CHAPTER 67 - VISION’S REASONS

[Vision POV]

I was currently sitting on a bench at the bank of a lake along with a middle-aged Asian woman sharing the bench with me. We spent the first few minutes in silence just watching the random passers-by and the occasional joggers until Mystique broke the silence.

"I didn't peg you for a nature-loving guy."

"I'm not. But I am of the belief that tranquil and aesthetically beautiful things should be properly appreciated." I said lightly before finally turning to look at her since my arrival. "You said you wanted to talk?"

Right now I was in my Simon disguise since I don't want the scenario where I'm identified in public. I blame my lack of concern for a superhero secret identity on the Avengers because none of them cared about it. Each of them were public celebrity/superhero figures.

"It's about your proposal. I want to know in detail your intentions and what you stand to gain out of this so that I know exactly what I'm getting myself into." She said while paying attention to the newsreels and blog posts on her phone.

My reply to her question was a simple sentence. "The complete upheaval of the Hellfire Club."

Despite already resolving myself to be someone who will leave his mark in this universe's history that I'll be known for generations to come, despite sympathizing with the unjustified hate and persecution that the mutants went through in their early days, I still will not put myself in a position that I will appear as a savior to them.

Who said they needed a savior or a messiah?

While I am far from being the smartest person alive or the most experienced, the fact that my data log reach extended as far back as the advent of the internet has to count for something.

In my opinion, Erik and Charles failed in the singular aspect that they both portrayed themselves as the mutant kind saving grace.

Charles believes that his actions will be the pivotal point of change for the mutants, while Erik outright put himself in a position of being worshiped as a king and believed he was needed for the future of the mutants.

This was why the mutants, on most occasions, were always divided between Charles' faction and that of Erik's.

Seeing that I meant exactly what I said, Mystique gave me a side glance and asked again. "And you intend to do that by having me infiltrate the Inner Circle? There must have been a criteria that I passed for you to seek me out. What is it?"

I can tell that she has already agreed with my proposition and this back and forth was just a way for her to get a mental picture of me. I don't care much for it, on the contrary it's better for her to create her own opinions of me with a conversation like the one we are currently having.

"Criteria? Well, I won't lie and say that I didn't put together a few considerations when deciding on who I wanted to work on this with." I informed her as I rubbed my two palms together and blew into it. "First thing I considered when deciding on it was perseverance."

While staring directly at her as if I could see her innermost thoughts and heart desires, I gave her the first reason. "You stuck with Erik for more than four decades despite his numerous shortcomings. That requires an inhuman level of perseverance and focus and I'll very much like that when working with someone."

She looked stunned, more in shock and surprise with a little bit of wariness but I didn't give her a chance to break my momentum and continued saying things out of my ass mixed with what I knew of her.

"Moral alignment aside, I believe Erik wouldn't have gotten to where he is as fast as he did without you. Not to be presumptuous, but I believe he considers you an irreplaceable asset in his organization… that is if he hasn't gotten senile." I couldn't stop my lips from twitching as I remembered the astonishing number of betrayals and number of times she switched sides or just played two groups altogether. Oh she definitely was no saint, no doubt about that.

"While you come with your own fair shares of trouble, I could care less about them since you are pretty capable as you haven't lost your head after more than a century." Turns out that this version of Mystique was the one over a century old because I had found a picture of her in 1968 in her adult polymorph form.

"So in essence, what I'm basically trying to say is that you've been around for far much longer than either Charles or Erik and you've been by their side long enough to remember all their behavioral ticks and subconscious tells and yet you are the one who has faded away."

Now we were both staring into the other's eyes to ascertain any bit of falsehood lying deep beneath.

I've already made it clear that this was not a proposal of equal partnership as that would mean we are working towards a mutual goal. We aren't.

On my side, I had no reason to lie to her as there was nothing I stood to gain from it and it's not as if I needed something from her. Her being here with me was a choice I made after ascertaining who I was dealing with. So while there's an 80% probability of her betraying me later down the line, the betrayal won't affect me in any way. In fact if that does happen, there won't be anything stopping me from attacking her.

I laughed a bit as I could feel her shock and surprise turn to curiosity which also spiked her wariness towards me.

With nothing else to say to her, I ended my monologue with my conclusion. "You are not a good person, Mystique, nor are you someone the fates played a hard hand against. You are evil. I don't care, though I think it's impossible, if you want redemption, repentance or try to make amends. The only thing I want from you is being someone capable."

We fell into another wave of silence as I ended what I had to say to her. I rested my back against the bench and just enjoyed the soft peaceful caress of the wind before I had to go back and fall back into routine.

I felt Mystique shuffling and recomposing herself, putting a stop to any distracting thoughts that might be swimming through her head.

"How long did it take for you to come up with something like that?" She asked with the shadows of a smirk hanging on the edge of her lips.

"No time at all. I came up with it on the fly."

She exhaled and I could feel her relaxing as some of the tension she came here with bled out of her system. "You're right about a lot of things about me but I hope you don't think you have me figured out with just that?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good. I hope this 'alliance' of ours becomes fruitful." She said and stood up from the bench and changed into another form – this time a young man. "I'll be in touch, Vision." And with that she walked away.

"Oh, and there is one more thing you got wrong about me. I do care."

Without it being explicitly said, I am very impressed. Not just by her but myself as well. It's such a wholesome moment when I come face to face with the fact that I'm world's apart from who I used to be a few months prior.

Feeling a bit light on the inside, I got up from the bench and made to leave.

"You're not the only one who cares."

°°°°°°

In an undisclosed location.

Garbed in a dark red suit and a purple cape that hung back from his shoulders, Erik Lensherr, known worldwide as Magneto, sat on his lonesome in an empty room whose surface reflected light with its cold metallic silver.

At his side was his trusty helmet that had followed him through more than half of his life. At this point, the metallic helmet was not just a handy tool to block out telepaths but had become something like a symbol of his identity.

A knock resounded through every corner of the room which prompted the sitting, eyes closed, cross-legged man to speak out without breaking his meditation.

"Report."

"Sir. Everything has been carried out as you ordered."

"And Charles?"

"There has been no intentional movement both in and out of the Mansion except for the kids going to school." The man on the other side of the door diligently reported.

"And Mystique?"

"No movements from her side either."

Magneto asked nothing else and focused on his practice while the person on the other side of the door patiently waited for any of his orders.

After five minutes of saying and doing nothing other than measured breaths, Magneto opened his eyes and stood up from the cold metallic floor he had been sitting on.

"Tell them to get ready. We have work to do." He said and took his helmet before gently placing it on his head. "And tell them to prepare a fitting gift for our human friends."

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Heard the previous chapters lacked substance, yeesh.

Honestly, I don't even know how to go about rectifying that and I know that the obvious path to take is to push the plot forward but sometimes I just end up typing chapters after chapters and when I go back to re-read and edit them, I be like 'nothing actually happened though'. So yes, plot progression is what I'm doing but I think I end up writing too much about the background and stuff.

It's all a learning experience for me, and while that is not a valid excuse, I feel that sometimes I should just wing it rather than care writing.

Honestly this all leaves my head jumbled, but I'll try my best though.

Quack, out.

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