Chapter 21
"What is that?"
On the way back to the warplane, as they passed a room filled with various advanced machines, Hawkins was struck by a sudden thought and pointed curiously at the pool in the center.
Wolverine, with a complex expression, explained:
"That's where I was experimented on. The bubbling silver liquid next to it is adamantium.
According to Stryker, the original liquid can only be maintained at high temperatures; once it cools, it becomes indestructible."
After saying this, he glared fiercely at Stryker, who was being held by Cyclops.
Stryker, nursing his hand pierced by Wolverine, said sarcastically:
"You should be thanking me. Without me, you'd still be using those broken bones as weapons."
"Then let me use them to properly thank you!"
Upon hearing this, Wolverine's hands instantly shot out adamantium claws, ready to strike Stryker again.
However, Professor X stopped him.
"Logan, don't kill him yet; we still need him to prove the assassination attempt to the President and persuade him to abandon the decision to go to war with mutants."
Stryker had manipulated Nightcrawler to attempt the assassination of the President, trying to incite a war between humans and mutants.
In a few days, the President would publicly declare the mutant threat and issue a war order against them.
They needed evidence of Stryker's instigation to resolve the crisis.
While Wolverine and Professor X were speaking, Hawkins had already dashed quickly to the pool.
He looked around, found a suitable hollow tube nearby, and forcefully injected it into the adamantium syringe.
After the liquid cooled and solidified, he squeezed the tube, shattering it, and a large, sturdy adamantium staff appeared in his hands.
When loaded with the Goku template, he had the Power Pole, but in his normal state, he had no weapon.
Though Saiyans prefer unarmed combat, he felt stronger with a weapon in situations where his power was not overwhelming.
Even in the future world of Atlantis fighting against androids, it was common to wield a sword.
Adamantium, being one of the hardest metals in the Marvel universe, only remains liquid at high temperatures during initial smelting; once cooled, it is indestructible, not melting even under extreme temperatures of 500,000°C.
Now that he had encountered it, how could he waste the opportunity to leave it here?
If it weren't for the lack of molds nearby, he would have preferred to make a knife or sword for greater lethal capability.
Unfortunately, they couldn't linger here or dismantle the entire machine to take with them. Once the machine stopped, the liquid would cool and no longer be meltable; they had to use it all to make the staff.
"Hurry, get out, there's trouble!"
Just as Hawkins finished making the adamantium staff, Professor X's expression suddenly changed.
"Professor, what's wrong?"
Storm hurriedly asked.
She rarely saw Professor X look so grave, not even when facing Magneto directly.
"Erik is outside the base fighting someone, and he's about to lose."
"What!"
Everyone was shocked. They knew well how powerful Magneto was; if he was serious, even all of them together might not match him.
Who could it be that even Magneto was struggling to hold his own?
And at that moment, Hawkins, holding the adamantium staff, was also stunned, as this situation was completely unexpected.
At least in the storyline he knew, this wasn't part of it.
"Damn, S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Outside in the snowy field, Hawkins saw the group fighting Magneto and was instantly taken aback.
The one holding the shield, looking just like Captain Britain from the comics, was clearly Carter. The one with flawless archery must be Hawkeye Barton.
The red-haired woman, looking about sixteen or seventeen but as agile as Mystique, was likely the recently recruited S.H.I.E.L.D. member, Black Widow, after destroying the Red Room.
And the bald black man wearing an eyepatch next to a white man showing signs of male pattern baldness was probably Nick Fury and Phil Coulson.
As for the one above, pressing down on old Magneto with energy-encased fists, was undoubtedly Maria Rambeau, founder of S.W.O.R.D. and now this universe's Captain Marvel.
If these individuals were isolated, due to their ages, he might not recognize them, but put together, they were unmistakably clear.
Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. appear here?
This thought made Hawkins impulsively slap his forehead, cursing his oversight.
Although the events he was experiencing resembled those of an independent mutant movie, this was not a separate mutant universe but Universe 838, where most Marvel characters and organizations exist.
With such a significant event as a mutant attacking the President, how could S.H.I.E.L.D. not intervene?
If it were the newly established S.H.I.E.L.D., they might not be able to intervene, but by the year 2000, Nick Fury should already be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., steering its true development.
Given Nick Fury's arrogant nature to keep all dangers under his control, how could he easily allow mutants to cause trouble?
In the main universe, where there are no mutants, any appearance of super-powered individuals is monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D., with a specific list maintained.
What surprised him was that this universe's Captain Marvel was still on Earth and had not left for space.
In the main universe, Captain Marvel Carol left for space in 1995 after defeating the invading Kree, only leaving Nick Fury a pager.
It seems that in a different universe, different characters with different personalities lead to different developments.
Just as Captain Carter shouldn't be appearing at this time.
In the main universe, Captain America crashed a nuclear bomb-laden plane into a glacier to prevent it from destroying New York, not being discovered and thawed by S.H.I.E.L.D. until 2011.
But in this universe, Captain Carter was sealed in another dimension to prevent Red Skull from using the Cosmic Cube to release Hydra.
"Boom!"
Captain Marvel punched through a combat helicopter blocking her, knocking Magneto out of the sky, while Hawkeye took the opportunity to shoot a specially made non-metallic tranquilizer arrow, knocking Magneto unconscious.
Simultaneously, Mystique, in her battle with Black Widow, was knocked out by Captain Carter's shield hitting her on the back of the head.
"You must be Professor Charles, I presume. I'm Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I now need you and your students to come with me for an investigation regarding the presidential attack.
Don't try to resist; you've seen what happened to these two!"
After successfully capturing Magneto and Mystique, Nick Fury also noticed Professor X and the teleporting mutant who had attacked the president emerging from the spillway.
(End of Chapter)