Chapter 17

At eleven o'clock at night, a jet slowly rose from the villa's lawn, then swiftly vanished into invisibility.

"Professor Jean, what are Hawking and the others going to do?" Wanda asked, peering out from the second-floor window at the disappearing jet and turning to Jean beside her.

Phoenix Jean patted Wanda's head and replied, "Hawking and the teachers are off to fight the bad guys. They'll be back soon."

"When I grow up, I want to go fight bad guys with Hawking too!" Wanda waved her hand enthusiastically. She wasn't keen on fighting bad guys, but she wanted to be with Hawking.

Jean smiled and crouched down to her level, "Then you'll have to work hard. I hear your ability involves controlling the movement of objects, just like mine."

"But right now, I can only move a tiny cup," Wanda said as she caused a cup on a nearby table to float gently into her hand, surrounded by a red glow.

Jean comforted her, "Not everyone is as naturally talented as Hawking. We can train slowly, and in the future, you can become an X-Man just like him, helping those in need."

If Hawking were here to hear this, he'd surely have a hearty laugh. A possessor of the Phoenix Force and a wielder of Chaos Magic discussing talent — who could top these two in gifts?

"I'll train hard," Wanda nodded vigorously, then looked out the window again, silently praying, "Hawking, you better come back safely!"

She glanced at her other brother, Pietro, who was sprawled out on the bed, sleeping soundly.

"Why is there such a big difference between brothers? Hawking is out there fighting to protect us, and Pietro stole my favorite pudding at dinner."

Unaware of little Wanda's concerns, Hawking was on the jet getting help from Storm to fit into a resized X-Men uniform.

"Professor Ororo, I really don't think I need to wear this."

"This uniform is made from special materials I just tailored this afternoon. It can effectively protect against physical and energy damage, you must wear it!" Storm insisted earnestly.

"Alright then!" Hawking wanted to tell Storm that once he transformed, his clothes would automatically turn into the Turtle Hermit martial arts uniform, making this outfit somewhat redundant. But considering he might need the X-Men uniform after transforming back, he decided to let it be.

"Um, Professor Ororo, I can dress myself."

"This uniform isn't like regular clothes, it's not easy to put on initially. I'll help you, so you know how to do it yourself next time," Storm didn't heed Hawking's protest.

Hawking could only inwardly sigh about his slow physical development.

In his past life, he was a late bloomer, possibly due to subpar living conditions and nutrition, so at eleven or twelve years old, he didn't look very tall. Unlike children later, who, with better nutrition, looked more like little adults.

Furthermore, whether it was because of his integration with Goku's Saiyan blood or not, his youthful appearance was even more pronounced. Coupled with the tail he had, it gave him an innocuous look.

Meanwhile, Wolverine, who was smoking a cigar, saw Hawking looking a bit sheepish and could barely suppress a smirk.

"Logan, no smoking on the jet, can't you see there's a kid here?" Hawking rebuked him promptly.

Storm also shot Wolverine a stern look.

"Right, you're still a kid." Wolverine's smile faded, and he reluctantly snuffed out his cigar in his palm.

Three hours later, the jet hovered over Alkali Lake in Canada.

Activating the jet's invisibility feature, they landed it on a snowy patch outside the dam as the team discussed how to infiltrate the base.

"The dam has only one spillway for entry, but the trouble is, as soon as we show up, Stryker could open the floodgates, and we'd all drown!" Storm explained while showing the dam's structural layout on the jet's virtual display.

"Kurt, can you teleport us inside?"

"No, unless it's a place I've been or can see, I can't teleport there. I'd get stuck in the wall," Nightcrawler shook his head vigorously.

At that moment, Wolverine stood up, "I'll go, Stryker won't let me die."

"Wolverine, whoever goes, the goal is to reach the control room and figure out how to operate the device to close the floodgate. Are you planning to do that with your claws?" Magneto said with a hint of sarcasm.

Wolverine glared, "At least I'm willing to take a risk!"

"But I'm not interested in taking risks," Magneto turned to Mystique, who had already transformed into Wolverine's likeness.

"This shape-shifting ability really comes in handy," Hawking noted as he watched Mystique, now identical to Wolverine, and couldn't help but think that if not for her and Magneto's ambition to drastically alter the status of mutants, Mystique would be one of the mutants least concerned about blending into human society.

With her abilities, no one could find or capture her as long as she didn't stir up trouble; she could live very comfortably.

Everyone was well aware of Mystique's infiltration capabilities, so Magneto's suggestion for Mystique to enter the base as Wolverine was quickly approved.

As they waited quietly inside the jet, about twenty minutes later, Mystique's relaxed voice came through the communicator, "The device is shut down; you can come in now!"

The rear door of the jet opened, and Hawking silently pulled out the Mickey Mouse child-size sunglasses from his pocket, donning them as he followed the others toward the dam's spillway.

Looking up at the full moon above, he muttered to himself, "I hope I don't have to turn into a giant ape."

"Feeble yet arrogant humans."

Watching the fully armed human soldiers blocking the spillway, Magneto let out a disdainful snort.

Instantly, the pins of the grenades on the soldiers' belts, influenced by his powers, were pulled out automatically, and their rifles were wrenched from their hands to point back at them.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Da! Da! Da!"

In a matter of moments, the elite soldiers sent by Stryker to guard the spillway were all dead.

"Typical Magneto, always terrifying," Hawking observed, his eyebrows jumping at the sight.

Magneto's ability to control magnetic fields was indeed the bane of modern high-tech weaponry. Especially when wearing his helmet that blocked psychic intrusions, he was virtually without weakness.

Recalling the scenes in the movies where Magneto instantly halted countless missiles and lifted the nearly 2000-meter-long Golden Gate Bridge, not to mention flying with an entire sports stadium, it was truly fearsome.

Luckily, this universe's Magneto was more like his cinematic counterpart. If it were the comic book Magneto, it would be even more outrageous.

(End of Chapter)