Author: Viral
Author's Note: To all those romance lovers who are looking for Magneto/Storm action, don't be alarmed about how slow it's moving. I will eventually get back to it: I have a plan – and I imagine the events might please you. However, until I can fully implement it into the story, enjoy.
By the way, I send my thanks and appreciation to all of you who have reviewed this story and have given the pairing a chance. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as it has been a pleasure for me to write.
-=-=-=-
"Knock knock," Pyro said in a singsong voice, standing in front of the New York City Friend's of Humanity Headquarters. Behind him stood Sabretooth, Toad, and Quicksilver, all clad in full black suits with only a few modifications on each. The most modified, of course, was Pyro's. On his back were portable gas tanks and pipes that allowed him to produce the fire that he would later manipulate. Creating and manipulating fire was the first plan of action for the Brotherhood. A single flame was all it would take for this professional arson to destroy the entire building.
"Do it!" Quicksilver impatiently commanded from behind as he watched Pyro get ready for the attack. He looked at the brick-faced building, wondering how long this entire process was going to take. He could easily handle everything by himself without ever being seen or touched. But his father, Magneto, had warned him to be patient. They had two reasons to be here: to take revenge against the F.O.H. and to scramble the X-Men's team. In order to call it a successful mission both goals had to be accomplished.
"Hold your horses, the fire's just startin to cook!" Pyro cackled as the flames erupted and he mentally told them where to attach to the building. The flames immediately began to spread across the exterior and through into the interior. He cackled louder when the warehouse roof caught to flames and the F.O.H. members began to abandon their place of business.
The members, unarmed and ambushed, were met with the four muscular and angry members of the Brotherhood. The F.O.H. outnumbered the Brotherhood considerably, numbering about thirty men in their twenties and thirties. "Mutants!" one of the men shouted and ran back inside of the burning building to retrieve his weapons. Much to his dismay the burning ceiling collapsed on his head and he was no longer to be seen.
"How are we going to do this?" Quicksilver smiled, patting his foot on the ground as he tauntingly looked into the eyes of the fearful men.
"We'll maim them," Sabretooth growled. "One at a time." One of them men returned the growl and angrily charged at Sabretooth's body. From a distance one would only see shadows but they would know who the victor would be way before the battle even started. Sabretooth, standing at approximately seven feet, if not more, and adorned with muscles that would scare even the toughest of body builders versus a man who stood at five feet and six inches and looked like he never lifted a weight in his life. It was no surprise when the Sabretooth's hand completely wrapped around the man's neck and snapped it with a single flinch of his hand.
"My God... he's a monster!" one of the men screamed, trying to run away. Toad quickly jumped into the air and kicked the man in the back with his super strong legs, causing the man to fly into the burning building.
"Now, let's handle our business," Quicksilver chuckled, ready to join in the fun.
"The only business you have is us," came a Cajun-accented voice from behind the four Brotherhood members, "And I don't think you can handle it, mes amis." Sabretooth turned around to see Wolverine with his claws extended, Toad faced Jubilee, Iceman faced Quicksilver, and Gambit looked as if he was ready to pounce on Pyro.
"Welcome lads," Pyro chuckled, "We've been expecting ye to join us." Pyro pointed his hands at Gambit and flames ruptured out of his gas contraption. The flames began to surround the Cajun in a circle. This became the cue for all of them to join in the battle.
"Hey Morty! Take that!" Jubilee yelled, releasing pyrokinetic sparks from her hands. Toad jumped leaps and bounds as he moved quickly out of the path of her attacks. His menacing tongue tied her ankles together and caused her to fall to the ground. She hit her head hard, but didn't lose consciousness. In the midst of this the Friends of Humanity made their escape, slowly creeping from the midst of the fighting mutants.
"This has got to be the most mundane battle here, runt," Sabretooth chuckled as Wolverine growled with his three adamantium claws extended and his fang-like teeth gritting against one another. "Of course you know I'll win." Sabretooth was a master of mind games. If need be he could get Wolverine so excited and lost in adrenaline that his opponent would begin to lose concentration of his fighting techniques. Wolverine's beserker rage might be something deadly to face, but it was useless against a smart opponent -- especially one as smart and cunning as Sabretooth.
"I've had it, Creed!" Wolverine growled, charging at Sabretooth with his claws ready to slice and dice the first thing they came in contact with. Sabretooth extended his bulky arms and fist out to Wolverine's exposed gut. He watched as Wolverine's would-be onslaught stopped and mutant quickly recovered from the punch. "Is that all you got Creed?"
Meanwhile, Iceman and Quicksilver were a considerable number of miles away from the original place of battle. They had been fighting and moving at the same time: Iceman surfing on ice and Quicksilver dodging attacks of ice shards. Neither could seem to reach or make contact with the other.
Then, in a moment of genius, a brilliant idea hit Iceman. He would need to time and position everything correctly though. Even if he did have the reputation of a no-good jokester and an annoying addition to any team, he was a king on the battlefield and a huge asset because of his abilities.
Iceman rode on his slopes of ice that he habitually created until he saw Quicksilver heading for a narrow alley. Just what he needed. A sheet of ice was quickly constructed on one end of the alley. Quicksilver, although fast, did not think nearly fast enough when he ran into the thick wall of ice. He turned, his eyes wide and quickly ran to escape the alley the same way he had come in, but by the time he got there another wall of ice had been constructed. Iceman stood above him on his coaster of ice, looking below with a grin on his face. "Nowhere to go?" he said, pointing his hands towards Quicksilver and froze his feet to the ground.
"I'm gonna get outta here freeze pop," Quicksilver taunted.
"Yeah yeah," Iceman laughed. "You're a villain and you're going to kill me once you get out of the trap and all of that good stuff. Yeah, I've heard the speech before."
-=-=-
Cyclops was sitting in the co-pilot seat, terrified as the plane plummeted towards the ground with no hopes of stopping. He knew too well that Jean wasn't strong enough to telekinetically stop the jet, much less hold it up in the air to make a safe landing or even an escape. He was strapped tight in his seatbelt praying for a way out with his eyes closed behind his ruby quartz visors. His ears perked at the dozens of sounds that were all adding to the atmosphere of fear: Rogue screaming at the top of her lungs, the Professor frantically working the controls, begging for some type of response, Jean whimpering and letting out shrill screams every once and a while, the continual beeping of the jet's malfunction alert system, and the sounds in the back of the jet as if something kept exploding behind them.
When he finally opened his eyes he was looking directly at the ground as the jet made a vertical plunge towards it. He yelled out of habit, his toes curled in fear, his sweaty palms held on tighter to the sides of his chair and he spoke with passion, "Jean, I love you!" The jet was only inches away from the ground when it suddenly stopped. All the passengers were shaken with fear, hearts beating and lungs exhaling and inhaling quicker than they ever had in their entire lives. Everything was silent except for a gentle drizzle that hit against the windows and the continual 'beeping' of the jet's systems.
The jet slowly was moved out of its vertical, descending position and into a horizontal land on the muddy ground.
"Jean?" Cyclops asked.
"It wasn't me..." she noted, shaken with fear as she looked out of the window. "It must have been Wanda," she said before beginning to remove her seat belt. Her red hair was in a horrible mess, tangled in the back and misshapen in the front. Rogue, too, was discombobulated. She was so overcome with fear that she was now sprawled out on the floor, gasping for normal breathing patterns.
Xavier, however, had already mentally recovered from the events. He had his eyes closed and his hands on his temples as he mentally scoped everything out. He couldn't get a good link on the Scarlet Witch, Storm, or Magneto's minds, but he knew that they were around. When he finally reopened his ice blue eyes he turned to face his small team of mutants. "I'm going after Magnus; the rest of you will have to deal with the Scarlet Witch... and Storm."
"Storm!?" Cyclops yelled in confusion.
"There's no time to explain," Professor Xavier reprimanded. "You have your orders, now go!" The Professor watched keenly as Rogue, Jean, and Cyclops cautiously exited the jet. He wanted to apologize for his actions, for the ferocity of his words, but now wasn't the time. He understood why he was acting out of character. Not only was he upset with Magneto for once again going to extreme measures and making things harder for his dream of human-mutant peace, but also Storm had joined his side and abandoned everything she and he had worked towards for the past seven years. He exited the jet on his yellow hovering wheelchair that made a mechanical whir with every motion. It was time for another Xavier-Magnus showdown.
-=-=-
Magneto flew through the halls of the White House, knocking down walls, stripping security guards of their iron until they were too weak to stand up, knocking out cameras, and sending magnetic fields around himself as means of protection. He knew exactly where the President was and things couldn't get better. He was in a business suite talking with the whole persons of Congress. What were they talking about? He didn't know and he certainly didn't care. The only thing he cared about was what they would be talking about when he arrived.
A gunshot sounded from behind Magneto but all he did was continue floating down the halls. The bullet simply turned around and went directly back into the barrel of the gun it was shot from. The gun imploded in the hands of the shooter and sent the man falling to the floor as the skin was burnt off of his hand. The screaming, yelling, and undoubted agony did not deter Magneto from his goal.
"What the--!" one of the Congressmen yelled as the door to the huge conference room was blown off its hinges and Magneto floated into the room. The master of magnetism immediately lifted his hands at the Secret Service agents and the armed security and stripped them of their clothes and weapons. He soon grouped them all into a magnetic field and busted a whole in the White House's exterior wall, tossing the men outside and onto the plush lawn below. He quickly turned his attention back to the Congressmen and the President who were now unprotected.
He landed on the ground, smiling at each of the men from under his helmet before removing it to reveal an angry man. A magnetic field expanded and enclosed the entire room from interruption from the outside. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have something to discuss," Magneto said looking at the men. The room was like an auditorium that would be used to seat delegates of the United Nations. It was that huge, that formal, and that big of a deal.
"You mutant terrorists just don't get enough do you?" one of the men yelled, pointing his finger at Magneto. He was met with a simple smile before he watched Magneto simply turn his attention to the others in the room. Not the reaction he was expecting.
"I am not here to argue," Magneto said, placing his helmet down on the nearest table. "I am here to make a proposition. I'm sure you've all heard of the massacring of mutants that has been taking place throughout the nation and its territories. The main culprit in these mass murders have been the Friends of Humanity; but none of them have been put on trial for murder or even manslaughter. Why? Because mutants are not considered mutants."
"Make your point mu--," one of the men began to say before Magneto held up his hand.
"Please don't interrupt, senator," Magneto said in his deep baritone voice. "Tomorrow there will be a Congressional hearing, presumably the last in a series of hearings to make a new law that will be ratified immediately afterwards. The House of Representatives has already approved of the bill, the last step is left to the Senate. You must pass and ratify the law that will make it a Constitutional truth that mutants are humans! It is already a biological fact, now the government must act."
"This is exactly why I'm choosing to vote against it!" a woman yelled. "Mutants like you are constantly attacking us, forcing your views on us, and making us do what you want us to do! Guess what, mutie, you're not above the law! Ya hear?"
"Look," Magneto said, losing his temper. "I am only doing this nicely because someone requested that I not kill you all!" The room silenced at his words. "If I were to force my views on you, you'd be in captivity and I would not be kindly requesting your approval! Do you want to know my views?" he grimaced. "My views are that because I can do this:," he lifted his hands and lifted the outspoken woman from her seat. He forced her jaw open and made her stick a finger deep inside her throat, causing her to regurgitate at that very moment. He then tossed her body into a nearby wall and watched her fall to the floor. When he spoke again he was no longer yelling, "Because I can do that, I believe that I am better than you. I believe mutants are not homosapiens like you normal backwashed humans; I believe we are homosuperiors -- superior to you and everything you've ever accomplished. More than anything, ladies and gentlemen, you should be glad that I'm not forcing my views and beliefs on you."
-=-=-
Rogue lifted tossed her brown, leather jacket aside before beginning to hover in the air. Her yellow and green uniform was already covered in mud on the heels of her shoes, but the drizzling rain just rolled down the water-resistant fabric. She tied her hair in a tight ponytail, knowing how windy things could get when Storm was involved. After all these pre-battle preparations were made she began to float higher and higher in the air, all the while looking for any signs of the camouflaged Storm and Scarlet Witch. "Storm! We know you're here! Come out!" Rogue screamed at the top of her lungs, easily revealing her upbringing in Mississippi as her southern accent echoed.
Down below Jean and Scott treaded through the muddy terrain. Cyclops had his hand always ready on his visor and Jean stayed behind his bulky frame, feeling much more comfortable behind a man of muscles. "Jean, try locating them by using their minds as a homing beacon," Cyclops said in almost a whisper, looking in every direction before he took another step.
The Scarlet Witch jumped out of a tree and kicked Jean in the back, knocking her into the mud and causing Cyclops to instinctively turn around and shoot at whatever moved. His optic blast, at high power, show from his eyes in a bright red light, whizzing through the air as a controlled beam of energy. Then suddenly, the stern blast began to bend and the energy suddenly turned around in direction and flew directly for Scott's chest. He had forgotten how dangerous the Scarlet Witch could be and that a long range attack such as that was never going to work. But by the time he remembered the blast connected with his chest and the mere impact sent him flying back through the mud and into a tree where he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Jean tried to telekinetically lift the Scarlet Witch, but the telekinetic grasp simply turned back on her and sent Jean up into the air and then let her fall back into the mud. "X-Woman," the Scarlet Witch smiled, "I'll make this easier for you. Obviously I can tear you apart if you try to use your abilities on me. So, let's have a no-powers fight and see which one of us comes out on top. After all, it's the only fair way to handle this."
Jean growled, her green eyes looking at Wanda ferociously, but she managed to say, in a horrendous grumble, "Agreed!" Jean jumped out of the mud and sent a hard kick towards Wanda's ribcage.
Meanwhile, Rogue was floating near the bottom of the clouds, still searching for Storm. She yelled with her high-pitched voice for Storm to reveal herself. Her wish was about to come true. A thunder sounded and a break in the clouds allowed a ray of sunlight to shine on Rogue's body as if she were on a stage with the spotlight directed to her body. Storm quickly appeared afterwards with another rumble of thunder and another break in the clouds. The two hovered about one foot from each other.
"You asked for me, Rogue," Storm said with no sign of emotional expression on her face. "Here I am."
