Magneto Has Arrived

When Hawking had loaded the template for the first time, he had been unconscious for an entire day, and even after waking up, his body had been extremely weak.

Now, he had only been unconscious for an hour. After waking up, his body was basically normal, without any weakness. He was simply back to his usual state.

He believed that after training for a while longer, loading the template would probably no longer have any side effects.

"Have you contacted the professor?"

"No. We only got in touch with Jean and Ororo. They're on their way back from Boston, but they probably won't arrive until tomorrow."

Wolverine handed the beer in his hand to Bobby beside him. Bobby blew on the mouth of the bottle, and an ice-cold beer was instantly ready.

Since they had not been able to contact Professor X, it was basically certain that Stryker had already captured him.

Professor X's strength lay in telepathy and mind control. Physically, he had the body of an ordinary human. A bullet could paralyze him, and old age could even leave him with dementia.

So long as no one got close enough to be mind-controlled, it would not be difficult to deal with Professor X by remotely controlling machines to launch a surprise attack.

That was why Professor X always brought Scott with him whenever he went out. He needed someone to protect him.

Stryker had exploited precisely this point. When Professor X went to visit Magneto in prison, Stryker suddenly sealed the room and released large quantities of sleeping gas before he could react, knocking him unconscious.

"Alright, then we'll wait for the teachers to return first."

Hawking did not mention Stryker's plan, because it should not have come from him. He was just a child who had come from Sokovia to attend school. How could he know so much about mutants? He would not be able to explain himself afterward.

Even having Wolverine take him to look at Cerebro earlier had been inappropriate. It was only because Wolverine was rather careless that nothing had come of it. If it had been Professor X, he would have suspected Hawking long ago.

Besides, saying it now would not help. Stryker's base was far away beside some great lake in Canada. Without the school's X-Jet, he and Wolverine could not fly there.

Of course, he could not simply ignore it either. If Stryker succeeded and killed every mutant on Earth, Little Pietro would not escape, and Hawking's plan to mooch food, drinks, and Justice Points at Mutant School would fall apart as well.

Or if Magneto seized the opportunity in the end, changed his target, and killed every ordinary human on Earth, that would be even worse, because Hawking would die too.

Eh, he did not seem to count as an ordinary human anymore. He was a Saiyan.

Still, there was no telling with something like that.

Leaving his fate in someone else's hands was not his style.

"Steel Kid will keep trying to contact the professor. I'll stand watch tonight, so get some proper rest!"

Wolverine patted Hawking on the shoulder, telling him not to worry too much.

In his eyes, no matter how strong or mature Hawking was, he was still a child. Some burdens should not be placed on a child.

However, Hawking's stomach let out several loud growls at that moment.

"Um... is there anything to eat here? I need to fill my stomach."

The large amount of food he had eaten that evening had been almost entirely consumed during the hour-long battle just now.

Wolverine smiled at the sight.

"Come with me. The basement has everything!"

This was an emergency shelter Professor X had prepared for the school's students, so food and water had naturally been taken into consideration. The beer in Wolverine's hand had come from the basement.

After soothing Wanda and Pietro, Hawking followed Wolverine to the basement of the mansion.

"At a time like this, I feel like singing 'Heaven.'"

Hawking's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of boxes upon boxes of chocolate, sausages, bread, drinks, and all sorts of miscellaneous food.

His body had long been desperately hungry, and he needed precisely these high-sugar, high-fat, high-energy foods to replenish himself.

"Oh, hell, I finally know who Yug meant by that little glutton!"

Watching box after box of food disappear, Wolverine froze with his half-finished beer suspended in midair.

The following afternoon, a cloaked jet landed steadily on the lawn behind the mansion.

"Jean, you're much later than the agreed time. I was worried you might have run into trouble."

Seeing Phoenix step out of the plane, Logan walked up and gave her a hug.

Behind Phoenix, Storm had brought along a mutant who looked like a demon from legend. Pointing toward the plane's hatch, she explained.

"There were some unexpected incidents along the way. We ran into two people we never expected to see."

Wolverine turned his head and saw an old man wearing a special helmet and a blue-skinned female mutant emerge from the plane.

"My friends, it has been a long time."

The old man raised a hand and greeted them with a smile.

Wolverine's expression instantly turned savage, and the claws on both hands shot out.

The newcomers were Magneto and Mystique. Just two years ago, they had fought a fierce battle to the death atop the Statue of Liberty.

Rogue had nearly been killed by Magneto in that battle.

"Logan, they aren't enemies right now."

Seeing this, Phoenix hurriedly stopped Wolverine and patiently explained.

After Stryker took Professor X away, Mystique had rescued Magneto from prison. He had then taken the initiative to contact the X-Men and seek cooperation, saying they should rescue Professor X together and save all mutants.

"Magneto's goal isn't just to save mutants. He also wants to use this chance to kill every human."

Standing at the second-floor window and taking everything in, Hawking shook his head as he gnawed on a huge Virginia sausage.

He was definitely going on the mission to Canada to rescue Professor X.

Whether it was saving mutants or saving humans, either one would bring him a huge amount of Justice Points. Perhaps the progress bar would even fill completely, unlocking a second Protagonist Template.

As he had said before, he did not trust anyone else with his fate.

The operation had indeed succeeded in the movie, but this was not a movie, and it was most likely not even the same universe. The same events could very well produce different outcomes. Who could say for sure?

His very presence had already caused a butterfly effect. Everything in the future was bound to change drastically, and the plot he knew could only serve as a reference. It absolutely could not be treated as gospel.

Otherwise, he might get himself killed one day.

"Wanda, Pietro, be good and stay here to watch TV with everyone. I'm going downstairs for a moment."

Seeing Magneto and the others enter the mansion together, Hawking rubbed Wanda and Pietro's heads, gave them a few instructions, then headed down the stairs to the first-floor living room.

"Still no news from the professor?"

"Child, don't worry. The professor is fine. He'll be back soon, and we'll be able to return to school soon too."

When Storm saw Hawking come downstairs to ask about Professor X, she immediately stepped forward, bent down, and comforted him as if soothing a child.

She knew Hawking was a child Professor X had only recently brought to the school. They had met once yesterday.

With the school now in this state, Hawking, a child who had only just arrived, must have been terrified. On top of that, Professor X, the only person he knew, was absent.

Behind them, Logan wore a strange expression. The scene felt deeply out of place to him.

Hawking was indeed a child, but after yesterday's battle, Logan truly could not treat him entirely as one.