Marvel's Osmosian

I could feel the metal orb rapidly rise into the sky. I didn't know where exactly it was taking me, but it wasn't anywhere close to the ground. Taking a mental inventory of the energy I had absorbed, I noted that I didn't have as much hard light as I wanted to. I'd been working on building a power battery so that I could generate more energy since I didn't exactly have access to a Green Lantern to recharge, but I hadn't managed to finish it yet. I'd have to keep some in reserve so I could still study it, but I should have enough to fly down if I didn't use too much.

I got light-headed for a moment, which I assumed meant I was in the upper atmosphere before it went away and the sphere opened up. Around me, I could see two people waiting. Surprisingly, Xavier was already up here, staring directly at a man I could only assume was Magneto. The red and purple outfit with his iconic helmet gave his identity away as he floated in the air across from Xavier.

"Welcome to sanctuary young mutant," Magneto said upon my arrival, his arms spread out wide.

"Casper, be careful of that man," Xavier cautioned as I walked over to stand beside him.

"And who exactly is he?" I asked.

"You may call me Magneto. I am the true path to the salvation of mutants. Charles would have us co-exist with humans and get them to accept us. We should not have to work towards acceptance from those who would seek to prosecute us for our very existence."

Idly glancing around the room while he spoke, I noted that none of the other people who'd won their fights were here. I found myself in what looked like a giant metal sphere, the edges of the ceiling were rounded and everything around me was completely made of metal.

"And where are the rest of us, oh great savior?" I asked, sarcasm bleeding into my tone.

"That will be made apparent shortly. I've heard quite a bit about you young man, so I thought it prudent we get acquainted before the main event begins."

That certainly didn't bode well for whatever was going on. I hadn't interacted with any of the Brotherhood before, so either Mystique had managed to stalk me without me having any idea, or one of the X-Men had told him about me.

"So tell me, do you believe we can truly co-exist with humans?" Magneto asked, his arms clasped behind his back. Seeing him float in the air, I knew I needed to try to take a moment to absorb his power before this was all over. 

I decided to answer honestly, even if Xavier was right next to me. "In an ideal world, we would be able to, but this isn't an ideal world. The idea of people simply being born with something they can never obtain will set the world against us."

Magneto began to smile, while Xavier frowned lightly next to me.

"However, it's probably not a good idea to make an enemy out of the entire world unless we have to. Humans still outnumber us by a lot, you should be focused on protecting those we have, not trying to push us into a position where the entire world is against us," I continued.

I'd given the topic a lot of thought since I'd found myself in this world. Originally, I found myself leaning a lot more towards Magneto's point of view than Xavier's. The unfortunate reality was, that people would hate mutants simply because they were born with a power. It was different than someone like the Fantastic Four, where they acquired the powers later. People would never feel like mutates would replace them since it required very specific circumstances, but mutants could eventually leave regular humans in a lesser position.

The more I'd settled into this world, though, the more I realized that while Magneto was right to say we probably couldn't co-exist, his actions were actively pushing us towards a war between mutants and regular humans way too soon. If he wanted to push that option, it'd be better to wait until there were enough experienced, powerful mutants to even the sides a little bit and then decide what to do from there. Showing his hand too soon would just lead to the development of stuff like the Sentinels.

"Erik, what have you done to those you've taken? Casper is right, you should be protecting our kind, not kidnapping them," Xavier said.

"They are perfectly fine Charles, I'm simply going to give them a chance," Magneto said, his hands waving behind him as the metal walls around him parted, giving us a view of where our missing teammates were. Jean, Bobby, and Storm were suspended in metal tubes, completely unconscious.

At the same time, another wall opened and a group of young men walked out. Quicksilver, the guy who I'd seen defeat Rogue, was there along with Sabretooth, Blob, and surprisingly Scott, who was standing next to a guy I couldn't recognize on sight.

"Scott, what are you doing?" Xavier asked in distress.

"Magneto said he could let me take these off," Scott said, gesturing to the ruby glasses on his face. "I'm just hearing him out, Professor."

"You cannot trust what he offers you," Xavier protested, a deep frown setting on his face.

"Let my brother make his own choice old man," the person standing next to Scott said. That let me figure out he had to be Alex aka Havoc, Scott's missing brother. 

"And what happens to those who make a choice you don't agree with Erik?" Xavier asked, looking pointedly at the tubes.

"I will not harm our mutant brothers and sisters Charles, but if they cannot see the opportunity presented to them I will simply force-feed their salvation," Magneto said.

"So what's the opportunity?" I asked finally.

Magneto smiled, pulling out a glowing red gem. "I've built a Genetic Enhancer using this gem. It will enhance a mutant's power and allow them to have complete control of it." Turning to Scott, he gestured to a machine that stood behind him. "You would be able to control your power Scott, and you wouldn't need those glasses anymore. Wouldn't you like to see it in a shade other than red?"

It was obvious Scott was already going to accept the power. I could get where he was coming from, having to see everything tinted red had to suck, but accepting suspicious offers of power from a stranger was never a great decision.

"How do I do it?" Scott asked Magneto. Magneto gestured for him to step into the machine, and despite Xavier calling out to him, Scott stepped in. Magneto slotted the gem into a port on the machine and turned it on, causing a burst of electricity as the doors shut on Scott. When they opened again, Scott stepped out looking completely different. His hair had gone completely white, and he pulled the glasses off of his face, blinking lightly as he adjusted to his new vision.

"This feels great," he said, exhilarated.

"Let me go next pops," Quicksilver said, racing over to Magneto and bouncing side to side.

I knew I couldn't let that happen. Quicksilver was already fast, if he got his power enhanced I probably couldn't see him even if I overclocked my brain. I wanted a chance to absorb his power, but with how fast he could move it'd be hard to get a good grip on him.

"How about you let me go next instead?" I asked, walking past a disappointed Xavier. "Let those three out of the pods and give them the choice too. We should all get the chance to enjoy this."

Magneto looked down at me, considering it for a moment before nodding his head. "Every mutant should be given the choice."

The pods containing Ororo, Jean, and Bobby opened, letting the three out of them as they opened their eyes. 

"What's going on?" Bobby asked in confusion, taking in his surroundings. It seemed that Jean got a quick update on the situation from Xavier with telepathy, while Ororo quickly moved over to Xavier.

"Power's come calling Bobby. Time to choose if you want it," I said, turning back to Magneto and grinning. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."

"Casper, don't do it. You know this is a bad idea," Jean called out to me.

A grin still on my face, I turned back to her for a moment. "You just gotta think for a second Red, and it'll all make sense to you," I said, tapping the side of my head lightly. Spinning back around, I mentally rearranged my telepathic defense like I'd done in the fight with the Justice League before I made my way into the machine.

Jean quickly figured out what I meant, connecting me with telepathy as I projected my plan to her. 

'The worst-case scenario is more of them get upgraded. I'm pretty sure I can drain the gem dry, so just be ready. I don't know how long the others will take to get up here.'

'I'll get everyone updated, just be careful Casper,' Jean projected to me.

'When am I ever not?'

Standing in the machine, I sent a smirk at Scott before it closed. It hadn't been hard to figure out he was the one who'd talked to Magneto about me, but I'd get my pound of flesh in a bit.

The door shut on me, and I could feel the energy from the gem starting to activate. Holding my hands out, I focused on drawing the power into me. The power began to flow into me, and I could feel it energizing my entire body. Powers that I hadn't gotten a chance to train got stronger, and ones that I was already proficient in got even more powerful. I still felt in control, my experience of losing control the first time was more than enough for me. My entire focus was on directing the power into my body and making sure I didn't let it run rampant.

I drained more and more, and I could hear the sound of fighting outside as I assumed Jean and the rest had gone into action. The metal casing around me tore open as I saw an enraged Magneto floating over me, but it was too late as I drained the gem dry. 

Right when the last of the energy was absorbed, I got a vision of a giant being sitting on a throne. His head was rounded like Juggernaut's helmet, with spikes along his armored body.

"You will regret taking my power boy," was all it said before the vision was gone.

I didn't have time to process my vision, having to run to the side as the very floor under me began to lift and try to entrap me. Rushing out of the machine, I could see the X-Men were fighting with the Brotherhood. Scott, unfortunately, seemed to be fighting against his friends despite their calls for him to come to his senses.

"You will regret making a fool out of me child," Magneto said as he waved his hand, metal bindings flying towards me. I dodged the first couple, but one caught me in the arm and sent me flying back to pin me to the wall. This was the first fight where I couldn't just coat myself in Adamantium, but Magneto also wasn't fighting to seriously hurt me.

Sparks began to fly all around my body as I channeled electricity, sending a bolt at Magneto while I used my density manipulation to phase through the metal. I couldn't be concerned with hiding the fact I had absorbed powers at the moment, with my main weapon unable to be used.

The bolt struck against a shield that formed around Magneto, harmlessly shattering while I took off running. I moved towards Jean's fight with Sabertooth as she tried to keep him pushed against a wall with his telekinesis.

"Jean," I called out and quickly projected what I needed. She dropped Sabertooth for a moment as I sent a huge amount of electricity at him, electrocuting him. It wouldn't stop him, but it'd stall him for the moment I needed. Jean grabbed me with her telekinesis while I made myself as light as I could with density manipulation.

Jean gestured with her hand, sending me rocketing towards my target. I could sense her shock at how easy it was to move through the connection, but it didn't matter as I went flying toward where Quicksilver was literally running circles around Bobby. I could see Bobby trying to tag him with blasts of ice, and attempting to make walls, but Quicksilver would just dodge around them.

Jean had already communicated my plan to him, and I couldn't help my newfound appreciation for how convenient telepathy could be as Bobby smirked and flash-froze the ground around him, causing Quicksilver to start sliding along the ground, right into my path. 

I barrelled into him, sending us both flying into the wall as I took the moment of contact to absorb his power. I could feel the rush from the power I'd absorbed from the gem as it empowered my new power, bringing it to a higher level than the weakened version I had initially.

Maneuvering my body, I flipped over and pushed off of Quicksilver and took off in a burst of speed, swooping Jean up into my arms as I pulled her away from a now recovered Sabertooth.

Coming to a stop, I looked down at Jean. "You know, telepathy is growing on me."

Jean had a light blush on her face before it vanished and a smile formed on her face.

"They're here," were the words that came out of her mouth before a black plane phased through the wall, and out came the rest of the X-Men. I could see an exhausted Kitty in the cockpit, probably having pushed herself farther than she had before to phase the entire thing and everyone inside.

Logan took off running at Sabertooth, with Laura trailing after him. She paused for a moment to look at me with Jean in my arms, before she moved to follow her father. Kurt and Evan both ran to help Ororo and Xavier, who were still trying to reason with Scott while trying to deal with Blob at the same time.

Looking up at Magneto, who'd been observing this series of events, I smirked.

"I think we're gonna have to reject your salvation."

Magneto continued to smile as he looked down at me, and I could feel a sinking feeling in my gut.

"All you've done is ensure that our kind is all gathered in one place. Now the main event can truly begin," he taunted, a screen appearing in front of us to show us the exterior of the object we were in. It was a giant metal sphere, with openings starting to unfold from the outside where missiles were being primed to be launched.

"Well, shit."