Chapter 86

"Red Hook town, we've arrived." Beast Hank stopped the bickering inside the jet just in time and began the landing sequence.

The X-Men's vehicle was capable of vertical take-off and landing, requiring no runway.

This tactical thinking, which emerged in Europe during the US-Soviet Cold War in the 1960s, influenced the design of fighter jets.

To prevent runways from being destroyed and affecting jet operations, countries like Britain, France, and Germany scrambled to develop jets with vertical take-off and landing capabilities, eventually leading to the official deployment of the British Harrier.

The jet, developed by the mutant X-Men and packed with various pieces of black technology, naturally wouldn't pass up such a convenient feature.

It should be noted that the contemporary British Harrier had flaws like low payload and an inability to fly at supersonic speeds. The X-Jet Blackbird had no such problems; its cabin capacity was even comparable to a small passenger plane, not a typical fighter jet.

Without some black technology, this thing couldn't have been built.

But Henry, sitting on the plane, didn't bother to appreciate or analyze this piece of black technology right before his eyes; instead, he suddenly thought about what he might have to face next.

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

All the X-Men followed Professor X, who was in his wheelchair, off the jet. Henry trailed at the very end, peeking from beside the jet's lift door. Sure enough, they had come to find Jean Grey, the X-Man who had gone rogue.

If this were the events of the *Dark Phoenix* movie, then the solar flare that previously damaged the Space Shuttle Endeavour was actually the Phoenix Force of the Marvel Universe.

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

It turned out that in '75, when Jean was 8, she was in a car accident, and in her memory, both her parents died. In reality, her father was still alive, so she ran home to find her dad.

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

From this perspective, one can see that the plight of mutants is even more severe than the plight 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 to grow up safely. What kind of environment such people grow up in and what direction they develop in depends on individual circumstances.

But mutants usually don't awaken their mutant abilities at birth; rather, they do so at some stage of growth due to some kind of stimulus. Because the change is drastic and uncontrollable, the first target of harm is usually the family around them.

Compared to Black people who still have mothers or neighborhood brotherhood, the most tragic thing about mutants is that those who reject them the most are usually their closest family members.

So, for a child who already lives in hell versus a child who lived in heaven and fell into hell because of awakening mutant abilities, which group has deeper hatred in their hearts? The answer is self-evident.

This is also the reason why Henry thinks mutants are harder to deal with than Black people and why he doesn't want to get involved at all.

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

And at this moment, Jean Grey is facing a triple blow. The first is that Professor X hid the truth, making her think she was an orphan. In fact, she still had a biological father. In a sense, this is also a form of betrayal.

Second, after seeing her biological father, Jean finally remembered, under his prompting, the fact that her mother's death was caused by her own out-of-control abilities. More hurtful than betrayal is the guilt of killing one's own kin.

Third, she was abandoned by her father. She had thought her biological family could bring her more love, but unexpectedly, there was only hatred and resentment. This is another layer of betrayal.

Any one of the three blows could impact a young person whose worldview is not yet stable, causing them to face a world-shattering mental trauma. Let alone all three coming at once.

Coupled with the recent crisis of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, although it was a happy ending in the end, at the moment it happened, as the main force in resolving the crisis, Jean Grey had walked through the gates of life and death.

Having survived a disaster, she is currently at her most mentally fragile. Encountering three blows, it can be said that Jean Grey is at her most dangerous and most prone to losing control right now.

To truly help her, it is definitely not by relying on strength to beat her up and then lecturing her when she can't move.

Saying "I'm doing this for your own good" or spouting some grand principles—none of these are things Jean Grey can listen to right now.

Instead, it requires the people around her to spend time rebuilding trust and using sincerity to redeem her; only then is there a chance to save Jean Grey's soul. Henry, as an outsider, is neither qualified nor suitable to intervene in this matter.

Although it's cliché to talk about love, this is definitely not the reason Henry doesn't want to verify whether a Kryptonian's steel body is superior or inferior to the Phoenix Force.

He's really not afraid...

Absolutely not...

As for Henry, who was called over by Mystique, he currently feels like he's driving a max-level account into a newbie village, and the village bully says: "Look, the GM is right there, go beat him up for me!"

You are making things difficult for a max-level big shot! Those who haven't been big shots before want to ask those who have: what should be done in this situation?

Without any means of recharging or buying stocks, is there still a chance to win?

Waiting online, it's urgent~

Adhering to the principle of "if you can just blabber, never make a move," Henry, although he got off the Blackbird jet, hunched his body and hid behind Mystique. This made Mystique, who was looking for help, wonder what kind of person she had found.

Professor X didn't give up on saving Jean Grey just because he was being mocked on the jet. Unfortunately, his clichés about "we are family" failed to convince the Phoenix, who was in a fit of rage.

Then Professor X sent Cyclops, Jean Grey's current boyfriend, as a lobbyist. Since the fake family route didn't work, the emotional route wasn't fake, and it did indeed shake Jean Grey.

But the American police, who are always late, actually arrived with sirens blaring and in a grand fashion with three cars!

Unable to take the stimulation, the Phoenix directly used telekinesis to flip two police cars; the police inside were either dead or seriously injured; only one police car survived.

The great battle thus began.

At this time, Mystique couldn't care less about whether Henry would make a move; her entire attention was drawn by this great battle.

It's understandable that Cyclops wouldn't use heavy force, Storm's ability needs warm-up, and Nightcrawler has no destructive power to speak of; they were all defeated by Jean Grey one by one.

Even Quicksilver, this speedster, was no match for the influence of the Phoenix Force. He rushed toward Jean Grey at whatever speed he had, and rolled back at the same speed, with interest added, falling to the ground seriously injured.