"This is Kurt Wagner, our newest recruit."
Inside the mansion, Professor X introduced a man whose skin was entirely blue.
"Kurt's gift is Teleportation—tracking him down took some effort," the Professor said with a smile.
Sebastian Shaw, swirling a wineglass, circled Kurt curiously and finally asked, "Do you know Azazel?"
"Who?" Kurt shrank behind Professor X. "I don't."
He was young at heart and rather shy; more importantly, his power mirrored Red Devil's, so Shaw's question was hardly surprising.
Shaw looked at Fang Yuan; Fang Yuan shook his head.
In the comics Nightcrawler is the son of Red Devil and Mystique, but the films never confirmed that, so even Fang Yuan had no clue.
Besides, Red Devil in this World had died long ago.
Besides Nightcrawler there was Bishop, the black guy who in Days of Future Past paired with Shadowcat to leap back and warn everyone about the Sentinels.
Sunspot, Roberto da Costa—the one who ended up wreathed in flames in the same film.
Both absorb and release energy, yet neither could match Shaw.
Last came a Chinese girl whose face Fang Yuan found disturbingly familiar.
After all, she's worth eight hundred million.
Blink, real name Clarice Ferguson, had been re-cast in the films as a Chinese heroine who opens portals.
All of them had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Professor X right up to the end in Days of Future Past.
That was what had kept the Professor busy lately—collecting his old comrades.
Compared with their 2023 selves, Bishop and Sunspot were barely twenty-odd now, Blink only nineteen, but their powers were already impressive.
So was their looks.
People mock Sister Eight-Hundred-Million for her scandals, yet no one can deny her face holds up.
Especially this nineteen-year-old Fan Eight-Hundred-Million—so fresh she could drip.
Blink and Fang Yuan were the only two Chinese faces present, both strikingly good-looking; Fang Yuan had already caught her glancing at him a dozen times in half an hour.
Looks like another fish is swimming into Fang Yuan's pond.
"Eric, how's your progress?" Old Charles turned to Magneto.
Old Magneto kept it short: "Multiple Man, Porcupine, Arclight, Juggernaut."
With every name, Wolverine Logan's eye twitched.
He'd beaten every one of them.
They'd beaten him.
These were the elite recruits Magneto had fielded in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Multiple Man and Porcupine are self-explanatory.
Arclight, real name Philippa Sontag, is… well, a transgender woman, male-to-female.
Her power is seismic shockwaves; some viewers confuse her with Quake, Daisy Johnson, since their abilities look identical.
But Quake is Inhuman, not Mutant, and her official codename is Quake.
Back when Fang Yuan first watched the film he was so puzzled he checked the subtitles: Magneto definitely yells "Arclight," confirming this eye-searing character is Arclight.
Otherwise the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. might want to cross Universes to hunt down this transgender "Quake."
Everyone knows Juggernaut—a two-meter slab of muscle in a giant metal helmet, the very emblem of brute force among X-villains.
In the comics he isn't a Mutant, but in the Fox Universe he damn well is.
"My recruitment went smoothly—mostly because Shaw is so hate-inspiring that plenty of Mutants couldn't stand watching him," Old Magneto said, lips curling in a smile.
Though they were now teammates, seeing the once-mighty Black King reduced to a timid Mutant diplomat still gave Old Eric a delicious sense of vindication.
Shaw, however, didn't care; having chosen this path, he paid no heed to the whispers.
"A temporary low means nothing; the final victor writes history," Shaw murmured, sipping champagne, his smile even broader than Magneto's. "Only the winner takes all."
Fang Yuan, busy exchanging glances with Blink, suddenly frowned—was Good Big Brother hinting at something?
Did Shaw plan to copy his own old playbook—bide time, secretly scheme, then flip the board?
The worry lasted only a second; Fang Yuan knew Shaw's ambition no longer aimed at World domination, and with Professor X and himself double-teaming telepathically, Shaw couldn't pull anything.
Besides, Fang Yuan could now transfer troublesome employees across worlds—anyone who tried to stir the pot would simply be reassigned to another Universe.
Seeing so many new teammates, the three veteran X-Men—Cyclops, Storm, and Jean—were overjoyed; with the team swollen, they no longer had to prop up the whole squad alone.
Especially now the title "Captain" actually meant something for Cyclops.
Before, his only subordinate was his girlfriend—being Captain had been a joke.
The reinforcements also reassured them that Professor X had a plan; Shaw wasn't simply bowing to anyone at random.
"There'll be some turbulence ahead," Old Charles told Jean and the others. "You still take orders from Shaw."
Jean and the rest nodded.
Just as Old Charles predicted, after internal testing the sentinel robots proved staggeringly effective, and the government's attitude shifted overnight.
"Sebastian Shaw's Identity in Doubt?"
Before long, stories about Shaw began surfacing.
"After digging through Sebastian Shaw's records, this reporter discovered he's a figure from over forty years ago—and the mastermind behind the Cuba Missile Crisis!"
"Letting such a dangerous individual speak for Mutants gravely endangers public safety!"
"To prevent this from happening again, the Mutant Registration Act must be enforced!"
The general public didn't know Shaw's identity, but the government kept detailed files, so uncovering the truth wasn't hard.
They'd kept quiet earlier because Shaw's conservative stance benefited them; now that the sentinel robots proved viable, they dropped the pretense, weaponizing Good Big Brother's identity to revive the registration debate.
Undoubtedly, Shaw's identity caused a massive uproar… not.
Unlike Fang Yuan's X-Men World—where everyone knows the truth about the Cuba Missile Crisis—this World never got the memo.
If Shaw had popped up in the original timeline, it would've triggered heated debate, but here? Black King who?
Many officials themselves remain unaware of what really happened back then.
So when Shaw's real identity came to light, the popular response was: the government's talking nonsense again.
After all, decades later plenty of people believe the moon landing was faked; buying this story isn't much of a stretch.
Of course, Shaw's own efforts played a part—recently he's had Blue Devil teleport him around for cozy chats with plenty of influential folks.
Within the Mutant community, however, his identity drew major attention.
"So it really is Black King—didn't he die?"
Beast Hank made a rare visit to Xavier's School. He'd recognized Shaw the moment he appeared, but he'd been tied up handling the registration mess; only now could he confront Professor X in person.
"He's the Black King from another World—not ours. He's more…" Old Charles hesitated, unable to voice something too contrary, and settled on a vague "more purposeful."
"Really?"
Hank was amazed; he understood parallel Universes, but this was his first real encounter.
Yet if he didn't trust Shaw, he certainly trusted Professor X.
The same question circulated among the X-Men.
"So that's him—no wonder the name felt familiar," Logan said, cigar clamped between teeth.
"You knew him?" Cyclops Scott exclaimed. "That was forty years ago."
None of the three—Cyclops included—had known Shaw; Professor X rarely dwelt on the past.
After the Cuba showdown he and Magneto parted ways, Mystique left with Magneto, and Charles lost family and best friend in one day—too painful to revisit.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I mentioned I'm old," Logan replied.
Storm was curious: "I heard those were the early days of the X-Men—did the Professor invite you?"
Logan looked awkward; he had been invited—jointly by Professor X and Magneto—but his gracious reply had basically been: "Go comfort yourself."
He quickly changed the subject: "Charles didn't tell you the plan? We're just letting Trask Industries run loose?"
Cyclops and Jean stared back, equally puzzled: "We were going to ask you the same thing."
"You don't know either?" Logan asked Jean.
Jean also possessed Telepathy, her potential even greater than Professor X's.
"I can't read any of your minds," she explained. "Shaw, you, Magneto, and Fang—I'm blocked."
Clearly Professor X's doing.
"Weird—he never restricted me before. I didn't know he could go this far," Jean marveled.
Logan understood: the year-2000 Professor might not manage it, but the 2023 version certainly could.
The realization hit: they were all equally in the dark.
"The plan is…" Shaw happened to stroll past with a laptop and filled them in: "show humans Mutants can be harmless, reduce societal rejection."
"What about the Sentinels?" Logan pressed; among them, he best knew their horror.
"Technically the government hasn't broken any laws—we can't legally touch them," Shaw shrugged.
Logan gaped. "Since when… do we start obeying the law?"
Shaw countered calmly: "What then? Gather a bunch of Mutants and Storm Trask Industries?"
Logan almost blurted that Fang Yuan had done exactly that—then remembered their current situation was nothing like Fang Yuan's.
In Fang Yuan's World the government had been bought off and obeyed him; here, Mutants held no such sway.
"Hey, why can't we sell the cure?" Logan blurted.
"Where's Fang Yuan?" Logan asked.
Jean glanced around; the new X-Men recruits were still chatting, but Fang Yuan had vanished.
So had Blink.
"You'll probably see him tomorrow," Jean said, shaking her head.
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