"Fenris?"
"Do you remember there's a United Nations summit tonight?"
Under everyone's gaze, Fenris spoke rapidly as he laid out his analysis. "If nothing unexpected happens, the Mutant Registration Act will be passed at this meeting."
"So if Magneto is going to make his move at a specific time, it has to be then. And the location..."
Fenris paused, then said with certainty, "Liberty Island. On the Statue of Liberty, not far from Ellis Island."
"And how are you so sure?" Logan demanded.
"Because if he acts there, the first people to be turned into mutants will be the politicians pushing the mutant registration bill. That's the most direct form of revenge Magneto could take."
Fenris answered without hesitation, "More importantly, it's high enough and visible enough that everyone will notice it immediately. That fits Magneto's style perfectly."
"Fenris is exactly right."
Hearing that last point, even Professor X could not help nodding.
At the side, Raven also shot him a surprised look. She had not expected this new X-Men member to understand Erik so clearly, almost perfectly.
"Then we..."
Ororo looked at the others, slightly hesitant.
Professor X let his gaze rest on Raven for a moment. After a brief pause, he spoke with firm resolve. "Our destination is Liberty Island. We leave now."
"And get him another set of clothes."
The Professor pointed at Fenris.
Rumble. Rumble.
With a low mechanical roar, the ground of the school basketball court split open.
A massive aircraft slowly rose from below. After hovering for a brief moment, it suddenly accelerated and vanished from sight.
Inside the Blackbird, Logan struggled to pull up the zipper on his suit, but the tight fit around his chest clearly annoyed him.
"I really don't want to go out wearing an ugly leather outfit like this."
"If you don't like that one, you've also got an even uglier yellow jumpsuit."
Hearing Logan's grumbling from the front, Scott fired back immediately.
Jean covered her eyes helplessly. "You two are still doing this at a time like this?"
The Blackbird was incredibly fast. Before long, the Washington Bridge came into view.
"Storm, cover me. I'm going to set us down directly in the water."
Scott gave the order.
"Got it."
Moments later, a thick fog rose out of nowhere, blanketing the nearby water completely.
The Blackbird swept past the patrol units and headed straight for the rear side of Liberty Island.
"Three. Two. One."
Scott slowly released the controls.
A violent sensation of weightlessness hit them as the jet dropped straight into the water.
"Nice flying."
Logan undid his seatbelt and still found time to throw out a sarcastic comment.
"Professor, what do we do now?"
Scott gave a light cough to cover his embarrassment and turned to the Professor.
"I'll take a look first."
The Professor pressed a finger to his temple.
At the same time, on the Statue of Liberty.
"Erik, I can feel Charles's power."
As Magneto watched the fog suddenly rise over the water below, a calm woman's voice sounded behind him.
"Looks like Raven failed."
Magneto let out a long breath, his face unchanged. "Emma, Charles is yours."
For mutants without mental defenses, Professor X's ability was practically a walking nuclear weapon. He could flip the entire battlefield in an instant.
But with the White Queen there to counterbalance him, that was a different story.
"Of course."
Emma smiled gently, her rich, magnetic voice full of charm.
In the next instant, an equally powerful psychic force surged out. Not only did it completely block Professor X, it even pushed back against him for a brief moment by striking while he had yet to stabilize his side of the field.
"The White Queen. She's here too."
As one of the very few mutants capable of matching Charles in the mental realm, Charles was intimately familiar with Emma's power as well.
"We've run into trouble."
The Professor straightened abruptly in his chair, his brow tightly furrowed. He was clearly taking this seriously now.
"Magneto needs time to activate the machine, so he probably won't act personally right away. They have four combatants in total. Be careful."
After that warning, he said nothing more.
Within the dangerous psychic battlefield, the two telepaths continued to clash without pause.
"Move out."
Scott glanced at the Professor and took command.
The group disembarked from the jet and headed into the museum at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
"Fenris, stay here and protect the Professor."
Just as Fenris was about to move, Scott reached out and stopped him.
"They have a mutant who can teleport instantly. The Professor can't resist at all right now. He needs someone guarding him."
Thinking of Azazel's elusive, impossible-to-track movements, Fenris looked at Professor X, then nodded. "Then be careful."
"There are more of us. We'll be fine."
Scott patted Fenris on the shoulder and turned to leave.
Three of the four people on that team were basically casters. That really did not inspire confidence...
Fenris muttered to himself inwardly.
Time passed bit by bit. Inside the Statue of Liberty museum, Scott and the other three advanced carefully deeper inside.
Beep. Beep.
As Logan passed through the security scanner, a piercing alarm suddenly rang out, shattering the tense silence.
"Sorry."
Logan clicked his tongue and stabbed the alarm unit apart with one claw.
"Logan, you..."
"Graaah!"
Before the others could refocus, a sharp shriek suddenly sounded from a corner.
A long tongue slick with mucus shot out and wrapped itself precisely around Scott.
A huge force yanked him away before he had any chance to react, hurling him into a nearby room.
A crimson hand shot out, and the iron door slammed down. In less than two seconds, Cyclops had already been locked inside.
"You bastard!"
Logan roared, his steel claws snapping out as he charged Toad without hesitation.
"I'll play with you."
Azazel's body dissolved into a cloud of red smoke and instantly appeared in front of Logan. The next moment, the two of them vanished from Jean and Ororo's sight.
A four-man team had become a two-person team in the blink of an eye.
Looking at the two shapely X-Women left behind, Toad let out a nasty little chuckle. Before Ororo could react, his tongue lashed out and violently sent her flying.
"Now it's just you."
Toad sprang upward and lunged at Jean.
But an invisible force suddenly appeared out of nowhere and froze him in midair.
"Telekinesis?"
Toad stared at Jean, who was only a short distance away, but no matter what he did, he could not move another inch forward.
"Ptooey!"
Seeing no way to break free, he spat a mouthful of foul-smelling slime right into Jean's face.
Jean was hit with a wave of stench and instantly lost her vision. The telekinetic hold trapping Toad failed at once.
"Heh heh."
Against the X-Men, one against three, and he had won cleanly.
Rumble!
The sudden explosion cut off Toad's smug laughter.
A gale burst into existence out of nowhere and hurled the unprepared Toad straight out through the window.
Fortunately, his reactions were not bad. Even in midair, he quickly shot out his tongue and wrapped it around a railing, barely stopping himself.
"Want to know what grilled frog tastes like?"
Having just been flung around by that disgusting tongue, Storm was genuinely furious now. She raised a hand, and thunderclouds rapidly gathered overhead.
Just as the lightning was about to strike, a whirlwind formed without warning and was dropped beneath Storm's feet.
Whoosh!
The wind roared up again, and the unprepared Ororo was blown away for the second time.
"Riptide!"
Toad climbed back up with difficulty, still shaken.
A man in a perfectly tailored suit stood elegantly in midair, balanced atop a swirling current of wind, smiling cheerfully at him.
"That's enough. End this quickly."
Magneto's voice suddenly rang down from above.
"Azazel, stop wasting time with that dumb wolf. Go to the Blackbird and bring my old friend here."
"Understood."
Azazel grinned and instantly reappeared high in the air with Wolverine in tow.
"See you."
With that, he released Logan cleanly and without hesitation.
"Huh?"
Logan froze for an instant, then realized he was in free fall at terrifying speed.
"AAAAAH!"
The intense sensation of weightlessness hit him hard, and his descent only grew faster and faster. Logan twisted his face in fury, struggling to steady his body.
As the ground rushed closer, he curled himself into a ball and braced for impact.
Thwip!
Just as Logan was about to smash into the ground, the sharp sound of webbing shooting through the air suddenly came from far away, then rushed close.
In the next instant, Logan felt his body lighten as a pair of strong hands hauled him upward.
"Hey, man, you okay?"