26 Chapter 26- Making an Offer

3rd Person POV

The Minister for Mutant Relations's office.

"What in the hell have they done now?" a rather overweight, middle-woman shouted at the screen. She'd been receiving calls all day about new events connected to the newly returned Hellfire Club, from the kidnapping of prominent TV host, Benedict Ryan, to the assassination and leak of information regarding particular anti-mutant politicians, each one provided with a list of crimes that each had done or helped cover-up. They'd attacked purifier camps and known associates, leaving their mark everywhere they went.

'This is their red carpet entrance,' she thought. 'Their public resurgence in all its glory. What makes me worry is the reports of the mutants involved in it. Andrew and Lauren Strucker, the great-grandchildren of Andrea and Andreas von Strucker. Marcos Diaz or Eclipse along with Lorna Dane, a potential child of Magneto. The Cuckoo triplets, a physical mutant with a body similar to a lizard, along with another mutant with a brute type mutation and a cryokinetic. Not including the young boy who was also broken free by Andrew and the older, masked mutant,' she listed off in her head.

"A powerful collection of mutants with a bone to pick with our government and the anti-mutant groups…fan-fucking-tastic." For the past three years, Grace had tried to quell the building conflict between the aggressors, however, it seemed that it was for naught. This group wanted a fight and they would get one. She agreed with the majority of the targets on the lists and leaked information anonymously about each and every one, leaving them as heroes for other mutants and neutral to the public eye. While some disagreed with the bloodshed, many still hated the idea of hidden government policies and were glad to see government 'puppets' as they called politicians, get punished for their crimes for once.

It was then Grace heard a sound, looking over to her window, where what seemed to be a transparent platform held a thick-looking letter. Her training taught her not to pick up suspicious letters or packages, however, her own intuition hinted that if the sender was truly trying to hurt her, they wouldn't have alerted her with a noise and simply attacked her. Looking at the logo stamped on the envelope, she trusted her intuition more.

'If they wanted me dead, I would be,' she groaned, opening the window and taking the envelope with the Encircled H and pitchfork. She looked around but saw no one from her 11th-story apartment window. With the number of cars she could see, there was no real way of tracking the person who sent it, but based on the reports she'd read from Sentinel Services from almost a year ago, the sender was Lauren Strucker.

To the Minister of Mutant Relations,

You have failed miserably to mitigate the losses and douse the flames of conflict between mutants and humans. Mutants can't go out on the street without fear of being attacked, kidnapped or killed, while humans form hunting groups to do just that. No more. My brother agreed that we should give you a forewarning before this all kicks off.

We will form our own safe haven for mutant kind. Your government and those around the world WILL agree to it. And once it's done, we will rule our nation separate to the US, though most likely, we will need to borrow part of it. Consider it reimbursement, or wartime conquest if you wish.

The purifiers will be eradicated in their most extreme form, however, we ARE willing to work with Sentinel Services to perform retrials for all criminals currently incarcerated or placed in mental hospitals where they are abused, experimented on and seen as less than a person. Please inform the relevant people and treat this as our offered deal.

You let our people go, freeing them to live their lives in peace and we won't raze your current system.

This isn't a joke, nor are we overestimating ourselves. The advantage is, if you start a war through retaliation against rightful violence, the mutants will side with us, and if you accuse us of terrorism, they will as well. The X-gene is in about 30% of Americans. And a war would help awaken a lot of that percentage.

Choose Wisely,

Black Queen of the Hellfire Club,

Lauren Von Strucker.

The letter crumpled in Grace's hand as she read, the terror, panic and frustration leading to a surge of emotion. "All these years, we have tried and failed. We blamed the Brotherhood, then the Hellfire Club and finally… turned our backs on the X-men who protected us and sought collaboration and cohabitation…Finally, the choice has been stripped from us. The high-ups won't surrender, at least, not without a fight. I don't think their egos could allow it." Pulling out a phonebook, Grace looked for a specific private number.

'Getting these bigots and idiots to surrender is impossible. In sending the letter, probably copied and released to the public shortly, they have shown they tried mediation methods. We are in the midst of a civil war, without anyone yet knowing…and worse yet, they've made us the trigger-happy villains in all this. History books will tell of the noble war against prejudice, experimentation and governmental control, forgetting, as always, that not everyone on this side agrees.

"Yes Mr President, I have some information you need to hear right away, sir. It's about the Hellfire Club…They've given demands and promised war should we refuse."

POV- Andy

Looking at my almost completed to-do list, I realised that the letter should have been sent off by now. It wasn't solely my idea of course, as I had requested input from the triplets, Lauren as well as Lorna when I proposed the idea to Lauren. 'Either way, we win from this arrangement and based on what we knew about the current idiots in power, we would soon have a scared and easily manageable force of mutants looking for leadership.'

This last task would be the most dangerous in theory. Busting into the military compound where the company Rytech Ammunitions had gotten approval to work, develop and produce ammunition and firearms designed to take down mutants and other potential threats. This of course included the new plastic bullets and firearms being constructed, as well as a new range of magnesium rounds that upon impact would spark internally and release a highly flammable and intense fire that for most mutants, including brutes like Maria, would spell death. Additionally, they were a private company that held a contract with Sentinel Services for the provision of equipment and ammunition, making them a prime target. This last job though, I wouldn't take alone.

In twelve minutes, a small hatchback pulled up beside my stolen sedan, and Lorna and Lauren hopped out of the car. It seemed that while Lorna wouldn't be involved in the main part of this job, she was almost equally excited to watch. "It's been a while since Fenris was last combined, hasn't it?"

I looked into my sister's eyes and saw the excitement. To merge into one was an experience unlike any other, comparable to sex, but magnified and I wasn't even trying to hide my own anticipation. Using my stolen car, as the most eye-catching vehicle, we drove to the gates of the military compound, Lorna blasting the metal gate wide open as she drove us towards the warehouses and cement munitions factory. Bullets sang through the air, spattering harmlessly on the shields conjured by Lauren. Each of us would protect the others while they worked to remove one of the enormous buildings at a time.

While this would allow backup to arrive, we were hoping for it, wanting to prove a point that would add weight to our letter. Lorna took first dibs, selecting the warehouse closest to the gates, protected by numerous armed vehicles and a small group of military personnel.

"Anyone who wishes to leave will be permitted to do so," Lorna called out to the soldiers, each armed with standardised fully-automatic machine guns, set into bent-kneed stances with the butt pressed firmly into their shoulders. "One more time," she said with a huff, "If you leave now, we won't attack you." Unsurprisingly, none retreated, instead, upon their leader's nod, opened fire on us, with most choosing to target Lorna and me. 'Probably because she's an adult and I'm a guy. What a weird form of gender equality.' I watched as Lauren's shield remained untouched, bullets held in the air alongside Lorna's greenish glow. 'Metal bullets, good.'

From my peripherals, I spot a member from the warehouse slip into one of the armoured trucks, his head peeking over the turret as he took aim with the 50 cal gun. "Turret on the right," I shout and in less than a second, I see the turret swivel like a meerkat and despite the man's hands both being far from the gun, it rained high-calibre rounds through the soldiers. Lorna's abilities didn't suddenly give it pinpoint accuracy, but with a gun like that it didn't matter. Raining bullets through his allies, the man cried out, desperately trying to aim elsewhere but it was no use. In moments Lorna had killed all of the outside guards and moved towards the entry point. Crates of ammunition, weaponry and explosives. Nothing particularly dangerous at the moment but more than we could risk returning to the streets.

Lorna stood with her arms stretched out as she dug deep channelling her powers that had only grown after Aurora. With a violent tug, Magnet girl pulled pins out of specialised magnesium grenades and simultaneously fired the remaining 50 cal rounds into the boxes of ammunition, setting off not only a rapidly expanding flame that triggered other explosions, but also destroyed crates of the ammunition lying around the warehouse waiting to be shipped to our enemies.

"Not too shabby," Lauren said from beside the car. "You really need to work on power though. I'm next." With three warehouses in addition to the solo production factory, I was fine with this arrangement. 'A good way to determine progress,' I reasoned.

This time the troops were much better prepared. A sniper, a few with grenade launchers and half a dozen with the mounted turrets. Regardless it mattered little. The bullets ricocheted off the shield she constructed, while her free hand swept over the battlefield, crushing skulls, hearts and the explosive ammunition on the belts of a few. When she moved up to crush the warehouse, she began with a flurry of enormous wind blades, each solid and sharp enough to cut through the walls, turning the factory into a weakened scrap of metal on top of our targets. Extending her hand, she reached out, as if grasping for something, before suddenly and violently clenching said hand. With the closing of her grip, metal shrieked and explosions bloomed amongst the wreckage, leaving the building little more than a compressed pancake where the warehouse used to be.

The drive to the final warehouse was quiet, as the majority of troops were allocated to defend and buy their reinforcements time, rather than actively attack. I stepped out into gunfire, my deflective barrier a constant form of protection as bullets, grenades and a sentinel drone flew at me. 'I wonder how many they keep around just for this kind of situation,' I wondered.

I made it into the centre of their arch formation, designed to attack from more angles without the risk of friendly fire. Raising my left hand, I ripped the Sentinel drone into pieces no larger than a Lego brick, while my right did the inverse of my sister's final move. The motion I made was as subtle as pooping open a clenched fist, yet every single one of the 47 guards stationed died instantaneously, their heads bursting with the pressure like I had once struggled to do with a single tennis ball. Tossing their bodies into the building, I shattered the foundations of the building with a powerful vibration, then with an excited smile snapped my fingers, igniting every single explosive device I could find in the warehouse at once. Additionally, I shredded the walls and ceiling to prevent large pieces of debris from flying everywhere, meaning that when the explosion went off, what remained of the building was scattered to the wind in pieces no larger than the sedan we drove in. 'Better than being hit by a metal roof frisbee the size of a jet plane.'

By this point, the wail of Sentinel Service sirens could be heard behind us and I was almost glad. They can watch as we tear down their supplier from a distance. The warehouse I had been left was not more than 300 yards from the production factory, providing storage in an otherwise cramped area.

Afterall, it wasn't meant for this. It was originally a military vehicle contractor who used the warehouses as garages for the newly made, designed and modified vehicles. Taking my sister's hand in mine, though she quickly wrapped herself around the offered arm, we approached the factory, stopping once we were 100 yards from the building. 'Can't let the sentinels get too close, can we?'

We each shared a smile that displayed our trembling excitement, and all around us, a bright white glow formed. Our hair resisted gravity and my vision blurred, shifting from what 'I' could see to what 'we' could see. Raising our outer arms, the glow intensified, now blinding to onlookers, however, the light soon rushed towards the building as we let out a roar. Not of anger, or fear, but pure pleasure, as if the endorphins had summoned it from us. The light flew through the air, crossing the short distance in an instant before it slammed into the wall with a corporality it shouldn't have possessed as it splashed and climbed up the walls, rapidly enshrouding the entire building with the white light.

*Remove, Consume, Destroy.*

When the light faded and the link between us that formed Fenris separated once more, there were no screams from the building or blazing fires. There was a quiet that filled the now-empty space. Not even the support beams had survived this assault, leaving nothing behind of the building before. Not the people, the weaponry or the building itself. Instead, there was a flat piece of land that stood out against the concrete and cement that paved the floor.

Sentinel vehicles pulled up around us, yet none of the officers attempted to open fire, perhaps aware how ineffective the plan would be. Unfortunately, I couldn't have them shooting Lorna and Lauren as we left, so with another horrific screech, the firearms and cars they had were twisted and ripped, leaving them absolutely useless. Startled yelling followed us as the officers attempted to salvage what they could, some checking the boot for the crushed Sentinel drones, while others dug in the wrecked cars for spare weapons, only to have their warped cars suddenly flip with them still inside them.

The three of us jumped in the car, driving back past the now-missing factory to burn our logo into the ground, before returning past the scrambling Sentinels who had been made to look like fools by the group of mutants they outnumbered 10 to one. "I seriously don't understand how they managed to cause so much pain when mutants like you and us exist." 'Too arrogant maybe,' I considered. "If we channelled Fenris into the earth, we could cause major damage to an entire city, potentially affecting the tectonic plates, yet we are supposed to fear the quacks with plastic guns."

Lorna looked at us with a complicated expression, knowing full well that it was her parents and her generations that lost the fight to stop Sentinel Services and in doing so, doomed the US mutant population to live in fear, hiding their gifts and true natures. "Don't worry about it," Lauren comforted her. "It will all be over soon anyway."

~~~

POV- John/ Thunderbird

It was madness. The purifiers were conducting rallies all across the US, while mutant rights groups actively defended the Hellfire Club for their actions. 'Ripping out corruption, root and stem,' as they said. Purifier rallies turned into pro-mutant marches as the purifiers and those with shared beliefs returned home after the news was released that the Hellfire Club hadn't just taken out Benedict Ryan, but had and were continuing to, attack anti-mutant supporters, leaking incriminating evidence and leaving their mark all over the eastern seaboard. What's was is the outrageous reappearance of Fenris, directly erasing a prime anti-mutant supplier's research and production facility from inside a military compound.

Hundreds dead, yet everyone was more in shock than horrified. The building had simply been…consumed by their power as the video footage from several Sentinel agents and a lucky neighbour or two revealed. The remaining wreckage could be understood, fathomed. But the huge factory had simply ceased to exist, removed on a molecular level. Dispersed into nothing.

I turned to Sonya, who was equally dumbstruck. "So they've gotten stronger since Trask then," she said quietly. We'd heard from Lorna and Marcos, but to see it is entirely different from hearing it second-hand.

Just then, the screen crackled as it had when the Benedict Ryan interrogation invaded the tv news channel. This time, it revealed a letter, with what sounded like Lauren's voice reading the text on the paper. As we listened, my stomach grew heavy, as if it was laden with lead. "We are at war. War for land to call our own. And as strong as the Hellfire Club is, they will inspire an army in a short time."

"Now we have the choice," Sonya said gripping my arm tight. "Do we fight our friends for humanity, or humanity for our friends?" The two of us looked resigned, each knowing the other's choice instantly.

"I guess it's time to meet and plan with Andy."