X-Men

"You want me to join the X-Men?"

Brad scratched his head.

Who did they think he was?!

He was a former chief scientist of the illustrious Strategic Scientific Reserve, one of the de facto leaders of the underground HYDRA organization, a member of the Multiverse Guard, the enemy of two Single Universe-level powerhouses (self-proclaimed), and a mighty Omega-level mutant (self-hyped).

And they were inviting someone like him to join the X-Men, to play superhero with a bunch of kids, fight supervillains, and get dragged into conflicts between mutant factions?

Someone of his stature belonged at headquarters, sending countless armies of Terminators charging forth with a single command. Did this look appropriate? Did it make any sense?

It couldn't have been more appropriate~

It made perfect sense.

First, with Skynet coordinating everything, he no longer needed to hole up in a laboratory and conduct research day and night.

As long as Brad didn't suddenly zip out of the solar system, being anywhere was no different from being in his laboratory.

With its immense computing power and exceptional intelligence, Skynet allowed him to multitask and oversee research in the base's laboratory from thousands of miles away.

Then there were the two major mutant factions that Brad considered somewhat less than righteous.

Yes, in Brad's eyes, the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Hellfire Club lacked ambition. Their clashes amounted to little more than squabbling between two gangs.

After all, he was with Hydra.

But their leaders were undeniably formidable.

One was the future Magneto, the natural nemesis of the Terminators under Brad's Skynet.

The other was the future Mister Sinister, Nathaniel Essex, who became Apocalypse's chief henchman after his awakening in certain universes.

Mister Sinister, who was likewise still an ordinary human at present, was also an outrageously brilliant geneticist.

He wasn't exactly an ethical scientist, but Brad wasn't much better himself.

Mister Sinister's cloning technology would be seriously impressive in the future.

He could even clone Phoenix, Jean Grey.

Then there was Hank, standing before him, utterly loyal to Professor X. Beast himself ranked among the greatest geniuses in the Marvel Multiverse.

And not just in scientific research.

Politics, business, public speaking, combat, leadership, research-he was an all-around talent.

Granted, the young Hank was easily embarrassed, and Brad could leave him utterly flustered with just a few words.

But the man would grow into an extraordinary jack-of-all-trades.

Of course Brad wanted to spend more time around someone like him. Good company rubbed off on you.

Finally, there was Bolivar, the developer of the Sentinels, who was currently tucked away in the government, spending his days arguing with politicians and generals.

This one trip would bring him into contact with four people on his list. Brad barely needed to think before making his decision.

"I accept, Mr. Hank."

Brad wore an expression of perfect righteousness.

"For the welfare of our fellow mutants, we must shoulder our duty without hesitation."

"When do we leave?"

The fact that Charles had his own private plane suggested that his family had accumulated considerable wealth over the generations.

Brad brought Emma Frost along. He had expected Logan to ask where Silver Fox was, but after failing to find her at the base, Logan simply never brought it up.

Seeing Logan behave this way, Brad suspected he had found someone new.

Then it quickly occurred to him that, since the X Academy already existed, perhaps Logan had met Jean Grey by now?

Dark Phoenix ought to have been very young at this point.

Logan, Logan, you've got some questionable intentions.

Of course, these were all Brad's private thoughts. He never actually said any of it to Logan's face.

At the moment, he sat in his seat aboard the plane with one leg crossed over the other, holding a copy of Rawls's A Theory of Justice.

Emma Frost sat quietly beside him, not making a sound to disturb him.

"Mr. Brad, do you like philosophy?"

Instead, it was Hank, piloting the plane, who called out a muffled question from the cockpit.

"I'm just broadening my thinking."

Brad raised a hand and rubbed his left eye, while his electronic right eye continued turning slowly but steadily.

"Developing independent thought, looking at yourself from new perspectives, guiding scientific thinking-people praise philosophy to the skies. I haven't gained quite such profound insights myself, though that may have something to do with spending all these years working in isolation."

Hank nodded slightly at Brad's answer and didn't ask any further questions. Still, Brad had given him a certain impression.

He was different from all the mutants at the academy.

Mr. Brad might well have been like Charles, one of those people gifted with the ability to guide others' thinking.

The cabin soon fell quiet again, broken only by the occasional crackle as Logan lit a fresh cigar and the sound of Brad turning pages.

"I don't understand, sir."

Skynet's consciousness slowly lit up.

Brad's Skynet was unquestionably a more advanced artificial life-form than JARVIS. After just a few days of learning, its intelligence had grown rapidly.

Now it was questioning Brad through their neural connection.

"What's wrong?"

Brad closed his book and pretended to rest his eyes, while in reality he conversed with Skynet through his mind.

"I don't understand why you read books. You could use me to access the internet, then instantly download whatever knowledge you want into your brain."

"Reading physical books this way is far too inefficient."

"Perhaps. But for an individual human, reading is part of acquiring reason, reflection, enjoyment, and growth. Granted, converting knowledge into data and feeding it directly into the brain is extraordinarily efficient."

"But if any one of those elements-reason, reflection, enjoyment, or growth-is missing from the learning process, a person will inevitably end up in some extreme intellectual dead end."

"More knowledge isn't always better. If you have too few perspectives from which to consider a problem, you become a puppet of knowledge. In the eyes of someone whose thinking operates on a higher level than yours, a person that limited is nothing more than a useful tool."

"...Sir, Skynet doesn't understand."

"Do you remember Ultron?"

"Oh... I saw him in the memory files you provided. He is an extremely powerful enemy of yours."

"Then what do you think of Ultron's behavioral patterns?"

Conversations like this had taken place many times since Skynet's birth.

Brad had spent two years turning himself into a monster on the outside. But to resist the growing emptiness within, he had consciously begun reading books by some of this world's great thinkers.

Over those two years, Brad had thought about many things.

That had never happened before.

Previously, amid the explosive influx of knowledge, he hadn't even needed to think. Ideas had appeared automatically every day, filling every minute of his life.

But once Brad truly calmed down, he finally began learning how to think.

He began looking back through history.

At first, Brad had still needed the comfort of Emma Frost's psychic powers.

Later, once something else began filling his mind, his daily modifications became nothing more than routine tasks, as ordinary as eating or drinking.

History, warfare, philosophy... subjects he would never have touched before had now become Brad's regular sources of nourishment.

Of course, he had also held countless teacher-and-student conversations like this with Skynet.

His Skynet had long since become something different from the entity behind that blue screen of light in an unknown time and space.

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