New York City - The Sewers
MORLOCkS
MUTaNTZ OnLY
A large metal gate with writing scrawled across it gradually rises. The sludge of the sewers it was slumped in slides off it and plunges back into the foul, murky waters. The metal chain attached to it is heaved upwards by a mutant Magneto once knew, in the time of the Brotherhood. Codename: Blob. Blob scowls at him but Magneto doesn't dwell on this, for he has more important matters to attend to than an old 'colleague' or two.
Erik glides casually under the entrance, after the heavy dripping stops. Behind the gate: a slum, of sorts. It appears a bit more like a junkyard from a distance. Old, torn-up mattresses and forgotten furniture litters the sloped sides of the slimey corridor. To the left and right: Mutants, of all shape and size. Erik makes his way down the central path, and gains the gaze of every man, woman and child living there. In honesty, it looks more like a battlefield trench than an sort of living quarters.
As he moves along, keeping himself a half meter above the ground on his metal disc, the people he passes drop what they're doing and follow him. He can hear them whispering behind him; "Is that the Magneto?", "I thought he was dead", "What is he doing here?"
Reaching a more central, open area, he raises himself up higher and waits for the remainder of the Mutants to congratulate. Under normal circumstances, he would more likely have been met with some sizeable hostility. These are abnormal times, however. And so a little hesitantly, he begins his address to the crowd, hoping it doesn't descend into a mob.
"My fellow Mutants, brothers and sisters, I am -"
"-Yo, we don't want you here. You only make things worse", a young, green mutant interrupts.
"The last time you came knockin', half of us ended up in prison after tryna sabotage that rocket!" Toad yells from the front of the crowd.
"My child, I come with a proposal. In case you haven't noticed, our entire Mutant society is at risk of total annihilation. I'm sure you can guess what that means..."
The chatter silences. He has their attention now, and with a little more comfortability, Erik continues.
"Reverend William Stryker is the face of Mutant Oppression, and I can NOT take him on alone. I believe he has joined forces with a military contractor named Bolivar Trask, and together they are forming an army to wipe us all out! I ask not for you to help me, but to instead help yourselves and help our species. In case you haven't noticed, he's been kidnapping more and more mutants, likely for... experiments, of some kind. We MUST kill Stryker, and we must do it UNITED"
He spots some moderate nodding from the Morlocks - a good sign. He always has a plan, and this one is working... so far.
"What do you say? Join with me, this one time? Save our selves and our mutant brothers and sisters who have been taken from us!"
The crowd look agitated now. He can tell they want to fight.
"Magneto..." a woman's voice echoes in the tunnel. Callisto, leader of the Morlocks, steps forward with her black trenchcoat wading through the thick layer of sludge that covers the floor.
"You are not one of us. You don't live like we do, or have suffered like we have. If you aren't here to join our ranks, I'm going to have to ask you to leave right away" She says, pulling her knives out of her sleeves.
There is a tense moment, many of Magneto's new followers unsure where their allegiance now lies.
"Now now, Callisto... It's alright..." Magento replies, and begins to glide away. Behind him, he hears a group of Morlocks following him out the door. He turns to see Toad, Blob, Marrow, Masque and 6 others walking behind him.
"I got just what I came for anyway..." he utters to himself.
YOU ARE READING
The X-Men: Volume One - Survival
Science FictionThe state New York is in a frenzy. All mutants are under great threat from a twisted human trying to annihilate them all. They ALL must work together if they're all going to survive...
