[2009 – October]
Lazily sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, my back resting against the leather sofa with Jean's legs draped over my shoulders, I took another spoon of the Indian rice dish that I had ordered after taking a bite of the piece of Naan that Jean held in front of my lips.
She naturally had her own boxed dish that she was eating at the same time, and her feeding me a piece of the flatbread was more of an instinct born out of affection than it was an actual conscious decision.
We weren't alone either as Laura, Clarice, and John were also seated around the small coffee table.
Laura was seated in the soft leather armchair while John and Clarice sat on the other leather sofa, the latter's legs resting in her lover's lap while they both enjoyed the take-out that I had brought from the city.
Jean had invited the couple for dinner since we usually didn't get the chance to eat together on weekdays with all of us being busy with our own stuff. She had also invited Celeste but the shy blonde was having dinner with Emma, so she didn't come.
Laura on the other hand was often over for dinner so her presence wasn't strange.
Eating with a speed that might be worthy to be called Olympic standard, she relished the spicy dish that I had ordered for her, even though her facial expression hardly gave anything away.
I knew her well though, so the little twitch of her lips and the minute jumps of her eyebrows as well as the happy glow in her eyes was enough for me to discern that the food was nothing short of a culinary delight for her.
Her flawless facial features still carried a largely impassive expression but these little imperfections in her indifferent mask made her look almost impossibly adorable and I smiled while seeing her like this.
Food was one of the few things that always managed to get a reaction out of her and it made her seem just a bit more carefree, which was a nice thing to witness, especially considering what I had just told those present.
I had just recounted some of the things that I had discussed with Emma earlier, having told them about the 'vaccine' since there was no reason to withhold information from the four of them.
Jean was my lover and Emma was aware that I wouldn't keep such things secret from her while Laura was the closest companion that I had besides Arya and Jean. John and Clarice, on the other hand, knew about Emma's position in the Hellfire Club and both of them even actively participated in the club's business at times.
My sister trusted them greatly, especially Clarice who was pretty much her personal teleporter, while John was one of Emma's most capable fighters, if not the most capable. As such, there was no reason to withhold information about the 'vaccine' from them.
His brows furrowed, a sigh escaping his lips, John said in response to what I had recounted: "This will most likely lead to a violent conflict."
John's reply was rather short but direct, which didn't surprise me since he wasn't someone that liked to waste words usually.
He was right of course, as I was sure that neither Erik nor Emma would allow humans to hold onto a serum that could potentially destroy mutantkind.
Xavier was too enamored with humanity though to consider an open conflict for the 'vaccine', so his strategy would most likely involve getting a verbal promise that the 'vaccine' wouldn't be used as a weapon, which would most likely be enough for him to take a step back and avoid any kind of open conflict.
There might even be infighting among the three factions because of this as Xavier's possible stance would naturally be unacceptable for Erik.
John understood this since he knew what kind of people my sister, Magneto, and the Professor were. He was also a soldier and warrior, which meant that he understood that sometimes you had to fight in order to survive, which most certainly held true in this case.
Taking a step back in the matters of the 'vaccine' would undoubtedly spell doom for mutantkind, or at least I believed it would since I saw it as the first step in a long list of measures that those in power wanted to use to weaken the mutant race.
Clarice didn't say anything but just nodded quietly while Laura didn't have any outward reaction.
Knowing Laura, I understood that she didn't much care for any possible conflict. She was a predator and a warrioress by nature, her somewhat beastly temperament and her desire to fight and kill made her willing to accept such an outcome without any worries or concerns.
I wasn't sure about Clarice but my instincts and senses were telling me that she would also accept either outcome due to her loyalty to Emma, who had saved her from a rather dark fate.
"You may be right but there will be grave consequences if there is a conflict.", Jean interjected, "Also, as things are, I think many mutants would stand with the government if they announce the existence of the 'vaccine' after they managed to truly produce such a thing."
"They won't necessarily do it because they believe in the authorities or just to rid themselves of the constant discrimination, they will do it because it's their only hope.", she said.
And while she didn't explicitly say so, I knew that she was thinking about Rogue while she said those words.
I couldn't quite fathom what it was like for Rogue to not be able to touch another person without possibly killing them, but I had no doubt that she would go for the 'vaccine' without a second thought.
And she wasn't alone with this sentiment as many other mutants saw their abilities as some kind of curse, their seemingly uncontrollable powers representing some kind of impassable gulf that separated them from everything that they dreamed of.
"If there is a conflict and the 'vaccine' becomes unavailable, it might negatively affect the unity of mutantkind.", she continued, "Not to mention that I don't think it would be right to deny someone the opportunity to take the 'vaccine' if they really want it."
I expected nothing else from my redhead as she obviously was filled with compassion for those whose powers seemed more like a curse than anything else. But things weren't so simple.
Compared to the survival of the race, individual comfort would always be secondary. It was a biological imperative to ensure a continuation of the race, even at the cost of sacrificing many people.
Erik was undoubtedly a strong advocate of this while Emma understood this rationally, not to mention that she had plenty of other motives that made it impossible for her to accept the existence of the 'vaccine' as long as she wasn't in control of the source.
But more than that, individual ambition was useless without the necessary power to realize this ambition.
Those mutants that would want to take the 'vaccine', their opinions were worthless as long as they lacked the power to acquire it with their own hands.
Strength was the ultimate judge when it came to the outcome of this matter, as only those with power had the right to make a decision with such far-reaching consequences.
In that same sense, if Trask Industries proved itself too weak to protect the 'vaccine', then they simply did not deserve to possess it in the first place.
This might seem like a gross oversimplification but this wasn't the Earth of my former life, this was a new reality where individual power often trumped collective strength.
And this was especially true when it came to mutantkind.
Erik was a mature Omega-level mutant, who could level a city by himself. If he decided to enter a direct conflict to secure or destroy the source of the 'vaccine', then there existed only a few people that could hope to stop him.
So, while I understood Jean's sentiment, I knew that reality rarely conformed to the wishes of the weak.
After all, this was the whole reason why I desired power, to have the right to be free and decide for myself since I had realized that this was not something that should be taken for granted.
In the end though, I didn't say anything of the sort.
Instead, I said: "Conflict or not, a time of change is coming."