There must be a place in everyone's life that is worth stopping in order to learn how to move forward without losing their way.

At least until today, West had always thought so. Although the X-Men, who are on the side of justice, have a good relationship with the superheroes who are busy saving the world every day, he never feels that he is an innocent person. Since the age of seventeen, he has been indulging in endless pursuit and depravity, he has been wounded, stained with blood, exiled himself to the edge of time, and kissed the horn of death so reverently. Beneath the appearance of calm and gentleness, with an eternal ardent anticipation of life, is actually a soul that has long been immersed in silence, because the accident of twenty years ago has been dyed a little gray, waiting to be woken up from a desolate dream, or one day drowned in complete darkness.

He couldn't stand still day after day, admitting to the face in the mirror that never changed a single bit, that he had no resentment against the world in his heart. And having endured such terrible torture, with the hatred of losing a loved one and having all his pride crushed overnight, if West Xavier hadn't had the promise he made to his adoptive father, he might have banished himself from his shaky sanity altogether.

Charles Xavier gave him a chance to take control of his destiny and gave him a future to look forward to. His gentleness and tolerance built the bones of West's understanding of the world, like the last sheltered eaves in a storm, even if it would inevitably be wet by the rain, he still had enough courage to face the sky and the earth cracking.

But now, the faith that has supported him all the way seems to have collapsed in an instant. Over the years, West has not doubted why Elizhe has been able to grasp his weaknesses so accurately, and has always hated the man who betrayed him to the devil...... However, he looked at all the familiar people around him silently, but he did not expect that it would be the hands of his adoptive father, who he could not leave, to push him into hell.

-- What a ridiculous joke.

I almost laughed out loud, but I found that I couldn't lift the heavy corners of my mouth at all. West remembered many, many years ago Charles had taken him from his dilapidated orphanage, how he had taught him to control his abilities and instincts, every comforting embrace that smelled of sunshine that had taken him to the dark bottom of the sea, all the way down, almost drowning in those blue eyes with sadness.

Yes, he used to be a 'hermit' born in silence, carrying out his adoptive father's will, looking for traces of existence from loneliness and loneliness, and only he knows that in fact, compared to the 'hermit', he is more like a 'tower' that symbolizes ruin, those tyranny that can't be hidden, and the cold-blooded that can't be hidden, seem to have found an exit at this moment, and began to vent in the air without condensation.

…… Charles......

He muttered, but his eyes had become wild. With West as the center, every qiē as far as the eye can see is crushed by the power of the madness. Whether it is a broken glass dish, a sturdy metal gate, or even a lifeless corpse that has been hunted by angels, it is as if it has been distorted by time, gradually turning into a transparent shadow.

- He couldn't stop, and he didn't want to.

Just as he lost his mind in the illusion given by Adelaide. The difference is that once he lost control of his own volition, but this time, he was almost immersed in the emptiness of banishing himself, full of desolation.

"West...... West!! ”

When the brown-haired boy broke into the real room as if no one was there, Q also used his superb computer skills to hack into the network of Yi Laizhe's stronghold, and observed his movements from the surveillance set up everywhere. Although as ordinary people without superpowers, they haven't really had much understanding of the mutant race, but this does not prevent them from feeling the unparalleled power from the screen, how it looks at everything, enough to turn a single qiē in the world into ashes in an instant.

He didn't know what was going on with West, and from his and Sherlock's perspectives, he could only see the teenager's indescribably complex face and shattered eyes. But at this time, they didn't have time to ask what was going on...... Because, when West went out of control underground, the situation on the ground was not optimistic.

"You killed the woman, the safety mechanism was triggered, and those bionic soldiers in the attic were already in action."

The tone was rare with a little anxiety, Sherlock stared at the brown-haired boy who seemed to be standing in place and lost his mind on the screen, his brows furrowed: "...... Xavier, Xavier! You hear me? If you don't rush over, 007 and Lady Aurora will be killed by those things!! ”

When he raised his head, his eyes as thrillingly blue as the ocean were filled with complexity and dead silence that no one could understand. I don't know if I heard Sherlock's call, he finally stopped standing where he was, but walked slowly towards the exit from which he came, without saying a word.

He walked slowly and steadily, and in all directions there was a faint wail before time was broken, as if the karmic fire of hell was burning. He stepped on the blood, stepped on the wind, step by step through all the joys and sorrows, glory and disgrace, and walked towards all the memories that could not be mixed with joys and sorrows. And with West's movements, a palpitating but pure power quickly spread behind him, enveloping the entire Conston Manor in the blink of an eye.

――It wasn't until many, many years later that Q still remembers that incredible scene.

It was as if the static button had been pressed, and at that moment, the time of the entire manor was stopped in this second. Whether it's the pruning flowers in the back garden, the servants who are startled by the loud sound of the attic collapsing, the bionic warriors who have smashed through the walls and raised their blades, or the Lady Aurora and Bond who are dodging backwards like a great enemy, they all stopped their movements, like murals, standing quietly in every corner of this ancient manor.

In this infinite calm, West, the only one who could move, slowly walked through the cloister and stood in front of the intricately carved door of the parlor. As soon as he raised his hand, the bionic soldiers who had been shackled in mid-air were all crushed into flying ashes, and as the stagnant time restarted again, there was no trace of the unrecognizable real yàn room underground.

Putting down the hand holding the gun, Bond stared deeply at the waveless boy in front of him, and for the first time in his life, he felt fear and a sense of powerlessness that he could not resist in the face of great power.

There was a flash of disgust in his eyes. Resentful of being manipulated at the mercy of the reformers, and instinctively afraid of West's power, Lady Aurora turned her head and muttered 'monster'.

She wasn't loud, but the echo through the empty space of the parlor was enough for Bond and West to hear. Frowning disapprovingly, 007 retracted his PPK and just passed the esp. The body of the thing was frightened by this and lost interest, so he turned around and put on his clothes. West, who was being discussed, just glanced at the woman lightly, didn't say anything, just stood quietly in place, his breath ethereal as if it had melted into every corner of the air.

- He's a monster, Aurora is right.

The eyes are cold, and they are no longer quiet and gentle. Thinking so, West involuntarily moved his steps, completely hiding himself in the shadows of the door.

――In the eyes of the world, mutants are already beyond imagination. And he himself, in this group of special cases, is unique and disgusting.

Therefore, he deserved to be tortured like this, deserved to endure this qiē, deserved to be trapped in the darkness and never be able to be freed.

The heart has become numb to the point of not feeling it. The grim testing ground at the bottom of the Alps seemed to emerge in front of him, and the blood-stained pupils of the blonde girl appeared. This feeling of utter despair is not unfamiliar to West...... Ever since he was driven out of control by Adelaide's abilities and killed the girl who saved him from the brink of death, he has been more or less immersed in this silence that is enough to drive people crazy, and he has been breathing for the long time of twenty years ago, so deep that even if he doesn't think about it, the pain in his chest has been spreading all the time.

The vision is blurred for a moment, then it is clear again. Instinctively feeling that sooner or later he would be on the verge of self-destruction, West took a deep breath and tried to divert his attention, but it didn't seem to work.

His soul was tormented, clamoring to unravel the dusty mystery and figure out why Charles had given his genes to Elijah, but West instinctively didn't want to touch it...... This is not to say that he will live with a biased hatred for his adoptive father from now on, and abandon all attachments. It's that he's so cowardly that he thinks he can keep pretending that he's still loved by all the people he loves without facing that possible conclusion.

After all, West did know very well that even if Yiqiē was not as bad as he imagined, and if such a cruel truth was revealed, he and Charles would not be able to return to the way they were before.

However, no matter what the reason, this is by no means a reason for me to slump from now on.

"Bond."

In the strange silence that filled the room, it was the most unlikely person who spoke first. Raising his head, the brown-haired boy looked at 007, who was smoothing out the last wrinkles of his suit, and his eyes were soaked with indescribable coldness:

"I'm leaving."

"Let's go?" Stunned, he suddenly remembered that this agent who was not MI6 was naturally impossible to stay behind and call them after helping, Mr. Bond nodded: "Yes, your mission is over, just leave it to me next." ”

"But before I do that, I have something else to ask you." West said lightly, the expression on his face was still inadequate, like the eternal ice on the top of the Alps, "Sue me, where is SC-T?" ”

The fingers hanging by his side moved, apparently with the idea that if Bond refused to speak, he would immediately invade his consciousness in search of an answer. Because forcibly searching other people's memories would bring unbearable pain to the recipient, but now he can't care about so much.

- After all, he wasn't a good guy in the first place. West Xavier can restrain the violence engraved in his bones for Charles, but no matter how much he pretends to be, no matter how he hides his coldness, he still can't learn to be unreservedly patient and tolerant as Professor X expects.

"SC-T is a military administration in the suburbs of London, and although it has been abandoned, it is still not allowed to enter without permission."

Probably didn't expect the boy to ask such a question, Bond frowned slightly: "What are you going to do in that kind of place?" ”

"I have something I have to confirm."

Spit out only such a sentence, and then shut up without saying a word, West carefully recalled what he had seen in his memory of hunting angels. Although she broke her neck without knowing all of it because of her uncontrollable ability, if you pay attention, some key information can still be captured.

- He's going to find the mysterious α and get the information in his hands...... Even if Charles did betray him to Elijah, he would have to destroy the manuscript records and leave no evidence that would allow anyone to attack Professor X.

"But even if I tell you the location, how can you get in without permission?"

Sighing, 007 watched him tap his index finger on his temple, quickly understood what the boy meant, and shook his head with a wry smile:

"Well, that's no problem for you...... If you confess in front of a 00 agent that you want to break into their tightly secret heartland, you're probably the only one in the whole of Britain who dares to do that. ”

"So ......"

Placing a business card on the coffee table, he nodded apologetically to Lady Aurora. Bond pulled out his car keys to Aston Martin and smiled like an eighteenth-century gentleman: "If you're up to your heart, can you allow me to travel with you, naughty kitten?" ”

"You're spying on me?" Raising his eyebrows, West looked at the ambiguity and bewilderment that was always in the corners of 007's eyes, and his tone couldn't hear joy and anger.

"No, just thank you for saving me."

Take off the headset and ignore Q's disapproval on the other end of the communication. Bond strode up to the boy, ran his fingers over his cheek, and said with a chuckle:

"After all, even if I wanted to give it to you as a thank you, you wouldn't accept it."

"Then let's go."

Of course, he knew what kind of virtue this star agent was, although it was indeed similar to being molested, and West didn't care.

Turning to leave, ignoring how 007 explained to Lady Aurora behind him, his figure disappeared into the corner of the corridor where the sun did not shine, as if immersed in the abyss of nothingness, and his body involuntarily fell downward.

-- And this was far from the last straw that crushed him.