Magneto looked at Shiller with a somewhat complex expression. Shiller's plan achieved nearly all of their goals, but it wasn't through the righteous means they wanted. In fact, it was half absurd and half evil, but it was indeed successful.
Many years ago, Magneto also walked the path of using any means necessary because he had witnessed too much evil in the world and knew that good guys don't get rewarded. If no one broke away from procedural justice, mutants would never achieve the justice they desired.
But after many years, Magneto realized one thing: being a good person is far simpler than being a bad one. Those things he thought could be exchanged by abandoning morality were actually still very far from him. Facts proved that achieving goals in an evil way often required more sophisticated means.
Because if you choose to be a good person, universal morals will stand by you no matter what. And if you want to defy the world, you'd better have the courage and ability to conquer it on your own, especially the latter.
To Magneto, Shiller's operation perfectly demonstrated what it means for politics to be the art of compromise. First, by using captured drones from Stark Group to exert pressure on other forces on Earth and splitting them, he secured their compromise over the issue of mutants establishing a nation. Then there was self-compromise, abandoning the nation-building and instead establishing a nature reserve and foundation, playing the environmental card. Finally, leveraging the unique nature of Clarkia, promising benefits to other factions among mutants to get them to compromise a step, easing internal pressure, and achieving internal and external unity. The operation was smooth and coherent, and the methods couldn't be called anything but clever.
"Now I understand why mutants in your universe have developed so well," Magneto said to Shiller, somewhat wistfully. "We still have a lot to learn on this road of politics."
"Don't worry, you're not alone," Shiller said. "Three, two, one..."
"Magneto!!!" A roaring voice came from outside the door, followed by an iron tin can flying in, asking loudly once it landed in the room, "What's going on? Why does the news report say you've given up on nation-building?!"
Magneto felt a headache coming on; now he somewhat understood the helpless expression Shiller occasionally showed, because explaining the principles of this matter from beginning to end would be very difficult. More importantly, the other party might not even be able to understand.
"Yes, we gave it up," Magneto directly told him the result. "Now the timing isn't mature; we've decided to take a step back and gather strength."
"But what about the Red Orchid Factory?!" Main Universe Iron Man clearly only cared about this, "The great weapon against mutants is just hanging over your heads, are you going to ignore it?"
"The raid team has been completely wiped out," Magneto said. "This proves that mutants really can't deal with that thing. This is precisely why we're calling for reinforcements. If you have a solution, go ahead."
Main Universe Iron Man stared at him, and after a while, spread his hands and said, "You're just giving up like this? Just relying on us?"
Magneto nodded and said, "Yes, I can hand over command to you. But don't get your hopes too high; mutants don't have much active strength left, and they're severely restrained by the Sentinels."
"What about Professor X? Isn't he still..."
"He's injured," Magneto repeated the previous explanation and then said, "The White Queen can't leave right now either; she has to help Charles heal."
"Damn it," Main Universe Iron Man said. "You were really too hasty before; how could Professor X make a move at that time?"
Then he landed on the ground, crossed his arms, shook his head, and sighed, "The situation is bad. That thing's outer defenses are very difficult to breach. I'm trying to overcome the technical difficulties, but this will take some time. I'm afraid the Mother Module will awaken at this time."
Magneto knew in his heart that this should be unlikely. Because after mutants withdrew from the conflict, it's completely a matter of various human forces competing for the Red Orchid. In this situation, they absolutely can't let the Mother Module awaken. Because before deciding on ownership, an awakened Mother Module could attack anyone, and they wouldn't want to put themselves in such great danger, so the awakening of the Mother Module would actually be postponed.
However, he glanced at Shiller, who nodded to him, so Magneto said, "It is indeed dangerous; do you have any methods?"
"To delay the awakening of the Mother Module, we must find the laboratory capable of controlling it. The research team should have a control device for awakening the Mother Module," Main Universe Iron Man said. "The Avengers want to organize a raid, but this might require the help of mutants. You need to find the lab first."
Magneto sneered internally. The most difficult part of this plan was finding the lab; if they could find it, why would they go to Red Orchid to die?
He was just about to refuse when Shiller nodded to him again. Magneto adjusted his expression, pretended to decline a few times, and then said, "Professor's condition is not good, it's hard to conduct a large-scale search. We have some suspects, but we can only investigate them one by one. Let's just hope we have enough manpower."
Main Universe Iron Man received a satisfactory answer and left. Magneto looked at Shiller and asked, "What's his real plan?"
"He still wants the technology of Redmenland." Shiller said, "And he wants you to deplete the strength of Earth's forces. After all, when a battle breaks out around the laboratory, both sides will surely suffer losses, which might even harm the Avengers in this universe."
"That is inevitable," Magneto said. "If a search and shock raid begins, I will certainly take action. I can't say for sure that I can defeat the Avengers, but injuring a few of them shouldn't be a problem. However, I myself might get hurt, and ultimately it could be a situation where both sides suffer."
"That's exactly what he wants." Shiller said, "You both suffer losses, he gets the technology, upgrades his battle armor, and eventually plays the role of a Savior by intervening when you are weak."
Magneto frowned, and Shiller continued to explain: "From the perspective of the Prime Universe Avengers, this isn't incomprehensible; in fact, it's a rather good plan. Because, if you are both strong and significantly stronger than them, you would never accept intervention. Only when both sides are weakened, and they possess a power surpassing you all, will you obediently cease fighting."
"You shouldn't feel disappointed; they were never here to help mutants in the first place. What they've wanted all along was 'mediation,' as long as they display their ability to mediate cosmic-level wars to the multiverse. They don't care who suffers during the process, not even if both sides suffer and everyone has to rely on them as the best option. So, they will never stop sowing discord between your two sides."
"What about you?" Magneto couldn't help but ask, "What is your purpose?"
"You might not believe me when I say this; we are here to stop the Prime Universe." Shiller shook his head and said, "Unless they suffer a big loss, things like today will happen frequently. It seems to suppress the war, but practically doesn't solve the root problem, and it will keep igniting and eventually burn down to us. To prevent such things from happening, it's better to stop it in advance."
Magneto nodded and said, "If I were the Prime Universe, perhaps I'd do the same thing. But unfortunately, I can't let them act recklessly on our territory."
"If I have to say we have any deep objectives..." Shiller adjusted his glasses and then said, "The foundation of establishing a Multi-universe Human Alliance is to let every multiverse group understand that everyone acting within the rules is most beneficial. Those who preach unprincipled power will only suffer greatly."
"I imagine you can achieve that." Magneto said.
He paused for a moment, then asked, "You want me to agree to Iron Man's plan, but we truly don't know where the laboratory is. Even if we did, we probably don't have the power to launch a raid."
Shiller shook his head and said, "You don't need to investigate; clues will naturally come to you. Don't forget, who is most eager to prevent the awakening of Mother Module now."
Just as the words finished, Professor X's voice appeared in Shiller's mind: "Doctor, a severely injured mutant just used Clarkia Flower to teleport to the island. Please go to the central teleportation array for first aid treatment."
"On my way." Shiller relayed the words verbatim to Magneto, who was somewhat shocked. The two hurried to the central teleportation array, the unified landing spot for all mutants who teleported to the island using the Clarkia Flower.
The teleportation array is situated atop a mountain, overlooking a river from Shiller's previous landing site. It's far more magnificent, with a towering polygonal hall and a dome made entirely of stained glass, making the entire teleportation array hall bright and vibrant under the sunlight.
As they arrived, they found several mutants already standing aside somewhat at a loss. The hall was filled with the pungent smell of blood; Magneto waved his hand, and the other mutants quickly dispersed. Shiller rushed forward to see a blonde mutant woman lying on the ground, her skin a deep purple, presumably hit by dozens of bullets.
Luckily, her mutant ability includes some self-healing power, preventing major bleeding where she was shot, but the problem is the bullets are also lodged. At this moment she was crying out painfully; Shiller performed some first-aid treatment, but it was of little effect, so he could only say, "Quickly, quickly send her to the hospital to have someone remove the bullets!"
Of course, there is a hospital on Clarkia Island, but the issue is a lack of professional doctors. There are four or five mutants who work as doctors in human society, but they are all internists. There are also two nurses, and they certainly can't perform the operation.
Shiller conducted a simple examination; thankfully, except for one bullet lodged in a crucial part of the heart which was very deadly. And this mutant continued self-healing, extracting the bullet cheerfully requires expert consultation, something Shiller and these internist doctors couldn't handle at all.
Shiller sighed deeply, left the hospital alone, and went to the Avengers' resting place, knocked on the door after arriving; everyone was there, and they were quite surprised at Shiller's arrival.
"A mutant was attacked on Earth, presumably because she discovered the location of Redmenland Factory Earth's laboratory and was silenced. Now her life is in danger, she needs surgery. Doctor Strange, quickly follow me."
"Wait, what?" Doctor Strange, who had been meditating on the sofa, blinked then said, "I am not a doctor anymore."
"Whether you are or not, you have to be now." Shiller looked into his eyes and said, "Clarkia Island is too far from the mainland, even letting mutants abduct doctors wouldn't be on time, you are the only one who can perform this surgery now."