Not So Close-Knit

After Alex vanished through Teleportation, in Poseidonia, the Black Queen descended calmly to the ground, her phoenix eyes brimming with delight. Seemingly recalling something, the corners of her lips curled upward. Her smug chuckle left the nearby AIM soldiers utterly entranced.

The Black Queen quickly came to her senses and wiped the smile from her face. Her cold gaze swept over the crowd, and with a disdainful snort, she swayed away and vanished.

Soon afterward, in a lavishly decorated office, Strucker leaned back in a white sharkskin chair and narrowed his eyes at the Black Queen across from him. His face was as dark as storm clouds. "Black Queen, I want an explanation!"

"I was outmatched and let him get away." The Black Queen folded her arms across her chest, glancing sideways at Strucker as she answered with complete composure.

"Selene, don’t try to brush this off!" Strucker slammed both hands onto the desk and shot to his feet. The chair behind him was shoved straight into the corner, where the violent impact shattered it into several pieces. Taking deep breaths, Strucker spoke again, seemingly forcing down his rage. "With your strength, keeping him here wouldn’t have been difficult!"

The Black Queen shook her head indifferently, paying no attention to Strucker’s roar as she explained unhurriedly, "Alex’s abilities are powerful and versatile. Even if the entire Hellfire Club mobilized, taking him down would be impossible…"

"I don’t want to hear that!" Strucker waved a hand and cut her off. He snorted and glared at the Black Queen, his voice icy with threat. "Only by killing Alex can you get what you want."

The Black Queen’s brow twitched involuntarily, but she quickly smoothed it out. A cold glint flashed through her eyes. With a sweet laugh, she rose to her feet. "Baron, rest assured. If Alex dares come again next time, I’ll make sure he never leaves!" To obtain that item, the Black Queen had taken the initiative to lead the Hellfire Club into cooperation with AIM. Naturally, she could not let all that effort go to waste now.

Strucker casually swept a glance over the pale cleavage the Black Queen had deliberately revealed and said expressionlessly, "I don’t want to be disappointed again."

After leaving Strucker’s office, the smile deliberately plastered across the Black Queen’s face immediately vanished, replaced by deep indifference and a faint killing intent. She turned to look at the tightly shut door and muttered in a low voice, "Let you run wild for a few more days!"

Just after the Black Queen left, Strucker also disappeared from his office. Of course, he did not leave through the front door, but through a secret passage within the room.

Before long, Strucker arrived at a concealed laboratory built on the seabed several thousand meters from Poseidonia. It was extremely well hidden, and aside from a few AIM higher-ups, no one knew of its existence. Among them, only Strucker was active outside; the others remained in this laboratory conducting all kinds of research.

Strucker made a round through the laboratory before finally entering an isolated lab. Inside was only a middle-aged man in a white coat. On the operating table before him lay a dismembered corpse, its internal organs arranged beside it.

"How is it?" Strucker swept his gaze over the dissected corpse on the operating table, then turned to the middle-aged man and asked in a low voice.

Hearing him, the middle-aged man turned to glance at Strucker and shook his head. "For now, it can only affect mutants—more precisely, the X-gene." After a brief pause, he let out a long sigh, looking thoroughly frustrated. "It has no effect on ordinary humans."

"Why don’t we cultivate mutants ourselves?" Strucker was deeply disappointed by the answer and complained irritably, "Since it can activate the X-gene anyway, we could use it to create a mutant army belonging to AIM!"

It was, in fact, a genetic enhancement serum developed by AIM through combining alien technology from the Savage Land. Unfortunately, this genetic enhancement serum only targeted the X-gene—that is, mutants and latent mutants—and had no effect whatsoever on human genes.

The liquid injected into the Brotherhood of Mutants’ mutants in the experimental zone of Poseidonia was also genetic enhancement serum, though one that had undergone special modifications. Needless to say, its results were poor, while its failure rate and death rate were extremely high.

"Those not of our kind are sure to harbor different intentions. Mutants are not humans, and humans are not mutants!" The middle-aged man shook his head resolutely, strongly refuting Strucker’s proposal. "Controlling them is countless times more dangerous and difficult than developing a human genetic enhancement serum!"

Strucker looked at the middle-aged man with a gloomy expression and gave a bitter smile. "But Winter Soldier alone can’t intimidate them at all."

"One person may not be enough, but it’s different with weapons." The middle-aged man gave a mysterious smile, dragged Strucker out of the laboratory, and quickly brought him to another lab.

The moment he entered the laboratory, Strucker could not help bursting into wild laughter. Pointing at something resembling an individual rocket launcher in the center of the room, he cried out in astonishment, "This is?!"

"It was modified from the defensive cannons on Poseidonia’s walls. It’s much smaller, and its power has been reduced considerably." The middle-aged man gently stroked the long, narrow barrel. His face carried a strange tenderness, along with pride he could not hide. "But it’s still more powerful than any weapon currently on Earth. Even superhumans specializing in defense can’t withstand it!"

"Good! Good! Good!" Strucker excitedly examined the weapon before him from top to bottom, his eyes shining as he said "good" three times in a row.

After a while, Strucker finally thought of the key issue. He pulled his gaze away from the weapon and turned to the middle-aged man.

"What kind of production capacity does this thing have?"

The middle-aged man glanced at Strucker and said casually, "This thing is easy to make. The laboratory has quite a few in storage—enough to equip a division!"

Strucker froze for a moment, then burst into wild laughter again and repeatedly praised it. "With this batch of weapons, I’m fully confident I can take down the Floating Temple!"

At those words, the middle-aged man became nervous. He grabbed Strucker’s arm and solemnly instructed, "The Floating Temple absolutely cannot be destroyed. That place is the core of alien technology. As long as we thoroughly research it, conquering the world won’t be a problem!" The middle-aged man had strongly advocated sending troops against the Floating Temple precisely because of its alien technology. If it were destroyed, he would cry himself to death.

"Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing!"

After casually fobbing him off with a few words, Strucker immediately sent people to transport enough equipment for a division out of the laboratory.

He then secretly armed his forces without revealing anything. Though he was allied with the Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood of Mutants, Strucker had always remained wary of them and did not truly trust them.

Strucker did not trust the Hellfire Club or the Brotherhood of Mutants. Likewise, the Black Queen, leader of the Hellfire Club, did not trust AIM. If she had not been unable to find a breakthrough, the Black Queen would never have cooperated with Strucker.

"Black Queen, there’s still no news about the genetic enhancement serum." The moment the Black Queen returned to her quarters, someone stepped forward to report the latest developments. Ever since arriving in Poseidonia, the Black Queen had never stopped secretly searching for the genetic enhancement serum, but unfortunately, there had been no news.

In the past, hearing this report would have angered the Black Queen and made her lose her temper. But today, she merely smiled faintly, looking utterly unconcerned. "Stop searching for now. Wait a few days first!"