"This is Marcos," a male voice answered the phone.
"Marcos, my name is Erica and I'm looking for refuge from the Sentinel Services. Can you help me?" she asked, her tone urgent and frightened for the phone call.
"I can arrange a meet. Is it just you or do you have people with you?" Marcos replied.
"I have my husband and best friend, only one is a mutant," she replied.
"I'm going to text you an address," he answered, sounding too distracted to worry about her situation, "Can you get there in twenty-five minutes?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you so much," she said gratefully as she hung up the call and read the address off her phone before punching it into Kris' GPS, "Here's the moment of truth."
Kris noddd as they drove to the meeting place in silence, each of the three slightly worried about where their journeys would take them now that they were joining a war, on the losing side.
They arrived at the location right on time and the three got out of the truck before they walked into the diner to locate Marcos.
When they got inside, a man, alone in a booth, created light with his palm as a signal. Kris, Erica and Erik joined him and that's when Marcos recognized the people coming to him for help.
"Magneto?" he asked, his voice unable to hide the shock he was experiencing.
"In the flesh," Erik replied, "This is Lightning and her friend Kris. We've come to help you in your fight. Will you accept us on your team?"
"Can we trust you? Your history has not always been serving the peaceful agenda we abide with," Marcos replied, his eyes shifting from shock to uncertainty.
Magneto leaned forward, crossing his hands on the table, "You are very right not to trust me as I've switched agendas in the middle of previous missions but I can assure you that I deeply regret what I have done in the past. My actions only brought further issues between humanity and mutants and I want to correct that past," he explained before reaching to his side and grabbing Erica's hand, "As long as she's by my side and she's on your side then I will do whatever I can to keep her safe."
"Marcos, I know you have every reason to be weary of Erik and we understand but we are just here to help you," Erica added, "Will you at least give us a chance to shift the tide of this battle?"
Marcos nodded, "The team will be excited because you are the only tie to the past we have and if anyone can help us out of this mess, it might just be you. Can you leave now?"
Kris, Erik and Erica nodded as Marcos stood and lead them to his SUV.
They loaded up and began the drive to the underground. "How many mutants are currently staying with you?" Erica asked as she looked back at Erik, wondering how supportive he still was of her plan now that they were officially in the danger.
"We have around thirty to fifty people always around in HQ, where we're going," Marcos replied as the drive grew silent once more.
As they neared the location, Kris began feeling panicked, "We need to turn back, there's something really bad happening here," she uttered, her face showing the fear she was feeling.
Marcos turned to look back at her, "You're ok. We have a mutant send fear out to keep our location safe. It's just another way to drive people away, if they get to close," he explained.
Kris nodded as Erica reached her hand across the backseat to comfort her friend, "It's ok, I promise."
They reached the main entrance to the main headquarters of the Mutant Underground and Erica saw Erik about to place his helmet on as they began getting out of the vehicle.
"Babe," she stopped him, reaching forward to place her hand on his shoulder, "I wouldn't put that on yet. They might think you're here to conquer the place," she hypothesized.
He smiled softly back at her, "You are probably correct, my dear," he turned back to Marcos, "Take us in and you should probably stay in front, just in case these people are afraid of me."
Marcos nodded as he guided them into the building and down a staircase where luckily most of the leaders of the team were gathered together already.
"Marcos," a green haired woman said as she turned to see him and his guests, "Did you have any trouble picking our new friends up?"
Marcos shook his head, "It was an easy grab."
Before anyone else could speak, a strong looking man looked over the group, "Magneto?" he asked.
Erik nodded, "Yes, I am Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. My partner Erica has convinced me that you need some help and we came back."
Erica stepped forward, grabbing his hand to give him a quick supportive squeeze, "My mutant name is Lightning and I can what Storm once could. This is my best friend Kris and she is not a mutant but she wanted to help our cause so we brought her."
Kris smiled modestly before the rest of the room began to introduce themselves.
The green haired girl went first, "I'm Lorna Dane, Polaris, and I have powers similar to Magneto's but I am not at his level yet. Normally, I would be opposed to work with you, Erik, but things are bad and we don't have a choice, so welcome to the team."
Marcos disappeared for a call while the strong man moved forward next, "My name is Thunderbird but you can call my Johnny when we're here. I'm bulletproof with super strength and I can sense mutants if they've been close by. It's nice to have you on our team and Kris, we have some other humans so you'll fit right in," he added with a grin towards her. Kris couldn't stop her blush as she reached out and took his offered handshake.
"I'm one of those humans Johnny mentioned," a sweet looking woman took a step toward the new arrivals, "I'm Caitlin Strucker and this is my husband Reed Strucker. Our children our mutants and we came here to keep them safe. I'm kind of the Mom of the group so don't hesitate to come forward if there's anything you need."
"Strucker, you say?" Erik asked as he took a step forward as well, "You're family has ties to Hydra and Trask industries, both of which have done a huge disservice to the mutant world. It is nice to see that genes don't mean everything," he finished, causing everyone to breath a sigh of relief after how he'd begun his commentary.
Lorna moved toward the group, "I'd love to keep talking but we're planning a break in to the Federal Building in Baton Rouge and I need to start training the kids."
"Training them for what?" Caitlin asked, her tone defensive.
Lorna looked back, quizzically, "Combat because war is coming whether we like it or not," she replied before leaving the room.
"I need to get back to supplies as well," Caitlin excused herself, "We just took in a large group of refugees. It really is nice to have you."
"Thank you," Erica said as Caitlin disappeared like Marcos and Lorna had.
"Magneto," Johnny began as he pulled out the schematics to the Federal Building, "Do you think you could help us get inside this place?"
Erik moved forward to take a look at the plans on the desk while Erica looked nervously at Kris, wondering is she'd made the right choice to come here.