Chapter 23- Surrogacy

Citadel- Temporary Quarters, 26- March- 2008 (Unknown time)

Raven Darkhomle- (Mystique)

Raven kicked and threw the blanket off of her as she jerked away. As she looked around the dimly lit room, she heard movement. On instinct, she shifted the bones in her arms to make her punches more deadly, but then reset them to normal once she heard the person speak.

"Bout time you woke up," Rogue complained. Then the teen turned a lamp on. Raven was pleased to see the girl dressed in the costume she bought for her, and not in the casual clothes that she wore to the feast last night.

Raven blinked away her hangover and then realized what was at stake, so she asked. "Did I miss breakfast and the meeting?"

“Everyone did. The young master postponed the meeting to lunch.”

A voice from the ceiling told them.

After a moment, Rogue said. “This place is a wonder and a cock tease.”

“Rogue!” Raven snapped at the teenager’s language.

The teen stood up from the couch she was sitting on and crossed her arms before saying. "Well, it is! This place has anything anyone could ask for. There is a forge two doors down from yours. Heck, on my way from my room to yours, I spotted Pyro and a woman made of fire editing his book. And we are only going to be shown a taste of it before being kicked out. Magneto said no to us coming here before we even left, didn't he?"

“It was probably just one of his constructs, blowing hot air up his backside.” Raven tried to correct the teen on what she saw.

“Incorrect, Curha is a fire elemental.”

Rogue pointed at the ceiling before saying. “See what I mean, I bet the building itself could teach us kids what we need to get our diplomas.”

“Unknown, I am only a beginner when it comes to most trade and artisan skills. My mastery is in languages and observational cataloging.”

“Sshh…" Raven requested as their chatting reignited the pain in the woman's head. Which of course reminded her of last night and the fun she had despite the doom that was ahead of them, and that she had drunk too much at the feast last night.

Rogue poured some water into a glass from the pitcher on the table between the two couches. Before walking over and handing it to her. Raven quickly downed the whole glass, as she was about to ask the teen for another glass, when the doors to her room opened.

Light from the hallway easily illuminated Exodus as he stepped into the quarters.

Raven could see the anger on his face, as he reported. "It's time."

“You coulda knocked first.” Rogue snapped at the man.

Instead of responding he just stepped out into the hallway, leaving the doors wide open.

Rogue growled, and was about to say something, but Raven reached out and grabbed the teen’s shoulder. When the teen looked back at her, she shook her head. After all, she had lied to the man for almost a week.

Then she walked over to the pitcher and dabbed her hands into the water. Then she splashed the water on her face. Instead of getting dressed, she removed the wrinkled outfit off of her. As she did, she used her powers to make robes, similar in cut to what Nath’aniel wore last night during the feast, only white and gold, instead of his pure white.

She had already removed her gloves and boots, at some point last night. Not that she remembered doing so. She was very glad that they opened their booze to everyone last night, because she needed a drink after the loss of Destiny. Raven took a deep breath before heading out through the still-open doors.

“Why go like that?” Rogue asked her as they walked towards the hall.

“If I teach you anything, know this, when you are on the defensive, you must use anything that you can. If I appear like he does, he will relate to me better.” Raven explained to the teen.

"You only spoke to him for like twenty minutes last night, how do you know that will work?" Rogue asked after she closed the doors to the room.

"Live as long as I have, and you learn about humanity in general too, mutant or human we all prefer to act with things that are similar or relatable." Raven said. As the two of them turned a corner, they saw Exodus standing guard beside a door.

As they got closer to him, he told them. “Once you step inside, the room will flash, once it does exit again, and take a right. The meeting is on the balcony at the end of the hall.” The crusader didn’t wait for them to reply, he just floated up and away once he delivered his message.

"Rude," Rogue muttered, as the two of them watched him fly away.

"Give him time," Raven told the teen, then the two of them approached the door.

It slid open on its own, and they stepped inside. It wasn’t a large room, maybe big enough to hold a dozen or so people. Then as the Exodus had warned them, the room flashed in a purple light, and the doors opened again, again on their own.

The hall that they had come from was no longer behind them. For one, this hallway was straight instead of curved, and there doors were in the wrong places. In addition, two new metal spearmen were standing at attention.

"I wonder if Magneto is controlling them," Raven muttered as she eyed the robots.

"Actually they run autonomously off of a preprogrammed combat simulation. They only require me to feed them friend-of-foe information. And of course, they obey any orders that I or the young master give them."

The voice of the building explained to them.

“Well hello Skynet," Rogue muttered as the two of them turned to follow the directions they were given. It was only a short walk towards this balcony, but they heard an argument long before they got there.

"No, I warned you lot, if you missed a payment, I was gone." They heard Copycat shout.

“And does three and half years of not missing a single payment not mean anything?” Magneto asked.

Raven and Rogue had to take a moment to take in this 'balcony'. The room was circular and was easily three times bigger than the quarters assigned to them. Scattered about the room were small tables to sit three or four people comfortably. Yet what made them catch their breath was the view.

The walls of the room were clear and it made the room feel like it was floating in the air outside, and they could easily see the courtyard, their plane, and the jungle surrounding the tower that they were inside.

"If she wants to leave, let her. Forcing membership is not a practice that I am fond of." Nath'aniel told the Brotherhood leader. Hearing his voice made Raven blink and look around herself, to take in who else was also in the room.

Seated at a table with a steel circle behind him, the only solid part of the wall as far as she could tell, sat the mage, and he wasn’t alone. On one side of him was Psylocke, and Gypsy on the other. The once redhead, who had all of her hair dye lost, wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. Instead, she seemed to be reading a book, and like their host and Raven, the teenager wore robes instead of her usual outfit.

Meanwhile, Psylocke was eating eggs sunny side up and wore an odd getup, of a blue leather chest piece and thigh-high boots. The mage was again in a robe, but now one of yellow and orange coloring, and he seemed to be the only one paying any attention to the conversation going on in front of him.

Magneto was standing in a cleared spot in the middle of the room, beside Copycat and Deadpool. Neither of their prisoners were still in handcuffs, and both had changed. Copycat was in a white shirt and pants similar cut to the colonial era, while Deadpool was in a simple white robe. Instead of restraints, both were under guard. Metal knights stood behind each of them, a short sword drawn and ready should they act out.

Raven was surprised to see that Magneto was still not wearing his helmet, but was instead dressed in a casual military camo shirt and pants. The mutant leader took a step towards the true leader of this place and said. “I understand, and agree with you, but her powers are too useful for our circumstances.”

“You really need a second shape-shifter that badly Mags?” Copycat asked him in mockery.

“What circumstance is that Erik?” Psylocke asked between bites. Nath’aniel tilted his head as if he agreed to the question.

“She is a shape-shifter, yes. But her powers are stronger than Mystique’s. Copycat has been able to bypass DNA tests in the past for us, as she can copy a person down to their genetic level. That means she is a solution to your most basic problem… You are the last mage.” Magneto paused for dramatic effect when he tried to make his point.

Magneto waited as Nath'aniel rubbed his chin in thought. Then Psylocke and he shared a look, and then the mutant leader continued his rant. "While we have not discussed it, your desire to restore your people was always shadowed by the fact you could not. No matter your efforts, any children you were to make would always be only a half-mage.'

“But with her powers, Copycat could give you pure blooded magi children. All she would need is a sample, something I assume you have stored somewhere here…”

“I joined the Brotherhood so I didn’t have to open my legs to make a living, and now you want me to go back to it?!” Copycat snapped at him.

Magneto looked back at her and casually approached her as he spoke. “I am not suggesting that, what I am suggesting is surrogacy. And while Nath’aniel does not have any money, I am more than willing to make it up to you.”

‘Destiny was proven right again.’ Raven thought, as she watched the proceedings. Then she looked and started to planned father, Nath’aniel seemed to be sharing a worried look with Psylocke, rather than being moved at the offered solution. ‘She looks younger, and what’s with the knife tattoo on her face?’

Copycat was about to go off again, but Deadpool reached over and held her back. Then the merc took a step forward, before pulling his mask off. Raven now understood why the man covered himself with full bodysuit, every inch of his flesh was raw and scared. And as they watched his scars literally swam across his body as his powers tried to heal them.

“Mystique and Destiny said you could fix me, how about we start with that.” The merc suggested.

“You sure you don’t want me to remove that shard stuck in you first?” Nath’aniel asked him instead, while most others tended to look away from the man, the mage seemed unphased at the sight.

“What?” Deadpool asked confused.

The robed man just blinked before answering. "There is a dimensional shard stuck in your lower abdomen. I am guessing that you see and hear things that others do not, those would be echoes from the dead reality… It also seems to be pumping energy and radiation into your body, so it's no wonder that you look as you do." As he did he even pointed out where this 'shard' was in the man.

“How did it get there?” Copycat asked surprised.

“I do know, but there would have been a sudden and spontaneous explosion of some extreme force when he got it.” Nath’aniel pointed out.

"Jacksonville, TGI Fridays," Deadpool muttered.

Many of the people in the room just stared at him, as they didn’t know what he was talking about, but then Rogue snapped and requested. “Could you put the mask back on?” He slowly did.

As he did, Copycat agreed. “Look you heal him, and I’ll think about being a surrogate or whatever.”

Nath'aniel again didn't seem that affected by this whole plan of Magneto's, to give him pure-blooded kids, as he just rubbed his neck where his ear was attached. Then he and Psylocke whispered to each other, while the knights escorted Copycat and Deadpool to a side table, where food was waiting for them.

Then it was their turn, Raven knew that this was coming. As soon as she made the call using the magnetic phone she made the decision to bring her kids here anyway. As Rogue and her moved towards the center of the room, noise from where they had been distracted her.

Four more people had just walked into the room. Pyro was leading a man with a power suppression collar, and the blonde-haired man from the funeral was talking to a teenage girl with another collar. She knew that was what the collars were, because she had seen them on the open market, tracking down their source had been her planned next mission before all this happened.

Oddly the teenage girl was followed by one of the metal soldiers, a hooded archer of all things.

‘Are you trying to make a show of this Erik?’ Raven wondered, as she and Rogue took the place of the last two petitioners stood.

"You were told, by me, not to bring your family here. Yet you did so anyway." While Erik's cold words did get everyone's attention, the newcomers continued to move on to other tables with food on them instead of stopping to listen. although they still seemed eager to see what was going to happen next.

Raven did not back down, she did use her powers to deaden the muscles in her face, to give her the perfect poker face, before she replied. “You are part right. But you are also wrong. I was told that only the Brotherhood is welcome here, is that not true?”

It wasn’t Magneto that answered, but Nath’aniel. “It is, only the Brotherhood’s members are honored guests of the Citadel.” He said to answer her question.

"Then it is good that I brought three new members to the Brotherhood," Raven stated.

“Well played Raven.” Psylocke telepathically told her as she smirked at her defense.