Chapter 191 — Ghost in the Machine
The chamber stank of ozone and hot steel. Every strike Magneto hurled twisted the room into a deathtrap — beams bent like snakes, shards rained like knives, the floor heaved as though alive.
Colossus strained, bracing his arm against a pillar to keep it from collapsing on Storm. "He fights with the planet itself," he groaned. "How do we—"
"Don't ask," Scott snapped, rolling from cover with Lee pulled close. His eyes burned with the frustration of uselessness, no optic blasts to cut loose. "Just MOVE. Ororo, Kurt—pressure him!"
Nightcrawler's tail lashed. "Pressure? Vhat am I, a dentist?!" He bamfed away as a jagged girder shot toward his ribs, reappearing atop Magneto's own rising platform. "Ha! You'll have to do better, mein freund!"
Magneto sneered, twisting his wrist. The steel under Kurt's feet melted upward, trapping his ankle like a bear trap.
"Ach! I should keep my mouth shut."
Storm darted in, her braid whipping as she vaulted debris. She snatched a broken chain from the floor, whirling it like a whip. The links sparked as she lashed it across Magneto's field. "Kurt, duck!"
Nightcrawler phased in a puff, the chain slicing the metallic snare apart. He landed, panting, and managed a crooked grin. "Danke, goddess."
"You owe me a drink," Storm replied, teeth flashing.
Kitty hugged the wall, heart hammering. Every time Magneto moved, the room seemed to breathe with him. 'He's everywhere at once… I can't just stand here—'
Her earpiece crackled. Xavier's voice, calm but urgent. "Kitty. Listen closely. There is a memory bank tied into his generators. Phase through it — disrupt the stabilizer. It will weaken his control."
Kitty's stomach dropped. "Professor, if I mess up, I could—"
"Trust yourself, child. I trust you."
She swallowed hard, fists trembling. "Okay. Okay, I'll try."
She bolted low, phasing through twisted pipes as Magneto hurled another wave of shrapnel at the team. He didn't notice her — not yet.
Logan crouched in shadow, following her scent with a grunt. 'Kid's got guts. Damn guts. If she pulls this off, Slim's chessboard just got a queen.' He stayed low, waiting, claws half-drawn, smoke curling out of his nose. 'Magneto's head's too busy lookin' up. Keep it that way.'
Scott barked again, voice carrying like a whip crack. "Peter! Get his attention!"
Colossus roared and heaved a fallen beam like a javelin. It clanged uselessly against Magneto's shield, but it made him turn.
Magneto's eyes narrowed. "Do you children never learn?!" He clenched a fist and Colossus was ripped off his feet, hurled into the far wall with a bone-rattling thud.
"Peter!" Storm shouted, but he coughed and raised a hand, still alive.
Nightcrawler bamfed onto Magneto's back, arms hooking around his neck. "Learn this, ja?!"
The master of magnetism's lip curled. "Fool." He flicked his shoulders and the metal threads of Kurt's uniform constricted like a snake.
Storm surged forward, rage in her eyes. "Release him!" She whipped the chain again, this time striking Magneto across the face. The hit didn't cut flesh, but it made him stagger, snarl breaking into fury.
That was the crack Kitty needed.
She dove through the console, her molecules humming, and shoved her hands into the humming core. Sparks exploded as circuits screamed.
Magneto froze mid-motion, his shield flickering. His eyes snapped wide. "No… NO!"
The steel storm collapsed, half-finished spears falling harmlessly to the floor.
Scott's head whipped toward Kitty. "She did it! Keep the pressure on him!"
But Magneto's gaze had locked onto the girl phasing out of the machine, smoke curling from the fried banks. His voice dropped low, dangerous. "A CHILD? You send a CHILD to defile my work?!"
His hand rose, trembling with fury, debris around him twitching like knives.
Storm's scream split the air. "Kitty, MOVE!"
Kitty stumbled out, eyes wide as Magneto leveled every shard in the room at her.
Xavier's voice thundered in her head. "Katherine, hold! Logan is there!"
And from the dark, a low growl answered.
SNIKT.
Logan burst from the shadows, claws gleaming. "Sorry, Maggy. Your big plan? Real temptin'. Mutants livin' free, no more chains. But problem is—" He slashed, sparks showering as adamantium carved through alloy. "You're on the wrong damn side of the baldy."
The helmet split in two, clattering to the ground.
Logan's eyes locked with Magneto's, cold and merciless. "Now, Chuck! Get in his head!"
Magneto staggered, his face bare, raw power pulsing unchecked.
And Xavier struck.
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The instant the helmet hit the floor, the air changed.
Magneto's eyes widened, the iron calm in him cracking like shattered glass. His field flickered, sparks dancing uncontrolled across the chamber. And into that moment of weakness, Xavier drove his mind like a blade.
Charles's body stiffened back in the Blackbird, sweat breaking instantly across his brow. Now, Logan. You've given me the opening. I cannot waste it.
Magneto's scream wasn't from his throat — it was in their skulls. A raw howl that rattled the teeth, like steel scraping bone.
Storm clutched her temple, staggering. "Goddess… it burns…"
Nightcrawler gritted his teeth, tail thrashing. "Mein kopf… it is like fire—"
Scott's jaw locked tight. He recognized the strain, remembered it from training sessions where Xavier had let just a taste slip through. "It's Charles. He's in."
Logan stayed crouched low, claws dripping sparks from Magneto's wrecked helmet. His eyes narrowed. 'C'mon, Chuck. Don't hold back on him. Don't let this bastard breathe.'
Inside the battlefield of the mind, it was a storm without end. Charles pressed against a wall of magnetic will, oceans of grief and fury crashing back.
"Charles!" Magneto's voice boomed like a continent breaking apart. His astral form towered, cloaked in crimson power. "You would use a child against me? A CHILD?!"
On the physical plane, his hand trembled as he pointed at Kitty. His voice cracked the air: "I didn't expect you to be this unscrupulous, old friend!"
Kitty froze, guilt and terror slamming her chest. "I— I didn't— I just—"
Logan barked, cutting the tension sharp. "Kid, don't listen to him. You did good. You just pulled his teeth out." He spit, eyes never leaving Magneto. "That ain't unscrupulous. That's survival."
Storm slid beside Kitty, her arm firm around the girl's shoulders. Her voice cut through the chaos, regal and calm. "You are one of us, child. Never doubt that."
Magneto staggered, shaking under the weight of Xavier's mental grip. The floor trembled, pipes burst, the very bones of the chamber straining with his power.
"You… don't understand…" Magneto rasped, veins bulging at his temple. His eyes locked on Kitty again — and something broke in them. "She reminds me… of her."
His voice cracked raw, the steel gone. "Anya…"
The name fell like a stone into silence.
Kitty blinked, realizing. Her lips parted, soft, hesitant. "Your daughter. She… she didn't deserve what happened to her."
Magneto froze, his whole body trembling. The debris around him clattered uselessly to the floor. His breath hitched like a man gutted.
Inside his mind, Xavier pressed harder, using that memory, that grief. But there was no triumph in Charles's heart. Only a heavy, bitter ache.
Forgive me, old friend, he thought, voice shaking even in the astral storm. I never wanted it this way.
Magneto's scream tore out — a mix of rage and grief, tearing through both mind and matter. Then, in a blur, he slapped a device at his belt.
A vortex of magnetic energy swallowed him whole. Steel, sparks, and light erupted around him, forcing the X-Men to shield their eyes.
And then— silence.
He was gone.
The team stood panting, smoke curling off broken consoles, the chamber half-collapsed. Kitty clutched Storm tighter, her knees shaking. Scott steadied Lee with one arm, his other hand balled into a fist. Colossus dragged himself upright, battered but alive. Nightcrawler pulled himself free of twisted pipes, bruised but grinning faintly through the pain.
Logan retracted his claws with a snikt, breaking the silence. He exhaled smoke slow, his eyes narrowed. "He'll be back. Bastards like him always come back."
Scott turned sharply. "And next time, he'll be stronger."
Xavier's voice came, faint and tired, through their minds. "Next time… you will be ready. For now, we have survived."
But his tone carried no victory. Only the weight of what had been done.
Logan watched the others, his gut twisting. 'Didn't feel like a win. Felt like we tore somethin' open that won't ever close.'
He lit another cigar, the flame trembling just slightly in his hand.
And somewhere in the shadows of the broken island, Magneto's voice lingered in the smoke, a promise unbroken:
"This world… will still be mine."