When Luke returned to the bunker corridor, he immediately noticed he wasn't walking into the same quiet hallway he had left.
People were there waiting.
Hank stood to one side, Jean and Clarice a little behind — and in front of them, a new presence. Helmet in hand. Calm posture, controlled confidence.
Magneto.
Erik Lensherr watched Luke approach with open interest — not suspicion, not fear — recognition. Like he'd just confirmed something he already suspected from the footage.
Like a man who had just discovered a powerful new piece on the board.
"So what is this?" Luke said, looking at the faces waiting in the corridor, "a warm welcome for my speech?"
The man at the front stepped forward — posture straight, presence heavy without raising his voice.
"You speak well," he said. "And you act faster than you speak. That's rare."
His hand came forward — deliberate, formal.
"Erik Lehnsherr."
Luke took it. "Luke."
Erik's gaze never left his face. "I saw what you did to our enemies." A faint note of approval surfaced—not quite a smile, but close. "You don't hesitate. And you don't beg the world to accept you."
"That alone," Erik said quietly, "puts you ahead of most of our kind."
Luke exhaled. "Let me guess — you liked the part where I killed them."
"I liked," Erik replied evenly, "the part where you stopped pretending they were misunderstood."
"I'm not good at being a pacifist," Luke said. "If someone shows up asking for trouble, that's exactly what they get."
"Good," he said. "Reality is not kind enough to reward hesitation."
There was no loud praise, no dramatic reaction — just recognition.
Unlike the Professor's path of restraint and negotiation, Erik had always believed survival came first, morality second. If force secured mutant safety, then force was justified. History, in his view, had already proven what mercy earned.
"To protect our kind," Erik continued calmly, "you sometimes remove the threat — not argue with it."
Jean, Hank, and Clarice stood a little off to the side, listening. None of them looked comfortable with where the tone was going. It wasn't disagreement exactly — more like fatigue. They'd heard this ideological split too many times before.
Hank cleared his throat. "Ahem. I think we should move this to the meeting room."
Luke glanced at him. "What meeting?"
"The relocation meeting," Hank answered. "The military already knows this bunker exists. After the broadcast and the strike attempt, we have to assume the worst case scenario."
"It's not safe anymore," he added. "We're discussing where to move everyone next — logistics, timing, protection."
***
They entered a wide room — concrete walls, exposed ducts, harsh overhead lights.
Mutants stood gathered in loose groups, already waiting.
Luke recognized several faces — Bobby with faint frost creeping along his fingers, Pyro flicking a lighter open and shut, Mystique standing still near the wall, watching everyone instead of speaking. A few other core members were present.
No one here looked relaxed.
Professor saw Erik and the others returning and began.
"As you already know, last night this base was attacked. Thanks to some help, nothing major happened — but the location is now exposed. So we should relocate to avoid future trouble," said Charles.
That earned murmurs from all of them. It was hard to find another shelter that could house this many mutants.
Finding this bunker alone had cost them nearly half their members. Now they were being told to move again — and quickly. From the Professor's tone, there wasn't much time left.
"There is also another piece of bad news," Erik said, stepping forward beside Charles.
"The mission I led — to break the prison and free our kind — was unsuccessful."
Several heads snapped toward him.
"All the facilities we hit were empty," Erik continued. "Our captured brethren are not in those prisons. They've been transported somewhere else. The same result at the other two mutant holding centers — no mutants inside. Not even their bodies."
The weight of that settled heavily across the room.
"So we must assume humans are preparing something worse for our kind," Erik said. "We must be careful not to be captured. If we are taken now, our fate will likely be worse than before."
They had gone expecting a rescue operation. Instead, they found silence and cleared cells.
"So now our priority," Charles said, bringing focus back, "is finding a secure location for relocation."
"Hmm. Why don't we find an island?"
A voice cut in.
All the mutants turned toward it and saw Luke speaking like it was the most obvious answer.
"An island? Are you stupid?" Pyro shot back.
"No. But it's better," Luke replied, picking his ear, clearly unimpressed by the comment.
"An island is not a good place," Charles said, keeping his tone logical and calm. "It has no infrastructure. No facilities we need to support this many people."
"Well, if you want, I can make it possible," Luke said. "It doesn't take much time for me to turn an island into a mini-city."
He had already done something similar once before on Resident Evil world. And now his telekinesis was far stronger — finishing it within a day wasn't an exaggeration for him.
That earned confused looks from everyone present. They genuinely didn't understand how someone could turn an island into a functioning city.
Charles and Erik looked at each other, both trying to process his words.
Did he have another ability that could create facilities out of thin air?
Just how many powers did this man have? Was something like that even possible?
*****
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