Chapter 3 - Marvel (1)

[Rogue's POV]

To say that my fellow X-Men and I were worried about the Professor's sudden outburst would be an understatement.

Hell. We didn't even know that he sent Logan to recruit another mutant until the short mental summary he gave us seconds ago, which prompted us to jump into our costumes in case the messenger somehow brought the guy's rage as both Jean and him sensed the sudden presence of Logan in front of the school's gates.

Quickly walking out of the mansion, we saw two people at the gates, one was mindlessly emptying his stomach contents under him, ignoring the vomit that stained his black leather vest. It is strange to see the usually so confident and intimidating Logan so defenseless since he usually regenerates everything way too fast to be left in pitying conditions.

However, it is a sight of relief since he doesn't since hurt, simply... disoriented? Perhaps the same way one feels sick when they spin on themselves too long and too fast.

The other is the guy that the Professor sent Logan to recruit earlier this morning.

He is just as handsome as the picture of him let thought, with neatly combed black hair, and a black stylish three-piece suit.

I could see that I was not the only girl that noticed his handsome face since Kitty almost had stars in her eyes.

While he looked relatively... normal albeit wealthier than most, the fact that he seemingly temporarily incapacitated Logan and was undetectable by our two telepaths is enough to let us believe that he has the potential to be quite a threat if he wants to.

Especially if we don't even know what his mutation is...

"It is a pleasure for us to meet you, Markus Freeman." The Professor began, his electric wheelchair rolling slightly in front of the group.

"Fuck... You will pay for that, kid..." Logan interrupted, as he was done with whatever affected him earlier.

The other guy didn't even look at him despite the murderous glare he sent him, which would have to make most people's blood freeze at the intensity of it.

"It was the fastest way to arrive. As for the relic you ride, you should quickly go back to fetch it since that part of the city is filled with robbers." He replied, his eyes calmly scanning our group as his poker face never changed despite some of our members' curious appearances.

"... Shit." Logan finally expressed, beginning to jog back at a speed far superior to most since his bike was his most precious possession.

"..." The Professor stayed silent as he probably instructed the immortal guy to leave for now before anything go south.

The Professor's pacifist nature didn't escape the handsome's guy sight since he almost immediately commented on it.

"Your behavior is exactly like they described. Afraid to make an enemy of anyone even if it means losing any sense of pride."

Though we all were curious about who exactly described the Professor's actions to him, the man itself didn't seem perturbed by it.

"I find it wise to not engage in senseless violence. Especially if I want us, mutants to succeed in our goal of coexistence with humans."

Markus then said something that surprised all of us, even the Professor's eyes were wide open when he heard the man's words accompanied by the sole smirk he made until now.

"There is no such thing as coexistence in the future I come from."

As if to further shake our belief in the Professor's dreams he continued.

"Only the utter annihilation of the mutant race."

"Holy fuck..." Kitty muttered, as she too understand what it meant.

Not only did the Professor's passive behavior not contribute to anything worth mentioning, but it also seems like Magneto's aggressive actions finally brought the already extreme mutants' hatred to a point of no return.

Sigh... when we are done with a problem, another one emerges albeit in the form of a handsome mysterious guy...

---

"I-it is impossible! You have to have lied!" Scott shouted, refusing to believe such news.

Although the other X-Men did not vocalize their doubts too, such things could not be trusted without proof.

"The fastest way to let us verify the information is to let us access your mind, mister Freeman. You do understand that we can't help you if your intentions are not as you made them appear to be?" The bald man on the chair asked, both troubled and curious about the young man.

"Unfortunately, you seem to misunderstand my intentions. I don't want your help, it was but a simple warning. I don't have any desire to save the mutant race." Markus said, waving his hands as if he was talking about the weather.

All were frowning at his words but the one who first expressed her distaste for his words was the red-head woman, Jean Grey.

"You don't want to save your fellow mutants? Why?!"

"I came back into the past to deal with some... problems that go beyond your understanding whose consequences would be much more grave than a single race's annihilation and enslavement. I took the time to notify you of mutants' programmed extinction which should be more than enough to change the course of things even slightly, I hope."

"We still don't have any proof of if what you said is true or even what exactly causes such apocalyptic events to happen." Ororo Munroe, aka Storm insist as she felt like something was wrong with him, beyond his obvious disinterest toward his people.

"What you say doesn't make any sense. If mutants were driven to almost extinction, how did you travel through time in a such... pristine state and why did the Cerebro only qualify you as a mutant around two months ago?" Henry McCoy also called, Beast asked, not believing any words of the mysterious mutant.

"Simple. My mutation gives me some perks such as traveling through time if conditions are met. Although when I reached this timeline, well... I died." He replied, shrugging at his shocking words.

"Let me guess, you were disintegrated by you breaking through the time barrier?" Henry hypothesized almost instantly as it was one of the few possible theories when proposed to dissuade anyone to research time travel.

"That doesn't explain how you are alive right now or even how you only were recorded as appearing two months ago considering the record of your existence indicates you have been alive for at the very least several years before that point." Henry continued, not understanding how such things could be possible.

If he truly was disintegrated at his arrival, then there were no chances of him being here, unless...

"Your mutation! You said that time travel is only a 'perk' so it has to be something that lets you make you return your body to its previous state right? Time manipulation maybe?" Jean proposed, earning a smirk from Markus.

"Perhaps." He answered mysteriously, not willing to give them more clues about his powers.

"So... you had foreseen your death but still decided to come back? Do you sincerely want us to believe that?" Scott answered, his goggles' light increasing more as he didn't consider him as anything but a threat for now.

"I lived my first life as a mere coward afraid to fight the enemy which cost the lives of everyone I ever valued. Keeping the status quo was my raison-d'être which was, with some hindsight, pathetic." Markus began, his sentence directed at Charles who grimaced at it, knowing well the signification behind them.

"As for me provoking my death, it is simply a way to cut ties with my old self. It took time until I'd learned, that if I like to be wiser, I might need to die first. Once done, I became twice the fighter."

[AN: Try finding the reference in the sentence above.]

Although his origin story was enough to make some of the present women internally tear up, his almost emotionless tone left them wondering about what exactly caused his disinterest in a whole race being erased. He doesn't seem like the kind to be evil or even want extreme things such as Magneto with his plans to be superior to humans, especially if Markus' goal truly is saving the world or more.

"So what? You are so important that you don't see the need to save your race?" As usual, however, Scott didn't keep his tongue in his mouth as Markus' plans for the future did not necessarily include mutants. "You won't even let us know what makes us disappear?"

The young man of Scott's age looked at him for a few seconds, seemingly purposely making them wait for his answer.

"My trip into non-existence made the divide between the mutant race and me even wider. As for the people that eventually cause mutants' downfall... Unless you go assassinate them before they can create these things my warning will only serve to make you struggle a little harder. Thus, I don't see any point in doing so considering your mentality.

Though I did plan to talk about it with Magneto since he is much wiser than all of you combined, mere puppets."

"What did you say, you-!"

"Stop, Cyclops. Our guest here has made it evident that he is neither a friend nor a foe. Although I would have appreciated it if he gave us more information on the trials we would have to encounter, he is right to believe that we will not go assassinate the individuals responsible for his... apocalyptic future." The Professor said, leaving the underlying tone that Markus easily understood.

'Obviously, the old man prefers to have this threat assassinated, but not through his own hands. How convenient that I will talk about it to Magneto right? Thankfully he seems unable to read my mind or else I would have been forced to take his life, regardless of if it would make them my enemies or not.' Markus thought, his mind quickly analyzing the situation.

'I will have to make some more securities about mind reader and displace my H.Q. as it has been compromised.'

"Though we may not understand what you are currently going against, mister Freeman. We the X-Men will always be ready to help you in case you require help when it involves mutants."

The Professor proposed, aware that his words would be ignored by the young man whose goal was beyond his comprehension.

"I almost forgot to tell you. You may want to check what's up inside her head before it threatened to blow the planet. Otherwise, I will have to do so for you, very soon." He said, pointing his finger at the surprised Jean.

"Me?"

At that, the previously calm old man's eyes visibly widened since it is something he told to no one.

Fear and anxiety crept into his mind as he began to think about all possibilities. Not only if the truth was revealed by the man, he very likely is going to lose the trust of his students. Though the other alternative was no better as it involved letting an apocalyptic being loose into the world.

"You did not lie then..." Xavier muttered to himself, more inclined to believe his words now that he spout information he didn't know he could ever have.

"I will take my leave now. Let us meet at the next alien invasion in New York." Markus said, disappearing in the same second.

"What? Is that teleportation?" "Yeah, it seems like it?" "It is very different from Kurt's no? And I thought it was a time-related mutation?" Some of the X-Men asked aloud, leaving a fuming Scott, a perplexed Jean, and a worried Xavier.

Markus' appearance was short but left several emotions in the X-Men, not even considering that they now had slight doubts about the Professor's seemingly flawless dream of coexistence.

Meanwhile, Markus Freeman himself was currently running toward his second target, a much more elusive one considering his current status as a 'terrorist' in the United States.

He didn't lie earlier when he said that he wanted Magneto to deal with the threat of the Mutant race. Why shall he act himself when he can give the mission to more gullible people, already considered criminals?

The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? May as well be renamed Brotherhood of Markus's Pawns.

"... I should get rid of my metallic possession first."