Genosha

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2nd March 2006, New York City

(Wanda Maximoff POV)

"What about Scott? Did you know about Scott?"

Jasmine shook her head, "I knew that there was something wrong in a fundamental level, but I thought it was because of his trauma, not someone reprogramming his subconscious. I assumed that Xavier would have done an in depth scan to make sure there was nothing truly wrong with him, so I ignored him."

Wanda nodded, this made sense, "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, the tracker just activated. It seems that we'll be going to Genosha. After all, we have to save your little girlfriend."

Wanda protested, her face crimson, "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Whatever you say, kiddo. Now, get dressed. It's time we go on a mission together."

Wanda sprinted up the stairs to her room. She had a redhead to save. Because after years of loneliness, without any friends, the young witch wasn't prepared to actually lose one of them. Wanda wore the protective suit that Jasmine made for her. It was a mix of red and black. Thank God, it wasn't spandex. Wanda had shuddered at the idea of wearing something like the X-men. The uniform alone was a deal breaker.

Instead, her outfit looked surprisingly casual, with a red leather jacket, a black shirt and jeans. Honestly, no one would bat an eye at her if she went like that in public. Anyway, Wanda ran back down to meet Jasmine near the entrance of the mansion.

"You ready, kiddo?" Jasmine asked.

Wanda nodded and the older woman continued, "Now, before we get going there's something I have to make clear. We're basically infiltrating a country so we can't just run in guns blazing, don't get aggressive before confronting Sinister, is that clear?" Wanda nodded, "Alrighty then, after you!"

A small portal appeared in front of Wanda and the girl walked through it. She appeared in front of a beach, it looked beautiful. Like something straight out of a post card.

"Where are we?"

Jasmine chuckled from behind her, "This, my dear apprentice, is Genosha!"

Wanda looked confused at the name, "Never heard of it."

"Genosha is a small island right above Madagascar. It was colonized by the British Empire a few centuries back, but was taken by Hydra during the second World War to conduct their human experiments, especially the ones on mutants. The idea was to replicate the super soldier serum and add in mutant powers or something. I didn't particularly care about the details. Anyway, after the Red Skull died, and Hydra fell, the population rose up against their invaders and made this place an independent nation. No one cared, really, no one except Nathaniel Essex."

Wanda looked intrigued at this. Damn, Jasmine took her job as a history teacher a bit too far. Still, it was a good way to alleviate the boredom while walking to what the young witch assumes, is the nearest human settlement, "What did he do?"

Jasmine hummed, "He was one of the Hydra scientists that were stationed here. And with the high number of mutants that were abducted here to be experimented on, the majority of the population ended up being mutants. Not that anyone even accepted the existence of mutants back then. They only thought it was some hoax that were being followed by a bunch of fanatics like Striker. It wasn't until the mess in Cuba that Xavier revealed to the CIA the existence of mutants."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"He was young, idealistic and wanted to be a hero. He was facing his first major enemy who was seriously powerful. He ended up recruiting strangers to fight him and wanted to get the CIA involved so that their operation be somewhat official. Of course, most of the recruits ended up betraying him, he got himself paralyzed from the waist down and they almost caused World War Three."

Wanda was stupefied at her answer, "Seriously? That's the guy who said that I was too powerful and uncontrollable to live outside a cell? He almost destroyed the world!"

Jasmine shrugged, "The man may be hypocrite sometimes, but you have to agree that you should have been under supervision until you gained control over your powers. The problem is the fact that he chose not to help you. I don't know if it was in respect to your father's wishes or he actually had no idea how to help you. He was wrong in leaving you in a place like the Vault, but he had a point in the fact that you shouldn't have left to the public. It was why I made you stay in the mansion for a few months until you could control your powers properly."

Wanda nodded at that; this made sense. Before she could say anything, Jasmine continued, "Well, we got a bit off topic. Where was I? Oh, yes, Nathaniel Essex found himself in an entire island filled with mutants. He discretely established a government and made whoever was elected to be he puppet. He had access to the country's funds and slowly started turning Genosha into a mutant paradise. He completely separated the country from the outside world. After all, who cared if a tiny island at the end of the world started getting off the grid? Slowly, people started to forget about the country, giving Essex an entire nation to play with. Surprisingly, Essex chose to play the long game by slowly turning this place into a living paradise. He created genetically altered crops to grow better, he got every citizen a home and a free education. Anyone not knowing about Essex's involvement would say that this place was better than any first world country in the world."

Wanda looked at Jasmine confused, "Why would he do that?"

"Like I said, he's playing the long game. With a guarantee of a comfortable life, people wouldn't object to his presence. They also start to see the benefits of having children. A couple of generations in and almost every resident of Genosha was a mutant and Essex could study them at his leisure. He didn't kidnap any of them, just taking DNA samples and cloning them was enough for him. But Sinister ended up with an entire nation made of test subjects who were perfectly happy with their lives."

"So, these people, all know absolutely nothing. That they're slaves to a mad man, no better than cattle belonging to a farmer."

Jasmine nodded, "ignorance is bliss, in a way. These people live happy lives, free from the usual social pressure that is found in pretty much any other place. The average human, wherever they live, don't actually care about the political scene. Their lives wouldn't change much no matter who is in charge. The rich would stay rich and the poor would stay poor. The only thing that could affect them would be if a mad man was in charge who would do something stupid like starve them or kill a portion of the population. Otherwise, if their needs are met, they don't actually care who's in charge."

"But that's not fair!"

"Life is not fair, Wanda. It hasn't been fair to you and it certainly hasn't been fair to me. You can't do anything about it; it's how the world works and you only have to deal with it. Look around you, look how happy they are!"

Wanda looked around her. They had arrived to a city and slowly walked in. The place looked like one of the fancy neighborhoods that were in America, filled with houses with gardens. Jasmine was pointing towards a playground where children were playing and Wanda was surprised to see one of the children suddenly teleport and another one control water and throw it at another kid. Was this what a world of equality looked like?

Jasmine started explaining, "They are perfectly normal people living perfectly normal lives. They can have any career they want and not worry about anyone judging them because of their powers. They have the illusion of democracy due to the elections but does that really matter in the grand scheme of things?"

"How does nobody know about this? One photo on the internet and they would be targeted by most countries."

Jasmine nodded, "Yes, but Sinister set up his own network, his own internet, separate from the entire world. He doesn't import or export any goods This place is completely isolated from the world. No one living here knows anything about the outside world, and no one in the outside world knows anything about what happens here. I wouldn't be surprised if most maps don't have this country, considering its size and irrelevance in the international scene."

Something was wrong, something was different, Jasmine would never be this chatty on a mission; she wouldn't just start explaining some place's history for no reason, there had to be something else hidden in what she's saying, "Why are you telling me this," Jasmine raised an eyebrow and motioned her apprentice to continue, "Why the history lesson? We could have just teleported in, beat Sinister and teleport out. This wouldn't be difficult, especially for you. The guy is terrified of someone you beat to the ground without breaking a sweat, so why did we take the long way round?"

Jasmine smiled approvingly at her, "You're getting better at not taking everything at face value. I'm proud of you, kiddo. To answer your question, I told you this so that you could understand the consequences of your actions. Whatever happens today, will not just affect you and Jean, but also the lives of every resident in Genosha. This place, as it is, cannot function without Sinister. All it would take is an idealist with dreams of joining the world, for this place to turn into a warzone because of anti-mutant sentiments or just plain greed. So, if it comes to it, would you kill Sinister and doom an entire country, or would you let him live and allow him to opportunity to kidnap Jean once more?"

Wanda paled at the choice given in front of her, she didn't know how to choose, so instead she asked Jasmine, "What would you choose?"

"Oh, I would kill him, without a question. But I would make sure that there's someone to take Sinister's place and slowly make sure that this role as unnecessary as possible. But something like this would take decades of work, and experience. Something you do not have. I am telling you this Wanda because you have to predict how much your actions could affect people. I showed you this, instead of just telling you, because I wanted you to see the people whose fate will depend on your decision. If you consider a human life as a number, it's easy to become detached, to ignore the guilt. But seeing them in person, humanizes these numbers, so to speak. Countless deaths were caused and are still being caused by people who had never met any of their victims and I wanted you to truly understand what you're dealing with and should you continue to be my apprentice, you will be met with similar choices in the future."

Wanda nodded understanding the point of this little exercise, but she still asked hesitantly, "So, what should I do now?"

"Oh, Wanda. You have me. Don't worry about the consequences, you're still young. I'll guarantee you that the people here will not suffer whatever the choice you make. I'll take care of it, no matter the choice you make. This isn't some test, Wanda, just a lesson you needed to learn."

Wanda nodded, eyes lighting up, "He's a threat to Jean. He'll always stay a threat to Jean. We need to get rid of him."

Jasmine nodded, "So that's your choice. But who said anything about 'We', I will not be fighting him."

"WHAT?"

Jasmine burst into laughter, "You made the choice, Wanda. This is your mission, I'm just helping you out!"

"How am I supposed to beat someone who's two hundred years old??!!"

"You already have the potential to defeat him, you simply didn't use all the tools afforded to you."

Wanda looked confused as Jean, "You forgot to use the Ankh, Wanda. This artifact acts like a focus that amplifies your power. Your illusions will be larger and more lifelike, your telekinesis better, your telepathy would match his, even with all his experience. You have so much potential that you haven't unlocked. You need to believe in yourself, Wanda. Plus, your plan in the Café, while somewhat basic, would have worked had Scott not been brainwashed, something that you didn't know. You have every chance to defeat him, Wanda"

Wanda blushed in embarrassment; she had no idea that Jasmine had this much faith in her.

The older witch continued, "and don't worry about you getting hurt. I'll take over if I think this is too much for you. One last thing, the main issue you will have with Sinister, wouldn't be his powers or his experience."

"Then, what is it?"

"Like I said before, Sinister is a genius when it comes to genetics. He discovered a way to unknowingly link his soul to multiple bodies. It was a mutant power that he accidentally created a long time ago. He tried to modify the powers of a mutant that was able to possess other people and ended up creating this. Now, a soul cannot inhabit more than one body, but whenever a body dies, he escapes to a clone's body that is connected to him. It's a nifty little trick to trick people into believing that he's dead."

Wanda was gaping at her teacher, "How the hell am I supposed to beat someone like that?"

Jasmine chucked, "The solution is quite easy. You kill the main body, the first body. This should destabilize the soul link and keep him trapped in his current body. Should he die, it would be permanent. But be very careful, his main body is a lot stronger than the cloned one you fought. Should he possess the body, you won't have a chance to actually defeat him. Are you sure you want to continue?"

Wanda steeled herself and nodded, after all, it wasn't like Jean would rescue herself.