Chapter 138: Tensions

Chapter 138: Tensions

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

--------------- Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

5th June 2006, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I nod at her, "do you remember any of the predictions?"

"Yes. Every single prediction was the same, they all changed to the exact same thing. I saw the stars going out, I saw nothing but darkness and death. The balance has been shifted; you're our only hope Morrigan."

I nod and press my hands towards her temples, leaving small runes that looked like beauty marks. Irene nodded solemnly accepting the loss of her powers, and me, having lost one of my strongest allies.

Irene's last prediction came to mind. This was bad, really bad. The stars going out was bad. Was this the goal of whatever I was fighting? Destroying light in the entire multiverse? I still have no idea and that was the scariest thing.

For the first time in a very long time, I started to feel powerless.

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(Wanda Maximoff POV)

Her nonchalant greeting seemed to upset the boy, "I'm good. You know, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Alright Pietro, but make it quick, I have a lot of studying to do."

The boy looked disgusted at the notion, "You know that all that stuff is useless, right? In the real world, a piece of paper won't mean much. Your power is what matters the most and you need to know what you're going to do with that power."

So that was what he was going for, "Seriously Pietro, what I do with my powers is my business and mine alone. I decided that I'm going to college, I'm going to have a genuine life. I'm not going to involve myself with the petty squabbles between your little group and the X-Men. I'm going to have a normal life for once in my life and there's no one who could stop me from having this."

Pietro looked outraged, "So, you're going to just stand back as our kind is being prosecuted and hunted down like animals. You're going to play college girl, pretending to be human when you know you're not, while we are being treated little better than animals. This isn't one of your TV shows where everything will be alright in the end; this is real life and our people are suffering. You're seriously not going to fight back for your own kind?"

Wanda was starting to get angry but controlled herself, "Yes, I will not fight. Because there's nothing to fight in the first place. This battle is a political thing, not a physical one. All you're doing, all Magneto is doing is proving to the world why they should fear us. And maybe fear is good, but they're prosecuting mutants because they're afraid of what they could do. This isn't about being different, because racism is very frowned upon these days, it's about power and control. If you continue to answer everything with violence, then you're just proving them right."

Pietro sneered at her, "You're one of Xavier's cronies now, aren't you?"

Wanda snorted, "Hell no. I hate that guy. I'm not stupid enough to think that the power of love and understanding will save the day. I have seen suffering, more than you have, Pietro. I just think that what you're doing is counterproductive as hell and anyone with a brain can tell you that. What you need is the public's support, get that and the government will bend to accommodate you. To do that, you'll need representatives to show that mutants are more than just human weapons, teenagers with the powers of gods. Make yourself indispensable to the economy, maybe get people with healing mutations to work at hospitals, get Storm to irrigate deserts, make yourself useful to the average Joe, and no one will dare touch you. What Magneto is doing isn't for mutant kind's benefit, but for his own dreams of power."

"Are you really nave that you think that a peaceful solution is actually possible?"

Wanda snorted, "what I just said isn't peaceful at all, it's just a battle fought through politics and economics, not a physical fight. People will oppose you, people who want to weaponize mutants, people who are afraid of their presence. It's human nature to be greedy, power hungry. Magneto is the same, it's why he fights in the first place. He knows that if a war happens between mutants and humans, one side will end up wiping out the other. Either way, you'll end up with either a world with less than a million people with him as the ruler, and that's only possible if a few omega level mutants join his cause, or a world where mutants are wiped out, which is the most likely scenario. Neither of these cases are something that any mutant would want. If the mutants lose, then they'll be either dead or enslaved, if they win, industry would be destroyed, you would have to hunt for food, or farm them yourself, there would probably be no engineers, no internet, no TV. We wouldn't be able to live in comfort."

Pietro looked pensive. Perhaps he was finally starting to think for himself instead of reciting Magneto's words, "Look, maybe you have a point, but that's not important right now. I'm not here to talk about philosophy. Magneto already has a plan, something big, and he wanted you, as his daughter, to be a part of it. Normally, there would be a test or something to prove your worth, but he thinks that as his family, we need to be a part of this. It's either the both of us or neither of us."

Wanda paled; that didn't bode well. Magneto was very ruthless when he thinks he needs to be, so whatever he's planning will probably be very bad for everyone, "What the hell is he planning to do?"

Pietro smirked at her, "The next step in mutant evolution. Magneto found a way to upgrade our powers."

Wanda's instinct was right; if there's something Jasmine taught her, it was that there is no such thing as a power up without a price. If an offer was too good to be true, it probably was.