Author's note: Thank you to Torchwhovian, NotMarge, NicoleR85, partygirl98, ZabuzasGirl, Rasha007, Bamboooozled, Jinxofthe2ndLaw, anonymouscsifan, and kmj1989 for the reviews! Jinx, I'll have to check it out! Carey Elwes will always be Westley the farm boy in my eyes haha.

That letter brought up a point that I think the movies kinda ignore. How the heck is the government supposed to find all these mutants? I mean, yeah, there's Xavier's, but the point of Charles sending Moira away at the end of First Class was to keep the CIA off their trail. The only way I can see them getting the information (back in the day before the Patriot Act and social media, obviously) was to go door-to-door. No way that's going to fly, especially with how unpopular the government was at the time. As long as mutants were declared "human enough" the Supreme Court would crush that law faster than you can say, "Constitution." Ah, the good old days.

Anyway, today we figure out why Raven popped up. It wasn't just to pick on Hank, surprisingly enough. Hope you guys enjoy! And I don't think I can ever say it enough, but THANK YOU FOR READING!

Magneto's Master Plan

Our letter was published three days later, one day after Senator Kelly released a statement to the press declaring that he would be announcing a prospective bill aimed at mutants the following week.

The timing was perfect.

Though Kelly didn't go so far as to mention the exact nature of his proposed legislation, the way The New York Times presented our editorial- right above an article speculating as to what the bill would be about- definitely aroused readers' suspicions.

Our letter seemed to be an answer to the questions Kelly's announcement raised, like we had connected the dots for the general public and drawn the inevitably dire conclusions from the likely circumstances. It gave the American people plenty of food for thought, that's for sure.

So with our anonymous forewarning, people already had an inkling of what this bill would be about before Senator Kelly even officially gave the details. Now the question was, what they would do about it?

Would they bury their heads in the sand, and allow blind hatred and bigotry to win the day? Or would they stand up for justice- not only for mutants, but for themselves, as well?

And the X-Men?

Thankfully, we already had a plan by then.

I went directly to Charles and the rest of the X-Men the morning after Raven's "visit," to tell them of her warning and the letter Zoey and I had written in response. And I made sure not to spare the details of our encounter, either.

Charles looked pained over the cruel trick his wayward sister had tried to play, but the other two seemed pleased that Zoey had gotten so indignant and threatened the other woman with bodily harm. Alex, in particular, had come to find her protective streak towards me to be rather amusing over the years- when it wasn't aimed at himself, that is.

"A registration act?" Sean said incredulously after I was done with my story. "Do you think she was telling the truth?"

"I don't see why she would lie about something like that," I replied. "I just don't understand why she would tell me, and not you, Charles."

"You've become quite prominent with the public lately," my mentor mused thoughtfully. "Perhaps she thought you would be able to do something to stop it."

"How would he be able to stop anything before its even publicly announced, though?" Alex reasoned. "I mean, you wrote that letter and stuff, so hopefully people are already going to be biased against the bill when Kelly finally comes clean about it. But it's not like Beast can stand up and say he's got insider information about the whole thing, can he?"

He shook his head, his expression darkening.

"Something about this smells fishy."

"'Fishy?'" Charles repeated. "Fishy in what way?"

Alex didn't speak for a minute, obviously trying to figure out a way to put his suspicions into words. Expressing himself still wasn't exactly his forte- he much preferred to use violence or sarcasm.

"Let's put it this way... Beast, now that you've written that letter, what's the next step in your plan of attack about this whole thing?" he asked slowly.

I considered that for a moment before replying.

"Well, if Senator Kelly wants to make a big speech when he discloses the bill, I was thinking about drumming up some kind of public support and picketing the event," I replied.

Zoey and I had discussed this idea last night, but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the whole thing. She felt it would make it more difficult for Kelly to go through with announcing his proposed legislation if he had to do it right in front of the very people he was targeting.

"Hating nameless and faceless people is much easier than when they're staring you in the face," she'd reasoned. "It makes them seem more human, even if you're trying not to think of them that way."

I honestly didn't think Robert Kelly was the type to back down, though. If anything, seeing the objects of his antipathy in the crowd was likely to make his comments even more inflammatory.

Grab your torches and pitchforks! My stars and garters, some people just don't live in the twentieth century yet, do they?

Moreover, I wasn't all that eager to lead a group of protesters. Speeches to a camera, speaking to a reporter or even one or two pundits on a panel were fine. But a huge crowd of people? Forgive me for feeling a little stage fright. I would only do it if absolutely necessary.

Alex nodded slowly, still pensive.

"That's what I thought. But what if that's what Mystique wants you to do?" he proposed. "What if her and Magneto are planning something crazy and want a big audience for it?"

Damnation.

The realization dawned on me with a kind of slow, ineluctable horror- the kind an unfortunate villager feels when they see a lava flow carving an inexorable, destructive path towards their house.

"Be serious, Havok," Charles chided, rejecting the idea out of hand. "Erik wouldn't do something so stupid."

The rest of us exchanged meaningful looks.

"Actually, Alex's theory makes perfect sense," I disagreed.

Alex looked relieved that I had been quick on the uptake and that the remainder of the explanation was now out of his hands.

"Senator Kelly has been the biggest anti-mutant figurehead in the government these past few months, ever since I started to make noise about mutant rights. Of course Raven would make it a point to keep an eye on him."

Charles wasn't following, I could tell.

Then again, I knew it would take a lot to convince him of Alex's hypothesis. He didn't want to even consider the idea that his sister would stray that far from the woman he once knew.

Low level crime in the name of mutant rights he could overlook- barely. But a large scale (and likely to be highly violent) act, sure to be caught on camera... I could understand why he didn't want to believe Raven to be capable of such a thing. With Erik it was more credible, though he would still be reluctant to admit it.

"For years the Brotherhood has been trying to gather support in the shadows, causing just enough trouble to propagate the negative outlook the public has on mutants, but not enough to truly put the spotlight on our kind. True, groups like the Friends of Humanity have popped up, but there's never been a large scale public outcry. It's been a standoff until I stuck my neck out and attracted enough attention that Kelly wrote this bill. Now, what's a mutant registration act going to sound like to a survivor of the Holocaust?"

"Like the first shot in a war Magneto has been waiting for all along," Sean concluded, looking horrified.

I nodded. "Exactly. The announcement of anti-mutant legislation is the perfect opportunity for him to launch what he views as a preemptive strike. A prominent mutant-hating public figure, a televised audience to witness his declaration of war... and if I brought a bunch of mutant protesters along, there would be a large group of prospective 'soldiers' to hopefully rally to his cause. That's why Raven came to warn me. It's what they want."

Charles looked like he was on the verge of tears. He didn't want to believe it, but our reasoning was irrefutable- his friend and adoptive sister were truly going to take the next step and try to start a war.

The rest of us waited silently for him to compose himself. Finally, he cleared his throat and nodded.

"I see," Charles said shakily. "Well, we're just going to have to stop them, yes?"

Yes. But how?

Zoey was understandably upset when I told her about our deductions, and our tentative plan to stop the Brotherhood.

"I want to come with you," she said flatly.

I stared at my wife disbelievingly- all five foot three inches, one hundred and and twenty-one pounds of her with her ludicrously large baby bump.

She was still just under eight weeks to her due date, but visions of her going into premature labor were already starting to haunt my thoughts.

The twins are messing with her brain again. There's no way she really expects me to let her put herself in danger like that. Is there?

"You can't, darling," I told her gently. "It's too dangerous."

"But-"

I shook my head. I almost never denied Zoey what she wanted, but I had to put my foot down here. There was too much as stake- losing her and the twins just didn't bear thinking of.

"No. I'm sorry, Zoey, but I can't let you come," I said firmly. "I won't let you risk yourself or our children that way."

Her face crumpled, and my heart broke to see the tears starting in her eyes.

No, don't cry. Please-

"I know you won't. I know I can't go," she admitted. "But I'm scared for you, Hank. So much could go wrong, I wouldn't be able to-"

"A lot could go wrong," I agreed, unable to lie to her. "But we have to take that chance. There's no other way, and I'm going to do everything I can to keep you and the twins safe. I have to."

Zoey squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from leaking out. Trying to be strong for me.

My brave, beautiful wife.

She quickly wiped her eyes and shook her head. "Ugh, I hate being so weepy!" Zoey grouched, giving me a watery smile. "I hate being that girl who turns into a puddle of tears, you know? But at least these kids are worth it."

She took a deep breath.

"You do what you have to do, Hank."

I chuckled and pulled her in for an embrace, stroking her hair with my claws as I held her close.

"I'll come home to you," I murmured.

I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I promise."