The Powerful Hawking

Kamehameha!

A furious shout rang out, followed by an energy beam firing from behind Wolverine. It grazed his whiskers and blew the helicopter apart on the spot.

"No need to wait until later. I'm already a qualified warrior."

Lowering his stance, Hawking turned and spoke to Wolverine, who was staring at him wide-eyed.

Colossus and the students who had yet to enter the secret passage were also dumbfounded. Hawking's Kamehameha reminded them of Cyclops Scott.

"Sergeant, how many have you caught?"

Meanwhile, inside the Cerebro Chamber on the school rooftop, which had been blasted open, William Stryker picked up the helmet of the Cerebro and asked the sergeant beside him.

An awkward look appeared on the sergeant's face.

"Not one so far. Two formidable opponents showed up and rescued the students we had just captured. They even damaged one of our fighter jets."

"Dismantle these first and transport them back to base. Have the others stay behind and capture as many mutants as possible. We'll use them to test the machine's effectiveness."

Stryker immediately frowned.

He had not expected that, after taking down Professor X and luring away the school's teachers, there would still be such troublesome students among the mutants.

He had originally planned to seize the entire school outright, but to be safe, he decided to personally take the machine and leave first.

With Professor X in his hands, as long as he could recreate the Cerebro Chamber at the base, he could use his mutant son's ability to control Professor X and instantly kill every mutant on Earth.

"Yes, Colonel!"

Thus, the well-trained professional soldiers quickly dismantled the main components of the Cerebro, then escorted them aboard the transport plane parked outside along with Colonel Stryker.

The sergeant who remained behind continued commanding the remaining soldiers in battle.

However, it was not long before his expression changed, because all he heard through his radio were the screams of his subordinates.

"Don't move! Hands up!"

In the school's second-floor hall, Rogue and the other two had barely avoided several searching soldiers when they were blocked by another large group.

Seeing more than a dozen submachine guns aimed at them, they were so frightened that they did not dare move.

Having never undergone combat training, they possessed an instinctive fear of firearms and did not dare use their abilities to resist.

Just as the soldiers were about to switch to tranquilizer guns and capture them, two furious shouts suddenly came from overhead.

"Die!"

"Take this!"

Wolverine and Hawking had spotted the situation and leaped down directly from the third-floor corridor.

Stabbing hearts, slashing throats, and using the bodies of dead soldiers to block bullets—within mere seconds, Wolverine had killed six soldiers. But just as he rushed toward the seventh, he realized that no soldiers were left standing.

The remaining eleven soldiers had all been taken down by Hawking.

"Not bad, little monkey!"

Wolverine pushed the corpse off his claws and could not help praising Hawking again.

They had encountered several waves of invading soldiers along the way, and Hawking's performance had truly made Wolverine see him in a new light.

It was not just the powerful energy attack from earlier. Hawking had also demonstrated fighting ability and physical prowess even greater than Wolverine's, along with the strong heart a warrior ought to possess.

Most importantly, Hawking was only twelve years old.

"Logan, I told you, don't call me little monkey!"

Hawking inserted the Power Pole behind his back and rolled his eyes.

He knew Wolverine did not call him little monkey to mock him. With his current twelve-year-old body and the tail behind his butt, the nickname really did suit him.

But he did not want little monkey to become his codename when he was introduced in the future.

This is Wolverine, this is Cyclops, this is Storm, and this is... little monkey?

It was simply pathetic!

Still, to be honest, fighting alongside Wolverine had also shown Hawking just how powerful Wolverine was.

Wolverine's strength did not lie in some exceptional level of fighting skill. His skills were good, even far beyond most people's, but they were not at the very top.

What made him powerful was his nearly immortal regenerative body, combined with his almost indestructible Adamantium skeleton and claws. Unless he encountered a natural counter like Magneto or Professor X, ordinary people simply could not outlast him.

Of course, that was not the most crucial part. The most crucial part was his incredibly strong will and nearly two centuries of combat experience.

Combat experience differed from fighting techniques. Rich combat experience allowed him to always make use of every advantage on his body and in his surroundings to defeat opponents stronger than himself.

Like Brother Long in a furniture store.

"Then what should I call you? Gorilla? Or King Kong?"

Wolverine joked.

Hawking always acted like a little adult, and Wolverine could not help wanting to tease him.

"Fine, whatever."

Shrugging, Hawking knew there was no point arguing. One day, he would transform into his giant ape form and let Wolverine see just how poorly little monkey fit him.

"Logan!"

The moment she saw Logan, Rogue threw herself at him. Logan was her best friend.

Back when she had been at her loneliest and most helpless, Logan had been the one to help her.

"All right, it's still not safe. Stay behind me and little monkey. We'll get you to the secret passage."

Before Logan had even finished speaking after releasing Rogue, the large glass windows in the second-floor hall suddenly exploded. Three combat helicopters had appeared outside.

"Little monkey!"

Logan immediately looked at Hawking. Along the way, Hawking's hand-fired energy beams had already taken down four combat helicopters.

But this time, Hawking did not use Kamehameha. Instead, he pulled out the Power Pole from behind his back.

"Power Pole, extend!"

At Hawking's command, the Power Pole rapidly lengthened and pierced straight into the combat helicopter in the middle.

"Hah!"

The muscles throughout Hawking's body surged as he forcefully swung the extended Power Pole from side to side.

Before Rogue and the other two's wide-eyed stares, the helicopter in the middle was actually controlled by Hawking's immense strength and smashed heavily into the helicopters on either side.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All three combat helicopters exploded and crashed down.

Though Kamehameha was powerful, it consumed too much of the energy within his body. Even thirteen-year-old Sun Goku could not use it continuously.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

The sergeant, who had already arrived at the lawn outside the school, heard that more than a dozen elite soldiers had been killed and three combat helicopters destroyed. Gritting his teeth, he gave the final order to retreat.

Less than ten people and two combat helicopters remained from the operation. If they did not retreat now, they would be completely wiped out.

"They're retreating!"

After escorting Rogue and the other two into the secret passage on the first floor, Hawking and Wolverine had been preparing to continue hunting down the invading soldiers when they discovered that the enemy was no longer attacking, but rapidly withdrawing.

The two chased downstairs, but the only two remaining helicopters had already taken off.

"Those bastards got away!"

Wolverine lit a cigar and took a puff, sounding somewhat regretful.