Chapter 143: Fathers and Daughters
5th June 2006, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
Magneto moved over to a device that was connected to another doorway leading into a small circular area, the walls sloping inward to a point. There was a somewhat familiar gem that was stuck at that point. It was glowing ominously. Wanda didn’t like it.
The master of Magnetism looked proudly at it, “this is the Genetic Enhancer. Through shooting gamma rays through the gem, I can enhance the power of the mutant in the room to its full potential.”
Wanda looked more closely at the gem. It felt familiar. A memory jolted in her mind, of her fight with Juggernaut. This felt like the gem that gave Juggernaut his powers. This was a gem of Cyttorak. Jasmine had explained it to her before. This was very bad and way out of her league. She needed Jasmine.
Wanda touched her Ankh and sent the distress message to Jasmine with her location. She only hoped that she would come before it’s too late.
Only Jean seemed to share her horror at the situation. Strange must have taught her about elder gods and their powers. It is a very important aspect of sorcery, especially when they sometimes borrow energy from their dimensions to cast particularly energy intensive spells.
The other teenagers, on the other hand, looked at the device in wonder, not understanding the consequences of actually using this device.
Magneto continued his speech, “I understand your skepticism, so I will allow you a demonstration. Sabretooth, you have the honor of being the first out of the new evolved mutants, a superior homo superior.
Sabretooth looked excited to do this and eagerly entered the machine. The doors closed for a few minutes, until they opened, revealing a larger and more feral Sabretooth, he was extremely ripped. Magneto levitated a metal pipe near him. The mutant grabbed it and started to squeeze. To everyone’s surprise, the pipe shattered immediately. Now, Sabretooth was always strong, Wanda did fight a clone of him, after all, but he was nowhere near strong enough to be able to do that.
Magneto grinned in triumph, “This is what I offer you. No longer will you need to fear your own power, no longer will it be out of your control. You will be stronger, faster and better in every way. What I am offering is a better, safer future for mutant kind.”
Damn his stupid charisma; the other mutants looked star struck. Wanda needed to do something before this gets out of control, “But at what cost?”
This was the first time anyone had spoken ever since Magneto started his little show. No one dared to do this. The man was that charismatic. They looked at her, and Magneto raised his eyebrows at her. “What do you mean, daughter?”
Wanda looked incredulously at him. The man looked seriously confused. Did he have no idea what the gem truly was? Did he create a machine that harnessed the power of an artifact of an elder god without understanding what he’s doing, and then tested it on a subordinate of his?
“Are you serious, right now? You seriously have no idea what that gem is and what it does?”
Magneto shook his head, “I know exactly what it is. It’s an artifact of sorcery that perfects its wielder’s powers. I was able to harness it, to use it to empower multiple people instead of just one. It was given to me in return for a favor that I did to an associate of mine.”
Wanda answered back, “You were duped, is what happened. This isn’t any regular artifact, it’s a gem of an elder god. They serve as anchors for the god to have a presence in the physical world, outside his dimension. This one in particular, belongs to Cyttorak, an elder god that specializes in physical strength and endurance. It’s the exact same powers that made Juggernaut so powerful. It’s also why anyone affected by it gains a rather large boost in their physical strength.”
Magneto replied, “as fascinating as this little tale is, I don’t understand why this changes anything. The machine still does exactly what I said.”
Wanda nodded, “It changes a lot. The machine does exactly what you say, but power doesn’t come without a price, I know that for a fact. What you didn’t say is that by using the gem, you’re turning anyone into a pseudo avatar of Cyttorak, which means that the god can affect them. He won’t take control of them or anything since they’re not actual avatars like Juggernaut, but they will tend to be aggressive, like fighting and very prone to violence. Is that what you want, a bunch of people on roid rage?”
The ball was now in Magneto’s court, and it looked like he ignored her warning, “Then you must be mistaken. I have tested the machines on countless mutants, while some exhibit a small rise in aggression, it’s pretty much negligible. Even Sabretooth, who was already aggressive, doesn’t look too different.”
Wanda answered him, “That’s because he’s a fully grown adult with years of experience managing his emotions. You’re offering to do this to teenagers, not adults. You have no idea what the results could be.”
The master of magnetism scoffed at her, “You are just scared of the future, of change. I know you, daughter, and you haven’t changed at all. You’re still that little girl who’s scared of change. This device has the potential of changing what it means to be a mutant, to give young mutants a way to protect themselves without waiting to learn how to use their powers properly. This is the future, Wanda, and there’s nothing I could do to stop it.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Wanda’s biological father looked around to the others, “You have seen how people will fear our power, they will be threatened of our progress, our evolution. Even some of our own kind like Xavier, like my daughter, are weary of making you more powerful. You have heard Wanda’s arguments. Whether you choose to believe them is your choice, but now, I will ask for volunteers to prove her wrong, to show her that I can deliver what I promised. There might be risks, but no power can be gained without risks.”
Scott immediately stepped forward with his brother, which caused Xavier to gasp in shock. "Scott, what are you doing? The machine, it won't do just what he says it will. You heard young Wanda’s warnings. Are you willing to lose your mind for just a power boost?”
Sure, the man agreed with her when it suited him, but the second it’s over, he will continue to say that she’s unstable and needs to be imprisoned. What a fucking hypocrite. Scott looked at his teacher with regret, "I'm tired of seeing the world in ruby colors, professor."
Seriously, that’s one of the stupidest, self-involved, selfish things I heard in my life. He’s willing to trade his mind to see a few extra colors. “Are you fucking stupid. That has to be the most self-centered and idiotic thing I have ever heard.”
Scott whirled on her; his face angry at Wanda for belittling what he saw as the curse on his life. "You don't know what it's like, to always wear this thing," he gestured at his visor, "or glasses like it, to never see colors, only shades of red, knowing that if you tried to see the world without it your gaze could kill."
Wanda waited for him to finish ranting and answered back, “You’re a fucking idiot, Summers, and you deserve what will happen to you.”
Scott just turned around with his hesitant brother and entered the genetic enhancer.
A minute later the door opened, and Scott and his brother walked out. Their physical appearances had changed greatly. For one they, now, both looked like college age men rather than high school teens. They had tanned skin for some reason, and white hair. The most surprising thing was that Scott had removed his visor and his eyes were open, staring around in wonder. His eyes soon locked on Jean, and he stared at her almost hungrily. "So, her hair really is red, wow."
“For fuck’s sake, dude, can you be anymore creepy. You just got your mind back and you go throw it away just so you can see colors. You do realize that there are real people who suffer from color blindness and even worse, actual blindness.”
Scott just ignored her and started talking to himself, “I feel strong, so much more powerful than before. I feel like I could vaporize a building if I wanted to.”
That’s not ominous at all. Not the sarcasm there. The boy turned towards Magneto, “If that’s what you’re offering then count me in. I never thought that I would be able to have a genuine control over my powers. Thank you, sir.”
Magneto nodded, and Wanda had enough of this. She waved her hands towards the machine and turned it into red rose petals. The only thing that remained was the gem itself, that was too powerful for Wanda to affect. However, Wanda was too slow in getting the gem and Magneto was able to surround it with metal and summon it to him.
She walked towards the fuming master of magnetism and sneered at him, “I know exactly what you’re doing, what you truly are. You don’t care about our kind. Maybe you do, but what you just allowed to happen to two teenagers who don’t know any better, manipulating their insecurities, their fear, to serve under you, you disgust me. You never cared about mutants, I know it, you know it, you just don’t want to be powerless, you’re afraid of it, and the only way to stop feeling this way would be to be on top. You want to rule us, not save us, and I for one will not stand for this.”
The master of magnetism looked surprised for a second and Wanda wasn’t surprised. When she was younger, she would have jumped at the chance of earning his approval. That was when she was an attention starved child that craved familial love. But now, things have changed; she had Jasmine, she had Jean and Kitty, she didn’t need Magneto anymore.
Her biological father looked at her with a blank face, “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done to the machine. I can create another one easily with my powers. Only the gem is needed, and destroying it seems to be beyond your abilities. But what interests me is your hypocrisy. You condemn me as a monster, and yet you live with the worst monster of them all. Your little Jasmine, or should I say, the Morrigan, has killed more people than I probably ever will, she has committed genocides, killing everyone without mercy. They worshipped her as a goddess.”
Wanda was furious now, “Don’t talk about her. Do not even speak her name. She’s a better person than you’ll ever be.”
Magneto ignored her, “I met her once, you know. When I was a child, I was forcefully recruited into a group of mutants. I was a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. They had killed my mother in an attempt to get me to use my powers. I heard whispers about her, about the immortal goddess of death who massacred people with a wave of her hand. They wanted to hunt her, but for some reason, she was in hiding. They thought that she was weak, that her legends were exaggerated. They hunted her. I don’t know why, maybe they wanted to recruit her, to enslave her, to experiment on her.
“I had no idea. But they kept hunting her and none of them died. Until one day, she came to the base. And that day, she massacred the entire division of Hydra. Not a single member survived apart from the leader who wasn’t at the base at the time. I killed him myself a few years later. And when I stood around in the ashes that used to be the base and realized that the Morrigan had spared me, I understood why this woman, who had fought with gods and demons alike, a being of legends with unparalleled power, had run and hidden. She was being kind in a twisted, inhuman way. If she wanted me dead, I would have been. I had never felt so powerless in my life. Which is why, I said, no more. I will never be weak again; I will never allow people from our kind to live in fear as I had. It was at that time that Eric Lehnsherr was dead and Magneto was born.
“I thought I recognized her when she fought Apocalypse, and I asked an associate of mine, Mordo, who has spies at the order of sorcerers to find her. Let’s just say, I was surprised to learn that she had adopted you. You live with a monster in human’s clothing, Wanda. Do not be fooled by her looks. She has killed so many people, so many mutants. This woman is a monster that needs to be put down. I had hoped that she was coercing you somehow. But you chose her. You are still choosing her over your family, over your blood. You have betrayed your kind, Wanda and for that, you’re no daughter of mine.”
Huh, that was surprising. She didn’t know that Jasmine had such an impact at her birth father. The witch found herself feeling quite free with her final chain to Magneto being severed.
The man continued, “And with that said, I cannot allow the Morrigan to have an apprentice. She’s a threat, not just to me, but to our kind. I cannot allow a second Morrigan to be born, especially one with your powers. I am sorry, Wanda, but this is for the best.”
Magneto raised his hands and thousands of things made of metals started to levitate. The man started to float, looking threatening. Wanda in return, let her powers flow through her, and started to levitate too, “You’re just proving my point, Magneto, but if you want a fight, I’m more than happy to oblige.”
Father and daughter stared at each other for a few seconds, before leaping at each other.