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Tony's battle plan was simple. First, Wolverine would take the lead, exposing himself and launching a direct attack to draw fire. Since Wolverine was practically immortal, ordinary soldiers were no match for him.
If the mutants engaged, the regular cloned mutants wouldn't stand a chance against Wolverine. But if they faced a Magneto clone, Tony would take him out from the sky using non-metallic bullets.
The two had a clear division of roles—Wolverine would handle ground combat while Tony provided long-range support from the air.
During this time, with all attention focused on them, George, the most powerful and versatile among them, would infiltrate the base unnoticed. His mission was to eliminate Sandal Lais and destroy the research data before joining the fight to assist the others.
Even if they couldn't win the battle and had to retreat, as long as Lais was killed and the research was destroyed, the mission would be considered a success.
George approved of this plan.
With 101 mutants possessing a variety of abilities, working together and supported by the base's guards, a frontal assault would be unwise.
But if he could capture Sandal Lais, his psychic abilities would allow him to extract the necessary information and destroy all the research data, ensuring there would be no "Lais 2.0" in the future.
He had no interest in using the research to create his own batch of cloned mutants.
For one, the clones lacked independent thought and had to be controlled entirely by computers. If they ever faced an enemy like Ultron or a skilled hacker, they could be taken over before the battle even began, turning the clones against them.
Moreover, developing and producing cloned mutants wasn't easy. Even with the full set of research data, it would still require building a state-of-the-art facility.
Running such a base would demand significant time and energy. Otherwise, other forces might easily steal the results of their hard work.
If he was going to invest that much effort, he'd rather focus on improving his magical abilities.
Today, his goal was to eliminate Lais once and for all, kill all the mutant clones, and destroy the research in plain sight. However, secretly, he planned to keep a copy of the data for future use.
For instance, if he ever needed a wand core, he could clone some of Phoenix's hair. Even though it wouldn't come from the original, hair from a clone could still have some effect—possibly even better than Professor X's.
Inside the research base:
"Boss, Wolverine Logan has broken in!"
Commander Donald rushed over, clearly flustered, as Lais frowned in response.
"Why panic? It's just Wolverine. What's there to be afraid of?"
Lais was indeed surprised that Wolverine had found his way here and initiated an attack.
But it was just an aging Wolverine, who relied on drugs to regain a fraction of his former strength. Why should he be concerned?
Especially now, with a beautiful woman by his side—showing fear would only make him appear weak.
"It's not just that, boss. Look for yourself!"
Commander Donald handed Lais a tablet. As Lais stared at the screen, his pupils contracted in shock.
"He's recovered!"
The tablet was connected to the base's surveillance system, and the screen displayed a younger Wolverine tearing through the base's guards.
It wasn't much of a fight—more like a one-sided slaughter. No guard could withstand the full power of Wolverine in his prime.
Modern firearms were ineffective against him. Once he closed the distance, it was over—guns shattered, and men died. Even heavy weapons like rocket launchers only managed to knock him down temporarily, and they didn't always hit their mark.
If the guards had been willing to sacrifice their lives to stop him, they might have caused Wolverine some trouble.
But they were only human. Faced with an unstoppable, immortal killing machine, it didn't take long for their morale to break. The defense crumbled quickly.
That's why Donald was so panicked—if they didn't take action soon, Wolverine would be at their doorstep.
"Mr. Lais, it seems your base is in trouble. This won't affect me, will it?"
The Black Widow feigned fear, her eyes betraying her true thoughts. If the base was under attack, she might not need to wait until nightfall. In the chaos, she could steal the research data.
Lais, with a confident smirk, replied, "Don't worry, my dear. It's just Wolverine. Why don't you go rest in my room? I'll take care of this small issue and then come find you to discuss our cooperation in detail."
"I'll be waiting... in your room," she said, seductively licking her lips before following a guard toward Lais's quarters.
Once the Black Widow was out of sight, Lais's expression turned fierce.
"That fool dares to come here on his own? Today, I'll make sure he wishes he were dead!"
He quickly strode to the cloning lab and barked orders at the staff.
"Activate the Magneto clones."
At his command, nine of the one hundred cloning chambers opened.
Nine identical young Magnetos stepped out of their pods, and, following computer instructions, made their way to confront Wolverine.
When Lais selected mutants to clone, he didn't just create one clone per mutant. He prioritized the stronger ones.
Among the one hundred mutant clones in the base, ten were Black King, ten were Professor X, ten were Phoenix, and ten were Magneto.
The remaining clones, such as Wolverine, Sabretooth, Nightcrawler, White Queen, Colossus, Cyclops, and Storm, were limited to two or three each.
Because these clones were far weaker than the originals—at best, they had the power of a third-tier mutant—they needed to combine their abilities to be effective in combat.
The Magneto clones could each only control a few hundred pounds of metal, but together, their combined magnetic powers would easily immobilize Wolverine, leaving him utterly helpless.
And just as Lais predicted, once the nine Magneto clones arrived at the battlefield, the tide of battle turned swiftly.
Through the tablet's surveillance feed, Lais watched as the nine Magnetos unleashed their magnetic abilities in unison. Wolverine was pinned against the wall, while steel rebar from the wall was pulled out and driven through his body, securing him in place.
As for how Lais had obtained the genetic material of Black King and Nightcrawler, he had his father's former ally, General William Stryker, to thank.
After the first mutant war, Black King's body had been taken by the CIA and later handed over to Bolivar Trask.
Trask, in his quest to create the Sentinels, had captured and killed mutants like Nightcrawler, collecting the genes of most notable mutants.
In 1973, after the White House incident, Trask was sentenced to life in prison for espionage.
William Stryker, who had been assigned as the Pentagon liaison to Trask Industries, acquired Trask's entire collection of mutant genetic material and began his own independent research.
After Stryker's defeat at the hands of the X-Men, he took all the research with him and launched his mutant extinction project, creating new mutants in the process.
The only mutant gene he lacked was Apocalypse's, as the Phoenix had reduced him to ashes before any samples could be collected.
But beyond that, Lais's database held the genetic material of nearly every famous mutant, ready to be cloned.
(End of Chapter)