Old Friends Reunited

Alex twisted the hand that had just been reattached and turned to look at the utterly stunned Erik. With a light laugh, he said, "Surprised?"

Erik stiffened at the sound, his face reddening. He gave a cold snort and once again tried to control the steel beads to attack Alex. But something unbelievable happened—he had actually lost control of them.

In an instant, Erik looked up at Alex. He knew Alex could copy his abilities, and when he recalled the hand that had rested on his shoulder earlier, he immediately understood. A trace of wariness crept into his gaze as he looked at Alex.

Seeing Erik’s brow tightly furrowed, Alex inwardly sighed. He said nothing, merely controlling the steel beads as they fused together, gradually expanding and condensing into a human figure. It was thin and slightly hunched, and its facial outline bore a faint resemblance to Erik’s.

The moment he saw the figure Alex had formed, Erik’s expression changed drastically. He raised a hand to point at Alex and shouted furiously, "Get out!"

"Erik!" Alex ignored Erik’s angry shout. His expression turned stern as he stared at Erik and said in a low voice, "If your father were still alive, he definitely wouldn’t want to see you like this!"

Erik’s nostrils flared rapidly, white vapor streaming in and out. Uncontrollable flames burned in his eyes, and his vicious gaze was like a blade, as though he wanted to cut Alex into a thousand pieces.

Alex looked at Erik with a bitter expression, his heart swelling with boundless guilt. If he had taken better care of him, perhaps Erik would not have become like this.

As he was thinking, Erik suddenly spoke again, each word seeming to be hammered out from between his teeth.

"Leave this place immediately. I don’t want to see you again!"

Looking at Erik, Alex’s expression darkened. He let out a helpless sigh and slowly said, "In that case, I can only resort to this."

As he spoke, Alex moved and instantly appeared beside Erik. Before Erik could react, Alex struck with lightning speed. Blue ice crystals, similar to Erik’s Crystal, suddenly enveloped Erik at astonishing speed.

Erik reacted quickly, but before he could do anything, his entire body had already been encased in the blue ice crystals. His body seemed frozen solid; he could not move in the slightest, and even his breathing had stopped. It seemed that only his mind was still functioning.

In his shock, Erik tried to control metal to shatter the blue ice crystals surrounding him. But only then did he realize that his ability seemed to have been suppressed to the limit. His control could not extend beyond the blue ice crystals and was confined within them.

"Erik, I’m doing this for your own good too!" Alex sighed, picked up Erik encased in blue ice crystals, and flashed away, intending to leave.

But just then, a red-haired girl covered in blue scales pushed open the door and walked in, shouting as she entered, "Erik, today I…"

When he saw the newcomer, Alex froze for a moment before realizing that she should be Mystique from the movies. What he could not understand, however, was why Mystique was with Erik. Shouldn’t she have been with the young Professor X?

While Alex was lost in thought, Raven also came to her senses. Her expression changed as she assumed an attacking stance and sharply demanded, "Who are you? What are you trying to do?"

Raven’s clear voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts. He shook his head, clearing away the confusion in his mind. This is reality, not a movie! With that thought, Alex immediately relaxed. Adjusting Erik on his shoulder, he said with a light laugh, "I’m Alex. I came here to take Erik away!"

Raven was clearly stunned. She had not expected Alex to answer her question so seriously. After a moment of dazed silence, she urgently shouted, "Put Erik down, or else…" She could not finish the rest of her sentence, because Alex had already subdued her. She too was encased in blue ice crystals.

Carrying one in each hand, Alex shook his head with a bitter smile and activated Teleportation, instantly returning to the Floating Temple.

In that short time, quite a few people had suddenly appeared in the Floating Temple, all of them people Alex knew very well. The bald man with an eyepatch was S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury; the heroic woman in military uniform was Carter; and the sexy, enchanting blonde was naturally Black Widow Natasha.

When Alex returned carrying two ice crystal statues, his eyes unconsciously reddened at the sight of the familiar faces. He stood blankly at the entrance to the hall, watching the group gathered inside, chatting and laughing.

The moment Alex appeared, he immediately drew everyone’s attention. They all turned to look at him, and every gaze landed on Alex first. As for Erik and Raven, who should have been rather conspicuous, no one paid them any attention.

"We heard you were back, so we came over to take a look!" Nick Fury was the first to walk up to Alex. He spread his arms and pulled Alex into an embrace, tears glimmering in his single eye as he grew extremely emotional.

Alex stood stunned for a moment before somewhat awkwardly returning Nick Fury’s embrace. After a while, the familiar feeling returned. He looked up at Natasha and Carter, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. "I’m back. It’s perfect that you’re all here!"

After releasing Nick Fury, Alex hugged Carter and Natasha as usual, and also used his energy to restore Carter’s youth once more. Nick Fury had the Infinity Formula and still looked the same as before. Natasha possessed the mutated Super Soldier Serum, and her metabolism was exceptionally slow. Ten years had passed without changing her in the slightest, so there was no need to expend any energy on her.

Nick Fury and the other two had already met Vivien and the other two women, and Howard had explained things to them. Seeing them in person now only surprised them slightly before they quickly recovered.

"Alex, does this mean we’ll never grow old again?" Natasha reached out and grabbed Carter’s restored, fair hand, looking at Alex with delight. If Alex did not lose his ability, they could live forever without aging.

Alex smiled smugly, nodding as he said, "As long as you don’t die, I can keep you young forever and let you live indefinitely."

Everyone was incredibly excited upon hearing this. No one was unwilling to live a little longer—except for one person.

Howard pinched his sexy Little Mustache, looking rather sentimental. He seemed to be complaining and showing off at the same time. "Living too long isn’t really that interesting."

"You’re getting the benefit and still acting like you’ve been wronged!" Natasha unceremoniously kicked Howard, shooting him a dagger-like glare from her gorgeous eyes as she said resentfully.

Howard went along with the kick and fell to the floor, groaning nonstop as though he had truly been injured.

Seeing Howard’s antics, everyone could not help but burst into laughter, their moods exceptionally cheerful.

Something came up a few days ago, so I was unable to update. Please forgive me—I’ll work hard to resume updates…