The booth was cramped. Victor sat sideways, nursing his bruised ego and sore throat, while Erik sat with regal poise across from Max. He listened with a mix of fascination, shock, and deep concern as Max gave a brief rundown of what was to come—Apocalypse, the Sentinels, and other threats—along with his plan to take them out early and improve life for both mutants and humans in the process.
"...And that pretty much sums it up. What do you think? You in?"
"Charles turned you down..." Erik stated, his eyes tracking Max's hands as he moved a metal napkin dispenser around the table with a thought. "...He fears the preventative strike, and now you want to join hands with us instead."
"Pretty much... Charles is a fence-sitter, Erik. I like him, but he's in for a rough ride this time around." Max leaned in. "I've seen the threads of fate and all that stuff. I'll tell you the same thing I told Charles and co.: I'm not from here, your reality... don't ask me about the details, but I know how this is going to end. Even without my foresight here, I've seen the destruction before—several times... If you follow your current path, you get beaten, and En Sabah Nur rises anyway because the X-Men aren't ready to do what's necessary."
Max tapped the table, and every piece of silverware hummed in what sounded like a C-sharp. "I have outside knowledge, plus Irene's sight, your powers, and the luck to make sure the dice always roll in our favor. I know where the tomb of Apocalypse is. I know where Mesmero is hiding. I'm offering a shortcut to a world that doesn't end in mutant slavery. Win-win."
Erik remained silent for a long moment, a smile touching his lips. He touched the table as well, cancelling out the annoying sound Max was making. "It seems I didn't come here to recruit you, Max. I came here to be drafted."
Max let out a sharp, genuine laugh that cut through the tension in the booth. Even though he already had a vision of how this could go, he was still happy to get past this point. When judged solely by the cartoon, this version of Magneto came across as cold and headstrong, but the real-life counterpart—at least from Max's perspective—seemed incredibly personable.
"Now we're talking! So much easier than dealing with the X-Men." He leaned back, gesturing for the waitress to bring another round of coffee. As she walked away, Max flicked a finger, and a subtle magnetic field rippled outward, vibrating the air just enough to create a 'white noise' bubble around their table. No one would hear a word.
"But stopping the living mummy in the pyramid is just the warm-up," Max said, his expression shifting from amusement to cold calculation. "There's another thread I've pulled, Magnus. One that ends with the sky filled with purple and chrome..."
Erik leaned in, his brow furrowed, waiting for Max to continue.
"...The Sentinels. Right now? Yeah, they aren't even clunky prototypes yet," Max said, his eyes distant as his foresight played out the grim possibilities. "But I've seen the endgame. If I let the timeline play out, public opinion towards our kind gets really, really bad, man. Fear turns those killing machines into a 'go.' Those tin cans evolve into hunters that don't just track your DNA; they learn. They adapt. They turn the world into a graveyard."
He glanced at Victor, who was only half-listening as he idly picked at his ear with a pinkie, before turning his gaze back to Erik. "The X-Men, especially Charles, want to win the hearts and minds of normal humans, while you guys want to instill fear to keep them on their side of the fence. But I gotta tell you, man, both paths inevitably lead to those stupid machines being built. I've got a third way: join hands with the X-Men against common enemies like these guys, eradicate the roots of these two looming threats before they can blossom into true catastrophes, and then work hard to get ahead of public opinion. We get them calling us things like 'Supers' instead of Mutants. Work with Charles after all of this, Erik. Trust me, it's the best future..."
Max paused to take a breath and wet his throat before continuing the pitch.
"First, we take down Apocalypse—and next, without delay, it's gotta be Bolivar Trask, before he even has the chance to begin..." Max tapped his temple. "...I know which labs will be handling the project. I know which senators are signing the checks in secret. We're going to dismantle the Sentinel program while it's still just a blueprint in a hater's mind."
Erik stared at him, truly seeing him for the first time—not as the potential soldier he had intended to recruit, but as a peer with a terrifyingly clear map of the future. "You aren't just looking to save our people, Maximillian. You want to ensure the humans are treated the same... yet you are willing to 'take care of' Trask. You're the bridge between me and Charles... looking to rewrite history before it's even written."
Max grinned, a dangerous glint in his eye as he sold the story. "Exactly. That's kind of the whole reason I'm here. But my history? It's too late to rewrite. I'm just trying to save your world's future... By the way, just Max is fine."
Erik paused before reaching out a hand to shake Max's. "You can count on assistance from both me and the Brotherhood, Max. We will crush the imminent dangers together, and then go from there..."
Max returned the handshake and said, "So, are we eating, or just having coffee? I'm buying."
"I could... go for a bite. But one more thing before you lower the shield... I've noticed the device on your wrist. It is the same as the one that Kurt Wagner uses, yes? Could you show us your true appearance?"
'Finally!' Max thought to himself excitedly. He had seen this part in the visions of this meeting and couldn't wait to see their in-person reactions to his face. Max looked around to make sure the waitress was still off in the kitchen area before moving his hand down to deactivate the image inducer.
Beep.
Victor spat his water out in shock, his attention now fully on the grinning, gross version of Max. "Awe, what the fu—what the hell, man! Your head looks like a work boot that shoulda been thrown out three years ago..."
Erik managed to maintain his composure for the most part, quickly moving to shut Sabretooth up. "E... enough, Victor."
"What do you think? Would you say... perfection, Erik?" Max couldn't help himself. He had to drop the line, even knowing that neither of the two mutants would get the reference at all.
...
The next couple of weeks flew by in an instant.
Ten days after Max teamed up with Magneto and his Brotherhood, he left on a solo mission to heroically—or perhaps chaotically—rescue Wolverine and Storm. Storm, for the record, had been dispatched by the Professor to save Wolverine, only to promptly get herself hypnotized by Mesmero's dazzling mind-control routine. Just like Max had warned, Mesmero turned both of them into his loyal, slightly confused mind-slaves.
Max confronted Mesmero, didn't let him monologue one bit, and simply knocked him out with a well-placed steel ball to the back of his head, freeing the two.
During this time, both 'drop-in' abilities, [Blending In] and [I'm Out], would occasionally activate on their own. Max would get an odd feeling and check his interface, spotting the skill names lighting up. It felt like he had become a middleman between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, with neither side minding that he kept in touch with both.
Logan promised to help reason with 'Chuck' about leaving the Apocalypse matter to Max and the Brotherhood, with the Professor finally agreeing in the end—much to everyone's surprise but Max's. It had taken Max's blunt warning to seal the deal: if Charles didn't listen, both he and Storm were destined to become Apocalypse's minions—his 'Horsemen'—and lead the charge against their own kind.
Over the next couple of days, Max spent his time either in the Danger Room or having some cold ones with Logan. In the evenings, he found himself up on the roof of the mansion, stargazing and finding company with Ororo, even waking up in her bed one morning despite his appearance.
Two days before the mission, Max and Magneto trained together in the rugged expanse of a mountain range, honing their abilities and experimenting with ways to combine their magnetic powers.
Their goal was clear—finding innovative methods to confront and ultimately take down Apocalypse.
Max took the lead in devising unconventional strategies, pushing the boundaries of how their abilities could be used creatively and effectively, totally surprising Magneto and expanding his horizons a little.
Finally, the day to strike had come.