Shin hesitated for a moment before finally voicing his question. Despite his doubts, he needed clarity.
"Professor X, have you heard anything about the Brotherhood and Magneto recently?" he asked.
Professor Charles Xavier paused, his gaze thoughtful. "I haven't heard from Erik in a long time." He shook his head, then looked back at Shin with a hint of puzzlement. "Why do you ask? Has he done something again?"
"That's not the case," Shin replied, shaking his head firmly. He gestured toward Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who were standing close by. "We received some information suggesting that Magneto might actually be their father. That's why we're trying to find him."
He then added with a serious tone, "The problem is, there's been no sign of him or the Brotherhood anywhere on Earth. We suspect he may have been captured by the government or the military."
Xavier's expression darkened, his brows furrowing in thought. "Erik and the Brotherhood have been fighting the government for many years. They're not easily subdued. Even if they were captured, there would have been signs—an uproar, resistance, something. Not silence."
Shin nodded in agreement. The same question had been gnawing at him. No one in the Brotherhood, least of all Magneto, would be subdued without a trace. Although Magneto's lifespan had been shortened after undergoing transformation with Hashirama's cells, his combat effectiveness had only grown stronger.
There was even the possibility that Magneto had awakened chakra energy. If his enemies continued to view him merely as a mutant, they were bound to be caught off guard. Shin considered this silently, but his knowledge of the chaotic world of Marvel comics kept him cautious. In these worlds, unpredictable powers surfaced without warning. A reckless man, downing a bottle of expired experimental serum, might transform overnight into a cosmic-level threat. It was not impossible that some ruthless figure had emerged to crush Magneto and the Brotherhood in one decisive strike.
Despite his calm demeanor, Professor X's unease was evident. He tried to maintain confidence, insisting that Erik was not someone who would perish quietly, but inwardly he was already making plans to search for his old friend.
The X-Men, standing nearby, turned their attention to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, astonished by the revelation. None of them had ever imagined that the two were Magneto's children.
"Is this true?" Storm, Ororo Munroe, was the first to speak, her curiosity breaking through her composure. "Are you truly Magneto's children?"
"We're not sure about that yet," Wanda replied carefully. Pietro, however, curled his lips and shrugged. "Yeah, who knows what the truth is?"
The siblings' attitudes were complex. Wanda and Pietro carried a mixed impression of Magneto. To the world, he was painted as a violent extremist and terrorist. Yet for them, as mutants, the story was not so simple. They had grown up experiencing prejudice firsthand, and they knew the vulnerability of their kind.
Though they had been deeply dissatisfied with Magneto's actions, particularly his terrorist attacks, and the last event that had even led to their capture by Apocalypse, they could not deny that Magneto's existence had shielded mutants from being entirely crushed. He was a sword against those who sought their eradication.
Still, true familial affection was unlikely. Both had been abandoned in childhood, left to fend for themselves. Magneto's shadow was not that of a father, but of a symbol, one they both distrusted and, in a way, relied upon.
"Will you join the Brotherhood in the future?" Shadowcat asked bluntly, her sharp eyes narrowing. This question struck at the heart of the X-Men's concern. Though they had maintained contact with the Brotherhood, they had no desire to fall under its dominance.
"Of course not," Wanda said firmly, shaking her head. "We don't agree with what Magneto, what that man, presents."
She spoke calmly, but with conviction. "His ideas are too extreme."
Magneto's vision was not one of equality. His dream was not of coexistence, but domination. He advocated that mutants rise above ordinary humans, enslave them, or even slaughter them if necessary. To most reasonable people, it was an ideology impossible to accept.
The other X-Men exhaled in visible relief. The prospect of Wanda and Pietro joining the Brotherhood had unsettled them. Both siblings were exceptionally powerful, and if they had sided with Magneto, the balance of the future would have tipped dangerously.
Luckily, their current stance suggested otherwise. They had their own views, ones that distanced them from Magneto's radicalism.
"Alright, let's set that aside for now," Professor X interrupted gently. "Hank, help me open the basement. I need to conduct a search for Erik's current location."
Hank McCoy, his blue features marked by a quiet seriousness, gave a curt nod and moved ahead. Storm pushed Professor X's wheelchair, guiding him toward the underground facility.
The basement of the Xavier Institute was a place Shin had always found curious. His own enhanced sight failed to penetrate its walls. That alone told him how well-protected it was. It was no surprise, considering what lay within. This room was the mutants' equivalent of a nuclear arsenal. It was their hidden weapon, one to be used sparingly, but devastatingly effective when unleashed.
Unlike Shin's, the Cerebro brainwave amplifier operated on a completely different scale. Certain places that resisted Shin's sight were vulnerable to Cerebro. More importantly, Charles could, through Cerebro, pry into the thoughts of political and military figures, particularly those obsessed with persecuting mutants.
Though Charles often declared that he did not use his psychic abilities lightly, Shin knew better. In both comics and reality, Xavier had crossed ethical lines more than once, engaging in hypnosis, mental manipulation, and even subtle brainwashing. His moral compass was indeed stronger than most, but he was far from a saint. The simple fact that he had not reshaped the entire world with his powers was less a matter of virtue than of restraint.
Shin mused silently. If an ordinary man had been given Charles's powers, the world would already be a dictatorship, or worse, a fantasy built around personal desires.
About ten minutes passed before Storm returned, pushing Professor X once more. His expression was serious, his thoughts heavy.
"How did it go, Professor? Did you find anything?" Shin asked immediately.
Charles frowned, then exhaled slowly. "The Brotherhood has not been captured by the government or the military." He paused, the weight of his words sinking in. "They may be in a place called Wakanda, in Africa."
Shin blinked, surprised. "Wakanda? Why is everything tied back to that country again?"
The very name stirred memories. Anyone who had seen even glimpses of Marvel's stories knew of Wakanda. It was a land that left strong impressions—equal parts wonder and contradiction.
The nation, cloaked in secrecy, was at once a marvel of futuristic technology and a paradox bound by ancient traditions. Its cities glittered with vibranium-powered innovations, while its governance remained locked in rituals and monarchy. A feudal structure adorned with spaceships, cloaks alongside nanotech armor—an utterly distorted technology tree.
It was, in truth, the sort of setting only comic creators could dream up. Shin found the irony biting. Beneath the brilliance of Wakanda's advancements lay policies of isolationism and an almost comical devotion to secrecy. For all its greatness, the nation stood as a strange parody of progress.
And now, it seemed, Magneto and the Brotherhood had vanished into that shadowed kingdom.
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