617. Erasing the Traces.
From Petra's account, Alex had already ford a general understanding of this universe's trajectory.
Just as he had suspected, this tiline branch was developing in an extrely unstable manner.
Although he couldn't yet determine exactly how things had devolved to this state, Alex speculated that this tiline was intricately linked to the events of Days of Future Past.
In the multiverse, every choice and every decision creates massive divergences and unpredictable futures. Wolverine, Logan, had traveled through ti with the help of Shadowcat and Rogue—a thod that, without a doubt, caused severe disruptions to the tiline.
While the movie's narrative had frad this kind of ti travel as 'reasonable' and 'controlled,' it was no different from how the Flash had created the Flashpoint universe. Those who tamper with ti will inevitably be played by ti itself.
Looking at the multiverse as a whole, those who mastered ti travel—be they heroes or villains—almost always had tragic pasts. Going back to the past never made their lives better; instead, it only deepened their despair.
The Flash wielded enough power to change the world, yet he could never escape his dood fate. Reverse-Flash had it even worse—generation after generation trapped in endless cycles of suffering.
And as for the X-n, despite all their efforts to change history, they could never nd the rift between mutants and humans.
Logan's journey to the past had rewritten history, causing massive disruptions to the main tiline. As a result, countless branching tilines erged, each born from a different 'possibility.'
These tilines were highly unstable. Lacking sufficient energy to sustain themselves, most of them would completely vanish within a century.
In such an unstable universe, nothing was surprising anymore. It wasn't just a matter of mutants being turned into Sentinels—under different circumstances, even Apocalypse possessing Professor X and wiping out humanity was entirely plausible.
At the sa ti, Alex noticed sothing else: in this tiline, there were no Avengers. Neither HYDRA nor S.H.I.E.L.D. existed.
In other words, this was a pure X-n tiline.
Petra, who had been consud by grief, took several deep breaths to calm herself.
Looking at Alex, who was still deep in thought, she couldn't help but speak.
"Sir, I don't know who you are or where you ca from, but I hope you can help us. If you're willing to help, I'll do anything."
"Help you?"
Alex shifted his gaze. He was well aware of his mission here. Just as Miss Minutes had said, this tiline was destined for destruction. Even if he interfered and altered history, the final outco wouldn't necessarily improve.
Flashpoint Universe #1 was proof of this—although it had survived its apocalyptic crisis, in the end, it still couldn't escape Darkseid's wrath.
Saving the world was only a temporary fix. Even if he managed to rescue this one, its destruction was already set in stone from the mont this branch tiline was born.
"You know the professor's na. That ans you must know him, right?" Petra struggled to stand up. "Please help us. With your power, you can stop all of this."
Although Petra didn't know just how strong Alex was, the fact that he had disabled the Sentinels' detection systems and taken down three Sentinels without a scratch proved that his combat strength far surpassed most of the X-n.
Moreover, Petra had no idea what had happened while she was 'unconscious,' but she could clearly see the aircraft carrier around them, completely warped beyond recognition.
That kind of reality-warping power… Petra had only ever seen it in one person. But that person had spread their wings and vanished into the depths of space years ago.
Alex didn't answer imdiately. Instead, he was lost in thought about the concept of contamination.
From the very beginning, when he decided to enter this universe, he had prepared himself to deal with sources of contamination.
If there were any worlds that had been erased or annihilated due to high-dinsional contamination, the X-n franchise was certainly one of them. From X-n 1 to Dark Phoenix, every storyline was riddled with inconsistencies and unexplainable contradictions.
While so movies belonged to the sa tiline, from Alex's perspective, the X-n films felt more like separate parallel universes.
Most of the narratives were loosely connected, yet so details diverged drastically. This made Alex wary of the ever-present, insidious nature of high-dinsional contamination.
"…Fine. I'll start by investigating this tiline."
Now that he had confird that this tiline was dood to be consud by contamination, Alex no longer intended to sit back and watch. Perhaps, through this universe, he could uncover so clues about the high-dinsional realm.
After all, the mysterious force that had suddenly tried to stop him from reviving Petra was undoubtedly linked to contamination. What truly intrigued Alex was the identity of the being that had 'spoken' to him.
He had encountered contamination before, but never anything like this.
Could contamination possess its own independent consciousness?
And more importantly, what did those words an?
What was a 'fixed reality'?
What was the 'only solution'?
What was the true aning behind those words, and whose side was this unknown entity on?
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Alex slowly extended his hand.
"My na is Alex. Codena: Death Crow."
Seeing Alex's gesture, Petra quickly extended her own hand to shake his, while using her other hand to clutch her tattered clothing.
"I'm Petra. I just recently joined the X-n, so I don't have an official title yet. Thank you, Alex. On behalf of all mutants, thank you—"
"Don't thank just yet."
Before Petra could finish, Alex raised a hand to interrupt her.
"I have my own objectives. If you want my help, I need you to tell everything you know. And I need to understand the current state of this world."
Hearing this, Petra cald down from her initial excitent.
"Don't worry. Whatever I know, I'll tell you everything. I just beg you—please, save the professor… and my people."
"…About that."
Alex didn't start questioning her right away. Instead, he scanned their surroundings, knowing this wasn't a safe place for discussion.
Three Sentinels and an entire aircraft carrier fleet had gone offline. Every soldier present had vanished. The military wouldn't ignore an incident of this scale. If they stayed here too long, trouble would surely follow.
With a snap of his fingers, Petra suddenly felt sothing tighten around her body. In the next mont, a skintight combat suit appeared, covering her exposed form.
This was a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. agent uniform—not Black Widow's personal suit, but the typical outfit worn by female agents like Mockingbird and Quake.
Retrieving his trench coat from Petra's hands, Alex spoke.
"I didn't check the size, so you'll have to make do for now. This isn't the place to talk. I need to know if there's anywhere on Earth that's still safe."
Startled by Alex's ability, Petra looked at her new attire in amazent.
She was shocked because she had never heard of such an ability to instantly alter matter. And she was overjoyed—because with power like his, they might actually have a chance to turn the tide.
Loosening the zipper at her chest, Petra imdiately responded to Alex's question.
"South-East Asia."
Then, she added,
"As far as I know, South-East Asia is the only safe place left in this world. It's the only place where mutants still have a chance to survive."
Although this should have been good news, for so reason, Petra's expression was grim as she spoke.
"Most of my fellow mutants didn't make it there alive. The Sentinels have defensive lines across every ocean and border. Only a handful of our kind had the ability to survive the journey to South-East Asia."
So that's how it was. Thinking about it, it made sense. The vast North Pacific Ocean stood between them—a massive expanse of water, making it extrely difficult to cross.
On top of that, the mutants of this tiline weren't particularly powerful. Aside from a few rare exceptions, most of them lacked strong combat abilities. Trying to escape Sentinel forces and reach Asia was practically impossible.
But for Alex, this wasn't much of a problem. As long as there was a safe haven in this world, the next steps would be much easier.
With a sharp motion of his hand, he slashed through the air. The next mont, a golden portal erupted from the void, rapidly expanding outward.
Seeing the portal and the environnt on the other side, Petra had lost count of how many tis she had been shocked by Alex's abilities.
"Don't just stand there—go through," Alex reminded her when she hesitated.
Snapping out of it, Petra quickly stepped through the portal of golden flas.
As she took in the unfamiliar yet peaceful bamboo forest around her, the tension in her heart eased slightly.
Turning back toward the portal, she saw Alex forming hand signs while muttering under his breath. Curious, she asked, "What are you doing?"
Without answering, Alex continued chanting his final incantation. Then, opening his eyes, he casually replied, "It's better if no one finds out what happened here, so I'm erasing all traces."
"Erasing the traces? How? This is an entire aircraft ca—"
Before she could finish, Petra's expression changed drastically.
Through the portal, she saw a beautiful teor streak across the sky. And as ti passed, the light of that teor only grew brighter and brighter.
.....
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