Chapter 834: The X-Men’s Night at Camp

Chapter 834: Chapter 834: The X-Men’s Night at Camp

The four suits of armor used the super-ejection acceleration system to return to New York.

The stolen spoils—the heating tank containing True Adamantium—were handed over to Dog Squad Saint Bernard, which flew back at a leisurely low altitude.

It was equipped with an optical camouflage system and a simplified Isu-tech distortion-field microgenerator.

Although the latter was nowhere near as powerful as the complete field generators installed on Aetos and Wild Boar armor, it should still be enough to evade the eyes of most people during nighttime operations.

The reason it flew at low altitude instead of climbing high into the sky was to avoid falling within the surveillance range of ground-based radar.

The bizarre appearance of a dog pulling a sled alone was already incompatible with the goal of minimizing radar cross-section. Applying stealth coatings to it afterward would be pointless.

Judging from the way the U.S. military had caught up with Iron Man during his first high-altitude test flight, the military’s surveillance of the skies had been extremely strict after the 9/11 incident.

There was no reason to challenge the U.S. Air Force’s ability to monitor its own airspace.

After all, if he lost that bet, he’d be sacrificing an entire vat of True Adamantium.

It had taken him considerable effort to steal it. To turn around and hand it right back would hurt even a Kryptonian who didn’t care about worldly wealth.

As for obstacles and other fast-moving objects the mechanical dog might encounter during low-altitude flight, the program logic it had inherited from BB and its games of cat-and-mouse with Kitty allowed Saint Bernard to actively avoid them.

The distortion field could also "push" such objects away within certain limits.

Wild Boar had considered not traveling back with the others and instead accompanying Saint Bernard on its slow journey to New York.

Although "slow" was only relative to the super-ejection acceleration system, Dog Squad’s flight speed was still considerably faster than that of a commercial airliner.

Going along himself would allow him to monitor the support unit’s condition during its first real-world operation and ensure that the vat of True Adamantium reached the secret base in New York safely.

But in the end, Wild Boar chose to return early and let Saint Bernard operate on its own.

After dealing with Stryker and his son, the wearer of Wild Boar armor simply wanted to get out of this suit as soon as possible.

Without a target for revenge, wearing this armor felt somewhat uncomfortable.

The wearer himself couldn’t quite explain where that feeling came from or whether there was any rational basis for it.

He simply wasn’t in a good mood.

While this journey of revenge had come to a successful conclusion, another group of people had very different troubles of their own.

For reasons unknown, Mystique transformed herself into Jean Grey and sneaked into Wolverine’s tent in the middle of the night, apparently hoping to have a little "friendly competition" of her own.

But Wolverine noticed something was wrong and kicked her out.

The fact that he hadn’t sunk a claw into the shapeshifter was entirely because Wolverine remembered that Mystique was currently on his side and therefore didn’t go all out.

Mystique looked with great interest at the rugged, muscular man before her.

"Oh? Don’t you like Jean? Where exactly did I give myself away? Or are you willing to spend the night with another woman’s appearance?"

As she spoke, Mystique transformed into all kinds of beautiful women—plump or slender, black, white, brown, or yellow, with every possible type represented.

"You crazy woman. You might be able to disguise yourself as someone else so perfectly that no one can tell what’s different.

"But you can’t disguise someone else’s soul.

"Jean would never climb into my bed like some slut, unless this were a dream."

"Then why not treat it as a beautiful dream? Why do you have to push me away yourself?"

Mystique maintained her blue-skinned appearance and continued approaching, trying to seduce Wolverine.

"Or do you actually prefer the way I originally look? You’re only pretending to have amnesia, aren’t you, Logan?"

"Enough! Stop acting like you’re so desperate to devour every man you see. It’s disgusting."

"So? You actually like ’other people’s’ girlfriends.

"Don’t tell me Jean and Scott broke up while I was away from the school. That’s a bad habit to develop."

Wolverine glared angrily at Mystique.

"Damn it, I’m not that much of a bastard! She doesn’t belong to anyone.

"And I don’t know what kind of Jean you know.

"But I do know that pathetic kid who can’t even look people in the eye hasn’t protected her properly.

"The flashes of pain, that feeling of something breaking apart as though it were coming from her very soul—those are all signals that she’s calling out to someone for help.

"Did you see them?"

Mystique had originally intended to laugh teasingly, but she suddenly found that she couldn’t quite manage it.

Jean Grey was one of the students Mystique had watched grow up. There was no way she could not care about the girl.

Even more importantly, Mystique knew very well that the Phoenix Force resided within that girl.

She knew just how terrifying that power, capable of destroying everything, could be.

One could say that even if Cyclops somehow lost control of the beams from his eyes, it might not be as frightening as Jean losing control.

Mystique hadn’t participated in the final battle against the aliens nearly ten years ago. She hadn’t personally fought those extraterrestrials who coveted the Phoenix Force.

But she had learned about the entire battle from the other X-Men.

It wasn’t as though just any mutant could fight an alien spacecraft single-handedly...

Well, technically, there had been another person there at the time.

Mystique really didn’t want to think about that guy.

But even two people fighting an entire alien spacecraft was hardly normal.

Her mood for tonight’s little "friendly competition" had been completely ruined.

Mystique stopped teasing Wolverine.

She left the man who had absolutely no sense of romance behind and walked a little farther away, toward Jean Grey’s tent.

"Jean, can I come in?"

There was no response from inside the tent.

Out of respect for this fully grown woman, Mystique didn’t treat her like a child still attending school who could be visited freely in her private space under the pretext of being her caretaker.

She was just about to ask again when Mystique keenly noticed painful moans coming from inside.

"Jean, what’s wrong?"

She lifted the tent flap and hurried inside.

She saw the woman, now well into her thirties, covered in cold sweat, eyes closed and brows furrowed, as though trapped in an old nightmare.

Mystique pulled the woman into her arms and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Jean, are you all right?"

Jean Grey opened her eyes and nearly blasted the person holding her with a telekinetic cannon!

Fortunately, Mystique’s appearance was far too distinctive.

Her red hair, blue skin, and yellow eyes made it impossible for Jean to mistake her for Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler.

"Raven, it’s you."

Jean Grey relaxed slightly and pushed herself upright from the embrace of her teacher and friend.

"What happened? Is it the Phoenix Force? You were already able to control that enormous power. Did something go wrong again?"

"The Phoenix Force? What are you talking about, Raven?"

Jean Grey looked completely confused.

"You..."

Mystique was momentarily speechless.

She immediately realized what Jean’s question implied.

Once she understood, she couldn’t help complaining.

"Damn it, Charles. You really are a hopeless bastard who never learns. What have you done to Jean’s mind this time?"

"Professor? What did Professor do?"

The now-awake adult woman had absolutely no awareness of the side of herself that had been hidden away.

She simply asked in a completely innocent tone.

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