[147] : The Sentinel Dilemma

~ Support & Read 11 Advanced Chapters on My Patreon!

~ Drop some Power Stones 💎💎

<><><><>

Raven teasingly "played" with Roger before gracefully leaving. Jean watched her departing figure for a while before entering Roger's room and asking:

"What did Raven want from you?"

"…Who knows."

Thinking back on Raven's flirtation, Roger felt like he'd somewhat lost face as a man.

He wasn't some naïve young boy, but being teased by Mystique in this way was a bit much.

But on second thought—this was Mystique. Marrying her would essentially mean marrying the entire Mystique—how many men could resist her deliberate seduction?

When he thought about it that way... maybe he hadn't lost face after all?

Roger's thoughts wandered, and Jean, observing his distracted expression, suddenly asked:

"Do you like women like Raven?"

"What? No, of course not."

Roger immediately denied it.

Sure, Mystique was attractive, but the kind of "like" Jean was referring to wasn't the same as Roger's admiration for her.

His appreciation was more aesthetic; since he had no emotional history with Mystique, discussing "liking" her would be absurd. Roger wasn't that casual.

Seeing that Jean was still staring at him, Roger explained:

"You remember Andrea, right? Raven has a connection to her. She knows Andrea chose me, so she came to... test me, that's all."

"Oh, I see."

Jean nodded, seemingly accepting Roger's explanation.

Having spent two weeks at the academy, Jean understood this world's connection to Andrea, so Roger's words didn't surprise her.

Although Jean's intuition told her that Mystique's intentions were likely more complicated than what Roger claimed, she decided not to dwell on it. After all, even if something had happened between Mystique and Roger, it wasn't really her concern.

Yes... it wasn't her concern.

"Jean, what brings you here so late?"

Shifting away from the topic of Mystique, Roger asked Jean why she'd come to him so late.

Jean smoothly continued the conversation, answering:

"I wanted to ask what you plan to do next."

"What do you mean?"

"The Sentinels..."

Jean's expression darkened, her eyes filled with concern.

Over the past two weeks at the academy, Jean had learned everything about this world's dire situation.

Just as Magneto, Erik, had said, this world was a dystopia for mutants.

The Sentinel robots were powerful; each one was equivalent to a Level 3 mutant or higher. They could replicate mutant abilities and share them across the network to all connected Sentinels.

Moreover, they could store certain mutant powers, enabling them to replicate and use those abilities even without a mutant nearby.

While Roger could destroy Sentinels like swatting flies, that was only because his body lacked the X-gene. The Sentinels were merely acting defensively against him, without using any replicated powers.

If the Sentinels deemed Roger a threat and deployed overwhelming numbers against him, even he might face some risk—assuming he didn't use the Infinity Stones' power.

If that was the case for Roger, the mutants stood even less of a chance.

Against the Sentinels, the X-Men's strength was far too limited. One of the mutant leaders, Professor X, found his telepathic abilities nearly useless against them.

Meanwhile, the humans controlling the Sentinels hid in structures designed to block psychic attacks, rendering Charles almost powerless.

Other mutants also had their own limitations, leaving the Sentinels a far more daunting enemy.

For now, the mutants could barely survive in their hidden space. But as time passed and their supplies ran out, their fate was all but sealed.

Although Jean wasn't from this world, seeing these familiar yet unfamiliar X-Men, she couldn't bear to watch them perish at the hands of the Sentinels.

So when Roger arrived, Jean didn't ask him to take her away. Instead, she wanted to know if he had any way to resolve the crisis mutants were facing.

Roger, too, had been contemplating the Sentinel issue.

In the short term, it wasn't particularly difficult to deal with.

Roger, lacking an X-gene, was naturally invisible to the Sentinels' search. He could directly locate those controlling them, use the Mind Stone to alter their thoughts, and destroy all the Sentinels along with the related technology.

But that would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

The conflict between mutants and humans would persist. Even if resolved for now, there would inevitably be another life-or-death struggle between the two species in the future.

To prevent such a scenario, there were only two solutions:

Turn all humans into mutants or revert all mutants back to humans.

Relocate all mutants and X-gene carriers to another world, ensuring no X-gene carriers remain on Earth.

Only then could the endless conflict between the two groups cease.

However... even the short-term solution would require Roger to choose a side. Either help humanity eliminate the mutants, help the mutants eliminate humanity, or find a new home for the mutants.

Thinking about this, Roger was reminded of the other Charles' request, leaving him deeply troubled.

Finally, seeing the concern etched on Jean's face, Roger softly reassured her:

"I'll handle the Sentinel problem. Don't worry."

"When you deal with them, be careful. These things aren't easy to handle; each one is like an Apocalypse."

Jean cautioned him again.

The Sentinels, with their array of powers, reminded Jean of Apocalypse.

That guy had been nearly impossible to defeat. If not for others holding him off long enough, even Jean's overwhelming power wouldn't have been enough to prevent his escape.

And that was just one Apocalypse. Now, every Sentinel was like a weakened version of him. Jean was deeply worried about whether Roger could handle them.

"Relax. You have no idea how strong I've become," Roger replied, half-jokingly.

With three Infinity Stones in his possession, even if each Sentinel were a fully powered Apocalypse, Roger wouldn't flinch.

But the real issue wasn't how to deal with the Sentinels—it was what to do about the relationship between humans and mutants afterward. That was the true challenge.

Jean trusted Roger implicitly, so when he said he had a solution, she felt reassured and left.

After seeing her off, Roger thought for a moment and then went to the underground base of the mutant academy to find Tony Stark, who was with Beast, Hank.

Since arriving at the academy, Tony had shown great interest in this world's technology.

Though it wasn't necessarily more advanced than the technology in the Marvel universe, many innovations based on mutant abilities had fascinated Tony.

For instance, the energy-converting weapon held by Bishop could have groundbreaking applications for Tony's Mark series suits.

As a result, Tony had spent the entire day in the academy's underground base, completely ignoring the matter of Andrea.

Roger had originally planned to wait until the next morning, giving Tony more time to familiarize himself with this world before discussing the Sentinel issue with him.

But after Raven's "teasing" and seeing Jean's concern, Roger doubted he'd get any sleep that night.

Using his X-ray vision, he saw that Tony was still awake, passionately debating something with Hank.

Since he was already sleepless, Roger decided to ask Tony directly about his thoughts on the Sentinels and mutants.

Arriving at the underground base, Roger saw Tony and Hank gesturing animatedly at a jet, seemingly engrossed in their discussion.

Beast, Hank, was in his transformed state—blue-furred and wearing glasses.

This version of Hank appeared far more mature than the younger version Roger had encountered, likely because he was nearing seventy. He no longer cared as much about his appearance.

Hank and Tony were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice Roger's presence until he cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Oh!" Hank turned to see Roger standing at the entrance. Adjusting his glasses, he asked, "You're Roger, the one Jean keeps mentioning, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Hank."

"I know who you are," Roger replied, shaking Hank's extended hand with a smile.

Hank returned the smile and said, "The Hank you know isn't me. Normally, we'd be the same person, so of course, I had to introduce myself."

"Fair enough," Roger agreed, finding Hank's reasoning sound. But he wasn't here to discuss philosophical musings.

After exchanging pleasantries with Hank, Roger turned to Tony and asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"Something you, as an amateur, would never understand. Do you need something?"

Tony replied bluntly, though his tone toward Roger was noticeably friendlier than before.

At the very least, Tony now saw Roger as being on Thor's level.

Roger didn't delve into Tony and Hank's earlier conversation. Instead, he got straight to the point:

"Yeah, I do. I wanted to ask your opinion on the Sentinels. Do you have any strategies for dealing with those robots?"

<><><><><>

Support & Read 11 Advanced Chapters. Ahead of the rest!

https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx

(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)

Apply this discount code : C8BD2

There is 9 Exciting Fanfics already available on my Patreon!