Earth 534834
8th February 1992
10:28 GMT -6
"Now, okay,-"
There's a
whum sound as the steel girder flies past me-
"-I can see-"
-and a screech as it twists and doubles back, attempting to envelop me. I drop down beneath it,
creating a bat construct and
knocking it for six.
"-that you're
not pleased-"
Shots of rebar come flying at me next, and I briefly consider that
maybe I shouldn't have mentioned railguns
last time we met. He just seemed so put out that Professor Xavier hadn't turned up that I thought it might… Jolly him up a little.
"-to see me, but-."
From behind his full face helmet which now includes a gas mask, Erik Lehnsherr glares at me.
"I will do to you what your forebears once did to the
Neanderthals."
…
That-. Agh! Okay, he distracted me enough that he managed a glancing hit. Guess he hasn't quite got the hang of aiming with his new technique yet.
"Look, I'm sure you're a smashing bloke, but unless your mutation covers a
lot more than magnetism that just isn't possible."
"The extermination of man will not be a swift endeavour, but it will come. History is on our side."
Hang on, I'm in the nineties. Even with all the advanced technology that didn't exist in
my nineties, do they not-?
"The modern European man is descended from the interbreeding of neanderthalensis and sapiens. We've both got neanderthalensis genes in us." I smile. "And… While you're a… Perfectly presentable man… For your age… I'm seeing-"
I
shoot upwards in the air to evade a large sheet of scrap metal that zooms past me.
"-someone? Ah, Anne-Marie? Rogue? With the green and yellow bodysui-?"
"I remember."
I nod, grinning. "Pretty memorable, isn't it?"
He stops attacking, moving his projectiles into an orbit around both me and him. "If a handful of genes are all that remains of their people, then there is little difference between this and utter extermination. If you marry Rogue, then in all likelihood your children will be mutants."
"Could well be. Honestly, I like the idea of my children having superpowers. Sure, some things -like Anne-Marie's power- can create… Problems, but I'm sure that we can work through it. Pax?"
"What does Charles want with me?"
"An open, honest and peaceful exchange of views, leading to an agreement concerning the utility and legitimacy of violence in the civil rights struggle and the opening of an ongoing channel of communication."
"And he sent you?"
"No, I'm here for completely different reasons. He doesn't-. I mean, he could be tracking us on Cerebro or something, but I didn't
tell him."
Except that Cerebro is designed to find x-gene mutants and Mr. Lensherr's helmet protects him against that sort of thing. Which.. means that he
doesn't know where we are. That wasn't clever of me.
"Then
why are you here?"
"Did you see the adverts for Genosha?" I think he nods. The helmet makes it a little hard to tell. "Long story short, it was a trap to lure in people with super powers there for them to enslave." Several pieces of metal
crumple. "Not sure if it would have worked, because I don't think other countries would tolerate them doing that to their citizens, but the X-Men dealt with it anyway. So there are a lot of mutants who don't really have anywhere else to go on the island, and… I was just wondering if you wanted to take a look at the place? See if you can make separate but equal work? There's a bit of a leadership vacuum at the moment."
"A homeland for mutants. I had considered the idea before."
"Ah… More a place of refuge for people with the x-gene in places where they're being oppressed. I mean… I know that having a homeland for Jews hasn't exactly encouraged peace and good will since World War Two, but-."
"Given that Senator Kelly intends to place all mutants in America in internment camps should he win the next presidential election, we may need it sooner than later."
"You.. do realise that even if he gets elected, he wouldn't have the authority to do that, right? It would be completely unconstitutional. Whether people with the x-gene are treated like other people with super powers or as a new species of human, there's no legal grounds-."
"You will find that means very little when people are
afraid."
I smile. "Good show! As a British person, I thoroughly look forward to seeing Americans take up arms against a tyrannous government that isn't mine."
"You would fight your own kind?"
"Sometimes, in the face of evil, you have to plead the second. The United States has a constitution that guarantees its citizens certain consideration. If that's ignored, then there's no reason for the citizens to take any notice of any of the laws empowering the people who violate it. And this time I'm not letting the Canadians have
all the fun."
"Then why not deal with him before the election?"
"Because at the moment all he's done is be a mouthy git, and that's not worth killing someone over. Even if he tries to pass those laws, I'm not going to condemn the whole system unless it actually gets approved."
"And when it
does?"
"They can take Anne-Marie to an interment camp
over my cold dead body. Ah, before we drown in negativity, I… Did have something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"It's… It's a bit awkward. I… None of my friends are married. In fact, you're the only person I've exchanged more than a few sentences with who even..
was-."
"Are you-? Coming to me for
marital advice?"
"You have three children. Presumably, you did
something right."
The floating pieces of metal stop.
"Three-. What are you
talking about? I only have
one child, and I sired her for the purpose of creating a strong mutant. My relationship with her mother was purely transactional."
What? Does he not-?
O
h, sugar. I guess… That hasn't happened yet. As far as I know, neither Pietro nor Wanda Maximoff were ever members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, so-.
Oh, he didn't know.
"Ah. Congratulations?"
"How could you
possibly know-?"
"The ring can scan genes. I don't even need a blood sample. Ah. I didn't-. I've no idea what Magda Lensherr's genes look like, but there are two mutants in Europe who have half your DNA. Sorry, I didn't realise that you didn't know."
He considers that for several moments.
"How old are they?"
"About twenty?"
"That would-." Pieces of metal start dropping out of the air as distraction takes hold. "If-."
He turns away, waving his right arm.
"Leave me. I must consider what you have said."
Well. Cheaper than Mr. Creed, at least.
Whoever you were.
