"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
George raised his hand first. After a brief pause, the others followed, one by one.
Almost everyone in the room had lived through persecution at the hands of ordinary humans. The Xavier School had never been just a place to study. It was a refuge. An escape. So the proposal faced no real resistance.
With a unanimous vote secured, Professor Xavier showed no surprise. He calmly laid out the plan he and Magneto had already prepared.
"Next, I will use the Xavier family’s resources to purchase an uninhabited island. Once construction is complete, it will beco the sovereign territory of the Mutant Empire. After that, I’ll use Cerebro to notify the presidents of every nation about the empire’s official establishnt. Once agreents are reached, we’ll announce the existence of the Mutant Empire to the world and call on mutants everywhere to join us."
The eting ended soon after.
As people filtered out, George walked up beside Quicksilver.
"Did you talk to him?"
"I did," Quicksilver replied, exhaling slowly. "He apologized. Said he wants to take responsibility. At least... as much as a father can."
There was no anger in his voice. Just sothing tired and complicated.
Truthfully, he knew the situation wasn’t entirely Magneto’s fault. His mother had t Magneto in a bar years ago. One night. One mistake. Then twins.
She had chosen to keep them.
Back then, Magneto had been consud by revenge, hunting down the man who destroyed his life. He never even knew she was pregnant. If he had, Quicksilver doubted he would have simply vanished.
At this point, Quicksilver didn’t expect anything grand. He didn’t need apologies carved in stone. He just wanted a father who existed.
"So what now?" George asked.
Quicksilver thought for a mont. "The Professor wants to form an X-n defense force to protect the empire. I’m not cut out to be a teacher, so I’ll probably join that. I need to talk it over with my mom first. And... Wanda deserves to know the truth too."
George nodded, then added casually, "Your sister’s an elentary school teacher, right? Honestly, she’d be better off teaching here. No need to hide her abilities. No reason to feel ashad of them either. I can help her keep things under control."
His real reason stayed unspoken.
Having Wanda close would make it far easier to observe and stabilize the strange power inside her.
Quicksilver’s eyes lit up. "That actually makes sense. If Wanda’s here, Mom won’t worry about wrecking the world every other week."
He hooked an arm around George’s shoulders. "You free? Co back to my place with ."
"Sure," George said.
Quicksilver instinctively reached for George’s neck, worried that moving too fast might injure him, but George casually brushed his hand aside.
"No need. I’ve marked you already. Once you arrive, I’ll teleport to you."
"Like Nightcrawler?" Quicksilver grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Seriously, how many abilities do you have?"
"Mostly support stuff," George replied lightly. "Nothing impressive."
Quicksilver vanished in a blur, sprinting ho at impossible speed.
A few minutes later, George disappeared as well.
Florida. The Maximoff ho.
Quicksilver stood at the front door, glancing around. George appeared behind him without a sound.
"Guess speed still loses to teleportation," Quicksilver muttered. "Perfect timing. Can you go pick up Wanda for ? I’ll need a while to convince Mom about the defense force."
"Which school?" George asked, already preparing to leave.
eting Wanda alone worked out just fine.
Unlike Jean’s power, Wanda’s chaos magic had a will behind it. George still wasn’t certain whether absorbing or stabilizing it would attract the attention of the ancient entity lurking behind it.
But even if it did, he wasn’t afraid.
That being was infamous even among cosmic horrors. Powerful, yes. But also hunted. Forced to act through fragnts, avatars, and cursed books. At worst, it could project a fraction of itself. Nothing beyond a single universe.
"Montague Elentary," Quicksilver said. "Six kiloters straight down that road."
He flashed inside and imdiately called his sister.
"Wanda, I’m sending a friend to pick you up. His na’s George. There’s sothing important we need to talk about."
"Pietro," Wanda snapped on the other end. "Where have you been? I told you I wasn’t at school today. I took leave for a class reunion."
Quicksilver froze, then rushed outside. George was already gone.
"...Right. That’s fine. He’ll find you anyway. Listen, I found our biological father. He wants to et you. Mom just got ho. We’ll talk when you’re back."
He hung up.
Wanda stood motionless, phone still in her hand.
Our father?
She had never known who he was. Never even asked. And now Pietro, of all people, had found him?
Then reality caught up with her.
"Wait. I never told him where I am. How is his friend supposed to—"
She sighed.
"Forget it. I’ll just grab a taxi and go ho."
The reunion suddenly felt pointless. Most reunions did. Ti had stripped away the nostalgia and left only comparison, jealousy, and old scars.
Back in school, they had mocked her. Called her strange. Dangerous.
"I’m sorry," Wanda said politely as she returned to the private dining room. "I need to leave."
She had just picked up her purse when a blonde woman smirked.
"Leaving already, Wanda? Going to see your boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend?" another girl laughed. Brown hair, freckles. Loud voice. "Since when does Wanda have a boyfriend? Didn’t Mike dump her after one day because he said she was a witch? He was so scared he didn’t even show up today. You forgot?"
The two of them burst into laughter.
Wanda had always been invisible in class. Now she wasn’t. She had grown into herself. And the attention from the n in the room made certain people deeply uncomfortable.
So they dug up the past.
Wanda said nothing. She simply turned and walked away.
So things weren’t worth answering.
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