"Alright, everyone, break it up and get back to what you were doing."
Charles's voice rang out again, calm and steady as he clapped his hands lightly to gather everyone's attention. Seeing that the mood in the room had stabilized, he chose a deliberately casual tone.
"We've already been preparing to fight Shaw for a long time," he continued. "Everything we need is already in place. Tomorrow isn't anything special."
His relaxed attitude wasn't accidental. Charles understood that too much encouragement or dramatic speeches could easily increase everyone's anxiety. The best way to help them was to ease the tension, not amplify it.
By treating the coming battle like something ordinary, he was subtly removing the pressure weighing on their minds.
"But Charles… what exactly are we supposed to prepare?"
Sean scratched the back of his head and looked at Charles with an uncertain expression. The idea of an epoch-defining confrontation tomorrow was still difficult to process, and he genuinely had no idea what preparations he should be making.
Charles smiled at him reassuringly.
"Just do what you normally do."
That simple answer seemed to settle things.
"Come on, Sean," Alex said as he walked over and slapped Sean on the shoulder. "Our match earlier still isn't finished."
Before Moira had called them to watch the president's speech, the two of them had been in the middle of a friendly sparring session.
Their powers were oddly compatible. Sean relied on sonic waves, while Alex unleashed powerful energy blasts. Because their attack styles shared certain similarities, the two of them often trained together.
"Yeah, let's go," Sean said immediately, his spirits lifting.
"Back to training."
The rest of the mutants quickly began to disperse as well, leaving Charles's study one after another.
"Looks like we'll be relying on you again tomorrow, Rorschach."
Raven walked beside him naturally, her tone relaxed as she flashed him a small smile.
Rorschach shook his head.
"No," he said seriously. "Tomorrow depends on all of us."
With his current strength, defeating Shaw alone would still be extremely difficult. Rorschach was confident, but he wasn't arrogant enough to ignore reality.
If Shaw was going to be taken down, Charles's assistance would be absolutely essential.
And even before that point, there were several steps that required the entire team.
Shaw had been hiding inside a nuclear submarine beneath the ocean. To locate it, they would need Sean's sonic waves for underwater detection.
Once the submarine was found, Eric's control over magnetism would be required to pull the massive vessel up from the depths.
Only after those steps were completed could Charles finally intervene mentally and neutralize Shaw.
This battle was never meant to be won by a single hero.
It was a team effort from beginning to end.
Raven didn't immediately respond. Instead, she studied Rorschach's face quietly for a moment before asking another question.
"Do you really believe we'll defeat Shaw this time?"
Rorschach didn't hesitate.
"Of course," he said calmly. "I'm completely confident."
Raven looked at him for a moment longer. The sharp lines of his face and the steady certainty in his voice seemed to carry a quiet strength that was impossible to ignore.
For reasons she couldn't quite explain, a sense of reassurance spread through her chest.
"I'm starting to believe that too," she said softly, her smile widening.
Perhaps it was because they had already faced Shaw twice before. Even though those encounters had ended badly, the experience itself had strengthened their mental resilience.
Or perhaps Rorschach's confidence was contagious.
More likely, it was a combination of both.
In any case, once everyone left Charles's room, the overall atmosphere around the mansion remained surprisingly positive. The tension had faded considerably, replaced by determination and even a hint of excitement.
Alex, for example, looked like he was itching for the coming fight.
One by one, the mutants returned to their usual training areas and resumed the practice that had been interrupted by the president's speech.
Rorschach did the same.
He had only recently unlocked another three percent of his power progression. The improvement to his physical condition had been significant, and he still needed time to fully adapt to the changes.
As he walked toward his personal training area, his eyes briefly drifted to the ring on his finger.
He shrugged slightly.
Looks like taking over the Undead Legion would have to wait.
"Rorschach."
Eric's voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
Rorschach had just arrived at his training ground and hadn't even stepped inside yet. He turned around and saw Eric approaching with an unusually thoughtful expression.
"What's up?" Rorschach asked.
Eric hesitated slightly before speaking.
"Let's train together."
He didn't explain further. Instead, he simply gestured with his hand, signaling for Rorschach to follow him.
This wasn't unusual.
The two of them had trained together many times before, often combining their abilities in coordinated exercises.
Rorschach didn't ask any more questions. He nodded and followed Eric toward another outdoor training area nearby.
The field was scattered with numerous metal objects of different sizes. It was the perfect environment for Eric to practice his magnetic manipulation while allowing Rorschach to test the precision and power of his heat vision.
They had run this training routine many times already.
It was less about fighting each other and more about improving control.
The moment they arrived, Eric didn't waste any time.
With a subtle motion of his hand, several metal objects suddenly lifted off the ground and shot toward Rorschach like bullets.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Rorschach's eyes immediately flared with blazing heat.
Brilliant crimson beams erupted from his pupils.
Chi—!
The scorching rays sliced through the incoming metal projectiles one after another, reducing them to glowing fragments that scattered across the training ground.
More objects rose into the air.
More lasers flashed.
For a while, the entire field was filled with streaks of red light and flying metal, turning the quiet training area into a chaotic storm of movement and energy.
The intense session lasted for quite some time.
Eventually, both of them sat down on the ground to rest, their bodies covered with sweat from the exertion.
Eric stared at the ground silently for a moment before speaking.
"Rorschach."
His tone was unusually serious.
"You know I'm going to kill Shaw tomorrow."
Rorschach glanced at him but didn't interrupt.
Eric continued.
"But Charles will stop me. He definitely will."
"Yes," Rorschach said calmly. "He will."
Having seen the original events unfold, Rorschach was even more certain of that fact.
Eric let out a quiet breath.
"Charles is one of my closest friends," he said slowly. "He's not just a friend. He's like a brother to me."
His voice carried genuine emotion.
"I want to protect mutantkind with him. I want to build a future where mutants can stand proudly in this world."
He paused before adding the final sentence.
"But Charles will never agree with my methods."
Rorschach looked at him thoughtfully.
"So what are you trying to say, Eric?"
Eric lifted his head and met Rorschach's gaze directly.
"I don't know how tomorrow will end," he admitted. "But I have a bad feeling. Things won't turn out perfectly. They won't go the way everyone hopes."
He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"You know I've always wanted to do something for our kind. I want mutants to live freely in this world without hiding or being afraid."
His voice grew quieter.
"So if I need your help someday… will you stand with me?"
The meaning behind the question was obvious.
Eric wasn't just speaking about tomorrow's battle. He was hinting at something much larger.
He was trying to recruit Rorschach.
Rorschach understood perfectly.
Eric had probably already decided that after the battle with Shaw, he and Charles would eventually go their separate ways. Even without the future incident where Charles would be injured, that ideological divide was impossible to ignore.
But Rorschach had no intention of leaving with Eric.
"Eric," he said with a smile, "I'll help."
Eric's expression brightened slightly.
"Whether it's you or Charles," Rorschach continued, "I'll help both of you. We're all brothers, aren't we?"
Eric fell silent for a moment before murmuring softly.
"Yes… we are brothers."
He truly believed that.
Even if Charles would stop him from killing Shaw, Charles would always remain his brother.
Still, there was one thing Eric couldn't ignore.
Rorschach seemed to understand him in ways that Charles never did.
"Don't think too much about it," Rorschach said as he stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.
"No matter what happens, everything will work out in the end."
He stretched slightly before gesturing toward the training field.
"Come on. Let's keep going."
Eric also stood up and nodded slowly.
"Yes," he said. "Everything will work out in the end."
With that, the two of them returned to the training ground and threw themselves back into practice.
.....
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