Madelyne jerked to her feet, her face still deathly pale, her chest still throbbing with pain, her eyes first cold, then trembling, and finally breaking down.
"... Suffering? Professor Xavier, are you only asking that now?"
She gave a cold laugh, her voice hoarse.
"After you disappeared, the world went awry. Humans created the Nimrod Sentry, Mutants on sight, sparing not even children."
The Xavier Institute is gone, the X-Men are scattered, and those who survive either hide, die, or are hunted as monsters.
Madelyne's nails dug deeply into her palms, her gaze averted from Thor, and her tone grew colder and harsher, like a rose with thorns.
As for me? I've never been one of your 'children'.
I am merely a clone of Jean Grey, a substitute Scott used to fill his loneliness!
As soon as Qin returned, he turned and left. "I don't even deserve to be saved by you."
Her chest heaved, and her voice sounded as if it had been split open.
" Nimrod was just shouting... I am a heretic and should be exterminated."
See, even robots are more straightforward than you. At least they don't pretend to love me, they don't pretend I'm a person.
Then Madelyne abruptly looked up, the crimson in her eyes still lingering, and with a hint of desperate pleading, she cried out in a hoarse voice:
What are you doing back now? To pity me? Or to tell me that I'm still just a mistake?
I don't need redemption, Professor. I just want to know—what am I, really?
Thor didn't immediately offer comfort to the nearly broken Madelyne; after looking her up and down a few times, he finally spoke.
" Madelyne, your fashion sense is much better now than before."
"Professor, are you... praising me?"
Madeleine was stunned for a moment. She had thought about what the professor would say next, whether it would be some truth and advice to her or something like that.
She truly never expected that the professor's first reaction after listening to her story would be to praise her fashion sense!
" Madelyne, in my heart, you're just like the other X-Men, you're my child. As for that idiot Scott, I'll kick his ass for you when we meet!"
"Professor... you... just called Scott an idiot?!"
"You... how have you changed?! You never used to swear!"
Madelyne was completely bewildered. The professor who had returned from his disappearance felt very different to her, but in her mental perception, this was the Professor X she knew, without the slightest error. His smile was still so gentle, and his head was still so Sparkly.
" Madelyne, people change. Scott, that idiot, doesn't deserve you. It's his loss."
"You are a clone of Jyn, that's true, but you are also Madelyne Pryor. As long as you are Madelyne, you will be Madelyne for life."
"You don't need to live in anyone's shadow. You are you, my child. Welcome back."
Thor opened his arms to Madelyne in a friendly gesture of welcome.
" Thor, can you stop flirting here? Can't you come and help me?!"
Betsy's voice suddenly rang in Thor's mind, her tone clearly very dissatisfied, even carrying a hint of annoyance.
Good heavens!
She's fighting on the front lines, and you're flirting with girls in the back?!
They're completely ignoring her, aren't they?!
She knew it!
No wonder Thor and Zeus both wield electricity and are equally lecherous!
" Betsy, show me some respect. I'm a professor now!"
"It's perfectly normal for a professor to comfort a homeless child, isn't it?"
"You...!"
Betsy was even angrier, and the last three Nimrod Sentinels suffered the consequences, each being chopped into 108 pieces, with scattered parts everywhere.
"Transdimensional Mutants detected, Elizabeth Betsy Braddock, Professor X Charles Xavier, uploading terminal data... buzz..."
Betsy looked at the Nimrod Sentinels, which was still talking even though it only had a head left, and swiftly sliced it in two, then stepped on it and crushed it into a pancake.
She was clearly not completely satisfied yet, and turned her attention to the other Sentry parts, beginning a new round of venting.
"That's... Betsy?! Didn't she sacrifice herself to cover Blink?"
Madelyne then realized that they were being hunted by Sentinels. Turning around, she saw another familiar figure venting his anger by taking parts of Sentinels.
"And how did she become so strong?!"
Madelyne was genuinely astonished. Even she, an Omega Mutants, couldn't defeat the combined might of ten Sentinels, yet Betsy had easily taken them down by herself?
Looks like it didn't take much effort at all?!
"Don't be so surprised, Madelyne. Back then, I took the severely injured Betsy to a research lab in Nathaniel, used the technology there to save Betsy, and incidentally enhanced her as well."
Thor, drawing on his understanding of Earth, began to fabricate stories. It just so happened that this was a universe inhabited only by Mutants, so he figured he could always pin the blame on those mad scientists.
"Nathan!"
Upon hearing this familiar name, Madelyne gritted her teeth and spoke each word with such fervor that she wished she could devour its flesh and drink its blood. Her mental energy began to spread outward uncontrollably, and the pebbles on the ground slowly began to float upward.
"That monster that created me and then threw me into Hell..."
"Don't let anger cloud your judgment, Madelyne."
Thor mimicked Professor X's signature gesture, subtly bringing his middle and index fingers together and gently pressing them against his temples. A gentle surge of mental energy instantly calmed Madelyne's agitation.
"I understand, Professor. You won't stop me, right?"
Madelyne calmed herself down and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar ( Thor's version of the professor).
"Of course, I also have some scores to settle with Nathaniel."
" Madelyne, my child, would you like to come with us?"
Thor extended a sincere invitation.
Madelyne stared at Thor for several seconds before finally nodding in agreement.
"Okay, count me in."
" Betsy, let's go."
Thor looked at Betsy, who had finally vented her frustration.
"Yes, Professor."
Betsy walked over with a cold face, her psionic armor gradually dissipating, and she put the two katana in her hands back into the personal space Thor had given her.
She walked very naturally behind Thor and grasped the two handles on the wheelchair.
" Madelyne, I've only been away for a year, and the outside world has changed so much. Could you please show me the way?"
Thor looked at Madelyne.
"Where are you going, Professor? To see the X-Men or Genosha to see your old friend Magneto?"
"Let's go see my children first."
"Okay, then we might have quite a distance to go."
Madelyne, in her high heels, led the way.
Ouch!
"What's wrong, Professor?"
Madelyne had only taken a few steps when she heard the professor's voice and turned around to ask.
Thor glanced at Betsy, who was secretly expressing her dissatisfaction behind him, and said to Madelyne,
"It's alright, the jungle terrain is a bit difficult to navigate, not very friendly to an old man like me."