Indomitable X-Men

Band of Brothers

Chapter Ten

…

The X-Men held a hurried discussion on what they were going to say before slowly walking to the police cordon, Kavita Rao and Tildie in tow. Cyclops took a deep breath. As leader of this mission, he was the spokesperson, and he wasn't happy about it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a police officer asked as they got close.

"We just saved Chicago from Magneto," Cyclops said. "We want to talk to the press."

"Excuse me!" a reporter called from behind the line. "Excuse me! Can I ask you a few questions?"

The X-Men pushed past the police officer. "Sure," said Cyclops. "Whatever you want. Shoot."

"I'm Trish Tilby, reporting for NPR-TV," she said, gesturing to a nearby camera. "Now, you told the police that you just saved Chicago, is that correct?"

"I believe it is," Cyclops replied. "I mean, there's, uh, something of a mess," he chuckled wryly. "But I think that we helped save some lives."

"Well, who are you, exactly?" Tilby asked. "What gave you the right to interfere in this, a matter which some people might think was better left to the Chicago police department?"

"I'll answer the first question first," Cyclops decided. "I'm Cyclops, with the X-Men. That's X-hyphen-M-E-N, as in the mutant X-gene, you got that?" He gestured to the others. "These are my teammates: Marvel, Iceman, and Angel. We've got another member called Beast, but he couldn't make it today." Rubbing his chin, Cyclops thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, and we're mutants."

Tilby's eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly regained herself. "Well, I suppose that's obvious," she said, "considering one of you is made of ice, and the 'Angel' has wings." She cleared her throat. "Again, why did you interfere in this?"

"Well, we've tangled with a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants before," Cyclops explained. "Or, as we call them, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They're bad dudes. But anyway, we don't agree with what Worthington's doing with his 'cure' for mutants, but we think that Magneto's way of doing stuff causes more harm than good. Us X-Men, we just want mutants and baseline humans to live in peace."

"Thank you…Cyclops," Tilby said. "That's all for now." As the X-Men left, they could hear her behind them talking. "Again, that was Cyclops, leader of the mutant splinter group known as the 'X-Men'. This is Trish Tilby, NPR-TV news reporting. Over to you."

"So," Iceman said, "anyone remember where we parked?"

…

"I don't like it," Pietro whispered to Wanda, many hours later in the back of the Brotherhood's van. "Magneto killed people in there. He says he is freedom fighter," he looked around and lowered his voice, "but I think he might just be a terrorist."

"I think he is right," Wanda replied. "You have seen how they treat people like us in this country. 'Land of the free'? Hah!" she scoffed. "It's a joke. People who are different are not free."

"I am in agreement with both of you," whispered Kurt Wagner from the seat behind them. "Magneto's goal is just, ja. But the way he goes about getting there may be wrong."

"What about those people we had to fight?" Pietro said, slightly louder. "Who were they?"

"The X-Men?" Toad called back from a few seats up. "They're bad news, bro. I've fought them more than once, come out the worst every time."

"We're here," Mastermind said, pulling to a stop in front of the brownstone the Brotherhood called home. "Get out. I need to find an icepack for my head."

"Do not even mention icepacks!" said Pietro. "I'm cold all over."

"Yes, you were all great disappointments," Magneto said, getting out of the van. "More training is certainly needed before our next battle with Xavier's brats."

"Who is Xavier?" Kurt asked.

"He is none of your business," Magneto said, giving the young man a sharp glance. He turned and swept into the building, his cape fluttering behind him. The rest of the Brotherhood gave each other confused glances before following behind.

Once inside, Magneto went into the common room. He stopped in the doorway, stiffening. Someone was sitting there in the dark. "Well, Magnus," they said, "that was a rather spectacular failure." A pale hand reached out and lit a lamp, revealing Mister Sinister sitting in Magneto's large armchair. "At least we know my serum works."

"I don't have time for this, Sinister," Magneto said, walking into the room, followed by his Brotherhood. "If you have something important to say, then say it. Or leave."

"I got the results back from the blood tests," said Sinister as he stood up. He straightened his suit and faced Magneto. "The Scarlet Witch's and Quicksilver's were very interesting."

"Really?" asked Magneto, removing his helmet and raising an eyebrow. "And why would that be?"

"I ran the tests multiple times to be sure," said Sinister, "and now I am. They're your children, Magnus."

A candlestick leapt across the room and transformed into a knife in Magneto's hand. Before anyone could stop him, he lunged forward, driving the blade between Sinister's ribs. "Do not mock me, Sinister!" he hissed. "My children died at Wundagore the day they were born! You know this. You were there!"

"Let me go…and I'll explain…" Sinister choked, a black substance frothing on his lips. Magneto drew back, removing his knife, and Sinister held his side for a moment before removing his hand. Far from being a bloody wound, the gash in his side looked as though someone had stabbed a lump of wet clay. It closed as everyone looked on, and Sinister inspected his torn clothing. "This was my favorite suit," he sighed in annoyance.

"Explain yourself immediately!" demanded Magneto.

"I would like to hear this explanation too," Pietro said, nervously stepping forward. "My sister and I have a father—Django Maximoff." He gestured to Magneto. "We only met this man last week."

"I didn't believe it when the test results came back," said Sinister. "Wanda and Pietro—those are your names, correct?"

"Yes," said Wanda.

"Wanda and Pietro are far too young to be your children, Magnus. But then, a thought came to me that perhaps I could, ah, make amends for that tragedy all those years ago."

"You will never be able to make amends for that betrayal, Sinister," Magneto snarled. "Just get on with your tale."

"Well, I decided to make sure," Sinister continued. "I had the Vanisher take me back to Wundagore, and I and my Marauders searched the wreckage of the Hellfire Evolutionary Institution. The only skeleton we found…was Magda's. There were no babies there, Magnus. From there, I visited some of my contacts inside the Club, and learned that the Inner Circle had, in fact, rescued two children from Wundagore, and placed them in stasis—a sort of cryo-freeze chamber they have— to be used as weapons later."

"That would explain their age…" Magneto mused, looking at the twins, a new light in his eye.

"That's not all," Sinister said. "Seventeen years ago, they removed the children from stasis in order to allow them to grow. They placed them with a man living in Transia. A man named Django Maximoff."

Pietro crossed his arms. "I think I would remember being taken in and out of stasis," he said, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Not if you were a baby when it happened," Sinister pointed out.

"Even if all of this is true," Wanda said slowly, "we have a father. Django Maximoff is our father." She looked at Magneto. "I am willing to give you a trial run, but you did not raise us."

"I know," Magneto said, sitting in a chair and holding his head in his hands. "And I am so sorry for that, children. If I had known you were alive…"

"I'll take my leave now," Sinister said, sneering. "Family reunions are not my forte."

Magneto glared at the pale biologist as he plucked a top hat and great-coat from a coat rack and walked out, pushing past Toad, Kurt, and Mastermind, who were watching the whole thing as though it were a play. "Don't you have injuries to tend to?" Magneto asked them dangerously. The whole group suddenly left, leaving Magneto, Pietro, and Wanda by themselves.

Pietro shifted uncomfortably for a second before blurring and reappearing on a couch. "If Wanda is willing to give a chance," he said to Magneto, "then I will too."

"Thank you," said Magneto. "My children…you don't know what this means to me."

"First, we should get to know each other," Wanda said, sitting down on the other end of the couch. "What's your real name?"

"It's Erik," Magneto said slowly, as though remembering something he had not thought of in a long time. "My name is Erik Lensherr, and your mother's name was Magda. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. In fact, you look a bit like her, Wanda, now that I think about it. We met in 1962…"

…

When the X-Men got back to the Xavier Institute, they found Hank waiting for them in the hangar. He didn't look all that happy. "You fought a battle without me?" he asked. "And Scott is a better team leader than me?"

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"It's all over the news!" Hank exclaimed. "Oh, my stars and garters, you did wonderfully! People in Chicago are beginning to come out as being pro-mutant, and Worthington Pharmaceuticals is shutting down their mutant curative project!"

"That's probably because we took their top scientist," Jean said, leading Dr. Rao down the ramp. "Hank, meet Dr. Kavita Rao, former scientist for WorthPharm. Dr. Rao, this is Hank McCoy. He loves science. Especially biology and chemistry."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. McCoy," Dr. Rao said, extending a hand to shake. "I apologize for my appearance at the moment, but it cannot be helped."

"That's not a problem," Professor Xavier said, wheeling his chair across the hangar floor towards where everyone was gathered. "We'll do our best to help you adjust to your new form, and perhaps even reverse it. In the mean time, I hope you'll help us in our endeavors." He turned to the X-Men without waiting for a reply. "My X-Men, you all did very well, but in the future, attempt to work more as a team, rather than a group of individuals." He smiled warmly. "However, I am certain that will come with time. I am proud of you all. Now, let's go have dinner."

"Excuse me, Professor?" said Hank.

"Yes, Henry, what is it?" the Professor asked.

"I would like to step down as coryphaeus of the X-Men," he said. "I wasn't there when I was needed, and Scott did better than I feel I could do. Besides, I feel like I'm not quite old enough for the responsibility yet."

"What's a coryphaeus?" Bobby whispered to Scott.

"No idea," he replied.

"Judging from context, I think it means leader," Jean said.

Professor Xavier furrowed his brow. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, Henry," he said. "For now, let's just enjoy tonight."

"Certainly," Hank said. "I did some of the cooking!" he announced to the groans of the X-Men. "I hope everyone likes Coq au Vin, because I think I'm excellent at preparing it, if I do say so myself."

…

And so our intrepid heroes head off to a feast worthy of the halls of Asgard! Never fear though, true believers. They'll be back eventually to take a road trip and fight some crazy villains in 'Indomitable X-Men: Weapon X'! Til then, Sayonara!