Renzo's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Wanda had actually taken Hill away right under his nose. She simply had not taken the Mind Stone seriously at all.
"Is Raven infected too..." Scott could hardly believe it. The blue-skinned senior had always been kind to the younger generation. She usually trained the young warriors personally.
It could be said that every young person who joined the X-Men had received Raven's care, and most of them had been trained by her until they could become superheroes in their own right.
Scott himself had been trained by Raven. Of course, her more radical ideas had also affected him. When he was still very young, his brother's death had a tremendous impact on him. Under her influence, his character gradually became one that hated evil and showed no mercy to enemies.
It was not until later, when the military broke out and captured large numbers of mutants for experiments, that countless needles were inserted into Scott's skin. His eyes were tightly covered, and he was locked in a small cage like a wild dog, treated like an animal.
That experience completely overturned his once slightly cowardly character, making him strong and able to kill without blinking. High-temperature optic blasts could be stored in his eyes anytime and anywhere, ready to melt the enemies in front of him in an instant.
"Scott, pull yourself together. The professor still needs us." Bishop supported Mystique. The thin girl had been severely eroded by the red mist. After the Mind Stone purified her body, a large amount of energy had also been taken away. Her physical condition had dropped considerably, and she leaned to the side, trembling.
Bishop was a bearded Black man who did not look young. He had the ability to absorb energy. He had also appeared in Days of Future Past, dying several times before Professor X and Logan arrived in the future.
Although the character was relatively marginalized, he was indeed a very trustworthy man.
Renzo stared blankly at the sky. After being delayed for too long, the sky had gradually darkened. In the distance, the sun was setting in the west, and the afterglow of the sunset scattered over everyone, as if they were wearing bright golden armor, like Heimdall's golden armor shining alone in the boundless galaxy.
"Let's go," Renzo said without turning back.
"Go where? Back to the professor?" Scott asked.
"He doesn't want you to go back. If you get infected again, it'll be a disaster." Renzo quietly levitated and took several people with him. "You are going to appear as a surprise attack team. That is also Charles's intention. He values you kids very much, unlike you, who keep walking straight into traps."
"Then where are we going?"
"To a hotel. Do you want to sleep here, with the sky as your quilt and the ground as your bed?" Renzo rolled his eyes at them.
This X-Men team had arrived in a stealth fighter, the same one that had chased him and Hill before. However, at the time, there had only been one person on the plane—Raven. The others had already set up an ambush. They had originally thought they could defeat the enemy in one strike, but they had not expected that they would fail to even touch Renzo's skin before everything collapsed.
Raven had flown away in the fighter and kidnapped Hill along the way. The X-Men now had no means of transportation, and... with unspoken understanding, none of them had brought any money.
Renzo could not understand why registered superheroes disliked carrying money so much. Although there was a hotel nearby, they always seemed to prefer staying on rooftops or beneath overgrown bridges, making themselves look miserable.
Scott and the others were speechless. They had not expected to be taken to stay at a hotel. They did not know when it had started, but in people's minds, superheroes were supposed to adapt to any environment. Even the thinking of heroes like them had gradually been assimilated.
Cartoons really were harmful.
...
San Francisco.
New site of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Charles sat quietly in his little yellow hoverchair, an artificial lake in front of him. A few lazy swans flapped their wings across the water. He stared warmly at the lawn not far away, where children were running happily, laughing and playing. Older boys and girls held books, chatting and laughing beneath the trees while showing off their abilities from time to time.
Charles's aged face watched those carefree children with a light smile, and a trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.
Forty or fifty years ago, when Xavier's School had first been established, his manor had looked this cheerful and relaxed. At that time, he had still been a teacher at the school himself. Raven, Hank, Alex... several of his earliest comrades had stayed at the school to teach, forming the original, thin teaching staff.
Later, when the younger generations such as Scott, Jean, and Storm grew up and took over Charles's work, the old man finally relaxed. He could watch the happy children in front of him and protect them as they grew.
Until one day, Captain Carter came to his door and invited Charles to join the Illuminati. Only the leaders of the strongest, smartest, and most powerful superhero teams in the world were qualified to join.
Charles instantly understood their intention. They wanted to rely on the forces behind each member to suppress the restless scattered forces.
It was said that King T'Challa of Wakanda had also received an invitation, but he had refused it and beaten up the Fantastic Four members who had gone to invite him before throwing them out of Wakanda.
Charles had not truly wanted to join this organization, but the existence of the Illuminati could turn the X-Men behind him into a heroic organization officially recognized by the government. Mutants would no longer be openly arrested by the military. Although dirty dealings would still be carried out in secret, at least there would no longer be shadows beneath the sun.
As for Erik... Charles suddenly missed his old friend. He had not seen him for more than ten years.
Just as the old man was lost in his memories, a purple-haired figure suddenly appeared behind him. The mutant teleported behind the professor and said seriously,
"Professor, the team escorting the Brotherhood members was completely wiped out, and all the mutants disappeared." Blink spoke with unease in her heart, as if a storm were coming.
She and Hope were the only X-Men members still at the school, while the team led by Scott had been the last X-Men unit stationed there.
Of course, there were still plenty of mutants, but only a few could shoulder such heavy responsibilities.
There were also X-Men who had not yet returned to the team, such as the mercenary Deadpool, who was taking Domino, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Yukio on missions to earn commissions. They were crazy and did not want to come back.
Storm and T'Challa had fallen in love and married at lightning speed. Naturally, she had moved to Wakanda to serve as a bridge of communication between the X-Men and Wakanda. Therefore, the organization with the best relationship with that vibranium empire was Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Even the professor's little yellow hoverchair had some vibranium mixed into it, making it extremely sturdy.
"I know..." Charles said calmly, but the smile in his eyes could not be restrained, as if everything was within his calculations.
Blink choked for a moment. Looking at the old man's bald head, she did not know what the professor was planning.
"Where's Hope?"
"She's in the detention room," Blink muttered, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes. Hope was the youngest child among the X-Men, a soldier highly valued by the professor and regarded as a successor.
And the last person regarded as a successor... had been Jean.
Blink had never met Jean. Before she joined, that legendary woman had already died. Everything she knew about Jean came from hearsay and conversations with teachers from the previous generation.
Jean Grey, called the strongest mutant by Logan and Scott.
Blink wanted very much to meet that legendary woman.
When Charles heard Hope's name, the smile on his face faded slightly, and gloom covered his face like a lingering dark cloud, ready at any moment to release a downpour.
"She... lost control again?" Charles asked casually. He did not think anyone could hurt Hope. The only person who could hurt her was herself.
Now there was also Wanda... Powerful women had become the most dangerous variables in this world.
"Mm," Blink hummed. "She locked herself up because she was afraid of hurting the other children here."
The professor's expression grew heavier.
The professor fell silent.
"Let her be alone for now. I'll communicate with her when I have time," the old man said gently, looking kindly at the girl beside him. "You've worked hard during this period. If necessary... call Wade and the others back."
"I understand, Professor." Blink nodded, then opened a portal and disappeared after stepping into it.
Old Charles quietly looked at the sparkling lake in the distance. Thousands of words seemed to be stored in his heart, but in the end, they turned into a helpless sigh...
"Calling Captain, calling Captain! We are under attack, located at the New Jersey military base!"
Captain Carter hung up the communication with a solemn expression. To be precise, it was not that she hung up, but that the other side had been cut off. It had been accompanied by harsh and arrogant laughter, the screech of motorcycle brakes, and what sounded like heavy objects striking metal.
Captain Carter's face was very ugly. In just three days, the entire United States had been attacked four times. Each time she arrived, she had failed to stop it. Captain Marvel, a member of the Illuminati, had also disappeared after investigating one of the attacks. At present, only four people remained in the six-person Illuminati, and they urgently needed new blood.
"New Jersey..." Captain Carter's communicator was crushed to pieces with a slight force from her palm, and anger appeared on her face. That was a place of extraordinary significance to her.
She had once become an excellent soldier and an excellent instructor there, and she had also met the love of her life there...
Captain Carter could not help falling into her memories. The thin boy named Steve Rogers, with his sharp intelligence and patriotic sense of justice, had opened the door to her heart little by little.
So, at her and Dr. Erskine's insistence, Steve had participated in the super-soldier program. However, because of Hydra's sabotage, Steve had died tragically on the spot, and Carter had taken over Steve's position, becoming the only female super-soldier in the world.
What followed had been almost exactly the same as Steve's experience: fighting the Red Skull, falling into the sea, being frozen, and awakening...
Captain Carter missed her former comrades very much, but what had passed was already gone. Perhaps allowing them to live forever in memory was also a different kind of new life.
"Sam, take Barton and Natasha to the New Jersey military base. We have something to do!"
Captain Carter removed the pager from her ear and approached Nick Fury with a serious expression. "I need a fighter jet."
Nick Fury turned his head, looked at Captain Carter's heroic figure, and narrowed his eyes. "You should know this is most likely a trap set by the witch for you. Falling into it this easily isn't like you."
Captain Carter had no time to pay attention to Fury's teasing. She simply stared at him without saying a word.
"All right, all right. Go find Coulson. He should be on the deck." Nick Fury and Captain Carter looked at each other for a while, and in the end, Fury was the one who lost. "But I still have to remind you. The witch's power is far beyond what we can compare to, so you must be careful."
Nick Fury gave a few words of advice. He believed Captain Carter was not an impulsive person, but as a human being, she still had weaknesses.
Wanda was very good at playing with people's hearts. Anyone could be driven by emotion when the right wound was touched.
He could no longer afford to lose another right-hand.
Nick Fury looked into the distance with some worry. An hour ago, he had received a distress signal from Hill, and the coordinates sent by the mysterious warrior were getting farther and farther away, proving that she had been kidnapped.
According to Reed, that warrior had three Infinity Stones on him, including the Mind Stone. To quietly take Hill away under his nose—this Wanda...
Nick Fury narrowed his eyes. He hoped things would not reach that point. S.H.I.E.L.D... also had secret weapons.
...
"Captain!" x4
Sam, Barton, and Natasha watched as Captain Carter landed in a fighter jet. Their hair was blown wildly by the wind, and their fully armed appearance proved that they were already in combat mode.
What surprised Captain Carter was that someone had come uninvited.
"Why is he here?" Captain Carter looked at the man wearing a black tight-fitting vest marked with a skull. An eyepatch covered his injured eye, making his fierce face look even more savage.
Frank, loaded with firearms and weapons, stood to the side indifferently. The boundary between him and the other three was clearly defined. At a glance, it was obvious they were not from the same group.
"I invited him," Sam replied. "We're all people who escaped from the Red Mist and have some experience with it. In addition, Wong promised that Kamar-Taj will support us when necessary."
"Captain..." Frank admired the woman in front of him very much, and his only remaining eye was full of reverence.
It was not the kind of affection between a man and a woman, but the kind of devotion a fanatic fan had when meeting an idol, almost willing to do anything for her just to receive a single word.
"Let's go." Although Captain Carter was a little speechless, she would not refuse someone who had come to help.
Barton and Natasha glanced at this fierce man, but did not take him too seriously. To them, Frank was not particularly strong, though his firepower was impressive. In fact, they were both confident that either of them could take him one-on-one.
Boom!
The fighter jet took off and flew toward New Jersey...
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