"Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."
The quote was by Lord Chesterfield, and was one admired by a white haired master of magnetism, it was most appropriate for the currant status of the world.
The world's faith in the Avengers was shaken, two separate teams of X-Men at each others throats, and his own counterpart-Erik Lehensherr- with his weakened powers it was certainly the time to act.
Joseph had to smirk at the thought. Erik had once stated that he was nothing more than a clone, inferior to the first master of magnetism, and look at him now. He followed Cyclops, Xavier's brat, and was now paying the price for it. Erik's powers were broken by the Phoenix Force, now he was inferior to Joseph, the clone he had once killed.
But the past was of no consequence now. The world was still in shambles, just recovering from the scorching and the fire. The world was was just waiting for someone to seize the opportunity to take it, mold it, make it better. Joseph could certainly do that, he was after all one of the most powerful mutants alive.
Newly born mutants were popping up everywhere, his people were thriving, and leaderless. With Charles Xavier gone, and Cyclops's powers crippled neither were fit to lead the mutant race. Who would take this opportunity? The answer seamed simple enough. The most skilled, experienced, and powerful should lead. Joseph was more than happy to nominate himself.
Following Lord Chesterfield's words, Joseph wasted no time. A mental list of things he needed was pinned to his mind. A base of operations for him and his followers, a team as well as followers, and another mutant with power to match his. He was good on his own, but he can't take this world alone.
Acquiring the metal for his fortress was easy enough. Wakanda lacked the ability to go to war with Atlantis, much less defend themselves. Taking quality metal as well as fragments of vibranium didn't take but a day, and the fortress was constructed before sundown. Joseph ultimately chose Iceland to be the ground on which the fortress was stationed. With all the active volcanoes he could take advantage of the thermal heat and hide his fortress well.
Finding followers wouldn't be an issue, Cyclops's dirty little secret of being crippled was hardly a secret after he lost control on the streets of New York. Most mutants were very shocked and unimpressed, refusing to follow him. And in any case if there wasn't soldiers that could fight now all he would have to do is order Astra to clone him some more, once he approached her and welcomed her back into his Brotherhood of course.
With his fortress built and followers not being a problem all Joseph needed was to find a mutant as impressive as himself to keep the Avengers buys while he attended to mutant affairs.
As it turns out, finding said mutant was easier said than done.
Long hours were spent going through files he'd stolen from S.H.E.I.L.D and S.W.O.R.D. Unfortunately no mutant's power seemed unique enough to match his, or strong enough to put the smack down all of the Avengers at once.
Frustrated Joseph turned his thoughts to the local news hoping to get inspiration.
The News channels did not disappoint.
Plastered all over Humans Now New Reporting Station was a story over current Mutant Avengers that were once "villains." The main subject of the evening turned out to be none other than the white streaked southern belle. Rogue.
Joseph frowned as he thought of her. The women he'd fallen in love with. The women who had found him and taken him to the X-Men in the first place. The mutant who's powers he had neutralized for a moment to give her a kiss. Rogue. She had once kissed him fully on the lips under the guise of giving him CPR, until Marrow had caught her. Joseph would never forget waking up to the feel of her lips on his. But none of that mattered now, Joseph could hardly remember the feeling of being in love, just the knowledge that he had been, he had Astra implanting him with Erik's memories to thank for that. For that Joseph was somewhat grateful.
He turned the volume of the TV up higher.
"Everyone remembers this girl right? Rogue. The daughter of Mystique started out in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Everyone remembers her as a dangerous sixteen year old girl trashing the Avengers every other weekend in broad daylight right? Ms. Marvel ended up in a coma, Captain America got a face-full of concrete, and Thor ended up with a few broken bones."
That got Joseph attention as footage of that day was popped up on the screen. It was all recorded from the Avenger's Mansion where Rogue had attacked them in her teenage years.
The answer to his problem seemed so obvious. Rogue could flatten the Avengers, Rogue could be a one women army, Rogue would be more than fit to fill the position of go-to-girl.
But Rogue was an Avenger now, she had been on the side of the angels for far too long, and with Xavier dead she would be more committed to his dream than ever.
But a clone would work. Yes. An young adult clone like himself, possessing the memories of her time in the Brotherhood, before she joined the X-Men. Astra had been able to do it with himself, why not Rogue?
A smirk formed on Joseph's lips as he picked up a phone and dialed.
"Astra, so wonderful to hear your voice. Surprised? No, you shouldn't be. You may be an disloyal and callous women but you still have assets that would be beneficial to my cause. I do believe I've found a way for you to earn your way back into the Brotherhood."
Rounding up mutants committed to his cause only took a few weeks. Some were new born young mutant adults barely been mutants a few weeks, others were experienced mutants who had turned their backs on Cyclops. The new mutants, Bat(with the ability to fly), Cinder(A teleporter), and Rapture(A pyromaniac) were being trained for combat by none other than Mystique.
Mystique had joined Joseph's Brotherhood at the promise of getting a second chance with Rogue(or rather a clone of her).
The rest of Joseph's team was made up of mutants that had deserted Cyclops. Phoebe Cuckoo(a Stepfford that had left her sister's after a fall-out), and Deadpool(Who joined only cause he was pitched money from Joseph).
Training was going relatively well,(for Mystique being in charge) broken bones were kept to a minimum and powers were learning to be controlled.
Confident Joseph left the training session early to check on the progress of Astra and his Rogue-Clone.
Contrary to popular belief, Astra was not completely stupid. She was obnoxious, callous, and couldn't take responsibility for her own actions, but she had some grasp of common sense.
She had stolen a full DRN MRNA Matrix from a sleeping Rogue without any trouble. Had it all re-fitted and ready to put in the oven. Except now her mind was on Joseph. the man had spurned any and all attempts at a romantic relationship with her ever again and seemed determined not to change this attitude.
And now he wanted her to make a clone of his kind of ex. Was it just a coincidence that this was the women he had once loved?
But Astra did have a grasp on common sense. If this women were to come back into his life her chances of getting back into Joseph's bed and becoming the queen bee were significantly smaller. But she did have to make this clone, it was the only way back into the Brotherhood.
A thought came to her then, what if the clone were younger than Joseph had specified? Too young to be seen as an asset or to become romantically involved with perhaps?
"A little girl. Oh, yes that would work perfectly." Astra said to herself as she made a minor adjustment in the matrix and started the sequence.
"What do you mean a mistake in the DNA sequence?" Joseph roared as he took the news Astra had given him badly.
"Yeptty, yep, yep." Astra said casually as she hit several more buttons. "The girl's matrix was screwed up and she came out a little younger than expected, 12-ish."
"12?!" Joseph glared in anger.
"Or thirteen-ish."
"13!"
"Yeah, Joey. The worst part of this is how we can't fix it either, that was the only Matrix of Rogue I had, and even if we managed to create another I've already put 13 years worth of memories in the girl."
Joseph seethed in furry. "Astra I requested an adult, fully capable of fighting. Not a child!"
"She's still capable of fighting." Mystique reminded him. "Rogue's been a black belt since she was eight. If Astra hasn't screwed up those memories she's probably the best fighter here, next to me of course."
Joseph stopped ranting at Astra for a moment to turn to Mystique. "She's capable of fighting?"
Mystique nodded. "She only has about six years of experience, but it's a good start."
Joseph turned back to Astra.
"Perhaps your little mistake can be corrected Astra. Mystique will have a second chance at raising Rogue, and I will have a protege. Bring her out."
Astra complied and hit several control panels releasing the liquid in the tube that the girl clone was in. The naked girl fell to the ground with a thud and the wires snapped off her back.
Mystique pulled a blanket over the girl as she turned her over to stroke her white streaks. "What are we going to call her?" Astra asked. "We can't go calling her "Rogue", that would be like calling Joseph, "Erik"."
"Persephone." Mystique decided.
Astra laughed. "Rather ironic."
Joseph glared at Astra again. "I am hardly the ruler of the Underworld, and she is not my wife."
Astra's eyes lowered angrily. "Your damn right she's not...and it better stay that way." It came out in a whisper.
Joseph, who was too per-occupied with Persephone to hear Astra's whisper.
"What was that?" He asked.
Astra cleared her throat and lied. "I said we'll make a villain out of her yet."
"Mutant freedom fighter." Joseph corrected. Astra rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, she's going to be quite the rebellious little handful."
"I don't doubt that for a moment." Joseph said with a smirk.
I hope you enjoyed! Review and tell me what you thought of this, I'm really interested in hearing your opinion. Any complaints, concerns, etc.
By the way it's pronounced: per-se-pho-ne. Some people are convinced it sounds like "phone"(like telephone) but it's more like "knee".
Thanks for reading!