The security personnel trained by Deathstroke had exceptional combat skills. More importantly, aside from Jean, there were no other mutants in the school who were particularly good at fighting.
The purge proceeded with brutal efficiency. In no time, every mutant was left lying in pools of blood. William, leading a group of security guards, finally reached the basement, where they found Jean waiting.
"Jean Grey. We've got intel on you, but there's something I've been curious about."
William stepped forward, slowly approaching the mutant. The guards behind him raised their weapons, covering him from both sides.
Even the weakest mutant possessed abilities beyond that of an ordinary human. No matter how composed he seemed, William wasn't reckless enough to approach someone like her unprepared.
"There's no record of you ever using your powers in combat. Yet according to the LexCorp database, you're classified as extremely dangerous. Why is that?"
To help William reach his full potential, Reid had shared every bit of information he had. He held nothing back. Every known detail about mutants was laid out in front of the man. That's how he managed to put together a fully developed operation in just two years.
But Jean Grey remained one of the most confusing pieces in the entire plan.
There were no records of her fighting. Nothing in public, and nothing from the shadows. If LexCorp hadn't gotten insider intel from within the mutant ranks, there was no way they should know anything more about her than William did.
And this wasn't just about Jean.
During their partnership, William had already realized that LexCorp's understanding of mutants was far more in-depth than expected. Every mutant with even the slightest potential had already been analyzed, cataloged, and accounted for.
"LexCorp knows a lot about me?" Jean asked quietly.
William brought it up as a way to fish for information, but her thoughts went somewhere else entirely.
The moment she realized LexCorp seemed to know about her, her mind immediately drifted to Reid, the mysterious human with extraordinary abilities.
'Does he know me?'
As a mutant, Jean knew very well that back when Charles and Magneto still led the mutant community, it was impossible for humans to access any detailed intel about them through normal means.
But the facts spoke for themselves. After LexCorp began targeting mutants, they showed an overwhelming advantage in intelligence. In Jean's view, there was only one possible explanation: Reid. Only someone with supernatural means could've gathered such specific and secret information.
'He knows so much about me. But why... why don't I remember him at all?'
Ever since that brief encounter with him in Canada, fragments of memories had started flashing through Jean's mind. Faint and distorted scenes tried to break through the barriers of her subconscious. They hadn't succeeded, but the attempts alone made her even more curious about him.
She started to wonder if they really did share some deep connection. Otherwise, why would he behave like someone who knew her so well, even though she had only recently mastered control over her psychic powers through Charles's training?
Were those warm, peaceful scenes from her dreams real?
Lost in thought, Jean didn't even notice that William had quietly closed the distance between them. His hand gripped a dagger behind his back, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
But just as he moved to attack, Jean lifted her head. She didn't use telekinesis, yet William suddenly felt his entire body lock up. He was frozen in place, completely unable to move.
"You're working with Reid. So I don't want to kill you," she said flatly. "But don't try anything stupid."
With that, she stepped aside, leaving the path to the Cerebro chamber wide open.
"If you've made it this far, I assume you already know everything about this place. Go ahead. I want to see what your plan really is."
"Plan?"
Now able to move again, William forced himself to suppress the lingering fear. Just now, he had felt a crushing pressure, as if his very mind had been squeezed tight. Jean Grey was exactly as dangerous as LexCorp had warned.
Still, if she was willing to step aside, he wasn't about to question it.
"Thanks," he said, forcing a smile. "I hope you find the answers you're looking for."
Until he was certain he could handle her, William saw no harm in being polite.
He led the security team past Jean, then used a device they had prepared in advance to override the chamber's retinal scan system and unlock the door.
"Jean, I used to think that even if you didn't care about your own people, at the very least, you'd never side with humans."
Inside the chamber, Charles barely looked like the man he once was. In just two years, he had withered from a vibrant old leader to a hollow, skeletal figure, more like a corpse than a person. His thin frame had lost all vitality.
He was already old, and when he finally accepted that he would never be able to overthrow humanity in his lifetime, his health rapidly declined.
Not long ago, he'd reached the point where he needed a wheelchair to move.
In this world, Professor X and Magneto had shared the same vision. With no conflict between them, the former's spine had never been injured, and he had never needed a wheelchair before.
But now, driven by a desperate will to fight to the end, the mutant leader stood up again. Though his frail back was too weak to fully straighten, the sharpness in his eyes made William tense up.
No one noticed the girl standing silently beside him—Rogue, her eyes vacant and lifeless.
"In the end, you still can't forget about Reid, can you?"
Hearing Charles mention Reid, Jean, who had been waiting quietly to see how things would unfold, suddenly stepped forward and shouted.
"I haven't remembered anything about Reid. I don't feel anything special toward humans. But! Compared to humans, compared to Reid—who made me feel something faint and unexplainable—I hate you even more, you bastard who dared to mess with my memories!"
Jean's stance was clear. She stood for herself. She didn't fight for humans or mutants. Everything she did was for her own sake.
"Is that so? Then it seems I was wrong again."
Charles sighed. But then, his sharp eyes turned to William.
"I know I'll die. I've always known. But if LexCorp thinks they can crush the dream of mutantkind with someone like you, then that is far too naive."
William narrowed his eyes slightly.
The next second, with a subtle hand gesture, one of the guards behind him raised his weapon and pulled the trigger.
A red laser round tore through Charles's shoulder in an instant.
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