On the first floor of the café, a small pot was bubbling on the flame, cooking a flavorful vegetable soup. The tomatoes had been simmered until they dissolved, their sour-sweet aroma seeping into the fibers of the other vegetables. Xu Shang-Chi had served a portion of fried noodles. Riley was still heating his half-cooked pizza, and Wanda was already sitting at the table preparing to eat.
"I'm sorry, I'm not much of a cook." Miss Witch shrugged, then felt a pair of hands wrap around her neck, tying on her napkin.
"Thank you, Jarvis."
"There's no need to apologize, miss. Everyone has different survival experiences... you probably didn't have much spare time to study the culinary arts, did you?" Jarvis said with a smile.
Wanda propped her face against one hand on the table and said, "Yes, in the childhood I remember, we were either moving house or on the road to move house. There was seldom a quiet time. Homemade dishes with fresh ingredients instead of processed food? That was a luxury."
"As unthinkable as it seems, I can't help but feel that Erik kept Pietro and me by his side somewhat out of compensation, even though it pained us both."
As they set the dishes, the gentle voice of Xu Shang-Chi echoed in Wanda's mind: "Have you tried talking to him?"
Wanda startled slightly, before regaining her calm, saying: "I'm still not used to your ability. I keep thinking that Professor X is here."
Xu Shang-Chi shrugged, speaking in everyone's minds: "I'm sorry, but I can't read minds. I only have the ability to communicate telepathically, didn't you all acquire special abilities too?"
"To this day, I still don't know whether it's a good or a bad thing," Riley said as he took a seat at the innermost part of the table, pulling his chair forward and placing his hands on the table. "My Spider-sense is overly sensitive. I tried utilizing it in cooking to control the heat of my dishes, and the results were quite good."
"Honestly, Xu." Riley turned to Xu Shang-Chi again, "I used to think you were only speaking so that I could hear. I thought it was a special ability of mine. I was really shocked when Jarvis said he could hear you too."
Xu Shang-Chi chuckled saying: "Thank goodness it only gave me the power of 'Thousand-mile Sound Transmission.' If I actually had the mind reading technique, I'd likely scare myself half to death."
Wanda forked a portion of the stir-fried noodles onto her own plate, saying, "I wouldn't know how Professor Charles can stand reading Erik's thoughts. Wouldn't he get mad?"
"Honestly, we should diverge on that point we were discussing earlier." Riley said while slurping his noodles.
"Which one? Dreams, or Evolution?"
"We can't really study dreams at the moment, remember we all just tried? Lying on the bed, covered with a quilt, even while listening to a lullaby, we simply can't sleep. Honestly, who could fall asleep under these conditions... Of course, our abnormal superpowers mean we don't need to sleep as often, and we've grown accustomed to this."
"Well, then, it must be 'Evolution'." Jarvis divvied out the soup to everyone thoughtfully, adding: "Creating injuries, and then forming new abilities around those injuries could barely be referred to as an evolution, a very broad evolution."
Wanda knitted her brows tightly, Jarvis turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'm withholding my judgment. I don't like calling it evolution because this sounds like a good thing, but in reality…" Miss Witch put down her cutlery and spread her hands open: "Has anyone ever asked for my permission? Am I not allowed to love my own eyes as they were?"
"Alright, alright, I had my psychic abilities, and with that, I single-handedly defeated Xeseon's army, but do you know what this reminds me of? Erik!"
"Exactly, that irritable, bull-headed, control freak who doesn't listen to anyone. He's always like this. I said I wanted to go to New York University, and he said no university would want me since I didn't even finish high school. I said I wanted to start a family in the future, and he said no man would ever tolerate me. I said I loved children, and he said I should first learn how to take care of myself."
"Every time I had ambitious dreams to do something, he'd always belittle and ridicule me, saying that I couldn't do this or that. I remember several times when I broke down completely and said 'what do you think I should do then?'"
"Do you know what he said?" Wanda leaned forward, her hands pressing into the edge of the table, the others showed curiosity and leaned in too.
"He said, 'You should stay right here and finish the tasks at hand!' Yes, those tasks he assigned me, like bombing factories one day, and teasing FBI agents the next!"
"What angers me more is that he claimed that this was to train my abilities. Yes, the frequent fighting did indeed deepen my connection with Chaos Powers, but was that what I wanted? Of course not!"
"I like children and pet dogs; I wanted to live in a detached house with a yard that we could play in without being given dirty looks by the neighbors. I believe I didn't need to be good at fighting to have all this."
"But he had to stab a knife into my heart, creating wounds. Then when I was angry and heartbroken, I had no choice but to use the chance he gave me to vent my anger through fighting, and in the process, acquire a high level of magic. Even if I chose to be a kindergarten teacher, I would never need Chaos Magic in my entire life!"