PFC Chapter 3904 The Nameless Bat (74)
Chapter 3904 The Nameless Bat (74)
Chapter 3904 The Nameless Bat (Seventy-Four)
"Long time no see, Logan. I'm sorry to see you this way." Captain America sighed, sat in front of the viewing window, looked at his reflection in the glass superimposed on Logan's face, and recalled the scenes of them fighting side by side.
Logan shook his head. The lines of his facial muscles stretched downwards, like the roots of an old tree, and his eyebrows were even faintly white, making him really look like a wolverine.
“It’s all my fault,” Logan said. “I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt any ordinary people. I’m sorry they were injured. I know this isn’t a battlefield anymore. Even on a battlefield, killing civilians is absolutely evil. I really didn’t expect that I would…”
Logan choked up as he finished speaking. Captain America lowered his head as well. They were both clearly remembering the same thing. They had been tasked with mopping up the remaining enemy forces on the Eastern Front. They had chased the enemy relentlessly until they were cornered in a low-lying civilian house. It was where a mother and her two children were hiding; the civilians had been taken hostage. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't save the mother's life. She was the first civilian to die because of them.
From then on, they learned to proceed cautiously and never pursue a defeated enemy relentlessly. When going to battle, they would always silently remind themselves of why they were fighting, but war itself would make them forget that. On their way back, they made a pact never to let a single civilian shed blood for them again.
Logan looked to be in great pain, and Captain America had to grab his wrist through the viewing window to help him breathe steadily and calm himself down so that he could complete the questioning.
If things weren't so serious, Captain America wouldn't want to interrogate his old comrade at this point. Unfortunately, there are only two people involved; the other is not fully conscious and has too much entanglement with Phoenix, making him an unsuitable person to question. Logan is the only hope.
“I know I should say something, but the problem is I don’t know what to say,” Logan practically roared. “Scott suddenly went crazy. First he started hurling insults at me. At first it was fine, I just ignored him. But then it got worse and worse, and suddenly he started insulting my comrades, even making personal attacks on my height and appearance. I just don’t understand it.”
"Anything else?" Captain America asked.
"Then he started trying to sow discord between Qin and me. Of course, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I couldn't be a third party while they were still together. But Qin and I were also teammates, so it wasn't unreasonable for me to pour him a cup of coffee, was it? Besides, I poured coffee for everyone, so I couldn't just not pour it for her, could I? That would be excluding her, wouldn't it?"
Is this the first time you and Scott have had a conflict?
"I guess so. We may have had some conflicts before, but it was always him who was cold to me. And as you know, I'm not very sensitive, so I probably overlooked a lot of details."
"He started fighting with you after that day?"
"Yes. He hurled a lot of insults at me, like being a shameless homewrecker. But I really didn't do anything. I explained to him, but he wouldn't listen and insisted on fighting me. I didn't dare fight him, so I just avoided him. But the next day, he actually stormed into my classroom and started hurling insults at me in front of the students. I was so embarrassed that I pushed him, and then he attacked me with a laser!"
Logan scratched his head vigorously as he spoke, "You know, there were over a dozen underage kids in the classroom at the time! He shone a laser beam, shattered the glass, and even cut one kid's face. I was furious! Jean was also very angry; she yelled at Scott. Scott actually cursed at her… God, I can't say that word…"
Although he didn't say it, Captain America could probably guess. This kind of thing is actually quite common: someone does something irrational out of jealousy, while their boyfriend or girlfriend sides with justice, siding with reason over family. Even if you rationally know the other person is just being kind, you still can't accept it.
“Scott went completely insane after that,” Logan sighed. “He would go crazy during a perfectly good camping trip. I had to lure him to the beach next door, and we ended up fighting.”
"Who won?"
"In fact, I didn't fight him at all. He was the one hitting me with a laser, and I was dodging it."
Why don't you fight him for real?
Logan looked at him in disbelief, his face practically screaming, "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"Scott may be able to shoot lasers with his eyes, but his body is just that of an ordinary person. He's not Superman, who could be punched onto Jupiter by Magneto and be fine. If I went up there and used my claw, he would be cut into several pieces."
Captain America realized he'd asked a stupid question. While Cyclops was a ranged attacker and Logan a melee fighter, Logan's claws were made of adamantium; even a scratch on Superman would likely draw blood, let alone Cyclops's ordinary physical abilities.
If Logan were to actually fight Cyclops, Logan could make many mistakes because he has a healing factor, but Cyclops can only make one mistake, and if he does, he'll end up with pieces of skin and bones.
Moreover, when Laser Eyes is in good mental condition, he's fine, but he's clearly gone a bit crazy at that time. He's attacking indiscriminately without thinking, and Logan could get close to him in no time. At that point, he'll be really done for.
Captain America rubbed his temples and said, "Okay, what's this about the coal-fired power plant?"
“Pyro works there,” Logan said. “Rent in New York has gone up since the two Earths merged. Before, a normal mutant could live comfortably with a stable job. But after the merger, that’s no longer the case. They either have to work two jobs or find a higher-paying one.”
"Huo Ren used to work at an American barbecue restaurant. The pay wasn't high, but the job was easy. He just sat in the yard and helped customers grill their meat by controlling the heat. You know, like a pool safety officer. It suited him quite well."
"But ever since his weekly rent went up by $100, his meager salary simply can't afford it. He can't even rent a place in the suburbs, so he has to find a higher-paying job."
"So he went to the thermal power plant?"
"Yes. The Osborn Corporation offered a high price, and basically all mutants who can control fire would go. Of course, they're not going to set fires and generate electricity themselves, but to conduct some kind of temperature measurement and control experiment. I don't know much about this, but anyway, Fireman got the job."
"After Fireman got a new job and received his first paycheck, he remembered that many people at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters weren't well-off, so he wanted to treat everyone to a barbecue, including his colleagues. Scott and I drove to the power plant to pick up his colleagues, one after the other, and that's when the accident happened..."
How did you two start fighting?
"I'm afraid you'll laugh at me for telling you this. You know I drive pretty fast, and I was going pretty fast when I got to the door. I was afraid I'd miss it, so I slammed on the brakes. But for some reason, Laser Eye didn't brake at all and smashed my trunk lid off. Then he insisted that I provoked him, and we started fighting. My claws couldn't do any damage to the power plant, but one of his laser beams ignited something and blew up half the building."
Captain America was genuinely stunned. Logically, in a rear-end collision, the car behind is always at fault, even in the US. While Logan's sudden braking was wrong, maintaining a safe distance is also the responsibility of the car behind. Moreover, Cyclops didn't brake at all, which is very strange.
A normal person, seeing they're about to crash into someone, would at least step on the ground. To not step on it at all, but just crash straight into it and even knock off the trunk lid—that's considerable force, it's simply outrageous.
After asking around, a whole bunch of outrageous things he did were revealed, but the problem was that nobody knew why he did these outrageous things, and Logan knew even less.
Having exhausted all other options, Captain America, under Professor X's guidance, asked several people who were on good terms with Cyclops, but they all said that he used to be a good person, but somehow his personality changed drastically.
Captain America had no choice but to take the data back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and seek professional help for analysis. S.H.I.E.L.D. also has a behavioral analysis department, but unfortunately, it's been largely inactive. The staff there have some skills, but they lack practical application. Even after emailing his mentor, the professor couldn't make any definitive conclusions based on just a few words.
Peter also took back a document, but he actually understood even less about it. His interpersonal relationships had always been quite simple; he had basically never been a rival for anyone's affections, except for Harry.
But the nature of this matter was indeed too serious. Without understanding what had happened, Peter dared not begin building the magical defense network. What if the mutants really went out of control? Wouldn't they tear down the half-built magical defense network? That would be a huge loss. And if something went wrong, he wouldn't be able to explain it to the mages.
Peter scratched his head, holding the document, until it was the same time he was supposed to go to sleep yesterday. He turned his head and saw the bright moonlight streaming into the room through the window.
Peter seemed to be getting restless inside too, so he went out the window, the curtains swaying behind him. He leaned on the balcony railing and looked down; many people who had been busy until late at night were now only returning home.
Suddenly, he felt a light on his left and knew someone was coming. He turned his head and saw a long cloak billowing in the wind. Although he couldn't see the face, he could sense that the person under the hood was laughing.
Hello, I don't know how to address you yet.
"Call me Moonlight," the other person said.
"Moonlight? Are you Moon Knight? No, I've seen Moon Knight before. He seemed to be a bit more muscular than you, and his clothes were different too."
"I am the moonlight."
“Okay, Moonlight. I don’t want to put any pressure on you, so just pretend I’m talking in my sleep. Today I went to the scene of the bombing, and Captain America got more information from Logan about Cyclops Scott’s strange behavior. But we still don’t know why he went crazy…”
"He's troubled by love," Peter heard the moonlight say.
"Yes, I guess so. Probably because of the competition with Logan..."
“No.” Peter was interrupted before he could finish. He heard the other person say, “He found that he didn’t love as much as he used to. He started to only want to possess, but possession is never enough, so he went crazy.”
Peter paused, unable to resist peering into the eyes beneath the hood, for the other man's tone was far too certain. But the man hadn't even looked at the documents; his own brief summary was far from sufficient to deduce these things. So how had he come to this conclusion?
A sudden gust of wind startled Peter, and when he came to his senses, the other person was gone. He only vaguely heard a sentence in the moonlight:
"Go ask them if they've ever argued, and you'll get the answer you're looking for."