[Basement level] [Containment section]
In the cells were Mystique, Blob, Avalanche, Forge, Mastermind, and a couple of others. Alongside them, the earlier captives Magneto, Pyro, Toad, Sabretooth, and Azazel. Then there were the Hellclub duo, Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw.
The infected were free now from Sublime's grip. And Tony had made sure they remembered everything using his Mind Stone. Now, it was time to decide their fate.
Tony entered and stopped in the center of the row of cells. His voice carried across the room.
"You have very few choices right now. I already know what you were before Sublime. With one exception, all of you chose this life before he touched you. Murder, manipulation, chaos. That was the path that you chose before Sublime came into the picture. So don't waste your breath telling me you were only puppets."
His eyes turned to Mystique.
"You are the exception. He used you to tear a wedge between Charles and Erik. He stripped your will and twisted it. I've restored your memories. You know what he did to you."
Mystique said nothing. Her face remained unreadable.
Tony let the silence sit before continuing.
"You have four choices. First, take the mutant cure, walk out of here, but what you do with that life will be chosen by me based on the crimes you committed before the manipulation. Second, face trial for your crimes. That ends with the cure anyway, plus a prison sentence. Third, you use your powers for something better. You fight for Earth, you protect the innocent, and maybe you claw back some redemption. Fourth, you refuse. If you refuse, I end you here. Five minutes to decide."
The words hit the room like a hammer. Some of them shifted uneasily. Blob muttered under his breath. Pyro clenched his fists. Azazel simply sat on the floor.
Tony turned his head toward Shaw.
"Except you. You don't get a choice."
Shaw tilted his head, mocking. "And why not?"
"Because you've gone too far," Tony said. His tone was flat and final. "You've spilled too much blood for your own amusement. There's no redemption for you. I'm going to strip your mutation out of you and then kill you slow enough that the souls of the people you burned will finally rest. Or..." He walked toward Magneto's cell. "I'll hand you over to him." He looked into Magneto's eyes. "Humm... Tough decision."
Magneto finally stood up and walked forward. He stopped before the forcefield.
"What game are you playing, Stark?" Magneto asked.
"You don't recognize him, do you?" Tony asked as he opened Magneto's containment cell. "Come out." He gave Magneto a slight nod and then tapped the bracelet on his wrist.
Magneto walked out of his cell.
A holographic screen appeared before his eyes with videos and files on a man whom Magneto knows very well.
Dr. Klaus Schmidt.
Tony played each of them and gave him enough time to read through the files.
Magneto's eyes narrowed as the files scrolled past. At first, he did not seem to breathe. Then the screen showed the grainy black-and-white photo of a man in a German officer's coat. The face was younger, clean-shaven, but unmistakable.
"Dr. Klaus Schmidt," Tony said, his tone steady. "Alias: Sebastian Shaw. Same man. Different century. Different uniform. Same monster."
Magneto's gaze locked on Shaw, who finally straightened in his cell. The arrogant calm that usually wrapped Shaw like armor cracked for the first time. He smirked, but his eyes betrayed a flicker of recognition.
Memories hit Erik like a physical blow.
...
[1944. Auschwitz.]
The cold was bone-deep, the kind of cold that did not leave the body no matter how close he huddled to the other prisoners. Erik sat in the cramped office. Before him sat a man who called himself Dr. Schmidt. The man smiled too warmly for the place they were in, his blue eyes sharp as glass. He offered Erik chocolates and tried to be friendly to see his power. But Erik refused to show his power.
"Come now, Erik," Schmidt coaxed, pointing at the coin on the table. "All you have to do is move it. Just a little. You can do it."
Erik's hand shook, but the coin did not move. He stared at it with all his will.
Schmidt's smile faltered. He gave a sigh and stood. "Perhaps you need... encouragement."
He motioned, and the guards dragged Erik's mother into the room. Erik lunged toward her, but Schmidt stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, gentle and firm.
"Look at me, Erik. Move the coin on the count of three, or you can stop that bullet. Your choice. One..." His voice was calm, cruel in its patience. "Two..."
Erik's lips trembled. His eyes blurred with tears. Nothing happened.
"Three."
The gunshot was louder than thunder. His mother fell to the floor, lifeless.
"NOOOOO!"
Erik screamed. The sound was raw, primal, more beast than child. The lights shattered above him, metal fixtures tore from the walls, the desk crushed in on itself like paper. The guards scrambled, shouting, but iron ripped through their bodies, spears of steel piercing flesh.
Dr. Schmidt stood untouched in the center of the storm, smiling with satisfaction.
"Outstanding, Erik," he said, clapping slowly. "So we unlock your gift with anger. Anger and pain. You and me... we are going to have a lot of fun together."
That was the last thing Erik remembered before the guards dragged him away. The words carved themselves into his memory like brands.
...
[Present time]
Magneto's breathing grew ragged. His hands trembled, then clenched into fists so tight the skin of his knuckles whitened. His eyes never left Shaw.
"You..." Magneto's voice was low, guttural. "You were him. You were there. You killed her."
Shaw spread his hands in mock surrender. "She was one life. You have killed thousands in her name since. Do not pretend your crusade is clean, Erik."
Magneto's hands shook as he stared at Shaw, the man who had haunted his nightmares for decades. The weight of that memory pressed down on him like steel. Shaw's smirk did nothing to lessen the fury building in Erik's chest.
"You can kill him," Tony said, stepping closer. "End it all. End the hatred. Shaw doesn't deserve mercy, I know that. He is beyond redemption. But you still have good in you. I've seen it, Erik. That little bright corner in the darkness. Your life doesn't have to be consumed by this revenge. You have a choice."
Erik's eyes narrowed. "A choice, you say? It's more like your choice, right? No one here has the power to defy you. You can force me to kill him... Or, end him yourself. Why go through all this drama?"
"Because this endless drama of mutants vs humans has gone on long enough. I want it to end as fast as possible. Now that I've exposed Sublime's plot, both sides are slowly adjusting to the idea of coexistence. Mutant-related crimes declined, and humans attacking mutants also declined. And if my calculation is correct, which most of the time is... Within two to three years, this hate will disappear. No one will again go through what you or many others went through in the past."
Tony paused and took a little breath before continuing...
"You can keep living like this... broken and consumed. Or, I can restore your abilities. You can fight again—fight to protect, not destroy. Together with the Ultimates. The threats coming are worse than Skrulls and Sublime. The universe doesn't care about your vendetta. But you could make a difference. So, what will it be? Waste the remaining years of your life or become someone your son and daughters could at least be proud of, which.. Well, it's a long way to go."
"Daughters?" Magneto asked.
"Yeah. I know all about Lorna. She knows everything. Oh, by the way, I think I should tell you the truth. Shaw attacked her and critically injured her. She was lucky I noticed and sent Wanda to save her, or God knows what he'd have done with her," Tony revealed the truth.
Magneto's chest heaved as he absorbed Tony's words. The room seemed to shrink around him, every cell humming with tension. He swallowed hard, his mind spinning with the weight of the past, the present, and what might come.
Then he spoke, his voice low and unwavering.
"Tony," he said, each word deliberate, "I don't care about choices, or redemption, or whatever else you're offering. You can tell me to live, to fight, to join the Ultimates, or to kill anyone. I will do it all. Anything you say. All I want… all I need… is that bastard. Alone. Four walls. Just me and him."
"Deal," Tony said with a satisfied nod. Then he looked toward the rest of the mutants. "And you lots? Your five minutes up... So, what's it gonna be? Cure, jail, redemption, or death?"
The room fell into tense silence. One by one, the mutants spoke.
Blob grunted first. "I'm not giving up my powers. But I'll face the trial."
Pyro clenched his fists but didn't argue. "Trial."
Azazel, quiet as ever, simply nodded.
Mystique's eyes flicked to Tony as she gave a slight nod of appreciation for not killing them and giving them a second chance.
Mastermind, Forge, Sabretooth, and the others followed suit except for Emma. They would keep their abilities, face the law, and answer for the choices they had made before Sublime.
Tony. "Good. Trials will start in a week. Enough time to prepare, enough time to think about what you all are going to do with your second chance. But make no mistake, I'll be watching you and the moment you mess up, I'll end you."
He then walked over to Emma's cell.
Emma sighed and then said, "If my memory serves right, I haven't killed anyone who didn't deserve it. And if you've read my mind, you should know the reason I was following Shaw, right?"
"Yep! I know all about you and your sister's situation," Tony said as he opened her cell. "Destroy the underground criminal families, every single one of them. I don't care how or what you do with them, I just want them gone. Do that, and I'll help you annihilate The Hand." [Sister: Not blood related. Her name is Chat/Sophia Sanduval.]
"I want Gao alive," Emma said in a cold tone.
"Deal," He extended his hand toward her.
"Deal," She shook his hand.
He walked over to Shaw. "Where's that nice big smile of yours?" He activated the nanites within Shaw's body and extracted his mutation, leaving the man powerless and writhing. The cell door opened, and the nanites flowed out and converged over Tony's palm. Then he turned to Magneto.
"Your turn, Erik," Tony said as he activated the nanites within his body.
A familiar surge of energy coursed through Magneto. Metal around him trembled in recognition, and for the first time in weeks, he felt whole again. The power he had lost returned in a wave that left him gasping.
Shaw stumbled back at the corner. He knew there was no escape from what was coming.
"The door is open. Do what you must," Tony said as he moved toward Mystique's cell.
He unlocked it, stepping aside. She hesitated, then stepped forward. Her eyes, normally guarded, shone with something close to relief.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For ending this endless and meaningless war. And for helping Erik… to let his rage go."
Tony nodded, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "Try to make the next choices count. Don't waste the second chance."
They left the basement together.
As for Magneto...
Well, he took his time with Shaw and let's just say... Shaw's soul won't rest in peace. No RIP for Shaw.
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AN: Some might not agree with the route I decided to go. But I just wanted to end the war between humans and mutants on a good note. And give Magneto a chance to redeem himself. Like, killing him would have been a waste. If Lorana and Magneto join in a fight together, just imagine their power.
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