"Very impressive."
Eric's voice carried obvious sarcasm, and the disappointment on his face wasn't even slightly hidden.
"I had much higher expectations for you."
Charles sighed as well, shaking his head repeatedly at the chaotic scene around the room. However, after scanning the group, his gaze eventually landed on Rorschach.
"Except for you, Rorschach," he added. "You've always conducted yourself well."
Mystique, Havok, and Siren all glanced toward Rorschach almost instinctively. Seeing him sitting quietly on the sofa while they stood in the middle of the mess, each of them felt a faint sense of embarrassment.
Looking back, they had indeed gone a little too far.
Angel, however, curled his lips slightly. Although he didn't say anything out loud, there was a trace of dissatisfaction in his expression.
Who exactly did they think they were?
Acting like disappointed parents lecturing children.
And weren't they the ones who had invited him here with great enthusiasm in the first place?
"Rorschach, could you come over for a moment?" Moira called suddenly, waving toward him.
Rorschach already had a rough idea why she wanted to speak with him, but he didn't say anything. He simply stood up calmly and followed Moira, Charles, and Eric outside toward a quieter section of lawn.
Once they had moved a little distance away from the others, Eric spoke first.
"Rorschach, we've found some new leads on Shaw," he said seriously. "A plane will be leaving in an hour, heading for the Soviet Union. We're considering taking you with us."
He paused and looked directly at Rorschach.
"What do you think?"
Ever since the incident at the amusement park, Eric had gained considerable respect for Rorschach's abilities. His invitation wasn't casual—it was genuine trust.
But Rorschach didn't immediately answer.
He already knew something Eric didn't.
This mission would be a dead end.
Sebastian Shaw wasn't in the Soviet Union at all. The only person waiting there was Shaw's subordinate—the White Queen.
More importantly, the real danger would soon arrive right here at this base.
For a moment, Rorschach considered his options carefully.
"Eric," he said after a pause, "I appreciate the trust, but I'm afraid I can't go."
He looked slightly apologetic.
"I'm not sure why, but something seems wrong with my body."
Charles immediately looked concerned.
"Rorschach, what's happening? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Rorschach reassured him calmly. "But my eyes have been hurting occasionally. It feels like something is building up inside them, like it might erupt at any moment."
The explanation also served another purpose.
It would help explain the appearance of his heat vision later.
"Have you gone to the infirmary?" Moira asked.
"I was planning to talk to Hank first," Rorschach replied.
Among the mutants, Hank was often jokingly called "Bigfoot." His mutation mainly gave him enhanced agility and speed, which didn't seem particularly impressive compared to some of the others.
Because of that, many people underestimated him.
But Rorschach knew the truth.
Hank was a scientific genius.
The Blackbird jet, the Cerebro prototype, and even the drug that would one day allow Professor X to walk again—all of them would be his creations.
In other words, Hank was an extraordinary asset.
"That's a good idea," Charles said after thinking for a moment. "If necessary, you can also visit the infirmary afterward."
He looked at Rorschach thoughtfully.
"In that case, stay here at the base with the others. When we return, I'll examine your condition personally."
"Alright," Rorschach replied with a nod. "I'll wait for you."
"Good. Then we should go."
The conversation ended there.
"Take care of yourself," Eric added before leaving with Charles and Moira.
Rorschach waved as they walked away.
However, instead of returning immediately to the recreation room, he paused and headed toward another area of the base.
If Shaw was truly coming soon, then some preparations were definitely necessary.
When Rorschach eventually returned, the atmosphere in the bar had changed completely.
The mutants who had been laughing wildly earlier were now sitting quietly in their seats. Siren had even straightened a chair he had knocked over earlier.
The whole scene looked like a group of children who had just been scolded by their parents.
"Well… Charles and the others made things a little awkward," Raven said after a moment, clearing her throat in an attempt to break the silence.
"What gives them the right to talk to us like that?" Angel muttered unhappily. "Who do they think they are, our parents?"
"But… we did break a lot of stuff," Siren said weakly.
"Political nonsense," Havok muttered while finishing off a drink.
"So… what about the party?" Siren asked quietly.
"Party?" Hank said with a helpless shake of his head. "You're still thinking about that? The party is obviously over."
He stood up and began cleaning the broken glass and scattered furniture around the room.
The others quickly joined him without complaint.
No one bothered asking why Charles had called Rorschach away privately. That sort of thing had happened before, and everyone was used to it by now.
It was obvious to everyone that Charles and Eric valued Rorschach highly.
After nearly half an hour of work, the room finally looked normal again.
The earlier excitement had completely faded.
Mystique, Hank, Siren, and a few others sat quietly on the sofa afterward, reflecting on what had happened. They began discussing whether they should take things more seriously from now on.
Meanwhile, Havok and Darwin sat nearby playing a game, mostly using it as a distraction from their lingering frustration.
…
At the same time, elsewhere in the base.
Inside an office building, two CIA agents were discussing Shaw.
"So we still can't determine Shaw's exact location?"
"No. That's exactly what Moira and the others are trying to confirm."
Suddenly, a faint and unusual sound echoed through the room.
A heavyset CIA executive frowned and stood up from his desk.
"I'll check outside."
He walked toward the window, looking out into the courtyard.
But just as he turned away from the glass—
A red-skinned figure appeared behind him like a ghost.
Another agent standing nearby was suddenly grabbed.
Then both figures vanished.
When the executive turned around again, he froze in shock.
The agent who had been standing there moments ago was gone.
Before he could react—
Whoosh!
The red-skinned stranger reappeared in front of him and seized him instantly.
The next moment, the executive found himself hundreds of meters above the ground.
The strange red-skinned man simply let go.
The executive plummeted downward helplessly.
Boom!
His body slammed violently into the ground.
…
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Heavy impacts echoed faintly across the base.
Inside the recreation room, the mutants immediately sensed that something was wrong. One after another, they stood up and walked toward the windows to see what was happening.
Only Rorschach remained calm.
He already knew exactly what was going on.
Sebastian Shaw had arrived.
The figure responsible for the chaos outside was Shaw's subordinate—the Red Devil.
Right now, the man was slaughtering CIA agents across the base.
Boom!
Another body suddenly fell from the sky and crashed violently into the courtyard outside, landing directly in front of the mutants.
Blood splattered across the pavement.
"Ah!"
Several of the young mutants screamed in shock.
Even though they possessed extraordinary abilities, most of them were still inexperienced teenagers who had never witnessed something so brutal.
Seeing a corpse smashed apart in front of them was enough to shake anyone.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More bodies began falling from the sky.
They struck rooftops, walkways, and courtyards throughout the base as panic quickly spread among everyone present.
.....
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