Clean Slate: Well, we've got a problem
Sep. 30th, 2023 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsA group of X-Men and X-Force meet to discuss the problem currently sitting in the basement.
The group were settled around the conference table in the X-Men's briefing room. There were coffee cups stacked neatly on a tray to go back to the kitchen later, and a plate of sandwiches that had started to go slightly stale sat in the middle of the table. A freshly brewed pot of coffee sat beside them, along with new mugs. Kane closed his eyes and rubbed them for a second. His powers made all nighters more manageable, but since they had started degrading, he was forced to rely on coffee and donuts like everyone else. And he had had no sleep since the intel had finally come in and he'd spent hours checking and rechecking the results, making sure he was absolutely certain that he was correct with the actions he'd taken.
One of the screens on the briefing room wall showed Madin lying on the bed in the Box, facing the wall and picking at a bandage on their arm.
Jean wearily stared at the monitor, resting her chin on laced fingers. Much of the mansion had an air of unease since the revelation. Understandable, given their prior encounters with the Brotherhood and its leader. The idea of having a Brotherhood associate in their midst was certainly alarming. "Okay. Let's just...go over the facts again. What do we know?" she said.
"I had a discussion with Madin and, well, let's be honest, after a while in my job, I've gotten good at knowing when someone is lying to my face. I started to do some research on the story they gave us when they came to the mansion and holes started to appear. Not obvious ones, but once I was able to uncover enough minor inconsistencies, the rest came down with it. Madin did not spend years bouncing around the underground." Garrison tapped his tablet and his files distributed across all of their devices.
"All the details I dug up are in here. It's actually a pretty ingenious mix of half truths and misdirection so that a normal background check wouldn't find any issues. But after more detailed discussions with the names they mentioned, dates not lining up and their own hints, it is pretty clear that Madin spent their time after Australia but before the mansion largely with the Brotherhood. I asked our friends at Snow Valley to cross reference my files with Brotherhood activities, especially the mercenary operations that I was told about in my time with them, and, well... they confirmed a few things."
Kevin hit a button and the video was projected onto the screen. “This footage was taken in East Senegal a little over two years ago. Confirmed Brotherhood presence with local mercenaries engaged against a gold refinery right before the transition of a major load. We’ve identified Blob, Senyaka and Dragoness clearly in the assault, along with a half dozen gunmen.” He fast-forwarded to a chaotic fight as the security forces were retreating.
“Now, it wouldn’t stand up in court but-" He pointed to a somewhat blurred figure. "with them was a indigo skinned mutant approximately the same height and build as Madin, and the after action report included descriptions of plasma scarring and damage consistent with their powers."
Marie-Ange reached across and tapped the pause button on Kevin’s laptop. Barely a second later she’d replicated the figure onto the conference room table. It shrunk, grew, and then stabilized. "Certainly this would not, but – " she pointed at the arms, with a distinct line of bright light against the purple skin. “Here, let me show you another clip.”
The projection screen split to show the security footage on one side, and the Danger room on the other. Madin was doubled over, both arms glowing with the bright light of their plasma blades. “That.” Marie-Ange pointed. “That is the same effect. Unless Madin has a twin, that is the same person.”
Jim rubbed his forehead. No one was happy to be here, but his headache was evolving into a truly bespoke migraine. The conference call with Charles had given it a headstart.
"Okay. Madin's what, 24?" he said, walking himself through it. "And Brotherhood activities two years ago, that's 22. Still a kid. I won't say we're close, but I have talked to them. My impression is that they were borderline institutionalized by their experience in the Australian system. In and out of detention centers. Allusions to things that sound an awful lot like work camps. You don't have a lot of choices after that, especially not as a visible mutant. For someone like that, ideology is less important than structure and purpose. The kind of person it's easy to scoop up young." Very briefly, his gaze met Jean-Phillipe's.
"We have allowed those to stay who have done worse," Kurt pointed out quietly. "Do we have any evidence that Madin has even acted against us directly, since they came here?"
"Other than espousing some rather extreme rhetoric, verging at times on supremacist and eliminationist, not that I am aware of." Jean-Phillipe flipped his hand in a mirror of his cousin's gesture. "And I of all people know that words are not deeds, but I also know that it is not that far a step from one to the other. Especially if one has engaged in those sort of deeds before."
"The question isn't wasn't if they were Brotherhood. It is if they still are." Kane said. "The Brotherhoods intel on us is crap. Madin, if they're still loyal, could close that gap in weeks if they're still loyal to Magneto."
"Were I undercover, in a place like this?" Marie-Ange said, with raised eyebrows back at her own cousin. "Were I infiltrating this place, I would be just antagonistic enough to put people off, but not so much that I was hated. It is not the first time we have welcomed Brotherhood whose intent was to spy. John Allerdyce. My own cousin." She gave him a nod. "Both just prickly enough that if they left for a day, or told people to leave them alone, no one would question it. I am not certain what Madin's goal is, but they certainly have repeated the pattern of the last two attempts."
"Or they've had a rough life and don't trust easily," countered Jim. Now it was Jean he traded a look with. "Either way, we're not digging in their head for the answer. You know the professor's stance on that. The only thing we know Madin's done so far is omit information they correctly assumed would jeopardize their position here. If they agree to a scan, that's one thing, but taking that kind of information by force is going to destroy any chance of building trust we might have."
"I get that. But we're in a war whether we want to admit it or not." Kane said. "If you asked me if Madin is a plant, I'd vote against it. But we need to consider the possibility."
Jean-Phillipe nodded at Garrison. "I am inclined to agree with M'sieu Kane. Their reactions are too close to the surface - if they were truly a plant, I would think they would be less...incendiary."
"I just want to point out the depth of the decision we are facing. If Madin is still Brotherhood and we let them go, their intel is capable of hurting or killing people in this mansion. If Madin isn't and we think they are, they're going to law enforcement, which means they'll get at least two decades in the Vault for their terrorist activities. Whatever we decide has impacts on the lives of the people here." Kane wasn't known for speeches, but the seriousness of the situation was clear on his face. "All of our decisions risk lives. Please remember what we'll possibly be responsible for."
"Then we'll need to be sure," Jean said. The trick was finding the right way how. They weren't barbaric like the Brotherhood. The situation was delicate.
"I understand about the consent but-" Kevin started but stopped. The mansion simply ran under different rules and while his professional experience was entirely different, he couldn't force a solution based on his experiences. He stood up and touched Colbert on the shoulder as he passed. "Using the bathroom."
"We have used invasive techniques before." Marie-Ange pointed out. She waved off the protests. “I know, it is non-negotiable. If I was going to press the issue, no one would know. I would have asked Emma already." She ignored the grumbling in favor of picking up her phone and checking – no text messages – and then tapping one out. *You do not use the washroom. What are you doing?*
Jean-Phillipe cocked his head at his cousin. Clearly something else was going on under the surface, as it often did with her, but he also knew she played things extremely close. "Alors, cousin. If you know it is non-negotiable, and you have not asked Emma, why bring it up?" He waved his hand. "I know, you are making a point, rhetorical question." He ran his fingers through his short hair roughly. This particular debate was likely to last quite a while.
Marie-Ange wrinkled her nose at her cousin, one brief moment of wryness. "I am perhaps making more than a point. Perhaps I am lying and I already asked Emma a week ago." She had not - it was still an option for her, but a last one. Mind invasions were not her first or third or ninth response to this - if Madin was not Brotherhood, that sort of invasion would lose the mansion an ally. "Madin's internet activity does not particularly indicate any data drops, they do not have any suspicious VPN activity, as far as we know, they have not smuggled anything out of the mansion except car keys they should not be permitted to use." She paused, and tapped on the screen of her phone a few more times. "I would prefer to know for sure. With or without telepathy."
"But there is a third option", Kurt spoke up. "Has anyone asked Madin if they would like to stay, given the choice?"
"Not yet. And hearing the truth needs to be a condition." Kane said finally. "We have no good options here." Kane said, touching the bridge of his nose. "I don't know how we exist in war time. I don't know how we don't betray our principles and protect our people at the same time. If any of you have a better idea, you tell me."
Out of patience, Kevin takes matters into his own hands.
Madin had spent the last few hours staring at the walls, wishing they'd been faster to leave yesterday. But nah, they had to stop for a little menty-b first, like that couldn't have waited a few hours and Kane had knocked on their door way too early this morning before they'd finally left.
They'd wondered if they could ... you know, knife hands their way through the walls or the door but hadn't tried. Instead, they'd worried at the skin on one calf until it bled, scratching and picking at it until a two by two inch space was raw. There was blood on the sheets now from it.
Their forearm - burns still bandaged - throbbed in time with their heartbeat.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do, Madin just lay on the bed facing the wall, staring blankly into space.
When the door opened, it could have been anyone at the mansion, But the person who stepped through was exactly the last one they expected: Magneto. He was clad in his armor, although without the helmet and waved at the door, which slid shut behind him with a click.
"Ah, Charles. Always afraid of change. If they had placed you anywhere else, it might have taken a bit longer. Given them a fighting chance."
Madin turned as the door opened and was scrambling to their feet as they processed the identity of the man in front of them. It was a small room and their shoulders hit the far wall after only a couple of steps.
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The bed frame was made of metal. There was metal in the door hinges. There was probably metal everywhere. "Please. I'm sorry. Please don't."
"Please don't? Please don't what? Free you from this cage they've put you in? I can leave you here, I suppose, but it would be a bit of a waste on a quite successful attack on Charles' mansion. While his X-Men engage your Brotherhood fellows on the South Lawn, they opened up enough of a gap for Mystique and I to enter secretly. Once she disables their security system - a matter of minutes - Zero will open a portal and we'll be gone before the X-Men have a chance to even assess the damage."
Madin stared at him in horror. "No." They took a deep breath. "Please don't kill them."
"Madin, if I wanted the X-Men dead, I would have done it a dozen times over by now. Misguided, certainly. Weak, without a doubt. Is that worthy of a death sentence?" Magneto paused outside of the cell door. "I must say, you have certainly exceeded my expectations."
"I didn't. I didn't fucking come here for you." Madin still hadn't moved. He was lying. He had to be lying. The X-Men were going to die. That hadn't been the plan.
"Come now, Madin. Do you honestly think I didn't see every step before you took it? Or I couldn't have prevented it at any time? No." He sighed. "I wanted you to find your way here. To experience their futility first hand. Their hypocrisy. I have no doubt they told you just how much this place was a haven for our kind. That Xavier's way was about peace. And yet..." He took a seat. "And yet." He waved at Madin's cell door. "Tell me. How long did it take before you were told that humans deserved rights over you? How their fear was your problem to fix?"
Could they get to the door before he did anything? "They didn't say that exactly. I don't. I. They never said that I have to give my rights over to humans," Madin mumbled. Except Terry had, in the discussion about the community centre. Human bigots were tolerated there and Madin hadn't set foot in the place since.
"For all this is a haven, how long before they showed you exactly what they thought about a mutant who didn't immediately fall into line behind their philosophies?" He said, with an arch of his brow. "I gave you the room you needed to find your way here. To see for yourself what we face; our own standing behind the same people who curse and hate us. I wanted you to understand first hand who they are and just why we need you, Madin."
"I'm not going back." Everything else had sounded uncertain. This wasn't. "I'm not fucking going back." They should have left months ago. Mystique was taking down the security system and the X-Men were dying and this was their fault. All of it. Madin's shoulders were still pressed against the wall, as far from Magneto as they could manage. It felt like they were standing outside their body watching this conversation.
He shook his head sadly. "No one is going to force you to return to the Brotherhood, Madin. I assumed after all of this, you would prefer to fight for your fellow mutants, as opposed to spending the rest of your life in the human prison they will send you to, filled with the same technology that takes away your gifts that this place helped develop. If that is what you choose, this is the last cell I will attempt to save you from." Magneto got back to his feet, dusting his hands. "My generation's time is drawing to a close. It is yours who will decide the fate of our people. So I ask you one last time. Will you return with us?"
Madin was still floating. It was like their body belonged to someone else. This was all their fault. All of it. Magneto was going to kill them if they came back. Or they'd go to jail and die. Or the surviving X-Men would kill them. That made it easier.
Their hands were attached to their body by impossibly long strings and it was so hard to make plasma knives form around their fists. "Fuck you." Eyes closed, Madin lunged at Magneto.
The next thing Madin knew, they were sprawled on the floor, holding their face from where it had impacted on the wall. Magneto had barely moved, shifting to one side and tagging one of their arms forward so they hit the wall hard. Maybe he used his powers? As spots swam in their vision, Magneto stepped over them and opened the door. "I gave you a chance, Madin. Remember that." He said, and the door closed behind him, leaving Madin alone.
With a shrug, Magento melted away, shifting back to Kevin in a heartbeat. He looked up at the camera outside of the Box, knowing that the one inside had caught everything.
"They were Brotherhood. I don't know what they are now, but it's absolutely not Brotherhood." He said before leaving the hallway.
The group were settled around the conference table in the X-Men's briefing room. There were coffee cups stacked neatly on a tray to go back to the kitchen later, and a plate of sandwiches that had started to go slightly stale sat in the middle of the table. A freshly brewed pot of coffee sat beside them, along with new mugs. Kane closed his eyes and rubbed them for a second. His powers made all nighters more manageable, but since they had started degrading, he was forced to rely on coffee and donuts like everyone else. And he had had no sleep since the intel had finally come in and he'd spent hours checking and rechecking the results, making sure he was absolutely certain that he was correct with the actions he'd taken.
One of the screens on the briefing room wall showed Madin lying on the bed in the Box, facing the wall and picking at a bandage on their arm.
Jean wearily stared at the monitor, resting her chin on laced fingers. Much of the mansion had an air of unease since the revelation. Understandable, given their prior encounters with the Brotherhood and its leader. The idea of having a Brotherhood associate in their midst was certainly alarming. "Okay. Let's just...go over the facts again. What do we know?" she said.
"I had a discussion with Madin and, well, let's be honest, after a while in my job, I've gotten good at knowing when someone is lying to my face. I started to do some research on the story they gave us when they came to the mansion and holes started to appear. Not obvious ones, but once I was able to uncover enough minor inconsistencies, the rest came down with it. Madin did not spend years bouncing around the underground." Garrison tapped his tablet and his files distributed across all of their devices.
"All the details I dug up are in here. It's actually a pretty ingenious mix of half truths and misdirection so that a normal background check wouldn't find any issues. But after more detailed discussions with the names they mentioned, dates not lining up and their own hints, it is pretty clear that Madin spent their time after Australia but before the mansion largely with the Brotherhood. I asked our friends at Snow Valley to cross reference my files with Brotherhood activities, especially the mercenary operations that I was told about in my time with them, and, well... they confirmed a few things."
Kevin hit a button and the video was projected onto the screen. “This footage was taken in East Senegal a little over two years ago. Confirmed Brotherhood presence with local mercenaries engaged against a gold refinery right before the transition of a major load. We’ve identified Blob, Senyaka and Dragoness clearly in the assault, along with a half dozen gunmen.” He fast-forwarded to a chaotic fight as the security forces were retreating.
“Now, it wouldn’t stand up in court but-" He pointed to a somewhat blurred figure. "with them was a indigo skinned mutant approximately the same height and build as Madin, and the after action report included descriptions of plasma scarring and damage consistent with their powers."
Marie-Ange reached across and tapped the pause button on Kevin’s laptop. Barely a second later she’d replicated the figure onto the conference room table. It shrunk, grew, and then stabilized. "Certainly this would not, but – " she pointed at the arms, with a distinct line of bright light against the purple skin. “Here, let me show you another clip.”
The projection screen split to show the security footage on one side, and the Danger room on the other. Madin was doubled over, both arms glowing with the bright light of their plasma blades. “That.” Marie-Ange pointed. “That is the same effect. Unless Madin has a twin, that is the same person.”
Jim rubbed his forehead. No one was happy to be here, but his headache was evolving into a truly bespoke migraine. The conference call with Charles had given it a headstart.
"Okay. Madin's what, 24?" he said, walking himself through it. "And Brotherhood activities two years ago, that's 22. Still a kid. I won't say we're close, but I have talked to them. My impression is that they were borderline institutionalized by their experience in the Australian system. In and out of detention centers. Allusions to things that sound an awful lot like work camps. You don't have a lot of choices after that, especially not as a visible mutant. For someone like that, ideology is less important than structure and purpose. The kind of person it's easy to scoop up young." Very briefly, his gaze met Jean-Phillipe's.
"We have allowed those to stay who have done worse," Kurt pointed out quietly. "Do we have any evidence that Madin has even acted against us directly, since they came here?"
"Other than espousing some rather extreme rhetoric, verging at times on supremacist and eliminationist, not that I am aware of." Jean-Phillipe flipped his hand in a mirror of his cousin's gesture. "And I of all people know that words are not deeds, but I also know that it is not that far a step from one to the other. Especially if one has engaged in those sort of deeds before."
"The question isn't wasn't if they were Brotherhood. It is if they still are." Kane said. "The Brotherhoods intel on us is crap. Madin, if they're still loyal, could close that gap in weeks if they're still loyal to Magneto."
"Were I undercover, in a place like this?" Marie-Ange said, with raised eyebrows back at her own cousin. "Were I infiltrating this place, I would be just antagonistic enough to put people off, but not so much that I was hated. It is not the first time we have welcomed Brotherhood whose intent was to spy. John Allerdyce. My own cousin." She gave him a nod. "Both just prickly enough that if they left for a day, or told people to leave them alone, no one would question it. I am not certain what Madin's goal is, but they certainly have repeated the pattern of the last two attempts."
"Or they've had a rough life and don't trust easily," countered Jim. Now it was Jean he traded a look with. "Either way, we're not digging in their head for the answer. You know the professor's stance on that. The only thing we know Madin's done so far is omit information they correctly assumed would jeopardize their position here. If they agree to a scan, that's one thing, but taking that kind of information by force is going to destroy any chance of building trust we might have."
"I get that. But we're in a war whether we want to admit it or not." Kane said. "If you asked me if Madin is a plant, I'd vote against it. But we need to consider the possibility."
Jean-Phillipe nodded at Garrison. "I am inclined to agree with M'sieu Kane. Their reactions are too close to the surface - if they were truly a plant, I would think they would be less...incendiary."
"I just want to point out the depth of the decision we are facing. If Madin is still Brotherhood and we let them go, their intel is capable of hurting or killing people in this mansion. If Madin isn't and we think they are, they're going to law enforcement, which means they'll get at least two decades in the Vault for their terrorist activities. Whatever we decide has impacts on the lives of the people here." Kane wasn't known for speeches, but the seriousness of the situation was clear on his face. "All of our decisions risk lives. Please remember what we'll possibly be responsible for."
"Then we'll need to be sure," Jean said. The trick was finding the right way how. They weren't barbaric like the Brotherhood. The situation was delicate.
"I understand about the consent but-" Kevin started but stopped. The mansion simply ran under different rules and while his professional experience was entirely different, he couldn't force a solution based on his experiences. He stood up and touched Colbert on the shoulder as he passed. "Using the bathroom."
"We have used invasive techniques before." Marie-Ange pointed out. She waved off the protests. “I know, it is non-negotiable. If I was going to press the issue, no one would know. I would have asked Emma already." She ignored the grumbling in favor of picking up her phone and checking – no text messages – and then tapping one out. *You do not use the washroom. What are you doing?*
Jean-Phillipe cocked his head at his cousin. Clearly something else was going on under the surface, as it often did with her, but he also knew she played things extremely close. "Alors, cousin. If you know it is non-negotiable, and you have not asked Emma, why bring it up?" He waved his hand. "I know, you are making a point, rhetorical question." He ran his fingers through his short hair roughly. This particular debate was likely to last quite a while.
Marie-Ange wrinkled her nose at her cousin, one brief moment of wryness. "I am perhaps making more than a point. Perhaps I am lying and I already asked Emma a week ago." She had not - it was still an option for her, but a last one. Mind invasions were not her first or third or ninth response to this - if Madin was not Brotherhood, that sort of invasion would lose the mansion an ally. "Madin's internet activity does not particularly indicate any data drops, they do not have any suspicious VPN activity, as far as we know, they have not smuggled anything out of the mansion except car keys they should not be permitted to use." She paused, and tapped on the screen of her phone a few more times. "I would prefer to know for sure. With or without telepathy."
"But there is a third option", Kurt spoke up. "Has anyone asked Madin if they would like to stay, given the choice?"
"Not yet. And hearing the truth needs to be a condition." Kane said finally. "We have no good options here." Kane said, touching the bridge of his nose. "I don't know how we exist in war time. I don't know how we don't betray our principles and protect our people at the same time. If any of you have a better idea, you tell me."
Out of patience, Kevin takes matters into his own hands.
Madin had spent the last few hours staring at the walls, wishing they'd been faster to leave yesterday. But nah, they had to stop for a little menty-b first, like that couldn't have waited a few hours and Kane had knocked on their door way too early this morning before they'd finally left.
They'd wondered if they could ... you know, knife hands their way through the walls or the door but hadn't tried. Instead, they'd worried at the skin on one calf until it bled, scratching and picking at it until a two by two inch space was raw. There was blood on the sheets now from it.
Their forearm - burns still bandaged - throbbed in time with their heartbeat.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do, Madin just lay on the bed facing the wall, staring blankly into space.
When the door opened, it could have been anyone at the mansion, But the person who stepped through was exactly the last one they expected: Magneto. He was clad in his armor, although without the helmet and waved at the door, which slid shut behind him with a click.
"Ah, Charles. Always afraid of change. If they had placed you anywhere else, it might have taken a bit longer. Given them a fighting chance."
Madin turned as the door opened and was scrambling to their feet as they processed the identity of the man in front of them. It was a small room and their shoulders hit the far wall after only a couple of steps.
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The bed frame was made of metal. There was metal in the door hinges. There was probably metal everywhere. "Please. I'm sorry. Please don't."
"Please don't? Please don't what? Free you from this cage they've put you in? I can leave you here, I suppose, but it would be a bit of a waste on a quite successful attack on Charles' mansion. While his X-Men engage your Brotherhood fellows on the South Lawn, they opened up enough of a gap for Mystique and I to enter secretly. Once she disables their security system - a matter of minutes - Zero will open a portal and we'll be gone before the X-Men have a chance to even assess the damage."
Madin stared at him in horror. "No." They took a deep breath. "Please don't kill them."
"Madin, if I wanted the X-Men dead, I would have done it a dozen times over by now. Misguided, certainly. Weak, without a doubt. Is that worthy of a death sentence?" Magneto paused outside of the cell door. "I must say, you have certainly exceeded my expectations."
"I didn't. I didn't fucking come here for you." Madin still hadn't moved. He was lying. He had to be lying. The X-Men were going to die. That hadn't been the plan.
"Come now, Madin. Do you honestly think I didn't see every step before you took it? Or I couldn't have prevented it at any time? No." He sighed. "I wanted you to find your way here. To experience their futility first hand. Their hypocrisy. I have no doubt they told you just how much this place was a haven for our kind. That Xavier's way was about peace. And yet..." He took a seat. "And yet." He waved at Madin's cell door. "Tell me. How long did it take before you were told that humans deserved rights over you? How their fear was your problem to fix?"
Could they get to the door before he did anything? "They didn't say that exactly. I don't. I. They never said that I have to give my rights over to humans," Madin mumbled. Except Terry had, in the discussion about the community centre. Human bigots were tolerated there and Madin hadn't set foot in the place since.
"For all this is a haven, how long before they showed you exactly what they thought about a mutant who didn't immediately fall into line behind their philosophies?" He said, with an arch of his brow. "I gave you the room you needed to find your way here. To see for yourself what we face; our own standing behind the same people who curse and hate us. I wanted you to understand first hand who they are and just why we need you, Madin."
"I'm not going back." Everything else had sounded uncertain. This wasn't. "I'm not fucking going back." They should have left months ago. Mystique was taking down the security system and the X-Men were dying and this was their fault. All of it. Madin's shoulders were still pressed against the wall, as far from Magneto as they could manage. It felt like they were standing outside their body watching this conversation.
He shook his head sadly. "No one is going to force you to return to the Brotherhood, Madin. I assumed after all of this, you would prefer to fight for your fellow mutants, as opposed to spending the rest of your life in the human prison they will send you to, filled with the same technology that takes away your gifts that this place helped develop. If that is what you choose, this is the last cell I will attempt to save you from." Magneto got back to his feet, dusting his hands. "My generation's time is drawing to a close. It is yours who will decide the fate of our people. So I ask you one last time. Will you return with us?"
Madin was still floating. It was like their body belonged to someone else. This was all their fault. All of it. Magneto was going to kill them if they came back. Or they'd go to jail and die. Or the surviving X-Men would kill them. That made it easier.
Their hands were attached to their body by impossibly long strings and it was so hard to make plasma knives form around their fists. "Fuck you." Eyes closed, Madin lunged at Magneto.
The next thing Madin knew, they were sprawled on the floor, holding their face from where it had impacted on the wall. Magneto had barely moved, shifting to one side and tagging one of their arms forward so they hit the wall hard. Maybe he used his powers? As spots swam in their vision, Magneto stepped over them and opened the door. "I gave you a chance, Madin. Remember that." He said, and the door closed behind him, leaving Madin alone.
With a shrug, Magento melted away, shifting back to Kevin in a heartbeat. He looked up at the camera outside of the Box, knowing that the one inside had caught everything.
"They were Brotherhood. I don't know what they are now, but it's absolutely not Brotherhood." He said before leaving the hallway.
