The Sabretooth's Grimace

Slap!

Zero grabbed Sabretooth's hand and said in a low voice, "Victor, now's not the time. The Amusement Park's too crowded."

"What does that matter? You think anyone here would stop me?" Sabretooth said dismissively.

Zero: "..."

Of course no one would stop him. That wasn't what Zero meant at all—he was just warning Sabretooth not to be too conspicuous.

Killing someone in front of so many people would cause a lot of trouble.

"If there are, I'll kill them all too!" Sabretooth continued in a sinister, low tone.

"Victor, don't make trouble. You know how much The Commander values the plan! Let's wait until nightfall when there are fewer people."

Zero's head throbbed as he tried to persuade Sabretooth.

"Are you using Stryker to pressure me?"

Sabretooth reached out and grabbed Zero by the neck, lifting him off the ground.

Zero felt like his neck was about to snap, his face turning red from lack of oxygen.

He forced out a sentence with difficulty: "Don't misunderstand... I'm just... offering a suggestion."

Sabretooth stared up at Zero for two or three seconds before finally setting him down.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Zero immediately started coughing loudly on the side.

"Damn it, that takes all the fun out of it!"

Sabretooth grumbled, but he heeded Zero's advice and stopped in his tracks.

After all, it was already dark, and the Amusement Park would be closing soon.

Many businesses in America closed early in the evening, since people weren't in the habit of wandering around at night.

It was a free country, after all, and the Amusement Park was no exception.

About an hour later, the park's visitors began to leave one after another, and the various stalls inside started packing up and shutting down.

Creak!

A black sedan slowly pulled up outside the Amusement Park, and Erik and Rorschach's figures emerged from the car one after the other.

"This is the place, right?"

Erik looked around, then double-checked the address on the documents to confirm it was correct.

The two of them started walking into the Amusement Park.

But it was right at closing time, so aside from the small vendors packing up, there were hardly any visitors left.

"Old sir, could you tell me where Bradley is?"

As they passed a roller coaster entrance, Erik asked a little old man who was locking up.

"What do you want with him?"

The old man was quite wary and didn't answer right away, instead scanning the two of them.

Erik's eyes lit up—after asking several people, he'd finally found someone who knew Bradley.

"I'm a fellow townsman. I have some business with him," Erik lied without batting an eye.

"Oh, I see. Keep walking east and you'll find him. His little spot is at the far east end."

"Thanks, old sir!"

Erik and Rorschach headed east as the old man had directed, and sure enough, they soon spotted a short figure packing things up in the distance.

It looked just like Bradley from the photo.

Rorschach silently thought their luck was good—Bradley hadn't been killed by Sabretooth yet.

But suddenly.

Erik stopped in his tracks, as if he'd noticed something, and sharply turned his head to glance toward the left front.

Rorschach followed Erik's gaze and saw two big men smoking by the carousel.

That was... Sabretooth and Zero!

Erik didn't recognize them, but Rorschach identified them at a glance.

No doubt about it—these two were here to kill Bradley.

Well, scratch that earlier thought about good luck.

Still, even though he recognized them, Rorschach calmly looked away. He didn't take them seriously.

With his current strength, Sabretooth and the like were nothing to worry about.

"Erik, those two don't look like staff here," Rorschach said, alerting Erik.

"Don't worry about them. Let's go."

Erik withdrew his gaze, called out to Rorschach, and continued forward.

As he had said, no matter who those two were, as long as they didn't interfere with his business, Erik couldn't be bothered with them.

Soon, the two arrived beside Bradley.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bradley. I'm Erik, and this is Rorschach. Could we have a word?"

Erik spoke, addressing Bradley.

Bradley paused what he was doing and eyed Erik and Rorschach with a suspicious look.

"We don't know each other, do we?" A hint of wariness crept onto Bradley's face.

"We don't, but that doesn't matter, because we're about to." Erik smiled at Bradley.

At the same time, he activated his ability, waving his hand faintly toward the performance prop in Bradley's grip. The object floated straight up into the air.

"You... you're also..."

"That's right. I'm a mutant too." Erik said firmly.

"Another mutant?"

Sabretooth, watching from the side, couldn't help but feel a jolt of surprise.

But then his expression turned cruel. "Zero, looks like we've got an unexpected bonus. Our luck's not bad."

Lately, Sabretooth's job had been helping Stryker find more mutants—capturing them, no matter if they lived or died.

He hadn't expected that just as he was nodding off, a pillow would fall into his lap. He'd stumbled onto a mutant for free.

No, make that two.

If that big guy was a mutant, the young man beside him was probably one too.

Good. Very good.

Once he finished this cigarette, he'd take them all out.

Sabretooth's grin grew more smug.

Erik, of course, hadn't noticed Sabretooth's movements. His attention was fixed entirely on Bradley.

And Bradley, seeing that Erik was one of his own, did indeed change his attitude.

"Come inside and talk."

After a moment's hesitation, Bradley led the two into his house.

"I never thought I'd run into one of my own kind in a place like this."

After gesturing for them to sit, Bradley looked at the two with some surprise.

It had been nearly five years since he'd left Stryker, and he hadn't seen a single mutant since.

"Where I come from, there are many more of our kind."

Erik seized the moment to press on. "And we welcome you to join us. We want all mutant brothers and sisters to stand together."

"You mean... you're from a mutant organization?" Bradley's tone shifted.

A mutant organization? He'd barely escaped one. Why would he ever join another?

He wanted nothing to do with any mutant group.

Kneeling for a collection and recommendation tickets, brothers!