Chapter 4
The sun had set and Scruff was a sleeping ball of fluff in Mirage's pocket when there was a knock at the door. Scarlet jumped up and ran to the door with an enthusiasm that should have been embarrassing for someone trying so hard to look cool.
"Who is it?" she asked, lowering her voice so it sounded older.
"Mystique," came the reply. Mirage instantly knew why Scarlet had dropped her tone. Mystique's voice was deep and sultry, like Kathleen Turner after a cigarette. Scarlet smoothed her hair one last time and opened the door.
She was very tall for a woman, maybe 5'10. She was wrapped in a cloak (and that's why Scarlet wears one, Mirage thought), which hid her completely.
"Are we alone?" she asked in that voice, that compelling voice.
"Mirage is with us," Scarlet said, gesturing to Mirage, who had stood up when Mystique entered. "He casts illusions."
"That is a useful gift," came the voice from deep in the hood. She raised a gloved hand and pulled back the hood, revealing her face.
She is beautiful, was his first thought. Breathtakingly beautiful. Perfect features: large cat-like eyes, full lips, delicate nose and high cheekbones. Her hair fell in shockingly red waves below her shoulders. Her gaze struck him dumb and nailed his feet to the floor.
She's… blue! came the second thought into his head. The beauty of her face was so striking he almost hadn't registered that her skin was a deep robin's egg blue, and her eyes a glowing yellow.
She's going to think I'm really rude, Mirage thought desperately. I hope she's knows it's how gorgeous she is, and not the blue thing…
"Tell me, Mirage," Mystique walked sinuously towards him, her gaze holding him immobile, "have you come to join the army of our Great Leader?"
Join the army? Most of the Reservation boys had joined up at 17, and never come back. Chaz hadn't lived on the actual reservation, like his grandparents did, but he was close to the community, and he had wanted to join up every time one of his peers said his goodbyes with a clipped haircut and a swagger. Join the army, become a warrior, leave and never come back… A dream come true for Mirage. An escape from his parents and his life. But then, when he was fifteen, the army had initiated a 'no mutants' policy. The government said it was because they weren't sure if the standard equipment were safe for mutants and their powers. Mirage's father had registered him as a mutant 5 years ago, and now he was disqualified to enlist.
Join the army of the great leader… do his grandfather proud! Red Eagle had been a soldier in Korea, and often talked about the war. He said it had made him brave, made him wise, made him old and sad but proud and loyal, too. If Mystique had asked if he wanted to join the Leader, he'd have said no, but to join the army… that was something altogether different.
"I, uh… I'm interested," he said finally. "I want to know more."
Mystique smiled at him. "Of course," she said. "There is much to learn."
"So, uh…" her eyes were intense, enveloping him. She sat down on a couch and Scarlet sat next to her, echoing her body language: the crossed legs, the tilt of her head. "So, who is the Great Leader? What's his name?"
"We call him the Great Leader," Scarlet said sternly, but Mystique smiled. "His friends call him Magneto."
Magneto! He was the one who had ordered the massacre on the Morlocks! He had set Gambit up to take a fall for a mass murder. He had been the Professor's best friend, once… but that was years ago. Either the Brotherhood was duped, or they were willingly helping a maniac.
"And uh, what does he want? And how is he getting it done? And what would I do for him?"
"It's simple," Mystique said. "He was among the first to realise that homo sapiens and homo superiors could not coexist peacefully. The government in this, the most 'free' of countries, is denying our rights. We have been attacked, tagged like cattle, imprisoned, hunted and murdered out of their ignorance and fear. They think they can control us and make us their slaves. In other places, things are even worse for our brothers and sisters. The Leader knows that we will not be free to live our lives until we stage a glorious revolution. We must throw off our chains and make retribution for all the wrongs they have inflicted. And when the dust has settled and the humans have learned to fear us, then we will be free to build our new world."
Mirage's mind raced. It was pretty rhetoric with lots of stirring words but no substance. She hadn't said anything other than that they would fight a war leaving humans destroyed and dispossessed.
"And uh, how do we make all that happen?"
"Magneto has a plan. He is creating a base for us, where we can grow and learn in safety, and plan our uprising. He is in communication with all the great leaders of our people, and together they are making a place for us." Scarlet was sat with a rapt expression, as if her mother were telling her a bedtime story.
"Is he meeting with Charles Xavier?" he asked, before he could stop himself.
"Where did you hear about him?" she asked, with a gentle smile.
"I-" Chaz had a crazy instinct to lie, but he had already told Pete about the Academy. He couldn't play dumb now. "I go to his school. He's already made a safe place for us to grow and learn. I live there."
Mystique sighed, and smiled at him almost sadly.
"Charles Xavier is a good man, a kind man. He is a gentle soul and a genius, in his own way. The few he has chosen to shelter are very lucky indeed. But Xavier is also a dreamer. He dreams of a world he will never see. Do you know what happened to Ghandi, Mirage? And Dr King? And Jesus Christ?"
"They all made the world a better place!"
"And they were all murdered. Each of them allowed himself to be taken away from his people when they needed him most through his own selfish pacifism. Violence is a part of this world, Mirage, and we cannot all hide from it, like the lucky children in Xavier's school. We cannot wish it away or play by rules no one else will respect. The world is hard and cruel, and to protect ourselves, we must be, too."
"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. I think there's got to be a way to talk to people. We've got to start small, and convince maybe a family at a time. But then we'll have convinced a whole suburb, and then a town. Pretty soon we'll have mutant safe countries and then, well, why not the world?"
"Because people don't think like that!" she almost hissed at him. "Do you think that the Genoshans will give up their slaves because mutants are people too? They make billions in tourism on the sweat of mutants harnessed like oxen and kennelled like dogs. And the genetic experiments that Dr Trask is doing in his privately funded lab! He's harvesting our flesh, abducting registered mutants and torturing them! All with the blessing of Senator Kelly, the benevolent bigot, and his pet Gyrich, who swear it's all in the name of science and the furthering of human knowledge. They're letting it happen, Mirage. The world. The governments and the people. And while Xavier puts his fingers in his ears and dreams of his perfect tomorrow, he too is letting it happen. Well, The Great Leader isn't letting it happen. He isn't looking the other way- he has them in his sights. And while we gather our strength, he is marking them for retribution." Her golden eyes held him like the gaze of a cat on a mouse. "Think back, Mirage, to all the ones who wronged you. Think of the pains that you have endured. Was that justice?"
His mind flew back to his childhood, his parents, the older guys at school and the guidance counsellor who made his life hell, until Cyclops and Iceman came for him. Every mutant had known injustice. It wasn't fair.
"He can heal us, Mirage," Scarlet said suddenly. She looked into his face and put her hand lightly on his knee. For the first time she wasn't dissembling or posing. Her eyes shone with sincerity, and Chaz felt an uncomfortable quiver in his stomach. He liked her. "He can stop them from hurting us, and keep them from ever doing it again. He'll punish them, and free us. Isn't that what we've hoped for?"
Between the powerful presence of two women- one beguiling, the other sincere and for once, vulnerable- he could barely keep a clear head. But then he thought of Iceman and Angel and Jubilee and Silver, who were like his siblings, and how it would feel to leave them. He thought of Leech and the other Morlocks Magneto had tried to kill. He thought of Red Eagle. Red Eagle had been human, and so had his grandmother, and people like them didn't deserve to be crucified when vigilantes declared martial law. There had to be good people out there who deserved protection from militants on both sides. Mutants needed to be protected from some humans, but it seemed to Chaz that humans needed protecting from certain mutants, too.
"I'm sorry," Mirage said, slowly getting to his feet. Scruff mumbled in his pocket. "I just don't think the Brotherhood is for me. Or I'm not for it. Whatever. I can't join you." He smiled sadly at Scarlet, who had stood with him. She looked at him in disbelief, hurt showing on her face.
"You would turn away from us? From all this?" Her eyes filled. "We need every fighter we can get, there's a job to do, and you're going to just walk away from it!"
"I'm going back to Xavier's. I've always been going back to Xavier's. I would like for you to come with me; there is a place for all of you there," he raised his voice so that Avalanche and Blob could hear him, but especially Pete. "But whether you come along or stay here, I have to go. They're my family."
Mystique stood up and towered over him, her perfect face cold.
"I do not hold it against you that like a child, you dream of a better world. But some day soon, you will grow up and realise that fairy tales aren't real, and all loyal mutants have a place with the Leader. I just hope, for your sake, you don't get in his way before then."
Mirage couldn't bear to meet her eyes. He swung his pack over his shoulder and opened the front door.
"See you around, Pete!" he called, and then in a much lower voice, "Scarlet." He reached out and touched her hand, but she looked away from him. With a sigh, he turned from the fluorescent light of the shabby house and made his way into the night.
The cold air bit at his face, keeping him alert, as he kicked his snarling dirt bike into life and roared onto the highway, heading east. Scruff's rhythmic breathing soothed his agitated temper. He was about twenty miles outside of the city when he saw someone standing in the road. He braked instantly and slid to a jerky halt before the dark outline.
"Pete?" he asked in disbelief. "What's up, man?"
"I broke the sound barrier!" he panted proudly. "I wasn't sure I could pull it off but I did, it sounded like an explosion and then I couldn't hear anything! It was so cool!" And then he turned serious. "I had to warn you. As soon as you left Mystique started saying how some people can't be trusted and the best secret societies stay secret. Then Avalanche started bragging and she was encouraging him… And Scarlet- she just-" he looked at Mirage helplessly, at a loss to explain. "I had to warn you. Avalanche and Blob are going to try something. Mystique said we should only give you a hint of what you're missing but Blob will try to hurt you, and there's nothing I can do to stop them."
"But we're out ahead, aren't we?" Mirage smiled at him. "Jump on the back of my bike and we'll be at the academy by this time tomorrow. We never have to worry about what they do again."
"I- CANT!" Pete wailed. "I can't leave Scarlet! I want to go to the Academy more than anything but how could I abandon her? She doesn't even know I've left to warn you!"
"Would she want you to?"
Pete nodded. "She was scared but she didn't want to look like a chicken. She tried to call it all off but Mystique just steam rolled her."
"She can come with us, Pete. Let's take Scarlet and head to the Academy. Don't you think she wants to come?"
"After tonight I think she would. But I can't carry her far enough to get her away from Avalanche's power."
"Where is Scarlet?" Mirage asked.
"Back at the house."
Mirage flicked a switch on his gears. A small light by his speedometer started to flash.
"What's that?" Quicksilver asked.
"That is a micro transmitter. Right now, in New York, there is an alarm going off in the War Room and in Xavier's house. He's going to gather the X Men. They're going to the Warr Room, and they'll see that it's me asking for help, and they'll see where we are on GPS. And Cyclops and his team are going to be here in about an hour."
"And then what happens?" he asked.
"Then we go get your sister."