Disclaimer: Tide's still not in yet… do you find it interesting that I'm focused on the tide and not gaining ownership of the concept of X-Men?
"…"- conversation
'…'- thoughts
(…)- extra facts/actions (some)
((…))- author's/my own thoughts
'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally
Chapter 38: Battle between the Master of Magnetism, the God of Fire, and the Goddess of Magic
Hallway #5, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 16, 5:00 PM
Meanwhile Magneto was on his way back to hallway #5 to see how his daughter and Pyro were doing on guard duty. Not that he would admit it, but Erik was curious as to how 'well' Jean and Ororo were dealing with their torture, along with seeing how his daughter and Pyro were adding to their pain.
As he came closer to the hallway, his telepathy began to react to an increase of both emotions and mutant abilities. He quickened his stride, his face becoming more and more marred in suspicion and anger. As Erik opened the door to the hallway, he was consumed by emotions of love, compassion, fear, confusion, and power. He silently glanced around, using his mind to scan for the source of what he was feeling as the hallway was, for the most part, dimly lit, and let his eyes rest on Wanda and John, who were staring at Ororo's cage with confusion etched on their faces. He willed his limited telepathy abilities to tell him why he was sensing such strong emotions and power emanating from them, and recoiled in shock as he found that his daughter and the most untrustworthy of his Acolytes— the insane Pyro—had kissed and were, in reality, in love with each other. His expression turned from one of shock to contempt to disgust to determination and anger in a matter of 90 seconds. He put on his helmet and silently walked up behind them, metal plating from the walls surrounding and following him.
After a moment of hesitation in which some hidden paternal feelings rose to the surface, Erik forced them down and flung his arms forward, sending the metal towards the unsuspecting couple. He clenched his fists, and the metal wrapped around them. Both mutants screamed in pain and shock from the sudden loss of oxygen, and were soon forced to look into the dangerously glittering sapphire eyes of Magneto.
"Wanda! How dare you kiss this maniac! I thought you were better than that!" hissed Erik in a rage as he tightened the metal around the two mutants, secretly enjoying seeing them squirm in pain. "I thought you knew better than to go around my back and betray the trust I put in you to carry on the family reputation of the name Lensherr!"
"What reputation?" Wanda hissed faintly, one of her eyes remaining open as the other one closed at the pain she felt radiating form her chest. Her open eye glared down at her father. "You abandon me in an insane asylum when I was 6 years old, you blame me for mom and Anya's deaths, you treat Pietro and the rest of us like we're your personal slaves, you try to take over the world, you treat those who serve your twisted dream like they are inanimate objects instead of people, you erase my memory, you have Mastermind implant fake ones, we don't even have the same last name, and you expect me to carry on your reputation! Dream on, father."
Erik's eyes dimmed for a moment, but when they focused on John, they flared up once more in intensity and hate. "You, Pyro…" hissed Erik as he once more tightened his hold on the fire-controlling mutant, "you dare to kiss my daughter, my one and only daughter when I specifically told you and the other Acolytes on day one to never get involved with my daughter and what do you do? You go and fall in love with her and not only that, you kiss her! You shall pay for your treachery!"
"You know what, mate?" demanded John as his eyes suddenly snapped open and began to burn a dangerous dark red. "Oy don't care what the fuck you think about Wanda and me, but you need to know one small thing…"
"And that would be what?" demanded Erik, his eyes showing a hint of fear in them at seeing John's red eyes. 'Why in the hell are his eyes glowing red?'
"It's that Oy love her!" John's eyes flared an even darker shade of red if it was possible and flames began to surround him. Erik stepped back in shock, his hold on the two mutants weakening a bit. However, Erik was too focused on John to notice that Wanda's eyes had suddenly turned a dangerous mixture of silver and varying shades of blue.
"You know what, Father?" asked Wanda as she drew Erik's attention from her boyfriend to herself. "I love John too, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it!"
Erik once more backed up, this time true fear showing in his eyes, and his grip on the couple weakened to such an extent that Fred could easily break out of the hold. Wanda's body began to glow with a silver and blue aura, and when it mixed with John's Erik could sense the depth of their emotions. He felt their power surge to levels beyond Xavier's; ones he didn't even imagine existed.
Wanda and John broke out of Erik's hold and landed on the floor, each on one knee. Erik watched as the two mutants rose to their feet, and lifted their arms at the same time and pointed them at Erik. They mouthed something that Erik was unable to understand and shot a combination of flames and magic at Erik. Erik dodged just in time, and when he looked back to where he had been standing his eyes widened at the three-foot hole left in the attack's wake, still smoking. Erik just lay there for a moment, stunned, and then felt flames surround him. He glanced up and saw a wall of fire begin to enclose him.
Erik flung his hand out at John, and managed to ensnare John's jetpack and flamethrowers. He yanked them away from John, tearing John's uniform where they had been connected. Erik fully expected to have the firewall dissipate, leaving him free to manipulate John's jetpack—that was on the other side of the wall—into a sphere large enough and strong enough to stop the two mutants from causing anymore damage.
However, Erik was shocked when the firewall didn't grow weaker; in fact, it only grew stronger. He saw a blue aura come through the wall of flame and he instantly recognized it as one of Wanda's hex-bolts. He tried to dodge, but found himself unable to as John closed the wall of flame closer, giving Erik less room to maneuver.
"Wanda… St. John… please stop! I'm sorry for what I said… I wasn't thinking… I…" begged Erik but he was interrupted when the firewall suddenly vanished. Erik stared in disbelief at the burned floor around him, and then looked up at the two mutants. He found himself staring with his mouth wide open at the sight he beheld: John was engulfed in flames, his eyes staring venomously into Erik's while Wanda stood next to him. She was surrounded by a silver and blue aura, her hands glowing more brightly than Erik had ever seen them when watching Wanda train or attack. Her eyes looked angry enough to shoot daggers out of them and pin him to the wall.
"All right, Magneto. You want to tear us apart? Then you have to go through us first," said John slowly and dangerously. Erik watched in disbelief as John put his hands together and created a gigantic fireball. Erik's eyes widened and he thought, 'My god, how in the world did he do that? I… I took his jetpack!'
John held out the fireball in his left hand, his right in the process of forming what appeared to be fire rings. Wanda also put her hands together and formed a giant blue and silver hex-bolt, along with a psychic ball of fury. Erik could feel they it was very powerful, and he was afraid. Wanda also chanted something that the Master of Magnetism somehow recognized as an ancient Egyptian spell that would incur the wrath of paralysis and torture. Almost as if they were reading each other's minds, they prepared to unleash their attacks on a now very afraid Erik. Just as they were ready to shoot their attacks, they froze in midair, their expressions turning from anger to pain to shock to fear. Their attacks vanished back into them, their eyes returned to their normal colors, and they fell to their knees and then landed face down, some flames and magic sizzling from their owners as they landed.
Erik watched this all happen, slowly got to his feet, and walked over to the fallen mutants. He knelt and felt for a pulse on both of them, and breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief at only finding them unconscious. He then stood up and wondered what had happened to them. He looked around and his eyes landed on the answer to his question: Apocalypse was standing in the other entrance/ exit to hallway #5, staring at Erik disapprovingly.