Hawking, who was quick to react, swiftly retreated, carrying Storm in one hand and Nightcrawler in the other, dodging Cyclops's red Impact.
Magneto, who was walking in front, raised a hand and moved a several-thousand-pound machine in front of him.
"They are your school's teachers; you deal with them."
Leaving that remark, Magneto and Mystique directly abandoned the three—Hawking, Storm, and Nightcrawler—and intended to continue forward.
"No need for that long, I'll do it!"
Hawking roared, and his body had already rapidly charged towards Cyclops.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Seeing Hawking attack, Cyclops quickly pressed the switch on his visor, and short, frequent red Impacts shot out like lasers.
However, Hawking's speed at this moment was extremely fast, and his footwork was quite agile, jumping up and down like a monkey, managing to dodge every single Impact.
But the closer he got, the harder it was to dodge.
It was like a pistol: beyond five paces, the gun was fast; within five paces, the gun was both fast and accurate.
Only close quarters offered a chance to win.
"Hawking, get out of the way!"
Storm, who was behind, had just reacted when she found Hawking had already charged out.
Before she could prepare to use her abilities to help, Hawking had already rushed to within a meter of Cyclops.
But for some reason, he suddenly stopped there, unmoving.
And Cyclops showed no mercy, firing a red Impact directly at Hawking's head.
With the power of Cyclops's Impact, if an ordinary person were hit directly in the head, they would likely turn into an exploding watermelon on the spot.
Unfortunately, although Storm had wide-ranging lightning and Storm attacks, she couldn't help quickly due to the slow activation time of her abilities and restrictions within this Base.
As for Nightcrawler, who could teleport next to her, he was originally a devout Christian and had never received professional training; his brain was still in a daze from the moment of the attack until now.
However, her eyes widened next, because the red Impact actually passed directly through Hawking's body, as if Hawking standing there was just an Afterimage.
"It's over!"
Just then, a voice suddenly came from above and behind Cyclops. Before he could turn his head, he felt a pain in his neck and passed out.
It was then that Storm realized Hawking had somehow, at some unknown point, jumped above Cyclops, flipped over, and struck him on the neck with a palm.
"So, so strong!"
From Cyclops's sneak attack to the end of the battle, it was at most three seconds.
Within three seconds, Hawking knocked out Cyclops, a main member of the X-Men with rich combat experience. How could this not surprise her?
She hadn't fully believed Wolverine's boasts about Hawking's strength, but after seeing it with her own eyes, she understood that Wolverine was not exaggerating at all. If she fought Hawking at close range, she wasn't sure she could win either.
He truly had both wisdom and strength.
Picking up Cyclops, Hawking quickly returned to his original position and raised his hand, shouting to Magneto and Mystique, who had only walked a few steps ahead:
"It's dealt with. No need to rush, let's go together!"
Actually, Cyclops was very strong, absorbing ambient energy through his body and metabolizing it into oscillating Impacts, which he released from his eyes.
If he removed the visor that controlled the Impacts and released them indiscriminately at full power, he would be a human laser cannon. His power could easily destroy most buildings and instantly kill most enemies.
Crucially, there was no cooldown, and the firing speed was very fast.
His only weakness was his lack of physical strength and relatively weak grappling ability, making him easy to take down in close quarters.
Then there was the common problem of most X-Men: too soft-hearted, preferring to injure rather than kill, which inadvertently weakened their combat effectiveness.
Hawking had just used Afterimage Fist to create an Afterimage, misleading Cyclops, then jumped up and knocked him out with a single strike.
If they were in a sufficiently open space with enough distance, and Cyclops's output wasn't restricted, Hawking might not have been able to win.
"..."
Looking at Hawking carrying Cyclops, Magneto was both appreciative and speechless.
He appreciated Hawking's combat prowess at such a young age, but he was speechless because his original plan to use Cyclops to divert the three had now fallen through.
Continuing forward, in less than two minutes, they saw the door to the Cerebro Chamber, guarded by a group of elite soldiers.
Magneto raised a finger, and the elite soldiers were slaughtered by their own weapons without any resistance.
However, just as they were about to step forward, Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and Mystique all cried out, clutching their heads and falling to the ground, while Hawking immediately reacted, feigning the same posture.
Because he knew that this was Mastermind, Stryker's son, who had already controlled Professor X to locate all Mutants worldwide and began to use his ability to destroy Mutant brains.
Only Magneto, wearing his mental-blocking helmet, remained unaffected.
He raised both hands, fully activating his ability, and forced the Cerebro machine into a shutdown state.
The entire Cerebro Chamber was built from the blueprints Stryker obtained from his mind, so he naturally knew all the details.
Without the amplification of the Cerebro machine, Professor X could no longer locate Mutants, and they would naturally be safe.
However, the moment the Cerebro machine was shut down, Magneto immediately controlled the Cerebro Chamber door to open, then pulled Mystique inside.
He intended to close the Cerebro Chamber door before Storm and the others could recover from Professor X's psychic attack.
The Cerebro Chamber door also contained Adamantium, making it impossible to break through violently. Moreover, any violent attack would affect the entire Cerebro Chamber, thereby indirectly killing Professor X.
So, as long as the door was closed, he could safely have Mystique transform into Stryker and give Mastermind the command to change the target from killing all Mutants to killing all humans.
"Triple Afterimage Fist!"
Just then, Hawking made his move.
He wasn't a Mutant, so he was naturally unaffected by Professor X's psychic attack; his mind was very clear. At this moment, he used Afterimage Fist to leave an Afterimage, and his body rushed into the Cerebro Chamber before the door closed.
"Seeking death!"
Sensing Hawking suddenly rushing in, seemingly about to attack him, Magneto instinctively activated his ability for self-preservation. A coin shot out from his pocket, directly at Hawking's forehead.
Although he greatly admired Hawking, if Hawking interfered with his plan to exterminate humanity, he would kill the other party without hesitation.
However, the coin, like Cyclops's Impact before, passed directly through Hawking's body.
"Crack!"
A sound of a neck being twisted came from behind. Magneto hurriedly turned to look behind him, and an angry expression immediately appeared on his face.
Hawking, at some unknown point, had appeared in front of Mastermind, who was sitting in a wheelchair, and then twisted his neck.
"It's over. Of course, if you still want to spar with me, I'm willing to accompany you to the end!" Hawking said with a smile, letting go of Mastermind's neck.