Eventually he slowed down and dropped the crippled and broken form of Belasco who did the only thing he could and coward before the Viltrumite.
"Tell me where the Promethium is..." Mark said in a growl that almost rumbled the rocks underneath him.
...
The lounge doors sealed shut behind Magneto as he led the way deeper into the Baxter Building, Mystique and Magik flanking him while Reed and Franklin walked ahead with their wrists bound by thin metal bands that Magneto controlled with a casual flick of his fingers.
It didn't take long before they reached the secure lab housing the GeoCore Stabilizer. Franklin's hands trembled as he approached the first biometric panel. "The codes are layered," he said quietly. "I need to input multiple sequences."
"Input them," Magneto ordered, "All of them."
Franklin began typing, but Mystique stepped closer, her yellow eyes narrowing. "He's trying to trigger a lockdown sequence," she said flatly. "The third digit is a decoy. Change it and the system seals the core permanently."
Magneto shook his head, almost disappointed. "That was a shame, Doctor Storm. A very poor choice."
He gestured and Franklin's left knee implant twisted violently inside his leg. Bone snapped with a wet crack and Franklin screamed, collapsing to the floor, clutching the ruined joint as agony ripped through him.
Reed lunged forward. "Stop! He didn't mean to—"
Magik drew her sword in a blur, the blade's edge stopping inches from Reed's throat. "Back off," she warned. "Or I cut you from ball to brain."
Magneto crouched beside Franklin, who was still gasping in pain. "I made myself clear. You have two children. That means you have two chances to say yes." He raised one finger toward the ceiling, the metal fixtures in the room trembling. "Illyana, go kill his daughter."
"No!" Franklin shouted. "No, please! I'm sorry! I'll do it! I'll do everything you ask!"
Magneto held up a single finger. "One last chance."
Franklin nodded frantically, tears cutting tracks through the dust on his face. Reed helped him to the next panel, supporting his weight as the older man input the remaining codes with shaking fingers. The final lock disengaged with a heavy clunk. The reinforced cradle opened, revealing the GeoCore Stabilizer.
Magneto walked forward and lifted the device with both hands. It hummed to life in his grip, the field inside responding to his magnetic aura like a living thing. He turned it over once, admiring the craftsmanship, then gestured to Magik. She opened a small portal and withdrew a second, darker device—compact, covered in intricate runes and metallic filaments.
"This will allow you to connect with it," she said, handing it over.
Reed's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why would ne do such a thing? Franklin, do you know?"
Franklin, still leaning heavily on Reed, winced through the pain. "Magneto controls magnetism. If he links his power directly to the GeoCore... it would amplify his abilities to a degree I shudder to think about."
Reed's eyes widened at the implications, the color draining from his face.
...
Meanwhile, back in the lounge, the remaining captives sat under guard. Juggernaut paced the room like a caged bull, occasionally smashing a decorative vase or punching a hole through a wall. Blob lounged in the kitchen area, devouring everything in the fridge and Pyro sat on the edge of a table, flicking a lighter open and closed, small flames dancing across his fingertips.
In the far corner, Johnny, Ben, Sue, and Colleen huddled together. Johnny kept muttering curses under his breath. "Those damn freakishly big bastards. I could roast them all if I got one clean shot."
Ben growled agreement. "Yeah I'll take the metal head, damn guy thinks he can get me with a cheap shot."
Sue tried to keep them calm. "We can't do anything stupid. Dad and Reed are still with them. One wrong move and—"
Colleen cut in. "You really think they're going to let us live after they're done?"
Johnny and Ben nodded fiercely. "She's right," Johnny said. "We gotta do something."
Sue reminded him, "Johnny, our dad and Reed are still in danger. If we start a fight now..."
That mollified him, but only barely. The group sat in tense silence for a while each of them sat waiting for any kind of opening that they could take. Sue considered trying to use her powers to make a path towards the door, and she would've if not for the fact that the blob was sitting in front of it. That was when Sue noticed one of the overhead lights flickering in a pattern. She frowned, watching closely until her eyes widened in understanding.
short-long-short, pause, repeat.
Morse code.
She recognized it instantly. She also recognised that there was only one person who would've been sending the message right now.
Natasha.
The message was clear: "I'm going to distract them. Cover your ears."
Sue whispered it to the others. "Backups here, she's about to make a distraction cover your ears and get ready to fight."
Sue could tell they wanted to ask more, but this was neither the time or place to do so. They merely nodded and prepared themselves for it, something which pyro seemed to notice.
"What are you—"
The lounge door slid open without warning and several stun grenades rolled across the floor.
Sue, Colleen, Johnny, and Ben covered their ears and eyes just in time. The mutants were not so lucky. The flashes and bangs hit them full force and sent all of them to the ground or at least in juggernauts case leaning against the wall. The helmet had protected him from the stun affected but his eyes had been wide open at the time and it completely blinded him.
"Go!" Sue shouted.
Colleen rushed towards pyro as she knew the other mutants were a little out of her league. She kicked up a knife to her hand as she ran and immediately threw it straight into his shoulder. Pyro roared in pain and fired blindly trying to hit whoever had stabbed him. Unluckily for him Natasha rushed into the room from the hallway, slid past the blob and kicked the blonde man in the knee forcing him down. She then grabbed the dagger out of his shoulder and used it to slit his throat and kick him down to the ground.
Unfortunately the Juggernaut recovered faster than expected, shaking off the stun with a roar. "You little bitch!" he bellowed at Sue, charging like a freight train.
Sue thrust her hands forward and A force-field platform materialized under her feet, lifting her ten feet into the air just as Juggernaut crashed through where she had been standing. The juggernaut tried to stop himself, but was unable to and he ended up crashing through the wall and down 30 stories.
"Youuuu BIIIITTCHHH—"
Meanwhile Ben grabbed Blob from behind, locking his rocky arms around the giant's waist in a crushing bear hug while Johnny reignited, sending an intense je of flame directly into Blob's face. The heat intensified until Blob's skin blistered and blackened.
He howled, flailing around and trying to get out of his grip but he failed and Johnny was able to blast him until he fell down and collapsed on his front.
The room fell quiet except for everyone who seemed to be shocked that this had worked so well. Eventually Johnny and Ben stared at Natasha, who was wiping blood from the blade and putting it back on the side.
Johnny blinked. "Wait... Nat what are you doing here? Wait does that mean shields here? With what we did earlier I doubted they'd come back here."
Ben rumbled, "How many agents did you bring?"
Natasha holstered the knife. "SHIELD isn't here."
They stared at her, confusion forming on their faces. Why was one of their top agents here if SHIELD wasn't right behind her?
Sue stepped forward. "She's the fugitive they were looking for."
Johnny's jaw dropped. "Wait what? Why?"
"It's complicated," Sue said quickly. "We can talk about it later. Right now we need to save Reed and Dad."
Natasha nodded. "We have to leave. Call SHIELD. With the GeoCore, Magneto is more powerful than ever. We can't—"
*SCREECH*
Before she could even finish her sentence the entire wall and door imploded inward in a screech of metal. The whole floor shook and everyone fell to the floor as it seemed the whole building was about to collapse. Though it seemed to settle a moment later, and as they caught their footing everyone in the room looked towards the opening and to Magneto who strode through the debris.
"Quite right, Agent Romanoff," Magneto commented.
The group moved to attack but Magneto flicked one wrist. And the metal beams, window frames, and rebar ripped from the walls and ceiling, broke out and straightened before wrapping around each of them. Sue tried to form a force field around them but it shattered under the pressure from alll the metal. Once they were all restrained her eyes locked on her father, limp and carried by Reed, blood staining his pant leg.
"Dad!" Sue screamed.
Magneto glanced at Franklin. "Calm yourself Miss Storm. Your father is fine. He simply had to be punished a little for his insolence."
Sue's voice shook with fury. "You have what you want, if you're done here just leave!"
Magneto smirked, stepping into the center of the ruined lounge. "Why would I leave now and deprive you of a truly spectacular sight. You are about to witness a truly important day in history," he began.
He raised both hands and the entire building shuddered. Each of the walls peeled open like tin cans and the floor beneath them lifted smoothly into the night air, exposing the lounge to the open sky thirty stories above Manhattan.
Mystique handed him a small transmitter. "You're live," she said.
"People of New York, and people watching around the world," he said,. "Some of you may know who I am, for those of you who don't. I am Magneto. For years my people have been in hiding, for years we have feared what may happen when we stepped into the light. When we did step into the light, you spoke of mutants as if we are a problem that needs to be solved. You have studied us, registered us, and imprisoned us, and you have told yourselves that it was for everyone's safety."
Traffic lights froze in place as cars were forcibly stopped in the middle of intersections. Digital billboards shifted to his image, and office screens that had been displaying spreadsheets or news feeds now showed his face instead.
"You say that we are dangerous," Magneto continued. "You say that we must be controlled. You build machines to detect us and prisons to contain us, and you tell yourselves that you are protecting humanity when you do it. What you are really protecting is your own fear."
He lifted one hand slowly, and along a nearby avenue of parked cars rose into the air. Their frames twisted as metal pulled inward under pressure, and glass shattered as windows broke from the strain.
"For years, we have tried to coexist," he said. "Some of us have opened schools. Some of us have tried to help your governments. Some of us have saved your lives. In return, you have treated us as weapons or threats. You have hunted us, and you have killed us."
He turned slightly and flicked his wrist.
Across the city the Empire State Building jerked sideways. The metal frame of the entire building twisted and tore away from the structure, and the upper section fell, crashing down through lower city. With a single gesture of his hand he had destroyed one of America's greatest landmarks and killed thousands of people.
Magneto placed one hand over the GeoCore attached to his chest.
"This device was built to stabilize your world," he said. "It was designed to protect the planet and your cities. Now it serves a different purpose."
He extended both arms outward and spread his fingers.
"It will be used to speed along evolution..."
Deep below Manhattan the iron within the earths crust responded to his command the tectonic plates that shifted below the earth started to move. The ground shifted as sections of pavement lifted and cracked. Streets split open along long lines, and water pipes burst as pressure tore through them.Buildings swayed as the entire foundations shifted. Windows cracked and fell. People inside those buildings lost their footing and fell as the structure beneath them moved.
It wasn't just manhattan but the entire eastern seaboard that felt the tremor.
"Do not be dismayed this is not the end," Magneto said. "This is merely the end of your illusion of control. You believed that your cities and your numbers gave you power. You believed that your machines made you strong. You believed that mutants would always remain under your foot."
He clenched his fists and the shaking intensified.
The entire city was shaking as a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the city. The sound of people screaming and dying as buildings collapsed and people were buried alive filled the city. Sue could only look on in horror as the entire city looked like it was about to collapse.
"You were wrong," he said.
But before Magneto could continue he was distracted by a strange beam of light that was moving towards them. It was mostly white with a kaleidoscope of colours rippling within. The narrow beam of light descended from the sky and struck the floating section of the Baxter Building.
"What is this," he demanded.
"I do not know," Magik replied.
The beam dissipated and a figure became visible inside it.
(AN: So Magneto has got the Geocore stabiliser and it's empowered him so much he can control the metal for hundreds of miles in every direction including deep in the earth or whatever. It's shaky science at best just don't think about it too hard.)
Support if you can.
Patreon.com/captainalfie78works