* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. * MATURE CONTENT * Nudity but no sex. Implied homosexual relationship. Mature language. If you have a problem with any of the above, please do not read this story. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/corona.html * STARRING * CYCLOPS! SCARLET WITCH! PHOENIX! ANGEL! POLARIS! FORGE! DAZZLER! Old friends and older friends alike, they have decided Charles Xavier is wrong in his credo of teaching humanity to co-exist with mutantkind by hiding the latter from the former. Instead, they have banded together to try and make the highest-profile effort possible to make mutants public heroes, and an accepted part of humanity at large. Currently, they continue the work of Freedom Force and the previous incarnation of X-Factor as a group of highly ranked operatives for the United States government. Samy Merchi presents: THE MYSTERIOUS X-FACTOR in ****************** * PLAY WITH FIRE * ****************** * GUEST STARRING * Pietro "QUICKSILVER" Maximoff * AND STARRING * Jeremy Irons as "MAGNETO" * CONTINUITY * + Shadows of the Future timeline. (http://mash.yok.utu.fi/corona.html) Roughly 3-5 years in the future. *** A vast whiteness stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. Ahead, behind, left, right -- even up and down, there was nothing to be seen. And in the middle of the blank-paperesque emptiness hovered a figure in green and gold, her ink-black ponytail wavering slightly in a faint breeze that rustled the golden sash tied around the hips of the Phoenix costume. "Rachel", Jean Grey spoke as the astral plane sluggishly started taking on vague forms and colors, slowly morphing and starting to take on the appearance of boundless sky, the whiteness everywhere starting to shift towards blue except for the billowing clouds what appeared like several hundred feet below. No reply came, causing Jean's eyes to narrow slightly. She soared a bit higher, sun glittering from the golden parts of her costume. It took her a moment before she realized that the temperature was climbing, and climbing rapidly. Her eyebrow quicked, and her head snapped around to glance towards the sun. Just as it exploded. Jean's lips pulled into a snarl, shielding herself as everything in sight turned into blazing fire, the sky burning from horizon to horizon. The psychic flames encompassed everything for a few brief moments, before dying out as soon as they had been born. With the clouds having been incinerated, Jean could now see a charred planet below, a city with alien-looking buildings that were nothing but smoldering husks, the streets strewn out with blackened corpses of humanoid beings everywhere as the world had come to a stop by a sudden armageddon of flame. "D'bari IV", a voice spoke, and Jean turned her head back towards what was left of the sun in the sky -- a fiery bird looking down from the sky towards her. "You're no stranger to massacres, genocides, and the deaths of millions, are you mom?" "Cheap shot, Rachel", Jean hissed, clenching her fists in reaction to the nausea welling gradually up in the pit of her stomach. "That wasn't me, it was the Phoenix. *It* destroyed the D'bari solar system when it was imitating my form!" "Really?" the firebird asked, and the flames of its body parted slightly as the red-headed woman with open shoulder-length hair, in purple-black-gold Exodus costume stepped forth thru it, the firebird remaining blazing behind her almost like the wings of an angel of vengeance. "Funny, then, isn't it, that the Phoenix hasn't gone on a killing spree whenever it's inhabited anyone else? The professor, me, or even when it was on its own in control of my body? Maybe it was *you* who wanted to kill, mom?" "It wasn't me", Jean replied sharply. "I don't care what anyone says, I'd never do anything like that! Ever think that maybe when the Phoenix copied my mind, it might not have done a perfect job? What*ever* the me-Phoenix was, I refuse to accept that I would kill a solar system of people, just. For. My. Own. *Pleasure*!" "Saint Jean", Rachel sneered sarcastically. "You'd *never* do anything like that, would you?" Her expression turned angrier. "*Everyone* can fall from grace, mom, and do things they'll regret! Accept it! Accept that that's exactly what you did!" she shouted, and cast one arm towards Jean, a blast of flame leaping forth and streaking towards the older woman. "Not a chance", Jean snarled and, throwing one hand forward, sent forth a psi-blast impacting onto the middle of the flame blast and parting it down the middle, sending the two halves careening off to the sides. "*Yes*, I can make mistakes! I can fly off the handle! I like hurting people, sometimes! I can kill! Hell, I can even believe that I could be corrupted to a state where I'd kill millions for my pleasure, but I *refuse* to shoulder the responsibility for something someone else did, unless you can *prove* that the Phoenix copied me flawlessly! I'm *not* going to tear myself apart over something that horrible unless I'm *sure* it's my fault!" "ARGH!" Rachel gasped as twin flame-blasts impacted onto her back, her own attack having been taken over and curled around to strike her from behind. She stumbled forward thru the air for a moment, the sky and charred planet winking out in that moment, replaced with empty starlit space. "Magneto's been corrupted by his power over Genosha, just like the Phoenix was corrupted by its own power!" Jean said sternly, as golden-colored armor winked into existence around her, a sharp blade springing up in her hand and a shield on the other arm. "You try to blame me for what the Phoenix did -- how can you let Magneto get away with what he's doing?" "You --" Rachel started, and took a moment to fix herself in place and form an armor -- red-colored -- around herself as well, her arms grasping a massive two-handed sword. "-- fine, the *Phoenix* did what it did for *pleasure*. We're *saving the world*. Don't you get it, mom? The Earth doesn't *have* enough resources to maintain as much people as there are right now!" "Who the *hell* makes *you* the one to decide who gets to live and die, then?" Jean asked as she leaped forward, slashing from left to right with her blade. "We have organizations to figure these things out! They're not for any one person to make!" "We don't have the time to discuss this in a committee!" Rachel blocked the attack with her own blade, a bright flash of light emanating momentarily from the point of impact. "Besides, do you think the United Nations, or any other organization for that matter, would officially sanction *killing* millions, even billions of people? No way! Besides --" she growled "-- *we* didn't do a *thing*! The *humans* are destroying each other! Blame the ones who *used* the gas!" "Oh, fuck this", Jean snarled and suddenly chains flew in out of nowhere and wrapped around Rachel in repeated coils. "You're not going to listen to my point of view any more than I'm going to listen to yours -- but I'm going to destroy that gas, and if I have to go thru you to do it, I *will*!" *** "UNGH!" Magneto wheezed as bright red energy hammered at the magnetic shields he held up in front of him, and knocked him backwards in the air for several moments. Then, in the face shadowed by his helmet, bluish energies flared from his eyes, white teeth revealed in a snarl as he pushed back and fixed himself in place against the sustained blasting. "Impressive", he hissed. "You're more powerful than when we last met." "I've learned a trick or two since then", Cyclops answered, and suddenly his visorless eyes stopped firing their optic blasts. Magneto's eyes widened. "You --" ZAKT! "ARGH!" Magneto gasped as optic blasts lanced out again, ramming into his shields while he was surprised and off-balance -- and demolished them. Smashing thru his shields, the optic blasts hit his stomach, sending him flying backwards thru the air, doubled over, before he impacted onto a wall and plummeted towards the floor. A metallic clatter of chain mail against stone floor accompanied a "NNFF!" sound as Magneto crashed down. ZAKT! "Nice try", Magneto gritted his teeth with a strained voice, weakly waving his arm, a crackling blue glow enveloping his hand as his magnetic force field sprang back into existence around him, just in time to block Cyclops' new blast. "Very nice..." he gave a little cough as he forced his way back to his feet. "You really did completely and utterly surprise me, Scott... I had no idea you had learned to control your optic blasts..." He regained his regal posture as he got back up onto his feet, his head having cleared. "I do offer my congratulations. It was about time." "Accepted", Scott replied as he faced off with Magneto, red eyes smoldering with energy staring into steel-gray eyes crackling with blue electricity, both men having straight, rigid postures, neither one even thinking about backing down. "Now let us destroy the gas. It isn't worth all this." "It's worth more than you can imagine, Scott", Magneto replied. "After the civil war, Genosha's economy was in turmoil. We needed *exports* to transform the economy from mutate-based into a more mainstream one. It was the *only* way to bring peace to this island!" he growled. "Genosha has always been possessed of a high level of technology. Exporting that helped stabilize the economy, create a sufficient inflow of cash to purchase food from mainland countries to sustain our population levels, and maintain the peace. *You*, Scott, were the ones who *started* this when you brought down Cameron Hodge and the mutate-abusing regime. Are you saying that was a *wrong* decision?" Scott hesitated momentarily, his lips parting a bit and mouth open for a few heartbeats. "No", he then answered, and shook his head. "No, we did the right thing. The mutates deserved to live free, just like every human being does. The mistake was in creating the mutate-based economy in the first place, and relying on that, letting the population grow so much that it couldn't be sustained without the mutates." "Agreed", Magneto nodded. "But that is a mistake neither of us made. But a mistake *I* had to *fix*. And there was no easy answer, Scott. In the end, I will rather provide other people with a gun with which they *might* kill other people, than put a gun to the head of my people, and with certainty kill them myself." He paused a moment, and narrowed his eyes. "I take care of my people, Scott. I always *have*." "And I will stop you from using too drastic means to do that", Scott retorted. "I always have." "So be it, then", Magneto snarled as his fists started crackling louder with blue energies. "I'm sorry, Scott", he said, a piece of machinery behind Cyclops disassembling itself into several dozen pieces. *** "You ready yet?" "Dad?" Exodus blinked momentarily at the voice echoing thruout the rapidly shifting surreal landscape where she was battling her mother, atop of metallic platform. "ARGH!" "Give it up, Rachel", Phoenix hissed, slashing her blade across Exodus' stomach, tearing thru the glowing red armor and leaving a deep gash. "Before I have to seriously hurt you." "You can't hurt me enough", Exodus took a step back to recover and get over the pain of the injury. "I have the power of the Phoenix Force. I can take you out whenever and however I want, mom." "I guess you don't want to, then", Phoenix commented sarcastically. "Jean?" "I'm ready, Scott", Phoenix replied as she leaped forward, ducked underneath a slash of Exodus' two-handed sword and slammed her fist up to Exodus' jaw, following up with a swift knee to Exodus' gut, sending the younger woman gasping for breath. "Just busy kicking our daughter across the astral plane. When?" "Now." "Right now?" Phoenix growled as she leaped back, bringing her golden shield in front of her, feeling the large two-handed blade impact onto it with a jarring crash. "Right now." "Damn it", Phoenix wrinkled her nose. "I was just about to get her." Then, she winked out of existence. *** "You're good, Scott", Magneto said, arms crossed over his chest. "One of the best. But one of your flaws is lack of adequate defensive measures. That will cost you today." ZAKT! Optic blasts zapped out of Cyclops' eyes, pulverizing several of the metal pieces zooming thru the air towards him. He tilted to the side, dodging another one attacking him from behind, missing him just barely with a scratch to the side of his blue costume. Snapping his head to the side, he unleashed another blast at a group of three streaking at him from the left flank, and demolished them in mid-air. "UNGH!" he cried out as yet another blasted to his side from the right flank. "You can't destroy or dodge them all", Magneto smiled confidently. "One of my strengths is an abundance of adequate plans", Cyclops replied with gritted teeth as he recovered his balance with a gasp of pain flashing thru him from his bruised side. "Scott?" Phoenix sat up from where she had fallen. "Where?" Cyclops asked quickly. "What --?" Magneto blinked at Phoenix. "THERE!" Phoenix snarled viciously as she stood up, and cast her arms at a spot in the ceiling, stone dust exploding in a cloud from the spot as she rammed all her telekinetic power straight at it. The factory hall rocked slightly as optic blasts joined in at full strength, ramming into the ceiling. *** Several dozen yards above, the parking lot of the huge Citadel was all but empty, bathed in soft moonlight and tropical winds blowing in from the Indian Ocean. BWA-THOOOM The ground exploded as crimson energy lanced upwards at the skies, debris blasting in every direction from the instantly excavated hole in the ground. *** "Magneto!" Exodus climbed back onto her feet hurriedly, waving an arm and telekinetically sweeping all the dust away as if with a gust of wind and tossing it into a corner of the factory hall, revealing the hole in the ceiling. "I can sense --" "I'm surprised you *have* any sense", a figure with short green hair zoomed into the hall thru the hole in the ceiling, right on the heels of a winged man. "Ah", Magneto's confusion faded and gradually a smile grew back onto his lips. "The rest of the active roster. I had wondered." "Lorna, Jean, Magneto's yours", Cyclops called out, and whirled towards Exodus the exact same instant as she whirled towards him. She unleashed telekinetics, and he unleashed optic blasts, the forces crashing into each other. "You know you really look like Jean?" Angel asked as he swooped down from the ceiling and picked Exodus up from underneath her arms, soaring back upwards after grabbing her. "Though actually, I think you have a cuter butt, but don't tell Scott or Jean I said that..." "Don't waste your breath, 'uncle' Warren, I'm taken", Exodus smiled slightly with a roll of her eyes, as she spread her arms and telekinetically broke free of him, spreading her cape to full splendor. Fists staring to burn with flames though she didn't manifest her Phoenix Effect, she focused her telekinetic energies in her hands, spinning towards him and preparing to blast him down. "That's okay, so am I", Angel's voice came from somewhere else -- he definitely hadn't stayed behind her waiting for her to attack. "I won't tell if you won't --" "You're a pig", Exodus rolled her eyes again, turning her head around as she tried to locate Angel, before giving up and instead using her telepathy. "It's men like you why I turned lesbian", she said as she whirled around, straight towards him. "Aw, drat", Angel swooped downwards, aborting his charge towards Exodus as she turned towards him, barely dodging the telekinetic blast she unleashed. "Don't suppose I could watch next time --?" *** Magneto stared sharply at the two women in front of him, as Polaris landed beside Phoenix. They stood side-by-side, facing him, short green hair and ponytailed black hair. His eyes locked with theirs, all three parties dead serious, for several moments, as he gave them the chance to back down. After the several moments, he undid his arms from over his chest, and let his fists crackle. And an evil smile creeped onto Phoenix's lips as she cracked her knuckles audibly. *** "I hate super-speed", Chief Magistrate Katherine Pryde hissed as she wiped some blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her black-leather glove. "If I phase in, to attack someone, you can tag me before I can phase out again." "Yes", Quicksilver commented humorlessly. "That's okay", Kate smiled as she got back up onto her feet, for a moment leaning onto the plexiglass wall separating the factory hall from the gas containers on the other side. "I don't need to phase in to affect some things. If I pass thru electronic equipment while phased, it's ruined." She glanced over towards the large rumbling machine from where a lot of tubes ran thru the plexiwall and to the storage silos. "Right, Forgie-poo?" she smiled sweetly before starting to stride towards him. "Quicksilver, she mustn't reach me", Forge said sharply as he worked on the large machine, standing on his one remaining leg. "If she destroys my equipment, I won't be able to neutralize the gas." "And ain't that just too bad?" Kate smirked. Quicksilver quirked an eyebrow. "And how do you propose I should stop her?" he asked. Then, the next moment, he whizzed away. And the next moment, he whizzed back in a flash of gray, putting Phoenix down. "Stop her", he simply told her. Kate hissed at the sight of the dark-haired woman, and leaped ferally towards Forge. It took a few moments for Phoenix to regain her bearings, blinking in confusion, but then her eyes narrowed, focusing on Kate. "UNGH!" Forge wheezed as Kate slammed into his back, the two of them crashing to the floor together. "Thank you", Quicksilver said, streaking over to the pair, grabbing Kate by her neck, and yanking her up with one hand. Before she could react, he pulled back a fist. POW! "UMPH!" Kate gasped as the fist slammed right onto the center of her face and sent her flying backwards thru the air for a good half-dozen feet. Then, when her momentum started slowing down, Quicksilver was right in front of her again. POW! She didn't have time to even crash down to the floor before his fist slammed to her face again, sending her backwards once more. POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! After several blows in which almost an entire two seconds had passed, she had been slammed back for several dozen feet and finally crashed to the stone wall, slumping limply down at the foot of it, her eyes closed and blood flowing from her nose and mouth. Quicksilver towered over her, nose wrinkled. "I have wanted to do that for *months*." "Preventing her mental access to her powers was simple", Phoenix commented. "I only wish Magneto and Rachel had as little in the way of psychic defenses..." BWHOOM "Look out!" Phoenix shouted, raising a telekinetic shield around herself and Forge as a green-haired cannonball exploded thru one of the large machines in the hall, blowing it up in a cloud of metal debris and yellowish gas, the former clattering off her shields like pebbles. "Unnnhhh..." Polaris groaned as she leaned against the plexiglass wall, half-unconscious. "I have had enough", Magneto declared as he emerged thru the yellow gas cloud, stalking towards Forge and Phoenix. His eyes flared once. "ARRGH!" Forge cried out as his bionic hand exploded, the remnants forming into a collar around his neck, bringing a gurgle from his throat as the metal started constricting. "Forge!" Phoenix hissed, her eyes flaring with energy and telekinetically wrenching the metal from Forge's throat, tossing the scrap metal off to the side. "You enjoy attacking cripples, Magneto?" she snapped with a furious expression. "What's next, babies?" WHAMMM Two van-sized pieces of machinery smashed into Magneto from his sides, burying him between them in a jarring impact. The next moment, the crumpled-together pile of metal tore in half and Magneto waved his arm, tossing the ruined machines along the length of the factory hall, sending them crashing into the wall where the entrance was. "Please", he rolled his eyes. A roar rose in Phoenix's throat, and she leaped forward, soaring straight at Magneto and crashing into him with a tackle. Teeth bared in a snarl, she pulled back her fist, concentrated her telekinetic powers onto it, and drove it straight at Magneto's helmeted face. THWAMM "UNGH!" Magneto gasped, and then retaliated with a wave of his arm, casting Phoenix thru the air into some machinery with a loud crash. "You'll never change..." Phoenix snarled, pushing herself back onto her feet, her firebird aura bursting into existence behind her as she cast her arms wide, energies blasting out and slamming into Magneto, sending him crashing back to the stone wall. "You've always been crazy...mad...evil...killing people, threatening the world, and we have to stop you, again and again and again, how many times do we have to dance this dance, you sick little bastard..." "As many as it takes", Magneto answered angrily shoving himself off the wall and striding towards Phoenix, "until you realize not all people are Charles Xavier, and will be able to accept that." "I've always accepted that", Phoenix narrowed her eyes as she rushed forward, slamming her fist across Magneto's helmet. "I'm not Charles Xavier! Scott isn't Charles Xavier! Everyone doesn't have to be the same! But everyone deserves the chance to *live*!" "You're living in the same naive idealistic dream world as Charles", Magneto snapped as he smashed his blue-crackling fist across Phoenix's face, driving her back a few steps. "There'll never be a world in which everyone has his beliefs!" "Not if we don't try our best to convince people of his beliefs!" Phoenix growled as she met Magneto blow for blow, rattling his helmet. "We have to show people his path, and offer them the chance to walk it along with us!" "Everyone won't join Charles' path", Magneto replied as his fist whipped Phoenix's head back. "You'll never get all the people in the world to unite under one cause -- *any* cause!" "Maybe not", Phoenix delivered a furious backhand smashing Magneto back several steps. "But even if only a tenth of the people who the path is offered to accept it, then offering is worthwhile, because there would be less people on the path if it wasn't offered to anyone. I will offer the path to people, because I think it's a good path! But I can't offer it if I don't follow it myself!" "Why do you insist on following someone else's path?" Magneto hissed as he regained his balance and slammed a powerful hook to Phoenix's jaw. "I can hear it in your voice, Jean! You *know* his path has flaws! You only follow it because it is the best available option! Why don't you make your *own* path? The *right* path for you?" "I --" Phoenix started, and then hesitated with a mildly stunned expression as she realized she didn't have an answer. She wanted to say something, shove Magneto's words right down his throat, but no words came out no matter how hard she tried to think some up. Reacting to the frustration, just a slight bit of moisture appeared in her eyes, and she wordlessly drove her fist forward with all the rage and fury in her heart. Magneto's helmet flew off with the power of the punch and he stumbled back a step or two, but his expression was now set. Certain. No longer angry, but thoughtful. He waited. Phoenix gritted her teeth in silence and swung another punch. His hand snapped up, and grabbed her wrist, halting her attack in mid-punch. SKKKZZZZTTT "YEARGH!" Phoenix screamed as electric blue energy coursed thru her body, making her spasm wildly. Magneto held her wrist in a firm grip, steel-hard eyes staring into hers unwaveringly as he stood unmoving in the flickering blue glow. She screamed for what seemed like an eternity. Then, it ended. He let go, and she slumped to the floor, unmoving. Extending his hand to the side, his helmet rose from the spot on the floor where it had settled, and hovered over to his hand. "Pietro, Wanda..." he said levelly to his children standing near Forge, Wanda having recovered her consciousness. "Please don't stand in my way. Forge...move away from the machine." "Won't happen, Magneto", Forge narrowed his eyes at the Master of Magnetism as he stood on one leg at the machine, with one hand tapping commands into the book-sized mini-computer he had attached to the machine. "You want to stop me from neutralizing the gas, you'll have to *kill* me. In cold blood. So do it. I won't stop otherwise." Magneto narrowed his eyes, staring at the dark-haired man silently for several moments. Then, he took his helmet in both hands, and lowered it slowly over his head. As the helmet was in place, his eyes flared with blue energy once. "As sovereign ruler of the nation of Genosha it is within my legal rights to rule an execution." "So what are you waiting for?" Forge asked, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. "Father --" the Scarlet Witch pleaded with an agonized expression. "Please --" "If you kill him", Quicksilver said sharply, gritting his teeth, "I will not rest until you have paid for your deed." Magneto raised his hand, letting it crackle with blue energy. "Forge", he said in a booming tone, his voice seeming to almost echo from inside his helmet. "Cease and desist all activity immediately." He snarled, baring white teeth visible in the shadows of his helmet. "This is your last chance."