Everyone boarded the plane and fastened their seatbelts.
"Let's go!" Beast started the plane engine. It slowly accelerated and rushed to the sky.
Li Yue discovered that this plane didn't just look advanced for this era: it was actually capable of supersonic flight. He had to compliment Beast's ingenuity.
It didn't take long for the plane to arrive at the mission objective. Outside the plane window, the United States and Soviet warships stood in a stalemate, ready to open fire when the cargo ship caught in their midst passed through the embargo line. The war seemed inevitable.
...
"There are still three minutes before the cargo ship crosses the embargo line, sir."
"I pray for their own safety that they never reach it. God bless America! Sound the alarm and get ready for battle!" The US admiral commanded.
The US military vessels already had their weapons hot. If the Soviet Union cargo ship did not return, they would definitely open fire.
The Soviet Union commander was also prepared for the eventual war. He had received an order from his superior to get the cargo ship to turn back, but the cargo ship never responded to any radio contact and kept pushing forward.
"There are no living people on the cargo ship. Sebastian Shaw already killed all the crew," The professor reported as he probed the cargo ship with his power.
"What should we do? If the cargo ship crossed the embargo line, the US military would open fire at it, and the Soviets wouldn't stand idly either. The war is inevitable," The CIA female agent said.
The professor thought for a moment and used his telepathy to control an officer on the Soviet Union warship.
The officer's eyes suddenly became dull. He went straight to the control panel, pushing the stationed soldier aside, and pressed the missile launch button.
The officer seemed to return to his senses after pressing the button, utterly confused.
...
The missile headed directly to the plane where the mutant team was in. The crew was in grave danger.
"Argh!" Beast roared and slammed the plane control to avoid the missile.
However, Li Yue discovered that, unlike what happened in the movie, the plane couldn't avoid the missile. The missile was still in a collision path with the plane.
Li Yue didn't have time to think. He used his own ability to take the plane and the people within to teleport away from the missile's path, reappearing in the air not far away.
"Whoa! Li Yue, you are so cool!"
Having avoided the deadly encounter, the plane's crew heaved a sigh of relief.
"Li Yue, thank you for saving all of us!" The professor expressed his gratitude to Li Yue.
"Professor, a little warning would be nice next time!" Beast complained. They would have died without Li Yue.
Magneto didn't say anything about the incident.
...
The people on the Soviet Union warships watched silently as their own missiles sank the cargo ships. They were too stunned to react until now.
"Well done. You just avoided a nuclear war!" The commander said to the officer, who was still confused.
"What?"
"Men, bring him to the brig!" Despite his praise, the commander still had the officer bear the blame.
"Wha—what happened?"
The officer was taken away with a confused face.
...
Azazel was onboard the cargo ship, but he teleported away when he sensed danger. He reappeared in Shaw's submarine.
"It's the Soviets. They fired at their own cargo ship."
"They're here. They're the ones who did it. I can feel them," Sebastian Shaw said. He picked up a special helmet and put it on.
"Are we going to let them destroy our plan like this?"
"No, we only need to ignite the fuse with another 'match.' We have the most powerful weapon in the world, and that is me. But I need to absorb the power from the nuclear reactor. Do not disturb me."
After saying that, Shaw went to the reactor chamber of the submarine while Azazel turned on the switch of the nuclear reactor. Shaw held the reactor rods with both hands and began to absorb its energy.
...
On the plane, the professor said, "Shaw must be hiding under the water, but we don't have sonar, so we can't find him."
Everyone on the plane was a bit disappointed, especially Magneto. The enemy was almost within his grasp, yet he still couldn't exact his vengeance. This was unacceptable.
"Who said we don't have a sonar?" Banshee suddenly blurted.
The professor and Magneto looked at Banshee in surprise. How could they forget about him?
The professor and Magneto unfastened their seat belts, stood up, and brought Banshee to the back of the plane.
"Open the hatch, Beast!"
The hatch slowly opened to both sides. The professor gave Banshee one last instruction:
"Your vocal cord is just another muscle, and like any muscle, you can control it. We will meet again later." The professor tapped his own head, indicating that he would enter Banshee's mind later.
Banshee jumped off the plane and shouted right before touching the surface of the sea; he needed to arrest his speed. After gliding for a while, he plunged into the water.
Banshee shouted right after he entered the sea, sending visible ripples of soundwaves to the distance. They were reflected back when they hit the submarine.
"Banshee had found the submarine. Hank, drop the altitude. Erik, are you ready?"
"Let's go get him!"
The professor tapped into Banshee's mind to directly access the information about the submarine's location and asked Hank to fly closer to the surface.
Magneto grabbed the body of the plane with his left hand and reached the sea with his right hand, exerting his full power. But as expected, despite using his power to its limit, he still couldn't pull such a heavy object like a submarine out of the ocean.
"Erik, remember. The balance between rage and serenity."
Magneto's confidence was greatly boosted after hearing the encouragement from his beloved friend—the professor. With his ability supercharged, the submarine visibly rose from the depth until it was pulled over the ocean.
The human military that witnessed this scene was stunned. They couldn't believe their eyes. This day had announced the horrors of the mutants to the rest of humanity.
Li Yue was also very shocked. As expected of the famous mutant, Magneto's ability was truly breathtaking. The submarine must have weighed more than a thousand tons, yet Magneto had controlled it in the air.
The hatch of the submarine opened, and Riptide peeked his head. He glanced at the plane not far away and the submarine being lifted into the air. He gathered the wind to form a tornado, which he then sent toward the plane.
The plane couldn't maintain a stable flight under the intense wind—forget about maintaining flight; one of its wings was completely destroyed by the tornado. The plane was thrown towards the coast like a kite with a broken string.
The professor was able to pull Erik back to the cabin in time. They were indeed good friends.
The situation inside the plane was not better than outside. Everything was thrown around in a mess, and all sorts of cables sparked. Beast was struggling with all his strength to control the plane.
Li Yue was not eager to experience a plane crash. He activated his ability and teleported the plane to the beach. The plane still impacted the sand with quite some force, but fortunately, its hull was still intact. It skidded across the sand for some distance before stopping.
Everyone hurriedly unfastened their safety belts and supported each other to exit the plane.
Unlike the movie, Sebastian Shaw had finished absorbing the energy from the reactor. He used part of the energy to blow a big hole in the submarine and walked out of it. Azazel and Riptide followed behind him like bodyguards.
"So you are not dead!" This was the first sentence that Shaw said after seeing Li Yue.