Okay. Back in action! Time to continue this puppy, so let's just head straight into the story!
My name is Charles Francis Xavier. I founded the X-Men because I believe this world can co-exist with both humans and mutants alike. I searched for those were able to help me in my cause that would one day rid of the hatred that fills the hearts of those who wish ill against us. I brought together six mutant outcasts to do just that.
Cyclops. Iceman. Jean Grey. Colossus. Beast. Wolverine.
And then we found Storm during a mission in Africa.
Now if only the world can see the good that can come from this…
PREVIOUSLY IN ESSENTIAL X-MEN:
The X-Men return from their camping trip and tensions begin to flair. But while they get re-adjusted at the mansion again, Agent Sharon Carter of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuts and is already planning to breakout Magneto. Say what?!
ESSENTIAL X-MEN #31
MAGNETO RETURNS
PART 2 OF 4
"COUNTDOWN TO THE INETIVABLE"
The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning
2 hours 15 minutes…
Charles Xavier sat at his desk in his office that's located on the first floor of the mansion, a couple of yards away from the main entrance, and just around the corner. As he sat there, he fumbled over some paperwork and the phone then rang.
He picked up the phone and asked, "Hello? This is Charles Xavier, how may I help you?"
"May the stars loose their light if I ever give up my might," a man said on the other side of the line to Xavier. Xavier then immediately pressed a red button on the phone and looked around.
"Go ahead. It's all clear," he proceeded to tell the man as he sat back in his chair.
"Sir, there's a problem!" The guy yelled in panic.
"Well of course there must be. Otherwise you would not have called me on this line," mentioned Xavier.
"No sir, I mean, this is a top priority emergency! Critical for everyone!" The guy kept spouting out, never getting to the point of the call.
"Well then," Xavier hastily said, "out with it!"
"There's someone here who's planning a breakout. Her…her name is Sharon Carter. I heard her myself through the hidden microphones in Magnetos cell."
"And who is she planning to break out? Out with it already!" Xavier yelled, wanting the answer now.
"Magneto."
S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier
Briefing Room AB2
1 hour 48 minutes…
Nick Fury stands in front of a giant screen with the United States map on it. Red dots are located around the major cities all over the country including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and more. As he gives the conference in a room full of some U.S. Senators and governors, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent interrupts the meeting.
"Boy, you better have one damn of a good excuse for barging in here like that or it's your job, you hear me?"
"It's about Magneto…sir," the agent said back with intimidation in his tone. Fury stood there with a blank and confused look on his face for a second before he said anything else.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you excuse me, I have something very important to deal with. We'll have to finish this some other time," Fury told them all as he left the room and closed the doors behind himself.
Nick Fury's Office
1 hour 45 minutes…
"This better be good. Do you know how hard it was to get all those people here on the same day? Of course you don't," Fury talked to the agent as she sat down at his desk. He folded his hands together in front of his face, covering his mouth.
"It's about Magneto, sir!" the agent repeated.
"Yeah, yeah! You told me that already. Just get on with it will you? Before I loose my patience, too!" yelled Fury.
"We've received word from some anonymous line that someone's going to break out Magneto. We couldn't trace from where, but thought you should know about it anyway, sir. The breakout is supposed to be tonight."
"Who?"
"Excuse me?"
"Who's supposed to do the breakout?!" Fury yelled again.
"Charles Xavier."
Back at the Institute
1 hr 09 minutes…
"So that's it? We just go in and...talk? We spent like 40 minutes here planning to just go and talk to them? I mean, seriously?" Bobby asked, wanting to know why there was no action being mentioned afterwards.
"Because, Robert," Xavier began to reply to him, "We must avoid any course of action as much as we possibly can. I want to try and reason with Fury first, not give him a reason to lock us up."
"Well, ain't breakin' an enterin' into the Hellicarrier of all places enough reason?" Logan asked as he fumbled through his pocket looking for a cigar.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa; The Hellicarrier?! How the hell do you even break and enter into a place like that? From what you told me about that place…" Bobby asked, shocked as to the exact location as to where their mission was going to take them.
"First, you must all calm down. We are not breaking into anywhere. I have already called Fury, so they are expecting us," Xavier told everyone.
"So then what do we wait for? Let us go, comrades," Peter said, anxious to leave.
The Hellicarrier
Top Deck
42 minutes…
The X-Men's Blackbird lands on the Hellicarrier as Fury waits for them with a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents behind him.
"So glad you're all finally here. Makes this much easier for me," Fury said to the X-Men as they were exiting the Blackbird. He spat out the cigar he had in his mouth and then lit up another one he put in right after.
"And what, prey tell, is exactly all comforting to you, Nicholas?" Beast wondered.
"Doing this. Boys, care to do me the favor?" Fury told the agents. They all then proceeded to raise their guns and point them at the X-Men and Xavier.
"You're all going down. You are all under arrest for the aiding and abiding a known terrorist, and trying to break him out," Fury explained.
Stunned as to what just happened before his very eyes, Xavier managed to gather something to say to Fury, "Are you out of your mind?! What is wrong with you?!"
"Oh, go cry me a river. Don't think me stupid, please. Planning to break Magneto out? Kind of surprised, I must say. And I hate surprises," Fury answered, putting out his cigar again.
"Oh my stars and garters! You really consider us to break out one such as Magneto? Preposterous!" Beast exclaimed.
"I do not know what you're talking about Fury. We came here to tell you one of
you're agents is going to break Magneto out," Xavier tried to reason with Fury.
"Nice try. I would've believed that if I was a sucker. But you're not pulling a fast one on me. Howling Commando Squad, take care of them," commanded Fury as he walked behind them.
"X-Men, get ready! You wanted action, Iceman, well now you got it!" Cyclops yelled out.
"Now this is my kind of party!" Iceman exclaimed in excitement.
"Colossus, Storm, Jean: take out the troops on the left. Wolverine, Beast, Iceman, take out the ones on the right. Professor, I suggest you get back before harm comes your way," Cyclops ordered out.
"Yes. I cannot get into their minds. They must have psychic blocks put into their helmets."
"Well of course. You didn't think we would let you win that easy, did you?" Fury teased.
"Nothin' new," Wolverine said ash he slashed guns from the agents and stabbed them.
"Wolverine! No killing!" Jean screamed at him.
"What kind of team doesn't kill? Wolverine joked and then broke another agent's nose after taking his helmet off. He then punched him the face.
"There's more and more coming! They're getting cavalry!" Storm said, trying to keep up with blowing agents away and trying not to knock them off the carrier. As Fury stood in the sidelines, he smiled as he looked upon the battle.
"That's it! I don't know how much we can take here without somehow causing them to fall off the ship. Everyone! Take course action Alpha Omega Delta, now!!" Cyclops yelled, trying a last resort. Everyone agreed and began. Colossus punched the ground as hard as he could, causing a dent and cracks on the ship. That caused everyone to fly into the air a few feet and fall down, hard. Jean had already held the X-Men and Xavier telekinetically in the air. She put them back down and then Storm brought every one of the agents together in the air with a mini tornado. Iceman finished it off with freezing them all in one place.
Beast quickly took Wolverine and flung him into the air with his feet and Wolverine landed on top of Fury and knocked him back down on the ground.
"Give it up Fury. You lost," Cyclops said as he put his finger on his visor, prepared to shoot if necessary. Fury gave out a laugh and began to spark.
"What in the flamin' hell?!" Wolverine got up and stood back. The sparks then led to small fires on Fury, and then Fury blowing up. A loud voice then came over a speaker system.
"Congratulate yourselves, X-Men. No one's been able to take out a decoy model and my team in record breaking time. Now that the fun and games are over, please, why don't take a walk inside."
"What the hell is going on?" Jean wondered.
"That is what we will find out, my dear," Storm said as he began to head inside.
"Yes, let us proceed and unravel this mess," agreed Xavier.
Inside the Hellicarrier
29 minutes…
The X-Men walk up slowly towards Fury, the real Fury, who is already waiting for them.
"I'm sorry for the deceiving, but I had to know if you were really planning the breakout. Everything checks out. You're all good…for now," Fury told them.
"So you knew all this time?! How do we know that you still think we are planning the breakout?!" Cyclops asked, angered at what Fury told them.
"Like I said, I had to find out. I have my ways. I know you're not."
"Maybe I should find out how you'd be without the other eye, eh?" chimed in Wolverine.
"Everyone, enough! Fury, it'd be best if you explain yourself this instant. No more games. No more tricks!" Xavier demanded.
"Gladly. But not here. Follow me," he said as he had begun to walk away.
Conference Room AC4
27 minutes…
Fury took his seat at the head of the table as the X-Men stayed at the back of the room.
"Please, have a seat," Fury suggested.
"Don't be insulted if we stayed repute, thank you," Beast said back.
"You're wish. Now, let's get back to business shall we? Don't worry. We're not being recorded. Scouts honor," Fury tried to joke with them.
"Fury, how did you know we weren't here to break Magneto out. In fact, how did you even know of it? I did not mention anything about when I called," Xavier asked.
"Let's just say I have my ways of finding information and leave it at that," Fury answered, avoiding to truthfully answer the question.
"I do not think keeping any information from us is wise," Colossus told Fury, as he stared at him with a look that could kill.
Fury sucked his teeth and smiled. "Alright. If you must know, I got word from one of my agents that a call was heard between Magneto and Xavier by another agent. Sharon Carter."
"You've tapped into our lines?!" Jean yelled.
Fury told her, "Calm down, girl. Because that's the thing. We're not. We haven't ever been to your home. I'm still trying to see why Sharon would be doing this or if any of this is true. And why she wasn't guarding Magneto as she's supposed to be."
"Why do you even have him up here? Why not in the Triskelion, the home base of the Ultimates?" Cyclops asked.
"And have him with the other bozos? We keep all the ones that are a maximum severe threat to the world up here before moving them to The Void," Fury kept on.
"Why are you telling us this? Isn't his going against some code or something?" Iceman interrupted.
"Listen. All of you. You have no idea what's going on or what has been going on. Everything you know? It's all been a lie. Nothing but masks hiding the truth. I'm only here to help uncover the giant mess."
"What…what do you mean?" Xavier asked, not understanding what Fury was telling them.
"Oh come on. Don't you guys have any brains? When Magneto first attacked, didn't you ask yourselves how we arrived so quickly? Or how we even already had the perfect cell to hold him?" Fury now asked the X-Men.
Everyone stood in silence.
"All of it. I want to know it all," Xavier demanded from Fury.
"To do that, we have to go back to four years ago. I went myself with a group to detain some mutants the President wanted."
"Wait. 'Wanted'?" Colossus asked.
"Hush, boy. Back then, mutants began to show up more and more on the radar. These mutants just happened to be in neutral territory in Europe. No man's land, if you will. After a talk with the U.N., they gave us a go. Trust me, nowadays it's best to talk with the U.N. before having them up your ***es later with questions and ****. One of the mutants we had found there just happened to be your little friend, Magneto. Wasn't hard to take him down. He was having some nervous breakdown about some dead girl named Anya or something like that."
"His daughter!" Xavier mumbled to himself.
Fury continued, "You see, the President's quite a smart man. He knows one day there's going to be a war with the mutants. It's inevitable. And what other way then to-"
"Fight fire with fire. Take the mutants and make them fight against themselves, huh?" Wolverine finished Fury's line.
"Always the smart one, Wolverine. Well, most of the time. So yes, he thought why not have mutants just fight and finish each other off, then to sacrifice us regular humans. Not like a firearm or any of the sort would do real damage to them. So with that, we hired a man to think up of a back up plan in case anything went wrong. Boliver Trask. He already had an apprentice form some sponsorship he was doing at the time."
"That kid from before. Peter Parker," Wolverine again interrupted.
"Right. He tricked the kid into thinking he was helping build better protection for the army by coming up with some equations or some ****. But in fact, he was taking them and using the equations for the Sentinel blueprints. Some adjustments here and there, and bingo. Anyways, the President loved it so much he secretly had factories built to make and house these bad boys. Unfortunately, something went wrong with Trask and he left, shutting down the process since he had the only copies of the blueprints, until he came back and got into General Ross's pants."
"So you only used Parker as bait to try and get back Trask so you can clean up your mess all at once? So people won't see the liars you are?" Cyclops asked.
"*Sigh* Yes. We make sure word travels. But Ross already had given him the go."
"Men like you and Kelly deserve to be locked up." Jean angrily told Fury.
"Heh, girl, Kelly's with us, too."
"What? That man who had announced to register mutants?" Colossus asked.
"And did you think that the sudden proposal of the Mutant Registration act was really out of the blue with him? That plan's been prepared for months! Since the President's first term, actually. We were only waiting for the right time to announce it, and it just happened to be that fate picked for him to be kidnapped. So what better bandwagon than that? But let me guess. You think it's to know who's who and does what so the community knows, right? Believing it only at face value? It's ok. That's the point. In reality, it's so we know who has the greatest power so we can add them to our little army. These times…they're not like the old days."
"You make me sick! How can you even live with yourself?!" Xavier yelled at Fury.
Magneto's Cell.
3 seconds…
2 seconds…
1…
"Are you ready? Let's go," Sharon said to Magneto.
"You know, it took me a while, but I know. You really disguised yourself well this time…
Mystique."
TO BE CONTINUED…
