Reading settings
Chapter 499: The Great Migration (1)
Author: Great Demon Spirit
The Watchers' office on Cybertron.
Person in charge, Uatu.
"Without a doubt, the impact of Tony's departure from Earth is immense, far beyond anyone's imagination."
"I have lived on Earth's satellite for billions of years, observing silently for just as long. I recorded The Final Arbiter Lord being attacked by cosmic locusts and going mad, ultimately falling on Earth. I have also witnessed the continuous growth of modern humans under the influence of the Celestials, and even more so, I have witnessed the Mutant population from its birth to its demise."
"On Earth, the Mutants are worried about their future. They must make a choice, and from this point on, Earth will no longer have Mutants."
"Tony feels that Earth is unworthy of possessing such a wondrous group as the Mutants, so his solution is to pack them all up and take them away—taking the most outstanding Omega-level Mutants and a population of several hundred thousand ordinary Mutants."
Watcher Uatu, the sole remaining member of the Watcher race in the Prime Universe, sat silently in space, observing the chaotic scenes on Earth.
Logically, Uatu shouldn't be busy focusing on such a trivial matter on a single planet. This small interstellar migration is fundamentally insignificant.
But his intuition told Uatu that this action might cause an incomparably huge impact in the future.
"The Celestials won't let this go. Sooner or later, they will descend upon Cybertron and, in their capacity as creators, audit the Mutant race."
"But knowing Tony's personality, he will never cooperate obediently, much less sit back and wait for death. I have reason to believe that the first one to strike a killing blow won't be the Celestials, but Tony."
"If the outcome is unfavorable, Tony will preemptively strike and kill the Celestials."
"The key is that I also believe he can do it... I must be crazy, but my intuition tells me that Tony will be the one to win. He has always been the kind of guy who mass-produces miracles."
Uatu pondered, recording the changes of the Mutant population, added some of his own prophecies, then sealed it, satisfied.
This was his job, and even more so, his hobby: observing and recording. Many years from now, he would add new content to this record; after all, time was the one thing he had in abundance.
Everything happening on Earth was seen by the Watcher. All the joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, Uatu watched them all in silence.
...
Nightcrawler sat on the rooftop, staring blankly at the sky.
When he was a child, he would imagine if there were deities on the twinkling stars in the sky watching over him. As he grew up and his powers awakened, with his blue skin and long, pointed tail, he didn't fit in with ordinary people. In their eyes, he was a monster, a devil.
Although he was a devil—Nightcrawler.
Nightcrawler fled from place to place to survive, and was even captured and thrown into a fighting pit to perform life-and-death duels for the rich.
Then a cold-hearted man named "Deathstroke" fought his way into that underground fighting pit, split the cage open with one slash of his saber, and stared indifferently at him as he lay paralyzed with fear on the ground.
Then Deathstroke hoisted him up, holding a battle saber in his other hand, and carved a bloody path out, leaving a trail of dismembered bodies and splattered blood.
Those ferocious humans he had feared so much couldn't even withstand a single move from Deathstroke. With a flash of the blade, heads rolled, and blood gushed like a broken dam, shooting toward the sky.
Nightcrawler felt like he was dreaming.
Deathstroke told him, "You're worth a lot of money. A piece of trash like you who can't even hold a knife is somehow worth thirty million dollars. The world's top mercenaries are going crazy for you. A.R.G.U.S. must be insane, the client who posted the mission to A.R.G.U.S. is also insane, and I'm getting insanely rich."
Nightcrawler thought he had already gone insane.
Then he met the woman who had the same skin as him.
Mystique, Raven.
The Brotherhood of Mutants was never short on cash. Forget thirty million, they could come up with three hundred billion. It was just a matter of getting Old Man Magneto to procure some precious metals.
"Erik is mobilizing our brethren. Why aren't you there listening?" Mystique walked over and asked him.
"I... I think I've already made my decision," Nightcrawler replied hesitantly, feeling out of place.
Someone had secretly told him that the woman before him was his mother.
His biological mother.
He was the offspring of Mystique and Azazel, which was why he had blue skin and the ability of teleportation.
Raven tossed him a bottle of mineral water. "Decided to leave?"
"Yeah... I don't have anything to be attached to here," Nightcrawler said in a low voice. "My memories are filled with nothing but escape, humiliation, hunger... like a continuous nightmare. If I can escape this nightmare forever, why would I be attached to this place?"
"I want to go to the planet that belongs to Mutants, to settle down there, where there's no discrimination, no oppression... That's what Tony told us."
"A lot of people want to go to Cybertron. They say it's paradise." A look of longing appeared on Nightcrawler's face.
He didn't doubt the truth of the news about Cybertron, because Tony wouldn't lie to them.
The corner of Raven's mouth curled up in what seemed to be a sneer. "If you asked them now, many would probably change their minds and choose to stay on Earth."
"Why?"
"Because of the situation." Raven sneered. "Haven't you noticed? The situation for Mutants on Earth improved overnight. Public opinion has reversed in an instant, and countless media outlets are frantically promoting the close relationship between humans and Mutants."
A look of confusion and incomprehension appeared on Nightcrawler's young face.
"It's a simple principle. Even Tony values the Mutant population so highly that he's willing to build an entire planet just for them... The greater the value, the greater the honor you enjoy. The higher-ups on Earth aren't stupid enough to miss that point."
"They're getting anxious. They want to keep the Mutants to continue serving them, preferring to let the meat rot in their own pot. You probably don't know this, but the number of attacks A.R.G.U.S. has suffered recently is comparable to the total of the past five or six years. Everyone wants to get their hands on the formula for that selective genetic serum. Once they have it, it's like having the ultimate weapon against Mutants, allowing them to use Mutants without worry."
The sarcasm on Raven's face was undisguised. "Media propaganda, new human rights laws, one by one they're starting to proactively contact struggling Mutants... Tell me, how many people will still be willing to leave Earth?"
"If one day of propaganda and subtle influence isn't enough, then they'll use it every single day... The longer this goes on, the fewer of our brethren will want to leave Earth."
"Because their families, connections, careers, and memories are all on Earth, not on some unknown other side of the Milky Way."
Raven patted Nightcrawler's head with pity. "Tony has been letting this happen. He only wants the group of Mutants with unwavering willpower, not the ones who are indecisive. Because, in the end, people are pragmatic creatures. It's their instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm."
(end of chapter)
Author: Great Demon Spirit
The Watchers' office on Cybertron.
Person in charge, Uatu.
"Without a doubt, the impact of Tony's departure from Earth is immense, far beyond anyone's imagination."
"I have lived on Earth's satellite for billions of years, observing silently for just as long. I recorded The Final Arbiter Lord being attacked by cosmic locusts and going mad, ultimately falling on Earth. I have also witnessed the continuous growth of modern humans under the influence of the Celestials, and even more so, I have witnessed the Mutant population from its birth to its demise."
"On Earth, the Mutants are worried about their future. They must make a choice, and from this point on, Earth will no longer have Mutants."
"Tony feels that Earth is unworthy of possessing such a wondrous group as the Mutants, so his solution is to pack them all up and take them away—taking the most outstanding Omega-level Mutants and a population of several hundred thousand ordinary Mutants."
Watcher Uatu, the sole remaining member of the Watcher race in the Prime Universe, sat silently in space, observing the chaotic scenes on Earth.
Logically, Uatu shouldn't be busy focusing on such a trivial matter on a single planet. This small interstellar migration is fundamentally insignificant.
But his intuition told Uatu that this action might cause an incomparably huge impact in the future.
"The Celestials won't let this go. Sooner or later, they will descend upon Cybertron and, in their capacity as creators, audit the Mutant race."
"But knowing Tony's personality, he will never cooperate obediently, much less sit back and wait for death. I have reason to believe that the first one to strike a killing blow won't be the Celestials, but Tony."
"If the outcome is unfavorable, Tony will preemptively strike and kill the Celestials."
"The key is that I also believe he can do it... I must be crazy, but my intuition tells me that Tony will be the one to win. He has always been the kind of guy who mass-produces miracles."
Uatu pondered, recording the changes of the Mutant population, added some of his own prophecies, then sealed it, satisfied.
This was his job, and even more so, his hobby: observing and recording. Many years from now, he would add new content to this record; after all, time was the one thing he had in abundance.
Everything happening on Earth was seen by the Watcher. All the joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, Uatu watched them all in silence.
...
Nightcrawler sat on the rooftop, staring blankly at the sky.
When he was a child, he would imagine if there were deities on the twinkling stars in the sky watching over him. As he grew up and his powers awakened, with his blue skin and long, pointed tail, he didn't fit in with ordinary people. In their eyes, he was a monster, a devil.
Although he was a devil—Nightcrawler.
Nightcrawler fled from place to place to survive, and was even captured and thrown into a fighting pit to perform life-and-death duels for the rich.
Then a cold-hearted man named "Deathstroke" fought his way into that underground fighting pit, split the cage open with one slash of his saber, and stared indifferently at him as he lay paralyzed with fear on the ground.
Then Deathstroke hoisted him up, holding a battle saber in his other hand, and carved a bloody path out, leaving a trail of dismembered bodies and splattered blood.
Those ferocious humans he had feared so much couldn't even withstand a single move from Deathstroke. With a flash of the blade, heads rolled, and blood gushed like a broken dam, shooting toward the sky.
Nightcrawler felt like he was dreaming.
Deathstroke told him, "You're worth a lot of money. A piece of trash like you who can't even hold a knife is somehow worth thirty million dollars. The world's top mercenaries are going crazy for you. A.R.G.U.S. must be insane, the client who posted the mission to A.R.G.U.S. is also insane, and I'm getting insanely rich."
Nightcrawler thought he had already gone insane.
Then he met the woman who had the same skin as him.
Mystique, Raven.
The Brotherhood of Mutants was never short on cash. Forget thirty million, they could come up with three hundred billion. It was just a matter of getting Old Man Magneto to procure some precious metals.
"Erik is mobilizing our brethren. Why aren't you there listening?" Mystique walked over and asked him.
"I... I think I've already made my decision," Nightcrawler replied hesitantly, feeling out of place.
Someone had secretly told him that the woman before him was his mother.
His biological mother.
He was the offspring of Mystique and Azazel, which was why he had blue skin and the ability of teleportation.
Raven tossed him a bottle of mineral water. "Decided to leave?"
"Yeah... I don't have anything to be attached to here," Nightcrawler said in a low voice. "My memories are filled with nothing but escape, humiliation, hunger... like a continuous nightmare. If I can escape this nightmare forever, why would I be attached to this place?"
"I want to go to the planet that belongs to Mutants, to settle down there, where there's no discrimination, no oppression... That's what Tony told us."
"A lot of people want to go to Cybertron. They say it's paradise." A look of longing appeared on Nightcrawler's face.
He didn't doubt the truth of the news about Cybertron, because Tony wouldn't lie to them.
The corner of Raven's mouth curled up in what seemed to be a sneer. "If you asked them now, many would probably change their minds and choose to stay on Earth."
"Why?"
"Because of the situation." Raven sneered. "Haven't you noticed? The situation for Mutants on Earth improved overnight. Public opinion has reversed in an instant, and countless media outlets are frantically promoting the close relationship between humans and Mutants."
A look of confusion and incomprehension appeared on Nightcrawler's young face.
"It's a simple principle. Even Tony values the Mutant population so highly that he's willing to build an entire planet just for them... The greater the value, the greater the honor you enjoy. The higher-ups on Earth aren't stupid enough to miss that point."
"They're getting anxious. They want to keep the Mutants to continue serving them, preferring to let the meat rot in their own pot. You probably don't know this, but the number of attacks A.R.G.U.S. has suffered recently is comparable to the total of the past five or six years. Everyone wants to get their hands on the formula for that selective genetic serum. Once they have it, it's like having the ultimate weapon against Mutants, allowing them to use Mutants without worry."
The sarcasm on Raven's face was undisguised. "Media propaganda, new human rights laws, one by one they're starting to proactively contact struggling Mutants... Tell me, how many people will still be willing to leave Earth?"
"If one day of propaganda and subtle influence isn't enough, then they'll use it every single day... The longer this goes on, the fewer of our brethren will want to leave Earth."
"Because their families, connections, careers, and memories are all on Earth, not on some unknown other side of the Milky Way."
Raven patted Nightcrawler's head with pity. "Tony has been letting this happen. He only wants the group of Mutants with unwavering willpower, not the ones who are indecisive. Because, in the end, people are pragmatic creatures. It's their instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm."
(end of chapter)