"Yes, sir!"
The secretary answered immediately before hurrying away to contact the other two senior leaders of the Strategic Scientific Corps.
Howard Stark stood in place for a moment, thinking carefully.
Then he turned and walked toward a restricted area inside the base.
Before Peggy Carter and Colonel Phillips arrived, he wanted to personally examine the mechanical lifeform that had just been brought in.
Beep.
After passing several layers of access control verification, Stark entered the elevator and descended into a hidden laboratory deep underground.
Inside the lab, Arnim Zola was already leading a group of researchers.
They were surrounding the enormous remains of the Decepticon.
"Arnim," Stark called out as he walked in. "What have you found?"
Zola turned immediately.
His eyes were shining with excitement.
"Incredible, Stark," he said while adjusting his glasses. "Absolutely incredible."
"What is?"
"This machine… doesn't have a power system."
Stark frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said," Zola replied. "I examined the entire structure. There are no batteries, no generators, no energy core. I couldn't find any power module anywhere inside its body."
Stark stared at the massive mechanical corpse.
Without a power source…
How could a robot this large even move?
From a scientific standpoint, that made no sense.
Unless—
Unless Rorschach had been telling the truth.
"Come over here," Zola said suddenly.
He led Stark toward a nearby machine displaying various graphs and readings.
"Look at these signals."
Stark leaned forward.
On the screen, several faint wave patterns were fluctuating.
"These readings are coming from the metal itself," Zola explained. "Even though the body is damaged, there are still weak energy fluctuations inside the structure."
He paused before continuing.
"I know how absurd this sounds, but the only conclusion that fits the data is this."
Zola looked straight at Stark.
"This robot is alive."
Stark blinked.
Alive?
"A mechanical organism," Zola added.
Stark stared silently at the data.
Then he sighed.
"So Rorschach was telling the truth…"
The Cadillac he had owned for years had really been a living mechanical creature.
…
Meanwhile.
What was supposed to be a simple dinner with Howard Stark had turned into a long and chaotic day for Rorschach.
By the time he returned to Xavier Manor, night had already fallen.
The mansion was still lively.
Most of the residents were young people, and very few of them went to bed early. The living room was filled with laughter and conversation.
Several mutants were gathered there chatting and relaxing.
The moment Rorschach walked in, everyone immediately noticed him.
"Hey, Rorschach!"
Sean Cassidy—better known as Banshee—jumped up excitedly.
"I flew today!"
He looked like he had just discovered the greatest achievement of his life.
"I'm serious, man," he said enthusiastically. "It feels amazing. You're soaring through the sky like a bird. Can you imagine that?"
"Sean, you've been bragging about that all day," Alex Summers said with a grin.
"Technically speaking, that was gliding," Darwin added calmly from the side. "It wasn't actual flight."
Sean glared at him.
"Darwin, you're the most boring person in this house."
Then he turned back toward Rorschach, looking eager again.
"Do you want to know how I did it?"
Rorschach already knew the story.
After all, he had seen the movie.
But he had no intention of ruining Sean's excitement.
"Of course," he said as he sat down with the group. "Tell me."
"It was Charles and Hank!" Sean said proudly.
"You know Charles has been helping me learn to control my sonic powers recently. I've gotten a lot better."
He gestured animatedly.
"And today Hank built me this new suit—kind of like bat wings."
"With the recoil from my sonic blasts and the suit stabilizing my balance…"
Sean spread his arms dramatically.
"I flew!"
Then he turned toward Hank McCoy and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"Thanks, Hank. You're a genius."
Hank adjusted his glasses slightly.
"It's just basic fluid mechanics," he said modestly. "Nothing special."
To Hank, it truly wasn't impressive.
Physics was simply second nature to him.
"Rorschach."
Hank suddenly looked over.
"Do you have time later tonight? I'd like to discuss something with you."
Although Rorschach didn't yet know what Hank wanted, he agreed without hesitation.
"Sure."
"Hey, Hank," Alex said teasingly, "why are you being so mysterious? Is this some kind of secret conversation?"
A few others joined in, laughing.
Mystique—Raven—glanced at Hank thoughtfully, as if she might already have guessed what he intended.
After chatting for a while longer, Rorschach stood up.
"Hank, come to my room."
They left the living room together.
The walk down the hallway felt strangely awkward.
If Rorschach didn't know Hank well, he might have suspected the man had questionable intentions.
Once inside the room, Rorschach gestured toward a chair.
"Have a seat."
Hank sat down.
Rorschach got straight to the point.
"So what's this mysterious topic?"
Hank hesitated briefly.
"Rorschach," he said slowly, "sometimes I envy you."
Rorschach laughed.
"Envy me? Why? Because I'm handsome?"
He grinned.
"Come on, Hank. You're not exactly unattractive either."
Hank smiled slightly.
"You know that's not what I meant."
The joke lightened the mood.
The tension in the room faded a little.
"You, Charles, Eric… all of you are different from me and Raven," Hank continued.
"Yes, you're mutants too. But you don't have to hide yourselves."
He glanced down at his hands.
"You understand what I'm saying, right?"
Rorschach nodded.
Hank lifted one foot slightly.
"My feet," he said quietly. "They're not normal."
His oversized, apelike feet were one of the most visible signs of his mutation.
"They make me look like a monster," Hank said.
"And I don't want to be a monster."
At that moment, Rorschach understood everything.
Hank wanted to cure himself.
In the original timeline, Hank had created a serum designed to suppress mutant physical traits.
But instead of curing his mutation, the serum triggered an even more extreme transformation.
He became the blue-furred Beast.
Rorschach also remembered something else.
To develop that serum, Hank had once studied Mystique's blood.
Which meant—
Hank probably wanted another sample.
Specifically, the blood of a mutant who appeared physically normal.
And Rorschach fit that description perfectly.
For Hank, studying only his own blood and Raven's wasn't enough.
If he wanted to make his appearance normal, he needed a reference point.
A mutant whose body showed minimal outward mutation.
And among everyone in Xavier Manor, only one person truly met that condition.
Rorschach.
.....
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