Running for Home - 73. April 10, 2022

April 10, 2022

Magneto came to the School today. No, it wasn’t an attack. Thank God it wasn’t that, not over fucking Dominik Petrakis. No, this was something else entirely.

At about 10 am a black limo pulled into the driveway and it was as if time seemed to stop for a moment at the School. Magneto got out, as grandiose and self-important as ever, accompanied by his right-hand man, Exodus. Some of the students seemed a little afraid, all of them were at least a little confused. Magneto was, after all, someone they were warned about. His path was not the one we tried to lead them down. Bobby and I had been in the living room with Liam, playing some video games to pass the time when the commotion started. We followed the noise over into the main entranceway.

It was the first time I’d seen him since I was put in jail.

Magneto saw me, I know he did, but he walked right by me as if I didn’t exist, striding up to Emma who had come to greet him. I’m not sure how I feel about that. He had been a father figure to me for almost six years, but that was a long time ago. Maybe I still believed in his Cause a little after I got out of jail by joining Freedom Force, but after a lot of thinking and a lot of long talks with Mystique and Destiny, my vision for the future of the world had changed.

Maybe mutants would take over someday, but it didn’t have to be now. There weren’t enough of us to make it work. We wouldn’t be in any less danger for it, either. No, it would have to come naturally, in a world where being a mutant was normal and being unpowered was perhaps the rarity. It would be a very long time before that ever comes true, long after my own lifetime. And I’m okay with that. I just want mutants to have a place in this world, an ability to stand on our own two feet, out in the sunlight for everyone to see us, and for us to be able to contribute in a meaningful way, whether it was with our gifts or not. In a place like America, that shouldn’t be too much to ask for but right now it was still a challenge.

There are enough of us now that we can’t just be ignored or talked about in whispered conversations. Our numbers keep going up, even if most of the mutants appearing have nowhere near the level of power that Bobby and my peers at the School had. Most mutants aren’t dangerous threats but some still are, especially while they are still young and not fully in control of their powers and especially in a society that treats them like pariahs. That’s where my battle lies now - changing the minds of the public and equipping young mutants with potentially problematic powers with the toolset to succeed in society, despite the challenges. I want my students to grow into the kind of people that society can’t just ignore, the kind it wants to keep around.

Liam wanted to know who the man was and why everyone was making such a fuss about him. He thought Magneto looked really, really old, and wondered if he lived in a retirement home. I snorted at that. Magneto would never willingly be put into a home, not unless he was too senile to know the difference. I told Liam that Magneto was someone who caused a lot of problems, someone I used to know very well but someone I didn’t like very much anymore. Liam seemed to accept that, then asked us if we could get back to playing the adventure game we’d put on pause.

About an hour later we were called into a large meeting with all the X-men and teaching staff. We left Liam in the games room to play with Carter and Sammy.

Magneto had a new pet project. He was building an artificial island in international waters in the South Pacific. All mutants were called to contribute to a new society there, one where we would be free to develop as we please. He wanted us to move the School there.

A murmur enveloped the room.

It was interesting, sure, but it was also unthinkable. At least, it was to most of the people in that room. Collectively, we had spent too long fighting the good fight, seeking a peaceful resolution to the mutant conflict and a place for mutants in society to just give up and run for the safe haven of some artificial island. Besides that, gathering all the world’s mutants in one place like that would make us sitting ducks should some asshole government decide we were too much of a risk to be allowed to live. All it would take would be one nuke and bye-bye mutants.

Emma and Sean quashed Magneto’s hopes pretty quick, reading the room, but Emma left the door open for a branch School to open under our supervision. Magneto seemed frustrated by the less than enthusiastic response but told all gathered that no one of mutant heritage would be unwelcome on Sanctuary, as he had named it. He was about to say more when the door to the room swung open and in strutted Mystique.

Magneto frowned deeply when he saw her. As far as I knew, they had never had a true falling out, but she also had never gone back to his side after he abandoned her during the Cure War. She surveyed the room, nodded subtly and then spoke.

Mystique was there to warn us of a coming threat. Destiny had sent her a dire prediction of a plague that could threaten all of mutantkind if she did not act, telling her to come here and invade this meeting. No silly island would be enough to save us from the ravages of the developing disease. Mystique walked up to the front, producing a device out of nowhere and placed it on the desk up in front. It was a holographic projector, and it started to display a shitload of data.

Mystique had done her research. The Friends of Humanity had recruited several prominent venture capitalists with hands in biotechnology over the past couple of years. Strange ‘donations’ were being made to the Church of Humanity by health care and biotechnology firms with known anti-mutant bias. The Purifier militia was continuing to grow in size and they had been making purchases of personal protective equipment against biohazardous materials. Slowly, Mystique laid out the evidence, linking together things that seemed unrelated at first into a horrifying picture:

They were constructing a bioweapon, a virus that would only infect mutants and lay us to waste.

Mystique wanted the X-men and their allies, along with the Acolytes, to work together with her to stop this from becoming a reality. She needed our help to get this done, it was too big a problem for her to take care of on her own, now that Destiny was gone.

Magneto and Emma agreed without hesitation. The details of how to proceed, however, were a source of heated debate. Magneto wanted to eliminate the Purifiers, to put a final end to their existence. They were on his radar to deal with anyway, so this was just all the more reason to wipe them off the planet. Emma thought the losses could be high were we to confront them head on like that. Better for a mission to be tactical and strike only in the right places and at the right time to minimize casualties. If we could gather evidence that the Purifiers were actively working towards genocide and not just talking about it, the government would be forced to finally act against them more broadly.

Mystique said that she agreed with them both, partially, but as time was of the essence right now, a permanent solution to the Purifiers would have to wait. We needed to focus on eliminating every last ounce of data and biological samples they may have managed to create in working towards this weapon. And we needed to silence the scientists who were working on it, as their continued existence would be a lingering threat even if the project was halted for now. The government would be too slow to act, and some elements would inevitably escape if we just gathered compelling evidence and things were left up to them.

Doug offered to hack into their systems and see what he could gather that way. Magneto said he would have Francisco Milan coordinate efforts with Doug on that front. Emma suggested they also get Shilpa Khatri involved in that side of things. Emma would do telepathic reconnaissance work in Cerebro. Mystique wanted Jean-Paul to contact Alpha Flight and get Wolverine back down here from Canada to help work on this operation, since he would be invulnerable to any bioweapons and agents they already had manufactured.

Discussions turned to other people and what their role would be. It went all around the room, until finally Mystique was looking at Bobby and I. I asked her what my role would be. Demolition and incinerating biohazardous shit, I assumed. Mystique shook her head, fixing me with this soft gaze. She told me I had other responsibilities now, and it was too great a risk. If she had anything to say about it, I wasn't going anywhere near the Purifiers. I sat back, unsure what to say to that. It killed me a little bit that she didn't want my help on this after all we had been through together, but she was right - I couldn't go in there half cocked and get myself killed, not now that Bobby and I had Liam to take care of.

Mystique looked at me apologetically, and then told me she had something else she had to ask of me. When the time came, she needed me to let her use Dom in this operation. Destiny specifically told her she would need him. She didn't want to ask this, not after what he did to me but if Destiny felt it was necessary for their success then I needed to let her do this for the sake of us all.

I closed my eyes, swallowing hard. It hurt, it fucking hurt so much. But I knew Mystique wouldn’t ask this of me unless she really and truly believed it was needed for a good outcome. If Destiny had requested she do this, I had to consent. Destiny had never been wrong before, not for as long as I’d known her. Bobby put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. I nodded my assent, then got up and left the meeting. Bobby followed, concerned.

I quickly exited the building, striding out towards the lake. I stopped at the shore and just stared out across the water. Bobby came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I tried to let go of the tension wracking my body and relax into him, but it didn’t work. Not really. A few stray tears streaked down my cheeks.

It wasn’t fucking fair.

Why was I being called on to make yet another goddamned sacrifice for the sake of mutantkind? Hadn’t I already given enough of my life towards saving us, whether those efforts were misguided or not? Was I really so unimportant to the universe that I didn’t deserve justice for the wrongs committed against me?

But was it really fair to the world to insist that Dom stay locked up in the brig indefinitely when he did those wrongs while going insane? Was it really fair to insist on his imprisonment, just to make myself feel better and safer, when he could be doing something to better our situation, to fucking save us all?

Well, fuck, I had said yes to her request anyway, almost immediately. Maybe I was farther along than I thought with letting go, of burying this shit in the past, of moving on with my life. Maybe I was farther along than I thought at forgiving him. Maybe, if he could do something good for all of us, if he could just not be selfish just for once, maybe I could forgive him.

Bobby kissed the back of my head, murmuring his love, that he was here for me, that I didn’t need to hide my feelings from him. I sighed and turned around, looking him in the eyes. I asked him if it was wrong to hate the fact that I was being forced to let go of my control over this situation for the good of us all. Bobby shook his head. He said he would have supported me if I rejected Mystique’s request, even if Emma caved on the matter. But he also said that he had a lot of respect for me, putting my feelings aside even over something so fucking awful. And he loved me for it, loved me for the man that I’ve grown into.

He’s right, too. Teenage me would never have been able to put aside my hurt. Teenage me wouldn’t have been able to even consider forgiving Dom. Just like, when it came down to it, teenage me probably wouldn’t have been able to consider forgiving my parents had I known what was happening with them. I was deeply, disturbingly angry at the world, at authority, and I let it control me and let Magneto use it to manipulate me into becoming a tool for his Cause.

Well, no more.

I wasn’t angry at Dom anymore, just frustrated by how powerless I feel in the face of the facts. The reality is, I can live with this decision. If it means saving us from a horrendous plague, I can live with this. If it means progress towards an end to those bastard Purifiers, I can live with this. I had better things to do with my life than being angry and wanting revenge and retribution against someone who was going insane and, deep down, still loved me.

Loved me deeply.

I swallowed, turning back around to face the lake again. More tears were falling, but not because I hated this decision. No, these were tears of grief, grieving for how I lost the second love of my life, grieving for my second best friend, grieving for things that I never got to have and never would have another chance at.

It was powerful, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I had Bobby there, holding me in his arms, holding me with the promise of our future together, the future I had only dreamed of for so long.