PY Deal (Bonus for the FFF Regiment Chief 1/12)

Chapter 115: PY Deal (Bonus for the FFF Regiment Chief 112)

After finally calming Jean down, Scott didn’t dare let her look at those dark experimental records anymore. He hurriedly sent the backup files to Ororo, then began contacting some fence-sitters.

He needed a suitable intermediary to build a bridge between the X-Men and the military, rescue Professor Charles, and turn public opinion around.

His methods were far more effective than Jean’s or Ororo’s. After a few words combining both carrot and stick, the friend on the other end immediately accepted the task enthusiastically.

By the time the plane landed at a hidden base, he had already received a reply. General Talbot intended to speak with him in person.

He arranged for the others to rest, then left the base with Ororo and Robert and flew straight to Washington.

The plane landed at the Pentagon’s private airfield, where military personnel were already waiting.

The three of them smoothly made their way inside and met the grim-faced General Talbot.

"All the soldiers inside the base were killed, and those scientists and researchers are even worse than dead. What are you trying to do? Start a rebellion?" General Talbot seized the initiative from behind his desk.

"What about Professor Charles? I thought I would see him at this meeting." Scott ignored General Talbot’s accusations, casually pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of the desk. Robert and Ororo sat on either side of him.

He knew why General Talbot was so furious. When Iceman had led people to search the files earlier, they had seen the researchers who had been turned into "Human Centipedes."

All the Mutants had been tortured by these people. Originally, they had all sworn to take revenge and kill everyone who had tortured them. But after seeing the researchers’ miserable state, they had all changed their minds. None of them could bear to kill them. They wished this group of people would live like that for the rest of their lives.

When Scott first saw the scene, he had actually planned to rescue them. After all, he didn’t want relations with humanity to become too strained.

But he had no idea what Magneto had done. The organs of these people were tightly connected, as if they had been born that way. If someone without medical knowledge tried to separate them recklessly, they might end up killing them instead.

With no other choice, Scott had to leave them confined in the original laboratory, then take his people away and wait for the military to rescue them.

But he didn’t know that what truly frightened and unnerved General Talbot were those "dolls."

The "dolls" Magneto had created with Magnetic Field Rotation were still alive, but their flesh and blood had completely fused with the metal armor on their bodies. Even the best surgeons in the world couldn’t save them now.

Yet they still weren’t dead!

Although their bones had been shattered, their internal organs displaced, and their flesh, tendons, and bones fused together, they were still alive!

This had already surpassed the scope of medicine. It was a miracle of life, albeit one produced by a demon.

The military soldiers weren’t afraid of death, but the feeling of being worse than dead made every soldier who carried out the mission shudder with fear.

And besides fear, the military’s upper ranks also felt a hint of greed. If this ability could be controlled, could it be used to create more powerful soldiers?

As for the incriminating evidence, that wasn’t a major problem. At worst, they could throw Colonel Stryker out as a scapegoat.

After all, the whole matter had started because of him. If he did well, the military leadership would naturally claim the credit. If he botched things, then he had acted recklessly on his own and would have to face the full force of the law.

The generals had long since become accustomed to this sort of thing.

A mere colonel could be discarded without a second thought. No one would care.

"Professor Charles won’t appear until we’ve reached an agreement," General Talbot said solemnly. "You must hand over Magneto. He is the culprit behind this terrorist attack!"

General Talbot first established the nature of what had happened at Stryker Base, defining it as a terrorist attack.

Scott had no objection to that. What had happened there was part of the terms of their deal and could not be exposed.

But hand over Magneto…

"General, you know that’s impossible. However, the X-Men can assist the military in hunting down Magneto."

Scott had already intended to use the military’s power to stop Magneto, so he took advantage of the opportunity and put this forward as a condition.

"The military must bring Colonel Stryker, who illegally attacked Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, to justice. It must also announce the truth behind the incident in which the three of them—Olmo and the others—were injured by Mutant abilities, in order to dispel the public’s hostility toward Mutants."

These were only reasonable demands, and General Talbot didn’t make things difficult on that front.

"Colonel Stryker has already been relieved of his duties. What awaits him now is a court-martial. As for the hunt for Magneto, it must begin as soon as possible, and your X-Men must take the lead."

"Fine. No problem!" Scott agreed immediately.

Scott didn’t know that Magneto could use Magnetic Field Rotation. When Magneto had been at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, he had kept a low profile and rarely appeared, and he had never displayed the power of Magnetic Field Rotation in public.

Later, on the day Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was attacked, when Magneto had fought his way out, everyone else had already been captured and knocked unconscious by anesthetics. No one had seen him battle the Magnetic Field Warriors.

As for when they were rescued, although Magneto’s performance had been impressive, to Scott and the others, it was merely the level Magneto should have possessed. It wasn’t worth making a fuss over.

Magneto’s additional abilities—regrowing his limbs and treating the injuries of other Mutants—were also regarded by Scott as the results of the human experiments Colonel Stryker had conducted on Erik.

Scott hadn’t seen the Magnetic Field Warriors Magneto had turned into "dolls," but General Talbot knew about them.

Magnetic Field Warriors wearing Strong Magnetic Armor could reach the twentieth heaven of Magnetic Field Rotation, making them equivalent to superhumans. Yet Magneto had turned an entire group of Magnetic Field Warriors into "dolls," leaving them worse than dead.

From the mouths of these "dolls," the military had learned that Magneto’s Magnetic Field Rotation Realm had probably already reached the Fifty Heavens, which left General Talbot extremely tense.

This was already a power greater than that of Zhan Liu from the Ultimate Limit Hall. If Magneto entered a city and began killing, the result would be a catastrophe.

Previously, when Magneto had merely controlled magnetic fields, the military could still use technology to counter him.

But countless experiments had now proven that the magnetic field cultivated through martial arts was a unique Life Magnetic Field, unrestricted by the properties of metal.

Whenever he thought of this, General Talbot developed a headache and wished he could kill that bastard surnamed Zhan.

Alternatively, it wouldn’t be bad if he and Magneto fought until both sides were badly wounded.

General Talbot couldn’t help thinking this.