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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:00:49 GMT -4
And so it came to pass that the events of a single day set forth a chain reaction in Magneto's mutant paradise.
The fall of the towers - the symbols of Magneto's dominance - was the first outward sign that all was not as it had seemed. Slowly, silently, cracks had long been forming in the foundations of the King's designs. It was a merely a small band of individuals that took the Tower of the Beast out of the skyline.
Ironically, it was Magneto himself who removed the other.
If the truth were spoken in the moments after the castle citadel exploded with the King's rage, he was glad of it. The man once called Erik Lensherr had grown bored and complacent. It was the first time he felt alive in almost a decade.
But truths were almost never spoken in the world Magneto had created.
And he was not a man accustomed to giving up what was his.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:04:01 GMT -4
The sky burned as red as the fury in his eyes as magnetic energy lifted his powerful silhouette aloft.
Like a missile, Magneto headed southward.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:12:25 GMT -4
He knew that his world was in jeopardy.
He could sense it.
It wasn't important to know how and Magneto never would. It was enough to know that Charles Xavier was dead and that the pieces his old friend had long held in place - even against his will - meant something dire had happened and that it threatened everything he had built.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:15:34 GMT -4
Before his death, before his sacrifice, Xavier held the telepaths in check. It was they who held the rest, subtly altering - rewriting - thoughts and attitudes that might prove problematic to Magneto's utter control.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:19:19 GMT -4
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. - Alfred Lord Tennyson Amara Aquilla had the courage to speak out. Once. It cost her the freedom to do so again. Nobody stepped in to speak on Amara's behalf for fear of being given the same fate. Now, she is merely a servant to the daughters of the king. A normal human as far as she or anyone else remembers. Except those who put her there. Those who watch her now. Only the fact of her punishment remains in people's memory. Not her name. Not her face. Ms. Frost helps with the headaches and the dreams of fire. And Amara does as she is told.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:21:14 GMT -4
"These are the tools we employ, and we know many things...Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever, seven words to make them go without pain, how to say goodbye to a friend who is dying, how to be poor, how to be rich, how to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you." - J. Michael Straczynski
Doug Ramsey had everything he wanted. Who would believe this kind of job? Paid to watch TV. Encouraged to hang out with royalty and celebrity...to learn and experience the secrets going on in the military. He could go anywhere he wanted. And everyone wanted to be his friend. See, Doug Ramsey was an anomaly. He, like Magneto, understood true power. He was paid exorbitant money to monitor the news media, to edit them where a word might have more impact or a thought might turn the public's eye. He was paid to keep his fingers on the pulse of the world. Deception, hidden agendas...he could spot them more easily than any telepath simply by tuning in. And reading the subtle messages no one else could read. It only took two words from Doug to have someone retrained...their lives, their powers removed. Ultimately, it was the telepaths that kept everyone else in line. But it only took one word to have someone killed. It was Doug who kept the telepaths in line. Like Magneto, he used technology that made him immune to their abilities. Next to one, he was the most powerful man in the world. And Doug Ramsey was only 16 years old.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 19:40:49 GMT -4
Amara Aquilla had been born destined for royalty had Magneto not ascended as the monarch of all he surveyed. Instead, she became a servant because she had spoken out against him.
Only that was a lie.
And Douglas Ramsey was its author.
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Post by Fate on May 16, 2010 23:03:25 GMT -4
In his defense, Doug was trying. He truly had feelings for Tatiana. He wanted to be a better man. Or at least to believe that he was.
But the simple fact was that Doug Ramsey was a weasel. And that was putting it kindly.
If they really knew him even weasels would want nothing to do with Doug.
Amara was way out of Doug's league. It wasn't that she was rude to him, she simply saw through him. She knew him for what he really was: a spoiled and petulant child.
With near limitless power.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 9:21:49 GMT -4
He tried to be nice.
She didn't bother.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 10:15:39 GMT -4
She saw no reason to. Everyone else walked on eggshells. They all seemed afraid of the pathetic little geek.
She knew that he wasn't half as smart or as powerful as he thought he was.
Unfortunately for Amara, she was as wrong as she was right.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 11:04:31 GMT -4
It was so easy.
Too easy.
Doug's word was like law to the telepaths at his command. He wanted Amara.
A simple lie and she was his.
He did with her as he wanted. Afterwards, he had Dr. McCoy's wife make her forget.
Just for good measure, he made Emma forget it, too.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 11:06:07 GMT -4
Night after night.
Day after day.
He took from her everything that she was.
And each time she was made to forget it, she lost just a little bit more of herself.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 11:08:28 GMT -4
It never occurred to Doug to ask why the mind-readers obeyed him. They did and that was enough.
He was arrogant enough to think it had something to do with him.
But despite how much power Magneto had carelessly left the boy, Doug had never heard of Charles Xavier.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 12:06:35 GMT -4
If he had, he would have done things differently. Maybe.
He knew now, he could have waited for something real. Probably.
He almost felt bad about stealing Amara's life...her identity... For using her over and over again. He should have felt bad. He knew that much.
Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda.
But he didn't. And the truth was, he was bored by it.
By her.
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Post by Fate on May 17, 2010 12:07:01 GMT -4
And then Charles Xavier died.
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