The Avalon Project
Chapter 3, Part II
Luis Milan:
We joined in the queue being served dinner by smiling Asians. Looking over my shoulder,
I could see Lee Forrester and Magnus coming into the auditorium. I pulled Scanner aside once
our plates had been filled. We waited until Magnus had obtained his supper, then went and sat at
his table. A number of others had sone the same thing, or simply picked their plates up and joined
us from other tables. Most of them were movers and shakers from the various mutant contingents
that we'd spent the past twenty-four hours rescuing. One of these movers was the Light, the
leader of the Asian contingent. I didn't recognize any of the Palestinians; I suppose I was
elsewhere when they'd been brought on board. The most noticeable people in the Dallas
contingent were the ones in the uniform jackets marking them as members of the vigilante group
Cry Wolf. I wondered which parts of their reputation were true and which weren't; but I
suspected that they were at least as rough a bunch as the Acolytes.
"I take it that you had an enjoyable tour of this facility?" the Light asked Lee Forrester in a
pleasant tone of voice. Magneto looked up from his meal and glared at the Light, but the Light
didn't seem to notice. He continued, "And I hope you have seen enough of us aboard here to be
able to tell your people below that the mutants of Avalon represent no great threat to the human
race, battered refugees that we are?"
"Uh, my 'people below'? D'you mean the X-Men or the government? I'm not really in
touch with any of them..." Lee looked back at him, perplexed.
The Light bared his teeth in a smile. "Your people, humanity, as opposed to mutantkind.
When you return home, you will be in a position to talk to the media, to tell them what you saw."
"Ah... I'm not going to be able to return anytime too soon. The police are looking for me
to try and get to the X-Men, and it isn't going to take much digging for them to find my
connection to Magnus. And the Mutant Underground investigation could turn into a witch-hunt
pretty easily. I really don't want to end up being detained for months without charges just so the
police and the government can try and find out what I know. So..." She looked back at Magnus.
He nodded to her and she went on: "Guess I'm going to be staying here until things calm down."
Converstation had died out at the tables around us, and people at them were craning over
to listen to this exchange. I'd finished half my meal and not really tasted any of it and it wasn't
even all that bland... I could begin to see where this was leading...
The Light's face became grim. "Magnus, isn't there anywhere on Earth where you can
shelter her? There are going to be a number of human refugees who will want to sneak aboard,
let alone infiltrators, and I'm told that resources are at a bit of a premium right now. They should
be reserved for mutants..."
Magneto shook his head, "There's no reason for me to pack Lee off. There are already a
fair number of humans aboard, and they're settling here with everyone else."
The Light's jaw dropped at this.
Magneto stared back at him calmly. "I didn't try and break up families when I brought
mutant refugees here. Many of our mutant refugees are children, whose human parents rescued
them and brought them here. Didn't you know that the Dallas enclave started out as a support
group for the parents who had mutant children? As for the rest, many have human spouses,
children or siblings, not to mention parents."
"Um, it's true," Carmella Unuscione piped up from the other end of the table, looking at
the Light. "The Singapore enclave is the only all-mutant group. But the Dallas group is almost
one-half human and the rest are in between."
"It's not that intractable a problem," Exodus told Magnus cheerfully. "I can sort them out
and bring the humans back right after dinner." The Light did not seem even a bit cheered, and I
saw several faces around the table scowling. I sighed inside, wishing that this debate could have
waited a day or two, because I was pretty sure that once it began, it never would end, even if we
were to live on Avalon forever.
"No," Magneto told Exodus flatly, as I had expected he would. "I'm not going to try and
break up families. Right and wrong aside, I don't know who could take care of all the mutant
children we've got. Moreover, some of these humans are indispensible professionals. Two of our
three physicians are human, and I say that they stay."
Exodus stared back uncomprehendingly. "Then why build this place? What's the point?"
Oh, give it up, kid, I thought wearily. Time for Life 101 later; there are some real issues
that people need to worry about right now and this isn't one of them...
Magnus explained, more patiently than he ought, "I built this place so that mutants could
be safe, isolated from a world where bigoted humans are an overwhelming majority. The humans
who are up here aren't in a position to make trouble even they wanted to. Telepaths are looking
among people who haven't been part of enclaves for years already for infiltrators: Brood, minions
of Apocalypse and Sinister, Hydra agents, and the spies from human governments. This is as safe
as it gets, even if that isn't saying very much."
"This tolerance isn't necessary, Magnus!" the Light argued. "I had everyone seeking to
join my community screened and only admitted mutants, wasting nothing upon those who were
already part of the mainstream. We could always find parents to adopt mutant babies, and many
older children were happy enough to leave their birth families for a community that could protect
them!"
Magneto rose to his feet and snarled into the Light's face, "I know how you ran things in
Singapore! You threw people into the street if they were 'impure' enough to have human children.
You kidnapped mutant children if their human parents wouldn't sell them to you! Well, I will not
do things here that way! I can't! The humans here have already abandoned their homes and their
hiding places. The vengeful humans on the world below will imprison them or even slaughter
them for 'betraying their race' if they were to return. I didn't risk my neck to defend some abstract
nonsense like "genetic purity"! I'm here and I built this place to shelter real people in need!
They're here now and no one will drive them away! None of them! So, forget your purge! It
isn't going to happen here!"
The Light had leaned as far back in his chair as he could go and held up his hands
placatingly.
But behind Magneto, Exodus stood up. "No!" protested Exodus. "You didn't always
think that..." Horrified, I watched astral tendrils reach from Exodus to tear at Magnus' shields,
invisible to all but the telepaths among us.
"You damned fool! How dare you?" cried the Light.
As he turned, Magnus swept an arm back, bowling Exodus off his feet. Exodus scrambled
away, the crowd parting around him. Lee grabbed Magneto's other arm and hung on. I doubt she
slowed him much, nor did she even succeed in discouraging him. Carmella and Colossus pulled
her away.
Before Magnus could reach Exodus, three people in Cry Wolf jackets piled on top of
Exodus. He didn't even struggle. Magneto approached, his hands cleched into fists. I felt faint
relief. Now they all knew, especially Magnus, just what kind of subtle menace Exodus was, why
this place had been a madhouse for so long before Magneto's most recent reawakening. And no-
one had even gotten killed... yet.
Exodus whimpered: "I was trying to help, don't you understand?"
The snarl hadn't left Magneto's face. "You and the others like you, 'helping' me help them,
to serve their damned purposes, destroy my own work, my own dream..."
I couldn't decide whether I wanted Magnus to kill Exodus, to get rid of him, or if I didn't.
I mean... watching anyone be killed, even a near-omnipotent idiot, is a very depressing
experience...
"You're the one who should be banished," Magneto remarked. He seemed a little calmer
than he had been a moment before, but I was pretty certain it wasn't Exodus' doing, or anyone
other than Magnus' this time. "I know you can protect yourself from the bigots down there. But
then I'd have to worry about them and everyone around them, because I know how dangerous
you are."
Exodus whimpered again, but I couldn't make out any words.
"No, you can stay. Here, where I can keep an eye on you... Get back to your quarters
and stay there."
The Texans let Exodus up and he bolted for the door. The rest of dinner was uneventful,
thank God.
***
Luis Milan:
As usual, the madness began just as dinner ended. Silly me, I had returned to Central Ops,
just in time to receive the call that started the trouble all over again. I strongly debated telling the
guy to go to hell, that I'd give Magnus a written message to call him back, but... well... Charles
Xavier is an intimidating character and one of the few who Magnus might actually want to talk to.
So I punched in the comm code for Magnus' quarters. When he answered the call, he did leave
visual on, so I didn't think that I'd interrupted anything, even though Lee Forrester was in the
room with him. I quelled my curiosity and told him, "There's a Dr. Charles Xavier who wants to
talk to you, sir. Shall I put him through?"
Sure enough, he did. I just transferred the call and had just logged into the computer
when Lee Forrester came storming into Central Ops. "Magneto's gone after Xavier. One of
them's going to need rescuing. How do we get off this ball of space junk?"
"Huh?" I started. "Where are they?"
"Charles is on that island, and Magnus is on his way there. Charles called to bait him
there: told him he thought he was an imposter, wanted to know what he'd done with the real
Magnus, said he was gonna tell the media that someone was impersonating Magneto. And
Magnus has been feeling pretty bellicose since dinner..."
As soon as she stopped to take a breath, I asked, "Why the hell would Charles Xavier
want Magneto to come after him? Especially after what he's done! He must be nuts!"
"Could be," Lee remarked. "But he'll be dead if Magnus gets ahold of him. This sounds
like a trap. What's the fastest way to get down there?"
I bit my lip. There was one mutant with an impressive teleportation capability and enough
firepower to foil most traps, even those built to take Magneto. But I wasn't sure I wanted to go
anywhere near Exodus right now, let alone give him a reason to leave his quarters and to start
messing around with the rest of the world again.
***
Charles Xavier:
As I brought my wheelchair towards the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, I scanned
the island to make sure that the X-Men were really gone. It had pleased me greatly that they
hated to leave me here, but they actually believed me when I insisted that it was necessary for me
to return here. I simply failed to tell them what I planned to confront... They were eager to join
the battle against the Brood. If even one nest survived the next few weeks, the whole world
might be doomed. In the meantime, I had to deal with what I had created, an empty and
exceptionally powerful host body for whatever was now impersonating Magneto.
The rest of Magnus was enough to make sure that I couldn't focus on any other task in
any case. Even now, I could hear his thoughts among my own. He wasn't going to stay asleep
much longer, and I dared not even let him dream any more. The only option left to me was to
undo what I had done at such a terrible cost; I had to restore him to his own body. Then what?
Just let him try and take his revenge on everyone and everything for what he'd suffered and
whatever he imagines he's suffered? Let guilty and understandably frightened people, or just
ruthless ones who find him an inconvenience, tear him to pieces? What of those in the crossfire
between Magnus and everyone he wants a piece of and everyone who wants a piece of him...
No matter. It was too late now and I'd only managed to make things worse. I didn't even
know what was coming for me as I forced the wheelchair uphill. There was no way I could
guarantee I'd be successful, that either I or the mental template I held captive (barely) would
survive this, or that I could restore Magnus to his own brain so that mine would be left in peace.
I wished for a moment that I could speak to Magnus and prepare him to help me in the
psychic battle against the entity now possessing his body, but I did not dare, for awake and
sufficiently irate, Magnus might choose to be more of a threat to me than to the entity. I'd just
have to hope that he'd cooperate instinctively when it was time.
As I got to the top of the cliff, I realized that I would not have to wait. I could see a
glowing shape flying towards me, apparently alone. I fell, carefully, from my wheelchair to the
ground and sat up. Yes, the flying shape was approaching and quickly. I shoved the wheelchair
over the cliff. I wanted him to have to close with me, and I could not afford to be sitting in a
metal deathtrap before that.
As the glowing shape landed in front of me, I reached out telepathically to gauge my
opponent. My heart sank as I did so, all I could see from an astral perspective were shields like
black glass, overflowing with its fury. Physically, it was Magnus, though it had a white beard that
I could never imagine the real Magnus tolerating.
It was time for my last resort: "Magnus, wake up!" My perceptions became even more
confusing. Overlying my astral perception of the attacker and my more ordinary (but no less
frightening) view of the purple-and-red armored figure approaching me at a run, was a vision of
the real Magnus, the one I'd dragged out of his own body all those months ago and sheltered in
my dreams: clean-shaven, wide-eyed with bewilderment, in his shirt-sleeves. I showed him the
world as seen through my eyes, now dominated by his approaching physical counterpart.
"What?!" was the only response he could manage. If I'd had the time, I would have
covered my eyes and groaned.
"You're not helping, Magnus," I chided, my thoughts very calm (I must have been in
shock). "There's someone in your body, masquerading as you, and he's come to kill both of us
now..." The stranger had reached me and grabbed me by the throat. Desperate, I slammed my
psyche, and Magnus', my Magnus', against the stranger's shields and bounced off. Almost
hysterical, I tried again... and this time, he just let us in...
That was when things started getting really strange. I found myself standing in front of a
burning wooden building. It was evening, and there was a crowd standing around me, jabbering
in Russian. Some of them were looking at the building. Others were looking at some sort of
commotion nearby. I found Magnus at the center of the commotion. Some sort of policemen
were holding him down while others were beating him. I realized where I was; another of
Magnus' memories, in fact of the event that had finally made such a misanthropic monster of him.
At least in the dreamworld, I could walk and run. I leapt upon the nearest policeman and
knocked him down. The others turned to face me. "Magnus!" I screamed, "Your daughter! Go
to her!" He stared at me open-mouthed for only a second or two, blood still trickling from his
forehead. I knocked away the other two policemen as they came for me, reminding myself that
this was only a dream, even if it wasn't mine alone. Magnus turned back to the building and began
to glow. He rose into the air and floated up to one of its windows, where I could barely see him.
A moment later, the building, the crowd, and the police faded away. Magnus stood in
front of me, wearing his red-and-purple armor and helmet, holding a young girl in his arms. I
looked around, but our surroundings were grey and misty and I could not see anyone else.
"Where is the other?" I demanded. "Who inhabited your body when I took your mind out of it?"
Another voice replied: "There was no-one else. The bits and pieces of Magneto that were
left inside his own brain weren't enough to be a functioning personality. But, I was sent to rebuild
the template telepathically, to implant enough memories and raw information to keep him
functional. I had to restart all the higher-order processes and hope that enough original elements
of his personality remained to pull it all together, to keep him sane. It wouldn't have lasted
forever; I'm glad you did the right thing and brought the rest of him back." The speaker had
materialized out of the mist, a young woman in a business suit.
The child faded from Magnus arms. He demanded: "Who the hell are you?"
She smiled. "My name's Holly Encarres. You saw me very briefly up on Avalon, during
the Brood fight, when I did everything I just told you and then woke you up. I had to do this to
get you to save the world. Yes, I work for Malcolm Encarres. No, I didn't plant anything in your
brain for the sole purpose of controlling you. I tried to give you memories that would be as true
as possible to the original, even when I wished otherwise. I know you don't believe me. These
professional ethics can really be a pain at times, but you have a right to know what I did."
"What are you doing here now?!" Magnus roared at her.
She sighed and raised her hands, as if to placate him. "I'm really just another mental
emplate. The real Holly disengaged from your mind when she was done and hasn't gone back
since. I was just left here to explain things when you were ready, and I've done everything I had
to do now." She faded away just as the child had.
Magnus turned back to me, as belligerent as he'd been to the woman, "Charles, why did
you do that to me?"
"I tried to save you from yourself," I told him indignantly, realizing as I spoke just how
hollow those words sounded.
They must have taken him by surprise, though, because his reaction was a half-laugh, half-
gasp: "What was the worst that could have happened? The weapons on station are modified to be
most effective at short range. I hadn't set myself up to try and conquer the world again. And I
would have recognized Exodus' tampering before long. None of it was likely to have made me
any more effective a threat to you in the long run."
Before I could retort, I could sense some kind of shock ripple through the grey mist.
Suddenly, I was in my own body again, sitting on the bare rock at Magnus' feet. There were
people behind me. I looked back over my shoulder at Exodus, Milan, and the redoubtable
Captain Forrester, who rushed up to Magnus and grabbed his arm. "What's going on here? Are
you all right?"
Magnus did look odd with the beard, I reflected. But it might not be all bad to see him
return to normal, whatever normal constituted for Magnus, given recent circumstances.
"What did you do to him?" Lee snapped at Magnus looking back at me. "Where's his
wheelchair?"
"I did nothing to him," Magnus told her grimly. "He threw his own damned chair over the
cliff before I got here. I don't think he trusts me." He folded his arms and looked down at me
with a perfectly straight face.
"Ah... sir, are you planning to bring him back with us?" asked Milan. I realized that
Exodus, standing beside him, had said and done nothing since he'd arrived and wondered just
what he was up to.
"I could just hand him back to his government," Magnus speculated, "and he could see
just what kind of a fair trial he would get..."
I refused to be baited. I folded my arms in imitation of him. "I haven't any immediate
plans," I informed him.
Magnus unfolded his arms and shrugged. "The prospect of dealing with Gyrich's thugs
makes me rather ill. I don't see why you should be my problem, Charles. Why don't I just leave
you here and hope you go away again? You have your own wretched life to get back to, and I
want nothing to do with it."
I shrugged as well. "I'll probably be here when you return here, and I suspect you will if
you're actually trying to build a colony in space again. Ports and hiding places on Earth will prove
handy. Unfortunately, I've got no ride off here. I've ordered the X-Men not to return so that they
will be allowed to cooperate with the other super-teams in fighting the Brood. I refuse to be a
liability to them."
"Fine!" Exodus finally piped up. "Let us see how long you last here! I'm ready to go back
to the station now." He looked hopefully back at Magnus; Milan choked back a laugh beside him.
"I thought you needed doctors," Lee reminded Magnus. "And he'll make a decent
counterweight for the Light on certain issues..." I could almost hear Magnus' teeth grind from
where I sat.
"Very well," he growled. "You'll stay with the rest of the refugees, Charles, and you're
not getting any privileges above and beyond the least of them. And you're bloody well going to
earn your keep..."
I just let him go on talking. Given what had become of my other options, this would be
more than acceptable. There would be all sorts of new challenges and opportunities aboard the
space colony, and I was eager to go and have a look at them.
Feedback is welcome! Please e-mail me at teed0003@tc.umn.edu
Last updated 10/15/96.
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