Darian's shout exploded through the hallway, and the Mutant students along the way all turned to look in unison.
Upon seeing Darian, several of the older students showed expressions of surprise.
They were all part of the first batch of students to join the X-Mansion, and also the Brotherhood reserve force personally approved by Darian, so they naturally recognized this big shot in front of them. Before long, someone pushed a wheelchair over from the other end of the hallway.
"Darian, you really did come back!"
Charles sat in the wheelchair, his face full of pleasant surprise.
A year had passed, and he was still the same old self, just with slightly longer hair.
However, based on this head of luscious hair alone, he had already surpassed ninety-nine percent of the Professor Xs in parallel Universes.
"Yeah, I came back after finishing my business."
Darian nodded, his gaze falling on the person pushing the wheelchair behind Charles, and he was momentarily stunned.
"Erik? Did you change careers to become a caregiver?"
Erik's mouth twitched; he clearly didn't want to answer that question.
Charles chuckled and explained for Erik: "He lost at chess to me, and the punishment is pushing my wheelchair for a day."
Darian raised an eyebrow: "Didn't you wear your helmet?"
"I did."
Erik looked utterly defeated: "That's why it's even worse."
If he lost at chess without the helmet, he could say Charles was cheating; losing even with the helmet meant he just sucked.
Darian looked at Erik's devastated expression and shook his head inwardly.
In other parallel Universes, Magneto fought Professor X his whole life and basically never won, so this was nothing.
"Speaking of which, Charles, it's been over a year, isn't your leg fully healed yet?" Darian asked with a look of surprise.
He remembered that before leaving this instance, Charles's legs had only suffered minor injuries; logically, they should have healed long ago. Why was he still in a wheelchair? Could it be that he was caught cheating at chess, and Erik, in a fit of rage, broke his legs?
Charles smiled, not answering directly: "It's a long story. Let's go to my office to chat; I can fill you in on the changes at the school during this time."
"Sure."
Darian followed Charles toward the office, seeing quite a few students passing by along the way.
They were all Mutants. A rough count showed at least a hundred of them. The scale had increased several times over from before, and it truly had the look of a proper school.
According to Charles, for the past year or so, he had relied on Cerebro to search the World for Mutant children in need of help.
Because of this, a rumor began to spread in the Mutant community.
As long as you were a Mutant under the age of eighteen, one day a gentle voice might ring in your mind, sending you a special invitation to enroll.
If you agreed, someone would come to your door to take you to a mysterious academy. It was said that the teachers and students there were all Mutants, primarily teaching students how to control and use their Mutant abilities, nurturing and developing their talents.
Most importantly, it was all free of charge, with room and board included.
For many Mutant children who were homeless, rejected by their families, or treated as monsters by ordinary people, this was a godsend they wouldn't even dare to dream of.
So now, many Mutant children were hoping that one day that voice would suddenly ring in their minds, sending them that invitation to change their destiny.
Of course, the X-Mansion didn't accept just any Mutant child; those with malicious intent or serious character flaws were rejected outright.
"Good grief, is this the Mutant version of Hogwarts?"
Darian couldn't help but remark.
In Hogwarts, owls delivered the invitation letters, but the X-Mansion just sent them directly into people's minds.
They soon arrived at the headmaster's office.
Jean left consciously; this was a conversation between big shots, not something a newbie like her could participate in.
As soon as they entered, Charles jumped up from the wheelchair and walked a few steps; clearly, there was nothing wrong with his legs.
"Actually, I was faking it."
Facing Darian's strange look, Charles explained: "During the time you were away, many factions became increasingly wary of us. To put those people outside at ease, I disguised myself like this. Now, the outside World thinks I am permanently paralyzed from the waist down; only members of the Brotherhood know the truth."
"So that's how it is." Darian nodded.
After the Cuban Crisis, the abilities of most Brotherhood members had been exposed.
Especially Charles, a Mutant with Telepathy; all factions were extremely wary of him. After all, no one wanted a stranger suddenly entering their mind and prying into the secrets hidden in their hearts.
Charles also knew very well how severe those people's persecution complexes were.
To avoid provoking them, he simply continued to sit in the wheelchair, claiming to the outside World that he was paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident, effectively adding a mobility-impaired debuff to himself.
Although it was a bit troublesome, it at least allowed those people to lower their guard slightly.
Of course, if those people knew that Charles's ability had no range limit and that he could spy on the whole World while sitting in the X-Mansion, they probably wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night.
Charles sighed: "However, even like this, they still aren't fully at ease. I originally wanted Erik to fake an illness too, like intellectual disability combined with multiple personality disorder, thinking he was a three-year-old girl, and it would be best if he wore a dress to make himself look completely unthreatening, but unfortunately, he refused to agree no matter what."
Erik: convex(艸艸艸)
Damn it, do you hear that? Is that human language?
Erik snorted: "Only you are afraid of those guys. In my opinion, we should give those people a lesson. Just a few days ago, they actually dared to target us."
Darian raised an eyebrow: "What happened?"
Charles explained: "It's like this: a few days ago, the American Military sent people over, wanting to forcibly conscript a group of male Mutants from us to join the army. Their argument was that regardless of whether one is a human or a Mutant, as long as they are citizens, they must serve the country."
One has to say, this move by the Military was quite clever.
They first acknowledged that humans and Mutants were equal. Since they were equal, both had to serve in the Military. If they refused, it would be tantamount to denying that Mutants and humans were equal.
Erik replied with a cold face: "That sounds nice, but isn't it just trying to use our abilities to fight for them, while at the same time weakening the strength of our Brotherhood? Dream on!"
Darian asked: "So, did you agree?"
Charles shook his head: "No. The moment the Military representative finished saying this, the helicopter they arrived in suddenly turned into an iron ball. They didn't dare to say anything more. In the end, I even gave them some money so they could go to the side of the road and call a taxi back."
Darian laughed instantly.
For this kind of thing, it has to be Erik.
Otherwise, with Charles's personality, he might have really been coerced by the Military's theory, like an incompetent husband, watching helplessly as the teachers and students in the school were sent to the battlefield, and eventually, the school would just shut down.
It was also fortunate that Charles was there; otherwise, given Erik's personality, that Military representative would probably have turned into minced meat inside the iron ball on the spot.
Sure enough, these two really complemented each other; neither could do without the other.
Darian nodded: "That's exactly how you have to do it. Otherwise, once you make a concession, those guys will immediately take advantage of it. If they dare to forcibly conscript our people today, they'll dare to send troops to station at the school tomorrow."
Erik expressed deep agreement: "They are dying for us to give in so they can test our bottom line step by step. If we take one step back, they can advance three steps."
Charles smiled helplessly: "It's not that bad. Over this past year, the CIA has helped us a lot, and the Military currently doesn't dare to act recklessly."
During this time, the Brotherhood and the CIA had cooperated many times, helping the CIA solve many tricky cases. Added to that was Charles's old flame, Moira, and that bespectacled fat guy bridging the gap, so the relationship between the two sides was quite good.
With this relationship with the CIA, the Military had to give some face, at least.
Besides, the Military was also afraid of truly angering the Brotherhood.
The scene from back then, when Erik had missiles suspended over their heads, was still fresh in their memories.
Then, Charles changed the subject and started talking about the changes in the Brotherhood over the past year.
First was the size of the personnel. The number of students at the X-Mansion had increased several times over, and quite a few reserve members had been screened from them.
Today, the Brotherhood's formal members plus the reserve force numbered over thirty people. In the Mutant community, this scale was unique. If Sebastian were still alive, he would probably be drooling with envy if he saw this setup.
Next was the progress in technology.
Since the Brotherhood now had an excess of combat power, Hank simply withdrew from the front lines, choosing to retreat behind the scenes to focus on climbing the technology tree.
Under the tireless efforts of the Mutant's greatest brain, combined with the various epoch-making technologies Darian left behind before he departed, the Brotherhood's technological level could be said to be rising day by day.
Despite the seventies aesthetic, the smart robots had already iterated several generations. If placed outside, they would definitely drop the jaws of those scientists working in the Military industry.
There were countless pieces of various black-technology equipment.
The formal members of the Brotherhood almost all had a piece of exclusive equipment, all based on the Green Goblin armor, and then adjusted in detail according to each person's Mutant abilities, maximizing their capabilities—a focus on being custom-tailored.
Take Charles, for example. His equipment was a suit of steel armor that could be armed at any time, with astonishingly high defensive power—the kind that even missiles couldn't blow up. Although it had no combat power, Charles didn't need combat power; his greatest strength was that brain of his, as long as he stayed safe.
Added to that was the gliding wheelchair Darian had given him earlier; now, Charles could be said to be the toughest person in the Brotherhood. Even Darwin, who was claimed to be able to adapt to any environment, probably couldn't take as much as he could.
Next was the aspect of influence.
Relying on this cooperative relationship with the CIA, plus the financial support of the Hellfire Club behind them.
The Brotherhood now counted as having both power and influence. Although many people still couldn't stand them, at least no one dared to cause trouble blatantly, let alone openly clamor to boycott Mutants.
Because the Brotherhood stood behind the Mutants.
It was precisely because of this reason that the Brotherhood's reputation in the Mutant community was ridiculously high, and there was an endless stream of Mutants wanting to join the Brotherhood.
But now, the Brotherhood was no longer the small group that accepted everyone who came; not just anyone could join them.
To become a member of the Brotherhood, one first had to pass the joint assessment of Charles and Erik. The two of them looked at character and ability respectively, and if either side shook their head, one could not pass.
Those who passed the assessment could enter the reserve force, which, to put it bluntly, meant they were interns.
And to go from an intern to a formal member, one had to go through layers of tests; the difficulty was not small, and the elimination rate was not low either.
Over the past year, only a few people had truly had the chance to become new members, and they were all currently still in the observation stage.
Among them, two people were worth Darian's attention.
One was Jean. This didn't need much saying; she was a pure talent freak, looked upon favorably by both Charles and Erik from the very beginning.
But Charles frankly admitted that there was a huge hidden danger in Jean. Her abilities were too powerful, far exceeding the range she could control, and her mental state was extremely unstable, with the risk of losing control at any time.
Simply put, she was relatively prone to turning dark.
Charles's worry was correct. In Jean's system evaluation, there was even a term specifically about sacrificing her own people.
For this reason, Charles could only build a mental cage in Jean's mental World, temporarily sealing most of her abilities, and only consider lifting the seal once she could fully control her own abilities.
Upon hearing this, Darian felt this setup was inexplicably familiar.
Wasn't this just Wanda from another World?
Equally cheat-level abilities, equally unstable mental state.
Darian pondered for a moment and said: "I remember you have a small lake on your estate, Charles, right? In the future, add an extracurricular assignment for Jean: she must fish for two hours every day, and she can't finish until she has caught three fish. She is not allowed to use her abilities to cheat during the process."
Erik was stunned: "Fishing? Will that work?"
Darian nodded and said seriously: "Of course. Fishing is the best activity for cultivating one's character. Erik, speaking of which, your emotions aren't very stable either; it's a symptom of turning dark. I suggest you also fish for two hours every day with Jean."
Erik: "..."
Do you believe I'll turn dark for you right now?
Darian opened the file of another intern.
Scott Summers, which was this World's Cyclops.
This was the younger brother of Brotherhood veteran member Alex—a proper case of nepotism; one look and you could tell he came in through the back door.
Darian chuckled: "This kid has some potential. Let Logan take him under his wing; I believe they will definitely get along well."
"Sure, I will arrange them."
Charles nodded, having no doubts about Darian's suggestion and following it immediately.
Although Darian often didn't play by the rules, his judgment had never been wrong; just trusting him was enough.
Charles had almost one hundred percent trust in Darian.
In his heart, Darian's weight was even heavier than Erik's. After all, Darian had come first; they had built the Brotherhood with their own hands, struggled together, and defeated enemies together.
Speaking of which, Darian could be considered the starting point of all this; calling him the "white moonlight" would not be an exaggeration.
Looking at Darian's face that had never changed, and this familiar mode of conversation, a wave of emotion couldn't help but well up in Charles's heart.
It really is a long-lost feeling.
[Detected that Charles Xavier's favorability has reached over 95. Do you want to extract this NPC's skin card?]
Out of the blue, the system's notification sound rang in Darian's mind.
Darian: "?"
No, what's going on?
How did the favorability suddenly break through by 95?
Charles, say something, don't look at me like that, I'm so scared!