"What do you mean?!" the supervisor shouted, "You damn mutants, are you trying to kidnap us?!"
"We are saving you," Magneto said calmly, "The two Avengers outside are in a complete mess right now. What difference does it make if you go out and die now? Even if the Avengers won't kill you, those who don't want the Red Orchid Factory to fall into enemy hands won't let you go either."
Stark couldn't help but glance at Magneto twice. This universe's Magneto really has a good temper, can't even say emotionally stable, could almost be called a great philanthropist.
You have to know, it's the people in this lab who researched the Red Orchid Factory and the Mother Module. They could completely be called enemies of the mutants here. Magneto can still explain calmly here. No wonder the uniforms of other Magnetos are black, but his is white. Different breed indeed.
However, having a good temper also has its downsides. Just as he explained a few words, the woman with the gun next to the supervisor suddenly pressed a button. Stark felt a slight vibration coming from below the lab, as if something was released.
Magneto also sensed something, his expression changed suddenly, and he turned around sharply. A sturdy body broke through the floor and flew into the lab. Magneto gritted his teeth and said, "Sentinel Robots!"
Stark also turned around to look. It was a very tall and burly silver-gray robot. However, due to the smooth development of mutants in the Central Universe, Stark had not studied Sentinel Robots. He only knew that these robots seemed to have several levels, judging from Magneto's expression, this level was quite high.
"You take them away first," Stark said to Magneto.
Before he could finish speaking, the robot's eyes suddenly lit up with red light, the hunting program was activated, and it instantly rushed towards Magneto. Stark wouldn't give it this chance, the shield constructed of information streams instantly solidified into a barrier, blocking its path. As a result, the guy charged, and the barrier shattered on impact. Stark raised an eyebrow.
"Don't go head-to-head with it," Magneto's eyes also lit up, "This guy is at least a level 6 primary Sentinel, its strength is even greater than Captain America's and it has the ability to weaken the effect of the X Gene in a range. We mustn't let it activate the weakening halo, otherwise, the teleportation portal from my mutant ability might disappear!"
Seeing the Sentinel Robot descend, the two Spider-Men couldn't sit still, rushing into the battlefield one after another. One used his spider silk to wrap around the robot's legs and pulled hard outward, the other kicked at its back of the neck.
With a bang, the robot was yanked to the ground. However, at the moment of falling, it rolled over and kicked away the Spider-Man behind it, then immediately grabbed the neck of the Spider-Man who had kicked it.
Magneto took a light breath, raised his hand to attack. But at this moment, he glimpsed, Stark took out a pyramid-shaped reactor core shining with colorful light and inserted it into the center of the Ark Reactor on his chest. In an instant, a splendid, magic light-flashing outer shell attached to him, like another kind of mecha. He raised his hand, and a beam of magic energy as thick as half a person burst out.
"Boom!!!!"
A dazzling magic glow lit up in the valley, and all the Avengers in the chaotic battle were blasted away. The Sentinel Robot was heavily slammed on the mountainside on the other side of the valley, with thick black smoke rising from the whole body.
The local universe's Doctor Strange looked back incredulously, at the big hole blasted out in the rock wall. In that magic attack just now, he felt the power of at least seven or eight Demon Gods. The Main Universe's Doctor Strange has arrived?!
He retreated a few steps cautiously and said to Captain America, "If that was the Main Universe's Doctor Strange just now, he's stronger than we imagined. Let's retreat for now, Captain."
Captain America was a bit unwilling, but he turned to look at the shadow blasted out next to him. After recognizing what level of Sentinel Robot it was, he immediately waved his shield, "Retreat!"
The local universe's Avengers quickly exited, while the Main Universe's Avengers rushed into the lab. But by this time, the lab was already empty. After they went in, the Main Universe Spider-Man jumped down from the ceiling and said, "When I came in just now, I hacked into the main system, but couldn't completely crack all the data, as I was physically removed."
He walked over, pulled out the hard drive from the computer, and handed it to Main Universe Iron Man, then said, "Not sure if this will suffice, have a look, Mr. Stark."
"Well done," Captain America patted his shoulder, "Thanks to you, otherwise we would've returned empty-handed."
The Main Universe Spider-Man shook his head. The hard drive did have data, but it wasn't obtained through hacking; he had asked the Central Universe's Iron Man for it. The reason was simple, they had to give the Main Universe Iron Man some results for him to study, otherwise, he'd still go mad. Giving him some technical data was the best way to distract him.
Main Universe Iron Man immediately read the stuff on the hard drive, and sure enough, his back stopped hurting, his legs stopped aching, and his anxiety was much better. He said not a word on the way back, obviously engrossed in the research data.
In the anti-gravity laboratory, the researchers gingerly walked out of the teleportation portal. They knew all too well they wouldn't have a good ending in the hands of the mutants. They're probably now thinking about how to die a quicker death.
Magneto was the last to walk out of the teleportation portal, watching Stark pull out the core and replace it with a regular one, he asked curiously, "Can this be hot-swapped?"
"It can only be hot-swapped. After all, it's too late to change it after I'm dead."
Magneto helplessly covered his eyes, realizing he'd asked a dumb question. Indeed, with an Ark Reactor embedded in a person, if it's not hot-swappable, can you really shut the person down first before pulling it out?
"Did Shiller tell you what he plans to do with these researchers?" Magneto asked Stark.
Stark paused, then said, "Didn't he tell you?"
Magneto shook his head and was about to say something else when Professor X's voice echoed in the lab: "Come to the Central Royal Court, Erik. It's time to move on to the next phase of our plan."
Stark and Magneto immediately headed to the office of the Central Royal Court, where Shiller and Professor X were already waiting. Before the two could speak, Professor X said, "Among the researchers is Dr. Alia Gregor, who led the Red Orchid Factory's development. Her husband died during our raid."
Magneto paused, then said, "So, the target of this operation is her?"
Shiller nodded and said, "In her grief, Dr. Gregor integrated her husband Dr. Mendel's consciousness into a Nimrod-type Sentinel Robot that the Mother Module is building."
Stark nodded and said, "That's right. When I previously infiltrated the external defenses, I also tried to connect to the still-dormant Mother Module. There was an anomalous program segment there that seemed like a consciousness backup."
"Does Dr. Gregor have such technology?" Magneto frowned.
"Yes," Professor X said, "In the doctor's memories, I saw that they had long since uploaded their personalities into the Red Orchid Factory's system."
"Why would they do that?" Magneto asked.
"To prevent being silenced," Shiller shook his head and said, "Those people have done such things too many times. Scientists aren't stupid. Even if they can't resist, they will find ways to protect themselves. Isn't that what's happening now?"
"But..." Magneto hesitated to ask, "mutants killed her husband. Will she be willing to cooperate with us?"
"No," Shiller said, "if they weren't willing from the start but were forced into the lab or factory, then her enemies aren't just those who acted in the end, but also those who forced them initially."
Magneto was still puzzled and said, "I thought those scientists volunteered to join the research team to protect Earth."
Shiller shook his head again: "From the perspective of ordinary people, they have no reason to oppose mutants establishing a nation. In fact, they might even wish that once mutants have their own country, they'd all move there, making them feel safe."
"Don't they think we'll try to rule the earth?"
"Whether you establish a nation or not, you could still rule the world," Shiller said somewhat helplessly, "Organizing as a nation on Earth is purely a political act and only concerns other political entities, not ordinary people."
Seeing Magneto still confused, Shiller elaborated: "For ordinary people, the biggest threat is always from individual mutants. Their loss of control could jeopardize personal safety and cause property damage, while ruling the world ranks lower in terms of possibility and threat."
"Whether or not you establish a nation, the threat from individual mutants and the possibility of ruling the world won't decrease. Establishing a nation might slightly increase the latter's possibility but would decrease the former's threat. For ordinary people, the former is more critical because they must first survive today to worry about the future."
Magneto seemed enlightened. He realized that only governments were anxious about mutants establishing a nation. Ordinary people seemed indifferent. In fact, many supported it. But it wasn't because they genuinely wanted mutants to have a homeland. They just wished the mutants around them would leave quickly.
This is similar to the supporters of Jewish Zionism. Many supporters weren't Jews but competitors of Jewish groups in their own countries. When a Jewish nation was formed, these people helped to kick out the Jewish group, eliminating their competition.
Clearly, if a nation specifically for a particular ethnic group is formed, everyone from that group will focus on that country, which would weaken their influence in their current nations, providing an opportunity for others.
Many anti-Zionist Jews may not oppose the idea of a homeland but are unwilling to shift their focus to another country and give up their influence at home, so they claim to oppose it.
The same goes for mutants. If a nation exclusively for mutants is established, many mutants will yearn for it. With convenient teleportation portals, moving is effortless, encouraging relocation.
For most ordinary people, this is beneficial as it protects them from mutant ability outbursts. Thus, many support the idea of mutants having a nation, hoping they would leave quickly.
In other words, many scientists in the lab didn't truly hate mutants or oppose their nation-building. They researched the Red Orchid Factory purely because the government forced them to.