Pinned & Stuck

Chapter 8 - Eye Opener - Aoi

Insert song: Donovan - Season of the Witch

The place was huge. If it wasn't abandoned, this city would have been a great place to live at. As we arrived at Genosha, Mr. Erik lowered his hovering height, taking me to look around the island. I already could spot my favorite place, including the isolated southwest beach, near the prison and lab building. It was very cold there, not only because I only wore my pajamas when Mr. Erik picked me up. He took notice of me shivering a little. He cut the tour short and went to the Brotherhood's headquarter tower. Unexpectedly, there were a lot of workers inside. I always thought this organization only had a handful of people, but it was just as many as any corporations ever. He guided me to the top floor, where the room looked like a throne room combined with a meeting room. There is a very big chair at the center, guessing it was for Mr. Erik. Below the steps from there, there is a round table, with ten chairs around it. Overlooking the sea is a giant window, with two big automatic metal doors on each side. I got a peek to look below, and it made my hair crawl on how high the distance is from the window to the bottom of the cliff

"If you don't mind me asking," I spoke to Mr. Erik, "What are those metal doors for?"

"Hmm... it's better if you don't know, child," he avoided the question.

I guessed right away they must have been for throwing off his enemies to their death or something. He could have said they were for him to fly out from, but the way he avoided answering me, made the use of the doors to be sketchy. Behind his throne chair is a room. He told me to wait while he entered it. I quickly realised it has to be his personal office room. Just then, a woman entered the meeting-throne-execution room. She wore a short-sleeved, deep green pencil dress. She also wore metal cuff bracelets on both of her arms. The weird thing was the metallic heels she wore. They looked like real metals, since it seemed stiff and rigid, unlike leather or plastic. Her hair is brown-green ombre hair.

"Where is father?" she said as soon as she entered.

"Um... your... dad?" I wasn't sure who she was talking about.

"Magneto," she answered.

"Oh, Mr. Erik. He went to that room there," I pointed at the office room.

"Ugh, it'll take a while until he comes out," she complained, "And who're you?"

"I'm-"

"Wait, don't tell me," she stopped me from introducing myself, "Aren't you the guy who sunk the island on Saturday?"

"... yes," I felt guilty again, "... accidentally."

"So you are the one, father said to be the key to saving the mutants from prisons," she approached me.

"The key?"

"We've tried freeing them several times, but they never worked," she revealed, "But I can see it happening now."

"I'm not as dependable as you people think...,"

"But you'll still be a game changer," she insisted.

Mr. Erik came out of his office and saw both of us talking.

"Lorna, what do you need?" he said when he saw his daughter.

"We've found what you asked for, Father" she informed him.

"Excellent. Wait for me at the lab, I'll join you soon after I take Aoi to his quarter," he replied.

"Where is he staying at, Father? If I may ask," she asked.

"The mansion."

Like what he said, he brought me to his mansion. It was only a short walk from the meeting room, since the two buildings are interconnected with each other. While the BoM's headquarter is futuristic and modern, the mansion looks classic. Decorated with paintings and statues. Although I did notice the doors were metal but covered with woods when Magneto opened them. Everything else must have been metals covered with other materials. Probably to ease Mr. Erik's works in moving them. The mansion is ridiculously big. I would never live in a place as big as this by myself. The Avengers main building is also big but there are a lot of people moving around there, and the living floors are like one-floor apartments. It was uncomfortable at first but I could adjust slowly. On the other hand, I could never adjust to living there. It looks empty too, there's nobody there aside from Mr. Erik.