Chapter 7: A Letter

"Professor Xavier, I apologize for sending you this letter so suddenly.My name is Abigail Rhodes, and in fact, you probably don't even know who I am.A few days ago, a man named Eric Lanshire told me that my father was your friend, although I have no knowledge of this. I have never seen my father since birth, and I imagine you, with your abilities, can understand the difficulty I am facing.Since I am unable to identify my father, I would like to ask for your help. I am sending you the photos of seven men whose timelines match the information I could gather about my biological father.I hope you can spare some time to look at them and let me know if any of these men were your friend.Thank you very much."— Abigail RhodesAt the bottom of the letter were seven photos of men that Abigail had found in her father's journal, each matching the time frame she believed her father was in....Abigail could already imagine the expression of Professor Xavier, dignified and calm, as he looked at these photos....He probably wouldn't even bother to respond, she thought.However, what surprised Abigail was how quickly Professor Charles Xavier replied.

"Dear Abigail,I met you when you were very young, though I assume you don't remember.Your father was an outstanding doctor, but unfortunately, none of the photos you sent contain his image."When Abigail read this, she almost choked on her own breath."Well, well, my mother sure did leave a trail of people behind, and to think none of them have caught anything so far... I guess that's something to be thankful for.""Your father was a mutant with special abilities. For certain unavoidable reasons, he asked me to erase the memory of your mother and even erased the memory of our meeting.When he later discovered that your mother had given birth to a daughter with strong mutant abilities, he became very frightened. At the time, we were all living a chaotic life, and he feared that you might be caught up in dangerous situations. So, he brought you to my school.I apologize for the emergency treatment we gave you without your consent, which involved special medication to erase your past memories. However, the medication was not fully developed at the time, and, as your father feared, complications have since arisen.I am on my way to New York to meet with you and hope that during this time, you will stay indoors and avoid large crowds or confrontations.I can already detect the process by which the medication in your system is dissipating, and once it is fully gone, your abilities will become very dangerous.So, until you are able to control them, please refrain from taking any dangerous actions, as it will lead you into an extremely perilous situation."— Charles Xavier

Abigail had no intention of going out.In fact, she wished she could stay indoors all day to feel safe.Peter had come to see her many times, but Abigail was terrified of him and turned him away every time.Since then, Harry's calls had never stopped. He probably thought that if he couldn't get any information from her directly, he could at least gather some ideas, so he kept sending Abigail expensive, intimidating gifts and trying to get her to reveal the latest developments about weapons.Abigail, shamelessly, accepted all the gifts with a calm attitude, but she refused to say a single word about "leaking information."Soon, Harry gave up on her completely, and his only remaining wish was that she could introduce him to some industry insiders willing to switch sides.Abigail remained adamant in her silence, which frustrated Harry so much that he stopped bothering her for several days.

While Abigail quietly waited at home for Professor Xavier's arrival, an unexpected guest showed up.Because she had been avoiding the outside world these past few days, Abigail had developed a reversed sleep schedule—she slept during the day for hours on end, while at night, she couldn't fall asleep at all.One night, as she was lying on the couch with a pillow watching a horror movie, she heard slow, steady footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by a deep, amused male voice:"Sorry, I should've come a few days ago, but they've been after me so hard that I could only come at this hour.I hope I'm not disturbing you."A figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the stairs, a handsome yet cold man, holding a small metal sphere in his palm, which reflected a faint light in the dark room."Good evening, Abigail." Eric walked over with a smile, his expression like that of a shark hiding sharp teeth.For some reason, Abigail couldn't shake the feeling that he was dangerous.She had originally wanted to ask how he had gotten in, but then realized that if he could control metal, opening the door wouldn't be difficult for him.Resigned, she could only calmly accept his presence and greet him:"Good evening, Eric."Saying this made it feel like they were old friends reuniting.Eric wasted no time and asked directly, "So, have you made up your mind?"Abigail answered honestly, "I don't even know who you are, so how can I decide?"Eric chuckled at her response. "I'm Magneto.""I've done some research on you these past few days. I didn't expect you to be so young and yet so capable, just like your father back in the day."Abigail had always been a good listener, so when the professor told her not to use her abilities recklessly, she didn't. When he advised her not to argue with others, she held her tongue, even if she wanted to curse.So when Eric arrived in the middle of the night, he found Abigail sitting quietly, not intending to answer any of his questions.She politely shifted to the other side of the sofa and patted the spot next to her for him to sit.Oh, she was letting him sit.How friendly.Eric sat down, adopting a very casual posture, and began examining Abigail, who was still holding the pillow and watching the horror movie intently. For a moment, he didn't speak.This girl seemed to have no strong attachments or desires, her attitude towards most things quite indifferent, which made her difficult to deal with.Eric asked, "Haven't you thought about what would happen if your boyfriend found out you're a mutant and decided to leave you?"Girls care most about love, after all. Surely she would fear being abandoned by someone she loved.Abigail thought for a moment and figured it couldn't be Peter—after all, they had already broken up.So, she turned to look at Eric, resting her chin on the pillow, and said seriously,"Then I'll just beat him until he loses his memory.""And then I'll tell him I'm his fiancée."Eric: "…You…"For the first time, the ever-composed Eric felt a moment of suffocation at the sight of this young girl.

——

Since the day Abigail had broken up with Peter, it had been many days since he last saw her.In fact, from Abigail's perspective, this had been going on for almost half a year. They hadn't seen each other at all, and even their text messages had become sparse.To Abigail, they were like strangers.What she didn't know was that Peter, on every night when the stars passed over New York, would quietly pass by her window before the whole city woke up, just to glance at her sleeping face.Once he saw she was okay, he could rest easy.But these past few nights, Abigail hadn't been sleeping much, and as Peter walked past her window, he felt a sense of guilt as if he were spying on her, especially since they had already broken up.For some reason, Peter couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.Today, as he came to check on Abigail, he noticed something odd before he even reached the window.She wasn't in her bedroom, and in the dimly lit living room upstairs, he saw a handsome yet intimidating man sitting by the half-drawn curtains.Peter immediately recognized the man as the one who had "rescued" Abigail that night.The man was dressed in black, his shirt buttons a little too low, and what made Peter even more uncomfortable was the dangerous aura that surrounded him.Abigail, on the other hand, had her chin resting on a pillow, watching the man intently.At that moment, Peter felt a pang of sadness.Yes, they had broken up, but he couldn't yet get used to the idea of Abigail possibly falling for someone else.But that sadness was fleeting. In the next instant, a thought crossed Peter's mind—if this man could turn a murderous madman into a fool, then he could very well manipulate Abigail's mind and turn her into a soulless, lifeless vegetable.Peter's heart clenched in an instant.He rushed to the window, smashing it with a loud crash. As glass shattered and fell, he rolled into the room and immediately blocked Abigail's path, shouting,"Be careful!"Abigail's mouth dropped open as she watched Peter protect her and the shattered window.Oh no...She couldn't go outside…And she couldn't call anyone to fix it either…What was she going to do now…Peter frowned. "Who are you, and what are you doing to Abigail?"Eric tilted his head, raising an eyebrow at him, clearly unimpressed with his outfit, and glanced at Abigail as if to say: