"Moni got back in touch with me three years ago."
"Moni made a killing by clinging to some big shot a few years back, but later he was kicked to the curb. To keep his turf, he came crawling to me again."
Kennedy gave a quick rundown of why he and Moni were back in cahoots.
"You're not mad he once tried to assassinate you?" Logan asked curiously.
Kennedy spread his hands. "Let bygones be bygones."
To him, nothing beat being alive; old grudges could be dropped. Kennedy just wanted to enjoy life.
Enjoying life meant making money—compared to cash, a murder attempt was small potatoes.
The X-Jet took off again and flew to a small island in the Mediterranean, where everyone finally met the former Gang boss.
"Gang? That low-end job? I quit ages ago."
Moni said, sporting black shades.
He was still gaunt, but looked far healthier than when Fang Yuan had last seen him.
Money really does polish a man.
The X-Men had no patience for his rags-to-riches tale, though.
"Where did you stash Trask?" Logan growled.
Viktor extended razor-sharp claws, eyes roaming Moni's neck.
Moni swallowed hard.
Wolverine wasn't exactly tame, but Viktor—
Moni knew Viktor's fearsome rep; who'd dare underestimate Kennedy's psycho killer?
One wrong mood and the man would literally rip his throat out.
But when Charles explained why they'd come, Moni jumped up. "Trask? I didn't bust him out!"
He felt like it was ten years ago all over again, when out of nowhere he'd been framed as the mastermind behind the President's assassination.
"Someone's setting me up!" Moni panicked.
Life was good now; he wanted zero to do with X-Men or Awakened.
"So you're saying you don't know where Trask is?" Viktor's tone turned deadly. "If I find you're lying, things will get... interesting."
Gulp.
Moni gulped again—because this time he did know.
"Let me clarify first—this is only hearsay!" Moni raised his hands. "I know where Trask is."
"Augustus?"
After Raven infiltrated Augustus HQ and reported back, Erik slammed the table. "I knew it!"
"Augustus has a secret meeting room. It's well hidden, but it still needs power—thanks to Bradley, we found the concealed elevator," Raven said proudly.
A shy-looking man beside her scratched his head.
Erik smiled at Bradley. "Well done. I knew you could contribute."
"Th-thank you." Bradley fidgeted. "If Mr. Lehnsherr hadn't recruited me, I'd have joined Colonel Stryker's Special Unit. Heard they ran into trouble in Africa—almost wiped out."
Bradley's tone brimmed with respect.
Among the Awakened, Magneto's status was second only to their leader Fang Yuan, on par with Professor X.
Not just because Erik commanded the Brotherhood of Mutants and held life-or-death power, but because he truly championed Mutant rights—wherever Mutants were oppressed, he sent aid.
Like Professor X, who educated young Mutants, Erik had earned boundless admiration.
As for Fang Yuan?
The one true god of the Awakened—no explanation needed.
Many Mutant households even hung his portrait, offering three sticks of incense—uh, three kowtows—morning and night.
Apocalypse: "A god? Duel me!"
Fang Yuan: "Not interested."
"What did we say? Don't wander off!" Fang Yuan sighed, walking over. "You went sniffing for Trask on your own—what if you'd been caught and handed over as lab meat?"
"I'm no coward; I won't hide behind you!" Mystique retorted stubbornly.
Mystique had a fierce streak; the older she got, the more independent she became.
Yet though she aged, her looks stayed unchanged—thanks to her Mutant power.
Even without it, Vought Manufacture's cosmetics could pull off the same trick.
If Fang Yuan could mass-produce Longevity Serum, preserving youthful looks was child's play.
Seeing his frown, she quickly added, "Erik's waiting outside; the moment anything goes wrong, Bradley will alert him."
Fang Yuan relaxed; he wasn't truly angry.
In fact, even if Raven hadn't gone, he'd have found another way to leak Trask's whereabouts.
"What did you find?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"I saw Trask on Augustus's Hidden Floor, but super-powered guards kept me from getting close," Raven replied.
"As expected, those Augustus super-humans were targeting the Awakened," Erik said, furious.
"But I overheard their conversation," Raven added quickly. "They were talking about—"
"The Dark Council?"
"What's that?"
Charles was stunned when he heard Moni reveal Trask's location.
He had never heard of this organization before.
Moni looked hesitant. Charles closed his eyes at once; Telepathy blanketed the whole area. When he opened them again, every thought on the island lay open to him—anyone harboring ill intent could be monitored instantly.
"All clear."
Only then did Moni, trusting Professor X's abilities, relax and say, "The Dark Council is an extremely ancient and enormous organization; many major conglomerates are among its members."
"It's said that the Dark Council used to recruit only Awakened members, but starting ten years ago it began bringing in ordinary human factions hostile to Vought. Augustus Company isn't their first attempt."
Hearing that, Charles immediately caught on: "The Pioneers."
"Exactly!" Moni nodded. "The Dark Council's goal is to rule the World, and Vought is their biggest obstacle."
"All those cutting-edge technologies Augustus possesses are supplied by the Dark Council—even the Longevity Serum—and the Council can artificially manufacture super-humans!"
"They want to replace the mut— the Awakened?" Wolverine frowned.
After calling himself a Mutant for so long, Wolverine still wasn't used to the term Awakened.
Kennedy shook his head. "No, they only want to replace Vought's Awakened."
"So the Dark Council had you rescue Trask; they must have already had their eye on the Sentinel program back then," Viktor realized.
Moni quickly stressed again, "I didn't rescue Trask!"
But no one cared anymore. Logan hurriedly asked, "Where are Trask and his research institute now?"
"I don't know; I've already quit the Dark Council," Moni said, astonishing everyone.
"Quit?"
"Ah, that explains it." Kennedy suddenly understood. "No wonder you came looking to cooperate with me again these past few years—turns out the Dark Council kicked you out."
"I wasn't kicked out; I gave up my seat voluntarily," Moni insisted, saving face. "The Dark Council is full of lunatics; staying with them long would've sent me to hell ahead of schedule."
Moni was certain about his life: he was hell-bound; Satan was probably already holding a sack open for him.
"So after relinquishing my council seat, I stopped caring about the Dark Council's affairs. Their tech is great, but working non-stop while watching your back against the conglomerates isn't worth it."
Moni said, filled with lingering fear.
Charles quietly used Telepathy to scan Moni's memories and found he was telling the truth.
But at the same time Charles uncovered another lead.
"Let's go."
He immediately called everyone to leave.
"But we haven't finished asking," Logan said, bewildered.
"Jimmy, how can you still be this dumb after all these decades?" Viktor shook his head with a mocking smile. "Professor X means… he's already seen everything."
Wolverine raised an eyebrow, wanting to retort but finding no opening.
Back aboard the X-Jet, Charles explained, "From Moni's mind I learned of a key figure."
"A New York gangland titan… Black Mask!"
"Him?" Viktor spoke up. "I know of him—also an Awakened, extremely ruthless. In recent years he's even unified the New York underworld, his influence covering half the country, more powerful than Moni ever was."
Charles nodded. "Exactly him. I found that it was Black Mask who originally invited Moni into the Dark Council. Now he's the trusted aide of Council Speaker Fox; he definitely knows what the Dark Council is planning."
"And we can take the chance to wipe out Black Mask's Black Robe Gang—I've disliked them for a long time," Viktor added with a cruel grin.
Before Charles and the others had even returned to New York, Fang Yuan already knew who their target would be.
Yet Fang Yuan didn't stop them; one could even say he had orchestrated the whole thing.
Fang Yuan planned to bury the Dark Council, so naturally the Black Robe Gang wouldn't be spared either.
In the early days of building his own power, the Black Robe Gang had indeed given him substantial help.
But now Fang Yuan no longer considered the Gang's scale worth mentioning.
"Unifying the New York underworld" sounded impressive, but in reality they still had to hide the moment they saw the Police.
Just like a schoolyard bully meeting a teacher—natural suppression; when you should cower, you cower.
The Black Robe Gang couldn't exactly raise a rebellion, could they?
If their connection to him were exposed, it would only bring Fang Yuan a heap of unnecessary trouble; taking the opportunity to bury everything was the right move.
So this time, while it looked like the X-Men were conducting an investigation, the real puppet-master—Fang Yuan—was simply using the chance to erase his own dirty laundry.
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
patreon.com /AZofficial