Somewhere over the Ocean:
Dave is sitting near Hank, the blue furred Beast, who is playing a game of chess with himself. Storm won't play with him anymore. Besides, she's been deep in conversation with Erin since they boarded the plane. Dave is bored and wants someone to talk to. "So, uh, what do you do?"
"What do you mean?" Hank asks. "Being large, blue, and fuzzy isn't enough?"
"Well…" Dave feels stupid. "I just meant…"
Hank laughs a bit. "Just messing with you, dude. I'm pretty strong and can jump around with surprising agility for a fat guy."
Dave sighs in relief. "Oh. Neat. She your girl?" he asks, indicating Storm.
Hank grins proudly. "Yup. She yours?" looking at Erin.
Dave nods. "Yup. Long time now."
They sit and look at their girlfriends for a minute. "We are two very lucky fat men," they say at the same time. They look at each other and laugh very loudly.
Erin looks up and glances at Storm, who seems mildly amused. "Fat jokes to themselves."
"What?" Erin asks.
"Hank likes to think he's the most grotesque thing to walk the planet. So he belittles himself constantly," Storm says. She shrugs. "It doesn't matter what I say to him, he'll never believe me when I say I love him for who he is."
Erin nods, understanding totally. "Dave's the same way. It's almost endearing, in an annoying sort of way."
"Yeah…" Storm agrees.
Liz is sitting in the back with Gambit and Shadowcat, who almost never leave her side. "It's kind of weird how they're already bonding and we haven't even, like, battled or anything."
"Happens when you have lots of things in common," Kitty replies.
Liz raises an eyebrow and adjusts her glasses. "So… is that what we're doing? Being the young'uns?"
"Kind of, though I got real grownup games planned if you wanna skip to those…" Remy winks at her.
"Ew!" Kitty gasps.
Liz blushes deeply. "Um, that's getting mega-creepy, actually. Mind not hitting on me for a few minutes while I readjust to the new situation, okay?"
"He does that to all the girls since his wife died," Kitty says matter-of-factly. "It's his way of coping with his loss."
Remy stands abruptly. "Y' know, p'tite, for a genius, yer really lackin' in de whole common sense department, neh?" he walks away, saving his injured pride.
"He was married? He's like, seventeen…" Liz says.
Kitty nods. "Got his girl pregnant. But she died before the baby was born. He's been really down about it but he won't admit that to anyone. That's why he's with us. Couldn't face his family or hers anymore."
"That's terrible…" Liz feels bad for the Cajun X-Man.
In the cockpit, Cyclops and Colossus are flying the jet while Donovan attempts to banter with them. They seem to want no part of her conversation, however, which only makes Donovan much more talkative. Finally, Colossus looks over his shoulder at her. "So, what happened to make your lady friend run out on you?"
Donovan takes a deep breath. "Low blow, Pete. She left after an argument, if you must know."
"What kind of argument, Mason?" Cyclops asks.
"The kind that shouldn't have caused her to run out on me. When Magneto came back from his little mental power nap, she wanted to jump right back onto the band wagon. I begged her not to go, that we didn't need to be involved in his stupid war against humanity but she said she isn't one to stand on the sidelines," Donovan says. "So, she took off."
Cyclops frowns. "That was a while ago. Why go after her now?"
"I figured she wouldn't be into the real work of it, after all her Weapon X background," Donovan replies. "But, then I saw her in that video… kidnapping that Agee character. I knew I had to get her back. She can't be there."
Colossus nods. "And rescuing that 'Agee character' might also put you in for a few free sample miracle cures to make you and the girl who could kill you with a touch normal again, eh?"
"That's not it, really," Donovan says quietly. "It'd be nice to be able to go out into public without the occasional lynch mob chasing after you but I could always use the exercise. And, if I was normal looking and Rogue couldn't hurt me, I wouldn't exactly be opposed."
"So, what do those band geeks have to do with it?" Cyclops asks.
Donovan glances back at the others. "I've been keeping an eye on them since they moved out onto their own, after their attack a few years ago. They got their cans handed back to them in my town. After Rogue left me, I needed something to keep me occupied…"
"You needed someone to protect…" Cyclops murmurs. "You're like those gargoyle myths."
"The creatures that guarded people and places at night and were stone by day?" Donovan asks. She thinks about it. "Yeah, I guess so. I am pretty much a night owl, given my physique. But… well, they needed someone then. And I figured that, since I was going after Rogue, I'd get their friend out. No one deserves to be brainwashed by Magneto's fanatical ways."
Savage Land:
"Magneto's very proud of the great wave you've caused in the war against humanity," Pietro starts loudly, holding up his wine glass. The others do the same. "After all, it's not every day that we get to see the youth of our cause make such great advancements in the strategy."
The group smiles proudly. They are sitting with Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, Magneto's two twin children and Jason Wyngarde, the mutant known as Mastermind. The three are a few of Magneto's most loyal and longest standing Brotherhood members.
"Thanks to you, we were able to hold onto Aubrey Agee, a man who would be able to destroy our race very easily with his technology," Pietro continues. "We may very well be able to redirect his power and use it to activate the latent x-factor gene that all humans carry, whether they want to believe that or not, and start a revolutionary rebirth of the mutant population."
"Is that Magneto's big plan?" Rogue asks.
Wanda frowns. She fears that Pietro has told these kids too much. Pietro just nods. "Of course. You see, Magneto does not wish to enslave the human race. What would be the point? We are far more powerful than they ever could be. And we certainly do not want to kill off the humans. They are, after all, our genetic roots. But if we could bring them to same level that we are, we'd live in peace and understanding that we are all equal."
"If we're all equal," Everett ventures. "Then why all this talk of war?"
"It's a clever ruse to force the humans into rethinking their views on things. If they're afraid of us, they're more likely to comply," Pietro answers simply.
"Not how I see it," Kristi says. "They'd be more willing to struggle if they thought you were going to force them into anything. If you'd just reason with them…"
Pietro stands angrily, slamming his ultra-fast fist into the table. "There is no reasoning with them! We've tried time and again to make those moron humans understand. It's time to take it to a whole new level. With Agee's ability to reduce a mutant to his human state, then it could be possible to do the opposite."
Kristi and Everett exchange glances. This whole thing is a lot more than they'd bargained for. And Kristi is still nervous about John's plan to harm Rogue's status in the Brotherhood. She shakes her head. Mastermind notices it and smiles at her. "You doubt Magneto's plan?"
"Well, yeah, I doubt it. I mean, how can you just make millions of humans just change their minds about what species they want to be?" Kristi asks. She realizes that this could get her into quite a bit of trouble but she knew it would distract John and Bobby from their previous thoughts of mutiny.
"You stupid house pet!" John shouts. "You were pretty convincing trying to get the bloody doctor to reverse your mutation. Maybe you really are a flat scan at heart…" he reaches for his lighter.
Kristi scoots her chair to back up but Everett moves quicker. The flame produced by John immediately goes under his command and he forces it to dance around the stunned Australian. Before there can be any real battle, they're forced to their seats by the power of Jason's thoughts. "Enough from all of you!" Wanda snaps. She looks at her brother. "This dinner is through. And I must say that I am very disappointed in the outcome."
The group of younger mutants is forced out of the room. They stand outside the door, all shocked and confused. No one says anything. Finally, Bobby speaks up. "You have no faith in Magneto…"
"What?" Kristi gasps. "That's not true at all… why else would I be here?"
"You doubt his plan to make this a human free world. Where we will all live in harmony…" John starts.
"No, no, no…" Kristi is practically pleading. "I wanted to offer a suggestion. Show a loop hole in a plan that was… uh, nearly flawless…"
Everett stands between Kristi and the two advancing mutants who seem very eager to hurt her badly for things other than pointing out blemishes in their leader's plans. Rogue finally has had enough. "Knock it off, all o' ya. Y' have any idea what an opportunity y'all screwed up by yer stupid fightin'? An', Cat… what the hell was that all about? Y' don't diss the bosses. Evah. They think we ain't loyal now… An' startin' a fight in their dinin' room didn't exactly score us no points either. What the hell is wrong what y'all?"
"Lousy leadership, perhaps…" Pyro mentions coldly. He narrows his eyes at Rogue. "If you knew how t' handle your men, you wouldn't have them fightin' each other, would ya?"
"What?" Everett snaps. "What a load of bull. You didn't have to go mental on Kristi, did you? Mastermind asked her a simple question. She answered it. He would have read her thoughts anyway!"
Wanda, Pietro, and Jason are listening at the door. "The only true Brotherhood member is Synch. The other three are Acolytes for sure and Cataclysm doesn't even support Magneto," Mastermind whispers.
"Fool," Quicksilver snaps. "Brotherhood material is Rogue, Synch, Cataclysm, and even Sunspot. It's that Pyro that is the issue. He's not even Acolyte material. He's out for himself…"
"What do you suggest?" Scarlet Witch asks.
A small smile forms on Pietro's face. "A trial, of sorts…"
