The Master
Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, floated ominously about the Helicarrier, arms folded across his chest and eyes aglow with his fundamental power.
"Ah, shit," Trent muttered as he caught sight of the situation. He had been preparing for this day for months, but it still sent a chill up his spine seeing an A-list supervillain within twenty feet of him. "Is he alone?"
"Seemingly. But, we're scanning a mile radius just to be on the safe side. We have an advantage being this high up, but against him, in a floating metal death trap, I'm not liking our odds," Sitwell replied.
"We just need to get him inside. Get his attention."
Sitwell nodded and moved over to one of the nearby consoles and pressed a button to activate the external intercom. "Mr. Lehnsherr, this is Agent Sitwell of SHIELD. If you'll follow the runway lights to the door, we can talk inside."
Magneto snarled and spread his arms out wide. As he did so, a metallic whine sent chills up every present agent's spine before the large glass window in the front of the helicarrier ripped open by the steel girders holding it in place. The dozen agents in the immediate area were instantly sucked out of the helicarrier. They had a long fall ahead of them. Their cacophony of terrified screams grew fainter by the second.
"Jesus shit!" Trent scrambled to stay on his feet and groped for whatever secure thing hr could get his hands on. Pressure from the gaping hole in the helicarrier threatened to suck even more agents out and drop them to their deaths. "Close that hole!"
Magneto calmly, but menacingly floated inside and touched down, seemingly unaffected by the produce of his own destruction.
Five more agents and countless pieces of equipment flew out of the hole before a blue field spread over the front window, sealing the hole and saving the few agents who were immediately in danger.
"You would dare," Magneto said in calm anger, " to address me by my human name, homo sapien?"
Immediately, ten high powered defense turrets, hidden in the walls and floor, opened fire on the intruder. It was a bid of horrible timing, as Magneto didn't appear to be overly hostile just yet.
That changed once he took control of the turrets, forced them to turn on the SHIELD agents.
Trent and Sitwell managed to duck down behind a console, which was bombarded with heavy fire that quickly turned it into a pile of porous scrap metal.
Twenty agents were riddled with fifty caliber rounds before Magneto crushed the turrets. A grim smile set upon his countenance at their cowering. Not one person who remained was brave enough to stand before him, and for good reason.
This man wasn't to be taken lightly. Trent knew that as well as anyone. It was his only hope that someone, preferable made of or armed with plastic weapons could show up soon.
After the display, Sitwell could only stutter and stumble through every answer at once. Trent subtly pressed a button the console beside him as he stood shakily, hiding the action behind the guise of him stumbling clumsily to his feet. "Magneto. I'm Brandon Trent, Director of SHIELD. I believe I'm the man you should be speaking to."
His voice was calm, but his words was laced with latent anger that caused Magneto to turn his attention toward him and raise an eyebrow. "I was told that the deaths of Pyro and Toad was caused by a SHIELD operation. By your command, I assume?"
Trent knew a man like Lehnsherr knew several dozen ways to kill him in a second. Painfully. He needed to tread carefully. "It was a retaliatory action, forced by your own actions."
Magneto tilted his head back. "My actions were themselves retaliatory, forced by the actions of Norman Osborn."
"The cure."
"The anti-mutant poison that he intended to force upon me and my brothers and sisters," he spat. "My taking the doctors was purely to coerce him to cease his prejudice medicinal practice. They were never in any harm."
"But, how do I know that?" Trent countered. "You've killed before."
"When necessary."
"And how do I know that you wouldn't have deemed it "necessary" to kill those innocent doctors, to make a point? Osborn, as we both know, is a few eggs short of a full basket. He wouldn't have stopped even if you had those scientists, because he had a chance to be a national hero for curing the 'mutant problem'. So no, I don't believe that they weren't in any danger."
Magneto glowered and slowly approached Trent. Trent felt his heart jump into his throat and instinctively backed away. "And yet, you didn't just rescue our hostages. The murder of two of my brethren was nothing short of a declaration of war against Genosha and mutantkind." He extended a hand forward.
Suddenly, Trent felt a sharp, intense pain in his chest. It was as if something was pushing against his skin from the inside. He screamed out and fell to his knees.
"You will pay dearly for your transgressions. Both you and SHIELD."
Over a dozen armed guards rushed in and immediately opened fire on the mutant. He casually, but quickly, raised his free hand, halting the hail of bullets mid-flight. "You homo sapiens and your guns." He used his powers to snatch their rifles away, and then turned them against them. "You live by the sword, you die by the sword." His eye barely twitched, but it was all that was needed to fire all fifteen guns at once. The singular, simultaneous firing of all the rifles was deafening, just as was the collapsing of the dead bodies.
"This is but the first salvo, Trent. SHIELD will burn for crossing mutantkind." Trent was lifted in the air, which multiplied the pain by ten. "First, you die; then this floating monstrosity will crash and burn as a symbol of your fallen arrogance. Then –"
"Enough."
Magneto halted his villainous declaration to confront the new arrival. His eyes flashed with power at the sight of Ultron. "They send a metal creation to combat the Master of Magnetism?" He cackled mightily and slung Trent's limp body aside like refuse. "Very well then, machine. I will indulge you for a moment."
Trent landed in a heap somewhere nearby, groaning softly as the pain finally and mercifully subsided. He really did feel like he was about to die, but was thankful that Lehnsherr was a sadistic bastard and wanted him to suffer a little. He felt a pair of small hands on his back. "Don't worry sir, we'll get you to medical as soon as possible," Hand said reassuringly.
Ultron stood stoically between Magneto and the useless SHIELD agents. "Surrender, human."
Magneto had been amused by the robot. Now, he was visibly enraged. "You would dare refer to me as a weak, pathetic human, machine?!"
"Yes. Because, that is what you are, biologically."
"Fool! I am Homo Superior! The next step of human evolution! To call me a human would be to call a lion a house cat!" His powers flared and he thrust his arms forward to tear Ultron apart.
Normally, this would have worked, but to his and everyone else's surprise, Ultron remained in his spot. "Incorrect. Mutants are nothing more than a more advanced subset of humanity, not a different race entirely. They are no different in terms of genetics than Gifted's, who are considered human. The only difference is that mutants are born with their abilities and unlock then through a spontaneous, stress inducing event." Ultron raised his arm and fired a repulsor at Magneto, who leaped out of the way. "It must be sad. To cling to something as insignificant as the so-called 'X-Gene' to prove your superiority. You share the same flaws and weaknesses as every other biological organism on this planet."
Magneto tried his powers again, and snarled when they again failed. "How? How are you defying me?!" he roared.
Ultron walked forward, unimpeded by the pieces of equipment that Magneto hurled his way. "To call yourself superior to humanity is not unlike a toddler declaring himself superior to infants. That is true, yet, in the end, all fall well short." A compartment opened in Ultron's wrist, and a plastic ball was ejected. It bounced forward until it reached Magneto. "You are a fool." A clear gas exploded from the ball, and sent Magneto into a coughing fit as he collapsed to the floor.
"Wha… what have you done to me?" he asked feebly.
"Negated your powers." He calmly removed the anti-mutant wristband he attached to his arm prior to confronting Magneto and tossed it aside. It was of no more use to him. "Your superiority hinges on your abilities. Without them, you are nothing but an old fool with only prejudiced words and bigoted views to comfort you."
He attempted to use his powers on a nearby rifle. The rifle didn't move even an nanometer. His face paled. "I… I'm…"
"A human? Quite so. Of course, you were always human, so this should not come as much of a surprise. Though, seeing you on the floor, feebly clinging to the last vestiges of your misguided superiority complex is quite amusing. I believe you called it 'a symbol of your fallen arrogance'. Heh." He then shot Magneto with a tranquilizer dart, rendering him unconscious.
Silence reigned momentarily before Sitwell stepped up. "Let's move, people! Trent to medbay, Magneto to the brig. He's depowered now, but we don't know how long the cure lasts, so I want him under constant power neutralization until we determine that for sure. Let's move!"
A/N: A few things. One, for visual's sake, I'm using the Michael Fassbender version of Magneto, though I have nothing against the McKellan version.
Two, I never really bought into the whole 'mutants are a different race from humans' thing. To me, they're no different from other superpowered beings, the only exception being that they're powers spontaneously flare at a certain age. Because of this, the whole persecution thing kind of falls apart.
Three, Ordo Rolanberry made a comment a few chapters ago about this series of stories having a large death total. That got me curious enough to go through each chapter and tally up how many people died. The follow approximate numbers includes good guys, bad guys and innocent civilians. The Masters: 4,069; Requiem of Heroes: 646,609; Ghosts: 763; In Shadows: 61 and counting. That all adds up to a total of 651,502 deaths through three and a third (?) stories.
