hotmtlnovel Chapter 3906 The Nameless Bat (76)
Chapter 3906 The Nameless Bat (76)
Chapter 3906 The Nameless Bat (Seventy-Six)
“If the mastermind behind Cyclops is a super hacker that even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technical department and Iron Man couldn't catch, then it might be more than just a hacker. Remember Ultron? The life form of cyber life inherently dictates that they come and go without a trace, and humans have no chance of defeating them on the internet. But we can find another way,” Peter said.
Captain America nodded and said, "That's right, this kind of behavior does remind me of Ultron. It took a lot of effort to deal with it back then. If Magneto had helped us back then, it might have been much easier."
“That definitely wouldn’t work then,” Iron Man shook his head and said. “Magneto doesn’t like the Avengers, and we can’t cooperate with a terrorist. Even the X-Men have always maintained a principle of non-interference in ordinary society, mainly dealing with the Brotherhood. Professor X certainly wouldn’t help.”
“But things are different now,” Peter said, looking at the screen in front of him. “This has dragged the mutants into it, and now they’re in the wrong. Professor X won’t allow anyone to scheme against his student like this. We can use this to our advantage and get Magneto to catch this guy by the tail.”
“Let’s go to the X-Men’s base,” Captain America said, standing up. “To defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, we must make meticulous preparations. We need to study this carefully.”
The Avengers arrived at the X-Men's base. This was a formal visit, so all the mutants who could come were there, including Magneto and some members of the Brotherhood of Mutants. There were also some reporters taking pictures outside. As Peter walked in, he glanced at the entrance and saw a somewhat familiar face.
“Isn’t that Superman?” Peter raised an eyebrow. He saw that the other man’s gaze was fixed on Magneto, but he showed no surprise at Magneto’s presence in the X-Men’s hometown, clearly already aware of the feud between the two old men.
Peter couldn't help but think of his younger self, when he also made money by taking photos of himself. He never imagined that in a distant, otherworldly world, there would be others like him, choosing to earn money by reporting news about themselves.
Of course, this wasn't Superman's doing, but the laser marks really did look a lot like him. Cyclops isn't as famous as Superman, so many media outlets are already starting to smear Superman. If Superman wrote the report himself, he might be able to clear his name and earn some money in the process.
Thinking this, Peter stepped aside, trying to blend into the crowd and provide the Avengers and mutants with the best angles. Superman, as expected, started snapping photos. Peter, being a photographer himself, could tell from Superman's expression as he checked the camera that he was quite satisfied with the pictures.
Soon, everyone went inside. After some pleasantries and small talk, Captain America decided to get straight to the point.
"...According to our professional analysis, there may be a third party involved in Cyclops and Phoenix's relationship. I'm not referring to Logan; you should know better than me that Wolverine wasn't truly involved in their relationship. Someone else is sowing discord."
"You mean Cyclops cheated on you?" Professor X frowned slightly, clearly not believing the conclusion.
“I know you think you know your students very well, but I remember you said that you wouldn’t read anyone’s mind unless absolutely necessary. Professor, Cyclops’s loss of control already proves that you are not in good control and do not know enough about their recent changes. So it is possible that Cyclops’s love life has changed and you have not noticed it.”
Professor X fell silent. Captain America then looked at Magneto and said, "I know the Brotherhood of Mutants often uses terrorist attacks to force the federal government and military to compromise, but you also need the friendly faction among mutants, namely the X-Men, to mediate and give you a way out. Simple destruction brings no benefit; all your violent methods are just to force others to the negotiating table."
“But now that this has happened, once it’s exposed, the X-Men’s prestige will drop significantly, and they’ll be classified as an unstable ticking time bomb group, just like you. The federal government and the military may no longer trust them, and if you try to gain benefits through limited violence in the future, it could easily escalate into a full-scale war. That’s not the outcome you want.”
Magneto remained noncommittal about Captain America's words, but it was precisely because of his silence that Captain America realized he was right.
The X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants have always played good cop/bad cop. The latter cause trouble and carry out terrorist attacks everywhere, but when it reaches a certain point, the X-Men will step in to stop them. Then the Brotherhood of Mutants will make their demands, and the X-Men will mediate to get the federal government and the military to meet their demands, thus securing benefits for the mutants.
If this incident were committed by mutants within the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto wouldn't be here negotiating with the Avengers. But this time, the X-Men are involved, and the situation is clear: Cyclops is at least 50% suspected. The Avengers have solid evidence; there's simply no way to turn the tables.
If the perpetrator is revealed, public opinion will explode. Most people will think that the X-Men are just another kind of terrorist, perhaps even more ruthless than the Brotherhood of Mutants. After all, the Brotherhood of Mutants at most attacks government facilities and military bases, Americans have very low trust in the federal government and the military, and many ordinary people even applaud the Brotherhood of Mutants' actions.
The X-Men, however, destroyed factories that were directly related to the interests of ordinary people. Leaving aside the countless jobs lost due to factory closures, the massive traffic jams caused by the attacks alone would have countless weary office workers cursing.
After the integration of the two cities, the cost of living in the new city has increased significantly, and many people have been pushed to the brink of collapse by the pressure. At that time, whoever gets a scandal will be in big trouble. The public will definitely vent their negative emotions on him. Even if the person once had a positive image, the power of public opinion is enough to completely destroy the reputation built up over decades.
Neither Professor X nor Magneto could accept such an outcome. If both of them were to become villains, mutants would truly be universally hated, and there might not even be any space for them to live on Earth anymore, with years of struggle being destroyed in an instant.
So when Peter revealed his theory that the mastermind behind this might be an electronic life form like Ultron, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
They were actually afraid that Cyclops would suddenly go crazy. If someone stirred things up, then at least half of the blame would be shifted to him.
While their mutant nature is unpredictable, and their mismanagement is a failure, they've somehow gone from being the main culprits to accomplices. With a little more careful maneuvering, they might even be able to cultivate a victim image – a blessing in disguise.
“What do you suggest?” Professor X said decisively. “Eric and I will cooperate fully. As long as we can catch the mastermind and clear the mutants of the blame that we shouldn’t have, we will owe the Avengers a favor this time.”
Peter could tell that Professor X was being sincere. In fact, if he hadn't come back and gotten some clues from Kitty Pryde and Iceman, even the X-Men might have accepted it. If they had truly caught a mastermind who wasn't a mutant, it would indeed have been a credit to the Avengers.
While Peter was pondering this, Professor X gave Magneto a look. He didn't even need to say anything; Magneto understood what he meant—it would be best if there was such a mastermind, there absolutely had to be such a mastermind.
“Cyclops must be very emotionally unstable right now,” Peter said. “But we must prevent him from meeting Phoenix. This will keep him in an unstable state for a while and prevent him from saying anything inappropriate that might provoke Phoenix. If the mastermind’s goal is to force him out of control, they will definitely choose this time to take advantage of his vulnerability, and then we will be able to catch him.”
“I will be there,” Magneto said. “No electrical signal fluctuation will escape my notice.”
“That’s settled then,” Peter continued. “I need to talk to Phoenix. She’s Cyclops’ girlfriend, and she might be able to uncover some details that others might miss, which could be very helpful in understanding who’s behind it all.”
"You think we can't catch it?" Captain America asked.
“You probably can’t really capture a cyber life form,” Peter said, shaking his head. “It’s part of the network, and there are countless backups. You can only suppress it temporarily, not completely eliminate it. Besides, its motives toward mutants are still unclear, and we have to figure them out.”
The others remained in the conference room to finalize the operation details. Peter, however, came out early and, led by Iceman, went to Phoenix's room.
As soon as Peter opened the door, he saw a very haggard woman. Back when he was Spider-Man, he had seen Phoenix a few times from afar; she was a very beautiful, gentle-smiling red-haired woman, completely unlike the ferocious image portrayed in the rumors. Peter had a good impression of her.
But now, she looked utterly heartbroken. Peter sat down opposite her and said, “I know I shouldn’t have come to you at this time. But please believe me, we would never wrong anyone. In fact, we’d rather believe that someone has been stirring up trouble between you and Scott…”
Peter knew that presenting facts and reasoning would be useless at this point; Qin probably needed emotional comfort more, so he said some nice things. But to his surprise, Qin shook her head.
“You don’t need to say anything, I know everything. I just…” Jean paused for a moment, then continued, “You all think that Scott only started acting strangely a little over a month ago, but in reality, the conflict between us has always existed, and it definitely didn’t just arise in a month or two.”
“I’ve thought a lot about this lately, and I think the problem is mainly with me,” Qin said, pursing her lips. “The sense of security I need is endless. I need someone to constantly tell me that I am stable, that I am not a bomb that will destroy the universe, and that I can continue the current stable situation.”
“I don’t know how many times I asked him, nor how many times he patiently comforted me, but I still didn’t believe him. I wanted more. I wanted someone to give me a definite answer that I could believe, but Scott couldn’t give me that.”
Peter opened his mouth, but in the end he could only say, "He really can't give you that. Unless someone can defeat the phoenix instantly, no one can give you such an answer."
“Yes, that’s why I said it was my problem.” Qin closed her eyes in pain and said, “After the two cities merged, the pressure of our lives increased, and that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Starting from Christmas, he became more and more silent, and I had a feeling then that he might leave me.”
“But I really didn’t expect that he…” Jean took a deep breath and said, “He is a person who values promises very much. He once described to me the beautiful future we would have had. So he probably couldn’t accept that he had made a promise but failed to keep it. He needed to find an excuse for his retreat, and Wolverine became the victim.”
Peter paused for a moment, then slowly shook his head.