Utterly Unscrupulous

After his modifications, Wade's killing power was so terrifying that Stryker did not dare let him move around freely, even with regular injections of spinal fluid extracted from Mastermind.

Ever since the modifications were completed, he had been locked in a specially prepared chamber and injected with a customized anesthetic every half hour.

Watching the unconscious Wade lying on a metal table through the surveillance feed, Brad felt conflicted.

"These people who hate mutants..."

Brad was a mutant himself. His natural allegiances made it impossible for him to stand alongside someone like Stryker.

Brad accessed the records of Stryker's frenzied experiments over the years through the computer. What he read gave him goosebumps.

"There are plenty of people in Marvel who hate mutants like this. Stryker's case is a warning to me. I have to strike first. I can't let people like him keep developing their operations in secret."

Bolivar Trask.

Brad added a new name to the top of his watch list.

This man was the founder of Trask Industries, whose Sentinels were designed specifically to hunt mutants.

Brad isolated the Wolverine stories in his mind and reviewed them. Before long, he found depictions of future Sentinels in some of those stories.

"They can change their forms at will. The Second-Generation Sentinels aren't purely metal constructs. They're biomechanical robots incorporating the genes of a mutant named Mystique."

"Through large-scale data collection and analysis by a supercomputer, this version of the Sentinels can generate specific functions to counter their target mutant's abilities."

"Combining biological genes with robots? And they can keep evolving? How did he pull that off?"

The more Brad read, the grimmer his expression became. He nearly burst into curses.

"This technology is way too insane!"

For the first time, Brad felt outclassed in the field of robotics.

Inspiration exploded through his mind, and he even extrapolated his Terminator series all the way to the Liquid Robot form.

Yet this technology combining robots with biological genes still felt far beyond his reach.

Brad had lost count of how many times he had marveled at the seemingly endless supply of geniuses in the Marvel Universe.

Brad found himself in a dilemma.

On one hand, his reason told him to eliminate this man named Bolivar early. He absolutely could not let him develop Sentinel technology unchecked.

On the other hand, Brad desperately coveted Bolivar's biomechanical robotics technology.

Ever since unveiling the Terminator series, Brad had felt that he might spend the rest of his life working with robots.

Bolivar's technology scratched exactly the right itch.

"No, I want it too badly!"

"I really want to know how Bolivar combined biological genes with robots!"

Brad decided to make a big play.

He would let Bolivar research the Sentinels, then get his hands on that technology.

The question now was whether his mutant ability could counter the Sentinels' mutant identification program.

Brad honestly had no confidence in that.

His earlier swagger in front of Stryker had mostly been about venting his anger.

After all, to survive in the past, he had spent his time under Stryker treading carefully, as though walking on thin ice. That had left Brad with a great deal of pent-up resentment.

In reality, although the range of Brad's ability had increased somewhat as he grew older, it still covered less than half a city.

The world's atomic bombs had nothing to do with him unless he could get close to their launch silos.

At this rate of growth, by the time he reached a hundred, Brad would only be able to black out an entire city with a wave of his hand.

With the Moonstone's effects, he could live another four hundred years, but that still wouldn't do him a damn bit of good.

Unless...

He became one of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Brad shook his head, driving that thought out of his mind.

Apocalypse was pretty dangerous too. The man had at least a thousand superpowers stitched into him. If Brad became one of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse and received a power boost from him, he could then easily command all of humanity's technological weapons and bring humanity under Apocalypse's rule.

But that would leave him subordinate to someone else for the rest of his life.

Besides, what if Apocalypse took an interest in his mutant ability and decided to possess his body?

Still, that suddenly gave Brad an idea.

Instead of seeking out Apocalypse, he could follow the example of the future Professor X and build an ability amplifier.

Then he could launch nuclear weapons from anywhere he wanted.

Or he could create artificial life, infiltrate the world's networks, and take control of every technological weapon.

"Why am I thinking about artificial life again?"

Brad glanced back at T900, his expression softening.

Although he had set up the scanning program beforehand, T900 had undoubtedly earned credit.

Simply improving T900's underlying logic algorithms and making it a little more intelligent was still within what Brad could accept.

Leaving T900 where it was, Brad collected himself and hurried down to join Logan and the others.

Then Brad saw a large crowd of captive mutants, most of them teenagers. They were gathered around Logan, clearly treating him as their pillar of support.

Logan looked helpless and somewhat irritable.

Meanwhile, Silver Fox held a teenage girl in her arms, her face filled with grief.

"What happened?"

Not wanting to end up in Logan's predicament, Brad skirted the crowd of children and went over to ask Silver Fox.

"My sister, Emma Frost. That bastard Stryker extracted her spinal fluid so brutally that she can't stand anymore!"

Silver Fox wailed in grief.

"All right, calm down. Let me take a look."

Brad helped Silver Fox to her feet.

Then he took a device from inside his clothes and scanned along Emma Frost's back.

Looking at the data on the display, Brad considered it for a moment.

"Her spinal nerves are damaged. She's paralyzed, but I can get her back on her feet."

"Are you serious? You have that kind of technology?"

Wolverine, Logan, struggled through the crowd. After all, this concerned his girlfriend's sister's future mobility, so he cared a great deal.

Looking at Logan, Brad suddenly had an idea.

"Well... it depends on how you want her to get back on her feet."

"I can build a bionic external spine. It won't look pretty, but it's better than being paralyzed."

"The other option is..."

Seeing Brad trail off, apparently reluctant to continue, Logan understood what he was thinking.

He sighed. "The other option is me. My healing factor, right? You've taken over Stryker's base, so now you have the technology for gene grafting."

"Logan, I know you want freedom and don't want to be a test subject. I can't make that decision for you."

Brad took a deep breath, looking utterly torn.

"I agree, Brad. I'll do it."

Logan glanced at Silver Fox, who did not dare say a word. Suddenly, he looked desolate, his head hanging low.

Silver Fox opened her mouth and raised a hand toward Logan, only to let it fall again in the end.

On one side was her sister; on the other, the lover who had been with her for years.

Silver Fox's heart felt as though it were being cut apart.

But she still made her choice.

Her sister was still young. She couldn't just be left disabled like this, or spend the rest of her life with a steel frame strapped to her back.

Silver Fox and Logan's relationship ended then and there.

Brad had effectively gained two powerful recruits that day.

Silver Fox, one of Hydra's future leaders, and her younger sister, the future White Queen, a member of the Hellfire organization.

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