Age Of Magneto

The Beginning Of The End For Earth's Mightiest

It was quiet from all fronts for several weeks after the X-Men had let K leave mostly peacefully. Scott was starting to believe that their late night visitor had actually done as she'd said and simply disappeared into the woodwork. Until of course, one morning over coffee, the news picked up a story that he definitely could have done without hearing first thing.

Magneto was making an open threat to anyone that disturbed the sanctity of the safe houses and shelters that were offering sanctuary to mutants. The speech he was rattling off was as condescending and threatening as any that he had ever uttered before- mixed with just enough fire and passion to draw in support from a larger group than he had already.

And then, as the camera panned out, the screen showed the short, pretty little brunette that he'd let leave with their secrets. Scott stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the screen, his jaw clenching and his anger rising. She was almost expressionless as she stood with her arms crossed low standing on Erik's left with Wanda and Pietro on his right. There was no way he'd have her on a public stage unless she was important to him. And Scott had let her walk.

He couldn't believe he'd let her convince him she was anything like neutral.

It appeared as though this particular broadcast was old though since the reporter went into a live feed of most of Magneto's group as they hit back at a battalion of MRD that had raided and shot up half of a homeless center that was open to mutants in Brooklyn. The footage covered the fight - and the backlash as Erik crushed sentinels and MRD choppers alike as they tried to back up their troops that were getting pounded. It was official, and had it been a smaller effort - or if Magneto hadn't made such a show of it - it wouldn't be an all out war. But now?

Scott was just considering calling the team together to go and help when the reporter got a little more excitable - and the Avengers showed up on the scene. The camera man rushed to get a better angle as Captain America found a spot to try and reason with Magneto before it devolved further.

"The fight is over," Cap was arguing. "You made your point."

"And you're here to defend the police force that is encouraging this," Erik countered.

"I'm here to prevent a war," Steve said. "I don't agree with anything that happened in Brooklyn. That's my home town. Do you think I wanted to see that kind of intolerance happen here? But that's not an excuse for this. You bring the people responsible to justice - you don't do this," he said, gesturing around him at the evidence of the fight all around them.

"This is the first time that you've seen anything happen to a population that's different then?" Erik asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you of all people wouldn't forget what horrors happen when one group is allowed to treat another as less than human."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "I know," he said in a more dangerous tone than before. "But I also know the difference between a flawed system and what we fought against in the war."

"But you want to put your faith in that flawed system," Erik said low. "And what we fought against isn't so different."

"I put my faith in people. Where it should be," Steve said. "This has always been the struggle for anyone who's different. But you know violence doesn't work to change minds. It just gives people an excuse for more violence. Is that what you want?"

Erik glanced at him, looking for a moment like he was just appeasing him. "I can tell you firsthand that following the restrictions and laws meant to channel someone into camps leads to nothing but genocide." He leaned forward. "Do some research, Captain Rogers. It's going on now, in this country."