Legion quickly arrived at Professor X's office, and he paused for a moment as he entered, but clearly, he was not a talkative person, so he did not ask anything.
Professor X was troubled. Why did no one care that he had suddenly become young?
Nonetheless, he began to discuss serious matters. "David, I remember you can absorb other people's consciences and abilities and transform them into your own personality, right?"
Legion hesitated slightly but still nodded and said, "Even if I don't absorb, new personalities will still be generated. I've developed three new ones recently, though they're harmless."
"Can you absorb his personality?" Professor X glanced at the Apocalypse that Magneto had thrown onto the ground. Legion walked over, placed his hand on the back of Apocalypse's head, closed his eyes, and felt for a moment before saying, "No problem, but I need some time."
"How long will it take?"
"About three hours."
"After transforming him into your personality, will he still retain his original memories?"
"That depends on whether you want him to or not." Legion said, "I can copy, cut, and delete."
"What about his personality itself?" Professor X, worried Legion might not understand, added, "I mean, will he be more like you, or more like his former self?"
"No one will be like me," Legion said. "That's the biggest problem. All personalities are their own, so I can't fully control them."
Professor X pondered for a moment and then said, "I can teach you a technique that will allow you to rebirth their personalities. It won't change their personalities themselves but will make them loyal to you."
Legion frowned. He glanced at Magneto, the only outsider there, but then returned his gaze to Professor X's face.
Professor X knew what he was thinking.
Always in front of all his students, Professor X had been very gentle. He was kind, cultured, and even slightly indecisive.
He often taught his students that they must respect the human spirit, a miracle of life, not a toy to be experimented with at will.
His current behavior was obviously inconsistent with this doctrine, but fortunately, his biological son was no angel either. David was emotionally detached. Apart from having a somewhat better relationship with Franklin, he did not care much about the lives of others.
Legion nodded, showing no further reaction, evidently agreeing.
And the method Professor X spoke of, that could rebirth other personalities, naturally came from Hecate.
However, this method required a very high level of spiritual power from the user; ordinary humans couldn't possibly use this method, only gods, or perhaps powerful psychic ability users.
And both Professor X and Legion happened to be such psychic ability users.
Legion could continuously generate new personalities. Still, his weakness was that the new personalities did not completely obey him, and when there were too many, they could even unite against him.
With this method, Legion could entirely select some powerful new personalities to rebirth and control them, further enhancing his already strong mutant ability.
Professor X knew that since there was a Skrull alarm in Apocalypse's mind, when it came time to deliver, they would surely have a way to check if Apocalypse was truly himself and not under control.
Therefore, it was not safe for Professor X to directly control Apocalypse for the delivery. It was better to let the original body and soul go together to be completely safe.
However, convincing that fool Apocalypse was impossible. If he were a bit smarter, he wouldn't have lived for thousands of years only to end up as someone else's lackey.
Thus, they had to tamper with his original soul, let Legion absorb him, and then regenerate him into a new personality. It was like formatting a smartphone and setting a new password.
The phone was still the same phone, and the system was still the same system, just with an entirely different core.
By then, Apocalypse would still be Apocalypse, possessing his former regular personality and all his memories, only now firmly on their side.
Thinking this, Professor X quickly reminded Legion to find a way to add some intelligence to Apocalypse. Even if not for having foresight and a broad perspective, at least not to be as foolish as before lest he become a liability.
Of course, although most memories were to be retained, some details needed to be altered; otherwise, some things would be hard to explain. Legion was still young and not used to doing this; he had to keep an eye on it.
Another day passed, and when Apocalypse woke up, although his body and soul hadn't been harmed, he was already a different person.
With the most troublesome issue resolved, it was time to close the net. Professor X invited Loki and Thanos, who had been staying here, as the next steps were crucial and needed to be flawless.
Because the virus planted by Apocalypse would activate in three days, the third night was their final deadline. By then, the news of Magneto and Polaris causing chaos in the Shi'ar Empire's territory had already spread. To the Skrulls, it seemed the deal was done.
Apocalypse contacted them for delivery as planned, but the Skrulls were obviously cautious, they did not set the delivery location within the Mutant territory, but in a very remote star system within the Skrull Empire.
This made it even more convenient for Professor X. If the Shi'ar Empire's fleet had encountered trouble in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Mutants would have found it difficult to shirk responsibility, but being annihilated within the territory of the Skrull Empire was nothing short of a perfect pretext for war.
On the Mutant side, a fleet was dispatched; of course, there were no starships involved, only the formerly modified Kree escort battleships, led by Magneto. The capable Mutants available had all gone.
Of course, these people were not really going to trade, but to destroy any trace of those five noble starships. Although the fleet was under the Queen's command, it ultimately had capable fighters onboard who were not willing to perish without resistance; someone had to send them to Hell.
With everything ready, Professor X, Loki, and Thanos sat in the office, watching the footage transmitted from the cameras.
Soon after Apocalypse left, he went to the meetup with the Skrulls and sent the good news that the goods had been secured. The Skrulls indeed inspected Apocalypse, but as expected, they found nothing.
The Skrull Empire's technological level was truly advanced, but they were absolutely no match for Professor X in terms of psychic ability. Charles Xavier was the strongest mind power user in the entire cosmos. Now, with the help of a Legion and the breeding methods from Hecate, he was unrivaled in this field.
Upon finding that Apocalypse was unharmed, the Skrulls were not suspicious, but they still brought three fleets, majestically heading towards the target location.
Magneto had already been waiting there.
He floated above the frontline escort ship, his dark silhouette incredibly tiny among the stars, but with the leap of light flashing to this point, all the Skrulls in front of the giant starship's windows appeared very solemn.
Magneto was never anyone's opponent because he was the universe's magnetic field itself; no advanced civilization felt it could oppose the entire universe.
Magneto's gaze locked onto Apocalypse's face in an instant, and as if unaware, he said, "Give me the antidote."
Unyielding, Apocalypse also flashed to the top of the fleet, saying coldly, "Give me the goods first."
Magneto stared at him coldly while the Skrull commander spoke into Apocalypse's earpiece, "Don't provoke him, we are not here to fight him, let him show the goods first."
"Inspect the goods first," said Apocalypse. "How do we know you got them if you don't show them?"
"Give me the antidote," Magneto repeated.
"Is it really okay for him to act like he doesn't understand human language?" Loki remarked with some doubt from the office.
"When he starts acting like he understands human language, that's when things feel off," Professor X said. "He's always been one to act directly."
Loki glanced back at the screen, clearly the Skrulls took it well, realizing that the longer-lived civilizations understood that someone this arrogant who still survived should not be offended.
"Forget it," the Skrull commander said. "Give him the antidote, we've already locked down the space here, he can't escape."
Apocalypse took out two test tubes from his belt, shook them gently in his hand, and then said, "Where are the goods?"
Magneto slightly narrowed his eyes, glancing backward, and the door of the transport bay on the escort ship behind him opened, a smaller spacecraft flying out.
Of course, Reynolds wasn't inside; Reynolds was the patient given to Professor X by Shiller, who, although reluctant, couldn't just hand him over.
Inside was a grand gift for the Skrulls—Dr. Beast, Hank, a chemist and biologist.
The small spacecraft slowly moved towards the Skrull fleet, stopping in the middle when Apocalypse suddenly said, "Stop, don't come any closer."
Though it was a face-to-face delivery, the two fleets were still very far apart, maintaining a safe distance in case the Mutants really did throw a bomb; that would be a big problem for the Skrulls.
The small ship halted, and the Skrulls also dispatched two smaller craft towards the spacecraft sent by the Mutants.
They were cautious enough not to let unknown objects enter their fleet, and since it was a delivery, it was natural to examine the goods in person.
"Wait a minute," said Apocalypse into his earpiece. "There are no living creatures in your spacecraft, right? Be careful, they might have poisoned it!"
The Skrull commander was startled, hastily instructed his subordinates, "Call back the spacecraft, send two mechanical engineering ships instead."
"Using machines? Are you insane?" Apocalypse said incredulously. "Do you realize that Magneto is right there? What about electromagnetic interference?"
The Skrull commander was speechless for a moment, taken aback by Apocalypse's caution.
Apocalypse snorted coldly and said, "How could I cooperate with you fools?! Planning to come unprepared for a deal with the Mutants?"
Looking a bit distressed, the Skrull commander nevertheless waved his hand and said, "Go, drag out the electromagnetic shielding devices from the engineering ship and start them now!"