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"Mine, mine… Damn it, how did I give birth to something like this? Is he really my biological son?"

Magneto cursed furiously in his heart, then said, "The Mutant Brotherhood is the only path for mutants. The Professor’s path and Iron Man’s path are both wrong. Pietro, what happened with Human Torch proves it."

"Old man, Human Torch is scum."

Quicksilver put away his flippant smile and said seriously, "Iron Man personally sent that scum to prison. The Professor stood by and did nothing, while the Mutant Brotherhood let scum join them.

And now you’re telling me the Mutant Brotherhood is right? Do you really think I’d believe that?"

Magneto argued, "Human Torch is a mutant. He’s one of our own."

Quicksilver shouted, "Mutant or not, he’s still scum! The Mutant Brotherhood is a sacred revolutionary organization. It shouldn’t become a gathering place for scum and criminals."

Quite a few people nearby snorted in displeasure at the same time—they were all criminals.

However, some looked at Quicksilver approvingly. He might have been a little naïve, but like Magneto in his younger days, he was full of passion.

"He isn’t scum. He was merely led astray. Once he joins the Brotherhood, I’ll reform him and teach him what’s right and wrong. In any case, we can’t allow one of our own to fall into the hands of those despicable humans."

Magneto slammed his hand on the table and said, "Pietro, go with Astra and the others tomorrow to rescue him. Don’t throw a tantrum. Do you hear me?"

Quicksilver shrugged. "Why make it so troublesome? If you want to rescue Human Torch, I can do it alone."

"Don’t underestimate them. There are police there, as well as the X-Men. Charles will definitely be able to guess what I’m planning."

Magneto said that even if Charles could not guess, he could still peek into his mind. Just like his son, that guy was a voyeur.

Damn it, was this really his biological son?

Quicksilver said indifferently, "Fine, you’re in charge. But let me make this clear first—I don’t want to kill anyone."

"No problem. Leave that to us."

Astra, head of the New York branch, said, "Pietro, remember to follow orders tomorrow. You may be Erik’s son, but during an operation, we don’t play favorites."

Quicksilver said, "Understood. I guarantee I’ll obey, as long as I can hear the orders."

Magneto shook his head. This son of his still needed more tempering.

Next, Magneto dismissed everyone, leaving behind only Toad, a mutant who looked seventy percent human and thirty percent toad.

Toad hesitated before saying to Magneto, "Erik, with the X-Men there, it won’t be easy for us to rescue Human Torch."

"We still have a chance. Pietro’s ability is very powerful."

Magneto shook his head and said, "Besides, that’s only one part of the plan. Toad, we need Azazel. According to Mystique’s investigation, Yukio of the X-Men will be taking a plane back to the island nation tomorrow. I want you to take some people and capture her."

"Then use Yukio to exchange for Azazel? No problem. Leave it to me."

Toad nodded. Given the Professor and the others’ personalities, they would definitely agree to an exchange, even if Azazel was important. Their hearts were simply too soft.

"Keep it confidential."

Magneto instructed, "Charles’s ability is too terrifying. We must be cautious—more cautious than ever."

"Don’t worry, I know what to do. We’re old rivals."

Toad smiled and turned to leave. Magneto let out a breath. Perhaps Quicksilver had angered him too much, but he felt somewhat exhausted. After all, he was now an old man with a head full of white hair.

"Bert Wang handed Quicksilver over to me because he wanted him to anger me to death, or at least shorten my lifespan by a few years. That brat is truly vicious."

Magneto cursed inwardly. Then he pulled himself together, took out the instrument blueprints from a drawer, and continued studying them. He refused to believe he could not find the problem.

Magneto had never given up on the plan to turn ordinary people into mutants. In his view, that was the true path forward for mutants.

Unfortunately, he did not know it was a trap.

At Mutant Academy, after finishing a phone call, the Professor said to everyone, "Magneto is preparing to send people to rescue Human Torch."

Storm was stunned. "Magneto is sending people to rescue Human Torch? Human Torch is one of us!"

"According to the information I received, John has already agreed to join the Mutant Brotherhood."

The Professor sighed. "I suppose he resents us for standing by and watching him die."

"How did we stand by and watch him die? We spent money to hire the best lawyer for him, and Hank ran himself ragged gathering evidence for him."

Jean was deeply dissatisfied. "The beer has already been confirmed to be tainted. With that lawyer’s skills, it won’t be difficult to get John acquitted."

Jean was so dissatisfied because hiring that lawyer had cost them a great deal of money—the finances of Mutant Academy had never been very good. The Professor had squandered the family fortune for so many years that there was almost nothing left.

"That Human Torch guy clearly has character issues. Something like this happening to him is perfectly normal."

Wolverine took a bite of an apple as he spoke. Cyclops turned his head and asked unhappily, "Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital with your wife?"

Wolverine glanced guiltily at Jean and said, "BOSS sent me to help you. He said your superpowers are decent, but you aren’t ruthless enough and you don’t act decisively enough. You need a tough guy. In other words, me."

The Professor reminded him, "Logan, thank you for coming to help us, but don’t go for the kill against the Brotherhood. We’re all mutants."

"Whatever you say."

Although Wolverine was far from convinced, he still nodded in agreement.

"Scott, Storm, tomorrow you’ll lead a team to the police station. You absolutely cannot let the Brotherhood take Human Torch away. Otherwise, he really will become a criminal."

The Professor said, "Jean, you and Shockwave will stay behind at the Academy with me. Magneto isn’t participating this time. I’m worried he may be making a feint."

"Alright."

Everyone nodded. There was no doubt that tomorrow would be a very lively day.

The next day, at the Manhattan precinct, Officer George shouted over the radio to the police officers, "We’ve received word that the Mutant Brotherhood will come to break someone out of prison. Everyone, stay alert.

Also, if you can’t win, surrender or retreat is permitted. Don’t make pointless sacrifices. Your families are still waiting for you to come home."

One officer laughed. "Chief, you’re really hurting morale with that."

"Can’t be helped. Our opponents are mutants from the Brotherhood."

Officer George sighed. "Not a few police officers have died at their hands."

The officers fell somewhat silent. One officer sighed, "It would be great if all mutants were like Iron Man."

"You’re dreaming. There’s only one Iron Man."

Another officer said, "Still, I have a feeling that Iron Man will wipe out the Brotherhood sooner or later."

"If that day really comes, I’ll go out and buy every piece of Iron Man merchandise I can find."

"Sorry, you won’t be able to. Iron Man merchandise has been sold out all along."

"Seriously? I just promised my son yesterday that I’d buy him an armor model for Christmas."

"No way, I promised my daughter one too."

"Captain, I heard you know Iron Man well. Could you help us buy some merchandise?"

"Preferably with an autograph."

Officer George did not know whether to laugh or cry. Iron Man was simply too popular. He said, "Everyone, stay alert. We can talk about that after work."

"Chief, the Mutant Brotherhood is here. The leaders are the wanted criminals Astra and Sabretooth."

At that moment, the officer monitoring from the rooftop reported in. Officer George hurried over to the surveillance feed. After taking one look, he asked in confusion, "They’re being this open about it?"

"It is rather strange. They’re being far too arrogant."

Storm said, "Officer George, we’ll go out and meet them. You keep watch over Human Torch John. Also, if a fight breaks out, stay far away."

Officer George nodded bitterly. "Understood."

Storm then led Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and the other X-Men to the entrance of the police station. When Astra saw them appear, he stopped with Sabretooth and the others. It was worth mentioning that Quicksilver was not among them.

Astra smiled. "Storm, long time no see. Interested in having a drink?"

Storm snorted. "Once you’re in prison, I’ll send you a whole case of coffee."

Astra asked, "What brand? I’m not used to low-grade coffee."

Storm was speechless. She said, "Leave. With us here, you won’t be able to rescue Human Torch. And Human Torch belongs to our Academy."

"Sorry, John no longer belongs to your Academy."

Astra shook his head. "This incident made him understand just how hypocritical and despicable those humans are. He has decided to join our Brotherhood and fight for mutants alongside us."

"He’s just confused for the moment."

Storm had barely begun speaking when she suddenly sensed something and looked beside Astra. In the next breath, a silver-haired young man wearing headphones and looking extremely fashionable appeared out of thin air beside Astra.

Quicksilver said, "I’ve done what you asked. By the way, you really are an evil organization. At first, I thought we were going to have a huge fight today."

"If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute."

Astra rolled his eyes. He took out a remote control and said, "Storm, there are thirty bombs around here. As long as I press this button, all of them will explode."

"What? Thirty bombs?"

Everyone’s expressions changed dramatically. Wolverine snorted and shouted, "Are you trying to scare us?"

Astra smiled. "To prove we aren’t lying, I specifically had Pietro place a bomb in the command room. You can go look for it."

"What? Find it, now!"

Officer George was alarmed and immediately shouted. Soon, they found a green timed bomb beneath a desk. Officer George said with an ugly expression, "Storm, he’s telling the truth."

Storm gritted her teeth and cursed, "You’re truly despicable."

Astra clapped his hands. "That’s called intelligence. Alright, things are very clear now. Hand over Human Torch, and we’ll leave. We can part on good terms."

Storm hesitated and asked Officer George, "What should we do now?"

"Release him. I’ll take responsibility for it."

Officer George said helplessly. He knew what this decision represented, but he could not sacrifice others to protect himself, much less make others take the blame for him.

"A wise choice."

Astra smiled. At that moment, a figure appeared out of thin air beside him, snatched away the remote control, and vanished again. It was Nightcrawler.

"Damn it!" Astra cursed. What did it mean to go from joy to sorrow in an instant? This was exactly that.

Seeing this, Quicksilver activated his ability and charged toward the Nightcrawler who had just appeared at astonishing speed, trying to take back the remote control.

In Quicksilver’s world, everything around him slowed to a crawl. He smiled faintly and reached for the remote control in Nightcrawler’s hand, while Nightcrawler had no idea someone was stealing from him.

Just as Quicksilver was about to succeed, the Professor’s voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "Pietro, I can’t let you take that."

With those words, Quicksilver lost control and fell to the ground. Everyone was startled. They had no idea when Quicksilver had arrived.

"Professor?"

Quicksilver climbed to his feet and said unhappily, "You actually ambushed me?"

As he spoke, Quicksilver rapidly returned to Astra’s side. Nightcrawler was stunned. The other man’s speed was actually faster than his Teleportation.

"Professor?"

Astra was shocked when he heard that. While remaining vigilant of his surroundings, he asked, "Professor, aren’t you afraid Magneto will raid your headquarters if you recklessly leave the Academy?"

At Mutant Academy, the Professor, wearing Cerebro, said, "Don’t worry, I’m not nearby. Astra, I can’t let you take Human Torch away. You’ll only turn him into a villain."

"Not nearby? That’s great."

Astra breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I originally wanted to settle this easily and simply, but since you aren’t willing, then we’ll return to tradition and have a proper fight."

"You think we’re afraid of you?"

Wolverine had long since been annoyed. Upon hearing that, he immediately extended his claws. Sabretooth’s nails rapidly lengthened, and he growled at Wolverine.

The Professor said helplessly, "Be careful of Wolverine’s claws. He doesn’t understand the rapport between us."

Astra sighed. "I hate guys like that, but Magneto’s orders must be carried out."

"Kurt, take the remote control back to the Academy, then find a way to disarm all thirty bombs."

Storm shouted as she flew into the sky. Nightcrawler nodded and instantly disappeared.

"Move."

Astra stopped wasting time and shouted. Sabretooth immediately charged fiercely at Wolverine.

"I’ve wanted to kill you for a long time."

Wolverine raised his claws and rushed toward Sabretooth. Several images flashed through Sabretooth’s mind. He suddenly leaned forward and lunged like a wolf, forcefully knocking Wolverine to the ground.

Then Sabretooth grabbed Wolverine by the collar and violently smashed him into the wall beside them. With a bang, the wall shattered, and Wolverine was sent crashing through it.

"Why does this feel familiar?"

Wolverine climbed to his feet in surprise. At that moment, Sabretooth charged in. The two exchanged a glance, said nothing, and immediately began fighting fiercely inside the room, blood spraying everywhere.

"Isn’t this too bloody? Didn’t they say mutants were supposed to get along peacefully?"

Quicksilver looked disgusted. He rolled his neck, preparing to charge at the X-Men, but to his astonishment, although he clearly intended to run forward, his body ran backward instead.