, something smells fishy.

Fury tapped a small device on his desk, causing a holographic map of the world to appear in front of them above the big table. Dotted across various parts of the globe were red markers—Magneto's known bases.

"There," Fury said, gesturing toward the map. "This is what we've managed to track so far. But keep in mind, Magneto doesn't play fair. We believe these locations serve dual purposes: operational bases and decoys to throw us off. He's established a well-distributed network, each base heavily fortified with Wakandan technology and Sentinels."

Bruce studied the map intently. Several key locations stood out: New York, Central Europe, and South America. Each one had a cluster of bases, but the way they were positioned seemed calculated.

"These," Fury said, pointing to a base in Siberia, "are his most secure locations. He's running his operations from here. We suspect it's one of his important weapon manufacturing bases."

"And what about the other locations?" Bruce asked, narrowing his eyes. "What are they for?"

Fury zoomed in on a base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. "Some of these are likely research facilities, where he's testing new weapons and technology. Others are simply supply depots, storage for Sentinel parts, or even experimental labs. Our intel suggests that Magneto has taken a keen interest in understanding how to manipulate energy fields and cosmic forces—probably an attempt to harness or counteract powers like Jean Grey's Phoenix Force."

Bruce folded his arms, nodding slowly. "That makes sense. If he can neutralize threats like Jean, he would have no one left capable of standing against him."

Jennifer, still massaging her temples, chimed in. "Our best guess is that Magneto's bases are connected in a web of mutual defense. If you hit one, the others will reinforce it. It's not going to be easy to cut him off from his resources."

Bruce smiled faintly. "Good. That just means he's scared. He knows his power isn't absolute, and he's protecting himself. But all these defenses also make him vulnerable."

"How so?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bruce gestured to the map. "Magneto has spread himself thin. He's overcompensating, trying to protect too much at once. If we can exploit the gaps in his network, we can dismantle his entire operation piece by piece. We don't need to destroy every base—we just need to hit the right ones, and the rest will fall like dominos."

Fury leaned back in his chair, intrigued by Bruce's assessment. "What's your plan, then?"

"First thing first, help me find two important people. With them joining us, it would be a piece of cake..." Bruce said as he opened his palm. The nanites shifted forming a holographic projector where Selina and Harley Quinn's faces appeared. "Find them first, Fury. I know you have eyes everywhere, use them." He then pointed at Selina, "Selina is very much capable of taking care of herself. But..." He then pointed at Harley, "She'll be a mess. A true, complete, utter mess without me. Look for traces of big explosions or some big-scale destruction and you'll find her."

Maria Hills entered the room and walked up to Fury. She placed a datapad on the table. There was a video of an island exploding out of nowhere.

"Does this count as what you're looking for?" Fury asked Bruce with a sarcastic smile.

Bruce let out a sigh, "Well, Darn!"

"That place was where they were keeping Mystique and several human test subjects until 10 minutes ago. Somebody not only blew it up but also rescued them. However, they disappeared from the radar thanks to Nightcrawler," Maria added.

"Another resistance group, I guess?" Bruce asked Fury.

"Yes. Cable is leading it. They were in charge of rescuing Mystique but we lost contact with them three days ago. I thought Magneto got them, but I guess not," Fury said. He then nodded towards the map and pointed at a marker near Carreabean. " That's their base. Right now, all the communication devices in that area are shut down and drones won't get through the barrier."

"I'll check that place out. Before that, you got anything to eat? I'm starving."

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