[5] Things Proceed As Planned; Against the Brotherhood, Master of Magnetism
Chapter 5: Things Proceed As Planned; Against the Brotherhood, Master of Magnetism
—
Peter Parker was passing by a construction site when he overheard the workers chatting. The thought caused his ears to perk up, he slowed down his walk as he listened.
"You saw the new Spider-Man photo? The quotation really hits home," one of the workers said, resting his chin on the end of his shovel.
"I guess," his friend replied. "If a guy like Spider-Man takes breaks, we should too. Did you know, he saved my kid from a bus the other day, and almost got injured doing that."
"He's such a blessed soul. Yeah, but does anyone know what game he's playing on his phone?"
Peter smiled to himself. Enrique's plan was working. The thousand bucks helped too, of course. When he reached his school, he heard similar conversations around.
"Hey, dude, did you see this picture of Spider-Man?!" a student leaned over to his friend's desk, showing him his phone. "It came out so cool!"
"Pretty sure it's edited," a nerd said from the side, pushing his glasses up. "The moonlight looks too perfect. There is no way such a photo can be taken without dozens of retakes."
"Of course, it's edited, dumbass, but it's still legit Spider-Man, right?" Someone said, which almost made Peter open his mouth, but he was smarter than that.
"Yeah, but what's that game on his phone?" Someone asked, and Peter smiled again, feeling a sense of pride in his contribution. He wished Enrique good luck in his game.
Later during lunch break, "Hey, did anyone figure out which game that is?" Even Flash Thompson yelled in the middle of the cafeteria, waving his phone around and earning a few annoyed looks.
Peter, stuffing his mouth with food, chuckled. "You still haven't figured it out?"
"Parker! Do you know it?" Flash turned to him, watching him smirk. "Ugh, of course you do. Nerd. What's the name?"
For a moment, he wanted to not tell the name, but in the end, Peter shrugged and showed him the game's title; he had it installed on his phone after all.
Soon, the game spread like wildfire through the school. Peter figured it was the least he could do after getting paid $1,000 for a single photo shoot.
A whole grand! This would keep him going for two months!
****
Enrique Nova watched the follower count on his [Nova Games] pages on Instagram and Twitter skyrocket. 49k on Insta, 32k on Twitter. All from a single high-quality picture of Spider-Man. The photo had amassed 2.3 million likes across both platforms, which was crazy.
Not only that but the picture was shared widely on different platforms and pages by fans. His game's reach extended beyond 2.3 million people. In a single night, he had earned over 10 million downloads – all stores combined.
Enrique heard a delightfully excited laugh in his head.
[This is the greatest day I've had in two millennia! So, so many faith points!]
Goddess Mut crackled like a maniac. Although she didn't gain any permanent believers, the influx of faith points was nothing short of miraculous to her.
[I haven't earned this much faith in a decade! A whole decade's worth of faith points in a single night!]
Enrique smiled at her cheerfulness. Her usual gentle motherly aura had transformed into one of childish happiness since last night. It was cute.
"Do I get anything in exchange for my great work, my goddess?" Enrique asked, looking up at the ceiling from his chair. "Like a tip?"
He heard a playful scoff in his mind. [Hmph. Earning more faith points means you grow stronger. Now, you get to access one more of my powers. "Lightning Cloak".]
"That sounds powerful, any details?" He asked, and she went to expand. However, she paused talking, and rather a message formed before his eyes.
She said, [Since you like games so much, I'll show it like a game description.]
===
Name: Lightning Cloak
Type: Divinity
Description: Upon calling forth this technique, your body is coated in an aura of lightning. It does auto-zap attacks on anyone who gets too close to you, and at the same time, the cloak boosts your strength, agility, and healing speed. Oh, and since you don't have a natural healing factor, this technique is your only hope for quick recovery.
It lasts one minute, with a cooldown of ten minutes.
===
[You think that's game-like enough?] She asked, giggling and seeing his blank expression. Was she making fun of him? [Use it wisely, the cooldown isn't pretty in a serious battle. When I gain more faith, the cooldown will lower, and the lasting will increase.]
Reading the description properly, he realized it was a great power-up. He didn't have any attack technique as of yet, just some lightning discharge. Now, that had changed. A part of him wished to have other sets of powers, non-reliant on the Goddess, but that was just wishful thinking.
Enrique hummed at her words but said nothing. Things were going well for him. He had the money he wanted, earning over $10,000 from downloads and ads already. He hadn't even introduced a Shop feature yet, but when he did, money would be the least of his worries.
Now, he just had to wait for the lovely little Rogue to return.
****
It had been six days since Anna arrived at Xavier's school, and... nothing was going right.
Initially, things weren't so bad. After she refused to give Charles her phone, he didn't ask for it again, which was good. She soon realized how many kids like her were at the school. She got to know the students and professors better and made friends who didn't view her as a freak.
She even developed a crush.
Robert Drake, nicknamed Bobby, was a mutant with the power to freeze anything. He and Anna had great chemistry. In fact, she hadn't called Enrique for the past three days because she was busy spending time with Bobby – though she hoped Enrique wouldn't mind. Her life had been fun and easy.
Then yesterday happened.
Everything went downhill when Anna foolishly thought that maybe, just maybe, she now had enough control over her powers to not hurt others.
She asked Bobby to help her test it, but the moment Bobby touched her hand, he immediately fell into a seizure, just like everyone else.
It had been a day, and Bobby hadn't woken up yet.
Anna wished that was the end of it, but that wasn't even the worst part. One of the professors, Logan, had his room close to hers. She heard his painful grunting at night and went to check on him, hoping to clear her image of being an evil power-stealing mutant by helping a professor.
But Logan accidentally attacked her, shoving his sharp claws into her chest. In a desperate attempt to survive, she touched his cheeks and borrowed his healing factor, allowing her wounds to heal while Logan lost consciousness.
She tried to repair her image, but instead, the damage intensified. Her reputation was... ruined. This morning, she noticed how everyone avoided her, some even screamed when she walked past them. Of course, they were all mutants, but… but not all of them were freaks like her! Being able to make one's hand shine was not the same as killing others with a simple touch. She had a curse.
Sad and worried, Anna sat on a bench outside, away from the other students. Her head was sunk, and her mind was blank when she heard someone approaching.
She looked up and found Bobby.
"Bobby!" Anna jumped up, smiling. "Are you alright now?"
She walked over to him, about to hug him, not worrying about hurting him since she wore gloves. But Bobby jumped back, looking at her in panic.
...What?
"S-stay away from me, Anna!" Bobby yelled, raising his hands defensively. "I don't trust you close to me."
…What? Why is he acting like that? She had warned him he might get hurt, and he had agreed to help her test regardless! Why was he backing off like this now? Enrique would never have acted this way.
"Bobby..." Anna pulled back her hand, standing still. "Are you scared of me? Do you think of me the same way o-others in the school do?"
Bobby's face twisted into a complicated expression before he grumbled. "I mean, you really are a life-stealing, power-stealing freak, like the others say. What can I do? I experienced it firsthand."
Anna's lips quivered. "I... I don't steal powers, Bobby. I borrow them. Try using your powers again; they'll work. I can't use them anymore. It's temporary."
Bobby's expression shifted, but he said nothing.
Anna clenched her jaw. "Then why are you here, Bobby? If you're scared, why did you still come here?" She sounded angry, but she was somewhat hopeful. She hoped he would say he came to see her. That he wanted to hear her side of the story, that she wasn't doing this intentionally, on her own.
She hoped he would say something comforting, that he would apologize... but her hope shattered with his next words.
"You should leave, Anna," Bobby said. "I... I liked you, that's why I'm telling you this. Nobody likes you here; they fear you. Even Professor Charles is mad at you! They're all either scared, mad, or disappointed. I... I think it's better for you to be alone, Anna. A girl like you doesn't deserve company, you know? You put everyone around you in danger. You should go to the mountains or something."
Anna stared at him for a long, silent minute as tears streamed down her cheeks. To hear this from Bobby of all people... her heart trembled.
"Alright," she muttered, not bothering to wipe her tears. "Thank you... for the warning."
He tried to say something, but Anna had heard enough. She ran past him toward the main gate of the school. Bobby might have broken her heart, but he had a point. She couldn't be here anymore.
A part of her wanted to call Enrique, to ask him to take her home. But... a larger part feared what might happen next. What if he rejected her? What if he sneered at her for only calling when she needed something? More than that, she couldn't bring herself to use him as a second choice after school, that kind man who had stood by her when nobody else did.
No. A person like her deserved to be alone.
****
Bobby's complicated expression fell, growing into a twisted smirk, "Heh, easy."
In reality, Bobby was still unconscious in the infirmary, having not woken up from his coma yet. The person Anna had just talked to was the supervillain Mystique, who smirked as she watched Anna leave through the main gates.
"Stage 1, complete," Mystique noted before changing her appearance to that of another student and making her way inside the school building. She had other stages to complete.
She followed her memory, taking the elevator to an underground chamber where Cerebro was located. Now I just have to tweak Cerebro enough that Charles can't find that girl. Not before we capture her, at least.
Mystique smirked as she crouched in front of Cerebro's door, changing her eyes to mimic Charles Xavier's as the machine scanned them.
[Ting! Welcome, Professor!]
A mechanical voice spoke as the door opened for Mystique, who took her true, gorgeous blue form and stepped inside.
Soon, the job was done, and Mystique left to follow the stupidly powerful girl, whose endless power was a waste to her feeble mindset. Mystique wouldn't engage her directly; she was too dangerous. Just following her and informing Magneto would suffice.
X-x-X
Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, was not pleased with recent developments around the world. The emergence and sudden acceptance of "superheroes" who weren't mutants – like Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four – had been bothering him for a while.
Some argued that these heroes were making the image of "superhumans" more acceptable to the public, which should benefit mutants as well. But that point was invalid when the public's hatred for mutants was increasing. Why the hell was that happening?
Well, Magneto knew why. Unlike these so-called superheroes, mutants saw themselves as different and superior to humans – as they rightfully should, honestly – and behaved accordingly. Magneto supported that sentiment, but it worsened the mutants' image because other superhumans worked for humanity's betterment while they worked for mutantkind's betterment.
Through this and that, things worsened, and recently the human government realized the mutantkind was a pain to deal with. So they were going to hold a meeting where they'll decide mutantkind's fate.
The "World Summit Meeting," as they called it, was set to be held on Ellis Island tomorrow evening.
Magneto found that outrageous.
"Is it ready?" He asked his subordinate, Sabretooth.
"I just received news from Mystique, yes. We're ready to leave."
How dare mere Homo sapiens think they could decide the fate of mutantkind? This problem could be easily solved if the people at that government meeting were also mutants, wouldn't it? Instead, it was a one-sided fool's errand, where the ultimate goal would be to enslave mutants in the coming future.
Fortunately, Magneto had found a solution. If the problem was the lack of mutants among the government officials, he had found just the weapon to accomplish that.
It was a machine, a piece of tech, that he had positioned on top of the crown of the Statue of Liberty, which was close to Ellis Island. When activated, this machine would release an omnidirectional wave of electromagnetic energy that would turn any normal human touched by it into a mutant.
This meant that every world leader at the "World Summit Meeting" could be transformed into mutants.
Magneto was eager to see what decisions they would make then. Those fucking bastards, I'm looking forward to seeing their faces when they become mutants.
In addition, there was a mini version of the Mutant Conversion Machine, designed as a wristwatch that Magneto wore on his left wrist. This was an emergency measure against any non-mutant "superheroes" who might try to stop him. That Spider-Man, for example. When activated, this small machine would release a beam of the same electromagnetic energy that could turn any potential target into a mutant, giving them an X-gene.
With this, the world would soon be filled with mutants, and it would be in the palms of their hands. Wasn't this the perfect solution to this absurd racism? Magneto believed so.
There was a slight problem with this, though. It was that only Magneto could activate these machines because of his magnetic powers. The issue was that using the larger machine took a toll on Magneto's life force, and the smaller one required even more precision and control, which was even more taxing.
Being an old man, this wasn't ideal for Erik Lensherr. He didn't fear death, but he didn't want to die before making mutants prominent. So he needed a substitute, and he found one in Anna Marie, a recently awakened mutant who could absorb other mutants' powers temporarily.
Using her – though it would kill her – the machine on top of the Statue of Liberty could be activated, releasing the wave that would turn all the world leaders on Ellis Island into mutants.
As mutants themselves, their jurisdiction over mutant-kind would naturally change. Erik's plan was foolproof, with backup plans for anyone who tried to stop him.
Now, he just had to go and fetch the little girl.
"Let's go, then," he said to Sabretooth, who nodded and followed behind him.
…..
Magneto smirked as he stepped inside the train, followed by his top executives in the Brotherhood of Mutants – Sabretooth, Toad, and the Blob – who entered a chamber of their own.
[All passengers are requested to board the train.]
[Repeat. All passengers are requested to board the train.]
The annoying announcement played as Erik walked inside. Anna Marie was inside, unaware of her approaching reaper.
****
While Magnetto boarded the train in Westchester County, in Queens something else was going on. "Hey, hey, stop already!" Spider-Man pulled Supernova's arm back, watching the shiny white superhero stop punching the poor robber, letting him fall to the ground unconscious. "That's too brutal."
"Right. Sorry, I was practicing my boxing skills." Supernova shrugged. "Yeah, probably not a good excuse."
Spidey sighed. The victim who was attacked by the robber had already escaped, and Spider-Man felt bad. That person was probably traumatized.
"Sorry," Supernova apologized again. But since he wore his cool mask, Spidey couldn't see his expression. "It must be annoying to work with another, more violent hero. But my current situation requires me to be around another superhero, so I'm sticking close to you."
Spidey grew worried. "No, no, I don't mind you being around. It helps quicken the job. Just… a bit too violent. I guess morality differs from one hero to another," Peter said. Honestly, he was fine as long as he didn't kill anybody. "Anyway, what do you mean? Don't tell me you have an arch-nemesis after you and you need my help?!"
"Uh…"
Spidey was hyped. "So cool! "Is that it?"
"No," Enrique replied, his mask going invisible to reveal his blank expression. "I deduce a friend of mine is in trouble and will probably call me any day. I'm not sure if I alone can handle the 'things' she needs my help with, so I'm sticking around to call you in."
"...Can you see the future too?" Spider-Man asked, mystified. "Or is it your Goddess?"
"I'm just speculating, kid." Enrique shrugged, shaking his head. "I can't see the future. It's just a guess. It may turn out that I never get the call-"
– Ring Ring Ring…!
Enrique's phone rang.
"Right..." Spidey narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
****
Anna "Rogue" Marie had decided to hop on a train to Canada. She had no plans after that. She just… wanted to leave this place, and maybe live in the mountains as advised.
Sitting on the train, she clutched her phone while Enrique's face flashed in her mind. Maybe calling him would have been the better choice? Maybe. But her fear was that he would mock and point out her selfish side. He might not even listen to her request.
Anna was just thinking that when the shadow of a tall man fell over her. When she didn't turn to see who it was, his familiar voice introduced him.
"Got a minute, kid?" said the man. Turning to him, Anna found Professor Logan, the huge jacked man looming over her. "It's gonna be a long journey otherwise."
Logan was here… how did he find her? Anna sighed but couldn't say no since she did hurt him last night and felt very guilty about it. So she nodded and let him sit beside her.
They talked for a while, and Logan was surprisingly more understanding than she expected. She thought he'd forcefully take her away, but he was kinder than he looked. Although he asked her to reconsider, telling her that Professor Xavier genuinely wanted to help her, he didn't push the topic too much after she firmly rejected the idea.
Honestly, Anna didn't like that old bald man very much. His first impression wasn't the best, and really, he was a massive general jerk for reading people's minds without their permission all the time. At least Professor Jean asked first. But there were good people in that school too, like Logan and Storm among the professors, and a few friends among the students, like Kitty Pryde. Anna was leaving precisely to avoid hurting them.
Logan sighed as their conversation ended. "Alright. Ya got some cash on ya? It's not clever for a little girl to move countries empty-handed."
Yeah, she liked Logan. He was a good guy. She gave him a polite smile and shook her head. "I have some cash, and besides, I can always sell my pho-" she stopped midway, changing her mind. "No. Sorry. Can you give me some change?"
He looked at her curiously for a moment before shrugging. "Did someone important give ya that? Then again, I'm not interested in love stories." Anna wanted to correct him, that this wasn't a love story, but before she could, he took out his money bag and handed her $300. "Sorry, lost most of my money when I fell in a river."
She gave a polite nod. This embarrassed her. She wasn't particularly rich before, but her family was decently well off. Accepting money from strangers was new to her…
– Crack!
Before she could accept the money, the door connecting this chamber with another snapped open as a man in a super suit, wearing a crimson helmet, stepped inside, smirking at her.
"There you are, my gem." The man said, uncaring of the frightened crowd.
Logan growled from the side and stood up, extending his claws, which only frightened the crowd more. Ignoring the other passengers, he swiped his claws against each other, making them spark fire while glaring at the clearly villainous man.
"I suggest you get off, bub," Wolverine said, his sharp eyes meeting the other man's calm, amused ones.
"So much talk for a man made of metal," the other man said, raising his hand. Wolverine took that as a gesture of attack and ran towards him, moving between the seats, but immediately froze when he got too close. "You are a bad match for the Master of Magnetism, boy."
Anna winced. No way, is that really him?! Master of Magnetism. That was the infamous mutant criminal Magneto?! Shit. Wolverine, with his metal skeleton, was no match for this man. What should I do?
Magneto spread his fingers, and Logan's body stiffened in the air, his arms rising horizontally and almost grazing the passengers, his claws spreading apart in a visibly painful manner.
"Arghhh!" Wolverine growled like a beast being skinned. Anna panicked, clutching her phone tighter, her mind racing for a way to help Logan.
Ah.
Her phone.
Without wasting a moment, she called the only number it had.
Immediately, lightning struck the roof of the train.
****
[The number you have dialed is currently unreachable.]
"Strange," Spidey said, hearing the robotic voice. "Why would your friend turn her phone off just after calling?"
Enrique probably had an answer. He had received Anna's call, but it was cut off immediately. Even after trying to call her back twice, there was no response. If he had to guess, it had something to do with Magneto or Storm, both of whom could meddle with electromagnetic wavelengths.
Yeah, no doubt, Anna was in danger.
As much as he'd wanted to fly over right now, he couldn't reach her at the moment, so he had no idea where she was.
Charles' mutant school was located on Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center – a quick Google search revealed that since the school publicly operated under the pretext of a normal school for disabled students. That was about 350 kilometers from Queens. Could she be there right now, or somewhere else?
Enrique had watched the movies. Given what happened in the movies and how Rogue tried to take the train and leave, Enrique figured it was better to check there first before heading to the school – the station was on the way to the school, anyway.
"Spidey," Enrique looked at Peter. "How about I give you a piggyback ride?" It was time to test his flight speed.
….
The speed of sound. Or close to it. That was his top flying speed. Though he might not be entirely accurate. In any case, he didn't have to reach the station, because six minutes into his flight, he found the train moving towards him, with one particular chamber where a big commotion seemed to be happening.
Big, as in – a superhuman scale big. Omega Mutants were fighting each other, after all.
"You holding on well?" He asked Peter, who was clinging to his back with his sticky hands. Peter nodded, albeit barely, and Enrique laughed. "I'm going to land."
With a swift motion, he landed on top of the train, right beside a hole made by a high-temperature beam – from the looks of it. There were also signs of lightning strikes on the roof, which was probably Storm's doing.
He gestured for Spidey to wait before jumping down. He was more durable than the squishy man-spider, so any surprise attack would be better taken by him.
Enrique dropped to the train floor with a thud, finding the passengers huddled on one side while the X-Men battled the Brotherhood of Mutants on the other. They were too busy to notice Enrique.
Wolverine, a badly hurt Cyclops, and(a slightly hurt Storm were engaged in a battle with peculiar-looking villains. Enrique recognized them as Sabretooth, the Blob, and Toad – respectively.
That was surprising. The Blob shouldn't be with the Brotherhood at the point in the timeline when Rogue was being recruited. Then again, this timeline wasn't exactly anything he knew for sure.
While these six fought, Magneto was making his way towards a frightened Anna.
Sabretooth and Wolverine were almost evenly matched, with Wolverine on the losing side due to his skewed claws.
Cyclops, on the other hand, was the most injured of the X-Men. The Blob wasn't exactly immune to his laser, but it bounced off him most of the time, which endangered the civilians nearby. So Cyclops couldn't shoot enough without accidentally killing the civilians. So even though the Blob's chest was charred, he was in better shape than Cyclops.
Lastly, Storm and Toad were fighting in one corner. Storm was a powerful Omega-level mutant, but she wasn't the best at hand-to-hand combat – far from it actually. So an agile enemy like Toad was giving her trouble.
[Oh, that girl has grown,] suddenly Mut said in his ears when he looked at Ororo. [She was so little the last time I saw her.]
Enrique blinked at that. "You know her?" he whispered to himself, observing Ororo's fight. "Come to think of it, she resembles you. White hair, dark skin, lightning powers. You are more beautiful though."
On a side note, Mut had golden eyes, while Ororo had blue ones. Mut deadpanned at his last words. ["Right. And yes, I do know her. Ororo Munroe is the descendant of an ancient line of African priestesses. My priestesses. You see, though Egypt was the main region of my religion, I had believers all over the world back in the day. Ororo's ancestors were direct followers of mine, who I used to talk to in person. I even blessed them with magic from time to time, that's why Ororo even has these powers, to begin with, as I'd blessed her when she was born."]
"Oh." Enrique blinked. "You want me to bring her back to you then?"
[I will be happy if you can. She is loyal to her mutant heritage, though. She fails to realize she's only at the level she is at because of my blessing magic had enhanced her genes, otherwise she'd have only been able to light up bulbs. Anyhow, you should focus on the battle ahead.]
Ah right, the battle. As they finished talking, Magneto reached Anna, who was standing in a corner, shaking and yelling at him to stay away. Magneto didn't stop and used his magnetism to tie Anna's hands together with a steel pipe.
The battle had ended as far as Magneto was concerned, and Enrique could tell the man wouldn't waste any more time here. So he decided to move.
"Spider-Man." He called, watching Spidey jump down and drawing everyone's attention.
"A-ah!" one of the civilians gasped. "It's Spider-Man! We're saved!"
Wow. I didn't receive such a warm welcome. But then again, he wasn't popular, so they probably thought he belonged to one of the hostile groups.
"What's up, people?" Spidey waved at the crowd, causing Anna to look in their direction. Her expression brightened in hope when she noticed Enrique and then grew worried.
She probably didn't think Enrique and Spider-Man alone could handle this group. After all, three of the X-Men were struggling. But Enrique didn't have time to listen to any warnings she might shout, so he rather directed Spider-Man's attention to Toad.
"Take care of him. Be careful after you're done, avoid the blonde guy and the helmet guy, they're too dangerous for you. But the fat guy is free game," Enrique said, and among everyone else, the Blob reacted the most.
"Did you just…" The Blob turned to him. "Did you just call me fat?!?!" The huge blob yelled, slapping Cyclops against the wall and rendering him unconscious. Cyclops was busy giving Enrique a shocked stare, so he didn't see that coming. The Blob charged at Enrique.
Enrique smirked. "Right. I'll handle the fatty then, you do the toad."
"Hey, that sounds dirty, keep it PG-13!" Spider-Man said but didn't protest. He dodged the charging Blob and went to strike Toad.
Enrique prepared himself as the huge 8-foot meatball lunged at him, lightning charged around him, preparing him for battle.
**
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Author Note: Need some power stones since this is the first Sunday for this story 🙏Another chapter comes out tomorrow and we will post TWO instead of one if we're Top 20. Next chapter is interesting, as there is a major change to the original.
And leave some reviews guys, we don't even have enough for the ratings to show on the main page 😕
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