Unknown Island Indian Ocean.
Deep within the forest, Alex and Petra finally found a moment to catch their breath.
Alex took out some food from his magical storage and handed it to Petra. Even though it was just basic instant food, Petra devoured it ravenously, showing none of the composure expected of a superhero.
But then again, it made sense. In this world, mutants had become fugitives. Even eating a decent meal in the open had become a luxury. And Petra had been one of the earliest individuals transformed into a Sentinel robot.
Having been kept alive for more than a decade on nothing but nutrient solutions, her body had long been drained to its limits. Though she hadn't died, such an existence could barely be called living.
Fortunately, Alex had repaired her body not long ago — otherwise, her stomach might not have been able to digest this food so easily.
"Talk to me," Alex said, casually sitting down on a clean rock.
"What do you want to know?" Petra asked after taking a sip of cola and swallowing a mouthful of her burger.
"Everything," Alex replied.
"You were inside the Sentinels all along, weren't you? I know Charles was controlling you with his telepathy, but you still maintained your consciousness. I want to know what happened during your time as part of the Sentinel system."
Petra's expression darkened. That period was something she never wanted to recall. But she also knew this wasn't the time to hesitate.
If she wanted help from the man in front of her, she had to offer her cooperation. Only then would there be even the slightest hope of saving this world.
After a moment of silence, Petra began to speak.
"That was my first mission after joining the X-Men. Before that, I had just been attending classes at the school. I didn't really understand the conflict between humans and mutants — I only learned about it from the seniors and teachers after enrolling.
In the few memories I still have, I remember that after I was defeated and captured alive by a Sentinel, I was separated from Sway and taken to a laboratory. There, I couldn't use my mutant powers."
Sway — Petra had now mentioned her twice. Her real name was Suzanne Chen, a Chinese-American mutant and member of the X-Men, with the ability to slow down or even pause time in her surroundings — an incredibly powerful ability in some respects.
But clearly, even with such potential, she hadn't been able to change the fate of this world.
More importantly, Alex picked up on another detail Petra mentioned — something that prevented mutants from using their powers.
"Was it a power-dampening collar?" Alex asked.
Petra shook her head. "No. At the time, I was only wearing a plain white hospital gown. Nothing else. And judging by the environment, it looked like an ordinary lab. But I'm not sure what they used. After I was strapped to the operating table, they injected me with anesthesia and I lost consciousness."
Alex tilted his head slightly in thought. He had originally assumed that the humans were using something like the suppressor collars from Deadpool 2 to neutralize mutant abilities. But from what Petra described, it seemed they had developed something else entirely.
Speaking of Deadpool, a sudden thought struck Alex.
"By the way, Petra," he asked, "since you were a member of the X-Men, I want to know — do you know someone named Deadpool?"
"Deadpool?" Petra paused for a moment, looking puzzled.
Alex assumed she didn't understand the word. After all, the term Deadpool could have multiple meanings in English. So he explained, "He's a mercenary who became a mutant after an experiment. He has a powerful healing factor."
"I know who Deadpool is," Petra interrupted before he could finish. "I'm just surprised you brought him up."
Alex's eyes instantly flashed with a cold gleam.
So Deadpool does exist in this world!?
He kept a calm expression, but inside, his mind was reeling.
And no wonder. His goal in coming here was the X-Men movie universe. By all rights, Deadpool wasn't supposed to appear in this world.
After all, the X-Men movie universe with Deadpool and the one without him were two completely different beasts.
With that thought in mind, Alex kept his expression casual as he continued asking questions.
"Can you tell me more about him? Like his background, and what kind of relationship he had with your group? I'm really curious about him."
Petra didn't quite understand why Alex was asking about this, but since he'd brought it up, she wasn't going to avoid the question. After thinking for a moment, she replied.
"The first time I saw Deadpool was actually on the school's television. Before that, none of us knew he was a genetically altered mutant — we just thought he was another radical mutant out there.
Just like you said, Deadpool was a mercenary — and one without a moral bottom line. He'd done a lot of bad things… but also killed a lot of bad people. After the Professor investigated him, he found that Deadpool wasn't affiliated with Magneto, and felt a sense of sympathy toward him."
"What happened after that?" Alex asked.
"The Professor tried to reach out to Deadpool. He even invited him to sit in on classes at the school. I once attended a public class with him. To be honest, I didn't like him — he talked too much and had no filter whatsoever."
Petra paused before continuing. "Things were fine at first. Deadpool even briefly joined the X-Men's trainee team and went on a few missions with Cyclops and Wolverine.
But then, for some reason, the Professor kicked him out. I don't know what happened, and the teachers wouldn't say anything about it either."
Alex rubbed his chin thoughtfully. After Petra finished, he asked again, "Do you know if Deadpool is still alive?"
Petra shook her head.
"Sorry, I can't say for sure. Deadpool's healing factor is strong, but in the end, he's just a guy with some combat skills. Chances are… he's already been killed.
Or maybe… turned into a Sentinel robot too."
But when Alex heard that last part, he instinctively shook his head.
It wouldn't be that simple.
Plenty of people in this world could kill Deadpool — the most effective way would be to suppress his healing factor, then land a clean strike or put a bullet in him. That'd be enough to end him. But Alex had a nagging feeling things weren't that straightforward.
Now that he'd confirmed Deadpool existed in this world, his mind went on high alert. His caution toward this universe had jumped several notches.
Deadpool's existence across the multiverse was something uniquely bizarre. He'd slaughtered the Marvel Universe twice, and even leaped into other fictional worlds to do the same to characters from classic literature. That kind of boundary-breaking chaos wasn't something just anyone could pull off.
And now, Alex had become intensely curious about this universe — because he still couldn't determine whether this timeline branched from the X-Men universe, or from Deadpool's.
After all, in Deadpool 2, there was even a gag scene where the full X-Men cast quietly shut a door behind him.
Sure, that was just a joke — not meant to be taken seriously. It offered no help in making sense of the plot or the timeline, and arguably only made an already messy continuity even worse.
If it were the old Alex before crossing into this world, he wouldn't have cared at all. It was just a movie — let it be as chaotic as it wanted. Getting to see so many actors together was already worth the price of admission.
But now… Alex couldn't afford to be that relaxed.
What was just a throwaway gag to the people watching from the outside could be a massive bug — a corrupted data point in the timeline.
The clues he picked up in The Boys universe were correct: all these collapsing multiverses were emerging under the influence of higher-dimensional entities.
And if that was true, then his next goal was clear.
Alex's eyes shifted slightly. He now knew exactly what he needed to do. At this point, he had to determine whether this timeline branch originated from the X-Men or from Deadpool.
Each possibility would send this timeline spinning in a completely different direction.
And to prove that...
He had to find that elusive, Deadpool variant who was quite possibly dead!
.......
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