A/N: My ff account's been screwing with me. I've been unable to post for two days in a row now. Idk what's going on. But here!

Warning for homophobia. It is the 1960s.

Chapter Two:

Curiosity killed the cat

~ William Stryker ~
And now Adler was beginning to get on my nerves.

"Are you just playing with me, now?" I demanded irritably, as the scene reasserted itself in Westchester, with the now familiar looming Xavier mansion in the distance.

Adler looked sideways at me, somehow still managing to look me dead in the eye despite her blindness, which was now sadly becoming far less disconcerting. Although maybe that was just because I had just watched the formerly pacifistic Xavier turn into a damn demon and rip the entire world to shreds. I hadn't even known that Xavier had been that close to Magneto anyways.

"I do not play, William Stryker," she said lowly. "You asked for Magneto's dead. I showed you how."

"You also just showed me that the world will end, anyways, if Xavier dies." I eyed her. "Out of curiosity, how? Not everything is made of metal. Magneto can only do so much if he wishes to kill us for Xavier."

Privately, I wondered, Why?

I had never thought Xavier and Magneto close at all. Well, yes, Xavier had jumped off a boat to save Magneto, reportedly, but still . . .

"You're going to ask me why Xavier and Magneto are so close."

I jumped.

Adler frowned at me. "I would assume that it was very clear from the way they act."

Then it sank in – "They're queers?"

God, if being mutants wasn't bad enough and breaking the laws of nature. Now Xavier and Magneto broke actual laws too! And we had . . . I felt faint. We had entrusted them with the training of children. We had financed and supported queers. Considering the laws, they both should have been jailed, and we had created a whole new division for them.

Adler snorted, making me jump again. "Oh, for God's sake, William Stryker. Have your little temper tantrum later. Do you want to see how to kill Xavier or not?"

Grumbling, I followed her into the house.

"How is this helpful?" I shouted.

She had led me carefully through the mansion, pointing out weak spots and hiding places rather easily and seemingly without a care in the world. And then she had headed for the master bedroom, which I had assumed would hold Xavier, so I hadn't said anything. But then, when she had opened the doors and we had slipped into the room, it was only then that I had realized why the corridors seemed so empty.

Magneto was here.

And everyone was, apparently, skirting his path.

With good reason, I thought, because Magneto was currently lying comfortably in the bed next to Xavier, eyes closed and evidently relaxed, save for the arms pulled snugly around Xavier's body tugging him close. The two were curled into each other as much as physically possible, legs tangled, arms clasped around each other, Xavier's head buried into the crook of Magneto's neck, and the messy and rumpled state of their discarded clothes and sheets spoke volumes to the debauchery they had participated in the night before.

Adler eyed me with amusement playing on her lips. "Is love wrong?"

I gestured wordlessly, trying to find words to communicate just how wrong this was. "They're both men!"

"And I'm fairly certain that Magneto loves Xavier far more than your son will love his son," Adler said faintly, the amusement draining from her to replaced by cold weariness that made her seem much, much older. "Anyways. The Professor is the most powerful telepath in the entire world, William Stryker. His powers have only expanded as the years have passed. Trust . . . comes far less easily to someone so powerful. It is very, very rare for them to trust enough to let their guard down enough that you could actually launch a successful attack on the Professor." She looked down. "This is one of those times."

I snorted. "Post-coital bliss? That's what I'm looking for?"

"No," she murmured quietly. "You're looking for a time when the Professor is with someone he loves so completely that that person occupies his entire world, and he isn't paying attention to anything or anyone else. Your blatant homophobia notwithstanding, William Stryker, if you wish to kill the Professor, you will have to do so whilst he is in the company of Magneto. At no other time will his guard be sufficiently relaxed to allow for an attack."

"You're lying."

Adler stared flatly at me. "Try me."

A rumble rolled through the house, and Magneto stirred at Xavier's side, blinking his eyes open briefly. "Charles?"

The telepath mumbled something and merely tucked himself closer in response, causing the metalkinetic to laugh. He leaned down to kiss the telepath's forehead, eyes growing somber.

"I have to leave."

The telepath cracked an eye open. "I know."

Magneto stroked a hand down Xavier's spine, fondness and protectiveness mixing in his expression in a way that made me rather uncomfortable. There was devotion in his eyes, something unshakeable and forever binding, and it made me consider Adler's question: "Is love wrong?" Because if I was going on past experiences of love, Magneto's current expression certainly fit among them except . . . well, it was aimed at another man.

"Be safe."

For some reason, it made Xavier smile. "You would never hurt me."

"I meant the humans, Charles."

"Moira didn't hurt me either." Xavier yawned. "And I doubt anything would try to hurt the mansion, Erik, no one knows where we are."

"So you think."

"I was very thorough, Erik. You, even more so."

Magneto sighed and slid from the bed, dressing so rapidly that I barely had time to look away before he was fully dressed, swinging a heavy cloak over his shoulders and lifting the magenta helmet from the dresser. Then he leaned over the bed again, capturing the telepath's lips in another kiss. "Azazel found some disturbing reports from the CIA," he said. "I don't know when I'll be able to visit again."

"You're always welcome here, Erik, you know that."

Something flashed in Magneto's eyes.

"No, don't even go there, Erik. It was not your fault. And even if you keep persisting in the delusion that it was, I've already forgiven you. It's been fifteen years, Erik, that water flowed under the bridge ages ago." Xavier pushed playfully at Magneto's chest; there was hardly enough strength for it to actually make someone move in any direction. "Now go and save the world. And don't tell me how, please, I'd rather not become an accomplice in . . . whatever you plan on doing."

I turned to Adler. "Didn't Magneto paralyze him?" I asked.

Adler nodded. "The Professor has an exemplary talent for forgiveness," she said simply. "Especially for someone he loves as much as he loves Magneto. It does . . . hurt him, when Magneto insists on killing humans. But it's been enough time – they've come to an agreement, of sorts, and they do visit each other from time to time. They just . . . agreed to disagree."

Magneto straightened and carefully assisted the telepath in dressing before lifting him into his wheelchair, his movements practiced and efficient. There was another, last kiss, and then he strode to the window, threw it open, and stepped outside, floating effortlessly away, with nary a look back or a good-bye.

Xavier sunk back into his wheelchair, curling into himself as though missing the warmth of a body beside him. But I could see what Adler meant. His posture was relaxed and unguarded, and if I had to bet, I was willing to say that he wasn't reaching out with his telepathy, content to rest in the memories of Magneto. He was very, very vulnerable now that Magneto had left him.

"Why fifteen years?" I said abruptly.

Adler hummed. "You need a robot to kill a telepath. Any living being, a telepath would easily destroy, no matter how programmed. You saw how quickly Deadpool fell to Onslaught, after all. But you knew that Magneto would keep a close eye on the Professor, so you had to limit the number of magnetic components. So it takes a while to do all of that. But now . . . five, four, three, two, one."

As the word "one" passed her lips, the window Magneto had left from burst open, sending glass flying all over the room.

The telepath started so badly that he fell out of his chair.

A gleaming golem of a robot stood there, so tall it nearly touched the ceiling, with an emotionless mask of a face. It was utterly terrifying. Even more so when it started talking. "Target identified," it spat robotically. "Charles F. Xavier. Professor of genetics. Thirty three years old. Telepath. Paralyzed. Owner of the Westchester Xavier estate. Not a threat to this unit." It paused, and I knew it was relaying the information back to . . . somewhere.

"It's talking to you," Adler informed me.

"By God, what are you?" Xavier said finally, trying to lever himself back into the chair. He wasn't scared.

Not yet.

"That's because he's calling for back-up," Adler said. "Namely, Magneto. Which would be wonderful if Magneto hadn't put on started flying two seconds ago." A pause. "He won't be able to get back fast enough."

"Order: Destroy target. Order confirmed."

Xavier's eyes widened, and this time he managed to get himself back into his chair, rolling away, but –

The robot shot Xavier with something, and the telepath gasped, clawing at the dart uselessly. I could see whatever serum was in the dart taking effect as his movements grew jerky and weak, his muscles moving erratically, his eyes rolling back and his teeth clenching in pain.

The doors burst open, revealing a blue-furred creature, a blonde boy, and a redhead.

Xavier slumped so much that he fell from his chair.

"Professor!"

The robot straightened. "Order completed. Target destroyed."

The window frames bent, and the entire room shook. Magneto landed seconds later, hands clenched, eyes wide with fury as he took in the scene. "Charles!" Around him, the walls ripped apart as pipes flew to form a glimmering shield.

The robot swiveled. "Target: Magneto. Also known as Erik Lehnsherr and Max Eisenhardt. Leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Thirty seven years old. Metalkinetic. Orders – "

The robot screeched and crumpled from the force of Magneto's ire as he beheld Xavier's lifeless body.

The scene blurred, and suddenly we were standing outside, and I swayed.

"What – "

"We can't stay there. That would create some visual problems," Adler explained calmly, tilting her head back as if she could actually see upward.

"Why?"

In answer, the entire house groaned, long and ominous, and then suddenly seemed to implode, falling to pieces in every which direction. Windows shattered, walls collapsed, rooms were ripped apart. The entire mansion came falling to the ground with a rumble, sending dust and debris everywhere, until nothing was left.

"Magneto?"

Adler nodded. "You would be surprised how much of this place is made out of something metallic."

Magneto flew down then to land in front of us, clutching Xavier's still body to his chest as he knelt and pressed shaking fingers to try and find his pulse. "Charles, come on, damn it!" he was saying. "Charles Xavier, don't you dare, don't you dare die on me, Charles, come on!"

There was a poof, and suddenly Emma Frost and a red-skinned demon were there.

She took one look and frowned.

"He's dead, Magneto. I'm getting nothing."

Magneto's head bowed in grief, and tears started running down his cheeks. His entire body trembled with suppressed rage. "The humans killed him." His voice was so flat that he might have been a robot himself. "They killed him. He, who might have thrown himself in my path to stop me – they dared to kill him."

Frost looked at him. "What are you going to do?" she asked quietly.

Magneto looked up, and his eyes were as savage as Onslaught's had been, devoid of emotion and replaced by an aching emptiness and haunting despair that consumed him body and soul.

"I am going to destroy them."

Adler touched my arm again. The scene blurred, and suddenly we were hovering in mid-air.

"What now?"

Adler stared impassively at what looked like the North Pole. Or, at least, I knew it was, even though there was no way I could have. "Yes, it is the North Pole. Magneto is coming here. Did you know, the entire world is covered in magnetic fields, William Stryker? And did you know that Magneto first accessed his powers through the rage brought on by separation from loved ones?"

A chill crept through me. "But Xavier – "

"Is the one person that Magneto has loved more than anyone else. And his death is the one thing that could inspire the rage to do what he feels must be done."

Sure enough, Magneto appeared seconds later, clothes torn and bloodied, cheeks still wet with tears, and raised his hands.

And the world was destroyed.

"What the hell did he do?"

"He reversed the polarities of the magnetic fields," Adler said calmly. "It was a theoretical concept Xavier dreamed up, once. Magneto has the rage now to actually fulfill it without Xavier's help."

She turned to me. "Not so easy, is it, even when you've killed the most powerful telepath?"

The scene blurred, and I was sitting in the cell again.

"Kill them all," I blurted.

Adler looked askance at me. "Are you serious?"

"Show me how to kill them both, damn it. It's apparently the only way to keep them away from mass destruction." I felt like rising from my seat and grabbing her throat. "I will find a way, Adler. Tell me what it will cost me to kill Xavier and Magneto, and I'll do it, I swear it. They have to die."

Adler sighed. "You're not going to like that either, you know," she said, disgruntled. "But fine. Let's see how you fare when the X-Men and the Brotherhood band together after you kill off their leaders."