"No choice… I'm getting old," Charles muttered, hands trembling as he fumbled a fast-acting heart pill from his pocket and swallowed it down with a sip of tea.
"Are we just… done for? Really? We even dug our own grave."
After a moment, he finally calmed his racing heart. Leo had nearly scared him to death.
Leo, on the other hand, was laughing internally. We're professionals. Keep it together, old man!
"Mr. Leo," Charles said again, his face pale, "is what you said… really true?"
"Of course," Leo replied smoothly. "What I told you is the future I saw—but that's only if you take Jean Grey with you."
He looked at them with mock sincerity. "Can't you see how honest I'm being here?"
Charles clung to a faint hope. "Then… what if I don't make that mistake? If I change the path, maybe the future will be different."
Leo gave him a sharp side-eye. "What do you think this is, Charles? If you can't control her power, it'll erupt one day and instantly kill you all."
Charles gave a dry laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh… you're right. Haha. Haha…"
"Alright," Leo said casually, dusting off his hands. "I've said what I needed to say. I'm taking her with me. You two do what you want."
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card, and slid it across the table.
"In the future, if you want to meet me, call my secretary first. Here's the number."
The card was for No. 18—the only other person in his so-called "company."
Leo had the gall to act like some big-shot CEO with appointment protocols.
Wolverine's mouth twitched. They both knew this "company" had exactly two people.
Leo didn't stop there.
"Oh, and if you need my help? Don't come with anything less than a hundred million. My appearance fee's pretty damn high."
Wolverine sighed silently. This guy really has no shame.
When Leo extended his hand, they had no choice but to shake and part ways politely.
After Leo and Jean disappeared from view, Charles stood by the window, his brows furrowed deeply.
"Logan," he asked quietly, "how much of what he said do you believe?"
Wolverine crossed his arms, thinking. "Fifty-fifty. If he didn't know anything, he wouldn't have scared us that bad. Those terms he used… no way he made that up on the spot."
"But we can't trust him completely. That guy has an agenda. Everything he's done—saving Tony, scamming Tony, killing John, subduing Hulk, taking down Ross—it's all goal-driven."
Charles exhaled slowly. "Yeah. We can't fully believe him… or ignore him either. At least he seems friendly toward Mutants."
"Friendly?" Wolverine scoffed. "More like he's got plans for us. He's sweet-talking us for a reason. Probably wants something big."
Charles slapped his forehead. "Right. That bastard definitely has a motive."
Neither of them knew that they were absolutely right—but they would never guess how big Leo's plan really was.
Meanwhile, Leo was practically glowing with joy.
[Ding, detected plot character: Professor X (Charles Xavier). Do you wish to extract his ability or item? Extraction cost: 1,000,000 points.]
"Of course I'm extracting!"
[Ding, 1,000,000 points deducted. Extracting… Please wait, host.]
A minute later—
[Ding, Telepathy ability extracted. Merge now?]
"Merge."
[Ding, merging initiated. Please wait, host.]
The moment the process began, Leo felt it—something in his brain clicked open like an unsealed door.
The world sharpened around him.
He reached out with his mind, brushing against the thoughts of a sparrow perched in the parking lot.
Its simple memories—eating crumbs, hopping around—flowed into his head effortlessly.
He tried with a few more birds. His control grew smoother.
Of course, he didn't dare test on a human yet. Turning someone's brain to mush by accident would be… messy.
Memory reading came easy, but control would take time.
Charles had spent decades mastering Telepathy. Leo figured with his talent, two or three years would be enough.
Besides, mind control wasn't that fun. And some strong-willed people couldn't be controlled at all.
"Alright, System. Next."
[Ding, detected plot character: Wolverine (Logan). Do you wish to extract his ability or item? Extraction cost: 300,000 points.]
"Extract."
[Ding, 300,000 points deducted. Extracting… Please wait, host.]
Soon after—
[Ding, Self-Healing ability extracted. Merge now?]
"Merge."
[Ding, merging initiated. Please wait, host.]
[Ding, host already possesses Self-Healing. Abilities merging…]
Time passed slowly, but Leo could feel it—his body thrummed with life, stronger than ever.
[Ding, merge complete!]
He grabbed a small knife and dragged it across his arm.
Shhh!
The wound closed before the blade even left his skin.
Jean Grey, watching nearby, gasped and covered her mouth. "B-Brother… is this—oh my God… immortality?"
Her wide eyes reflected Leo's grin. The cut had healed in less than a second.
Leo chuckled. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
If this was the effect of merging two healing factors, then imagine adding Deadpool's… Sabretooth's… Yuriko's… even Apocalypse's.
If just a single cell survived, I'd come back.
Unless the entire Universe was wiped out, who could kill him?
He thought about slicing off a chunk of flesh, freezing it, and storing it in the System space.
Leo laughed quietly to himself.
His life had just gotten a lot more expensive.