A blood-red streak shot across the sky above the snowy plateau, and the clouds it passed through burst into wisps of mist and vanished.
Whenever villagers near the mountains caught sight of the strange spectacle in the sky, they would tremble, press their palms together, bow down, and murmur some kind of prayer.
James Howlett now drove his bioenergy field to its limits, flying through the air with repulsive force at a top speed of roughly Mach 3. That was as fast as the YF-12, the first Mach 3 interceptor developed by the American military, which had only just been completed this August.
The Ancient One was astonished beyond words by the vast, surging life energy within James. Using such an immense power purely as fuel to propel himself through the air was an almost crude waste.
At this speed, flying from the Himalayas back to New York would take less than three hours. He would pass through the Arctic Circle and Greenland along the way, giving him a chance to stop by the Wolf Nest base.
James planned to spend some time studying and cultivating at Kamar-Taj, but first he intended to return to New York and take care of a few things.
"I have to say, Professor Xavier's psychic power is truly terrifying. Lately, I've often felt a psychic wave sweep past. I imagine their work is going very smoothly."
In the Special Talent Affairs Department office at the Empire State Building in New York, Miss Emma Frost and Miss Raven Darkhölme occasionally chatted while working at their desks.
Raven was especially enthusiastic about her first job, but aside from traveling to a New York prison on her first day to bring back Mr. Alex Summers, the tedious, technical paperwork had become her daily routine. It gave Raven,