"You're back, Alex, Raven?"
Inside a luxurious villa.
Hank came out excitedly when he heard the commotion, but the smile on his face froze the moment he saw who was with them.
His eyes instantly locked onto the figure beside Alex—Copycat? Wasn't she one of their enemies back in Manhattan?
And the woman standing next to her… wasn't that the White Queen, the infamous Emma Frost from their intelligence files?
Hank was momentarily stunned.
"Hey there, handsome! Don't look at me like that—I'm with Alex now. We're on the same team!"
Copycat waved at him with a friendly grin, acting like they were old friends. She even gave Hank a hearty pat on the shoulder, leaving him looking more than a little awkward.
"You've already met Vanessa, so no need for introductions," Alex said casually. "And as for Emma, we've all seen her file—no point in repeating it."
"From today onward, they're part of our family," he added.
"Your name's Hank, right?" Emma chimed in, her tone teasing. "Relax. I promise I won't strangle you in your sleep."
Hank's discomfort visibly deepened.
These two women had such intense, overbearing personalities that he found himself at a total loss.
"You won't do that, Emma," Alex said with a completely straight face. "It won't take long for you to realize just how important Hank is to us."
That sentence warmed Hank's heart.
"Really now?" Emma raised a brow, glancing over Hank once more with a flicker of interest.
This plain-looking young man… was he really someone that a powerhouse like Alex would value so highly?
"I look forward to it," she said. "But first—Alex, can I get a room? I haven't had a decent shower in days."
Copycat had no intention of being polite.
"Follow me," Raven offered quickly. "There are still some vacant rooms upstairs—pick whichever you like."
She led the two women up to the second floor.
"Hank, I've got some ideas for the base," he said eagerly, adjusting his glasses as he turned back to Alex. "Want to hear them?"
While Alex was off "visiting" the intelligence bureau, Hank hadn't just been sitting around doing nothing.
"Of course," Alex replied with interest.
Hank pulled out a folder and began his pitch. "Selina gave us three possible locations, but I think this one's the best."
"First, the location. Since we'll be accommodating more and more mutant allies in the future, it needs to be well-hidden—nothing that attracts too much attention."
"But at the same time, access needs to be convenient…"
He continued enthusiastically, weighing pros and cons in detail. Alex listened and nodded along with visible approval.
Hank had considered everything—every angle covered. Alex honestly couldn't find a single flaw in his plan.
"Let's do it your way, Hank," Alex said firmly. "I'll give Selena the green light."
Hearing his ideas accepted so readily, Hank practically radiated energy. He finally felt like he had a real role to play.
---
Intelligence Bureau Headquarters
Conference Room
The long table was packed, so much so that the spacious conference room felt cramped.
Understandable—after all, the bureau's own headquarters had been infiltrated. Not just infiltrated, but steamrolled. It was a humiliation unparalleled in the bureau's history.
The kind of failure that would go down in infamy.
There was no room for sloppiness today. Practically every ranking officer was present—many of them bandaged up or visibly bruised.
Director Hansen was the worst off, even wearing a neck brace.
But the gravity of the situation left no time for recovery.
"Alright, everyone's here. Ed, start the briefing," Hansen said, tapping the table with his fingers.
A bookish man in glasses nodded and activated the projector.
Two figures appeared on the large screen.
"These were our two high-priority detainees: Emma Frost, ID 2237, and Vanessa Baccarin, ID 2254. They've been confirmed as successfully extracted."
"Both are mutants—and so were their rescuers."
"Initial investigations indicate there were only two attackers."
"One of them had shapeshifting abilities. She impersonated a MORA agent and, at approximately 1:30 AM, escorted the primary perpetrator into the building."
"At 1:41, they reached the 14th floor, overpowered our tactical unit, and broke into the high-security cells to extract the two detainees."
"At 1:57, they exited headquarters with the targets in tow."
"In total, they neutralized 73 of our elite agents. Fortunately, there were no fatalities."
The room went dead silent. The oppressive tension made it hard to breathe. Some officers looked like they were on the verge of despair.
The entire breach—from entrance to extraction—had taken only sixteen minutes.
And the attackers? Just two people.
Unbelievable.
If they hadn't experienced it firsthand, no one would've believed it.
A "teenager-looking," mutant had brought the entire headquarters to its knees?
It was beyond terrifying.
"Yes, I know it's demoralizing and disgraceful," Hansen's voice rang out. "But facts are facts. Our supposedly impenetrable headquarters might as well have been made of paper."
"The threat mutants pose is greater than we ever imagined."
"They're monsters."
He scanned the room, eyes cold. "Well? Any brilliant ideas?"
Silence.
Everyone glanced at each other, but no one dared to speak.
Those two mutants were beyond anything they could handle. They weren't just powerful—they were unstoppable.
What could anyone even suggest?
"No answers? Fine. Keep it that way!" Hansen slammed his palm on the table. "If even a whisper of what happened today gets out, whoever leaked it can pack up and leave for good!"
The room fell into an even deeper silence.
"…Then what do you plan to do, Director?" Ed asked timidly after several minutes.
"You'll write a full report," Hansen replied gravely. "We're going to the Department of Defense. This is beyond what the Intelligence Bureau can handle on its own."
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