Chapter 6

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Magneto’s ears perked at the sound of the door sliding open.

He did not get up from his seat.

The cage, for lack of a better word, was fine, all things considered.

He had access to a computer (locked out from all main systems, obviously), the chair in which he was seated and a large television if he felt inclined to watch it.

Frustratingly misguided as Charles’ students were, he had to commend them on being at least somewhat hospitable to their prisoners.

He wouldn’t have been as lenient if the roles were reversed.

The room itself being large panels of glass and metal did irk him a little, thanks to the metal collar around his neck preventing him from using his powers.

It was vexing, being impressed and insulted by his treatment at the same time.

“So, to whom do I have the pleasure of being interrogated by?” he called, not turning around. “Are you here to lecture me, Logan?”

“You’ll wish it was my dad after we’re done!”

The newly familiar voice took him completely off guard and he turned in his chair… to see the mutant girl with claws from Canterlot.

She wasn’t wearing shoes or her jacket anymore, but it was definitely her.

Then, her words caught up with him and he remembered what she’d said back in that city.

“You were serious?” he stood up and faced her, his eyes wide. “Wolverine sired a child?”

“Says the old man with three offspring of his own,” she scowled back at him.

He hesitated, then composed himself and nodded. “You’re right, my dear. That was quite insensitive of me. So, to what do I have the pleasure of meeting with Wolverine’s daughter for?”

Her scowl just deepened, becoming an outright snarl. “You are the reason we struggle getting humans to see logic, Magneto. You ruined things and nearly doomed us all, twice!”

Any humorous comment he may have had planned regarding the girl’s similarities to her father were put on pause by her choice of words.

“What do you mean?”

She clenched her fists, her snarl becoming darker. “Charles showed you the future if mutants and humans didn’t start working together. And what did you decide to do after Senator Kelly saw reason and halted his plans? You had him abducted, Mystique take his place and nearly brought the very future you were warned your current actions would lead us into to pass anyway!”

She slammed her fist on the glass, causing him to wince, to his surprise.

The anger in her eyes, he’d never seen such anger, not since… since…

“You let your hatred for humans who are long dead, and no doubt rotting in hell now, dictate your actions and it lead to multiple casualties and even the death of one of us!” she practically screamed at him. “Emma Frost is dead because, thanks to the chaos you caused with those Sentinels you had Mystique send to Genosha, with so few options available due to dealing with both you and The Phoenix, Emma had to give up her life to stop The Phoenix.”

She slammed her hand against the glass again.

“If not for you, the X-Men might’ve been able to rescue Jean and find a way around the release of The Phoenix where no one got hurt and no one died! But, thanks to you and your Sentinels causing the X-Men to crash, they weren’t able to stop The Phoenix being taken by a group of mutants called The Inner Circle and Emma had to make a snap decision to save us all, giving up her life in the process, because of you!”

The venom in her voice was strong.

“You see yourself as mutant kind’s saviour, but, in your hubris, you murdered one of your own! Emma Frost’s blood is on your hands, Magnus!”

However, he got the oddest feeling it was… hiding a different pain. There was anger, but not entirely about all the things she was saying.

“Exactly who are you, my dear?” he finally asked after several minutes of careful consideration. “How are you Wolverine’s daughter?”

She pulled back, her snarl somehow deepening further.

“I’m from a future you made worse!”

He paused… as her words slowly filtered through and properly processed.

“From… a future?” he finally managed, confused.

She held up her fists, her claws coming out.

“I’m from the future that was the original end result of what you did, Magneto! I was sent back in time to stop that future… a future where you murdered my father!”

His eyes widened. “What? I would never murder Wolverine! He and I may have our differences, but he is one of Charles’ children! I could never take any of their lives! And, before you correct me, my dear, Emma Frost was not one of his children,” he added, seeing her lips tense. Besides, he still wasn’t sure what she meant by Emma Frost’s death being his doing.

The girl screamed with rage and looked like she was about to slice through the glass he was honestly glad now was separating them, but stopped herself at the last second, growling like a wild beast.

“You took the Adamantium out of his body!” she growled, before snarling as she punched the glass. “Whatever you did, it made his mutation evolve further. Or, rather, devolve! He became a beast and nothing more. You basically murdered his very soul, leaving nothing but a husk!”

Magneto just stared at her, bewildered.

He… he would never have done something so barbaric.

Surely, this girl must have gotten things confused… right?

The two stared at each other for several moments, before the girl’s eyes wavered and she seemed to think of something.

She gave a growling sigh and stepped back, eyes closed, head bowed down, fists clenched at her sides.

“I’m not doing a good job of explaining this, am I?”

He made no motion to correct her, which she seemed to have wanted and continued.

“In the future I’m from, after the X-Men stopped you and The Phoenix, three new villains rose from the ashes of that nightmare and took over the entire world.”

Villains? Had she really used the term “villains”?

Then again, she was young. Perhaps that was her best way of coping with whatever had happened.

The girl gave a dark chuckle. “Funny, you saw humans as the villains, the ones who would rob you of yours and every other mutant’s freedoms, but three mystical Sirens did it instead.”

“Sirens?” Magneto could not help back cock an eyebrow at that.

“They used the power of their voices to control the entire planet… including you,” the girl pointed ominously at him. “They made you pull the metal right off Logan’s bones… and you didn’t resist them.”

“No, I… I can’t have. I wouldn’t have!” Magneto hurried forward, placing his hands on the glass. “That’s barbaric!”

She looked at him coldly. “You didn’t have a choice. You refused to work with the X-Men and humans to stop them and, in your naïve efforts to take them on alone, they took control of your mind and forced you to attack others. Friends and family alike. No one was spared.”

“Family?” his eyes were wide with fear.

“All because you refused to listen. You refused to think working with humans could work, deciding mutants needed to be the victors.” She scoffed. “In the end, everyone lost. Think about that, Magneto… while you still have the free will to do so.”

She turned and walked off, ignoring his cries for her to stop and further explain, the door sliding shut behind her.

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“Nice performance, kid.”

I turn as the door closes behind me, cutting off Magneto’s cries.

Logan is standing in the steel hallway, Tildi beside him.

I give a light shrug. “Spinning a good yarn with the performance to boot was a skill I was quite good at back in my world. I even once considered getting into acting, but real life held me up there.”

“So… none of what you told Magneto was true?” Tildi asks, concerned. “Wolverine doesn’t… go feral in the future Laura came from?”

I sigh, folding my arms. “To hell if I know. I only have that one memory of Laura’s. Beast and Jean helped me come up with most of it.”

“That thing about my Adamantium, though?” Logan cocks an eyebrow at me.

I shrug again. “Someone once theorized removing your Adamantium, which keeps your mutation under control, does the opposite. It’s not too different from Sabertooth’s and we know how feral he is compared to you. Probably how Weapon X have kept him under control all this time. With each passing day, his mutation takes a little more of his cognitive thinking away, until he’ll be a mindless beast.”

Logan and I stare each other down.

After a while I snort, shrugging as I look away. “At least now Magento might actually think before he acts. After stopping however nightmarish a future my body’s from, I sure as hell won’t let him fuck up the one coming.”

Any further talk is cut off by a door opening and we turn as Jean is walking out of the room Professor X is being cared for in.

“Anything?” Logan asks, far nicer than he was talking to me.

Jean shakes her head. “I wasn’t able to contact him. Either he’s not checking in with Cerebro when we are… or something keeps him from doing so.”

“Well, if the future’s good, I can’t say I’m surprised,” the two turn to me.

I fold my arms. “Charles was warning you all to prevent a horrible future. If he’s not contacting you, it means things are going well. Plus, you’ve likely told him in the future when or if he ever contacted you and he’d be keeping that in mind.”

“So, no news is good news, is what you’re saying?” Logan folds his arms as he looks at me.

I nod, then turn and leave, Tildi following after.

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Jean gave Logan a very disappointed look. “Logan, please, you have to stop treating her like that. I know it’s only been a day, but 23 is doing her best.”

“How can I not, Jean?” he asked, looking to her. “You both said so, the soul inside that body isn’t the one that was born in it. She’s somehow mine and Mariko’s daughter, but whomever my daughter was is gone and she’s what replaced her.”

Jean looked at him for several moments, before sighing. “This isn’t about 23, is it, Logan?”

He blinked, taken aback. “What?”

“This is about you and the man you used to be, when you and Mystique were together,” Jean said firmly.

Logan’s eyes widened, before he scowled. “Don’t go reading my mind like that.”

“It was impossible not to, Logan,” Jean retorted firmly. “Your mind practically screams it whenever you look at her. You see yourself in her, in every way. You both have so much in common, yet you treat that as if it gives you less.”

He looked down in frustration, turned around and slammed a fist against the wall, resting his head against it.

Logan heaved a long sigh.

“Who was I before, Jean? Am I just some random soul that ended up in James’ body after what Weapon X did to him? Do I have the right to be called his name?”

“If you feel this way, maybe you should think of it from her side of things.”

Logan turned to see Jean giving him a firm, sad look.

“Logan, she took you into consideration right from the start. She refused to have anyone call her Laura out of respect for both her and you.” Jean walked up as he turned around and put her hands on his shoulders. “She’s lost everything and doesn’t even feel like she’s allowed to have what she could now. She wants to put her sadness of losing her old life aside and embrace this one… but knows that’s your choice as much as hers.”

Jean pulled back, keeping her gaze with Logan.

“23 wants to feel welcomed. She pushed it aside for others, is trying to figure out her place, in this world and Equestria, but she can’t do that if you shut her out. You’re the closest thing she has left to family now, Logan. If you take that away from her… what does she have left?”

Jean turned to walk away, before glancing back at him.

“She’s done everything we asked of her and even helped keep Magneto in check. If all she does is what she decides are missions, what life would she really have? She needs time and understanding. Just… think about it, okay?”

She walked off, leaving Logan alone in the hallway, his thoughts his only company.

Author's Note

So... I realized i hit a MASSIVE roadblock, since I hadn't addressed Magneto or Quick Silver since their capture in Canterlot.

So, i thought i'd do something a little different before moving on to the rest of the story, give Magneto something to think about other than his "I was right and eveyrone just needs to realize that" mentality he clearly had by the end of the show itself, with how he tried to justify to Wanda that having Sentinels stage a fake attack, injuring and possibly killing many mutants in Genosha as the right thing to help mutants.

And i initially was going to have 23 reference the Nazis by name, but, thought it better she point out the obvious fact instead: The Nazi humans her tormented him, his family and his people, are long dead. treating the rest of humanity with the same feelings he has to those now likely rotting in hell doesn't do him or anyone else any good.

it just further sows hatred and mistrust, until everything is destroyed.

Next chapter, things can actually move forward.

23 will be rested, fully able to use her abilities and start to investigate the world she'll now be spending a good amount of her time in.

Whom will she learn is in this world?

Which version of Spiderman is swinging around Neigh York?

Will she recognize the Avengers in this world?

Will she meet a certain mutant who knows more about her than she does?

You'll have to wait and see.

thanks to this long weekend, i might be doing another (definitely needed) update to another fanfic, one where i have a rough idea how to move forward.

its ending's blueprint is in my mind, it's just fleshing out that fic's world to get to that ending that's the tricky part.

Til next time, stay safe, stay clean and see you later everybody