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"Ahem, so you're... Superman from a parallel world, right? What exactly is this world-threatening crisis you mentioned?"
Charles coughed softly, steering the conversation back on track, and asked Roger this critical question.
Roger claimed to be from a parallel world, a statement that would normally be met with disbelief, as such things sound far-fetched.Â
However, both Charles and Raven were halfway between belief and doubt. While they didn't fully believe Roger, they also couldn't completely dismiss the possibility.Â
This was because, ten years ago, a mutant named Logan had appeared, claiming to have traveled back in time from the future. His mission was to prevent the emergence of Sentinel robots, warning the X-Men of that era that mutants in the future were almost entirely wiped out by these machines.
Initially, Charles and his team didn't believe Logan's story. It wasn't until Charles probed Logan's mind and had a telepathic conversation with his future self that they confirmed Logan's true identity as someone from the future.
With this prior experience, Charles maintained a basic level of trust when faced with Roger, this so-called "Superman" from a parallel world. After all, if time travel was possible, then traveling between parallel worlds wasn't that big of a stretch.
Of course, what further bolstered Roger's credibility was the advanced nanotechnology he possessed. Charles had never seen such sophisticated machinery before, not even in movies. The current state of technology in their world simply didn't allow for such precision.
As the conversation returned to the pressing topic, Roger hesitated for a moment before addressing Charles:
"As for the world crisis, I think it might be hard for you to grasp it just through words. How about... you take a look inside my mind?"
"You want me to read your memories?" Charles asked.
Roger responded, "My memories are valuable, so I can't let you access everything. But I'll show you the memories related to the world crisis. This way is much quicker than trying to explain it all."
Thanks to Doctor Strange's special training in mental defense, Roger's mind was fortified. Even a psychic as powerful as Charles wouldn't be able to see anything that Roger didn't want him to.Â
It might seem a bit ridiculous to claim that Charles, one of the strongest mutants, wouldn't be able to access the mind of a novice magic student. But if you add in the magical barriers left by Doctor Strange, it wasn't so outlandish after all.
To prevent Roger from being mentally compromised by some psychic in a future world, which could render him unconscious or turn him into an unwitting tool, Strange had set up layers of mental defenses for Roger.Â
These defenses not only allowed Roger to ignore most mind-related powers and magic, but they also gave him full control over his mental space. Additionally, to prevent Roger from facing a situation where someone could forcibly remove his soul, Strange had also fortified his soul's protection.
All of these precautions had one purpose: to ensure that Roger retained his autonomy, unaffected by any power or magic.
Thus, Roger wasn't worried at all that Charles might break through his mental barriers. First, it was doubtful Charles could even do so. Second, Charles had the integrity to respect Roger's boundaries and wouldn't pry into what Roger didn't want him to see.Â
And lastly, if Charles did attempt anything improper, Roger could simply eject him from his mind using Strange's mental shields.
After all, this version of Charles was not the older, future version of himself. While his psychic abilities were formidable, they were still somewhat limited at this point.
It was these assurances that allowed Roger to willingly let Charles view his memories.
Perhaps because Roger was willing to open up his mind, Charles and Raven's trust in him deepened. After exchanging a glance, Charles approached Roger and said:
"Shall we begin?"
"Go ahead."
Once everything was ready, Charles took a deep breath and placed his fingers on Roger's forehead.
In the next moment, Charles's vision darkened, and countless images began to flash before his eyes.
He saw Roger's identity, his experiences, and a glimpse of the parallel world Roger came from.
Then, Charles saw images related to this world.Â
He witnessed countless nuclear missiles launch into the sky, piercing through the clouds before descending back toward the Earth. The cause of all this destruction was Charles himself, having been controlled by Apocalypse while searching for Erik.
Next, Charles saw a scene of Apocalypse leading his Four Horsemen to Cairo, Egypt. A pyramid arose from the ground as countless buildings collapsed. People screamed in agony, buried beneath the rubble.
The magnitude of this disaster, which wiped out countless lives, left Charles deeply shaken.
The images flashed by in an instant. Soon after, Charles severed the connection with Roger's mind, staring at him in shock:
"...Is this... real?"
Coming out of Roger's mind, Charles needed to confirm the authenticity of what he had seen.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Roger, it was just difficult to accept such a future.
Roger nodded at Charles and said:
"As you saw, it's all real. If I hadn't come to find you, you would already be under Apocalypse's control by now."
In the original storyline, Charles had connected to Erik's mind in his search for him, only to be detected by Apocalypse, who was nearby. Apocalypse then used Erik's mind to gain control over Charles. Through Charles, Apocalypse was able to use Cerebro to manipulate every individual capable of launching nuclear missiles, sending all of them into the sky.
If not for Beast and Havok destroying Cerebro in time, the world of the X-Men would have been devastated by a wave of nuclear strikes.
Of course, Roger hadn't shown Charles everything. He only showed him the image of the missiles launching, leading Charles to believe that the crisis Roger spoke of was the global detonation of nuclear warheads, which would wipe out humanity.
"Charles...?"
Seeing Charles drenched in sweat and clearly frightened, Raven called out to him in concern.
"I'm fine... but we've got a new problem," Charles replied, signaling to Raven that he was alright. Without hesitation, he instructed Beast, Hank, to take them to the underground Cerebro chamber.
For now, the nuclear missile issue wasn't too pressing. After all, Charles hadn't fallen under Apocalypse's control yet. His immediate task was to ensure that the people in Cairo evacuated the city.
"What's your plan?" Roger asked Charles curiously as they walked.
"Are you going to connect with everyone in Cairo and tell them to leave the city?"
"No... in fact, I can't connect with that many minds at once," Charles admitted with a sigh.
Even the most powerful mutants had limits. In the movies, Charles seemed omnipotent, capable of using Cerebro to connect to every mind on Earth and potentially kill everyone by crushing their spirits.
At first glance, connecting with a few million people to evacuate a city seemed like it wouldn't be too hard for him.
However, the version of Charles capable of such feats was the older one from the future.
The older Charles had gone through countless experiences, and his psychic abilities had grown significantly stronger over time. Only then could he use Cerebro to wipe out all humans or mutants.
The current Charles was still in his developmental phase. He might be able to connect with everyone on Earth using Cerebro, but he couldn't necessarily destroy their minds.
And controlling people was far more difficult than simply killing them.
If Charles wanted to kill someone connected to his mind, he only needed to shatter their consciousness, a relatively easy task.Â
However, making millions of people evacuate a city in an orderly fashion required far more intricate control.
He would have to make each person stop what they were doing, follow his instructions to leave, and avoid causing a stampede. He would need to maintain control over them until they were safely outside the city.
The amount of mental processing required for this would be astronomical. Even with Cerebro, Charles simply couldn't perform such a precise operation.
"So, what's your plan?" Roger asked again.
"It's simple. I'll just control Egypt's leadership and have them issue an evacuation order," Charles replied with a smile.
Controlling a few thousand people to send out an emergency notice was clearly easier than controlling millions.
As Charles activated Cerebro, Raven turned to Roger and asked:
"So... is that it? Did we just save millions of people?"
"No," Roger shook his head. "Not yet. We need time."
"Time? For what?"
"To stop Apocalypse from reaching Cairo. If Apocalypse doesn't come for Charles now, his next target will be..."
"Cairo!" Hank quickly chimed in.
The Cerebro room fell into a sudden silence.
Neither Raven nor Hank fully understood Apocalypse's strength, but anyone capable of ending the world was bound to be incredibly powerful.
Faced with such a being, the people at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters would need to gather every available ally before confronting him.
But they didn't have that luxury now.
"I'll go stop him. I'm fast, at least, I can fly fast. I should be able to delay Apocalypse before he reaches Cairo," Roger quickly decided.
As soon as Roger finished speaking, Charles cautioned him:
"Don't push yourself. I'll come find you as soon as I finish in Cairo."
"Don't worry, I'm not reckless... though, I feel like I've said this before," Roger mused, experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu. He couldn't quite place when he'd said something similar, but it didn't seem important.
Shrugging off the thought, Roger soared into the sky and flew toward Germany, where Apocalypse and his Horsemen should currently be, according to the original storyline.
...
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