Chapter 10: [10] Mind Control and Trust
In the living room.
Moira's mouth hung open, shocked by the mutants she had seen.
Compared to Brian's shadow form, which seemed more like an auxiliary ability, the mutants of the Hellfire Club had incredibly powerful abilities.
Whether it was the tornadoes from Riptide, or the teleportation of Azazel, or even the telepathy and diamond form of White Queen Emma,
they all possessed extraordinarily powerful and formidable abilities.
Now, Moira finally fully understood why Brian wanted to cooperate with her.
"I'm going to leave here and report Sebastian Shaw's intelligence and plan to the CIA higher-ups."
Seeing that Sebastian Shaw had disappeared,
Moira was ready to leave.
However, just as she was about to leave, a voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
~'Moira MacTaggert.'~
The sudden voice startled Moira.
"W-Who's talking?"
Just as Moira was questioning, the bookshelf in front of her opened, and Emma walked out from behind it.
"Is it you, the telepathic mutant?"
When Moira saw Emma for the first time, she immediately realized that the voice in her mind was from Emma's telepathy.
As a CIA agent, Moira reacted quickly.
The moment she saw Emma, she drew her gun and fired.
Bang, bang, bang.
Bursts of gunshots echoed in the small private room.
Facing a powerful mutant, Moira emptied her magazine without hesitation.
Ding, ding, ding, tiling!
In response to Moira's shots, Emma casually transformed her body into her diamond form.
The shimmering diamond skin blocked all the bullets.
"Fuck you. I'm out of here!"
Seeing Emma's diamond body, Moira cursed and then turned around to run.
~'Stop.'~
After only a few steps, Moira heard Emma's telepathic voice in her mind again.
Emma's telepathic command seemed like some kind of supreme order, forcing Moira's consciousness to obey unconditionally.
Her body was still in motion, but it stopped abruptly.
When Moira came back to her senses, she was horrified to find that her consciousness seemed to be separated from her body, and she could no longer control herself.
She couldn't even speak.
~'Come here.'~
Emma's voice echoed in her mind once again, and Moira turned around and walked toward her.
Emma looked at Moira with cold eyes.
The ability of telepathy not only allows reading minds and invading thoughts. It can also compel conscious beings to follow the telepath's commands.
It can even directly erase someone's consciousness on a mental level.
However, dealing with a CIA agent wasn't worth Emma using the energy to erase her consciousness.
~'Point the gun at yourself.'~
With Emma's ability forcing her actions, Moira had no power to resist.
She mechanically reloaded her pistol, then raised her right hand and pointed the gun at her temple.
~'Pull the trigger.'~
Emma gave the final order.
Moira's eyes were filled with fear and despair, but her right index finger began to slowly pull the trigger.
Just when Moira thought she was going to die, an arm suddenly stretched out from behind and grabbed Moira's gun.
The one who blocked Moira's gun was Brian.
As soon as he heard the sound of gunfire, Brian had followed it and found this place.
When he arrived, he saw Moira about to shoot herself under Emma's telepathic influence.
Brian definitely wasn't going to let Moira die.
After all, he still needed her endorsement to gain Professor X's trust.
Bang.
A muffled gunshot rang out.
The bullet hit Brian's palm, and his adaptive evolution ability was passively activated, causing his right hand to suddenly evolve into metal skin.
The bullet did no harm to Brian.
It was only then that Moira came back to her senses.
She looked at Brian with gratitude. The fact that he saved her life made her trust him completely.
At this moment, Brian's image in Moira's heart soared—he became a trustworthy mutant companion.
Seeing Moira's approving eyes, Brian smiled.
The effort he just put in wasn't in vain.
Then Brian looked up at Emma and nodded to her.
"Emma, thank you for sparing Moira's life."
Emma smiled at Brian elegantly.
"Brian, are you really planning to be an enemy of Sebastian Shaw?"
As a telepathic mutant, Emma had already used her powers to read Moira's memory.
That's how Emma knew about the connection between Moira and Brian.
Considering the unforgettable "deep connection" she had previously shared with Brian, Emma chose not to kill Moira.
Otherwise, given her powerful level 4 telepathic abilities,
it wouldn't have been difficult for Emma to handle Moira.
In fact, Emma had been waiting for Brian.
She wanted to ask about the level 4 mutant, Darwin, whom she had seen in Moira's memory.
After all, in any world, prophets are very rare.
"Yes, Emma. You know, Sebastian Shaw killed my mutant brother, Darwin."
Brian shrugged and spoke as if it were the truth.
Emma frowned slightly. The relationship between the mutants of the Hellfire Club and Sebastian Shaw wasn't one of superiors and subordinates, but rather collaborators banding together for mutual benefit.
That's why Emma didn't know if Shaw had really killed a fellow mutant named Darwin.
She didn't particularly care about that.
What she truly cared about were the future events that Brian had mentioned.
She wanted to know whether Sebastian Shaw's plan would succeed.
Would the world after the nuclear explosion really belong to mutants, as Shaw claimed?
"What does the future that Darwin predicted look like?"
Emma asked with some unease.
The reason she followed Shaw was because of the grand vision he had painted for her.
Sebastian Shaw wanted to create a world with only mutants.
That's why Emma, also a mutant, chose to follow him.
"It was a disaster—a double disaster for both humans and mutants.
The nuclear radiation from the explosion can indeed activate the mutant genes in humans. But at the same time, nuclear radiation will also kill 99% of mutants worldwide.
In the entire world, only three mutants will survive."
This time, Brian wasn't lying.
It could be said that Sebastian Shaw suffered due to his lack of education.
He miscalculated the damage nuclear radiation would cause to the human body.
Or, perhaps because of his own mutant ability, he subconsciously ignored the harmful effects of nuclear radiation.
99.9% of mutants would not be able to withstand the damage of nuclear radiation and would die tragically.
"Which three people?"
Emma asked subconsciously.
"Sebastian Shaw, Wolverine Logan.
And... Jean Grey, who hasn't been born yet."
Brian did not reveal that he himself could also withstand a nuclear explosion—this was one of his trump cards.
Hearing Brian's words, Emma fell silent.
After all, this was 1962. Although the power of nuclear bombs had been proven in Japan, the full extent of nuclear radiation's harm was still unknown.
So when she heard Brian say that only three people in the world would survive, Emma began to waver in her original faith in Shaw's plan.
"Sigh. Take your little lover and leave here.
And don't think about seeking revenge for your brother Darwin.
Sebastian Shaw is more powerful than you can imagine."
Emma looked at Brian deeply, and then said coldly.
"Sebastian Shaw is indeed very powerful, but not invincible.
And I have already learned the way to defeat Sebastian Shaw from Darwin's prophecy."
Brian looked at Emma calmly, and then pulled the confused Moira away from the Hellfire Club.