Washington, D.C.
Vane never managed to meet Professor Xavier.
He had just stepped off the plane when an urgent report reached him. Charles Xavier and Cyclops had been attacked while traveling to Washington, and both of them were now missing.
The news left him momentarily stunned. A man with Xavier's level of telepathic power should have been nearly impossible to ambush. Anyone planning an attack against him would have to bypass one of the strongest minds on the planet.
But as Vane thought about it more carefully, another possibility surfaced in his mind.
And if that possibility was correct, then an ambush might actually have been possible after all.
The White House was still under strict security.
The entire area had been placed under temporary martial law. Secret Service agents were stationed across the grounds in heavily armed squads, guarding every entrance and corridor with visible tension.
Vane waited for a long time before he was finally allowed to enter the Oval Office.
When he stepped inside, the president was already seated behind the Resolute Desk. Aside from looking somewhat tired, he appeared unharmed and in relatively good spirits.
A few hours earlier—
It had been White House Open Day.
A group of children from a local school had been touring the building with a guide, walking through the historic halls with curiosity and excitement. Their voices echoed softly through the corridors as they listened to explanations about the history of the presidency.
At the very back of the group, however, a man wearing a low-brimmed hat quietly stepped away.
He moved calmly down a side corridor, as if he had taken a wrong turn.
"Hey! Sir, you're heading the wrong way."
A nearby guard noticed him immediately. His hand moved instinctively toward the pistol at his waist as he spoke in a firm warning tone.
The man stopped.
He slowly raised his head and looked directly at the guard.
For a brief instant, the guard saw something horrifying—a grotesque human face stretched unnaturally across what looked like a mask of skin.
The guards were shocked.
Several of them immediately drew their guns, but before they could react properly there was a sharp sound.
With a soft bang, the man's body exploded into a cloud of blue smoke and disappeared.
"What the hell—?"
The guard grabbed his radio immediately.
"Something's wrong! Everyone stay alert. A suspect wearing some kind of human skin mask has entered the building!"
Elsewhere in the White House, more guards began encountering the same figure.
The mysterious intruder kept teleporting through the halls in flashes of blue mist. To the guards chasing him, it looked as if he were desperately searching for a way out of the building.
However, if someone had been able to trace every one of his teleportation points, they would have noticed something very different.
Each teleportation brought him closer and closer to the Oval Office.
At that exact moment, the president was seated behind his desk reviewing documents when several Secret Service agents suddenly rushed into the room.
"An intruder has breached security!" one of them announced urgently. "Mr. President, we need to move you to the underground safe room immediately."
Several heavily built agents stepped forward and prepared to escort him out.
Before they could move, however, a frantic voice crackled through the radio.
"Attention! The situation outside is no longer safe."
The voice sounded panicked.
"The enemy appears to have teleportation abilities. Do not escort the president outside the office. Repeat, do not—"
Gunshots erupted over the transmission.
Then the radio fell silent.
The agents inside the Oval Office exchanged tense looks.
"Seal every door and window," one of them ordered sharply. "Now!"
They quickly repositioned themselves, forming a tight defensive circle around the president while guiding him behind the Resolute Desk.
Outside the room, distant gunshots and brief screams echoed through the corridors.
But within moments, the noise abruptly stopped.
The silence that followed felt even more terrifying.
At that moment, one of the president's bodyguards spoke up hesitantly.
"The White House installed shield generators recently," he said. "But does the Oval Office actually have one connected?"
The question caused several of the agents to freeze.
The installation had been done recently, and in the chaos of the emergency none of them had thought about it until now.
"Yes," another agent replied after a moment. "There's a small generator connected to the basement."
"Activate it immediately."
The president stepped forward and pressed the control button himself.
A transparent blue barrier instantly expanded outward, forming a spherical shield around both the president and the Resolute Desk.
The moment the shield activated, the president felt something strange.
The world suddenly became completely silent.
He could see the agents outside the shield moving and shouting toward him, but he could no longer hear anything they said.
Oddly enough, that silence gave him an unprecedented sense of safety.
He sat behind the desk while a dozen agents stood outside the shield with their weapons raised in every direction, waiting for the attacker to appear.
Suddenly, a cloud of blue mist appeared in the room.
Before anyone could fire their weapons, the mist vanished again.
At the same instant, one of the agents was violently thrown across the room and slammed into the wall, collapsing unconscious.
From inside the shield, the president could only watch helplessly.
To him, the entire scene looked like a silent movie.
Blue mist flashed repeatedly through the room.
One after another, the elite Secret Service agents were overwhelmed without resistance. Some were knocked unconscious with a single blow, while others were hurled across the room like rag dolls.
Fortunately, the attacker didn't appear to be killing them.
Most of the agents were simply knocked out.
Even so, the entire group of trained professionals lasted less than half a minute.
Finally, the blue mist stopped moving.
A strange creature stood in the center of the room.
Only then did the president clearly see its appearance.
It had deep blue skin, three-fingered hands, and a long thin tail. The creature's body looked almost demonic—like the devils depicted in old biblical illustrations.
The blue-skinned mutant glanced briefly toward the president.
Then he vanished again in a burst of smoke.
The next moment, flashes of blue mist began striking the shield surrounding the desk.
From inside, the president could see the attacks appearing from every direction. The barrier trembled slightly with each impact, producing faint vibrations.
He realized immediately what the creature was trying to do.
It was attempting to break through the shield.
After several attempts, however, the mutant seemed to realize the barrier couldn't be penetrated.
The attacks gradually stopped.
The blue-skinned mutant approached cautiously and placed his hand against the surface of the shield, studying it with visible confusion.
At that exact moment, the window behind him exploded inward.
A figure burst through the glass and lunged directly toward the mutant.
Startled, the blue-skinned attacker teleported to dodge the strike. However, the newcomer moved with incredible speed and immediately followed the movement.
A powerful punch landed squarely on the mutant's body.
The blue figure was sent flying across the room.
In midair he activated his ability again, dissolving into a cloud of blue mist and disappearing completely.
As he vanished, a single piece of paper drifted slowly down from the air.
The person who had broken through the window wore the uniform of a black-clad security officer.
After confirming the attacker had escaped, he didn't pursue.
Instead, he positioned himself near the shield and watched the surroundings carefully.
Moments later, several more guards rushed into the room and formed a defensive circle around the president.
By that time, the blue-skinned mutant had completely disappeared.
The president soon recognized the newcomers.
They were agents who had undergone the Typhon Group's secondary enhancement treatment. One of them had even served as his personal bodyguard before.
Because the Secret Service treated new technology with extreme caution, those enhanced agents had been undergoing extended evaluations to ensure the enhancements caused no psychological side effects.
For that reason, they had previously been assigned to guard the outer perimeter.
Only after recognizing them did the president finally release a long breath.
His body sagged slightly in the chair as the tension drained away.
…
Now, inside the Oval Office, the president gestured for Vane to take a seat.
Leaning back in his chair, he spoke calmly.
"In American history, assassination attempts against presidents are nothing new."
His expression grew distant as he listed the names.
"Lincoln. Garfield. Kennedy. Even Reagan was nearly killed."
He exhaled slowly.
"But I never imagined I would be the next target."
Vane immediately realized that the arguments he had prepared earlier might no longer be effective. The assassination attempt had clearly shaken the president more deeply than anyone expected.
"Mr. President," Vane began carefully, "people often say that certain events are both crises and opportunities at the same time."
"I believe what happened today may be one of those moments."
He continued speaking steadily.
"Have you noticed how much the world has changed recently? Mutants, Iron Man, the Hulk, Abomination—new and powerful individuals keep appearing one after another."
"These forces have disrupted the balance of the world and weakened the authority of governments."
He paused briefly.
"The clearest example is that man in the metal suit."
Vane's tone sharpened slightly.
"He possesses an extremely powerful weapon system, yet he keeps it entirely under his personal control. He could contribute far more to the world, but instead he focuses only on playing the role of a superhero."
"With great power comes great responsibility," Vane said firmly. "No individual with that level of power can remain permanently outside the system."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Mr. President, the world will face even greater crises in the future. The Justice League was created specifically to respond to those dangers."
Vane carefully watched the president's reaction.
The man seemed to be thinking.
After a moment of hesitation, Vane spoke again with renewed determination.
"Mr. President, in my opinion, those so-called heroes of freedom must be placed under proper regulation."
"They must make a choice."
"Either they join us and become part of the system… or they give up their status as heroes."
Although the subject had been discussed before, the fear caused by individuals like Iron Man, the Hulk, and Abomination still lingered strongly in the president's mind.
After a long moment, the president slowly nodded.
Vane sighed quietly inside his heart.
For now, he had no choice but to temporarily direct the pressure toward Iron Man and the Hulk.
However, as brave, tolerant defenders of justice, they would probably understand.
After all, if the proposal succeeded, the only thing they would lose would be their freedom.
If he failed to persuade the president now, the mutants might lose their lives instead.
.....
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