* BANG *

* BANG *

* BANG *

"Woohoo!"

"Yeah!"

A group of teenagers were playing with firecrackers on the lawn outside of Xavier's school.

Everybody had big smiles on their faces as they celebrated the mutant rights act being passed.

One of them, Jimmy, walked up to a girl, Jessica, and whispered in her ear, "You want to have some alone time?"

Jessica blushed since she knew what 'alone time' meant for both of them.

She glanced at him and pinched his thigh as she whispered back, "Don't say that here!"

Jimmy massaged his thigh and lightly slapped her ass causing her to yelp suddenly but she quickly covered her mouth.

She glared at him while he smirked at her and said, "Don't make me wait."

"Y-You horny dog!", she managed to whisper before he turned and walked away.

A few minutes later, she glanced at everybody celebrating and quietly slipped away.

She quickly walked toward a quiet part of the lawn and called out quietly, "Jimmy! Jimmy! Where are you? I am here!"

She looked around but couldn't find him and thought, 'Where is he? This is our usual spot.'

She called out again, "Jimmy! Where are you? Stop playing games with me. I don't like it."

But she got no response.

Frustrated, she turned and walked in a particular direction and reached the back of Xavier's school.

When she arrived, she called out again as she looked around, "Jimmy! Jimmy! Where are..."

The next words got stuck in her throat by what she saw in front of her.

A huge robot caught Jimmy by the throat and held him in the air.

She noticed Jimmy struggling to get out of the robot's grasp and immediately, her hands glowed red and she shouted angrily, "Let go of my Jimmy!"

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The robot turned it's head toward her and scanned her up and down and said, "Mutant detected! Threat level: Low! Termination protocol activated! Prepare for elimination!"

. . .

In Charles' office,

Charles gazed at the teenagers celebrating on the lawn outside with a smile on his face.

He heard a clinking sound behind him and turned around, only to see Mystique pouring tea in two cups on the table.

He turned his wheelchair around and rolled to the table.

Seeing him curiously watch the tea, Mystique smiled and said, "It's Darjeeling tea or the champagne of teas."

Charles looked at her in 'shock' and jokingly asked, "H-How did you know I was thinking that? C-Can you also read people's minds?"

Mystique rolled her eyes and served him a cup and said, "I can't read people's minds but...", she stared at him in the eyes and continued, "I can read yours."

"Oh?!, Charles smiled and asked, "Is that so?"

Seeing her nod proudly, he asked, "Then, tell me. What's going on in my mind right now?"

Mystique sat on the chair in front of him and sipped on her tea and replied, "You are thinking about the smiles on the students playing outside. You are happy because they are happy. You are feeling as if something good has been done in a long time. And...", she glanced at him and continued, "You are thinking about Erik."

Charles nodded at her words, clearly impressed. He sipped the tea and replied, "You are right. I'm thinking along those lines."

Mystique tapped on the cup and gazed in the distance and said, "Erik... he's come a long way from where we met him for the first time."

Charles sighed and nodded as he replied, "Yeah... he is."

"He's become the leader of the mutants. It's crazy. I wouldn't have thought the man whose only thing on his mind was revenge could turn over a new leaf and become a leader.", Mystique glanced at Charles and said.

"Yes..", Charles sighed again and continued, "But... our friendship is long been broken."

"Why?", Mystique angrily asked, "Why can't both of you work together? Why can't any one of you put your ego aside? This... This is the same problem with you and Val."

"Don't talk about him!", Charles angrily replied, "He twists every rule, every law to his needs and desires. He doesn't care about others. He's selfish. He looks for his own profit in everything. He's..."

* BANG *

The night sky was lit with fireworks and through the window, a large shadow appeared in the office.

Charles and Mystique saw the shadow that appeared in the office and instantly looked out the window and saw a huge robot hovering in the sky.

The robot had two severed heads in it's hands which were none other than Jimmy and Jessica.

It scanned the building and after a few seconds, it announced, "Mutants detected! Threat level - Very high! Special Termination Protocol Activated! Extermination - Necessary!"

It let go of their heads and it's hands glowed blue and it aimed at Charles's office.

* BOOM *

A blue energy beam shot from it's hands at Charles' office.

Charles looked at Mystique and immediately used his telepathic power to push her back.

Mystique looked at Charles with a surprised expression and then, saw the energy beam hit the window and she screamed, "Chaaaarless!"

* KA - BOOM *

The energy beam hit the office, causing a huge explosion.

The impact threw Mystique back like a ragdoll and she crashed into the wall violently.

She fell on the ground and her vision blurred and the world around her faded into darkness as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Finally, a few minutes later, she slowly regained consciousness.

But as she did so, her head throbbed with unbearable pain and a loud ringing sound echoed in her ears.

Finally, after a few seconds, the ringing sound quieted down and she managed to pry her eyes open.

She wiped the blood from her face and as her vision adjusted, she noticed that she was on the ground floor of the school.

She looked around and she could see the students running around.

She could also, hears screaming, wailing, and buzzing sounds from everywhere within the school.

She tried to get up but her body screamed in pain.

Nonetheless, she gritted her teeth and got up.

She limped around and searched for Charles.

Finally, she found him under rubble and she quickly limped toward him.

She cleared the rubble from his face and tried to wake him up, "C-Charles! Charles! W-Wake up! Come on! Wake up!"

But, he wouldn't no matter how much she tried.

She looked around and saw the school burning and the robot hovering in the air firing blue energy beams everywhere.

She thought, 'Who can help us? Who can save us? Who? Wh...'

Suddenly, the smiling face of Val popped up into her head and she thought, 'Yes! Him! He would definitely help us!'

She turned herself into an eagle and flapped her wings and flew into the sky.

. . .

The Sentinel, Mark 001 was exterminating mutants when it noticed a bird flying away.

It scanned the bird and when it found that the bird was a mutant in disguise, it declared, "Mutant detected! Threat level - High! Extermination Protocol Activated!"

It aimed it's energy beams at Mystique and it was about to fire when...

* BOOM *

An energy beam struck it's back causing it's attack to deviate from it's path.

In that moment, Mystique found herself miraculously saved and she hurriedly flapped her wings to fly faster.

It turned around and saw Havok, Hank, Angel, and Banshee standing together, ready to fight with it.

It scanned them and declared ominously as it's eyes glowed blue, "Mutants detected!"