Ignoring what was happening on Professor X's side, Ethan slowly opened his eyes.
The world around him was exactly the same as before.
The brief clash between the two minds had taken place entirely within the depths of their consciousness. Although their conversation had seemed long, it had actually occurred in an incredibly short time. Thought moved far faster than speech, and for two powerful telepaths, the exchange had lasted less than a minute in real time.
Below him, the seawater flooding the streets still hadn't fully receded.
Fortunately, the waves Ethan had stirred up earlier hadn't grown into massive tidal walls. Their destructive force remained mostly concentrated along the coastline. Even so, the damage to New York's coastal districts was enormous.
The city's shoreline stretched for miles.
Entire blocks along the waterfront had been slammed by seawater surges, and although many buildings still stood, some structures had already been partially swallowed by the ocean. For those unlucky enough to live there, the destruction was unavoidable.
This was a day New York would remember for a long time.
Ethan looked down.
Far below, Storm had finally regained control of her fall. She had stopped herself between two tall buildings, hovering silently above the flooded streets.
But she didn't fly back up to confront him again.
Storm had already felt the overwhelming difference in strength between them. Charging back into battle would accomplish nothing except another humiliating defeat.
What unsettled her even more was something else entirely.
The blood Ethan had extracted from her.
She had no idea what he planned to do with it, but every instinct she possessed as a mutant warned her that it could not possibly lead to anything good.
Sirens echoed everywhere across the city.
Police vehicles raced through the streets, their lights flashing as officers attempted to coordinate rescue operations. Fire trucks and emergency response teams followed close behind, moving through the flooded blocks wherever they could still reach.
Above the water, figures moved constantly.
Some were pulling civilians out of the currents. Others carried injured victims toward waiting ambulances.
Among them, three figures stood out the most.
Tony Stark in his Iron Man armor streaked back and forth through the air, diving repeatedly into the flooded streets to rescue survivors. Spider-Man swung rapidly between the buildings, his web lines snapping through the air as he lifted trapped people out of the water.
And scattered among the chaos, members of the X-Men had begun assisting with evacuations.
Ethan watched the scene quietly.
"Finally reached this stage," he murmured.
His tone carried no pressure or hesitation.
For years, Ethan had been planning silently.
Ever since his rebirth into this world, he had known that an ordinary life would never be possible. Although society already knew him as a powerful billionaire, that reputation only scratched the surface of who he truly was.
Most of his strength had remained hidden.
But that had always been temporary.
Eventually, the day would come when the world would realize exactly how powerful he was. There would inevitably be forces, organizations, and even entire nations that would stand against him.
Ethan had accepted that reality long ago.
What happened today was a signal.
A warning to the world.
At the same time, it was a declaration to the American government. He wanted the people at the top to understand one simple truth.
He was not someone they could control.
He was not weak.
And the rules they wrote did not apply to him.
Thinking this, Ethan smiled faintly.
Then he disappeared.
His body vanished from the sky in an instant.
A moment later, he reappeared on a busy street not far from the flooded coastline. In his field of vision, a red figure streaked past the buildings, a blazing tail of flame trailing behind him.
Tony Stark.
Iron Man shot across the street at high speed, two injured civilians clutched carefully in his armored arms. He landed beside a waiting ambulance, gently placing the victims onto stretchers before turning immediately to take off again.
There were still many people left to save.
Ethan watched him for a moment.
Then he spoke calmly.
"Connect me to Tony."
"Understood, sir," the system replied.
A moment later, Tony's voice exploded through the communication channel.
"Damn it, do you even realize what you've done?" Tony shouted angrily.
His voice was filled with raw frustration.
"In just a short time there are already more than twenty casualties! And judging from how far the flooding spread, that number is going to multiply several times over!"
The anger in his voice only grew stronger.
"You're an asshole, Ethan. This makes you a criminal."
Ethan wasn't angry at all.
He knew Tony's personality well.
Tony Stark was arrogant, sharp-tongued, and stubborn. But he was also compassionate, someone who genuinely cared about the lives of others. That combination of pride and humanity was exactly what Ethan expected from him.
So Ethan simply laughed.
"Well then, Mr. Iron Man," he said casually, "are you planning to come arrest me?"
"Fuck!"
Tony immediately cut off the communication.
He clearly had no intention of continuing the conversation.
Ethan chuckled quietly to himself before turning his gaze elsewhere.
Another red figure moved through the skyline.
This one was much slimmer.
Spider-Man swung rapidly between the skyscrapers, firing web lines from the device on his wrist. Every few seconds he would pull someone out of the floodwater, securing them against the side of a building or lowering them safely toward rescuers below.
Ethan's figure appeared beside him.
He began moving through the air at exactly the same speed.
Spider-Man nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Whoa! Hey—who are you?" he blurted out.
Then he stared more closely.
"Wait… you look familiar," he said, tilting his head slightly. "I've definitely seen you somewhere before."
He snapped his fingers suddenly.
"Oh! I remember now!"
Spider-Man pointed at him.
"You're Ethan Cole, right? That billionaire guy!"
"Hello, Spider-Man," Ethan said with a friendly smile, extending his hand toward him. "Nice to meet you."
Spider-Man was currently mid-swing between buildings, but he still reached out enthusiastically and shook Ethan's hand.
"Nice to meet you too!" he said excitedly.
Then he glanced down at the flooded streets.
"You're here to help rescue people, right?" he asked quickly. "Because if you are, man, we really need to hurry. There are a lot of people waiting for help down there."
Ethan kept pace with his swinging movement easily.
"I'm not here to rescue anyone," he said calmly.
Spider-Man blinked.
"If I told you I was the one who caused this disaster," Ethan continued, "how would you feel?"
"What?"
Spider-Man froze mid-swing for a second before quickly firing another web line to keep himself from dropping.
"You're kidding, right?" he said.
Then his voice became confused.
"I mean… why would you do something like that? Did you commit a crime or something?"
Ethan shrugged slightly.
"Maybe," he said. "Who knows?"
Then he glanced at Spider-Man.
"Aren't you going to try and stop me?"
His tone was calm.
"After all, I might do something like this again in the future."
Spider-Man's body stiffened.
"Wait," he said slowly.
"You're serious?"
He turned his masked face toward Ethan.
"You actually committed a crime?"
.....
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