(Hammer Bay – An abandoned church)
Quicksilver hangs helplessly before the mutate rebels assembled by the Zealot. The Zealot announces that Pietro’s death will be their first victory against Magneto and a step towards reclaiming Genosha.
From a vantage point in the balcony of the dilapidated church, Rogue ponders how she’s going to rescue Pietro on her own. She is interrupted by Amelia Voght. Amelia asks her to wait until the time is right rather than face overwhelming odds. Rogue wonders why she should trust an Acolyte who has tried to kill the X-Men in the past. Voght appeals to whatever feelings Rogue may still have for Magneto and asks for her help in saving his son. She goes so far as to offer to let Rogue absorb her memories if that’s what it takes to earn this small measure of trust. Rogue relents and Amelia teleports them both to Magneto.
(New York City – The United Nations Building)
An orbiting satellite is suddenly attacked and destroyed by unseen forces. On the planet below, the United Nations Security Council is reviewing the current intelligence reports from Genosha. They have received word of the Zealot’s uprising against Magneto. They toy with the idea of backing his efforts but their fear of Magneto and desire to keep him in check overrules this idea. Their belief is that once Magneto manages to gain full control of Genosha, he will have to contend with the Legacy Virus and the nation’s economic collapse before he is in any position to be a true threat. In the interim, they will have time to arrange some form of defense against him.
" As they debate the matter, Magneto appears in
holographic form. He outlines the ways in which they
have violated their treaty by sending aircraft and
ships into Genoshan territory and spying on Genosha
with satellites. As he issues this warning, he
destroys the UN's spy satellite and sends it crashing
into the reconnaissance plane that has entered
Genosha's airspace. He gives them 24-hours to search
for survivors but makes it clear that if they violate
the terms of the treaty in the future his response
will be much more severe. The council members are
shocked by this display and begin to question their
decision to install Magneto as Genosha’s sovereign
leader."
The council members are shocked by this display and begin to question their decision to install Magneto as Genosha’s sovereign leader.
(Genosha – Mutate Rebellion Control Center)
Back in Genosha, Magneto emerges from the holographic device and is drained. Nearby, Phillip Moreau, son of the Genegineer, and Fabian Cortez exchange barbs. Each man is curious why the other has been embraced by Magneto and accepted as a cabinet member. They take turns reminding each other of their past sins against Magneto and Genosha. Cortez warns Moreau to choose his battles wisely.
As Magneto joins them, Cortez notes that Magneto looks ill and bows. Magneto puts Cortez in his place and makes it clear that he does not confuse cowardice with loyalty. He has no illusions about Cortez. As Magneto hands his helmet to his robotic servant, a burst of light fills the room and heralds the arrival of Voght and Rogue.
Magneto immediately seizes Rogue in a magnetic field, making it clear that her presence is unwelcome. She explains that she’s here on her own and wants to speak with him on a personal level. He is intrigued and agrees to hear her out. Voght interjects and informs Magneto that Pietro is in Genosha and has been taken captive.
Rogue confirms this and suggests they postpone their “heart-to-heart” until after they’ve rescued Quicksilver. Magneto refuses and says that Pietro’s fate is not his concern. When a baffled Rogue asks how he can let his only son perish, Magneto replies that Pietro has spurned him continuously and is no longer his son in any way that truly matters. Amelia adds that Pietro was captured while trying to help a mutate girl avoid certain death and that Magneto can’t let him die. Magneto puts Amelia in her place and tells her that she should be considering her own failure to protect Pietro as ordered instead of telling him what he needs to do.
Rogue appeals to Magneto based on the feelings they once shared. Magneto tells her that she remembers their time in the Savage Land inaccurately and that what once might have been can never be now. Too much has happened since. Rogue is not swayed by his words and kisses him, in part to awaken his emotional side and in part to absorb his memories and confirm what she believed to be true about their past attraction to each other. She absorbs his memories and sees the pain and suffering that drives him. She also senses something hidden and sinister.
Magneto walks away, giving Rogue one hour to get out of Genosha before he detains her as an enemy of the state. He does mention that in another time and place, things could have been different. Rogue is forced to admit that the man she once felt she could love is gone completely. Magneto’s potential for love and tenderness has been shut off and replaced with grim determination and cold ambition.
Amelia urges Rogue to focus on the task at hand: saving Quicksilver. Jenny Ransome says there may still be time since the Zealot will wait to kill Pietro at a time when it will have the maximum effect. Rogue wonders how Moreau and Ransome can side with Magneto. Moreau tells her she has no clue what it’s like watching your homeland fall apart around you and that he’s willing to make a deal with the devil to help his country get back on its feet. Rogue makes it clear that they’ve lost her respect for this choice but is hopeful that they’ll still prove trustworthy. Outside the room, Alda Huxley catches Fabian Cortez eavesdropping. He tries to make up an excuse but she tells him not to bother. She sees a potential for them to be allies and asks Cortez to tell her all he knows about Pietro and Magneto’s current feelings towards his son.
(Hammer Bay – “The Bastille”)
Quicksilver is being held in Genosha’s prison, a fortress modeled after the famous Bastille in Paris, France. He is pondering his fate when Rogue and Amelia Voght teleport to his side. Pietro is surprised by their arrival but grateful. He hopes that Rogue is not there to join his father and hopes that he gets the chance to repay the Zealot for his imprisonment.
Their greetings are interrupted by gunfire. Amelia is immediately wounded, leaving Rogue and Quicksilver to deal with a small contingent of mutates. The battle proceeds at a fats pace. A large mutate grabs Quicksilver and threatens to choke the “Magnusson” to death. Rogue intervenes and saves Pietro once more. Voght awakens but is too weak to teleport them to safety. Instead, Rogue punches a hole in the wall for them to make their escape through. Pietro watches and thinks that if it weren’t for the compassion of Charles Xavier, both he and Rogue might have remained on the side that opposed the path of tolerance and heroism. As they peer into the courtyard outside the Bastille, they see an armed force of mutates waiting for them.
Elsewhere in the Bastille, the Zealot is attempting to torture information out of a captured mutate who was aligned with Magneto. As he touches the mutate’s chest, some sort of energy cascades through the mutate’s body. From his forehead, boils emerge as if his brain were about to explode. He cries out in pain. The Zealot declares that soon Magneto will cry out in such a fashion and all the world will know that Genosha is his!
(Genosha – Mutate Rebellion Control Center)
Back at his base of operations, Magneto asks Alda Huxley for a full briefing on The Zealot. She relates what little is known of the charismatic rebel leader. Apparently, he was one of the first Genoshan mutants to undergo the mutate bonding process. This process was developed by the Zealot’s own father, Genosha’s Genegineer David Moreau. The Zealot’s powers are unknown since many early records were destroyed during the civil war. He has gathered a large following of mutates who wish to see control of Genosha returned to Genoshan hands.
Magneto is surprised by this resistance and had expected to be welcomed with open arms by the Genoshan people. Dr. Huxley informs him that Genosha is far more complex than that and that a change in regime is not going to undo a lifetime of frustration, hatred and mistrust among the Genoshan people. Magneto notes that he did not expect opposition from the mutant population since he views them as “his people”. He also did not expect support from a human in his quest and wonders what it is that Dr. Huxley is after.
In an alleyway in Hammer Bay, two mutates are attacking a third mutate, Mutate #56. They have attacked him because he is infected with the Legacy Virus. They take red spray paint and paint a large letter “L” across his face to warn others that he is a carrier of the deadly virus. They threaten to kill him if he comes near them again.
They are stopped by Quicksilver who tells them to flee now and consider how they should be aiding their sick kinsmen, not oppressing them. He tells them that they of all people should understand and have compassion for those who suffer. He tells them to get out of his sight. Amelia is still weak and encourages them to continue their escape before the Zealot catches up to them. Mutate #56 wonders if Pietro is truly the “son of the savior” and Quicksilver makes it clear that his father is no savior. The Zealot arrives with four other rebel mutates and agrees with this sentiment. He then orders one of his followers to kill the infected mutate. He does so as Pietro shields Amelia from the energy blast. The Zealot proclaims that there is one less infected mouth to feed. He tells Pietro that he had hoped to draw Magneto out using him as bait. But instead he just gets Magneto’s “lackeys”.
The Zealot is about to attack Quicksilver when Moreau, Ransome, Pipeline, Cortez and several mutates loyal to Magneto teleport in. Rogue joins the fray as Jenny Ransome tends to Amelia’s wounds. Cortez and Pietro are surprised and dismayed to be temporary allies, considering that when last they met Cortez tried to use Quicksilver’s daughter Luna to ignite a war in Genosha. As the two forces face off, the Zealot wonders where the mighty “Lord Magneto” is and whether he is too fearful to fight his own battles. As he says this, Magneto arrives and challenges him. Magneto proclaims that before the Zealot breathes his dying breath he will acknowledge him as the true Lord of Genosha.
