I continued my pattern of knowledge gathering and hands-on learning. This was how I'd been teaching myself stuff since before I was old enough to go to school, but this time it was much more fun. I wasn't distracting myself from bullies who always seemed to pop up once people found out that I was well read. A pity that I was bullied for that. Things like that only reinforces poverty in the long run. However, I was old enough to recognize that it came from a sense of inferiority that many uneducated people have. The biggest bullies tended to be to most insecure members of society who disliked themselves for one reason or another. Instead of going inward for self acceptance and respect, they violently lashed outward, hurting others in the process.

I understand this much better now than I did at the time. But, I always knew something felt 'off' about them, which was why I didn't care about their opinions. The first few times it happened, it did hurt, but by my high school years I was past caring.

I left school not only because of bullying, but because I felt I should be treated better than I was. At home at least mother had the excuse of being mentally ill. On her good days, when the disease wasn't grasping her mind, it was obvious that she loved me. Yes, maybe she was a bit too radical in her beliefs, but who was I to judge? She'd been abandoned by her family and her husband had committed suicde. Of course she took strength from her faith. It was truly the fault of those who took advantage of that need for community and manipulated her over and over again. The true 'wolves in sheeps clothing'.

The bullies had no such justification. That, combined with the lack of resources at school made the whole thing feel like a waste of time. In the end, I did what I thought would make me happier.

It was a complete success. Without the pressure of being harassed daily, it was much easier for me to grow and become better. That new freedom, combined with my powers, lead me to view the world around me as a place full of potential for growth.

It truly was the little things. With my extra paycheck and new handyman skills, the heat was always on. I could dress in a way that pleased me, too: not flashy, but not boring. This led me to expect more for myself. I had a very clear idea of what a man was from the books I read and the examples of men in the community. Since I fit the qualifications for being a man (in my head anyway) I felt a very real need to act the part. My house soon had no cracking walls, and made sure to keep it neat. Being able to manipulate metal at a distance had the underrated plus of making home renovation a breeze. I often had to lie to my mother about how projects that took days to do normally were accomplished in mere hours.

It's nearly impossible not to see the future as a controllable thing when you know you could stop most people from hurting you. I had a rock solid confidence in myself thanks to this security.

It was a very ordinary day when this confidence was tested. I smiled and nodded at my mother's faithful quoting of her scriptures, one of the few things that made her happy, and was forced to go to another meeting with the Strike At Everything We Hate cult.

I was always amazed by their tunnel vision. How could they just fixate on one scripture and ignore everything else? God loves and man kills? Did no one remember the saying 'love thy neighbor'? I clearly remembered it being that and not 'kill thy neighbor if they show signs that they are mutants'. How could they ignore the obvious contradictions? My brain would've exploded from the cognitive dissonance. Well, I supposed such reasoning could only work if you thought the mutant was a person worthy of respect. To them, such a concept was ridiculous.

I was proud that I even managed not to look as unhappy as I felt. How could I be happy, when I was being taught every week that I was a monster unworthy of love? Not that my expression would have mattered, my mother was in the specially labeled women's section of the church, which also happened to be at the back away from the podiums. Coincidence? I think not. Still, I was proud of my exercise of will power. They'd singled me out again for my known love of science and I hadn't risen to the obvious bait.

As long as I knew my books were never out of my sight at home, I was at ease. I did remember people saying to 'pray for me'. Ridiculous really, they acted as if science and religion were completely incompatible. Many scientists are creationists. Isaac Newton, for instance, was a famous scientist and also a creationist. Many also believed that science didn't disprove God, but instead explained how His universe worked. I didn't like the false premise this church's prayer was built on.

After service and out of the earshot of her fellow worshipers, my mother berated me for 'embarrassing' her. I said nothing, as nothing I could do could possibly help. My mother would still be unhappy and the situation would still be extremely sad. The authority figures used gossip to find out a child dared to say he liked science at his very own school and then proceeded to bully him for years. How dare I express interest in fossils and tectonic plates, after all? I was in middle school and they were still holding that against me. As far as they knew, I hadn't shown any signs of interest in science after that and yet they still harassed me for it. For all the talk about having a loving community I found they were even more cliquish than my high school.

When we got home, I took my customary pre-work nap. After that, I headed to the lab thinking I'd learn some more about magnetism and physics. I was very wrong.

A few hours into my shift, a pretty woman knocked at my door. She was young, slim and if I were any other man I would've looked everywhere but her face. However I remembered that I had a job to do. I did look, I was 14. But I refocused my attention after realizing my mistake.

"Yes?" I asked wearily.

The blonde tugged on a strand of hair. "Hi! I'm new here and I need my keys to floor 31."

Inside my head I scoffed at the request. I was kinda new to the job, but even I knew how things operated. People were given keys by a machine that checked their biometrics. If she asked for it, then she obviously wanted to bypass that system.

However, being in several cults had taught me how to remove all traces of negative emotion from my face and make the other person think I thought all was fine. I outwardly nodded and said, "of course! I just need to see your ID and you're all set."

The woman waltzed into the security room, unnecessarily brushing against me in the process. Another alarm bell rang in my head.

Why didn't she simply give me the ID from the doorway? What's a woman like her doing touching high school aged kids? She couldn't be that desperate.

She was either a spy or a creep who targeted teenagers. Considering the fact that she chose to see me now and not as I walked to my car, the first one was more likely.

Either way, I shouldn't mess this up.

She passed me and said something about looking for her ID. My thoughts were still racing. I could run, or I could fight. But before I could consider all the pros and cons, she went into her purse, bending her back at a very unnecessary angle, giving me a view most men would die for. That was a mistake. Giving me the perfect opening to attack.

I went for the back of her shins and kicked them- hard.

That knocked her down for a second, but she recovered quickly and was soon back on her feet. Far too soon for her to be anything but a trained fighter. I knew that kick must've at least broken something. I had felt something crack, there was no doubt about it. Yet there she was, looking completely unperturbed. Obviously, she'd felt pain before and was used to fighting through it.

I shuffled to the door, but found it to be locked. Damn, when had she done that? I'd need to turn around to open it, but exposing your back to the enemy is the dumbest thing you could do. So I'd have to fight her and win.

She sprung up towards me, almost feline in her movements and I barely managed to dodge the first punch. I ducked out of her way, but the second punch sent me flying into a wall as I gasped for breath. As if to make a point, the shelf above me decided to use that moment to crack and dump all of its contents on me.

I had partial visibility from my position, but from her angle she couldn't see that I could see her.

Warily, I waited for her to make the next move. If she simply took the keys from my desk we'd both live through this. That was the best outcome for both parties. I could always find another job.

Never in my life had I seen a more frightening expression than the blank, professional look in her eye when she grabbed my keys and turned around to look at me. I was sure she hadn't noticed me watching her, but it didn't matter. She started walking towards me, and at that point I knew I was in ever bigger trouble than I'd previously thought.

She'd finish what she started.

I wouldn't let that happen.

You see dear reader, I always have a backup plan.

While she was getting the keys, I'd taken the liberty of shaping my favorite steel ball into a razor sharp knife.

Just as she bent over, presumably to kill me, the knife was at her throat, millimeters from flesh.

I pushed myself out the clutter while forcing the woman backward into the wall.

"Exactly who are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

The women's blonde hair shifted to a familiar red with matching blue scales covering her body. There was not a drop of fear on her face, just surprise. There was probably some measure of surprise on my face too. She wasn't just any criminal, she was a famous terrorist! She was Magneto's second in command, I'd seen her in the news countless times.

"Mystique," I said.

Just, what is so important here that the Brotherhood wants it? No, forget that. How am I going to escape this one?

In my distraction, I didn't notice her pressing a hidden button on her uniform until it was too late to stop her. Thinking fast, I decided to take cover under my desk. Buttons meant calling for help, or worse an explosion. I was certain that, either way, a button was bad news.

Let's hope they'll choose a window to break in, and not decide to blow up a wall.

If I was right and someone was coming, I did not want to be hit with shrapnel.

Looking back, I'm rather proud that I managed to keep the knife to her throat despite the rapidly changing situation.

I was right and the window opposite my desk crumpled in on itself, slivers of glass twinkling in the pale moonlight as they fell. This was especially troubling, considering how the frame of the windows were made of iron. If the window had simply exploded I would've been relieved, and maybe a little proud because my assessment had been right. But only one person could bend metal like that.

And I thought getting jumped at school was bad.

I may have gotten pretty good at using my abilities, but I knew I was thoroughly outclassed here.

An older man floated calmly through the busted window.

I got from under the desk. If I died I'd do it on my feet.

Without moving an inch, the man sent an iron bar speeding toward me. I instantly stopped the bar in midair before sending it out the busted window.

Magneto sent me a creepy grin in response. Lesser souls would've fainted in sheer terror. And to be fair, I wouldn't blame them. It took all the stubbornness I had to not break eye contact.

I did no such thing and sent him the best glare I could muster. Judging by the second, no less creepy grin, he was in no way intimidated. On the contrary, he seemed pleased, as if he was fondly recalling a memory. Though the danger the man exuded guaranteed that I was still very frightened.

The knife I had at the blue woman's neck was yanked out of my grasp.

When I noticed it wasn't at Mystique's neck, I tugged it back to me. It stopped midway between myself and Magneto. I pulled harder, yanking it towards me, but he matched my efforts without even blinking twice. The knife went nowhere.

I gritted my teeth and really put my back into it. He was testing me. He hadn't even lifted a finger yet, meanwhile I had already hit my maximum.

The knife suddenly disappeared out my grasp. I couldn't even follow where it went, it was that fast. The message was clear. Magneto was done playing.

He didn't even move his hands this entire time. He's toying with me, I thought.

Another traitorous thought chimed in.

What, idiot? Are you really surprised? The guy looks to be at least two hundred years old, of course he's playing with you, the cynical part of my mind answered.

I had to agree with that portion of my inner monologue.

Yet, I'm not dead.

I often had conversations with myself like this. Don't worry, I'm not mentally ill- as far as I know, that is.

I said, "so, judging by the fact you didn't bother using your hands, you weren't actually trying that hard, were you?"

"Not at all." Why did this man have to sound scary too? Each calm syllable perfectly emphasized how totally screwed I was. It told me that he was fine, I was the one that should panic. And I did, quietly, of course.

I absentmindedly picked up my key chain and fiddled with it. It was a good excuse to look away from him. Still looking away, I casually morphed my house keys into tiny balls. "Eh, I figured. Though if that's the case, what was that tug of war about?"

There was a pause as he watched me bend my keys up. He was looking very closely at what I was doing. I didn't understand the interest- after all, he had the same abilities as I did. With the knowledge that I have now, I know he was examining the keys with his powers to see if I was using magnetism to bend them or if I was a telekinetic. Once he got his answer, he somehow seemed even more pleased. I was very confused.

I sneakily glanced to see how Mystique was reacting to the situation, and spotted her watching me very carefully. She was obviously trying to make me forget about her. She stood in a particularly dark part of the room, and hadn't said a thing since Magneto had arrived.

Magneto interrupted my observations by asking, "How long have you had them?"

I frowned. "Don't answer my question with a question."

The older man laughed at me. Was it possible for someone to be any more condescending? I'd never been so insulted in my life. I frowned.

What is so damn amusing about me? He freaking laughed. Oh, look at that. Now I'm angry... I don't like how much control I'm letting him have over my feelings.

He quickly regained his composure, though he didn't stop smirking. "I was merely curious."

I shook away my displeasure and looked him in the eye. "That was incredibly rude."

"Oh yes, anything but rudeness," he said, words practically dripping sarcasm.

I barely contained an eyeroll.

This guy's unbelievable.

I considered actually answering his question. I was tempted to refuse giving him what he wanted, but quickly realised he could probably crush me before I could even blink, and suddenly keeping him happy started to look far more… appealing.

"I've had them since December." I said lamely.

There was another pause.

The tension in the room was palpable. He just looked at me, seemingly considering what to do with me. A probably not entirely unrelated vision of a snake staring down a mouse popped into my head. I gulped, and tried to think of what options I had in this situation. What could I do?

Wait. Who said I couldn't just… leave?

"Okay," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "We're not fighting and we're not talking. Just what is the point of us even being here now?"

Neither Magneto nor Mystique said anything. I was a little pleased to note that Mystique looked just a bit confused though. I would probably never be able to break Magneto's poker face, but at least I could elicit a reaction from her.

I opened my mouth, realised I didn't know what to say, and closed it again. "You know what…" I said, "I'm just gonna…"

I started grabbing my coat and bag, and awkwardly walked out of the room with my heart beating in my throat.

Behind me, I could hear Magneto say, "Strange, I haven't had someone walk away from me in a while."

I didn't reply, but just walked a bit faster.

It wasn't until I was outside that I could bring myself to stop. I leaned against a wall and forced myself to take some deep breaths. I couldn't believe it, they just let me leave!

In the end, I walked away from the attack with just some bruises - on my body, as well as my ego. I unlocked my car and sat down, before realising I was shaking slightly all over.

For a moment back there, I really thought I might die. People like Magneto… You only see them on TV, and whenever you do it usually means lots of people have died. Realising the woman was Mystique was bad enough, but when Magneto arrived…

I tried to calm myself down to the best of my abilities, and stay vigilant. I had to be careful, what if the only reason they let me go was because they could have me killed on the way home? Even if I'd been able to secure some breathing room, I wasn't out of the woods yet. I started the car and started plotting out a route in my head. I needed to shake off any potential tails… Luckily I knew the area like the back of my hand. Still thinking of obscure, poorly lit roads to lose pursuers in, I started driving.