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Not all members were inside the house.
For example, Hank was alone in the newly built underground laboratory of the manor.
Recently, he had undergone a slight change. Because he had always disliked his large feet, he tried to use Raven's genes to create a drug to suppress Mutant genes, but unexpectedly activated his own potential.
Now, like Raven, his entire body had turned blue, even his little Hank was not spared, and he was covered in thick hair, looking like a dyed ape, thus earning him a new codename: Beast.
Also known as the Brotherhood's Proud Azure Beast!
As a result, Hank became even more reclusive, staying in the underground laboratory all day, accompanied by scientific research, not even needing Raven, his mental nitrogen pump, effectively putting Raven out of a job.
Fortunately, although Hank's body turned blue, his mind remained agile.
After days of dedicated research, Hank had made good progress on some of the black technologies provided by Darian.
Especially the Green Goblin Glider and Green Goblin Armor, he had basically mastered their core technologies and was trying to replicate them using existing materials. By then, it would be no problem for every member of the Brotherhood to have a Green Goblin set.
Of course, the appearance had to be drastically changed.
Darian didn't want the Brotherhood to evolve into a goblin nest in the future, with a group of goblins flying in the sky during collective actions.
The mere thought of that scene was terrifying!
In addition, several new members were actively training their abilities.
As for Logan and Victor, those two brothers, it was said that they either drank or fought all day, full of energy like two Siberian Huskies, impossible to tie down.
Upon hearing this news, Darian simply arranged for them to be sparring partners for the new members.
Coincidentally, there was a new member named Alex, whose ability was to release red energy Impact waves from his body. The power was extremely strong, but his aim was ridiculously off, making it easy to accidentally injure teammates.
Anyway, the two brothers couldn't die, so they were perfect as targets for Alex, and it also helped them vent their excess energy, preventing the two 'huskies' from tearing down the house everywhere.
Watching the Brotherhood grow stronger day by day, Darian was very pleased. Under his wise leadership, the Brotherhood was flourishing!
The great war was imminent, and the atmosphere within the Brotherhood gradually became tense.
Darian didn't feel too much tension; instead, he was a little unaccustomed to the absence of Emma's irregular sneak attacks.
First day without Emma, missing her!
Since he was idle, Darian wandered around the house and happened to see Charles and Erik playing chess in the hall.
Playing chess with a telepath, this old Magneto really had a big heart.
Now Charles and Erik already had their codenames, Professor X and Magneto respectively, so calling him 'old Magneto' was perfectly fine.
At this time, the two were discussing the future of Mutants while playing chess.
Their theories and ideologies were diametrically opposed: one firmly believed that Mutants and humans could coexist peacefully, while the other believed that harmonious coexistence between the two was absolutely impossible. Each had their own reasons, and neither could convince the other.
If this continued, the two would eventually part ways due to their differing philosophies.
No wonder one was evaluated as the founder of the X-Men and the other as the founder of the Brotherhood; it was all predestined.
Darian naturally couldn't let this situation happen, as it would affect his instance mission rewards.
He walked over: "Erik, take Charles's horse!"
Erik: "..."
We're playing international chess. Where would Charles get a horse?
Seeing Darian's arrival, Erik simply asked, "Darian, you came at a good time. We are discussing the future of Mutants. Once Sebastian acts the day after tomorrow, the existence of Mutants will be completely public. How do you think humans will view us then?"
Darian answered without hesitation: "They will probably fear us."
Hearing this, Erik looked at Charles with a slightly smug expression, as if saying,'See, Darian thinks so too.'
Charles frowned and said, "If we can stop the war, if we can stop Sebastian Shaw, and let humans see our attitude and stance, they won't fear us anymore."
Darian shook his head and said, "Old Charles, you actually got one thing wrong. It's not whether humans fear us, but whether human politicians fear us. They are the key to determining humanity's attitude towards Mutants. Ordinary people have no say."
"But based on my understanding of them, at least in America, most politicians will not allow the existence of anything more powerful than them on this land, unless we are completely under their regulation and control."
Charles fell silent upon hearing this.
When he and Raven were at CIA headquarters, they had personally experienced the attitudes of those high-ranking officials.
Upon learning of their Mutant identity, their first reaction was to capture and control them, even though they had not committed any illegal acts and there was no legitimate reason for arrest.
Erik agreed: "Darian is right. In human eyes, there's actually no difference between us and Sebastian Shaw. They just want to capture us, take us for experiments, and then eliminate us after draining our value."
Charles still hadn't given up, insisting, "But I believe there are still many humans like Moira and Karl who are willing to help Mutants. With their support, we have a chance to change humanity's perception of Mutants."
"Who is Karl?"
Darian was a little puzzled; it was such an unfamiliar name.
Charles explained, "He's the head of the CIA research Base, the one who provided us with equipment and materials."
Darian suddenly realized: "Oh, I thought he was called 'Glasses Fat Guy'."
Charles: "..."
Who would have such a name!
Darian waved his hand: "But people like them are ultimately a minority, and their status isn't high, so they don't have any important decision-making power, unless you can find a supporter with higher status, like that cheerful big boy on TV."
Charles's mouth twitched. That cheerful big boy was not so easy to approach.
Seeing Charles speechless, Erik felt a surge of secret pleasure.
He had never agreed with Charles's peaceful philosophy, thinking it too naive and simplistic, but Charles was a stubborn old man who wouldn't listen to him at all.
Charles was silent for a moment, then asked, "So what should we do?"
"Isn't the method already laid out before us?"
Darian said cheerfully, "Just like the current standoff between the two countries, no one hopes for a nuclear war except Sebastian Shaw. Even the two countries themselves don't want it, because once it breaks out, everyone will be finished."
Erik pondered, "You mean, as long as we show enough strength, humans won't dare to provoke us?"
"No, I mean whoever has nuclear weapons is the boss. As long as we have nuclear weapons, if anyone dares to provoke us in the future, we'll directly give them a mushroom cloud warning. At worst, we all go down together."
"..."
As a radical among Mutants, Erik felt that Darian seemed a bit too radical.
But on second thought, it wasn't a bad idea.
He said, somewhat troubled, "But we don't have nuclear weapons."
"Who said we don't?" Darian gestured towards Charles, "Isn't there a walking nuclear weapon right here?"
Charles was stunned: "Huh? Me?"
Darian nodded in confirmation: "That's right. With the help of Cerebro, you can connect to all human brains and kill them at any time. In a sense, this is even more powerful than nuclear weapons."
Erik's eyes immediately lit up.
That makes sense, isn't Charles the most powerful strategic weapon of the Mutants?
Charles immediately refused, "No, I can't do that!"
Darian had already guessed that Charles would react this way.
Charles's telepathic ability, though powerful, had a fatal weakness: himself.
Actually, there was an even simpler and more effective method: using Cerebro to modify the memories of all humanity, or just changing the perceptions of human politicians to make them lean towards the Mutant stance. This way, all problems would be solved.
Unfortunately, Charles's moral bottom line wouldn't allow him to do that.
Darian admired him for this; there weren't many big shots who refused to use cheats and insisted on playing through the game legitimately.
He said cheerfully, "You don't need to actually do it. You just need to let them know you can do it, just like nuclear weapons. Their deterrent meaning far outweighs their actual detonation. Precisely because no one dares to press that button, peace can be maintained."
Erik became more and more interested, and actively pressed on: "But what if they find out that Charles himself doesn't dare to press the button?"
Darian said, "So, we need a strong diplomat, who will be responsible for negotiating with humans. As for Charles, he just needs to be a quiet nuclear weapon."
"I think this position belongs to me!"
Erik volunteered without hesitation.
Is there anything more satisfying than using Charles to intimidate humanity!?
Even though he knew nothing about the work of a diplomat, for this alone, he was completely willing to learn from scratch!
Charles: "..."
No, before you discuss such things, can you at least ask the person involved for his opinion?
Seeing Charles still wanting to retort, Darian waved his hand and interrupted him directly: "Old Charles, I've told you before, peace cannot be achieved by negotiation alone. You have to learn to say, 'Let it not be said that we did not warn you.'"
"Look at the current game between the two great powers. Do you really think both sides don't want to back down? No, they cannot back down."
"Because once weakness is shown, it will be seen as soft and incompetent, severely weakening the country's strategic deterrent. Even human struggles are like this, let alone two different races."
As Someone who studied Psychology Charles understood Darian's meaning well.
He was silent for a moment, then finally sighed: "Alright, we'll try it your way first. I hope you're right."
Darian chuckled, "Don't worry, Old Charles, we don't necessarily have to go to war with humans. This is just a response to an extreme situation. If they want peace, we talk peace. If they want to fight, we won't back down."
In his words, he had completely regarded himself as a member of the Mutants.
Who says only gender cannot be defined? Race can also be undefined!
Today he can be human, tomorrow he can be a Mutant, the day after tomorrow he can be a Cybertronian, a Saiyan, a Klingon, a Trisolarian...
Charles nodded, agreeing with Darian's words.
And Erik had even fewer objections.
He was originally fighting for Mutants, he just used slightly extreme methods.
And now, he didn't have to live a precarious existence under human rule, and he could use Charles to deter humans. It was double the happiness!
Charles, this time I win!
Erik smiled foolishly.
"No, I won."
Charles replied coldly, directly checkmating Erik's king.
Erik: "..."
Cheating in chess with telepathy, do you have no shame?
Charles said seriously, "No, I didn't cheat."
Erik: "..."
Darian shook his head, he had said not to play chess with a telepath.
However, looking at Erik, he should have truly submitted to the Brotherhood. At least, there wouldn't be a situation where he defected from the Brotherhood midway, and then Charles shouted, 'I must bring Erik back to the Brotherhood.'
If this Brotherhood didn't have me, it would fall apart sooner or later!
Time quickly came to the third day, which was the day Sebastian planned to act.
Darian was not worried that his defection would cause Sebastian to cancel the original plan.
Because today was a critical moment in the confrontation between the two great powers. Once the Red Bear's missiles crossed the embargo line, it would inevitably trigger a strong counterattack from America, making the Third Season unavoidable.
At this pivotal point, Sebastian and his Hellfire Club members would definitely appear near the Damaged Blockade, ready to become the torch that ignites that super bomb at any moment.
The members of the Brotherhood had already assembled in the hangar, each uniformly dressed in black battle suits.
This battle suit was the first-generation product developed by Hank based on Green Goblin Armor technology.
Although limited by time, its performance was slightly inferior to the original Green Goblin Armor, but it was still far superior to other protective gear of this era, more than enough to resist ordinary bullet attacks.
And in the hangar, there was a modified Blackbird SR-71 supersonic jet, with an astonishing speed of over Mach 3 and a practical ceiling of 30,000 meters, another solid black tech product.
It has to be said, Hank was really too useful!
"What's our plan?" Alex asked.
He was full of confidence for this mission. After days of special training, he had finally mastered his abilities.
The cost was that Logan and Victor had been hit by hundreds of energy Impact waves, and the training ground still had a faint smell of blood that couldn't be washed away.
"The plan is simple: find Sebastian and his group, give them a good beating, and try not to take the lives of any members other than Sebastian."
Darian didn't forget to remind them at the end.
Mainly to remind Logan and Victor.
Lest these two 'huskies' get excited and slaughter the Hellfire Club members; he was still hoping to recruit Emma and the others into the Brotherhood.