Lisa refused the food Pyro offered her. She did not want food. She wanted answers. She looked toward Adam several times, but was met with only stares. Once she thought she saw a flicker of apology in his eyes, but she wasn't certain.
"Now then," Magneto said. "Pyro, Lance, clear away the dishes while we bring Ms. Bates up to date." John and the other young man stood and began carrying items away from the table."
"I think you will find my offer appealing," Magneto went on. "But first, let us start at the beginning. You are Lisa Bates, daughter of Jonathan Bates and Cynthia Cordell. Your father left when you were young. You were raised by your mother and your aunt and uncle. When you were sixteen, you moved with your mother to South Carolina. Your mother died in a hit-and-run accident when you were seventeen. Your Uncle Charles died of a sudden heart attack four years ago, and your Aunt Caroline had a stroke last week. Does that about sum it up?"
Lisa nodded slowly. How did he know all this about her?
"Well, minimal segments of that summary are correct. The majority is wrong, completely false. You've been living a lie, Lisa."
She wiggled uncomfortably in her seat.
Mystique placed her hand on Magneto's, and he continued. "Though he did not know who you were until moments ago, your father most definitely is Jonathan Bates." He motioned toward Jack. "You know him better as Adam's Uncle Jack. But your mother was not Cynthia Cordell. You real mother died when you were born, and her sister, Cyndi, took you in. She did not allow your father to see you for the simple and ridiculous reason that he was, is, a mutant. Strangely enough, she did let you associate with a woman I knew as Wren. You knew her as Caroline Daugherty, your aunt. But Caroline was not really your aunt, simply a woman Cyndi trusted. A very special woman, however."
Mystique removed her hand from Magneto's. She stood, turned sharply, and walked toward the corridor, talking as she went. "Erik, I have some programming to do. Call for me when you are done with this nonsense." Her words were bitter.
Magneto smiled. "She does not like to hear me speak of Wren."
"Jealousy doesn't become you, Mystique," Pyro shouted, and he followed her down the hall.
"Wren was beautiful, vibrant, full of life. She radiated with energy. And I loved her. I had no doubt that she loved me in return, but for a vivacious young woman who attracted every man she encountered, she found it difficult to decide which one she wanted. She loved me, and she loved my friend, a man named Charles Xavier. In the end I could not win her. She chose him, only to leave him a year later. I tried to convince her to return to me, but she longed to see the world. Life was too exciting to spend it with a boring intellectual such as I.
"Thirty years later, I had not forgotten her. And I learned she was a powerful mutant, powers and control few can surpass. That is where he came in." Magneto gestured toward Adam.
"He is quite special to me," the man in black continued. "As special as a normal human can be. He possesses knowledge in that mind of his that I found quite beneficial. Military charts and diagrams. Engineering and mechanics. An intelligent young fool. He could have been another Einstein. I recruited him after a messy break up with his only true love. She left him brokenhearted, bitter. Your emotions were in quite an uproar, wouldn't you say, Adam? Perhaps we could call it a storm!" Magneto laughed as Adam clenched his jaw. "Ororo didn't trust you. And with good reason I suppose. After all, you did end up betraying her: you ended up with me. But that is ancient history." He turned back toward Lisa.
"His first assignment was to bring Caroline to me. But he did not succeed. She died before he did what he was supposed to. A tragedy indeed, but not a total loss. When you went home for the funeral, I was able to learn about you. You would be as beneficial to me as Wren, perhaps even more so. So I gave Adam another chance. And here we are."
Lisa slowly opened her fists that she had been compressing. "Why am I here? What do you want from me?"
"That is a questions I should be asking you, Lisa. What do you want from me?" Magneto raised a hand a thrust it forward. A siren blasted through the cavern. Lisa cringed and clasped her hands over her ears. She had not been expecting a shrill and deafening alarm. She found it difficult to concentrate, but slowly adjusted.
"Do you find it hard to sleep at night?" Magneto asked her.
She did not respond. She knew he already had her answer.
"What about Adam?" he added. "Were you falling for him? Too bad he's your cousin. He is one of the few normal humans who would accept you for what you are. The others will not. They will only look at you with hatred and misunderstanding. Why? you ask. You aren't dangerous, right?" He shook his finger. "Wrong! You do not know just how dangerous you really are." He paused. "How did your Uncle Charlie die?"
She did not reply.
"How did he die?"
"Heart attack," Lisa mumbled.
Magneto laughed. "Oh, yes, a heart attack. How did your Aunt Caroline die?"
"Stroke."
"You are a smart young woman, so answer me this. What causes heart attacks and strokes?"
"High blood pressure… a blood clot." She shrugged. She was an English major in college. She did not know biology.
"How old were you when you found out you were different from other young girls?"
"Twelve."
"After your mutation manifested you lived with your aunt and uncle for four years. And you lived with your mother, or really her sister, for five more years before she died."
"What are you getting at?" Lisa's patience was running thin.
Magneto stood and uplifted both arms. A metal box zoomed toward him. He placed in on the rock table in front of Lisa. It was a cage. Inside was a small white rat.
Magneto raised one hand again, and the siren that had caused Lisa so much pain a few moments ago sounded once more. She struggled to adjust, but the clamor only became louder, more intense. She closed her eyes, squeezed them shut. Her face crumpled, brow furrowed. The noise grew. She bit her lip, concentrated. And then the alarm ceased. She slowly opened her eyes and darted a look at Magneto. He only smiled at her.
"Open the cage," he told her.
She turned toward the metal box. The rat was cowering in the corner. She opened the small wire door. The rat's breathing seemed erratic, unstable. And then it stopped breathing all together. The animal was dead.