Twilight_Scribe
patreon
Chapter 78 – The Birth of the X-Men
🕑 Added 2025-05-15 17:10:31 +0000 UTC
Night had quietly fallen.
A full moon hung high in the sky.
Under normal circumstances, the living room would be buzzing with noise by now. The young mutants would usually be lounging around after dinner, chatting, laughing, and goofing off.
But tonight, the living room was unusually quiet.
After all, the final battle was just around the corner. Everyone had gone through another day of intense training and was thoroughly exhausted. It was time to rest and conserve their energy.
Hank, however, hadn’t gone to rest. He sat at his desk, staring absentmindedly at the syringe in his hand.
Through studying the blood sample Alex had brought back last time, Hank had indeed discovered that the previous version of the serum had a fatal flaw.
Not only would it fail to suppress his X-gene, it would enhance it dramatically!
If he had used it, not only would it have failed to cure his beast-like feet, it might’ve triggered further mutations elsewhere on his body.
Just the thought made Hank break out in a cold sweat.
But now, the serum was finally perfected—flawless and stable.
The only regret was that, full of excitement, Hank had once wanted to share the serum with Raven to cure her blue skin… only to be flatly rejected by her.
That left him a bit disappointed.
But it only made his determination to inject the serum even stronger!
“Whew…”
A moment later, Hank let out a long breath, steadying himself. Then, with a mixture of nerves and anticipation, he injected the serum into his body.
He stared unblinking at his oversized feet, barely daring to breathe.
Soon enough…
The muscles in his feet began to ripple unnaturally, and after a series of strange, almost grotesque distortions, they slowly returned to normal.
“Haha!”
Hank burst out laughing in sheer joy.
He did it!
He had finally succeeded!
At that moment, all he wanted was to share the good news with Alex.
---
The next morning, all the mutants were up early.
Unlike their usual routine, there was no training. Everyone gathered at once.
A solemn air hung over them. What they were about to do could change the fate of the entire world.
Even though Charles had rallied their spirits yesterday, now that it was time to leave, the weight of the mission pressed down on them.
“Everyone, all our preparation, all our hard work—it's all for this moment!”
“To stop Shaw! To stop him from destroying the world! To save it!”
“Yes! We're going to save the world!”
“We will succeed!”
“I believe it with all my heart!”
“We're destined to succeed!”
Under everyone’s gaze, Charles gave them another rousing speech.
“Alright, let’s move out!” Erik kept it short and to the point, clapping his hands.
“Wait a second.”
At that moment, Hank stepped forward and adjusted his glasses.
“I’ve prepared something for everyone,” he said. “I think it might come in handy.”
Though his powers weren’t the strongest, Hank was a top-tier scientist.
Seeing how secretive he was being, everyone was genuinely curious what he’d come up with.
But when Hank opened the large box he had prepared—
Everyone groaned and covered their faces in unison.
Inside were uniforms. And not just any uniforms—ugly ones.
“Hank, you’ve been busy, huh?” Erik couldn’t help teasing.
“Do we really have to wear these?” Banshee asked, clearly conflicted.
“Well, considering we can’t withstand extreme pressure or bullets,” Hank replied with a smile, “I’d recommend putting them on.”
“Well…” Raven shrugged. “I doubt Alex even needs this kind of protection.”
With that freakish body of his, even mutant mercenaries couldn’t stab him with a blade.
Bulletproof? That was just the bare minimum.
“Alright, fine. Alex is an exception,” Hank added.
But even so, Alex didn’t refuse. He put on the suit with everyone else.
These were, after all, the very first generation of X-Men uniforms—definitely a historic moment.
Even if, truthfully… they were a bit ugly.
But who cared? They were going to war, not a fashion show.
“Hey, look at us—we’ve even got matching uniforms now. Don’t you think our team needs a name?” Raven suddenly suggested, her naming itch kicking in again. “What about... X-Men?”
“X-Men? Warriors with the X-gene? Not bad.”
“Raven, that’s so lame.”
Everyone tossed out casual jabs, not really taking the name seriously.
No one could’ve guessed that the name Raven had jokingly thrown out would one day become so iconic.
“So this… is how the X-Men were born?” Alex mused with interest.
He was witnessing history in the making.
“Okay! Let’s move!” Charles clapped his hands enthusiastically.
The group followed him into a massive hangar.
Inside was a jet that looked sleek and futuristic—far ahead of its time in both appearance and performance.
“The first generation Blackbird,” Alex thought to himself. “This thing’s going to be a collector’s item one day.”
If he snapped a photo now, he bet diehard X-Men fans would pay big bucks for it.
“Charles, you serious? You’ve even got something like this? Damn!” Banshee shouted, his eyes wide in amazement.
“We do need some kind of transportation, don’t we?” Charles grinned, playing it cool.
“Cool. Super cool!”
Even Darwin was stunned. “I never thought I’d get to ride something this awesome in my life.”
“But… who’s flying this thing? Erik? Moira?” Havok asked the key question.
“Of course I am,” said Hank, stepping forward confidently.
“…You know how to fly a jet?” Havok gave him a skeptical look. “Bro, that’s a pretty wide skill gap.”
“Of course. I built this thing,” Hank replied, as cool as could be.
With that, there was no more delay. Everyone boarded the aircraft, found their seats, and buckled in.
“Hold on tight, we’re taking off!” Hank called out.
Whoosh!
The jet soared into the sky and vanished into the clouds.
