Chapter 816: Unexpected Reinforcements

Perhaps there were people in the school who simply couldn't sleep. Some sat by the windows, watching the nighttime scenery in the courtyard. Others sneaked into places like the kitchen to make themselves a late-night snack. There were even people whose senses were sharp enough to detect the scent of war.

These people who were still awake noticed the U.S. military's attack almost immediately and warned the others inside the school.

Even so, many of the students at the school were only older elementary-school children or middle-schoolers. They had been born into an era of peace and raised in a stable society. Some had even enjoyed happy childhoods in harmonious families.

These children simply didn't have enough vigilance to understand how dangerous their situation was. Quite a few were still lying in bed when the invading soldiers woke them, only to be dropped by a single tranquilizer dart.

Fortunately, the children who woke in time—especially the older students who had already gained considerable control over their abilities—put up a surprisingly strong resistance. Not only did they fight desperately against the military assault, they also guided the younger children toward safety.

Through the surveillance footage transmitted by the Sparrow drones, Henry saw several older students he had encountered before putting on impressive displays.

Colossus, Iceman, and others had all participated in the rescue operation at the Twin Towers during the 9/11 incident.

The most eye-catching of all, however, was Wolverine, who was still inside the mansion at this hour.

He wasn't as tall as the actor who played him in the movies, but neither was he as short as the comics described. He was roughly average height for a white American, but his physique was so muscular that he looked as though he ate protein powder for every meal.

On the Sparrow drone's surveillance feeds, Henry could see Wolverine fighting through the mansion's windows.

With his indestructible adamantium skeleton, extraordinary healing factor, and metal claws extending from both hands, Wolverine was still unstoppable against the heavily equipped soldiers.

The military's body armor was practically paper in front of his adamantium claws.

Watching Wolverine's savage fighting style, even Gilgamesh and the other immortals couldn't help admiring him.

Unfortunately, Wolverine was the only mutant whose counterattack was really worth watching.

Elsewhere, even the older students couldn't stand against coordinated soldiers armed with tranquilizer weapons.

"Should we go in and help them?" Cassandra asked over the internal channel.

Henry wasn't entirely sure whether the Spartan woman genuinely wanted to help or simply wanted to use the U.S. military to test the Aetos armor.

After all, she was an ancient Greek and a battle-hardened Spartan. No one should expect her to have a particularly flattering view of the American military.

To be honest, Henry was considering intervening as well.

According to his memories of the movies from before he traveled through time, there weren't many mutant children at the school, and only five or six would ultimately be captured by the military.

But the situation before him was completely different.

There were dozens of boarding students being driven from place to place by the soldiers, and far more than five or six had already been taken down.

Wolverine was practically the only one willing to fight back—even kill.

The older mutant students had abilities powerful enough to resist, but they still weren't willing to kill, especially not against soldiers representing the government.

Looking at the overall situation, it seemed likely that more than half of the mutant children would end up in the military's hands.

Henry knew that the soldiers' real objective was underground—the components of the brainwave amplifier hidden in the X-Men's base.

But if they could capture more mutant specimens along the way, he was sure they wouldn't mind.

While he was weighing his options, a figure flashed across one of the six surveillance feeds being transmitted by the six Sparrow drones.

When Henry saw who it was, he immediately relaxed.

"Looks like we don't have to worry anymore. The X-Men's reinforcements are here."

"What happened?"

"Who is it?"

"Who did you say arrived?"

The other three immediately began asking questions over the internal channel.

Henry had already parked the truck at its destination and was now sitting on top of the cargo container. He controlled the surveillance system, captured a screenshot of the figure he had spotted, and transmitted it to the other suits.

"Former X-Man, Quicksilver—Pietro Maximoff."

He sent along the information he had on Pietro as well.

"But he only appeared once. We haven't seen him anywhere else on the footage. Is he doing something—huh? The numbers don't seem right."

Gilgamesh's words made the others pay attention.

The number of mutant children visible in the Sparrow surveillance footage wasn't consistent from one moment to the next.

Henry knew exactly why.

"Don't bother looking. Quicksilver is a speedster. The Sparrow cameras can't capture him at his full speed. The reason we managed to record him just now was because he stopped for a moment."

"What? He's a speedster? Isn't that just like Makkari?"

Hearing Gilgamesh's shocked voice, Henry was speechless.

"Didn't the information I just sent you say that?"

"Oh. I only looked at the name and the picture."

...

Forget it.

If Henry went over and punched the Eternal heavyweight now, the result would probably just be that he would have to repair the Minotaur armor afterward.

There was no point punishing himself like that.

With Quicksilver joining the fight, the military's capture rate immediately dropped.

There were even cases where prisoners who had already been captured simply vanished without a trace.

Some people guessed that a special mutant had intervened.

But Quicksilver's speed left even the U.S. military helpless.

Whether she was disappointed or relieved, Cassandra's voice over the channel was somewhat languid.

"Looks like there's no chance for us to make an appearance, is there?"

"Isn't that a good thing? Let the mutants deal with their own problems."

Thena, who rarely bothered to speak, calmly gave her opinion.

Through the Sparrow drones' simulated penetrating imagery, Henry watched as the mutant children, aided by the older students and Quicksilver, entered the mansion's escape tunnel.

"Gilgamesh, you stay by the exit. Guide the children when they come out. I'll give you the truck keys, and you can hand them over to them. I haven't disguised myself, so it wouldn't be convenient for me to show my face."

"You're not going to drive them away?" Gilgamesh asked.

Henry explained, "They're fugitives right now. How could they easily trust outsiders? If we drive the truck, no matter how gently we talk to them, very few of them will willingly get in. If a confrontation breaks out, that would only make things worse.

"It's better to give them the vehicle and let them drive themselves. They can choose their own escape route and destination. Just tell them to abandon the truck by the roadside once they're done with it. The police will naturally come and recover it."

Gilgamesh agreed with Henry's assessment of human nature.

"Fine. I understand. I'll head over and meet you now."

"Let's meet at the exit of the escape tunnel."

"Are you really not going to take action, Henry?"

Faced with Gilgamesh's question, Henry's answer was simple.

"Among the U.S. military's helicopters, I've only confirmed William Stryker's whereabouts. I haven't seen his son, Jason Stryker. With one of my targets missing, I don't want to alert them prematurely."

"Fair enough."

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