[Age Of Apocalypse] - Magneto's Rise And Fall

A few weeks later, in a steel factory in Poland,

Erik stood among several machinery, his overalls smeared with grease and sweat was trickling down his forehead. He was standing in front of a molten furnace which was responsible for melting down the raw materials that would eventually transform into molten steel. He fed the furnace chunks of iron ore and coal and watched as the conveyor belt grind and clinked while working.

While he was working, his ears caught the whispering of his fellow workers behind him.

"Hey! Isn't that Magneto?"

"Yes, he is."

"What is he doing here?"

"Hehehe! Don't you know? He's..."

Erik ignored them and continued his work when his ears caught some of his fellow workers talking behind his back.

"Look at him!! The great Messiah who would make the world a better place for mutants is reduced to working in a steel factory!!"

"Hahaha!!"

He took a deep breath and tried to continue his work but he noticed that some of his fellow workers were deliberately avoiding him. He gritted his teeth in anger and thought about the events that caused him to fall down to such a miserable state.

Five years ago, when Val was busy with Logan and Victor, Erik made a decision. A decision that he regretted for the rest of his life. A decision that ruined his life. ...He stepped into the dirty mud that is widely known as Politics. Yes, Erik thought that he had acquired a large following and he wanted to capitalize on his fame. Why wouldn't he? That was the natural course of action, according to him, since there were a huge crowd of people wherever he went. He met with various leaders of different countries. They had to acknowledge him since he was the de facto leader of mutants.

So, he formed his own party – The Brotherhood Party. The news of the formation of his party was met with widespread applause. People came out on the streets and waved his party's flag. He had such so much supporters that he shut down New York City, Washington D.C, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and many more cities. Not just USA, the news that his party was formed caused several other cities around the world to shut down due to the amount of people who came out on the streets in support of him.

He was touted to be on course for the next President of USA. But... as the saying goes – the higher they climb, the harder they fall. His support irked the wrong people. He poked a hornet's nest and they... were going to do anything to stop him.

A few weeks later, at the party formation's banquet, Erik was enjoying his night with the members of his party. Several influential people were invited to this banquet, People from the business world, television world, military world, etc. However, a female party member of his approached him and gave him a glass of wine proposing a toast to his party. Without thinking, he accepted the glass and toasted everybody, and drank the glass of wine. He failed to notice the wide smiles on their faces as he drank the whole glass.

He didn't remember much what happened next and woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. A few minutes later, his headache calmed down a lot and he was able to make out that he was lying on a bed in a hotel room without any clothes on. He looked to his right and found the same female party member naked under the sheets cowering away from him. She looked at him fearfully and shouted, "Y-You raped me!!"

As if on cue, the door was burst open and several police officers rushed inside. They pointed their guns at him. The lady's husband entered the room and pointed at him while shouting with tears in his eyes, "H-He raped my wife!!! Officers, arrest him!!"

He tried to explain but nobody listened. And, he was arrested and thrown into jail. The woman filed a rape case against him and as the news of the case broke out, he lost half of his supporters overnight. That... was just the beginning of his downfall.

He paid the amount and got out of jail while police were 'investigating' the case. A few days later, another case was filed against him. This time, corruption and terrorism.

To form his party, he wanted money. So, the first person he went to was his friend – Charles Xavier. Charles understood what Erik was trying to do and he gave him double the amount he asked for. He appreciated his efforts and he was happy to see Erik turn his life around. But, such a sweet gesture between friends was turned into a dirty political plot. The money he had been given was termed as corruption money and some of it was said to be from 'foreign elements who seek to destroy USA'. So, within a few days of him forming his party, Erik was now, a rapist, a corrupt politician and a terrorist.

But, that wasn't all. He also, had a lawsuit filed against him from an organization over his party's name. There were several cases filed against him. It was as if he was everybody's punching bag. Everybody could understand that somebody was targeting him. But, they didn't care about it and chose to alienate him.

The same people who used to chant his name before were the same people who cursed at him wherever he went. They squatted outside his house and if he would come out, they would begin their usual cursing and shouting. The police were stationed around his house to prevent any thing from happening. But, they didn't even try to prevent the eggs, tomatoes, and other stuff that were regularly thrown on him.

Erik asked for police protection stating that he feared for his safety. But, he was rejected by saying that he was a mutant and not a normal human. If he felt threatened, he could use his powers to protect himself rather than wasting taxpayers money to protect him.

All of this was taking a toll on his mind. He tried to be optimistic. He tried to be hopeful that there was a light at the end of the dark tunnel. But... he couldn't endure for long. His shoulders felt heavy and he felt betrayed by his own party where several of the people who attended his banquet left it immediately the day after the rape charge was filed against him.

It was so much for him that he even considered killing himself. But... he wouldn't do it. Because, he thought about his parents, his family members. They died in Auschwitz. He survived the concentration camp. That was a hundred times worse than what he was dealing with currently. He survived that. Why couldn't he do it now? His parents, family members died only to see him kill himself like a coward? No!! He made a decision.

He sneaked out of USA and traveled to Europe. There, he went back to his home country – Poland. As soon as he settled here, the turmoil back USA died down instantly. He was labeled a terrorist and the cases against him were swept under the rug. Merely two weeks later, people moved on. But, Erik... he wasn't going to move on. He was going to have make them suffer. He was going to have his revenge.

Back at the present, as the evening rays illuminated the skies and turned them golden red, Erik walked out of the factory and headed toward his foreman.

"Pitor, should I expect the same schedule tomorrow?", Erik asked his foreman.

Pitor looked at him and said without any emotion in his voice, "I'm sorry, Erik. But... you don't have to."

"What?", Erik asked, clearly confused.

"What I mean to say, is that you don't need to come to work tomorrow. Some of the workers are feeling intimidated by you and that's disrupting work. I hope you understand.", Pitor said.

Erik sighed and said, "Yeah... sure."

Pitor watched him turn around and walk away. A few minutes later, two people walked out of the factory and approached him.

"Good work.", one of them said in a gruff voice.

"Here's your cut. Take it and get lost!", the other one ordered Pitor who graciously took the case and walked away happily.

Both of the men looked at each other and grinned while thinking, 'The trap has been set!'

. . .

Erik arrived in front of a poor two - floor house. He saw a little girl look at him from the windows and a genuine smile appeared on his face.

He stood in front of the door for a few seconds until the door burst open and a cute, little girl with dark brown hair ran toward him while squealing happily, "Daddy!!"

Erik laughed and picked her up his arms. Nina giggled happily and exclaimed, "Daddy's back!!"

Erik kissed her on her cheek and said, "Yes. Daddy's back, Nina!"

A beautiful woman with hair similar to Nina walked out of the house and approached the father-daughter duo. She looked at Erik lovingly and said, "Hi, honey!"

Erik smiled at her and replied, "Hi, sweetheart!"

Both of them pecked their lips and the family of three talked to each other.

However, Erik felt two cars approaching them and he quickly put Nina down and told Magda, "They are coming! Take Nina and run into the house!"

"Wha–?", Magda was shocked but before the duo could run back into the house, the cars arrived.

Erik turned around and stood in front of his wife and daughter. He saw four men get out of the car with rifles in their hands. One of them sneered and shouted, "We found you! You terrorist! Rapist! You... mutant shit!"

Erik calmly said, "Don't do anything you would regret. I don't want to kill any one of you. I haven't killed anyone for many years. I've locked that part of me inside. Don't make it come out!"

"As if we care!!", the guy laughed and ordered, "Fire!! Kill these mutant freaks!"

* BANG *

* BANG *

* BANG *

Erik used his powers to stop the bullets and his attention was focused on the three men shooting at him. But, he failed to notice that the fourth guy who ordered others ran left and took out a bow and arrow. He aimed at Nina and Magda and let the arrow loose while shouting, "Death to the mutants!!"

Erik heard him shout and turned around. His eyes widened in sheer horror when he saw the arrow close in on his wife and daughter and he screamed, "Noooooo!!!"