At Alkali Lake Industrial Zone, everyone stared at each other in confusion. They had been sent here unexpectedly, and this place was remote and abandoned long ago.
One person was poisoned, another burned, and two were unconscious in wheelchairs. So, they just exchanged glances, unsure of what to do next.
Liu A'dou thought to himself that since they couldn't go back, it was best to treat the injured on the spot. "Let's go in and treat the wounded first. There might be unexpected gains," he said, referring to Wolverine's memories.
"Please help Magneto," Mystique begged.
"If there's an antidote, we'll inject it. We can only hope," Liu A'dou replied. "Let's get everyone inside."
Wolverine and Cyclops lifted Magneto, Elsa and Jean pushed the wheelchairs, and Ada supported Mystique. Liu A'dou, with his hands free, didn't need to do much. However, once inside, he had to help carry Nightcrawler, who had been knocked unconscious by Magneto.
Inside, there were many research facilities and numerous medicines. The rooms looked more like torture chambers than laboratories.
Jean, a biologist and doctor, and Ada, an agent and virologist, worked together. Though they couldn't find the antidote, they knew how to deal with the neurotoxin that Magneto had been injected with.
"This feels familiar," Wolverine said as he looked around. As they entered the dam, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had been here before.
"Didn't Professor X say you had images of this place in your memory? You must have been here before," Liu A'dou reminded him. "Go take a look around. Maybe you'll find something. Cyclops and I will figure out how to get out of here."
Wolverine's experiences here weren't pleasant. The injections of Adamantium had been a process of constant death and rebirth. His body would be torn apart, only for his healing ability to repair it again. It was a long and painful process. His bones were now coated with Adamantium, making him truly indestructible.
As part of his memories returned—specifically those of the Adamantium injections—he finally recalled the immense pain he had suffered.
"Damn it." Wolverine held his head in his hands, kneeling down. He remembered everything that Stryker had done to him. "Damn it, I should have beaten him up first."
Wolverine didn't stay lost in thought for long. He wasn't the sentimental type. The reason he wanted to recover his memories was simply to understand his past. Whether that past was good or bad, it didn't matter; he was Wolverine now, the guy who liked to steal Cyclops's motorcycle, and that wouldn't change.
Liu A'dou and Cyclops found some military rations. They ate a bit to fill their stomachs before figuring out how to leave. If things got too dire, they could always call S.H.I.E.L.D. and let Professor X owe Nick Fury a favor.
"Let's go, get everyone something to eat first," Liu A'dou said as he and Cyclops carried a pile of military rations into the research lab. Inside, the professor, Stryker's son, and a blue-skinned Nightcrawler were resting. Poor Nightcrawler had sustained serious injuries and wouldn't wake up for a while.
Liu A'dou came back and saw Mystique and Elsa staring at each other. Mystique had bandages wrapped around her abdomen and chest. It seemed like her wounds had been treated.
"Huh? The famous Mystique needs bandages? Can't you just morph the bandages yourself?" Liu A'dou asked, clearly teasing.
Mystique gave him an exasperated look, clearly not in the mood to engage.
Jean spoke up, "Shapeshifting works because it controls genetic changes, but the genes in burn areas are damaged and can't be controlled."
"I see," Liu A'dou nodded, then added mischievously, "So can you morph into a fridge or a TV?"
Jean couldn't help but think Liu A'dou was deliberately provoking Mystique. "Liu, you really don't understand mutants that well, do you?" she said, jokingly hinting that she wanted to give him a slap herself for his comment.
Liu A'dou continued, "Or how about a Transformer?"
"Mystique can mimic the genes of living beings, but the total mass cannot change, so she cannot transform into creatures with vastly different body sizes. She can transform into humans and animals, but because humans are the easiest to change and the most necessary, she changes into different human identities the most." Just as Liu A'dou finished his explanation, Professor X woke up and answered the question, "What are the Transformers you mentioned?"
"They are mechanical aliens. I only know about them occasionally," Liu A'dou replied, accepting the professor's explanation.
"Charles, no need to speak," Mystique snapped. She wasn't pleased that her abilities had been exposed.
"Raven, it's been a long time," Professor X reminisced.
"Professor, how are you feeling?" Jean asked, concerned for her teacher.
"I'm feeling much better now. Jean, I really owe it to you all," Professor X said.
"This is what we should do," Jean replied. It was her duty to save mutants, and she didn't want to take any credit.
Professor X asked Cyclops and Jean to help him back into his wheelchair before turning to Liu A'dou. "Liu, can we speak privately for a moment?"
"Sure." Liu A'dou signaled everyone to eat and pushed the professor to a quiet spot.
Throughout the walk, Professor X didn't speak, but Liu A'dou had already guessed what the professor wanted to talk about. It must be about the signals he had sent. Theoretically, he should have sent the signal to Wolverine, not to Liu A'dou, but for some reason, the signal had been sent to him.
When they reached a quiet area, Professor X finally spoke. "Liu, I hope you can explain your true identity to me." Although Professor X could read minds, he didn't use his ability recklessly. "In all of New York, there are thousands of mutants, but you have the most abundant life energy. That makes me very curious."
There's nothing strange about that, Liu A'dou thought to himself, but how should he explain? He decided to tell the truth. "It's because I'm the Pope of Athena. I've been practicing divine combat techniques, so I might be a little stronger than others."
"Athena?" Professor X knew that those gods were just false gods, another kind of life form different from humans, or perhaps aliens. In the eyes of Americans, there is only one god, and that is God. With this, it made sense, "So you are Athena's messenger."
"Not a messenger, a pope. Athena sent me to select twelve brave and righteous young people to protect the Earth because she senses that the Earth will become more chaotic in the near future."
Professor X also had that feeling. He stared at Liu A'dou and nodded. "You are not lying. It seems that the future won't be peaceful."
Of course, Liu A'dou knew that. He was a time traveler who had watched the movies.
"So, besides having you recruit twelve young people, does Athena have any other requirements?" Professor X asked. Even the gods of ancient Greece had descended. He was curious about what they might be after.
"Well, that's because their lives haven't been easy either. Professor, you must have seen the myths. The gods of Mount Olympus, except for Zeus' direct descendants and the goddess of wisdom, were mostly wiped out. So, they feel pressure from human development and want to have a good relationship with humanity, to prevent us from following the footsteps of the gods and disrupting their peace in the future."
Professor X was surprised. "I didn't expect the gods of Olympus to be so reasonable."
Liu A'dou laughed. "They only realized it too late. If they had realized it a few decades earlier, they wouldn't have been so reasonable. But now, with Superman protecting humanity, they have to think twice before making a move against us."
Professor X nodded, thinking it made sense. If Superman had been around in ancient times, he would have definitely been another god, perhaps even more powerful than the others.