"Where is the lovely little Stark princess?"
"Right in the car."
When Artoria felt the car stop, the driver slowly got out and walked towards a man wearing a red helmet. A strange substance shifted on the driver's body, and a woman who looked like a Beast appeared. From their dialogue and appearance, Artoria understood exactly who had kidnapped her. She hadn't expected that after failing to find Rogue, she would actually run into the leader of the Brotherhood, the main warmonger faction among the Mutants. This was getting interesting.
"Excuse me, sir, what do you want from me? To resort to forcibly kidnapping an underage child is a bit beneath your standards, don't you think?"
As the two walked towards the stretched Rolls-Royce, the car door suddenly opened from the inside. Artoria stepped out of the car elegantly. At this unexpected turn of events, Mystique and Magneto looked at each other in surprise. How could this Little guy be perfectly fine after a dose of a drug that could put an adult to sleep for a whole day?
"Miss Stark, we need some funds recently and would like to borrow some from you."
Magneto very gentlemanly explained his intent to Artoria and stated they were currently short on money. But this information made Artoria's mind race. How could an organization like the Brotherhood be short on money? It was impossible. With their group, they could easily get enough for their activities. Magneto could use his power to sell hundreds of thousands of tons of special steel, which would be a significant amount. So if they were short on money now, it must be for some special experimental equipment. As for Magneto's research, could it be that project to turn ordinary people into Mutants?
If that was the case, then it was fantastic. Their target was 'Rogue'. They shouldn't mind if she took a vial of blood, right?
"I think we can have a good talk."
Thinking of this, Artoria revealed a brilliant smile and said happily to Magneto.
Half a day later, an unharmed Artoria returned to the Base holding a copy of the 'Human Evolution Plan'. Of course, upon returning, Artoria threw the thing directly into the trash can. She had made a deal with Magneto: give her a set of Mutant blood samples, and she would invest in his machine. She threw a two hundred million dollar check directly in old Magneto's face. She only really wanted Rogue's, but she couldn't make it too obvious, so she asked for all the Mutant blood samples. She expressed to old Magneto that she wanted to evolve humanity, and thus old Magneto and Artoria reached a consensus.
Mystique looked at the old and young pair, both with treacherous smiles, and felt that something extraordinary was about to happen.
"It seems there is hope for the Sentry Serum."
After returning to her room, Artoria looked at the Sentry Serum with a success rate of less than half. She currently held a large pile of samples with success rates around ten percent, which was truly a headache. However, these failures were still somewhat useful; they could be recycled into the pool to draw for good items, like some of the 'good stuff' she had drawn recently.
Rogue's ability was intended to be used to absorb the Sentry Serum and increase the success rate.
"Artoria, are you alright? Why did you come back so late?"
Just as Artoria was planning to enter her consciousness for a round of spending resources, Maya suddenly ran over. Seeing Artoria safe and sound, she looked her over and touched her here and there, appearing truly worried about her.
"Alright, Miss Maya, I'm not a child anymore."
With a slap, Artoria swatted away a certain 'wandering hand' that was about to grope her chest. She looked unhappily at this woman who, having failed to seduce the brother, had come to harass the sister. Did this woman want to take both of them? What a bastard.
"You should call me Big Sister, little Artoria."
"Pah! You shameless dog thief, you're the little one! Your whole family is little!"
The two of them bickered, ruining the warm atmosphere from before. On the other side, the now gray-haired Howard looked coldly at the big Nick Fury in front of him. Although he had disappeared from the public eye, he wasn't isolated from the world. He kept a constant eye on Tony and Artoria, especially Artoria; after all, girls were always more likely to suffer a loss than boys. Today, as usual, he watched through surveillance as his daughter left his son's seaside Villa. Then, he kept watch on the cameras near the girl's small castle, but to his surprise, he found no trace of his daughter for most of the day.
"This is the protection you spoke of, Nick? My daughter was missing for four hours without a trace. You owe me an explanation."
"I'm sorry, respected Mr. Howard, but we aren't stalkers. We have to give a young girl some right to privacy."
But what kind of person was Nick Fury? Don't be fooled by his dark face; his heart was just as dark. As a spy, being able to spare one or two Special Agents to protect their daughter was already good enough; where would he get the manpower to manage two little brats? His most elite Special Agents were meant to handle world-ending disasters, not act as babysitters. Facing Howard's questioning, Nick Fury didn't hesitate to mock the daughter-obsessed man as an undignified old peeping tom.
"You..."
Howard was so provoked that his eyes almost spat fire. When had he ever suffered such an insult? If it weren't for people targeting his children, would he have had to go into hiding? His care for his children was being slandered as being a peeping tom—how could he endure this?
"Alright, you two stop arguing. Nick, do you know who did it?"
Maria was more sensible. She stopped Howard, who was about to blow up, and questioned Nick.
"If I haven't guessed wrong, it should be the special people from that place."
Nick couldn't think of anyone else who could take someone from right under the noses of elite Special Agents.
"Mrs. Maria, I will give you a result tomorrow. Please don't be anxious."
"I await your news."
"Alright."
Closing the encrypted video, Nick thought of that fellow who was as bald as himself. It seemed he needed to pay him a visit and also make some preparations—something to counter mental abilities.