[Charles's Mansion]
Caitlin stretched lazily and reached around beside her, wanting something to support herself as she got up, when she heard Alex's voice.
"You're awake."
"Mr. John."
Alex, who had already returned to the mansion and had been watching over Caitlin for some time, smiled as he helped her sit up. Then he reached out and felt the girl's forehead, finding it warm but normal. It seemed she had recovered.
"How are you? Still feeling unwell?", Alex asked.
Caitlin shook her head, "Much better. I feel full of energy now. I could even play a baseball game."
Alex mercilessly exposed her bluff, "That's just an illusion. You still need a few more days of rest."
"But now, we have to leave."
"Leave?", Caitlin asked in surprise.
Alex smiled, "Yes, leave."
"On some matters, I have different views from Alex(Havok) and the others. I don't think they'll be happy to see me stay here any longer."
Caitlin immediately got out of bed, "Then let's go."
Alex nodded, packed up their things, and the two of them opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, brilliant multicolored light appeared beyond it.
Alex whistled, "We can go straight home."
The two of them walked into the light and disappeared inside it.
———
That evening, Erik, Raven, and the others returned to the mansion.
After Raven settled Charles's body, she heard Hank say, "Mr. John has left."
Raven immediately felt a sense of loss, "Has he?"
"I knew it."
Charles was dead.
And the man she had once regarded as her mentor had also left.
Raven's world suddenly turned gray.
"Raven, if you want, we can talk," Hank said quietly after noticing the girl had something on her mind.
Raven shook her head and smiled, "Thank you, Hank."
"But right now, let me stay with Charles alone for a while. I have a lot to say to him."
Hank nodded, "If you need anything, you can come to me anytime."
He closed the door.
Raven sat beside Charles's coffin, curled up with her arms around her knees, and buried her face against them.
"Charles, didn't you say you'd take care of me for the rest of my life?"
"Then wake up."
———
[A Few Days Later]
It was raining.
In the cemetery behind the mansion, Erik, Hank, Alex, and Darwin, dressed in black suits, carried a coffin over. They carefully lowered it into the grave.
The four of them then stepped back and stood beside the CIA agent Moira and Raven.
Holding a black umbrella, Raven walked to the edge of the grave, "He was the best person I've ever met. He was a good brother."
"Charles, I'll always miss you."
She gently placed a bouquet of flowers on the coffin.
Then she stepped aside.
Next, Moira walked forward and looked at Charles's photograph on the headstone.
"I'm sorry, Charles."
"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten involved in this."
"And then you wouldn't have..."
"I'm sorry, Charles."
"All I can do now is take care of Raven for you."
She placed down a bouquet of flowers.
Erik let out a long breath and walked forward, looking at Charles in the photograph, "You were a good man, my friend."
"You made me willing to believe there were still good things in this world."
"But my friend, there are too few people like you."
"There are too many people in this world who hate us and want to use us."
"Shaw wasn't the first, and he won't be the last."
"So all I can do is fight them."
"I don't know whether this path is right or wrong, but I know I have to fight for it, so that good people like you won't die."
"I have to fight."
Erik crouched down and placed a bouquet of flowers on the coffin.
Next, Alex(Havok) and the others each offered flowers in turn. Finally, they let the coffin descend into the earth.
After the funeral, Raven and the others ate together in the mansion's dining hall.
"Raven, what are your plans now?", Erik asked.
Raven looked at him, "I'll stay here."
"Charles told me he planned to turn this mansion into a school."
"To provide shelter for mutants, so they'd have a place to go."
"Now that Charles is gone, I want to do what he wasn't able to."
Hank set down his cup, "If you need help, I can stay."
Raven smiled, "That would be great, Hank. I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it by myself."
Erik nodded and looked at the others, "What about you?"
Darwin shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'll go back to driving my taxi. That's what I'm good at."
The others remained silent.
Erik spread his hands, "If you haven't found a goal yet, how about coming with me?"
"I hope people can accept mutants. No more persecution. No more betrayal or exploitation."
"But it won't be easy. Before we reach that ideal shore, there will be a series of brutal battles."
"I need help."
Raven frowned, "You'll be putting them in danger."
Erik nodded, "Yes. So think it over carefully. There's no need to force yourselves."
After thinking for a moment, Alex(Havok) stood up, "I'll go with you, Erik. I want to do something for this world."
Darwin smiled and stood as well, "Then you definitely can't leave me out."
So, apart from Raven and Hank, everyone else decided to leave with Erik.
Raven and Moira looked at each other, but neither tried to stop them. They knew they couldn't.
Finally, Erik raised a glass, "To Charles."
"To Charles!"
———
[New York]
Inside a bar, a bearded man was drinking, with a lit cigar beside him.
At that moment, the black-and-white television was showing the President reviewing military forces.
"Sigh! Another war. I didn't expect another one to break out so soon."
"The Soviets started it. If you ask me, we ought to hit them back hard."
The bearded man set down his glass and said quietly, "Bunch of idiots. No matter how you dress it up, war is still ugly."
"What did you say, buddy?"
A fat man turned around, "I heard you. Are you mocking us?"
The bearded man picked up his cigar and bit it between his teeth.
"No offense. I'm just stating a fact."
The fat man walked over, "Looks like you need to be taught a lesson."
The bearded man smiled, "For your own good, don't."
"Oh yeah?"
"Die!"
The fat man threw a punch.
But the bearded man caught it with ease.
Just as the bearded man was about to say something, he suddenly noticed the bar counter trembling. Ripples spread across the liquid inside the glasses.
He abruptly looked out the window and saw a black dot rapidly approaching in the distance. Then another black dot came in from the side and intercepted it.
When the two black dots collided, they erupted into a dazzling flash, as if a second sun had risen in the sky.
"No way."
"Again?"
"I've had enough."
"Once was enough."
The bearded man threw the fat man aside and shouted, "Is there a basement here?"
The bartender had just pointed toward the kitchen when the bearded man lunged over. At the entrance to the kitchen, he saw a staircase leading underground, with a door there.
He slammed through the door.
Just then, he heard a thunderous boom from above.
Looking toward the ground outside, he saw dense golden flames sweeping across everything like a flood.
That day, a nuclear bomb exploded in New York.