Years ago, on the beaches of Cuba...
He watched as the body of the man he'd followed fell limply to the sand. Azazel was at war with his feelings. Shaw was a figurehead, but he wasn't the cause. Azazel wasn't even sure he agreed with all of Shaw's beliefs, but really anything that led to the safety and security of mutants was something he could get behind. Of course, Shaw was interested in human extinction, not something Azazel himself would come up with, but not something he cared enough about to stop. Humans had never been anything but problems for him, costing him his youth and some of his greatest relationships. The only humans who had ever treated him with any decency were ones who were as outcast as he, humans whom humanity decided were less than. It made him angry toward humanity in general.
The other one spoke as he floated down from the submarine. Azazel knew little about him, except his powers were magnetic in nature. He was on the other side of this battle, the one with the telepath and the blue girl. His words made sense, that they wasted time fighting with each other while the enemy was humans. It was something he agreed with. Mutants needed to band together, this infighting would only lead to failure. His eye again traveled to the blue girl. There was something about her that intrigued him. He'd lived his entire life knowing only himself as a mutant who's mutation was physically expressed. The feeling he felt was like relief. He wasn't alone. There were others like him, who understood what it was like to be this kind of mutant. The hardships they faced over the ones of those who could pass.
The blue girl caught his eye, then looked away quickly, back to the magnetic man. Large booms suddenly sounded and he turned then to the navy ships. They'd unloaded their missiles in their direction. His first instinct was to teleport away, but he couldn't leave his comrades on the beach. They were scattered, and he ran to the closest one, Angel, before being hit with a thought. Could he leave anyone on the beach? Whether they were friends or not, he couldn't leave any mutant to die. His thoughts were interrupted now by a struggle between the telepath and the magnetic man. The missiles exploded far from the beach in waves, and he took a breath. Perhaps they were safe from this threat. Still, he preferred if they'd move closer together in case they did need to escape. He took Angel's arm and guided her closer to Janos, and in turn guided them both close to the blue girl. She wasn't on their side per se, but he was drawn to her. He couldn't leave her behind.
There was a gunshot and Azazel looked up instinctively. A woman with dark hair had a gun trained on the magnetic man. He recognized her as the CIA agent, the human they had decided to work with. As she let bullets fly at this man, Azazel found the oddest feeling of respect. This human fearlessly put herself in this situation. She had no defense against the mutants around her, and could easily be killed by any one of them. Thoughtlessly. She had a gun, which was meaningless. She should be on the navy ships, fighting against them, but she stood with them. The fact she was using a gun against a mutant was an act of aggression, but one that Azazel understood. She was defending the telepath. And she put herself in a precarious situation, using metal against a metal manipulator. The magnetic man deflected the bullets, one of which seemed to hit the telepath and he crumpled to the floor.
"Charles?!" the human dropped her gun. The magnetic man ran to the telepath, Charles', side and angrily began to choke the human. It was her bullet that had struck the man. Azazel felt an injustice, in that this woman should be blamed for a mistake, one exacerbated by the man who was trying to execute her for it. He almost found himself ready to step in, but the telepath did. The human ran to his side.
The magnetic man gave them a choice that day. Which way to go. Azazel had no interest in going with the telepath, and the blue girl's choice of joining the magnetic man cemented his. He had no interest in diplomacy with humans. Yet, as they teleported away, his eye fell once more on the human on the beach. Perhaps, if there were more humans like her, the world would be more tolerable.