Chapter 274: Stem
11th February 2013, Sayre Manor
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
Thor nodded and I continued, “The trick lies in what Thunder actually is, and that’s the sound of lightning. I want you to picture a bolt of lightning in your hand. Make it completely under your control, it should look like it was frozen in time. Then I want you to accelerate it and freeze it once more very quickly.”
He looked at his hand for a moment and it was enveloped in lightning before he tried to use my trick. He was surprisingly very successful with it, a little too successful even. The Prince of Asgard does seem to be a surprising genius when it comes to his magics, when he tries, at the very least. A shockwave originated from his hand and instead of going forward, it sent him flying back.
Suppressing my laughter, I commented, “You’ve got the idea, but try to control it a bit better next time. When you can do it properly, I want you to keep doing it with less and less lightning, until you finally grasp the technique without any lightning all together. That’s when you should consider yourself to have mastered the technique.”
Thor nodded, confident in his abilities. He spent the entire day trying out the Thunder Punch. It was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a very long time. It was a welcome surprise with how horrible the last few days were.
After Thor's welcome distraction, I returned to the living room, more relaxed than ever since the mess with the Court of Shadows.
Selene was right; I need to focus more on the coming conflict. The convergence is approaching, and my successors are far away, physically and emotionally. Rose was dealing with her brothers’ death and, Wanda and Jean are busy with Emma Frost learning the workings of running a mutant nation.
Truthfully, I never expected Genosha to be this successful. It is probably one the most powerful nations in the world, closely rivalling Wakanda, in technological advancements and the lifestyles of its citizens. That’s not to mention the fact that it eclipses them in terms of military powers, considering that Genosha’s fighting force is mostly mutants.
Surprisingly, it was a single person who was responsible for the uplifting of the technology in Genosha, and it was a mutant named Forge. The young man was a veritable genius, but his mutant abilities allowed him to build practically anything. He had this intuitive understanding of technology and machinery that I had never seen before, and I have spoken with some of the most notable geniuses in human history. Even Tony Stark and Reed Richards don’t hold a candle to Forge when it comes to building machines.
Well, Forge sort of cheats slightly. I had examined the young man, curious about how his powers, which I have never seen the likes of before, worked. I was surprised to see that his powers weren’t based on some sort of super intellect; although the young man was a certifiable genius, it was some sort of divination, where Forge receives visions of technologies from the future or it might be some sort of clairvoyance that gives him blueprints of machines that currently exist on other planets. I was betting on the latter since any kind of visions from the future were disabled until the Timeline stabilizes after future Wanda’s meddling.
Onto another issue, for some reason, there was a surprising rise in the number of geniuses in the last few decades, which caused a large imbalance in the technological sector. Because how can a regular team of engineers measure up to Tony Stark, who casually makes scientific discoveries because he is bored or Reed Richards, who invented an entire field of physics on a whim?
It wasn’t fair, and the world was starting to see that. Most companies went out of business, but the ones that don’t often use corporate espionage like Hammer industries, or even went so far as to experiment on humans, like Oscorp. And as abhorrent as this was, I could understand. Technology thrives on competition, and having someone like Stark pretty much taking over the entire sector is very worrying; the entire industry’s growth depends on the whim of a single man. The existence of Oscorp, and Hammer tech, is a good thing in the long run, no matter what horrible things they are doing behind closed doors. A technological monopoly would be disastrous for everyone, especially when the guy they depend on regularly wears a suit of armour and fights bad guys every weekend or so.
Back to the rise of geniuses issue, I truly had yet to learn why that was happening. Logically, it wasn’t a natural event since no one of Stark’s, Richards’ or even Doom’s calibre had existed in human history, but I still had no idea how it was possible. It wasn’t any kind of magic; I had subtly scanned Stark during our meetings for any sign of magic. But someone was messing with the human race, and I didn’t like it. I’ll have to look into it after the convergence mess is dealt with.
Back to Genosha, the country was housing most of the mutants on the planet. It obviously put a wrench in the plans of various muggle government agencies who were hoping to use the ‘mutant crisis’ as a justification to receive a higher budget to hunt down every source of superpowers in the world.
Unfortunately, since the number of mutant incidents is at an all-time low and the ones that occur are being secretly handled by the Genoshian government as fast as possible, these agencies have nothing to stand on to ask for a larger budget. Sure, there was the occasional racist, but anti-mutant sentiment has lowered massively in the last few years. After all, there are barely any mutants outside of Genosha to cause incidents, really.
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In a way, I could understand why governments were worried. It was all about power, and the fact that any kid could one day become an unsupervised nuclear weapon was terrifying. Up until a few decades ago, the world existed with the simple idea that money was power. Sure, people who worked in the government or the army were powerful, but in the end, it was money that trumped everything. But with any kid being able to get superpowers, this nice little model of how the world works was thrown out the window. Power was power, and anyone, at any time, could get it and upset the balance of powers.
The Accords that the world was thinking of were necessary, in a way, but they were going about it in the wrong way. Instead of trying to imprison and control every single superpowered teenager on the planet, it would be easier to enforce a few laws and give them opportunities, for themselves and their families, should they join a certain organisation when they reach their majority. They could incorporate powers into the Government and make sure that money still stays the main currency, not physical might. It would be complex, and it would take some time, but it was the best approach in the long run.
Unfortunately, with the military being involved in drafting the bill, human rights were practically ignored when it concerned anyone with superpowers. They didn’t have the security of the average citizen in mind, but their own greed for power. They were hoping to have armies of mutants fighting each other. This was why Genosha was a thing in the first place.
Alas, it was human nature to let their fear and greed decide, instead of their compassion and understanding. What a hateful species we are.
As I pondered on the current political landscape, Rose entered the room without me even realizing it. She spoke up, “Jasmine”
Startled, I turned around to see her, “Yes, Rose.”
It was odd. Rose had locked herself in her room ever since she got the news about what happened to her brother. She didn’t even let me in, and I chose not to break in, no matter how worried I was about her. Instead, I let her grieve, privately, in peace.
Today was practically the first time she left her room ever since that night. Her hazel eyes still looked as haunted as they were that very night. My sister looked drained; she looked like she had cried herself to sleep for the last few days.
She gave me a blank look, “We need to talk.”
I nodded, “What do you wish to take about?”
“I want to go home. I want to see my parents and tell them what really happened. I want to take a break from all this craziness. It’s too much, and it was fun at the start, but I never realised how dangerous things could be and how much people want to kill you. You’re always alright in the end, and I foolishly thought that I would be as well. I was so convinced that nothing could hurt me when I’m with you, that nothing would go wrong…”
“Until Nathan died.”
She nodded, “Yeah, until Nathan died. He was my brother. Sure, he wasn’t the best brother out there; he was easily led around by Hermione, and he was so naive and hopeful. He didn’t do anything to defend me when Hermione chased me out of the country. He listened to the idiots in the Wizemgamot who pressured him into asking me to settle down and get married to a nice proper wizard, but he was my brother, and I loved him. I’ll never speak to him again, and it hurts so much. My parents don’t even know what happened to him. They probably just think he disappeared with the rest of the Court members. And you know what the worst thing is in all this? You don’t care! You don’t care that he’s dead, and I can’t handle it.”
I shook my head, “You expect me to mourn the death of someone who betrayed my own sister?”
“He didn’t do it willingly, and you know it. Besides, he’s your brother too, you know.”
I shook my head, “he’s not my brother, Rose. I told you this before. I tested you both when you were younger. I am very picky when choosing those who I consider to be my family. I can’t afford to care about someone who I know will break my trust in the end. You passed, and Nathan failed. He was easily influenced by the public’s opinion, what the people claim is the ‘right thing to do’. We wouldn’t have gotten along, which is why any relationship we could have had was nipped in the bud. It might have been cruel, but it was the best thing for everyone in the long run, and you know it.”
Rose sneered at me, “Oh, stop with the self-righteous attitude. Family doesn’t need to be worthy of each other. They just need to support each other. Like it or not, Nathan was your family, and this attitude of yours is one of the reasons why I’m choosing to leave in the first place.”
Before I could respond, she continued, “Look, I know what you’re going to say. You’re immortal and thus, the usual rules don’t apply to you. I thought that you were just lying to yourself, but I see it now, you really never cared about any of us. I could understand your animosity with Mum and Dad, with what happened when you were a child, but your dismissal of Nathan had nothing to do with him and more to do with the fact that he wasn’t ‘worthy’ enough of your attention.”
“I care about you, Rose.”
My sister shook her head, “No, you don’t. If you did, you would have saved Nathan. If I was the one dying, you would have saved me. You could have. Don’t tell me that Hermione Granger of all people, knew more magic than you do,” I averted my eyes, “I thought so. I’m going home. I need some time to think about what I want to do in the future and arrange a funeral for Nathan, and you’re not invited. Just stay away from me. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk again.”
Too shocked to speak, I just nodded. Rose just turned around and walked back to her room. I felt the wards letting me know that she had teleported away. But all I could think about is how I had probably just lost one of the most important people in my life.
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