—
I didn't mind if she wanted to fight, but I wanted to back off to avoid aningless annoyance later on. Grandpa would lecture for hours.
So I ignored her attempt. "Off-limits for a reason? Hmm, let guess… power generators? Weapons systems? Maybe a big red button labeled as 'In Case of Human Attack'?"
Her lips twitched, though she fought the smile. "Cute. You always this suspicious of people inviting you to dinner?"
"Only when they've tried to kill previously."
"Co on, that was just business, and I was holding back," she shrugged, studying her gloved hands. "Nothing personal."
"Could've fooled with that right hook." I rubbed my jaw in exaggerated mory. "You pack quite a punch for soone so–"
"Careful how you finish that sentence," she warned, though sothing playful flickered in her eyes.
"I was going to say 'soone so reserved,'" I finished innocently. Then I decided to make her a little uncomfortable. "You keep people at a distance. I get it."
The playfulness vanished, replaced by wariness. "You get ? Hah. You don't know anything about , sugar."
"I know more than you think, Anna Marie."
She shrugged. "A na can be learned easy."
I really wanted to split ways with her and continue my search, so I said, "I did see glimpses of your mories, too. I told you about this already. Ghostfreak, rember? In my defence, that was not my intention, I didn't know how Ghostfreak worked back then. I didn't an to pry. But it happened anyway. I was in your head." I took a small step ahead, watching her tense. "So yes, I do get you sowhat."
The silence stretched between us like a taut wire, charged with things neither of us wanted to say. Anna Marie's eyes searched mine, looking for traces of the mories I'd accidentally stolen from her. I could see the conflict there – curiosity warring with the instinctive need to protect herself from anyone who might know too much.
"You saw glimpses," she said finally, voice carefully neutral. "That doesn't an you understand the whole picture."
"No," I agreed, leaning against the opposite wall. "But I saw enough to know you didn't choose this isolation. It was forced on you."
Sothing flickered across her face – vulnerability quickly masked by defiance. She pushed off from the wall with a fluid motion that spoke of countless hours of combat training.
"Co with ," she said, already walking past down the corridor. "If we're gonna have this conversation, might as well have it sowhere with a decent view."
Well, that backfired. I thought she'd get mad and back off. Dammit. I followed, matching her pace as we navigated the winding passages.
The citadel's architecture was even more impressive up close – tal flowing seamlessly into organic curves, responding to our presence with subtle shifts in lighting and temperature. It felt alive, breathing around us as we climbed a spiraling staircase that defied conventional engineering.
"Magneto built all this himself?" I asked as we ascended.
"Most of it. Though he had help from so talented architects among our people." Her gloved hand trailed along the railing, which adjusted its height automatically to accommodate her touch. "He wanted to prove that mutants could create, not just destroy."
The staircase opened onto a balcony that took my breath away. We stood hundreds of feet above the city, with Genosha spread out below us like a glittering artwork. Night had fallen while we'd been inside, transforming the crystal spires into prisms that caught and scattered the light from thousands of sources. Bioluminescent plants traced patterns through the gardens, creating constellations on the ground that rivaled those in the star-scattered sky above.
"Holy shit, wow," I said, gripping the railing. "This is incredible."
Anna Marie moved to stand beside , maintaining that careful distance she always kept. "First ti seeing a mutant nation at night?"
"First ti seeing anything like this." The city pulsed with gentle energy, mutants using their powers to maintain the incredible ecosystem below. A figure with wings soared between the towers, while others manipulated elents to tend the gardens. "It's beautiful."
"It's freedom," she corrected quietly. "For the first ti in my life, I can walk down a street without people staring. Without parents pulling their children away when they see coming."
The pain in her voice hit like a physical blow. I'd seen fragnts of her mories – the fear, the rejection, the crushing loneliness that ca with being untouchable. But hearing it spoken aloud gave it weight that re images couldn't convey.
"That must have been hell," I said.
"You get used to it." She shrugged, but the gesture was too casual and practiced. "Besides, Magneto gave a purpose. A place where I belong."
There it was – that absolute trust in Magneto that I'd noticed earlier. It worried more than I cared to admit. Is this the gross tiline? Probably not, since I hadn't heard anything about Rogue becoming his Queen. That aside, it was still worrying.
In most of the tilines I knew from comics, animations, and movies, this sweet girl eventually found her way to the X-n and learned to see beyond Magneto's vision of mutant supremacy. However, with Genosha actually succeeding, that growth might never occur. We were standing side by side right now, but in the future, we might end up fighting again.
"Has he told you about the intelligence reports?" I asked carefully. "About potential threats to the ceremony?"
Her green eyes sharpened. "You an the possible Sentinel attack? Yeah, he briefed the senior Brotherhood mbers. High-tech killer robots, designed to hunt mutants. Cute bedti story."
"You don't believe it?"
"I've fought them before. So I believe humans are capable of that kind of hatred," she said, turning to face fully. "But I also believe Erik is the most powerful mutant alive. You think so tal toys are gonna get past him?" She laughed, the sound carrying genuine amusent. "Sugar, he can feel every tallic object within miles. If governnt death machines were hiding anywhere near Genosha, he'd know."
Her confidence was absolute, unshakeable. And maybe that's what scared most. I knew what was coming and had seen the devastation the Sentinels would bring. But how do you convince soone to fear an enemy their hero has already dismissed?
"You really trust him completely," I observed.
"He saved my life," she said simply. "When everyone else saw a monster, he saw potential. When I thought I'd never be able to touch another person again, he gave a family that understood." Her voice grew softer. "That kind of debt doesn't get repaid easy."
I wanted to argue, to point out that Magneto had also manipulated her pain for his own ends. But standing here, watching the peaceful city below, it was hard to fra his actions as purely villainous. Whatever his thods, he'd created sothing genuinely beautiful.
"What about you?" Anna Marie asked suddenly, cutting through my brooding. "All that power, all those transformations. Don't you ever feel like you don't belong anywhere?"
The question caught off guard with its perceptiveness. "Eh, not really, but for the sake of this conversation, let's say sotis," I admitted. "When I'm human, I think about all the alien forms I could beco. When I'm alien, I rember being human. It's like existing in the spaces between identities."
"That why you let go? Back in Philadelphia?" She turned to lean against the railing, studying my profile. "You could've captured easily, but you didn't."
"You were being used," I said. "Just like those test subjects we saved from Oscorp. Nobody deserves to be soone else's weapon."
She was quiet for a long mont, processing that. When she spoke again, her voice carried a warmth I hadn't heard before.
"You know, when you grabbed my hand during that fight and still managed to stay consious, and when your Ghostfreak thing was inside ... I felt sothing I ain't felt in years."
"Pain?" I guessed, rembering how she'd scread.
"Contact," she corrected. "Real contact, without fear. Without death." Her fingers flexed unconsciously, as if rembering the sensation. "Been a long ti since soone touched without dying or losing their powers. Even if it wasn't totally human."
The vulnerability in her admission was pitiful. She was soone who'd been denied the most basic human connection, finding a mont of genuine contact through supernatural ans.
"I'm sorry it hurt," I said.
"Ay, don't be. It was worth it, just to rember what it felt like." She glanced at sidelong, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "You got a real gift, kid. Not just the watch, but the way you see people. The way you let go despite defeating . Most folks look at and see a weapon or a victim. You saw a person worth giving a chance."
"Don't give too much credit, my head will get big," I replied and she laughed for a bit.
The silence that followed was different from before. It was comfortable rather than tense. Below us, the city continued its nocturnal dance, mutants living freely in ways that would be impossible anywhere else on Earth. It was a perfect mont, beautiful and peaceful.
And in two days, it might all be ash.
"Speaking of people worth saving," I said, changing the subject, "how's Clancy doing?"
"Oh, that bug boy?" Anna Marie's expression brightened. "He's adapting better than expected. Turns out controlling insects is actually pretty useful for urban planning and agriculture. Who knew?" She shook her head in amusent. "Kid's got a whole apartnt full of ant farms now. Says they help him think."
"And he's happy here?"
"Happier than he was in Philadelphia, that's for sure. No more hiding, no more people screaming when they see him. He's even dating soone, you know? Another mutant with physical manifestations. They're adorable together."
The warmth in her voice when talking about Clancy revealed another side of Anna Marie – protective, almost maternal toward the younger mutants who'd found refuge here. It made the looming threat feel even more personal.
"That's good to hear," I said. "Everyone deserves a place where they can be themselves."
"Even you?" she asked, that perceptive gaze returning. "You seem pretty comfortable in your own skin, despite all the alien DNA."
"That's the thing," I shrugged. "Not everybody is Ben Tennyson."
Anna Marie studied for a mont longer, eyebrow raised. "I forget how arrogant you are at tis. It's adorable, though," she said, and then gestured toward the city below. "So what's the real reason you wanted to explore?" she asked.
"C-"
"And don't say curiosity. You got that sa look Xavier gets when he's plotting sothing for the 'greater good.'"
"That's very insulting, but I'll let it slide," I said. In my head, I debated how much to reveal. Anna Marie was sharp – sharper than most people gave her credit for. Lying outright would only insult her intelligence.
"I want to scout the island," I said finally. "Go Ghostfreak, check the underground areas, make sure there's nothing hiding that shouldn't be there."
She raised an eyebrow. "You really think Erik missed sothing? The man's paranoid on a good day, and this is the most important week of his life. He's probably scanned every grain of sand on this island."
"Probably," I agreed. "But I'd rather be paranoid and wrong than optimistic and dead."
"Fair point." She pushed off from the railing, that fluid grace evident in every movent. "Though you're wasting your ti. Anything tal bigger than a paperclip, Erik would know about it. Anything organic, Storm would sense through the weather patterns. Anything technological, the techno-paths would've found."
"Maybe," I said, activating the Omnitrix. The familiar green glow bathed the balcony as I scrolled through alien forms. "But I've got advantages they don't."
The transformation was swift – flesh becoming transparent, form elongating, reality bending around as human DNA gave way to Ectonurite genetics.
"Ghostfreak," I announced, my voice now carrying that otherworldly echo that always made people uncomfortable.
Anna Marie didn't flinch, which impressed . Most people took a step back when confronted with a ghost, especially one that had previously taken over their body. Instead, she leaned forward slightly, green eyes studying my spectral appearance with scientific curiosity.
"You know, you're actually kinda beautiful like that," she said thoughtfully. "In a completely terrifying way."
I laughed, the sound distorting strangely through my altered vocal cords. "Thanks, I think."
"Go do your ghost thing," she said, waving off. "I'll be here when you get back. Soone's gotta make sure you don't phase through the planet's core by accident. Be sure to be back before dinner, though."
"Phase through the planet's core by accident is actually impossible with this form's limitations, but I appreciate the concern."
She smirked. "Smart ass."
I smiled… or tried to, hard to tell with an Ectonurite's anatomy. Then I phased through the floor, beginning my descent into the depths of Genosha.
Ti to see what secrets Magneto's paradise was really hiding.
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Author Note: Really hype arc, sorry that chapters are getting delayed! I've got a big exam coming in days, plus the attempt at managing all this together burnt up. Sorry!
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