Inside an old, abandoned building,
Raymond, who had switched back to his main personality and turned off [Equipment Materialization], was thinking about the current situation.
He had originally planned to follow Clarice after school to see if she really had joined that pathetic mutant underground organization, just as he had guessed.
And it turned out he was right. Not only that, but he also unexpectedly ran into the man in business attire.
When the man in the suit was arguing with John and the others, Raymond was actually hiding nearby, ready to jump in and help if needed.
It was at that moment that he received several notifications from the system.
These included: Polaris (Lorna Dane), recognized as an A-rank anti-hero, which gave him 50 exploration points; Thunderbird (John Proudstar), a B-rank hero, who gave him 30 points; and Dreamer (Sonya Simonson), a C-rank hero, who gave him 10 points.
Seeing these three confirmed that Clarice really had gotten involved with the mutant underground, and John later confirmed it with his words.
The only thing that surprised Raymond a little was the sudden appearance of the man in the suit.
Thanks to the system's notification, Raymond quickly found out his identity: B-rank villain Absorbing Man, Carl Creel, who also gave Raymond 30 exploration points.
These four people together gave him a total of 120 exploration points, which was a nice bonus.
However, that wasn't the main thing he was focused on. While 120 points were helpful at this stage, they weren't enough to get him excited.
What really mattered to him was figuring out what the man in the suit wanted with Clarice.
Raymond did remember something about Absorbing Man Carl. He was someone who could turn his body into whatever material he touched.
His origin varies in different Marvel universes.
In some versions, Loki created him as a weapon to fight Thor using magic. In others, he was a mutant who awakened his powers on his own.
Based on just the system's notice, Raymond couldn't tell exactly what kind of Absorbing Man this world had.
However, when Carl said he was there to recruit Clarice on behalf of a mutant group, Raymond guessed that he was a mutant, too.
Still, he didn't know which group Carl was working for.
After Clarice and the others ran off, Raymond secretly followed them and even noticed before they did that someone else was tracking them.
In that kind of situation, even if he switched to his Kuro personality, it wouldn't be enough to take down all the enemies while keeping Clarice and the others safe.
The Tao Pai Pai personality could handle it, and his stats had improved enough to last longer than before. But Tao Pai Pai's power was overwhelming, and Raymond didn't want to use his strongest card unless it was really necessary.
So he chose the safest option: switching to the Deadshot personality and activating the Deadshot costume.
With this kind of setup—where the enemy was out in the open while he stayed hidden—Deadshot's style was the most reliable choice.
As it turned out, Raymond had made the right choice.
The Deadshot personality took less than half a minute to finish the fight and even left a few people alive—but that was only because Raymond told him to. Otherwise, headshots would've been quicker and easier.
After interrogating the survivors, Raymond finally learned which group was behind Absorbing Man. And it was a name he was very familiar with…
It was a mutant organization that had existed since the 18th century—far older than the two biggest current mutant groups.
This group operated in a unique way. Unlike the Brotherhood of Mutants, which fought governments directly and was labeled a global terrorist group, and the X-Men, who cooperated with authorities to ease the conflict between mutants and humans, the Hellfire Club chose to stay hidden within human society.
Before X-gene detection became possible, this group was made up of the elite and powerful of every country, manipulating ordinary people from the shadows.
Even Magneto had joined them once and was even the leader for a time.
Even after X-gene testing was invented, the group's core interests remained untouched. They simply moved into the background and used human agents to take their place in public. Since these agents weren't mutants, no test could expose them.
Today, how much power the Hellfire Club still holds is a mystery known only to its highest-ranking members.
Compared to the Hellfire Club, John's mutant underground was a joke. No wonder Absorbing Man didn't care at all when John said Clarice had already joined them.
They weren't even in the same league—so why would he take them seriously?
"If both the Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood exist in this world, then what role does Magneto play... Could he be leading both?" Raymond wondered to himself.
Ever since he realized that this world didn't match any version of the Marvel Universe he knew, he stopped making assumptions.
While many things lined up with what he remembered, there were also plenty of differences. If he acted like he knew everything, he might not see his own death coming.
Still, based on what Deadshot had just found out, this world's Hellfire Club didn't seem much different from the one he knew.
Except for not knowing who the current leader was, everything else matched. The group still used chess pieces as code names for its core members.
There was one Black King, one White King, one Black Queen, and one White Queen. Then there were two of each: Black Rooks, Black Bishops, Black Knights, White Rooks, White Bishops, and White Knights—sixteen core members in total.
Absorbing Man, who led the team this time, was one of the two Black Knights.
"This is going to be a problem…"
Now that Raymond understood who Absorbing Man was working for, he felt a headache coming on.
He had thought Clarice was only involved with the mutant underground. If that were the case, breaking their connection wouldn't be too hard.
But now that the Hellfire Club was involved, things had become a lot more complicated.