CHAPTER 93

It has been three month since the New Year and the people of New York were finally getting back their semblance of normalcy after what happened a few months back.

Most of the roads were already undergoing reconstruction, the same with the houses but the things that were hard to change were the people's feelings. 

The normalcy they were getting were in the form of the infrastructure. For how they truly felt, the hospitals and psychiatric institutions were the honest tellers. 

The damage wasn't limited to people and buildings but also to their livelihoods. Corporate buildings fell, so also were different workplaces that suffered from that night. 

Overnight, the amount of people that were jobless increased five folds. The President made the right move of directing most of the country's resources in order to get the city back and running but there was only so much that money could do. It couldn't erect the buildings and workplaces overnight. Nor could it bring back the dead and permanently handicapped. 

The amount of suicides that followed were astronomical to say the least as the recently unfortunate handicapped persons and those who lost loved ones and family chose to end their lives as they couldn't live with the grief. 

So it wasn't entirely true to say they were getting back to normal, albeit very slowly. This was a scar that would forever remain fresh in the minds of those unfortunate enough to witness that night. 

A lot of people had speculations about what caused the earth's magnetic field around the city of New York to experience such drastic changes and the name Magneto had been brought up in more than one of those international debates held. It was also speculated that the US government knew those behind the attack but were refusing to divulge the identities of the perpetrators. 

That caused a lot of unrest and riots within the state which most times almost resulted in public lynching of mutants, mostly those with physical mutations, which were stopped by law enforcement which most times further increased the riots and violent tendencies as it was seen as the government refusing the justice of the people to favor mutants. 

The President didn't have much choice but to give out the name of the only identified perpetrator of the incident which was, the unknowingly dead, Magneto. 

A hunt was put out for all identified members of the Brotherhood and different mutant strongholds and gatherings were busted which resulted in fights that saw both the deaths of mutants and officers involved. It was truly the dark times for the hunted race. 

Unexpectedly, it was during this time that mutant campaigns were held. Debates were put forth and different mutants came out and defended their race. Their rights as people and a new species were put forth for implementation in countries all over the world. 

Most of the problems that the mutants faced was that their race was closely identified with the names of terrorists and criminals such as the recent Magneto and his Brotherhood which painted a bad picture and some form of bias and stereotype when people and the ignorants at large heard or spoke of them. 

It was a topic that was discussed heavily before the term 'Metahuman' was first heard. 

It denoted what the evolutionary circle of humans truly were as it was proven, and also being factual, that a lot of people, over 30 – 40% of people being born today carried the X-gene, although it was dormant in more than 39.9% of those numbers. It meant that almost half of the people born in the last two decades, all had the probability of being born, even if it was a miniscule one, as mutants. 

The new term was put forth by a man and woman named Charles Xavier and Ororo Munroe. The former a public figure and a renowned Doctor in Psychology, while the latter, unlike the former, was not well known but also was learned given the multiple Degrees in Literature, History and Language. 

Their reasoning for the term was that everyone, humans or mutants alike, were all the same race with the former being the base and with the latter being those who evolution favored. Backed up with scientific claims of humans evolving from apes, they also put forth the acknowledged truth that was wholly rejected that mutants too in the same vein, were evolved humans. 

It wasn't what the government or mutant hate groups made it out to be. The manifestation of the X-gene in people were completely at random and so also were their mutations. 

Their debate with the Senate's and other international speakers sparked a war of words between scholars around the world. 

Ignorance was bliss. But it was also a choice. 

Slogans like; 'Mutants No, Meta humans Yes', were waved around either on media or in the streets. Different media platforms also supported the notion that metahumans should be given the same rights as their human counterparts. Platforms like Facebook, ViewTube, Fmail and Instagram also promoted this stance and openly supported it, even going as far as to fund some campaigns. 

The proposition didn't fly freely with any storms hitting the craft. Hate from humans, and even some mutant society which still believed in superiority, which was true when everyone was being blunt about it as mutants were in fact superior to humans in more ways than one, rose against the campaign even as it held strong. No revolution started and ended in a day. 

Due to the passive-aggressiveness of the campaigns, the government of countries felt that if it went further beyond what it currently was, a civil war might break out. It was also a little disturbing how people just openly hated something without even trying to understand, with no particular reason for said hate. 

No one knew the reason for this, or rather someone knew but said man was currently mourning how much he spent on his house as the dollar suddenly inflated in just a few days. Having spent days trying to come to terms and acclimatization with his new height of prowess, he spent the next few weeks hunting down or rather tracking down a man known as John Sublime who was touted as the most dangerous man the mutant race ever faced due to his powers to possess any lifeforms except that of the mutant race. 

Draul had to admit that he had absolutely forgotten about Sublime. Even though the danger that Sublime posed to the emerging race was sky-high, he wasn't a very major character all things considered. It wasn't until he was criticizing some people who actually took to media and said that the race should be locked up and the government should find a way to destroy their mutated genes that he started noticing something fishy. 

Sure what happened on December 24th, 2003 was as much as a tragedy as any could occur and he also understood why people would be hell-bent on ostracizing and defaming the metahumans due to the loss they suffered and the time of grief they were still undergoing given that it was only three months ago that most people lost everything. 

He could understand all that and also the fact that while this was not a good time to defend metahumans, it was also the best time to make the distinction known. He had been called on by Ororo to know whether he would want to take a more public stance but he declined. He was happy to be known as the ghost CEO and owner of the newest media giants. No need to put himself out there for more than necessary. It was something Marky solely agreed on as he wholeheartedly took on the role of Acting CEO, wondering why his partner wasn't interested in knowing how their company worked. 

He wasn't complaining however as this was the best chance he had to make connections with those who are the true upper echelons of society. If only he was older and wiser to know that he was being used as the working horse that drove the money to Draul's purse. Sucks to be him, but that's something he'll never know.

Draul on the other hand, after a lengthy conversation with Ororo which ranged from states of affairs regarding those at the Mansion and metahumans at large to what happened to him that day. 

He just ended up talking a lot with her during the past few months, mostly about politics which the dark skin woman was amused to see how much he hated it. 

It was this time, before he had the chance to go virus hunting that Fury called him, talking about how the President would want to have a word with him. It should have been expected on Fury's part, maybe he did, but nonetheless the eye patched man enjoyed the stunned look on the President's face when the reply of 'Yeah, can't be bothered to lose more brain cells on a bunch of idiots in suits' spoke out in loudspeaker. 

A lot of those in the room had ugly faces as most of them were in suits. Though Fury protected Draul's identity, the man himself was not even bothered to do so, meaning anyone with the right connection and a lot of money and power could find Draul's information. He was a famed name in some circles after all. 

Draul's search for John Sublime bore little fruits which pointed him at the Hellfire Club. He didn't want to tousle with some members of that club right now, hopefully never. The only person he was worried about, or slightly fearful of fighting was Selene Gallio. As proven with his fight with Doom, magic was an all-encompassing art easily making it an antithesis to everyone, especially him. 

Selene, as he recalled, was the Black Queen of the club and a very prominent magic user plus being a mutant and also an immortal vampire who had been around since way before mankind even started counting the days made her into a very frightening figure. 

He didn't know how she compared to the current Doom but his millions were on her being stronger, and by a large margin at that. 

He didn't know what Sublime was doing within the circles of the Club, but he knew he couldn't go in guns blazing and axe tossing. 

Sure he could wipe them all out, but then again – Selene. He already had his things in order and was prepared to take the flight to Nepal to look for Kamar-Taj. He felt it was better that way than just knocking on the doors of the Sanctum Sanctorum. 

He had already told Bucky and Steve his plans to learn about magic and thus would be leaving the country for an indefinite amount of time. 

That had been his plan, it still is, but with the remembrance of Sublime, he had postponed the trip. 

Sublime wasn't like the other people he'd killed, in that killing him was next to useless if he didn't somehow find a way to locate all of the bacteria he's infected people with. 

He was torn between whether taking care of the infection problem now or waiting until he knew some magic. He didn't even take a second of pondering before he tossed the other option away. 

The situation with the metahumans was already as dire as it could get, leaving it for how ever long it would take for him to be proficient in magic was a fools choice. 

He didn't have anything against the Hellfire Club, which was saying a lot, not really, as he didn't care about almost anything, so as long as they didn't have anything to do with him, he'd happily go his merry way but when has things ever gone his way?

… 

[Nathaniel Essex POV] 

"Astonishing."

A man muttered as he looked through the data that he finally was able to procure about a specific mutant that he'd heard about. 

His sources had told him that Magneto had gone to fight the mutant on Christmas Eve but no one had heard from him since that day. He presumed the metal master had wound up dead but mourned the loss of material and DNA he could have worked with had Magneto been successful. 

But all was not lost. 

"This information is gold. I might be able to learn what triggers the adaptive genes and apply it to myself after figuring out how to replicate and diversify its effect."

The man said absentmindedly as he worked on two screens while also reviewing the file in front him. 

"I need a recently harvested DNA if I'm to further the test by milestones… Looks like I'll have to earn my keep just this once. How crass." He muttered. 

What he had on hand, he was sure most wouldn't know its value, held the secrets to the formation and evolutionary process of the X-gene. If he could figure out the adaptive properties of the mutant who held these cells, then theoretically he should be able to produce any amount and type of mutations that he could think of, so far as he could calculate their reactive factors. 

He contemplated on how he would go about acquiring the DNA of his recently favorite research subject and very soon a smile broke out on his face. 

"Let's go with that. Hmm, yes let's."

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