Homelander: New Legacy

[147] : The Sentinel Dilemma

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.....

Raven teasingly "played" with Roger before gracefully leaving. Jean watched her departing figure for a while before entering Roger's room and asking:

"What did Raven want from you?"

"...Who knows."

Thinking back on Raven's flirtation, Roger felt like he'd somewhat lost face as a man.

He wasn't some naïve young boy, but being teased by Mystique in this way was a bit much.

But on second thought—this was Mystique. Marrying her would essentially mean marrying the entire Mystique—how many men could resist her deliberate seduction?

When he thought about it that way... maybe he hadn't lost face after all?

Roger's thoughts wandered, and Jean, observing his distracted expression, suddenly asked:

"Do you like women like Raven?"

"What? No, of course not."

Roger immediately denied it.

Sure, Mystique was attractive, but the kind of "like" Jean was referring to wasn't the same as Roger's admiration for her.

His appreciation was more aesthetic; since he had no emotional history with Mystique, discussing "liking" her would be absurd. Roger wasn't that casual.

Seeing that Jean was still staring at him, Roger explained:

"You remember Andrea, right? Raven has a connection to her. She knows Andrea chose me, so she came to... test me, that's all."

"Oh, I see."

Jean nodded, seemingly accepting Roger's explanation.

Having spent two weeks at the academy, Jean understood this world's connection to Andrea, so Roger's words didn't surprise her.

Although Jean's intuition told her that Mystique's intentions were likely more complicated than what Roger claimed, she decided not to dwell on it. After all, even if something had happened between Mystique and Roger, it wasn't really her concern.

Yes... it wasn't her concern.

"Jean, what brings you here so late?"

Shifting away from the topic of Mystique, Roger asked Jean why she'd come to him so late.

Jean smoothly continued the conversation, answering:

"I wanted to ask what you plan to do next."

"What do you mean?"

"The Sentinels..."

Jean's expression darkened, her eyes filled with concern.

Over the past two weeks at the academy, Jean had learned everything about this world's dire situation.

Just as Magneto, Erik, had said, this world was a dystopia for mutants.

The Sentinel robots were powerful; each one was equivalent to a Level 3 mutant or higher. They could replicate mutant abilities and share them across the network to all connected Sentinels.

Moreover, they could store certain mutant powers, enabling them to replicate and use those abilities even without a mutant nearby.

While Roger could destroy Sentinels like swatting flies, that was only because his body lacked the X-gene. The Sentinels were merely acting defensively against him, without using any replicated powers.