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Magneto departed, taking a freed Sabretooth, Toad, Mystique, and the still unconscious Rogue with him. He flew into the clouds, and no one tried to stop them.
While a combined assault from the X-Men and Clark's immense power could have defeated him, the cost of that victory would have been too high. Everyone looked at the shattered teaching building and the gaping pit where the basement had been.
The academy was in ruins. Continuing the fight here would only endanger the remaining students. They couldn't risk more lives.
"It looks like we need to have a meeting," Charles said gravely, looking at what was left of the school. He walked into the remains of a room, and the X-Men followed him, including Logan.
Clark was about to go in as well when Benjamin gently grabbed his arm.
"Dad?" Clark turned, looking at his father in confusion.
"Clark..." There was no blame in Benjamin's eyes, only a serious concern mixed with relief. "Tell me, do you really want to be a part of this?"
Benjamin didn't know all the details, but he could see a major conflict brewing among the mutants, one that might even involve the highest levels of human government. He wasn't going to stop Clark, but he needed to know if his son was sure about this.
"Yes, Dad. I don't know what Magneto is planning, and I don't really care about that. But he's captured my friend, and I have to rescue Rogue."
Benjamin smiled. If Clark's answer had been about upholding justice or protecting the world, he might have worried that the X-Men had manipulated him. This incident was serious for mutants, and it might even affect humans, but it had nothing to do with Clark.
Clark wasn't someone who sought out trouble, and he knew it was best to leave mutant affairs to the mutants themselves. But if the reason was to protect a friend, Benjamin fully supported him.
He knew that was the kind of person his son was.
"I understand. Go ahead," he said.
"Thanks, Dad," Clark replied with a smile before walking into the makeshift meeting room.
Outside, Benjamin's smile faded. He took out his phone. "It's Benjamin. I need all the information the government has on mutants from this period, as well as the suit. It should be ready. Yes, send it now. The address is..."
Since Clark was getting involved, Benjamin wasn't going to stand by. Even though he was an ordinary person without superpowers, the resources of Parker Industries could, in some cases, be more useful than any superpower.
A New Problem
Inside, everyone smiled at Clark. They had all known he would make this choice.
"Thank you for your help, Clark," Charles said, his voice grave. "I want to apologize again. We shouldn't have let you get involved in something so dangerous." Although Clark's powerful display made it easy to forget he was just a child, they knew it was wrong to put him on the battlefield.
"No need to apologize, Professor. This isn't my first time in a battle." The fight with Magneto had been intense, but it was nothing compared to the battles Clark had faced in his own world, like the fight where all of humanity risked everything to protect the evacuation of the Ark.
Charles nodded, not asking for details. He got straight to the point. "Now we have a new problem. Why did Magneto capture Rogue?" The earlier misunderstandings were gone. They had suspected Magneto might be after Logan or even Clark, but they had never once considered Rogue. Now that she was gone, they could only speculate on his motive.
"Could it be to create the most powerful mutant?" Logan suggested. "Can't Rogue absorb the powers of other mutants? If she absorbs enough, she'd be invincible. Maybe even a match for a grown-up Clark."
Beast shook his head, refuting the idea. "That doesn't make sense, Logan. I've studied Rogue's abilities. She absorbs life force, and the powers she gets are temporary. That's why you recovered after she let you go.
To become truly 'invincible,' she would need to absorb hundreds of powerful mutants, and it might even cost them their lives. As radical as Magneto is, he would never do something like that."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Even though Cyclops had no love for Magneto, he had to admit that Magneto, while willing to sacrifice some for his goals, would never commit an act of mass murder against his own kind.
"But if that's not it, then why did he capture her?" The question hung in the air. Without their Cerebro machine, which was now destroyed, they had no way of locating Magneto or knowing his intentions.
"I think I have some information."
At that moment, Benjamin walked in, holding a newspaper that hadn't yet been published. It was from a small tabloid in New Jersey. With his resources, Benjamin could get information like this before it went public.
"Is that... Senator Kelly?" Jean, who had argued with the Senator in Congress, was the first to recognize him. The photo showed Senator Kelly on a beach, but he was abnormally transparent, almost like a jellyfish.
"This is clearly not a human trait," Benjamin stated. "And as the strongest supporter of the Mutant Registration Act, he couldn't have been a hidden mutant all along."