Chapter 31- Anomalies

  Citadel– 2nd Floor Machinists workshop - 2008- 10- 24 (Morning)

  Eric Lensheer- (Magneto)

  Erik was bending a rod to shape with his powers, when he heard someone cough. He could feel the metal within his fields, so he wasn’t worried when he looked away from his work. Standing a short distance from him was his old friend Steve.

  “Hung over?” The mutant leader asked his friend.

  The super soldier ughed, before admitting. “A little bit. Was honestly surprised to actually feel something st night. That Raul stuff is something else."

  He continued to bend and shape the metal in his fields, as he looked over the schematic that Nath'aniel had given to him. "It's brewed by trolls, who, I have on a reliable source been told, can regrow lost limbs. So I figured if it works for them it would work on you too." Erik told the other man.

  “Oh it definitely worked, my head was spinning by the end of the evening.” The super soldier said before asking. “What are you making?”

  The mutant leader showed him the design. As the other man looked at it, he expined. “It’s called a biobed, it allows a deeper scan than what Nath'aniel performed on you. But more importantly, with those parts over there, it can also be used to scan creatures like Curha who ck a body." As his friend read the paper, he pointed at the parts the mage made after they all passed out st night.

  "Oh, right, because she is made out of fire and not flesh and blood," Steve said as he handed the page back.

  Erik wanted to tell his friend about Psylocke and She-Devil, but the power of Servants wasn't really his to tell. Besides he would figure it out on his own eventually. So Erik returned his attention back to his work, while Steve stood back and watched.

  After an hour or so, of him adjusting the bed to hold the new parts, the super soldier asked. "So Pietro and Wanda are your kids' right?"

  "They are," Erik admitted.

  Then his friend asked him a difficult question. “Where is their mother?”

  The mutant leader sighed and stopped his work, before he answered. "She died. I had restarted the Brotherhood with Psylocke, and we were doing good work. We broke up some groups of people who were trafficking in humans and mutants, even found and took out a couple Hydra bases.’

  "But then we realized that some of the smaller nations were in bed with those groups, and we were hurting their financial sources. I was living in Sarkovia at the time. It was a nation gifted to the Gypsies and Romani. But unlike Israel, they had no real leadership in Sarkovia. So when a general discovered my wife and children, he went and threatened them… He shot her in the head in front of my them, and they called me a terrorist for bringing him to justice. Admittedly I did kill more than just him, but they were basically just thugs and bandits, not real soldiers like were."

  “You’ve had it rough haven’t you?” The super soldier asked him.

  “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs.” He admitted, before he went back to work making the bed

  There was a moment of silence before Steve asked. “So Nath’aniel, he’s a mutant like you right?”

  Erik shook his head before correcting the man. “No, he is a mage…you remember when he scanned you and he told you about the various tribes.”

  “The story about the origin of the Atnteans and where the X gene came from, right?” The super soldier asked for crification.

  "Right, well I think his people are the decedents from the second group the Tribe of Watchers." Erik guessed before stating his theory. "When we first came here, I asked him if we mutants were oppressed in his time, and he told me that it was his people that were.'

  "Given his sight, and how he doesn't need as much sleep as us, I am willing to bet that his people were altered into such a way that they could be pseudo-house sves. Who watched over the rest of us, and after we rebelled against these sky tribe people. Then the rest of us probably turned on them next.”

  “And they were pushed out, again and again till they had to run all the way to the bottom of the pnet.” Steve guessed.

  "Temporary Guest Steven, do you know a [Subject: Janet Van Dyne]?"

  Erik stopped working at the Citadel's sudden request. Not just because she rarely had them, but because he also recognized the name. Van Dyne had started out as a model, a rather attractive one, if the mutant leader was being honest, who now was a cornerstone in the fashion industry. While the Erik has never worn one of her outfits, her name stood alongside Gucci or Levi.

  Then his friend's reply shocked him even more, as the super soldier admitted. "I do, why?"

  “She is currently being detained on the fourth floor for trespassing by military constructs, and the young master is on his way to question her… He is not pleased with me.”

  Erik quickly asked, before standing at his full height and looking at the ceiling. "How did she get here Citadel?"

  “Unknown, I first detected her presence six hours ago. She just appeared in the quarters that she is being detained in, seconds before the start of the new day. As she immediately went to sleep after materializing, so I ignored her presence throughout the night.”

  ‘How did she bypass the Citadel’s shield, better question how did she get here in the first pce?’ The mutant leader wondered, as he released the fields holding the mostly built biobed and then released the fields he had in case of needing a tool to build it. Meanwhile, his actual hands reached for a rag to wipe minor amounts of grease off of his hands and face.

  Then he and Steve left the machinist workshop, and then the mutant leader led the super soldier to the closest re-locator. Unsurprisingly the doors opened as soon as Erik pressed the button, before the two men stepped inside.

  Once inside he asked. "Citadel, would you move us as close as you can to the intruder's location?"

  His friend frowned at him calling her an intruder, but didn’t correct him. As the Enhanced did that, Erik felt the metal change around them change as the room swapped itself with another. When the doors opened again, but before they stepped outside he asked his friend. “How do you know this woman?”

  Steve expined. “She was the liaison assigned to me. Janet has been helping me understand all the changes that have happened while I was in the ice… What will happen to her?”

  “I don’t know.” The mutant leader honestly admitted. Then as they walked behind a newly created green crystal hourgss he added. “You must understand, as far as we know, Nath’aniel is the st living mage, anywhere. When I learned his people had been at war with the Atnteans I sent a letter to Namor basically warning him off, that if he came here I would kill him.”

  “Like the dodo.” The super soldier muttered as they turned a corner.

  While he couldn’t see the two constructs that were suddenly marching besides them, But Erik could feel them with his powers. "The difference between the mages and that bird was that the dodo couldn't adapt to the coming of humans, and the mages died defending our pnet from a demonic invasion after waging a losing war against a nation that betrayed them," Erik told his friend. When he saw Basilisk standing guard outside of a pair of double doors, he reached over and stopped his former commander. Then Erik looked Steve in the eye and told him. "You must understand the importance of his life to me."

  “Protecting him is like protecting all of the Jews that you couldn’t before.” The super soldier guessed.

  The mutant leader nodded, and added “And the mutants that I failed to get to in time after. So if it comes to our friendship and him…”

  “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” Steve interrupted him, before shaking his arm free and pressing on towards the room ahead.

  As the two war veterans neared the room Erik shouted ahead. "Sam, why are you out here?"

  “Because if I was bloody in there, that bint wouldn’t be breathing.” The rge woman answered back honestly. When she saw Steve tense up at her answer she corrected herself saying. "Sorry. But he means a lot to me. And being out here keeps me from overreacting to her presence… I am better than her dyship. She had to go all the way down to the basement to cool her head. Well, that's what Shanna told me." At the mention of her name, the blonde woman in a bikini materialized behind the two of them.

  When Steve looked at Erik confused, the mutant leader expined. “Sam and Nath’aniel are seeing each other.”

  The super solder shook his head before saying. “That’s not what I am confused about. I figured that out st night at the party, no offense. Who’s her dyship?”

  "Psylocke," Erik answered at the same time that the rge woman did as well.

  “Elizabeth.” Basilisk also answered.

  Steve waved them off and asked. “Never mind, can we go in?”

  “No.”

  All three of them blinked at the Citadel answering his question.

  Before anyone could ask for an expnation, the doors opened and Nath’aniel stepped out to join them.

  Steve moved to grab the mage, but was stopped by two of Sam’s four arms blocking his path. So the super soldier quickly asked. “Is she ok? Can I see her?”

  “She is healthy, but stressed. And no, she asks that you do not see her right now.” The mage reported.

  “Wait, what, why?” Steve asked confused.

  Erik tapped his friend's shoulder. He hoped that the other man understood that he needed to calm down. Steve turned and looked at him, sighed, and waved at everyone that he was fine. After a breath, Nath'aniel finally answered the super soldier. "As a viotor of Magi w, I cast a Truth spell on her. And before you ask Erik, yes that's a new spell, and no, I will only use it on viotors of our ws.'

  “Janet has requested to some privacy for an hour or two till its effects wear off. She doesn’t want to admit to some things that she thinks and feels. As she has decided that some thoughts she has… may be harmful to your and her professional and social retionship.”

  “Truth spell?” the super soldier asked.

  “It compels a person to give information when asked a question and they may not lie when replying. As such, my people restrict the use of the spell, to only being used against clear viotors of the w. Your associate trespassed, and as such counted as such a person.” The mage expined to him.

  "So like the truth serums used in spy movies," Sam muttered.

  “How did she bypass our defenses?” Erik asked before anyone else could ask something else.

  "She hid in Rogue's leather jacket pocket," Nath'aniel answered ftly.

  “What, how?” The mutant leader asked confused. Yet before the mage could answer the Citadel gave them another alert.

  “Sorry to intrude, but I am detecting a strange anomaly.”

  “What kind of anomaly?” Nath’aniel asked the ceiling.

  "I am detecting an air wake in the skies above the Savage Lands, as if a craft is passing through it, but I cannot detect the craft itself."

  Erik frowned at that, as there was only one craft that was advanced enough to possibly confuse this pce's equipment. So he asked. "Citadel can you show me the profile of the air wake?" Instead of answering a series of green lights came alive and eventually projected the outline of the air wake. Seeing it he immediately recognized it. "I am both worried, and pleased, that I finally outdid you Nath'aniel.'

  “Citadel, awaken and alert all members of my Brotherhood. Tell them to prepare for combat, if they ask, tell them that the X-men are here.”

  “You know that craft?” Steve asked him.

  The mutant leader nodded before admitting. "I helped build it. It's the most advanced aircraft that I know of. It is a stealth transport that can go up to three times the speed of sound, and with only a few minor modifications can be converted into a space-worthy vessel. We called it the Bckbird."

  “Did their telepath find us despite the Citadel’s defenses?” The rge woman asked him.

  ‘He might have pulled the location from my mind back during our battles with the Nazis, but I don’t want Nath’aniel to think of us as a weakness. Besides Charles would have acted by now if that was the case.’ Erik thought, but instead kept it vague, saying. "Maybe… or they're using Thunderbird's power to track. Also, they’re not flying at their top speed, so they may not be coming here to fight.”

  “By why else might they come all the way down here?” Sam asked worried.

  “To recruit.” The mage suggested. When everyone looked at him, he added. "We saw Steve being attacked from the recording in Ms. Charter's home, could it not be possible that they too saw the recording and were interested in a certain blur-furred young man. We did send Shanna and Nightcrawler because they have the weakest ties to you. Especially, if he was in the Northern Western Realm one hour and in the Southern Realm in another?”

  Steve then looked Erik in the eye and asked. “What do you want to do?”

  "We prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. Let's get you and your…” The mutant leader started to answer.

  Then the super soldier cut him off. “No. If you fighting. Then I am fighting as well. Friends don’t abandon their friends just because it’s hard.” Then he looked over at Nath’aniel and asked. “You got any spare weapons or armor I could use.”

  Before the mage could answer Shanna tapped the mage on his shoulder. Then Nath’aniel nodded and asked. "Shanna, would you escort the good Captain to the Armory?" She nodded and then raised her hand towards the way he and Steve had come to get here. Then the two walked off, assumedly towards the re-locator.

  Then Erik and Nath’aniel both took a moment to stare at the rge woman that was still standing there, despite the emergency. Sam looked at them both before muttering. “What?”

  "I assume that you will want to wear something more practical if a battle breaks out." The mutant leader politely suggested to her. Sam then looked at what she was wearing, and let out a girly 'eek', as she closed the open portion of her untied robe.

  Samantha was wearing a robe that the mage had customized for her, so that it had an extra set of holes and sleeves for her second set of arms. And from the glimpses that Erik had gotten, he knew the only other thing she was wearing was a rather cey pair of underwear.

  "Right clothes," Sam muttered while holding her robes closed, and started heading deeper into the Citadel.

  She got a half a dozen steps away before the mage warned her. “Are still in your quarters. Only what you were wearing st night is in mine."

  It took a lot of willpower to keep Erik from ughing when she jogged back the other way towards the re-locator, and the lower levels of the Citadel.

  "It's going to take some getting used to, you and her being a thing," Erik muttered once he was sure she was out of range of his speaking.

  “How many?” the mage didn’t take the option to end things humorously, instead getting them back on task.

  “If their goal is recruitment, then six or seven members. Not all will make the approach, but they will have others held back in case things go poorly." Erik started with best case scenario, before he id out the worst. "But if they have both the Active members and the current css as well, we could be looking at fourteen or fifteen combat-trained mutants."

  AnnouncementAnd with this I will be going on a short hiatus, we are about half done, but i have a friend's wedding i need prepare for, and a trip shortly there after, so i will be too bust to write or edit. So you will not be getting anymore chapters probably until early Sep.