After hearing Richard's words, Emma Frost gave him a seductive look. She wrapped her arms around his neck tenderly, her crimson lips parting slightly as she whispered:
"You can do whatever you want. As long as it pleases you, I have no objections."
Looking at Emma Frost before him, Richard felt a surge of desire rising from within. Without hesitation, he slipped his arms around her slender waist.
Teleportation!
Emma Frost assumed Richard was taking her back to their Las Vegas hotel to continue their afternoon's "debate"—an encounter that had left them both satisfied.
However, she was mistaken.
While Richard was undeniably aroused by Emma Frost, he had no intention of engaging in any intimate activities with her just yet. The reason was simple: he still needed to complete the "One-Winged Angel (II)" mission assigned by the system.
He had just discovered the location where Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were being held captive in Sebastian Shaw's memories. Not only that, but he had also uncovered crucial information about them.
First, their age. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in this universe were much younger than he had anticipated—precisely 18 years old, the same as their original counterparts.
Second, their powers. Quicksilver's ability remained Super Speed, while Scarlet Witch possessed what Sebastian Shaw believed to be telekinesis and telepathy.
However, after witnessing Scarlet Witch use her abilities in Shaw's memories, Richard knew better. What Shaw perceived as telekinesis and telepathy was actually chaos magic. Shaw had misidentified her powers simply because he was unaware that chaos magic even existed.
If Shaw had known, he would never have mistaken Scarlet Witch's chaos magic for ordinary telekinesis and telepathy.
Chaos magic!
The ancestor of all magic, the oldest independent mystical force, the primordial light in cosmic consciousness and probability manipulation!
Finally, their appearance. Both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were exceptionally attractive—he handsome, she beautiful. Scarlet Witch in particular, despite being only 18, already possessed a figure that rivaled Emma Frost's.
Orlando, Florida
Orlando was less than 400 kilometers from Miami—no small distance for ordinary people, but merely a thought away for Richard's teleportation abilities.
Standing on the rooftop of a residential building, Emma Frost frowned as she spotted a facility several hundred meters away with a sign reading "Marine Biology Research Institute."
"Are Wanda and Pietro imprisoned in that research institute?" she asked.
"Yes, and they're not the only mutants being held there," Richard replied quickly.
On the surface, the Institute of Marine Biology appeared to be an ordinary research facility. The truth was far more sinister.
This institute served as one of the Hellfire Club's secret bases. After partnering with the Department of Mutant Affairs to create enhanced clones, Sebastian Shaw had detained captured mutants here—specifically, the ones he found interesting enough to keep for himself rather than share with the Department.
From Shaw's memories, Richard could confirm that Shaw had no idea Wanda and Pietro might be Magneto's children. He had captured them solely because their powers intrigued him.
Richard himself couldn't verify whether Wanda and Pietro were truly Magneto's children in this universe. In the original comics, they were indeed Magneto's offspring, but later revisions had changed their parentage to make them children of the previous Scarlet Witch, Natalya. Being born into a magical lineage explained how Wanda could harness chaos magic from childhood while retaining her mutant identity.
The most recent comic continuity had changed things again, making them genetically modified humans transformed by the High Evolutionary's experiments rather than mutants at all.
Even the films couldn't maintain consistency. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they weren't mutants but volunteers in HYDRA's experiments with the Mind Stone. In the X-Men film universe, they were genuine mutants and Magneto's children, though they weren't twins and had an age difference of over a decade.
More perplexingly, in the X-Men films, Quicksilver was portrayed as the same age as Jean, Cyclops, and others, while Wanda was depicted as a small child during the Vietnam War.
The Wanda and Pietro in this universe were only 18. Until Richard could help them and Magneto take a paternity test, he couldn't determine whether they were Magneto's children. One thing he could confirm, though, was that they were mutants—the X-gene had been detected in their bodies.
"After rescuing Wanda and Pietro, what do you plan to do with them? Keep them both with you?" Emma Frost inquired.
"We'll see," Richard replied.
He hadn't decided what to do with Wanda and Pietro yet, but to Emma Frost, his answer implied he intended to keep them close.
Just as she was about to speak again, Richard cut her off.
"Enough wasting time. Let's go in."
"All right," Emma Frost nodded.
Holding her slender waist, Richard teleported them directly into the research institute.
The facility had three floors. The first floor housed standard laboratories, the second contained imprisoned mutants, and the third was dedicated to enhanced cloning experiments.
Although Sebastian Shaw and the Department of Mutant Affairs collaborated, neither fully shared their research with the other. Each secretly created enhanced clones for their own purposes. The three enhanced clones Shaw had brought to the yacht tonight were the "dividends" he'd received from their agreement—the only ones he'd obtained thus far.
Richard and Emma Frost materialized on the second floor, immediately drawing the attention of staff and guards. With a thought, Richard froze them in place using telepathy.
After immobilizing them, he strode purposefully toward the cells where Wanda and Pietro were being held.
Soon, they reached Quicksilver's cell. Instead of retrieving his sword from the system space, Richard employed the powers he had recently acquired from Magneto's enhanced clone.
Magnetic field manipulation!
BOOM!
With a casual wave of his right hand, the cell's heavy metal door—more than ten centimeters thick—was ripped from its hinges. It flew across the corridor and slammed into the opposite wall with tremendous force.
As the dust settled, Pietro appeared before them—his silver hair cropped short, dressed in a pristine white prison uniform with a black power-suppression collar around his neck. He eyed Richard and Emma Frost warily from the doorway.
Ignoring Pietro's scrutiny, Richard turned and walked toward Wanda's cell. Seeing them heading for his sister without a word, Pietro followed without hesitation.
Though this was his first encounter with Richard, Pietro knew of him. He and Wanda had been captured by Sebastian Shaw just two weeks ago. Before their capture, they had followed numerous reports about Richard online. They were even members of Richard's fan sites and forums.
Like most young American mutants who had seen the footage of Richard's assault on the Los Angeles branch of the Department of Mutant Affairs, they admired him greatly. While not quite fanatical followers, they both held him in high regard.
When they reached Wanda's cell, Richard once again employed magnetic field manipulation to tear away the metal door.
As the barrier crashed aside, Wanda came into view, also wearing a white prison uniform. Despite the shapeless garment, her curves were impossible to conceal.
What an incredible figure! Richard thought appreciatively.
Simultaneously, the system's information panel appeared in his vision:
[Mission "One-Winged Angel (II)" completed!]
[Mission reward Shadow Flare delivered!] [Skill Shadow Flare Awakened!]
After dismissing the notification, Richard addressed Wanda:
"I'm here to rescue you."
With those words, he summoned a powerful gust of wind, creating two small wind blades barely a dozen centimeters in length.
Slash!
Under his control, the blades precisely struck the power-suppression collars on both Wanda and Pietro's necks, shattering them.
Free from restraint, Pietro instantly activated his Super Speed. In a blur of motion, he appeared at Wanda's side.
"We've never met you before," he said to Richard. "Why did you come to save us?"
"Because you're special," Richard replied calmly, the convenient excuse rolling off his tongue.
==============================================
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
=============================================