magneto

“You’re a very cryptic man- has anyone ever told you that?” Gwen talked to a lot of random new yorkers and they were all very weird. Not often were they mutants nor did they speak of plans of taking over but this had the same weird vibe. “What do you mean by handled?” The blonde questioned, head tilting just a little. There were many possibilities going around her head but none of them were particularly positive. “What about the avengers? What happens to the heroes that aren’t supes?” Considering she was technically a hero, it was a valid question. “I dunno,” her shoulders rose in a little shrug. As curious as she was, she was more concerned with what they were up to now than the circumstances of one’s birth. “Honestly no but I am now. How would you even know that information?” She’d been digging into Vought for a while and if Vought’s supes came from a lab she was almost certain those files would be confidential. “Not at all, I just don’t think everyone should be punished for the mistakes of the few. There are some good people still out there.”

"I don’t think anyone has had the courage to say that.” No, none of the members of his brotherhood had it in them to speak ill of him in front of him. Maybe the ones in his inner circle but even then they tread with caution. “The Avengers are just like the supes. They use their suits of iron or their man-made weapons to trick the world into thinking they are helping. All they have is money and a fanbase. How is that different from the seven?” Real heroes were born and they were going to be in charge of the new world order. “Name a few and I bet they’ve all done something horrific.” 

“And what mistakes do you think I’ve made? I can promise you I haven’t made any. I found out where your granddaughter is, I found what gives the supes their abilities and the Frost sisters found the identity of Homelanders child. I’ve infiltrated Vought many times. What makes them mistakes and what have you done?” She was getting infuriated with the insinuations. “I’m not doing any of this for thanks.”

The rage within Emma Frost was just what Erik wanted to see. The drive, the passion was something his members were starting to lack and when that went away, so did their reason to fight. “Tell me, have you seen anything of the X-Men?” The question came out of left field but that was the point. He wanted to, no he needed to shock her to gage her true reaction and loyalty.  “If you aren’t doing this for thanks then what are you here for?”

Alex had nowhere else to turn. Everything he loved, everything he had worked for was slowly crumbling away and he couldn’t do anything about it. “And I will help her,” He said defensively. “She already has signs of my powers and you don’t have a single mutant who can help her.” If Magneto’s interests were truly there to benefit Katie than Alex couldn’t see how he could refuse. “I’m not a failed solider, The X-Factor has been a success because of me and I can bring that to Genosha.”

He hated to admit it, even only in his thoughts but Alex Summers was right. Katie Summers had already started to show signs of his mutations and all the instability it would bring. The only mutants that could help his granddaughter and bring peace of mind to Lorna was a member of the Summers family and there was no way Scott Summers would leave Charles. No, Alex was almost desperate enough. “And how would you help her?” He said bluntly. “You’ve suppressed her powers at every turn.” Erik didn’t want that for any mutant never mind one of his own blood. “You can bring what to Genosha?” Erik couldn’t believe the belief in his guy. “You would never get control of my army’s, you’re unpredictable and you run away at any given moment that things get too hard.”  There was no telling how Lorna would react or how he could manipulate his granddaughter. It was too much of a risk.

Being back in Genosha was a relief for the Frost Sisters. New York was fine but it wasn’t home. It meant laying low and hiding who they were when all they wanted to do was show off. “Guess that depends on what you want to know exactly,” Phoebe mused with a little shrug of her shoulders. They had dealt with Magneto many times before so to be summoned was nothing out of the ordinary but they so often opted to relay information through Emma. She had been the one to instruct them to focus on homelander so it was just easier that way. Also if Magneto wasn’t happy then they didn’t receive the backlash. “Vought is full of all kinds of secrets.” Sophie continued, a mischievous grin on her lips. “Maybe Emma should be here for this, we know about as much as she does.” Esme finished. 

Genosha was truly the only safe place for mutants and as much as Charles and the X-Men believed they had a sanctuary for mutants when all they had was a placebo. “I want to know that we aren’t wasting time and that we have something to show for our time in New York.” Yes, Erik had achieved one of his goals in getting Lorna’s daughter back but that wasn’t furthering the Brotherhood’s movement. If anything, it was starting to feel like a bit of a waste. Erik’s ears perked up. He was cautiously optimistic that someone on his team had actually done something of substance. “I’ll have a meeting from Emma later but I want to hear from the three of you unless you three have proven inept.”  He shot the three sisters an icy glare, one he would only show to those who would disappoint him.

Lorna grinned as she watched Katie pick a flower and attempt to twine it into her hair. She’d kind of enjoyed the idea of being royalty even if that wasn’t the way her father was running things. They’d probably have to clear that up at some point. But right now they were both in the honeymoon phase and Lorna had never enjoyed dress-up quite so much. Her smile faded at the mention of Katie’s life with Alex. She’d known that Magneto was talking about altering Katie’s memories but she’d thought it was if she still afraid of her grandfather. Katie was coming around. Technically Lorna had first shown her powers at three resulting in the death of her mother and stepfather but they hadn’t presented again until she was 15. “It’s either too much or two little with her.” Lorna shrugged. “She can’t lift an earring or she’s creating her own orbit.” Lorna didn’t know anything about how Alex’s mutation actually worked so she was focusing on the magnetism. “Katie come here!” She called. 

Katie Summers didn’t feel like part of his family, not really. She was terrified just to look at him and Lorna had only just begun to be her mother through no fault of her own. “Lorna I know you heard me. I’ll give you the decision but do we need to call in the Frosts’s to help your daughter adjust?” To forget all that she had been through would be a blessing, a true clean slate but Erik could feel his daughter’s hesitation. “She’s unstable with her powers, much like her father.” Erik had watched the two known Summers brothers struggle for years with their powers. One needed glasses to stop the blasts and the other needed a containment suit. Both needed something permanently on them. “You know he’s given her liabilities with his own powers.” Erik whispered as his granddaughter came walking towards them.#

Lorna and Katie had been gone for a few weeks and it had killed Alex. He knew he had brought this on himself but taking Katie was to keep her away from Magneto and his influence, not drive Lorna and his daughter into the magnetic mutants grip. Still, here he was in the Genoshan embassy, something he had actively avoided. “The X-Factor isn’t a farce, we’ve actually helped.” More recently they hadn’t but if it came between his own people and his family, there was no choice really. “It’s a bit of both.” Alex didn’t realize but he was holding his breath. “I want to come to Genosha. I know you hate me but it’s what is best for your granddaughter.” Appealing to Magneto’s heart when he didn’t have one was a risky move but it was the only move Alex had. 

It was sad and pathetic, the groveling was laughable. Alex Summers was not a mutant that he or anyone in his brotherhood could trust and yet he wanted to join the very organization he had fought against.  “What is best for my granddaughter is to be around people who will help nurture her powers, you haven’t done that,” Erik said with a chuckle. “How could you benefit my brotherhood and Genosha, you’re just a solider and a failed one at that.” His little task force had done nothing of note, it wasn’t in the same league as the x-men or worthy enough to be an enemy of his brotherhood. 

Having Katie was like waking up somehow,.Colors and tastes and smells were back, Lorna felt she could finally breathe. She was almost positive she’d laughed more in the last couple weeks than she had in the last five years. It even made playing leader in the massive Genoshan palace feel less weird. Katie was thrilled with her new identity of “Princess” and had sung various bits of at least five Disney movies at her while they explored the castle and the island together. The only hitch was that Katie seemed terrified of Erik. Once they’d gotten her away from her great grandparents’ house and she’d learned who he was Katie had hid behind Lorna and refused to even look at him. Things had… progressed, Katie still hid but was able to look at her grandfather and give short answers to questions. Now she was watching Katie examine various flowers and smiling. “She’s good. I think she’s doing okay.” Of course she was kept in the dark about the circumstances of how she had gotten here but Lorna didn’t want to traumatize her six year old. “Everything’s still new so we’ll probably see in a few days.” She nodded at the mention of schooling. “Good. She deserves the best.” And to stop writing her “s”’s backwards. “Thank you.”

There had been a difference in his daughter that he could on credit having her own child back in her life. Erik never felt such a relief when his own children were reunited but he wasn’t exactly the father of the year nor did he claim to be. Erik did not claim to be king of his nation but if his granddaughter wanted to play at being princess then he allowed it for now.  “I think she needs to forget some of her life with that halfwit,” Erik had noticed the fear that the little girl had but Erik hoped she would soon grow out of it. “How are her powers, you had developed some at her age and so did the donor.” Erik refused to acknowledge Lornas’ ex by name. He had betrayed his own kind and still, he thought Lorna still harbored something for him. 

Emma watched as the mental frame turned into a ball. Magento was obviously angry but she didn’t think it fair his anger directed at her. “We have. And we’ll make more. We have to admit that mistakes will happen but how we react to them is what we can control. Waiting around? Everyone is doing their job. If you don’t like it, do something about it or tell people what you want. I’m never distracted. I found the information that you wanted that got your grandkid back.”

Erik didn’t believe in excuses. Not in his family and certainly not within his brotherhood and it looked as if Emma did not share the same sentiments. “I can condone a few little mistakes but not on a frequence occurrence.” Erik was frustrated. He had his daughters back and now he was ready to make a move on vought. “You succeeded in one thing I asked of you, against a weak mind. I thought I already gave you my thanks.” His voice oozed in harsh sarcasm as he addressed on his few success stories on a weak-willed mutant and his human relatives. 

Almost everything was right in Erik’s family and it was the first time it was almost complete. Lorna had been the first to return to him and now Wanda was slowly coming into the fold. Katie, his granddaughter was now in Genosha, protected from the cruelty of humans and the suppressive nature of her father which is why it was strange that he received a request to meet the second Summers brother.  He had arranged to meet Alex in the Genoshan embassy, already establishing more power of the man than he did before. Deliberately he kept Alex waiting in part Erik hoped that Alex would go away and leave his daughter alone but the man seemed desperate enough. “I’m surprised you came,” Erik said smugly. “Is this a business meeting to discuss your farce of a mutant programme or is it personal?”

Four thick, round towers have been build on various tactical spots for an ideal defense and are connected by tall, thin walls made of golden stone. The royal palace of Genosha had been remarkable and when he took it over, Erik had it all redone to fit a mutant ruler. The refined windows were scattered generously around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns, along with holes of various sizes that was once used for archers and artillery, since mutants took over they had little use for it. Within the palace walls were well-kept gardens with fragrant flowers, gorgeous trees and many bushes decorate the outside of the castle. The gardens were newly redone to celebrate his granddaughter’s return. The missing princess, though the title seemed outdated Erik was trying to make his granddaughter feel welcomed in her new life. “How is she settling?” Erik asked Lorna at a safe distance from Katie. He hated that her last name was Alex’s but there was nothing that could be done. “I’ve arranged for a tutor for her, for her school work and for her mutation. We haven’t got anything like the Xavier School but she deserves the best.” Lorna deserved more than what she had gone through but Erik couldn’t fix the past. Instead, he could give her a future that would stand the test of time. 

Warren wasn’t sure why he would expect Erik to understand. Erik was someone who did look acceptable to society physically, even if he held ideas that were considered to be unacceptable by most people. He didn’t have the privilege to be able to be visible, even in the great position that he held in his job. “I’m more than wings though, Erik,” he said, nose wrinkling a little. Maybe he did hide, but in Erik’s world, he felt like he would only be a mutant, which he didn’t consider himself to be. “I donate to mutant causes. Not in my own name, but it’s my money going there.”

Mutants, if they even had a right to call themselves that anymore, like Warren were an example of what was wrong with Charles and his misguided views of peace. Peace wasn’t an option if they wanted to survive but they were beyond the point of reasoning now. “You may as well cut your wings off the amount you hide them.” Erik wondered why mutants did that. Lorna hid her green hair with dye while others with physical mutations hid instead of embracing it. “Of course not in your own name, you wouldn’t want to be proud of what you are now would you?” Erik hated those like him. If there was a cure, he had no doubt that people like Warren would take it. 

“That might be the understatement of the century. I don’t even know if I have real memories of you or just something I created to fill the time. So no you weren’t the world’s worst father, you just weren’t a father. More like a sperm donor.” If she just gave him a chance. She had almost three decades of thoughts of the man and a lot of them had been negative, a vast majority. It would take a long time for her to get used to the real thing wanting to be around and wanting to know her— that and she knew her sister, had met the woman a couple of times. They were technically speaking her family and wasn’t that what Wanda had always wanted? A family? “They are the family that I chose. I didn’t just defect to them because I had no other options, there was some choice of mine there as well.” She took a breath. “I don’t want to hurt people. Not anymore. Not again. I’m not saying I want to go out of my way to help them but I don’t want to be the reason for more pain.” He was biting his tongue, that much she could tell and it made her feel slightly smug. “I do know. I don’t think I would have gotten through it if I hadn’t had my brother.” At least that had been one saving grace, someone who got to see all of this change through with her. “Good. Because this is going to take a lot of work, on both of our parts.” She looked down at his hand, really thinking over whether this was what she wanted, to take it. But the choice had to be made and she found herself reaching out for him. “That’s all I’m asking for, for you to try.”

"I’m not going to dwell on the past, I’m going to try and atone for it and this way we can create real memories and if you don’t like it, you can leave but I still want to be part of your life.” It was true. If Wanda wanted to leave Genosha and return to being a puppet for the Avengers and SHIELD then that was her wrong choice to make. If Magneto were to force her to stay, well, it wouldn’t end well for either of them. His daughters were the most powerful of his children and though he was thankful Pietro was a mutant, his skills did not come close to his sisters. “And you won’t. I won’t lie to you our kind is in the middle of a war but you can keep your distance from it if you want.” Ideally, she would be fighting at his side but hopefully, he could warm her up to that in the future. The world would crumble beneath the feet of Magneto and his children.  “Naturally this invitation extends to your brother.” Magneto smiled warmly at the thought of having his family together. “I mean what I’ve been saying. I want us all to be the family that we’ve all dreamt of.” Magneto couldn’t help but smile at his daughter’s gesture. She took his hand and soon she would take her place as a ruler of Genosha, each one of his children ruling over their own domain before the world bowed down to them all. “We can go now if you’d like?” He said closing his hands over his daughter’s.

Genosha thrived under Magneto and it was proof that the world should be theirs. He had taken the country from a tyrant, from a man who had enslaved and killed mutants and there wasn’t a damn thing the world could do about it. Now it was a place where mutants thrived, where they didn’t need to hide their powers instead they could embrace them but the threats were still looming. Magneto had summoned the Frost Sisters, the three telepaths who could be more than a match for Charles but he didn’t want any harm to come to his old friend. “It’s been too long since our last catch up and I was hoping you have some news for me.” It was their task to find out more about Vought and The Homelander. He was supposed to physically untouchable but that only meant his mind was fair game. 

Emma took the picture and looked at it closely. The kid did look a lot like Homelander but that was impossible, the child was not even ten the last time she checked. “Vought can’t be a rush job, you know that. We rush then we make mistakes and we can’t have that.” It was such a large organisation that they needed time with it. “They must have done something to the kid. This is exactly why we can’t rush into things without knowing what they have. If they have a way of ageing up supes then we need to stop it.”

The more his mutants waited for their chance to attack Vought the more of their own kind was at risk. The Frost Sisters needed to hurry up, if not Emma would have to take control. “We have made many mistakes already. I can’t keep waiting around for other people to do their jobs!” A metal frame had crumbled into a ball with Magneto’s anger.  Vought was full of mysteries but if they were now breeding their mutts and having them with powers, mutants could be at risk of extinction. “And what have you found or have you been distracted lately?”

Seeing the mutant gliding over, Jessica cursed under her breath. These mutants could be a pain in the ass sometimes and she felt severely outmatched by most. She could lift a car over her head. This one could probably lift a bridge over your head and not break a sweat. “Calm down, Magnetron or whatever they call you.” She replied as she raised her hands in surrender. “Alex Summers. Is he around here?”

Magneto picked up on the curse word and smile to himself. His presence wasn’t a comforting one for those who lived outside Genosha and it was exactly how he wanted it to be. “Magneto and you should do well to know the names of the species who is above you.” The world was full of everything now but Mutants were the future, it was undeniable. “If he is then I’ll have his head. We have got a score to settle so if you know where about he is, it’ll be in your interest to tell me.” 

If it where any other situation with any other mutant, she would just walk in without invitation as she was so used to doing but this was Magneto. Leader of the Brotherhood and one of the most powerful mutants. She knew to knock. “I’m glad you called. It had been some time.” She had given him the message about what she got from the middle Summers brother. Scott would never forgive her but she had to do that for herself and for the Brotherhood. “Homelander is something I’ve given to the Frost sisters and I believe they’re making progress. They’re taking their time. Unlike them but they’re seeing what they can get from it.”

His granddaughter was adjusting into her life as a mutant and in The Brotherhood but she was still struggling. There was no need for Emma’s intervention just yet but at least Magneto had a team of telepaths on hand. “It’s been too long and still Vought is on top with their mutts.” He snarled at the last word as if the very taste of it was sour. “Apparently they are too slow. There’s a new one on the market.” Magneto brought the metal clip with a picture of the newest supe on it. “I think he’s the son of the Homelander and if they are passing down powers, they may be our end.”

Maybe there was a part of her that rejected the word hero, Wanda sure as hell didn’t feel like she was one. And the last thing she wanted was to be exploited the way the Vought supes were, she wasn’t that much of a show off anyway. “And who’s fault is it that we were on our own? Spare me the bullshit of trying to seem like you were making us stronger, I don’t want to hear it. You seem to have this hatred for them and yet you’re doing something very similar. I am one of them, I was an Avenger when everything went down. There was no them and me. So you can’t hate this team without hating a little bit of me as well.” She did at least, there was always going to be a part of herself that Wanda hated but that would be normal. “You don’t know exactly how old your own grandchild is?” Not that she really had a leg to stand on there, she didn’t know the girl had existed at all. “I want so badly to believe you. To believe in a world where things can be better. But I don’t trust you, so it’s going to take the last little bit of faith I have left to believe you won’t fuck this up.” Maybe embracing who she was would be a better option for Wanda at that time. “Will you let me down?”

Being a hero was not something Erik believed. The X-Men believed they were the very definition of the word but they weren’t trying to save their own kind. No, they were happy enough to sit by and watch the world drive them into extinction. “I could have been more present I won’t deny it.” He said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “I won’t deny that I haven’t been the best father in the world but I can change it if you give me a chance.”  He remembered her mother vividly and there was a time when he had thought he could settle with her but that was never in the plan. Her name was Magda and she had been one of the few humans he could stand to be around. “They were your family, something temporary you found in the midst of all that pain you suffered but I am here now, offering you a chance of a family that will not judge or hinder you.”  Since joining him, Lorna had flourishing and hopefully, she wasn’t afraid of the power she harnessed and now she was back with her daughter, all that he had promised her was becoming true. “I will learn to accept this side of you, it will take some time but I will try.” He tried to hide the disgust he felt towards the avengers but if Erik wanted his children back with him and to build a mutant dynasty. “The father kidnapped her and for five years she was lost to us but she is back and she’s six years old. She’s showing her mutant already and you know how terrifying it can be.” The family angle was never an angle he thought he would have to play but Erik would do whatever he had to. He offered his daughter his hand. “I’m not asking for a miracle overnight. Come to Genosha and see how your people thrive but I will do my best to not let you down.”