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Accepting Magneto's request seemed reckless on the surface, but in reality, Henry had a ready-made cheat sheet that could save him an enormous amount of work.
Within the scientific database left behind by the Kree scientist Mar-Vell was a complete set of research materials related to the Inhumans. It even contained historical background information that helped Henry better understand what the Inhumans of this universe actually were.
As for why a scientist specializing in physics, aerospace engineering, and mechanics would possess biological research data on the Inhumans—
Henry guessed that Mar-Vell had been tracking the energy source of the Tesseract and discovered that its destination was Earth, designated Planet C53 in Kree star charts.
Before coming to Earth, she had likely accessed the Kree Empire's central archives and copied every piece of information related to C53.
Henry arrived at this conclusion because, in her position, he would have done exactly the same thing.
Whether the information proved useful or not was irrelevant.
Being prepared never hurt.
If he ever encountered Kree relics on Earth, he could use the information to understand them rather than stumble blindly into unfamiliar Kree technology.
Getting blindsided by your own civilization's creations would be absurd.
According to the records, the origins of the Inhumans traced back more than five thousand years.
At the time, a rebellious faction within the Kree Empire opposed the rule of the Supreme Intelligence and sought to create an army of super soldiers capable of defeating the Skrull Empire.
The rebels dispatched scientific teams to numerous worlds, conducting experiments on native lifeforms in hopes of unlocking their genetic potential and creating military recruits.
In the end, only Earth produced results.
Everywhere else failed.
As for why Earth succeeded when other worlds did not, Henry suspected it was because Earth had once served as an experimental site for the Celestials.
The Celestials had implanted a latent genetic structure designed to expand humanity's potential—the X-Gene.
However, activation of the X-Gene was unpredictable.
The Kree later attempted to make that process controllable.
Their solution was to add a genetic lock, with the key trigger being the Terrigen Crystal.
At the same time, the Kree's research sought to amplify the effects of X-Gene activation, to the point that even species boundaries could be crossed.
After all, even Epsilon-class mutants generally retained a recognizably human form, no matter how strange their appearances became.
The Inhumans, however, could undergo transformations so extreme that a human could literally become a dog.
Whether that outcome was intentional or merely a flaw they never corrected remained unclear.
As a result, when an Inhuman inhaled the mist produced by the breakdown of a Terrigen Crystal, they would be encased in a cocoon-like shell of stone.
Protected inside, they underwent metamorphosis.
Once the transformation was complete, they emerged from the shell reborn.
Ordinary humans lacking the Kree genetic lock would die upon exposure to Terrigen Mist.
For mutants whose X-Gene had already awakened, Terrigen Mist was even worse—it was effectively a deadly poison.
Contact meant death.
The Kree genetic lock also helped stabilize the X-Gene.
Unaffected Inhumans were less likely than mutants to experience spontaneous awakenings triggered by puberty, anger, sexual impulses, or other extreme emotional states.
Though spontaneous awakenings could still occur.
Most importantly, the Kree genetic lock could be inherited through bloodlines.
It would not disappear after a single generation.
That allowed the Inhumans to become a true race rather than a one-time experiment.
These three characteristics formed the primary distinctions between mutants and Inhumans.
Because Inhumans also possessed strong bloodline identities, none of them considered themselves mutants.
Unfortunately for the project, the Kree Empire eventually discovered it.
After evaluation, the Supreme Intelligence ordered the program terminated.
Its reasoning was straightforward:
The quality was inconsistent, and the cultivation period was too long.
While the Kree had succeeded in controlling when an Inhuman could transform, there was no way to predict what ability would emerge beforehand.
Only a small percentage developed powers suitable for combat.
Another portion could be trained into combat-support or logistical roles.
But a significant number ended up with completely useless abilities.
When the success rate for worthwhile powers failed to reach even fifty percent, the project became difficult to justify.
Furthermore, while Inhuman transformation could occur at any age—even during fetal development—it still took at least sixteen years to produce a battlefield-ready soldier.
The development cycle was simply too long.
Occasionally, the project produced extraordinary individuals such as Black Bolt.
There was also Hive, who had once led an Inhuman rebellion against the Supreme Intelligence's cleanup teams before eventually being exiled by a coalition of his own people and humanity.
But the project had been intended to create soldiers.
Not heroes.
For the Kree Empire, heroes emerging among disposable military assets represented a threat rather than an advantage.
After investing enormous resources and obtaining such results, it was no surprise that the Supreme Intelligence abandoned the entire endeavor.
What Henry intended to do was borrow from the Kree's experience in creating the Inhumans and use that knowledge to fulfill Magneto's request.
Most mutant awakenings occurred during adolescence.
Part of the reason was emotional instability—strong emotions often triggered the X-Gene.
But another factor was that adolescent bodies still possessed significant plasticity.
That flexibility helped mutants adapt to newly awakened powers.
Once a person grew older, however, the body became fixed and eventually began to decline.
At that point, X-Gene activation carried a high risk of genetic collapse and death.
By contrast, Inhumans could safely undergo Terrigen transformation at virtually any age.
Avoiding genetic collapse was one of Henry's primary goals.
If he turned a group of elderly politicians into mutants only for them to die shortly afterward, that clearly wasn't the outcome Magneto wanted.
Besides, if Henry truly wanted to kill a bunch of old men, there were much simpler methods than turning them into mutants first.
To encourage cooperation from Magneto's people—and to ease their concerns—Henry assembled the necessary equipment and established a temporary laboratory inside one of the Brotherhood of Mutants' secret bases.
At its core was the multifunction electron microscope he had asked Magneto to build.
The device could perform spectral analysis and other examinations while offering observation capabilities down to the nanometer scale.
He also brought a laptop and projector.
Through satellites he still maintained above California, he connected to his private servers.
That made it easy to access the Inhuman research database while simultaneously uploading his own findings.
Large-scale calculations could be handled remotely by the quantum computers located in his undersea facility.
The laptop itself was merely a commercial model serving as a terminal.
While he was at it, he also transferred his Alzheimer's drug synthesis project from the Yangdong Valley Laboratory.
After all, the Brotherhood of Mutants consisted largely of people who lacked advanced education.
Even if they saw the equipment, they wouldn't understand what he was doing.
And if anyone asked questions, he could simply make something up.
It wasn't that Kryptonians were particularly unscrupulous.
Henry simply didn't want to waste time running between two laboratories.
Splitting his nights into separate work shifts would be far too troublesome.
Keeping everything in one location allowed him to multitask far more efficiently.
Naturally, carrying out all of this on someone else's territory required Magneto's approval.
Magneto, who was largely a self-taught researcher himself, was actually pleased to see Henry approaching the project seriously.
A major reason for the trust he extended was that the two men had no direct conflict of interest.
As an alien who was arguably even less welcome in society than mutants, Magneto found it difficult to believe that Henry Brown would sell him out to the authorities.
Of course, Henry's bizarre disguise—complete with an explosive afro and braided beard—might fool mutants who had never met him before.
But Magneto and Mystique both knew exactly who he was.
The two simply maintained a tacit agreement not to advertise that fact.
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