Chapter 26: The First Mission
During this period, the Uchiha clan was fully immersed in adapting to their new life. Since direct teaching was inconvenient, they hired Beast Hank as their language teacher.
Say what you will—on the outside Hank looked like a big blue-furred lion, but in truth, he was one of the most intelligent minds in the Marvel Universe. Compared to the inventive Tony, he might not have had the same fame, but his wisdom was in no way inferior.
It wasn't only Hank's patient teaching they had to thank, but also Charles's warmhearted help. Indeed, Charles was deliberately drawing closer to the Uchiha. Partly out of curiosity, and partly because, in his somewhat naïve subconscious, he categorized the Uchiha as mutants.
"According to our reporters, the X-Men have once again saved all the astronauts trapped in space. The heroes of America have once more defended our people! That concludes today's top news…"
On the TV screen, Raven, Jean, Kurt Wagner, and Scott stepped off their plane and were greeted with cheers from the American crowd. Watching this, Uchiha Akira's mind began to stir with memories from his previous life.
A group of American astronauts had been stranded in space due to shuttle failure caused by a solar flare. With current technology, they were as good as dead—until the U.S. government contacted Charles and sent in the X-Men.
With their unreasonable superpowers, the X-Men managed to save everyone. But the price was heavy—especially when Jean was struck by the solar flare, triggering huge mental instability. This also reawakened her childhood memory of the car accident in which she accidentally killed her mother.
Soon after, Jean's powers spiraled out of control, injuring an unlucky police officer. The U.S. government's goodwill toward mutants evaporated instantly, and they sent forces to hunt Jean Grey.
The irony was striking—when she saved astronauts, Jean was a national hero. But the moment she accidentally harmed a policeman, she became a fugitive. During this chaos, she even accidentally killed Mystique, Raven.
Later, a mysterious alien force targeted Jean, pushing her deeper into darkness, until she even turned against Professor X and Magneto. Neither the young Magneto nor Professor X could withstand Dark Jean—she swatted them aside on the spot…
These memories left Akira in a daze. The Marvel mutant timeline was simply too chaotic—there were at least several versions. Judging from the situation now, Jean's dark turn seemed to be post-Apocalypse.
But Akira had specifically searched for signs of Apocalypse—and nothing had ever happened here. Someone with Apocalypse's ambition to rule the world could never have risen unnoticed. If he had awakened, the world would already be in upheaval.
Thinking about it gave Akira a headache. Truthfully, Jean was a huge problem. The Phoenix Force could only be described with one word: terrifying. But if he remembered correctly, Jean's current power wasn't that great—containing her wouldn't be too difficult.
The real threat was the Dark Phoenix of other timelines—those were monsters not easily subdued.
Give Jean another ten-plus years of growth, and she would become that terrifying tidal wave. For now, though, she was just a sprout.
At that moment, the system panel inconveniently popped up in his mind.
System:
Side Quest:The Phoenix Force is right before you. Why not attempt to make contact with its host?
Main Quest:Fame Across the Universe! (In a world full of bald overlords, you must show the people that long hair, too, can be powerful!)
*Show your strength to the bald ones! Reward: Unknown.
Seeing the familiar green popup, Akira cursed the shopping app that this "cheap" system seemed modeled after.
"Mr. Uchiha? This is Charles."
As expected—the bald one had contacted him. Akira grumbled inwardly at the system's antics.
"Hello Charles, what is it?"
"It's like this—one of our friends recently lost control. Her power is extremely strong. I recall that your clan can take on various assignments. Could you assist us? Of course, the commission won't be small. But I must warn you—the mission is very dangerous and requires great strength…"
"No problem, I'll do it."
Akira's straightforward reply made Charles swallow the long speech he had prepared.
The system had issued a quest—why hesitate? Sure, the reward was vague, but it was still a reward. The risk didn't seem too high either. If this had been the full-grown, tidal-wave Jean losing control, he would have refused without a second thought.
"Mr. Uchiha, I'm not joking. Are you sure? The risks are real—if you've seen the news, you should understand…"
"Precisely because I evaluated the risks as manageable, I'm accepting the mission. As for payment, we can discuss it after the task is done. Besides, we've already helped each other quite a bit lately—it's been a good collaboration."
Charles kept quiet. So long as Akira didn't voice his real thoughts, Charles would consider this a favor owed. And he wasn't worried about Charles skipping payment—the man was wealthy, and the Uchiha's rapid growth would certainly need funds.
"Alright then. Meet us at the back gate of the X-Mansion."
"Hank, we must find Jean quickly. Her state is very unstable—I'm afraid she'll lose control further." Hank was deeply worried. He hadn't agreed with the forced space rescue mission in the first place, and now that things had gone wrong, he disliked Charles's decisions even more.
But disapproval aside, Charles was the X-Men's founder and leader. And Hank, being a typical science-minded man—obsessed with research and lacking a clear vision for mutantkind's future—was not suited to leadership.
"Hank, listen. I invited the Uchiha clan to help us. I even explained the risks, and they accepted. I just want to increase our chances."
Hearing that it was to bring in reinforcements, Hank dropped the matter. Though he still couldn't gauge the Uchiha's true power, he had developed some preliminary trust in them.
Soon, Charles, Raven, Ororo Munroe, Kurt Wagner, and Scott were waiting on the mansion's helipad.
Not long after, Akira arrived with Mikoto and Inabi. Once aboard the plane, Charles introduced them.
"This is Uchiha Akira, the clan head. These two are…"
"Call me Uchiha Mikoto, and he's Uchiha Inabi."
The shared surname told everyone they were family. Most of the X-Men had no idea who these newcomers really were, but they still exchanged polite smiles.
"What's our mission, Charles?" Akira asked, wanting to confirm what stage Jean was currently at.
"This time, it's one of our members—Jean Grey. Her powers have lost control. Our goal is to bring her back safely. Her abilities are telekinesis and some telepathy. The telepathy shouldn't affect you much, but watch out for her telekinetic attacks."
If Akira remembered correctly, during this pursuit, Jean would accidentally kill Mystique, Raven. Looking at the hesitant expressions on Charles's team, he could tell they were scattered soldiers, lacking execution.
The X-Men lacked a strong, decisive leader—no wonder their missions turned out messy. Given Jean's unstable state, the correct approach was simple: subdue her quickly with overwhelming force to prevent greater destruction.
Only afterward should they slowly guide her back. Letting her run free was the worst possible plan.