2014.06.14 - Mutant Liberation in Russia

Genosha. The Impossible Island. Twenty miles wide, a hundred miles long, and floating a thousand feet above the ocean just south of the peninsula between Ukraine and Russia.

Tensions have mounted substantially in the recent days. Russian armor has massed on the edge of Ukraine, despite being subverted by Magneto's inspired command of mutant forces. Genoshans had, in turn, deployed across the Crimea, until they had fought the Russians back to the narrow, contested peninsula.

It was here that Russia had finally conceded that Magneto's forces were simply the superior. And the threats had started to fly. Experimental weaponry. Heavy artillery. Staging nuclear launch silos for activation. Russia was prepared to obliterate most of the Balkan nations the moment Genosha crossed into Russian territory, and had made that concern very publically known.

Much, much more quietly, though, had come the message from the Soviet Premier, who had sent a message of desperate pleas for aid from the Justice League. Of all the entities on Earth, only they, as a group, had a real chance of stopping Magneto's mutant powerhouse nation from simply flying into the Kremlin, and the Premiere knew it.

So the call for aid had gone out.

Magneto stands outside of the city of Kerch, in a forward command center his mutants had assembled in less than a day. Wearing full battle armor, the dark-haired leader of Genosha had begun assembling the forward push with grim determination, his mutants maneuvering to begin the long march down the road to Moscow. Genosha floats ten miles off the coast, a grim blob in the sky, blotting out the bleak European clouds. A few hundred mutants surround Magneto, with thousands more within shouting distance. Even here, at the height of his power, he remains ever paranoid, ever vigilant. So when Superman shows up on their tracking systems, Magneto is prepared to recieve the Man of Steel- courteously, politely, but in the company of heavily armed and armored mutants. He stands on an improvised landing area, helmet on his head, and stares up at the sky, tracking Superman's approach with calculating, shrewd blue eyes.

It's not often the Russian government reaches out to western powers. However, it has been months since the ominous floating citadel began its steady push across the heartland of the former Soviet Union. With own paranoia having caused all but a handful of its metahumans to flee the country, live in obscurity, or join Magneto outright the handful of heroes Russia did possess drew an early line in the sand and Genoshia rolled right over them.

Truthfully, the Justice League is fragmented at the moment. Those who would have immediately taken up arms would have done so for the wrong reason. Superman does not like to overstep his authority but with so many eyes on the scene and so many world leaders watching someone had to do something -- and whatever it was anything was better than holding a match to the powder keg.

"I'm going to Genosha." he told those he trusted, "Keep everyone else at bay until I get back." then someone asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "If I don't come back?" Superman's lips purse, "God help you all."



Tracking systems picked him up shortly after he pierced the ionosphere. Perhaps the Master of Magneto felt some sensation as the Man of Steel breached the atmosphere and carelessly turned aside its efforts to discomfort his re-entry. It's only a few miles from the upper-atmosphere to the crust of the Earth. Once he believes they see him coming he slows up to its clear he's not going to do anything unexpected.

A figure clad in red and blue emerges from the bleak European cloud cover. Immediately recognizable to whomever is present the Man of Steel glides silently downward his arms held slightly out to his sides to show he has no weapons -- a token gesture of peace -- before touching down on the landing pad.

Red boots touch the hastily constructed landing area. When he feels the Earth against his heels he allows gravity to act upon him again.

"Your Majesty." Superman speaks the man's title without irony or any sort of grim threat. Magneto has proved himself capable of not only a superbly executed assault against a former super power but word of his governance has already begun to spread, "I appreciate you meeting me like this." he says with a sincere tone.

Magneto smiles. It's the cordial expression of a jungle cat. Polite, sincere, and not at all bothering to conceal the killer's instinct that's driving him. In Metropolis, in the Hall of Justice, he'd been suave and political. Here, now, he's the general on the field, and merry and willing to take to battle.

"Superman," he says in a gentle baritone, spreading his hands and mirroring Superman's gesture of peace. "I have long made it a priority to accomodate Earth's erstwhile defenders in the League. I can certainly make time for the Man of Steel. Tell me, is there something I can do to help you?" he asks in his most solicitous tones, as if they had bumped into the street and were striking up a polite conversation.

"Yes." Superman replies, his blue eyes focused upon the man before him, "I need your help." pausing, "I need the truth." he continues as if it were all that simple. He let's that stand on its own for a moment before continuing.

"We don't need to stand on ceremony, here. The Russian government is asking for help and if I don't do something then they're going to takes actions that I don't think either of us will be able to set right."

"There's only one reason they waited until you were this deep into the country to reach outward. They have something to hide -- and it may be the very thing you've been trying to show us but we've been so colored by your reputation we refused to listen." he glances towards Genosha, "Show me what you've been wanting us to see and I'll make sure you get what you want. I'll set any innocent who has been forced into an internment camp free."

"Your intelligence is excellent, Superman," Magneto says. He glances sidelong at the mutants around him, and then makes a gesture. The world around the two of them blurs slightly, and a faint humming noise fills the air. Even Superman's super-human senses would find themselves taxed to extend past the silencing effect Magneto has generated.

"My intentions have been, and still are, to liberate every mutant currently in Russian custody," Magneto agrees, his tone becoming candid and less commanding- more personal. "I presume you have spoken to the Soviet Premiere, hence, your presence here as a defusing agent. Am I correct?"

He considers the Man of Steel. "I have observed you for some time. The lifetime of your presence here on Earth, in fact. You are a better man than most who occupy this planet, human or mutant. And everyone agrees that your word is your bond. So." He takes a step closer to Superman, eyes hard as flint. "When you say you will release my brothers and sisters, I want your /word/. I want you to promise me that you will rip down the gates that hold them fast and take their hands, and if the Premiere backtracks by a /single mutant/, you will hold him by his ankles a thousand feet over the Kremlin and let him consider the drop until he changes his position to a more agreeable one. If you- personally- vouch for their liberation, Genosha will withdraw from the field."

"I have spoken with him." Superman affirms solemnly, "Whatever his original intentions he is now a man now trapped between an irresistible force and an immovable object. There is no option left but for him to give into you knowing that I represent the only force on this planet who could possibly allow him to surrender and face only the harsh scrutiny of the world instead of justice at the hands of those he imprisoned."

"I won't hold him by his ankles but by the time the United Nations is through with him he may wish I had."

"If your treaty with the Ukraine stands I'm asking you to start a slow march that way as a show of good faith. That will give me the leverage I need to crack this open."

Magneto considers Superman quietly for a full ten seconds. The way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he comports himself, all speak of a brilliant mind that thinks in a dozen directions at once. And for that full ten seconds of silence, all of that brain is focused on the Man of Steel, considering, calculating, planning. It's the same expression a chess grandmaster holds when playing a full board.

"Every one of them, Superman," he says again, his tone low and firm. "Every last one. I have people, all over Russia. Some so subtly placed they will never be found. If I hear a whisper of a secret laboratory or a simple jail cell set aside for mutants, I will return to Russia, and let them scorch earth in my wake if I must."

The veil of silence vanishes, reality reasserting itself, and Magneto makes a gesture to a subordinate. "Inform everyone we are withdrawing to Genosha. Immediately. Prep shuttles and transports, and relay message to Genosha to withdraw five miles south-west of this position. Do it now." The officer nods and promptly goes to relay the orders, leaving Magneto and Superman looking at each other in the middle of a rapidly busying field.

Superman gives a slow ironic smile after Magneto has made his intentions clear. In the context of the conversation a smile might seem patronizing and yet -- it's not. Magneto would know the look of a man who believes he's managed to one up an opponent in a friendly game of chess..

"If I have my way.." Superman begins as the people begin scurrying about, "It'll be your man in charge of keeping us up to date on what's going on." he says matter-of-factly, "After all, I'm going out on a limb here. The last thing either of us wants is to try to have this conversation a second time because we both know it won't work out."

Having said that he steps forward and merely reaches outward, "For what it's worth, thank you." then asking, "I'm assuming there's still a place for those who need one?"

Magneto returns the smile, though his is a bit more inscrutable. "Somehow, I doubt the Premiere was overly pleased to hear /that/ suggestion," he says, his inflection dry. "I have people who can assist the UN Inspectors as needed. With your... tacit influence and their expertise, I am sure we can roust out the last of the camps."

He steps forward and shakes Superman's hand, his grip firm but relaxed. "And Genosha-" he nods his helmet to the south, where the vast mass has begun to move- "-is a place for those who are different to call home. Even aliens," he says, showing his teeth in a short grin. He releases Superman's hand. "Thank you, Superman," he tells the fellow, sincerity in his voice. "I had no desire to see Russia razed. I merely wished my people to be freed. You've prevented a terrible necessity today. I will make sure the world knows it."

Superman's grip is no stronger than Mangeto's and when they separate he steps backward, You are welcome." he replies sincerely, "Like you I don't want to see anyone hurt. No being deserves to be imprisoned based solely on the circumstances of his birth."

He steps backwards again and in doing so drifts smoothly upward leaving the landing area and gently lifting into the air, "If you need me. You know how to get in touch with me.." he moves subtly faster, and then faster, rolling in the air so that his back is to Magneto and his fists go to the air.

Within moment's he disappears into the bleak clouds and then there is a thunderous peal as he decimates the sound barrier. A white contrail briefly demarcates his exit to the north.