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Chapter 500: The Great Migration (2)
"How many firefights have there been today?"
Agent Coulson looked up at the sky. The setting sun dyed the heavens a fiery, blood-red.
"The forty-seventh," someone reported.
"A.R.G.U.S. strongholds around the globe have been attacked this many times in a single day. The fighting tonight will be even more intense." Agent Coulson shook his head.
Everyone wanted the formula for the Serum. Only with it could they feel secure about using mutants. It was an easy mentality to understand.
It was just like in the ancient feudal dynasties, where an emperor could tolerate a minister's private vices—be it greed, lust, or otherwise—because the emperor needed leverage, making it easy to reprimand or even execute them at any time.
Many people coveted the Serum's formula for the same reason. They first needed a weapon that could eliminate mutants before they could feel secure about accepting them.
Most importantly, they would hold the initiative. When the time came, they could secretly keep a batch of mutants who hadn't been injected with the Serum, providing them with a continuous supply of new mutant Combat Power.
In the past, Ordinary Humans feared and rejected mutants not only because they worried about being inexplicably harmed, but also because they were anxious about their inability to retaliate, finding themselves constantly in a position of being overpowered.
The upper echelons had always tacitly allowed or even fanned the flames of this sentiment because they themselves didn't know how best to deal with mutants.
But now, an opportunity had arrived. The strongest of them, Tony, had taken many of his people away, leaving the combat power of A.R.G.U.S. at an all-time low.
This was their best chance to get the Serum and trick the mutants into staying.
Unfortunately, this "depletion" was always relative. The power that this behemoth, A.R.G.U.S., unleashed in an instant was startling. Legions of undead warriors poured out in waves, dispatched all over the world to engage the invaders in a frenzied, blood-for-blood battle.
In the span of a month, over a hundred thousand of Earth's most elite soldiers and an even greater number of clandestine agents had died. The amount of ammunition consumed was incalculable as the fires of war raged.
"How is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s recruitment of mutant personnel progressing?" Agent Coulson scratched his head, touching his receding hairline.
"It's ongoing. We're focusing on winning over students from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. A few of the younger kids have joined, but the older ones are unwilling to engage with us."
"Is Professor X still refusing to meet with me?" Agent Coulson sighed.
"Yes."
"This is trouble. They're dead set on leaving," Agent Coulson said helplessly.
Generally speaking, the most outstanding groups of mutants were often found at Xavier's School and in the Brotherhood of Mutants. Others, like the Hellfire Club, also housed groups of mutants with extraordinary Combat Power.
But Tony had swept up all these organizations in one fell swoop. There was nothing they could do.
"Director, aren't we going to make a move? That's the Serum! If we just had that..." The man was extremely agitated.
Agent Coulson froze. He whipped his head around to stare at the man, his gaze unnerving.
The man fell silent.
"Eddie Brock, this isn't our plan. A.R.G.U.S. isn't that simple," Agent Coulson said, his smile returning.
After Eddie Brock left, Agent Coulson's brow furrowed deeply.
Something was strange within S.H.I.E.L.D.; he had sensed it for a long time. He didn't even know who to trust. A secret investigation was underway, waiting only for a key piece of evidence to surface.
"I hope it's not what I think it is." Agent Coulson's expression turned grim.
...
The fierce clashes came to a sudden halt. This confrontation between A.R.G.U.S. and the world's unknown factions stopped the moment Tony sent a new message.
No one dared to make a move.
Large numbers of men in black began to move, issuing symbolic residence permits to the mutants who had passed the screening process.
The entire Earth was shaken. As fantasy became reality, everything felt surreal.
One by one, mutants walked out of their homes—be they high-rise apartments, dilapidated buildings, or even trash heaps. Designated personnel were responsible for picking them up.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't really want to go." A mutant hesitated, not taking the documents, his face filled with fear as he spoke.
"Are you sure, sir? It is my professional responsibility to remind you that this is a one-time opportunity. If you miss it, the gates of Cybertron will be closed to you forever."
"I'm sure... I want to take that Serum and become an Ordinary Human."
"I see. That's a shame, sir. I wish you the best of luck." The man in black wasted no more words, placed the documents back into his briefcase, and then sped off to the next remote location.
They had to travel to many remote and underdeveloped areas, but they weren't worried about finding everyone. Leaving aside the technological prowess of A.R.G.U.S., Professor X was also observing with Cerebro, guiding the men in black who were unable to find certain individuals.
All a man in black had to do was request assistance from his superiors.
Many mutants who had originally applied for immigration ended up giving up for various reasons.
It had to be said that the pervasive, all-encompassing propaganda had played a huge role.
You only appreciate something when you've lost it; such was the mentality of the Humans. In the past, they only felt revulsion and saw the diverse and powerful abilities of mutants as a headache.
But now that even Tony had gone so far as to build a planet for them, showing how much he valued them, Earth's upper echelons were naturally not foolish. They began to comprehensively assess the consequences of losing the mutants.
A decrease in Combat Power was a certainty.
Unfortunately, their efforts were doomed to have little effect, because Tony had already taken all the currently known Omega-level mutants.
Furthermore, with Professor X's school and Old Man Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants also leaving, the most talented batch would be taken by Tony as well.
At this moment on Earth, groups of mutants from all over the world were gathering, waiting anxiously.
The entire world watched in an eerie silence.
"There are far fewer than we estimated. Only 717,520 people." Magneto looked at the bustling crowd, deeply dissatisfied, his anger simmering beneath the surface.
"Why won't they leave? How could they believe the ridiculous words of those humans? How many years has it been? Have they ever changed?" Magneto's expression was grim.
"There's nothing to be done, Erik. In fact, that we have seven hundred thousand is already quite surprising to me." Professor X said calmly from his wheelchair.
"Out of a population of over ten million, only seven hundred thousand are willing to follow us..." Magneto let out a cold laugh. He felt a pang of heartache, but it was just that—a pang.
When necessary, his heart could be harder than anyone's.
Magneto flew into the sky, looking down on the crowd. Familiar faces flashed before his eyes: Wolverine, Storm, Sabretooth, Mystique...
He raised his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the distant lands.
These seven hundred thousand people would be the seeds of the mutant race. As for those who refused to leave, they would fester and decay along with this place called Earth.
When the Serum was widely deployed, mixed into the rainwater, the food, and the drinking water, the X-Gene within Earth's lifeforms would be weakened bit by bit, until it was completely kicked out of the genetic sequence.
Decades later, when the existing mutants had grown old and died, when Ordinary Humans no longer underwent mutation, when newborn babies no longer carried the X-Gene...
The mutants would face extinction.
Tony's original promise was being fulfilled.
A giant vortex unfolded before the crowd, a massive, shimmering white passageway connecting Earth and Cybertron.
The Land Bridge was open.
Magneto took a deep breath and glanced down at his old partner, Professor X.
Professor X nodded, and his voice echoed in the minds of the seven hundred thousand people present.
"You have made the right choice, my brethren. Time will prove the correctness of your decision."
"Perhaps our past was not a pleasant one, but we have the right to choose our future and the ability to pursue a beautiful, tangible future with our own hands. My brethren, you will be the seeds of the reborn mutant race. A new era has dawned."
"Welcome to the New World!"
(end of chapter)
"How many firefights have there been today?"
Agent Coulson looked up at the sky. The setting sun dyed the heavens a fiery, blood-red.
"The forty-seventh," someone reported.
"A.R.G.U.S. strongholds around the globe have been attacked this many times in a single day. The fighting tonight will be even more intense." Agent Coulson shook his head.
Everyone wanted the formula for the Serum. Only with it could they feel secure about using mutants. It was an easy mentality to understand.
It was just like in the ancient feudal dynasties, where an emperor could tolerate a minister's private vices—be it greed, lust, or otherwise—because the emperor needed leverage, making it easy to reprimand or even execute them at any time.
Many people coveted the Serum's formula for the same reason. They first needed a weapon that could eliminate mutants before they could feel secure about accepting them.
Most importantly, they would hold the initiative. When the time came, they could secretly keep a batch of mutants who hadn't been injected with the Serum, providing them with a continuous supply of new mutant Combat Power.
In the past, Ordinary Humans feared and rejected mutants not only because they worried about being inexplicably harmed, but also because they were anxious about their inability to retaliate, finding themselves constantly in a position of being overpowered.
The upper echelons had always tacitly allowed or even fanned the flames of this sentiment because they themselves didn't know how best to deal with mutants.
But now, an opportunity had arrived. The strongest of them, Tony, had taken many of his people away, leaving the combat power of A.R.G.U.S. at an all-time low.
This was their best chance to get the Serum and trick the mutants into staying.
Unfortunately, this "depletion" was always relative. The power that this behemoth, A.R.G.U.S., unleashed in an instant was startling. Legions of undead warriors poured out in waves, dispatched all over the world to engage the invaders in a frenzied, blood-for-blood battle.
In the span of a month, over a hundred thousand of Earth's most elite soldiers and an even greater number of clandestine agents had died. The amount of ammunition consumed was incalculable as the fires of war raged.
"How is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s recruitment of mutant personnel progressing?" Agent Coulson scratched his head, touching his receding hairline.
"It's ongoing. We're focusing on winning over students from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. A few of the younger kids have joined, but the older ones are unwilling to engage with us."
"Is Professor X still refusing to meet with me?" Agent Coulson sighed.
"Yes."
"This is trouble. They're dead set on leaving," Agent Coulson said helplessly.
Generally speaking, the most outstanding groups of mutants were often found at Xavier's School and in the Brotherhood of Mutants. Others, like the Hellfire Club, also housed groups of mutants with extraordinary Combat Power.
But Tony had swept up all these organizations in one fell swoop. There was nothing they could do.
"Director, aren't we going to make a move? That's the Serum! If we just had that..." The man was extremely agitated.
Agent Coulson froze. He whipped his head around to stare at the man, his gaze unnerving.
The man fell silent.
"Eddie Brock, this isn't our plan. A.R.G.U.S. isn't that simple," Agent Coulson said, his smile returning.
After Eddie Brock left, Agent Coulson's brow furrowed deeply.
Something was strange within S.H.I.E.L.D.; he had sensed it for a long time. He didn't even know who to trust. A secret investigation was underway, waiting only for a key piece of evidence to surface.
"I hope it's not what I think it is." Agent Coulson's expression turned grim.
...
The fierce clashes came to a sudden halt. This confrontation between A.R.G.U.S. and the world's unknown factions stopped the moment Tony sent a new message.
No one dared to make a move.
Large numbers of men in black began to move, issuing symbolic residence permits to the mutants who had passed the screening process.
The entire Earth was shaken. As fantasy became reality, everything felt surreal.
One by one, mutants walked out of their homes—be they high-rise apartments, dilapidated buildings, or even trash heaps. Designated personnel were responsible for picking them up.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't really want to go." A mutant hesitated, not taking the documents, his face filled with fear as he spoke.
"Are you sure, sir? It is my professional responsibility to remind you that this is a one-time opportunity. If you miss it, the gates of Cybertron will be closed to you forever."
"I'm sure... I want to take that Serum and become an Ordinary Human."
"I see. That's a shame, sir. I wish you the best of luck." The man in black wasted no more words, placed the documents back into his briefcase, and then sped off to the next remote location.
They had to travel to many remote and underdeveloped areas, but they weren't worried about finding everyone. Leaving aside the technological prowess of A.R.G.U.S., Professor X was also observing with Cerebro, guiding the men in black who were unable to find certain individuals.
All a man in black had to do was request assistance from his superiors.
Many mutants who had originally applied for immigration ended up giving up for various reasons.
It had to be said that the pervasive, all-encompassing propaganda had played a huge role.
You only appreciate something when you've lost it; such was the mentality of the Humans. In the past, they only felt revulsion and saw the diverse and powerful abilities of mutants as a headache.
But now that even Tony had gone so far as to build a planet for them, showing how much he valued them, Earth's upper echelons were naturally not foolish. They began to comprehensively assess the consequences of losing the mutants.
A decrease in Combat Power was a certainty.
Unfortunately, their efforts were doomed to have little effect, because Tony had already taken all the currently known Omega-level mutants.
Furthermore, with Professor X's school and Old Man Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants also leaving, the most talented batch would be taken by Tony as well.
At this moment on Earth, groups of mutants from all over the world were gathering, waiting anxiously.
The entire world watched in an eerie silence.
"There are far fewer than we estimated. Only 717,520 people." Magneto looked at the bustling crowd, deeply dissatisfied, his anger simmering beneath the surface.
"Why won't they leave? How could they believe the ridiculous words of those humans? How many years has it been? Have they ever changed?" Magneto's expression was grim.
"There's nothing to be done, Erik. In fact, that we have seven hundred thousand is already quite surprising to me." Professor X said calmly from his wheelchair.
"Out of a population of over ten million, only seven hundred thousand are willing to follow us..." Magneto let out a cold laugh. He felt a pang of heartache, but it was just that—a pang.
When necessary, his heart could be harder than anyone's.
Magneto flew into the sky, looking down on the crowd. Familiar faces flashed before his eyes: Wolverine, Storm, Sabretooth, Mystique...
He raised his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the distant lands.
These seven hundred thousand people would be the seeds of the mutant race. As for those who refused to leave, they would fester and decay along with this place called Earth.
When the Serum was widely deployed, mixed into the rainwater, the food, and the drinking water, the X-Gene within Earth's lifeforms would be weakened bit by bit, until it was completely kicked out of the genetic sequence.
Decades later, when the existing mutants had grown old and died, when Ordinary Humans no longer underwent mutation, when newborn babies no longer carried the X-Gene...
The mutants would face extinction.
Tony's original promise was being fulfilled.
A giant vortex unfolded before the crowd, a massive, shimmering white passageway connecting Earth and Cybertron.
The Land Bridge was open.
Magneto took a deep breath and glanced down at his old partner, Professor X.
Professor X nodded, and his voice echoed in the minds of the seven hundred thousand people present.
"You have made the right choice, my brethren. Time will prove the correctness of your decision."
"Perhaps our past was not a pleasant one, but we have the right to choose our future and the ability to pursue a beautiful, tangible future with our own hands. My brethren, you will be the seeds of the reborn mutant race. A new era has dawned."
"Welcome to the New World!"
(end of chapter)
