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After having a heartfelt exchange with Sabretooth, Black Superman's status within the Brotherhood of Mutants was firmly established.
After all, nobody wanted to fight someone who casually ripped out people's hearts. Not everyone had three or four spare hearts lying around to be pulled out.
Mystique did try to get Sabretooth's three hearts back, but Black Superman refused no matter what.
Although Magneto hadn't precisely predicted this outcome, he had mentally prepared himself for it, so he remained silent. After all, he had tacitly allowed both sides to fight from the beginning.
To be fair, Sabretooth and his group had acted on their own initiative. There was no way Magneto didn't have some opinions about that. Since Sabretooth hadn't died and had merely suffered a bit, it wasn't a major issue. Besides, Black Superman had shown considerable restraint...
Restraint? Where did that thought even come from?
Magneto found himself reflecting on the matter. Thinking back to their first meeting, at least the man spoke like a normal human being now.
Better not push him into becoming Joker Superman.
For the next several days, Henry continued spending his daytime caring for the elderly Katharine Hepburn while also designing the synthesis process for his target medication.
At bedtime, he would head to the Brotherhood's secret base and put his daytime theories into practice, testing whether the results matched his expectations.
Because he only appeared in the middle of the night, Henry rarely encountered many mutants at the base. With Sabretooth's lesson serving as a warning, nobody was particularly eager to throw their weight around in front of him either.
The only exception was Magneto. Being the person most invested in the project, he often adjusted his schedule to match Black Superman's and came to inquire about the research progress.
Still, he never stayed very long. Sleep remained important for an old man.
Aside from him, Selene would occasionally come looking for Black Superman for "heart-to-heart talks"—the sort where both sides probed for information and searched for leverage over the other.
After being burned once, however, Black Superman avoided her like the plague.
In truth, synthesizing a substance wasn't particularly difficult.
The real challenge lay in commercial-scale cost control and operational simplicity.
The reason costs mattered at all was because the Brotherhood of Mutants didn't have enough funding for Black Superman to waste resources recklessly.
Nearly a hundred people lived in this secret base, and feeding and supporting them already cost a considerable amount every day.
Even if they could save on gas bills by using mutant abilities to cook food, meals didn't materialize out of thin air.
Even the multifunctional electron microscope that Henry had asked Magneto to build contained numerous components obviously cobbled together from scrap.
Magneto could control metal, but his powers hadn't evolved to the point where he could manipulate paint coatings.
So the idea of embezzling research funds from the Brotherhood was pure fantasy.
Every bit of experimental material had to be purchased through money Mystique painstakingly squeezed together with a perpetually sour expression.
Black Superman had absolutely no intention of financially supporting mutants.
When he claimed to sponsor vampire hunters, he really only meant Blade and Abraham Whistler.
The only other person he'd financially supported was Red Guardian, Alexei Shostakov.
Blade and his associates had their own sources of income and didn't rely entirely on him.
As for Alexei, the man was a professional spy and reportedly had looted quite a few safe houses left over from the days of the Red Empire.
In any case, neither side frequently asked Black Superman—or Henry—for money.
What they requested instead were usually gadgets or rare specialized equipment.
Supporting them was nothing like maintaining an army, which truly burned through money like water.
Although Henry had never seen any of the Brotherhood mutants holding regular jobs and therefore had no idea where their funding came from, he knew one thing:
If he took pity on them because they seemed strapped for cash and started donating, no amount of money would ever fill that bottomless pit.
So he might as well give them nothing at all.
Since he had no intention of funding mutants and certainly didn't want to keep seeing Mystique's expression whenever research funds were needed, Black Superman naturally chose to conserve resources rather than waste experimental materials.
At last, before Halloween arrived, the synthesis of the X-Gene Activation Drug produced preliminary results.
When the medication was finally completed, Magneto was naturally present to witness the moment.
However, as he stared at the colorless transparent liquid, he couldn't help feeling somewhat unreal about the whole thing.
"This liquid looks no different from tap water. Does it really work?"
Black Superman replied,
"The versions synthesized through other methods produced identical end products, though at much higher cost. When those formulations were injected into laboratory mice, they showed no obvious side effects, let alone fatal ones.
"Besides mice, we've also conducted tests on larger animals, confirming that the drug is at least safe and harmless.
"But determining whether it can actually activate the X-Gene requires human testing.
"Other animals—including chimpanzees, whose DNA is closest to humans—don't possess X-Genes that can serve as research references.
"So besides attempting to activate an X-Gene in an ordinary human, do you think we should also test the drug's potential risks on mutants?"
Magneto's eyes widened.
"This drug could be dangerous to mutants? Like the Inhumans' Terrigen Crystals?"
Black Superman shook his head.
"Terrigen Crystals are highly toxic to mutants because of other components within them. Theoretically, that has nothing to do with this X-Gene activating compound.
"I've tested the drug using the mutant blood samples and living tissue samples you provided to see whether any unexpected reactions would occur.
"Based on the experimental results, the drug appears safe for mutants.
"However, the activation process involves more than just the drug itself. There are additional forms of stimulation involved.
"Once those variables are added, unexpected changes become a possibility. I don't think that risk should be ignored.
"The decision is yours."
The blood samples had indeed been provided at Magneto's request.
Blood draws represented the furthest level of invasive testing he was willing to permit.
As for the "living tissue samples," those were naturally the three hearts contributed by Sabretooth earlier.
Frozen immediately after removal, they retained a certain degree of viability even after thawing.
Black Superman had not hesitated to use one of them for research.
Fortunately, Black Superman and Sabretooth operated on completely different schedules and rarely crossed paths.
Otherwise, seeing someone casually experimenting on one of his own hearts might have caused the nearly two-meter-tall brute to completely lose it.
Throughout the research process, Black Superman had never continuously pushed Magneto's boundaries.
He only requested blood samples when necessary, and all procedures and results were openly shared with the mutants.
As for requests involving living subjects, he never once brought the matter up.
Instead, he quietly used Sabretooth's donated hearts for experimentation.
That was why Magneto had chosen to turn a blind eye.
Now that the drug was complete and only lacked final verification, Black Superman kicked the ball into Magneto's court.
The truth was that finding volunteers for human experimentation was simply too much trouble, and Black Superman wanted no part of it.
The medication intended for treating dementia had actually been completed even earlier than the X-Gene activation drug, and he was facing the exact same dilemma there.
Should he first find a way to verify its effectiveness?
Or should he simply administer it directly to the elderly woman?
Magneto, however, had far fewer reservations.
Perhaps, in pursuit of the greater cause he believed in, many things could be compromised.
He merely asked,
"What requirements do you have for the test subject?"
After a moment's consideration, Black Superman answered,
"Given that we have no way of knowing what ability the subject might ultimately gain, I recommend finding a volunteer.
"At the very least, such a person is less likely to resent us afterward and come looking for trouble.
"If they end up hating us merely because they awakened a lousy power, then at least that lousy power probably won't cause us much trouble."
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