Chapter Seven: Preparations
To:
From:
Subject: Details?
Rogue,
How are you, dear? I've missed you terribly. The house is definitely not the same without you. Lance and Toad are arguing as usual. Blob's eaten all the food, and Marrow keeps putting bones through the walls. Same as usual, but still different. I recently heard a rumor that the X-Men are in Genosha for vacation. I don't know if it's true, but that's what I heard. How is everything going up there? I hope you've found out more about the collar. Please write me back ASAP. I'm anxious to hear the news.
Love,
M
To:
From:
Subject: Re: Details?
M,
I'm doing fine despite being harassed relentlessly by a certain Cajun lout. The house here is pretty quiet. I haven't been able to sneak down to the lab, so I regret to inform you that I have no more information presently. I will definitely get it back to you ASAP. I've met a woman named Anna here. She's pretty nice, but a little too matronly for my taste. A former nun. Irony at its best. Yes, the X-Men are here. I had an unfortunate run in with Shadowcat and Jean Grey today. I can't make them understand that it was just an accident. But I suppose I understand the accusations. Well, dinner's getting cold so I better go before someone gets suspicious.
Love,
Rogue
She sent the e-mail and closed her laptop just in time to hear three knocks on her door. "Come in," she called.
Anna stepped in. "Not hungry, lass?" she asked.
"Not really."
"Is it those girls?" Anna took a seat next to Rogue on the bed. "Look, Rogue, ya made a mistake. All human beings sin. But unlike those girls, God is forgiving. If it was truly an accident like you said, God will forgive. And his opinion is the only one that truly matters. God gave us these powers for a reason, and he knows that we have free will to use them how we see fit."
"Thanks, but God has given up on me for a long time," she replied sadly. "He made me hurt people. He made me a mutant and he made human beings who hate and fear me."
Anna sighed. "You've given up on yuirself. God is always there for you."
Rogue snorted in disbelief.
"I'll prove it ta ya," she said firmly. "Even so, I promised ya my story, dinna I? I used to be a missionary in my birth place of Brazil. I went back after I became a nun. I helped sick children there, like I'd done before in Ireland. Early on in my years I discovered I could heal people. I thought it was a miracle. The villagers, however, thought it was witchcraft. They attempted to burn me at the stake like Joan of Arc before me."
"That's awful!" Rogue gasped.
"Luckily, Magnus found me and we escaped. I still have the scars from the fateful day." She pulled up her pant leg and Rogue stared at the red marks wound around her dainty ankle. "He convinced me that I had a gift, not a burden, and that humans could not understand. He told me we were the chosen people and that we must purify the world like Noah's arc. I've been with him ever since. I found God in Magneto. He forgave me when I killed the villagers. And God forgave my human anger, too. I realized that the only way to make humans understand is through force and through surpassing them on every level."
Rogue blinked. She was absolutely astonished. She didn't know what to say.
What a fucked up bitch.
For once, she actually agreed with Carol. Rogue couldn't believe how twisted Magneto had made her. She used to be a good person, then ever since the villager's betrayal, she became as delusional as any of Magneto's followers.
"So, you see, Rogue, I'm not entirely a stranger to yuir dilemma. It had to be done. She opposed your view." She smiled and stood up. Rogue just stared. "Well, if you do get hungry, we saved plenty o' food f'r ya. So don't be shy to grab a late night snack."
Magneto flipped through various slides wordlessly. Rogue watched each Holocaust picture dispassionately. Finally the slide-show ended and he turned on the lights. "In Auschwitz it was said that work makes you free," he intoned, his usual regal attitude shining through. "Genosha was modern day concentration camp for mutants. Mutants were stripped of their powers by special collars and ordered to work excruciating hours with the promise that one day work would lead them to freedom.
Anna, who stood dangerously close to him during the speech, smiled brightly at Dr. Moreau. "The wonderful Dr. Moreau has been working around the clock with us ta alter the collar to amplify instead of dampen mutant powers an as a tracking device for humans who will be laboring here in Genosha."
Magneto squeezed her hand. The screen filled with pictures of several different Genoshian collars. "We will now use human convicts as workers to help build our base into a great capitol as well as furnish our weaponry for our cause, while we work on the collars to strengthen our mutant powers. After this is done, we shall be ready to enter the war against humans. In fact, our army is already created: it is the mutant prisoners who will now run Genosha."
Wanda leaned back in her chair and sneered. "Well, aren't people going to catch on to us, especially since the X-Geeks are hanging out around here?"
"An excellent question, dear," he replied. Rogue made a face. Gambit grinned. "The X-Men are here on a supposed vacation. The less we see of them the better. And as for the rest of America, we are simply an iron mine."
Pietro laughed. "Excellent work, Father."
"Excellent work, Father," Gambit mimicked under his breath. Rogue chuckled.
"Any other questions?"
"Yeah, what's dese power amplifyin' collars all 'bout?" Gambit asked.
Dr. Moreau cleared his throat. "Well, we have been relatively unsuccessful as of late at creating this collar, so we're still working on it. But hopefully I can reverse the mechanisms and produce an effect similiar to that of the chamber on Asteroid M."
"How much more powerful are we talkin' about?" Sabertooth growled, obviously engaged at the idea of the collar's amplifying ability.
"We hope to achieve complete 100 amplification," he replied. "And in addition, a power imitating collar."
Rogue stared at Dr. Moreau in disbelief. One hundred percent amplification? No wonder why Mystique is so enthralled with this collar. Ah mean, it's not so hard to believe. If Dr. Trask and Area 51 could produce a complete power dampenin', then why wouldn't reversing it cause a complete amplification? And as for the power imitator, it mimics powers the way Momma can imitate skin. If she got her hands on it she could pretend to be whoever she wanted to be without a give away. She would be unstoppable. Anyone would be with that kind of power. She gazed at the collar once more, wondering how such a little thing could hold such power.
"I don't trust that new girl," Dr. Moreau finally said after a long hour of silent work on the collar. Magneto looked up and gave his colleague a quizzical glance. He set the collar down, frustrated and sighed. "Look, I know you wouldn't let just anyone in on this, but... she really seems sinister, and it's not just all her goth make-up."
Erik nodded slowly. "I have every right to believe Mystique sent her here to spy on us."
"Then why would you keep her here?" he asked, alarmed.
Magneto chuckled and levitated a collar in the air, studying it before jotting down a few notes. "You know, we should rig this collar so that only other mutants can use the power imitator, so no Average Joes come across it and think they have a chance against us mutants."
"Are you going to answer the question?" Dr. Moreau asked impatiently.
Leaning back on his leather chair, Magneto considered the man in front of him. "It's simple, doctor. I want her to know what she can't ever achieve. Mystique is a lowly woman always bent on surpassing me. I just want to remind her that she never will touch the empire I have created. Furthermore, Rogue has her uses. I'm a believer that everything has its price. You worked on the collar originally for Area 51 and Genosha to enslave mutants. But once I gave you an offer you couldn't refuse, you rallied to our cause." He paused and dropped the collar into his lap. He wrapped it around his fingers in deep thought. Then it hit him. He smiled and held up the collar. "And this, Dr. Moreau, is her price."
"The collar?"
"The one from Area 51 will only bring her bad memories, and the other one is exactly what her powers allow her to do. I'm thinking of a more permanent solution to her powers." Obviously Magneto was pleased with himself. "If we give her the collar to control her powers she won't have to worry anymore about not touching someone. She won't even have to worry about Carol."
Dr. Moreau had to admit it was a genius plan. "Yes, and we both know how interested Gambit is in her. That that might change her opinion of him, knowing that she actually could do the things he suggests. That might be the key to turning her against this Mystique character."
"We'll buy her secrecy and trust. And, God help me, I think the collar's finally complete."