Howard Stark had seen Alex walk into the bar with a middle-aged man earlier.
So when Alex mentioned he was here to see a friend, Howard more or less had an idea who that friend might be and where he could be found.
That's why he didn't ask many questions and agreed readily, "Of course, that's not a problem."
Agent Carter, standing nearby, simply watched with cold eyes. She didn't say anything, nor did she intervene.
However, without a word, she subtly signa...
"Young man, thank you so much for saving us!"
"If it weren't for you today, things would've gone horribly wrong."
Howard Stark's voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts.
The playboy inventor strode over, face unusually serious, and offered Alex a heartfelt thanks.
If this miraculous young man hadn't shown up, the consequences were unthinkable.
What Howard didn't know, however, was that even without Alex's intervention, he and Anton Vanko likely wouldn...
"Andrew!"
"Andrew!"
Two furious and disbelieving shouts rang out. The remaining two assassins from Laim's group stood frozen, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Andrew… got killed in one punch?
How was that even possible?
Even without transforming, Andrew's physical stats were far beyond a normal human's.
Just who the hell was this young man?
But there was no time for the two to dwell on it.
The pressure Alex exuded left ...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Inside the bar.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the assassins sent to kill Ivan Vanko finally dropped all pretenses. Guns drawn, they opened fire on each other without hesitation.
"Sir! This way!"
Amid the chaos, the bartender rushed to Howard Stark's side, shielding him and the man beside him as they made their way toward the exit.
Bang! Bang!
A few bullets whizzed past them—an enemy had charged in, attempting to block their escap...
No doubt about it—that was Howard Stark.
Alex's eyes lit up instantly.
What the hell was someone like Howard Stark doing in a cheap bar like this?
Could it be that the infamous playboy had his eye on some girl here and was lying in wait?
Alex couldn't help but speculate with a touch of dark amusement.
When it came to womanizing, Howard Stark could put his son Tony to shame. This guy didn't even spare his friend's wife!
What a scumbag.
"...
Outside the gates of the Xavier estate.
A sleek black sedan slowly rolled out, turned onto a side road, and then merged into the main thoroughfare.
It quickly blended into the steady stream of traffic, drawing no attention from passersby.
"Raven, where exactly are we going?"
In the passenger seat, Alex glanced at the middle-aged man behind the wheel and asked casually.
"To find someone," Raven replied, her tone offhand as she expertly maneuvered the ...
The strongest?
Despite Raven's admiration, Alex didn't feel the least bit joyful. He knew full well he was nowhere near deserving of such praise.
Forget about the numerous supervillains in this world who could level cities—or even the entire planet. Even among mutants alone, Alex was far from being the strongest.
Take the Black King for example. Alex had just fought him, and he still wasn't able to kill the man.
And once Professor X grew into his full potenti...
Maybe it was the lingering fear, or perhaps the worry that the Black King might return, but even though everyone was clearly exhausted, no one got a good night's sleep.
It wasn't just trouble falling asleep—those who did manage to drift off would jolt awake at the slightest sound. Every creak, every rustle of wind set their nerves on edge.
Tension hung in the air.
This night was destined to be a sleepless one for everyone.
The massacre led by the Black Ki...
Feeling the surging power coursing through his body, Alex could barely resist the urge to find a place and test just how strong he'd become.
But since he was still in the car, he forced himself to suppress that impulse.
"Over twenty tons of strength now… If I remember right, Spider-Man in the MCU maxes out around that too, doesn't he?"
Alex couldn't hide the excitement bubbling in his chest. Back when he watched those movies, he'd been amazed at how Spidey coul...
"Cough, cough, cough!"
A harsh coughing sound echoed from within the thick smoke—Black King had been hit.
Sure, he could absorb energy, but unfortunately, he wasn't a smoke extractor.
He had no way of dealing with these kinds of irritating gases.
Of course, as a powerful mutant, Black King's physical resilience far surpassed that of ordinary people. It was a fool's dream to think a few gas grenades could take him down.
From the beginning, Alex had ...
Whoosh!
Another gleam of cold light flashed through the air.
Alex flicked his wrist once more, and another dagger slashed through the sky, slicing out a razor-sharp arc of steel.
In the blink of an eye, it was upon Black King.
But unlike what happened with Riptide, nothing occurred this time. The dagger froze midair as if it had collided with some invisible force—an unknown energy barrier.
Then clink—it simply dropped to the ground.
Not ev...
Despite the flood of questions swirling in his mind, the Red Devil would never get his answers. His vision went dark, and he completely lost consciousness.
Thud!
Alex finally flicked his wrist and tossed the Red Devil's corpse to the ground like a dead dog.
"He actually… killed that terrifying guy?"
"No way. That has to be fake, right?"
Mystique Raven, Beast Hank, Darwin, and the other mutants who had been worried about Alex just moments ago were all l...
"Get back! It's dangerous here!"
"Hurry, get out of here—they're after you!"
...
Seeing Alex walk out on his own, several CIA agents couldn't help but turn and shout at him.
Of course, some agents had already been scared half to death by Azazel and Riptide. They stood trembling, jaws clenched tight in fear, barely able to hold their weapons, let alone worry about Alex.
"Sorry, I'll be borrowing this."
Alex ignored their warnings completely. He reached o...
"What's… what's going on?!"
Banshee gripped the windowsill with both hands, as if only by holding on could he find some sense of security.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Alex the Ravager swallowed hard, his throat bobbing visibly.
"It's mutants—other mutants!" Hank, more mature than the rest, made the call calmly.
In a situation like this, only mutants could pull something like this off. Regular humans? Not a chance.
"Alex, how are you staying so ...
"How impressive."
Erik's face was tinged with undisguised disappointment as he spoke in a biting, sarcastic tone.
"I had higher hopes for all of you."
Charles couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly, but then his gaze shifted toward Alex, and he added,
"Not you, Alex. You've done exceptionally well."
Mystique, Riptide, and Siren couldn't help but glance at Alex, who was sitting calmly to the side. A trace of guilt surfaced on their faces—they had g...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Inside a hidden training room of the base.
Alex was shirtless, his chiseled muscles defined like they'd been sculpted from steel—powerful, sharp, and radiating raw strength. Any girl who saw him would probably take a second look... or a third.
He was pounding his fists into a punching bag—
Not your typical kind. This one was made of metal.
Yeah, metal. That's what it had come to.
Alex's strength had grown far beyond what norm...
Aside from the quantifiable stats on Alex's panel, the unquantified abilities had also received a significant boost.
Take, for example, X-ray vision and enhanced hearing.
Previously, his X-ray vision could only penetrate up to ten meters, nothing more. But now, he could effortlessly see through everything within a fifty-meter radius.
As for his hearing—
So long as Alex willed it, he could clearly hear Charles and the others' conversation in the office, as...
"Bradley isn't one of Shaw's men. He belongs to a secret military task force."
"That's right. A mutant task force."
"And… they've been involved in some highly illegal activities for quite some time."
…
Under the weight of everyone's gaze, Charles slowly began to speak, sharing the memories he had read from Bradley's mind.
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned heavy.
The involvement of the military made things significantly more compl...
Faced with Erik—a mutant strong enough to kill Zero with his bare hands—and his companion who had taken down Sabretooth with ease, what choice did Bradley really have?
Even if he was reluctant, what options were left?
Especially now that both Sabretooth and Zero were dead, there was no way Stryker would let this go. That meant Bradley was inevitably going to end up on the run too.
Looking at it from that perspective, maybe getting captured by another mutant or...
No matter how deadly Zero’s bullets were, they were completely useless against Erik. So Alex wasn’t worried about him.
Instead, his eyes drifted to Sabretooth, whose head was rapidly regenerating, and he fell into thought.
With that freakish healing factor, taking down Sabretooth with just his fists was going to be a tall order.
Was he supposed to beat the guy into ground meat?
That would be a little too brutal.
As he pondered, Alex scanned the a...
"Erik, are you okay?"
Unbothered by the shocked looks from the others, Alex walked over at a calm, steady pace and offered Erik a hand.
"I'm fine," Erik muttered, a little embarrassed.
He hadn’t expected to screw up in front of a junior, and the sting to his pride showed as he awkwardly took Alex’s hand.
Alex pulled him up effortlessly.
"Erik, keep an eye on Bradley. Leave this guy to me."
"No, Alex," Erik shook his head, eyes narrowing.
"That ...
"Yeah, something like that. You could see it that way."
Eric nodded after a brief pause. He still wasn’t sure where Bradley stood, so he wasn’t about to lay all his cards on the table just yet.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we have anything more to discuss. Please leave."
Bradley, who had remained relatively polite until now, suddenly stood up and coldly dismissed the two of them.
"Mr. Bradley, perhaps it’s best if you hear me out before making a deci...
Smack!
Zero grabbed Sabretooth’s wrist and whispered, “Victor, not now. There are too many people in the amusement park.”
“What does that matter? You think any of them can stop me?” Sabretooth sneered, utterly unconcerned.
Zero said nothing.
Of course, no one could stop him. That wasn’t the point. Zero just didn’t want him making a scene.
Killing someone in front of so many witnesses would cause a huge mess.
“If anyone does try...
“So it was him!”
After thinking for a moment, Alex finally remembered who that guy—Chris Bradley, according to the file—actually was.
He used to be one of Wolverine Logan’s old war buddies.
Back in the day, they’d worked under Stryker alongside Sabretooth, Ghost, Blob, and the rest—doing the kind of dirty work that couldn't see the light of day.
But for some unknown reason, like Logan, Bradley eventually left Stryker’s side. He went into hid...
"Erik, you're back?"
Raven was one of the first to join the CIA with Charles, and also among the earliest to meet Erik, so her tone was far more casual than the others.
"How did it go? Smooth?"
She couldn't help but ask again.
Earlier that morning, Charles and Erik had gone out to recruit another mutant. According to Charles, this one might actually be a real warrior.
Raven had been looking forward to it.
Everyone else was also curious to meet...
1962.
A secret CIA facility.
“Look, it’s those freaks again.”
“Turns out freaks eat the same food we do.”
“Then how did they become freaks?”
“No clue. Maybe you should ask them yourself?”
…
In the cafeteria, people passing by or sitting in various corners couldn’t help glancing toward the table in the northeast corner. Whispers flew back and forth, fingers pointed, and gazes lingered.
Like they were watching clowns at a cir...