In life, there will always be one or two accidents that you don't want to encounter at all.

He was carried back to the Avengers by Iron Man and treated by Bruce Banner for an entire afternoon. Lying half-dead on the frighteningly large sofa in the living room, West finally had time to calm down and take care of the series of that had happened today.

"That madman is still alive and has restarted Project Tower... Then our world is not far from being destroyed. ”

With such a stern sentence as the opening line, he looked at the circle of superheroes sitting or standing around the couch, and suddenly had the illusion that he had just arrived in the mansion a week ago, and was being watched by all the Avengers.

"We've seen enough of this kind of person, and he's not the only one missing." Indifferent shrugged his shoulders, Hawkeye slipped a biscuit in his mouth and said vaguely, "So, the point is that you need to explain to us, what the hell is going on with this damn 'Dr. Yi'?" ”

"And his relationship with you." Nodding, Natasha added.

“OK，OK… Please, don't act like an interrogation. It's a long story, if you want to hear it—"

Under Captain America's helpless gaze, he fished out his out-of-print shield and pillowed it under his head, trying to relieve the pain in his skull that seemed to be about to explode. West, who still couldn't escape the sequelae of overuse of superpowers, grinned, and his thoughts went back to a long, long time ago, when he was deliberately buried by himself.

"I think you should also know that for mutants, there are only two ways for us to survive - one is to show off our abilities like Eric, and fight for a place even if we declare war; Or, as Charles has always done, hide his differences and live peacefully with normal human beings......"

After Professor X and Magneto parted ways, Charles brought him back from the orphanage and adopted him. After so many years of teaching, and accompanying him through the desperation of having to close the mutant school for a short time, West followed his wishes, silent, hidden, and entrusted his personal life and free will into his hands, even if he was not so disgusted with Eric's ideas in his heart. Even the title of "Hermit" is his determination to obey Professor X's faith and be forever loyal to his adoptive father Charles's oath.

There's no reason to talk about that. West Xavier's life really began when he met Charles Eric, and although his guardians were now hostile to each other, it could not change the fact that they had given him a future to look forward to.

It's just that no amount of care can sometimes prevent an unexpected omission. And this accident, in the stories of all the world, is often the beginning of a shocking conspiracy.

"When I was seventeen years old, I first followed Charles out of the manor to talk to the upper echelons about mutants. I forgot what it was, anyway, the process doesn't seem to be smooth. ”

The cold temperature of the shield seemed to ease the pain a little, and West narrowed his eyes and waved his hand to thank Steve for his generosity:

"Actually, it's okay if it's not going well, anyway, with Charles, these are not a problem. It's just that they went a little too far, and as a result, they caught Eric's attention - when we came out of the federal office, we happened to run into him to assassinate the dignitaries, and the whole building collapsed......"

At the time, Magneto didn't actually know that Professor X was there. When the building collapsed and was about to be buried under the rubble along with ordinary humans, West used his powers for the first and only time in public. But it was this only once, and after that, it created a result that no one expected, almost bringing him a catastrophe.

"What did you do?"

It was easy to hear a hint of helplessness in his words. Tony Stark thought that if he could still remember that 'Dr. Yi', I'm afraid that he used more than just manipulating the air to bounce falling objects away.

As it turned out, he did not guess wrong.

"At that time, I went back in time." With a wry smile, remembering the scene when a building was about to collapse in front of everyone, West raised his hand to cover his eyes:

"I don't know how I can do that. As a result of forcibly distorting time, my body was forever stuck at the age of seventeen, and the genes in my body were mutated...... Although Charles later erased the memories of everyone present, it is difficult to guarantee that the news can really be hidden...... I think that's probably around that time that Elizhe started noticing me. ”

Even among mutants, there are only a handful of cases of secondary genetic variation. What's more, this mutation disrupted West's original metabolism, and he would not age. Coupled with the ability he originally possessed, he was able to change the energy structure and even manipulate time...... For a madman who has devoted his life to researching and transforming mutants, such a body is a deadly attraction.

So, twenty years ago, after dealing with a conspiracy against mutants. Dr. Yi led his cyborg to ambush West, who was on a mission in Paris, and imprisoned him in a secret base in the Southern Alps for practice. For months, he did everything he could, and almost broke him apart.

"I'm afraid I can't recall the process of being real. But I knew they wanted to extract the mutated parts of my genes to make bionic weapons...... As for what it was made for, you can imagine it. ”

"It won't be for world peace anyway." Leaning condescendingly on the back of the couch, Bucky rarely took the initiative to answer, but he could understand West's feelings, "But fortunately, you managed to escape in the end, and we haven't seen anything genetically modified with you so far." ”

"Ah...... It's the only thing I've been thankful for by far that I have two dads. ”

Shrugging his shoulders, the scene when Magneto led the mutant team to directly overthrow the entire secret base seems to be vivid. In West's memory, it seemed to be the only unconditional time Charles and Eric had teamed up since they were on the beach in Cuba, and God knows what it was like for him to wake up from the stage and see Magneto carrying him on a rampant run with the X-Men going on a rampage and beating people everywhere - he even thought for a moment that he had finally been driven crazy by Elijah, or injected with some horrible hallucinogen. And Cyclophalo, who participated in the whole process back then, still firmly believes that West's sudden deep coma after that was not due to blood loss and weakness at all, but excessive surprise.

However, at that time, Eric swore to him that Elizhe was dead, and the base where his genes were stored was destroyed. But now it seems that those materials not only fell into the hands of Hydra, but also were snatched by S.H.I.E.L.D. Although Dr. Yi has disappeared for 20 years, he is still alive and well, and is now preparing to make a comeback...... This kind of mistake that is not Magneto at all, the next time he meets him, he must laugh at the second father with this.

"So, we've got another 'Doctor Mad on our wanted list'."

Finally, I summarized the conversation. Steve thoughtfully poured a cup of coffee and handed it to West, motioning for him to take a breathbreak, apologizing for having to remind him of this unbearable memory...... Although none of them thought that this guy whose face did not match his real age at all was that fragile.

"Hey! This is a grudge between me and Elizhe, and at worst, it's an internal matter for mutants. Don't you think you've crossed the line, Captain? ”

knew Steve's good intentions, but he really didn't want them to meddle in this matter, and even Charles was reluctant to sue him. After all, Dr. Yi's subordinates have been transformed by him, and who knows what terrible reformers will appear. That madman's goal was just him, he didn't want to see his friends and family hurt because of him, it wasn't worth it.

However, it is precisely because of this that it is equally impossible for West, along with these friends or family, to let him face a qiē alone.

"Don't be stupid, Wei, you know this is not negotiable."

Completely ignoring the brown-haired boy's resistance, Tony lazily glanced at the overly blue eyes, and said nonchalantly:

"And it's not all about you...... Dr. Yi's plan was discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Hydra base, indicating that they were also interested in it. What's more, the actual number in that file has been updated intermittently in the past twenty years, do you think that Dr. Yi alone can continue to study while evaporating from the world? Now that Hydra is involved, we can't afford to ignore it, and there is no other way to do it now than to cooperate. ”

"......" looked around, expecting someone to refute but found nothing. I didn't expect that things were really more than just related to him, and West twitched the corners of his mouth, and he really didn't want to admit that he had been persuaded by Iron Man.

“…… I'll build yì with Charles. In the end, he could only sigh in compromise, "Steve, you'd better make a plan and try to be as detailed as possible where you need my personal or X-Men cooperation...... It's a little more convenient to talk about it this way. ”

"Okay." Taking the shield that West handed back, Captain America smiled slightly.

"In that case, I hope you don't mind if I stick a needle in your arm."

A special needle was pulled out of nowhere, and Tony Stark met someone's stiff gaze and explained pleasantly, "No, no, no...... Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in dissecting you...... It's just that since Dr. Yi has planned to use your genes on the bionic warriors, we must at least know the mystery of this, so that we can have a way to solve it when we really encounter that kind of thing, right? ”

-- Another reason he couldn't refuse.

“…… Come on. ”

Heartplug glanced at Stark, who was full of curiosity, and West gritted his teeth and pulled up the cuffs of his shirt.

Nodding with satisfaction, Tony lifted the syringe: "You bear with it, this thing might be a little ......"

"Whew!!!"

“…… Sting. ”

I didn't have time to remind him, and I saw that the boy had been brutally murdered. Dr. Banner, who didn't know how many times he had been stabbed by that thing, turned his head and silently held back tears of sympathy for him.

"Speaking of which, I have a question I've wanted to ask for a long time."

Watching Steve, helplessly press the fried West on the couch to prevent him from staging the tragedy of tearing Iron Man apart in front of his eyes. Hawkeye swallowed the last bite of the biscuit in his mouth and secretly wiped his hands with Thor's cloak:

"What does it mean to have an 'X' on that stolen plan? I asked Cowson, and like us, he thought it was something the X-Men had made, so he didn't care...... Did Dr. Yi do this on purpose? ”

"That's not the letter 'X', Clint."

Under the containment of Captain America, Tony Stark's plan to beat him into steel was abandoned. West lowered the sleeve of his shirt and patiently explained, "That's the 'St. Andrew's Cross.'" ”

St. Andrew's Cross is a cross symbol in the shape of an "X". Legend has it that Andrew, a disciple of Jesus, was martyred in Patras in Greece and asked the Roman authorities to be crucified on an X-shaped cross because he did not think he was worthy to die on the cross like Christ...... Except for Thor, who is not very familiar with the culture of the atrium, this is not an unfamiliar term to the others present.

"Elizhe is Scottish, and his nationalist plot is stricter than anyone I know, and he seems to have used this as an opportunity to study the transformation of mutants...... I don't think it's hard to understand why St Andrew's Cross is regarded as the symbol and patron saint of Scotland, and he would use this as a symbol of the 'Tower Project'. ”

As he spoke, he seemed to feel like he was grasping something he hadn't realized before. West glanced at Thor with a blank look of "What are you talking about", and frowned unconsciously:

"So it seems that Charles didn't suddenly want to send me to England for no reason? …… His telepathy is so powerful, I'm afraid he has already discovered something, otherwise he would have to go to Oxford...... Damn, I'm afraid I'll have to give him a call right now! ”

"It's easy to do." With a snap of his fingers into the air, Tony volunteered, "I can make Jarvis ......"

“sire.”

Before he finished speaking, the intelligent housekeeper, who had been dutifully silent, suddenly spoke first: "I received a call request from Professor X, do you want to come in?" ”

“…… Help, well, looks like I don't need it now. ”

Staring at a young man who jumped up from the sofa with a stiff expression, Stark shook his head, unable to figure out what the father and son were doing.

"Come in, now."