Eric couldn't help but smile faintly after hearing Rorschach's answer.
Compared with Charles, he clearly liked Rorschach much more.
Charles was too idealistic.
Sometimes, even unrealistically so.
But with Charles's intelligence, could he really fail to see the problems between humans and mutants?
Eric didn't believe that.
Charles had graduated from Harvard at sixteen. Not long afterward, he had already become a professor of genetics at Oxford.
A mind like that was far sharper than Eric's own.
Someone with that level of intelligence had to understand the reality of the situation.
Mutants and humans were fundamentally different. Sooner or later, those differences would cause conflict.
Charles simply refused to face that possibility.
Rather than approaching the problem rationally, he preferred to view it emotionally.
After spending so much time with Charles, Eric understood something clearly.
There was a huge gap between them.
A gap that could never truly be bridged.
It meant that one day they would inevitably walk different paths.
Their philosophies were simply incompatible.
Right now, they were working together because they shared a common enemy—Sebastian Shaw.
But once Shaw was gone, that fragile unity would collapse.
Eric had already begun thinking about the future.
About his own path.
And perhaps… about gathering people around him who shared similar views.
Someone like Rorschach was the perfect candidate.
Powerful.
Calm.
Mature beyond his age.
And unlike Charles, not overly bound by idealistic morality.
"Rorschach," Eric said quietly as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "I think you and I should talk more often."
His tone carried a hint of deeper meaning.
"What are you two discussing?"
Charles's voice suddenly appeared from behind them.
After finishing a few training arrangements for the others, he had walked over to join them.
"We were talking about Shaw," Eric replied calmly. "I was telling Rorschach that Moira went out to investigate him."
At the mention of Shaw, Charles's expression immediately grew serious.
"It's a shame the Cerebro prototype was destroyed," he said. "Otherwise finding Shaw would have been much easier."
In truth, Hank had already started planning to rebuild the Cerebro system.
But constructing something that complex required time.
Everyone had been busy with training recently, leaving little opportunity to finish the work quickly.
Both Charles and Eric believed Shaw had managed to evade detection previously because of the White Queen's telepathic abilities.
But after their mission in the Soviet Union, Emma Frost had already been captured.
Without her interference, Charles should theoretically be able to locate Shaw.
Unfortunately, neither Charles nor Eric realized the truth.
Shaw possessed a helmet capable of blocking telepathic intrusion.
Additionally, his submarine contained special rooms designed to completely shield mental detection.
Those safeguards made Charles's powers almost useless against him.
Even if Cerebro were rebuilt, it would still fail to locate Shaw.
"Rorschach," Charles said suddenly, turning toward him. "Did you need something from me?"
Rorschach rarely joined the training sessions directly.
If he had come here now, there was probably a reason.
"Actually, yes," Rorschach replied. "I wanted to ask if there's somewhere I can practice using my heat vision."
He had discovered a problem during his recent battles.
Whether it was his fight against Wade or the encounter with the Decepticon, his control over the heat rays was still lacking.
If he had mastered the ability better, killing Wade would have been much easier.
That fight had made him realize his combat skills still had weaknesses.
"Of course," Charles said with a smile.
Space was something Xavier Manor certainly didn't lack.
"In fact, I've been thinking about that ability of yours already," Charles continued. "Would you like to hear some ideas?"
"I'd love to," Rorschach said immediately.
The two of them began discussing possible training methods.
The conversation was productive.
Within a short time, they had already formed a basic plan.
"Thank you, Charles," Rorschach said sincerely.
"You're welcome," Charles replied just as warmly.
After exchanging a few more words with Charles, Eric, and the other mutants training nearby, Rorschach returned to his room.
As he practiced punching against a metal training post, another thought crossed his mind.
Maybe he should learn proper combat techniques.
His fight with Wade had exposed a number of weaknesses.
Wade's swordsmanship had been extremely refined.
Compared to that, Rorschach's fighting style relied almost entirely on raw power.
But after thinking about it for a moment, he dismissed the idea.
As his strength continued to grow, technique would become less important.
Sometimes overwhelming force was all that was needed.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The sound of metal being struck echoed through the room as he continued training.
Charles worked quickly.
By the very next day, he had already arranged a special training space for Rorschach.
An indoor tennis court.
The scale was almost absurd.
But Charles hadn't stopped there.
He also asked Hank to design a simple machine capable of launching tennis balls in random directions.
A "tennis ball projector."
The device continuously fired balls across the court.
Rorschach's task was simple.
Destroy them with his heat vision.
The method was crude but effective.
The only problem was that Rorschach's heat rays could not yet be sustained for long periods.
He had to fire them in short bursts, then wait before using them again.
The training quickly became exhausting.
Just as he was about to begin—
"Rorschach, could you come to my office?"
Charles's voice suddenly called him.
His tone sounded unusually serious.
When Rorschach arrived, he found that Eric and Moira were already inside.
The atmosphere in the room felt tense.
"Moira? When did you get back?" Rorschach asked as he sat down.
"Just now," Charles replied before Moira could answer.
"She brought back some very important information."
Eric leaned forward slightly.
"We found Shaw."
Moira nodded.
"Yes, Rorschach. I found him."
Rorschach felt genuinely surprised.
According to the original timeline, Shaw hadn't been located until much later.
But after a brief moment of thought, he said nothing.
After all, the world had already begun deviating from the original story.
Still—
He hadn't expected Moira's investigation to actually succeed.
.....
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