Another morning at Clarkia, the air filled with moist fog. The outlines of fairy-tale-like houses have beco a slightly denser scene than before, with the vines on the stone steps having been cleared away, yet they still appear quite rustic. Following the path cleared through the raspberry bushes, and arriving beside the small waterfall, one can see a door hung with glowing lantern fruits among the shimring shadows of a tree. Walking a few dozen steps further, the view suddenly opens up.
Shiller stood up from the swing in the courtyard, walked over and hugged Charles, saying, "You arrived quickly. How are the kids?"
"Thank heaven. Wanda took them to the base in Battleworld, where there are about fifty or so mothers, each with a rich experience in parenting. Just not sure if the walls of Battleworld are strong enough to keep them from running out."
"They have already been reinforced." Shiller said with a smile, "Reed and Franklin haven’t ’accidentally wandered in’ for a few days now, which shows the reinforcent work has been quite effective."
Shiller led them inside, and Charles clicked his tongue in wonder: "This island sure is beautiful, much better than the other islands we found before."
"Have you also found this island?"
Charles shook his head, saying: "Never found one this beautiful. We certainly discovered living islands before, but they were overgrown with miasma and beasts rampaged, transforming them would an flattening, so we gave up."
"Sounds like there are quite a few living islands?"
"Yes," Erik began, "to be precise, they are a species group. What exactly you encounter depends on luck. Not all mutants can find one so beautiful."
"After we return, we must search thoroughly," Charles said, looking at those towering trees, without concealing the envy in his tone, "I’ve long disliked the floating island at the interstellar capital of the Androda Galaxy. It would be nice if we could find a beautiful living island on Earth to bring over."
"’Illegally transferring Earth assets’—I must remind you, Charles," Erik pointed out, "the bill revised last month forbids anyone with space travel capability to take anything from Earth upon leaving. Forget living islands, you can’t take even a blade of grass, unless you want Councilman to publicly berate you through the star system broadcast."
"I hate that broadcast," Charles frowned deeply, "constantly blaring in my ears every day, saying nothing but useless nonsense."
"If not for broadcasting nonsense, there’s no need to have a star system broadcast. What do you expect us to reveal to the entire star system? Governnt secrets?" Strange’s figure appeared on the other side of the courtyard.
"I never thought you would believe your governnt has secrets." Charles sneered, "Mutants might know twelve hours in advance what you plan to do tomorrow."
"You actually think my work is secret?" Strange appeared shocked, "Then you should visit the garbage dump near your ho more often; surely watching the garbage truck dump trash will be very enlightening for you."
Shiller laughed, Strange gave him a glare: "Why are you laughing? You’re the one truly leaking secrets."
"Sorry, but your cloak being alive is no secret. I only shared your scream when smacked by your own cloak with the work group unintentionally."
"Thank you very much, mutant mister!" Strange said grumpily.
Charles looked curiously at Shiller, who diverted his gaze, indicating he was hiding sothing. But Charles didn’t pursue it, as soon everyone would be together.
They arrived at the residence—within that row of cabins. They were assigned the suite on the far left, where upon pushing open the door was a spacious oval hall reminiscent of a cave. The dining room was at the far end, with a sunken reception area closer to the entrance, in the middle stood a huge fireplace with a chimney reaching up to the ceiling. Next to the fireplace were carpets, a coffee table, and soft beanbag sofas.
All furniture was wooden, even showing marks of handmade carving. The tense situation didn’t stop the mutants from loving life, as columns on the walls and corners of tables were chiseled with Clarkian Totem patterns. The room was filled with various plants, even the chimney hung with cascading vine flowers.
"Absolutely wonderful," Charles marveled again, "After being away from Earth for so long, I miss this lush scenery. I should have moved a few pots of flowers to the Androda Galaxy office before the law took effect."
Even Erik stared at the ceiling for a long ti; it was painted with murals, though not realistic oil paintings, but rather child-like scribbles—a mural with a story. Little figures danced around a large tree, shared food, built houses, and decorated windows.
As Erik studied intently, a branch from the ceiling waved at him. Erik raised an eyebrow slightly; it seed the living island’s consciousness was quite active.
"So what should we do?" Charles threw himself onto one of the sofas, first lying with arms open, then turning to lie sideways, supporting his head with an elbow. Since he was now youthful in appearance, this lively posture was not out of place. They were all becoming more youthful again.
"Nothing," Shiller said, "I told you all, it’s just an invitation for so travel. What do you usually do when you travel?"
Charles was genuinely stumped by this question; he stood there thinking for a while, like a stuck fra in animation. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "My last trip was about 50 years ago, or maybe even longer. I rember back then, cars still ran on the ground, and there were no teleportation portals. We had to first drive to the station, buy paper tickets, and then go to the waiting area..."
After speaking, he looked at Erik just in ti to catch Erik almost throw his back out while sinking into a soft beanbag. Rather than sitting into it, it was more like falling into it.
Charles tried hard not to laugh, cleared his throat, and said, "Did we travel together, Erik?"
"Weren’t we always traveling together?"
"Hmm! Ahem!" Strange sounded as if he was trying to induce an earthquake with his cough.
Erik showed a look of reminiscing and pondering, "...my last trip was moving my family into a concentration camp."
"Finally, you guys could travel together," Shiller said. "But figuring out what to do is indeed the question. It’s nothing more than those few things: eat so local dishes, admire the beautiful scenery, and finally take photos to rember the monts. Which one do you all want to experience first?"
"Let’s eat first. When will they arrive?" Charles asked.
"Probably will be a while." Shiller replied.
They waited there for a bit, not doing much else, just chatting. Such relaxing monts surely shouldn’t involve work, though just talking about family matters that occurred recently already gave them plenty to discuss.
Wanda successfully got promoted because the council’s central hospital in Crux was built. She went for an interview and directly got promoted to Head Nurse. For safety reasons, the hospital’s dical staff are all locals from the star system, mostly mbers of the Nine Major Kingdoms, so she adapted well.
Theoretically, such a hospital shouldn’t have many patients, but the reality is quite the opposite. Since the hospital is open to the entire Milky Way, many patients co from the Nine Major Kingdoms due to its reputation, and the ergency departnt has a long queue every day. Wanda is extrely busy, and it helps that she is Scarlet Witch, able to use the power of Scarlet to solve so physical-level issues; otherwise, she’d hardly have ti to rest.
Fortunately, the kids are growing up, spending their ti with cats and dogs, engaging in so many activities that they’re less dependent on their parents. For the security of the interstellar capital, Battleworld has taken on a responsibility, allowing minors to enter the base. Though they can’t enter the gas yet, they can et with their guardians’ counterparts, and Scarlet Witches generally like kids a lot.
Strange’s topic couldn’t escape the interstellar council and Magic Academy. Speaking of Magic Academy, there’s also an important matter: the second movie is finally about to start shooting, currently in the intense preparation stage.
And Shiller couldn’t help but bring up the previous mission, vividly describing the ridiculous antics of the few during their escape, and read out so reviews, successfully sparking widespread ridicule.
Just chatting casually like this, soon they received news that the rest of the companions arrived. This ti not many people ca; all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were busy maintaining security at Crux, and most scientists didn’t show up as well. Earth has entered an era where star ships are being built one after another with each having technological innovations, keeping most scientists busy with their own projects. Of course, Peter still ca as he is currently Spider Man.
He chose to be Spider Man even though scientists are so busy because Spider Man is busier. Spider Man is the first of all counterparts to unite; now they are busy helping other universes’ Spider n drive out the Moron Family. They encountered a pretty tricky opponent in one universe, having just finished a tough battle, but soon may need to act again, so Peter can relax during his group’s downti.
Steve also ca, as there are more star ships now, more navigators joined, allowing him to finally rotate and have so ti off. But Agent Carter is too busy, Thomas got taken out to play, leaving an empty house, so he decided to travel.
Also, the long-lost Daredevil Matt finally had so free ti. After moving, changing communities, and schools, exhausting himself over the child’s education recently, he finally switched to a satisfactory one. With Erica taking the child back to Europe for a visit, he could co out and relax.
So it was just these few people, luckily everyone had been busy for a long ti, and finally embraced so rest, with everyone enjoying the leisurely holiday. Clarkia did not disappoint them either.
Steve shouted as he walked in: "Tony posted photos for three consecutive days on his social dia, with captions keeping it mysterious, not telling anyone what place it was. I thought he was bragging again, but didn’t expect this place to be truly nice; how did so many big trees grow here?"
Matt nudged Shiller with his elbow while sitting down: "I saw fish in the lake when coming over. Any thoughts?"
"Forget about it, this is a natural reserve. Anything that breathes is a protected animal. Better prepare to eat."
Shiller took out his phone—the island had signal, but it was a local network, completely isolated from the outside, but could be used for ordering food. However, the ordering program was immature, with no detailed nu items visible, so he had to call over and communicated; he asked them to send whatever they had, and hopefully awaited the delivery outside.
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