"So it was him!"
After thinking for a moment, Alex finally remembered who that guy—Chris Bradley, according to the file—actually was.
He used to be one of Wolverine Logan's old war buddies.
Back in the day, they'd worked under Stryker alongside Sabretooth, Ghost, Blob, and the rest—doing the kind of dirty work that couldn't see the light of day.
But for some unknown reason, like Logan, Bradley eventually left Stryker's side. He went into hiding at an amusement park, using his powers to scam people just to get by.
Didn't end well for him, though. If Alex remembered correctly, Sabretooth ended up killing him.
So, this time… was he being sent to recruit that guy?
But the man's ability wasn't exactly impressive.
He could manipulate electricity, sure, but going by what Alex had seen in the movies, his power was barely enough to charge a dead elevator or make a light bulb glow without a power source. That was about it.
Combat-wise? No sign of anything useful.
"Alex, is there a problem?"
Erik's voice cut in, his gaze fixed on Alex.
He didn't voice the concern on his mind—namely, that they might only find a corpse—but it was written all over his face.
Alex shook his head. "No problem."
"Good. Go get ready. We leave in half an hour," Erik said with a nod before pushing the door open and stepping out of Charles' office.
"I'll head back, too, if there's nothing else," Alex stood up.
Charles gave him a look and asked lightly, "Alex, after all that we talked about, aren't you at least curious? About what kind of enemy we're up against?"
As a telepath, Charles rarely met people who could keep secrets from him. Even if he wasn't actively reading minds, he could still sense emotions and thoughts.
But for some reason, Alex was a complete blind spot.
He couldn't sense anything. Nothing at all.
"When the time comes, I'll know," Alex replied with a casual smile and walked out without elaborating.
Charles couldn't help but sigh inwardly. For someone so young, Alex was far more composed than he'd expected.
It seemed certain responsibilities could be entrusted to him after all.
Sebastian Shaw's movements were becoming increasingly frequent, and unfortunately, the man had a telepath of his own capable of completely shielding him from Charles' mental probing.
That rendered Cerebro completely useless against him.
Charles had no choice but to rely on the CIA and their traditional investigative methods—time-consuming, tedious work.
And with so many things piling up, he truly was running out of hands.
If Alex could hear Charles' inner monologue, he'd probably laugh out loud.
Composed, my ass.
He just already knew who the enemy was—plain and simple.
---
Back at the apartment—
"Hey, Alex!"
A few mutants were playing cards in the lounge, and they all looked up to greet him.
"Alex, what did Erik want with you?" Raven asked, tossing a card and craning her neck toward him.
"Just going to find someone. Looks like we'll be getting a new teammate soon," Alex answered honestly.
"Really? Who is it this time?"
"Nice! Another mutant joining the team?"
Everyone perked up with excitement.
After all, mutants and regular humans were practically different species. That kind of kinship, the sense of belonging with one's own kind, was like running into a fellow countryman in a foreign land—indescribable.
And Alex, as a mutant himself, was naturally on the opposite side of the divide from regular humans.
"Why you though?" asked the tattooed girl, her tone laced with a bit of envy.
They'd all joined the team around the same time—why was Erik favoring Alex?
Just because he was strong?
Please. She could fly. She could spit acid!
"Maybe Erik just needed a driver," Alex shrugged and didn't bother explaining further. He headed back to his room, changed clothes, did a bit of prep, and soon it was time to leave.
---
He met up with Erik at the rendezvous point.
"Erik."
"Alex."
They exchanged simple greetings before getting into the car and setting off.
"Alex, mind if I ask you something?"
On the road, Erik casually turned the wheel and glanced at Alex as if making idle conversation.
"Sure, what's on your mind?"
Alex wasn't one to refuse. He was actually curious what Erik wanted to ask.
"Do you think humans and mutants can truly understand each other—live together peacefully?"
Wow. Straight to the deep end.
"Charles believes they can," Alex replied.
"But what about you?"
"I'm not sure."
Alex shook his head.
He was still a kid—or at least that's how Erik saw him—so it wasn't like he had any profound insights into such questions.
"But… just look at African Americans, or other minorities in America. Even now, they haven't been fully accepted. So if Charles' vision is to be realized… it'll be a long, hard road."
"Why do you ask?"
"Just making conversation," Erik replied lightly, brushing it off.
Conversation, huh?
Alex gave Erik a sideways glance. He doubted it was that simple.
It felt more like Erik was probing his stance on certain issues.
Still, Alex didn't dwell on it.
The car kept moving at a steady pace. All was quiet.
---
Springfield, Ohio.
At a brightly lit, bustling amusement park—
Chris Bradley looked like a giant orange tabby basking in the sun, lazily slumped at his booth.
"Hey, how does this work?"
A couple walked up, and only then did he lazily open his eyes. The blonde girl was pointing excitedly at the glowing light bulb in front of him.
"It's easy. Turn off the light, and you win a prize. One dollar gets you two tries," Bradley explained.
Sounded simple enough.
The blonde girl immediately paid and eagerly tried the switch.
Click!
She flipped the switch off.
The light stayed on.
"Okay, that's suspicious," she muttered, yanking the power plug out entirely—but the bulb still glowed.
Now she was really confused.
Her boyfriend came over, and with a couple twists, removed the bulb entirely—
But weirdly, it still glowed.
"Freak!"
The couple was clearly freaked out. The guy muttered a curse, grabbed the girl's hand, and bolted.
"Looks like our little lightning boy is doing just fine, wouldn't you say, Zero?"
In the crowd, Sabretooth turned to Zero with a toothy, feral grin.
Then, without waiting for a reply, he started striding straight toward Bradley.
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