PS : read 20+ chapters in advance
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James and Charles exchanged a glance, instantly aligned.
"Scott, Ororo, activate defense protocols!" Charles ordered telepathically, his wheelchair gliding toward the door.
"James, looks like our partnership starts early."
James smirked. "Just what I wanted."
He pressed a button, his armor retracting to reveal a combat suit, then flashed outside, hovering above the school.
His super vision pierced the night, locking onto a figure a kilometer away—Magneto. Erik Lehnsherr, in a crimson cape and metallic helmet, floated amid a vortex of metal debris, cars, and lampposts orbiting him.
"Charles!" Magneto's voice boomed via magnetic resonance. "I know that alien energy is here! Hand it over!"
James raised an eyebrow. So, Magneto's after the crystal? He must've sensed its energy.
"Mr. Lehnsherr," James said, his voice carrying clearly through his bio-force field, "that item's been safely dealt with."
Magneto sneered. "Safely? You have no idea what it is!"
He raised a hand, and the school's metal framework trembled. "It's creation itself! It can rewrite mutant genes, granting new powers!"
James's eyes narrowed. Rewrite genes? The crystal's origins are more complex than I thought. Maybe a Kree experiment lost on Earth?
But it was his now—no one was taking it.
Charles's voice echoed in their minds. "Erik, if you have information, we can talk. Violence solves nothing."
"Talk?" Magneto scoffed. "Like we've talked for decades?"
He flicked his fingers, hurling three junked cars at the school's main building.
James moved instantly, his bio-force field catching the cars mid-air. But the ground cracked, buried rebar shooting up to entangle his limbs.
"You think you can stop the master of magnetism?" Magneto sneered, clenching his fist.
The rebar tightened, aiming to crush James.
CRACK!
The metal snapped like straw against his skin.
Magneto's eyes widened. "What?"
"Nice try," James said, shaking off the fragments. "But my body's tougher than steel."
Magneto didn't waste words. He waved his arms, pulling all metal within a hundred meters into a tidal wave crashing toward James.
James's eyes flared gold, heat vision slicing through. ZAP! The metal melted into molten slag, raining down.
Magneto retreated, pulling a small device from his cape. BUZZ! A strange magnetic pulse spread, and James felt a slight weight on his body.
"Anti-gravity field?" James said, amused. "Too bad my flight doesn't rely on tech."
He accelerated, breaking the sound barrier toward Magneto.
At the last second, a silver blur cut in—Quicksilver!
The world slowed as Pietro Maximoff darted behind James, aiming a hand chop.
SNAP!
James caught his wrist.
Pietro's eyes widened. "You…!"
"Your speed's impressive," James said, gripping tighter, "but not enough."
Pietro, trapped in James's bio-force field, gaped. His vaunted speed had been countered.
"Release him!" Magneto roared, twisting the school's metal frame. Steel panels tore from the building, forming a giant hand to crush James.
James, holding Quicksilver, met the hand with his free one. The collision sent a shockwave, scattering debris.
Magneto shifted tactics, pressing down. The school's underground structure quaked.
"If you won't hand over the fragment, I'll find it myself!" he bellowed.
Charles's voice grew stern. "Erik! You're endangering innocent students!"
As chaos loomed, James spoke. "Enough."
Magneto sensed the danger and paused, glaring. "I want that fragment."
James met Charles's gaze, then said, "I absorbed it. Its energy's mine now. Want to fight for it? I'm game."
Magneto squinted. "You absorbed it?"
He laughed suddenly. "Charles, your new ally's bolder than I thought!"
Charles replied calmly, "Erik, James has the fragment. We should stop."
Magneto paused, the metal storm subsiding. He glanced at Charles. "Peace won't bring salvation, Charles."
He summoned a metal platform, departing with the Brotherhood.
James watched them vanish, then turned to the X-Men rushing up. "Charles, I nearly took him out." (He held back intentionally, tied to a future female lead.)
Charles remained calm. "Erik's always been like this. We've argued for decades."
Beside James, Quicksilver struggled in the bio-force field. "He just left me?"
James lowered him to the ground. "Pietro," he said, probing, "what's your connection to him?"
Pietro looked away. "He wants to save mutants… that thing could've helped."
James studied him, noting his physique, then pressed, "You and him?"
Pietro quickly clarified, "My sister and I were separated in the war. He saved me, got me into the Brotherhood."
His voice softened. "My sister's been missing for years. I'm still looking, but…"
James's eyes flickered, piecing together relationships. Maybe a side quest to save a lost sister?
In the school's lab, Hank was testing the trio's energy residuals. Andrew, staring at his trembling hands, asked, "Is Magneto right? Will this energy change our genes?"
Hank adjusted his glasses. "That's what we're figuring out. But with Charles and James, we'll find answers."