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The legendary thief let out a sigh. "I used to be a member of the Thieves Guild. They had invited me with a promise I couldn't refuse."
He frowned, recalling the information about the organization. The Thieves Guild, a global criminal network, only accepted thieves. Theft was their craft, not murder. They had a generational mission to find the Old Kingdom, whom the leaders claimed to be descendants of. In reality, they were just puppets dancing for Candra, the only External opposing Apocalypse's rise to power.
She wasn't some saint. Rather, she wanted all the power to herself.
Centuries ago, she had created both the Thieves and Assassins Guild and manipulated them each other for her purposes.
"They gave me information on high-value targets," Walter continued. "I gave them a percentage. I never cared about money… My addiction was stealing valuables. Never cared about wealth."
Felicia looked at her hands. "I understand the feeling."
Both father and daughter bonded over their urge to steal.
He closed his eyes. "Things were smooth until I caught the eye of the guild's Benefactress. I thought she was some sort of harlot at first. She did dress like one. The senior members gave me an earful and told me that she was the Goddess of Thieves. Some bigshot above the leaders."
Felicia furrowed her brow. "Darling opened my eyes to so many new things. I can totally believe a goddess exists."
Walter nodded, agreeing with Felicia. He might have seen many things in his long career. "The seniors claimed she is a god-like being who has lived for centuries. Heck, the whole inner circle received some Elixir of Life from her in exchange for a tribute. It's some miracle potion from what I heard."
"She wanted you?" Lydia asked in a chilling voice. "You cheated on me?"
"No, dear! It's nothing like you're imagining!" Walter explained in a hurry, sweat covering his forehead within seconds. "The Benefactress gave me a baby and transferred twenty million into my account. My payment to put the baby in an orphanage somewhere."
"That child," Dante said. "is me."
Somehow, he turned out to be a descendant or at least someone close to Candra. The revelation came at the time he had been making plans about killing the Externals. The timing couldn't have been… worse. Once again, he blamed it on Felicia's bad luck influence.
"I couldn't disagree with her. She had too much power in the guild. The job was pretty easy too," Walter said and touched his throat. "Kitten, fetch some water. I haven't spoken this much since forever."
At Walter's order, Felicia moved and served water to all three of them.
Lydia looked at Dante with a warm smile. "I remember crying at nights when he took you away… it felt like my own life was taken."
Walter put down the glass and let out a big sigh, looking remorseful about his past actions. "I planned to adopt you when the Benefactress forgot… but she never stopped asking about you."
Those actions didn't match the Candra he had read about. Someone like her should've made the orphanage look like a utopia. Being concerned for someone wasn't like Candra. There had to be more to the story.
"A year after I left the guild, I was arrested. Then the whole ALS thing..."
The old thief couldn't find the time to go back to him. The old Dante kept the photo with him, believing Walter to be his relative. Dante and Felicia were both glad Walter couldn't.
Dante's phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it. The conversation felt too important to be paused. "Did she say why she gave me away?"
Walter shook his head. "Do you want to meet her? I can call the guild and arrange a meeting. Some people there still hold me in high regard."
He thought about it for a moment then decided not to meet Candra. He might be Dante, but he wasn't Candra's Dante. Opening this can of worms would consume a lot of time.
Death had really set up a whole saga to entertain herself.
Felicia wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and brushed her cheek against his. "When she finds out about you, she is going to regret sending you away."
Dante doubted regret was on Candra's mind. She was probably too busy pulling strings with the Thieves and Assassins Guilds to cure her eternal boredom.
His phone buzzed again.
"Just answer it." Felicia took his phone out and pressed it against his ear.
"Dante."
Only one person he knew had a voice this smooth and graceful. She shouldn't be calling him but her red-headed friend. Unless it was an emergency.
"Is that you, Miss Ororo?"
"Yes," she replied. "Please, leave Felicia's house. Erik is coming to your location."
"Erik? Magneto?"
Why would Magneto be coming for him? It had to be Xavier's fault. The two were great friends. This might be revenge for how he had bullied the X-Men that night.
"Yes. You must leave everything."
"He can come," he said in a firm voice. "I don't want to run away."
If Magneto pushed too far, Dante would end his life. Magneto could achieve great things through his control over electromagnetism, but he was just a mortal in the end. A mortal who had no chance to fight someone capable of bringing death to all mortals.
"Dante, this won't end well for the city."
Dante patted Felicia's hand to make her step back. Walter and Lydia seemed concerned, but he waved it off with a smile.
He moved through the hallway leading outside. "Then stop him. If he shows up at Felicia's home, I'm going to kick his ass."
He hung up on Ororo and arrived outside the house. It wasn't her fault, but he still felt irritated. Maybe he was too lenient with Xavier the last time.
Felicia patted his back, moving to his side. "Who is Magneto?"
"Xavier's friend." He turned to her. "You should move your parents just in case."
She clenched her jaw, frustrated. Something always happened whenever she was with him. She had no idea that a field effect around her attracted improbability and bent probability curves toward bad luck.
Black Cat's black luck.
"Can I help?"
He shook his head. "This guy can control anything metal. Everything is a weapon for him. This is out of your league. No offense."
She pinched his back, clearly taking offense. He accepted it as a fair punishment. "You owe me a night."
He kissed her cheek and let his hand slide down her back to squeeze her ass. "Don't sleep. I'll call you when I'm done."
She made an acknowledging hum in her throat. "I have a surprise waiting. You'll never get it if you don't find me tonight."
"Darling, I'm coming back at any cost." He handed her the keys to his SUV. "Get your parents out of Manhattan."
Anything disaster could go with Magneto on the loose.
She gave him one last lingering look and disappeared back inside to get her parents to safety. He engaged Hyperion's Resonance Link and put the illusion of his Skullfire appearance, allowing Death's cloak to hide himself from every eye in the vicinity.
A couple of minutes later, he spotted the first sign of trouble. Glowing purple butterflies drifted in the distance. Psylocke had already engaged someone in battle. He pushed his speed and cleared the distance in seconds.
What he saw at the scene stopped him for a moment.
Psylocke was on the ground, her own katana held against her throat. Her bleeding hands were wrapped around the blade, trying to hold it back. The muscles in her arms strained as she used everything to stop the sword from piercing her throat.
Erik Lehnsherr, Magneto, hovered above her with his hands clasped behind his back. He wore his iconic helmet, his long silver hair fluttering behind him. He was controlling the blade with his powers, forcing it toward her neck.
"I'll gladly accept death," Psylocke said through gritted teeth. "Once I achieve my revenge."
Dante felt a cold twist in his chest. Emma had mentioned Psylocke's single-minded drive for vengeance against the Hand, but he hadn't realized how deep it went, how little she seemed to care about living past the goal. Revenge was her motivation to live. Once it was achieved, she might…
'I won't let her.'
Putting aside the fact she was the woman who gave him an important lesson, she was also a good friend to him and Emma. Both of them would be sad if anything happened to her.
"I don't care about your revenge story," Magneto replied coldly. "Move aside, or I will not hesitate to use your own blood to kill you."
Dante gripped the katana's hilt and pulled it away from Psylocke's throat. The blade fought in his grip—Magneto's control failed to overpower his strength.
He dropped the effects of Death's cloak, becoming visible to them. The first thing he did was heal the cuts on Psylocke's hands.
She gave him a grateful smile, closing her eyes to conceal her heart. "Watch out. He can control metal."
He returned her katana and walked past her. "He controls Electromagnetism. A lot more useful than just controlling metal."
Erik examined him with the cold eyes peering from his helmet. "Why do you fight for a non-mutant, Psylocke? Has Emma Frost taught you nothing?"
Psylocke sheathed her katana with a sharp sound. "I don't see people as mutants or non-mutants."
There were people worth protecting and people worth killing. The categories had nothing to do with someone having an X-Gene.
Dante sensed movement from two directions at once. Laura rushed from the east alley and Ava dashing in a white blur using her White Tiger suit's agility. They sized up Magneto for a moment, recognized him as a threat, and stood by Dante's side without being asked.
"Who is this old fellow?" Laura asked in a whisper. "Reminds me of that lame Professor."
"My instincts are warning me," Ava said, her sharp gaze fixed on Magneto. "He smells like trouble."
"I indeed am trouble, young lady," Erik said in his dramatic, authoritative tone. "Trouble this young man's hubris brought to himself."
A blinding column shone in the night, the light of Stepping Disc. Illyana emerged, Soulsword placed on her shoulder. "Did someone say trouble?"
Behind her was Silvija in her symbiote suit and Piotr in his Colossus form.
"You can't keep having battles without me, friend."
"I'm here as well," Silvija added, as if afraid the others would overshadow her presence. "Dante—what is she doing here?"
Dante looked back over his shoulder. From above, Felicia swung in her new Black Cat suit and landed in a perfect crouch right in front of Dante. "Don't scream at me. Silver is also here."
Erik crossed his arms, gaze shifting to Illyana and Piotr. "I know you, Piotr Rasputin. But who is this young lady? Her powers seem mutant in nature."
"My sister Illyana," Piotr said and affectionately put his large hand on top of Illyana's head. She smacked his hand away with her Soulsword. "Her powers are mutant-based, yes. She is also great at sorcery."
"And yet you stand with a non-mutant against your own kind."
"I stand with my friend." Piotr proudly crossed his steel arms. "He brought my sister back. I could've been fighting for Professor if he had agreed to my request."
"That's unfortunate." Erik seemed disappointed in Xavier and himself for letting a young mutant turn on their own kind. "And you two… wrapped in alien flesh, you feel right at home with this villain."
Silvija tilted her head. "He has been protecting this city when nobody else did. That makes him more of a hero than you could ever dream of… I wouldn't change sides even if he isn't."
"What Silver said," Felicia said. "Anyway… can we move this along? I want to sleep in Darling's arms."
Dante finally thought it was his chance to speak, but two more figures arrived from different directions. Jean, wrapped in her pink psychic aura. Ororo, surrounded by the wind. The three formed a triangle in the sky. He flew up and changed it into a four-way standoff in the night sky.
"Erik, let it go," Ororo called out. "A battle between the two of you would destroy the city."
Dante let out a sound of ridicule. "If Xavier cared about the city, he would be here to stop Erik."
Ororo had no answer for him. Because Xavier had personally orchestrated this situation to get back at Dante. What a childish way of revenge.
Jean showed a look of realization and drifted to Dante's side, showing no fear in staring down one of the strongest mutants on this planet. "I never thought there would be a day I'll say this… Magneto, you've been manipulated by the Professor."
Magneto stared at Jean, Ororo, and Dante for a meaningful moment before sweeping his hand through the air. Many cars in the vicinity floated under his control. "No matter… the fact that you killed his student would not change. I shall punish you for it."
Dante beckoned him. "Come at me then, old man. I'm going to teach you not to underestimate the young."
***
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