26.

Not letting Kai carry out his momentum, Magneto and Storm collaborated, combining their powers in a desperate bid to counter Kai's relentless assault. Magneto drew upon the surrounding metal debris, forming a dense shield around the group, while Storm channeled her lightning towards Kai who had no choice but to dodge the attack.

Before Kai could make his move, Fisk who had awakened from his unconsciousness grabbed a hold of Kai as Strom launched another attack in a hurry, directly landing a proper hit for the first time.

In an act of hurry, Jean finally let go of her control relaying her telepathic powers to the best of her ability to subdue Kai as Fisk finally let him go. Magneto immediately began gathering the metals around the vicinity, launching it straight at Kai.

One after another, each metal piece bending itself and binding Kai making sure he couldn't move. In an attempt to subdue the monster, Magneto used all the energy he could muster at the moment, attaching every metal he could find onto Kai completely sealing him into a ginormous ball of metal.

Having used almost all of his powers at the moment, Magneto crashed on the ground, his nose bleeding from the after-effects of having his powers drained by his machine and Rogue one after the other.

The metal ball fell onto the ground with a large thump as Magneto collapsed from exhaustion, his breath heavy and labored. Storm rushed to his side, concern etched on her face as she assessed his condition.

"Eric, are you alright?" Storm's voice was laced with worry as she knelt beside him, checking for any signs of serious injury.

Magneto managed a weak nod, his voice strained. "I... I will be fine. Just need... a moment."

Meanwhile, Jean focused her telepathic abilities on Kai, who was now trapped within the massive ball of metal. She sensed his frustration and anger, his mind a turbulent storm of emotions.

"Kai," Jean's voice echoed in his mind, her tone calm yet firm. "It's over. You need to calm down."

Inside the metal prison, Kai seethed with rage, his thoughts chaotic and desperate. He struggled against the metal bonds, but they held firm, each piece responding to Magneto's mastery over magnetism.

As Kai was struggling to get out his strength and powers were weakened by Jean who wasn't allowing him to move even a single muscle of his, a familiar whisper sounded in his ears again.

This time, the voice was clearer than ever before.

A hint of recognition flashed on Kai's face as he couldn't help but mutter, "Leo..."

Outside, Fisk regained his composure, his gaze shifting from Kai to the mutants who had thwarted his plans. His hand clenched into a fist as he assessed the situation, plotting his next move and after thoughtful consideration, now that Kai had been captured and hopefully dead he could carry on as usual in peace.

Making sure no one could see him while they were distracted, Fisk ran away amongst the chaos not wanting to be caught up in the middle of all the mutant drama.

Storm turned her attention to Xavier, who was slowly recovering from Rogue's unexpected attack. "Professor, we need to secure Kai. He's dangerous, especially now."

Xavier nodded, his brow furrowed in concern. "Jean, maintain your hold on him. We can't risk him breaking free."

Jean nodded in response, her focus unwavering as she maintained her psychic grip on Kai's turbulent mind. The metal sphere remained motionless, a testament to Magneto's skill and Jean's determination.

"We need to contain him until we can figure out how to proceed," Xavier stated, his voice calm yet authoritative. "Cyclops, prepare the Blackbird. We're taking Kai into custody."

"Already on it." Cyclops answered glancing back at Wolverine who luckily began breathing normally again after awakening from his unconsciousness.

"Rogue... why did you help him?" Storm asked Rogue who was on the floor suddenly stunned by the telepathic abilities she had absorbed from Xavier, with the voices in her head driving her closer to the brink of madness.

"Get away from me!" Rogue yelled out loud, "All of you get the fuck away from me!"

"Breath Rogue, take deep breaths... my abilities aren't easy to control but as long as you don't fret and relax it's easy to control."

Begrudgingly Rogue followed calming herself down, with the noises in her head slowly dying out into a defeating silence, as she finally breathed a sigh of relief, "What are you going to do to me..."

"Nothing Rogue, we want nothing from you." Storm said calmly trying to pacify her, "Come with us... you'll be able to live a normal life among peers like yourself, study, and even understand and control your abilities. So you'd have nothing to fear."

Rogue shook her head, from the memory she had absorbed from both Magneto and Xavier as she couldn't bring herself to accept the unfair friendship they both seemed to have.

She had seen countless memories of both of them fighting one another, Magneto coming up with a new way to torment people, and Xavier always there to save the day. The cat-and-mouse game they had been playing around for decades had taken a toll on both humans and mutants alike.

Each going further and further but is not willing to stop.

In fact, if she had to choose one of the two considering their motive alone, she would side with Magneto who was fighting for the mutant kind albeit aggressively but he was still doing so with the right mindset.

But Magneto wanted her dead, not to mention joining Xavier might seem like a good deal at first, but if they were going to end up getting caught up in their fight, it was the same deal regardless.

"I don't want to go with any of you..." Rogue said firmly as she stared at the metallic ball, "Is he okay?"

"He's fine... since Jean is still communicating with him." Storm explained, "Do you know him?"

Rogue shook her head, "No, I just know that he wants to kill Magneto and the men who captured him and I want to help him in doing so..."

"Rogue..." Storm hesitantly spoke out not sure what should she say in this situation. The things the girl had gone through were a lot for anyone, but she didn't want to see another person lost in revenge like Kai was.

"Revenge isn't the way to go, Rogue." Xavier got up in his wheelchair with the help of Cyclops who had landed the jet, "Magneto and those men will pay according to the judgment of the law, and you'd see them behind bars paying for the crimes...this I can promise you."

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