ALL NOVEL Ch: 3 [The sentinels]
Before Bruce could say anything, Jennifer's right arm transformed into a giant green fist and swung towards him. Bruce didn't dodge it and took the punch straight on. Jennifer's eyes widened in shock as the man didn't even budge. She felt as if she just punched a solid metal ball.
"Ooow! What was that for??" Bruce grabbed her right hand and asked, confused.
Jennifer yanked her hand back and glared at Bruce, "Stop playing around. They'll be here any moment! We don't have much time... I don't know who or what you are, but it doesn't matter now. Those sentinels will be here any moment now and seeing how you are using some weird power, you must be an Omega-level mutant or a guy with power. So, run away while you can." She raised her hand, "Blink, open up the portal. We are heading for the northern SHIELD's base. We should be safe there for the moment."
A pink portal opened and a woman dressed in black appeared. She has no Visible pupils, light magenta skin, pointed ears, a purple tattoo near the left eye, and a pink diamond on her forehead. That's Blink. She has been trying to open a portal to their next base for a while now but has failed to do so for some reason. And Bruce's sudden entry disrupted her concentration.
"No... I.. can't," she said with a worried expression. "Something is interfering with my portals. All I can do is short distance jumps."
"Tsk. It must be those new variants, dampening our powers. They are getting closer," Jennifer cursed under her breath. She gave Bruce a death glare. "If not for you announcing your arrival with a big-ass meteor, this wouldn't have happened." Then she turned toward Logan, "And you... You just had to pick a fight as always."
Bruce observed everything with a frown. Sentinels? Power dampeners?
"Sigh! How about I take care of these sentinels and then we talk?" Bruce extended his hand toward Jennifer.
Logan cut in before Jennifer could say anything, "How do we know ya ain't working with them?" He kept his claws extended. "You really think we'll just believe ya like that? This isn't the first time Magneto targeted us with his sentinels, bub!"
Bruce narrowed his eyes, glaring at Logan. "You all are still alive, right? Isn't that proof enough that I'm not with Magneto?" He noticed Jennifer giving Logan a look, warning him not to aggravate Bruce. He ignored Logan and turned toward Blink. "You take them as far as you can. I'll deal with these machines."
"You retard?!" Logan hissed. "Those sentinels are not just any machines. They were designed to hunt and kill mutants like us. Now, that Magneto controls them, he upgraded them with Mystique's power. They can adapt to any situation and retain the power of the mutants they killed so far. And you want to deal with them alone?? Hah! Keep dreaming!! You don't even know what you're dealing with. Were you living under the rocks or something?"
"Shut the fuck up and go. I'll deal with them," Bruce flew up in the sky, ignoring Logan. "Blink, you open the portal and take them away. Now!" His voice boomed across the area as he saw the sentinels approaching from the distance.
Blink opened multiple portals and the other mutants hiding in the forest jumped inside. Logan carried Scott, who was still unconscious into the portal, followed by Storm and Iceman. Jennifer gave a slight nod, "Be careful." Her expression said it all. She doesn't believe that the man before her could stop a group of sentinels alone.
Jennifer also jumped through the portal along with Blink. A second after that, the portal closed behind them.
Bruce hovered in the air, his eyes locked on the approaching Sentinels. Fifteen massive, hulking figures, each equipped with advanced technology and the powers of dead mutants, streaked through the sky toward him. The moonlight glinted off their sleek, metallic bodies, casting an eerie glow over the darkened forest below.
The Sentinels were fearsome creations—towering giants created for one purpose: the annihilation of mutants. But under Magneto's control, these machines had been upgraded to be deadlier than ever.
"Time to see what you’re made of," Bruce muttered, clenching his fists. His suit hummed with power, the nanites within it fully charged and ready for battle. His lightning ring glowed faintly under the suit.
The first Sentinel broke formation, its eyes glowing red as it locked onto Bruce. A second later, it unleashed a torrent of energy blasts, each one aimed with deadly precision. Bruce darted through the sky with blinding speed, dodging the beams as they scorched the air around him. He countered with his heat vision, twin beams of searing energy lancing out toward the Sentinel.
The machine’s adaptive capabilities kicked in instantly. Its outer shell shifted, absorbing the energy and converting it into a protective barrier. "Now, that's a nasty power!" Bruce expected as much. The Sentinel countered by launching a barrage of missiles from compartments hidden within its shoulders. Each missile was tipped with a glowing, energy-dampening device designed to nullify mutant powers on impact.
"Not going to work on me," Bruce muttered.
He maneuvered effortlessly around the missiles, blasting them out of the sky with precise bursts of heat vision. His movements were fluid, almost effortless, as he weaved through the air, leaving the Sentinels struggling to keep up. But the Sentinels were relentless. Another one swooped in, its hands crackling with electricity. It unleashed a massive lightning strike aimed directly at Bruce. The bolt hit him squarely in the chest, but instead of harming him, it was absorbed by his suit, adding to his growing reserves of power.
"Wow! You can have it back," Bruce threw back the excess energy through his repulsor beams, striking the Sentinel dead center. The machine staggered backward, absorbing the energy with ease.
The other Sentinels had been observing, learning. The next wave came at him with a coordinated attack. One Sentinel unleashed a freezing beam, its energy similar to Iceman’s powers. The air around Bruce suddenly dropped in temperature as ice began to form on his suit. At the same time, another Sentinel hit him with a telekinetic blast, mimicking the powers of fallen mutants with similar abilities.
Bruce felt the dual impacts but those attacks weren't enough to hurt him. The ice on his suit shattered as he flexed his muscles, and the telekinetic force, though powerful, was not enough to stop him. But the Sentinels weren’t done. They combined their attacks, forcing him on the defensive.\
"They’re adapting faster," Bruce thought with a smirk. He wanted to see how powerful he was at that point, by unleashing his true strength. The Sentinels were using more than just brute force—they were using strategy, combining their attacks to exploit weaknesses and wear him down.
One Sentinel fired a beam of concentrated energy, while another tried to capture him in an impenetrable force field. A third charged at him, laser claws extended.
With a burst of speed, he shot upward, breaking free of the coordinated assault. He flew high above into the clouds, taking in the battlefield from a higher vantage point. The Sentinels followed close behind, their engines roaring as they gave chase. Bruce waited until the last second, then dove toward the ground, unleashing a series of repulsor beams as he fell.
The Sentinels scattered, avoiding the attack, shooting back lasers and energy blasts in response. Bruce evaded the incoming fire, looping and spinning through the air with incredible agility.
"Hahahaha! This is fun! Show me more!" Bruce shouted, taunting the Sentinels. He was really enjoying the rush.
His eyes glowed red as he unleashed a massive wave of heat vision, sweeping it across the sky. The beams cut through the air like a scythe, forcing the Sentinels to scatter. One of the Sentinels, slower to react, was caught in the beam. Its adaptive shield failed to fully engage, and the beam sliced through its arm, sending molten metal and sparks flying. The machine crashed into the forest below, its systems failing. But the self-repairing nanites immediately went to work, rebuilding and restoring it.
"Self-repairing nanites!" Bruce grinned as he used his teleportation power and appeared over the Sentinel. Before the machine could fully recover, he punched it, blasting through the hard armor. "Would you look at that, fuckers using my technology! Well, I'll take it back." On his HUD he saw the nanites' structure. They were similar to the ones he had developed back when he was Tony Stark. Using his knowledge of nanotechnology, he overrode the Sentinel's systems, gaining complete control of the nanites. He absorbed them into his bracelet.
The other machines rushed down.
"Too slow," Bruce smirked and teleported again, appearing over them. He clapped, creating a shockwave that rippled through the air. The force of the clap disoriented the Sentinels, causing their systems to glitch momentarily.
Seizing the opportunity, he charged at the nearest Sentinel. His fists, charged with lightning energy, struck the machine with the force of a meteor. The Sentinel’s chest plate crumpled under the impact, sparks flying as its circuits overloaded. Bruce didn’t give it a chance to recover. He grabbed the machine by its head and absorbed the self-healing nanites before ripping it clean off, tossing it aside like a piece of scrap metal.
The other Sentinels regrouped, but Bruce was already on the move. He fired a concentrated blast of lightning at one, forcing it to crash into another. The resulting explosion sent both machines tumbling out of the sky. Although these machines were powerful, they were still machines and the power of the lightning ring was just too much for them to absorb.
Bruce used his teleportation power, teleporting from one Sentinel to the other, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. He moved so fast that he became a blur, his attacks seemingly coming from all directions at once. But to his surprise, the machine's body shifted again, and a layer of silvery metal formed over its body.
"Oh? Is that Vibranium? Let's see if it can withstand my full strength!" Bruce punched the Sentinel, his fist crushing its armored chest plate like paper. The sound of screeching metal echoed through the night sky as his hand plunged deep inside the machine. He crushed the Sentinel's core, destroying it completely.
Just as Bruce was gaining the upper hand, the air around him crackled with a new energy. He turned to see the remaining Sentinels forming a tight formation. Their bodies began to glow with dark, pulsating red energy—a sign that their systems were entering a new phase of adaptation.
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