Saiki Kusuo pretended to spend the night in the White Queen's room. After relaying Charles's plan, he left.
The next day, Stryker was waiting for him outside. Saiki Kusuo put on a convincing show of being under control, nodding in satisfaction and agreeing to Stryker's demand for more funding for the experiments.
Stryker barely had time to savor the moment before his subordinates rushed in with news that nearly made him lose his composure.
If Saiki Kusuo hadn't been present, Stryker would have probably flipped a table.
He excused himself to Saiki Kusuo and hurried off with his men.
Saiki Kusuo knew he was going to deal with the Logan situation. The experimental subject had stopped breathing a while ago, meaning that Experiment #1 was a failure, and they were forced to activate Experiment #2.
While Stryker was preoccupied with the experimental subjects, Saiki Kusuo slipped into Stryker's office.
Stryker's office, in stark contrast to his meticulous exterior, was not only a mess but also contained a frozen child.
Saiki Kusuo was startled when he first saw the child. He removed his transparent gloves, touched the cryogenic chamber, and, through psychic probing, learned that this was Stryker's son, a mutant. Stryker had frozen him here after he'd accidentally killed his own mother. This was one of the reasons for Stryker's hatred of mutants.
Most of the documents in Stryker's office were about Adamantium and plans for modifying other mutants. One plan mentioned the Infinity Stones, but after seven or eight years of searching without any trace of the stones, Stryker had been forced to abandon the idea of using them.
Saiki Kusuo set down the plan with a sigh of regret, then, still unwilling to give up, flipped through it again.
Finally, he found a locked safe containing a plan called the Sentinel Program. The plan was created by Trask, a scientist and the founder of Trask Industries.
According to Trask's residual memories in the plan, he seemed to have discovered something called the X-gene and intended to use it to create Sentinel robots to eliminate mutants.
Unlike Stryker, who had other motives, this scientist had created these machines purely to protect humanity. But Saiki Kusuo, already having his own plans, couldn't allow such a dangerous project to exist.
With a flick of his fingers, a small flame erupted, incinerating the entire plan to ashes.
Just as he stepped out of the office, he heard the White Queen's slightly frantic voice in his head.
"Saiki, get over here, quick! I can't take it anymore!"
Saiki Kusuo teleported to the White Queen's room to find it in complete disarray. The walls were covered in claw marks from a wild animal. The White Queen sat on the floor, her face pale with fright.
Seeing Saiki Kusuo, she pointed an accusing finger at him, her voice sharp with exasperation. "Look at what you've done! Get this dangerous creature out of here, now!"
They were lucky that Stryker was so engrossed in his experiments that he hadn't noticed them. Otherwise, with such a commotion, Stryker would have already captured the people harboring an escaped experimental subject.
Saiki Kusuo glanced at Logan, who was lying stiffly on the floor, clearly unconscious, and pieced together what had happened.
The White Queen, having gained a basic understanding of Saiki Kusuo, didn't expect any comforting words. She wiped away the tears Logan had frightened out of her and stood up on her own.
As she passed Logan, she kicked him in a fit of pique, remembering the terror she'd felt.
"This guy nearly slit my throat! He's too dangerous! If you can't keep him under control, either put him in another room or I'm handing him over to Stryker!"
The White Queen shuddered, recalling the moment she'd returned to her room only to be attacked by a suddenly awakened and highly aggressive Logan, who had nearly cut her throat.
Saiki Kusuo checked Logan's condition and reassured her, "I'm sorry. I'll keep him calm."
He then levitated Logan and tossed him onto the bed.
Saiki Kusuo had stolen Logan from Stryker, using a human replica to transform it into Logan's likeness.
Therefore, when the lab monitors detected no signs of life from Logan, they assumed the experiment had failed. In reality, Logan was a successful experimental subject.
At the same time, Saiki Kusuo had been subtly sabotaging Stryker, ensuring that Experiment #2's progress remained stagnant.
Just like that, the appointed time with Charles arrived. Saiki Kusuo went to the bed and woke Logan from his deep sleep.
"It's your time to shine, Logan. Go wild."
The White Queen stood at a distance, watching Saiki Kusuo seemingly hypnotize, or rather, control Logan. As Saiki Kusuo finished speaking, Logan, who had been wearing a dazed expression, suddenly turned fierce. He extended his now-Adamantium claws and charged out with a low growl.
"Remember, don't hurt the people I told you about." Seemingly worried about Logan's destructive power, Saiki Kusuo added a cautious reminder.
"What a terrifying ability," the White Queen remarked, having witnessed Saiki Kusuo's various superpowers in just two days.
Saiki Kusuo, numb to such compliments by now, contacted Charles and then instructed the White Queen, "Alright, the operation begins. We'll split up. You go rescue our comrades, and I'll disable the base's defense systems."
The plan proceeded smoothly. Erik and Charles's teamwork was flawless, and with Raven's shapeshifting abilities, they easily breached Stryker's defenses.
Logan's rampage also proved effective. The ongoing Experiment #2 was forcibly interrupted, and the subject, Wade, was transformed into a grotesque monster, a half-finished product controlled by Stryker to fight Logan.
Saiki Kusuo had just finished disabling the base's defense systems, and as an added bonus, set Stryker's office on fire, when he received news of Charles's success. The mutants had been rescued and were already aboard the plane he'd brought.
As a side note, Erik had initially intended to cause some trouble during the chaos, but Charles caught him and forcibly stuffed him onto the plane.
With everything settled, Saiki Kusuo went to find Logan, intending to bring him back.
Even with the combined abilities of multiple mutants, Wade was still a half-finished product and was no match for Logan.
Just as Logan was about to decapitate him and end the one-sided battle, a gunshot rang out – bang. A man dressed like a street performer suddenly appeared and shot Wade.
After Wade collapsed, the newcomer shot him several more times, turning him into a sieve, while casually greeting Logan.
"Hey, Logan, long time no see."
Logan stared blankly at the man in the tight suit.
As if knowing what he was thinking, the man kicked Wade a few more times for good measure, then waved to Logan. "Sorry, I stole your thunder. But it's okay, the protagonist of this story isn't either of us anyway. Of course, even if I'm not the main character, I can't tolerate this kind of embarrassing mess. Don't mind me, I'll just dismember this guy and be on my way."
As long as he wasn't an enemy, Saiki Kusuo didn't care about this suddenly appearing Street Performer #2.
But the man's inner thoughts made him pause.
This man was also named Wade, or rather, he was Wade from another parallel universe. He had traveled back from six years in the future to change some things he considered terrible and regretted.
The word "travel" caught Saiki Kusuo's attention. He couldn't find the Time Stone, but if there was a mutant with the ability to travel through time, why would he bother searching for the stone?
So, Saiki Kusuo stopped Wade, who was about to leave after dealing with his "embarrassing past."
Wade was truly Marvel's biggest motormouth. He talked incessantly, and Saiki Kusuo was almost driven to the end of his patience before he finally got the name of the mutant who had sent him here.
Kitty Pryde, a mutant who could phase herself or anything she touched through any object.
After lingering here for so long, Saiki Kusuo had finally found a useful clue. He took Logan back to Xavier's School.
Xavier's school was incredibly busy due to the large influx of new mutants.
When Saiki Kusuo found Charles, he was helping everyone with their enrollment paperwork and obtaining legal identification.
Scott was particularly enthusiastic about the new addition, the White Queen, who had also saved him. Of course, he also had some ulterior motives for getting close to her.
"Emma, I heard from Bobby that you and Saiki are dating?"
White Queen: "???" What the hell? Who would want to date such a dangerous guy?
The White Queen was dumbfounded. Just as she was about to question Bobby about spreading such rumors, she heard Scott say, seemingly unintentionally, "I heard that Saiki spent the night in your room at the base."
White Queen: "…"
Jean: "…"
Jean happened to be nearby when Scott said this; his intentions were quite obvious.
This was a huge, undeserved accusation, and the White Queen was powerless to refute it.
Neither of the two people involved came forward to explain, and besides Scott, no one else would gossip about it, so the matter was dropped.
Once Charles was free, Saiki Kusuo told him about Kitty Pryde.
There was no one by that name at Xavier's, but if they needed to find a mutant, Charles had a way.
He possessed Cerebro, a secret weapon of both the X-Men and himself. Using his abilities, Charles easily located Kitty Pryde.
Because she was a mutant, Kitty's current situation was not good.
She had realized from a young age that she was different, but her parents, to protect her, forbade her from revealing her unusual abilities. This continued until the war took both of her parents' lives.
Alone, she decided to join Xavier's School, but on her way to New York, she accidentally used her powers and was noticed by people conducting mutant experiments, who intended to capture her.
Kitty had been hiding and dodging all the way to New York, but she hadn't expected that New York was the headquarters of those people. The increasing number of enemies had left her exhausted.
When Saiki Kusuo found her, Kitty was hiding in a dilapidated closet, while black-suited men searched for her outside.
She hadn't eaten in a long time and could no longer use her powers. Just as Kitty despaired and resigned herself to her fate, several muffled thuds came from outside, followed by the appearance of a person in front of her.
"Are you alright?"
The rescued Kitty was filled with tears of gratitude. She looked at the hero who had descended from the heavens to save her.
But before she could thank him, Saiki Kusuo bluntly said, "In return for saving you, tell me where the Time Stone is, Miss Kitty."
"Snap." A clear, crisp sound.
Saiki Kusuo looked around in confusion. "What was that sound?"
Kitty, after holding it in for a long time, finally couldn't any longer: "That was the sound of my heart breaking!"
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