Even so, Jean was still worried. She quickly reached out to Saiki Kusuo through their mental link.
"Saiki, how are things on your end?"
After dealing with a few lowlifes who had ill intentions towards him, Saiki Kusuo confirmed that there were no ordinary civilians left in the bar, and replied to Jean, "Don't worry, I'm fine!"
He walked out of the restroom and saw the two opposing groups facing off in the bar.
"Well, then, it's time for me to leave, too."
The sudden commotion naturally caught Raven's attention. She spoke to Erik beside her.
"Hey, Erik, something's not right."
Erik didn't reply. Instead, when a foolhardy man tried to sneak attack him, he used his powers to control the forks on the table, piercing the enemy's throat.
"Overestimating your own abilities." His expression was cold, revealing a terrifying murderous aura.
After his act of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys successfully deterred the other enemies, Raven reverted to her true form. She sharply questioned her opponents.
"Speak! Whose dogs are you? Tell the truth, and I might leave you with a whole corpse."
Provoked, the leader of the enemies ignored his companion's gruesome death and ordered the men surrounding Erik and Raven, "Get them!" Immediately, everyone surged forward.
Saiki Kusuo used teleportation to find Scott and the others. The timid Kelly was already frightened out of her wits, trembling as she leaned against Grey.
Unfortunately, with a beauty in his arms, Grey had no time to enjoy it. His face was pale, and he looked just as scared. He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Saiki Kusuo.
"Oh my god, Saiki, you're finally back! Do you have any idea how worried we were? We thought something had happened to you!"
Saiki Kusuo apologized for the scolding, glanced at Stryker's men steadily approaching the bar, and told the group, "This isn't a good place to stay. Let's get out of here, quickly."
However, after taking a few steps, he felt something was off. When his gaze swept over everyone, Saiki Kusuo's mind went blank for a few seconds.
He asked, "Where's Jean?"
Jean, who was on everyone's minds, had used her abilities to sneak back into the bar. She was looking for Saiki Kusuo. Even though he'd told her to wait outside and not to worry, the sudden break in their conversation made her think something might have happened to him.
Worried about her friend, she snuck back into the bar, hiding from the others.
The atmosphere inside the bar was tense, with a group of seemingly well-trained individuals surrounding a man and a woman.
Jean wanted to confirm if the person surrounded was Saiki Kusuo, so she carefully approached. However, when she saw the woman who was surrounded, her eyes suddenly widened.
"Ra... Raven, Professor! Ah!"
Jean didn't know Erik, but Raven had been their teacher at Xavier's School. Jean didn't know much about Raven's sudden departure, only that she had a huge fight with Professor Charles the day before she left. Shocked, she suddenly cried out, but the next second, she realized she couldn't expose herself and frantically covered her mouth.
Fortunately, the two sides were engaged in their confrontation and didn't notice her.
Jean tried to re-establish contact with Saiki Kusuo, but she felt a strange force blocking her.
She wanted to get up and find Saiki Kusuo, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Raven surrounded like that.
After all, Raven had been her teacher, someone she'd spent time with every day. The kind-hearted Jean couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
Just as she was hesitating, a chilling sensation washed over her.
Instinctively, she dove forward onto the ground. With a loud "boom," the bar counter she'd been hiding behind was split in two. A sharp blade grazed her cheek. If she hadn't dodged quickly, it would have been her head that was split in two.
"Look what I found?"
Just as Jean was still reeling from the near miss, she heard a whistle above her, followed by a man's mocking voice.
She shivered, her moving body retreating. She didn't need to look up to know she'd been exposed.
The man who'd attacked her seemed very interested in her, crouching down in front of her.
"On closer inspection, she's quite pretty, just a bit young."
The man carrying two long swords on his back wore an ambiguous smile. Jean sensed danger and, almost instinctively, used her abilities.
The affected man, Wade, suddenly felt his consciousness clouding over, his thoughts beginning to scatter.
Just as Jean was secretly pleased that her control had succeeded and was about to take the opportunity to escape, several more enemies appeared behind Wade.
"Young is good."
Sabretooth, Victor Creed, suddenly appeared in front of them, lifting Jean's chin with his hand.
She was a bit young, not his type, but after being away from women for most of a year for this mission, seeing such a pitiful, delicate face still made him a little restless.
"She's mine." Victor's domineering declaration sparked Wade's dissatisfaction.
"Hey, I saw her first! Why do you get to take her?"
Victor was used to being domineering and didn't care whether Wade agreed or not. Logan, however, seeing his brother's ferocious, bloodthirsty look, tried to intervene.
"Come on, Victor. A green girl like that, you'll break her."
"Haha, my good little brother, this is the first time you've ever asked me for anything. What? You have your eye on this chick?"
Treated like a piece of merchandise, Jean was shaking with rage. Anger overcame her fear, and she mustered the courage to speak to these murderers who didn't blink at taking a life.
"Let me go." Her voice was hoarse from sobbing, making it hard for the men to hear clearly.
Taking it as a bit of fun, Victor leaned in closer. "What? Have you already decided who you want to choose?"
"I said!" Jean suddenly raised her voice, slapping away the hand that was gripping her chin. "Let me go, you idiot!"
Jean's body was suddenly engulfed in a ball of fire. Victor's animal instincts made him immediately distance himself from her, but his hand was inevitably burned by the flames on her body.
"This is..."
Everyone drew their weapons, pointing them at Jean, who was clearly losing control.
Just as a battle was about to erupt, Jean suddenly saw a blur, and the next second, she was in Saiki Kusuo's arms, on the second floor of the bar.
The flames emanating from Jean were so intense that even Saiki Kusuo felt the pain. If they truly erupted, he didn't know what kind of tragedy would occur.
He tightened his hold on Jean, comforting her, "It's okay."
His voice, devoid of much emotional inflection, nonetheless calmed Jean down. She looked up at Saiki Kusuo, recalling the scene from just moments ago. If Saiki Kusuo hadn't appeared, then she...
Having survived the ordeal, Jean finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears in Saiki Kusuo's arms.
"I'm sorry, I'm so useless."
"You did well. I'll get you out of here right away."
His teleportation had a cooldown of a few dozen seconds. Seeing the people below clearly intending to come up and cause trouble, Saiki Kusuo focused his gaze on Victor, who looked difficult to deal with but had a relatively weak will.
He would make this group turn on each other.
Knowing his plan, Jean lifted her head from his arms.
"I'll help too."
"No need," Saiki Kusuo rejected without a second thought.
Jean protested, "Don't underestimate me. I'm not just a woman who hides behind a man and cries."
"I'm not looking down on you. It's just that I can handle this alone. You helping would only slow me down."
Jean: "???"
If Peter Parker had heard this, he probably would have scolded him, exasperated, "No wonder you're destined to be alone!"
Jean, on the other hand, glared at him fiercely, turning her head away in anger. However, she had just been crying, so her glare lacked any real threat. Instead, it looked more like she was batting her eyelashes. If Scott had been the target, he probably would have been over the moon.
Unfortunately, the target was the clueless Saiki Kusuo. In his eyes, Jean, with her tear-streaked makeup and bloodshot eyes, looked utterly terrible.
(If I told her the truth, I'd probably get beaten up. Better not tell her.)
[Too late! Saiki, I already know! You just wait!]
Jean's tone had a distinct "See you after school!" vibe. Saiki Kusuo ignored her and focused his attention on Victor.
These men had already had their memories erased by Saiki Kusuo once, so they didn't remember him. Therefore, Agent Zero, who had previously had a good relationship with him, also drew his weapon without hesitation.
Then, Victor suddenly clenched his fist and attacked Wade, who was closest to him. Although Wade reacted quickly and put up his guard, he was still sent flying by Victor's full-force blow, crashing into the group that was facing off.
"Hey, Victor, are you crazy? Even if he stole your girl, now's not the time for infighting." John, not seeing anything unusual about Victor, thought he was still holding a grudge against Wade for stealing his girl and tried to intervene. The next second, he followed in Wade's footsteps.
John didn't have Wade's tough body, and this punch nearly shattered all the bones in his body.
With two companions knocked down in a row, even Agent Zero, who wasn't very familiar with Victor, sensed something was wrong.
"Be careful, this guy doesn't seem right."
They cautiously guarded against the suddenly crazed Victor. Meanwhile, because Wade had suddenly crashed into the scene, the standoff between the two sides was broken. Seizing the opportunity while Stryker's men were in disarray, Raven and Erik exchanged a look and launched a coordinated attack.
Raven's martial arts skills were exceptional. She easily maneuvered among seven or eight tall, imposing men, swiftly and efficiently taking them down.
Erik's power was controlling the Earth's magnetic field. He used the magnetic field to make himself fly. The entire bar began to shake, and the ground started to loosen, as if something was about to break through the surface.
Erik waved his hand, and sharp objects that emerged from the ground pierced the enemies who were trying to attack him. Soon, one by one, the enemies fell. More and more floating objects surrounded his body, forming a protective barrier.
"Time's up. We should go."
Saiki Kusuo had no interest in staying to watch them kill each other, and besides, Scott and the others were waiting for them.
However, when Saiki Kusuo tried to activate his ability, he found that his teleportation was disabled.
This is impossible!
He was shocked and almost reflexively checked to see if another gem in his body had lost its power. The result was that everything was normal except for the Time Gem.
The intelligent Saiki Kusuo quickly connected the cause of his ability failure to Erik, who was generating the magnetic field. Coincidentally, Erik looked at him with a cold smirk, further confirming his suspicion.
At the same time, Saiki Kusuo also discovered that his telepathy was ineffective against Erik.
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