Chapter 100: [99] : The Portal and the Girl
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At night, Roger lay on a bed in a tavern he'd found nearby, staring at the ceiling, muttering to himself.
"No computers, no PS5, no console games... no blockbuster movies... This era is really amazing, so amazing that I just want to leave this damned world right now…"
After saying this, Roger rolled over, activated his X-ray vision, and saw Phoenix sleeping soundly in the next room.
"Yeah, and I have to play temporary guardian to some rebellious kid... I've never been this speechless in my life."
As the initial novelty of arriving in the X-Men world began to wear off and the only looming threat, Apocalypse, had been defeated by Phoenix, Roger finally took time to genuinely enjoy this world.
He started to experience everything about this era.
But...
When he actually immersed himself in it, only two words kept swirling in Roger's mind:
Outdated.
It's way too outdated!
No 4K Ultra-HD big screens, no personal computers that almost every household would have in later years.
And certainly none of the games Roger wanted to play!
Sure, according to the timeline, arcade games like Pac-Man and Raiden had already emerged.
But you can't expect a gamer who's used to AAA titles to enjoy retro games that might only take up a few KB in storage!
And, to make matters worse, Roger couldn't even use a smartphone to browse videos!
So now, when he finally settled down, Roger found this world unbearable in every aspect.
He wanted to leave.
But it had only been three days since he arrived in the X-Men world. According to the time constraints, he would need to stay here for at least eighty-seven more days before he could leave for the next world.
The thought of that number filled Roger with despair.
"…No, I need to find a way to entertain myself."
Roger resolved to find some amusement for himself, or he feared he might go crazy from boredom.
But just then, as if the heavens had heard his plea, a purple portal suddenly appeared diagonally in front of Roger.
Before Roger had any chance to react, a little girl, appearing to be around seven or eight years old, 'fell' out of the portal and hit the floor.
The purple portal vanished immediately after, but not before Roger heard the cursing voices of several men; they seemed to be chasing the girl, who was now fleeing for her life.
The sudden appearance of the girl left Roger momentarily stunned, but the girl quickly scrambled to her feet, looking at Roger with a mix of tension and fear as she asked:
"…Where…where is this?"
"You suddenly show up in front of me, and now you're asking me where this is?"
Roger looked at the little girl with a bemused expression. She hesitated, about to respond, but just then, she heard the shouts coming from outside.
"She's nearby! She didn't get far!"
"This way! After her!"
The girl heard the voices, and so did Roger.
Looking down at the girl's ankles, Roger noticed a small, red-flashing device attached to her leg.
With his X-ray vision, Roger could see the intricate design of the device, which was far more advanced than anything from this era, and the small embedded explosives.
The men chasing her outside, the girl with a shackle on her leg, and her sudden appearance with a mysterious ability in front of him, Roger quickly pieced together the classic scenario of "bad guys chasing an innocent mutant for human experimentation."
After a brief moment of eye contact, the girl moved to the window and cautiously peeked outside at the men pursuing her, who were now running toward the tavern. Panic filled her expression as she whispered:
"No, I can't stay here… Open... open! Come on, open!"
She kept trying to use her powers, hoping to open another purple portal like the one before.
But unfortunately, it seemed she had only recently awakened her powers. While purple sparks danced on her hands, she couldn't open the portal.
Seeing the girl's clumsy attempts, Roger couldn't help but say:
"You're too anxious, take it slow."
"…?"
The girl looked up at Roger, still on guard.
But her gaze held a hint of confusion as well.
When she had awakened her powers, ordinary people had looked at her like she was a monster; they always showed disgust and fear when they saw her use her abilities.
Yet this guy in front of her, instead of being scared, seemed genuinely interested in guiding her to use her powers?
What was this guy's deal?
The girl looked bewildered, but the men chasing her had already entered the tavern.
Roger used his X-ray vision to observe them and noticed they were dressed in military uniforms, carrying weapons that only the military would possess, clearly indicating they were with the military.
Given their status, it wouldn't take them long to find the girl, so time was running out for her.
"Alright, they're coming upstairs. If you don't mind… let me take a look?"
Roger abandoned the idea of teaching the girl how to use her powers.
Right now, her abilities were as unreliable as a beginner's martial arts technique, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. He couldn't force her to open a portal.
So, Roger decided to give her a hand and remove the shackle with the tracker and explosives.
The girl hesitated for a moment as she thought about how this man didn't seem to fear her. Eventually, she sat down and allowed Roger to work on the device attached to her ankle.
Though the situation might have made Roger seem a bit like a creep, he swore he had no ulterior motives.
Under her watchful gaze, Roger used his heat vision to carefully target the shackle.
Roger's heat vision wasn't just powerful; with fine control, he could use it to kill bacteria on the skin without harming the skin itself.
He could also heat specific objects.
In the future, if his control improved further, he might even be able to use heat vision to penetrate skin and bone without harm and target tumors directly inside the body.
So, performing a delicate operation to remove the girl's ankle shackle was child's play for Roger.
With the help of his X-ray vision, Roger easily avoided triggering the explosive mechanism, cut the shackle's lock with heat vision, and freed the girl.
Focused on his task, Roger didn't notice how the girl's expression shifted from suspicion to surprise, and finally to joy.
It was the joy of finding a kindred spirit, she assumed Roger was someone like her.
"All done. Now find a cabinet to hide in; those guys will be up here any second."
After removing the shackle and disabling its tracking device, Roger instructed the girl.
Moments ago, the girl had been trembling with fear, but now she obediently followed Roger's instructions, finding a cabinet in the tavern to hide in.
Though Roger found himself in this situation in the middle of the night and thought it was a bit of a hassle, he also saw this as the 'fun' he had been looking for.
Soldiers, mutants, chains... all these elements together only brought one person to Roger's mind.
Colonel William Stryker, one of the villains from X-Men.
Although he wasn't a particularly strong villain, Stryker appeared more frequently in the X-Men series than any other villain except Magneto.
He first appeared in X2, the second film of the original X-Men trilogy, where he kidnapped Professor X to use his son, Jason, to manipulate Charles's mind and attempt to kill all mutants worldwide.
Later, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Stryker made another appearance.
He had once assembled a mutant team, which included Wolverine. After Wolverine left, the team soon disbanded, and Stryker began kidnapping mutants for experiments.
He even used adamantium to alter Wolverine and Sabretooth, coating their bones with the metal, making Wolverine's codename even more fitting.
He also appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past as a subordinate of the film's main antagonist.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, he was seen again.
After the explosion at Xavier's school and Charles's abduction by Apocalypse, Stryker kidnapped the school's students.
Now, with Apocalypse defeated and the mutant academy untouched, Roger had assumed he wouldn't encounter Stryker again, yet here he was, facing Stryker's soldiers and the mutants they sought to capture.
"Speaking of which, I wonder if Wolverine is still locked up by Stryker."
Thinking of Stryker made Roger think of Wolverine.
In Apocalypse, Phoenix and the others infiltrated Stryker's base to rescue the captured students, where they encountered the mind-wiped Wolverine.
Now that Roger had derailed the plot, Phoenix and the others wouldn't be heading to Stryker's base, which meant Wolverine wouldn't have a chance to escape from there.
"…Wait, is this the reason I encountered this little girl?"
Roger suddenly had a realization.
Perhaps his changes to the plot had prevented Wolverine from escaping, so the universe itself had directed this girl to him, to set the story back on track.
But this was just Roger's theory.
And regardless of whether it was fate's doing, Roger intended to check out Stryker's base, especially because…
He was extremely bored!
While he mulled over these thoughts, Stryker's soldiers reached Roger's door, broke it down, and barged in with their guns drawn.
Roger lay on the bed, watching the uninvited guests with a smirk before speaking:
"Gentlemen, would this be considered breaking and entering?"
"Shut up! Have you seen this little girl?"
A Black soldier cursed at Roger, then pulled out an image of the girl from earlier and showed it to him.
Roger glanced at it dismissively and replied:
"Haven't seen her. I'm not interested in little girls like that. Also, you're illegally entering my room right now. Before I get angry, you'd better leave."
The soldiers were taken aback. They hadn't encountered someone as bold as Roger, who remained so calm in the face of armed soldiers.
The Black soldier, amused by Roger's attitude, stepped forward, disengaged the safety on his weapon, and pointed the gun directly at Roger, saying:
"Now, are you angry?"
"…"
The smile vanished from Roger's face. He gazed calmly at the soldiers in front of him and said:
"Yes, I'm very angry."
As he finished speaking, Roger's hand lightly tapped the soldier's chest.
In the next instant,
Bang!!!
The Black soldier flew backward, slamming into the wooden wall behind him, embedding into it like a mural, his life or death unknown.
...
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