The year is 2008. Inside a classroom at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Ilyana sat bored in her seat, fiddling with a small toy dragon, a birthday gift from Amon.
Ororo Munroe was giving a mind-numbingly dull lecture at the front of the room, and she had no desire to listen. She could absorb the information just by looking at the material, so why should she have to sit and listen to someone else explain it?
Ilyana turned her head to look at Amon, who was seated to her right, and was surprised to find that he was listening intently, even taking notes from time to time.
Ilyana narrowed her eyes. She didn't believe for a second that Amon would actually be paying attention in class. She quietly picked up the pencil on her desk and flicked it towards him. Under Ilyana's watchful gaze, the pencil passed straight through Amon's form without any resistance.
"I knew it!" Ilyana thought to herself with a smirk. "That damn Amon, he's skipping class again without me!"
She considered revealing the truth, that the Amon sitting here was just a fake, but then she changed her mind. She realized that if she exposed Amon, she wouldn't be able to escape either. She might as well find her own chance to slip away. She could create illusions as well, though hers were not nearly as realistic as Amon's. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she acted. She grabbed the key pendant around her neck, and a slightly dazed version of herself appeared in her seat. Then, she leaned back, and a shimmering blue light gate materialized behind her, catching her as she fell through. The moment the portal closed, Ilyana saw everyone in the classroom turn to look at where she had been. "Oh no!" she realized. "I forgot the portal made such a loud noise!"
Ilyana rolled over and landed steadily on the grass. She had teleported herself to a meadow within the manor's expansive grounds.
"Forget it, never mind," she muttered. "I'm already out."
She looked around and quickly found Amon on the roof of the clock tower. He seemed to be basking in the sun as usual, but his eyes were staring directly at the star itself.
Ilyana opened another portal and appeared directly at the top of the clock tower, right next to Amon.
"You're sunbathing again," she said with a huff. "What's the point of sunbathing all the time?"
Amon chuckled and replied, "I'm not basking in the sun. I'm observing the creatures that live within it."
Ilyana snorted dismissively. "Tsk, you're trying to tease me again. How can there be any living thing in the sun?"
"Believe it or not," he said calmly, "there's a giant creature growing inside the sun. The day it's born will be the end of the world."
"I don't believe it!" Ilyana declared.
"I've already said, believe it or not," Amon repeated, his eyes never leaving the sun.
Ilyana ignored Amon's strange words and continued with her own agenda. "Amon, let's go find Godzilla! Such a big monster that can shoot beams of light from its mouth, how cool is that! The news said it's hiding in the deep sea. With your abilities, you can definitely find it."
Two months ago, two giant creatures that resembled praying mantises had wreaked havoc in San Francisco. The human military was powerless against the two monsters. Finally, Godzilla had intervened and dealt with the two creatures. Godzilla's gorgeous atomic breath had immediately fascinated Ilyana, and she had declared herself a fan of the giant kaiju.
Amon took off his monocle, wiped it clean, and put it back on. "I don't want to go," he said flatly. "You should be practicing your own abilities. You're only using the power of the key necklace right now, and you haven't really practiced your own mutant abilities. Plus, your teleportation skills are terrible. You should think carefully about how you're going to explain this to Piotr and the professor!"
"What? How did you know?" Ilyana exclaimed. "You must have arranged this on purpose! Also, I have been training my abilities. Look, the armor has appeared!"
Ilyana raised her right hand, and a shimmering blue power emerged. Pieces of armor that looked like metal but were clearly something else appeared, slowly wrapping around her entire right arm and forming a gorgeous, ornate arm guard.
"Look, isn't that awesome!" she declared. "I even have a lightsaber!"
Ilyana concentrated, and a blade of pure energy appeared in her right hand. It slowly grew longer, finally becoming half the length of Ilyana's own body.
"Hehe, cool, right?" Ilyana said with a touch of pride.
Amon adjusted his monocle and offered a serious critique. "It's quite gorgeous, but it's only good for show and not for practical use. It's more suitable for a Hollywood blockbuster."
Ilyana was unconvinced. "What are you talking about! This is already amazing. You're just jealous of how cool my abilities are."
Amon curled his lips and snapped his fingers. "What's the use of armor that only reaches up to your arms? If you're going to play with armor, of course you have to play with a full set."
As soon as he finished speaking, Amon's body began to glow with a similar blue light, and a set of armor similar to Ilyana's covered him. The difference was that Ilyana's armor only covered her arms, while Amon's covered his entire body. The armor was a bright, gleaming silver, with graceful, flowing curves and a faint white glow, exuding an aura of both nobility and dominance.
Ilyana's eyes widened as she looked at Amon's armor in disbelief. "How did you do that?"
"Oh, it's very simple," he said breezily. "I just learned it after watching you do it once. It's a simple application of energy. You're just too lazy to figure it out."
"Stop using those weird abilities of yours! Let's fight!" Ilyana was not convinced and wanted to compete with Amon.
"Great! Hello, Ms. Munroe, why are you here?" Amon pointed behind Ilyana in surprise.
"Ah! Ms. Ororo, I'm not skipping class!" Ilyana hurriedly turned around to explain. "I'm here to catch Amon and bring him back. He's the one who really skipped class." But when she turned, she found that there was no one behind her.
"Damn you, Amon! You lied to me again!" Ilyana glared at Amon, who pretended to be innocent and was about to explain, but suddenly he pointed behind her again.
"Ms. Munroe!"
"Ha, you still want to lie to me? I'll punish you for that!" Ilyana laughed, her anger mixing with amusement.
"Ms. Ilyana, you're skipping class again!" Storm's voice came from behind her. Ilyana shuddered and turned away awkwardly.
"Ms. Ororo, what a coincidence! You're here to enjoy the fresh air too!"
"Come find me later. I want to give you a private lesson," Ororo said, clearly unhappy.
"Ms. Ororo, I didn't skip class. I came to catch Amon. Look, Amon really did skip class." As she spoke, Ilyana pointed behind her, hoping to use Amon as a golden ticket to avoid her punishment.
At that moment, the door at the top of the bell tower opened, and Amon walked out. He said to Ororo, "I was right, Ms. Munroe. Ilyana would definitely come here if she skipped class."
Ilyana realized something was terribly wrong and looked back, but the Amon who had been standing behind her had already disappeared. She finally understood that she had been thoroughly fooled by Amon.
"Amon!" she seethed.
"Ilyana, skipping class is not a good habit," Amon said before leaving, not forgetting to provoke her one last time. "Go and make up for it with Ms. Munroe."
Ilyana gritted her teeth and decided not to pay any attention to that annoying Amon for the rest of the day.
The Bronx borough in New York City suffered from a high poverty rate, prominent medical resource and environmental problems, and the disease rate among residents in this borough had long been the highest in the city.
A middle-aged man brought a very pale young girl into a building. He went to the third floor and knocked on a door with a small, hand-painted sign on it that read: "All diseases will be cured upon arrival."
Knock! Knock! Knock! After three firm bangs, the door opened.
A young man wearing a monocle opened the door and invited the two inside. "Both of you, please come in."
After they sat down, the middle-aged man couldn't wait to speak. "Sir, my daughter has leukemia. We have been treating her for half a year and have even tried chemotherapy, but nothing has worked. We have almost used up all our savings. I heard that patients who have come to you have their illnesses miraculously cured, so I came here today to ask you to save my daughter!"