Inside the office.
The air turned awkward at once.
Hayashi Ren's words were blunt to the point of rudeness.
Even someone as composed as Professor X could not help but change expression.
"You do not accept my ideals?"
A student he had taught for ten years rejected his philosophy. The sting was sharp.
Anger, too, rose up. "Do you think Magneto is right? That only by wiping out all humans can mutants survive?"
"Of course not."
Ren shook his head. "Mutants will always be a minority, and most do not have the power to ignore high tech weaponry. The handful of top tier mutants still cannot erase humanity outright."
"So unless one is strong enough to sweep aside everything, Magneto cannot succeed."
That gave Professor X a trace of comfort.
Yet confusion only deepened. "If so, why do you think my path will lead mutants to extinction?"
Ren let out a quiet breath.
"Forgive my bluntness, Professor. Begging for approval never earns respect. Pure self sacrifice does not create real friendship."
He studied the old face before him. "You are too eager to please and too quick to yield. Peace gained that way rests on human goodwill for our future."
"It is a castle in the clouds, hollow and dangerous."
To be fair, Professor X was an indispensable spiritual leader for mutantkind.
He was not a qualified leader.
Saintliness is only part of it.
Worse is the cage of his own thinking.
Perhaps it was the scholar in him, but he believed that offering goodwill to humanity would win friendship, without grasping that this is a war.
Between mutants and humans, between the X-Men and Magneto, it is war.
The first is a struggle over the right of a species to live.
The second is a clash of ideals.
Anyone who has read the history of the Dragon Country knows both end only one of two ways.
Victory brings life. Defeat brings death.
There is no third path.
And Professor X?
He had defeated Magneto several times, yet never dealt a killing blow. Not long ago at the Statue of Liberty, he broke the Brotherhood of Mutants, but merely handed Magneto over to the authorities.
You could argue he needed Magneto as a sword, a constant threat to make humans cherish the friendship of the doves.
What about Jean Grey?
With the students, he always taught them not to fear their powers, but to accept, master, and control them.
Yet for the Phoenix Force within Jean, he never tried to teach her.
He simply sealed it away.
In the end, he suffocated a Phoenix into being.
That is absurd.
"Hollow? Dangerous?"
Professor X did not grasp the cultural allusion, nor could he read Ren's inner thoughts.
He only frowned and waited for him to continue.
"Yes."
Ren nodded. "Have you considered that even if one day humans truly coexist peacefully with mutants, in secret those politicians, opportunists, and conglomerates will not stop developing anti mutant weapons?"
"That is impossible to stop."
"It is not about good or evil. It is human nature."
"Mutants wield great power. That leaves humans with a profound sense of insecurity. No one wants their life and death in someone else's hands."
"So if those weapons cannot be developed, we are safe for a time. Once they are developed…"
"That will be the day humanity wipes mutants out."
"And by then, mutants untrained in vigilance will die even faster."
His words rang like hammered steel, each syllable hard and clear.
Professor X stared at Ren in surprise.
He had not expected such a lucid, penetrating analysis from a student who had rarely left the school grounds.
Over the years he had imagined mutant futures a thousand times and worried himself sick for their sake.
He had to admit Ren made sense.
Even he had considered that possibility.
But the present was already desperate. Mutants struggled to survive at all.
Who had the luxury to plan for distant days?
"Ren, you have surprised me. Truly surprised me."
He drew a long breath. In a moment of daze he sensed, in this not yet eighteen year old, a trace of a leader's bearing.
For vision alone, none of the teachers could compare.
This student could not be judged by ordinary standards.
"I hear you practically live in the library. It seems you have truly learned a great deal."
Looking at Ren's young, resolved face, Professor X sighed. "As you said, mutants are a minority. Changing our circumstances is a long hard road. My path may not be the right one."
"But that is exactly why we need me, the X-Men, and new mutants like you to work together, is it not?"
"If you leave now, are you just giving up, letting our situation grow worse by the day?"
Ren blinked.
Then he smiled.
"Professor, I never said I was giving up."
He had crossed into this world as a mutant himself. He did not plan to live as prey, glancing over his shoulder for a lifetime.
From the day he entered Xavier's, he had been setting his plan in motion.
SNAP!
He snapped his fingers, and a stack of A4 sheets appeared on the desk out of thin air. On the cover, bold letters read: Project Plan to Save Mutants.
Professor X's gaze trembled.