Chapter 162: This is your son (Patreon)

The Alkali Corporation arrived faster than expected.

The guard had just finished his call, and less than five minutes later, Caliban suddenly looked in a certain direction and said, "Mutants are approaching."

"They arrived quite fast."

Kevin stood up from his seat and took a few steps forward to look into the distance. In the dark night, the lights of the convoy were especially noticeable; from afar, the target could be easily seen.

Kevin stood in front of Caliban, slightly tilted his head, and said to him, "By the way, I think you are curious about my abilities."

"Honestly, I am not particularly curious, but... well, I really am curious about your abilities."

Under Kevin's intense gaze, Caliban wisely decided to answer his question. If it could even be considered a question.

In Caliban's opinion, he could not sense Kevin's mutant essence and could not know what his abilities actually were. Judging by their previous experience at the reservoir, Kevin's abilities seemed to be related to the human body and were perhaps capable of destroying the human brain or other organs.

Caliban had seen many mutants and knew that many mutant abilities could cause similar harm, perhaps telepathy or some form of psionic power. But judging by Kevin's physical condition when he ran with him earlier, Caliban was more inclined to believe Kevin was a physical mutant who had, at best, mastered some long-range abilities originating from his body.

Caliban initially thought so.

'But now, looking at Kevin, reality seems to be different from what I imagined.'

"Then let me show you, and conveniently enough... there is a lot of water underground here."

Having left the wilderness and reached the outskirts of the city, Kevin could feel the water flowing deep underground. He could finally show his true strength in this world.

Hmm... part of his true strength.

"Water?"

Caliban did not understand why Kevin mentioned water. He was about to ask, but the vibrations from the ground forced him to remain silent again.

Under the night sky, which was already plunged into darkness, making the ground indistinguishable, streams of water, like dragons rolling underground, burst through the earth and soared into the sky.

Kevin stood with his arms wide open, as if about to embrace someone, palms facing upward, controlling the water dragons that flew into the sky and circled overhead.

Caliban, gripping the edge of the car door due to the vibrations caused by the water dragons bursting from the ground, took off his windproof sunglasses and stared blankly at the scene.

At this moment, he finally understood why Kevin had mentioned water.

'It turns out Kevin can control water! Just like Magneto, who once controlled metal!'

The water dragons rose into the air and then crashed down with tremendous force, the raging waters overturning the convoy even before it arrived.

A giant Water Sphere hovered in the sky, and the convoy's vehicles spun inside it under the force of the water vortex.

The freezing underground water mercilessly soaked every corner of the convoy; the Alkali Corporation's security personnel inside didn't even have time to react before being completely submerged. They had no idea what was happening; perhaps some of them realized something was wrong, but under the onslaught of the water flow, which was like a natural disaster, they had no chance to fight back.

Under Caliban's watch, the Alkali Corporation security personnel drowned in their vehicles without even catching a glimpse of Kevin's figure.

Watching the cars spinning in the Water Sphere, Caliban fell deep into thought.

'Now I understand where Kevin's confidence in defying the Alkali Corporation comes from.'

With such powerful abilities, he indeed had the courage to ignore the Alkali Corporation.

After Kevin washed the convoy with water, virtually no one was left alive. The reason it was "virtually" was that after the vehicles fell from the Water Sphere and crashed to the ground, a sturdy figure emerged from what looked like an armored car.

The figure was tall, and his hairstyle somewhat resembled Caliban's.

When the figure appeared under the glow of the headlights, Caliban's eyes widened.

"Logan!?"

Caliban instinctively called the man's name, but then realized something was wrong.

"No... that is not Logan..."

Logan was not that young, and his abilities were not that prominent. The current Logan was extremely weak; sometimes, if Caliban was not careful enough, he couldn't even detect Logan's presence with his mutant detection mechanism.

But the presence of the man in front of him was blatantly obvious in Caliban's eyes. Like an oil lamp in the dark night, it was particularly striking.

"He is X-24."

Kevin told Caliban who this mutant was.

"X-24?"

"Laura is X-23, he is X-24; they are from the same batch of products, but compared to Laura, he is more like a machine."

X-24 lacked self-awareness; the Alkali Corporation did not allow him to develop a consciousness. He was just a robot following orders; without instructions, he wouldn't even know what to do and would just stand still, waiting for directions.

"A flesh robot," was how Kevin assessed him.

"Ahhhh!!!"

As soon as X-24 stepped out of the armored vehicle, the command previously given to him by the Alkali Corporation made him roar and charge at Kevin.

"Eliminate all enemies of the Alkali Corporation," was the directive given to X-24.

And now, Kevin had become his enemy.

Seeing the young Wolverine extend his adamantium claws and rush in their direction, Caliban instinctively took a step back.

Having known Wolverine for so long, he undoubtedly understood how ferocious he was in his youth. Perhaps it was somewhat inappropriate to say that, since Wolverine was already quite old even before this. It should be noted that Caliban knew how savage Wolverine was in his prime—a ruthless figure willing to risk his own life for a kill.

Even though Kevin had already displayed significant power, Caliban couldn't help but worry whether Kevin could withstand this young Wolverine.

But soon, Caliban realized that his concerns were somewhat exaggerated.

It seemed that X-24 was moving at tremendous speed as he charged toward Kevin. But when he got close, Kevin only slightly opened his hand, and X-24 froze in mid-air, unable to move.

"What!?"

This bizarre scene made Caliban gasp again; for a moment, he couldn't understand how Kevin had managed it.

If Kevin's ability was like Magneto's control over metal, then manipulating the adamantium in X-24's body to freeze him in mid-air would make perfect sense.

'But didn't Kevin have the ability to control water?'

"The human body is 70 percent water, including the blood; I am simply subduing him by controlling the blood in his system."

Kevin casually explained to Caliban.

Kevin was quite skilled in using the blood manipulation technique to immobilize people, but freezing the blood to achieve this caused harm to the human body. Because when blood stops flowing, circulation ceases, and the heart stops beating; ordinary people would die in just over ten seconds. Even a Wolverine clone was likely experiencing severe discomfort right now and would soon fall into a state of suspended animation.

And indeed, about ten seconds later, X-24's vital signs gradually began to decline.

Kevin released his control, and X-24 fell from the air to the ground, unable to get up.

His self-healing ability was weakened; if his heart stopped beating for a period of time, he would completely lose consciousness. This only happened because he was a Wolverine clone; if it were any other mutant, they would have been dead long ago.

X-24 lay peacefully on the ground, and Kevin nudged him with his foot.

Caliban cautiously approached and asked, "Is he dead?"

"It is not that easy to die; he is just in a state of suspended animation right now and will be able to revive as soon as the Alkali Corporation injects him with the mutant serum."

"And now what? Kill him?"

"Killing him would be too wasteful..."

Kevin stroked his chin.

He had no intention of killing X-24; such a killing machine, if modified properly, could become a helper for Logan and the others. Moreover, the adamantium contained within X-24 held great research value, regardless of whether the alloy was genuine or a replica.

If X-24 truly went out of control, Kevin would find a way to kill him and take his body back to The Boys universe to study the adamantium thoroughly.

Kevin and Caliban were still pondering when a voice suddenly called out from behind.

"So you two skipped dinner just to come here and deal with... What the hell is that?!"

The voice sounded calm at first, but upon getting closer to Kevin and seeing the guy lying at his feet, he immediately swore.

It was Logan, who had come looking for Kevin and Caliban.

Since it was dinnertime, Logan had come to call them back to eat, but when he went out, he found they were not in the car. He briefly relied on his not-yet-faded sense of smell to track their scent, and then he saw a guy on the ground who looked exactly like him.

Seeing a younger version of oneself lying on the ground would be a disturbing experience for anyone. The same was true for Logan.

Kevin, looking at the approaching Logan with a mischievous smile, said mysteriously, "This is your son."

Logan: "!?"

"That is right, just like Laura, he is a clone grown from your genes, so strictly speaking, he is your son... No, maybe it is better to say brother?"

"...Do not disgust me. Deal with this quickly, then get Charles and get out of here."

Kevin's words twisted Logan's face.

He could accept Laura's existence, but he could not accept X-24, who looked exactly like him.

Seeing Logan's expression, which looked as if he had swallowed a fly, Kevin's smile widened.

He kicked the fallen X-24 again.

"Do not worry, Caliban and I will guard the perimeter so that no one from the Alkali Corporation bothers you. You, Charles, and Laura can just enjoy the current peace."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Are you saying we should stay here peacefully and bring trouble to these innocent bystanders? Watch them get beaten to death?"

Logan had already had a similar experience.

That was when he got his adamantium claws and escaped from Stryker. During his escape, he was taken in by a kind elderly couple; they gave him clothes and looked after him while he had dinner. In the end, however, they were killed by the pursuers sent by Stryker.

Logan didn't want a repeat of that, so today, when Charles wanted to stay here, Logan strongly wanted to refuse but couldn't resist his request.

If the Alkali Corporation people had not found them, Logan might have stayed here and spent the night with Charles.

But there were no ifs.

Representatives of the Alkali Corporation had already discovered this place; at any moment, they could face swarms of pursuers, and the farmer's house would be in constant danger.

Therefore, they had to leave.

Before an even greater tragedy occurred.