“You never told me there were two of them…” said Caliban, wrapped up tight in a cowboy hat and face mask.
Instinctively, he looked toward Miles.
“That little kid…
he’s dangerous!”
“How dangerous?” Logan asked.
“His mind is unstable, chaotic, a complete mess,” Caliban murmured, sensing Miles’s state.
“He’s insane, but he convinces himself he’s not.
He wants to die…
yet he clings stubbornly to life…”
The mutant Caliban’s ability was sensing other mutants, pinpointing their locations, and discerning their condition.
He also suffered from congenital albinism and was hypersensitive to sunlight, which was why he wrapped himself up so thoroughly when stepping out during the day.
“Caliban, pack our stuff.
We’re leaving right now.” Logan sensed trouble brewing, knowing that Laura and Miles brought massive danger in their wake.
He wanted to take Professor Charles and Caliban and get out immediately.
“What about those two kids?” Caliban asked.
“Tell those two fucking brats to get lost,” Logan replied.
“…You’re right, Logan.” Miles spoke up again from his wheelchair.
“Get the Professor far away from here.
Don’t get mixed up in this, or you’ll die…
If you die, the Fox X-Men franchise really is over…”
“No, Miles, don’t say that…
Logan, take them with us…”
Professor Charles pleaded with Logan from his wheelchair.
But right then, Logan’s face changed drastically as he whipped his head toward the distance.
A convoy of black vehicles appeared on the distant road!
People were coming—lots of them.
“We’re leaving now!”
Without taking no for an answer, Logan shoved Charles into the car and sat Caliban down beside him.
“No, Logan, we can’t abandon family…”
“Shit, shut up!”
Logan cursed loudly, slammed the door, jumped into the driver’s seat, and sped away.
Leaving only Miles and Laura behind, watching them drive off into the distance.
“…You know, Laura,” Miles said raspy-voiced, “if you stayed with them, you’d probably survive…
but the others wouldn’t make it…”
“Because my existence ruins the canon plot, the company will send even heavier forces to capture us…
So you should quick—ugh!!”
Miles shuddered in agony, the cerebrospinal fluid extractor plugged into the back of his head oozing a trace of yellowish pus.
Meanwhile, the approaching convoy drew closer and closer.
“Miles?” Laura asked, concern etched on her face.
“…Run, Laura!” Bloodshot veins spiderwebbed across Miles’s eyes.
“I feel him…
Dr.
Zander is there…
This time, I’m going to kill him!”
“You’ll die,” Laura said.
“I’ve wanted to die for a long time,” Miles murmured quietly.
“I just can’t rest easy without killing that bastard…”
Dr.
Zander Rice: head of the Transigen project, director of the genetic modification facility in Mexico City, creator of Miles and Laura—and the man they wanted dead more than anyone else.
“I’m coming with you,” Laura said.
With Gabriela dead, Miles was her only remaining family.
“You really are stubborn…” Miles sighed.
“Push me back inside the water tower.
We’ll fight them in there…
Hm?”
Just then, Miles and Laura both turned to look in the opposite direction.
The stretch Lincoln limousine that Logan had driven away earlier was mysteriously heading back.
“Children, get in!”
Professor Charles opened the window from afar, waving enthusiastically at the two young ones.
The Wolverine in the driver’s seat sat expressionless, stiffly slamming on the brakes to bring the car to a halt right in front of Miles and Laura.
Clearly, Charles was controlling him.
“Miles?” Laura asked instinctively.
“Ha…
Well, looks like the plot is getting back on track after all.” Miles twitched his mouth.
“A superhero-style plot twist.
Fantastic!”
Soon, Logan’s car came to a complete stop.
Caliban got out and beckoned the two inside, folding Miles’s wheelchair and tossing it into the trunk beside Charles’s.
“Logan, it’s up to you now,” Professor Charles said, releasing his mental hold over Logan.
“Fuck!
Charles!
You asked for this!” The instant the control lifted, Logan burst into furious curses.
“You old bastard!
Didn’t you see the guys behind us?
They’re coming straight for these two!
You’re gonna get us killed!
Shit, you actually controlled me!
I knew it, you can still use your powers!!”
“I always could; I just find it exhausting,” Charles said, leaning back against the seat, looking weary.
“Caliban, would you mind taking a look at that child’s condition?
I’m quite curious about him.”
“I don’t think now is a good time…” Caliban muttered through the rear window, watching the distant convoy pursuing them.
Human figures leaned out from several car windows, waving.
Moments later, a rain of bullets slammed into the back window, punching several holes through the glass.
“Charles!
Take out those pursuers!” Logan bellowed.
“Shut up!
I can’t!”
“Didn’t you say you could always use it?”
“I don’t have enough energy left, and there are too many of them!”
*Vroooom…*
Engine roaring, the stretch Lincoln pulled a hard drift on the dirt road, shaking off a few trailing cars and bulldozing its way forward!
The next second, Logan’s face paled as he saw oncoming cars heading straight toward them on the road ahead!
He slammed the brakes, whipped the vehicle around, and veered onto a side trail.
*Bang!
Bang!*
The rear window shattered completely.
Laura threw herself behind the Professor, blocking a bullet with her forearm.
She then dug the slug out with her teeth and spat it onto the floorboards.
“Hold on tight!!”
With nowhere left to run, Logan yelled, ramming the car headfirst into a chain-link fence, lodging the entire front end in the wire mesh.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat…*
Two machine guns mounted on cars behind them began strafing, keeping everyone pinned down.
Logan stomped the accelerator, but the car remained snagged tight in the wire.
Out of options, he tried putting it in reverse.
“Hey, hey, I’ve got eyes on the two kids…”
Inside one vehicle, a guy was contacting his superior via radio when the signal abruptly went dead, replaced by a burst of static electricity.
“What the hell?
Is it glitching?”
“Hahaha!”
Nearby, a Reaver operating a mounted machine gun cackled maniacally as his vehicle closed in.
Just as he prepared to squeeze the trigger at the Lincoln again, his eyes went glassy.
He swung the machine gun around and unhesitatingly opened fire on his own crew!
The man smacking the radio let out a scream before heavy machine-gun fire shredded through his flesh.
“Aagh!
Argh…”
Amid a string of agonizing shrieks, Miles sat inside the Lincoln with his finger pressed hard against his temple, trembling violently, his face twisted in torment.
On the other side, Caliban caught sight of the oozing cerebrospinal fluid extractor embedded in the back of Miles’s skull and gasped softly.
“How is he even alive?!”
“Relax, child…” Professor Charles offered soothingly to Miles.
“Mind control doesn’t require such brute force.
You should guide the current, combined with a bit of finesse…”
“Though truly, your psychic energy seems rather unique.
How much do you understand about your own powers…”
*Bang!*
A Reaver suddenly slammed onto the car roof.
Just as he aimed his weapon inside, Laura thrust her claw straight through his skull.
Then Logan floored it, crashing through the gate and bursting out into the open field!
*Whoosh…
whoosh…*
A long train thundered in from the distance.
Logan slammed down on the gas pedal, accelerating the Lincoln toward the crossing!
At the critical second, the Lincoln drifted sharply across the tracks, while the off-road vehicle trailing behind was smashed and plowed away by the locomotive.
The endless train cars quickly severed the world on either side of the track.
*Clack-clack, clack-clack…*
Gazing through the passing train cars at the pursuers stranded on the other side, Laura raised a middle finger with a stony face.
Dr.
Zander Rice stepped out of his car after pulling up hastily, watching the distant vehicle depart on the far side of the train tracks.
He slammed his fist against the car window in fury.
“Fuck…”