X-men: World of Gray

Chapter 5

Interesting differences between websites; on fanfiction.net, this story currently has over 7,000 hits and 50 comments.  For the dedicated readers on this site, here's chapter 5.

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Chapter 5…

Emma Frost sat on the edge of a curved velvet sofa. The soft yellow lights above made her white dress appear ivory; as usual, her expression offered Magneto no hint on how she felt. Below her eyes, however, dark rings had developed. She hadn't slept much the last few days. Under her nose, she held a tissue, suppressing yet another bleed.

Just a few feet away, the spherical room that made up Cerebro was cooling down.

As he sat on the other end of the sofa, Magneto had his arms stretched out on its back. Dressed in a simple black turtle neck and slacks, he tried to keep his expression as laid-back as his attire. Mystique sat to his left and didn't bother to hide her apprehension.

They had double-checked the machine. They had yanked out circuit boards, tested the wiring and ripped panels off the walls. Perhaps Cerebro wasn't getting enough energy; perhaps the walls were interfering with the amplifiers. The island base was carved out of a cave—a mix of marble and granite. Magneto cut deeper into rock until there was nothing between Cerebro and the rest of the world except sky and ocean.

None of that mattered. Each time Emma used the machine, it caused her pain. Or, better put, it was merely "too much," as she had expressed it.

"Azazel's already checked out the coordinates," Riptide said as he sat beside the teleporter and Angel on an Overman couch across from Magneto. In his hands, he held one of Cerebro's print-outs. "Every mutant we've found so far isn't older than twelve. Most not even that."

Magneto tossed a look at Emma. "Do you recall seeing any adults through your readings? Ones the print-outs didn't catch, perhaps?"

Patting the bottom of her nose with the tissue, Emma shook her head.

That was the answer Magneto expected. "It appears there are more mutants emerging in this younger generation than ours," he said. "Finding older ones could be…taxing."

"All of these coordinates are from the west coast," Riptide explained. "If we were able to expand our search a little, I'm sure we'd find others."

Immediately, Emma's features tinged with anger. "I'm not about to become lobotomized in order to recruit more of our kind, sweetie."

"Maybe if you spent more than a minute using that machine, your mind would adjust."

"Perhaps you should give it a try if you think it's so simple."

Emma's expression challenged anyone to argue with her. At that, Riptide slapped the papers on an end table beside him, and then sagged back into the couch like he couldn't stand to be there anymore.

They were getting nowhere. Sliding his arms away from the sofa, Magneto bent forward. "Here is what we know," he said. "Cerebro is functioning. But we're still three hundred miles away from civilization. That could be causing some of the problems."

He glanced at Emma. Her features softening, she nodded.

"This is what we're going to do," Magneto continued. "We'll dismantle the machine. We'll take it to other bases Shaw possesses—ones closer to cities—and use Cerebro in each of them until we find more mutants. We might even recruit another telepath who could help us."

Emma's eyes glimmered with interest. The other mutants, however, didn't appear quite as enthralled.

"This isn't like moving a television, Erik, " Riptide said. "That machine has to be completely broken down and rebuilt wherever we take it. Are you planning on renovating all of Shaw's bases for this?"