Marvel: 2010-07-05 - An Introduction to Brotherhood

Racey takes a few days before she gets around to making use of that business card Amelia and Magnus gave her at the festival. She eyes it one more time and looks back up to the building in Queens. An older and nice town home, nothing overly awe-inspiring though. What weirdos. But with a vague shrug, Racey heads up the few steps to the front door. She adjusts the purple guitar case on her back and knocks on the front door. She changed guitar cases for better protection of her dual identity.

Inside the townhome, Erik Lensherr is seated at a computer console, idly checking on a few contacts and otherwise taking care of some odds and ends. When the motion-sensor camera out front projects Racey's image onto the nearby screen, he smiles a touch, and rises from his seat. He moves downstairs, waving a hand as he goes, causing the latches and chains of the door to unfasten, and the door to swing open a moment later, allowing Racey inside.

"Do come in, young lady. You are most welcome here." Erik comments as he reaches the ground floor, smiling towards her and beckoning her inside, "Would you care for some refreshments? I'm sure we can manage something."

Racey glances about and frowns a bit as she steps inside the place, humming softly beneath her breath to likely get a sense of the place's electronics and mechanics...not that she can get much of one as you soon greet her. Anyway, humming is a weak version of her power to say the least. She blinks and then grins impishly, "Hey baby doll!" She even raises a hand in greeting for special effect. "Dude, how you open the door like that? Seriously creepy, in scary movie way." You can sense the electric guitar she is carrying, no amp case this time. She has metal in her boots, and earrings, and a zipper in her skirt, but that is about it. She is also chewing on a piece of gum right now, thankfully silently. She isn't a teenager, just acts like one sometimes.

There are actually a lot of electronics in the house, though a good bit of it is shielded in various ways. Still, even a cursory "feel" will let Racey know there's more to this place than meets the eye. "The door?" Magnus replies with a faint laugh, "Just another application of my particular gift." He waves his hand dismissively, the door closing quietly behind Racey, though the locks and such do not clock into place. After all, that -would- be creepy and off-putting. "I'm glad to see you again, regardless. Please, do have a seat. I fear I'm the only one about right now, but you never know when one of the others might drop in."

"Others? Dude, you work some sort of adult orphanage or something?" But Racey moves to carefully set her guitar on the floor, leaning it against the couch while she takes a seat on it. She keeps a hand on her guitar case for safe keeping, protective of the thing. "Wow...honestly, jokes are about all I can make right now, sorry about that. I'm so excited I can't even see straight." And she grins sheepishly. "A beer do, or if you don't have one, water is fine."

"Your analogy isn't entirely out of place. This house and others like it serve as havens for our brothers and sisters, regardless of their age." Magnus explains, moving towards the Kitchen, and returning with a bottle of premium beer. They try to keep a good variety of stuff around, after all. "I would imagine you likely have some questions." Of course, the beer might be tough to drink, as it's still capped and not a twist-off.

Racey accepts it, "It isn't bourbon, but thought I should avoid the hard drinking," she adds with a bit of a smirk. Not that she is of legal age, oops! Then again, Racey doesn't care about that. She eyes her top and then the top of the beer and frowns. "I'll rip my top," if one can call that skimpy tie string thing a top, "if I open this myself." She offers it back to you. "Come on, be a man," she says with a pout. Her manipulations are so obvious, it's comical really...she isn't even trying to be stuble about it. She just doesn't care about things like that. "And ya...questions. Like, I didn't know there were mutants your age...what, you got to be over 40 right? Though your body doesn't look it...something about your face does. Are there lots of us, for real?"

"Ah, my apologies, how thoughtless of me." Magnus replies with a smile, snapping his fingers, which brings the cap neatly off the bottle and floating across the intervening space to settle into his outstretched palm. There, the metal cap twists and reforms like it were made of mercury, a brief flare of blue-white energy flickering around Magnus' hand, until it pauses in the shape of a DNA "Double Helix" in a circle, with a tiny hoop at the top. Essentially, it's been turned to a pendant, albeit without a chain. He hands it back towards Racey, "There are more of us every day, though it is true that mutants of my age...and I am older still than I appear...are much more rare. There are a few even older than I though...and rumors of some that are positively ancient, though I've yet to meet any of them, or if I have, they have concealed their true age from me."

A blink and Racey holds a hand out to accept the token. She examines it and makes a properly impressed sound. And then she says, "Do it again!" A wicked grin on her face, but she then blinks and gets pulled back to topic. "Really? So most are really young huh?" She at least had released her guitar to twirl the token about her fingers before capturing it within her palm once more and finally taking a drink of the beer as she still eyes it. She likes it.

"The vast majority we know of have been born within the last twenty years, but as I said, more are being born every day." Magnus notes, nodding his head slightly, "An evolutionary explosion...one that I fear the humans will be too afraid of to accept." He shakes his head slightly, moving over to sit in a nearby easy chair, facing the couch Racey is on. It almost...looks like a throne, for a moment.

"Whatever, they don't have a choice. We are more powerful and if what you say is true, we will soon outnumber them. Steadily replacing them over time until there are only mutants left. Not a huge deal, for us maybe." A sly little smirk. Racey then shrugs, "Not that they won't throw a fit and scream, but who cares about what they have to say?" She continues to enjoy her beer and eyes the token once more. She thinks she might get a chain for it. A reminder of this meeting.

"At current rates it will be several more generations before we are the majority, but yes...it is inevitable, and even with the few we have now, we may already be far more powerful than they could possibly imagine." Magnus notes, but there's a faint frown on his face, "But they are still a threat for now. Their political and military power will...eventually...have to be dealt with. Likely in direct confrontation."

A vague shrug comes from Racey. "Iffy. Well, political likely, military less likely. After all, we would have to be considered a mega-threat for the military to get involved. Political rights may become an issue however. But ya, military coming after me? I don't really see it...but I suppose one never knows." It took Racey a while to wrap her mind around things, but she does eventually.

"They came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up."

"Make no mistake, my dear...the humans have technology beyond what is publicly known, and I'm certain there are those within the government and military already diligently working on countermeasures for the entire human race. It is only a matter of time before they seek to punish, enslave, or exterminate us simply by virtue of being born better than they are. They -are- aware of us...and they fear us. We must be prepared to fight back, and if necessary...even to strike first."

Magnus pauses, frowning a touch, "You recall I told you I was older than I appear?" Rhetorical question, of course, as it was just a few moments ago, but he lifts his left arm, giving her a clear view of the number tattooed onto the outside of his forearm, "Are you aware of what this is?"

A blink, then shakes her head, "An old tattoo. There is bleeding that happens to old tattoos, especially with the real old-time ink. I don't know what the numbers mean though." She isn't a history buff sadly, but Racey has settled down and seems willing to listen, truly listen finally. About time. Perhaps finishing the beer helped chill her out.

"These were given to the work-detail prisoners at the Nazi Death Camp at Auschwitz. I was 15 when I arrived there." Magnus pauses, looking grim and distant for a moment, "I have seen what humanity does to those they consider "different." I will not allow it to happen again."

"Nazi Death....Camp?" Racey just looks blank for a moment, and then it starts to come together. "World War II, right? Wait...wasn't that like ages ago? Like grandfather ages ago?!" Her eyes widen and she looks at the mark again, then back at you. "Whoa...you really are old. But I mean...isn't it sorta mean to put humans in camps? I mean, some of them *are* really kool. I have a few human friends, and I may not really share my mutant abilities but I know in the end they wouldn't care. I just haven't felt like sharing myself with them," not that deeply. She always keeps herself partly pulled apart from people.

"Human nature doesn't change, young lady. They did it to themselves before...and they will try to do it with us next. It is only a matter of time." He shakes his head, looking a little bit annoyed, "I must say I'm disturbed by your lack of knowledge. Over 10 million people were put to death by the Nazis. It should not be a footnote in the history books." He rubs at one temple a bit, a touch of a headache settling in, "Perhaps it would be best to speak of other things. In either case I've no desire to put humans in camps...I'm talking about them putting -us- into camps."

Racey grumbles, "Sorry, I barely passed high school. Music, and tinkering with mechanics was more interesting than history." She has the grace to blush some. "I'll look it up more on the net at home," she promises, actually feeling bad. She ohs. "Seriously, could they even?" A frown at that. "That would royally suck." A thoughtful expression. "They would have to remove our rights first before doing something like that though. See us as a national threat or something." See, she isn't all dumb! "I don't like the idea of being powerless to anyone though."

"You are not powerless. Do not let anyone fool you into thinking so." Magnus adds, "But the greatest strength is in numbers, and that is what our Brotherhood is concerned with. Mutual protection, and insuring that mutantkind is allowed to reach its' destiny." He rises from his chair, pacing across the room somewhat, "We do not hate humanity outright, but we will not allow them to rob us of our freedom."

A thoughtful frown on her face. She is a passionate individual, but committing herself to something is a serious thing indeed. "it sounds like a good thing, this 'Brotherhood'. Still, How do you propose to use the manpower? As a political party, non-profit organization, militant?" Her head tilts slightly. She doesn't seem to favor one thing over another, just curious and thoughtful.

"At the risk of being deliberately enigmatic...yes." Magnus replies with a chuckle, "But to be more clear...we will be whatever we need to be to survive. However...it is my belief that eventually we will be forced to fight, and must be prepared for that eventuality." Magnus smiles a touch, laced with genuine warmth, "But you need not make any decisions now. I only ask that you not share what you have heard here today with your human friends. At least not yet." Of course, she might have some friends who -aren't- entirely human, but Erik has no way of knowing that just yet.

"No shit Sherlock," Racey says auto-manically. "It's none of their business." But she then smiles up at you, "I do like the thought of a 'Brotherhood', a chance to really meet other mutants and stuff. I still have a lot to learn and sometimes...well, it might be nice to have someone to talk to if they know tech. I don't want to take college courses they are just so..../slow/, you know? But text books are only so helpful." She shrugs vague and moves to stand then, leaving the empty beer bottle behind. She slides her guitar case onto her back once again. "I should get going though, but I'll carefully weigh your words. I'll stop by again in either case to say hi sometime." And she smiles brightly and warmly. "Thanks for having me Magnus. I think you are pretty kool actually."

"I know a great deal about self-teaching...and no small amount about technology." Magnus notes with a faint smile, moving towards the door, opening it the old-fashioned way this time, "You are welcome any time, Racey. Be well, and I hope we shall speak again, soon."