"Paris, ah, I've seen this city in many worlds, and every time I see it, it feels different."
Ciri tugged at her gloves, tightened the collar of her coat, and leaned on the red iron railing, whispering to Su Ming beside her.
Through the Master of Mischief's Teleportation Gate, the group was directly sent to the top observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. The cold wind of the winter morning made Charles sneeze, as if the air of the city was filled with the scent of perfume and cosmetics.
The sun was rising from the distant horizon, and the streets, a bit icy in winter, reflected colorful light like a mirror.
Standing at this height, watching the snow-covered rooftops glisten like streams in between, it truly was a wonderful view.
"You reminded me, I need to inform Gin to start acquiring Christopher Wood's artworks. He's a British person who came to the Julia Academy in Paris to study art, and during his time he painted a lot of snow scenes with a unique perspective." Su Ming changed the topic, as there were others in the group, and matters of other worlds shouldn't be discussed yet.
"Paris snow scenes?"
Ciri looked at Deathstroke curiously; to her impression, Deathstroke wasn't someone who would be associated with the art world, he couldn't even name who painted the few paintings hanging in his own office.
Then she heard Su Ming seem to explain to her: "It's that painting of a tiger sleeping in the snow in front of the Triumphal Arch, what's painted isn't important. Anyway, decades later, the value of these realist paintings will multiply hundreds of thousands of times. Buying now is cheaper than buying later."
Ciri rolled her eyes; this indeed was more like Deathstroke's style.
"We still have serious matters to attend to, let's complete the mission quickly." She sighed.
Su Ming tilted his head, squinting: "How strange, why are you in such a hurry? Is there something you haven't told me?"
"No!" Ciri's small head turned to the other side.
"Really?" Su Ming leaned in a bit closer.
"It's just that there's a bit of a jet lag issue, feeling a bit tired."
Ciri slipped away through the gap between Deathstroke and the railing, firmly refusing to admit she went to that world searching for Geralt, resulting in her taking up gardening and cooking.
Watching her hurriedly descending figure, Su Ming shrugged and turned to the others: "Charles, there's a mutant named Sebastian in this city, find him."
The Little Bald Head and Eric hit it off, constantly discussing the future of mutants. If Su Ming didn't know these two were currently lone rangers, he would have thought they had lots of mutants under them.
"My abilities aren't sufficient to cover a city. Honestly, I can't even cover a few nearby streets." Charles patted the Eiffel Tower beside him, saying a bit helplessly.
Through interactions with the Magnetic King, he realized he truly lacked some exercise, always living a comfortable life hiding in Zhongsi Academy. Even mastering so much philosophy or scientific knowledge, his mutant abilities haven't improved much.
It seems after returning this time, he should travel a bit.
"Isn't the solution right here beside us? The Eiffel Tower is completely made of steel and exhibits a four-sided pointed pyramid form. Although it's not the ideal spherical structure, as long as the power supply is sufficient, it can be used as a 'Brain Wave Amplifier.'"
Su Ming also patted the steel beside him; the thick skeleton was painted red, erasing traces of when Cable and others once battled here. This was probably the last time in modern times that the Eiffel Tower was painted red. In the future, people won't color it anymore, and it will become that brownish-yellow impression due to rust and other reasons.
"Brain Wave Amplifier? What's the principle?" Charles asked if he didn't understand.
"Brain waves are the bioelectrical signals generated when neurons transmit information, also the ion exchange caused electrical wave signals spilling over during pyramidal cell synaptic activities in the cerebral cortex. As long as brain cells are active, they produce corresponding bioelectricity, and this electricity, through the neuronal dendrites, connects with other brain nerve cells, forming a continuous network of thought."
Su Ming spouted a bunch of theories, analyzing the source of Charles' ability from a scientific perspective.
These psychic mutants, to be precise, should be called Brain Wave Interferers. Their abilities fundamentally involve using their stronger brain waves, in various ways, to intervene in others' brain waves, thereby achieving interception of information, obstruction of neural signal transmission, and a series of effects.
Since encountering Charles, Deathstroke would naturally keep his weaknesses and strengths in mind, to be prepared for any eventuality.
"In the scientific application, the brainwaves that we can detect through instruments must be generated by the activity of a certain number of neurons. These are divided by frequency into delta waves, theta waves, alpha waves, beta waves, gamma waves, etc. Human subjective thinking activities mainly rely on beta brainwaves. Then, depending on the different brain states, the beta waves are further subdivided into Smr waves, beta low waves, beta high waves..."
The more Su Ming spoke, the more detailed it became. Charles listened, utterly captivated. He had never thought that science could be applied in such a way to superpowers. Sometimes he nodded in agreement; sometimes he smiled, contemplating. Deathstroke had opened a new door for him.
However, this kind of lecture was not particularly friendly for Palham and Eric.
One was an illiterate officer from the Civil War era, and the other was a multilingual avenger from a concentration camp. The exchange between Deathstroke and the Little Bald Head was something they could hardly understand.
It was "hardly," because although they could understand each word of English, when combined, it all turned into a Celestial Book.
Palham was fine; he didn't rely on superpowers for a living. His strength relied on anger and obsession, and that avenger's spirit naturally grew stronger as those emotions increased.
So when Deathstroke began his lecture, he was already looking at the snowy landscape in the distance, taking out a cigar to smoke by himself. In the cold winter wind, the white mist appeared and disappeared at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
As for Magnetic King, as a fellow mutant, he also wanted to enhance his abilities through scientific methods. Charles' path was definitely different from his own, but he wanted to force himself to listen in hopes of drawing parallels. However, he just couldn't understand, which frustrated him and furrowed his brow.
Only now did he seriously consider Deathstroke's previous suggestion about going to study. Perhaps after eliminating his enemies, he should indeed go undercover and earn a Ph.D. in physics at a university.
Before long, Ciri, who had previously run to the base of the tower, blinked back. Soon, there was one more person with nothing to do. She started using her fingers to brush the snow on the railing, drawing chubby Land Bird patterns.
"...In short, by amplifying your beta high-band brainwave through the tower, which is essentially your subjective consciousness, you can manipulate telekinesis to find and identify humans. This allows you to communicate with them over vast distances or filter out mutants from ordinary people. Due to the presence of the X Gene, the cellular activity of mutants is different from regular people. With more practice, you can master this basic psychic ability application."
Su Ming explained the principle of brainwaves and how it could be combined with Charles' ability, then came to a conclusion. He then took a bottle out of his pouch to wet his throat.
"Is this just a basic ability application... Indeed, our abilities have much potential." Charles smiled and nodded, full of hope for the future. He was always very optimistic: "So are you sure the Eiffel Tower can conduct electricity? And if you connect it to high-voltage electricity, how can you ensure I won't get electrocuted?"
Whether the Eiffel Tower conducts electricity, comrade Yuri's magnetic storm infantry has already tested it. How could an all-steel structure not conduct electricity?
"Speaking of which, I must mention your parents' former colleague. Dr. Nikola Tesla had a unique study of electricity. His Tesla Coil is a kind of ultra-high-voltage electrified device. When used properly, his alternating current tends to transmit across the skin at high voltage and low current. To kill, both current and voltage are indispensable. As long as the current doesn't pass through the internal organs and brain, you're quite safe."
Su Ming, one hand holding a cigarette and the other a drink, this was his breakfast. He didn't forget to give each adult a bottle.
"I've heard of that person, but didn't he disappear?" asked the Little Bald Head, who didn't get any alcohol.
Su Ming turned around, the sunlight streaming across his profile: "That's a secret. Not only has he returned, but he's also working on new energy projects. Let's not talk about him. When you're connected to the brain wave amplifier, it's mostly like connecting a signal transmitter to a circuit. That's you. So as long as you don't form other closed loops with external things, you're quite safe."
"Then what about the voltage issue? According to your idea, to drive something as large as the Eiffel Tower would require energy, and energy doesn't just appear out of nowhere." Charles understood but raised another objection.
Su Ming pointed towards the Magnetic King, who was idly drinking: "We have magnetic power, and Eric can also change the properties of metals. When metal cuts through magnetic field lines, alternating current is generated. Using the transformer's principle, it can be boosted, thereby achieving the Tesla Coil's discharge effect, broadcasting your brainwaves across the entire city. To be honest, you are electricity, and he is magnetism; you're a match made in heaven."
Magnetic King showed a puzzled emoji face: "???"
Why did that sound a bit strange?
Anyway, since now there was a way to find enemies in the city, he was naturally delighted. To be honest, he hadn't collaborated with other mutants before. Was it possible for superpowers to complement each other?
The air element's ability to supply oxygen could enhance the power of the flame ability. The optical system's ability could assist the invisibility type. So perhaps some mutant powers seemed useless alone, but when combined with other superpower users in a team, they could also have combat capabilities.
This was a good idea that could lead more people onto the path of resistance.
Magnetic King gave Deathstroke a deep, kind-hearted look, knowing he owed him a favor regardless. But he quickly averted his gaze, turning toward the Little Bald Head, his 'first' target.
At this moment, Charles also looked at him with a smile, as if they were telepathically connected.