The Evils of Necessity

 

It changed nothing. Scott had thought about it and he’d decided. It changed nothing. He didn’t care if mutants came from men, aliens, God, dumb luck—anything. They were his people.

All that mattered was the information about the source. If mutation could be triggered, it could also be undone—targeted. That’d always been the fear, that someone would reverse-engineer the mutation and figure out how to tailor a plague to mutantkind. But if some scientist somewhere had the notes, the blueprints, then it would be that much easier.

They’d have to go. Everyone in Weapon X, everyone in Project Rebirth. They’d all have to be dealt with. That was his top priority now. Let Magneto worry about their new Genoshan homeland. He had to take care of this. No one else could know.

Mystique entered, finding him still standing over Cornelius’s corpse, a little haze of red energy still leaking from his visor, chiseling into the point on the wall he was staring at. She came up to him and gently shut the tap off.

“Hardcore,” she said, staring down at the body.

“You were one of the first.” His voice was dry. Cracked. “You knew him.”

“Yes. Logan and I. It was a long time ago.” And I don’t like talking about it, went unsaid.

“He wiped your mind.”

“He wiped everyone. I don’t age. Sometimes I see Renaissance paintings and I wonder if one of the women is me.”

No. You were probably just an ordinary woman. Before he gave you a shot or a pill or a treatment…

Scott turned. Stared at her. She was so beautiful… “You don’t remember what you looked like before…”

“I look like this now,” she answered firmly. “Blue and red. We complement each other.”

“Yes.”

“I talked with Xavier and the redhead. They’re gathering up now. Getting ready to leave. I promised them the Genoshans wouldn’t be harmed.”

Scott nodded. Said numbly “We need hostages. To negotiate.”

Mystique rested her brow against his. “Magneto will take care of that. He’s on his way here. He congratulates you on a job well-done.”

“Mmm.”

“Did you want to see them? The X-Men?”

“No. I don’t. Didn’t.”

“It’s harder when it’s in cold blood. You don’t get to lie to yourself as much.” She subtly increased the pressure of her head on his. “He deserved it. You know he did.”

He nodded, shaking her loose.

“Let’s find a room. If we’re going to live here now, I want us to have the best bed.”