In the previous social hierarchy, Mutants were always at the absolute bottom.
They were even lower than African-Americans.
After all, even Black people wouldn't be snatched away at will for human experimentation.
Only Mutants would have people repeatedly barge into their schools to snatch them away.
Of course, Fang Yuan felt that Professor X bore a great deal of responsibility for this.
But what did the previous'Saint' version of Professor X have to do with the Professor X who had returned from the apocalypse?
Having been reborn from the apocalypse, Old Charles only wanted to protect the academy well this time.
So, humanity was in for a rough time.
Because the Sentinels didn't specifically target ordinary people, some continued to go to work after the initial panic subsided.
There are always some 'beasts of burden' who carry the weight of society on their backs.
Journalists were among them.
Television was now filled almost entirely with war mobilization and various intelligence reports; aside from that, it was all news about Mutants.
Nearly every time the X-Men publicly rescued Mutants, they would be filmed and exposed to the public eye.
Initially, some people expressed dissatisfaction with Mutants, but as more such incidents occurred, the public's perception of Mutants began to shift.
"I'm a bit envious of Mutants," said a human trapped in a corner while trying to evade the Sentinels.
No matter how much they had discriminated before, when danger struck, Mutants could use their abilities to increase their survival rate. If they lived near New York, the X-Men might even save them, which was far better than being an ordinary human.
"No need to be envious. How many X-Men are there? We have the Military!" someone immediately retorted.
"That's right, we still have the Military!"
Through TV and radio, many knew that over a hundred thousand troops had gathered at the Washington Defense Line, with countless tanks and artillery. The mere hundred or so sentinel robots seemed tiny in comparison.
"There is no reason we will lose!" the Military Commander reported to the President with full confidence.
"We've even studied the footage of the X-Men fighting the Sentinels and discovered that the head is their weakness!"
"So our plan is to launch EMP Missiles midway through the Sentinels' advance to try and sever the connection between the Sentinels and Fox."
"Regardless of whether the EMP Missiles work, we will follow up with a missile volley to ensure those damned robots never reach Washington!" the Military Commander spoke with passion, but news that caught everyone off guard soon arrived.
The sentinel robots, which had originally been clustered together, suddenly dispersed before reaching the designated bombing zone, surrounding Washington in groups of two or three from different directions.
This ruined the Military's plans, making it impossible to conduct a preemptive missile strike.
After all, a hundred Sentinels were a clear target, but using missiles against dispersed Sentinels was like using missiles to swat mosquitoes.
Even so, the Military's confidence remained high. Since even the lightning summoned by Storm could kill a Sentinel, they believed that even if missiles were unusable, modern Military weapons had more than enough power to exceed a lightning strike.
So, even though intelligence showed the number of Sentinels increasing to nearly 300, the Military did not panic.
Unfortunately, there was no chat group between the New Yorks of different worlds; otherwise, the Marvel New York would surely have told them about the time a few hundred Frost Giants wiped out General Ross's entire army.
Frost Giants only had tough hides, but sentinel robots were not only structurally durable but also possessed various superpowers.
Stormfront had indeed struck down a Sentinel, but that was under the premise that Fang Yuan was holding back.
There was naturally a difference in the significance of 30% power versus 100%.
"Can they win?"
At Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters, Jean asked as she watched the live broadcast of the Military's heavy defenses outside Washington.
"Let's hope so," Logan sighed.
He lit a cigar and looked at Fang Yuan, Professor X, Magneto, and Shaw. Though he didn't know their plan yet, since Professor X wasn't panicking, Logan didn't panic either.
Old Charles watched the soldiers on TV anxiously preparing for battle and closed his eyes in pity. He knew the human Military couldn't defeat the Sentinels because their true enemy wasn't robots at all.
But then Charles opened his eyes with determination.
Even if there would be casualties, compared to the apocalypse he had experienced, the Old Professor X felt it was a fair trade if a single defeat could wake humanity up.
Humanity perhaps didn't know that their true guardian was never the sentinel robots, but Professor X!
If the Professor X in the movies hadn't been such a'Saint', humanity would have had zero room for resistance against his abilities.
Even if Professor X had simply stood by and watched Magneto, the Mutants wouldn't have ended up so miserable.
Now that the old Professor X had abandoned his'Saintly' compassion for humanity, it was an excellent thing, at least for the Mutants.
The Sentinels finally clashed with the army.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Bang!
Rat-tat-tat!
The Military opened fire the moment they detected the Sentinels' perimeter closing in, without even waiting for them to enter visual range.
In several directions that were uninhabited, the Military even directly deployed high-yield missiles!
So what if it was using a cannon to hit a mosquito? As long as it caused effective damage, it was fine.
But all of this was based on the premise that they could actually hit their targets.
"Report, missile signal lost!"
A soldier in the command center reported anxiously.
The general on-site remained relatively calm: "How many were lost?"
"All of them. The enemy is suspected of using EMPs," the soldier replied.
The general's voice rose significantly: "Are you saying our EMP Missiles were destroyed by the sentinel robots' EMP?"
Here's a bit of trivia: sentinel robots were not actually manufactured as machines.
They were called robots because they started out that way, but with material upgrades and to defend against abilities like Magneto's, the Sentinels no longer contained any metal.
In fact, in their later stages of development, the Sentinels were a product of biotechnology.
They were essentially Genetic Androids.
Therefore, the Sentinels were not afraid of EMPs; in fact, the Sentinel Mutant gene pool even included the ability to generate EMPs, which was why the Military's missiles failed.
It wasn't just the missiles.
Modern armies have extremely high requirements for signals, and the Sentinels' EMPs directly paralyzed the Military's command system.
A Sentinel only needed to rush near a combat unit and release an EMP, and the army would be forced to fight in isolation.
Although modern armies were generally prepared for EMPs, the Sentinels' goal was merely to sever the command links between units.
When an army loses its command, it loses the advantage of large-scale coordinated operations. Soldiers fighting on their own were no match for the Sentinels.
Thus, the events of Marvel's General Ross repeated themselves, only this time the scale of the Military collapse was even greater.
The Sentinels moved as if through an uninhabited land; the army was utterly vulnerable. All signals on the battlefield were cut off; otherwise, several civilians would have been scared to death instantly.
But even if there were no signals on the battlefield, the interior of Washington was unaffected. When the sentinel robots charged into the Washington city area, everyone realized one thing—the Military had failed!
"Mr. President, get to the submarine immediately!"
Fortunately, the government had comprehensive emergency plans. The moment signals vanished from the battlefield, all high-ranking officials were dispersed and evacuated.
This ensured that even if someone was attacked by a Sentinel, the government could continue to function.
The President was naturally the top priority for evacuation. He was placed on a submarine; Washington was no longer safe, and aircraft carriers were just targets. Only a submarine could ensure an effective evacuation.
But while the high-ranking officials could leave, ordinary citizens were stuck.
Washington was surrounded by chaotic troops, and Sentinels were rampaging through the city. Citizens could only try to escape via waterways or various remote paths; those who couldn't escape had to find a place to hide.
At this moment, Fang Yuan thoughtfully lowered the Sentinels' power to 30%, which meant that stronger Mutants could now actually damage the Sentinels.
As a result, Mutants everywhere began to gather spontaneously to huddle for warmth.
This was when Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants proved incredibly effective. The Mutants in the Brotherhood were different from the X-Men; the X-Men were like 'Uptowners,' while the Brotherhood were like 'Downtowners' from Zaun—none of them looked glamorous, but they all had extensive channels.
Under Magneto's orders, they scattered everywhere, effectively helping Mutants organize resistance against the Sentinels and saving many from a cruel fate.
This situation was noticed by more and more people, so many humans also wanted to join the Mutant camps, hoping to seek protection from these people they had previously looked down upon.
However, in this situation, humans without superpowers were nothing but a burden, and the Mutants didn't want to bother with them at all.
One could only say the times were changing rapidly. The Mutants never expected that one day, they would be the ones discriminating against humans.
"Ordinary people? Don't know them. What poor relatives are these?"
The government's attitude had also shifted.
Because everything is revealed through comparison. Facing the same Sentinels, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants could protect their own, while the human army of over a hundred thousand was beaten into a rout.
The contrast was too stark, so during a remote meeting of high-ranking officials, someone naturally raised this suggestion—
"Let's go cooperate with the Mutants!"
"The sentinel robots all came from Trask Industries. If we can take down Trask Industries, the Sentinel crisis will likely be resolved."
"Furthermore, we still don't know exactly what abilities that Fox has. We need the help of Superhumans!"
At this point, they were so polite they didn't even use the term 'Mutant' anymore.
They had no choice; facts had proven that their greatest reliance, the Military, could do nothing against the Sentinels, and their missiles couldn't hit. Compared to the Mutants, they were the weaker party.
Under these circumstances, no matter how much someone hated Mutants, they couldn't maintain their stance.
Thus, the meeting unanimously passed the motion to seek an alliance with the Mutants.
As for the question of whom to contact.
Of the two major Mutant factions, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, the officials naturally chose the X-Men.
Although the Brotherhood of Mutants had shown tendencies of turning over a new leaf recently, the government was certainly more willing to trust the peace-loving X-Men.
However, at that moment, one high-ranking official suddenly asked: "But will the Mutants agree to join forces with us?"
The meeting channel instantly fell into an awkward silence.
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