PREVIOUSLY ON X-MEN '97
After returning to their current time, the X-men and the Brotherhood faced off against Bastion and his army of Prime Sentinels. Intent on his plan to weaponize Rogue, Bastion opens a portal with the Siege Perilous, pulling Rogue through with him, but not before she gave her final request to Magneto: find the children and prepare them for what is coming.
Unbeknownst to Rogue, Apocalypse has returned, with four of the X-men enslaved as his Horsemen. He states that a day will come when Rogue will re-emerge as his equal, and the prophecy that he has waited thousands of years for will be revealed.
The uncertainty and fear took hold, and she had curled herself into a fetal position, waiting for the moment that Bastion would grab her once more, the moment that she anticipated.
She waited. And waited. And waited.
She seemed to be floating, like she was in space, no sense of gravity or direction.
She opened her eyes, and she could see three figures standing before her, cloaked in shadow, but their eyes….were red.
"Welcome….Rogue." They spoke in unison.
"How….how do you know my name?"
"We are the Siege. All who pass through are known to us. Your very being, your mind and soul, is laid bare."
She felt her heart beating loudly in her ears. "Where….where's Bastion?"
"He is no more."
"W-what do you mean?"
"He is no more. He was found unworthy and destroyed."
She felt cold dread down her spine, as well as relief. Bastion was gone for good….would she be given the same fate?
"The answer to your question is no."
Her eyebrows raised.
"You can read my mind?"
"Yes. The one known as Bastion was more machine than man, but his heart and soul were corrupted, too corrupted to pass through. He was poisoned beyond recognition." The three hooded figures seemed to draw closer.
"You, Rogue, will not share his fate. You will be judged, but not destroyed."
"Judged?"
"All who pass through and are found worthy are judged, to varying degrees. You, Rogue, will lay bare your soul."
She felt her heart pounding in her chest.
What the hell had Bastion dragged her into?
In the days that followed the battle with Bastion, and the appearance of Apocalypse, the world was in chaos.
Once again, the X-Men found themselves before the UN, answering to the world for all that had occurred since Magneto's EMP had shut down the Earth's magnetic field.
Magneto was at the forefront, and to all outward appearances, he appeared to be a stoic beacon, giving his testimony of the horrors in Genosha, his first hand account of what had happened while he was being held captive by Bastion, and the ensuing battle with him upon returning to the present after their strange jump through time.
Despite oppositions and claims that Magneto attempted to start World War Three, the knowledge that the EMP had been used to knock out the Prime Sentinel programming was met with empathy, especially since it was documented that about 90% of humans that had been programmed had no knowledge of Bastion's tampering. This fact alone, that someone had managed to turn humans into weapons against mutants without their knowledge, made people more afraid than ever.
Magneto's testimony before the UN made them aware of the larger threat at hand- Apocalypse. He urged the world leaders to prepare for what was to come, knowing full well what En Sabah Nur would do to bring about his vision.
It was no longer the humans fighting the mutants. It was now the entire world fighting for survival against Apocalypse.
When the cameras rolled, he was a calm voice pleading with the other world leaders to take defensive action, to be prepared for the destruction that Apocalypse would no doubt bring down upon them.
But when they turned off, and it was just him and his thoughts, the true nature of the trauma and loss he felt bearing down on him like the lethal lasers of the Master Mold.
He barely slept. Kurt made sure he ate, even if he didn't want to. The younger mutant had always responded to trauma by reaching out to people, trying to show compassion and care.
Even if they weren't related, he was much like his sister in that regard.
Everytime he thought of Rogue, it was the memory of her just before she had been pulled into the Siege Perilous, the words she spoke, and the tears in her eyes as she smiled at him.
He hated himself for not being able to stop it. Hated that everything had gone from good, to bad, to so much worse in the span of weeks. He blamed himself for not being able to get to her quick enough, for all that she had endured since they had arrived in Genosha.
She wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me.
It was hard, in his mind, to rationalize that, no, it wasn't his fault. She had gone to Genosha of her own free will.
But I invited her, did I not?
He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the voice that tried to get his attention as he tried to leave the hearing room.
"Magneto, wait…." Dr. Valerie Cooper tried to stop him, to speak to him, but the sound of her voice set off a trigger of memories he would rather forget, of the compound where Bastion had held him, stripped him, hung him up on that saltire cross like some twisted display.
"I have nothing to say to you, Dr. Cooper."
"Please….I know what you must think of me, but-"
"Do you? Do you really know what I think?" He finally turned to look at her, and his eyes were a clear picture of what his mental state was like. Bloodshot, the icy anger and fury directed at her. "You knew what he was planning, as you stood in that ballroom, knowing damn well what was about to happen. Knowing that almost all of my people would be slaughtered at Bastion's hand."
She had no words, no rebuttal, for she knew he spoke the truth.
"You may have let me go, once you saw the extent of what was occurring, but that does not absolve you of your crimes against me or my people."
"Magneto….for what it is worth, I am truly sorry…..for my part, and for what happened to Rogue."
The tone of his voice was pure venom.
"Save me your half-baked words. You want to show your remorse? Prepare Earth for the impending war that is about to befall it."