Knock knock knock!
"I'm sorry, truly sorry, I messed everything up. Raven, are you okay?
Can you open the door? Let me see you, Raven!"
The next morning, inside the castle, Hank anxiously knocked on Raven's room door.
"I really didn't expect the serum to turn out like this. I tested it many times."
He said, full of guilt and regret.
He had changed completely; his body was covered in blue fur, like Beast.
Last night, Hank used the serum. At first, his large feet did shrink back to normal, but it only lasted for a few seconds before a more violent mutation occurred.
It completely turned him into a monster, causing him to lose consciousness.
When Hank woke up and painfully discovered his appearance, he immediately went to find Raven, worried about her condition since she had also used the serum.
Alex, woken by the echoing knocking in the old castle, scratched his head and came out of a room a few doors down. He was startled when he saw Hank, instantly becoming alert.
"Hank, is that you, Hank?
Shit, what the hell are you doing? Are you playing a blue-furred Bigfoot?"
He recognized Hank from his clothes, which were torn into strips.
"Alex, shut your mouth and get lost!"
Facing Alex, who was always impetuous and spoke without thinking, Hank uncharacteristically snapped back like Beast.
Then he turned back and continued to call out worriedly at the door.
"Raven…"
"Leave.
Hank, leave.
I don't blame you, just let me be alone for a while!"
Raven's sad and hoarse shout, mixed with pain, suddenly came from the room.
Injecting the serum was her own choice; she couldn't blame Hank.
But she didn't want to see anyone right now.
"Do you want to call everyone here?!"
Hank stopped knocking, opened his mouth, still wanting to comfort her.
But it was too late for Raven's words; others had already rushed over upon hearing the commotion.
"What's going on? Hank, why did you turn out like this?"
Professor X, Magneto, and the others arrived, their expressions shocked as they saw Hank, who was almost unrecognizable.
Ron appeared from around the corner of the corridor and walked over.
Hank looked at Ron with a guilty conscience and painfully recounted.
"I developed a serum, thinking it could remove my and Raven's mutated appearances, but I messed up. It greatly stimulated the cells…"
"You mean, Raven too?"
Professor X, Mystique's adoptive brother, his face changed drastically. Magneto and Moira exchanged glances, their hearts sinking.
Under the effect of the serum, Hank, who only had deformed feet, had turned into this. What would Raven, who was already completely different from ordinary people, turn into?
"The serum still failed, as expected."
It seemed that on the serum front, no butterfly effect had occurred due to his arrival. Ron's expression shifted slightly, and he disappeared behind the others.
"Go see my Mystique. She must really need comfort right now."
Bang~
Using his ability, he left the startled and worried crowd and arrived at Raven's room.
Inside, it was a mess. Tables and chairs were overturned, and the quilt was almost torn to shreds, as if someone had struggled painfully on it.
A figure, sad and despairing, was hiding in the corner by the wall on the inner side of the bed, pressing tightly against the wall, clutching her head, and sobbing painfully.
Hearing the sound, Raven looked up and saw Ron. She tried to pull the quilt over herself, her voice trembling, wanting to hide under the bed.
"No, Ron, don't look at me!"
"Raven, it's okay."
Ron crouched down, took her hand, and gently comforted her, looking her up and down.
Perhaps because Mystique's original appearance was already quite mutated, the changes weren't as obvious as Hank's. Besides the skin changes, the most noticeable additions were something on her head and behind her.
A few centimeters of small blue horns grew on her head, and a blue tail similar to Red Devil's also emerged from behind her.
"Ron, do I look more like a monster now, more like a devil who should be dragged to the gallows and burned?"
Raven was in tears, her expression pained.
Her hopeful expectations had been dashed, and the situation had not improved but worsened, almost driving her to despair. Now that she had become like this, could Ron still accept her?
"Raven, in my eyes, you are more complete, more beautiful."
Ron's earnest and soft words made her almost despairing heart relax.
More beautiful wasn't just words; Mystique's face was indeed more beautiful, as if it had been subtly refined. The uneven scales on her skin had disappeared, becoming incredibly smooth.
She was probably scared by the horns on her head and her tail and hadn't looked closely in a mirror.
Compared to the old Raven, who looked like a demon but was incomplete, now with horns and a tail, she looked more like a beautiful female demon.
"What? Complete? Beautiful?"
Raven looked up, stunned.
Could Ron accept her like this?
"In the 1960s—people's XPs were still not open enough."
Ron secretly shook his head, then asked.
"Is your ability still there, Raven?"
"It is… it is."
The person she liked not only affirmed her current appearance but seemed to like it even more. Raven's mood improved greatly as she felt her body, then hesitantly said.
"And… it seems I have other abilities."
"Such as?"
"Like this."
With tears on her face, Raven looked at him with a pitiable gaze, and a mysterious blue light flashed in her eyes.
Seeing that blue light, Ron's eyes became vacant, as if he had entered a controlled, somnambulistic state.
She was about to speak, using her newly acquired ability to make Ron give her a comforting kiss.
But after only a second, the Adaptability ability reacted quickly. Ron, whose brain had evolved, broke free from that strange control, his eyes regained clarity, and his brows instantly furrowed.
"What just happened to me?"
"I'm sorry, Ron, I… I just wanted to play a joke."
"It's okay. You awakened the ability to control people?"
Looking at the nervous Raven, Ron's brows relaxed. He gently comforted her and asked.
With the Adaptability ability, he already had a strong resistance to telepaths.
He was more concerned about the help Mystique could provide.
"The serum seems to have stimulated another aspect of her potential."
In the comics, before ancient times, Mutants had two major types of groups: demonic and angelic.
The Angels and demons in the Bible evolved from this.
Mystique's appearance clearly belonged to the demonic type. Perhaps she had unearthed the latent abilities of a demonic Mutant.
Red Devil in the comics was a demonic Mutant. Besides being able to transform into others like Mystique, he could also manipulate thoughts and had various other abilities.
The mind-controlling ability is quite good, but… it doesn't seem to have any relation to Sentinel's ability.
He was a little disappointed and asked.
"Is there anything else?"