The Brotherhood
Disclaimer: I own no one but Marcus AKA Crisis, all others belong to Marvel comics.
I am not making any money off of this.
"Who has not been swept
By the wish to hurt?
And who has not thought that the impersonal world
Deserves no better than to be destroyed
By one fabulous sign of his displeasure?"
-J. Bronowski, The Face of Violence
--
Mystique sat in her office, or Kellys' office it got confusing sometimes. Even to her.
She was at the office on the top floor of Kellys home, looking out at what was a very nice view. In a way it made her hate him even more. She had been afraid to go to school due to people like him, and people like him got 3 story houses with great views.
She walked back to the desk, she'd been at this for months, trying to file through all of Kellys' reports on suspected mutants, to find new 'Brothers' and 'Sisters' who would help her free Magneto, and help his plans.
She'd already used her skills to find Sabertooth, and Toad was relatively easy to find & free, he had been found and put in a hospital, she merely posed as a policeman to get him out. But finding new recruits was harder, there where thousands of suspected mutants, perhaps a hundred or so where really mutants.
She had almost laughed when she saw Kellys list of what where 'signs for being a Mutant' the bulk of which fit every teenager in America, if not the world.
She'd have to keep looking elsewhere, after all she knew she needed more help than Tooth and Toad to free Magneto, the 2 of them where good soldiers, but had the combined subtlety of a bull in a china shop.
--
7:00PM, a few days later.
Mystique had worked hard to get a day to herself, or to her search more appropriately, It's difficult to schedule a day where no one will look for a Senator.
She had taken the form of some model from a magazine, now she been looking around New York all day; she loved the idea that she was under the X-mens proverbial nose, looking for mutants.
She entered a store; there was a large section of TVs, all on one station, a newswoman speaking.
"…Anti-Mutant group the Friends of Humanity or FoH for short have proposed a new bill to have a special government division to police mutants."
"Sure, and the Nazis where just 'protecting' the Jews." A voice said.
She turned to see a young man, no older than 17, he was dressed in clothing worthy of Toad, it was all dirty and obviously made to keep him warm. Mystique guessed he'd been on the street for at least a year. He had long sideburns, uncut, and long hair. No beard but a pencil thin mustache coming in..
"Why don't you get out of here kid?" a security guard walked up behind him.
The boy answered without bothering to turn around, "Listen rent-a-cop, I'm not in the mood."
"Listen you little mutie-lover get out of here or I make you leave."
The boy turned to face the guard; the guard was 6'0 and 300 pounds if he was an ounce. The boy was the same height, but was probably a little less than half the guards size.
"I'd love to see you try." He smiled.
The Rent-a-Cop pulled out what looked to be cattle prod style tazer. "Leave now or I use it."
He pressed the button and the electricity crackled on the prod.
Mystique was about to speak when the electricity literally jumped from the prod into the Rent-a-Cops face.
She smiled slightly as the boy looked down at the now fallen guard, the voltage continued and the boy kneeled beside the cop as everyone else ran in fear from the store.
"I'm not a mutie-lover, I'm a mutie. Now, I could keep that voltage till it kills you, but that'd be too easy. Let's have some fun shall we?"
The boy walked off for a moment and then returned with a product that Mystique recognized, a curling iron, it was a heating device that women used on their hair. The boy walked over to a plug in and then pressed the device to the mans face, it was mere moments before it was glowing a bright red.
The Rent-a-Cop screamed.
"Now when you see the gawks on the street, the people looking at you as if you aren't human, then you'll understand you pathetic puppet." The boy said, he pulled the device from the mans face, which mystique could see had literally boiled from the heat.
This was the kind of person she needed.
"So not gonna run and scream from the mutie?" The boy stared at her for a moment
"That would be pointless, running from a brother." She smiled, and let her eyes return to their yellow state.
"I believe I have an opportunity for you, at the least I can promise you a place to stay." She smiled again. The boy shrugged his shoulders.
"Just a minute." He said and walked over to where one of the security cameras looked directly on him. The camera blew up.
"No record of my face, the best they can get is a sketch from the cop, and the most he'll remember at this point is a lot of pain." The 2 walked out of the back entrance, and casually into the street.
Mystique had already taken the boy to a cabin of Kellys.
"I am Mystique, who are you?"
"My name is Marcus, Marcus Corven."
"It is a pleasure to have you with us Marcus, tell me, why where you on the streets?"
Eric looked at her; she was still in the form of a 'normal' human.
"Short version? When I was little my parents beat me, when I got older I found out I could do things, like stop energy or overload stuff. When I used my power to cut off the TV during a game, to tell my dad I was a mutant, he started to hit me. Before I knew what happened every appliance in the house went nuts, and then the TV exploded, it electrocuted him. I ran off then."
"Tell me something Marcus, did you ever hear of Magneto?" she asked.
"Yeah, I remember when I was in another store watching the broadcast of the World Congress at Ellis Island. Magneto tried to mutate them with some sorta machine." Marcus smiled. "Mutate the world, not a bad idea if you could get it to work."
"In the world of Mutants there are 2 dominant ideas.
Some believe one-day humans will wake up and accept us.
Magneto on the other hand thinks that Humans will never accept us. That given the chance they will do to us the same thing they've done to every group of different people in history. What they did to the Witches, what they did to the Jews, what they did to the Blacks. They will try and exterminate us."
"I'd say he's right."
"Exactly what I wanted to hear, they captured Magneto, stuck him in a plastic prison where his powers are useless. We want to help him, to free him. Will you help us?"
--
Magnetos Cell, who knows what time.. He has no idea what time it is.
He has no clocks in this cell. He couldn't even swear if it was day or night outside.
Magneto heard the 'corridor' extending again; he turned to see a cop and 2 young men in suits.
"What do you want?" Magneto asked wearily.
"Please leave us for a moment." One of the men asked the guard.
He turned and left.
"I'm not interested in an interview, nor am I interested in a book deal or a movie deal." He said again wearily.
"We're not here for that, Sir" one of the men said.
Magneto merely mouthed the word 'Mystique?"
She nodded in her form.
"I've been working on this for quite some time, all the old faces are back together, along with a new one." she/he motioned to Marcus, who was now well dressed in a suit and had a close cut haircut, although his long sideburns remained intact, albeit well shaven.
"We're ready when you are." She smiled.
"The sooner the better." Magneto ordered.
"Now" Mystique said.
The bridge began extending back to Magnetos cell.
"Amazing how a simple power like Energy Manipulation can be used in so many ways." She said to Magnus.
"Yes Indeed." He was watching the lad, he noticed the boy looked to be concentrating, but confident.
The Bridge reached the cell, then all went black.
Mystique pulled out a small flashlight from her pocket and turned it on.
"Are you sure the power is out for the whole base?" Magnus asked.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't sure Marcus here could handle it."
Magnus nodded, the group began simply walking across the corridor, Magneto leading them.
Magneto stepped up the first metal door, and ripped it off its hinges.
"I could just open them, keycard systems rely on electrical impulses." Marcus said.
"True, but I've been waiting to do this for months." Magneto explained.
A group of Guards stood before them, they pulled their guns.
"*Sigh* Homo Sapiens and their guns" Magneto said to no one in particular.
He ripped the guns from them.
Without a word Mystique jumped forward attacking the guards, before most people could blink they where all down.
Marcus smiled "You'll have to teach me that stuff one of these days."
"We need to get to the roof, Toads scheduled to be here in less than a minute.
The ceiling above them bent and fell, as did the one above that, and so on until the sky was seen.
"Can you fly?" Magneto asked Marcus.
"No, such luck."
"Then we'll improvise."
Marcus felt the magnetic fields around him fluctuate and his body move up.
Magneto pulled them to the roof, the 3 stood, Magneto in front as always, they saw the Helicopter in the distance.
"What's your power?" He asked Marcus, while still looking at the helicopter.
"He can manipulate energy, cut it on, off, overload it, or redirect it." Mystique reported.
The Helicopter landed.
"Howdy Boss, nice to see you again." Toad smiled at his mentor.
Magneto stepped in, followed by Mystique and Marcus.
The helicopter took off.
Marcus looked back down, the police where still a few blocks from the Prison that had held Magnus, they had succeeded, and Magneto was free.
--
Part 2, Freedom, and names.
Magneto was in his room on the island, it was still secure. Charles had no idea where it was, and even if he did he wasn't stupid enough to attack them on their turf.
Mystique entered, standing before Magnetos desk.
"The boy, he did well. Who is he?"
"His name is Marcus Corven, as I explained before he can manipulate energy. I met him when he was attacked by a guard for comparing the persecution of mutants to the persecution of Jews before the holocaust. He has everything we could want for a recruit, a good power, and a dislike for normal humans."
"Tell me everything you know about him."
--
Marcus was standing next to the 7' plus monster of a man known as Sabertooth.
Toads smiled at Marcus and his rather obvious uncomfort.
"Never mind old Tooth, so long as you don't insult him, he won't kill you." Toad grinned even more.
Toad extended his hand. "I'm Mortimer, but call me Toad."
Marcus shook his hand. "I'm Marcus."
"Nice to meet you Mark."
"Marcus, I hate being called Mark."
"Oh great, another formal person.
Well, since Mystique is busy I'll give you the 411. I'm Toad, because I can jump high and have a very long tongue."
He whipped out his tongue and grabbed a wrench from across the room, bringing it back to his hand.
"I'm also the resident mechanic." He finished.
"He's Sabertooth, cause he's big, strong and vicious."
Toad leaned in close to the newbies ear. "He's also got the IQ of dirt."
Before Toad knew what happened he had Sabertooths hand around his throat and was about a foot off the ground, looking Sabertooth in the eye.
Toad quickly panicked "Only kidding mate, only kidding."
"Put him down Victor." Mystique said the 3 all turned to look at her.
Sabertooth growled once more and set Toad down.
"Next time you piss him off, I let him gut you." Mystique warned.
"Magneto want's to speak with you Marcus."
Marcus walked slowly, he could tell the others had a respect for the old man.
He also knew that despite his age Magneto could probably kill him in more ways than he could count.
Marcus walked into Magnetos office, he saw the chair which Marcus could tell had been patchworked together from whatever metal had been available.
He sat down
"So, you can manipulate energy, have you ever tested the limits of your power?" Magneto asked.
"Not really, I've just used it when I needed too, defending myself. The prison today was the biggest thing I ever blacked out."
"Was it hard?"
"Not really, cutting off the power to stuff is pretty easy, overloading is harder. But I've never had any major problems."
Magneto nodded, he was trying to figure out how powerful the boy was, how much of an asset he could be.
"Mystique told me you directed the energy of the a tazer on a guard. I want to see if you can redirect other forms of energy.
Light is a form of energy, this is a simple laser pointer, I'm going to aim it at you, see if you can redirect the light without turning it off."
Magneto turned it on, the boy concentrated for a moment and then the spot was on the ceiling, then the wall, then on Magnetos desk.
"Good."
Marcus could detect an amount of satisfaction in the old mans voice, but the old guy wasn't going to show it.
"Your name is Marcus, do you know what that name means?"
"Not really."
"It means a disciple of Mars, the Roman god of war. I'd say from what Mystique told me, it fits you rather well. You're a child who has been through Chaos, through a lot of Havoc, and your power fits it. I've given all of the brotherhood new names.
See the old ones, even ones that fit us rather well, are nothing but remembrances of who we where. In any group, any army. And that's what we are, an army for our kind, an army to defend our kind. We are given new names. I think a name that suits you is Crisis. What do you think?"
"Sounds good, Toad, Mystique, Crisis and Sabertooth. It fits."
"Well Crisis, go with the others, I have to plan for something."
Marcus/Crisis nodded and walked out. Magneto was a boss guy, normally he hated that, but he had noticed the tattoo on Magnetos arm, he had been in the holocaust, he had seen the dark underbelly of humanity in a way more than Crisis himself.
And more than that, Crisis new that Magneto was determined to win, by any means.
"And Crisis." Magneto said, Crisis turned around to look at him.
"Welcome, Brother."
Crisis had found his own family, his own Brotherhood.
--
(Authors note: OK, I know this wasn't the best, but heck it's not the worst either.
The next few chapters are going to work parallel to my other fic Avatar, and try and build up for a confrontation.
If I can find an interesting quote that fits the story, there will be one with each episode.)
Also,unlike Avatar, which is driven mostly by that one character, The Brotherhood episodes will be a 'team' fic, often switching persepectives between the members.
This is going to be the closest thing to an ep that focuses on Crisis alone.
Disclaimer: I own no one but Marcus AKA Crisis, all others belong to Marvel comics.
I am not making any money off of this.
"Who has not been swept
By the wish to hurt?
And who has not thought that the impersonal world
Deserves no better than to be destroyed
By one fabulous sign of his displeasure?"
-J. Bronowski, The Face of Violence
--
Mystique sat in her office, or Kellys' office it got confusing sometimes. Even to her.
She was at the office on the top floor of Kellys home, looking out at what was a very nice view. In a way it made her hate him even more. She had been afraid to go to school due to people like him, and people like him got 3 story houses with great views.
She walked back to the desk, she'd been at this for months, trying to file through all of Kellys' reports on suspected mutants, to find new 'Brothers' and 'Sisters' who would help her free Magneto, and help his plans.
She'd already used her skills to find Sabertooth, and Toad was relatively easy to find & free, he had been found and put in a hospital, she merely posed as a policeman to get him out. But finding new recruits was harder, there where thousands of suspected mutants, perhaps a hundred or so where really mutants.
She had almost laughed when she saw Kellys list of what where 'signs for being a Mutant' the bulk of which fit every teenager in America, if not the world.
She'd have to keep looking elsewhere, after all she knew she needed more help than Tooth and Toad to free Magneto, the 2 of them where good soldiers, but had the combined subtlety of a bull in a china shop.
--
7:00PM, a few days later.
Mystique had worked hard to get a day to herself, or to her search more appropriately, It's difficult to schedule a day where no one will look for a Senator.
She had taken the form of some model from a magazine, now she been looking around New York all day; she loved the idea that she was under the X-mens proverbial nose, looking for mutants.
She entered a store; there was a large section of TVs, all on one station, a newswoman speaking.
"…Anti-Mutant group the Friends of Humanity or FoH for short have proposed a new bill to have a special government division to police mutants."
"Sure, and the Nazis where just 'protecting' the Jews." A voice said.
She turned to see a young man, no older than 17, he was dressed in clothing worthy of Toad, it was all dirty and obviously made to keep him warm. Mystique guessed he'd been on the street for at least a year. He had long sideburns, uncut, and long hair. No beard but a pencil thin mustache coming in..
"Why don't you get out of here kid?" a security guard walked up behind him.
The boy answered without bothering to turn around, "Listen rent-a-cop, I'm not in the mood."
"Listen you little mutie-lover get out of here or I make you leave."
The boy turned to face the guard; the guard was 6'0 and 300 pounds if he was an ounce. The boy was the same height, but was probably a little less than half the guards size.
"I'd love to see you try." He smiled.
The Rent-a-Cop pulled out what looked to be cattle prod style tazer. "Leave now or I use it."
He pressed the button and the electricity crackled on the prod.
Mystique was about to speak when the electricity literally jumped from the prod into the Rent-a-Cops face.
She smiled slightly as the boy looked down at the now fallen guard, the voltage continued and the boy kneeled beside the cop as everyone else ran in fear from the store.
"I'm not a mutie-lover, I'm a mutie. Now, I could keep that voltage till it kills you, but that'd be too easy. Let's have some fun shall we?"
The boy walked off for a moment and then returned with a product that Mystique recognized, a curling iron, it was a heating device that women used on their hair. The boy walked over to a plug in and then pressed the device to the mans face, it was mere moments before it was glowing a bright red.
The Rent-a-Cop screamed.
"Now when you see the gawks on the street, the people looking at you as if you aren't human, then you'll understand you pathetic puppet." The boy said, he pulled the device from the mans face, which mystique could see had literally boiled from the heat.
This was the kind of person she needed.
"So not gonna run and scream from the mutie?" The boy stared at her for a moment
"That would be pointless, running from a brother." She smiled, and let her eyes return to their yellow state.
"I believe I have an opportunity for you, at the least I can promise you a place to stay." She smiled again. The boy shrugged his shoulders.
"Just a minute." He said and walked over to where one of the security cameras looked directly on him. The camera blew up.
"No record of my face, the best they can get is a sketch from the cop, and the most he'll remember at this point is a lot of pain." The 2 walked out of the back entrance, and casually into the street.
Mystique had already taken the boy to a cabin of Kellys.
"I am Mystique, who are you?"
"My name is Marcus, Marcus Corven."
"It is a pleasure to have you with us Marcus, tell me, why where you on the streets?"
Eric looked at her; she was still in the form of a 'normal' human.
"Short version? When I was little my parents beat me, when I got older I found out I could do things, like stop energy or overload stuff. When I used my power to cut off the TV during a game, to tell my dad I was a mutant, he started to hit me. Before I knew what happened every appliance in the house went nuts, and then the TV exploded, it electrocuted him. I ran off then."
"Tell me something Marcus, did you ever hear of Magneto?" she asked.
"Yeah, I remember when I was in another store watching the broadcast of the World Congress at Ellis Island. Magneto tried to mutate them with some sorta machine." Marcus smiled. "Mutate the world, not a bad idea if you could get it to work."
"In the world of Mutants there are 2 dominant ideas.
Some believe one-day humans will wake up and accept us.
Magneto on the other hand thinks that Humans will never accept us. That given the chance they will do to us the same thing they've done to every group of different people in history. What they did to the Witches, what they did to the Jews, what they did to the Blacks. They will try and exterminate us."
"I'd say he's right."
"Exactly what I wanted to hear, they captured Magneto, stuck him in a plastic prison where his powers are useless. We want to help him, to free him. Will you help us?"
--
Magnetos Cell, who knows what time.. He has no idea what time it is.
He has no clocks in this cell. He couldn't even swear if it was day or night outside.
Magneto heard the 'corridor' extending again; he turned to see a cop and 2 young men in suits.
"What do you want?" Magneto asked wearily.
"Please leave us for a moment." One of the men asked the guard.
He turned and left.
"I'm not interested in an interview, nor am I interested in a book deal or a movie deal." He said again wearily.
"We're not here for that, Sir" one of the men said.
Magneto merely mouthed the word 'Mystique?"
She nodded in her form.
"I've been working on this for quite some time, all the old faces are back together, along with a new one." she/he motioned to Marcus, who was now well dressed in a suit and had a close cut haircut, although his long sideburns remained intact, albeit well shaven.
"We're ready when you are." She smiled.
"The sooner the better." Magneto ordered.
"Now" Mystique said.
The bridge began extending back to Magnetos cell.
"Amazing how a simple power like Energy Manipulation can be used in so many ways." She said to Magnus.
"Yes Indeed." He was watching the lad, he noticed the boy looked to be concentrating, but confident.
The Bridge reached the cell, then all went black.
Mystique pulled out a small flashlight from her pocket and turned it on.
"Are you sure the power is out for the whole base?" Magnus asked.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't sure Marcus here could handle it."
Magnus nodded, the group began simply walking across the corridor, Magneto leading them.
Magneto stepped up the first metal door, and ripped it off its hinges.
"I could just open them, keycard systems rely on electrical impulses." Marcus said.
"True, but I've been waiting to do this for months." Magneto explained.
A group of Guards stood before them, they pulled their guns.
"*Sigh* Homo Sapiens and their guns" Magneto said to no one in particular.
He ripped the guns from them.
Without a word Mystique jumped forward attacking the guards, before most people could blink they where all down.
Marcus smiled "You'll have to teach me that stuff one of these days."
"We need to get to the roof, Toads scheduled to be here in less than a minute.
The ceiling above them bent and fell, as did the one above that, and so on until the sky was seen.
"Can you fly?" Magneto asked Marcus.
"No, such luck."
"Then we'll improvise."
Marcus felt the magnetic fields around him fluctuate and his body move up.
Magneto pulled them to the roof, the 3 stood, Magneto in front as always, they saw the Helicopter in the distance.
"What's your power?" He asked Marcus, while still looking at the helicopter.
"He can manipulate energy, cut it on, off, overload it, or redirect it." Mystique reported.
The Helicopter landed.
"Howdy Boss, nice to see you again." Toad smiled at his mentor.
Magneto stepped in, followed by Mystique and Marcus.
The helicopter took off.
Marcus looked back down, the police where still a few blocks from the Prison that had held Magnus, they had succeeded, and Magneto was free.
--
Part 2, Freedom, and names.
Magneto was in his room on the island, it was still secure. Charles had no idea where it was, and even if he did he wasn't stupid enough to attack them on their turf.
Mystique entered, standing before Magnetos desk.
"The boy, he did well. Who is he?"
"His name is Marcus Corven, as I explained before he can manipulate energy. I met him when he was attacked by a guard for comparing the persecution of mutants to the persecution of Jews before the holocaust. He has everything we could want for a recruit, a good power, and a dislike for normal humans."
"Tell me everything you know about him."
--
Marcus was standing next to the 7' plus monster of a man known as Sabertooth.
Toads smiled at Marcus and his rather obvious uncomfort.
"Never mind old Tooth, so long as you don't insult him, he won't kill you." Toad grinned even more.
Toad extended his hand. "I'm Mortimer, but call me Toad."
Marcus shook his hand. "I'm Marcus."
"Nice to meet you Mark."
"Marcus, I hate being called Mark."
"Oh great, another formal person.
Well, since Mystique is busy I'll give you the 411. I'm Toad, because I can jump high and have a very long tongue."
He whipped out his tongue and grabbed a wrench from across the room, bringing it back to his hand.
"I'm also the resident mechanic." He finished.
"He's Sabertooth, cause he's big, strong and vicious."
Toad leaned in close to the newbies ear. "He's also got the IQ of dirt."
Before Toad knew what happened he had Sabertooths hand around his throat and was about a foot off the ground, looking Sabertooth in the eye.
Toad quickly panicked "Only kidding mate, only kidding."
"Put him down Victor." Mystique said the 3 all turned to look at her.
Sabertooth growled once more and set Toad down.
"Next time you piss him off, I let him gut you." Mystique warned.
"Magneto want's to speak with you Marcus."
Marcus walked slowly, he could tell the others had a respect for the old man.
He also knew that despite his age Magneto could probably kill him in more ways than he could count.
Marcus walked into Magnetos office, he saw the chair which Marcus could tell had been patchworked together from whatever metal had been available.
He sat down
"So, you can manipulate energy, have you ever tested the limits of your power?" Magneto asked.
"Not really, I've just used it when I needed too, defending myself. The prison today was the biggest thing I ever blacked out."
"Was it hard?"
"Not really, cutting off the power to stuff is pretty easy, overloading is harder. But I've never had any major problems."
Magneto nodded, he was trying to figure out how powerful the boy was, how much of an asset he could be.
"Mystique told me you directed the energy of the a tazer on a guard. I want to see if you can redirect other forms of energy.
Light is a form of energy, this is a simple laser pointer, I'm going to aim it at you, see if you can redirect the light without turning it off."
Magneto turned it on, the boy concentrated for a moment and then the spot was on the ceiling, then the wall, then on Magnetos desk.
"Good."
Marcus could detect an amount of satisfaction in the old mans voice, but the old guy wasn't going to show it.
"Your name is Marcus, do you know what that name means?"
"Not really."
"It means a disciple of Mars, the Roman god of war. I'd say from what Mystique told me, it fits you rather well. You're a child who has been through Chaos, through a lot of Havoc, and your power fits it. I've given all of the brotherhood new names.
See the old ones, even ones that fit us rather well, are nothing but remembrances of who we where. In any group, any army. And that's what we are, an army for our kind, an army to defend our kind. We are given new names. I think a name that suits you is Crisis. What do you think?"
"Sounds good, Toad, Mystique, Crisis and Sabertooth. It fits."
"Well Crisis, go with the others, I have to plan for something."
Marcus/Crisis nodded and walked out. Magneto was a boss guy, normally he hated that, but he had noticed the tattoo on Magnetos arm, he had been in the holocaust, he had seen the dark underbelly of humanity in a way more than Crisis himself.
And more than that, Crisis new that Magneto was determined to win, by any means.
"And Crisis." Magneto said, Crisis turned around to look at him.
"Welcome, Brother."
Crisis had found his own family, his own Brotherhood.
--
(Authors note: OK, I know this wasn't the best, but heck it's not the worst either.
The next few chapters are going to work parallel to my other fic Avatar, and try and build up for a confrontation.
If I can find an interesting quote that fits the story, there will be one with each episode.)
Also,unlike Avatar, which is driven mostly by that one character, The Brotherhood episodes will be a 'team' fic, often switching persepectives between the members.
This is going to be the closest thing to an ep that focuses on Crisis alone.