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"Wolverine is right, Miss Grey," said Magneto seriously. "Throughout time mankind has abused and slaughtered those who differ from the norm. Today people fear mutants like you and me because we have abilities they do not. And fear rapidly becomes hatred. Why should we allow ourselves to be persecuted? All we ask is the freedom to live our lives, but to do that we must combat this hatred or die. The Holocaust has shown us the truth of that."
He took her hand in his. "Join us. Help us in the coming battle. Give your future children a world where they will be honored for their mutant gifts rather than martyred for them."
"I . . . " She slowly withdrew her hand, again ran it over and over the other as if soothing a hurt. "I can't believe that fighting those who fear us will make them fear us less. There must be another way for people to accept us as their equals. Education. Sharing our talents . . . "
Magneto's smile was twisted and bitter. "I hear Charles talking. Noble sentiments such as those lead only to the grave. Our grave. Don't you understand, Miss Grey? We can never be their equals. We are already superior. And the common run of humanity cannot, will not, accept their inferiority. No, it's people like you and Charles that make our survival all the more precarious. We are so few in number we must unite if we are to live freely. We must join forces, strike the enemy first, hard and fast--or else spend the rest of our miserable existence in fear and hiding."
The woman looked at each in turn--Mystique, Toad, Magneto, Wolverine. Her gaze lingered longest on him, questioning. Logan scowled. She turned back to Magneto. "I understand your sentiments, but I don't agree with your solution. Once people are convinced we are no threat--"
Magneto interrupted her with a humorless laugh. "I most certainly intend to be a threat, Miss Grey! However, since it is clear that our cause is not yours, shall we return to our original discussion? You were about to tell me of Charles's plans and of others who know that I am here."
"I can't tell you that."
"Cannot? Or will not?"
She gazed at her hands, one still stroking the other, gave a slight shrug.
Magneto spun on his heel to face Wolverine. "You were successful before, my boy. Persuade her to cooperate."
Logan felt sweat pop out on his forehead. A few minutes ago the locking device had jerked in his grip--Jean was trying to open the door! He'd confronted her then, not knowing whether to reveal her to Magneto or keep silent, but when she said the team had come for him-- Logan turned the wheel, withdrawing the bolts a little more, hiding that action with his body. He could do it faster than Jean, who was pinned under Magneto's eye, but he hadn't yet completed the task. He needed more time.
"She doesn't know anything. Even if I slice an answer out of her sliver by sliver it'd probably be lies. She's stalling, hoping that old One Eye will come to her rescue. There are more entrances to the lab than this one. He'll find a way in eventually. I say we leave her behind and beat it out of here."
Magneto's frown of consternation slowly became one of suspicion. "You're suddenly very vocal, my boy. What are you doing over there by the door?"
"Nothing. Resting--"
"We'll just make certain of that!" Magneto spread his hand, snaring Logan in an invisible net. Twitching his finger he lifted his prey and in that way the prisoner, still gripping the wheel, managed a last pull as he rose.
Logan heard a soft shunk as the bolts returned home. The door was unlocked. Would Magneto notice? To prevent that he must draw attention to himself.
"Just leave her and let's go!" Logan said as Magneto reeled him in. "If the X-Men have found us others can too."
Magneto studied his hovering victim with narrowed eyes. "Possibly, you are right, but . . . possibly Miss Grey's presence is testing your loyalty to me, to the Brotherhood."
Logan forced a laugh. "Testing my loyalty? She's a broad and broads are only good for screwing. I'm plenty loyal to that! Bring her along, then, if you want, and we'll have some fun. But let's get out of here now!"
"You will follow my orders without hesitation."
"Yeah, sure."
"Let us see the proof of that." Magneto waved his hand and the power trapping Logan neatly set him down and winked off. "Miss Grey still refuses to answer my questions. You, my boy, will make certain that she does so. If not, you will cut off a finger. From the left hand, I think. We'll leave the doctor her right hand for the time being."
Logan found himself looming over the woman, claws already flashing from his fist without his remembering having shot them out.
"Tell him, dammit! Say something!" he snarled.
She looked up at him, eyes huge. Her lips quivered, firmed as she pressed them together and shook her head.
Mystique grinned, her tongue flicking in and out. Toad smirked, grabbed the woman's left hand to slap it flat on the table. Now all looked expectantly at the executioner. He roared, slashed down with all his strength. And the table split, one half crashing to the floor, the other half still standing, steadied by her hand and five fingers.
Logan whirled, claws now jutting from his other fist as well, but despite his painfully-acquired, enhanced speed he was too slow to disable Magneto. As he knew he would be. Invisible chains immediately seized him, hoisted him, wrenched him as though to rip him apart.
"Door . . . " he gasped, motioning with his eyes from it to Jean. That was all he could get out before the ligaments in his shoulders snapped, his arms popped free of their sockets, and he gave a harsh cry as he fell down, down, down into a pit of black fire.
Consciousness was slow in coming, his strength had been sapped by too much recent healing. Logan realized he was lying on the lab floor, the tiles cold against his naked back, forgotten and freed of the binding chains. He attempted to move an arm and at his persistence it finally twitched. But that minor action ignited a flare of flame in his shoulder. Sweat born of pain leaked into his eyes, and he couldn't even lift a hand to mop it off. He blinked it away as best he could, resigning himself to being a door stop until he had recovered sufficiently to be of greater use.
'May you live in interesting times.' Wasn't that supposed to be an old Chinese curse? From his horizontal position he looked around the lab and decided things were getting pretty damn interesting. Jean was all but hidden by Magneto, Mystique and Toad. She was telling them something. A line of bull, he figured, because she kept one eye on the door at their backs. And the door itself had taken on a curious life of its own, pushing into the room ever so slightly and sprouting a glove on the side. But that the curse was in full fettle, Logan knew from the rats.
They swarmed, slithered, skittered down the empty elevator shaft which he could just make out through the entrance to the lab's animal room. They flooded and flowed over the floor tiles like a tide of gray mud. They swirled around him--over him until he bared his teeth--all drawn to Magneto as if they were steel filings and the man was in truth a magnet.
And there was even more, Logan saw, too dazed by the rats to object to anything else bizarre. Woods-scented Fawn now entered from the animal room followed by a couple of young wolves and a big lynx kitten. Then a whiff of burnt sugar/chili pepper drifted out on her heels and, sure enough, here came Rogue tagging along behind, busily stripping off her gloves. Why was he not surprised?
Wincing at the acid-like burning in his shoulders, Logan pushed himself over to the wall with his bare feet and, wriggling his spine snake-wise, hitched himself up enough to sit. He settled back to watch events unfold. He'd done his bit, he was ready to be entertained.
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