American comics: Starting with mutants

Incandescent.

Bright.

transparent.

This is a small room with a white bed and a white sofa. White is the only color scheme here, making it look like a private hospital room.

But this is not a hospital ward; it's a prison.

This is not a hospital primarily focused on saving lives, but rather a cloning experiment base primarily focused on scientific research.

It's also a mutant cloning experimental base!

Ethan, with his well-defined features and distinctive eyes, stood quietly in his transparent cage, dressed in a white jumpsuit. Across the corridor, on the opposite side of his cage, he stared at another version of himself, who looked about five years older than him, as if in a mirrored room.

Here, he is not called Ethan, but Number Sixty-Six.

The man opposite him, who was five years older than him, didn't have a name here either; he was simply called Number Sixty-Seven.

Ethan has been in this world for three years since he struck it rich.

Infant start.

As for why he grew from an infant to his current twenty-year-old appearance in just three years, the reason is quite simple.

good news.

He transmigrated into the body of Sebastian Shaw, a mutant with the mutant abilities of Black King, which means he can absorb all forms of energy.

bad news.

He was not a naturally born mutant, but a clone created by scientists at the X11 mutant base for scientific research, possessing only the mutant abilities of Sebastian Shaw.

Along with him, cloned at the same time was number sixty-seven in the transparent cage opposite.

Theoretically speaking, Ethan and the guy on the other side, number sixty-seven, are twins.

The reason why number sixty-seven looks five years older than him is also quite simple.

Number sixty-seven did something stupid.

Five days ago, the power supply to the X11 mutant base experienced an unknown fluctuation, and the X-Force suppression collars that restrained the mutant abilities within them also temporarily failed. At that time, mutant clones, including Wolverine clones and Cyclops clones, rioted.

They thought they could escape, including number sixty-seven.

The results are obvious.

They failed, and as a price for their escape, some clones were taken away and destroyed, while others, like the one on the other side numbered sixty-seven, aged a full five years in those five days.

because……

They are clones, not natural persons.

Without receiving medical injections, one day for them to replicate a human is equivalent to one year for a natural person.

At that moment, number sixty-seven on the opposite side was also staring at Ethan.

Because he hadn't received the growth-suppressing drug for five consecutive days, Number Sixty-Seven, who looked five years older than Ethan and whose energy seemed almost completely drained, leaned against the transparent wall behind him and stared at Ethan, who was standing in his cell across the aisle.

Number Sixty-Seven's eyes were even filled with anger: "Sixty-Six, we could have succeeded."

"You won't succeed." Ethan ignored Number Sixty-Seven's angry gaze and spoke calmly.

"We can do it!"

Number 67 had already given up entirely.

He glared at Ethan and roared in a deep voice, "Why don't you try with me? If we don't fight back, we'll die; if we fight back, maybe we'll have a chance to survive."

Ethan remained expressionless.

"So, did you succeed?"

"..."

He had considered joining the uprising with number sixty-seven and the others five days ago to see if there was any chance of escaping.

Can……

What good would escaping do? Without growth-inhibiting drugs, even if they could escape this cloning base, how long could they survive outside?

Thirty days, or sixty days?

They will age rapidly, day by day, year by year, until they eventually die.

Ethan, of course, also wanted to leave.

But definitely not by escaping.

Thinking of the pain he had suffered over the past two years, Ethan suppressed his impulse and forcefully extinguished the flames of anger that flickered deep in his eyes.

He's already endured it for two years; what's wrong with enduring it a little longer?

A small leak will sink a great ship.

"You coward! You think they'll let you go if you behave?" Number Sixty-Seven seemed to have broken down under Ethan's attack. "Don't dream! We're just expendable resources. Although we possess the ability to absorb energy and mutate, we're just clones with fifty percent of our abilities. We're defective products, dispensable expendable resources. You think you can just behave... Aaaaaah!!"

Before Number Sixty-Seven could finish speaking, the X-ability suppression collar around his neck suddenly flashed red.

As the electric current surged within the X-ability suppression collar, it instantly pierced through Number Sixty-Seven's entire body, causing him to stiffen and fall backward, his muscles convulsing.

Ethan glanced at Number Sixty-Seven, who was lying on the ground like a lamb to the slaughter, and then lowered his gaze slightly to the X-ability suppression collar around his own neck.

This X-ability suppression collar not only suppresses their mutant abilities, but it is also a weapon used by this cloning facility to control them.

Even Magneto, or Professor X, would become lambs to the slaughter once they were put on this X-power suppression collar.

but……

I was incredibly lucky to transmigrate here, not to become a lamb.

Ethan thought to himself, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the surveillance camera on the wall of the room, which could monitor their every move 24/7 with a 360-degree view.

A while later.

Number Sixty-Seven in the transparent cage opposite gradually recovered from his muscle spasms.

The punishment has not stopped.

Instead, he died.

At the same time, a voice rang out in their Cloning C area, appearing in the room of each mutant clone.

This also includes the room where Ethan was.

"Products are prohibited from communicating with each other."

"Number 66, considering your consistently good performance, I'll reduce your punishment. But if there's a next time, you'll be scrapped along with him."

Ethan looked in the direction the sound came from and his gaze fell on the monitor on the wall that could monitor the clones' every move around the clock without any blind spots.

He didn't speak, but silently withdrew his gaze and looked again at Number Sixty-Seven, who lay dead on the floor in the transparent cage opposite him, his eyes wide open.

Number 67 was not wrong.

To the staff at the cloning facility, these clones were merely consumables produced for experiments.

In particular, they did not perfectly replicate the mutant ability; they only replicated a certain percentage of the defective product, which was the kind of consumable that could be discarded after use.

only……

I am not a consumable item, and I am not called number sixty-six.

My name is Ethan!

He's a time traveler!!

……