"Welcome to Krakoa, the true homeland of Mutantkind. Please know that here you are safe and you are loved." The calm and gentle female voice stated from hidden loudspeakers. "If you are a new arrival and intend to stay, please ask for assistance in locating the Immigration Department so that your new residence can be allocated..."
"Amazing…"
Erik Lehnsherr, once known as Max Eisenhardt and the 'Mutant Terrorist' Magneto, stared in awe of his surroundings. Modern architecture mixed with buildings that could've only been created by Mutants. Steel rods and concrete that always seemed to be flowing, tiles that changed and shifted in color when one stepped on them, and machines that far exceeded anything available on his world save for Reed Richards' personal assistants. And somehow they did nothing to disrupt the environment. Ancient trees and blooming flowers were everywhere, prospering and all treating their environment with respect.
And he could see them.
His people.
The Homo Superior, who had been spread out and hidden in a world that hated ands feared them, were now walking around freely. He could see a man with bird features eating ice cream with his lover who had insect wings on his back. A young blond man was bemoaning about his power, being only able to explode once and unable to recover, to a long-haired blond man with eyes all over his face and hands. There were those who flew in the sky or simply slept in the shade of exotic trees.
They are all here. Living, laughing, and celebrating.
The horrors their people had experienced were, here, merely a thing of the past.
While he had just escaped from a nightmare…
"Magneto? You okay?"
Erik blinked and looked to his right to see the synthezoid Victor Mancha. But it wasn't the Victor Mancha of this world. Rather, it was the one from his. As was the Molly Hayes who was holding Victor's hand and staring around in awe.
All three of them were refugees here, without a home to return to.
"Yes. I am… merely surprised is all." He sighed as he stared at the island nation of Krakoa again. "This… this is the culmination of the dream Charles and I had. Of Mutants living free of fear. Simply living and able to stand on their own."
"Professor X, maybe. But I kinda doubt that your version here was really open to talking to him." Victor gave him a pointed look, but didn't elaborate. He didn't need to.
Erik knew full well that the way he had been acting before the infection was, as a Scottish comic writer once declared in an article he read, similar to that of a 'mad old terrorist twat'.
Hindsight truly was amazing, as was the simple fact that experiencing horror put things into perspective. He had been setting up shop in a meteor with a cult. There were no two ways about it. He had decided sitting on a rock in space, scheming his next move against the human race, was an effective use of his time.
If he had been with Charles, perhaps the Hunger would've been held at bay.
But no. He decided that he needed to save his own and leave the human race to the hands of its Heroes. Then he could only watch in horror as both his enemies, allies, friends, and old lovers were consumed and converted into the undead horde. He had only met with Victor and Molly by pure chance, saving them both from their infected surrogate family.
"Perhaps he was smarter than I was." Erik said simply before walking forward. "We best get moving. I believe we have an appointment."
"Victor! Can I try that ice cream!? Please!?" Molly asked as she excitedly pointed to a stand.
"Later. Right now we gotta figure out where the hell we're going to live."
"But it glows in the dark!"
"And that makes you enthusiastic to eat it?"
As the two bickered a bit, Erik's mind drifted to the past.
It had been him, Victor, Molly, the Machine Man, and the Kree soldier Noh-Varr who had been left in the end. They, and a handful of human survivors, had held themselves up in the blocked off Holland Tunnel eating scraps. Meanwhile, the outside was a place of war and carnage where the undead battled against the mechanical drones of Ultron. The experience had been educational, teaching Erik just how little his crusade mattered in the grand scheme of things. Who cared if one was a Mutant or Human when the universe itself merely saw them all as meat?
It made him want to protect the people in his charge all the more.
He had discovered Franklin Richards, an alternate and grown version of the boy who had been eaten by the infected She-Hulk days before, and the balding and mature Jonathan Storm while searching for insulin. He had assisted them in fighting off the undead to bring them to their hideout, where they explained they had a way to return to their uninflected universe but they needed to be there in a few days.
A decision was made and they made a run for it. The Machine Man, Aaron Stack, and Noh-Varr had stayed behind to buy them all more time. He could still remember Noh-Varr shouting "FOR THE KREE EMPIRE!" while Aaron made a quip about how the undead world was robot heaven. Erik hoped that they were both still alive. That A.R.M.O.R would find them and help to retake their world from the undead…
"But I was never a dreamer like you, Charles." Erik muttered to himself as he glanced up at a tall skyscraper, He could see, emblazoned on the glass windows that dotted its surface, the sylized symbol of a sword in the center of a circle, angled almost as if it were an X.
This was the Terra surface-base for the new iteration of S.W.O.R.D.
"Wow…" Molly glanced up and asked, "So… are we going to get a ride on a spaceship?"
As it turned out, they did.
As soon as they entered the building they were rushed into decontamination, scrubbed clean, and dressed in spacesuits before being shoved into a rocket that blasted off as soon as they were strapped in. Both Molly and Victor were amazed by the vast emptiness of space as well as the huge visual of their home planet, but Erik was unimpressed.
It wasn't like it was his first trip into space.
Within an hour, they were brought into the S.W.O.R.D space station. The a young floating wheelchair-bound Mutant who called himself 'Wiz-Kid' had greeted them and brought them further into the structure.
There, standing in front of a large window that showed nothing but the starry void, was the green-haired and garbed Abigail Brand.
The commander of S.W.O.R.D.
"Commander Brand!" Wiz-Kid saluted with a cheerful smile. "I brought Magneto 2.0, the rebooted robot, and the runaway!"
"Good job, Matsuya." Brand said in a clipped tone without even glancing towards him. "Now, why won't you take Mr. Mancha and Mrs. Hayes on a little tour? I'm sure they would want to get to know the place before they are reassigned to the Control department."
"You got it, Ma'am." Wiz-Kid motioned to the synthezoid and young Mutant. "Come on, you're going to want to see the rest of the station! You won't believe what we've been able to do in just a year!"
"You sure, Magne-?"
Erik silenced Victor by raising his hand. "I will be fine. I just need to discuss a few things with Mrs. Brand."
"…Alright." He tugged on Molly's hand and dragged the girl with him, who kept looking at Magneto from over her shoulder until they had both left the rooms.
When the doors shut, Brand finally turned to face him. Her eyes were hidden behind the pitch black sunglasses, which made her wry smile seem all the smugger. "I have to say, it's like I'm staring at a living, breathing picture." She glanced at the door. "Am I to assume that the group she was with in this world didn't want her?"
"Hayes had declined meeting them herself." Erik couldn't blame her, either. The 'Runaways' of this world were now all adults, with those like Nico Minoru in her late thirties while Molly's alternate self was in her early twenties. It was very odd, and he could see why Molly didn't want to insert herself in their lives again. "As for Victor… it is to my understanding that his 'relatives' aren't his biggest fans."
From what A.R.M.O.R had told them, the Victor Mancha of this world had gotten himself hooked on Vibranium in order to deal with his chronic pain. The addiction had gotten so bad that, while on a mission to spy on the Vision and the artificial family he had built, he had been caught by the young Vin Vision attempting to steal Vibranium and was killed when that Victor lost control of his powers. The native Victor was then killed in turn by the vengeful Virginia Vision, who had been killed by her 'husband' in turn for murdering the incarcerated synthezoid.
It was a truly tragic fate, one that had shaken Victor to his core. It made him hesitant in meeting the other members of this world's native Runaways or the Vision.
Was it any surprise that he leapt at the opportunity to live on Krakoa with Molly as her 'guardian'?
"Hm. Well, it's the Avengers' loss in any case." Brand clicked her tongue while walking closer to Magneto. "Me? I don't give a damn what people did in their past, on some alternate Earth, or any of that crap. All I care is if they can follow orders… and are willing to do anything for the good of the Earth." She was only a foot away from him and had her hands on her hips. "So tell me, Magneto… are you going to be a problem like the one from this Earth?"
Erik closed his eyes. He had heard what had happened to his alternate. During the decimation of Genosha, this world's Magneto had gone mad with grief and rage at the wholesale slaughter of his people. So mad that he had converted a formerly peaceful monk named Xorn to his cause. While supplying the mad star-brained monk with 'Kick', they enacted a plan to infiltrate Xavier's school and after gaining their trust betray them so that they may turn Manhattan into a new Genosha.
What this Magneto didn't plan on was the microscopic organism known as Sublime, who took Xorn completely over the edge and poisoned his mind further. He took the creed of Homo Superior that Erik had once preached to its horrible end point, going so far as to give himself plastic surgery to look like Magneto.
Horrified at how his pawn had become a perversion of everything he believed in, this world's Magneto battled Xorn to the death. The battle had resulted in both of their deaths, as well as the death of Jean Grey.
"And that is how my story could've ended. Had the hunger never arrived… I would've become like Xorn."
It was a warning. One that he needed to heed.
"I assure you, I will not become a problem." He bowed his hand. "I will follow all your orders, Commander Brand."
The green-haired woman nodded and turned on her heel. "Good. Welcome to S.W.O.R.D, Magneto. You will be acting as the liaison between us and Krakoa, as well as assisting with upcoming diplomatic visits to the newly crowned emperor of the Kree-Skrull Alliance. I'm pretty sure bringing the consort of the emperor's grandfather will put us in their good graces…"
"I only have one request."
That stopped Brand's monologue and made her turn her head to arch an eyebrow. "Oh? Is a free room and board on Krakoa not enough?"
"Oh, I am grateful for that. But do not worry… my request is merely a small one."
Magneto had been a moniker he had given himself to rally Mutantkind behind. A caped and cowled leader that the humans would fear as bent metal to his whim.
Erik Lehnsherr had been an identity crafted to hide from human authorities, one that he continued to use for decades out of habit and believing all his heart that the young boy that had escaped from the camps died when Magda fled from him.
Now… both identities were dead to him. This world did not need Magneto, nor did Erik Lehnsherr have a place in this world.
"I would like for you to call me Max."
The End.
Note: Hope you all enjoyed that fun little short story featuring the fan-favorite Mutant anti-villain!
I may not be the biggest fan of some of the story decisions made in the current Dawn/Way of X era, but I love the idea of Krakoa and some of the more sci-fi elements being brought into the forefront. So yeah, it is a part of this universe but with some tweaks. For one thing, no vague and ultimately self-harming A.I ban since a lot of potential allies are A.I.
In case any of you are confused, this Magneto was the one featured in the Fantastic Five snippet. I wanted to play more with the idea that this was a Magneto who had his entire worldview shattered and put into perspective with the zombie apocalypse. Plus, this was as good as an opportunity as any to integrate some of my ideas for a Marvel Zombies reboot, and Zombies Vs. Robots are always a cool concept.
Please be sure to leave a review and check out the main story!