Baikal Lake Military Base
The battle between the X-Men and the Mutants in the military base was in full swing.
Initially, there were 10 Mutants defending the base.
Now, only 7 remained.
Mutant Armstrong, with his super strength, and Mutant Niggle, who could melt metal,
Had been killed by Scott and Alex, respectively.
As for the Two-Armed Man, he was mercilessly eliminated by Brian,
Deemed too weak and comical to pose any real threat.
The remaining Mutants in the Soviet base were:
Quill,
Spider-Man,
Puffer Man,
Gypsy Witch,
Mutant Cecilia,
Mutant Woman Sandy,
And Neeson, who possessed the ability to fly.
On the X-Men's side, only Sean Cassidy had been temporarily incapacitated.
Spider-Man's cobweb had sealed his mouth, leaving him stuck to the outer wall of the building.
Spider-Man was scaling the wall swiftly,
Drawing closer to Siryn with every second.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Siryn struggled desperately upon seeing Spider-Man approaching, but the spider web's adhesive strength was far too strong.
Siryn couldn't move at all.
His body was immobilized, and with his mouth and nose sealed,
He was on the verge of suffocating and losing consciousness.
In his desperation, he could only hope his teammates would deal with the enemy quickly.
"Homelander, rescue Siryn,"
Professor X commanded,
His mental powers sensing Siryn's dire condition.
"Got it, Professor X,"
Brian replied casually, finally deciding it was time to act.
Raising his hand, Brian used Psychokinesis to envelop Spider-Man.
Psst.
Before Spider-Man could react, his entire body was crushed by Brian's immense Psychokinesis.
With Spider-Man eliminated, Brian's eyes glowed red.
A laser beam shot forth, precisely melting the cobweb trapping Siryn.
The precision was flawless—The laser burned away the web without harming Siryn at all.
Brian's mastery over his laser ability was absolute.
Freed from the web, Siryn fell from the outer wall.
Once he hit the ground, Siryn inhaled deeply before unleashing a long-suppressed scream.
Opening his arms, the powerful sound wave propelled his body into the sky.
Bang!
But before Siryn could revel in his freedom for long,
A figure descended rapidly from above, kicking him back down to the ground.
Siryn managed to let out a weak howl, using his sound waves to slow his descent.
Even so, he fell heavily to the ground and lost consciousness.
"It's the Mutant with Flight Ability,"
Professor X muttered, a faint disappointment flickering across his face.
Siryn's lack of combat awareness was glaringly apparent.
Left with no choice, Professor X pressed his right hand to his temple,
Channeling a portion of his mental awareness into Siryn's mind.
The unconscious Siryn suddenly opened his eyes.
With renewed vigor, Siryn let out a sharp, focused sound wave.
The sonic attack rippled through the air at supersonic speed, hitting the airborne Mutant Nissen and sending him flying backward.
Simultaneously,
Siryn stood up and unleashed another sound wave.
This overclocked, piercing sound enveloped the remaining Soviet Mutants.
They clutched their ears instinctively, but the sharp, relentless vibrations still disoriented them.
Dizzy and incapacitated, their combat effectiveness plummeted instantly.
In just two sonic attacks, the Soviet Mutants were dealt significant damage.
However, this was not because Siryn suddenly turned the tide of battle himself.
It was Professor X controlling Siryn's body with precision and experience.
Under Professor X's guidance, Siryn's previously unimpressive sound waves now had the devastating force of a Level 4 Mutant's ability.
Bang.
Mutant Nissen, who had been knocked back moments earlier, recovered and soared forward again, rushing toward Siryn at supersonic speed.
Seeing the rapidly approaching Mutant, Siryn opened his mouth once more emitting a powerful scream.
The sound waves propelled Siryn's body upward, allowing him to enter a state of supersonic flight as well.
As Siryn dove toward Nissen, mutant Nissen had no choice but to ascend rapidly,
Dodging the attack, the two Mutants with Flight Abilities began an intense aerial chase,
Each trying to outmaneuver the other.
Meanwhile, on the ground,
Brian paid no attention to the high-speed aerial pursuit.
He calmly walked toward the remaining Soviet Mutants, who were still disoriented and incapacitated by Siryn's sound waves.
"Homelander, die!"
Quill, clutching his ears in pain,
Roared defiantly and charged at Brian,
Showing no fear in the face of overwhelming odds.
Swish.
As Quill closed in, Brian's eyes glowed red.
A single laser beam shot out, piercing Quill instantly.
"If you weren't here, I would have defeated the X-Men…"
Quill muttered with his dying breath, his face still filled with unwavering confidence.
Even in death, Quill believed that without Homelander, he could have triumphed over the X-Men with ease.
Brian smiled faintly, offering no response to Quill's last words.
His attention shifted to the remaining Mutants, fixating on the Mutant known as Pufferfish.
Raising his hand, Brian used his Psychokinesis to seize the Pufferfish Mutant, lifting him effortlessly off the ground.
Leaning in slightly, Brian's lips moved, and a voice that only Pufferfish could hear whispered in his ears:
"Release your poison mist, Pufferfish."
Under the influence of Brian's persuasion ability, Pufferfish's eyes glazed over, and he began to comply without resistance.
Opening his mouth wide, the Mutant released a dense, toxic green mist.
The poison mist surged out rapidly spreading in all directions.
Brian, who was closest to Pufferfish was the first to be engulfed.
However, Brian made no effort to evade.
He allowed the poison mist to envelop him completely, breathing it in without hesitation.
Within moments, Brian's adaptive evolution ability activated.
His body responded instantly, evolving a powerful new trait:
His blood began secreting an advanced detoxification serum, rendering him immune to all poisons.
The Pufferfish Mutant's toxin had no effect on Brian whatsoever.
But the same could not be said for the other Soviet Mutants nearby.
Caught in the expanding cloud of poison mist, they began collapsing to the ground one by one.
The Pufferfish Mutant's toxin was a neurotoxin.
It acted swiftly, paralyzing its victims almost instantly.
For many, it caused unconsciousness, rendering them temporarily incapacitated.
"Oh no, it's the Pufferfish's neurotoxin!"
Hank exclaimed as he spotted the rapidly spreading green mist.
However, just as Hank shouted his warning, Brian discreetly released a small, concentrated tornado.
The swirling winds propelled the toxic mist further, directing it straight toward the X-Men's camp.
"Fuck! Get out of the way!"
Hank roared,
Grabbing Cyclops, who was closest to him, and sprinting at full speed away from the oncoming fog.
Beast's animalistic instincts kicked in, allowing him to react far faster than Magneto or the others.
While Hank was racing away with Scott in tow, Magneto and the remaining X-Men only just realized the danger.
But by then, it was too late.
The green poisonous mist enveloped them completely, saturating the air around them.
Even though Magneto and the others instinctively covered their mouths and noses, the toxic mist infiltrated their bodies through their skin and pores.
Within moments, they felt their strength drain away.
One by one,
Magneto and the other X-Men collapsed to the ground,
Rendered powerless by the neurotoxin.
As they inhaled more of the green poisonous fog,
The X-Men began to feel their consciousness blur.
One by one, they succumbed to the toxin and fainted.
Even Professor X, despite his powerful mental abilities could not resist the effects of the Pufferfish Mutant's neurotoxin.
His thoughts grew chaotic and he eventually collapsed.
Beast, who had reacted quickly to the spreading poison, tried to escape the mist at full speed,
Dragging Cyclops Scott along.
But the poisonous fog spread too quickly.
Beast Hank barely made it ten meters before the mist engulfed him.
Despite his exceptional physical fitness, Hank could only endure for a few more seconds
Before collapsing to the ground, unwilling to give up but unable to resist.
With everyone rendered unconscious, Brian nonchalantly tossed aside the Pufferfish Mutant.
It was time to reap the rewards.
To ensure the poison fog's potency remained intact, Brian decided not to kill the Pufferfish Mutant just yet.
Instead, he calmly walked over to the unconscious Mutant Sandy.
With a casual raise of his right index finger, Brian used Psychokinesis to carefully cut open Sandy's head.
Thanks to the Pufferfish Mutant's neurotoxin, Sandy was entirely numb and felt no pain.
In a matter of seconds, Brian located Sandy's ability circuit.
With precision, he extracted her power and acquired Mutant Sandy's perception ability.
Now, without relying on Professor X's brainwave enhancer, Brian could easily perceive the location, abilities, and even the levels of all Mutants within a 15-kilometer range.
He had also inherited the ability to transmit the perceived images to others, just like Mutant Sandy.
After perfecting and maxing out the ability, Brian enhanced it even further.
Not only could he mark the location of any Mutant he perceived, but he could also track them regardless of distance.
Even if a Mutant fled to the ends of the earth, Brian would find them with ease.
However, the perception ability, being a level 4 mutant power still had its limitations.
First, it could only perceive Mutants who were on or near the ground.
If a Mutant ascended to high altitudes, they could evade detection.
Second, it was ineffective against Mutants who suppressed their genes, like Hank when he injected mutant gene inhibitors.
This was why the Mutant Sandy could not detect Beast Hank earlier.
After obtaining Mutant Sandy's perception ability, Brian didn't waste any time. He came to Mutant Cecilia again.
Ten seconds later, Brian once again obtained Mutant Cecilia's energy shield ability.
After fully developing it, Brian's energy shield could withstand a maximum explosion of 7,000 tons of TNT equivalent. For reference, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a power equivalent to 13,000–16,000 tons of TNT. Brian's shield could almost endure half the damage of a nuclear bomb explosion.
After acquiring Mutant Cecilia's energy shield ability, Brian glanced at the Gypsy witch next to him. He had no interest in the Gypsy witch's ability to predict death. He killed the Gypsy witch with a laser beam.
Then, Brian found Mutant Armstrong with Super Strength and Mutant Niggle, who could melt metal, and successively acquired the abilities of these two Mutants.
Super strength and microwave heating.
Super strength made Brian's muscles become as tough as copper and iron. At this moment, Brian's muscles were comparable to Superman's. Super strength also allowed him to easily lift thousands of tons of weight.
After fully developing this ability, Brian's Super Strength reached level 5.
The microwave ability could only reach level 4.
Microwave heating allowed Brian to release microwaves from his hands, similar to a microwave oven. His microwaves could heat objects and melt metal at most.
The Mutant Niggle had used the microwave heating ability to melt Magneto's metal, but that was its limit. It could only melt metal.
"Super strength, perception, energy shield, microwave heating," Brian muttered to himself as he stood up. He now had acquired four more Mutant abilities.
Super strength, in particular, made him feel even more like the Kryptonian next door.
Now, Brian only had one more ability left to acquire—Flight.
He looked up and saw the sky.
At that moment, due to the effects of the neurotoxin, Professor X's mental control was in Chaos.
Siryn was falling from mid-air.
Above the Siryn, Mutant Nissen wore a triumphant smile as he adjusted his suit in mid-air.
He grabbed the falling Siryn with both hands and began diving at an even faster speed.
"Siryn can't die yet," Brian said as he observed the crisis. After a brief hesitation, he decided to intervene.
After all, Siryn's strength was negligible, but he was still a useful piece of cannon fodder.
Moreover, this was the X-Men's first official superhero mission. Any loss of team members would cast doubt on the strength of the X-Men in the eyes of the American public.
Brian raised his hand and applied a golden energy shield to Siryn.
Boom.
Siryn's body hit the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and smoke.
In the chaos of the smoke, Mutant Nissen emerged, flying at a low altitude.
However, just as Nissen thought he had escaped, an invisible Psychokinesis force grabbed him mid-flight.
In Mutant Nissen's horrified eyes, his body was dragged backward toward Brian.
"Hi, there! I've been using Psychokinesis all this time, having a true flying power would feel much better!"
Panic overtook Nissen as he felt a sharp pain on his forehead, and blood trickled down his face.
"W-Wait, I will come to your side—Ahhhh..."
Despite Nissen's desperate pleas for mercy, Brian remained indifferent.
One minute later, Brian had acquired the Ability of Flight. After instantly maxing out the ability, Brian could now control his body to fly freely, with precision and ease.
The maximum flight speed Brian could achieve, after maxing out the ability, was Mach 12.
Although slightly slower than Superman's flight speed, it was more than enough to fulfill Brian's dream of true physical flight.
After acquiring these new abilities, Brian turned his attention to the puffer man.
"No... don't kill me," the puffer man stammered, his fear palpable as he had witnessed Brian's cold and precise actions.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. After all, the first superhero mission of the X-Men needs to yield some tangible results," Brian said with a grin.
His smile, rather than reassuring, only heightened the puffer man's terror.
Seeing the puffer man trembling, Brian wasted no further words.
He raised his hand and placed it on the puffer man's head. Brian carefully erased all the puffer man's memories from the recent events.
After completing the mind-wipe, Brian knocked the puffer man unconscious with a light gesture.
Glancing at the limp form of the puffer man, Brian frowned slightly, deep in thought.
Without hesitation, he moved to Mutant Cecilia. With a casual motion, he nicked his right index finger, allowing a single drop of divine blood to fall into Cecilia's mouth.
A red light briefly flashed across Cecilia's body. Her injuries healed instantly.
Brian glanced at the lifeless bodies scattered on the ground. With a sharp whistle, all the corpses exploded simultaneously, leaving no trace behind.
After ensuring the battlefield was clean, Brian approached the unconscious X-Men.
Extending his hand, he made a small cut on his palm, allowing drops of blood to drip out.
This wasn't divine blood but a special serum-like blood Brian's body had developed through adaptive evolution.
The blood contained a potent antidote capable of neutralizing the neurotoxin that had incapacitated the X-Men.
As the serum worked its way through their systems, the X-Men began to stir. Slowly, they regained consciousness, their faces showing a mix of relief and lingering fear.
Although the puffer man was only a level 3 Mutant, his neurotoxin had proven potent enough to incapacitate even level 4 Mutants with ease.
"Brian, thanks a lot, if it weren't for you..." Professor X said as he rose to his feet, brushing off the dust and placing a hand on Brian's shoulder. His gratitude was evident.
If it weren't for Brian's immunity to the puffer man's neurotoxin, the X-Men would have undoubtedly failed in their first major mission.
"Professor X, we're a team," Brian replied with a bright smile. "I've captured the puffer man and the woman with the energy shield. The others have been dealt with."
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