Pledging allegiance

Brad felt as though he had watched thousands of movies, TV shows, and comics in a single instant.

Some of those stories were interconnected, unfolding along a single timeline.

Others contradicted one another, while some seemed to have no connection to the rest at all, as though they took place in different universes.

But taken together, those stories ultimately formed one word in Brad's mind: Marvel.

Sitting in the vehicle on the way back, Brad quietly looked over the other members of the squad.

Wolverine, Logan.

Sabretooth, Victor.

Steel Fist, Fland.

Deadpool, Wade.

And Stryker, who wasn't riding with them.

These men appeared fairly often in the scenes he had watched, but as for the others...

Agent Zero, for instance, barely appeared at all.

Some people are the protagonists of these stories. Others aren't.

Brad thought to himself.

And when he put all of them together, Brad found a story that belonged to their group.

He saw Wade's ending in that story: transformed into a monster called Weapon X, then ultimately killed by Wolverine and Sabretooth.

But there was clearly much more to Wade's story than that.

He saw Wolverine, Logan, undergo modifications using an alloy Stryker had made from the mysterious metal he had collected over the years, only to be hunted down and lose his memory.

He even saw his own ending: after retiring, Sabretooth tracked him down, brutally killed him, and extracted his X-Gene.

Brad couldn't help feeling a surge of killing intent toward Sabretooth.

Victor, who had been dozing in the vehicle, suddenly jolted awake. He bared four sharp fangs and scanned his surroundings with a vicious look.

But that killing intent had already vanished.

Victor was baffled.

Brad quickly reined in his urge to kill Sabretooth, Victor. First, it hadn't happened yet. Second, he couldn't beat him right now anyway.

I'm never the protagonist in any of these stories. My death doesn't matter at all...

Brad felt a little depressed.

Then he remembered something, and his eyes widened.

Brad hurriedly pulled a somewhat worn wallet from inside his jacket. There was a photograph inside.

It showed a poised, striking woman.

Agent Carter Peggy.

She's Captain America, Steve Rogers's girlfriend?!

That young man in the alley that night had been Captain America!

But in those stories, wasn't Captain America supposed to belong to another universe, one unrelated to theirs?

How could the Avengers and the X-Men appear in the same story?

While Brad sat lost in thought, Logan tilted his head and spotted the photograph in Brad's hand.

"Your girlfriend? She's pretty. Didn't think you had it in you, kid."

Logan complimented him.

"Huh? Oh... right, yeah. I'm planning to finish a few more jobs, then go back and get married."

With his head full of jumbled information, Brad gave an absentminded reply.

Logan noticed that Brad seemed distracted, but thought nothing of it. Assuming he was lost in thoughts of his sweetheart, he reached out and gave Brad a comforting pat on the shoulder.

What Brad was thinking was worlds apart from Logan's guess.

Dying like that would be pathetic. I didn't even get a decent nickname.

I'm going to change my fate!

Brad put the photograph away, lowered his head, and began to think.

His original plan had been to do a few more jobs for Colonel Stryker, save up enough money, and then ask to leave.

But judging by the story in his head, doing that would only make Stryker see him as a thorn in his side... no, he wasn't important enough to be a thorn in Colonel Stryker's side.

At most, he was a spare X-Gene carrier who could be killed for his bone marrow at any time.

Brad noticed that in this story, Agent Zero and Sabretooth, Victor, never left Colonel Stryker. They continued working for him.

Those two were never targeted. The other Mutants who retired, however, had men sent to their doors by Stryker and were killed for their bone marrow one by one.

If I want to change my original fate in the story ahead, I'll have to swallow my pride and keep working under Colonel Stryker a little longer.

Brad kept analyzing the situation, not even noticing how much sharper his mind had become. Details he would never have considered before now came flooding into his thoughts.

The seven-man Mutant squad returned to Colonel Stryker's secret base.

To be fair, at least while they worked for Stryker, they really weren't treated poorly. Everyone had a private bedroom.

There was also a full range of recreational and workout facilities.

But apart from the taciturn Agent Zero, no one wanted to torture themselves on that equipment after returning exhausted from a mission.

Wade, Logan, and Victor headed off for drinks with their arms around one another's shoulders. Fland went to find something to eat, while Phantom John found a place to sit and began playing his guitar.

Brad opened his bedroom door and looked at the room full of light bulbs, an unfamiliar gleam in his eyes.

He closed the door, turned around, and headed toward the elevator on the base's first floor.

In the makeshift bar, Logan watched Brad walk past in surprise, a cigar between his lips.

"Isn't this the first time that kid hasn't gone straight to his room to fiddle with those light bulbs?"

"..." Victor didn't respond to Logan. Instead, he raised his glass and drank deeply, his dark gaze fixed on Brad's back until he disappeared into the elevator.

Colonel Stryker's temporary quarters were on the base's third underground level.

Brad knocked on the office door.

A slightly surprised voice came from inside. "Come in."

Even Stryker hadn't expected Brad to seek him out of his own accord.

"We still have some time before the date we agreed on, if I remember correctly. What, looking to quit already?"

He tried to work out why Brad had come.

"No, Colonel. Quite the opposite. I'd like to take our cooperation a step further... in fact, I've suddenly decided I don't want to leave."

Brad explained unhurriedly.

Stryker froze. Unlike the mutually beneficial arrangement he had with Logan and his brother, or his employment of Wade and Agent Zero, Brad had essentially been coerced into joining this Mutant squad.

He had assumed Brad was like Phantom John, thinking of nothing but leaving as soon as his contract expired.

Colonel Stryker felt as though something had changed, as though events were starting down a path he hadn't anticipated.

But clearly, he didn't care much. After all, Brad's mutant ability was too simple. He could only control certain technological devices that relied on electricity. Stryker could have him killed whenever he wanted.

Still, since Brad had willingly come to pledge his allegiance, Stryker was naturally more than happy to welcome him.

"A wise decision, Mr. Brad. I'm sure we'll get along even better from now on."

Stryker extended a hand toward Brad.

Brad calmly shook his hand, but the man's life story flashed through his mind.

William Stryker, one of the main antagonists of the X-Men, is a high-ranking United States military officer. His son, Mastermind, caused his wife's death, leaving him with an extreme hatred of Mutants.

He devoted his entire life to creating the ultimate Mutant to serve as a weapon.

As Brad looked at Stryker's friendly smile and compared it with the description in his mind-an extreme hatred of Mutants-his wariness of Stryker rose to its peak.

Seeing Stryker's kind smile directed at him, and recalling the description in his mind that he “extremely hated Mutants,” Brad became extremely wary of Stryker.