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Chapter 278: The Second Time Travel, Starting with a Beatdown of the Eternals
🕑 Added 2025-08-22 17:06:55 +0000 UTC
Whoosh!
A wave of vertigo swept through Alex, familiar yet still disorienting—the unmistakable sensation of time travel. For a few heartbeats, the world seemed to fold in on itself, colors bleeding into one another, sound stretching into silence. Then, as abruptly as it began, the distortion settled.
The ground beneath his feet was solid again. The air smelled different—less sterile than the Avengers’ makeshift headquarters, carrying instead the faint tang of gasoline, summer heat, and city life. His vision cleared, and the surroundings confirmed it: this was no longer the base he had just left.
This was a brand-new timeline.
He glanced at the faint digital imprint glowing in his mind: June 22, 2016.
Exactly one month before the mysterious disappearance of all mutants on July 22, 2016.
A deliberate margin.
When setting the temporal coordinates, Alex had chosen to leave himself a wide buffer—a full month to move, plan, and investigate. In his experience, rushing rarely yielded clarity. A month was more than enough time to peel back the layers of this mystery.
With the arsenal of abilities he now wielded, Alex was certain he could uncover something decisive before that fated date arrived.
After all, the mutants are still here… still alive, still breathing.
A flicker of determination sparked in his eyes. He only needed to seek out Charles Xavier. With Charles’s psychic reach amplified by Cerebro, what secrets could remain hidden? If even that couldn’t reveal the truth, then no earlier arrival would change a thing.
And besides—
There was also the matter of the other Alex.
The fragmentary information he possessed pointed toward one undeniable fact: the Alex of this timeline had played a key role in the catastrophe. Whatever grand plan he had conceived, it had gone disastrously wrong. Yet that Alex would almost certainly know about the transmission incident.
And that knowledge… was exactly what this Alex needed.
A smile tugged at his lips. “Perfect. I can visit my own country.”
The thought filled him with an unexpected warmth.
He had built that nation himself, brick by brick, sacrifice by sacrifice. Though he had returned to it in 2023, what he found then had been nothing more than a hollow shell—mutants erased, outsiders squatting in the ruins of what was once theirs. Now, however… now the land should still be vibrant, alive with the people he had sworn to protect. The contrast alone stirred a flicker of anticipation in his chest.
But just as he was savoring the thought—
Hmm?
His senses prickled.
The corner of his mouth curved upward in a playful smile as his instincts screamed a warning. Slowly, he pivoted on his heel, eyes narrowing toward the shadow of a nearby corner.
At first glance—nothing.
The street was quiet, the shadows undisturbed.
Then—whoosh!
The whisper of fabric shifting against itself, faint as a moth’s wings. So faint an ordinary human would have missed it entirely. But Alex’s enhanced hearing caught it as clear as a bell.
Someone was there.
Someone watching.
Their movements were sharp, precise, evasive. Whoever it was had reflexes trained well beyond human capability, slipping just out of sight at the instant his gaze swept over them.
But that was all they could hide.
Without a sound, Alex’s eyes glowed faintly as he engaged his X-ray vision. The wall blurred to translucence, and the hidden figure came into view.
His brows furrowed in genuine surprise.
“…It’s her?”
A pulse of disbelief beat through him.
“It can’t be…”
Yet there was no mistake.
Crouched in the shadows was Makkari.
The mute Eternal, known for her dazzling speed. Whether she surpassed the Flash was debatable, but compared to Quicksilver, she was unquestionably faster, sharper, more relentless.
That she would be here—lying in wait for him the moment he arrived—spoke volumes. Captain Marvel’s warning had been accurate: the Eternals were tied to the disappearance of the mutants.
His eyes hardened.
“Come out!” His voice rang clear and commanding. “Did you really think you could hide from me?”
For a heartbeat, silence. Then the shadows rippled, and a figure blurred into the open.
Makkari.
She stepped toward him with deliberate caution, eyes sweeping over every detail of his face, his stance, his aura. Her expression wavered between astonishment and suspicion.
Her hands moved rapidly, signing words he didn’t understand. When she realized his lack of comprehension, her brows knit in frustration. She dug into her bag, pulled out a pen and scrap of paper, and scribbled quickly:
“Who are you?”
Alex’s gaze lingered on the words, a spark of intrigue lighting in his mind.
So. She already knew.
This wasn’t confusion. It wasn’t the reaction of someone meeting a stranger. Makkari recognized that he was not the Alex of this timeline.
That revelation alone was worth pausing over.
If anyone else had seen him, they would have assumed—without question—that he was the same man they knew. But Makkari could tell the difference. Why?
The only alternative was that she had never met the other Alex. But then… why shadow him? Why emerge so abruptly? Why demand to know who he was?
No—the simplest explanation was the right one. She had known the other Alex. And now, confronted with his double, she was unsettled enough to demand answers.
“You’re the one tailing me,” Alex said with a sharp grin, “and yet you’re asking me who I am? Shouldn’t I be the one asking questions?”
His eyes glinted. “Why were you watching me?”
Makkari’s pen scratched furiously: “Identify yourself first. Then I’ll answer.”
Alex chuckled, the sound low and edged. “I refuse.”
The lightness in his voice was gone, replaced by cold steel. “Last warning. Tell me why you’re following me, or I won’t be polite.”
Truth be told, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have bothered with warnings at all. Courtesy was not in his nature. But the situation was different. The relationship between the other Alex and the Eternals was a puzzle piece he couldn’t risk shattering too early. If they were enemies, he would strike without hesitation. But if they were allies… carelessness could undo his own plans.
And Alex was not about to sabotage himself.
Makkari’s pen moved again. Her eyes were firm, unyielding.
“I can’t trust you.”
Alex blinked, then burst out with a laugh, incredulous. “Unbelievable. You don’t trust me, but you expect me to trust you?”
He spread his hands, mockery curling in his tone. “So what then? We glare at each other, both pretending we don’t know what the other is hiding, and I just… let you walk away?”
His gaze sharpened, voice cutting like a blade. “You spied on me. You admit nothing. And I’m supposed to shrug it off as if it never happened?”
His smile vanished. “Do you think that’s reasonable?”
The silence stretched between them, heavy with tension. Then Alex sighed, as though resigned. “Well. I guess I have no choice but to take action. Remember this—I gave you fair warning.”
Sizzle!
Twin beams of heat vision seared through the air, lancing straight toward her.
Whoosh!
Makkari blurred into motion, the world slowing around her as she attempted to flee at a speed that shattered human comprehension. The ground quivered beneath the pressure of her launch, air rippling like water in her wake.
But Alex had been waiting for this. He knew her strength. He knew her speed. And he was ready.
Thud!
The Eternal slammed into an invisible energy barrier, the impact reverberating like a gong. Her body snapped backward, thrown off balance, momentum utterly crushed.
Alex straightened, heat vision still glowing faintly in his eyes, expression cool and unreadable.
The game had begun.
