Chapter 276: Peace Through Superior Firepower
As mentioned before, due to the oppression from the vast majority of ordinary people, many mutants have thrown themselves into a life of crime. Those with weaker abilities mostly just engage in petty theft where their abilities can be of use.
Those with stronger abilities naturally become bolder and engage in more serious criminal activities, including but not limited to highway robbery, burglary, bank heists, and there are even quite a few assassins.
There's no helping it. Discrimination against mutants is intensifying. Once their identity is exposed, it's basically impossible for them to get ordinary jobs. Just take this free country for example, in some extreme states, there are extreme laws that directly revoke the citizenship of mutants upon discovery. Moreover, after the 616 incident, many more states have put this bill on the agenda.
Without social identity, they naturally cannot do normal work. Mutants with no way out can only do some abnormal work. Over time, labels like danger, criminal, and evil are etched onto mutants, with constant implications that what mutants have extra in their body is not the X-Gene but some demon gene.
The general public is also willing to pin many inexplicable things on mutants. Even mustache man (Hitler) has been called a member of the mutants.
Therefore, even if some mutants are subjected to persecution, no one will stand up to speak for them. They will only pray for mutants to die quickly. Even in less extreme states, the law basically does not protect mutants. Police will immediately treat mutants as criminals, even if they are the ones being harmed. Lawyers are unwilling to defend mutants, and even lawyers assigned by force will only do a perfunctory job, because defending mutants will ruin their livelihood.
So, facing this atrocity in the recorder, Magneto and the others naturally will not choose to call the police. If they did call the police, the police officer might even say on the phone: "Serves them right, let's pop the champagne!"
In this environment, even superheroes are unwilling to speak out for mutants. This society is just like this. No one is willing to be a rebel. The last person who spoke out for mutants has already lost his entire family line.
Only mutants will help mutants. This is the situation of mutants in this universe, and it is also the reason they have concluded over the past half-century. It is likely to remain unchanged in the future.
Of course, one cannot be too absolute.
Yang Le stood aside, silently watching the X-Men argue.
"Alright, Remy, Scott," Magneto interrupted their debate. "Every minute and every second we waste here will turn into a dagger and stab into the body of our compatriot."
Seeing this, the two stopped arguing. They indeed had no time to waste.
"This video recording was taken by Mystique," Magneto explained. "Originally, I had only heard rumors and was uneasy, so I sent her to the source of the clue to investigate. After months of infiltration, I didn't expect her to actually find it. Before this, I always thought it was false information, but now it seems it would be better if it were false information."
Magneto's tone was calm. If it weren't for a metal ornament on his desk being twisted into a more abstract artwork, Yang Le would have thought he wasn't angry.
Yang Le once thought that the reason Magneto in this universe was kind was because he evenly distributed his temper to every mutant. Now it seems that the old man is still fiery, but he is carrying too much on his shoulders and has had to change his nature.
"Mystique has sent the coordinates of the laboratory. It is domestic, but perhaps for the sake of convenient management, they chose a location far from the urban area, which is also convenient for our action."
Hank pressed the button on the remote control, and a map marked with coordinates appeared on it. Obviously, that was their goal.
"The action is set for tonight," Magneto instructed everyone. "Remember, your action must be swift, and it's okay to be a bit ruthless when necessary."
"But Principal," Scott was about to say something, but was interrupted by Magneto.
"I know your concerns, Scott, but rest assured, just like you said, we are indeed afraid of mutually assured destruction, which is why those ordinary people dare to tread on the minefield, but they are also unwilling to see it, so we don't need to be blindly tolerant."
Magneto said, patting Scott's shoulder, then swept his gaze across everyone in the house, and said,
"Besides, if anything happens, I'll take responsibility. You guys just go ahead and do it. Peace, peace, only when your fist is hard can you achieve peace, otherwise there will only be two outcomes: destruction and enslavement."
Scott listened to this and became thoughtful. It was not until Jean took his hand that Scott reacted and said, "I understand, Principal."
"Good that you understand. Scott, you are good in every way, but sometimes you are too rigid," Magneto waved his hand. "Go back and rest. Afternoon class is canceled. The action is set for after dinner tonight. We'll meet on the other side of the island then."
Scott and Jean left hand in hand. Beast stayed behind to plan the next business with Magneto. Gambit, who was left behind, naturally left with Yang Le. Looking at Gambit who was talking non-stop beside him, and then looking at Scott and Jean who were so loving in front, Yang Le especially missed Gwen today for some reason.
Time quickly came to night. Under Gambit's lead, Yang Le arrived at the meeting point. It was a woods. He had heard Jubilee say before that it seemed to have been created by Magneto to cultivate some animals. Because the area was relatively large, and they were afraid that everyone would get lost, they had always prohibited everyone from going deep into it.
And although the children are naughty, they are also relatively mature and naturally would not do things like doing what they are told not to do. Therefore, this woods is also the least populated place on the island, but now it seems that there may be other secrets here.
Under Gambit's lead, the two twisted and turned until they arrived at an open area. In the center of the open area, a flying vehicle with a peculiar shape was parked. Beast was checking its state on the side.
Yang Le looked at this flying vehicle, feeling a trance. This flying vehicle was already very similar to the X-Men's dedicated vehicle in the comics—the X-Jet.
"How is it?" Gambit raised his head, looking proud. "This is the lifework of all of us."
"Shocking," Yang Le nodded. It was indeed admirable to be able to create a flying vehicle in such a remote and desolate place.
"Actually, most of it was done by Hank," Magneto walked over from the side. "I can only move materials."
"I'm responsible for welding," Scott said with a smile.
"Remy and I worked together," Jean stood next to Scott. "He was responsible for getting the materials, and I was responsible for destroying traces."
Good! What a professional team! Yang Le couldn't help but applaud in his heart.
"It is our transportation tool for today's action," Beast walked over after finishing the final adjustments. "Believe me, this guy is absolutely trustworthy."
(End of Chapter)