A/N - Welcome to a new chapter of this story. Today we have an X-Men adventure that will actually have some repercussions in the wizarding world.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
"Normal Speech"
"Telepathy"
Quotes taken from X-Men #11
28) GOOD-BYE MAGNETO...
When Harry woke up that morning a couple of weeks after the second task he had no idea that the day he and his teammates were starting would be incredibly long and extremely eventful.
It started after breakfast. The team had suited up for training and were in the Danger Room waiting for the professor and Cyclops to arrive to start the session. Instead they got a call from Scott telling them to come upstairs to one of the rooms that the professor always kept locked. Knowing such an unusual summons wouldn't happen unless it was important the rest of the team left the Danger Room and went upstairs to the room that they were directed to. Lightning had never been in this room before. It was mostly bare except for a large screen on one wall and a large projector-like machine in the room's middle which was aimed at the screen. The professor was sitting by the machine while Scott, who was in his regular clothes rather than his uniform, was standing next to him. The machine which was on and they were both looking at it.
Scott motioned for everyone to gather around him and the professor and look at the screen. This was a new machine of Xavier's called a radar-image beam. When the professor detected a new mutant the machine could generate an image of that mutant so he would know what he or she looked like. Even as he spoke to them the professor noted that a new mutant had been found and an image was forming on the screen of whom they were supposed to look for.
At least that was the plan. Before the image could fully form some force fought back against the image beam and stopped it from forming, exploding the image and forcing the beam to break off completely.
"Do you realize what this means?" said a concerned Professor Xavier, "somewhere within range of my detecting device a super powered being exists. A being so powerful that my image was shattered before it could project his picture."
"This means" said Scott, "that whoever – or whatever – he may be he's probably the most dangerous mutant we've ever faced."
"Even worse than Magneto?" asked Lightning.
"No matter how bad someone is there's always someone worse out there pup" said Mage, "before you met Magneto I bet you thought Voldemort was the most dangerous person you could meet."
"Yeah, I did" said Lightning, "and he wasn't even at full strength either time so Magneto was definitely more dangerous. But now that he's back? Who knows?"
The professor told them that it was important to find this new mutant before Magneto did and sent them out to do just that. According to what information the professor had been able to gather earlier the new mutant was somewhere in Midtown Manhattan. Soon all of the team hit the city and split up when they reached Midtown to cover more ground. Since he was still in his regular clothes Scott walked on the ground trying to hear any news. Sirius did the same thing since without his mask he too looked normal. Beast, Iceman, and Marvel Girl moved along the rooftops and (in Beast's case) along the walls of buildings. Lightning and Angel flew overhead together and covered the area from above.
The two flying X-Men covered a fair amount of the town but didn't see anything noteworthy. On a whim Angel decided to speak to a window washer up on a high floor of a building whose eyes bugged out in surprise as he saw Angel and Lightning flying toward him.
"Forgive [us] for startling you" said Angel to the window washer while he and Lightning hovered nearby, "but have you seen anything strange from your vantage point lately?"
The window washer looked at Angel and then at Lightning with some incredulity.
"Mister," said the window washer as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm lookin' at the strangest thing I ever saw – or ever hope to see!"
"Huh" said Lightning as they both flew away from the window washer, "you'd think he'd never seen someone flying around before."
"No kidding" said Angel, "that takes real effort in this city."
They searched a while longer but still didn't have any luck so they both decided to rejoin the rest of the team. Lightning spotted Marvel Girl, Mage (now wearing his mask), and Iceman in an empty lot where Iceman was building a huge ice tube slide. As Lightning and Angel landed by their teammates Scott and Beast came sliding out of the end of the tube to join them.
"That looked like fun" said Lightning, "what happened to you?"
"I have some information" said Scott, "but it almost resulted in a disaster."
Scott went on to relate that while walking in the crowd he'd heard a couple of police officers talking about rumors of a man walking on air up above the crowd and then walking through a wall. He approached the policemen to ask for more information. Unfortunately the two officers were immediately suspicious of him asking questions and first demanded to know who he was and then they demanded he remove his glasses so they could identify him. When he refused they grabbed him and forcefully removed his glasses.
"I'm sure you can guess what happened next" said Scott, "luckily I didn't hurt anyone before I got my glasses back but it was close. After I got my glasses back Beast got me out of there and brought me here."
"So what now?" asked Marvel Girl.
"I've a good idea where our mutant is" said Scott, "but I need a place to stand above the ground where I can study the nearby buildings."
"One of us can give you a lift" said Lightning gesturing to himself, Angel, and Marvel Girl, "where do you want to go?" Scott considered the nearby buildings and then asked Marvel Girl to take him to the top of the nearest taller building. Lightning and Angel gave each other knowing looks at that but neither of them said anything. The two of them flew up to join Scott and Marvel Girl. Lightning lifted Iceman up with his telekinesis while Angel carried Mage, who helped him by casting a feather light charm on himself, leaving Beast to climb up the side of the building.
"Look around carefully" said Scott, "there has to be some sign of him nearby."
Before anyone could do more than take a few glances around they heard a voice yelling from not far away.
"Help! Poleeeeece!" the voice called with a lot of fear in it, "something came crashing down from the ceiling – going through the very floor! Help – before we're all killed!"
"There!" said Scott turning to where the cry was coming from, "it's coming from where everyone said the possible mutant was."
They all began heading in the direction of the yelling. Angel and Lightning flew ahead of the others and soon saw a building that had a huge hole in one of the upper walls.
"I think this is the place" said Angel to Lightning.
"I agree" said Lightning. Before either of them could enter they heard someone down on the sidewalk who was looking up at them.
"It's [two] of the X-Men!" the pedestrian said causing Lightning and Angel to look down at him, "some grave fantastic menace must be waiting inside." Lightning couldn't stop himself from yelling back.
"Maybe" he yelled down at the pedestrian, "but if that's true why are you hanging around?"
"What?" yelled up the pedestrian, sounding confused.
"If there's something dangerous in there" Lightning said as he flew down close to the man, "then do yourself a favor and, for your own safety, GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Right!" said the man, "good idea!" and he quickly started moving away along with several other pedestrians who were in the area. Lightning snorted to himself as he turned around and flew back up toward the hole in the wall.
"Civilians" he muttered while at the same time feeling a bit surprised at himself for having that reaction toward the man considering how many times he, Ron, and Hermione had gone blundering into danger at Hogwarts. 'Oh well' he thought to himself, 'everyone's entitled to a little hypocrisy in their lives. Besides, Hermione does say that I have a 'saving people thing'.'
Lightning reached the broken wall to find that Angel had already gone through the wall. Lightning followed him through the hole into the upper level apartment. Magneto was there and he was already calling out Angel for invading his "home turf." Toad, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch were there too but Mastermind was not. There was, however, a large hole in the floor through which something, or someone, possibly Mastermind, had fallen causing the shop manager downstairs to go into a panic. Blob wasn't there either nor were any of the newer members they'd fought at Hogwarts. In Blob's case Lightning knew he'd left the Brotherhood the previous fall. He supposed the newer members had left too as he hadn't seen any of them lately either.
Lightning had a few more seconds to notice that there was one other person in the room and it wasn't someone he knew. It was an older man with white hair, a fancily trimmed mustache and tufts of beard on his chin. He was wearing an overcoat over a full suit and tie and was watching the proceedings going on around him with a sort of detached interest although he made no move to get involved.
'This must be the new mutant' Lightning thought to himself, 'I'll see if I can talk to him first before he gets pulled into the fight.' Lightning didn't have any more time to observe the unknown man because the Toad came leaping at him and the young X-Man spun around and grabbed Toad with his telekinesis.
"Look out!" said Lightning as he threw the Toad back. The other mutant landed on his feet and leapt at Lightning again. This time Lightning struck out at him with his electricity after which he picked up Toad and threw him back again. Toad didn't come back for another round but kept his distance for the moment, even when Lightning made a move to approach him.
'I guess he won't let me near him right now' thought Lightning, 'how am I ever going to talk to him at this rate?'
As Lightning stepped back from his fight he turned and came face to face with the older man.
"Whoops" said Lightning, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to practically bump into you."
"Think nothing of it young one" said the man. He had a deep, baritone type voice which conveyed a lot of wisdom and experience when he spoke.
"I don't believe I've seen you before" said Lightning, "are you new in town?"
"Yes" was the reply, "I am a Stranger here."
"I know the feeling" said Lightning causing the Stranger's eyebrows to go up, "I was a stranger in this town once too. If you don't mind my asking, why are you with Magneto?"
"I am not with him" said the Stranger, "although he seems to insist on wanting me to join him."
"I see" said Lightning, "well in that case is there anything I can help you with?"
"No" was the reply, "but thank you for the offer."
Any further talk was halted just then as the Toad seemed to have gotten his wind back and he jumped at Lightning again. He was faster this time and he caught Lightning in the torso and shoved him across the room where he crashed into Beast who had appeared in the room a short time ago along with Iceman.
"Sorry about that" said Lightning to his teammate.
"Nothing to be sorry about" said Beast, "but next time you might want to pay more attention to your surroundings instead of getting into nice little chats with bystanders." Lightning blushed a little at that as Beast was right even if the "nice little chat" had allowed Lightning to make contact with the Stranger. The two teammates stood up but before being able to move far Beast was pulled off balance as the Scarlet Witch cast a hex at him. Lightning jumped back to avoid being hit by his flailing teammate who was soon on his back on the ground with his legs up in the air juggling a whole lot of debris with his feet. As Lightning looked around the room again he saw that Iceman had frozen Quicksilver into immobility and the speedster was lying unmoving on the floor. No wonder the Scarlet Witch was mad!
Angel was headed toward Magneto who had moved over to where the Stranger was. As Angel struck at Magneto his attack was repelled by a shield the other mutant had raised around himself and the Stranger.
"My magnetic shield will keep us safe" said Magneto but the Stranger looked unimpressed.
"I need no such shield" the Stranger said. He made a gesture and suddenly a spinning cone of energy sprung up around him hiding him from view although his voice could still be clearly heard, "I shall now depart in my own manner."
"No!" said Magneto, "not yet! Not till you vow to join me. I cannot permit the X-Men to get you."
"You may join me if you wish" said the Stranger sounding supremely unconcerned, "step into my cone of energy." Without hesitation Magneto stepped into the cone of energy and was hidden from sight. Toad went to follow Magneto into the cone but before he could get there Lightning telekinetically grabbed him and pulled him back.
"Oh no you don't" said Lightning, "you're not going anywhere" and he threw Toad into the wall where he fell to the ground briefly stunned. Before anyone else could react the Stranger's energy cone began moving and vanished right through the nearest wall without causing any damage at all. The Stranger and Magneto were gone.
A moment later Scott arrived followed closely by Marvel Girl and Mage. As soon as Scott blasted away the rubble that Beast was juggling Marvel Girl ran forward and pointed at the Scarlet Witch.
"I want to match my telekinetic power against the Scarlet Witch's hex power" Marvel Girl said as she began telekinetically hurling objects at her foe, "by keeping her busy ducking flying objects she won't have time to focus a hex on any of us."
"On you?" called the Scarlet Witch as she ducked objects being thrown at her, "do you think you are of any interest to me? Do not flatter yourself. All I care about is the welfare of my brother. He must be unfrozen before it is too late." Dodging the last of Marvel Girl's thrown objects the Scarlet Witch knelt by her brother's frozen body.
"I didn't aim to harm him" said Iceman, "just stop him."
"Allow me" said Mage coming up to them and pointing his wand. He cast a strong warming charm on Quicksilver and the ice covering him began to slowly melt.
"Pup" said Mage to Lightning, "if you help me we can get him thawed out faster." Lightning nodded, came up alongside Mage, raised his hand and wandlessly cast the same charm.
"You have magic too?" asked the Scarlet Witch seeing him do this as the ice melted more quickly.
"Yes" said Lightning, "didn't Magneto tell you? He knew."
"No" was the reply, "he didn't."
"Huh" was all Lightning said to that as the last ice melted off of Quicksilver who sat up and was embraced by his sister.
"Now what will we do with them?" asked Marvel Girl folding her arms and looking at them in a stern manner. The Scarlet Witch rolled her eyes.
"You need do nothing with us ever again" she said, "we have served Magneto for the last time."
"Wanda is right" said her brother, "we owed him a debt but it has been repaid many times over. We shall serve him no longer."
"I always felt you didn't belong with his band of evil mutants" said Scott.
"Dumbledore would be proud" murmured Mage to Lightning, "he always says people deserve second chances if they're genuinely remorseful and willing to change their ways."
It looked like the two siblings were determined to retire from fighting. Quicksilver said that the two of them would go back to their home in Central Europe and try to live normal lives, at least for now. None of the X-Men made any move to stop them from leaving.
Almost as soon as the sibling mutants had left Toad began to recover with a loud groan.
"Awake again I see" said Angel to him.
"Where's Magneto?" he asked, "and the Stranger?"
"They left" said Lightning.
"I wanted to go with them" said Toad "why did you stop me?"
"Because I've been wanting to talk with you for quite a while" said Lightning, "and I wasn't about to let you get away from me this time."
"And why would you want to talk to me?" snarled Toad, "it's not like we're friends."
"Well no" said Lightning, "considering we only ever see each other during fights that's not very friendly. Even so I want to talk to you."
"Lightning what are you doing?" cut in Scott.
"Getting an answer to something that I really want to know" said Lightning before turning to Mage and seeing him looking intently at Toad, "you see it too?"
"I spotted it the first time I saw him" said Mage.
"What do you mean?" demanded Toad and it was only now that Lightning realized that Toad did have a bit of a British accent. It was very diluted but it was there. He supposed that in the heat of fighting he didn't really have time to notice it.
"I think I met one of your relatives last year" said Lightning.
"I don't have any relatives anymore" said Toad looking at him as if he was crazy.
"Are you sure?" said Lightning, "after you and the Brotherhood retreated from Hogwarts some people from the Ministry of Magic showed up, including the minister himself. But there was a woman with him who looked so similar to you that it couldn't have been a coincidence."
"I highly doubt that" said Toad.
"But there was" said Lightning, "I heard she was the minister's undersecretary. What was her name again? Oh yes, Dolores Umbridge." The Toad's face suddenly turned a shade of purple that Lightning thought Uncle Vernon would have envied.
"DON'T MENTION THAT EVIL BITCH!" Toad yelled in rage catching everyone off guard.
"What the Hell's going on?" asked Iceman.
"Whoa" said Lightning holding up his hands, "That's not normal. What is she to you?"
"She's my older sister!" snarled Toad, "by almost 20 years."
"Wait a minute" said Mage, "are you saying that you're Mortimer Toynbee Umbridge?"
"Yes!"
"But everyone thinks you're long dead." said Mage.
"I'm not surprised" said Toad in rising anger, "I'm sure she told everyone that. Except for my mutant abilities I'm a squib and when I was a little kid she and father were always putting me down for it. But she went further and every chance she had she would torture me behind our parents' backs. After our parents died she dumped me in an orphanage just to be rid of me. But she didn't stop there. No, she came by every month for several years just to rub my situation in my face along with some hexes when no one was looking. I'm honestly surprised she never got around to actually killing me. She is the most unpleasant, callous, god awful, bullying, cruel, sadistic, bigoted, sociopathic person who has ever lived and I WOULD BE GLAD TO SEE HER DEAD!"
As Toad's rage came to a peak suddenly all of the machinery in the room shattered. Lightning and Marvel Girl both threw up telekinetic shields to protect everyone while Mage threw up a magic shield for the same purpose. It was a good thing that they did or some of the metal might easily have cut or impaled the people in the room.
When all of the metal crashed to the ground and everything was still Angel spoke up.
"What was that?" he asked.
"That was accidental magic" said Mage.
"You mean like what happened with El Conquistador?" Iceman asked Lightning.
"Yes, but this was much bigger" said Lightning looking at the Toad, "you did that."
"Impossible" said Toad, "I'm a squib."
"No" said Mage, "you're clearly a wizard. No squib could have done that."
"I've never done stuff like that before" said Toad, dazed at the thought that he did magic.
"I wonder" said Mage who turned toward Toad and raised his wand, "hold still Mr. Umbridge." He waved his wand and uttered a spell. The Toad briefly glowed yellow.
"I thought so" said Mage, "someone bound your magic a very long time ago. You just broke through the bindings now."
"Who would do that?" asked Marvel Girl.
"I don't know" said Mage, "I can't identify the magical signature but we need to do something about this fast. If Mr. Umbridge's magic has been bound for almost all of his life and he has just now broken free he's going to have an awful lot of trouble controlling it without help. We need an expert as soon as possible."
"What about Professor Dumbledore?" suggested Scott.
"An excellent idea" said Mage who mentally reached out to the professor.
"Professor" he called, "we've got an unexpected situation on our hands."
"I know" said the Professor, "I was with you all the entire time. I'm contacting Albus now."
"The Professor will let us know as soon as Dumbledore says he'll come" said Mage.
"When that happens" said Scott, "Lightning, Mage, you two should portkey back home with Toad. We'll handle things here."
"Okay" said Lightning pointing at the hole in the floor, "you might want to see what fell through that. It had to be something big to make that shop worker yell like he did."
"Don't worry" said Scott, "we'll look into it. By the way, where's Mastermind? I don't remember seeing him here."
"He wasn't here" said Angel, "unless he's the one who went through the floor."
"Excuse me" said Mage, "Dumbledore's on his way." He raised his wand again.
"Sorry about this" Mage said, "but it's a security matter. Stupefy!" The Toad fell over, stunned. Mage picked up a large scrap of the metal and tapped it with his wand. It briefly glowed blue. Then he levitated the Toad and placed the metal piece on him before touching it with his hand. He nodded at Lightning who placed his hand on the metal too. Mage then tapped the portkey and all three of them popped back to the X-Mansion, arriving in Xavier's office to find him waiting there for them. Lightning floated Toad up on to the office sofa and laid him down on it. A minute later Dumbledore popped into the office. Professor Xavier pointed him to where Toad was lying and Dumbledore looked over the unconscious mutant / wizard in surprise.
"My goodness" the headmaster said, "it really is Mortimer Umbridge. I thought he looked familiar when I saw him at Hogwarts back in April but I never had a chance to confirm my suspicions. I wondered what happened to him when he didn't come to Hogwarts."
"You didn't think he was dead?" asked Mage.
"I never knew for sure" said Dumbledore, "now tell me exactly what happened."
Lightning and Mage filled Dumbledore in on everything. Dumbledore frowned for a moment before raising his wand and casting a spell on the unconscious Toad. Again he glowed yellow.
"Oh dear" said Dumbledore, "this is not good. I knew she could be cruel and ruthless but I never thought she would go this far."
"What is it headmaster?" asked Lightning.
"Let's wake him up first" said Dumbledore, "then I'll tell you what I found."
Mage pointed his wand at the Toad and said "Ennervate." The Toad opened his eyes and looked up from his place on the sofa.
"What happened?" he asked still a bit disoriented, "where am I?" He looked around and saw Lightning, Mage, Professor Xavier, and an old man with long white hair and a long beard who looked just like Merlin.
"Welcome back Mr. Umbridge" said the old man, "do you know who I am?"
"Yes" said Toad, "you're Albus Dumbledore."
"I am" was the reply.
"Are you here to arrest me because of the attack on Hogwarts?"
"No" said Dumbledore, "mind you I'm not happy about it but I place the blame for that on Magneto, not you. I'm here for a very different reason. My friends have informed me about your burst of accidental magic and asked for my help. I wondered why you never came to Hogwarts as your name was down since you were born."
"But I'm a squib" said Toad.
"No" said Dumbledore, "you are not now, nor have you ever been, a squib. I've confirmed what you were told earlier. Your magic was bound. By the looks of it when you were very young, very likely when you were a baby or a toddler before you showed any signs of having magic. I also recognize the signature of the person who did it from the remains of the spell."
"Who was it?" asked Toad.
"Alas" said Dumbledore, "it was your older sister Dolores."
"WHAT?!" Toad yelled, "she did it? I'll kill her! Why?"
"I think I might know" said Mage speaking up, "it's only a theory but it fits."
"Tell me" demanded Toad.
"How much do you know about your family's history?" asked Mage.
"Not that much" said Toad, "when I was found to be a squib my father didn't see the point of teaching me about it." Mage nodded.
"That makes sense" he said, "in my family I had to learn about all of the old important families. The Umbridge family is a minor one but you're descended from the Selwyn family which is, or was, a major lordship. If I remember my genealogy correctly the Selwyns were decimated during the Grindelwald war. The last direct line Selwyn died some years ago. I believe it was after your father's death. The last Selwyn lord had no children. According to the family tree your father was the next heir to the Selwyn estate. It's a pretty sizable estate too."
"That's interesting" said Toad, "but what does that have to do with my sister binding my magic?"
"I understand now" said Dumbledore, "the Selwyn family was very traditional and conservative. The lordship would be passed down to the oldest male child – even if he had older sisters. A female child could only inherit the title if she had no suitable brothers. Even then she could only serve as regent for the estate until an eligible male was born and came of age."
"Squibs can't inherit wizarding titles" finished Mage, "by family law you stood to inherit everything and your sister would have gotten nothing except for maybe a dowry if she ever got married. She probably knew that so she bound your magic as soon as she could. Then, since you wouldn't have shown signs of having magic after that you could be passed off as a squib and everything would go to her."
During the explanation Toad's expression had been getting progressively angrier and by the time it was done some of the items in Xavier's office were starting to float in the air. Xavier quickly reached out with his telepathy and calmed Toad down again.
"So how do I get my birthright back?" Toad asked once he had control of himself again.
"I think you should come back to Hogwarts with me" said Dumbledore, "we need to get your magic under control as soon as possible, if only for your own safety. We'll get you a wand and work on getting you properly trained. While you're working on that we'll see about getting you some really good legal help and building a case against your sister."
"It might not be easy" said Mage, "she's risen high in the ministry and she has a lot of clout – but she also has a very bad reputation. Most people don't like her and that will help you a lot when you file charges against her."
"Thank you" said Toad without any hesitation, "I'll go with you headmaster."
"Good" said Dumbledore, "shall we go now?"
"Just a second" said Mage, "please do your best to have a camera when you finally confront your sister. I want to see her face when she realizes she's been caught." Toad actually laughed at that.
"I"ll do my best" he said before looking at all of the people in the room, "thank you for your help. All of you. Especially you Lightning. Thank you for stopping me from following Magneto." He held out his hand.
"You're welcome" said Lightning as he shook it,"just stay out of trouble from now on."
"I'll try" said Toad. Dumbledore picked up the metal scrap and tapped it turning it into a portkey again.
"Do you know how to use a portkey?" he asked Toad.
"Not really" said Toad.
"The landing can be hard to stick the first few times you use one" said Dumbledore who ignored Lightning as he tried to stifle a snigger, "but you get used to it. Just touch it please. Good-bye for now my friends." Toad touched the portkey. Dumbledore tapped it with his wand and the two of them disappeared from Professor Xavier's office.
"That was unexpected" said Mage.
"At least maybe now we won't have to worry about Toad anymore" said Lightning.
"Probably not" said Xavier who suddenly turned his head as if he heard something, "your teammates have arrived and they're carrying quite a burden. You both should go meet them and bring it to the infirmary. I'll meet you all there."
Lightning and Mage both nodded to Professor Xavier and left his office to join the rest of the team. They found their teammates in the entrance hall of the mansion. The five of them seemed to be carrying something that looked very heavy to judge by the effort the others were putting into carrying it, even with the help of Marvel Girl's telekinesis and Beast's strength. Both Lightning and Mage were surprised when they saw what the object was.
"Is that – Mastermind?" asked Lightning, "what happened to him?"
"We don't know" said Scott, "we found him in the basement of the building we were all in. He was the thing that fell through all of the floors from where Magneto was. Obviously that's what caused the person we heard to yell like he did."
"It looks like he's been turned into stone" said Mage who placed a hand on Mastermind who did look like he had been turned into a statue, "he feels like stone too."
Mage and Lightning helped the others get Mastermind into the infirmary where they laid him on a bed. Scott then went off and changed into his uniform before returning to the infirmary with Xavier who wheeled himself up to the bed and began examining Mastermind.
"He's alive" he said in amazement, "but something has altered the very molecules of his body."
"This is like what happened to the people who got petrified by the basilisk in second year" said Lightning, "maybe some Mandrake juice would revive him too." Mage waved his wand over Mastermind and uttered a few different spells before frowning.
"I'm afraid that won't work" he said, "Mandrake juice is a magical remedy but whatever power did this to Mastermind isn't magical in nature – at least not any magic that we're familiar with – so that won't help him."
"Who did this to him?" asked Lightning.
"It could only have been the one we're seeking" said Xavier as he ended his examination.
"Do you think he's as dangerous as Magneto himself sir?" asked Cyclops.
"Dangerous as Magneto?" said Xavier as he looked up at his students, "the one we seek has power enough to shake the universe! Magneto is but a child compared to the Stranger. We must find him – at once!"
Within minutes all of them had piled into Xavier's helicopter which, thankfully, was big enough to hold them all even if it was a bit cramped. Lightning was at the controls. He had recently been allowed to take the copter out for flights and the professor was sitting next to him in the front telling him where to go.
"Fly due west" the professor said to Lightning, "I can mentally receive his emanations as though an arrow in my mind is pointing to him." Lightning nodded and followed the professor's directions. Not that many minutes later the professor instructed him to set down the copter.
The helicopter landed in a park-like area and when all of the X-Men got out of the copter they were standing on a cobblestone path. Professor Xavier pointed directly ahead.
"He's that way" said Xavier, "go, but be careful." None of the X-Men really needed to be told that as they headed forward but they accepted the reminder with good grace. None of them stayed to push Xavier's wheelchair as Mage had recently spelled it to move according to Xavier's thoughts so a pusher wasn't needed. His chair rolled along at a steady clip after the team.
The X-Men didn't find the Stranger at first but they did find Magneto.
"What the Hell?" asked Lightning when he saw Magneto's situation. His statement voiced what all of the others were thinking. Magneto was lying on the grass and he was all wrapped up in some kind of cocoon. Only his head wasn't covered up and it was clear that whatever stuff the cocoon was made of was both keeping him prisoner very effectively and stopping him from using his power.
"Hoo boy" said Mage, "I wasn't expecting this."
"I don't think any of us were" said Beast, "anyone strong enough to treat Magneto so cavalierly will give us the fight of our lives."
"Yes, but where is he?" asked Lightning.
"He's got to be around here somewhere" said Marvel Girl.
"What is this cocoon made of?" asked Angel as he bent down over Magneto, reaching out to feel the cocoon material. Fortunately for him Xavier arrived in his chair just then.
"Stop!" he called out, "don't touch [that] cocoon – any of you! Back, back – if you value your lives!"
When he heard the professor's order Angel began to back up from Magneto's cocoon. It was almost too late. Apparently Angel had approached close enough to the cocoon that some force in it sensed him and tried to shoot out and wrap him up too. Before that could happen Lightning used his telekinesis to pull Angel out of the force's reach.
"Are you okay?" Lightning asked his teammate.
"I'm fine" said Angel, "that was close. Thanks for the save."
"Any time" said Lightning. They both noticed a large shadow fall over the ground near the professor and turned to see what it was. The Stranger had arrived, only now he was about 20 feet tall!
"Wow!" said Iceman when he saw the Stranger, "talk about making an entrance."
"Are you all right?" Lightning asked looking up at the Stranger, "Magneto didn't hurt you?"
"Hurt me?" asked the Stranger with what sounded like amusement, "thank you for your concern young one but there is no way he could hurt me." The Stranger now turned to address the professor informing him that the cocoon Magneto was wrapped up in was necessary to protect the evil mutant during the journey that the Stranger was going to take him on.
"I can guess the journey you refer to" said Xavier, "its destination is no place on Earth, is it?"
"Of course not" said the Stranger as if stating the most obvious thing in the cosmos, "have I not said I am – a Stranger?"
A change came over the Stranger. His body went from that of a human giant to something that looked like it was made out of energy although his face was still recognizable. Whatever he was definitely wasn't human.
"A Stranger from the stars" he confirmed to everyone before explaining that he was from a race of aliens that studied mutations. He traveled to many worlds to find mutant specimens to take back to his world for study. He hadn't known whom to take from Earth but then Magneto had found him and refused to leave him alone, insisting that they become allies. So the Stranger had decided to take Magneto back to his home world for study.
"We shall never return" the Stranger said as he finished up his explanation. He reached out and surrounded Magneto with his energy. The Stranger then shot up into space taking Magneto with him. In mere seconds they were gone.
There was a long silence as the X-Men stared up into the sky after the Stranger and Magneto had left.
"Wow!" said Mage, "the biggest prankster just got pranked."
"They're gone" said Beast, "it – it happened so unexpectedly! I never imagined it would end like this!"
"Magneto gone" said Marvel Girl who then voiced the sentiment they were all thinking, "at last. At long last."
"Not just that" said Lightning, "the whole Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has broken up. Magneto's been taken away, Mastermind's been turned into stone (or whatever it is), Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch have decided to go back home, and Toad has gone to the magical world to try to become the wizard he should have been all along."
"Will this mean disbanding the X-Men sir?" Cyclops asked the professor in light of what Lightning had just said. The professor declared that no, the X-Men would not be disbanded.
"There will still be many menaces to mankind for us to battle" the professor finished up.
After that it was time to go home. The eight of them piled back into the helicopter and Lightning flew it back to the mansion. Once back at the school the team did a quick check to make sure that everything was still secure and there had been no breaches of any kind. When everything was confirmed to be in order the professor complimented the team on their performance and dismissed them.
Lightning and Mage walked down the hallway toward their rooms. Lightning looked thoughtful.
"Everything okay pup?" Mage asked his Godson.
"Huh?" asked Lightning coming out of his revery, "oh yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to fully process that Magneto is really gone. We've been battling him for over a year and now we won't have to anymore. It's just weird. I wonder if I'll feel like this when Voldemort is finally defeated?"
"Enjoy it while you can" said Mage, "the professor is right. There will be other foes to fight soon enough. I learned that during the first war against Voldemort when I was an auror. No matter how many Death Eaters we beat there were always more."
"That's a nice thought" said Lightning with a touch of sarcasm, "but you're right. We both know what Moody would say."
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" they yelled at each other before laughing and parting ways.
Lightning went into his room and prepared to change out of his uniform. Before doing so however he stopped to look out the window.
"What a long day it's been" Lightning said to himself, "I think I'll nap for a while."
Lightning reached up to pull off his mask but before he could do it a loud beeping sound went off and began repeating over and over like one of those horrible fire alarms that many buildings have which threatens to damage your hearing when it goes off unless you get out of the building immediately.
"What's that?" Lightning asked out loud even though there was no one to answer him. Instead of pulling off his mask he headed for the door of his room and was soon in the hall where the beeping was even louder. From across the hall Angel was also coming out of his room.
"What's going on?" Angel asked him.
"I don't know" said Lightning. Before he could say anything else Iceman, Beast, Marvel Girl and Mage all arrived.
"It's coming from the professor's office" said Mage.
"Then let us go there and get to the bottom of this" said Beast.
"I hoped our adventures were done for the day" said Iceman, "where's Cyclops?"
"He's still with the professor" said Marvel Girl as they all moved down the hall toward the professor's office to see what was happening now and realizing that while Magneto may be gone the adventures of the day were not over yet.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - Okay, yes in canon Magneto does come back. People like him almost always come back sooner or later. In X-Men canon he escaped from the Stranger's world and returned in X-Men 17 and 18 but then the Stranger came back and captured him again. He finally returned to Earth a second time in Avengers #47 although the X-Men didn't face him again until X-Men #43. The reason I call this chapter "Good-Bye Magneto..." is because it's unlikely that we'll see him again in this story as I only have things slated to go as far as X-Men #16 by the end of part 3. That's the end of the first Sentinels arc. Still, one can never know for sure.
Toad's name in canon is Mortimer Toynbee and he was born in England before being left in an orphanage by his parents when they abandoned him. It was easy to make him an Umbridge since everyone says how much Dolores Umbridge resembles a toad. It would have been a missed opportunity otherwise. You might think I'm going easy on him here but at this point in time he basically worshipped Magneto. With Magneto gone from his life, the truth of his heritage revealed to him, and with his magic now available to him he has a chance to truly start again. Since we know how forgiving Dumbledore can be it made sense to send him with the headmaster to try to change his life. Look out Dolores. Your brother's coming back and he's not happy!
In canon Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch joined the Avengers not too long after this but I probably won't cover that. For this story the Avengers stick with the line up you've already seen. As for Mastermind he was eventually restored when the Stranger's power wore off of him.
So this week we end on a bit of a cliffhanger as it looks like a new menace is about to show up. After all it's a law of the comics that when an arch-enemy is permanently gone (or as permanently gone as he can be in the comics) a new one has to show up to take his place. As for who that enemy is? I know that one of you readers already knows who it is. I ask that he not spoil it for everyone else. If anyone else would like to guess please drop me a PM and I'll let you know if you're right. Otherwise please come back next week to find out!
That's all for now. As usual please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. As always stay safe and well everyone.