17 Magneto

"You're really fine with that piece of junk?" Kitty asked as they left the electronics store.

"It's good enough." Harry had purchased a used phone, an older model, but which worked just fine for the purposes he would need.

They were on their way to the car, the backseats of which were filled with bags. It took considerable effort to fit themselves into it. The trunk was already filled to the brim with the products of their little shopping spree.

"We should probably head back now; it's starting to get late." Jean said as they were driving around.

The sun was gradually starting to disappear over the horizon, and the streetlamps were lighting up. It was also gradually starting to get colder as the summer slowly transformed into fall. At least the bags he was holding onto provided some cover from the wind.

"Anyone object?" Scott asked, and when he received no objections, he started to drive towards the mansion.

"Pull up the fucking roof!" Harry yelled at Scott.

"No!" Kitty and Scott yelled out simultaneously while even Jean was content to be battered by the cold wind. It was baffling. Kitty even had her arms up in the air and was laughing constantly.

The actual temperature of the wind wasn't the problem here, it was the strength of it and how it tried to take the bags that held everything they had bought with them and throw them into the air.

Jean was holding onto her share of the bags easily enough, her powers allowed her to comfortably hold them down. Harry had to try to shield them from the wind with every possible method he had.

"Some help?" He turned to Jean, who just raised an eyebrow and smirked in response.

"Fucking…" Harry grumbled under his breath as he managed to catch an errant bag that had slipped through his grasp.

The drive back towards the mansion was relatively peaceful, with barely any other cars along the way. One of the good sides of living in a remote location. Though, it did also make every trip out to the city long.

The sights along the way were beautiful, illuminated by the moonlight. Everything shone in a wondrous way. At least the small handful of glances Harry could manage before another bag threatened to escape into the air.

"How much longer?" Harry asked Scott as Jean finally took pity on him and used her powers to hold down all the bags.

"About an hour!" Scott yelled back at him before focusing on the road.

They were about half-way done with their trip, when the car suddenly took off and started levitating in place above the road.

"Jean?" Harry turned to look at Jean, but she shook her to indicate that it wasn't her who was doing this. "What's happening?"

"Oh shit." Scott muttered with palpitation clear in his voice.

"Harry Ballard! I want to speak with you." A male voice rang out in the air. The car was gently placed back onto the ground as the door to his side opened up. "Step out, if you may."

Harry looked at his friends before stepping out despite their quiet warnings and his better instincts telling him not to. Standing on the road in front of him were two figures.

One looked to be female and was completely blue. Harry recognized her as Mystique and standing next to her was a male he presumed to be the one who had spoken.

He was wearing a red metal helmet but lacked the signature red suit that Harry was familiar with. It instead looked like the man was wearing a striped, black, and white uniform, like a prisoner would.

"It seems like you know who I am, that is good." Magneto said. "It will make things easier."

"What do you want from me?" Harry asked cautiously but didn't step past the hood of the car.

"I?" He asked. "I do not want anything from you. No, it is mutant-kind as a whole who need you."

The man started levitating towards him, slowly but steadily. His friends were also clambering out of the car to stand behind him. They looked apprehensive.

"Your mutation is a boon to us all. It would be a waste if you became another one of Charles' lap-dogs, making a futile show of servitude to the humans." Magneto stopped around five meters in front of him. "He would have you restrain yourself to placate the cancer of this world."

Magneto was trying to turn Harry to his side. Even if the man offered irresistible benefits, it wouldn't tempt him. He had no interest in eradicating the human race, not to mention that joining Magneto would pit him against Charles, the man that was the sole reason he was currently standing here.

Yet, he couldn't say that out loud. A diplomatic approach would be the best option here.

"How do you know about me?" Harry asked instead.

He had thought that only Charles and his people knew about him, yet it seemed that wasn't the case.

"Charles isn't the only one with methods to find mutants." Magneto said dismissively waving his hand. "Charles isn't the almighty, benevolent leader of the mutants he proclaims himself to be."

"His solution isn't the correct one, what he has brought is only temporary peace that won't last." Magneto said as his eyes seemed to pierce straight into Harry's soul. "Join me, join us and help us with our mission."

No matter how hard Harry thought about the words he could use to politely decline his offer while still leaving a slight hope for the future within Magneto, he couldn't think of anything.

The screeching tired saved him from the expectant gaze of Magneto. The man turned, visibly annoyed in the direction of the sound.

"Run!" Logan shouted as he jumped off his motorcycle and lunged at Magneto with his claws extended.

They hadn't even had the chance to move themselves before Logan was grunting in the air, suspended in place.

"You never learn, do you?" Magneto sighed. He twisted his arm and the claws retracted back into Logan's skin, to the painfilled grunts of the man.

"This man is one of your so called teachers." Magneto turned to look at him while still holding Logan in place. "A man who has not learned his lesson in the hundreds of times we have encountered each other."

"Shut up, you maniac." Logan managed to grit out as Magneto added more force.

"We can offer each one of you much better assistance in controlling your powers." Mystique stepped out from behind Magneto. "In exchange, we only want your cooperation."

None of them said anything for a while, eventually Kitty stepped up beside him and spoke.

"Can we take a day to sleep over it?"

"We'd like an answer now." The meaning was clear.

"Then the answer is no." Harry couldn't find words that would have expressed their denial more eloquently, this would have to do.

"A shame." Mystique gave her answer and started walking towards them.

Scott's hands were already on his glasses, ready to pull them down while Jean was picking up any errant object she could grab with her powers. Kitty was preparing to rush into her while Harry was doing the same.

"Stop!" Magneto said. "You touch them, and we start a war. We're not ready for that."

Mystique stopped and looked at Magneto for a moment before slowly backing off, all the while staring at them. Magneto waved his hand, launching Logan backwards onto the road.

"I hope you've taken your time to consider this." Magneto looked at them each. "The next time we meet won't be so amicable."

With those parting words, they quickly disappeared into the night.

"Oh shit, oh fuck." Scott mumbled as he leaned against the car.

"What the fuck just happened?" Harry asked.

"They told us that something like this might happen, but that was so scary." Kitty said, her energetic self seemed deflated.

"Who did?"

"The older students. It's apparently something Magneto used to do to anyone who had useful powers." Jean replied, even the normally collected girl was having a hard time breathing.

"But they haven't done it in almost two years, why now?" Scott asked.

"We don't know, but we have to inform Charles that he has escaped." Logan limped to them, his clothes were bloody and torn. "Get in the car and go."

They followed his advice as they all clambered back into the car. Logan took over driving as his motorcycle was completely trashed. Scott sat in the passenger seat as Kitty was forced to sit underneath all the bags.

The first five minutes of the ride were spent in silence, until Harry's shock of the situation wore off.

"Were you following us?" He asked.

"Yes, Charles' orders." Logan replied. "You know why."

He had guessed that the professor would have done something like that. Letting a group of young mutants to town without supervision, especially if one of them was as unstable as Harry was, was not really a good idea.

Harry was just surprised because none of them had found out that they were being tailed by Logan. Not even Jean, the telepath who could detect the minds in their vicinity.

Either Logan had been so far away that she couldn't pick it up, or his mind was somehow protected from her mental abilities.

The others seemed surprised that they had been followed, maybe it wasn't as common as he had thought.

"You said that he had escaped? Did you mean Magneto?" Scott asked.

"Yes." Logan replied gruffly, refusing to elaborate despite Scott's pestering follow-up questions.

Harry was left wondering about Magento's words for the rest of the trip to the mansion. What had he meant by Charles' not being what he said he was? Everything the man had done so far had only benefited Harry, so he found it hard to doubt him.

On top of that, believing the words of a mutant that was hell-bent on destroying humanity didn't sound particularly rational. Then again, it wasn't rational to believe that someone was purely good.

He was sure that the professor had done some things that might not have been ethically correct, but surely, they weren't something as big as what Magneto seemed to have alluded to.

They arrived at the mansion at around 9 PM.

"Go get some sleep, I'll tell Charles everything he needs to know." Logan said as he tossed the keys back to Scott. "Might want to tell Alex what happened to his car."

"Huh?" Scott asked, confused.

"There's quite a few scratches there." Logan smirked and patter Scott's shoulder. "Good luck."

Scott's eyes were wide open, and he looked frantic. The depressed and sullen atmosphere that had hung around the group since their encounter with Magneto started to slowly evaporate. It was a distraction, a welcome one.

"You have a brother?" Harry asked curiously.

Scott hadn't mentioned that he had a brother before.

"He'll kill me!" Scott was almost hysterical as he desperately tried to wipe the scratches off, hoping that some of them were only dirt. The girls both giggled and even Harry had a small smile on his face.