The End of William Stryker

A few hours later.

A modified aircraft sliced silently through the night sky.

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was somewhat stifling.

Wolverine Logan remained in his usual "stay away" posture, arms crossed, leaning back in his seat as if indifferent to the upcoming operation.

Deadpool, however, seemed rather excited, fiddling with his twin blades from time to time while humming an off-key tune.

Cyclops Scott Summers sat in the pilot's seat, his expression focused, occasionally observing Harry Osborn in the cabin through the rearview mirror.

He hadn't expected this young Mr. Osborn to be so decisive; they had only reached an agreement an hour ago, and now he was already leading the team in person, en route to the enemy's stronghold.

Because William Stryker had connections within the military, and more importantly, the higher-ups needed a spokesperson regarding the Mutant issue—someone who could produce tangible results.

And on a global scale, in the field of Mutant research, no one could compare to Stryker.

So, in a sense, this guy was "indispensable."

This was also the reason why, even though they wanted to peel his skin off, they had never directly killed him.

It was a tacit understanding reached between them and the top levels of the government...

"Alright, time to move."

At that moment, Harry snapped his eyes open, and simultaneously, the black Symbiote moved as if it had a life of its own, rapidly covering his entire body.

In an instant, it constructed the ferocious and powerful X-Kryonaut...

"******!!"

Even someone as experienced as Deadpool couldn't help but curse out loud.

This thing was just too damn cool...

"Everyone, let's go!"

Harry's low voice broke the silence in the cabin.

He stood up, walked to the cabin door, and under the astonished gazes of the others, opened it directly.

Below lay a pitch-black reservoir.

Howling winds poured into the cabin.

Then, without hesitation, he leaped, plummeting like a black meteorite toward the bottomless reservoir below.

"Splash!"

A massive spray of water erupted.

Relying on the Black King's superpower, he easily absorbed the terrifying impact force of the high-altitude fall.

He climbed ashore, looked at the heavy metal door in the corner, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

The next moment, his figure flashed, rushing toward the door like a phantom.

The kinetic energy he had absorbed from the fall was released in an instant...

"Boom!"

The alloy-cast door, under the heavy blow of his Kryonaut-encased iron fist, burst open as if it were made of paper!

"[Prometheus I], initiate intrusion."

Harry issued the command in his mind.

"SIR, currently hacking the base's main system via the local area network..."

"Intrusion successful. Alarm systems, cameras, and other monitoring equipment have been cut off."

[Prometheus I] responded rapidly, its biological computer's powerful parallel processing capabilities combined with the super AI.

Dealing with this level of security system was practically a dimensional strike...

Immediately following this, the Kryonaut on Harry's body changed again; ripples spread across its surface, and then his figure seemed to merge into the air, vanishing from where he stood.

This was an invisibility ability he had extracted from a certain Mutant's genes and integrated into the X-Kryonaut, which was perfectly suited for this occasion.

Deadpool and the others used parachutes to land in the nearby area one after another.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Boss Osborn's work is truly clean, efficient, and a sight to behold!"

As soon as they entered the base perimeter, seeing the unobstructed path and the soldiers lying about who had clearly been taken out in an instant, Deadpool couldn't help but whistle in genuine admiration.

"Alright, we're heading to the other side."

Cyclops Scott was more pragmatic; he glanced at the real-time internal structure map of the base transmitted by Harry on his tablet, nodded, and spoke to the other two.

This was the mission distribution they had agreed upon before coming: Harry was responsible for dealing with Stryker, while they were to rescue the fellow Mutants being held captive as test subjects.

Wolverine Logan took a deep look in the direction of Stryker's main laboratory, a flash of complex emotion crossing his face.

Although recovering his lost memories was of vital importance to him, his current identity was that of an X-Men member.

After a moment of hesitation, he let out a low growl and followed in Cyclops's footsteps without looking back.

Meanwhile.

In the deepest laboratory of the base.

William Stryker was staring with fanatical eyes at the strange, squirming mass of matter inside the culture dish.

"Perfect! It is truly perfect!

Before long... Mutants will vanish from this planet..."

A sickly gleam flickered in the eyes of William Stryker.

The thing in this culture dish was the product he had obtained by cultivating the tissue cells of a Mutant codenamed Leech.

This Mutant's ability was to suppress the powers of other Mutants, so by using his tissue cells as raw material, he could mass-produce a power inhibitor targeting Mutants!

Originally, with his existing technology, achieving large-scale replication was an almost impossible task.

But thanks to the biotechnology provided by that "generous" Mr. Harry Osborn, he had managed to achieve mass production in a very short time.

Next, all that remained was to make people realize the danger of Mutants...

Thinking of this, a smug smile spread across the corners of Stryker's mouth.

According to the news sent back by Lady Deathstrike, Harry Osborn had encountered a serious car accident and should currently still be in the hospital "receiving treatment."

The one who made the move was that mysterious Winter Soldier; she hadn't even had the chance to act before Osborn's car was blown to the sky.

This was an unexpected turn of events. According to his original plan, he was going to have Lady Deathstrike brutally slaughter this hotshot genius scientist in front of the world's media at that Global Excellence Award ceremony.

He hadn't expected to be intercepted halfway, but this was actually good news; S.H.I.E.L.D. would inevitably go after the Winter Soldier, which gave him the perfect opportunity to strike.

It was just unclear why that legendary top assassin of Hydra would target Harry Osborn...

Did the remnants of Hydra also want a piece of the pie? Or had Osborn touched upon their interests?

But none of that mattered for the moment; all he needed was the fact that Harry Osborn died at the hands of a Mutant...

Next was to arrange for Lady Deathstrike to infiltrate the hospital where Harry Osborn was staying.

Then, once the timing was right, combined with the public opinion offensive he had already prepared, even the White House and S.H.I.E.L.D. would not be able to stop his "great cause"!

"Long time no see, Mr. Stryker..."

Just as William Stryker was immersed in the fantasy of his perfect plan about to be realized.

A cold and mocking voice, like a whisper from the depths of hell, suddenly came from the shadows behind him.

Immediately following, a tall figure covered in a hideous black bio-armor slowly stepped out from the shadows...