Weapon X! Reaper-9

Weapon X! Reaper-9

Facing the incoming metal whip, Dio instinctively summoned The World, but before it could assume a defensive stance, a purple afterimage flashed past the edge of his vision.

"What is this?!"

The metal froze less than ten centimeters before his eyes.

Because...

"ORA ORA ORA ORA—!!!"

The purple giant roared as his fists became countless afterimages!

It was so fast that it utterly surpassed Dio's understanding of Stands.

Was this Father's full strength?

Dio's eyes blurred from the sight.

Every punch looked to him like a collapsing star!

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The metal giant's body shattered inch by inch like fragile glass.

The liquid metal tried to reform, only to be blasted into powder before that absolute power.

Dio could even see the silver particles slowly spreading through the air, like fireworks played in slow motion.

"Dio, watch—!"

Clark's shout came to an abrupt halt.

In his vision, the once-menacing metal monster suddenly broke apart. Tens of thousands of metal fragments exploded through the rain like a sudden silver storm!

Even though his vision could clearly track every fragment's path, he still could not understand what had happened—

One second, the enemy had been baring its fangs and claws. The next, it had turned into metal debris filling the sky.

"W-what happened?"

Raindrops clung to his lashes, and Clark's eyes were full of confusion.

He turned to Dio. "Did you do that?"

Apparently, he was still holding a grudge over the punch Dio had given him earlier.

Dio did not answer.

He merely stared ahead, the corners of his mouth rising beyond his control.

Deep within the curtain of rain, the man in mud-splattered work pants casually put away his shotgun, as though nothing had happened.

But Dio had seen it.

That purple phantom standing behind his father like a god of war.

Star Platinum slowly turned its head and gave Dio an almost imperceptible nod before vanishing into the rain.

Like a lion king showing his cub how to hunt.

Hmph, stupid Clark. He can't even see that.

Dio shoved Clark beside him, his face full of disdain.

Leaving the foolish boys behind for the moment, Locke crouched down and looked at the silver fragments scattered across the ground, dissolving beneath the rain.

He used the barrel of his shotgun to push aside several larger pieces of metal wreckage.

Inside a section of armor that had not yet fully melted, he saw a clearly visible line of laser-etched code:

WEAPON X - REAPER-9

Weapon X—Reaper-9.

Rainwater ran down Locke's neck and into his collar, ice-cold against his skin.

He knew that symbol all too well.

Not as a Kansas farmer, but from the memories of the American comic fan he had been before crossing over.

Wolverine, Captain America, even Deadpool—weren't they all famous figures from comic books?

But few people knew

that they were all products of Weapon X, the mutant experimentation program.

Weapon X actually existed in this world.

But according to his memories—

There was no Stark in this world, nor was there Captain America.

Aside from a handful of beings called mutants, elements from the Marvel world were nearly nonexistent here.

Narrowing his eyes, Locke looked at several drops of liquid metal wriggling in the mud. As they came into contact with rainwater, they gave off an eerie sizzling sound and began to dissolve.

He recalled a term:

Adamantium Allotrope—

It was an imitation developed to replicate genuine adamantium.

Although it could possess similar strength for a short time, it continuously released radioactive toxins, eventually melting even its host into a pool of waste fluid. In the comics, this material most often appeared in the suicide weapons of mutant death squads.

Then, obviously...

The truth behind Reaper-9's appearance here had surfaced. It was clearly an escaped test subject implanted with a kill command.

No wonder it had marched onward without the slightest trace of reason, attacking living creatures everywhere.

He really did not know how that thing had made it all the way here.

"Crack!"

Locke's boot crushed the last piece of metal.

Silver liquid seeped into the soil, causing the surrounding weeds to wither and blacken at a visible rate.

But he had no mind to care about that.

After all, that was Weapon X.

And he had somehow gotten involved with this thing.

Who knew? A Weapon X pursuit team might come after him later, and perhaps even some...

Locke laughed.

He stood and swung the shotgun over his shoulder.

What did any of that have to do with him?

He roughly wiped the rain from his face.

What mutant weapons program, what adamantium—what did any of it have to do with a Kansas farmer like him?

The oats still needed harvesting tomorrow morning, Jonathan's bull needed breeding next week, and Dio and Clark had not finished their summer homework. Those were the things that mattered.

"Dad!"

Dio called from behind him, his wet blond hair plastered to his forehead.

The boy wore an intentionally innocent expression, but the curiosity in the depths of his red eyes could not be hidden at all.

Locke knew that look too well.

Dio looked exactly like that whenever he secretly flipped through Locke's hidden copies of Playboy.

"Come here, both of you." He turned and called to the two curious boys, pointing toward the edge of the wheat field some distance away, where a wild deer with its belly ripped open was somehow lying. "Bring that deer back."

"We can have something extra for dinner tonight."

Clark was still completely dazed. "But that robot—"

"It rusted and broke down."

"But it suddenly—"

"Poor maintenance. You know, Clark, when some metals get old, they corrode and disappear."

"???"

Dio laughed. He let his father lead him and Clark onward, then suddenly lowered his voice. "I'm not some idiot giant like Clark."

Locke's hand stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"You little brat," he said in a low voice, grabbing Dio by the back of his collar, "I still haven't settled the score with you for sneaking over here."

"When we get back, copy the Farm Safety Rules ten times!"

"???"

Under the sullen gazes of the two foolish boys carrying the wild deer.

The roar of a tractor engine drew nearer from afar as Locke drove the steel beast over.

After placing the deer in the back of the tractor, he grabbed Dio and Clark, one in each hand, and stuffed them inside.

"Uncle Locke... I still think—"

"Clark,"

Locke suddenly asked, "why is one of the detonators I hid on the third beam in the barn missing?"

"Dio did it."

"Shut up, idiot! You promised not to tell!"

"Dio, I'm sorry. I don't want to copy the Farm Safety Rules anymore."

"Clark, you bastard!"

Amid the torrential rain, the tractor lurched crookedly toward the farm as the two argued.

No one noticed the silver liquid that had seeped into the earth constantly wandering and spreading, until it locked onto a direction and wriggled away like a living thing, leaving faint fluorescent traces that gradually faded away. Nor did anyone notice that an ordinary farmer had easily dealt with a robot, preventing a possible massacre in Smallville due to the cleanup team's incompetence.

However—

On a farther interstate highway, a black Chevrolet tore through the rain, its onboard radar locked onto an energy signal that was fading away.

"Damn it, how did you people lose that guy?!"

"That thing was too unstable! That was a Reaper! Before the follow-up weapons arrive, who would dare go after it?! We aren't mutant criminals! And maybe it just exploded, didn't it?! Otherwise, why would the signal disappear at this farm? Tell me! Don't tell me a farmer took it out, Agent Smith?"

"Hey! You bastard. I'm telling you, don't underestimate farmers!"

The people in the car were arguing as well.