Chapter 395: [499] - The Last Dinner

While Hawk was teaching his daughter the same harsh lessons he had learned, President Turner arrived at the underground bunker at Quantico military base.

After convincing Hawk to come to tonight's dinner, Turner quickly called another emergency meeting of the "Demon Hunter" task force.

As soon as the general—chosen to take the blame if the operation failed, but promised a major promotion if it succeeded—appeared on the screen, Turner got right to the point.

"Patton. Tell me. Where are we with the operation?"

For the first time, Turner used the man's name. "I just gambled my personal dignity, and the dignity of the United States, to buy us this window. I will not have this opportunity squandered because of another one of your delays."

He had swallowed his pride, acting like a servant just to beg Hawk to come to dinner. His whole reputation was on the line.

So—

If the Sentinel deployment were delayed again, he would lose his mind.

Fortunately, General Patton didn't hesitate. "The programming is currently being uploaded. We estimate the Sentinel will be fully operational and ready for activation in three hours."

Three hours.

That meant it would be ready right in the middle of dinner.

Turner did the math in his head and felt relieved. He nodded in approval.

Just then, one of the Pentagon generals spoke up. "Mr. President, our original operation was designed solely for the Demon King. We didn't anticipate his wife accompanying him."

Turner glanced at the general to show he understood, then turned back to Patton. "There's an extra variable. Can your Sentinel handle her?"

"Rest assured, Mr. President," Patton said without missing a beat. "The Sentinel is invincible."

At this point, even if the Sentinel couldn't handle her, Patton had to claim it could.

After all, Patton wasn't stationed at Quantico. In the past few days, he had quietly moved his wife and children out of their luxury apartment in Washington, sending them far from any danger.

As for himself?

A private jet was already fueled and waiting. The moment the Sentinel came online, General Patton would disappear. By the time his plane landed, everything would be over.

If the government won, he would come back and claim victory. If they lost, he would take his offshore accounts and vanish into another country.

If the government wins, he wins.

If the government loses, he still wins.

It was a foolproof exit strategy.

Noticing Turner's lingering worry, Patton offered one last reassurance. "Mr. President, please remember who provided the materials to build the Sentinel. Have faith in our benefactor."

When he heard that, Turner's pale eyebrows twitched.

Right.

Even if they doubted the Sentinel could handle both Hawk and Wanda, they trusted the one who supplied the raw materials.

The Sentinel was built from Adamantium.

True Adamantium.

If they wanted to build a machine that could survive an attack from Hawk, regular materials wouldn't work. They needed something truly indestructible.

Two years ago, immediately after William Stryker's associate, Bolivar Trask, was released from federal custody, he had returned to the site where he and Stryker had first discovered traces of Adamantium alloy.

And there—

They heard a voice.

A voice that promised them a metal far superior to any earthly alloy. A metal so dense that Hawk would never be able to scratch it, at least not until he recovered his full cosmic power.

The voice even made them a promise: kill the Demon King, and the secrets of the cosmos and the key to immortality would be theirs.

When the voice faded, they found the colossal, purely metallic remains of a giant, taking up more than half the canyon.

That was the real reason the government was so obsessed with killing Hawk.

Unfortunately, the Celestial who gave them the corpse greatly overestimated the US government's sense of morality.

The Celestial specifically told them to kill Hawk. The government had agreed. But behind closed doors, they immediately designated capturing and imprisoning him as their primary objective. The Celestial's promise of immortality was treated as a backup plan.

In fact, running parallel to the "Demon Hunter" operation was an intelligence-gathering initiative aimed at hunting down the "Adamantium Supplier." If they could capture the Celestial, they could harvest a limitless supply of the indestructible metal.

But that was a problem for later.

Thinking of their cosmic benefactor, Turner nodded with satisfaction. He changed the subject and looked at the general in charge of Quantico, who was also calling in from the bunker. "Is everything arranged with Professor X?"

The base commander, dressed in full uniform, nodded. "Yes, sir. Everything is ready. In three hours, the Sentinel will be activated, and Charles Xavier will be the one to start it."

"What about the evacuation plan?"

"It's in progress," the commander said. "We're rotating our elite personnel and their families off the base. To fill the gaps, we've brought in the special recruits we drafted in the last few days."

Turner smiled for real. "Excellent. We have to protect our best people."

Everyone knew war was bloody. If enough people didn't die tonight, they wouldn't be able to stir up the American public.

But they absolutely couldn't afford to lose their own people.

They had lost many people two years ago when they were caught off guard. This time, they were in control and making the first move.

——————————

"What about the press releases?" Turner asked.

"We have eight different drafts ready to go," the White House Chief of Staff answered with a slick smile. "The moment the operation begins, my office will hold an immediate press conference tailoring the narrative to the unfolding events."

The Quantico commander added, "Once the Sentinel is active, we'll loosen the outer perimeter security. That way, the more resourceful journalists can slip in and broadcast this tragic 'mutant civil war' live to the world."

Turner smiled, then let out an exaggerated sigh. "It's a tragedy, truly. We unarmed humans will suffer a violent mutant civil war, and yet the highest casualties. Against out-of-control mutants, mankind is too fragile."

The Pentagon generals understood and agreed. "Exactly, Mr. President. That is why we must take every necessary measure to ensure humanity maintains absolute dominance over the mutant threat. We can have a Mutant Peace Accord, yes, but a Mutant Control Bureau must enforce it."

The US had the FBI and the CIA. Sentinel Services had been shut down twelve years ago, but a "Mutant Control Bureau" was really just Sentinel Services with a new name.

Mutants would be allowed to exist, but every single one of them would be required to register and submit to strict federal monitoring. Failure to comply would be a federal crime, warranting immediate arrest and interrogation.

This was the true legislation Turner intended to force through Congress.

Take away all their choices and force them down the only path left.

As a president without support from his own party, Turner needed a wild card to win re-election.

And this was it.

Once he submitted this new bill, the opposition party would have no choice but to vote for it, unless they wanted to upset their anti-mutant voters.

As soon as the bill passed, Turner would have the full support of every anti-mutant voter in the country. His re-election would be certain.

"Excellent. Outstanding work, gentlemen!"

Thinking about his bright political future, Turner smiled and stood up from the table.

"Alright, gentlemen."

"Move out. Execute the plan."

"Let us serve the Demon King who traveled so far to visit our world... his last supper."

"..."

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