Adapting in Marvel

"Darwin, the first thing you need to do is to release your ability, not hide it."

Brooklyn, Coney Island.

A green taxi is quietly parked by the bay.

Next to the taxi, Brian and Darwin are leaning against the door of the taxi.

While smoking, they are enjoying the beautiful scenery of the bay and having a good chat.

Yes, they having a good chat.

In the past hour, Brian has successfully shaped himself into a professor of genetic mutation who is searching for mutants.

And in this hour, Brian also made Darwin believe in him.

He made Darwin firmly believe that he, Sylar, is Darwin's mentor.

A mentor who can guide Darwin into becoming a hero.

This is not difficult.

Because the mutants of this era were originally in a state of confusion and craving recognition.

They feared that their identity as mutants would cause people around them to label them as freaks and monsters.

And they were eager to understand their mutant abilities.

That is why, when Brian proposed the mutant glory theory to Darwin, Darwin became deeply engrossed in it.

Everyone has a heroic dream, especially a mutant like Darwin.

"Release my ability, huh?"

Darwin took a deep breath under Brian's encouraging gaze.

He, Darwin, wanted to show Professor Sylar his ability.

He wanted to be a hero.

"Mutation and glory."

At this moment, Darwin's eyes were full of determination.

He chanted the slogan Brian had taught him in a deep voice.

Then he resolutely walked to the edge of the bay and jumped directly into the water.

Splash.

As Darwin jumped into the water, gills quickly evolved on both sides of his cheeks.

The gills opened and closed, allowing Darwin to breathe freely in the water.

"Professor, this is my ability. I call it survival of the fittest.

My body can automatically adapt to the surrounding environment and then evolve corresponding organs."

Darwin emerged from the water and introduced his ability with some excitement.

Brian could see that as Darwin left the water, the gills on his face were rapidly degenerating and disappearing.

"Very good ability, Darwin.

Of all the abilities I have seen, yours is the best."

Brian did not hide his admiration; he gave Darwin a thumbs up and praised him.

In fact, Brian was not lying.

Darwin's Reactive Evolution or what he called the survival of the fittest ability, in terms of potential, even surpassed Magneto, Professor X, and others, reaching Omega level.

The ability to adapt to any extreme environment and evolve corresponding means of survival is simply a bug-level ability.

If developed properly, even if Darwin were thrown into space, he could evolve to absorb cosmic radiation and thus obtain the ability to survive in the vacuum of the universe.

However, even such a bug-level mutant ability was wasted by Darwin.

Until his death, he remained only at the level of a first-tier mutant.

It was simply a waste of natural potential.

This further strengthened Brian's determination to kill Darwin and plunder his mutant ability.

However, before killing Darwin, Brian needed to test the limits of Darwin's current ability to adapt.

This is why Brian tried his best to make Darwin believe in himself.

Darwin has the ability of survival of the fittest.

Even though he is still very weak now, it will take some effort to kill him.

"Darwin, do you mind if I test your body?"

Looking at Darwin walking out of the water, Brian spoke directly.

"Definitely, Professor."

Darwin, who believed in Brian, readily agreed.

It must be said that some of the motivational stories Brian learned in his previous life were still very useful, at least they had a significant effect on Darwin.

Darwin now couldn't wait to become a superhero.

Brian turned back to the taxi and picked up his toolbox from the passenger seat, which contained a complete set of watch repair tools.

Brian took out a sharp knife from it, then walked in front of Darwin and nodded to him.

Swish.

Brian unexpectedly used the knife to cut Darwin's right artery, but when the knife touched Darwin's arm, his arm's soft skin suddenly became like leather.

The knife did not leave a mark on Darwin's skin.

It was not until this moment that Darwin belatedly reacted. He looked at Brian, not expecting that the actions of the genetics professor would be so fast and fierce.

He simply did not seem like a professor.

"Test record: a knife to the artery is obviously lethal, which is automatically judged by your body as entering an extreme environment state.

Thus, the ability of survival of the fittest is activated, and the body undergoes adaptive evolution, with your skin becoming as strong as leather."

Brian ignored Darwin and instead began to record the data seriously.

Such a professional scene made Darwin, who had never seen such things before, subconsciously comply with Brian's orders.

In the time that followed, Brian conducted various tests on Darwin.

When burned by fire, Darwin's body would instantly enter an adaptive state, gaining the ability to resist high temperatures.

When struck by a taxi, Darwin's body would completely petrify in an instant, thereby offsetting the kinetic impact of the collision.

Shooting at Darwin's heart with an M1911 pistol would cause Darwin's body to metallize, making the bullet unable to penetrate his defense.

According to Brian's tests, as long as it was a lethal attack, Darwin's body would automatically adapt and evolve, thereby acquiring the corresponding defensive characteristics.

Through Brian's repeated tests, he found that Darwin's survival of the fittest ability was not fixed.

For example, when faced with the same flame burning, Darwin's body adapted by developing flame-resistant skin that could withstand high temperatures the first time.

And the second time, Darwin's body directly absorbed the flame.

After a long period of testing, Brian finally found that Darwin's survival of the fittest ability also has its limitations.

First of all, it must be an extreme environment to trigger Darwin's survival of the fittest ability.

For example, scratching Darwin's finger with a knife or pinching his stomach playfully will not trigger his survival of the fittest ability.

Secondly, Darwin's body can only adapt to one extreme environment at a time.

In simple terms, if he is in water, his body will grow gills, giving him the ability to breathe underwater.

But if a gasoline bomb is dropped into the water, setting it on fire, even though Darwin is in an extreme environment, his survival of the fittest ability will not allow him to adapt with fire resistance and he will be burned to death by the fire.

Even though Darwin's survival of the fittest ability is quite powerful, right now Darwin is just a level-one mutant who has never developed his own ability.

This gives Brian an opportunity.

'My dear lab rat Darwin, contribute the first mutant ability to me now.'

Now that he knows Darwin's weakness, Brian is not going to waste time.

In his mind, the mechanical ticking sound rang again. After so long, he is finally about to hunt for the first time.