Do your worst. I think to myself.

The wind picked up and the trees swayed. However, whatever blow I expected didn't come.

Then he spoke "Your punishment can wait."

That's odd.

It just wasn't like him. I decided that he was being cruel and was purposefully withholding whatever punishment he'd do to me till later. I had no experience dealing with this tactic, but I resolved to not let whatever feelings I had overrule me.

" A storm is coming and I certainly can't train you if your sick."

There's the self serving asshole we all hate. Cynicism said.

I stiffly nodded and start to walk to the castle. I'd have to take the slow route because I was of course out of power. But, I was also tired- mentally and physically so the idea that I was walking to my doom didn't phase me. I knew I was, but I didn't care.

Once I arrived, I headed straight to my room as I didn't see Magneto at the door. After I changed clothes, I look at the drawer in the desk that carried my mother's letter and forced myself to not read it. That can wait until I knew what was going on. There was the chance that it could get accidentally damaged if I took it out.

I laid on my bed staring up at the ceiling waiting. A few minutes passed in this way before he arrived. I push myself out the bed. If I couldn't win I'd do the next best thing and lose with dignity, so when I looked at Magneto I showed none of the fear I felt.

He didn't seem surprised by my calm facade. But, he surely knew that it was just that- a facade.

As I had anticipated, I was yanked to the wall by metal tentacles extending from the walls. Said tentacles turned into tight fitting restraints that bit into my skin. The worst part was that my arms were pinned down by two pieces of metal on either side of me so I couldn't use my mutation. Not that it was likely that my strength would return to me in time

In short, I was completely defenseless.

He walked to me and said "First, the reason why you're being punished."

Why does he have to act so calmly? If he acted irrationally he'll at least be easier to deal with.

Oh yeah- because he's sane. Cynicism as usual couldn't resist saying something.

I believe that is the most troubling thing about him. Logic said.

"I will not tolerate disrespect in my ranks." He gave me a chilly stare after saying this.

What does he expect me to do apologize? Rebellion asked.

Magneto seems to be under the impression that I have wronged him- Well I beg to differ. Logic says

I calmly said " I called you self righteous that's true."

There was an unspoken "And what are you going to do about it?" in that sentence. I hadn't said it, but apparently he heard.

I didn't see the piece of metal that zoomed past my face leaving a thin sheet of blood behind at all. I did feel the warm sticky liquid slide down my face. The wound stung waking me up.

Death by a thousand cuts? I wondered.

No, that was the warm up. I found myself roughly thrown from one side of my room to another held up by the metal cuffs that were still on my hands.

The not so fun side of pinball.

It felt like getting hit with a ten pound weight- at first it was an ignorable sting (well ignorable by my standards most would've screamed on the first blow), but by the 30th time or 40th time simply breathing burned. Not that not moving would help- my limbs and especially my ribs felt like they were aflame even when I wasn't moving. My nose bled profusely and for a moment I was tempted to ask him to stop.

My classic stubbornness returned and I said nothing. I grit my teeth at the pain.

At some point, he opened up the cuffs and I fell unceremoniously. If you remember, the floor was made of metal so it wasn't surprising that after I landed with a thud I screamed from the waves of pain spreading across my body.

I didn't like how he towered over me since I was stuck on the ground. However, everything hurt and I didn't bother getting up despite my pride.

"Disrespect will not be tolerated is that clear?"

Part of me said as mud the other part said crystal. I went with something less suicidal but with more spine.

"Very."

I saw a magnetic field encase me. In a moment of weakness due to the pain I quickly added "It won't happen again."

I quickly felt the urge to douse my tounge with acid. The field disappeared and Magneto left my room. My muscles burned. but I pushed myself up and did an assessment of the damage.

No nausea or anything else I'd expect with a concussion.

I didn't bother looking at my legs because I already knew I'd find an angry rash of bruises just like there were on my arms.

I grab a rag wet it in the sink and dabbed it carefully on the cut.

I hurt like hell, but nothing permanent.

I frown. The fact that I was hurting like hell and not permanently damaged once again showed how outmatched I was. The control he must've used to prevent me from sustaining permanent damage showed that he wasn't giving it his all. No, he beat me without any difficulty. It stood to reason that any other fights I'd have with him would end in the same manner.

Still that doesn't mean I can avoid him.

I was sure Magneto wouldn't take well me not showing up to breakfast and might forced feed me should I refuse to eat -no revise that he would force feed me if I refused to eat. Knowing him he'd do it with a metal tube being shoved down my esophagus.

Besides, I didn't want to stay in my room. It seemed childish and sounded like something out of a teenage angst TV show (take your pick which one), but from what I saw the pattern was run to your room and say "Mom, you don't understand". Which never made sense to me because in all the cases I saw the parents were right -smoking is unhealthy and there was nothing cool about yellow teeth, the mysterious rebel the girls hung out with treated them like crap etc.

I'll admit it. I was a bad teenager. I had to contend with real issues- for example my mom almost stabbed me with a kitchen knife during a very scary disconnect with reality. After dealing with something like that, I couldn't connect to the teens on TV.

I get to breakfast on time and acted like nothing happened. That was easy to do I had plenty of experience doing this. It wasn't that I didn't feel the pain -no I hurt like hell I was just great at distracting myself from it on to something else.

"Why are you wearing a sweater to breakfast?" Toad asked.

Toad- not now.

I answer quickly. "Either the AC is too high or I'm coming down with something."

Toad smiles at my reply. I wondered if he knew I was lying. He shouldn't -those were good plausible excuses, I didn't give too much or too little detail and didn't change my body language or tone abruptly.

"For a guy from the windy city you're sensitive." He says with a distinctly English accent.

I shrug and let him fill in the blanks himself. Well, at least I still had my ability to lie.

Now as long as Magneto says nothing.

Wait, we're relying on Magneto not saying anything? We're done. Cynicism said.

Surprisingly, my prediction didn't come to pass. The man just gave me a knowing glance.

By the way, I still had to train that day. I had to do physical training because I'd pushed my power far past it's limits. You can guess how fun that was. As soon as I got on to my bed I fell asleep. Dream mom did a great job of trying to cheer me up, but in the end I was so emotionally spent that I felt nothing. I did nothing, planned nothing, and said practically nothing to dream mom.

I didn't read my mom's letter until the next day. I was very relived when I read the familiar and elegant Coneria Script. She said she was reading Exodus which matched her usual yearly routine and the writing style was clearly her's. Unfortunately, the letter was unmarked and thus there was no way for me to figure out where she was from the letter.

My period of numbness didn't last long and I soon recommitted myself to my goal of escape. How did that happen when I had no reason to believe I could escape? I'm not sure. I'm just not the type to rollover and let other people control my life.

Understanding the movement of the members of the Brotherhood would certainly take careful observation and since I had just fought the strongest person on the island alone and lost I resigned myself to the fact that this will take awhile.

However, at the very least I could figure out Magneto's schedule pretty quickly. Close ] observation plus the sheer amount of time we spent together made it impossible for him to hide everything from me. I could figure out when groceries arrived at the island and cross reference that with what Magneto normally did. If the groceries arrived when we were training then I'd easily know he didn't do the shopping.

A week later, training was very odd. Not odd as in easy (Magneto and easy should never be in the same sentence) just odd. Like I had to find a needle in a haystay odd. No, I seriously had to find a needle in a huge haystack that was at least 8 feet tall. The size of the magnetic field generated by the needle nowhere compared to the size of the stack.

You've gotta be kidding me. You've given me an impossible task why?

I floated around the idea that it was in response to something I did. That would be something he'd do- let something like this wear down my resolve. My stubbornness decided to show up again.

Bring it. I'm certainly not letting you win.

I stretch out my senses and of course found nothing. I move my search area bit to the left and focused on another part of the stack there I found nothing.

I pushed my senses as far as I could then unconsciously held my breath as I focused on what I felt. Magneto didn't exist. I wasn't trapped on an island with a madman- it was only me and the problem I had to work through. I was just about to exhale when I finally felt a very small sliver of metal.

I quickly yank it out.

"You- found the needle." He sounded surprised. I was elated at the fact that I did something he didn't expect. That meant I'd finally beat him at something.

"So you did set me up with a task you expected me to fail." I spun around so quickly that my head felt dizzy as I made the accusation.

He smiles the smile sharks have before they eat fish "While I didn't expect you to find the needle as fast as you did - the point remains that you found the wrong one."

I did not expect that. "What- the wrong one?"

"The needle I sent in the haystack was copper the one you have is steel."

Nice.

"And you didn't mention this because.." I say.

"If you bothered to pay attention you'd notice that copper and steel feel completely different."

This is one of the many reasons why I think that besides being a very powerful mutant Magneto's also a troll.

Copper and steel didn't feel any different to me at the time. He might've had a developed ability to discriminate against these things, but I certainly didn't. Plus, it simply wasn't very reasonable for someone who had my powers as long I did to be at that level yet.

But remember what I said earlier? Magneto has not and never will be a reasonable man. He'd push you off a bridge, but at end of the day you'd learn to fly.

And if I thought that was bad, it really only got worse. I had to to get a specific needle out of a large stack of other needles for the next task. This of course made the first task look like nothing.

Forget needle in a haystack let's try find a copper needle in a steel needle haystack. That was just as much fun a putting a needle in your eyes and as painful too. I had to push my power beyond my limits to even search the surface of the steel haystack. On top of that I had to somehow find a trait that made the copper needle stand out.

After this was over, I rested for a while before working on exploring the castle more. I specifically wanted to find where they kept the plane after it landed. I figured there was an underground hangar that kept it, but I just couldn't figure out where it was. I kept some paper and a pen with me so I could draw my findings for later.

I kept poking around and found an ornate looking double door in an otherwise ordinary hallway. I turn the knob and found it was locked. I noted the doors lack of a keyhole. It felt like someone put a dollop of steel where the keyhole was supposed to be filling it in.

What an odd combination.

I briefly wonder if I should pick the lock with my powers.

The door swung open yanking me out my head.

"This is my office." Magneto was sitting at a silvery white desk.

I was very glad that I decided to not break into the room. I walk inside and take in the room.

Something jumped out at me when I saw the other side of the door.

You'd think he'd have a way to at least lock it from the inside. This is his office.

I said. "No key holes on the front and nothing to lock the door with here either just a handle."

The older man said back. "I don't need them."

I noted the nearby cabinets that also lacked keyholes. Though I was sure the inside mechanism worked fine. All Magneto needed to do was manipulate the position of the tumblers inside the lock to get in.

That was interesting. A cabinet without keyholes is unpickable. Anyone who wanted to get inside would need to melt through the cabinet's steel shutters, which would probably damage whatever paperwork etc was inside.

So simple yet brilliant.

I mulled over the new information quickly before my eyes scanned over the steel bookshelves. My eye settled on a book that covered Calculus One.

Apparently he saw my glance too and told me to take the book because he he already knew calculus. I did and flipped through a few pages.

A few minutes later he asked me "What do you know about magnetism?"

I paused for a moment before I rattled off everything I knew about it. Often in between statements he'd say "Are you sure?"

I always said "Very." in response to this because I rightfully assumed he was trying to mess with me.

I said "Done." after I had scraped out every possible fact I could think of.

There was a pause. He seemed a bit unhappy with my admittedly simplistic idea of magnetism. But when I think about it, I understood it better than many other people who'd graduated high school. So I was really doing great in comparison. A fourteen year old who understood electromagnetism was well ahead of the curve.

"So would your mutation work on ferrous and nonferrous metals?" He asked.

I purse my lips "Well, that wouldn't make sense nonferrous metals aren't magnetic."

"Wrong. Some non ferrous metals are magnetic when you add electricity"

"Where would you get the electric current from?"

He looked at me as if I asked him what 2 plus 2 is.

"You really have no idea how your abilities work do you?"

The idea was ridiculous how could I not know about something that affected me as much as my mutation? I thought for a moment.

"Not the specifics no." I said before thinking.

"I'm surprised that given how intelligent you are that you'd be so profoundly ignorant of this. "

I took great offence to that comment .

I frown.

"A. textbooks don't tend to have a section labeled understanding your mutation and B. The texts I read about magnetism do not go into much detail because I don't read college texts."

Instead of accepting my perfectly good explanations for why I didn't know a lot about magnetism like an ordinary person Magneto asked " Why not?"

Yep one thing I really hated and secretly liked about the guy was his no excuses accepted attitude. I did appreciate that someone didn't automatically assume that I was intellectually incompetent thanks to my background, but his extremely high expectations annoyed me.

It created insecurity where it didn't exist before. I learned information at my pace and on my own terms. I certainly knew enough to keep myself out of trouble until I could study it in more detail when I got to college.

"They're expensive. I barely managed to get the material needed for my CLEP test."

Plus I lack the mathematical background needed to understand the text on my own.

As if I'd actually tell him that though.

I knew quite a bit about general magnetism and it's applications like in making compasses, but nothing about the specifics of how my powers worked. I simply lacked the equipment needed to do an extensive test of my abilities. Though, he made it sound like I knew nothing- I had a very accurate hypothesis that was later confirmed.

Do you know what happens when Magneto finds someone who has potential who doesn't use it the "right way"?

He throws the book at them until they do.

"You read them now."

I barely managed to dodge the textbook he sent at me. Yes, I meant throw the book at them literally.

"You threw a book at me?" I was very surprised. Magneto was a terribly strict teacher. He demanded absolute obedience and all my attention whenever we trained. Think of the strictest teacher you've ever had that somehow always knew when you were off task and take that to the tenth power. Though, he didn't inflict violence on me without having some sort of reason.

Since the loss I suffered last week, I hadn't given him any reason to do anything to me.

"I was confident you'd dodge it."

I call BS.

I didn't bother hiding the skepticism that practically oozed from my face.

Ironically, the only reason why I dodged that book was because of my training with Mystique.

He smirked before saying "The proper term for our mutation is magnetokinesis. It allows us to manipulate the magnetic fields around us and use them for things like flying or creating a force field."

He talked for a moment and while he did I started to combine the new information given and the information I already knew in my mind to come to a conclusion.

"Well, that explains where the electric current comes from." I say.

He looked at me because he wanted me to explain what I meant.

I pause before saying "Well. You can use your control of Magnetism to cause an electric current in a non ferrous metal. That causes the non ferrous metal to become a electromagnet."

He nods. "Exactly. Read chapter one by next week you'll have much better idea of how they work."

I am very sure that Magneto didn't require Sabertooth to understand his mutation in such painful detail. No, he was far more focused on slash slash death with him.

I looked through the text and found that chapter 1 had to be at least 50 pages. Also by taking into account the extraordinarily small font the amount of text I had to read shot up to 100 pages.

I seriously doubted I'd be able to understand all the text by then.

"Just a week that's-"

"Another word I'll give you three chapters instead of just one."

I shut up. I knew he'd do it and I certainly didn't want to deal with whatever consequences he'd have for me for not passing whatever test he'd have for me in a week.

You know those sweet dollops of free time I used to explore/ further my escape plans? It quickly vanished because unlike my teachers in public school Magneto knew exactly how long it take for me to understand what he gave me.

After training and eating and studying the blasted chapter that was as hard as it was fascinating I really couldn't do anything but sleep due to exhaustion. It took six days of reading rereading and when I was feeling particularly desperate asking Magneto questions before I got the material and another day to go over what I knew.

No, there wasn't a choir singing, but by understanding how my mutation worked I felt like a veil was lifted off my face. Things made much more sense afterward. Amazingly, I actually learned all the material and passed his test.

You what you get for doing that? More work.

I almost regretted staring at the calc book in his library because apparently that was assigned to me too.

I'm not pleased with the fact that we have so little free time to further our plans. Logic said

Free time what's that? Cynicism chimed in.

Freetime is defined as Logic started

That was my life. I really couldn't understand why he honestly cared if my brain died a slow death due to lack of use.

He also had the very annoying habit of telling me which problems I was wrong on if he found any of my papers. As if I can't go to the back of the book and find out myself.

The work assigned was so hard (he kept giving me texts that were beyond my level ) that there would be no way I'd be able to figure it all out on top of my ordinary training without his help. So I ended up in his office often.

One day, after all my questions were answered he challenged me to a game of chess. It interested me because that was something I could actually beat him at. I sat down and put all my focus onto the game.

"Besides your mother what is your view on humans?"

Ah yes, talking during the game- something that annoyingly told me that he wasn't working at 100% here.

Well, at least he's straightforward.

We had a rather odd way of dealing with each other. There was some unspoken agreement between us that cut out BS with prejudice. I can't lie to him so I didn't bother trying and he knew I was smart enough to see through his lies.

I kept my eyes on the chess pieces as I said "Humans like anyone else can choose to do good or evil. There are about seven billion of them on the Earth so it's a bit unfair to generalize."

"And if I were to specify what about the humans who wrote the Mutant Registration Act?"

I look up at this.

"You're familiar with it?" He asked knowing I definitely did considering who I was.

I recognized the attempt to get me emotional miles away. I couldn't win this by arguing on his terms no only cool and strong logic will work.

"I read every page- familiar doesn't cover it." I say neutrally.

I pause then said "They're afraid and that's what caused them to write that putrid bill that people tried to pass through Congress."

I could hear the disbelief in his next words.

"Just fear? You really honestly think that they don't hate us? That the fact that the Senators pushing the bill are also members of The Friends of Humanity is just a coincidence?"

He practically snatched my knight off the board with his power when he captured it with a pawn.

"No. What I'm saying is that their fear is what's really relevant. There are Senators who hate African Americans, but guess what their personal hatred isn't going to bring back segregation. No, discriminating against African Americans isn't in."

"In? You make it sound like a fashion trend."

I shrug "A good portion of politics is just that. It's nothing new. One party making the other party look as bad as possible by vilifying them. One party working to discriminate against a minority to gain political power by exploiting the fears of the majority. Now the flavor of the day is mutants and we get these guys in congress."

Ironically, race relations are probably the best they've been ever. Common enemy and all that.

I shook my head "Anyway, the Congressman's fear are just symptoms to a bigger problem. People are afraid and are willing to support bills and politicians that blatantly ignore mutants rights because of that fear." I move another piece after saying this,

"And you don't believe that most humans hate mutants."

"No- we haven't gotten to that point yet or assaults on mutants would be far more common. It seems like the news has for once has been very bad at making monsters out of men. You've got as many people saying help those unfortunate people as kill them all. The lack of an actual war is because of this precarious balance."

"And where do you think the scale is tipping?" He looks directly at me as if he already knew what I'd say.

I frown. He got me there.

"More hate. I'm not sure what who but it seems like the other side needs a martyr that they can use to push their point even further- stick the person's face everywhere emotional appeals and all that. Say this is justice for whatever person they decide to rally around and push the idea that justice means stamping out the rights of mutants."

Magneto seemed to be thinking over what I said.

Great, I'm giving the guy ideas. Well, in for a penny..

I stare at the board absently "Most mutants are peaceful and have harmless powers thus there haven't been mutants not affiliated with the Brotherhood that the press could write off as complete monsters successfully - not that they aren't trying."

I glance off to the side as if I were daydreaming as I say. "The Brotherhood is seen as an extremist group. That means that most people don't think you're the norm. If they did the Mutant Registration Act would be passed without question and an actual war would happen."

I pick up my queen in thought " It just takes one thing. A really powerful mutant that loses control of their abilities in a way that scares practically everyone or maybe they'd purposefully use their powers in an evil way. Combine that incident with the fact that the person seemed like anyone else and everyone will be riddled with paranoia. MRA get passed etc. Egg shells we're walking on them."

I move my queen as I say "Checkmate."

Magneto looked very surprised at the loss. I was feeling rather confident and challenged him to another game.

"If you know already what's coming then why didn't you join us in the first place?"

I pause before speaking. I thought every word out because Magneto is a very good at destroying flawed arguments.

''Your plan would make humans subordinates to mutants rather than equals."

There is no way he could deny that this was true. It seemed like a good sentence to start with.

"Because they are-we are the future. Not them." He says in a tone that would prevent most people from disagreeing. But, I've never been a normal person.

Only tyrants forbid people from disagreeing with them.

"We're different because of the X gene, but superior I don't believe it."

He looked at me with a mixture of suspicion and disbelief.

"And what do you call my ability to stop hundred of trained human soldiers with a flick of the hand."

I had a response ready.

"Different. Humans and mutants are sentient life forms and thus should be treated as such. It doesn't matter about the actual physical or mental capabilities of that person. Don't disabled people deserve to be treated with decency? Same thing here."

I mentally gave myself a thumbs up for that argument.

"And how then do we plan to get to that point?"

I could almost hear my argument deflate under the weight of that pesky thing called reality.

I frown "No idea."

"You reject my plan when you're unable to think of your own."

I had to recover. I start "Civil rights movement-"

He chimed in "A situation that nowhere compares to scale of what we're dealing with. African American's didn't have the power we have and if they did would you fault them for using it?"

I wouldn't be able to. Slavery and the systematic discrimination that followed prevented many from achieving their full potential by denying African Americans rights they should have for being human. Something that was in my mind disgusting and wrong. I couldn't hate someone who lashed back at those who oppressed them.

He pressed on "Don't you think it's unnatural that the strong are being hunted by the weak and that you're letting them do that."

I was surprised that I somehow ended up in this and asked "And how am I doing that?"

"By not doing anything your only part of the problem." In other words if you're not doing what I think mutant kind needs your part of the problem.

I choose to not say anything after this. There is no arguing with this type of logic. My experience with my mother taught me this. I ended up losing the second chess game.

We played another game and while it was dreadfully close I ended up pulling through.

After the pieces were put aside, I started to walk out the door.

"Do you think of yourself as a prisoner?"

Interesting question.

And since it was interesting question it deserved an interesting answer.

I turn around to face the elderly, but by no means frail man. "Prisoner conscript depends on what term I feel like using that day." I say.

Honestly, the question was a trap. If I said yes then he'd be unhappy with me telling the truth. If I said no he'd call me out on the lie. Because it was a trap and I was doomed no matter I did I might as well spring the trap and have fun as I did it.

"Interesting, that you feel this way when you're around your own kind." He was insinuating something I wanted no part in so I sidestepped the implication.

"Regardless of the fact that everyone on the island is a mutant the fact remains that I do not want to be here hence prisoner. The Brotherhood is a military organization hence conscription."

My flawless logic irritated him.

If you didn't want an honest answer you should've said so.

"I don't push me Alster or I may choose to make your life more in step with these notions you have."

My heart stopped. He could and of course at the moment there was nothing I could do about that. I didn't say so or even act like it, but I was starting to doubt myself more than usual.

Being easily bested by Magneto hurt me mentally as well as physically. The fact that I couldn't do anything about my situation ate at me.

I must've shown my uneasiness because he kept going.

"Your mother is currently staying at a mental hospital. What do you think would happen if she were suddenly released."

I felt like I was hit in the gut. "She'd probably get hit by a car."

That and even if she was perfectly ok she'd never survive on the streets. She was simply a different breed of poor.

In my house we had food scarcity at times, but we always had something to split. The rule was generally whatever we had got split 50 50. Though, when she noticed I was having a growth spurt she tried to change the ratio to 60 40.

I of course objected to this but she had a very motherlike way of getting me to eat more. Food happened to appear on my plate and I'd eat it before questioning how it got there. I of course tried to be more vigilant, but somehow I always fell for her tricks. I blame my boyish appetite and fast metabolism.

My mom's tricks for getting me to eat more or mending old clothing would in no way apply to the problem of her being homeless.

"That would be unfortunate." He said in a way that indicated that he'd be in no way concerned about killing a woman for no reason.

I could hear the blood pumping in my eardrums.

What does he mean by that?

I told myself that I waited for the man to explain himself because I wanted to know what he was going to do. In reality, I was too terrified to move. I didn't know what course of action to take. All the routes available to me seemed to only end in failure.

He then said "Your rather short sighted."

"Shortsighted?" I say to make sure I heard right. I couldn't see how this at all related to the much more important issue of my mother's safety.

"You despite knowing what is to come would rather go about your life and not prepare for the war that is coming."

I decide to not bring my mother up unless he did.

Ok I had to admit defeat there. My plan to live a quiet life would've solved nothing. Still the point remains that I shouldn't be forced in a war I didn't want to fight.

Who cares if in that context my actions sound stupid? I ought to be able to make these decisions for myself. You no right to make decisions for me.

I think to myself and say nothing.

"You're hung up on the fact that you don't want to be here- something that is irrelevant as the feelings of boy that doesn't want to go to school or a sailor caught in a storm. He can't wish himself out of it and so he either sails or drowns."

The comparison he made between a child who doesn't want to go to school and me rubbed me the wrong way.

Children have breaks from school. Children can go home after school is over. Children can switch schools. Children if they act bad enough can get kicked out of the school they're in. No, I find that five year olds are given far more freedom of choice then I am currently. Logic said.

I was irritated and still shaken from the threat, but I forced myself to calm down and in a moment said " If I'm sailor on a ship then you are."

"A captain preventing a ship from sinking using every resource I have available. If that means dragging lazy or in your case unwilling sailors to their posts then so be it."

That is so like him framing himself as the good guy here.

I visibly bristled at the idea of being a resource.

I left the office a soon as I could and went to my room. On my way there I noticed an old dartboard and scurried to the kitchen. Throwing knives a faded dartboard made me feel a bit better and after all the rock throwing had developed decent hand eye coordination.

He entered my room as my third knife hit the target."Today 2 mutant children were shot to death."

I wasn't unfamiliar with how unfortunately common shootings of mutants were were.

And the context is what?

"If the girls were in front of you as you were shot would be willing to help them or do you care more about concealing your identity?" I turned around quickly when I hear the question.

I had been forced in that sort of position before. It involved a very fast aluminum bike whose brakes malfunctioned, a hill, and a small child. In the end, I did not regret my decision.

"The girls." I distinctly remember people calling the little boy's sudden stop a miracle. Had he moved a few more inches he would've been hit by a truck. I had to do damage control before the people who saw (luckily only the boy's family) started spreading rumors.

I went to the boy and fixed his brakes for him on the spot and made a complicated excuse for the stop that made no sense to a person who had an ounce of knowledge of physics. They bought it.

It's amazing how you mention algebra or trigonometry once and people's brains seem to turn off. It's not even that hard.

I thought as I went home from the almost disaster. I felt a pang of guilt for the fact that I contemplated not saying the boy for a split second rationalizing that it wouldn't be my fault, but that excuse fell flat.

"Really?" The implications of the question irritated me.

I decided to turn the argument back on him.

"What have I done that would suggest I would let them be killed by bullets that I can easily pluck out the air?"

"You've been here almost a month you're still rather shy about using your mutation even around us. It stands to reason you'd freeze up before you could save them."

He didn't know it (he had no way of knowing), but what he was saying had a bit of basis in reality. I did hesitate when I saw the boy on a bike had it actually been the two girls there wouldn't have been time for delay.

Magneto continued as I thought back to what happened not long ago."I don't understand you at times. Your evasive when you don't need to be. Why keep up the facade when you had to power to end anyone that bothered you?"

"I don't fight unless provoked."

That was a rather bad choice of words.

"And you're not provoked or angry at the suffering of your people?"

"I am I think it's horrific and wrong." I say automatically.

"You think that yet rather watch from a distance. That's quite the contradiction."

Yes, and I'm sure you think you have all the answers just kill humans until they do what we want.

I chose to not say anything at this. Magneto took this as his cue to keep talking

"There will be no time for hesitation. The day will come that you will be unable to do anything but fight and kill those who would kill you if you don't kill them first."

The statement made sense and it was the truth, but it grated harshly on my eardrums.

There was a permanency in killing that prevented me from doing that even if the person arguably deserved it. I couldn't think of an offense that someone did to me that would warrant such permanent action. I despised my father, yes but even so I wouldn't have killed him. Though I can't say I wouldn't have harmed him had he somehow risen from the dead.

A few days later before physical training started I decided to go find Mystique. The pattern for grocery shopping seems to be every two weeks while oddly enough the newspaper got to the island everyday.

I'd already determined that Magneto wasn't the person who grocery shopped so it made sense to try and understand the movements of the other members of the Brotherhood.

Mystique seemed to be the person who seemed to be the most likely to travel off the island frequently. She could shapeshift and could go anywhere without trouble. Also, she seemed to vanish at a moments notice- I'd see her at breakfast and the next time I see her could be the next day.

No matter where I went on many days I just couldn't find her. At first, it seemed like a coincidence, but no one's movements are that erratic. If she was on the island I would've picked up on a pattern by now. Toad's disappearances seemed to mirror hers and I often caught him taking food out the refrigerator just before they would disappear for the day.

I cut Sabertooth from my investigation because I had no reason believe that he'd leave the island .If I was right and Toad and Mystique were working in sync then I didn't believe Magneto would let Sabertooth leave often. It was frankly a waste of manpower and Sabertooth seemed to have no special skills that would help the Brotherhood outside of fighting.

I couldn't find the shapeshifter anywhere in the castle even after knocking on her room door and exploring the island.

When I gave up on the search I walk back to the main hall an idea struck me and I decided to try it.

I grabbed a light bulb held it in my hand and twisted the magnetic field below the metal stem in every way I could think of.

There was a click and a flash of light emanated from the bulb before disappearing.

More slowly I repeated the shapes I put the magnetic field in to determine which shape or series of shapes created current.

I added some more light bulbs because I wanted to see if I could divert the power in multiple directions at once. I kept experimenting to see if I could. I'd just figured out how when Magneto saw me in the main hall with several bright lightbulbs in my hand. I was too busy playing with my new ability to notice -adding more or less current to dim or brighten the bulbs I held.

I didn't see his face, but I'm sure he was surprised by my off the cuff discovery.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself."

I turn around. "It's very interesting." I admit. I felt far more than what they words conveyed. I was in awe of the fact that I could use my own power to create electricity. It wasn't even very draining. This usually complex process could suddenly be done by me alone.

I am creating electricity a force of nature through magnetic induction using none of the usual equipment needed to do this. All just because I wanted to shape the magnetic field around me in a certain way.

I had to keep my eyes flickering between the stem of the bulbs and the the lit ends of the lightbulbs to reassure myself that this was real. It was- unlike dream mother it was tangible and would be a part of me as long as I lived.

I suddenly felt better after I thought this, Even the strongest people needed a security blanket in some way. Something that tells them that everything will be ok in the end.

For some it was their faith for me it had always been a been my ability to deal with conflict rationally. I felt a sudden increase in confidence that I'd be able to one day get of the bind I was in. I just had to be smarter and more powerful.

"You're progressing a phenomenally fast pace." Magneto said after a brief period of silence. I'd never heard him say anything like that before.

"Really?" I was confused there. I knew I was getting better from my point of view but he never said I was learning that fast.

"Scarcely a week has passed since you learned about magnetic induction and you figure out how to power several lights simultaneously the span of an hour."

With my power I sent the bulbs back to the storage room I'd gotten them from.

"The only way to explain that is that you're talented." I'd never heard him say anything like that before. I never considered myself to be talented at anything. Nothing I did was that hard anyone could learn trigonometry if it's explained right etc.

I hadn't been called a genius by anyone I knew besides the people who did the GED tutoring and I took their opinions with a pound of salt. It's easy to think someone's a genius when you haven't gotten the chance to study algebra until your 30's etc. My mom didn't even call me intelligent anymore after a church leader told me she that It would give me "sinful pride".

Its funny that I could handle bullies, getting robbed, had fended off a robber with a baseball bat, but the moment someone recognized that I was talented I didn't know what to do. More specifically, being told I'm talented by someone that I knew had to be genius himself. I was waiting for the punchline, the statement that he'd use to prove that I couldn't ever be on his level. This didn't happen.

Magneto noticed my reaction. How did I know? He was freer with praise than usual during training. The change of course confused me though eventually I stopped waiting for the punchline when he said that I did well at something. It did feel nice to get acknowledged for doing something right.

Another day later, after a very close chess match that I lost I asked Magneto a question.

" Do actually think I'd register myself?" I ask while sounding slightly offended by the idiocy of the action.

Yes, totaly register yourself when you happen to share the mutation of the leader of a terrorist organization the government is going against. Lovely idea. They'd of course know I wasn't Magneto but that wouldn't change the fact that they'd be very "interested" in me.

Even if I didn't have a record and they thought I wasn't a member of the Brotherhood I didn't think they were above "temporarily" holding me so they could synthesise something that canceled out Magneto's powers. And after that? They'd either kill me or use me in someway or another.

Who knows maybe in another reality I still ended up in the Brotherhood except as an inside agent. When I thought of that idea I instantly recoiled. If I escaped that predicament I'd be running from the US government and the Brotherhood at the same damn time. No thanks.

He instantly responded."No, your not that naive." He seemed to frown at the inherent stupidity of that plan as I did.

"Naive." That was a word I never thought would apply to me.

"You're in no way stupid so naivety would be the only explanation for why you'd register yourself." He continued.

"Despite your aversion to warfare. I'm sure you would get involved in this war one way or another and would never consider registering especially given recent events."

"Recent events like what - bringing sentinels program from the 70's." I jumped to the worst possible scenario that the New York Times wouldn't officially cover.

"Almost but not quite." His face told me he was hiding something.

Almost but not quite- that means those monsters are still operational. That's..

He could see me connecting the dots in my head.

"The new sentinels lack metal anywhere in them and are made of plastic. More specifically plastic that dampens magnetic fields "

That confirmed it they were still around.

I cautiously say "Government sponsored."

I felt sick.

Going back to my old life before I had my mutation was starting to sound very appealing. I'd happily take back the textbooks from 1970 and the ignorant bullies. I couldn't do this. I couldn't do warfare and the possibility of my own government turning against me.

"Of course. But, you already know that." He told me.

He opened up his desk using an extremely quick series of magnetic field gymnastics. I couldn't even get a read on what magnetic field shapes he used to open the lock.

This was no doubt placed there so I couldn't access what he didn't want me to see. If I made one mistake or pushed a pin in the lock too late or too early he'd be notified.

Once the desk opened he handed me stack of papers. I started reading. I skim through useless verbiage until I got to what was useful.

In response to a new security risk, the reimplementation of the Sentinel Program will begin immediately. Additional the funding for said program will double from 13 billion to 26 billion US dollars...

I'm a calligrapher's son, I could tell that this was official. The paper was typed on very expensive paper that the US government used for important documents and more importantly the paper lacked this key thing called spacing out your paragraphs.

The two groups who do that are businesses and the US government. They smashed all the paragraphs together in attempt to save paper and prevent people from reading more than completely necessary. A clever ploy used to prevent accountants or curious assistants from noticing anything above their pay grade. Think tax fraud or in this case secret government programs designed to kill mutants.

I felt a wave of horror rise in me.

"Enough evidence for you?"

I was too stunned to speak. It was one thing to theorize, but it is another to be confronted with evidence of the lack of respect for the lives of mutants the CIA had. They even had plans that would automatically roll into action if (or rather when) The Mutant Registration Act passed.

At the moment, all mutant registration was done voluntarily (as far as the public knew) and it was used to "Direct mutants to the programs they need to deal with their problems in a constructive and non dangerous way". That was a quote from a government program that "helped" mutants.

There was also the registry kept by the FOH. They reported any "muties" they saw and any information they knew about them. This one was not voluntary at all and they didn't pretend that it was either- they used terrible slurs on the site.

None of these registries could compare to a national registry. The FOH lacked the detail about abilities and identities of mutants because the people who collected the information weren't very scientifically inclined (or very smart for that matter). The mutant control agency had very few mutants on file for obvious reasons. The proposed increased in funding for the implementation of the Mutant Registration Act would combine top level science and the coercive power of the government to create a dangerous combination.

I quickly gave him back the paper. I wanted to go back to my room or somewhere isolated and think on the matter. Was I allowed to do this? No.

I normally would've loved reading instead of physical training except the subject of the reading was beyond grim.

He gave me a copy of the paper, a copy of the files the FOH had, a list of anti mutant organizations their leaders and locations (some of which I didn't even know about), and to end it off the new version of the MRA that was back in congress.

I kept reading until I reached the end of the stack. Then I read certain parts over and over unable to understand how someone could hate a group of people so much. I was extremely quiet at dinner as I just couldn't process what I read. It was too much at once.

Another day another chapter written. What do you think? Magneto's taking out the big guns because Chris will not respond to anything, but cold hard evidence. Unfortunately, Magneto has this in spades. Is all the evidence real? Very. I do like their dynamic they are refreshingly open with each other because doing anything else would be pointless.

Chris is a bit overwhelmed. I don't blame him this isn't the sort of problem you'd expect a 14 year old to deal with at all. He grew up protecting himself and his mother and he's great at solving real world problems, but he's never had to deal with anything of this scale. Honestly, the kid had enough on his plate before he became a mutant once he did everything only become more complicated.

Magneto's not an idiot. If you think about the events in this chapter his actions make sense. Chris is a gifted kid that almost never gets recognized for how smart he is. Magneto wants to take advantage of every resource he has and frankly Chris is a gold mine. He's intelligent, young, and learns quickly. So from his point of view it makes perfect sense to push him in every way physically and mentally. What good is genius if it's untapped etc?

The lack of free time gives him very little time to work on his escape plans. That was deliberate. Notice how even with the very little free time given, he has already mapped out the schedule of Toad and Mystique. Now imagine how far he'd be if Magneto didn't keep him busy. Also, by spending more time with Magneto because he needs to he's more comfortable talking to him. Which lead to the debate they had.

Now why would Magneto let Chris disagree with him? Because he was confident he'd win the argument and in the end he did. By indulging Chris's (in Magneto's mind) youthful nativity he would bypass Chris's stubborn nature. This stubbornness happens to be triggered by people telling him what to believe. Take away that and he's suddenly the most open minded person you could meet. He's a very logical person and will gravitate to arguments that make sense given the evidence in front of him.

Chris, even if he is a very well adjusted mutant personality wise, has a very warped idea of normalcy. He has never been appreciated for his gifts, has never had a father figure and has a semi available mother figure. Fun fact: He often dreamt about his mother before he left Chicago. Why? Most kids dream about what they like for example football. Because she might be physically around, but often isn't mentally there. The dream mother he talks to is from his idealized childhood memories. Notice she said he was "blessed with intelligence" words his mother real mother hasn't called him by in years.

He has a craving for stability that he met pretty well by being the guy he is. Now his world is coming apart, his mother is gone, and he's sure that no matter what he does he will never get back his old life. Sure, he hated most of it but at least he was used to it.

Mr Buckethead notices these chinks in his armor and is exploiting them to the fullest. Threatening Chris's mother is not off the table and he'll use her in a heartbeat to control him. But at the same time, he's in a rather twisted way the most encouraging person the teen has met. He pushes Chris on a daily basis, tells him that he's talented, and encourages him to learn more and be better. Ironic right? Hey, I did say he wouldn't be a cookie cutter villain.

Chris wanted nothing more than to be able to move beyond what he knew and leave his impoverished background behind him. He wanted out of the game of musical chairs his mother played with cults, wanted her to get quality mental health care, and spend his life solving hard problems that could be used in the real world. Be careful what you wish for eh? He has gotten all of that. He doesn't have to deal with the cults his mother took him to, his powers of magnetism were growing by the day exponentially under the instruction of man who is literally a master of his mutation, his mother was at a mental hospital, and there can't be problem in the world harder than answering this question:

In response to growing anti mutant mutant hysteria what should mutant do to defend themselves. Go to war with humans or integrate among them?

But, because he lost his freedom none of these things matter. Really, had Magneto done this thing called asking politely while laying out the terms of the deal odds are Chris would've came with him. It would've taken a bit more time than simply kidnapping him because he'd need to convince the teen that his way was the right way, but then he wouldn't have to deal with a rebellious teenager at all.

I love irony it keeps things interesting.

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