Chapter 830: The Target Appears

Chapter 830: Chapter 830: The Target Appears

Wild Boar could say with absolute certainty that the possibility of them escaping through a secret passage did not exist.

From the moment he began preparing to infiltrate the base, the first thing he had done was familiarize himself with its entire layout. Every passage, stairway, and room had been mapped out clearly.

Even before using his ability to construct an underground structural map through sonic echoes, Wild Boar had been certain that this dam base had only two entrances and exits: the spillway and the dam’s staff access tunnel.

Then could they have relied on another mutant’s ability to simply disappear from inside the base?

For example, Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner, the blue-skinned demon, had not been rescued by the X-Men and was still in William Stryker’s hands. Leaving with his ability wouldn’t be difficult. Perhaps this part of the situation had simply diverged from what happened in the movie.

But Wild Boar was more convinced that Stryker and his son were still inside the base, hiding somewhere.

...Considering their dream of completely exterminating mutants, and the fact that personnel were still coming and going around the brainwave amplifier inside the base, the most likely place for William Stryker to be was the hall where the brainwave amplifier was being constructed.

For some unknown reason, however, the interior of that room was currently obscured. The Sparrow drones couldn’t detect its current condition, so Wild Boar had to go there personally and take a look.

The passage leading to the brainwave amplifier was considerably wider than ordinary corridors, probably because it had been expanded to facilitate the transportation of large components.

Moreover, once Wild Boar approached, the personnel who had been coming and going seemed to deliberately avoid the area and stopped appearing altogether.

At the very end of the corridor stood a massive metal door similar in design to the one leading to the brainwave amplifier in the X-Men’s underground base.

The difference was that this door showed signs of rust. Unlike the X-Men’s base, where every metal component had been polished and carefully maintained, this one clearly hadn’t received the same level of upkeep.

Even the iconic giant X symbol had been reproduced here, though it was extremely inconspicuous.

"Is this a bank vault? This giant door is no less impressive." Aetos armor, following behind, commented on the door over the internal communications channel. "How are you planning to open it? Blow it up?"

"Blowing it up would be way too lacking in technical sophistication," Wild Boar couldn’t help retorting.

At the X-Men’s base, the door leading to the brainwave amplifier had to be opened using Professor X’s biometric data, including his iris and facial features.

Obviously, the U.S. military base couldn’t use the same method.

Wild Boar immediately spotted the keypad beside the door. He tore open the access panel, revealing a wiring setup so simple that it looked as though he could simply pick two wires and short them together to open the door.

Reality, of course, wasn’t quite that simple. The password still had to be cracked.

Brute-forcing the door open wouldn’t have been a problem for Wild Boar armor either. But cracking the password was much easier than expected because the electronic lock installed in this base was an extremely outdated model.

It was probably only intended to stop their own people from wandering into restricted areas, not to keep outsiders from breaking in.

So after fiddling with it for a few moments, Wild Boar successfully got the massive metal doors to slide open.

But the sight of the circular brainwave amplifier chamber beyond left everyone utterly bewildered.

The enormous spherical chamber had a suspended bridge extending outward from the entrance.

Quite a few people were crowded onto the bridge, craning their necks and peering outside.

Most importantly, there were two wheelchairs inside, and of course, there were people sitting in them.

They were none other than Wild Boar’s targets: Jason Stryker and Professor X.

The other three saw the bizarre scene through Wild Boar armor’s shared visual feed.

Gilgamesh spoke with surprise. "Did you activate your camouflage again? Why does everyone inside look like they can’t see you?"

After thinking for a moment, Wild Boar came up with one possibility.

"Could they be using an ability to conceal themselves, assuming we can’t see them, and planning to stay perfectly still until we go away?"

"Is that what’s happening?"

"Our helmets have equipment designed to protect against telepathy. Looks like it works. I don’t want to take my helmet off just to see what kind of scene we’d be looking at if their abilities were affecting us."

Mutant telepathy primarily affected the brain, but against a machine, there was nowhere for it to hide.

If the other side didn’t know their abilities weren’t working and believed they had successfully concealed themselves, then this behavior wasn’t surprising at all.

"Are you going to warn them?"

"Why? They’re sitting there like targets waiting to be shot. Of course we should take advantage of it. What’s the point of making things harder for ourselves?"

Gilgamesh replied over the internal channel, "Fine, fine. None of us have any objections. Since you can see them through the camera, how are you planning to attack? Go in there and beat them up?"

"Please. I’d have to be out of my mind to stupidly walk into the range of the enemy’s ability. Didn’t we suffer enough last time?"

Wild Boar took a standard flashbang from the ammunition pouch at his waist.

"Let’s experiment first. We’ll see whether his ability can even ignore the effects of a flashbang."

As he spoke, Wild Boar armor pulled the pin from the flashbang and rolled it onto the central suspended bridge of the brainwave amplifier chamber.

At the same time, all of the armor’s anti-blast and anti-flash protection systems activated, and the visual display suddenly dimmed.

The terrifying burst of light that followed was intense enough that even through the light-filtering lens, its brilliance was still apparent.

Of course, it wasn’t nearly enough to blind the wearer.

The sound was even less of a concern.

The armor’s excellent sealing, which allowed it to function even in a vacuum, combined with the shock-absorbing isolation between the armor and its inner lining, prevented the flashbang’s deafening blast from affecting the wearer’s senses.

Protection against common weapons like these had naturally been one of the considerations when the armor was originally designed.

Compared with the comprehensive protection offered by the armor, the people inside the brainwave amplifier chamber were far less fortunate.

One flashbang dropped everyone to the floor.

It even dispelled Mastermind’s false imagery.

The two unfortunate men sitting in wheelchairs were the only ones who hadn’t fallen flat on the floor.

But they weren’t doing much better. They were slumped crookedly in their wheelchairs, mouths twisted open and tongues hanging out, looking half-dead.

With the concealment broken, the armor’s normal visual and audio sensors returned to full functionality.

Wild Boar armor casually stepped onto the suspended bridge of the brainwave amplifier chamber.

Stepping over the unrelated technicians scattered across the floor, Wild Boar approached Mastermind’s wheelchair.

This mutant, who had posed a considerable threat to him, had long since been turned into a puppet by his own father.

His spinal fluid was also being used as a raw material for the drugs that controlled other mutants.

Wild Boar wasn’t certain whether that control agent would work on non-mutants. In any case, the wearer of Wild Boar armor had no intention of using or experimenting with such a drug.

The armor’s palm pressed against the thin man’s forehead.

His malnourished, physically inactive appearance gave him a sickly look.

Unfortunately, the wearer of Wild Boar armor felt not the slightest bit of pity.

The channels of Isu energy suddenly lit up along the armor’s arm!

His five fingers tightened.

Mastermind’s entire frontal lobe was crushed in his grip.

Then his hand contracted again, tearing out a large portion of the man’s brain.

Even his eyeballs were ripped out along with it.

With injuries of this severity, even if his heart was still beating, the man was finished.

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