That "old acquaintance" was none other than the mysterious white-collar man from the Hellfire Club—the same one who had followed Clarice last time and was said to be a core member of the organization.
They didn't know his name was Carl, but that didn't make them any less wary of him.
Why was this guy here?
Lorna and the others couldn't figure it out, and even Clarice, who was half the host of the gathering, didn't understand why the man who had come looking for trouble last time was now at her house, chatting and laughing with her brother Raymond like an old friend.
Among them, John had the strongest reaction. His first instinct was to look around for a weapon.
Unlike Lorna and Clarice, John had experienced more than one betrayal. He had seen too many mutants sold out by the people closest to them.
His experience told him to never underestimate how dangerous people can be.
Even if Raymond didn't plan to sell out his own sister, it was still very possible that he'd use the rest of them as bargaining chips. That wouldn't be surprising.
After all, they weren't related to Raymond in any way. If he did betray them, it would make sense.
Raymond, as well as the three guests—Juggernaut, Carl, and Psylocke—noticed John's tense reaction right away.
Among the three guests, only Carl had seen Clarice and the others before. But since they'd talked about that incident earlier, it wasn't hard for Juggernaut and Psylocke to guess that these were Raymond's sister and her friends.
"Come on, think for a second," Raymond said with a smile. "If I really wanted to catch you, why would I invite you to my house?"
He pointed at the open patch of grass nearby.
Since there were a lot of people, they hadn't brought out extra chairs. Everyone was just sitting on the lawn in the backyard.
There was still plenty of space—enough for ten more people to sit comfortably.
After hearing that, John and the others slowly realized that Raymond was right.
If he had wanted to work with the Hellfire Club to harm them, he didn't need to invite them here. He could've just tracked Clarice and found them easily.
Once they understood that, they hesitated for a moment but then sat down.
"Brother, what's going on…" Clarice asked as soon as she sat.
She couldn't understand why Raymond would be friendly with someone who had tried to capture her, or why he would invite that person to a Thanksgiving dinner.
She didn't think her brother would hurt her, but still, it made no sense.
Before Raymond could answer, Carl chuckled and said, "Last time was just a misunderstanding. I had no idea Miss Clarice was Dr. Raymond's sister. If I'd known, I never would've come like that. I'm really sorry."
Raymond smiled and added, "Carl is an old friend of mine. It really was a misunderstanding. I didn't know he had come to Richmond to find you… and he didn't mean to hurt you. He just wanted to invite you to join the Hellfire Club."
"If I hadn't shown up last time, none of you would've been in real danger."
Hearing that, Clarice nodded slowly, still a bit confused but not suspicious. She trusted her brother completely.
Besides, this was something Raymond had planned with Carl ahead of time just to put Clarice at ease. The story at least made sense on the surface.
Just as Raymond was explaining to Clarice that the last incident had been a misunderstanding, Sonya—who had just sat down—suddenly held her head and let out a soft groan.
Her sudden reaction made John jump to his feet and rush over to support her, asking worriedly, "What's wrong?"
At that moment, Psylocke chuckled softly and looked at the girl holding her head with a smile. "Little girl, hasn't anyone taught you not to peek into other people's minds so carelessly?"
"It was you!" John turned to Psylocke, angry.
Now that Psylocke had admitted it herself, it would be strange if John didn't realize what had happened.
Lorna and Clarice also reacted quickly, both glaring at Psylocke with hostility.
Especially Lorna—she raised her hand, and several nails suddenly flew through the air, hovering just a meter in front of Psylocke, ready to strike at any moment.
But Psylocke didn't seem nervous or scared at all. Instead, she looked at Lorna with interest and said, "This feels so familiar. You really are just like your father when he was young…"
"My father?" Lorna froze at her words, thinking Psylocke was just making things up.
Her father wasn't even a mutant, so how could she be anything like him? But just as she was about to argue, something shook her heart.
She suddenly remembered—just like Clarice, she had been adopted.
That was why she and Clarice had always gotten along so well, like they were meant to be close. Their lives were very similar.
Both adopted. Both mutants.
The only real difference was that her powers awakened earlier, and to avoid bringing trouble to her adoptive parents, she had run away to live on her own. Clarice, on the other hand, had only recently discovered her powers.
Still, it was true—she had been adopted.
This stranger suddenly said she looked just like her father when he was young. Lorna had wanted to argue, but remembering her past made her hesitate.
However, since she didn't know whether this woman was a friend or an enemy, she didn't let her guard down and stubbornly replied, "Stop talking nonsense. My father doesn't have any powers at all!"
"You really don't know your own background, do you?"
Psylocke's smile grew wider, like she'd just made an exciting discovery. She then turned to Juggernaut and asked, "You didn't happen to hear that he had a daughter, did you?"
"Don't look at me. I don't know anything," Juggernaut replied vaguely, staring off into the distance.
Seeing that, Psylocke's smile grew even bigger. "An illegitimate daughter? Wow… I never would've guessed."
"What did you do to Sonya?!"
Psylocke's cryptic comments only made John angrier, especially since he was still worried about Sonya.
But Psylocke only gave him a cold glance, then ignored him completely, clearly not planning to answer.
That made John even more furious.
"John, don't… I'm fine. It was my fault…" Sonya had recovered a little and quickly held John back, trying to stop him from doing anything rash.