Chapter 46 – Even Howard Stark Was Shocked

"Yes, sir!"

The secretary responded crisply, then hurried off to carry out Howard Stark's orders, contacting the other two senior S.H.I.E.L.D. executives without delay.

Howard paused for a moment in thought, then turned and headed toward a hidden laboratory within the base.

Before the others arrived, he was determined to see for himself—what exactly was that mechanical lifeform?

Ding!

After passing through the security checkpoint, Howard took the elevator down to a secret underground lab.

Inside, Arnim Zola was leading a team of researchers, studying the "corpse" of the Decepticon.

"Arnim, any findings?"

Howard strode straight to the workbench, unable to hide his urgency as he looked at Zola.

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible, Stark!"

Zola adjusted his glasses, his face alight with that particular brand of scientific mania. "This big guy—he has no power module! At least, I haven't found any kind of energy core."

No power system? Then how the hell did a robot of this size even move?

It defied the laws of science.

Could it be…?

Was Alex telling the truth all along? That this thing wasn't just a robot—it was alive?

"Come, take a look at this."

Zola brought Howard over to a nearby machine and pointed to a series of graphs and readouts.

"See this? Even in this pile of scrap metal, there are still faint energy fluctuations within the alloy!"

"It sounds impossible, but I've no choice but to draw this conclusion—"

"This robot… it's alive."

"It's actually alive?"

Howard Stark looked like he'd just seen a dog recite Shakespeare.

Alex hadn't been lying. His car—was really a mechanical lifeform.

---

Originally, Alex had just gone out to grab a meal with Howard Stark. Who could've predicted things would spiral like this?

All those unexpected twists ended up taking far longer than planned.

By the time Alex returned to the Xavier Estate, the sky had already turned completely dark.

But most of the base's young residents were still up. With youthful energy to spare, they hadn't gone back to their rooms yet and were instead gathered in the lounge, chatting and goofing around.

The moment Alex walked in, he instantly became the center of attention.

"Hey Alex, I flew today!"

Siryn bounded over, practically buzzing with excitement. "I'm telling you, man—it was amazing! Like soaring through the skies, just like a bird. Can you imagine that?"

"Siryn, you've been bragging about that all day. Again?"

Havok teased from the side, grinning.

"Technically, it was more like gliding," Darwin chimed in coolly, throwing a bit of cold water on Siryn's enthusiasm.

"Darwin, you're such a buzzkill."

Siryn shot him a wounded look, then turned back to Alex with a smug expression. "Wanna know how I did it?"

Alex, having seen the movie, already knew exactly what had happened—but of course, he wasn't about to ruin Siryn's mood.

"Of course. I'm all ears."

He took a seat among the group, joining in.

"It was Charles and Hank!"

Siryn began animatedly, hands waving in the air. "You know Charles has been helping me learn to control my sonic powers, right? I've been making huge progress! And today, Hank made me this special flight suit—he calls it the 'bat suit.' I used sound waves for propulsion and the suit helped me stabilize… and boom—I was airborne!"

"Hank, man, thank you! You're a genius!"

He gave Hank a big thumbs-up.

"It's just basic fluid dynamics, really. Nothing special, Siryn."

Hank's response might've sounded a little arrogant—

—but for someone like him, fluid dynamics was basic.

"Alex."

Just then, Hank turned to him, eyes serious. "Do you have time tonight? I'd like to discuss something with you."

Alex wasn't sure what Hank had in mind, but didn't hesitate to agree.

"Sure. Anytime."

"Hey, Hank, what's with the mystery act? Can't you say it here?" Havok called out suspiciously.

Others chimed in with teasing and curiosity.

Raven glanced at Hank with a meaningful look, as if she already knew what this was about.

"Hank, let's go to my room."

After chatting with the group a while longer, Alex said his goodbyes and led Hank to his room.

He couldn't help but feel… a little weird about it.

If he didn't already know Hank's orientation, he might've suspected the guy was about to confess something else entirely.

"Have a seat, Hank." Alex gestured to the chair, then cut straight to the point. "Alright—what's going on?"

"You know, Alex… sometimes I really envy you," Hank said, settling in with a sigh.

Alex chuckled. "Envy me? For what—my looks? Come on, you're not doing so bad yourself."

Hank laughed too.

"You know that's not what I mean."

The casual exchange helped dispel some of the earlier tension.

"You and Charles… and Erik… you're different from me and Raven. You're gifted too, but you don't have to hide it."

"You get what I'm saying? My feet—they're not normal. They make me look like a monster. And I don't want to be a monster."

Hank paused to gather his thoughts, then continued quietly.

At this point, Alex understood exactly what he was getting at.

Hank wanted to "cure" himself. That's why he'd developed a serum… and why he would eventually inject it into himself—transforming into the Beast for good.

Alex also remembered: in the original timeline, Hank had drawn Raven's blood to study her regenerative properties.

Was he planning to do the same thing now—with Alex?

And yes—he had guessed correctly.

Studying only his own DNA and Raven's wasn't enough. If Hank wanted to normalize his appearance, he needed a mutant who looked visibly human for a point of comparison.

But that kind of request wasn't something he could bring to Charles or Erik. He knew they wouldn't understand.

The other young mutants—Darwin, Siryn, the rest—were too immature.

After thinking it over, Hank had realized: the only one he could trust with this… was Alex.

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