"Absolute cinema."
That's the only thing running through my head as I watched Magneto absolutely obliterate a U.S. military base on live television.
No warm-up, no warning—man just rolled in like, "I can make the United States look like the most dangerous country in the world, and I would do it."
Seriously, 10 out of 10. Would watch again. Preferably even live, though.
The whole thing was more entertaining than 99% of the movies I've seen. And that includes the time I binge-watched every Michael Bay film while drunk.
I glanced around the room and saw a bunch of students looking horrified, hands slapped over their mouths like they just saw someone kick a cat.
Then it hit me.
Right. That wasn't just fireworks and chaos—it was a real-time massacre. People died. Lots of them.
But honestly? My moral compass has been broken for a while now. I'm pretty sure the total body count under 'my name' alone makes Magneto look like a grumpy street magician. Like, 'oops, another planetary genocide' levels of overkill.
Anyway, as I was busy mentally ranking Magneto's kill streak, something weird started happening. Pens wiggled. Chairs vibrated.
"Jean, calm down," Charles said in that calm-but-I'm-actually-panicking voice. So yeah, Jean was going full Sith Lord again.
To her credit, she didn't break anything. Instead, she just locked eyes with me.
I gave her a little nod like, 'It's okay, queen, unleash hell some other day,' and just like that, she mellowed out.
Girl even smiled a bit before storming out of the hall all dramatic.
I sighed. So much pretending for being the terrifying goddess of Asgard only to end up as Jean's personal emotional support war criminal at this point.
Not that I mind… that much. I mean, I was glued to her side 24/7 for a while, so I guess she imprinted on me like a baby duck.
Now she asks for my opinion on everything from existential dread to what kind of cereal to buy.
Anyway, I didn't follow her. Too busy watching the ongoing mutant soap opera.
The news cut to some poor soul of a reporter trembling in front of the White House, clearly regretting every life choice that led to this moment.
Dude looked like he ran there. "President Nixon has just declared a state of emergency following the attack," he said, nearly hyperventilating. "Authorities are currently discussing a response to this act of mutant terrorism."
Wow, I thought. That guy must've outpaced The Flash to be reporting live already.
Magneto had just turned a base into a modern art piece, and the government's already on TV doing damage control.
Then came the usual propaganda: "Mutants are dangerous. They threaten our way of life. Hide your kids, hide your wife." You know, the classic 'let's demonize an entire group so we can justify human rights violations' starter pack.
I didn't even bother listening to the rest. The narrative was clear. They're gonna paint every mutant as a ticking time bomb so they can start rounding them up like some twisted reality show.
Honestly? I wouldn't even be surprised if they let Magneto go wild on purpose. One big, flashy, 'look at what they're capable of' moment to destroy whatever scrap of sympathy the public still had for mutants.
So yeah, it's absolute cinema.
It was probably a good idea to go and comfort Jean before she melted into a puddle of suppressed trauma and moral confusion.
So, naturally, I left my floating spot and drifted over to her like a lazy ghost with too much context and not enough empathy.
...
She turned toward me as I approached, her face a storm of conflicted thoughts.
No dramatic tears, no outburst—just quiet confusion laced with the kind of emotional exhaustion that said she was about two steps away from a nervous breakdown. Classic Jean.
"What now?" she asked softly, eyes flicking toward the hall, where students whispering and panicking could be heard from miles away. "Magneto's already declared war on the government... and they responded with propaganda within minutes."
"They're painting us all with the same brush. One man lashes out, and suddenly we're all terrorists."
She shook her head. "Even if he's stopped, the damage is done. We're officially the enemy of humanity now. I can feel it. It's like the world was just waiting for an excuse to turn on us."
Then, more quietly, like it hurt to even say it: "And... was he wrong? I mean... he was retaliating. They've been treating mutants like test subjects—caging us, experimenting on us like we're animals. How is it wrong to fight back against that?"
That's Jean for you. Sweet, smart, strong—and now, finally, starting to question the world instead of just accepting it.
That's what happens when you spend enough time around me. No more blind loyalty to bald pacifists and schoolhouse ideals. Just a girl staring into the abyss, wondering which side of it she belongs on.
I floated beside her, arms crossed. "Y'know... it's not even about whether what Magneto did was right or wrong. That's philosophy class stuff."
"What matters is the choice: what kind of world do you want to live in? And more importantly, what are you willing to do to get there?"
She didn't answer, which meant she was thinking. Good. Better than crying or setting something on fire that, thankfully, she isn't able to do yet.
I continued, my voice calm. "In most of the timelines—hell, in most universes—mutants don't get happy endings. Humans fear what they can't control. And once they stop seeing you as one of them, that fear turns into action."
"Let's be real: humans have been killing each other over religion, skin color, and political beliefs for centuries."
"You think they're gonna be chill about a genetic mutation that makes someone stronger than them? Nope. You stopped being 'human' in their eyes the moment your powers showed up."
She frowned, her shoulders tense. Not angry—just hurt. The way good people always are when they realize the world might be uglier than they hoped.
"There's a reason interspecies coexistence is almost always a tragedy," I went on. "One group wants to live in peace, the other wants to be in charge. Magneto's a mutant supremacist. He doesn't want equality—he wants dominance. Mutants on top, humans below. Clean lines."
"And Xavier?" I snorted. "He's a dreamer. Believes peace is possible. That humans and mutants can coexist like some utopian sci-fi novel where people learn and grow."
"I admire the optimism, but let's be honest: if different races within humanity can't even stop fighting, what chance does an entirely new species have?"
Jean exhaled shakily, her gaze fixed somewhere far away. "So what are you saying? That there's no hope?"
I gave a half-smile. "No. I'm saying there's no easy hope. Things are going to get worse. You'll see things you'll wish you could forget. Planets turned to rubble. Nations wiped off the map. Maybe even half the universe gone with a snap—literally."
"And you? You'll be at the center of some of it. Not always the cause, but never far from it."
She looked at me, searching my face for something—guidance, maybe. Or reassurance.
All I gave her was the truth.
"But you're not helpless, Jean. You just need to decide: are you going to let the world define you? Or are you going to define yourself—even if that means getting your hands dirty along the way?"
She nodded slowly. Not with certainty, but with understanding. The first step to corrup—um, to guide Jean is officially done. Now all that's left is to make her do something dirty like, maybe, killing some inexcusable villain? Baby's first war crime, you know?
...
...
...
Nick Fury hadn't slept in 72 hours, unless you counted passing out face-first onto a classified file as sleep.
If that counted, then he was practically a well-rested vacationer.
But considering the world was teetering on the edge of chaos—and not the fun, Bond-villain type of chaos, but the oh-God-we're-all-going-to-die kind—he wasn't exactly in a tropical mood.
"Bureaucrats," he muttered under his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose like it owed him money.
It was a risky plan from the World Security Council's point of view, he admitted that, but it was better than doing absolutely nothing while Magneto turned America into the world's most dangerous country.
And then came the cherry on this absolute garbage sundae: Tony Stark, billionaire genius and their best weapons supplier, had just been kidnapped.
Kidnapped. By terrorists.
Fury almost laughed when he heard the report, but it came out as a low, strangled growl that had two junior agents immediately excusing themselves to go cry in the hallway.
Now, with the weight of all that sitting like a ten-ton anvil on his soul, he sat at the head of the briefing room, the overhead lights flickering like they were about to add "electrical failure" to his growing list of problems.
Opposite him stood Agent Maria Hill, who looked just tired enough to suggest she, too, had considered quitting and becoming a barista in Idaho.
Fury took a deep breath and spoke, his voice low and gravelly. "Tell me there was some kind of backhand in this. There's no way in hell some random desert gremlins got the drop on Tony Stark without help."
Hill nodded, her expression the kind of neutral professionalism that made Fury wonder if she was part robot. "That's what our teams believe. The entire ambush was too clean, too perfectly timed."
"Stark's itinerary was classified—only a handful of people knew where he was going. But the attackers had traps set up in advance. Snipers, bombs, a mole inside the convoy. We're combing through it, but..."
She trailed off, and that alone told Fury everything. No clear leads. No smoking gun. Just more questions and a deepening hole to fall into.
"In other words," Fury said dryly, "you've got nothing useful."
Hill nodded again. "Pretty much."
Fury sighed like a man being slowly digested by a giant bureaucratic worm. "Fantastic."
In their line of work, small details were everything. Sometimes it was the width of a tire track, a single wrong word in a transcript, or the fact that the coffee machine in the Army cafeteria had been replaced overnight.
During the good old days in the Army, Fury had once uncovered a HYDRA sleeper agent because the guy didn't understand how to refill the damn coffee cup.
"Did the World Security Council finally get off their collective asses and approve the Avengers trial phase?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose harder this time. It was less about stress relief now and more about seeing if he could physically push his brain out through his face.
Hill nodded, more confident this time. "They're leaning toward approval. Lots of bargaining. They want guarantees, oversight, the usual mess. But they'll probably give the green light within 24 hours."
"Great," Fury said. "Only a few more hours for everything to go the right path."
He stood up from his chair, his joints popping like firecrackers. "Get me Xavier. I don't care what kind of nonsense he would talk about, whether it's through Warren or something—we would cooperate with him."
Hill asked a question that she really had on her mind for the past few days. "You really think the Avengers Initiative is going to work?"
Fury stared out the reinforced window, watching the clouds swirl like angry smoke over the Capitol skyline.
Somewhere out there, a billionaire was kidnapped, a mutant was plotting world revolution, and the Council was probably arguing about the color of the mission reports.
"I think," he said slowly, "that we've already run out of good ideas. Now it's time to try the dangerous, expensive, PR-nightmare ones."
He looked back at Hill and managed the faintest smirk. "Besides, if I'm going down, I'd rather it be while telling a group of overpowered lunatics to save the world. Beats dying in a meeting."
She smirked back. "I'll get Xavier."
As she left, Fury sat back down and glanced at the file marked STARK, TONY – MISSING on his desk. Underneath it was another labeled MAGNETO INCIDENT. And beneath that?
AVENGERS INITIATIVE – PENDING APPROVAL.
He chuckled darkly to himself. "What could possibly go wrong?"
END OF THE CHAPTER
AH, Binge on Naruto fanfic so much nowadays that I'm doing my best to stop myself writing one, still, if you have some ideas for a Naruto fanfic, you can share her and don't forget to vote, we are at 904, almost reaching 1K