Chapter 381: [485] - Weapons Made for Mutants

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Sentinels.

They weren't people. They were weapons—machines built by humans to hunt mutants. Their job was simple: find mutants, chase them, and destroy them.

Bolivar Trask, a short scientist from the X-Men universe, designed the Sentinels to detect any kind of mutation. They were more than armored machines.

Their artificial genes let them change their bodies to fight any mutant's powers.

If they faced fire, they became water. If they faced water, they turned into earth. No matter what power their target had, the Sentinels could change their shape and abilities to counter it.

"This universe had to reset because the Sentinels ravaged the entire planet in the previous timeline," Hawk explained. "Remember Wolverine? Logan, the man with the claws we met before entering this world? Professor X and the others sent his consciousness into the past, and that rewrote this reality."

He remembered the disastrous future from Days of Future Past. "That only worked because this universe is weak. Anywhere else, Logan's time travel would have created a new timeline instead of changing the original one."

Changing the past was usually impossible. Once something happened, it became part of the universe. Going back in time might create a new history, but it couldn't erase the original future or save those trapped in it.

At best, you escaped into a different timeline. The past never disappeared.

"That means this universe is stuck in a never-ending cycle," Hawk said. "Humans build the Sentinels, the Sentinels kill the mutants, and the survivors send someone back to stop it. Then the Sentinels get built again."

The so-called change in the future was just an illusion. There was no real victory after Logan's mission—only the cycle starting over. People in this universe stayed trapped in the same doomed loop, repeating it again and again.

Wanda leaned against the headboard, her brow furrowed. "Are the Sentinels really that dangerous? Charles Xavier and Magneto both have the power to destroy the world."

"They do..." Hawk looked at her. "But having that kind of power means nothing if you don't have the courage to use it. Otherwise, you're just like a child carrying a gold bar in a dangerous place."

Wanda studied him. "What if you were a mutant? Would they still dare treat you this way?"

"Me, a mutant?" Hawk laughed. "No point in talking about what-ifs."

Wanda blinked.

Then the smile on his face reminded her of the blood-soaked road he had taken to reach this point, and she laughed under her breath. "Right. Sorry."

Everyone knew Hawk was ready to kill if needed.

That's why Westview, their home in his original world, was protected by the five biggest powers on Earth.

Even though the town was in America, no one from outside could enter without permission.

It wasn't a prison, and no one was keeping Hawk or Wanda trapped at home. People in Westview could come and go as they pleased... the restrictions only applied to outsiders.

The five powers weren't trying to control Hawk.

They were protecting the world from anyone reckless enough to challenge him.

Just one stranger causing an "accident" in Westview could be enough. If Hawk decided to blame all of humanity, no government on Earth could stop him.

After what happened to Wakanda, the five powers wouldn't risk it.

If Hawk had been a mutant, the Sentinels wouldn't have mattered at all. Building an army of them wouldn't even be a question. Letting Bolivar Trask live another day would have been an act of mercy.

But he wasn't. So when Wanda told him the new president in Washington—whose life Hawk had once spared—had secretly restarted the Sentinel Program, Hawk just laughed.

He'd promised only to act in self-defense, so he couldn't attack first.

It was a frustrating rule. He wanted to destroy the project before it began, but attacking first would make him the aggressor. For now, he was stuck.

His attention returned to the hidden project in Washington. "How far have they gotten?"

Wanda answered by opening her right hand. Scarlet Chaos Magic filled the bedroom as fire gathered in the air, shaping itself into a mirror of red flame...

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Inside was an underground military base.

At its center stood a human-shaped machine, almost four meters tall, on a huge platform. Its armored body was black, and its smooth, helmet-like head had no mouth or features—just a thin horizontal sensor across its face.

Even through the mirror, it looked built to destroy anything in its path.

At the main control desk sat the Creator of the Sentinels—Bolivar Trask, with his silly blond mustache, was wide awake even though it was late.

He looked almost feverish with excitement as he urged his team to move the project forward.

A scientist hurried over to him. "Sir, we still don't have enough samples of the mimicry gene. No matter how much we synthesize, the results remain unstable. Even if we solve that problem, we can't have the Sentinel operational by the end of the month."

"UNACCEPTABLE!" Trask glared at him through his glasses.

"Professor X and Magneto will be in Washington early next month. Once we capture them and give their powers to the Sentinels, taking down that so-called Demon King will be child's play!"

No ordinary person had seen the battle against Apocalypse in Cairo, but the U.S. government still got the information it wanted.

The intelligence was incomplete, but agents believed they'd learned the two facts that mattered.

Every version of Apocalypse across Hawk's timelines died at the same moment. They also knew that after taking over Professor X's mind, Apocalypse had managed to freeze Hawk for a short time.

From those two facts, they drew a convenient conclusion. If Xavier's telepathy could restrain Hawk, then a Sentinel with that power could capture the Demon King who had stormed into their world two years ago and destroyed their military bases, the Pentagon, and the White House.

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"Demon King?" Wanda glanced sideways at Hawk as Trask's voice carried through the mirror. "At least your enemies agree on something. They all call you the same thing."

"Not all of them." Hawk chuckled. "My official codename back home is Phoenix."

Maria Hill gave him that name after seeing his apocalyptic battle with the Hell Hulk in Africa. Hawk had always liked it.

He watched Trask scold another scientist and smiled. "More importantly, the government in our universe isn't nearly as silly as this one."

"True. Ours would never try something this reckless." Wanda tilted her head. "It's strange when you think about it."

It's not strange. The mutants taught this government that reckless actions have no consequences.

Wanda gave him a curious look, so Hawk went on. "Like I said, the X-Men have spoiled them."

The government in his original universe was selfish, but it knew when to be afraid. Its leaders understood that some enemies couldn't be bullied, controlled, or wiped out without consequences.

In this case, the mutants themselves had let it happen.

Every fight followed the same pattern. The government attacked the mutants, Magneto fought back, and Washington suddenly realized its latest attack had consequences.

Then, just as the government was about to fall apart, Professor X rolled in on his wheelchair shouting, "Stop fighting! Let's be reasonable!" and helped the humans beat Magneto.

It didn't happen just once or twice.

It happened every time. Each rescue taught Washington the same wrong lesson: no matter how reckless its actions were, a mutant would always show up to protect people from the mutants who fought back.

After years of this pattern, the government expected to be saved. Its leaders could try any dangerous plan they wanted because someone else would fix things when it all went wrong. That's why Washington had gotten so used to causing its own downfall.

"Then next month's hearing really is a trap." Wanda watched Trask's team scramble around the unfinished Sentinel. "If they bring this thing online and give it Xavier's telepathy, could it control you?"

Hawk grinned. "I've already outgrown this universe's power ceiling. More importantly, Xavier's telepathy wasn't what stopped me in Cairo."

"Then what was it?"

"Death."

Hawk shrugged at Wanda's startled expression. "Even if you combined Apocalypse and Xavier's telepathic powers, they still wouldn't come close to mine. Death interfered without revealing herself..."

"Without her, Apocalypse could never have frozen me, much less entered my timeline."

He had four Infinity Stones inside him: Reality, Mind, Space, and Power. These stones were held in the twin pupils of his cosmic Phoenix, and their power moved through the universe within him.

His Cosmo kept studying the basic rules inside them. It wasn't trying to use their power forever. It was aiming for the day when his inner universe could create four original Infinity Stones, each fully his own.

Wanda pictured Death and frowned. "The way she looks at me feels... strange."

"Of course it does," Hawk smirked at her.

"From a certain point of view, Death is technically your teacher's wife."

"..." Wanda stared at him in silence.

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