Sokovia, HYDRA's secret Base.
Baron Strucker was watching an ongoing human modification experiment in the laboratory below, his face full of tension.
"Lord Baron, the experiment was successful!"
Upon hearing his subordinate scientist's report, a smile finally appeared on his face.
"Let's see the effect."
At his command, the scientists in the lab immediately began inputting commands into the computer.
The modified old man on the experimental platform actually floated up.
Baron Strucker walked into the lab, drew the pistol from his waist, and fired several shots at the old man without hesitation.
However, a strange thing happened; the bullets stopped right in front of the old man, unable to advance an inch.
"Hahahahaha, good, good, good, this World will belong to us, HYDRA, from now on!"
Seeing this, Baron Strucker immediately let out a arrogant laugh.
The modified old man below was none other than the once famous Level 4 mutant, Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood.
Thirty-five years ago, they helped Dr. Rice begin promoting genetically modified food globally, and many mutants lost control of their powers after consuming it.
Why help Dr. Rice deal with mutants?
HYDRA's goal was to rule the World, and with the X-Men and the Brotherhood around, how could they rule the World?
Given the X-Men's way of operating, they would definitely stand on the opposite side of HYDRA.
The Brotherhood's ideology was to kill all ordinary people and leave only mutants, which also made cooperation impossible.
After discussions among HYDRA's various leaders, they decided to simply help Dr. Rice kill all mutants, completely ending the mutant threat.
Then, they would have Dr. Rice conduct experiments to cultivate mutant killers who would completely obey their commands.
Anyway, at that time, HYDRA was already close to completing its infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., essentially gaining the upper hand.
Discovering that a large number of mutants were losing control and weakening their powers, Magneto took the Brotherhood's mutants to the school to find Professor X.
The two prepared to work together to find the source of the problem.
And this precisely fell into HYDRA's trap.
HYDRA spies used an enhanced version of genetically modified food to make Professor X's powers completely uncontrollable.
Except for Wolverine, who possessed powerful self-healing abilities, everyone else, including Magneto, was killed.
Originally, Magneto, wearing his helmet, could have completely blocked Professor X's abilities.
But HYDRA, having anticipated this, had a spy quietly replace the helmet.
Thus, Magneto's consciousness was instantly destroyed by the outbreak of Professor X, turning him into a vegetative state.
Afterward, he, equally obsessed with superpowers, used HYDRA's spies within S.H.I.E.L.D. to steal Magneto's vegetative body and began researching its modification.
He hoped to create a Magneto who would completely obey his commands.
Magneto's abilities happened to counter modern weapons; controlling Magneto meant that modern weapons, including nuclear bombs, would no longer pose a threat to HYDRA.
After thirty-five years of research and experimentation, the modification was finally successful.
Besides HYDRA's own bio-modification technology, the most important factor was the spy he had planted with Dr. Rice, who continuously provided him with Dr. Rice's experimental results.
"Lord Baron, this is urgent intelligence from Stick Insect..."
Just as Baron Strucker was happily admiring his thirty-five-year masterpiece, in an excellent mood.
A HYDRA soldier ran over and handed him a piece of intelligence.
After reading the intelligence, Baron Strucker's good mood instantly vanished.
"Newborn mutants?"
He didn't actually care about Dr. Rice wanting to kill Wolverine and Professor X.
Wolverine and Professor X's whereabouts had always been monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D., with the person in charge being S.H.I.L.D.'s Level 7 Agent John Garrett.
He was also their HYDRA Agent, codenamed "Seer."
Since Rice had developed the clone X-24, Wolverine had lost his value.
As for Professor X, because his power was psychic, he couldn't be modified or controlled, so he also had no value.
If they were killed, then they were killed; John could just come up with a reasonable excuse to cover it up.
His concern was the same as Dr. Rice's: did the emergence of new mutants mean that the virus in genetically modified food was no longer effective against the X-gene?
If a large number of new mutants appeared again, it would be a very significant obstacle to HYDRA's World domination.
Who knew if a terrifying Level 5 mutant like Phoenix would appear again?
"Send the modified Magneto over. If Dr. Rice is in danger, rescue him, and also bring back that newborn mutant boy."
After some thought, he had made up his mind.
If Dr. Rice's situation went smoothly, then the modified Magneto wouldn't need to act; anyway, all of his research results would be stolen by the spy he had arranged and brought back to him.
But if Dr. Rice was in danger, he definitely had to be saved.
He also hoped that Dr. Rice could further optimize cloning technology so that in the future, he could clone a large number of Magnetos completely under his control.
What was a Wolverine clone army? A Magneto clone army was the strongest.
Moreover, the situation of that newborn mutant also needed to be clarified.
Thus, under the control of the Base scientists, the modified Magneto flew out from the Sokovia HYDRA Base.
At the same time, Little Wukong and the two others, riding in Wolverine's extended limousine, arrived in front of a deserted factory just outside the border.
This was where Wolverine, Professor, and Caliban had been hiding.
There was no human habitation for dozens of kilometers around, so even if Professor had an episode, he wouldn't harm innocent people.
And as long as he took his Alzheimer's medication on time, it could prevent Professor from having episodes.
"Logan, what happened?"
Seeing Logan get out of the car with Gabrielle and the two others, Caliban walked out of the house with a bewildered expression.
This was the first time Logan had brought outsiders here.
"Take them to rest first; we'll talk later."
Logan didn't explain to Caliban and walked directly towards the fully metal, enclosed, modified house where Professor lived.
"I'm hungry!"
Little Wukong said, raising his hand and rubbing his grumbling stomach.
It was already afternoon, and he hadn't eaten lunch yet.
"Sir, is there anything to eat?"
Gabrielle asked Caliban.
Although Caliban didn't understand why Wolverine brought outsiders, he still chose to trust Wolverine and led the three to the living room, which had been converted from the factory.
"There's food; I'll get it for you."
Wolverine spent most of his time working as a driver in El Paso to earn money, but he would return every few days, bringing at least a week's worth of supplies.
And he had just returned yesterday, so they now had enough food reserves.
Twenty minutes later, Caliban looked at the empty refrigerator and Little Wukong sitting there, rubbing his round, full stomach, and said in disbelief:
"Is he a mutant?"