Chapter 147: The Kryptonian Cushion

Compared to the young X-Men who would charge in at Professor X's call, only Mystique still wanted to continue persuading Jean Grey. He knew battle could not solve today's matter, and felt guilt over Charles's actions, making him unwilling to fight.

So Mystique did not strike, merely approaching the Phoenix Girl, who was on the verge of losing control, with extreme caution.

Jean Grey's behavior was indeed as Mystique had hoped; as long as she was not provoked, she would not react greatly. So Mystique approached step by step, speaking with warmth.

Professor X either harbored the same unrealistic delusion, wanting to give Mystique a chance to persuade, or he himself was like a headless fly, so as long as anyone stood up to try, he would give them a chance.

To give Mystique a chance to persuade Jean Grey, Professor X even froze Beast, who was preparing to use special ammunition, and those surviving police who, not knowing life from death, were preparing to shoot. Mental freezing made even their thoughts stop.

One could not blame these police for lacking sense; although mutant abilities were numerous and bizarre, most mutants would still die after taking a bullet. So the moment they had guns and ammunition, they did not think of retreating.

However, from the X-Men's movements, one could see Professor X had lost his way, lacking the wisdom one imagined, never making the correct choice.

Charles Francis Xavier in this world looked more like a human than an infallible mutant leader.

And Mystique's probe was destined to fail; how could a woman in a rage calm down so easily? Another woman stepping forward could not solve the problem.

It required a third party completely unrelated to the whole affair, with sufficient trust, to become the object of listening.

Clearly, no one present met such qualifications.

But Mystique did not perceive the danger within, or perhaps he was also gambling. When he and Jean closed the distance to the final step, he reached out and touched Jean's arm.

If this step of probing could still succeed, the next step would be a big hug. Then the matter would probably be settled.

Unfortunately, the current Jean Grey, besides having turbulent emotions, also had the Phoenix Force acting up; saying she was caught between internal and external pressures was not an exaggeration.

So when he was touched by Mystique, the whole person instantly exploded!

Mystique shot away like a cannonball toward the distance. Not only did she plow a deep trench in the ground, but she also smashed everything along the way.

Such a result cooled the fighting spirit of everyone present. Jean Grey, even more, looked in panic at the traces she had created, hoping to see the figure that had already vanished, to see what had happened to him.

But in the end, Jean Grey did not have the courage to take that step; instead, she used telekinesis to control herself and flew away.

Whether toward himself or others, Professor X, utterly disappointed, released everyone's mental shackles. The police, having lost their target, were dazed for a moment, then simply retracted their guns and hurried to rescue their comrades in the other two police cars.

And Beast, holding special firearms, wore a look of confusion. He looked at the battlefield where the Phoenix Girl had already left and asked the one sitting in the wheelchair beside him, "What happened? Where is Raven?"

Professor X raised his hand with difficulty, pointing at that very abrupt trench. The plowed earth was piled on both sides, preventing him from taking his wheelchair to check the situation. So he did not know what had happened to the person he was worried about.

Beast quickly put away his gun and ran along that abrupt deep trench.

This deep trench was likely no less than a kilometer long, crossing a small half of the town. At the endpoint where it almost dug out a small hill, Beast finally found the person. Mystique lay in the pit, groaning, unable to climb out alone.

Beast hurried down into the pit to help the person up. But no matter where he touched or how hard he pulled, it made Mystique grimace in pain.

After finally carrying the person out of the pit, a hand suddenly emerged from the base of the earth pile. Then a second hand, followed by the person's entire upper body. Like a dead man buried in a grave coming back to life, he gasped for air.

Henry cursed, "Damn, I almost suffocated."

Beast finally noticed this extra support who had done nothing, and said in surprise, "Why are you here?"

"To be the cushion. Otherwise, why do you think I was pressed underneath?" Henry mumbled.

At the instant the Phoenix Girl blasted Mystique out, Henry used super speed to cushion behind Mystique. This bold deep trench could be said to have been plowed by him and the Phoenix Girl together.

The reason he did not stand in front of Mystique to take the Phoenix Girl's blow for him was that Henry, in Jean Grey's several attacks, discovered her telekinetic attacks applied force to a specific object, rather than following some invisible attack trajectory.

If the Phoenix Girl's telekinetic attack was like an air cannon, pushing everything on a certain trajectory out, then Henry acting as a meat shield in front would have made sense.

But the current situation was that even if Henry wanted to be a meat shield and stand between the Phoenix Girl and Mystique, the person who should be blasted away would still be blasted away, and not a single hair on Henry would be hurt. It was a perfect "striking the ox by hitting the mountain" divine skill.

Then, judging from the trajectory along which Mystique was blasted away, a broken wooden stake happened to be on the path. If nothing unexpected had happened, this X-Men elder would have been impaled on the wooden stake like a frog skewered on a branch by an eagle.

Benefiting from the mutant ability to change appearance at will, Mystique's physical strength was far higher than an ordinary person's, but not to the point of being invulnerable to blades and guns, nor did he possess Wolverine-level regeneration abilities.

If he had been impaled on the wooden stake, his life would probably have been in danger.

Considering he was called by Mystique, letting him die seemed a bit wrong, so Henry acted as a cushion this time.

Beast seemed so shocked by this consecutive series of stimuli that his brain was unclear; he stared and asked, "Did you make this trench?"

Henry, climbing out of the earth, brushed the dirt off his body and said in a bad mood, "That little girl from your X-Men made it! Not me; I am also a victim."

"You have the ability to avoid causing such severe destruction, right?" Beast, as if looking for a place to vent, spoke with a slightly heavier tone, blaming this alien who did not belong to the X-Men.

Henry, however, refuted with a look of disdain, "I recall you in the X-Men also belong to the role of brain and scientist. Look at this trench on the ground, pushing two people like cannonballs for a kilometer and shoveling away a huge amount of earth.

"If such power was concentrated to stop in an instant, which is what I endured, then the person sandwiched between me and that little girl, namely the one in your hands, what shape would they become? Do I need to remind you?"

(End of Chapter)