"President?!"
At the mention of the president, Mystique and Beast grew somewhat flustered. Was Ron going to threaten the president into issuing them pardons?
Wouldn't that only intensify the conflict afterward?
"It seems some things have led you to misunderstand me. I'm not someone like Magneto, accustomed to using violence."
Ron smiled and denied it.
In the night stood a classically styled white building, one of America's national symbols and one of its most important centers of power.
Kenny, overwhelmed by a sudden event that had shaken the entire world, returned to the residential area on the second floor of the White House's main building under the escort of presidential bodyguards, his heart heavy.
The professional presidential security team stood guard downstairs, vigilantly watching the surroundings.
"I want to be alone for a while."
After spending a brief moment with his wife and children, he sent them off to bed and went to the study by himself.
Entering the study, he turned and shut the door. Kenny, whose public image was usually one of a bright smile, wore an ugly expression, his mind weighed down with worries.
Something unprecedented in modern human society had happened today. Every nation had been shaken, and the entire world was terrified.
Having received the news early on, he had been forced to spend the whole day in emergency meetings with the country's top officials, discussing a series of response and precautionary measures.
"Fuck, why did this happen?"
He ran his fingers through his hair irritably, deeply troubled over something as he prepared to turn toward his desk.
A magnetic voice suddenly rang out.
"It seems our president still hasn't forgotten to toil over affairs of state, even while resting?"
Moonlight streamed through the window. Behind the desk sat a figure with his hands casually folded together, deep eyes like black stars examining him.
A beautiful figure stood beside him, one hand resting lightly on his shoulder, posed like a boss's lovely secretary.
But this was the White House's main building, the president's private residence—not some office on an ordinary street.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?!"
His expression changed drastically, and he stumbled backward until his back hit the door.
The White House, guarded and protected by troops around the clock, had actually been infiltrated with ease all the way to the main building.
"Raven, turn on the desk lamp.
President, we don't all have the eyesight to see in the dark."
Hearing the question, Ron, now dressed in a silver-gray suit and wearing a silver-gray helmet, gave a soft laugh.
Click!
The classic desk lamp with its old-fashioned green shade switched on.
The room, previously so dark that the faint moonlight barely allowed anyone to see, suddenly brightened.
The president finally saw the people behind the desk. The man was handsome, his face like a Greek sculpture, while the woman was beautiful and tall.
They were both the sort of attractive man and woman who naturally inspired goodwill, but they gave him no sense of security at all. Who were these mysterious people?
"Relax, fellow countryman."
Ron gestured for him to relax and not be afraid. Tonight would be a "friendly meeting" between fellow countrymen; he had not come to kidnap or threaten him.
"Fellow countryman? You're Americans?"
Kenny's voice was tense as he tried to probe their identities. The man and woman had carried no weapons, yet they had infiltrated this place. How had they done it?
"No, I meant fellow countryman in another sense. You understand."
Ron looked at him meaningfully.
"No... I don't understand."
Kenny's face paled for a moment, and a flicker of panic flashed through his eyes. Yet relying on his years of political training, he concealed it without a trace.
He had never expected the matter that had just begun to irritate and worry him to be discovered by someone before nightfall.
"Fellow countryman?
Ron, you mean he... You can't be mistaken, can you?"
Raven froze, then asked in a low voice, unable to believe it.
She often heard the term fellow countryman, but Ron was saying that the man before them—the one who frequently gave speeches on television—was also one of them?
"Yes. It's hard to imagine that the person currently holding the highest power in this country is actually a mutant like us, isn't it?"
Sitting behind the desk, Ron swept his gaze teasingly over Kenny, who was pressed tightly against the door and inwardly terrified, then smiled.
But he really was a mutant. A few years later, when he was assassinated, Magneto would accidentally discover it and try to save him. In the end, Magneto would be mistaken for the assassin, become the scapegoat, and be thrown into a specially designed prison.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Sir, miss, leave immediately. I can pretend none of this ever happened."
Kenny stepped forward two paces, putting on a fierce front despite his inner weakness as he tried to make Ron and Raven leave.
"Why doesn't the president shout?
The bodyguards are right downstairs. If you shouted, they should be able to hear you, shouldn't they?"
Raven's expression shifted slightly as she gave a light laugh.
Seeing his reaction, she became certain that what Ron had said was true.
The president before them, who held the nation's highest authority, looked like a criminal caught with damning evidence, desperately pretending to remain calm.
"All right, sit down. Relax."
With a wave of his hand, Ron suggested it, looking like a host inviting an uneasy guest to sit.
"Someone among us can sense whether another person is a fellow countryman."
There was no need for Kenny to keep denying it.
"..."
The president sat down across from them without saying a word, looking distinctly uncomfortable in the chair.
Normally, he was the one sitting behind the desk, giving instructions to the people seated here. Now, however, he was the one sitting here.
It gave him a faintly ominous feeling.
"President, you should know how many people are watching your position. You can't afford a single problem while sitting in that seat."
Ron spoke slowly.
It was a subtle warning.
Even a minor political scandal could lead to impeachment and force him from office. If it were exposed that he was a mutant, everything he had built through years in politics would collapse in an instant. His political enemies might even kick him while he was down and throw him in prison.
"What do you want?"
Kenny calmed down and stopped denying it. Since they had come to him, they surely wanted to use him to accomplish something.
He felt faintly displeased. As one of the most powerful people on Earth, he was being blackmailed by two people of unknown origin.
"You must have been very busy today as president, right?"
"...Don't tell me you had something to do with the incident in Cuba."
He had an extremely sharp instinct for certain matters. Hearing Ron's seemingly pointed words, he was startled, and his face immediately turned fearful.
"Don't look at us like we're terrorists."
Seeing his gaze, Raven became unhappy, her tone turning icy.
"If it hadn't been for us today—especially if Ron hadn't stopped Sebastian Shaw from destroying the fleets of both nations and triggering a war—the White House might already be ruins.
President, you wouldn't be sitting here listening to Ron right now, either."
She warned the president to put away that look.
They had saved the world.
Although the two fleets had later been destroyed by someone among them, at least it had not sparked a world war, had it?
"You... you're one of those two people?!"
In the next chapter, the male and female leads' relationship makes a new breakthrough. I tried to write it as subtly as possible, but it was still deleted by the reviewers. If any readers didn't see it, remember to remind me, and I'll revise it back in. (And let me emphasize: the author is firmly against cheating. Any female lead who gets together with the protagonist is doing it for the first time. The author will always subtly mention it. If you didn't see it, it was deleted. Just remember this standard.)
Before you continue