Luke stepped out of the portal, Blink moving ahead while Wolverine took the rear. Esdeath appeared beside him.
The place immediately felt wrong.
Narrow corridors. Reinforced steel walls. Low ceilings threaded with cables and emergency lights. The air smelled faintly of ozone and recycled ventilation—nothing like the open halls or polished rooms he'd expected.
A bunker, Luke realized.
His gaze swept the corridor once more.
'Why the hell would they bring us here?'
He'd expected the Xavier Institute.
The mansion. The open grounds. The whole "school for gifted youngsters" thing.
Not this.
He frowned slightly. "Ummm… is Charles here?"
Professor Xavier was rich. Powerful. Influential. A man who owned a literal mansion and ran a school in plain sight of the world.
So why was he hiding in a bunker?
Had he gone bankrupt? Lost the mansion? Decided that concrete walls and blast doors were the new aesthetic? It was possible—he did run a school for mutants. One bad accident, one disaster involving students, and the lawsuits alone could have buried him financially.
"You know the Professor?" Blink asked, glancing back over her shoulder, surprise flickering across her face.
"Ummm… know is a strong word," Luke replied honestly. "But I know about him. Enough."
Blink didn't press further. She stopped in front of a reinforced door. "He's in here."
Before Luke could say anything else, Wolverine stepped forward and pushed the door open.
The room beyond was quiet. Sparse. Functional.
And at the center of it—
Charles Xavier sat behind a table.
Luke paused.
The man's iconic bald head caught the light, his features mature, composed. He wore that same gentle smile—calm, unshaken—the expression of someone who had seen far too much of life to be rattled by anything left in it.
This was one of the strongest psychics in the Marvel world. One of the most dangerous bald men alive. Someone who could have ruled Earth if he wanted to.
But he hadn't.
Instead, he chose restraint. Guidance. Hope.
A saintly figure for mutants—their moral compass, their protector. Almost too much of a saint at times. That same unwavering idealism, admirable as it was, could border on incompetence when the world demanded harder choices.
"Charles, we brought the ones you asked us to bring," Logan said.
"Thank you, Logan," Charles replied.
His attention settled fully on Luke.
Now that Luke was standing directly in front of him, Charles could feel it clearly.
Not psychic pressure—something deeper. Spiritual. Vast.
The presence radiating from Luke felt like an endless ocean: calm on the surface, immeasurable beneath.
It wasn't aggressive, but it was overwhelming in scale. Compared to it, every human mind Charles had ever encountered—including his own—felt like a single drop of water.
"Well… this is definitely strange," Luke said as he took a seat across from Charles.
Esdeath sat calmly at his side, composed and unreadable as ever. Behind Xavier, Wolverine and Blink took their positions.
"I hope you didn't mind the sudden invitation," Charles said, his gaze steady on Luke.
He made no attempt to read their minds.
Not out of fear—but out of principle.
Charles Xavier respected privacy, especially when asking for help. And even if curiosity tempted him, he knew better. Probing Luke's mind felt… unwise. Like reaching into deep water without knowing what lived below.
As for the woman beside him,
Charles didn't even consider it.
Every instinct he possessed warned him that attempting to touch her thoughts would end badly.
Charles chose caution.
"Then let me introduce myself," he said calmly.
"I am Charles Xavier." His voice was steady, practiced, carrying the quiet authority of someone long accustomed to being heard. "These are my allies—Logan, and Blink. They brought you here at my request."
Luke inclined his head. "I'm Luke. This is Esdeath. And I have one question—if you don't mind."
"Of course," Charles replied, a faint, courteous smile forming. Since they had agreed to his invitation, it was only polite to cooperate.
"I need to understand this world," Luke said plainly. "Everything. Human–mutant relations. How mutants are treated. The government's stance. And whether anything… unusual has happened recently that changed the balance."
His quest was to defeat the Avatar of Corruption. And since his system had brought him to this world, Luke was certain that the guy was here as well. Avatars were powerful—existences that shattered balance just by appearing. Something like that couldn't stay hidden for long.
So he wanted to know if anyone like that had already surfaced.
Blink and Logan exchanged a brief look. To them, the answer seemed obvious. Mutant persecution wasn't exactly hidden.
Which was why the question caught them off guard.
Charles's expression sobered.
"The current situation," he said, "is dire."
He spoke without embellishment, which somehow made it worse.
"Mutants are no longer merely feared or mistrusted. If identified, they are hunted. Captured. In many cases, killed—often without trial, explanation, or restraint. This is happening globally."
Luke didn't interrupt.
"Six months ago, things were… different," Charles continued. "Tense, yes. Unequal, certainly. But there was coexistence. Mutants lived quietly, some openly. Governments denied responsibility for isolated incidents, and the world maintained the illusion of balance."
His fingers tightened slightly on the armrest.
"Then, almost overnight, that balance collapsed. Coordinated action began across nations. Laws were passed in secrecy."
Charles paused, his expression tightening.
"And the hunt for mutants began. From that moment on, mutants were no longer treated as people. They were classified as threats. Those who could hide did so. Those who couldn't were forced to run, to disappear, to live in secrecy—always afraid that being seen would mean capture or death."
"So six months ago," Luke said slowly. "Suddenly all nations? Not just one?"
"Yes."
Luke touched his chin, frowning.
That was definitely strange. He knew there were alternate universes where mutants were hunted, feared, even openly exterminated—but not like this. Not every country moving at once. Not global laws appearing almost overnight.
*****
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