X-Men Neo
Issue 5
"Self-Improvement"
Almost as soon as Magneto sent out his message to the world, several things became quite apparent. For one thing, in spite of his gentle words, Magneto was a threat, and he'd decided to threaten the people of the world with his powers, and his apparent machine, with which he meant to use meteors as weapons against the established governments of the Earth. Another thing that quickly became apparent was that neither Magneto, nor the United States government were flexible enough to be talked out of the paths they'd chosen. The US government was determined to continue on in its own way, in spite of the threats leveled against it by the powerful mutant, and Magneto was determined to make them eat that decision. As much as Magneto had preached peace and tolerance such a short time ago, peace was the furthest thing from his mind. In fact, he was probably already aware that the solution to that conflict could no longer be a peaceful one. It was too late for that. The X-men were well aware that somehow, Magneto would have to be brought down if any semblance of peace were to be restored.
The problem, however, was in figuring out how to accomplish that. Reed Richards was still months away from any practical breakthroughs in his new hyperspace research, and none of the Avengers could breathe in outer space without some kind of machine or containment device made at least partially from metal. As for the military, from the looks of things, they'd be likely to follow the standard method; just chuck a bunch of bombs at the problem and hope it works out. Against Magneto, though, that tactic couldn't possibly succeed.
The worst part of it all was that there didn't seem to be any way of penetrating Magneto's defenses. Magneto had the power to control and shape metallic substances of any kind, whether refined or otherwise, and that power made him virtually invulnerable to almost all weapons that had been designed since the stone age. The only thing he wasn't invulnerable to were the mutant powers of others, and those wouldn't do any good unless the X-men could reach him. Unfortunately, reaching Magneto meant traveling into space, and traveling into space meant using a spacecraft. It was an obstacle that the X-men hadn't been able to solve when they'd thought about it the first time, and no new solutions presented themselves when they thought about it again, in spite of all they'd experienced, and all the ways in which they'd improved over time.
At first, the X-men had tried to play Magneto's game defensively, reacting when he left his floating citadel to make his move. However, that technique had been based on the idea that Magneto needed to travel to Earth in order to do any harm. Since his announcement of his plans to bombard the Earth from orbit if the world governments didn't change their policies, the very idea of defensive action against Magneto had taken on an entirely new meaning. Suddenly, the X-men had new and more urgent objectives; to chart and intercept any meteors that Magneto sent to Earth, and to do their best to stop them.
The news networks seemed to believe that Miss Marvel would be able to stop the meteors, but even Miss Marvel couldn't be everywhere at once. If Thor had still been around, he might have been able to resolve the situation, but obviously, he hadn't been seen in over a year. For a short time, Scott wondered if the X-men should be trying to locate the rogue mutant known as Anna Marie Darkholme, who still had most, if not all of Thor's powers, but he dismissed the idea just as quickly. Anna was too unpredictable and dangerous. Trying to use Illyana Rasputin's abilities to stop Magneto was equally impossible, at least for the moment. Illyana had just gotten used to the idea of living peacefully with other human beings. Yanking her back into a combat or near-combat situation would have been like giving champagne to a recovering alcoholic.
Over the course of the week that Magneto had given the people of Earth to start changing their ways, the X-men debated several possible means of defending themselves, eventually deciding upon a difficult and complicated plan, that would make full use of the powers of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Professor X. Xavier would use his telepathy to detect when a meteor was about to fall, then scan the mind of anyone who was close enough to that spot, and project that image into the mind of Kurt. Kurt, in turn, would grab Cyclops and teleport him, if necessary, for miles, to the location he was seeing in his mind. It was a good idea, in theory. The problem was that although Kurt did succeed in teleporting both himself and Scott for over five miles in a single attempt, the feat left his body almost completely drained. He just wasn't strong enough to teleport across districts, much less states or continents. If nothing else, that gave Kurt something new to improve on, while they waited for the week to pass, but he'd only managed to push his maximum distance to ten miles by the time the next signal came from Magneto, being broadcast all around the world at once.
"This is Magneto again. I'm sorry to say that I still haven't been taken seriously. If anything, fear and hatred of mutants has grown over the last week, and your governments have done nothing to attempt to prevent or undermine that. I've tried my hardest to be civil with them, but the governments of the world will need to know that there is someone to hold them accountable for their crimes. I wish there were another way, but it seems that there isn't. A pity."
Magneto frowned deeply, as he continued, "Right now, a meteor has begun its descent towards Earth. If I've calculated its weight, shape, mass, and trajectory correctly, it will enter the Earth's atmosphere in two hours and forty-one minutes. Only a few minutes after that, it will come down hard on the floor of the United States senate. This warning should give everyone in and around that building the chance to retreat to a safe location. Next time, however, there will be no warning. I mean to see that all mutants are liberated from oppression, persecution, and all the other madnesses that you humans impose on minorities. Good day."
Then, Magneto's message had ended, and that was when the X-men knew that they needed to make their move.
The X-men had rushed to the basement as quickly as they could, attempting to conserve their power as much as possible for the upcoming emergency. Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Logan, and Nightcrawler were the primary members of the team for the mission, and Jubilee, Bobby, Piotr, and Storm were coming along as well, in case things got too nasty. Henry Mccoy, who'd taken to referring to himself as "Big Blue" over the radio, was joining them, to pilot the blackbird.
The plan was a complex one, with multiple phases, in case things went badly. They intended to use the blackbird to get within teleportation range of the senate building, then have Kurt teleport Scott to that location. At that point, it was Scott's job to use his optic blasts to demolish the meteorite, or else, just cause it to lose enough of its momentum, that Marvel Girl and Storm could handle the rest, using their powers over physical motion and the Earth's atmosphere to drop the meteorite into the ocean somewhere.
Of course, there had been some doubt among the X-men about whether their training had been enough; whether they could actually solve the problem, or if it was too big of a problem for them, but even those doubts had mostly been self-doubts, or doubts about the opposition they faced. On the whole, the X-men hadn't been expecting simple bad luck to be a factor.
Just in time, the blackbird got to within ten miles of the senate building, and Kurt grabbed Scott by the wrist, causing both of them to disappear in a puff of smoke. In seconds, Kurt had reappeared at the steps of the senate building, completely exhausted, with Cyclops next to him, looking up, for any sign of the meteorite. It seemed, however, that most people in that area of the nation's capital had heard the broadcast, because when the X-men arrived, there was a crowd of panicking people, all running back and forth, trying to get in or out of the building. Many of them were well-dressed, although some were just ordinary-looking people with no clear connection to the senate at all. When Cyclops and Nightcrawler appeared among them, they didn't cause that much additional panic, but mostly because there was already plenty to go around. With all the screaming, rushing, and overall fear all around them, it would have been extremely hard to concentrate, no matter what else happened, and just as he started to see a small glint of light descending towards them from above through his visor, Scott was struck from behind by a man in a suit, who was fleeing the building.
In that moment when he was struck, Scott Summers fell forward onto the ground, and his visor slid off.
On instinct, Scott closed his eyes, reaching for where his visor had gone, only to find that another person, in an obvious hurry, had accidentally kicked it out of their way. Everyone was afraid. Everyone was panicking. No one apologized for what they'd done, and the meteorite was falling towards them from miles above; faster and faster.
Just like that, Scott had suddenly become helpless. Without his visor, he couldn't see, because if he opened his eyes, he'd tear apart whatever he looked at. It was the one moment in which Scott's fear began to overwhelm him, and he too started to panic. He didn't know what to do. Without his visor, he was blind and helpless.
However, even if he was helpless, he wasn't alone. Jean Grey had been watching him the whole time with her telepathy, and though she'd originally used it somewhat childishly, she knew that it was a power she needed, if the X-men were going to save those people. She had to connect herself to Scott's mind again, and she needed Kurt's help to do that.
"Kurt!" Jean exclaimed telepathically, drawing the attention of the exhausted young mutant, "I need your eyes."
In seconds, Kurt had stumbled to a standing position, and grabbed Scott's head from behind, looking in the direction of the falling meteorite.
"Listen, Scott." Jean said, conveying her message to him with the speed of thought, "This is important. I'm going to use Kurt's vision. For a moment, you'll be able to see through his eyes, while he holds your head in the same direction as his. When you move your head, he'll move his, and you'll be able to see with your eyes closed, but I can't keep this up for long. You need to shoot the meteorite almost immediately, alright?"
Scott replied quickly with a silent, "Yes. Thank you, Jean."
In moments, Scott Summers saw the vision that Jean was projecting into his mind; the vision of what Kurt was seeing with his own eyes. In that moment, Scott took aim and fired.
The crimson beams of concentrated force that emerged from Scott's eyes at that point were some of the most powerful he'd ever created. They tore through the air with a crackling noise, as loud as a rocket engine, and a bright, shining light that got the attention of everyone in the vicinity. In only a second, that beam hit the falling rock from space, and hardly anyone could see what was happening, as the fiery boulder hit the beam of destructive energy. The sound and flash of light that came from the collision of those two forces were so intense, that everyone was simply stunned for several minutes, even once they'd realized what had happened. Cyclops' optic blast had torn the meteorite to shreds, stopping its forward momentum almost completely, and reducing it to a simple cloud of dust.
As Scott closed his eyes again, and Kurt helped him retrieve his visor, no one said anything. What had just happened had drawn the attention of every single person in the area; everyone who'd so recently been panicking uncontrollably. All shouts and screams had ceased. All moving feet for a mile had stopped in their tracks. As Cyclops put on his visor, everyone started staring at him in amazement, and at last, a cheer started to rise up, among the crowd of people. They'd never seen anyone who could do that before, and they'd never expected that anyone would. No one knew the names of the two new arrivals in the strange costumes, but they were already the most popular people in Washington DC.
"Hey, boys!" one man from nearby said, "That was incredible! Who are you anyway?"
"Um..." Scott muttered after just a moment, as news crews and other adoring citizens of the nation's capital rushed up to them, eager to find out more, "I'm Cyclops, and this is Nightcrawler. Uh... The person who did this was Magneto, and... um... He's a mutant. We're mutants too, and..."
Scott paused for a moment, closing his eyes, to think about what he wanted to say next. He was sick of stuttering. He wanted to give a great speech, just like Captain America, or Miss Marvel had in the past; something that would make people remember the X-men in a positive light.
"Nightcrawler and I are part of a team called the X-men. We're a group of mutants who use our powers to try to keep the peace. I'm aware that people have organizations designed to do that already, but there are some things... like falling meteors, for example, that people just aren't ready to deal with. They don't have a natural means of defending themselves from those kinds of threats, so they need somebody to help protect them from that kind of thing. I think that's something worth working for; to help people, I mean."
"Magneto said he was fighting for mutant rights." one of the reporters announced, "If the X-men are all mutants, you must be on the same side."
"Well, everyone deserves to have rights," Cyclops said, "and there are some rights that everyone's entitled to by law, but unfortunately, the law doesn't always protect people, because a lot of people in the world, and in the government don't support the laws America was founded on. I don't know why that is. Maybe they don't see what it is about those laws that keeps them safe, or maybe they're just more concerned with getting what they want. I know I've met plenty of mutants, and plenty of other people too, who were more concerned with getting what they wanted than with doing the right thing. It's much too easy to say that it's alright to celebrate and relax while your whole world crumbles around you, but the truth is that it's not about what people want; it's about what people deserve. People shouldn't be getting what they want, because what they want isn't always good. I mean, nobody gives their kids everything they want because they don't want to spoil the kid, but nobody worries about spoiling adults. I think they should worry about that, because a lot of adults are being spoiled right here in America. I don't agree with many of the laws that America honors right now, and I don't agree with a lot of its policies. They've caused lots of people plenty of suffering, and done lots of damage to the American dream."
"In that case, why did you save the senate?" the reporter asked.
"Just because I can't agree with a lot of things the senate does, doesn't mean I'm willing to kill based on that." Scott replied, "If I stood by and let this happen, I'd have been just as guilty... But, I guess there's another reason. You see, I believe that mutants, and everyone else should have fair rights, but Magneto doesn't think there's any way to resolve those problems peacefully. The X-men do. This isn't going to be an easy time for mutants, or for the rest of humanity, and there may be times when the X-men will need to fight, but our real goal is to prevent a fight. We want to prevent this new generation from having to suffer through another senseless war. Because of that, I have to ask both Magneto and the US Government to please reconsider your positions, and try to come to some kind of agreement. There's no good reason why mutants should be thought of only as terrorists or dictators. We can live in peace together, and so can everyone else."
The questions continued, and Cyclops tried to answer them as best he could, only shying away from questions about his real, human name, and that of his partner. However, after a few minutes had passed, Kurt had started to get some of his strength back, and the blackbird appeared overhead. Strong winds started to pick up around both Cyclops and Nightcrawler, forcing everyone else back, as the blackbird approached, causing the two X-men to rise into the air, and enter the jet they'd arrived in. In only moments, the jet had closed up with the two of them inside, and the aircraft took off, traveling northeast; back towards New York City, as the crowd of people in Washington cheered for the X-men.
The mission had been a success, of course. It had been an almost total success in some ways. Cyclops' speech had gone over extremely well with the media, and Magneto's first attack had been repelled. Scott should have felt absolutely fantastic about how the whole affair had gone, and yet...
Only half of Scott Summers felt like happily celebrating the X-men's first major victory over the public distrust of mutants, which was the real victory they'd achieved that day. Magneto could still strike with a new meteorite at any place without warning after that, so it certainly hadn't been a victory over him. However, the once-growing public dislike of mutants, caused by Magneto's previous broadcasts had begun to diminish, and there was no one to thank for it but Cyclops and the X-men. It sounded like a darn good reason to celebrate. Still, the other half of Scott Summers was the half that didn't feel like celebrating at all. It was true that he'd saved the day, made a nice speech, and all that, but it had been awfully close. If not for Jean and Kurt, he probably would have died, and the reason was simply that his greatest strength, as a mutant, was also his greatest weakness. Without his eyes, he couldn't tell where he was aiming, and without his visor or glasses, his eyes were only useful as weapons. Whenever Scott Summers lost his glasses or visor, he was more or less useless, because he just couldn't aim his optic blasts properly.
Scott didn't like his mutant powers at all. It made it extremely difficult for him to see anything properly, and it was limiting during workouts, when he had to work so hard to keep track of his glasses. When he'd been younger, he would have given anything, to have just been normal. It was only once Professor Xavier had helped him learn how to control his mutant abilities, that Scott had begun to see the advantages to being a mutant; the intense force with which he could react to difficult situations, and blunt the effects of natural disasters, or just warn people away, using a carefully-implemented optic blast, and the boundless physical and emotional energy that his constantly-active mutant power provided him with. Those were all advantages that Scott had enjoyed, and benefited from, and yet, when it came down to it, his powers weren't as versatile or functional as the powers of most of the other mutants he knew. He couldn't shape the world around him like Bobby, Ororo, or Jean, he couldn't teleport like Kurt, or survive gunshot wounds like Logan or Piotr, and he certainly couldn't shape the thoughts of others, like Professor Xavier. Of all the mutants that Scott knew, only Professor Mccoy had powers with less total potential than his, and he didn't have to deal with being essentially blind, without specially-crafted and expensive eye wear.
Of course, Mccoy had problems of his own. His thick, blue fur, large size, and ferocious-looking appearance were enough to make most people at least a little shy around him the first time they met him, despite the brilliant and gentle brain and heart underneath his alien-looking physiology. By comparison, Xavier's baldness, or Logan's feral side seemed like smaller inconveniences compared to the problems that Scott and Mccoy had. They were mutants whose powers were also a curse; a restriction that they couldn't just ignore, or avoid; something that limited their ability to function as human beings, because of their mutant traits.
Naturally, Scott could have talked to Kurt about the same kind of thing, but Kurt seemed to have used religion to largely come to grips with his abnormal appearance. Scott had talked to Kurt about personal matters before, and he wasn't sure that Kurt's brand of encouragement would have been terribly helpful. As the X-men got back to the Xavier Institute, parking the blackbird in its underground containment hangar, Scott knew that he had to talk to someone about his limitations; the obstacles that he faced as a mutant, and he knew that there was only one person who might really be able to relate to him.
Within about fifteen minutes, everyone was out of costume, and going back to their normal routine. Part of Mccoy's normal routine recently had been to check his computer files every once in a while, to see if there had been any changes in the meteorites still orbiting Earth. Mccoy had been having a very hard time keeping up with his class schedule recently, what with setting things up in the danger room, and keeping track of Magneto. He was feeling overworked, and he hadn't been getting enough sleep. Even so, he tried to be as friendly as possible to the students; especially those who needed his help.
When Scott Summers opened the door to Professor Mccoy's office, he was a little nervous, but more worried about himself than anything else. He knew he had to bring the subject up quickly, though, before he lost his nerve.
"Professor Mccoy?" Scott asked, drawing the large, blue-furred mutant's attention.
"Please..." Mccoy replied, "Call me Hank."
"Um..." Scott said, not quite ready to call his science professor by his first name yet, "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about what happened today."
"My highest compliments on your feat, Scott." Mccoy just said with a smile, "In fact, there's a chance I might not have been able to do it better myse-"
"No." Scott interrupted him, "Don't congratulate me, Profess... um... Hank. I screwed up. I lost my visor down there, and without Jean and Kurt, I never could have hit the meteor. It's like... I have this one big weakness, and I don't have any way to protect myself, when somebody takes advantage of it. I mean, I can't turn off my power without my glasses. I'm... I'm useless if I can't see."
Hank looked a little concerned when Scott said that. Scott Summers had finally noticed his own biggest weakness, and thanks to that, he was losing track of all the things that made him strong; he was forgetting about the things he'd done right, by remembering what he'd done wrong. It was something that Hank himself had needed to come to grips with when he'd been Scott's age; the urge to see himself outlined in his faults alone. It was, unfortunately, a hard lesson, that couldn't just be taught.
"Well, Scott..." Mccoy said sadly, "I wish I could say that someone else in the world had your specific problem, although I think the problem you're really having is that you're only looking at your weaknesses, rather than your strengths. I think, in time, you'll learn to adopt a more positive outlook about yourself, like I did."
That, Scott knew, was something of an understatement. Hank's tendency to jokingly boast about how great he was had formed one of the most humorous aspects of his speech patterns over the time that Scott had known him. Even so, Scott wasn't exactly in the mood for humor. He was genuinely worried about his weaknesses, and, Hank realized, there wasn't much that could be done about that. Scott needed to find some answers for himself.
However, what Scott had really been looking for was sympathy, and it seemed that Hank hadn't realized that. As Scott left Professor Mccoy's office just a moment later, he couldn't help but feel let down. The thought occurred to him to go to Jean, or Professor Xavier, but neither of them really understood what he was going through. That, however, was when he was hit on the back of the head from behind, and closed his eyes sharply, as his glasses fell off.
Quickly, Scott fell to the ground, and scrambled around, to try to find his glasses with his eyes closed. That was when he heard the voice of the one person he'd least wanted to reveal his problem to, because he was just about the last person who'd ever offer sympathy to anyone.
"It ain't fun, is it kid?" Logan asked from apparently behind Scott, "Havin' an Achilles heel like that? Not bein' able to rely on yourself when it comes down to the wire?"
"Logan, quit it!" Scott exclaimed, "Did you just knock off my glasses? Is that your idea of a joke?"
"Nah, kid." Logan replied, "There ain't nuthin' funny about it. You got some big powers and all, but they ain't that big. You'll never be able to keep up, unless you can make up for weaknesses like that."
It was just about the last thing that Scott had wanted to hear. He'd been hoping for somebody to tell him it was alright, and that he couldn't help what his powers were, but Logan wasn't going to do that, because he knew it wasn't true.
Quickly, Logan stepped forward, and kicked Scott's glasses back towards him along the floor. As soon as Scott's hand came down on his glasses, he was on his feet, fitting them back onto his face, and looking around furiously through them. Logan, however, was just looking annoyed.
"Don't take this the wrong way, kid." Logan said when he saw Scott's expression of absolute fury, "I appreciate what you did tonight. Saving all them people, and telling them what mutants are all about were mighty nice things to do, and I'm sure it did a lot of good, but if you're really all that worried about your weaknesses, you'll want to do something about them."
Scott, however, was too angry by that point to think about being constructive. He hadn't been looking for a solution to his weaknesses to begin with, and he certainly wasn't willing to put up with Logan in exchange.
"I wasn't talking to you about this." Scott said icily.
"Yeah, I know." Logan replied, though he still didn't seem the least bit sorry about what he'd just done, "Look, kid. Here's how it stands. You've got your problems. Okay. I understand that. I got my problems too. Thing is, I could waste my time feeling sorry for myself, or I could do something about it. Now, I know you think you've put aside what you think, and how you feel for long enough, but you've come into some good luck recently, and now you're in kind of a tough spot. One way or another, you're the voice of the X-men now, and the others are gonna be looking up to you. As long as you're in that spotlight, you need to be able to stop acting like a child. Now, it ain't wrong to look for sympathy when you've gone through something harsh, and it ain't wrong to get that sympathy, but if you don't do everything you can for the people you care about, to try to do the right thing... Well, that's wrong. Seems to me like trying to overcome your weaknesses is a better use of your time than whining."
Scott Summers was still openly furious with Logan, but in a way, he was just as furious with himself. As his anger continued to grow, he knew that even if Logan agreed to stop bothering him and leave him alone, he'd still have to wind up working out, to let off the extra steam.
"Logan." Scott said, as furious with Logan as he'd ever been, "Now let me tell you how it stands. You tell me where, when, and how, and nothing else. I do want to solve this problem, but I don't want your attitude. That's something you need to learn. I'm not surprised you had to mooch off the Professor all this time. With no more big wars to fight in, it can't have been easy for you to make it in the world."
"Nah." Logan replied, "But I ain't insecure about that, because I know I'm still working to overcome my weaknesses. Still, you did something pretty impressive today, so fine. We'll play it your way for now. Danger room. Sixty seconds. Training. This ain't gonna be easy, though."
Then Logan headed downstairs, and after taking only a few moments to think it over, Scott Summers followed him.
"There's no good reason why mutants should be thought of only as terrorists or dictators. We can live in peace together, and so can everyone else."
Pietro watched Cyclops carefully, as he said those words after the first meteor bombardment. He'd seen Cyclops out in battle twice before, and knocked him unconscious both times, and yet, in Scott's determined speech, so eager for peace, and the chance for a good relationship between humans and mutants; in the actions he'd taken to stop a lot of people from dying, Pietro saw a reflection of his own dislike of death and killing. In the actions of the X-men, he saw his own deep disdain for murderers, and his own desire to see killers brought to justice. If Magneto's meteorite had collided with the senate building, how many people would have been killed, and how many would have had families and loved ones, who would have felt just like Pietro? Pietro didn't think that Magneto was being naive about that aspect of the things he did. Magneto had certainly considered the hurt and sorrow that his actions would wind up causing, but in his eyes, it was all worth it if he accomplished his objective. Magneto had justified killing on a large scale, as long as it led to a society that accepted mutants, and Pietro wasn't ready to do that. The remnants of how he'd felt when Django Maximoff had died were still too fresh in his mind, and the idea of making anyone else feel that way was something that no goal could justify in Pietro's eyes. It was yet another piece of evidence that he'd made the right choice. Magneto's goals were tempting ones, and his methods did seem sure to succeed. On top of all that, he really was Pietro's father, and family was worth quite a bit. Still, Pietro knew he couldn't live his life like Magneto wanted him to. His choice had been made. He just needed an opportunity, and he and Tick could make their escape.
Ororo Munroe was emotionally-drained when she'd gotten back from the mission, and she felt both relieved and frustrated in different ways. It was for the purpose of mending at least a little bit of that frustration, that she'd retreated to her room, to water her plants, and try to figure out what had happened during their last skirmish with Magneto. She'd seen a spark of light seem to pass between her hand, and the machine he'd been trying to steal. That had surprised her quite a bit. It was almost as if her body had begun determining attraction points for electricity, and then, she'd just shot electricity right out of her hand, letting it rush to its target, but she hadn't had much time to consider how she'd done that until recently, and the idea scared her just a little. Changing the wind was one thing, but making lightning was a lot different, and it had a lot of potential to be harmful. When Ororo had first discovered the power to change the wind, she'd needed to struggle just to keep her powers from demolishing her surroundings, and she had a strong feeling that lightning powers would be even more dangerous, which meant that she'd need to work even harder to control them, or else, they might get in the way when she was trying to live her life. She certainly didn't want to shock her own friends during ordinary conversations.
Once she was sure that she'd tended to her plants as well as she could for the evening, Ororo looked at the lamp next to her bed. It was the only thing she really had in her whole room that was made of metal, and because of that, she decided, it would probably be easier to target with lightning.
Ororo closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to think of what had gone through her head when she'd shorted out the machine; the urge to focus, and stop Magneto from getting what he wanted, as the electricity surrounding his own body had gone through hers. The stimuli were a little different in her own room, but Ororo knew she that needed to try to perform the feat again. Concentrating as hard as she could on that single point on the lamp, Ororo raised her hand towards it, and willed the lightning to emerge. Nothing happened, though. Maybe she'd only been able to control the lightning while it had already been around her, or maybe there was some kind of other condition that needed to be satisfied before she could use that particular ability, but either way, Ororo found that she couldn't just make lightning appear from nothing, and once again, she was both relieved and frustrated by the thought.
Of course, that relief began to rapidly diminish as the door to Ororo's room burst open. If she'd been able to summon lightning just then, Ororo would have used it against the person on the other side. Bobby Drake definitely should have knocked first.
"Um..." Bobby said, looking back and forth through the room for a moment, in some surprise and worry, "Did I interrupt anything?"
"Nothing too important." Ororo replied, fighting back the urge to pummel the boy mercilessly, "What's wrong?"
"Well, it's just that I wanted your help with something. I mean... Just for a second."
For a moment, Bobby turned and looked out the door, down either side of the hallway, making sure that no one was approaching, then closed the door behind himself, and looked at Ororo in worry.
"This is... this is gonna sound kind of weird. I'll bet nobody's ever asked you to do this before, but... I want you to cover me in ice."
Three floors down, in the danger room, Logan watched Scott fumble around without his glasses, walking around him repeatedly on the metal floor, challenging Scott, again and again, to determine his location without seeing him. At that moment, however, his ears gave a short twitch, and he muttered to himself, "Oh, thank God."
"Sorry?" Scott asked.
"Nothing." Logan replied, "Just caught the sound of someone growing up."
"What?" Ororo asked, confused and disturbed by the request.
"Look, I can make ice in all different shapes and sizes," Bobby tried to explain, "but I'm trying to become the best there is, and all the other X-men keep getting better, and discovering new things about themselves. I just... I need to figure out what I'm really capable of, and I think the first step is to go to my native element."
Ororo's confusion was clear and obvious, as she looked away from Bobby in worry and amazement. The idea of Bobby Drake sticking himself in an iceberg somewhere, to figure out more about his powers was worrying by itself, but what really seemed off, was that Ororo was pretty sure that Bobby could do that far more efficiently than she could.
"Can't you just do that yourself?" Ororo asked, confused.
"No." Bobby said, without taking much time to think his reply over, "I can only make so much ice, and then it all starts melting. I need to go someplace where it's naturally icy, and below freezing. That way, I can spend more of my energy exploring my powers, and less on keeping the environment cold. I can tell there's something about my ice powers I haven't discovered yet, and if I want to do that, I need to be in someplace that's... Well, someplace kind of like the arctic."
"Bobby," Ororo replied in frustration and disappointment, "I can't do that. If I tried to take you to the arctic, I'd freeze to death."
"The antarctic, then." Bobby suggested unhelpfully.
"Bobby, I'm not taking you across half the world." Ororo insisted, at which point, Bobby Drake made another suggestion, that never would have occurred to Ororo.
"Why not just make it really cold right here? I mean, you can do that, right?"
"No. I don't think so." Ororo replied, "I can only control the wind, not the temperature."
Bobby looked surprised for a moment, as he looked back and forth through her room, at the various plants she'd gathered, but it was obvious that he lacked the textbook intelligence needed to figure out precisely what it was about her reply that had seemed odd. Something about Ororo's last statement, though, hadn't sounded quite right.
"I never watch the weather, so I don't know much about wind, I guess." Bobby said, "You must know everything about it, though, right?"
Ororo's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. She didn't know what to say. She hardly ever watched television, and didn't really know all that much about meteorology. Of course, Bobby wasn't too book smart himself, but he'd just pointed out to Ororo that she'd been ignoring pivotal information that pertained to the functions of her own powers. Gusts of wind and whirlwinds were all well and good, but even so, the X-men had lost as many battles recently as they'd won. What if there were whole sections of her power... whole new powers, that she could use, and she just hadn't realized it, because she hadn't been studying the right things?
"I... I'll talk to you about that later." Ororo said, as she looked back at Bobby for a moment, "I need a few hours alone, though. I have to do something."
Then, in a moment more, Ororo had nudged Bobby back out of her room. After that, rather that try to wait for him to leave, she immediately went to the window, opened it, and floated outside through it, then gradually descended to the lower floors, where she opened one of the side doors of the building, which led directly into the library. Since it was late in the evening, only a couple of other students were around, and both were occupied with their own homework at the time, so nobody noticed when Ororo started scanning the titles, eventually picking out three books about weather patterns and meteorology, and carrying them off with her, as she left the building the way she'd come in, then ascended back to her room.
Ororo spent most of the rest of that evening reading in her room, with her doors and windows locked, and the blinds drawn. It was probably fortunate that she did that, because she wanted to get comfortable while she was reading, and part of that involved getting completely undressed, and floating in the precise center of her room, so that she wasn't touching anything but the book. It was the way she'd read as a child. When her people had thought of her as a goddess, it had been easy to get away with that sort of thing, and it was something which, until just over a year and a half before, she'd become accustomed to. Ororo sat in mid-air like that for hours, reading and reading, touching nothing but the book the whole time, and as she read, she started to realize how foolish she'd been, not to read up on the weather sooner, because she was learning things that she'd never even considered before; things about the weather that had escaped her notice completely. It soon became obvious to her, as she read, that nearly everything about the weather was either caused or moved by air motions; whole elements of weather and meteorological changes could be set it motion by someone able to change the direction of air flows. Of course, it was a little hard to pick out what kind of information was helpful from an ordinary textbook, so Ororo decided to do what she did in class; take notes.
Quickly, Ororo descended back towards ground level, and floated to the bag where she kept her school supplies. After digging through it for about a minute and a half, she managed to find a spare notebook and pen, and started scribbling down category and experiment lists on the paper. The lists were divided into a few categories; lightning, cold, heat, rain, snow, hail, and fog. Beneath each of those categories was listed some notes about how wind caused those types of weather conditions in nature, and each was probably going to take hours of training to replicate, but Ororo had felt some envy for Kurt when she'd seen him increasing the length of his teleportations, bit by bit. In truth, she'd wanted the chance to improve on her own powers, and finally, she was going to get that chance.
Quickly getting dressed, Ororo opened her window, and floated outside, into the upper atmosphere, where she could see dense storm clouds gathering.
Magneto frowned, as he watched the low-definition news broadcast coming in from the surface of planet Earth. The broadcasts showed the miracle performed by Cyclops and the X-men; the way they'd prevented him from following through on his threat. Magneto knew that he had to make a new assault, and he had to make it soon. Already, people were starting to feel hopeful that the X-men could save them from accountability, and if they didn't start taking Magneto seriously, it would severely undermine everything that he was trying to accomplish. Still, Magneto knew where the X-men's home base was, and he knew how they'd been able to react so quickly to the meteor strike. The next one, however, would be impossible for them to interfere with, particularly given the fact that there wouldn't be any warning. Quickly, the master of magnetism entered new figures into the computers of Asteroid M, targeting the next meteorite at the United Kingdom's House of Commons.
For hours, Magneto watched, as the meteorite descended towards the Earth's atmosphere, however, something had happened the moment it touched air, and started to build up speed in its descent. A storm front that had begun building around the middle of the Atlantic Ocean suddenly changed course, traveling towards Europe with unnatural speed, as if God himself were moving to intercept Magneto's attack. The powerful mutant received broadcasts shortly after that from Earth; broadcasts of what had happened due to his recent attack, and more importantly, what hadn't happened. The House of Commons was definitely still standing. Even so, Magneto waited to hear what witnesses said about the attack; what had actually happened from their point of view.
"Of course, we all thought it was the end, when the meteorite came out of the clouds, just like that, with no warning at all," one man on the scene described, "but all of a sudden, the clouds grew thicker, and we all heard a noise like a shout... I could have sworn I saw something like... Something like a giant, standing over the city, but it was only for a second, and then, suddenly, a bolt of lightning came out of the clouds in a flash, and it hit the meteorite right through the center, blasting it to dust before it could hit the building. Of course, lots of people don't want to talk like this anymore, but to me, this seems like an act of God."
"But which god?" Magneto muttered, as he turned off the screen, and looked back out the window at Earth. It looked so small and fragile from his place in that asteroid base, but it had many defenders, and they were ready for him. Magneto didn't like the idea of going down to Earth and killing anyone directly, but as long as his meteorites were proving to be so ineffective against the superhumans, it might very well be necessary to gather still more Allies, and make open war on both the X-men and the Avengers; maybe even the Fantastic Four, too.
However, as he thought about those things, Magneto heard a message being transmitted to his location by the communications system he'd built into his asteroid base, and trained all the Allies to use. The voice that came over that system was a welcome one. It was the voice of Guardian, and in that instance, he spoke to Magneto in English, albeit with a thick Italian accent.
"Magneto." Guardian said, "We should speak in private. I have discovered something that may prove useful to us."
Magneto had plans to use one more meteorite to try to strike at the Earth, before he'd feel the need to take more direct action, but at that point, he felt as if he were up against a wall somewhat. None of his meteors were hitting their intended targets, and it was only a matter of time before someone discovered an effective means of attacking his base. He was eager to listen to any tactical plans, and feedback from any of the other Allies, before he faced that hard decision, particularly in the case of Guardian, who'd never quite lived up to his name, but always seemed intelligent and supportive. In moments, Magneto had left the guidance chamber of Asteroid M, and was headed down the hallway, towards Guardian's quarters, and in just over a minute, he'd arrived there, knocking politely on the sheet metal, that the door was made of.
"Enter." came the voice of Guardian from inside the room, and when Magneto stepped inside, he could see that Guardian was still at his computer, and was watching low-def news broadcasts from Earth, just as Magneto had been a moment before, except that Magneto had been watching broadcasts from the scene of the disaster, while Guardian seemed more interested in short interview blurbs from people living in outlying territories of the United Kingdom, far away from the larger cities. A pole had recently been taken of most of Europe, and large sections of England and southern Ireland had already responded to the pole by saying that their belief in the supernatural had grown, based on what had happened in Washington recently. Magneto found most of Guardian's interests to be confusing, though. None of the people or occurrences he was studying seemed all that important, in his view.
"Magneto," Guardian said, pausing the video feed for a moment, "If your plan to terrorize mankind into an acceptance of mutants fails, do you have a plan B?"
"Of course." Magneto replied, "Even if Asteroid M is breached by forces great enough to overpower us, there are several methods of escape available to the Allies, and several reserve bases we can retreat to, to regroup on the planet itself. I've even started work on reserve plans, involving seismic tremors."
"Clever..." Guardian remarked, though he was clearly not that interested in Magneto's plans in that respect, "I'll be frank, though, Magneto. What I've seen... What I've faced in the past... All of this seems like such a small-scale, and ineffectual method of doing things. Now, there are other means; other ways of fixing the problems you've brought to my attention. There were times when people looked to those with special powers as guides, and teachers, rather than as despots. At one time, not all undisputed leaders were considered tyrants, because many were recognized for the good things they brought into the world. I would prefer if you were to become that kind of ruler."
"I have no desire to be a ruler." Magneto replied quickly, "The leadership position I'm in now is one of inspiration and hard work, but I don't wish to control society; just coax it back onto the proper path. I'm a liberator, not a dominator."
"Interesting." Guardian muttered, looking away for a moment, "Still, you must know that every powerful person will have followers; those who believe in their cause, and march behind their banner."
"Leading an army, or a small group of people is a mantle that I'm willing to take up." Magneto replied with a slight smile, "However, like yourself, leadership isn't my goal."
"Of course not." Guardian observed aloud, "You care about your people. It's one of the most important qualities needed in leadership. Another important quality is faith. Having spent all of this time in this asteroid stronghold of yours, I've come to understand and appreciate what you're attempting to bring about. It's only in times of peace that people can truly forget their worries, and live happy lives, and that makes peace between all types of people a goal worth striving for. However, it seems that faith is more common during war, than during peace. That's a bit unfortunate, but people will believe what they can see at this day in age, so it affords me a new opportunity in particular. I would like to go down to these places where religious belief is growing, and try to spread my faith through the people who live there. If I'm successful, I may yet be of use to your cause."
"You're leaving the asteroid right now?" Magneto asked, "During this time of panic?"
"What better time to seek out faith?" Guardian asked with a broad smile, "Don't worry about me. I'll survive regardless, and if I succeed, it could mean an easier kind of victory for us both."
Magneto wasn't sure he liked the idea, but Guardian hadn't displayed any useful powers since he'd arrived, and Magneto was almost entirely certain that the Italian mutant's path to power would be a different one from his, whether he liked it or not. It was the nature of Guardian's powers, which derived strength from the faith of others, in him, and in his abilities, and at that point, he needed the chance to find himself. If he could learn more about his powers, or about how to assist Magneto in his cause, that was worth a little risk, and it was worth letting him go off on his own for a while. There was only one thing that Magneto needed to hear from Guardian first.
"I just want you to tell me that you won't run off and abandon our cause completely." Magneto said, at which point Guardian got to his feet, and put his hands on Magneto's upper arms. He looked a little disappointed, but very sincere about what he said next.
"Magneto, you saved me when I was lost and alone, and had no sense of self." Guardian replied, "For that, you have my eternal gratitude. I give you my word that no matter what happens, I will return to assist you in time, and I never break my word."
Magneto tried to force a smile, as Guardian released him, and turned off his computer, then headed for the doorway out of his room. However, Magneto was surprised by that, because he wasn't sure what Guardian was planning to do, specifically.
"Guardian?" Magneto asked, "Are you leaving right this minute?"
"Yes." Guardian replied, stopping in his tracks, "May I use one of your shuttles?"
"I didn't realize you knew how to fly a shuttle." Magneto said in amazement.
"It's not that complicated," Guardian replied quickly with a calm smile on his lips, "I used to fly something like it a long time ago."
However, that comment surprised Magneto more than anything. He'd only recently designed his jet shuttles as all-terrain crafts, superior to anything that had, to his knowledge, ever been built before, and he was curious where Guardian had seen anything like it in the past.
"What did you fly before, exactly?" Magneto asked, confusion and suspicion starting to show in his own expression. However, when he asked that question, Guardian paused, trying to come up with an explanation, but his smile was fading, and he was starting to stare off into space. When he finally got around to replying, he didn't seem the least bit confident about it.
"Strange..." Guardian muttered, "I can't quite... recall the specifics. I don't really... I don't really remember. It must have been something from when I was younger, before I started to forget things. I'll have to think about that."
Guardian's words continued to worry Magneto, as he left his room, and headed for the shuttle launching bay, but Magneto wasn't about to try to stop him. Guardian was already headed into dangerous territory, and if an incomplete knowledge of shuttle operation made that danger greater, it didn't change the situation all that much.
However, when Magneto left the room just a moment later, he didn't realize that his conversation with Guardian had been overheard by another member of the Allies; a member who'd been looking for an opportunity, and who, suddenly, had found it.
One of Bobby Drake's favorite hobbies, when he wasn't training in the use of his powers, or trudging through some class that he hated, was playing basketball with some of the other students at the Xavier Institute. He enjoyed it, they enjoyed it, and every so often, when it was just basic practice, rather than a real game, where the score was being kept, Bobby would wind up getting the chance to play a silly prank on one of his classmates. He really enjoyed doing that too, whether it was sliding up to the basket, or just icing up the ball. It gave him the chance to use his powers, and still have a good time. At one point, he'd covered nearly every player on the other team in snow temporarily, just for kicks, though he'd gotten them right back out a minute later, to prevent them from freezing. He'd really gotten in trouble for that one.
However, just as Bobby missed what should have been a very easy basket, he noticed that something was ruining the practice game he was playing, and for once, it wasn't his fault. Dark storm clouds were approaching the Xavier Institute, and thunder could be heard on the horizon. The other students were already packing up their things, and heading back inside, but Bobby was determined not to let a little rain ruin his fun, so he iced up. The more water there was in the air, the more of it Bobby could turn into ice, and therefore, he was at his most powerful in the middle of a rainstorm. However, just as he missed yet another basket, he heard another thunderclap, then another, each time growing closer. Not sure what to make of it, Bobby looked up at the sky, and was just able to make out a figure of some kind, descending through the storm clouds towards his position. It was dark and raining, and the figure in the clouds was still very far away, so Bobby couldn't tell who it was, at first, but as that figure got closer, Bobby saw, to his delight, that it was Ororo, riding on the wind currents below the storm clouds. Raindrops turned aside when they got close to her, electricity crackled all around her, and she seemed to be surrounded by a bubble of warm air. When she finally descended to Bobby's eye level, he could see lightning dancing in her eyes, and as she approached him, he was absolutely delighted by the sight.
"I guess you can do more than you thought, huh?" Bobby asked, as the storm clouds faded harmlessly into nothingness above her.
Ororo nodded once in reply, then said, with some enthusiasm, "Let's see what we can do about that special training you wanted."
End