S.H.I.E.L.D. Murder Incident

"Load the Harry Potter Protagonist Template!"

As the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, came into view ahead, Hawking silently loaded the Harry Template onto himself.

A Wizard Robe, Flying Broomstick, Invisibility Cloak, and wand appeared in his hands at the same time.

"Hawking, our main purpose this time is to hand Stryker and the evidence of his assassination attempt on the president over to S.H.I.E.L.D. It would be best not to cause any unnecessary conflicts with them."

Seeing Hawking activate his ability, Professor X immediately offered a reminder.

Hawking smiled obediently.

"Professor, I know. I'm just preparing for the worst. If we find that they have ill intentions, we'll be ready to fight back immediately."

Professor X nodded upon hearing that, finding it reasonable.

"Mr. Stryker must be thirsty too. Here, have some water."

At that moment, Hawking suddenly took out a bottle of water from the empty space beside him and slowly unscrewed the cap.

"What a kind child."

Professor X showed an appreciative expression and temporarily released Stryker, who had been frozen by his ability like a wooden puppet.

Stryker might be detestable, but Hawking was still willing to put aside his prejudices and offer him water. Professor X greatly admired that.

Mystique, who was driving, and Magneto, sitting in the passenger seat, silently exchanged glances upon hearing the movement behind them. They began using the rearview mirror to observe the situation in the back.

Earlier, Hawking had asked him to obtain a poison that would kill instantly after being consumed with water, saying that he intended to use it to kill Stryker.

Now, he felt that Hawking was about to make a move.

He just could not understand it. If Stryker were poisoned now, Charles would definitely be angry, and it would be difficult to explain things to S.H.I.E.L.D. This did not seem to match the intelligence of a child like Hawking.

Still, it did not matter. If a rift formed between Hawking and Charles, he could step in as a third party. There was nothing wrong with that.

Or perhaps Hawking had some other plan?

"Flavius!"

Using the wide Wizard Robe as cover, Hawking poured a small vial of blue liquid into the bottle the instant he unscrewed it. Then he gently waved his wand at the bottle and quietly cast the Transfiguration Charm.

The bottled water, which had been turned blue by the poison, instantly returned to its pure, transparent color.

Then, smiling, he handed the restored bottle of water to Stryker, who had just regained control of his body.

Stryker snatched the bottle and gulped down every last drop.

He had been immobilized by Professor X the entire way. He had neither eaten nor drunk anything, and he was now both hungry and thirsty.

Seeing Stryker finish the water, Professor X immediately used his ability to freeze him again, afraid he might cause trouble.

Magneto, seated in front, narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"Did he give up? No, something is definitely wrong!"

The vial of blue liquid he had sent Mystique away from the academy to retrieve was an extremely potent venom. An ordinary person would die instantly if even a single drop entered their throat.

If Hawking had not poisoned him, then given Hawking's personality, there was no way he would kindly offer Stryker water. But if he had poisoned him, why was Stryker completely fine after drinking it?

Since Hawking had suddenly activated his ability just now, Magneto could only guess that Hawking had used some ability he did not understand.

"Done."

When Stryker drained the entire bottle, Hawking knew his plan had succeeded.

Actually, killing Stryker was simple. The important thing was that Professor X could not discover it, nor could S.H.I.E.L.D.

Therefore, Stryker had to die only after they left S.H.I.E.L.D., which made things a little troublesome.

So Hawking reviewed all the various spells Harry had learned at school in his memories.

The magic of the Harry Potter World was very wondrous. Some spells displayed obvious characteristics when cast.

For example, the Killing Curse produced a green beam of light, the Disarming Charm a blue beam, the Exploding Charm a red beam, the Rope Charm sent out a rope, and the Arrow Shooting Charm fired sharp arrows.

Other spells had almost no obvious signs when cast. As long as the wand was aimed at the enemy at the end, and the caster was not too close, they would work.

Like the Mending Charm, Levitation Charm, Transfiguration Charm, Full Body-Bind Curse, Sleeping Charm, and so on.

A very small number did not even require the wand to be aimed at the target, like the Summoning Charm Harry had used in the Goblet of Fire to call the Flying Broomstick he had left in the dormitory when facing the dragon.

As long as one thought of the object, it could be summoned to one's side within a certain range.

Of course, the condition was that no one could stop it, and it could not be in a completely sealed space.

However, Hawking considered that even if he used an unnoticeable spell inside S.H.I.E.L.D. to cause Stryker's death, Nick Fury would immediately target them and suspect that they had used some mutant ability to kill Stryker.

Thus, after some thought, he decided to solve the problem with the Transfiguration Charm.

The Transfiguration Charm was a spell capable of transforming the form of an object.

If mastered well, it could turn an inanimate object into another inanimate object, turn an inanimate object into a living creature, turn a living creature into an inanimate object, or turn one living creature into another living creature.

For instance, in the first year, matchsticks could be turned into needles, water into tea, or water into rum.

In the second year, beetles could be turned into buttons, rabbits into slippers, and tables into pigs.

In the third year, they learned about Animagi, transforming from humans into animals.

In the fourth year, they learned cross-species transformation, such as turning guinea fowl into guinea pigs.

So while Harry was not particularly skilled at the Transfiguration Charm, turning venom into pure water, something from the first-year curriculum, was still easy for him.

Naturally, Hawking could do the same after loading the template.

As for why he had done this?

That had to do with some of the Transfiguration Charm's characteristics.

The Transfiguration Charm followed Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. This law contained many rules, but among the most important were that one could not create things out of thin air, especially food.

When one thing was transformed into another, the duration depended on the wizard's mastery of the Transfiguration Charm. The transformation could not be permanent, and it could not truly become another thing.

For example, Hawking had transformed the venom into pure water. When the water entered Stryker's stomach, it was pure water. Once the spell's effect ended, the water would turn back into venom.

With Harry's mastery of the Transfiguration Charm, maintaining the effect for three or four hours would not be a problem.

In other words, Stryker appeared perfectly fine now, but three or four hours later, when the Transfiguration Charm's effect vanished, the water in his stomach would instantly turn back into venom and kill him on the spot.

This was the magical murder incident Hawking had prepared for S.H.I.E.L.D.!

The car stopped beneath S.H.I.E.L.D.'s building. As soon as the five of them stepped out, Agent Hill approached with a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, smiling warmly.

"You can hand William Stryker over to us. Director Fury is already waiting for the four of you in his office on the top floor."

"No problem. Please lead the way."

Professor X nodded and did not stop the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from taking custody of Stryker.

Although Stryker said nothing before being taken away, a trace of mockery showed in his eyes. He was not worried in the slightest about falling into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands.

"Charles, this is absolutely the wrong decision."

Magneto narrowed his eyes and shook his head, but soon saw Hawking wink at him.