Changes in Charles

"People are calling the new Saga-1 smartphone, unveiled jointly by Savant Tech and Samsung, as a magic wand. Samsung has confirmed that they have already sold ten million units of the so called smartphones within just a day of the press conference. Costing a base price of 500 dollars with higher end models available at higher prices, Samsung representatives have announced that they are rushing the production of more units and should be able to ship 50 million units worldwide within this month."

A reporter was making a live news report in front of an official Samsung store. Behind him, a large line could be seen extending far off into the distance. Even though it was raining a little, people were still waiting in line with umbrellas and raincoats.

Tony Stark turned off the TV and looked at Savant who was seated comfortably on the sofa. "You have hit it big kid. At this rate, you will catch up to me in no time. By the way, I want a phone custom-made for me. I deserve that much as a business partner of your company."

Savant picked up the glass of juice sitting in front of him and placed the gift bag he had brought along on the table. "See for yourself."

Tony raised his eyebrows at Savant acting cool but he still took the gift bag and opened the box to find a smartphone that was made to fit the design of Iron Man. The camera at the back was like an arc reactor and the whole phone was made in the red and gold colors of Iron Man. Even the software of the phone was Iron Man themed.

"I'm sure you could create a much better phone if you wanted to, but the smartphone you are holding is one of its kind and handcrafted by me personally so it should be special enough as a gift for you." Savant was telling the truth but only partially. He had used his powers to make that phone, so although it was technically hand crafted, it was really not.

"I'm guessing you didn't come to me with such a gift for nothing? What do you want kid?" Tony squinted at Savant. As if he was trying to see through Savant and his motives.

"Nothing, I just want you to provide clean energy to the whole world using your reactor technology. You make a lot of money, and fossil fuel consumption goes down. Win-win for everyone."

"It's not like I didn't try. But the guys who own and profit from the coal and fossil fuel industry just don't let me do it. I have sent the proposals to the government but it is always shot down with various random excuses." Tony sighed.

"Why don't you try to use it outside of the USA? I personally recommend South America and Africa. I heard Doom has designed massive saltwater processing plants to get clean drinking water in African countries. So they might be in need of a huge but clean energy source." Savant casually suggested.

"Why is that guy suddenly doing so many things? Are the rumors true about him wanting to lead the new Earth Federation? More importantly, why do you know about his movements?" Tony rapidly fired questions at Savant.

"I was thinking of expanding into Africa so I have been keeping tabs on everything that happens there. It would help me greatly if you put up your reactor energy plants there. Oh, India too. They should be eager to get a stable energy source as well."

Looking at Savant who didn't even hide that he had ulterior motives in wanting him to build the reactors, Tony could only agree. It was a deal that made him money and helped the environment as well as millions of people, there was no reason to refuse.

"I will have my people contact the countries you mentioned. If they agree to the conditions then we can start the project right away. Depending on their construction quality, it shouldn't take too long." Tony replied.

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Genosha was a small island state ruled by a brutal regime that enslaved mutants and made them into slave labor. They were thriving off of mutant slavery until X-men found their way into Genosha one day and defeated and removed the old regime.

The mutants were freed and the island nation of Genosha became one of the few nations worldwide that was tolerant of mutants. Magneto himself would occasionally visit said nation and used it as one of his hideouts. But the turmoil in Genosha had not completely subsided due to lack of a stable ruling body.

That all changed recently when Genosha was declared a country for mutants in a UN conference. Now, mutants were flocking in from all around the world into Genosha, seeking a better life. The population of the city which only began at close to a million was rising rapidly and had almost reached ten million.

For a human nation, coping with such a sudden influx of a large population would be a huge problem. But for the mutants, it was a minor inconvenience. Using their powers, they could easily organize everybody, create housings, quickly grow food, go fishing for a lot of seafood and more.

Except for a few incidents, the citizens were mostly compliant and even helpful in the different projects, fully displaying their powers to create a home for themselves.

"Looks like the country for mutants is coming along nicely. You should be happy that you guys finally have a place you can call your own." Savant turned to Professor X who was no longer sitting on the wheelchair but standing upright and looking at the new city that the mutants were busy building.

"We should be." Charles said sadly and sighed. He didn't seem too happy about the mutant nation at all.

"Since you have stopped acting like a cripple for sympathy, I take it that Moira has given you all the memories of her previous lives? Which life is she on right now anyway?" Savant asked while looking Charles in the eye.

Charles sighed again, "So you know this too. Yes, I recently learned of our bleak future. A future that Moira could not change even after ten lifetimes."

Moira MacTaggert is a mutant. Her mutant ability is both very strong and very weak at the same time. Through her ability, whenever she dies, she resets the timeline to go back to her past with all the memories of her past lives.

Through this ability, Moira became a genius geneticist and tried saving mutants from their inevitable destruction in multiple ways but she never succeeded in her mission. She had tried everything from working with Apocalypse and Mister Sinister to allying with Magneto to fight all mankind. But the end was always the same. Destruction of the world or extinction of mutants.

Even after living for nine lifetimes, Moira could only find out the enemies of mutants but she was never able to stop them completely.

Charles continued, "Until she came to this life. In this life, she found that things were different from all the timelines she had been through. And the source of the changes in this life was not Moira herself."

"It was me." Savant completed what Charles left unsaid. "Don't tell me that you see me as a messiah figure for you guys. I'll get sick if you do, I'm very allergic to unnecessarily complicated responsibilities."

"No, I believe that the key to mutant's survival are mutants ourselves. I just think that you can be very helpful to our cause. Since you are trying to change human destiny, maybe mutants can tag along as a part of new humanity." After giving up on the pretense of a weak cripple, Charles seemed to have become even more manipulative with his words.

I couldn't blame the man for his change. He has seen the inevitable destruction of his own kind over nine lifetimes through Moira. It is natural for him to change and try something he had never tried before and that was to stop hiding behind the shield of hypocrisy.

"I assume you ended your twin already? Cassandra Nova is a huge threat to mutants on her own. If she survives and leaves to find other helpers, you guys will be in a lot of trouble." Savant remembered that there was an arc about Genosha being decimated by Professor X's evil twin sister.

He didn't know the details but he remembered that this was a huge event in the comics where more than ten million mutants would be massacred.

"Yes, we got to her before she released the sentinels on Genosha. It was a difficult battle but we triumphed over her eventually. It's just that the cost of the victory were the lives of our friends. But even so, the trials for the mutant-kind are not over." The voice of Charles had a hint of helplessness.

"What do you mean?" Savant asked confused.

"The days of darkness are approaching for the mutants. Or so says our mutant precog who can glimpse into the future. We have been getting help for Wanda and keeping an eye on her, but no matter what we do, the future doesn't seem to be changing."

Savant nodded, "Sometimes, no matter how hard you try you cannot win. Not because you are bad at the game but because you are too low-leveled to make any difference to the game events."

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Where are my stones at?

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