Tony, Yinsen, and many others were also Karl's friends.
According to the effects of Cerebro in the original timeline, once the brainwave amplifier located mutants or ordinary humans, Charles Xavier's telepathic power could directly cause brain death in those detected.
In this timeline, however, Magneto wore his special helmet, which made him immune to Charles's telepathic abilities.
Karl thought about it for a moment.
Then an idea appeared in his mind.
Magneto's helmet.
If he obtained that helmet, he could give May, Raven, Gwen, Helen Zhao, and the others protection against powerful psychic attacks.
Karl smiled slightly.
Magneto was technically the father of Wanda and Pietro, after all.
But if he ended up beating Magneto a little—
Wanda and Pietro probably wouldn't object.
Soon, Karl saw the X-Men's Blackbird jet land on an open field not far away.
Jean Grey led the group out of the aircraft.
Behind them walked an elderly man wearing a distinctive metal helmet.
Karl immediately recognized him.
Magneto.
"I sensed the professor's location earlier," Jean said urgently.
"He's inside the base beneath that dam."
"We have to move quickly."
"If William Stryker forces the professor to use Cerebro, the consequences will be disastrous."
The X-Men immediately nodded.
They began running toward the dam.
To save time, Cyclops raised his visor.
He prepared to blast open an entrance using his optic beam.
At the same time, Kitty Pryde grabbed Jean and Magneto's hands.
BOOM—!
Cyclops fired.
A massive explosion tore open the base's outer structure.
But while Cyclops was blasting the entrance—
Kitty had already phased Jean and Magneto through the walls and entered the base.
Inside, the guards were immediately startled.
They opened fire.
But Magneto simply raised a hand.
CLANG!
All the bullets froze in midair.
Then reversed direction.
The guards were instantly neutralized.
Jean had brought Magneto inside first for several reasons.
First—
Magneto was incredibly powerful.
Second—
He understood Cerebro's design, since he had helped develop it alongside Charles.
Third—
His helmet made him immune to telepathic control.
Meanwhile, outside the base—
Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Iceman, Pyro, and the others rushed inside through the opening Cyclops had blasted.
They began attacking the remaining guards.
But as they advanced deeper into the base—
They saw something horrifying.
Mutant children.
Being experimented on.
Some were dissected while still alive.
Others had animal limbs surgically attached to their bodies.
There were countless cruel biological experiments.
One chamber even contained two mutant children fused together.
The X-Men's anger exploded instantly.
They attacked the soldiers even more fiercely.
Inside the base command center—
William Stryker heard the chaos.
He knew the X-Men had arrived.
But he didn't care.
His plan was already reaching its final stage.
Soon—
Mutants would disappear from the world forever.
"Tell him."
Stryker spoke coldly to the boy beside him.
"Let him destroy all mutants."
Jason Stryker repeated the command.
His voice echoed unnaturally.
"Destroy… all mutants."
Under Jason's psychic manipulation, Charles Xavier repeated the command in broken speech.
"Destroy… all… mutants…"
Then Charles activated his powers.
Using Cerebro, he began searching the world for mutant minds.
Preparing to kill them all.
The moment the psychic attack began—
Every mutant on Earth felt it.
All mutants suddenly experienced excruciating headaches.
Even the X-Men inside the base collapsed to the ground.
Jean Grey fell to her knees, clutching her head in agony.
Storm and the others were barely able to remain conscious.
Only Magneto, protected by his helmet, remained unaffected.
He calmly walked toward the control room.
Even at Karl's manor, far away—
Wanda, Pietro, and Raven suddenly screamed in pain.
The psychic attack had reached them as well.
However, Wanda seemed slightly less affected.
Perhaps because her powers came from Chaos Magic, rather than standard mutant abilities.
Seeing their suffering, the Shadow Ninjas immediately acted.
They dragged Wanda, Pietro, and Raven into the Shadow World.
Inside the Shadow World—
The psychic pressure disappeared instantly.
They quickly recovered, though they were still breathing heavily.
Charles Xavier's telepathy could not reach the Shadow World.
Nor could it harm them inside it.
Meanwhile—
Magneto arrived at the control room.
He pointed one finger at the metal door.
The entire door tore free from its hinges.
Magneto casually threw it aside.
Then he stepped inside.
William Stryker stood there.
Before he could react—
A piece of metal shot through his skull.
Stryker died instantly.
Jason stopped speaking.
Charles ceased his psychic attack.
But he remained under Jason's control.
Magneto stared at the scene calmly.
Then he stepped toward the Cerebro controls.
The surrounding modules began rotating as he manipulated the machine.
Magneto had been imprisoned earlier.
He had no knowledge of Karl's battle with Captain Marvel.
At this moment—
He still believed humanity was the enemy.
If all humans were eliminated—
Mutants would finally have a world of their own.
With that thought, he increased the system's power.
Outside the chamber—
Cyclops and the others reached Jean.
"Jean!"
Cyclops asked urgently.
"Where's Magneto?"
"And where's the professor?"
Jean spoke weakly.
"He went ahead…"
"He said he was going to stop Stryker from killing all mutants."
"But he hasn't come back…"
Scott's expression changed instantly.
Something was wrong.
Charles Xavier's power could affect both mutants and ordinary humans.
If Magneto reached Cerebro first—
Thinking of Magneto's extreme ideology—
The X-Men immediately rushed inside.
Inside the chamber—
Magneto issued a new command.
"Destroy all ordinary humans."
Jason repeated the words.
"Destroy… ordinary humans."
Then Charles repeated them as well.
"Destroy… ordinary… humans…"
Jason had been completely modified by Stryker.
His mind had long since been destroyed.
He could only obey commands.
Now he obeyed Magneto instead.
Charles remained under Jason's control.
Preparing to unleash his psychic power again—
This time targeting all humans.
"Magneto, stop!"
Storm shouted as they entered.
"You're going to bring disaster to all mutants!"
Magneto didn't even look at them.
He raised his hand.
Steel bars burst out of the walls.
They wrapped around the X-Men and slammed them against the structure.
"I am creating a perfect world for mutants."
Magneto's voice was calm.
"Disaster?"
"No."
"The real disaster…"
"Is you."
Cyclops struggled, but Magneto twisted his body.
Scott's head was forced backward.
His optic beam could not aim at Magneto.
Kitty Pryde tried to phase.
But a steel rod pierced through her calf.
Several more metal bars pinned her body in place.
She couldn't move.
Nor use her power.
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