Chapter 55: World on the Edge Part IV

Chapter Fifty Five: A World on the Edge Part Four

“Magneto,” said Spider-Man coolly, as he looked up at the master of magnetism, as the doors from the bus opened, and several shell shocked school children slowly walked out, shaking, along with a bus driver.

“Leave now,” said Magneto shortly to the assembled group in a cold voice and the children looked terrified, as several pieces of metal rattled on the ground.

“Still the same kind hearted, warm, Magneto,” muttered Spider-Man in a slightly slurred voice, as he shook his head, to try and get his wits about him.

“You don’t seem too surprised to see me among the living, Spider-Man,” stated Magneto. “Given the fact I’m sure you may have heard news of my demise.”

“Yes, but you do have the tendency of coming back from certain death,” said Spider-Man. “You’ve cheated it before, and there was no body.”

“Point taken,” said Magneto calmly. “The battle against the X-Men had left myself battered but still alive. I had spent the past several months recovering from that battle. It appeared that I had disappeared for too long. The war that I have seen for sometime has started and mutants are ill prepared to fight. Charles Xavier still preaches his dream of peaceful coexistence to his students as naively as ever and he fails to realize that his attempts to make mutants coexist with the humans has driven us apart even further. We are the future.”

Magneto took a breath, as Spider-Man stood there. He was not in the mood for Magneto’s rhetoric. He had far bigger problems on his hand at the moment.

“I learned of what was a mutant who made a scene in the city,” continued Magneto. “Naturally, I investigated and it was not a mutant.”

“No, a human named Max Dillon, an Electrician who got freak powers due to an accident, and apparently had those powers upgraded somehow,” explained Spider-Man. “He calls himself Electro.”

“I suspected he might be one of yours, Spider-Man,” replied Magneto crisply. “You thought that you could rehabilitate a monster like that. Much like Charles has that naïve notion in his brain that humans and mutants can live in peaceful harmony. I have seen the very worst that humans can do, to those who they do not understand. They are never looking for the truth, always a scapegoat and mark my words, mutants will be the latest group to suffer due to the fact that humanity is looking for someone to blame for their own inadequacies. This incident with Electro proves that. Whether or not he’s a mutant, the point is moot. The fact is he will be considered to be one. Given the fact that he had the X-Men fire on a crowded city….”

“What?” asked Spider-Man, sitting upright, causing strain on his neck and he winced in pain, as he tried to collect himself. “What about….”

“This Electro took control of their jet, and turned all of the weapon systems upon the humans below,” said Magneto. “I had managed to show up and guide their jet to the ground, because I wished for them to remain alive long enough to see how humans would react to our kind. Perhaps a night in a jail cell will cause them to reevaluate how blindly they follow Xavier…..”

“Professor Xavier has the right idea, we have to work together, the world will fall apart,” said Spider-Man through gritted teeth, not in the mood to discuss human-mutant relations with Magneto.

“You are hopelessly naïve, Spider-Man,” said Magneto, with a hint of amusement in his voice. “You think Xavier is the picture of purity, you’ve been fed the same lies that he has fed his students. They believe Xavier to be a saint that can do no wrong, but they are fools! Xavier will cause the destruction of mutant kind, if I don’t save it.”

“What happened between you and Xavier?” asked Spider-Man, curiosity getting the better of him. “You two were friends.”

“A long time ago, Spider-Man, nearly a lifetime, before I even put on this helmet and formed my Brotherhood for Mutant Liberation,” said Magneto in a crisp voice. “I had learned of Charles Xavier, whom was and still is, the world’s foremost expert on genetics and mutation. His knowledge is without peer, I will concede that point. Naturally, I was pleased that I found someone who could relate with me and the gifts that I had, that I spent half of my life until that point exploring the world to understand and perfect. I had been enamored with Charles Xavier and the knowledge that he possessed. I wished to speak to the man in person.”

Magneto looked thoughtful.

“Xavier was engaging and I believed a man of his knowledge would be better served with something more then giving endless lectures to a group of humans that were apathetic and could not understand the depth that knowledge that Charles Xavier was speaking of,” continued Magneto. “I had thought, Xavier would be served with helping others like us, to learn their gifts, so they could defend themselves against those who might wish to bully them because of what they were. Xavier was not on board with this situation, until an accident in Africa had confined him with a wheelchair. He had realized that his life was not over, even if he could no longer life. In fact it had just begun and his brilliance could only serve all of mutant kind as well. If I had known what Xavier would do with his school and the misdirection he would give to those impressionable young mutants, I would have never even bothered to offer the suggestion in the first place.”

Spider-Man just stood, arms folded and Magneto just gave him the sense to continue.

“Xavier hand picked the students, students that he felt would fit the school, students he felt that would not disrupt things, students that he felt would not question his philosophies on the relationship between mutants and humans no matter what,” stated Magneto with thinly veiled contempt. “Xavier and I had a disagreement about how the students should be taught. I felt that we should push the students to their limits, to allow them to tap into their full power. Xavier felt that their powers should be controlled, for their own benefit. In other words, limited, because he felt they could not handle it. He coddled them in many ways and naturally I disagreed with how this was best to handle the children. He was too soft on it and so much potential was squandered, in some cases more than others. Xavier and I had our falling out and I became what you see before you today. If it were not for me, Xavier would have no X-Men, no students, and his dreams would die on the vine. I would be allowed to lead mutants as they should be, against humans and allow us to take up proper place in the world.”

“So, that’s the story,” said Spider-Man after a brief second’s pause. “I don’t believe it.”

“You can choose what you wish to believe, Spider-Man,” said Magneto with an indifferent tone of voice. “I know the truth and Charles does deep down as well, even if he has deluded himself to believe that I’m the villain in this situation. It is a shame that he’s taken several promising young mutants down with his own delusions. I just hope they realize that Charles Xavier is using them, much like he used me, before it is too late.”

“Yes, I’m really sympathetic to the cause of someone who once tried to send nuclear missiles right at a populated city,” said Spider-Man dryly. “I think if anyone is deluded, it’s you. Professor Xavier brought mutants together and taught them to use their powers safely. You’re trying to stir up the humans even more and you’re going to be the one that will end up getting every single mutant killed.”

“Humans will end up blowing themselves up in the end at the smallest squabble, I shudder to think what they may do to us if left unchecked,” said Magneto firmly. “Spider-Man, whether you wish to believe it or not, you are closer to mutants than you are to humans with your extraordinary powers, and you have a duty to our entire race. Which brings us back to the matter at hand, Electro. He crashed a plane containing the X-Men, who are your allies, your friends even, in an attempt to murder them in cold blood.”

“I’ll take care of him,” said Spider-Man.

“Will you now?” asked Magneto strongly. “He’s obviously been a danger before, if you would have taken care of him, you should have taken care of him before now. He should have been put down like the rabid dog like he is and now he may be too powerful. Every death, whether it be mutant or human, is on your hands now, Spider-Man. The blood is on your hands. The children who lost parents, the parents who lost children, every death is on your hands, because you, out of some naïve reason. You’re a child Spider-Man, plain and simple, I know it, that’s how you carry yourself, reckless, impulsive, and unwilling to do what needs to be done. Electro should have been killed the first time you fought him. There is no other way.”

“Yes, there is,” argued Spider-Man shakily, clenching his fist in anger. “There’s always another way.”

“Is there?” asked Magneto. “In a sense, you’re just walking away and giving Electro full license to kill anyone. What is one life as opposed to the countless this monster will kill? You have the power, use it.”

“Yes, I do, but with great power, there must also come great responsibility,” said Spider-Man through gritted teeth.

“Admirable sentiments, I’ll be certain to make arrangements to have them scrawled upon your tombstone,” said Magneto coldly. “And obviously considering your inability to do what you need to do, you know nothing about responsibility.”

“Given your two children are out for your blood, I guess we’re in the same boat,” retorted Spider-Man sharply and immediately, the web head had touched a very personal nerve, as metal everywhere began flying in the air.

“I had my reasons for that and I do not feel predisposed to share them with you!” bellowed Magneto, losing his calm demeanor as the metal dropped, after several pieces came close to hacking Spider-Man to bits. “The fact is that whatever I’ve done, your inaction is far worse. And Xavier would have done something if he had the chance as well.”

“Xavier would have never killed someone,” replied Spider-Man firmly.

“Perhaps not, but he would have made him forget how to use his powers, it wouldn’t be the first time he tampered with someone’s memories,” said Magneto harshly. “I hardly blame Charles for that particular instance when he wiped that particular individual's mind clean of all knowledge of mutants but I am merely stating that he is not as squeaky clean as you believe.”

Spider-Man opened his mouth to say something, but he felt a loud shrill siren and Magneto keeled over slightly, massaging his temples.

“More shifts in the magnetic field around the earth,” grumbled Magneto to himself. “I could not think of anyone who would be able to do such a thing.”

“I can,” said Spider-Man suddenly, he had nearly forgotten about the doomsday weapon in his battle with Electro and his focus had been upon that and when Magneto looked at him for clarification, a gigantic television screen on the side of a building flickered to life.

There were loud, panicked screams, as the horrific face of the Red Skull appeared, staring at them from every television screen in the city.

“I do not need to introduce myself, you know who I am and you know what I can do,” said the Red Skull icily. “All of you hoped that I had perished together, but this country breeds nothing but weakness. Its greatest champion Captain America and its most dismal failure, failed to ensure my demise. In the decades, more and more, the entire world has gotten soft, with this country being an epicenter. The world needs one supreme ruler, to bring together a perfect superpower, with order and discipline, without conflict. All will bow before me.”

Spider-Man sat, perched and he could hear the panicked populace as the Red Skull paused for the briefest second. Magneto stood by his side, focused, intent.

“Every single world leader will concede control of their country to me and all who I feel are unwilling to live and all that oppose me, will be rounded up and punished,” continued the Red Skull. “Fools will only oppose my rule and I hold power to make all who oppose me disappear into nothing. Some may think of me as bluffing, but the live footage that you will witness will tell you all you need to know about the fates that you will oppose me. A small farm town in the middle of Kansas will serve as an example of what your fate will be should you decide to stop me.”

Images of the quaint town appeared on the screen. It looked so peaceful but the sky above it began to darken. At first, it appeared that it might have been a storm but in an instant, as the darkness widened, trees and houses began to uproot from the ground, and shortly there after, the ground began ripping up piece by piece.

Loud screams and Spider-Man watched, along with the rest of the world, helpless, as several people passed the darkness and were not seen again, their screams just stopping without an echo once they had passed. More objects flew, until the entire town was stripped absolutely clean, leaving nothing but a deep, gaping hole. The darkness receded but there was nothing around and the video returned to the Red Skull, sitting there, stoic and uncaring.

To him, death was as common as drawing a breath of air was to most.

“For every hour control is not signed over to me, a major city will be completely ripped off the face of the Earth,” stated the Red Skull in an apathetic voice.“You have my demands. You have no choice. I will be in touch within the hour. You know what will happen.”

The image of what the Red Skull did to the small farm town and all of its inhabitants was shown on essentially every television screen throughout the world.

Magneto stood in the background, images flashing through his mind, of what he had buried as another lifetime, but seeing that particular individual triggered suppressed memories.

An image of a young boy being lead away from his parents and the sounds of gunshots as he was loaded onto a train.

A group of children being lead to the Red Skull.

A young girl being shot without hesitation for crying for her mother by the Red Skull, as the children were being lead inside.

Strapped to a table, with several crude instruments.

Children subjected to experiments, in an attempt to be used as research to build the perfect race for the Nazis. Overseen by a man with chalk white flesh and pointed teeth, who slowly advanced on the restrained children, as other, faceless, humorless Nazi scientists prepared to operate.

Deaths, the remains of children being dissected in an attempt to learn about the gifts that they possessed.

“Humanity’s greatest monster returns,” muttered Magneto.

Spider-Man just watched, the desire to throw up nearly overwhelming him at the Red Skull. His voice was frigid, uncaring, apathetic to the idea of causing death.

“We depart now Spider-Man, you do what you feel is necessary and I will as well,” said Magneto in a distracted voice as he left and Spider-Man stood, arm shaking, as he tried to shoot a line of webbing but it took three tries before he was able to steady himself enough to do so.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Sinister watched calmly, the images of the people being sucked into oblivion and not leaving any speck of dirt behind, just a large heaping hole that appeared to be bottomless where a small town once stood, was one of the most glorious things that he had ever seen in his life.

“Just thing, I’ll be able to use that device to prune certain elements from the Earth, that forestall evolution,” muttered Sinister under his breath and he heard as Electro had returned, a greedy expression in his eyes.

“You called me back, said you would make me even more powerful!” yelled Electro. “Well, I’m here, so let’s get to it.”

“Oh believe me, the power you’re going to have is going to be the most important thing on Earth,” stated Sinister as he stood at Electro, who held his hand in the air, almost like he was going to attack Sinister. Sinister marveled Electro’s boldness, but he had nothing to fear. Electro thought he was in control but he was going to prove it. “Well, there’s no need to waste time.”

“No there’s not!” yelled Electro impatiently. “Give me the power, right now. GIVE ME WHAT I DESERVE!”

“Oh believe me, you'll get everything that you deserve, Mr Dillon,” stated Sinister calmly.

“I'm not getting any younger!” said Electro, as several sparks bounced off of the walls.

“This way,” said Sinister in a calm voice, as he lead Electro down a hallway and then turned. Another turn and they reached a lab. “The device that I’ll need to give you the final upgrade to make you the most potent source of energy is behind this door.”

Electro grinned. The moment he had this power, he would murder everyone in this complex and destroy the device, whatever it was. There was no need for anyone to even match him and then no one would ever laugh at Max Dillon again. They would bow in terror to him.

Electro stopped at that moment, as he saw Red Skull who stood, uncaring, unblinking.

“So you must be our Guinea pig,” said the Red Skull firmly.

“Guinea Pig, I’m no Guinea Pig, I’m the supreme source of power, I’m Electro!” shouted Electro.

“Such a childish retort from such a simple individual,” stated the Red Skull coldly. “You’ve done excellent, Essex. He’ll help give me enough power to carry out my objective. If those foolish world leaders do not cooperate, they will suffer.”

“Hey, I’m not helping you!” yelled Electro, as he stood up to his full height. “I’ve got power, and you’re going to give me more or I’m going to blast you to bits.”

“You dare threaten the Red Skull,” said the Red Skull. “Obviously, the American Educational System has reached a new low. You will obey me!”

“You can't tell me what to do!” shouted Electro as he powered up fully intent in giving Red Skull a taste of what he thought true power was. “You're not my dad!”

“Nighty, night, Maxwell,” said Sinister as he pulled a black remote out and twisted a knob. Electro’s own power turned from within him, causing him supreme pain.

Blood curdling shrieks echoed, as Electro struggled to regain his powers but it was no go.

The attempts of the struggle were nothing, as more racking scream of pain, echoes as his power super charged from within him.

Electro's form illuminated the room as he continued his anguish shrieks before the large cylinder on the top of the Doomsday Device, the power module began to absorb the energy Electro gave off. He screamed in agony, as he felt his very essence being ripped to pieces and reconfigured into pure raw energy that was stored inside the cylinder for use.

The Red Skull watched, as he could hear the faintest whimpers, as there were two black scorch marks on the floor, where Electro once stood but that was the only hint that he had once stood there. Faint traces of screams echoed into the distance, still heard as they began to fade slowly.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Until they were not audible.

“Forty five minutes, then?” inquired Red Skull casually and a fearful scientist, who had been tasked in keeping time, nodded. “Good, if they don’t surrender to me, then I begin removing more unsightly blemishes from the map, starting with the capital of this putrid country.”

XXXXX-XXXXX

Spider-Man swung across the city. He dropped down and he suddenly saw something stirring the alleyway. He turned around and he braced himself to fight, as did the other guy, but he just stopped.

“Oh, its you,” said Wolverine as he walked out of the shadows but Spider-Man still looked tense. After all that happened so far, no one could blame him for being jumpy. “Been looking all over for you. Where in the hell have you been?”

“Around the city, trying to stop Electro,” said Spider-Man.

“Yeah, that nutcase took us down easily, like it was nothing, riled up a bunch of people down there, Summers thought we should go with the police peacefully, I didn’t agree,” said Wolverine gruffly.

“Imagine that,” said Spider-Man dryly. “We have a problem.”

“You’ve just made the understatement of the century kid, you saw it, I’ve saw it, the entire city and the world saw it,” said Wolverine as he stepped back. His Electro induced injuries were nearly healed but it was a testament how much Electro had attacked him, given the fact it took a while to heal them. “

“And the one guy who could stop him, doesn’t want to,” muttered Spider-Man, in a pained voice. “Captain America, I talked to him….”

“You actually managed to track him down,” said Wolverine in surprise. “You're more resourceful than everyone thinks. But I can’t believe that he would just refuse to fight.”

“I can’t either,” said Spider-Man in a dismal tone of voice as he stood. “He doesn’t sound too pleased with the country these days, says its not the America that he fought for.”

“Well its not,” said Wolverine and there was really no way to argue about that. “Things changed.”

“I also ran into someone you might be interested in,” said Spider-Man. “Magneto, he’s still alive.”

“Figures,” said Wolverine shortly. “He didn’t give you too much trouble.”

“More of the same, his anti-human propaganda and all that nonsense,” said Spider-Man as he looked around. “We’ve got a huge problem on our hands, Logan. The Red Skull is out there, but I don’t know where. Not to mention Electro is out there and Fury’s going to be out for my blood now as well.”

“Life isn’t easy, kid, if it was, more of us will live a lot longer,” said Wolverine wisely. “You’ve got any idea what to do next.”

“Not one,” said Spider-Man as he stood back, but then he frowned, seeing a partially crashed helicopter in the alleyway. “And they’re here, SHEILD are.”

Spider-Man stepped closer, as he looked from side to side.

“They’ve left a long time ago,” said Wolverine as he sniffed the air. “Hours ago, Electro must have took them down, I can smell him all over the vehicle.”

“Good, then there’s no one here to stop me from taking a small peak, to see if they left anything that can help me figure out what’s going on,” said Spider-Man.

“They got up in arms when they thought you tried to hack into their systems and now you’re doing it for real?” asked Wolverine.

“Can’t be helped,” said Spider-Man in a distracted voice, but as he investigated around, the entire system appeared to be dead. He looked around, but everything of value had appeared to be taken from the transport vehicle. “Not even one thing.”

“You really expected anything with Fury,” said Wolverine. “He’s not going to let you find…”

“A laptop?” asked Spider-Man, as he saw a laptop that had slid underneath the control panel, likely in the crash and forgotten.

Spider-Man opened up the laptop and it had already been turned on and the system already opened.

“I can’t believe my luck, about time something went right today, well it had to, I mean what else could go wrong today?” thought Spider-Man. “Actually, I don't really want to know. Let's see..Files open, let’s see what I can find, there’s got to be something in here….search for the Red Skull…Doomsday Weapon….let’s see what we’ve found.”

Spider-Man’s eye was caught by a report and he suddenly stopped, as if time had stopped, taking several moments to fully process what was right in front of his face, on the screen.

“It can’t be,” thought Spider-Man. “I always thought…no, this isn’t adding up, although it does make sense, too much sense after what I’ve learned, but Uncle Ben and Aunt May to keep something like this from me….unless Fury didn’t tell them the full story, yeah, I wouldn’t put it past Fury to lie about something like this.”

“You find anything, Parker?” prompted Wolverine and Spider-Man just stood right in front of the laptop, not responding. “Well?”

“I’ve found more than I think I wanted to,” said Spider-Man as Wolverine just looked at it. “October 14^th, 1995, a SHIELD report on the recovery of a doomsday weapon believed to be commissioned by agents of the Red Skull by Richard and Mary Parker.”

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