Chapter 3 Slayer's Philosophy
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except for my original characters, of course. But if Marvel wants to use them, they can. Feel free to post this, or any other Glaivester fic, anywhere, but please notify me so I can brag about it.
Still Friday, in the late afternoon.
Scott was talking to his clonal "daughter." Nick Fury was of course watching via closed-circuit television. Lyssa was consuming massive amounts of food, which Scott took to mean that she had been modified like Talia to grow up very fast.
"So, Lyssa? Why were you at the Red Skull's hideout?"
"We wanted to find out what he was planning. We managed to discover where he was by tracking him via the internet. His contacts are Baron Zemo, known as Zimalover on one of the biochemistry and genetics chat rooms. The Red Skull's own handle is 99 Luftballoons. When I found Kurt I decided to capture him myself."
"What does Sinister want with Kurt?"
"He has superior X-genes. Capturing him would be almost as good as capturing his child. If we can mate him with another powerful mutant, we can create supermutants who will someday rule the world."
"Why did Sinister release Apocalypse?"
"I don't know, and if I did I would not tell you, and giving you such information would probably hurt his plan, anyways, so forget about it. By the way, scanning me telepathically is very difficult, so if any of you tries it, you will be knocked unconscious, do you understand? This power of mine is not suppressable by this silly necklace."
"Okay. Why do you want to produce superior mutants?"
"Because, the universe is a purposeless wasteland that somehow managed to create life. Now that we have the power to do so, we must make it purposeful by creating the world over in our own image. In effect, we are the true gods, and we must remake the world into a world befitting true gods, or else the universe will continue to descend endlessly into purposelessness."
"I don't understand."
"The only purpose in the world is that which we make in the world. Happiness and comfort are nice, but not lasting or particularly meaningful. We have the capacity to shape the world however we want. Many believe in a God Who gives life purpose and meaning by planning a beautiful paradise and by preparing us to accept that paradise. He plans the events of the world to his purpose, and in that planning gives meaning to events. Mr. Sinister knows far better than that. God is a neglectful being who created us and left us. Or rather, he created the circumstances that allowed us to evolve. We must give the world purpose by planning our own paradise, and by making mankind fit for that paradise. Humans are the first creatures alive who have the capacity to direct their own evolution by conscious thought. We are the first who can make meaning of the meaningless. So we must. And if most of us have to die to do so, so be it."
"That's a rather bleak philosophy."
"Essentially, Sinister used to believe that mankind could peaceably be brought to this new paradise, by voluntary eugenics, through breeding or sterilization. But circumstances have convinced him that only war, bloodshed, and elimination of those who do not see the light can bring this new paradise. However, it must be contained. Wars need to be carefully constructed so as to spare the superior and to wipe out the inferior. Planning must be precise. Otherwise, the war could destroy more than it creates."
"So you need destruction before you can have paradise."
"I have read the Book of Revelation. Surely it says the same thing. According to the pre-millennialist interpretation, Christ will only come after seven years of plagues, tyranny, and death and destruction. Sinister, like Apocalypse, is essentially a naturalistic premillennialist."
"Wow." Scott began pondering. "So Sinister and Apocalypse are the same."
"No. Sinister wants to be God, so to speak. Apocalypse wants to serve God, so to speak. Sinister trusts only in his own ability to bring about Paradise. Apocalypse believes that he just has to open the door and let God take control."
"Interesting. So Sinister is essentially a deist?" Scott had studied religious philosophy under Professor Xavier a year or so back..
"Correct. And Apocalypse is theistic, sort of, although he doesn't claim to know God personally. He does know whether God is personal, or just some sort of force of nature, but he trusts Him implicitly to direct evolution toward Paradise."
"Why are you willing to tell me this?"
"So you will understand. I will not say anything that might help you to stop their plans, but telling you what they plan may help you to see the error of your ways and make you join them."
"Sounds like 'they' aren't a 'they,' to me," said Scott. "Sounds like they are probably butting heads, like Kurt and Rogue over religion."
"No," lied Lyssa. "They are in total agreement over all of the important issues. Like the Red Skull. He is dangerous, and will kill too many superior mutants for not belonging to the correct race. This is not acceptable. Both Sinister and Apocalypse are in agreement."
Lyssa had gotten nervous. She had hoped that the brilliant vision of the future would sway Scott. Unfortunately, he did not appear to be very impressed. Instead, she had nearly given away that her master and Apocalypse were at odds.
"I don't buy it," said Fury to the second SHIELD agent watching the closed-circuit TV. "Apocalypse, from what we know of him, would favor the Red Skull. Just the sort of tyrant who can be used to cause chaos."
"Lyssa," asked Scott, "what if I told you that there was another vision, one in which God was loving, and in which the goal of life was to be nice and kind to others, and to have relationships, and..." Scott realized that he wasn't very religious. He didn't think about God much other than as a generic Nice Guy. Rahne, he felt, had she still been here, would have reamed him out for suggesting that goodness was the way to get to God. A very strong Calvinist, she was always explaining Christ's sacrifice, salvation by grace through faith, et cetera. Jamie, a Baptist [A/N I don't know what he is in the comics, but I'm going with this, I need someone to be a Baptist], had gotten into arguments with her over the nature of predestination, but he knew that she always got exasperated over people who suggested that good deeds made one right with God. As for Kurt, well, Catholicism was, in Scott's opinion even more infinitely complicated, and he didn't want to go there. So he would stick with some feel-good generic presentation.
"What about making friends and having fun, and getting along, and building a better world through cooperation."
Lyssa flinched. "Decadence," she deadpanned. "Decadence. 'Fun' is fine occasionally, as a developmental tool. But until Paradise is achieved, we need to think of all things in teleological terms."
"Huh?" This kid knew more big words than Scott did.
"In terms of serving the ultimate purpose. By the way, I will need something resembling a diaper soon, I fear."
"Why?"
"I believe that my menarche is about to hit. When it does, I will have cycles almost every day, and they will be too massive for normal methods."
Scott didn't particularly like talking feminine hygiene, especially with someone who seemed as undisturbed by it as his "daughter," but nonetheless he was curious. "Uh - why?"
Lyssa stared at him as if he were stupid. "My metabolism has been sped up. Sinister was able to speed up the growing process beginning about a month ago. I won't be normal in terms of metabolism for at least another four months. Until then I will eat, process food, and do everything exceedingly fast." She paused for a second. "Although my body is more efficient at using food and at conserving water, and in concentrating nitrogenous waste, so I don't need to do everything faster. Although I would like to use the girls' room."
Scott pointed the way.
After finishing, Lyssa walked up to Scott and put a hand sympathetically on his shoulder.
"Sinister always said you had potential. Please, consider joining him instead of being with all of these idealists and hippies. I won't lie, you could get killed. But it would be an honorable death, paving the way for a better tomorrow. And if you stand against him, you will be killed anyway."
She sat down and refused to say any more.