"All right, Fenris, come back."
Professor X suddenly spoke up, stopping Fenris in his tracks.
"Professor?"
Fenris froze for a moment and looked toward Professor X in the corner, along with the silent Scott beside him.
"My old friend has always been especially good at this sort of thing. Take a trip to the Brotherhood's secret island and invite Erik to the school."
Professor X looked at Fenris.
Over this stretch of time, Fenris had grown more gentle and restrained in temperament, and that left Professor X deeply gratified.
"Didn't you say Erik's been busy with something else lately?"
Fenris paused, then glanced at Tony on the operating table nearby. "And... would he really choose to help an ordinary human?"
"Go."
Professor X gave a light nod. He did not explain, instead having Scott hand Fenris a photograph. "This is the Brotherhood's newest base. Erik plans to turn it into a paradise that belongs only to mutants."
"I see."
Fenris took the photo.
"Do not get into a conflict with the Brotherhood."
Professor X patted Fenris on the hand, then added another sentence.
"One more thing."
"When Erik comes, make sure he brings the chess set. Mine was destroyed last time."
"Who destroyed it?" Fenris asked curiously.
"You."
Professor X smiled faintly.
"..."
...
Deep in the Pacific Ocean.
This was an extremely well-hidden island. It was not especially large, but the climate was unexpectedly pleasant.
In an open area at the center of the island, the rotors of two large helicopters slowly ground to a halt. A group of mutants, old and young alike, filed out of the cabins one after another, their eyes full of curiosity as they looked around at everything.
The island had not been built lavishly. There were only a few concrete buildings under five stories tall. More than that, there were neatly planned residential houses all around them.
On both sides of the roads stretching in every direction, people could often be seen passing by. In the small market off in the distance, all kinds of dazzling little stalls crowded together. The whole place looked bustling and peaceful.
At first glance, it looked exactly like a small town hidden in the middle of the ocean.
"This is the Brotherhood."
A red-skinned man in a suit with a somewhat fierce face led the newly arrived mutants around the area as he introduced the place.
"Here, far from the crowds and far from the mainland, there is no discrimination and no exclusion. You are free to choose what kind of person you want to become."
"A resident of this town. A doctor. A worker. Or one of the Brotherhood's future warriors, guardians, fighters striving for the cause of mutantkind."
"You chose the Brotherhood over the X-Men, and the Brotherhood will not disappoint you."
"By coming here, Magneto has already given you the right to choose: life, dignity, and freedom..."
In a building not far away, Erik stood by a window and quietly watched everything below. There was a rare trace of warmth in his eyes.
"Thanks to the location Fenris provided, we were able to rescue all these children."
At his side, Raven was just as gratified.
Watching this little island grow better and better under their efforts, thriving and full of life, and seeing the satisfied smiles of their people as they lived and worked in peace - that sense of fulfillment was beyond compare.
"Charles sent out the X-Men too. They took a good deal of pressure off us. Without him, there's no way we could have rescued everyone so smoothly and brought them all back intact."
Erik let out a sigh and cast his gaze toward the distance. "This place still hasn't drawn any attention from the human world at all. I knew Charles had to be helping me."
"In the end, on this matter, he still went against his own principles."
"But Erik, all these years, we and the X-Men have both been trying to save our people. But with only this many hands, our strength is limited in the end..."
Raven withdrew her gaze from outside and looked quietly at Erik's profile. "If we can't make humans truly accept mutants, then our people's status will never really change."
"Then let mutants be the only ones left in the world!"
Erik ground his teeth and spoke bitterly, "Last time, I was already about to succeed, and then Emma..."
"Erik, I told you long ago: mutants are not some new species. Mutants come from humans."
A cool, clear voice sounded from behind them. Emma frowned as she rebutted him, "If humanity dies out, how long do you think the remaining mutants will last? Ten years? Twenty?"
"You're too narrow-minded. And too extreme."
"..."
Watching Emma turn and leave, Erik sighed and sat down at the nearby table.
"Erik, look. What is that?"
In the midst of the silence, Raven suddenly narrowed her eyes. Up in the sky, a yellow ring that had appeared out of nowhere drew her attention.
The next instant, a young man with two pairs of enormous wings of light on his back appeared in the air.
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack! Scatter, all of you, scatter!"
"Get to the underground shelters, now!"
The defense system Erik had built was impressively complete. In the blink of an eye, shrill alarms were already spreading across the island.
The moment the alarms began to blare, the crowd below moved as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times. They instantly dropped what they were doing and scattered in every direction.
Within moments, the island that had just been lively and bustling turned quiet and empty.
At the same time, all kinds of weapons were aimed at the newcomer - bone spikes, bullets, slime, lasers, and even a tongue dripping with mucus.
Fenris beat his wings once and easily dodged all of it. His gaze shifted, and his eyes locked onto Erik in the distance.
At the instant their eyes met, Fenris grinned. His figure flickered, and he was already outside Erik's window.
"These kids are trained pretty well."
"Charles sent you?"
Erik curled his lip and lifted a hand to stop the Brotherhood from attacking. Order outside quickly began to recover.
Looking at how utterly different Fenris was now from before, the admiration in Erik's eyes only deepened.
"Child, you are the future of mutantkind."
"Whether you follow me or Charles, your existence is certain to open a brand-new path for mutants."
Erik pushed open the window. "Come in and talk?"
"Thank you."
His wings of light vanished, and Fenris appeared directly at Erik's side.
He looked around. As the leader of the Brotherhood, Erik was not lacking in money, but his room was strikingly simple.
A bed. A bookshelf. A desk. The furnishings were plain and unremarkable, with nothing luxurious about them.
"Does it seem shabby to you?"
Erik smiled and handed Fenris a cup of hot tea. "Look around if you want. Nothing here to hide."
"It's nice. A lot better than a certain someone who wants his office to be hundreds of square feet."
Fenris swept his gaze around the room and praised it.
Several thick books on the nearby table immediately caught his eye.
Classical Field Theory: Electromagnetic Fields, Unified Field Theory, The Magnetic Field of Life, Cosmic Magnetic Fields, Electricity and Light...
"Just something to flip through when I've got nothing else to do."
Noticing Fenris's gaze, Erik suddenly laughed.
"I'm getting old. I don't like fighting with blades and guns anymore. Learning a bit more suits me better."
(End of Chapter)
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