Post by Pyro on Sept 21, 2006 17:10:59 GMT -5
Erik sat facing the young man who had only barely made it to the helicopter in time. In truth he couldn't have been sure he would come, but he had, and Erik was glad for it. The boy had so much potential.
For a long while he sat in silence as even the roar of the engines was eclipsed by the thunderous crash of water below. Alkali lake swallowed the weapon X facility as surely as if it had never existed. He didn't know whether or not Charles had escaped the facility. Without this helicopter he and his X Men would have been hard pressed to escape before the dam broke.
He suspected his old friend had made it though, he usually did.
They were a resourceful bunch. Such a waste.
Once the noise died down and the new borders of the lake were behind them Erik returned his attention to the young John Allerdyce.
"Why did you come?" He asked, but unkindly.
Startled out of a silent reverie, the young man looked up. He had been fiddling with his lighter, unsurprisingly, lost in his own thoughts.
"I'm…not so sure," he replied, eventually. "It was what you said to me earlier. The 'being a God amongst insects' thing. It got me thinking." He was a scrawny boy, probably not much of an asset in a physical stand-off, but Erik suspected that probably wouldn't stop him trying.
He stopped flicking the lighter on and off at a look from the man. "I was sitting there inside that jet," he said, more to justify his actions to himself than anybody else. "And it was driving me mad. Not knowing, I mean. Bobby and Rogue – they just sat there. I couldn't do that."
John rubbed his nose thoughtfully.
"Then there was the most incredible pain – whatever it was Stryker was doing, I'm guessing and my head exploded. And suddenly everything was so clear to me. I chose to come with you because…it was the right thing to do."
He lifted his head.
"And because you didn't ask me. Does that make sense?"
Erik nodded slowly, "you came because you yourself chose to. Nobody told you to, nobody guided your thought or action, it entirely your own decision, and that is why it feels right."
He peered out of one of the helicopters circular windows as the thick pine forest passing below and smiled.
"Your friends were paralysed by their fear. Charles has made them soft, too soft to do what needs to be done to save our kind from the blind panic of the human race. By making a choice you have risen above your fear and taken the first step on a wider path."
He returned his attention to John.
"Now what will you do with that choice?"
John laughed, softly. "I don't really know," he said. "I guess that means I've failed at the first hurdle. All I know is the feeling here…" He put his hand over his heart. "The feeling here is that I can't just sit back on my heels any more. Better things are not going to just come to me, I have to go out and make them happen."
He also looked out the window.
"One of the last things I said to Bobby and Rogue," he said, quietly, "was, 'do you always do as you're told'? That's their problem. They obey. They do what they are instructed and they don't question. I've always questioned. It didn't exactly make me Mister Popular at the Institute."
"You have to do what you think is right," he looked more sternly at the boy now.
"You need purpose. When I saw you in sat there in the plane, you looked adrift, a directionless soul who had drifted into Charles' little sanctuary. That is all that it ever was though, a sanctuary, a place to hide and try to forget the world."
Erik shook his head.
"You need more than that, all of us do who would call ourselves homo-superior a fight the opression that would see us snuffed out before we have taken our rightful place."
"You need more than all of that Pyro, you need belief!"
"You're right," he said, softly. "Yes, it was a sanctuary and yes, maybe I did 'drift' into it. But then that's what I've always done, all my life. Drifted from one place to another." He ran his fingers through his hair.
"I have belief," he said, simply. "I believe in myself. I believe that I'm the only one who can keep me alive - it's the way it's always been. But you're right. Help me find a purpose."
Erik sat back in the decidedly uncomfortable chair.
"That is the first step, realising that you need a purpose, a direction, some reason for your gifts!"
He looked the younger man in the eye.
"What is it that you want Pyro? For only you know, though you might believe you do not. Look inside, look past all the blindfolds Charles has wrapped around you and tell me now what it is that you want in this world!"
"I want," said the young man without hesitation, "I want to understand who I am. I NEED to know who I am. Everything I've ever been has been a role inflicted on me by someone else. Foster child. Orphan. Street rat. Student. But this? This is the first time I have chosen what I want."
Erik smiled and put a hand on the Pyro's shoulder.
"And there is the power of choice. You are free to define yourself Pyro, by your own rules, not by some restrictions set by those too afraid to explore the limits of their own power. This is the freedom I want for us all, this is the freedom I would offer mutant-kind if it will but stand at my side and take it from those who would have us caged and numbered!"
He relaxed a little, the fervent fire receeding from his eyes.
"We are all Gods among insects," he echoed his earlier words, "but so many will never realise it."
John's eyes opened wide as he listened to Magneto's words. The man spoke so eloquently, with such delicious prose, such imagery. Professor Xavier had always been such a literal, non-imaginative man. Nothing he'd said had ever really caught John's attention, apart from the one or two earliest conversations - and the session that had quelled his nightmares.
HERE, he thought, was a man he could look up to, a man he could strive to impress, a man who knew what it meant to have great power.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, simply.
Erik nodded slowly.
"A war is coming my young friend, a war for dominance of this Earth and for the sake of the evolution of our race we must win. All I ask is that you stand beside me when the lines are drawn. When the sun rises over that bloody field, when the air grows still and all that can be said has been said, when that call to arms goes out - stand beside me, and together we will make the future ours."
He offered John his hand.
"Will you be one of the Brotherhood?"
John didn't hesitate.
He put his hand in Magneto's and nodded. "I will," he said, then repeated it, more strongly and with absolute conviction.
"I will. With every last breath in my body, I will."
For a long while he sat in silence as even the roar of the engines was eclipsed by the thunderous crash of water below. Alkali lake swallowed the weapon X facility as surely as if it had never existed. He didn't know whether or not Charles had escaped the facility. Without this helicopter he and his X Men would have been hard pressed to escape before the dam broke.
He suspected his old friend had made it though, he usually did.
They were a resourceful bunch. Such a waste.
Once the noise died down and the new borders of the lake were behind them Erik returned his attention to the young John Allerdyce.
"Why did you come?" He asked, but unkindly.
Startled out of a silent reverie, the young man looked up. He had been fiddling with his lighter, unsurprisingly, lost in his own thoughts.
"I'm…not so sure," he replied, eventually. "It was what you said to me earlier. The 'being a God amongst insects' thing. It got me thinking." He was a scrawny boy, probably not much of an asset in a physical stand-off, but Erik suspected that probably wouldn't stop him trying.
He stopped flicking the lighter on and off at a look from the man. "I was sitting there inside that jet," he said, more to justify his actions to himself than anybody else. "And it was driving me mad. Not knowing, I mean. Bobby and Rogue – they just sat there. I couldn't do that."
John rubbed his nose thoughtfully.
"Then there was the most incredible pain – whatever it was Stryker was doing, I'm guessing and my head exploded. And suddenly everything was so clear to me. I chose to come with you because…it was the right thing to do."
He lifted his head.
"And because you didn't ask me. Does that make sense?"
Erik nodded slowly, "you came because you yourself chose to. Nobody told you to, nobody guided your thought or action, it entirely your own decision, and that is why it feels right."
He peered out of one of the helicopters circular windows as the thick pine forest passing below and smiled.
"Your friends were paralysed by their fear. Charles has made them soft, too soft to do what needs to be done to save our kind from the blind panic of the human race. By making a choice you have risen above your fear and taken the first step on a wider path."
He returned his attention to John.
"Now what will you do with that choice?"
John laughed, softly. "I don't really know," he said. "I guess that means I've failed at the first hurdle. All I know is the feeling here…" He put his hand over his heart. "The feeling here is that I can't just sit back on my heels any more. Better things are not going to just come to me, I have to go out and make them happen."
He also looked out the window.
"One of the last things I said to Bobby and Rogue," he said, quietly, "was, 'do you always do as you're told'? That's their problem. They obey. They do what they are instructed and they don't question. I've always questioned. It didn't exactly make me Mister Popular at the Institute."
"You have to do what you think is right," he looked more sternly at the boy now.
"You need purpose. When I saw you in sat there in the plane, you looked adrift, a directionless soul who had drifted into Charles' little sanctuary. That is all that it ever was though, a sanctuary, a place to hide and try to forget the world."
Erik shook his head.
"You need more than that, all of us do who would call ourselves homo-superior a fight the opression that would see us snuffed out before we have taken our rightful place."
"You need more than all of that Pyro, you need belief!"
"You're right," he said, softly. "Yes, it was a sanctuary and yes, maybe I did 'drift' into it. But then that's what I've always done, all my life. Drifted from one place to another." He ran his fingers through his hair.
"I have belief," he said, simply. "I believe in myself. I believe that I'm the only one who can keep me alive - it's the way it's always been. But you're right. Help me find a purpose."
Erik sat back in the decidedly uncomfortable chair.
"That is the first step, realising that you need a purpose, a direction, some reason for your gifts!"
He looked the younger man in the eye.
"What is it that you want Pyro? For only you know, though you might believe you do not. Look inside, look past all the blindfolds Charles has wrapped around you and tell me now what it is that you want in this world!"
"I want," said the young man without hesitation, "I want to understand who I am. I NEED to know who I am. Everything I've ever been has been a role inflicted on me by someone else. Foster child. Orphan. Street rat. Student. But this? This is the first time I have chosen what I want."
Erik smiled and put a hand on the Pyro's shoulder.
"And there is the power of choice. You are free to define yourself Pyro, by your own rules, not by some restrictions set by those too afraid to explore the limits of their own power. This is the freedom I want for us all, this is the freedom I would offer mutant-kind if it will but stand at my side and take it from those who would have us caged and numbered!"
He relaxed a little, the fervent fire receeding from his eyes.
"We are all Gods among insects," he echoed his earlier words, "but so many will never realise it."
John's eyes opened wide as he listened to Magneto's words. The man spoke so eloquently, with such delicious prose, such imagery. Professor Xavier had always been such a literal, non-imaginative man. Nothing he'd said had ever really caught John's attention, apart from the one or two earliest conversations - and the session that had quelled his nightmares.
HERE, he thought, was a man he could look up to, a man he could strive to impress, a man who knew what it meant to have great power.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, simply.
Erik nodded slowly.
"A war is coming my young friend, a war for dominance of this Earth and for the sake of the evolution of our race we must win. All I ask is that you stand beside me when the lines are drawn. When the sun rises over that bloody field, when the air grows still and all that can be said has been said, when that call to arms goes out - stand beside me, and together we will make the future ours."
He offered John his hand.
"Will you be one of the Brotherhood?"
John didn't hesitate.
He put his hand in Magneto's and nodded. "I will," he said, then repeated it, more strongly and with absolute conviction.
"I will. With every last breath in my body, I will."
