"Take this guy back with you and give him a thorough interrogation. Let me know if you find out anything else."
Han Yu pointed at the unconscious Mutant assassin and spoke to Natasha behind him. S.H.I.E.L.D. could handle the interrogation; Han Yu didn't know how to do it and disdained learning.
Natasha wasted no words. She radioed the S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers outside to come in and drag the Mutant assassin away.
Natasha said, "Mr. Han, I'll be back. I hope we can enjoy working together next time."
Han Yu smiled and waved. "Take care. I won't see you out."
With that, Han Yu turned and walked back, snatching his phone from Quicksilver amid the latter's howls.
He checked the score. Well, well, 0/9. So everything Quicksilver had just said had been boasting. Han Yu had thought he might have some talent for gaming, but it seemed his only talent was running his mouth.
Seeing that Han Yu had no intention of paying her any more attention, Natasha pressed her earpiece and quietly said a few words. She gave Han Yu a long look, then left.
Sensing the soldiers around him withdrawing, Han Yu breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to get on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bad side either. After all, it was still on the side of justice for now.
Now that the timeline has changed, I wonder if Hydra has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. If it has, I can step in at the right time and help him deal with that trouble. If Mutants really start appearing in large numbers in this world, then those two guys should show up too!
Han Yu rubbed his fingers across his phone screen as he thought. As he remembered it, at least half the people in S.H.I.E.L.D. belonged to Hydra, while the rest were foolishly fighting Hydra, unaware that their enemy had long since infiltrated their ranks.
Two figures appeared in his mind. One was a bald man in a wheelchair whose every movement was exceptionally gentle. His mutant power was telepathy, and among Mutants with that kind of psychic ability, he was the strongest.
The other floated in the air like a god, able to make the earth itself rise into the sky with a casual wave of his hand, and could control all metals.
The two were Professor X, Charles, and Magneto, Erik. They were the most famous of all Mutants. In Han Yu's memory, the two had first founded the X Academy, but their ideals had eventually clashed, and Magneto had broken away to establish the Brotherhood of Mutants. He claimed he would liberate Mutants and keep them from being constrained and hunted by humans.
Han Yu played his game absentmindedly, while Ultron and Quicksilver kept chattering beside him. But he was so lost in thought that he didn't hear them at all. Suddenly, he stood up.
Ultron and Quicksilver both jumped. Had he found them so annoying that he was going to hit them?
"Time to get to work!"
With that, Han Yu dragged Ultron straight toward the workshop.
Quicksilver was left standing there, bewildered. "Hey, wait for me!"
In the workshop, Ultron and Quicksilver stared at Han Yu in bewilderment. He was holding up both hands, and strands of Green Lantern Energy poured from his palms like silk threads, weaving together.
"What's the boss doing?"
Quicksilver quietly asked Ultron. He had also started calling Han Yu "boss" now. After all, "shopkeeper" was too formal, and with his personality, he didn't want to call him that. "Boss" was fine; it made him feel closer to Han Yu, though Han Yu didn't feel the same way.
"He seems to be trying to construct something, but he keeps changing it."
Ultron didn't know what Han Yu was constructing either, but he could tell Han Yu was trying to make something. Seeing how serious he was, Ultron didn't speak up to ask, and Quicksilver watched quietly too.
They might always hang around Han Yu running their mouths, but when it was time to be serious, both of them could be very serious.
Five minutes passed, and a look of delight suddenly spread across Han Yu's face. "Done!"
A pale purple fragment of a blade floated between Han Yu's palms. It looked a little familiar.
"Is that the energy sword from that assassin earlier?"
Ultron's brain was a supercomputer, and he immediately recognized where the thing in Han Yu's hand had come from.
"That's right," Han Yu said with a nod. "I reconstructed the energy molecules as closely as I could. There's also a bit of skin tissue I got from him when I touched him just now. Help me analyze his DNA and find what makes him different from humans. Then make me a program that can track down humans with this gene."
After listening to Han Yu's long explanation, Ultron said in surprise, "Boss, are you interested in the superpowers these people have? You're not planning to recruit them all into the grocery store, are you? If we do that, S.H.I.E.L.D. will definitely label us a terrorist organization."
It wasn't that Ultron was afraid of S.H.I.E.L.D.; its firepower couldn't kill him. But he found it troublesome. One less problem was better than one more, and if war could be avoided, Ultron didn't want to fight either.
He had gradually discovered that this body could take on a human form. After doing so, he was still a robot on the inside, but from the outside, he looked no different from a normal person.
Ultron was ready to go out and experience the extravagant life of a human. War? He really didn't want to take part.
Quicksilver looked at Han Yu with the same question. No one liked war, and his parents had died because of one. Fighting was one thing, but "war" was different. It was no longer something a few fights could settle.
Seeing the two of them staring at him so seriously, as though they were ready to pour out a long string of objections if he said yes, Han Yu shook his head and smiled.
"You might not believe me, but I'm not interested in their powers at all. I know a little about them. They're called Mutants, and they're human too, but they're humans with genetic mutations. Even with superpowers, they're still human. Their powers are strong, but their bodies are much like ordinary people's. They can be stabbed with a knife and killed with a handgun."
"Tonight's Mutant assassin gave me a warning. If Mutants like him are allowed to roam unchecked, the world will spark a terrifying war!"
Han Yu paused. Seeing that Ultron and Quicksilver were listening to him very seriously, he continued.
"After all, humans are very xenophobic creatures. When only one or two Mutants appear before the world, and they're doing good deeds, they might be heroes to ordinary people. But once they do one bad thing, that single act will wash away most people's goodwill toward them. And when more people like them appear and become a whole group, ordinary people will resist their existence even more."
Han Yu sighed softly. The existence of Mutants was indeed a tragedy. They could only be forced to accept their fate as Mutants and endure the strange looks of others. The idea that having superpowers was a good thing was nothing more than a fantasy in the minds of most chuunibyou youths.
"So before the trouble caused by Mutants breaks out, I need to gather them together and manage them, teach them how to control their powers and understand themselves. Only then can I keep them from losing their way!"