hotmtlnovel Chapter 3960 MU Superbody Major Event (4)
Chapter 3960 MU Superbody Major Event (4)
Chapter 3960 MU: The Superbody Incident (Forty)
Schiller knew perfectly well that against an enemy who could be harmed by bullets, a gun was the best option. But there were many people in this world who couldn't be harmed by bullets, such as mutants. At this point, the infamous reputation that his other personality traits had earned in the fighting world turned from a bad thing into a good thing; at least their deterrent effect was maximized.
Schiller jumped off the roof of the car and walked up to Magneto. The old man's eyes, hidden in the shadows of his helmet, looked as deep as ever. When he narrowed them slightly, the fine lines around his eyes resembled stacked swords, weathered yet sharp.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
“Of course I’m here to talk to you,” Schiller said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
After saying that, he put his hat on and continued walking inside. Magneto paused for a moment, but quickly followed him into the X-Men's base.
To Schiller's surprise, the X-Men were fully armed and looked tense. They were all taken aback when they saw that it was a stranger who walked in, not Magneto.
Schiller stepped aside to let the Brotherhood of Mutants in. Magneto walked at the front, stopped when he saw Professor X in his wheelchair, and said in a deep voice, "Long time no see, Charles."
"Very good," Schiller thought to himself. "It seems that Professor X and Magneto in the main universe haven't reconciled yet, at least not on the surface. Of course, it's also possible that they're just pretending."
Spider-Man previously stated that the Avengers had discussed matters with mutants in order to expand the multiverse. It now appears that they only collaborated with the X-Men and likely haven't yet resolved the issue with the Brotherhood of Mutants.
"Long time no see, Eric. I didn't expect you to bring a new friend. He is..."
“Sorry, I’m not a mutant,” Schiller said, removing his hat once more. Professor X’s pupils constricted. However, in the comic book universe, Professor X also wears a spherical helmet with an X symbol in his battle form, so no one can see his expression.
However, judging from his body language, Schiller knew that he was probably startled as well. Now that they had a common "enemy," they could skip the dredging up of the past, philosophical discussions, and negotiations, and quickly move into a state of reconciliation.
“God,” Professor X said, “what are you doing here?”
“This is not a question for you, Professor,” Schiller said in a light tone. “You should know better than anyone what’s going on in your universe. I’ll be here sooner or later.”
Professor X paused for a moment, then said, "Well, that's true. It's just that you arrived sooner than I expected."
"So fast that you haven't even had time to discuss whether or not to stand with the Avengers? I'm afraid you have no choice," Schiller shook his head and said. "Everyone in a single universe is a natural community of interests. You could spend days and nights discussing this and still only come to this conclusion. So let's skip these tedious steps and get straight to the key issue—Ultron."
Professor X and Magneto exchanged a silent glance. Although they didn't seem to be communicating telepathically, their eye contact was quite effective. Magneto then spoke, "I sensed the radio wave surge near Long Island. But I didn't have time to do much."
"So you still did something."
“Simon Williams,” Magneto uttered a name—the very name of the Miracle Man.
Schiller frowned slightly: "He's still alive?"
“He can’t be considered alive; he’s so faint that no one but me can sense him.” Magneto held out a hand. There was actually nothing in his hand, and Schiller couldn’t see anything either, but he knew Magneto wasn’t one to joke. If he said there was, then there definitely was.
“That’s all that’s left,” Magneto said with a hint of sadness. “That electronic life form took away the vast majority of the ions, and what’s left isn’t even enough to form a complete radio wave. I’m trying to restore him, but it’s still uncertain whether I can succeed.”
"What use is he?" Schiller asked a very practical question.
“If it can regain its complete radio waves, it can lead us to Ultron,” Magneto said. “They were originally one, yearning to return to wholeness. And this incompleteness is Ultron’s fatal flaw—losing the inward-gathering force of complete life, it becomes more prone to dispersion…”
This sounds a bit convoluted, but Schiller understood what he meant. He said, "At the critical moment of his transformation, you hurt him, causing him to break from wholeness, and at the same time taking away a piece of him, so that he can never become whole again."
“That’s right,” Magneto nodded.
“That makes things much easier,” Schiller said, turning to Professor X. “With this, you have leverage to negotiate with Batman and might be able to extricate yourselves from this incident. But you must also understand that the Avengers have no way back. Once they choose to go to war, it will be difficult for you to remain unscathed.”
“The X-Men will choose to stand with them,” Professor X said. “I know it sounds terrible, knowing they are wrong and choosing to stand on their side instead of helping the victims, Batmen, get justice. But this is the only choice we have.”
"Just like you said, the interests of everyone in a single universe are naturally intertwined. If something goes wrong in the universe, everyone has to bear the consequences. Batman is far too dangerous, and we can't let them run rampant in our universe. The best outcome would be to keep them out of the universe."
“You can do it, Professor. You’re so powerful that even Batman has to respect you. But that doesn’t mean Batman will give up—he always finds a way to do what he wants.”
“Yes,” Professor X sighed, “unless we never leave our own single universe again, we’ll always have to confront him. But that’s the Avengers’ business; that’s all I can do.”
Schiller then looked at Magneto. Magneto nodded, indicating his agreement with Professor X. Schiller had now figured out the mutants' stance: while they appeared to be on the Avengers' side, fighting Batman together, they would only keep dangerous elements from the neighboring world outside their own universe, without doing anything else. In other words, they were defensive, like a turret in a game—if you don't come in, I won't attack you.
With these two unparalleled masters making their stance clear, Batman would absolutely not resort to brute force. Professor X and Magneto's abilities are simply too overpowered, and they also have the home-field advantage; the Justice League really has no need to confront them head-on.
But even if he can't enter the tower, there's still the jungle. Doctor Strange in this universe wants to compete for the leadership of the multiverse. If he keeps hiding under the tower, won't all the jungle monsters be cleared out by others? In that case, he won't even get a sip of soup, let alone become the leader.
To elevate his status across the multiverse, he would inevitably have to lobby for support from all sides, a process even the original Batman of the main universe couldn't avoid. However, once he leaves the protection zone of his own universe, Batman can take action against him; if he doesn't leave, his dream of becoming a leader will be shattered.
That was also the mutants' intention. By not allowing Batman in, they were essentially preventing the Avengers from leaving, trading their potential leadership positions for Batman's leniency.
This is actually most advantageous for mutants, because if the Avengers were to actually gain leadership of the Multiverse Alliance, they might oppress them internally, shrinking their living space. Therefore, taking this opportunity to force the Avengers to give up the struggle is a brilliant move that achieves multiple benefits.
“Since you have this, eliminating Ultron shouldn’t be too difficult,” Schiller said, looking at Magneto’s empty hands. “I advise you to go to Stark Tower first. Jarvis might be in trouble. If you don’t help Iron Man, this could be the last straw that breaks him. His madness won’t benefit anyone.”
Magneto frowned, clearly not expecting Ultron to have developed to this extent. He glanced at Professor X, who nodded at him. Then Magneto opened a wormhole and disappeared with the Brotherhood of Mutants.
“Alright, Professor, now we can talk,” Schiller said. “I believe that sticking to this universe wasn’t your intention, but rather a compromise with the Brotherhood of Mutants. Do you have any other thoughts on the Avengers and Batman?”
“It seems you know me well,” Professor X said in a still gentle tone, but clearly acknowledging Schiller’s opinion of him.
“I think this could be an opportunity,” Professor X said after a pause. “We can use this opportunity to establish the prototype of a multiverse alliance. And if we can win a resounding victory, then the mistake will no longer be a mistake, but an engine for takeoff. We can gain so much more from it.”
Schiller sneered inwardly. As expected of a member of the Illuminati, none of them were easy to deal with; every single one of them was a mad and ambitious manipulator.
"Alright, Professor, if that's what you think, it seems a major battle is inevitable. But do you really want to fight here?"
“That’s exactly what I was going to tell you,” Professor X said. “You can’t deny the role of war in driving human progress. Eric has always been resistant to it because of his past, which is why he’s more inclined to hold on. But that’s not the way to go; we must take the initiative.”
"for example?"
“Any American should know that the best war is one fought far from home. This war should be fought, but it must not be fought on our own soil. We must send Batman to attack other universes, and then we will come to his aid. This way, we can not only protect our own universe, but also gain a powerful ally in the multiverse.”
"The idea is good, but how do you plan to make it happen?" Schiller asked. "Batman already knows you're the culprits. How do you plan to shift the blame and get him to attack other universes?"
Professor X shook his head and said, "I don't need to shift the blame. The multiverse has never lacked ambitious people. Everyone knows that whoever wins will be the future leader of the multiverse. There will be many people who want to be that leader, right?"
Schiller narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "But not everyone has that ability. If it goes wrong, everyone suffers. So you'll inevitably have to choose someone capable."
“Of course, of course…” Professor X nodded and said, “I contacted Professor X in that universe through the Battle Realm System. But whether or not they should accept the mission is up to them.”
Schiller had a bad feeling when he heard what he said. His intuition told him that someone was playing a big game, and someone had fallen for it.