Chapter 888: Brilliant Stars (33)_1

The Vice President's eyebrows furrowed, but he still patiently said, "I am looking for Charles Xavier, Professor X, the Presidential Palace hopes to have a direct dialogue with him..."

"I've already said that the Professor is unavailable!" Polaris' voice conveyed impatience, "Are you guys some kind of sales company? You've called several times within a span of ten minutes, don't you know that we are busy? Who has the time to sit around waiting for your call?!"

"But... what is Professor X busy with? What are the mutants busy with?" The Vice President quickly sensed something off because the background noise of the call was rather noisy, as if a battle was going on. At this moment, Polaris' voice became distant, as if she had covered the receiver and was talking to someone else.

"Wolverine!! What are you doing!! I said not to touch the operation panel of the spaceship! Your claws are so sharp, what if you break the buttons? And you, Cyclops! Put your glasses back on! Last time you blasted a big hole in the ship's deck, isn't that enough?"

"What do you think this is? Your broken school? This is an escort ship granted by His Majesty Thanos! If you blow up this ship, wait for Thanos to be furious..."

Having said this, Polaris let go of the receiver, expressing impatiently: "What President? The president of a single nation on Earth wants to have official talks with us? Even His Majesty Thanos had to negotiate directly with our leader, who do you think you are..."

"Lorna! Lorna! Don't be like this..." a gentle voice sounded and the Vice President heard the sound of phone receiver being exchanged. Charles' voice came through, "I apologize, Mr. President, Lorna has been swamped and her temper has been a bit short lately, I apologize on her behalf..."

"Mr. Xavier, what on earth is happening? Where have you mutants...where have you gone? What are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just an internship of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. To help mutants control their powers, we accepted a job helping a certain cosmic force to complete some plans."

"A certain cosmic force? You mean, you are not on Earth now?" The Vice President's eyebrows nearly furrowed together: "So where are you?"

"Mr. President, this is merely an internship, there's no need to over react. Mutants don't only live on Earth. The job offers good benefits, including food and accommodation, even weapons and a spaceship, so we won't be returning for a while."

"But...but...Charles, hear me out, mutants are after all part of the human race, so you can't just join an unidentified cosmic force, that would be a betrayal to mankind..."

"Of course, Mr. President, we will have to return at some point. But as you know, the development of the mutants on Earth is less than ideal, the school's budget is limited, and the admissions criteria are not relaxed enough. We have to find a way to support ourselves."

"Mutants have no other assets besides their force. Fortunately, there are quite a few civilizations in the cosmos that need such a force."

Charles sighed, "As you know, Magneto and his Brotherhood are all about causing trouble. When they were on Earth, they really gave me headaches. Rather than dealing with that, it's better to send them out. That's a win-win for everyone, isn't it?"

The moment the Vice President was about to speak, Polaris' voice once again chimed in, she exclaimed, "Don't mention Erik! The nerve of them to say that! Clearly they found mutants dangerous and troublesome and wanted to drive us from Earth. We retreated, left the ant colony, and they have the nerve to call and harass us?!"

Polaris scoffed, "Be careful, one day Erik might blow up their sun!"

"Lorna! Don't say things like that. After all, Earth is our hometown. Even if we work abroad, we have to think of home." Charles's voice is always very gentle and calm, he said, "Go look at the scenery outside the porthole, you should take a break. After all, those dwarves are indeed troublesome, and you've worked hard these past few days."

Polaris' reluctant voice came through: "If it weren't for Lord Salos's sake, I wouldn't bother hanging out with you bunch of idiots... Wolverine! Take your claws off the panel!!!"

After Polaris left, Charles' voice came across again: "Mr. President, I heard that you've called several times looking for me. What is it that you need?"

The Vice President took a deep breath and said: "Professor X, we..."

He choked on his words just as he was about to say, "we need your help." In fact, the script he had prepared was not in this tone at all.

In his plan, he should first chat with Professor X about the future of mutants, apply some pressure in his words, then take a slight step back, propose his own needs, and finally, with a grace-giving attitude, offer them rewards.

But Charles had stated before that he was not even on Earth, and he was busy with something important. He even revealed that Magneto and the mutant group of the Brotherhood wanted to leave Earth for good. In this case, the so-called quota of five states seems ridiculous,

They are fighting cosmic wars out there, even driving spaceships. Who cares about admission quotas?

After some consideration, the Vice President still says, "Professor Xavier, is this so-called His Majesty Thanos your employer?"

"Yes, for the X-Men, that's the case, but for Magneto's daughter, Little Lorna, who answered the phone just now, seems to think His Majesty Thanos is a worthy and enlightened ruler, she's trying to persuade her father to join Thanos. However, the X-Men believe that we're always part of the human race, we can accept a mercenary relationship, but as for loyalty, let's forget about it."

The vice president heaved a sigh of relief, but his anxiety quickly returned, he asked, "Are you at war? Who are you fighting against?"

"Mr. Vice President, we're quite busy. The X-Men trainees lack battle experience and need my help. If you have nothing else to discuss, I'll hang up now."

Professor X's tone was cheerful, but the vice president was far from smiling. He realized how uncomfortable it was when the situation was reversed and he was not the one ending the call.

He also couldn't continue questioning. His professionalism told him that his recent questions were more like interrogations, the other party wasn't happy with him, and continued pressure could backfire.

After hanging up, the vice president felt a sense of absurdity. How could he feel that the pressure on mutants was too much?

The vice president was not a mutant hater, but he was also a pioneer against mutants. Reports had said he had close ties with mutants, but that was just a surface view. Each time he communicated with Professor X, he was forcing mutants to step back or making empty promises to use them.

In the past, mutants had no way out. Every time the Vice President advanced, Professor X had to step back. No matter how many steps the mutants took, there was a dead end behind them. They were continuously oppressed until there was no retreat possible.

Then, the Congress would slightly relax and give them some space to breathe, then continue to oppress and degrade the mutants' power, preventing them from causing any trouble.

But now, the situation is different. The wall behind the mutants has fallen, and beyond it is a lit-up land called cosmos.

Unlike humans who have to put on thick space suits and operate extremely safe spacecraft to enter the cosmos, mutants aren't that delicate. Even Wolverine can withstand cosmic radiation. His action might not be strong, but he can survive.

And they have hitched a ride with other cosmic forces. The cosmic emperor named Thanos casually provides spacecraft to mercenaries, indicating that his civilization is much higher than the human race.

However, the Vice President remained doubtful. He wondered whether this was a show put on by mutants. Just as he was thinking of corroborating this, a staff member walked in with a report, stating:

"Mr. President, we have some bad news... well, maybe good news too. Problems arose on the planet where humans are mining molten steel. The sulfur dwarves have collectively rebelled and started a war, and there is even a cosmic spaceship involved."

"The robots made by Stark Industries have been at a disadvantage due to the lack of upgrades. Stark is dead now, and the senior laboratory authorities have been locked upon. We can't counteract using the robots."

"Over the past three weeks, the production of molten steel has dropped by at least half, and the Sulphur Dwarves have taken back half of the mines. If it continues like this, we are likely to run out of molten steel."

"What did you say?!!" The Vice President exclaimed in astonishment, "A shortage of molten steel?!! But our space equipment is all made of this new material, and there are at least fifty or sixty projects underway. What about our prior investments if molten steel supply is discontinued?"

"But then again, as the output of molten steel falls, the price of Vibranium would rise, and our reserves of Vibranium are still plentiful." The aide seemed not to understand economics. Frustrated, the Vice President exclaimed, "Good heavens! Don't you get it? Vibranium already has other plans!"

He took a deep breath and said, "The Divine King named Thor, the so-called lord of the Nine Major Kingdoms, is forging his new crown. The Sanctum is negotiating on our behalf for the decorations on the Asgard crown to be made of Vibranium, a unique human metal."

"The general public is gradually becoming aware of Asgard's existence. Once this news is publicized, Vibranium will change from being an industrial metal to a precious gemstone, just like a colored gemstone. Would you use gemstones to build rockets?"

The Vice President said, looking somewhat pale, "We have already reached an agreement with several jewelry groups. Jewelry made of Vibranium has already entered the production line. As soon as the news is released and the price is driven up, it will be put on the market."

"But what if molten steel, as a universal industrial metal, is completely cut off and we have to go back to the era of Vibranium, Congress will definitely demand us to keep sufficient Vibranium reserves as strategic materials to compete with other countries. They absolutely won't let us use it for jewelry!"

"So what can we do?" The aide asked anxiously. "Ordinary people don't know, but we do. That planet is not in our solar system. We have no control over it. Only Stark could..."

"Not necessarily! If we can convince mutants... they have the ability to go into space!" The Vice-President clenched his teeth: "They must solve the problem, whether it's within or outside the Earth..."

Just then, another person rushes in, "Mr. President! Bad news! JARVIS has released images of the sulfur dwarves' home planet, and the ones helping the sulfur dwarves to rebel are the mutants!"

"Mr. President!! Mr. President!! Wake up!! Someone get a doctor! Doctor! The president has passed out!!!"