"Don't want to be misunderstood as a good person?"
Magneto and Mystique exchanged bewildered glances at Richard's statement. Despite their considerably greater years, they struggled to comprehend his peculiar perspective.
Before they could inquire further, Richard elaborated. "My reputation outside has never been particularly favorable. I'm known as a domineering, unreasonable mutant."
He leaned back in his chair, swirling the amber liquid in his glass. "While hardly flattering, I've grown rather fond of this reputation and wish to maintain it. More importantly, such notoriety allows me to live more freely, without the burden of others' expectations."
Richard's stance might seem perplexing on the surface, but from his perspective, it was perfectly rational.
As the saying goes: when a lifetime villain finally performs one good deed, society calls him a reformed prodigal son. But when a lifetime saint commits a single transgression, people claim his true colors have finally emerged.
Similar axioms existed throughout human philosophy. A righteous person must overcome eighty-one tribulations to achieve enlightenment, while a murderer need only lay down his knife to find the same.
Richard had never aspired to transcendent virtue, nor did he desire recognition as conventionally "good" by societal standards. This explained why, despite possessing greater power than Magneto, he steadfastly refused to assume leadership of the mutant community.
He rejected being constrained by any reputation for benevolence, unwilling to sacrifice his personal interests or autonomy for the sake of maintaining a virtuous image. He particularly dreaded moral coercion—the expectation that "good people" must always act selflessly, regardless of personal cost.
Hearing Richard's explanation, the septuagenarian Magneto and octogenarian Mystique processed his reasoning with the perspective that comes from decades of experience.
"If you wish to avoid being mistaken for a philanthropist," Magneto smiled slightly, "then I'll gladly shoulder that burden of good reputation for you."
"If you're willing to accept such acclaim, all the better," Richard nodded appreciatively. "To thank you for your assistance, I'm allocating three manors in the inner city for you to distribute as you see fit."
"Inner city?" Magneto's eyebrow arched. "You're segmenting Silver City into inner and outer districts?"
"Wasn't the projection clear enough?" Richard gestured toward the holographic display. "While I'm opening Silver City to mutantkind, only the outer city will be generally accessible. A portion of the inner city will be available exclusively to those I deem worthy of residence there—such as yourself and Wanda."
When reconstructing Silver City, Richard had divided it into three distinct zones. At its heart stood the royal palace, surrounded by the exclusive inner city district. Beyond that stretched the outer city, designated for the general population.
Though such stratification might invite accusations of deliberate class division, Richard remained unmoved. His willingness to open the outer city to mutants, offering them a discrimination-free existence superior to most external cities, already demonstrated considerable generosity in his view.
If residents of the outer city found this arrangement unfair or insufficient, Richard wouldn't hesitate to personally eliminate such ingratitude.
After a thoughtful pause, Magneto responded. "This is your domain. You alone determine its structure."
Though he privately believed Richard's approach would inevitably create unnecessary complications, Magneto made no attempt to dissuade him. If Richard could be so easily swayed, he wouldn't be Richard.
"Precisely!" Richard smiled, satisfied.
With Magneto agreeing to recruit mutants to Silver City in his personal capacity, they briefly discussed administrative matters. The palace and inner city required minimal oversight, given their limited, exclusive population. The outer city, however, presented greater challenges.
Even with just the outer district developed, Silver City could accommodate millions of mutants. Such population density would inevitably generate complex governance issues.
Having no interest in personally overseeing outer city administration, Richard entrusted this responsibility to Magneto, whose leadership experience made him ideal for the role. Despite lacking specific urban management credentials, Magneto's experience leading the Brotherhood of Mutants demonstrated his administrative capabilities.
Moreover, Magneto had Mystique as his right hand. While not exceptionally powerful in combat, Mystique possessed comprehensive talents extending far beyond espionage and intelligence gathering. In essence, as an administrative assistant or secretary, she would prove invaluable.
Much of Magneto's success in managing the Brotherhood stemmed from Mystique's organizational efficiency.
After finalizing outer city management arrangements, Richard used the Cosmic Cube to create a spatial gateway for Magneto and Mystique to return to the Brotherhood's headquarters.
As they prepared to depart, Richard suddenly remembered an important detail. "I'll be occupied with a project in the coming days, so I may be unreachable for routine matters. If you need anything urgent, contact Emma."
Though curious about Richard's plans, Magneto respected his privacy. "Understood," he replied simply before escorting Mystique through the portal back to their headquarters.
After their departure, Richard immediately opened another spatial doorway and teleported from the study. The recruitment of mutants to Silver City's outer district was now in motion, allowing him to focus on personal matters.
Specifically, transforming Black Widow Scarlett and Agent 13 Emily into superhumans.
Though he lacked previous experience converting ordinary humans into metahumans, Richard remained confident in the process. With Compound V and Temporary V brought from the Boys universe, transforming Scarlett and Emily should prove straightforward.
After teleporting from the study, Richard went directly to meet with Scarlett and Emily to discuss his proposal. Upon hearing his plan to transform them into superhumans, their initial reaction wasn't reluctance but curiosity—wondering if he had awakened yet another mutant power.
During their time in the zombie universe, they'd witnessed only a fraction of Richard's abilities. Since returning to the Marvel Universe with him, they'd discovered his mutant powers vastly exceeded their initial estimations. Though still unaware of his full capabilities, their perception of Richard had gradually evolved into that of an omnipotent being.
Noting their confusion, Richard briefly explained Compound V and Temporary V. However, he didn't reveal their origin in the Boys universe, instead claiming he'd created them through accidental experimentation.
Though Scarlett and Emily seemed skeptical of this explanation, they didn't press further, agreeing to undergo his superhuman enhancement procedure.
With their consent secured, Richard immediately teleported them to the palace's private laboratory. His approach to their metahuman transformation followed a straightforward protocol:
First, inject both with Temporary V to observe what powers might manifest.
If they developed worthwhile abilities under Temporary V's influence, he would administer standard Compound V, then use magic to help their bodies fully assimilate the compound, ensuring they could withstand its full potency and permanently retain the awakened powers.
If their Temporary V-induced abilities proved unsatisfactory, he would implement a transformation similar to Starlight's—using magic to guide Compound V's mutation in specific directions, performing targeted physiological alterations that would grant them permanent, effective powers without affecting their appearance or normal functioning.
With Starlight's successful transformation as precedent, Richard felt confident about Scarlett and Emily's enhancement procedures. Moreover, successful completion would enable him to potentially mass-produce superhumans according to specific requirements. Whether these enhanced individuals would serve as personal guards or sources for new abilities remained a consideration for later.
After bringing Scarlett and Emily to the laboratory, Richard instructed them to remove their clothing and lie on the examination tables for comprehensive physical assessment to determine their baseline conditions.
Without hesitation, both women disrobed and positioned themselves on the vibranium operating tables. Most laboratory equipment had been transferred from Wakanda's Royal Research Institute. Though Richard disliked Wakandans and their culture, he had to acknowledge that their vibranium-constructed scientific instruments vastly outperformed anything available in the outside world.
As Scarlett and Emily settled on the tables, Richard silently began his meticulous examination.
Time passed swiftly.
Half a month elapsed in what seemed like moments. During this period, neither Richard, Scarlett, nor Emily left the laboratory. After fifteen days and more than twenty doses of Compound V, Richard finally succeeded in transforming the formerly ordinary women into superhumans.
The extended timeframe resulted primarily from Richard's dissatisfaction with their initial Temporary V reactions. After her first injection, Scarlett gained impressive powers including super strength, enhanced durability, and super speed.
While these abilities seemed ideal in theory, they came with an unacceptable side effect—Scarlett transformed into a nearly ten-foot-tall female giant with arms thicker than Richard's waist. Though the native Natasha of this universe existed, Richard had no intention of turning the Scarlett who had been by his side into a colossal figure.
Consequently, he implemented his secondary approach, using magic to guide Compound V's mutation.
Emily fared somewhat better, avoiding physical distortion but awakening only the power of transparency after her Temporary V injection. Yet even this ability proved inferior to the Invisible Man of the Watchmen—when he turned transparent, the Invisible Man also gained an invulnerable body. Emily's transparency provided no physical enhancement whatsoever.
Moreover, like the Invisible Man, her transparency affected only her body, not her clothing. To prevent Emily from having to choose between visibility and nudity, Richard decisively implemented the second transformation protocol for her as well.
After more than two weeks of continuous experimentation and refinement, Richard successfully completed both superhuman transformations. Post-enhancement, Scarlett gained spider-based powers similar to Spider-Man—strength, speed, and reflexes far beyond human limitations, along with a spider-sense mirroring Peter Parker's preternatural danger awareness.
Emily, meanwhile, acquired enhanced durability and telekinetic abilities similar to Homelander. Judging purely by power metrics, Emily's abilities significantly outclassed Scarlett's. Even without her telekinesis, Homelander-level durability rendered her impervious to most conventional weapons.
Her strength, endurance, speed, and sensory capabilities had been dramatically enhanced. Though she hadn't gained Homelander's Super Senses, super-hearing, heat vision, or natural flight ability, her telekinesis enabled both object manipulation and self-propelled flight.
Despite Emily's objectively superior power set, Scarlett's abilities better complemented her original combat style and characteristics. Emily would need to adapt to her new capabilities and develop a fighting style suited to her enhanced state—a challenging but manageable adjustment for the former elite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
After successfully transforming both women into superhumans, Richard teleported them back to their respective palace quarters. He then returned alone to his study to compile and organize the experimental data and transformation insights gained over the previous fortnight.
The documentation process took over thirty minutes. As he finished, a thought suddenly crystallized in his mind:
I should ask Tony for an AI assistant.
While organizing the information hadn't been particularly time-consuming, he couldn't help envying Stark's JARVIS. Having a similar artificial intelligence assistant would eliminate such administrative tasks and could additionally manage Silver City's palace operations and other routine matters.
With this realization, Richard immediately retrieved his mobile phone from his system space. Upon connecting to the network, the screen displayed numerous missed calls and messages.
Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, Susan Storm, Magneto, Wanda, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner...
Richard's brow furrowed as he noted the missed communications from Natasha and Banner among the notifications.
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