CHAPTER 105 - WILL YOU?

You can find +15 chapters ahead on my patreøn

Patreøn.com/QuackVader

########################

[Erik Lensherr POV]

Erik snorted as he saw the cowering figures of the ingrates who saw it upon themselves to divvy up the kingdom he built just in the short time he was gone and none of them heard anything from him. 

"While I picked you lot and put you under my banner because of the potential of your abilities, I'll admit that I knowingly overlooked how smart you were since all I needed you to do was follow my orders."

Some of them stood with heads bowed down in fear while others were in metal binds and cages. These lot were the fools who had gotten so drunk on power that they had tried attacking him when he tried taking back his control of the Brotherhood. 

"An error on my part."

He walked away and left them to do whatever they wanted; if they wanted to leave then they were free to do so. Those who stayed he will use and rebuild the Brotherhood again from the group up. 

"How is the new base coming along?" 

The transparent outline of a person appeared beside him as he walked. "It's completed. We only need to map out the orbital coordinates and that is being done as we speak."

"Good. We will be pushing our plans forward and our actions will no longer be covert. It is time for the world to be once again reminded of our presence."

The figure's outline completely disappeared and Erik was once again walking alone. His destination was a specific room where he could feel someone waiting for him. 

The metal door to the room, instead of sliding open as it was made, created a circular path for Erik to pass and closed back after he walked through. 

"Erik, how long has it been since we last met like this?"

"Quite a while, Raven." He said lightly and took his seat on the couch opposite Raven who was in her real form. 

"Why are you here?" He stared at her, his powers in play just in case she tried lying to him. Something she's always managed to pull off any time she wanted. 

"No more pleasantries? You really are a stiff one." She chuckled to herself. 

Erik's face remained as cold as it always was, not interested in entertaining her in any way. "What are you doing here Mystique? Don't make me repeat myself."

She clicked her tongue, knowing that Erik currently meant business. "Our mutual benefactor told me that you were being let out on parole so I just came to say hi."

Erik's face formed a scowl and the room vibrated to show his extreme displeasure at the way she worded her sentence. "You would do well not to provoke me at this moment, Raven." He warned. 

His threat flew past her with her not batting an eye to it. "Regardless of your current mood, your present situation is no different than being on parole. But I didn't come all the way down here to pick at your new wounds. I came with an offer of cooperation."

The room settled down but anyone with an eye could tell that he was not in the least bit impressed with his situation. Even Mystique that used to work under him with fear and respect was talking back to him this way. 

"What kind of cooperation?" Still he listened. He had to. 

The woman in front of him wouldn't come back here for anything except for a very good reason. 

"What else but mutants?" She started. "I came here today to see if there's still a bit of the man I once knew and a proposal for him. I have a considerable amount of money and rising influence. I am drawing up a blueprint that will enable me tackle the oppression of mutants at its core."

"Join hands with me Erik. This is the fight that brought us together and pushed us apart and what I'm extending is a chance at another try."

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments with Mystique patiently waiting for Erik's answer. 

"Is this why you finally came back?"

But all he gave her was a question. 

She smiled bitterly and shook her head before standing up and straightened the clothes she wore. 

"I wholeheartedly expected another answer from you, Erik. Guess the times do really change. Take care of yourself, Erik. You are not getting any younger." She said and left the room. 

Erik sat there on his luxurious couch for the next hour with his helmet resting against his legs. At the 90 minute mark, he finally showed movement by opening his palm. 

A safe in the room opened on its own and an outdated mobile phone flew into his hands. 

He stared at it for some time, finding reasons not to push the call button under his thumb to call the only number saved inside but found none. 

At this juncture, all the former reasons that stopped him numerous times in the past suddenly seemed to lack sufficient substance. 

He dialed the number and brought the old flip phone to his ears as he waited for the call to go through.

"Hello?"

"…"

"Hello, are you there? Can I know who is speaking?" 

He closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath. Hopefully this step he wanted to take won't lead to another dead end like his other ones. 

He finally opened his eyes with resolution as he finally spoke. 

"Hello Charles."

°°°°°°°°

[Vision POV]

I cracked a smile as I put down another tome on magic and how different types of energy can be manipulated to get the same results. 

Since the books I could read and time I could read them were limited, I didn't bother running through all of them in seconds.

One of the pros I had when it came to magic was that I held one of the Infinity Stones that greatly helped in magic, with the other being the Soul Stone which the Ancient One safeguarded. Not the Time Stone. 

One of the basic functions of the Mind Stone was facilitating better understanding in any subject, and that included magic. 

"Hey Vis. Done with that one?" Wanda asked to which I nodded. We were currently in her room reading some books, choosing not to do it in the library because it is usually crowded at this time. 

"Do you want to go for another one?" She raised her head from her reading and asked. 

"No, I think that's enough for now." I said. 

"I see. Then update me on what's happening outside to pass time." She suggested while paying half her attention to what she was reading and listening to me at the same time. 

"You're not missing anything much. Other than letting Magneto go free a few weeks ago and giving Sarah a footstool in the medical field, nothing much had happened."

The hearing of the Accords is just a few days away and the only notable characters I had an eye on was Dr. Doom and the Wakandan representatives. 

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me slightly disgruntled. "So you haven't been doing anything major. Are you not bored?"

"Despite my human appearance, it seems you forget that I'm mostly machine in nature. I can easily stop myself from feeling bored if I want to." 

She didn't look that satisfied with my answer and then suggested that I find a hobby but most of the things I've been doing to pass time turns stale very quick in my perspective.

Sports and exercises do absolutely nothing for me when talking about hobbies. 

Unfortunately, it looks as if Wanda didn't want to give up. "What about being a teacher or something along those lines?" She gave another suggestion. 

I was about to refute it but paused and thought about it. "It is worth considering so that's one penned down."

While I was muttering to myself, Wanda was sitting there with her chin on her palms, watching me with a smile. 

"Yes, Wanda?"

"Damn, you are adorable at times. I need to make some girl friends so that I can brag about you to them."

"Right. And be the victim of targeted seduction due to the envy your action sprouted in them, something over 80% of the human male population fall for according to my statistics. I'd rather you don't do anything of that nature."

She fell into a cascade of laughter while holding her sides. "Oh Vis, you speak as if you could fall for that."

"…"

"…You wouldn't, right?"

I let out an exasperated sigh and looked straight at her. "Do you want an answer from me being human or being logical?"

"… Both?"

"Well, I might for the first since I'm human and all but the chances of that happening are really low. As for me being logical, unless you give me a good reason why, it's just not possible."

She crossed her hands under her chest and we both fell into an impassive stare off until she broke it with a question that took me from an unexpected angle. 

"Not to brag, but who would you even cheat on me with, if there was ever a chance you could?" She asked. 

Thankfully I knew her too well to believe that this was not a trap question of sorts. She is just being curious is all. 

I thought of it for a moment and got my answer straight away. 

"The only person I can think of is Natasha." I said with a shrug, but my answer had caught her interest. 

"Why Natasha?" 

"Apart from the fact that we get along swimmingly well, she's the only female I know and understand that is near your level." I replied while also running a few magic tests inside my head. 

"So it's about who you know first, and feelings second?" She asked. 

"Isn't that the basis for any relationship?" I looked at her wondering why she was asking something so obvious. 

"Hey, it's not every day that I get to pick that mind of yours apart so cut me some slack. You realize that it's very hard for someone to truly understand you because of the kind of existence you are, right?"

"I'm perfectly aware of it, Wanda. It's why I'm glad that we are so compatible with each other." I said, before later adding, "It's also why I disconnected my entire network from the Mind Stone, just in case of any slight chance of it influencing my emotions and logic."

Now she was the one to sigh in exasperation and went back to her book. "Geez Vis, you can be quite extra at times you know…"

"…Not that I'm complaining."