"Hello? Mr. Stark? The plan is going smoothly. We've sneaked in undetected. The spaceship is so huge that there are many places without any personnel. Their surveillance equipment seems unable to detect our stealth status. We're heading towards their engine ...."
"...We're here, oh my god, it's definitely broken, I can tell without even getting in… What's this? Residual energy?"
Amidst Peter's astonishment, Stark could tell from his voice that the Kree's spaceship might be majorly damaged. Blue Spirit's voice came from farther away: "Their engine appears to have been interfered with by an unknown force, causing an explosion during the transmission of the energy pulse. Because the explosion was internal, it doesn't seem too bad from the outside, but in reality, it's already completely impossible to perform any leap...."
Peter heard Shiller's voice resonate from the other end of the phone, "In which direction is their spaceship currently advancing? Is it towards a star?"
"How did you know?" Peter asked surprised. Before Shiller could respond, Blue Spirit interjected, "They would definitely head towards a star. They need a lot of energy to repair the engine, and the easiest place to extract energy is from the star of this solar system."
"Can you get data on the star?"
"I'll have to look into my genetic directory, let me see... This place is too remote, the records are sparse. But what can be confirmed is that the star here is a giant star, already nearing its old age...."
"Alright, thank you, I'll discuss the next steps."
"First of all, I hope you guys can make some noise at a distance from the star to attract the Kree fleet's escort ships. You don't need too many, 10 will be enough and preferably of different models...."
"Attract the escort ships over? Alright, what's next?" Peter asked.
"We'll send someone to detonate the star."
Shiller's tone was calm, but the other people in the room were semi-frozen. Strange said, "Are you insane?!! You want to detonate a sun???"
"Like I said, if the problem cannot be resolved, then the quantity is insufficient. If the destructive power of a nuclear bomb is not enough to deal with the Kree's planet warship, the destructive power of the sun should suffice, right?"
"But..." Nick stroked his forehead, making a gesture as if he were praying. He asked: "Alright, never mind that your thinking is somewhat crazy... how are we going to detonate a star?"
"We indeed cannot, but someone can."
"Who?"
"Mutants."
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a boarding school transformed from an English manor, was in England during the 1960s but was moved to America at the onset of the 21st century, still retaining a strong English flair.
The residential density here is extremely low, it's very scenic, or in other words, rather remote and distant from modern society.
However, today, the school saw a group of uninvited guests at its castle-like entrance.
With a black cape fluttering in the wind, a pair of black boots touched the ground, stirring up tiny dust particles around them. A pair of hands held the helmet, revealing an old face beneath, his gaze cold and deep.
Sitting in his wheelchair, Charles greeted them at the school gates, his eyes squinting: "Long time no see, Magneto."
Confidently holding his head high, Magneto extended a hand, lightly brushing the dust off the back of his hand. Behind him followed several members of the Mutant Brotherhood. They were all dressed in black - two exceptions being Mystique with her blue skin and Polaris with her green hair.
Polaris wore an expression identical to her father's. When Charles saw her, he seemed quite surprised, not expecting Magneto to bring his daughter along.
When Charles came out, he was accompanied by members from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. As soon as both sides got close, there was a drastic clash between them.
With her haughty demeanor, Polaris extended her hand first that sent Colossus flying with a "boom". Soon after, a laser shot from Cyclops and Polaris stepped back to avoid it.
With a "swoosh", a man with all-encompassing wings soared to the sky, diving towards them. Magneto remained expressionless, just raised a hand and slightly motioned his fingertips, sending Angel crashing to the ground.
"Polaris! Stop!" Iceman came forward. He pressed down with his hand and an icy surface began to cover the floor. Magneto rose to avoid it while Charles' gaze was unwavering. He whispered, "…Don't resist me."
Polaris, having just attacked Colossus, floated again and advanced towards Cyclops. She performed an elegant tumble in the air to avoid the laser before landing, swinging Colossus towards Cyclops. Storm, next to Cyclops, was about to get furious when, at that moment, a woman dressed in black emerged from the school door and announced, "Everyone, stop."
At this point, the school entrance was now in chaos. Most mutants were flying in the air. But as soon as Jean Grey's deep voice resonated, everyone instinctively paused and reluctantly backed down.
Charles sighed slightly. As he glanced at Magneto's equally aged face, he said: "We're here today to discuss a serious matter."
Magneto reached out a hand to grasp his cape. Paying no mind to Charles, he strode towards the school. The members of the Mutant Brotherhood forced students and teachers out of their way and followed Magneto into the school as if they were its masters.
Charles watched him leave, said nothing, and slowly turned his wheelchair to follow inside.
When they met, everyone else was scattered about the school. Only Professor X and Magneto, old nemeses, entered the conference room. Magneto took the head seat, his hands on the chair's armrests. He didn't look at Charles, but stared straight ahead and said, "You better have something worthwhile."
"Of course, you'll be very interested. It all starts with a fascinating professor…"
On the other side, inside the Stark Building's laboratory, everyone else had left, leaving only Shiller and Stark. Stark, arms crossed, looked at Shiller with an expression of confusion. He asked, "Are you saying that the mutants who can detonate stars in your story can't survive in the cosmos?"
"You find it absurd, right? I found it absurd too. But it's nonetheless true; they cannot survive in a vacuum for long. Even if they do survive, it requires a lot of energy."
Shiller went to sit by the lab table and said, "So, I hope you can build a base that can operate in outer space. It must have the basic conditions to sustain human life and should be able to withstand high temperatures because it will be close to a star."
"That's not a problem. I can do that easily. The only issue is that I cannot produce it inside the Stark Building. I need a place where a large assembly line can be developed. I also need sufficient raw materials and energy…" Stark spoke without a second thought.
Indeed, it wasn't difficult for him. After his upgrade, he didn't just focus on single mechas anymore. He has spent quite a few points on mechanical bombers and prefab technology. Hence, a cosmic base wasn't too challenging for him.
Though the technology was not difficult, it was still dependent on manufacturing conditions and raw materials.
Shiller, on the other hand, said rather leisurely:"Then go to outer space. Don't forget; we now have a human-shaped portal. Any corner of the solar system can be reached by portals."
"If you are not satisfied with the planets in the solar system, we can look farther. After all, magic is so wonderful, isn't it?"
Stark started to spin his genius brain rapidly. Finally, he said, "No, I think it's more reliable to build a base within the solar system."
"Which planet do you favor?"
"Mercury." Stark answered without hesitation.
"Why? Mercury is the closest to the sun and is not suitable for habitation."
"We aren't going to colonize; we're not trying to establish the second home for humans, but to build a production and experimental factory. Habitability is the least important condition."
"I am not moving there to live, so whether it is livable or not is nothing to do with me. The Earth is habitable, and that's enough."
Shiller nodded, feeling that his reasoning was sound. Then, Stark said, "Nick was here just now, so I didn't mention it. But, I've already developed a rudimentary system for extracting solar energy. Although it's not yet perfected, and the extraction and conversion efficiency is very low, I am confident that I can improve it gradually in the course of a year or even a few months…"
Shiller raised an eyebrow, he hadn't expected Stark's progress to be so rapid. But then again, this was normal. After scaling the highest levels of the cosmos, what else was left to understand?
For people like Stark, wisdom is infinite once the mind is enlightened.
"So, that's why you chose Mercury, which is closest to the sun?"
"Exactly. Plus, your astronomy knowledge seems to be lacking. Mercury is not necessarily uninhabitable. Don't you know that Mercury's poles have always been the top choices for human colonization within the solar system?"
"The day-night temperature difference on Mercury is large, but the pole temperatures are very stable, about minus 200 degrees. Its unique tilt angle and geographical environment can overcome the problem of rapid heat loss."
"This way, with my current technology, if I have enough raw materials, it would not be difficult to establish a colony accommodating tens of thousands of people in the polar crater areas," said Stark, casually.
"In addition, Mercury's global magnetic field presents another favorable condition. Today, Loki's description of the planet warship gave me a new idea. Perhaps we can completely transform Mercury. Even if it can't become a warship, it can be the closest energy supply base to the sun." Stark paced as he spoke.
"Mercury is the closest to the sun. If we can overhaul its entire framework, leveraging its rapid rotation and the features of its global magnetic field, perhaps we can transform it into a highly efficient energy core."
"And Venus, the second planet closest to the sun, can serve as a factory and production base. Then, we link Mars to create a habitable colony. Jupiter and Saturn would then serve as resource bases, whereas the more distant Neptune and Pluto could be the future universe warships' docking port and solar system star port…"
Stark spoke quickly. Obviously, he had thought about this already. He continued, "Originally, I wanted to wait till we had deeper contact with Asgard and Kamar-Taj to find an opportunity to persuade Nick to cooperate with me in conducting solar energy experiments on Mercury."
"But I didn't expect this opportunity to come so fast."
Or should I say…?" Stark looked up at Shiller, his tone assertive.
"...was all this part of your plan?"