xp_logs | Malice Aforethought: Thursday afternoon

Sitting in his new workspace, Forge muses on why exactly Magneto wants his assistance, and makes a decision that may change things forever.

Forge took a long, hard look at the multiple diagrams before him. This was an impossible project. Magneto was asking the impossible - no, not impossible. The term was meant for lesser people. Half-closing his eyes, Forge ran his fingers over the schematics and reports. Impossible was designing a fabric that could stop sound, but he did it. Impossible was creating a cybernetic system almost indistinguishable from biological tissue in three weeks, but he did it. Impossible was taking a psionic entity and giving him the path to a physical body, but-

Crumpling paper under his hand brought Forge's attention back to the drafting table he was sitting at. This would require electronics expertise. That was no problem, Forge knew electronics like fish knew water. It would require an in-depth understanding of physics, particle projection, subatomic acceleration and manipulation.

Cakewalk there, Forge thought. Subatomic physics was like reading The Cat In The Hat.

Then lump in biology. Genetics. Mutant physiology. After barely a year learning at the elbow of two of the world's most noted experts in the field, Forge considered himself to have a deep understanding of the mutant genome - but not enough. Yet looking through Lensherr's studies and notes, it became evident to him that he was now working alongside a third genius in the field.

Three years ago, Magneto had used a technological device, fueled by the energy he himself controlled, to change the genetic structure of an ordinary human into something more. Genetically unstable, but different. Unlocked potential, forced evolution. Senator Robert Kelly had died from the process, but the data was sound.

And now Magneto wanted the process reversed.

"Imagine if you will, the most dangerous weapon in the world," he had said. "Now imagine thousands of them. You know them, you are them. Mutants. We hold power undreamt by most of humanity. Together, we could accomplish limitless prosperity and freedom. Yet we find ourselves at odds."

Remembering Magneto's words, Forge slowly began sketching on the paper, sliding the straightedge and protractor into his grasp.

"Charles Xavier and his X-Men would sooner concentrate on opposing me than helping their people. You know this, Mr. Forge. You have lived with them, how many lives could they have saved that have been lost? More than you know." The silver-haired mutant had been calm yet forceful in his proclamation, his obvious passion for the cause restrained by his desire for clarity. "You have studied history, I assume, and know the significance of the Manhattan Project, yes?"

"The atomic bomb, of course," Forge had answered. Magneto had just given him a small smile of acknowledgement before continuing.

"The first uses of the atomic bomb ended war," he had explained, "But in the years after, the world's nuclear arsenal served more as a deterrent, the threat of destruction, that spectre of fear keeping nations in line. I require that deterrent, Mr. Forge.".

Forge smirked to himself, remembering his naive reply. "You want me to build you a nuke?."

Magneto had laughed, a sound that Forge hadn't thought possible from the stories about the "evil mutant". Wiping his eyes, the leader of the Brotherhood had been genuinely surprised and amused by Forge's suggestion. "No, my young friend," he had explained, "I possess more power with a casual thought than any single nuclear device ever created. I do not wish to place the world into fear and trepidation, only a select few. I wish to hold Charles Xavier and his X-Men at a distance, to establish a detente, if you will. This is to be my Manhattan Project, Mister Forge. And you will be my Oppenheimer."

Swiveling in the chair, Forge brushed his hand over the touch-sensitive keyboard next to him, bringing up a large hologram of the double-helix structure of DNA. The hologram rotated, zooming in to a repeating pattern of linked genes and chromosomes - the so-called "X-Factor", what the laymen called the "mutant gene", betraying their incomprehension of the complexities of the mutant genome.

Another conversation echoed in Forge's mind, that of Doctor Moira MacTaggart asking the rhetorical question of "how mutant powers work", and then providing the answer. The secret was in the distribution of mRNA and other 'trigger' enzymes and hormones, activating the abilities inherent to each individual mutant genetic structure.

The concept of an inhibitor worked by electromagnetically binding these trigger enzymes into a static state, essentially padlocking mutant abilities into an 'off' mode. But what Magneto was suggesting went one step further. A device that could permanently neutralize a mutant's ability to trigger their powers, robbing them of the abilities that made them more than normal humans.

Forge had been unable to disguise his horror for the very concept, and the reaction had not been lost on Magneto. "I know that what I ask seems like anathema to your beliefs, Mr. Forge. It flies in the face of all that I hold dear, everything I have fought for as well. But in this time, with so much at stake, our personal beliefs must take a lesser precedence than the greater good. It does not matter what we want, it matters what must be done. What is right."

"Not what we want," Forge repeated to the empty lab, face lit by the glow of the hologram, "but what is right." Turning back to the drafting table, Forge could feel the designs taking form in his mind's eye. It could be done. It was impossible, but that had never stopped him before. He paused, drafting pen in hand, considering his options. This was a turning point, he knew. Once he started, there was no going back from where this would take him.

Putting pen to paper, John Henry Forge began the journey down.