X-men: World of Gray

Chapter 14

Chapter 14…

The sun was shifting from bright afternoon white to sunset orange by the time Magneto made it back to the Cassandra with Azazel. On the deck, Riptide was lounging in a white shirt and a pair of pants that were cut too short for any man to wear respectably. By the yacht's railing, Emma Frost stood. Her gaze met Magneto's the instant he flashed back on the ship.

Immediately, he approached the woman. He grabbed her arm and jerked her away from the railing. "What do you think you were doing?" he asked.

Her body shifted to diamond form. "Let go of my arm."

Behind him, Riptide got out from his chair. Magneto could feel both his and Azazel's eyes trained on him.

Nonetheless, Erik didn't let Emma go. "I told you I would handle this. That was our arrangement."

"That's the problem, Erik," Riptide came back. "You're not handling it."

With a shove, Magneto released Emma's arm. The woman remained in her crystal form and backed away from him like she was ready to go on the attack at any moment.

Magneto turned to the other mutants on the deck. "What, exactly, did you expect? I thought I made myself perfectly clear when we decided to carry this out. Charles Xavier is my problem. Your lack of patience is not."

Riptide glanced at Azazel. The red-skinned man stood like a statue, but on his face, frustration was brewing. The others were growing impatient. They were growing angry. Magneto's inability to make Charles do as he wished was causing unrest. And mistrust.

Deep within him, a pang of concern stabbed Magneto's gut. He could handle any of them. But could he guard Charles? Emma had slipped through the cracks already.

Frowning, Magneto pointed a finger at Emma. "You are not to go back there unless I say otherwise," he said, and then to the men, "That goes for all of you. I will deal with the telepath. But I'll deal with him on my own. Any ideas to the contrary are ill-advised, my friends. Is that understood?"

None of the other mutants moved, their expressions as hard as cement. Nonetheless, no more protests emerged, and as Magneto reeled around to go to his quarters, he knew no more would.

For now.

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The room was small—just large enough for a bed, a nightstand and a closet in the corner. As Magneto opened the door to his quarters, that's all he expected to find. On the edge of his mattress, however, a blue figure sat, her face angled to the floor.

Closing the door, Magneto grinned at the woman. "You enjoy surprising me, don't you?"

Instead of a sweet sparkle in Mystique's bright amber eyes, however, there was something else entirely. A tear ran down her cheek.

Immediately, Magneto took off his helmet. He hurried to Mystique and knelt down in front of her. "What is it?" he asked.

Swallowing a sob, the woman said, "You have to get Charles to use that machine."

Magneto's eyes widened. "Where is this suddenly coming from?"

"They're getting restless, Erik. If you don't get Charles to do this, they will."

The fear on the woman's face was strong enough to give Magneto pause. He wanted to tell her that such fear was unnecessary, but things were not running as smoothly as he'd hoped.

Nonetheless, he placed a hand on the side of Mystique's face and told her gently, "Don't concern yourself with them. They expected this to be simple. I never did."