Chapter 9: Money isn't everything

(Trask)

That man, Hugh, was nuts, possibly insane; Trask knew it. But once he saw what that man was capable of, creating the Monitors, new and improved Sentinels, he beheld the man as a messiah. The man's genius and capabilities more than spoke for themselves, more than paid off. Speaking of pay, the number of anti-mutant supporters that were wealthy enough to pay for Monitor security, also funded Hugh, sending over copious amounts of cash.

As Hugh and Trask worked on making additions to the already vast army, they became friends, telling each other their own personal reasons for hating mutant kind. Trask learned many new things about his newfound friends.

"I was one of the soldiers in Stryker's raid of that mutant school in Westchester. I hadn't encountered many mutants beforehand, so I had no idea what to expect." Stryker said. Trask placed a large sum of 'funding money' on a table.

"I heard about that raid." Trask said.

Hugh took the money and put it into his safe, one of those bank vault types, located in a room that had 3 security cameras installed; one watching the inside of the vault, one in a far corner to see the entire room, and one near the doorway, looking down the hall.

"Trask, don't get me wrong, I rather enjoy getting paid by people who hate mutants, but money isn't everything. People may think it is in this economy, but there are forces far more valuable and sacred than monetary value and greed." Hugh said.

"…Such as?" Trask asked, curious, yet uneasy.

"Vengeance, love, sorrow, the driving forces of humanity: emotions." Hugh explained.

"Vengeance! Exactly! That's what this project is for, not money, Hugh. Just think of the money as a security deposit for the Monitors you give away." Trask said.

"Give away? I'm not giving them away, Trask!"

"Of course. Sorry, slip of the tongue." Trask quickly corrected himself, once again wondering if the man was bipolar or something short of mentally instable. Hugh smiled, saying that apologizing wasn't necessary.

The two of them arrived back at the 'experimentation room', and prepped more Monitors for combat. The process, to Trask, was like a simple formula. The influx of captured mutants directly resulted in the rise in number of Monitors. To Hugh, however, the process was both like a birth, and a death. Birth to Monitors, death to mutants. A buzzer sounded as a large door opened, and Monitors returned from a job. Hugh counted how many of them returned with a stunned, temporarily cured, or heavily beaten mutant.

'5 more. How nice.' Hugh thought. Thanks to Stryker's files, he recognized one of the new lab rats. James Madrox, also known as Multiple Man.