Snakehead
12
"You must be William Stryker." It was more of a statement than a question. Magneto knew exactly who the bigoted (and thanks to Quentin, bloodied) preacher was.
"The pleasure is all your's, Hellspawn." Stryker pulled a gun from his suit jacket and emptied the chambers at The Master of Magnetism. The bullets sped backwards and struck the asphalt around him, kicking up sharp bits of asphalt.
Xavier rushed toward the scene, "Erik, don't do this! Don't make a martyr out of him!"
"You truly are a fool, Charles, if you value the lives of animals such as this." Magneto waved his hand and a bubble of glimmering energy encircled the fallen preacher, lifting him into the air, "The 'Reverend' and I need to have a discussion. A private discussion."
Stryker snarled defiantly, "Go to Hell!"
"I spent my childhood in Hell, Mr. Stryker, thanks to men like you. I intend to end this cancer now, before it spreads."
A tree tore itself from the school grounds and struck Magneto roots-first, stunning him and causing the preacher to fall several feet to the ground. The tree itself fell upon Stryker's car, smashing it flat.
A quizzical look crossed Magneto's face. Charles would not attack him so. "Who?"
Quentin smiled. He had no desire to stop Magneto from harming Stryker, but he didn't want to miss the chance to get in a shot at the great Magneto either.
Magneto chose to ignore the youth, hoping that he would leave him be. Police sirens roared as half a dozen cop cars converged on the protest site. Magneto eyed them with contempt, picked up the half-conscious Stryker and rushed away, leaving chaos in his wake.
...
A short time later,
Thomas looked at the two soaked boys who entered his shared bedroom, "What happened?"
"Don't ask." Ray pulled off his shirt and grabbed some dry clothing, "I'm going to take a hot shower."
"Yo, Tom, can I borrow some clothes?" Todd was already stripping off his sodden garments, and Thomas rushed to close the curtains before the boy inadvertently exposed himself to everyone on earth with a television set.
"Yeah . . . Sure. Right side of the dresser." Thomas couldn't help but feel a bit confused at the surreal sight of his 'enemy' standing stark naked and soaking wet in his room. The boy was thin, surprisingly well-muscled, but clearly undernourished. Todd began rummaging through Tom's clothes, pulling out a pair of shorts. Ray threw him a towel to dry himself before closing the bathroom door, leaving Thomas to wonder what to do with the pile of wet clothing on the floor. He cringed despite himself as the unclad youth flopped onto his bed to pull on the provided clothing.
"This don't bother you, does it?" Todd asked. "Sorry, I wasn't thinkin' about . . ."
"Nothing I haven't seen before." Thomas answered honestly, "But I'd make sure the curtains are shut first next time. Three words; International News Conference." Todd blushed and his eyes bulged even more than usual. "Thanks for pullin' the shades, Dawg."
"What happened to you?"
"Our house fell down and Lance broke a water main. We all got soaked."
Thomas gaped in shock, "Your house fell down? What are you going to do?"
"Storm said we could stay here for now. Why are your pillows at the foot of the bed?"
"That's how I sleep. Are you alright?" Thomas sat beside the boy, it was his bed after all.
"I been dealin' with this kind a' crap all my life, it don' bother me no more, yo." He grinned, "You shoulda' seen Ray beat the hell out of Duncan."
"Who?"
"Oh, yeah, you haven't had the displeasure. Duncan Matthews is a Grade-A dick and Jean's ex-boyfriend. Captain of the football team, big-shot jock with a brain the size of a pea." He cocked his head slightly, "Wait, press conference? Why?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Magneto was here."
"WHAT!?" Ray shouted over the sound of the shower.
Thomas began to explain what had happened
...
"He just took him and left?" Ray emerged from the bathroom fairly dry. He'd changed into a pair of light blue sweatpants and had fixed his hair. Todd lay sprawled on his back in Tom's bed.
Todd eyed Ray's bare, chiseled upper body, "Man, why can't I look like that?"
"Evolution is a cruel mistress, Todd." Thomas lamented. "You think that's unfair, you should see him naked."
Ray's eyes began to glow dangerously, "The next person to refer to my naked body will fry!"
Todd smirked, "Wassa' matter, shy?" He yelped and jumped about six feet as a low voltage spark struck his right foot. "OUCH!"
"Now, what about Magneto?" Ray demanded.
Thomas shrugged, "He just waltzed off like it was nothing. I don't know why he didn't just kill the creep on the spot. Not that that would be right, but in Magneto's screwed-up mind, who knows?" He picked up Todd's ratty, soggy clothing and put them in the laundry basket.
"What I wanna' know is, why did he come here, when his kids were getting attacked at our place, yo?" Todd sat up, rubbing his tingling foot. He lazily picked up Thomas' book, "I mean, he ain't exactly daddy of the year, but you'd think he'd at least try to help. . ." He opened Egyptian Hieroglyphics for Idiots, "Does this have that thing that ate the hearts of sinners?"
"Ammit, Devourer of Souls?"
"Yeah, that croco-hippo-hyena thingy. When they weighed the heart an' the feather."
"I'm sure there's a picture of The Weighing of The Heart in there somewhere . . . I only just started it myself."
"Shouldn't we be more concerned with the judgment we're probably about to face?" Ray asked as he searched his drawers for a clean shirt, "A street, a bus and several guys' faces got broken in that fight. An' you know Duncan's gonna' squeal like the pig he is."
Todd laughed at that, "Pig-boy gonna' squeal?"
"I'm serious! We could be in BIG trouble."
Todd flopped backwards into the bed, "So wha's new?"
Tom looked at the green youth, "How do you know about Ammit?"
"Wanda's really into all that pagan stuff."
Ray face-palmed, "Aren't you worried at all about the police?"
"Didn' they have a frog god?"
"Heqet, but she was a frog goddess."
"Unbelievable . . . " Ray shook his head. He pulled on a bright red t-shirt, "And if I smell you in my bed, Todd, your butt is toast!"
Todd stuck out his tongue at the tall boy.
Ray paused, then looked toward his roommate, "Tom, you know . . . I didn't mean anything, I mean, leavin' you behind . . ."
"I know. You don't have to apologize, I can barely throw a punch. You didn't need me."
"I do have faith in you."
"Oh, shut up. I understand already. It's not important."
...
Outside
"I assure you, we had nothing to do with Magneto's misguided attack." Charles Xavier was faced by numerous newscasters and cameras, not to mention police. And all of them demanded answers, "And we condemn this as the act of terrorism it is."
"Couldn't you have stopped him?"
"His helmet protects him from telepathic assault. There was nothing I could have done, and two of our three members with the capability of flight were not present at the time of the assault. The third is a telepath like myself and was similarly disadvantaged."
"What do you think he'll do to Reverend Stryker?"
"God only knows. No pun intended."
"What about the fact that some of your students were seen aiding Magneto's Brotherhood? Several protesters were hurt and there was a great deal of property damage to the area." One reporter pressed, "And what about the fact that you are now sheltering The Brotherhood?"
"Two of my students took it upon themselves to aid The Brotherhood, fearing for their safety. From what I understand, those fears were well founded. The Brotherhood's home and their vehicle were destroyed by these 'protesters' and they sustained minor injuries as well."
"And so did many protesters outside your school, due to mutant mind control." The reporter was clearly fishing for an 'evil mutant' angle. "Do you deny any involvement in that?"
"One of my students was responsible, against my direct orders, and he will be punished."
"By the police, or by you?"
"That remains to be determined. Now, if you have any more questions, I suggest you contact my attorney." Jean began to wheel Xavier away. They were both weakened from the mental battle with Quentin and had little energy left for 'troubleshooting'.
"What about the members of The Brotherhood?"
"As I said, you'll have to take that up with Mr. Murdock."
As soon as they were out of voice range Logan walked over to Xavier, "This is bad, Charlie. Stryker may be an racist douche-bag, but he's got thousands a' people thinking he's The Second Coming."
"I am well aware of that Mr. Logan," Xavier's face betrayed no emotion, "I can only hope that common sense will win out."
"When in all a' history did 'common sense' ever come inta' play?"
"Please, Logan," Xavier rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Thanks to Mr. Quire both Miss. Gray and myself are decidedly disadvantaged for the moment. The school is in your hands."
"What do ya' want me ta' do about that little prick Quire?"
"That's no way to speak about one of our students. And, at the moment, there is nothing we can do to Mr. Quire, he's more powerful than all of us." He sighed, "Now, all we can do is make sure both our students and The Brotherhood stay on their best behavior, we cannot afford to have another incident. I really have to rest . . . "
Logan looked from his boss to the angry, restless crowd at the gate, "I hope ya' know what yer doin' Charlie."
...
Thomas nervously looked over the statuettes on the small bookshelf while holding his cell phone, "Yeah, I'm fine. They didn't get past the gates." Thomas tried to instill a sense of calm in his metallic voice, "But I think you and Tommy need to be careful. There's a lot of nuts out there screaming for mutant blood after what happened."
"What the Hell was Magneto thinking?" Richard's voice was torn between annoyance and concern that carried clearly through the cell phone. "Is he trying to start a war?"
"Yes, I believe he is, but on his own terms. I think he figured he'd remove Stryker before he became the next Hitler. I'm afraid it's going to blow up in all of our faces, now."
"Has dad called you?"
Thomas picked up a small, cast-resin model of an Egyptian barque, "Not yet. He may not know. And, if he does, he may be too afraid to contact me directly." He set the miniature vessel down, "If you see him, tell him I'm okay. Discretely. I don't want Pierce to find out I'm here."
"You don't have to tell me, little brother." Discretion was a matter of life and death for a mercenary, especially one employed by The Hellfire Club, "Just . . . Stay safe."
"You too . . ."
...
Needless to say, Kubark was pissed that he'd missed the chance to pound Magneto into the dust. "While I was punching those puny humans Magneto came here?" He shook his fist, "I hope that coward returns so that I may give him a proper thrashing!"
...
In another part of the mansion.
"I can't believe he didn't even try to help us!"
"I can." Wanda looked at her twin, though her voice was impassive, her eyes were clearly pained, "When has he ever helped us? When has he shown the slightest concern for our well-being? We have to face facts, Pietro. Our father couldn't care less about us."
Deep down, Pietro knew that it was true, but he was still his father. Every child wants their parent's love and acceptance, and when it is denied, it is a tragedy few can face without losing a part of themselves.
...
To be continued . . .
Ammit is also known as Ammut. She is a goddess of Destruction and Justice/Judgement.
Heqet is a fertility goddess. The Plague of Frogs from Exodus was a direct (and successful) attack upon Heqet and her power.
Gratuitous Naked Todd and shirtless Ray fan service. ; )
