Saiki Kusuo took in his expression.
"The X-Men are still short a team leader. Charles said that Scott is too impulsive, and not suited for the position. So..."
The unspoken implications were clear.
Erik didn't want to acknowledge it, nor would he. He simply lifted his head and sneered.
"You think it's that easy to defeat me?"
As soon as Erik finished speaking, Saiki Kusuo heard a muffled groan from Charles in his mind, followed by a surprised, almost indescribable murmur.
"Raven..."
Oh, so the old flames had reunited. No wonder Saiki Kusuo had felt like someone was missing.
Of course, Raven was highly skilled in combat, but compared to Charles's abilities, she was still insignificant. But both Raven and Erik knew Charles's weaknesses inside and out.
Not long after, Charles's voice came through.
"I'm sorry, Saiki."
Raven was threatening Charles. Charles paused for a few seconds, then, reluctantly, said, "Let Erik go."
Knowing that Raven had succeeded, Erik's smile grew even wider. He cockily raised his chin at Saiki Kusuo. "Should I say, as expected of Charles's student? Just as timid and cowardly."
Erik scoffed at Charles's so-called kindness of not wanting to see sacrifices. If he had Saiki Kusuo's abilities, he would have eliminated his enemies in an instant.
He waited in a victorious posture for Saiki Kusuo to release his control. However, what he didn't expect was that Saiki Kusuo wasn't Charles's student, nor was he a simple, obedient child.
"I think you're right."
Just as Erik realized his control hadn't been released, and his expression turned increasingly ugly, Saiki Kusuo suddenly spoke.
"If it weren't for my no-killing rule, I would have gotten rid of you immediately."
Immobile, Erik gritted his teeth and threatened, "Aren't you afraid Raven will kill Charles? Even if they're old acquaintances, Raven won't show him any mercy."
Saiki Kusuo was about to say, "It doesn't matter. We're just working together. If you kill him, I'll just find another partner."
But before he could, a series of footsteps sounded outside the bar, and countless well-trained men in black surrounded the building.
They were armed, and some even carried large-scale weapons capable of destroying the entire bar in an instant.
A soldier opened a car door, respectfully welcoming the man inside.
The man, dressed in a neat military uniform, stepped out of the car and took out a walkie-talkie.
"Hey, Zero, why haven't the people inside been dealt with yet? Are you slacking off?"
The man in charge was none other than Stryker.
Saiki Kusuo wasn't surprised by his arrival, but the order he gave through the walkie-talkie raised his eyebrows.
He looked at Logan and his group, who were supposed to have been controlled by Charles and then released and knocked unconscious.
Now, their slumped, disorderly figures were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they had silently taken control of Jean and Scott.
"Hey, nice to see you again, cutie."
Wade greeted Jean flirtatiously. His eyes were clear, without any trace of the confusion or cloudiness of someone under mind control.
These guys were clearly faking it.
Adding to that, even Erik had a surprised expression.
The X-Men wanted to wipe out the Brotherhood and Stryker in one fell swoop. The Brotherhood wanted to wipe out the X-Men and Stryker in one fell swoop. Stryker wanted to wipe out the X-Men and the Brotherhood in one fell swoop.
This plot of twist after twist after twist was unexpectedly thrilling.
Saiki Kusuo was about to deal with Wade, who was constantly flirting with Jean. Jean's emotions were very unstable around these people, and if Wade went too far and caused Jean to lose control, the entire bar, perhaps even all of New York, could vanish from the face of the Earth.
But before he could act, Saiki Kusuo, who was monitoring the outside, gleaned some intriguing information from Stryker.
Adamantium? A mutant experimentation base?
It seemed that during his absence, they had found something extraordinary.
He reassured Jean, telling her to calm down, while simultaneously contacting Charles, who was still dealing with Raven.
"Professor, I read some information about mutants from Stryker. Could you take a deeper look?"
Ultimately, Jean, Scott, and the others were taken away. Saiki Kusuo had originally planned to escape quietly. But when he turned around and saw a few men looking at Jean with malicious intent, and since he hadn't found the gem yet and didn't want New York to disappear, Saiki Kusuo thought for a moment and raised his hands, obediently surrendering.
As for the cunning Erik, if he wanted to escape, almost no one could catch him.
He and Raven, who had restrained Charles, had originally planned to eliminate Charles, who always obstructed them, and then take over Xavier's School. Raven could shapeshift, after all, and transforming into Charles to control these naive students would be a piece of cake.
But Charles, with a serious expression, told them what he had seen from Stryker.
A week ago, Stryker had obtained Adamantium, using it to experiment on captured mutants, aiming to create the ultimate weapon to counter mutants.
Neither Xavier's School nor the Brotherhood could sit idly by in the face of his plan to destroy all mutants.
Thus, Erik and Charles, rivals who had been fighting for over a decade, were forced to call a truce and cooperate to deal with their common enemy, Stryker.
Erik tapped his fingers on the table and asked Charles, "So, now we need to find the location of this experimental base, and the details of the personnel inside."
Stryker's sudden attack had cost him dearly. Two of his capable subordinates had been captured, and the few remaining usable ones had been killed while resisting.
Fortunately, Raven was still around. Her reconnaissance and intelligence gathering abilities were unmatched, even by military standards.
However, Charles said, "Don't worry, someone is already gathering information for us." He looked supremely confident.
Erik couldn't help but think of the brat who had made him lose face. The image of him raising his hands in surrender and being captured was still vivid in his mind, and it was quite satisfying. Although, afterward, he suspected that with the other's abilities, he shouldn't have been captured so easily. He must have been deliberately captured to gather intelligence.
Not wanting to acknowledge Saiki Kusuo, Erik said sarcastically, "Charles, you're entrusting something this important to a kid? Have you lost your mind?"
"Saiki is a very reliable person, Erik," Charles said, defending Saiki Kusuo. "Even though Saiki made you lose face, don't hold a grudge against him. After all, you're not getting any younger. It's not good to be so petty at your age."
Charles was well aware of Erik's small-mindedness. As soon as he said this, it elicited a cold snort from Erik.
The three of them sat in silence in Charles's office for a while. This time, it was Raven who couldn't hold back and spoke.
"So, how much longer until that kid sends back the information?"
Raven frowned, looking dissatisfied with Saiki Kusuo's intelligence gathering efficiency.
Charles calmly said, "Don't rush."
Just as he finished speaking, Saiki Kusuo appeared out of thin air in the office.
Although he already knew that Saiki Kusuo possessed teleportation, Erik was still amazed by Saiki Kusuo's silent ability. Raven, even more so. As someone who frequently gathered intelligence and assassinated key figures, she was quite envious of such an ability to come and go as he pleased.
Saiki Kusuo called out "Professor," and then relayed the base map and the experimental information he had obtained to the three of them.
Stryker seemed to have matched two suitable test subjects and planned to start the Adamantium experiments three days later. That would be when the base's defenses were at their weakest, the perfect opportunity to launch an attack.
Charles looked satisfied upon hearing this, but Erik raised an objection.
"Sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, but how can you be sure this information is real? What if it's a trap, deliberately released by Stryker to lure us in?"
A trap? Could the information personally told to him by Stryker be fake?
Saiki Kusuo didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Do you really want to try out my brainwashing ability?"
Erik's mouth twitched at this. Remembering Saiki Kusuo's previous threat, he turned his head away, no longer nitpicking.
Saiki Kusuo handed the information to Charles and then returned to the experimental base.
He could actually brainwash everyone in the base and solve the problem, but he ultimately decided to leave this matter to Charles and the others.
The affairs of this world should be handled by the people of this world. If he intervened too much, it would cause a butterfly effect.
And the reason he returned to the experimental base was not some kind of tsundere act, but simply because he wanted to extract some information from Stryker.
To deal with mutants, Stryker had been collecting mysterious substances from outer space with strange powers for a long time. Adamantium was one example. It was impossible for Stryker not to be interested in the most powerful objects in the universe, the Infinity Stones. Even if he didn't have the location of the Time Stone, he might have some information about it.
And then there were the crazy scientists in the lab, each one boasting about how knowledgeable they were.
Saiki Kusuo decided to question them one by one. If he couldn't get any information about the gem, he would brainwash them all into becoming Charles's little followers!
"Hey, who are you? Why are you in the lab without authorization?"
Just as Saiki Kusuo was heading to the lab, he was stopped outside. The guard looked at Saiki Kusuo, who suddenly appeared and seemed out of place.
The man sized him up from head to toe and then said, "You don't look like one of the patrol guards, judging by your clothes."
Saiki Kusuo hesitated for a few seconds, then said righteously, "I'm an investor in this experimental project."
"..." The man looked like he was thinking, Are you fucking kidding me?
It was no wonder the man was suspicious. Saiki Kusuo was still wearing his Xavier's School uniform, and he was young, looking like a minor.
Saiki Kusuo nodded, emphasizing, "Yes, that's right, I'm an investor."
The man's suspicious expression instantly turned fawning the moment he finished speaking. He opened the door for Saiki Kusuo and gestured with his hand, making a "please" gesture.
"Mr. Saiki, please come in."
"Mm." Saiki Kusuo put on the airs of a boss and walked in, led by the man.
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