Chapter 22: Wrath

The next five minutes my brain ran through variations of "Fuck, fuck, fuck." on a continuous loop. Even as the whole camp broke into a flurry over the news, my mind was flashing white with panic.

This was a disaster. No matter the outcome, this would look bad on mutantkind and MESO as a whole.

That Ree hadn´t alerted me to anything showed that I hadn´t expected such a thing. Therefor I hadn´t set up an alarm for it.

I knew Magento was capable of it, but I just hadn´t seen any good reason for him to do this. My memory of the films was somewhat hazy, but I thought he would only attack such a powerful public figure if he felt seriously threatened.

Apparently, I was wrong.

By the time that I came out of my stupor, Ross had a better overview over the situation.

"Because of completely unrelated negotiations, a Wakandan ambassador had been in D.C. when the attack on Grenada began. Due to several of the hostages being Wakandan the President was in an impromptu meeting with that ambassador at the White House to assure him of their citizens´ safe return. The chaos began half an hour ago. All we know is that Magneto is involved, and that Mystique has been spotted too. The missing intel is probably thanks to her interference.", he filled in the antsy X-Men and me.

That he turned to me with a sharp look in his eyes.

"Can you get us there."

Dimly I acknowledged that he had told us all that in an effort to get us to cooperate with him. Outwardly, I just nodded.

D.C. had been on my list for emergency portals. Places I would visit and look up just so that I could get there fast when needed.

"Great. I need you to get us to-", he proceeded to rattle off an address I recognized as being not more than a stone throw from the oval office.

I felt like a foreigner in my body as I opened a portal and watched most of the soldiers and the X-Men go through. After Ross communicated furiously with someone over his phone, we were quickly ushered into a large room with dozens of agents congregating around monitors and laptops.

It didn´t take long for Ross to be caught up in the discussions of how to proceed. Quite clearly, none of them had an idea of how to deal with Magneto without endangering the President.

"I think I can fight Magneto somewhere else. You would only have to deal with Mystique. Can you do that?", I asked coldly, still staring at the close-up of the oval office, the only camera footage we had of the hold-up.

It baffled me that any one person could so effectively dismantle the Whites House´s security, but if it could be done, Mystique was certainly a good candidate.

I received some odd looks from my friends in the X-Men, who had never seen me like this. Ross nodded and waved over some of his team to organize a synchronized assault in tandem with me dropping off the X-Men in the office.

His colleagues were treating my idea with a whole lot more hesitance. Their pride and distrust got into the way of listening to the best solution. That lasted until Ross stood up to them in a way that belied his small stature and pleasant behavior.

"That man, that you describe as an untrained civilian, has fought on the front lines against an alien invasion and Hydra. At this point he is more qualified than any of you in taking on Magento, capiche?!", he snapped at them.

After that they backed off.

A minute later Ross came up to me and whispered:

"Please don´t fuck this up."

I met his intense gaze without a flinch. He held that eye contact for a few seconds until he was seemingly satisfied with what he saw.

Another minute and the strike teams in front of the office doors were in place. The five X-Men present assembled around me and everyone waited for my signal.

I opened a portal for them to the side opposite of the window where I knew Magneto would be. The next was my own, in another corner equally far away from the X-Men and Magneto.

I knew I had to act as fast as possible so I had barely any time to take the scene in before I made my next move.

I could see multiple people in my periphery, some standing, some on the ground. The President had his hands in the air, a metal pen was pointed at his jugular. Two steps to his side was Magneto, a cruel look in his eyes visible through his signature helmet.

The air stank of blood.

Not letting my anger affect my actions, I opened another portal with a slight shift of my hand. Directly behind Magneto.

I didn´t even register the mutant´s words as I pulled on the portal to move it forward. As soon as he was through, I closed it.

I nodded to the X-Men, not acknowledging anyone else in the room and left.

The spot I picked was about 50 meters from where I had dropped Magneto into. I was greeted by darkness and cold winds whipping up the snow around me. Without my ring´s protection, I imagined I would be freezing.

Unpopulated, largely metal free and lots of space.

The arctic seemed like a natural choice for this confrontation.

My eyes took a bit to acclimate to the significantly darker surroundings. The moon stood clear in the sky and its light reflected of the white snow to make for a much brighter night than what one would expect.

Still, not too far from me, Magneto hadn´t noticed me yet. To be fair, he was trying to protect his face from the biting winds with his arms and cape.

Without hesitation I formed three spears, not staffs like usual, and send them at him as fast as possible.

The first pierced his left knee.

The second his right hip.

The third flew a bit too high and just barely took out a chunk of his left shoulder.

Even against the wind I could hear the pained screams as the elder mutant fell to the ground. The landing on the snow may have been soft, but he was far from relieved as I kept up the two constructs that were sticking out of his body. It made his laid out position a bit awkward.

Moving even a little would lead to worse injuries, and he knew that.

I was impressed when Magneto still managed to send small balls of metal at me with fairly decent aim.

But what happened next ended the fight quickly.

Out of reflex, I took out my scythe to block the little missiles with practiced ease. As soon as I had done that however, I could feel Magento´s pull on the weapon.

Surprised, I let go.

But he couldn´t use Thanatos against me. It was a magical artefact after all. One that had especially chosen me.

When my scythe sped towards the fallen mutant, its blade extracted, it ignored his outstretched hand and spun.

With a thunk it embedded itself in the ice. A second later Magneto´s severed head followed.

At least that was the version I would tell everyone.

In truth, I blocked the metal with a teal shield, like had become second nature to me.

When he tried to hit me again, more and more aggressively, I caught the metal in my constructs before I portaled them away.

Slowly I walked up to the terrorist bleeding out on the ground, the snow crunching beneath my feet barely audible in the howling windstorm.

"Are you finished.", I asked loudly when I stood in front of him.

Magneto gave me grim smile.

"You caught me. But it won´t matter. The damage is done."

He managed to sound both solemn and triumphant.

"So, what was your plan? Truly. I don´t understand how this would help any mutant.", I asked the question that had been on my mind for the preceding 20 hours.

"This is the only way!", he bellowed with surprising strength. "The only way mutants will choose the right path. They will see, with everyone against them, that they have to be strong! That they can´t continue to follow these weak, these lesser leaders!"

The terrorist was heaving now, his lungs barely able to keep up with his tirade.

"You! You and your movement – MESO. It´s your fault! I couldn´t wait any longer, you were giving them the easy way out. Get some rights and they would have been satisfied when we deserve so much more!", he spewed with pure venom in his voice. Like he truly hated me for trying to secure mutant rights.

That anger, that had been bubbling underneath the surface the whole day, it was rising up my throat. My clenched fists began to shake as I tried to keep control.

This conceited piece of shit. Human garbage.

I understood now that I had been blinded. Blinded by memories of nuanced portrayals by charming actors like Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender. Blinded by my expectations.

Until now I had been very lucky. All my preconceptions had been near enough to the truth, they hadn´t hurt me.

Presuming Magneto was, on some level at least, someone with good intentions? This was turning out to be a painful awakening.

"You dare.", I started out nearly silent, words swept away by the wind. "YOU DARE! You piece of shit think you can force your screwed up view of the world on others?! How many are going to die because of you, how many mutants brutally murdered because someone saw you in them, hm?!"

"Better to die than to live like cattle!", he screamed back undeterred, though I could see how it took him more and more energy.

He wasn´t the youngest, his injuries were extensive and the freezing temperatures didn´t help.

But I wasn´t thinking about that.

Instead, I started laughing. I laughed in disbelief at the madman Xavier dared to call an old friend. It must have been many years since Charles had seen inside his "friend´s" mind.

My laughter died out and with it the storming winds subsided.

`Fitting´, I thought to myself as my hand closed around the grip of my trusted scythe. `Like this I can hear his head hit the ground.´

A flick of the wrist and Magneto was no more. The sound of his severed and still helmed head hitting the ground was so slight, I barely made it out.

As I stared at the helmet glinting in the moonlight, I let my constructs dissipate.

I was acutely aware that I had acted in anger. Oh, I had planned to kill Magneto the second I arrived in Washington, no doubt. But this had not been my plan for the man from the get-go.

I had thought of him as useful. A questionable ally in mutant matters, but surely I could have depended on him in the event that Thanos invaded.

It was not to be, I supposed.

I laid my head back to look at the sky before screwing my eyes shut and breathing in deeply to calm the sea of rage still churning through my body.

Thanatos was thrumming contently in my hand, satisfied with taking a life. It weirdly helped me distract myself from the anger.

I would need all my concentration for the coming days. The importance of the X-Men and myself, a key-figure of the movement, in the resolutions of both struggles would surely help. Still, any detractors had all the ammo they needed now.

Mutants were dangerous. Mutants needed to be controlled.

I could already see the talking points, the endless discussions I would have to engage in.

But I was getting ahead of myself.

With a sigh I moved the dead body to a gurney, laying Magneto´s cape out over him so that it covered everything but his feet.

Like that I entered the oval office. The first thing I saw, was a limp Mystique in a pair of my shackles hanging in Piotr´s grip.

My friends looked alright, if slightly worse for wear. The President was surrounded by men in suits and a medic. He was composed even if I could spot a slight shiver.

His eyes lit up when he laid eyes on the gurney.

"So, you got him. Great work, Bluelight. Now we can deposit him in the deepest hole and throw the key away.", he commented grimly.

"That won´t be necessary.", I answered drily and pulled the cape down to underneath the corpse´s head before anyone could ask. The gore wasn´t worse than whoever was laying between the couches anyway. I couldn´t see much, just a lot of blood. I refused to think about whose it was and what that would mean.

I got some gasps, mainly from the X-Men, and some approving looks, even a few cheers.

The President was a bit paler now, but he gave me a nod.

"Good.", he said.

And that was that.

After both Mystique and Magneto´s body were taken away, Hank approached me, the other mutants staying behind.

"Hey.", he started hesitantly, his brows furrowed. "Are-, are you alright?"

I stared at him, surprised. I had thought they would be madder at me. Only then did I think about his question.

"No.", I decided. "No, I don´t think I am."

Then I left.

The next few days were a rush of PR and media appearances. It was a widely accepted opinion that the "accidental" killing of Magneto had been a good thing. Few begged to differ and even fewer were openly objecting. Standing up for a terrorist and murderer did not make for a compelling cause.

Pepper was so occupied with spinning the media narrative in a certain way, something that wasn´t actually in her job description, that she couldn´t even haunt me over if I felt alright.

Instead, Domi, Bruce and Hank reached out to me regularly. I gave them excuses, not wanting them to see me this mad. It didn´t have to be a lie; after all, I really was busy.

Even Tony tried to cheer me up, if somewhat more awkwardly than the others. He could be remarkably clumsy with social interactions. He knew, nothing that worked with him would work with me. I had no interest in parties, women, cars or alcohol. I was no scientist, so no lab. I was no woman, so no gifts of shoes and jewelry either.

So, he send me expensive paints and packets of my favorite chocolate. For all his awkwardness, he did get me to smile at that.

Other than the support of my friends, I did not have much to smile at.

The public perception of the incidents was not as bad as I had feared. There were still plenty of right-wing talk about the dangers of mutants running around freely, but they were largely isolated.

The President giving a speech at a press conference praising the X-Men and myself helped a lot at that front.

While the PR-team had an easier time than expected, our lawyers and negotiators were running into problems on a global scale.

They had troubles identifying why, but I had a hunch.

Wakanda.

After my mind had calmed down, I had started questioning Magneto´s methods again. Why invade Grenada before attacking the President? Why not kill the President immediately?

Mystique was the one to provide me with the answers.

She was emotionally destroyed when she found out that Magneto had died. Apparently, she had been against this whole scheme and had told Eric so. But he didn´t listen.

It hadn´t even been his plan. He received resources, recruits and intel from another source.

The storming of St. George was simply to draw attention and bring a notable Wakandan figure and the President into a room together. The assassination would anger both the US and Wakanda.

Even if we could do damage control within the US, Wakanda would be harder to appease.

Of course, these confessions were utter nonsense to most who heard them. Wakanda was a poor and underdeveloped country after all. So, everyone just labeled Magento, and Mystique in association, as crazy.

But I knew she was speaking the truth. Which led me to the question of who could have all the necessary information to pull this off.

My first thought was that the Brotherhood had somehow been contacted by Hydra. However, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn´t remember if they had truly known Wakanda´s secret before the reveal. And as fanatic as Magneto was, I still couldn´t believe he would work with Hydra.

That bugged me until I resolved to question Mystique myself.

I didn´t do so officially though. I visited her in her cell in the middle of the night.

Breaking and entering was laughably easy with the help of portals, invisibility and my ring.

Raven woke up when I entered her cell in small rain of orange sparks. She warily sat up and put her back against the wall behind her.

"You.", she said. She didn´t look accusing or scared, just like she would have been rather anywhere else.

"Who told you about Wakanda?", I asked, not bothering to play any games. If anyone could tell me, it would be her.

"The white queen.", Raven said after a long pause.

"White queen?", I repeated a bit confused, half surprised that she bothered with answering in the first place.

"Of the Hellfire Club. That´s all I know.", she clarified and laid down again with her back to me.

It was clear that was all she was willing, or able, to say. And I had enough to think about.

I had heard of them before, if only vaguely. Many of the X-Men movies, especially the older ones were very blurry in my mind.

So the only real point I could go off of was what I had read in fanfiction. Which also wasn´t a lot.

Clearly, the Hellfire Club was bad news. I knew they had power and money, sadly that was pretty much it.

I opened a portal to my apartment and dropped onto my couch. From where I was sitting, I looked out over the still lively New York and sighed.

Another secret organization with nefarious goals.

I felt a headache oncoming and started massaging my temples.

I would have to deal with Wakanda first, I decided. The question was how.

"Ree, would you be so kind to stalk T`Chaka? It seems I have to have a little chat with a certain king."

`Because that couldn´t go wrong. ´, I thought sardonically to myself.

Nervously, I righted my teal tie as I looked myself over in the mirror. I had arrived early so that I could find good places to hide when the ballroom filled with guests.

I took a last look at my suit, teal with black accents, and nodded at myself. Hesitating another minute at the door, I finally convinced myself that I couldn´t wait this out in the bathroom.

I had never been alone at one of these events before, and this one was even fancier than usual. I couldn´t remember the name for the life of me. It was long and french though. It wasn´t just Wakandan royalty that was present either.

I was still a bit surprised that I got in so easily. I only had to give the President a call and I was in. Apparently getting me invited wasn´t that hard. Thinking about it, it wasn´t that hard to understand.

I was one of the biggest and most widely known heroes. The other two being Captain America and Ironman, which were both very clearly American. While I lived in the US, I wasn´t a citizen. That alone made me more popular with many.

Therefore, it was also in the President´s best interest to bind me closely to the US.

I was snapped out of my reverie when I spotted the distinct look and posture of two Dora Milaje in black suits. They didn´t have their signature spears, though I supposed that was natural considering the venue and all.

The next figure I recognized was T´Challa standing off to the side conversing with Queen Ramonda. I had no trouble identifying them, they were both exact copies of their actor counterparts. Seeing Chadwick Boseman´s face came with a wave of somberness. I wasn´t sure if this T´Challa would get sick too, but it was surreal to see someone I knew was dead, run around alive and well.

Then I saw the person I had come for. King T´Chaka was engaged in a quiet conversation with who I roughly recognized as the German Minister of Finance.

Taking a calming breath, I steered in his direction just as the Minister politely excused himself.

Another reason why I was so nervous, was that I kind of despised the concept of Monarchy. I saw them as either actively harmful or just plain useless. I tried to be respectful about that, I really did but I just didn´t have anything positive to say about the issue.

And now I had to be polite to a King. I had no idea how to do that.

As soon as I came into the vicinity of the King, I could practically feel the glares of the Dora Milaje on me. They didn´t stop me though. My guess was that they were on strict orders in events like this. Being aggressive could lead to powerful enemies and a lot of attention from foreign nations. Not something Wakanda would want.

King T´Chaka saw me coming and turned towards me with a gentle but unassuming smile. I did my best to return one of my politician-smiles as well.

"King T´Chaka, it is nice to meet you. Al Ravenstock. Do you have a couple of minutes for me?", I asked, wincing at my slightly rushed introduction as I stretched out my hand.

T`Chaka just chuckled and shook my offered hand.

"I know who you are, Mr. Ravenstock. Now, what would one the heroes of New York want to talk to the King of Wakanda about?", he asked with genuine curiosity while leading us away from a nearby waiter carrying champagne glasses.

I would have to pick my next words carefully.

"You have surely heard of MESO.", I began and didn´t wait for the obvious conformation. "And you might also know that I frequently represent the movement. In the last few weeks we have gotten a lot more political headwind than usual, even considering the attacks by the Brotherhood. My condolences, by the way, for your country´s losses."

As expected of a seasoned monarch, neither his thoughts nor his emotions showed in his face.

"Thank you for your compassion. Although I´m afraid I fail to see how your political difficulties connect to Wakanda. I´ll remind you that we do not have that much sway on a global scale.", T´Chaka claimed, lying through his teeth.

Already, many more pragmatic nations were using Wakanda´s silence and implicit consent to push for stricter regulations against mutants.

And here Wakanda´s king stood, still trying to pass his country off as weak and unimportant. Should work on his pride then, I thought venomously.

"That isn´t entirely true, is it? In the eyes of many, Wakanda at least silently supports the stricter handling of mutant matters. Public registration and such. Very dangerous territory."

"But for whom? As it is, mutants pose a grave danger. Wakanda´s dead can speak to that. You have to register your gun too, do you not? So why not your powers. You yourself seem to have had no problem with revealing yourself to the public.", he argued.

It took all my self-control to stop myself from snapping at him.

"Yes, but I am able to defend myself, both from physical attacks as well as slander. Many mutants don´t have that. Not to mention that my openness led me to be targeted in a bombing. You can´t really suggest owning a gun and being born with certain powers is the same thing.", I replied.

"And wasn´t the one that attacked you also a mutant? I can understand your plea, but as the leader of a country, I have to do what is best for my nation.", T´Chaka said and his eyes strayed to the side where his son was.

I was admittedly speechless by his mischaracterization of Hydra´s attack on me. And the king was visibly finished with our conversation.

"Now, if you will excuse me. I need to return to my family. I wish you luck in your endeavors."

With that T´Chaka turned away from me and rejoined his wife and son as they made their rounds around the room.

Meanwhile the white-hot rage in my stomach turned to ice. I made my way over to the doors that led to a large, fenced garden that was only lit by the warm light spilling out of open doors and windows. Breathing deeply, I waited until my eyes were acclimated to the dark and I could see a few stars in a sky polluted by city lights.

If Wakanda couldn´t be reasoned with, I´d have to use a more aggressive course of action.

I would not let those hypocrites get their way and trample all over other´s rights because it made them feel more "secure".

I turned my gaze back to the party behind me. I watched the crowd for a while, my hands in my pockets, my expression cold. My eyes narrowed when the Wakandan monarchs entered my view.

A bitter smile stretched across my face.

"Let there be war."

AN:

Aaand an early chapter. Yay! And what a chapter it is, it has everything: Murder! Conspiracies! Political intrigue! Se- well, no, there is no sex... But almost everything!

Writing Al stinking mad is a whole lot of fun. I´ve been building to this for a while now and it is just as fun to write as I thought. So, do you guys like the lighthearted tone more or do you enjoy some blood spilling here and there? Let me know. We will be going back to a more normal Al soonish though anyway.