Child of Light and Darkness

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Chapter Eighteen

Scott watched the scene. The police captain watched uneasily as the X-men went down, and Magneto negotiated with Phoenix. He would be dumb to command any kind of order that would bring action against Jean. He knew what she was capable of.

The S.W.A.T. team men still lined the streets trying furiously to keep the bystanders at bay. News choppers, cameras, and anchors were all on the scene and already reporting the very few information anyone knew. It looked to be about 3 or 4 different New York station had come down here for this live breaking news.

But whatever the reason, Scott knew that this couldn't keep up. He had to stop it before someone innocent got hurt.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, but Magneto was an innocent in his own right and he'd have to stop Jean before she figured out what to do with him.

He just didn't know how.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"You see that Erik?" Dark Phoenix asked as she showed him the News cameras lining the street.

"This will be the last thing you see. Your last live news coverage. In fact it will be the coverage of your demise. Ironic isn't it? You've tried so hard to succeed in ruling the human population, only so they can watch as you die."

"Please, I beg you…"

"You beg me? Don't beg for mercy from Dark Phoenix, there is none in her."

"If you spare my life…"

"Now why would I do that? Don't you agree that you deserve to die? Maybe not like this perhaps. But you're certainly not flawless, you agree?"

"Jean…please…"

"Huh, don't beg to Jean Grey, she is no longer."

She tightened her grip around him and rose him higher into the air, so the news cameras could get a closer angle.

"The mightiest mutant on earth…powerless and left at my mercy…and mine alone. Certainly it's not your proudest moment…is it Erik? To know that at this very moment all of those you know, are watching you squirm and beg for your pathetic petty life, like that of a…human. See, you're no different than those you despise. You think you have superiority, but your wrong, you are all flawed. With emotions…human emotions. Malcolm X, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Capone, Hitler…"

Magneto grimaced at the sound of Hitler's name. Dark Phoenix caught on.

"Yes…even Hitler the Nazi hypocrite whom you despise…you are exactly like him, flawed with emotions, flawed with the need for power to sustain and fulfill you. You may not realize it, but that need doesn't satisfy, but perhaps I can put you to rest…bring you peace."

"Peace? Why would a merciless creature bring me peace."

"Not peace in the way you think. But since you're moments away from your death anyway, I will leave you with this…You shouldn't judge the humans or any other creature, why hate the same people that you have so much in common with."

"I am nothing like the homo sapiens."

"Ahhh…but you are. You have a heart, it may be filled with hatred and your eyes may be cold. But you once had a family."

"How do you know about that?"

"I am an all-knowing telepath, remember? You once had a wife, a daughter. But they were killed by a hate crime. Add that to your hatred of the Nazi's for being persecuted as a Jew all those years ago and you couldn't sustain your hatred for the human race any longer."

"That's not how it was."

"Please Erik, let me continue. You no longer have your wife and daughter. But you do have a son and a daughter, Twins. You must be proud of them, how they turned out, even if you don't show it. See you may be 'homo superior' but you're not incapable of human feelings. You care about your children, you obviously care deeply about your plan to dominate. That's your flaw, your vulnerability. Emotions. That and that alone makes you no different than your human counterpart. Doesn't it?"

Magneto didn't reply.

"I suppose it's best you keep your silence. To realize your flaws so late in time…why you must want to go to your grave with some dignity left, since your pride is no longer."

She rolled both hands into fists, slowly pushing each molecule of Magneto closer together suffocating him to death.

"How would you like to die, hearing all the voices of those you've hurt in the past?" She said.

Instantly Magneto's mind filled with voices of his deceased family members, all those he'd harmed or killed in the past and recent present. It was almost more than he could bare and he grunted in pain, close to screaming.

"That's right, you hear that, you feel that? Yes I can do this too, and so much more."

While the voices filled his mind Dark Phoenix squished his every molecule that built him and brought him closer to suffocation.

"Jean…stop…" Magneto grunted. "I…beg…you…" He was barely able to utter the words. The pain in his head becoming overbearing and due to her hold on him he could barely breathe.

"Any last words from the great Magneto?" She sneered.

Magneto was fighting despairingly to stay alive, to stay sane.

"I will say this," Dark Phoenix said as he gave no reply. "After today I believe you have seen a mutant even more powerful than yourself. And at her mercy you were, but it was inevitable that you die, exactly like those you despise…human."

She levitated to the ground and held him on his feet.

Magneto was confused at her last statement but he soon understood.

With a thought Dark Phoenix erased all the voices from his head, living him in relief if only for a moment.

Than suddenly he was of his mutant powers and she replaced his magnetic suit (armor) with civilian clothing.

"It is only fitting that you die a human."

"Jean…what have you done?" He gasped in shock.

"Jean is no longer, Now and forever, it is only Dark Phoenix!" She yelled moments away from striking Magneto down.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~

(Dodges as raw eggs are thrown at her) Yes I know…I know…short chap right? Don't worry I just wanted to leave you hanging with the whole Magneto thing…although I'm sure none of you, in your own right, care much if he lives or dies…but whatever.

Anyone getting tired of Dark Phoenix yet? U want her dead? Alive and Kicking? Got an opinion?

Well u remember that thing…yeah I think we call it…feedback? Right. Do that.