Charles had used the opportunity of training Jean’s telepathic abilities to slowly change her mories. While his power was still stronger than hers, he began to gradually erase everything related to Reid from her mind during their sessions.
Since Jean also possessed formidable telepathic powers, Charles couldn’t just erase her mories outright. No matter how strong his abilities were, any direct tampering would be detected by her.
So he chose a more subtle approach. By burying all mories related to Reid deep within her subconscious, he managed to make her forget about him. All that remained was a vague recollection that he was a man who had powerful telepathic abilities.
During this process, Charles also noticed how much Jean had changed. She was no longer the innocent girl he and Erik t for the first ti. That person was long gone.
He could feel it. Jean no longer cared about the future of their people. The only reason she remained here was because, as a mutant, she felt safer staying among her own kind.
Unknowingly, her attitude had shifted; she had grown distant, cynical, and self-serving. But Charles no longer had the strength or ti to guide her back to the right path.
"Sigh... this is the best I can do," he murmured.
He had a feeling, an uneasy sense, that humanity would soon launch another assault on them. That ant he had to recruit as many mutants as he could, while he still had the chance.
Not long ago, while using the Cerebro amplifier to scan for mutant activity across the globe, he had found soone who might be the right fit.
‘Ororo, take the jet and head to Canada. I'll send you the exact coordinates on the way.’
The man Charles had in mind was soone he’d known since youth. His solitary nature and unpredictable temperant had always made him difficult to approach. Neither he nor Erik had ever seriously tried to recruit the man. But now, that was no longer a luxury he could afford.
"Understood."
In the corridor, Ororo heard a voice inside her head and nodded. She then headed to the academy's airfield to prepare for departure.
A short while later, Jean slowly walked into Charles’s office.
"You needed sothing from ?" she asked calmly.
Just thirty seconds earlier, Charles had reached out to her telepathically while she was teaching. Jean had imdiately told her students to study on their own and made her way straight to his office.
"Jean, you're a teacher. You should’ve finished the lesson first. It wasn’t that urgent," he said, mildly reprimanding her.
"They're your students," she replied bluntly.
She didn’t care whether those young mutant kids actually learned anything or not. So long as she did what was required of her, that was enough.
Charles sighed. "Fine. I’ll cover your class later. For now, you have a new mission."
He knew that Ororo taking the jet would definitely attract the attention of human forces. He was certain they would take so kind of action. But that was exactly what he wanted: a distraction.
Recruiting Wolverine was real, yes, but it wasn’t the most critical part of the plan.
"I need you to fly to Canada using your telekinesis. I'll send you the exact location through telepathy. There's a mutant girl there nad Marie. She calls herself Rogue. I need you to bring her here. She’ll be the most important piece in our plan."
Charles spoke with seriousness, but Jean looked completely indifferent. The future of mutantkind was sothing only he still seed to care about.
"Helping you is fine," she said flatly, "but don’t forget what you promised .”
Charles's cheek twitched slightly. He had expected her to bring it up, but hearing her say it still stung.
"I know. Once we defeat the humans, I won't interfere with anything you do anymore."
Jean nodded, satisfied. Without another word, she turned and walked away, leaving Charles alone in the quiet room.
He leaned back in his wheelchair and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.
‘What am I supposed to do now…’
……
Shortly afterward, Ororo took off from the academy in a stealth jet. But every movent they made was clearly observed by the LexCorp satellite high above.
Calling it a satellite was no longer accurate; it had already beco a massive space station. Using its advanced caras and energy detection systems, the station could not only monitor every activity at the Xavier Institute in Westchester, but also asure the energy signatures within the building itself.
Inside the station—
"This should be more than enough evidence by now,” Luthor said, handing over a set of high-resolution images to the man standing beside him.
William took the docunts and placed them into his briefcase. Behind him, Deathstroke stood silently, serving as his bodyguard.
"Yes. The President won’t allow mutants to act freely during the election season. Don’t worry. I’ll get the clearance we need soon."
It was now the winter of 2000. Over the past year, William had clawed his way back into politics and secured limited authority to handle mutant-related matters.
And now, the intelligence he had gathered was enough to persuade the President to authorize a military strike against the mutant school.
Even better, he had stumbled upon an unexpected bonus.
After organizing the docunts, William made his way to a sealed lab inside the space station. In the center of the lab, inside a containnt chamber, was a living brain, sustained and functioning.
"Now, tell everything about Cerebro. All of it, Magneto."
William’s words revealed the truth.
Magneto had been revived, but only partially. His body was gone, but his brain had been preserved. Aside from retaining mories from when he was alive, only a faint sense of hearing remained.
After injecting an extract taken from Jason’s cerebral cortex into the container, the brain began to tremble slightly.
Soon, the data related to the Cerebro inside his mind was converted into digital information and fed into the computer. One by one, sheets of paper printed out the data and landed in William’s hands.
"Thank you, Magneto. Don't worry. You won’t have to suffer long. Once the mutants are completely wiped out, you’ll finally be free."
As if he could still understand William’s words, Magneto’s brain twitched in the liquid, struggling, trying to resist. But now, reduced to just a brain, what could he possibly do?
"Hahaha!!"
Watching his helpless reaction, William burst into laughter as he walked out of the lab. This was revenge, and it felt good. But it wasn’t over yet. He wouldn’t rest until every last mutant was dragged down into hell with him.
"Deathstroke, LexCorp will send you the coordinates. Go intercept the mutant flying that jet. Whatever they're trying to do, no matter how small, I won't let them succeed!"
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