The waters off the coast of Cuba were a powder keg.
The United States and Soviet fleets had finally converged, their massive warships visible to one another across the gray waves.
The atmosphere was incredibly tense, teetering on the absolute brink of World War III.
Yet, the commanders on both sides exhibited restraint, holding their fire and sweating in the silence as they awaited orders from their superiors.
Deep beneath the surface, in the Hellfire Club's submarine, Ernst rested with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He extended his mental perception upward, piercing the heavy ocean water.
He observed an exceptionally advanced aircraft soaring through the clouds, a jet that vastly surpassed the technological norms of the 1960s.
Aboard that plane, Charles Xavier sensed a brush of something powerful and looked down at the sea.
An unspoken tension filled the cabin. The X-Men around him were on edge, fully aware of the formidable adversaries waiting below.
But the memory of Darwin's death fueled their resolve. There would be no retreat.
Back on the surface, the imminent threat of war only needed a single spark. Azazel, the Red Devil, provided it.
Teleporting onto a rogue warship, he swiftly neutralized the crew and took control of the weapons systems, preparing to fire and break the standoff.
But just as the ship was about to breach the cordon and launch, Charles seized telepathic control of a Soviet political officer on a nearby vessel, forcing him to launch a missile that obliterated the rogue warship.
Azazel was forced to abandon the ship, quickly teleporting back to the safety of the submarine.
Upon learning that Charles and his team had arrived, Shaw realized they needed to pivot.
"Initiate the backup plan," Shaw ordered.
He reached for a heavy, lead-lined metal helmet. It had been crafted by Soviet intelligence after rumors of telepathic American agents surfaced.
Shaw didn't strictly need it, given the mental defenses Ernst had taught him, but the added protection and the deceptive value of the helmet were too good to pass up.
He slipped it over his head.
"Until I absorb one hundred percent of the nuclear reactor, no one disturbs me," Shaw commanded, turning to face his inner circle before entering the secret reactor room alone.
Ernst used his mental power to survey the situation outside, feeling a rare twinge of nervousness.
According to the original timeline he remembered, his father was supposed to die here.
While the Cradle of Rebirth on Skull Island could technically resurrect him, Ernst deeply hesitated at the cosmic rebound of reviving him; they were very heavy.
He needed to keep Shaw alive here and now.
Suddenly, the submarine was hit by a localized sonic boom.
Up above, Banshee had leaped from the X-Jet in his glider suit. Emitting a piercing, concentrated sound wave into the water, he battered the submarine's hull.
The crew inside winced in pain, reaching for their ears.
Ernst reacted instantly, throwing up a localized force field to shield himself, though the others still suffered the brunt of the ear-piercing frequency.
As the sound wave faded, the submarine shuddered violently. The engines seemed to lose power.
A rapid diagnostic check revealed no mechanical faults, yet the alarms blared as the massive vessel began floating rapidly toward the surface against its own buoyancy.
Ernst understood immediately.
Erik.
With Shaw occupied, Ernst seamlessly took command.
"Prepare for battle," Ernst ordered, his voice steady.
"Erik is growing stronger; he's pulling our submarine out of the water. Riptide, go shoot down their plane."
Azazel nodded, having no objections to Ernst taking the reins. Riptide, ever obedient and loyal, moved to follow orders without hesitation.
Angel, being the newest addition, simply fell in line.
Riptide rushed to the airlock and flowed out of the surfacing submarine.
Spotting the X-Jet hovering in the sky, he spun his hands, unleashing a massive tornado directly at it.
Despite the pilot's desperate evasive maneuvers, the jet succumbed to the sheer force of the vortex and spiraled out of control, crashing violently onto the nearby sandy shore.
Meanwhile, Erik pushed himself to the absolute limit. With a final, agonizing pull, he dragged the massive submarine out of the water and hurled it onto the beach.
It rolled over the sand with a deafening screech of tearing metal before finally coming to a dead stop.
Inside, Ernst shook off the dizziness of the crash. He kicked the heavy hatch open and emerged into the sunlight, flanked by Azazel and Angel.
A moment later, a swirling breeze settled next to them, revealing Riptide.
A hundred yards away, the X-Men emerged from the wreckage of their plane.
Havok, Beast, Banshee, and Erik stepped forward, ready for a fight. Charles, Mystique, and Moira remained by the wreckage, acknowledging their limitations in a heavy firefight.
Ernst calculated the odds. His primary objective was to protect the submarine and buy time for Shaw to absorb the reactor.
"I'll hold the line and protect the sub," Ernst told his team.
"If any of you are itching to engage them, go ahead, but don't get yourselves killed. I can handle, "
A loud, unfamiliar humming sound interrupted him.
Another aircraft, sleek and totally silent, appeared from the clouds, hovering about fifty meters above the beach.
The bottom hatch opened, and a figure dropped out, plummeting toward the earth and landing on a jagged rock with a heavy, graceful thud.
She was completely unharmed.
Ernst's imposing presence usually commanded the battlefield, but right now, all eyes were drawn to the newcomer.
She was a tall, strikingly beautiful woman with long dark hair, wearing ancient, half-body armor.
A gleaming sword hung at her side, a shield was strapped to her back, and a glowing golden lasso rested at her hip.
Wonder Woman. Diana Prince.
Seeing her, Ernst's face twitched violently. He cursed inwardly.
'How the hell did she get here? Is the universe's will trying to use an Amazon to counter me?'
Diana's stern gaze locked directly onto Ernst. Resting her hands on her hips, she stepped down from the rock.
"Ernst Shaw," Diana declared, her voice carrying easily over the sound of the crashing waves.
"I was tasked by the British government to investigate the true cause of this conflict. But I've been looking for you for over a decade. Let's see where you run this time."
"We will see daughter of Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira."
Despite his internal frustration, Ernst couldn't resist teasing her.
But Diana was entirely unamused. She drew her sword, ready to finally teach him a lesson.
Yet, she paused, noticing a glaring detail: Ernst hadn't just recognized her; he had casually mentioned her mother, Queen Hippolyta.
Diana was stunned. Themyscira was isolated from the world.
Few mortals even knew of Paradise Island's existence, let alone the name of its Queen.
"Who are you?" Diana's tone grew ice-cold, her mind racing with concern for her sisters.
"Why do you know so much about my home?"
Unfazed by the tip of her blade, Ernst smirked.
"You think I went out of my way to stalk you, Princess? During the First World War, you wrecked Germany's poison gas operations. They kept a very detailed file on you. When I worked in the German scientific research department, I read it. Doctor Poison, Isabel Maru, was utterly fascinated by you. I've communicated with her, you know. I wonder what sparks will fly if we ever meet again."
Diana scoffed, expressing utter disdain for Dr. Maru's futile, historical efforts to harm her divine body.
However, Ernst's warning about Maru's relentless, ongoing pursuits planted a slight seed of unease in her mind.
Shaking it off, Diana pointed her sword squarely at his chest.
"You participated in Rasputin's demon-summoning occult project. You endangered the entire world. I won't let you walk away today."
Ernst laughed aloud, genuinely amused.
"Let me go? Do you honestly think I need your permission? You suffered at my hands back then, Diana. Without your precious magical artifacts, you would have perished. In the end, you were the one who took the loss."
Ernst's words hit their mark, evoking painful, deeply buried memories for the Amazon.
Her eyes flared with righteous anger.
The mutants standing on the beach, Erik, Charles, and the rest of the X-Men, watched in utter confusion.
They could feel the intense, almost mythic wrath rolling off this strange woman, and they couldn't help but wonder exactly what kind of horrifying history Ernst had with her to incite such fury.
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