This was probably the most perfect outcome possible.
Both Trask, who had harmed mutants, and Erik, who had harmed humans, had received their due punishment.
Saiki Kusuo was satisfied with this result. He cut off his mental link with Charles and went to Trask's lab to find Kitty.
Saiki Kusuo used his X-ray vision to scan the entire lab and then walked directly to a room next to the lab.
Before he even got close, he saw two Sentinel robots standing guard at the door. As soon as Saiki Kusuo approached, they emitted a beeping warning sound.
He was thankful that the lab personnel, having received news of Trask's arrest, had cleared out to avoid being implicated.
Otherwise, he would have been surrounded by a group of people by now.
Saiki Kusuo couldn't control these mindless robots.
The Sentinel robots sounded an alarm and began to attack Saiki Kusuo.
They were extremely fast and invulnerable. Saiki Kusuo intended to confront them head-on and teleport them away. When they were less than half a meter from Saiki Kusuo, they suddenly disappeared.
Saiki Kusuo raised an eyebrow, not yet reacting, when the Sentinel robots suddenly reappeared behind him. Their metal arms clenched, they swung down hard at Saiki Kusuo's head.
"Bang!"
The solid floor was smashed into a crater by the Sentinel robot. It was about to retract its arm when its arm was suddenly seized. It struggled slightly, and then its entire body was lifted up by Saiki Kusuo.
It was fortunate that Saiki Kusuo's body was also invulnerable; otherwise, with the force of the Sentinel robot's blow, an ordinary person would have been smashed into a pulp.
The Sentinel robot, held in the air by Saiki Kusuo, couldn't break free, so it opened its mouth and spewed a stream of fire at Saiki Kusuo.
Saiki Kusuo wasn't one to be outdone. He crushed the robot's hand, and then flames ignited on his fingertips, which he shot at the Sentinel robot.
It was just a prototype, after all. Even though it mimicked many mutant abilities, it was essentially just a mindless machine that only knew how to attack.
After crushing its hand, Saiki Kusuo directly teleported it to outer space, easily dealing with it.
After dealing with the Sentinel robot, he entered the room.
This was a room specifically for holding mutants.
The room was filled with many iron cages, and the captured mutants were locked inside.
The group of mutants had been locked in cages for a long time and had been tortured by experiments for a long time. Each one was emaciated and sallow. When Saiki Kusuo opened the cages, they couldn't even crawl out.
Most of these mutants had only just awakened their abilities and were about the same age as Jean and Scott; some were even younger.
There were also those who had died in their cages from unbearable torture. A pungent, rotting smell emanated from them, and their corpses were too gruesome to look at.
Saiki Kusuo suddenly felt that letting Trask spend his life in prison was too light a punishment.
He released all the living mutants and told them to go to Charles, who would take care of them. He also telepathically instructed Charles to provide psychological counseling to these mutants who had been harmed by humans; otherwise, if not handled properly, a few more people like Erik might emerge.
He searched the room but couldn't find Kitty. He asked the others, but none of them had seen her. Saiki Kusuo had no choice but to search elsewhere.
He went into the adjacent laboratory and found Kitty tied to an operating table, unconscious.
Saiki Kusuo went over and patted her face, then shook her. After a while, Kitty slowly woke up. When she saw that she was still in this lab, she shivered. Looking up and seeing Saiki Kusuo, she realized it was someone she knew, and she burst into tears, burying her face in Saiki Kusuo's chest, snot and tears streaming.
If Saiki Kusuo hadn't felt sorry for her because she was a little girl, he would have pushed her away with a disgusted expression at the sight of her snot getting all over him.
When Kitty had cried enough, she pulled away from Saiki Kusuo, sniffled, and sobbed, "I'm... I'm sorry... sniff..."
Reading her mind, Saiki Kusuo had a bad feeling.
He heard Kitty continue, "They tied me up here, drew blood, and gave me injections. It hurt so much, and I was so scared, and you weren't coming to save me. I could only put my hope in that gem, thinking maybe it could save me, but then someone took it."
Saiki Kusuo: "..."
He didn't want to hear any more.
"Then, I tried to take it back, but the man wouldn't give it back and tried to hit me. I was scared and accidentally touched him with my hand, and he suddenly disappeared, along with the gem. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to."
Saiki Kusuo sighed. For a child, she had handled the situation remarkably well. He had no right to blame Kitty. The only thing to do now was to quickly understand what had just happened to deduce why the man had disappeared and where he had gone.
Thinking about Kitty's future abilities, Saiki Kusuo got another headache.
He took off his clear gloves and touched Kitty's hand. Immediately, the events that had just transpired flooded Saiki Kusuo's mind.
The man who had stolen the gem was young, and although he looked somewhat different from his appearance twenty years later, Saiki Kusuo immediately recognized the familiar features as Stryker.
Stryker, having taken the gem, originally intended to kill Kitty. But in the moment of crisis, Kitty's awakened ability caused Stryker to disappear. If it had just been Stryker disappearing, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but he had taken the Time Stone with him.
It was Kitty's first time using her ability, and she had no idea where she had sent Stryker.
Saiki Kusuo originally wanted Kitty to send him back an hour earlier, to get the gem before Stryker, but Kitty couldn't control her powers. She could only send Saiki Kusuo to the future, not the past.
(This plot twist is way too contrived. Author, if you want to pad the word count, just say so! Do you have to torture me?)
After that, Saiki Kusuo time-traveled a total of 3651 times. For a full ten years, Kitty couldn't learn how to travel back to the past!
On the 3652nd time, Saiki Kusuo, exhausted both physically and mentally, slumped on the sofa in Charles's office. Charles wheeled over and handed him a glass of water, repeating the words he had said 3652 times already: "You've worked hard."
Not only was Saiki Kusuo exhausted, but Charles, who had to use Cerebro every day to help Saiki Kusuo search for people, was also very tired. He felt like his head was about to go bald like his future self.
But thinking about how peaceful and happy his fellow mutants had been during these ten years, he felt that he had received such a great favor from Saiki Kusuo that it was only right to help him.
He said to Saiki Kusuo, "So, do you want to rest and catch your breath, or do you want to use Cerebro right away to help you find Stryker?"
Saiki Kusuo stood up. "Let's search for him. I told Kitty that she'll come to pick me up in half an hour."
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