Howard Stark

Xavier's Manor's side gate.

A black sedan slowly drove out, turned onto a side road, and merged onto the main road.

It soon became part of the endless stream of traffic, unlikely to draw anyone's attention.

"Raven, where are we going?"

From the passenger seat, Rorschach glanced at the middle-aged man driving and asked.

"To find someone."

Raven skillfully turned the wheel with the air of a seasoned driver and answered casually, "As long as he's willing to help, we'll be able to find out exactly where Shaw is."

Rorschach was genuinely surprised to hear that.

It sounded like the person Raven intended to find was someone remarkable, with considerable influence.

But the Black King's background was formidable too.

The Hellfire Club was not merely a mutant organization; it also included ordinary humans.

More precisely, some were influential figures with immense standing in society.

For instance, Howard Stark had once received an invitation to join the Hellfire Club.

Otherwise, how could the Black King manipulate the situations in both the United States and the Soviet Union, personally bringing about the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Pulling strings on that scale was not something a handful of mutants could accomplish alone.

The Black King's discovery of the CIA's secret mutant base was a perfect example.

So Rorschach remained skeptical of the person Raven had mentioned.

"Raven, who are we looking for? Is he reliable?"

Rorschach could not help asking for confirmation. It was better to get something like this straight.

"Don't worry. He's one of us."

Raven tapped the brakes and changed lanes. "He can sense our kind."

Sense other mutants?

Rorschach paused as a name flashed through his mind.

"You don't mean Caliban, do you?"

Caliban was the only mutant Rorschach could think of with that particular ability.

"You know him too?" Raven was somewhat surprised.

So it really was Caliban!

"No, I don't know him. I just happened to hear about him once."

Rorschach shook his head, but inwardly, he was greatly relieved.

Caliban could sense the presence of other mutants. Just as Raven had said, as long as Caliban was willing to help, they could immediately find out where Shaw was.

Naturally, they would also be able to determine whether Shaw had discovered where everyone was hiding.

"That guy is actually that famous?"

Though Raven was a little surprised, she did not dwell on it.

Rorschach was part of their circle too. It was not strange for him to have heard rumors about some of his own kind.

"Raven, if you know Caliban, then Charles should know him too, right?"

"Then why has Charles never mentioned Caliban while recruiting mutants lately?"

Rorschach found that a little strange.

Since Caliban lived not far from Charles's home, there was no reason Charles, with his personality, would overlook him.

"It is precisely because Charles knows Caliban that he knows Caliban could never join us."

"That guy never trusts anyone. He only cares about money, and he's extremely sensitive. You'll understand once you meet him."

Raven gave Rorschach a brief explanation.

Rorschach did not ask any more questions.

He only remembered this character appearing once in Apocalypse, and his ability to sense mutants had a limited range, seemingly only twenty-five miles.

He was not an important character.

Rorschach could not be bothered to pay attention to him.

After driving down four major roads, Raven finally slowly pulled the car up outside a bar.

"When I was very young, before I met Charles, I relied on my abilities to turn into all sorts of people and steal things from all kinds of places."

"Money, food, clothes—I stole everything. Yet even then, I often went hungry, and many times I could only sleep in the sewers."

"Once, while sleeping in the sewers, I met Caliban, who was sleeping there too... but even then, Caliban never trusted me."

As Raven and Rorschach walked toward the bar's entrance, she introduced Caliban to him.

"How tragic," Rorschach sighed sincerely.

It was impossible to tell whether he meant Raven or Caliban.

"So, Rorschach, when we meet Caliban later, let me do the talking, okay?" Mystique made that request of Rorschach.

Naturally, Rorschach had no objection. He knew perfectly well who was leading this operation.

From beginning to end, Rorschach's goal had been very clear: he was only trying his luck to see whether he could trigger a mission. Nothing more.

The two reached an agreement quite pleasantly.

They walked into the bar.

Groups of two and three sat at the various tables, drinking and chatting. The atmosphere was lively.

Rorschach and Raven walked up to the bar as though no one else were there.

A man sat there with his head lowered, taking occasional sips from his drink.

"What can I get you two?"

Behind the counter, a sharp-looking young man around thirty greeted Rorschach and Raven with a professional smile.

"Where's Henry?"

Raven frowned slightly and could not help asking.

The bartender before her was not the one she knew. She was unsure whether this man knew anything about Caliban.

"So you're regulars here. It's like this: Henry is my uncle. He's sick, so I'm filling in for him for a few days."

The young bartender explained to Raven.

"Is Henry all right?"

Without thinking much of it, Raven asked after Henry with concern.

"Hopefully he'll be fine. Poor uncle, he threw out his back by accident. He keeps saying it's no big deal, but you know how it is—at his age, he's no longer a young man like me."

The young man shrugged and made a joke about his uncle.

"Poor Henry. May God bless him." After exchanging a few pleasantries, Raven got to the point. "Is he here?"

"Who are you talking about?"

The young bartender was clearly stunned, having no idea who Raven meant by "he."

"Let her in!"

At that moment, a burly man emerged from an entrance leading to the back and called out to the young bartender.

Clearly, Caliban already knew Raven had arrived.

Raven nodded to the young bartender, then walked with Rorschach toward the entrance leading backstage.

Naturally, the young bartender did not stop them.

"Another whiskey."

At that moment, the man sitting at the bar waved his empty glass at the young bartender.

As Rorschach got up to leave, he instinctively glanced at the man.

That glance revealed that he was an extremely important figure.

Howard Stark!