"My ability points are almost enough; it's time to fix the last shortcoming in my strength."
After the match, leaving Starlight to be interviewed about her thoughts on the game, Ron slowly turned and walked backstage, thinking to himself.
He had displayed abilities different from Homelander, and Vought should have reacted, possibly doubting whether he truly inherited all of Homelander's abilities.
They might conduct a probe soon, and if the result was that he hadn't, he would lose his current freedom at Vought.
Because Vought could use Homelander as a weapon to suppress and control him.
In terms of defense and destructive power, he wasn't much inferior to Homelander, and with his other abilities, if they fought at a normal human speed, Homelander wouldn't be able to easily take him down.
But Homelander wouldn't deliberately slow down to fight him.
"With the Black King's ability, when energy is sufficient, my speed is far beyond ordinary people, but it's not particularly fast."
At most, dozens of meters per second. If I factor in the ability of Survival of the Fittest, I might be able to keep up with A-Train and Impact, who break the sound barrier, but I'm still far from Homelander.
If we were to fight, I would suffer a great loss, even a complete defeat.
"Do you want to spend 300 ability points to return to a specific space-time coordinate in the X-Men Universe?
Yes."
Backstage, Ron chose yes, and his figure disappeared.
Not only was it a cross-Universe journey, but this time it was also a cross-space-time journey, which required a few more ability points.
However, it was still within a comfortably manageable range.
…
X-Men Universe, 1963.
Five months have passed since the super fleet at the Earth's poles was destroyed, shocking the World and exposing the existence of Mutants to global attention.
People suddenly discovered that among them, there had always been a group of genetically mutated people with various abilities.
Many of them had strange appearances, like monsters, and most possessed bizarre abilities, some able to read minds, create hurricanes, or even easily conquer a small country.
Ordinary people seemed weak and vulnerable compared to them.
Panic spread globally, and governments worldwide nervously and quickly launched different actions to cope with potential disasters brought by Mutants.
"Ron is back.
But we've made such a mess of things."
New York, a safe house.
Raven and White Queen Emma were in a room, their faces bitter and brows tightly furrowed; they had been forced to stay there for seven or eight days.
Just now, they had received a call from Ron, announcing his return, but Raven was only happy for a moment before falling into disappointment and self-blame.
Because the plan Ron had entrusted to her, for her to execute and control, had encountered a slight problem.
"What's wrong? Raven, Emma."
Ron, dressed in a silver-gray suit and wearing a silver-gray, imposing helmet, slowly walked in, scanning the room, and smiled calmly.
"Last time I came back, I remember you two were on the top floor of an acquired commercial building, one as President and one as vice President, handling company affairs. How did you end up here now?"
He was worried about the X-Men Universe and had returned once during the process to check on things and comfort Raven, whom he had been separated from for over two months.
When he returned last time, according to his plan, the two had acquired a technology commercial company, renamed it Umbrella, and on this basis, it rapidly rose to become one of the leading technology companies in America.
It established connections with many industry giants, expanded its scale, attracted talent, and was in a period of rapid ascent.
But this time, through a phone call, Raven told him that the company had encountered some issues, and their meeting place had changed; it wasn't at the company headquarters but at a safe house prepared for contingencies.
However, he knew there was a problem, but it wasn't a big deal; it just needed to be resolved. As long as the people were safe, it was fine.
"Ron, something unexpected happened."
Raven, tall, in a long-sleeved shirt and blue trousers, walked up and hugged him, her eyes slightly red, blaming herself.
It was evident that after this period of business training, she was no longer like the little girl who used to panic when things went wrong; her personality had matured and strengthened considerably, and her every move exuded a sense of competence and efficiency, taking on the demeanor of a female CEO.
Raven's eyes were red more because she had encountered difficulties and seeing her lover after more than two months made her a bit emotional.
"Where did the change come from?"
Ron gently stroked her back, comforted Raven tenderly for a few moments, then put his arm around her waist, sat on the sofa, and slowly asked Emma.
"In this country, there are few things the 'Smiling Boy' can't handle, especially since the early stages of the plan only involved business.
Was his Mutant identity discovered, and did it implicate you two?"
His usual calm tone also somewhat calmed the two, who, as if finding their backbone, became slightly more composed.
Kenny's cooperation was also due to him having no choice, knowing that after a Mutant suddenly jumped into public view and became the World's biggest Terrorist, the World's vigilance and defense against Mutants would probably increase to the maximum.
As the President, he probably couldn't hide it for long; sooner or later, everything he had built in politics over the years would collapse, so he joined Ron's ranks and acted on his orders.
"No, there's no problem with the President for now."
White Queen Emma, with blonde hair, looking like a woman in her thirties or forties, with an elegant demeanor, dressed in a white ladies' suit, knew who Ron meant by 'Smiling Boy', and reported with a frown.
"Ron, after you left last time, we developed very smoothly until we were attacked."
After subduing White Queen Emma, their status was naturally subordinate to Ron; they were his subordinates, but not to the extent of master and servant.
"Attack?"
"Were your identities exposed?"
Emma began to recount what had happened during this period.
With the foundation established by Emma's Hellfire Club and her abilities, the originally quite sizable technology company, after being renamed Umbrella, continuously acquired other companies.
In less than half a year, it became one of the leading technology companies in America and extended its reach into fields such as medical and defense, advancing at an astonishing speed towards becoming a global technology giant.
Until recently, someone attacked them.
"A few nights ago, after Raven and I finished company matters and were driving home, we were suddenly attacked. All the bodyguards died, including even some of our fellow Mutants we had recruited."
"There was only one attacker. His mouth seemed sewn shut, his eyelids were cut off, and he could extend long blades from his hands. He had various abilities, like a biological weapon."
"We were no match for him. Raven used her newly copied teleportation ability to help me escape."
"Oh? Mouth sewn shut, eyelids cut off…"
Ron raised an eyebrow, immediately thinking of a certain miserable chatterbox, and knew who was behind the scenes, orchestrating this attack.
"From that guy who looked like a robot, I copied many abilities.
But I wasn't familiar with using them, and there was one ability of his, related to bones, that I could never copy."
Raven recalled, frowning as she added.
"I couldn't beat him, so I could only escape with Emma."