Thanks very much for the reviews everyone! And CalliopeMused, this story is far from over! I love this too much to end it yet.
Chapter 30
One year later..
"The X-Men are bloody idiots!" spat Toad as he walked into the Brotherhood's den. Mystique was sat in Magneto's office chair with her heels up on the desk as she idly studied her nails. Toad came to a halt at the desk, holding his shoulder.
"So, you left Magneto at the senator conference?"
"I was waiting outside and two of the X-Men goons spotted me!"
"They were probably keeping an eye out for Brotherhood members. Charles and Jean will have both noticed Magneto there."
Toad groaned quietly as he pulled his shirt from his shoulder, "Stupid visor wearing bloke got me right in the shoulder." Mystique chuckled quietly to herself.
"It's not funny!"
"Actually, it is," she replied as she swung her legs down to the floor and slowly moved out from behind the desk, "Why did you come back here anyway? Magneto's on his own now."
"Nah, he didn't need me anyway," murmured Toad as he sat down on the edge of the desk and watched Mystique stroll past, "No doubt he met up with Charles to have a chat about old times," he grumbled quietly.
"He only wanted to see Dr. Grey's attempts to convince Senator Kelly. The X-Men have their way of doing things and we have ours. He's checking up on the opposition."
But Toad wasn't listening, "If I wasn't a mutant I could get that one-eyed git arrested for assault!"
"Oh, please," murmured Mystique as she turned to look at him, "If you wasn't a mutant you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
"Shut up," snapped Toad, holding his shoulder as he slumped off the desk and walked away grouchily.
Mystique merely smiled to herself as she watched him leave. However, there was a groan of metal behind her and she turned to see Magneto walking across the bridge with swift strides and his cloak billowing behind him. However, he didn't look displeased, in fact he was smiling and there was a gleam in his eye. Mystique didn't expect him to take the senate hearing quite so well.
"They've cancelled the Registration Act?" asked Mystique curiously, guessing possible reasons for his pleased expression.
"Nope," said Magneto as he looked around, looking quite excited.
"Xavier's on our side? Senator Kelly stepped down? We're getting world domination?"
Magneto blinked and looked at her at the last comment.
Mystique shrugged as she smiled, "Hey, that's how it works in the movies."
"I have an idea," he informed her, "Next week, Ellis Island is having a meeting with all world leaders. This could be our chance!"
"To do what?"
"The machine!"
A groan came from Mystique, "Not that again."
"Listen to me. With all the world leaders on Ellis Island, if I made the machine and cast it over the meeting, that would make them all mutants and they couldn't fight against us no longer!"
"Not only does that mean we'd need to build the machine, but we'd need to be sure it was safe and that it actually works. We can't go and cast that over everyone then let it backfire because the backlash would be horrendous. I hate humans too Erik, but we need to be careful about what happens to us."
"That's why when it is made, we test it."
"And what if it is too dangerous to use?"
"I have no choice," said Magneto sternly, "Only my magnetic powers can control the machine and I have yet to meet another mutant with the same who would trade places with me."
Mystique frowned and shook her head, "You could be killed!"
"If it means our survival.. then it is a risk I am going to take."
"We don't have the blueprints for the machine anyway."
Magneto glanced her way with a crooked smile, "Then we'll just have to get them won't we."
"And you really think we can just stroll into a government facility and walk out with the documents."
"No, I don't think I can.. But you my, dear, can do anything."
The skies were dark with clouds, which blocked out any glow from the crescent moon. Inside one of the tall skyscrapers of New York, cleaners were at work, vacuuming the many levels throughout the night from pristine cleanliness the next morning. Near the entrance, there was a counter backed by many screens each showing images of the inside of the building. The cleaners could be seen on them, minding their own business. A man dressed in the black uniform of a security guard was sat behind the counter with his legs propped up on a desk. He was sat reading a newspaper and eating a sandwich happily.
The darkness of the road outside was momentarily disturbed as double glowing orbs of yellow swam through the blackness. Then slowly, they came closer and the glass automatic doors parted. A woman walked in, clothed in a black suit with blonde hair tied into a high bun atop her head. She walked with quick domineering strides and a leather briefcase swung against her thigh as she held it in a clenched hand. She walked passed the desk, nodding her hand quickly.
"Oh, hey Miss. Wells, forget something?" asked the security guard, swinging his legs down off the desk very quickly and hid his sandwich from view.
"Yes, I won't be a second."
"Yeah, just go on in. I trust ya," the security guard chuckled quietly as he pressed a button, "There, the door's unlocked to the lift."
The woman smiled gently, "Thanks," before she swiftly hurried on in through the doors. The lift was already on the ground floor, and as she pressed the button she merely had to step in and press the button for her designated floor. Upon exiting the lift, she quickly made her way to an office door, pushing herself inside. She cautiously looked around the room before her form disappeared in the series of crackling and her appearance took on a tall blue-scaled body. The flash of yellow eyes glowed through the darkness. Mystique quickly slipped through to another door at the back of the room, placing a finger digit on a smooth pad on the wall. The finger had temporarily changed. The door in front of her unlocked with a cool female voice, "Access Granted."
In front of her were numerous file cabinets and tall shelves, each stocking important documents. Mystique quickly moved forth, scanning the alphabetical lists before she stopped, pulled out a drawer and continued her search. Eventually, she whipped out a folder, and suddenly changed back into the form of the businesswoman. With the documents then safely in the briefcase, she calmly made her way out of the room.
She had broke into a run once out of sight of the building, still in the appearance of the businesswoman. The briefcase was held tightly in one hand, containing the important information Magneto required. She turned down a quiet road lined with houses, slowing her pace now as she frowned and stopped at the corner. She looked down at the wall besides her, reading the road name on a sign. This was the road she once lived on. She slowly walked down the road, eyes scanning the houses on either side. Even through the darkness, she could see her previous home stood between number 6 and 10. The windows were boarded up and the house looked dark and uninhabited. The garden, once pristinely cared for had over grown with wild flowerbeds and tall weeds. A sigh at the end of the driveway proclaimed, "For Sale," but it looked battered and old.
She frowned as she looked up slowly, seeing her old bedroom window. The wood covering the window has broken away slightly, and she could see the broken window where she had valiantly made her bid for freedom. That familiar feeling of anger was welling up inside her, and with an angry growl she span from the house, striding down the road with hot tears blinding her vision. Without any directional input, her feet led her around a corner and before she realised where she was, she had come upon another house. She turned and looked at it, her fists clenching.
Cassandra's house.
Once her closest friend, and an avid supporter of anti-mutant campaigns. Her father had led her to believe all that. With the stories he told from work, the news he had heard throughout the day. Without realising just what she was going, she strode up the path to the front door, still in the form of the businesswoman. She reached the door and rung the doorbell. Whilst she stood waiting patiently, she heard footsteps come down the staircase behind the door. She lowered the briefcase as she extended her hand to the garden fence, pulling out a broken piece of iron from the railings.
A voice chuckled in her head. You know what to do..
The door was pulled open and a older man clothed in a dressing gown looked out curiously, "Hey – " But within a second he had slumped onto his back in silence with blood seeping from his neck. Mystique, in her scaled blue form stepped across his body, clutching the iron bar, the spiked decoration at the top bloodied.
"Dad?" Cass walked down the staircase slowly, only clothed in a nightdress. She stopped dead as she saw her father unmoving in a pool of blood. She slowly pulled her eyes off him, slipping into a shocked silence. Her eyes met two glowing ones and she screamed, stepping back against the wall, "You!"
Mystique narrowed her eyes as she climbed the staircase slowly in the darkness. "All those years I trusted you, Cass. Then you think you can turn your back on me and go on to have a perfect life. Just because I'm a mutant? Nothing else?" Her hands tightened on the piece of iron railing as Cass backed up the stairs slowly. "I'm going to give you a real reason to fear me. You think you're scared now?" Mystique laughed sinisterly as she saw Cass's eyes widen.
"Oh my God.. Dad! Dad!"
"He can't hear you.." Mystique continued to climb the stairs with an expert silence. "You hate mutants, Cass? Well, mutants hate you!" She swiped the iron bar forward, Cass's screams chilling the evening air as she collapsed onto the carpeted steps with shining bloodstains leaking down the front of her nightdress. The spike was impaled into her chest.
Mystique stood in silence as she glared down at Cass's pale face. Cass's eyes stared up unmoving, to be forever terrified. With her hands shaking, Mystique slowly pulled her grip off the bar, stepping backwards down the staircase a little. Her silence was broken as she chuckled quietly, a sinister expression creeping across her face. "You deserved that, Cass. You made me do that. That's what people like you turned me into. So don't you dare put the blame on me! You did this to me!" She pointed a bloodied blue finger at the dead body of her once best friend, "You made me into who I am.." A smirk crept across her face, "Thanks, I guess."
A few slices short of a loaf if you ask me. Don't worry Mystique, we still think you're cool, lol.