13. Dark Aid

At the gate of the Queens District Police Station, Merlin said to Cyclops Summers who had changed into civilian clothes:

"I already have clues, and I will follow the clues to investigate."

"About Ororo, I know that you X-Men have always been united, and you are like brothers internally. You will definitely not give up Ororo just like that."

"But my advice to you is, don't meddle!"

Merlin said to the silent Cyclops:

"I'm basically sure that Ororo's accident will be widely publicized in tonight's news. Now that there are videos on the Internet, even if information control is adopted, it will not be of much use."

"This is a well-designed round, but as Jesse said, the goal of this round is definitely not just Ororo alone."

Merlin looked at Cyclops:

"His purpose is to provoke the confrontation between humans and mutants. X-Men, or Utopia's rash intervention will only put Ororo in a more embarrassing and painful situation. As the storm intensifies, it will even implicate All mutants."

"But we can't just watch!"

Cyclops says:

"Professor certainly wouldn't want us to give up"

"No one told you to give up Ororo!"

Merlin interrupted Cyclops, saying:

"Ororo will be fine, don't forget, her nationality is not here, and Ororo has another identity besides the X-Men."

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, he patted Cyclops on the shoulder, and said:

"Don't worry, once this matter rises to a higher level, Wakanda will work, and you don't need to come forward at all"

"Tell Emma what I said, and tell her not to be impulsive."

Cyclops couldn't help pushing his tactical eyepiece, his expression relaxed almost at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Indeed, he had been led by this incident before, and he almost forgot

Ororo is different from all other mutants.

She is backed by the country of Wakanda.

As the princess and future queen of Wakanda, Ororo itself also has certain political privileges.

If this happened to other X-Men, the ending would be troublesome.

But Ororo happens to be that exception.

"So, this is the negligence of the man behind the scenes with ghostly thoughts?"

Cyclops asked:

"He didn't know that, or said"

"I can't be sure, at least not yet."

Merlin said with a serious expression:

"So I want you not to intervene, let this matter develop first, and see what moves he will make later."

"What I am more worried about now is that if he has enough sources of intelligence and has undergone serious and detailed thinking and preparation, then this matter is likely to be more complicated than we imagined."

"It may also be a conspiracy to try to bring Wakanda into the storm circle as well."

"If that's the case, then things will be really troublesome."

"Listen to you, you seem to know who is planning all this?"

Cyclops asked in a low voice:

"Need some help from the X-Men?"

"Being not."

Merlin shook his head, he looked at the night sky above his head, and said:

"I know who's planning it, but I don't know who else is behind that guy"

"It's okay if he is just messing around alone, but if he merges with the more terrifying darkness, then the problem will be very serious."

"But if you decide to get involved in this, then I need you to start preparing now."

Merlin said to Cyclops:

"If things don't go well, then I may need your help at any time, and it's not a bad thing to give myself an extra choice at any time. As for the interference of that kind of spiritual power..."

Merlin reached out and rubbed his forehead, he said:

"The professor can't help now, so when the same force interferes, I may need Emma's assistance. You have to tell her in advance."

"Um."

Cyclops nodded, and he whispered:

"Speaking of psychic power, if Jean is here..."

"Stop!"

Merlin interrupted Cyclops loudly, he also knew what Summers wanted to say, he said seriously:

"She can't show up now, otherwise everything will be in vain."

"At that time, I asked Qin to meet you at a risk, just to let you, an infatuated prodigal son, understand the seriousness of the matter about Qin!"

"She told you everything, about the strength in her body, about the challenges she faces now, about the situation she has to face, the danger of losing herself at any time."

"You have to remember, Summers, that Jean's troubles are no less than ours. Once she gets out of control, she will become an uncontrollable risk."

"I see."

Cyclops gritted his teeth and nodded. He said:

"I will wait patiently and confidently for her return."

"Well, that's the right way to think about it. The temporary separation is for a long-term reunion."

Merlin laughed and said:

"You stay here with Ororo, talk to her, the most important thing is... protect her, and protect yourself, do you understand what I mean?"

"If something happens to you, there is a high probability that Qin will not be able to survive. You are her current pillar."

"I know."

Cyclops nodded, and he watched Merlin disappear. In this slightly cold night, he looked at the silent night sky, and then heaved a long sigh.

A few minutes later, without alarming anyone, Merlin appeared like a ghost in the cell passage at the bottom of the island prison.

"Block monitoring."

After Merlin said something, Icarus immediately executed the blocking procedure, allowing the surveillance camera data of this channel to go back to 5 minutes ago.

He took a step forward, and the artificial intelligence in the cell at the bottom immediately verified Merlin's authority, and a voice with a metallic sound said:

"The highest level of authority has been passed, welcome back, Agent Merlin Riley."

"Open the confinement chamber."

Under Merlin's order, this independent artificial intelligence immediately popped out the cage that imprisoned the clown from under the seabed.

Amid the sound of mechanical collisions, several blockades were unlocked one after another, and the metal plates of the prison cabin also slowly bounced off.

Merlin looked into the prison cell, where the clown in a bondage suit was still sitting on the edge of the bed and giggling.

Everything looks ok.

"Data backtracking, Icarus."

Merlin took off his gloves as he walked into the cell, and said softly:

"Call up all the interview records of the clown in the last few months."

"Hold on."

Icarus hummed, connected himself to the access system of the isolated island prison, and began to query the records of the lowest prison.

And Merlin strode up to the Joker.

He squatted down and looked at this face carefully, the scar on the edge of the mouth, the protruding jawbone on the face, and the deep-set eye sockets.

Exactly as he remembered.

"If I'm not mistaken"

Merlin stretched out his finger and put it behind the clown's earlobe. This action made the clown feel itchy, and he let out a giggle.

Amid the clown's terrible laugh, Merlin moved his fingers, and a few seconds later, he found a slightly invisible bump behind the clown's earlobe.

"Tear"

It's like tearing off the whole mask.

The next moment, the camouflage on the clown's face was completely torn off.

Merlin looked at the strange face in front of him that looked like a living person, and his fists were clenched at this moment.

"It's really hard for you"

Merlin whispered:

"It must have taken a lot of effort to even have such a similar body shape."

"The data backtracking is complete, Merlin, apart from your own half-monthly monitoring, the confinement cabin was only opened once unplanned, nearly 17 days ago, but the authority is exactly the same as yours."

Icarus says:

"Your authority has been stolen, Merlin."

"Well, so many things can be explained."

Merlin looked at the high-tech camouflage mask in his hand, and let out a sigh of relief.

Then he bent down, and put the mask that had been rubbed in camouflage back on the fake clown's face.

He took a step back, looked at the clown who was sitting beside the bed and giggled, and shook his head.

"The defense system of the isolated island prison is meaningless. No, not only the isolated island prison, the ghost base, but also the 084 base. It is probably too late to reset the defense system of the Pegasus base."

"And it may alarm those behind the scenes."

Icarus reminded:

"You have to find a way to prepare ahead of time."

"Um."

Merlin nodded. He stroked his chin with a thoughtful look in his eyes. After a while, he said to Icarus:

"The data is connected to the North American data monitoring center, and the clown's traces are started to be searched across the continent. In addition, I will confirm Bruce's current traces. I want to meet him as soon as possible."

"You want to activate Avenger 006?"

There was a touch of surprise in Icarus' business:

"Things aren't that bad yet, are they?"

"Be prepared, Icarus."

Merlin looked at the closed prison facilities in front of him, and said softly:

"I've faced many challenges before, this time is different."

"A lot of things came together and either my luck was over or it meant this event was absolutely extraordinary."

"Check the progress of Banner and Betty's research on kryptonite. If they haven't finished yet, let them speed up!"

"Inform Moira that the symbiote suits No. 001 and No. 006 will immediately enter the actual combat simulation session."

"swish"

Merlin's figure disappeared under the transfer spell, and when he reappeared, he returned to his home.

He hung his coat on the hanger, and then said to Lorna, the little green-haired girl who was sitting on the sofa, choosing lipstick and perfume on the shopping website:

"Lorna, is the progress of learning magnetic control with Magnit going well?"

"not bad."

Lorna said without looking back:

"So-so."

"Well, then come with me."

He waved to Lorna and said:

"I need your help with something. If you do well enough, next month's pocket money will be doubled."

"Yeah!"

Lorna was squatting in slippers, shaking her fluffy green hair, followed Merlin into the bathroom, and then into the mystery room.

Merlin led him all the way into the laboratory, and then opened a sealed box.

He took out the hundreds of red armor pieces stored in it, and took out a blueprint from his pocket, he said to Lorna:

"Help me shape this armor magnetically but don't change the frequency of the fixed magnetic field inside it, can you do it?"

"It's a bit difficult."

Lorna frowned, she raised her finger lightly, and in the magnetic jump, all the hundreds of pieces of armor were suspended in the air, like a metal storm revolving around the green-haired little princess.

She looked at the complicated drawings, then tilted her head to look at Merlin, with worry in her eyes, she said:

"Brother, did you prepare this for yourself? Are you going to fight again?"

"No."

Merlin narrowed his eyes and smiled. He reached out and rubbed Lorna's head. He said:

"Just an experiment."

Merlin stretched out his finger, and during the unreasonable casting process, shining runes appeared in his palm. He said to Lorna:

"I learned a new kind of magic recently. I need this armor to do an enchanting experiment. Don't think too much about it, besides"

"Don't tell Raven and Laura, okay?"

"Information control! I hate information control!"

In a safe house in New York, the clown holds the remote control in his hand, looking at various news stations over and over again.

But with the exception of a few small news outlets, none of the major mainstream outlets aired news about the X-Men killing civilians.

On the contrary, on the Internet, the videos of the Storm girl torturing and killing civilians spread by the clown gained a lot of popularity.

Obviously, there is an official force to block the news about the conflict between mutants and humans that the clown wants to trigger.

But that's okay.

The clown poked his cheek with his finger, looked at the website in front of him, and smiled triumphantly.

"Thanks to this era, the speed of information dissemination is more than a hundred times faster than before. There are always those who are eager to see the 'truth'. The more you suppress, the more violent their rebound will be."

"Things are fermenting, it's okay, I just need to be patient"

"You will not see the results you hope to see!"

A voice suddenly rang in the clown's ears, causing the clown to jump up from the sofa.

He looked back vigilantly. At the dining table behind him, a strange man wearing a medieval black robe with lace trimmings, long hair hanging behind his head, and a diamond-shaped blood-colored emblem on his forehead was sitting there.

He was wearing gloves, his face was pale, his eyes were blood red, like a vampire, and his mannerisms had the style of a medieval old ghost.

Like a ghost from that long-dead era.

"You won't see the results you want"

The eccentric man added another word, and he looked at the clown with admiration in his eyes, and said:

"Your method is good, but unfortunately you chose the wrong person."

"Didn't the benefactor behind you tell you that Ororo has another identity besides the X-Men?"

The uninvited man said:

"Not to mention killing five cowards, even if she goes crazy and kills everyone in a block, no one will hold her accountable"

The clown didn't answer, he turned his head to look at the statue-like Winter Soldier standing aside.

He seemed to be wondering why the Winter Soldier, who was responsible for protecting him, would allow this weird man to appear here.

"Stop thinking about it."

The man stood up, leaning on his cane, and leaning slightly towards the clown, he said softly:

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Omen, you can call me Mr. Sinister (Mr. Omen)."

"Okay, Lord Omen."

The clown pretended to put his hands behind his back, and returned a nondescript courtesy. He showed his signature smile, and he grinned and asked:

"So you came here just to mock my stupidity?"

"No! Quite the contrary."

Mister Sinister whispered:

"I saw your potential, and I also know your purpose, so I decided to help you. You don't need to think about my purpose. You just need to know that I can give you what you want!"

"oh?"

The clown tilted his head and asked:

"Then tell me, what do I want?"

"Chaos, subversion, a wicked game."

Mister Omen waved his hand, and said:

"You are not the first Chaos believer, nor will you be the last, but you are still special"

"You are the purest one."

"I will help you, Mr. Clown, and I have only one request"

"For this age and all ages to come, for the past, present, and future countless beings, that poor girl Jean Gray, daughter of the Phoenix"

"She must die!"