Chapter 146: The Original Sin of Mutants

"Red Hook has arrived." Beast Hank, just in time to prevent the confrontation inside the fighter jet from escalating further, began the landing procedure.

The X-Men's vehicle can perform vertical takeoff and landing, requiring no runway.

This tactical thinking, which rose in Europe during the 1960s in response to the US-Soviet Cold War, influenced fighter jet design.

To avoid runways being destroyed and thus affecting fighter jet takeoffs and landings, nations like Britain, France, and Germany developed fighter jets with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities; eventually, the British Harrier was officially deployed.

Combining numerous black technologies, the jet fighter developed by the mutant X-Men naturally did not overlook this extremely convenient function.

It must be known that the contemporary British Harrier had defects such as low payload and inability to fly at supersonic speeds. The X-Jet Blackbird had no such problems; indeed, its cabin capacity belonged to that of a small passenger plane, not a standard fighter jet.

Without some black technology, one simply could not build such a thing.

However, Henry, sitting in the plane, did not properly appreciate or analyze this black technology achievement right before his eyes; instead, he suddenly recalled the matter he might soon have to face.

Seeing the landing destination, as expected, it was a very typical American suburban town.

All the X-Men followed Professor X, who sat in a wheelchair, off the fighter jet; Henry was the last to disembark, still stealing glances from beside the jet's cargo ramp. Sure enough, they had come to find Jean Grey, the X-Man who had gone rogue.

If this were the Dark Phoenix event from the movies, then the solar flare that previously destroyed the Space Shuttle Endeavour was actually the Phoenix Force of the Marvel Universe.

According to the movie plot, Jean Grey, having absorbed the Phoenix Force, broke through the mental shackles set by Professor X and remembered her parents.

It turned out that in '75, when eight-year-old Jean had a car accident, the parents in her memory died. Actually, her father was still alive, so she ran home to find her dad.

Little did she know she was taken in by Professor X because her father's lack of understanding made him unable to accept this daughter. And that was the reason Professor X corrected her memory.

From this perspective, one can see that the human dilemma of mutants is more severe than the dilemma of Black people in America.

Black people have a high probability of coming from single-parent families or being orphans; relying on neighborhood mutual aid, they managed to grow up stably. What kind of environment such a person grows up in, and what direction they develop in, depends on personal encounters.

But mutants usually do not awaken their mutant abilities at birth; rather, at some stage of growth, mutant abilities are triggered by some stimulus. Because the change is violent and uncontrollable, the first object usually harmed is the family members nearby.

Compared to Black people who still have mothers or brothers in the neighborhood for mutual aid, the most tragic aspect for mutants is that those who reject them most are usually their own closest family members.

So, which group holds deeper hatred in their hearts: children already living in hell, or children who originally lived in paradise but fell into hell upon awakening their mutant abilities? The answer is self-evident.

This is also the reason why Henry believes mutants are harder to deal with than Black people and has no desire to get involved.

Because the greatest suffering of mutants is that their birth is usually accompanied by betrayal, not merely an issue of discrimination. Black people know how to stick together, but mutants even despise each other; how can this be improved?

At this moment, Jean Grey faces a triple blow. First, Professor X concealed the truth, making her think she was an orphan. In fact, she still had a biological father. In a sense, this was also a kind of betrayal.

Second, upon seeing her biological father, Jean finally remembered under prompting the fact that her mother's death was caused by her own loss of control. Compared to betrayal, the guilt of patricide is even more hurtful.

Third, she was abandoned by her father. Originally thinking blood relatives could bring her more love, she found only hatred and resentment. This was yet another betrayal.

Any one of these three blows could shake the worldview of a young person whose values were not yet stable, causing mental damage as if facing a heaven-shattering earthquake. Let alone all three coming at once.

Add to this the recent crisis of the Space Shuttle Endeavour; although it ended happily in the end, at the moment it occurred, as the main force resolving the crisis, Jean Grey had walked the line between life and death.

Having survived a great disaster, he is currently at his most fragile mentally. Facing these three blows again, one can say that at this moment, Jean Grey is the most dangerous and most prone to losing control.

To truly help him, it is absolutely not about beating him up with strength until he cannot move, then lecturing him properly.

Saying things like "I did this for your own good" or spouting some grand principles—these are not things the current Jean Grey can listen to.

Instead, it requires the people around him to spend time rebuilding trust and saving him with sincerity; only then is there a chance to salvage Jean Grey's soul. Henry, an outsider, has no qualification and is unsuited to intervene in this matter.

Although using love as an argument is cliché, this is absolutely not the reason Henry does not want to test whether a Kryptonian's steel body is superior or inferior to the Phoenix Force.

Truly, he is not afraid...

Absolutely not...

As for Henry, called by Mystique, his feeling now was like taking a max-level character to a newbie village, only to be told by the village bully: "Look, the GM is right there! Go blow him up for me!"

You are making things difficult for a max-level boss! Someone who has never been a boss wants to ask someone who has been one: what should be done at this time?

Without means to recharge or buy shares, is there still a chance to win?

Waiting online, urgent~

Adhering to the principle of never acting if one can just talk nonsense, although Henry disembarked from the Blackbird jet, he crouched his body and hid behind Mystique. This made Mystique, who had called for help, doubt what kind of person she had found.

Professor X did not give up saving Jean Grey just because people spoke sarcastically on the jet. Unfortunately, his clichéd speech about "we are family" failed to persuade the Phoenix Girl, who was in a rage.

Then Professor X sent Cyclops, Jean Grey's current boyfriend, as a negotiator. Since the fake-kinship route didn't work, the emotional route was not fake, and it indeed made Jean Grey waver.

But the American police, who always arrived late, suddenly came roaring with sirens, grandly driving three cars!

Unable to withstand the stimulus, the Phoenix Girl directly used telekinesis to flip over two police cars; the police inside either died or were seriously injured; only one police car survived.

The great battle began thereupon.

At this moment, Mystique paid no attention to whether Henry acted or not; her entire attention was drawn to this great battle.

It was understandable that Cyclops refused to strike hard; Storm's ability required warm-up; Nightcrawler had no destructive power to speak of; all were defeated one by one by Jean Grey.

Even Quicksilver, this speedster, could not withstand the influence of the Phoenix Force. The speed at which he rushed toward Jean Grey was the same speed at which he rolled back, plus some interest, landing heavily injured.

(End of Chapter)