United

After spending some time at the Floating Temple, Alex went to New York again. He first visited Howard, who was still lying in the hospital bed, then headed to X-Film Company after chatting with him for a while.

"Alex, are you all right?" The moment Vivien Leigh saw Alex appear, she jumped up from the boss’s chair, hurried over to him, and nervously ran her hands over him.

Alex shook his head, reassured her a few times, and got down to business. "Vivien Leigh, help me contact Nick Fury." Ever since he had deliberately cut off contact with Nick Fury, Alex rarely showed up at Nick Fury’s office unannounced. Whenever he had business, he contacted Nick Fury through X-Film Company.

Vivien Leigh casually pressed a hidden button at the corner of the desk, leaned over to say a few words, then turned back to Alex, her watery eyes filled with silent questions.

Not wanting Vivien Leigh to worry, Alex did not explain in detail. He merely smiled lightly and brushed it off. "I need to talk to him about something. Just a small favor."

"Oh." Vivien Leigh nodded without asking further questions. She pulled Alex over to the sofa, her soft hands tightly clasping his.

Feeling the warmth from her palm, Alex turned to look at Vivien Leigh and smiled gently as they chatted idly.

After an unknown amount of time, the office door was pushed open from outside. Carter, dressed in casual clothes and high heels, walked in, unable to hide the exhaustion on her sharply defined face.

"Alex, what is it?" Even in casual clothes, Carter still looked as valiant as ever. Like Vivien Leigh, she did not spare Alex a glance and went straight to the sofa beside them before sitting down. "Nick Fury has some things to deal with. I happened to be free, so I came over."

Alex nodded in greeting, proactively poured Carter a glass of water, and only then spoke. "It’s nothing much. I just wanted him to introduce me to a few combat instructors."

Carter paused at that, lowering the glass she had just raised. She stared at Alex in surprise. "What happened?" Based on what she knew of Alex, he was not someone who would voluntarily take up learning.

Alex awkwardly scratched his head and explained with an embarrassed laugh, "I fought Mandarin and got looked down on for my kung fu."

"He’s that good?!" Carter knew how capable Alex was in a fight. He had learned lethal battlefield techniques from Logan, a human killing machine. If even that had been looked down on, Mandarin’s strength was easy to imagine.

Alex nodded, his expression extremely serious. Mandarin might have been an enemy, but Alex had no choice but to admire his kung fu. It was truly powerful and formidable.

Carter frowned slightly. She looked at Alex without asking more questions, then said with a wry smile, "I do know quite a few combat instructors, but they would not mean much to you. You would be better off continuing to train the fighting techniques Logan taught you."

Alex was somewhat disappointed. Then he asked, "Do you know any kung fu instructors from China?" The kung fu Mandarin had used was Chinese kung fu. The first time Alex saw it, he had been deeply envious.

"That’s rather uncommon, but I’ll ask around for you." Carter looked at Alex strangely and asked with a helpless smile, "You called me here just for that? Nothing else?"

Alex gave an awkward laugh. Then his expression changed, and he said solemnly, "Things between Mandarin and me won’t end like this. He knows about my relationship with all of you, so you need to be more careful in the future."

Carter and Vivien Leigh exchanged a glance, their expressions turning grave as well. Howard’s example was right in front of them, so naturally they would not let their guard down.

Alex did not stay in New York long. After going to Hollywood to check on Audrey and Monroe, who were filming, he finally returned to the Floating Temple.

The moment he returned to the Floating Temple, Alex received an unexpected piece of news. The Brotherhood of Mutants had joined forces with AIM and was preparing to launch a massive assault on the Floating Temple!

"What exactly is going on?" When Alex first heard the news, he could hardly believe his ears. Weren’t the Brotherhood of Mutants and AIM sworn enemies?

Seeing the murderous look in Alex’s eyes, Emma hurriedly tried to soothe him, signaling to The Sage beside her with her eyes.

After Sebastian Shaw was captured, The Sage had ruthlessly deceived the Brotherhood of Mutants once. She had then returned to the Floating Temple and continued serving as Emma’s assistant.

The Sage glanced at Alex as he gradually calmed down, cleared her throat, and began to explain. "The Brotherhood of Mutants has always refused to cooperate with AIM…"

"I know that!" Before The Sage could say much, Alex could not help interrupting her, his tone full of confusion.

When the Brotherhood of Mutants suffered its devastating blow, Alex had already guarded against the possibility of them joining forces with AIM. But half a year had passed. AIM had actively tried to recruit the Brotherhood of Mutants, yet the Brotherhood had never agreed, seemingly determined to have nothing to do with them even unto death. That was why Alex was so shocked upon hearing that the two sides had united.

The Sage paused and turned to see Emma stop Alex with a sharp rebuke. Only then did she continue, "But just yesterday, contact between the two sides suddenly increased. Early this morning, every member of the Brotherhood of Mutants directly withdrew into AIM’s headquarters and has not emerged since."

Alex’s brow furrowed tightly, his eyes narrowing slightly. After pondering for a long moment, he asked, "Has AIM made any moves? What about Strucker?"

"None at all!" The Sage answered without the slightest hesitation, clearly well prepared. "Strucker has also remained out of sight."

"Gather all the X-Men and have them stand by!" Alex abruptly rose to his feet, turned to Emma, and said in a low voice, "I’ll go take a look. Wait for my news."

As soon as he finished speaking, Alex used Teleportation and left. When he appeared again, he was at Poseidonia, the massive city at the edge of the Savage Land plains. It had once been the royal capital of the Descendants of Atlantis, but was now AIM’s headquarters.

After a flicker of light and shadow, Alex’s body gradually vanished. Invisible, he strode boldly through the streets of Poseidonia, his telepathy constantly searching the surroundings.

After wandering around for some time, Alex finally arrived at a heavily guarded, enormous industrial complex. This was the foothold Strucker had specifically set aside for the Brotherhood of Mutants to live in.

AIM guards dressed in uniforms resembling beekeeping suits could not stop Alex. Before long, he entered the complex. To his surprise, this was not the residential area he had expected, but an enormous laboratory!

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mutants from the Brotherhood of Mutants lay inside transparent coffins filled with azure liquid. Every mutant had all kinds of needles inserted into their bodies as drugs were continuously injected through the tubes. Then the mutants began to convulse and struggle violently, their faces twisted in agony.

Some of them stopped twitching after a while. Alex leaned closer and discovered that they were dead! There were quite a few like that throughout the enormous laboratory! Alex’s face instantly turned pale, red light flaring in his eyes as his fury surged to the heavens.