S.I.M. Life 8

The fact that Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants arrived at the same time as Professor X and the X-Men really didn't surprise me all that much. I figured when one side made their move so would the other. Amy had built a device that allowed her to sense active mutants from hundreds of miles away, which had given us more than enough time to prepare for their arrival and give them a signal to home in on that wouldn't lead to our front door. Living in the desert had its advantages, one of which is having plenty of room to battle without having to worry about collateral damage.

The X-men and the Brotherhood both landed in matching SR-1 blackbirds, of course the reason for that is I'm pretty sure Magneto nicked his from Xavier.

Me and Amy are sitting in a modified Sherman tank. The gun and turret have been removed and most of the top half opened up so we have more comfortable seating and a large canopy over our heads to keep the sun off.

"John and Amy Flint?" Professor Xavier asks, as the two groups square off, ready for a battle.

"That would be us," I reply as Amy gives a cheerful wave before reaching up and flipping a switch on her bicycle helmet.

Wolverine and Sabretooth are eying each other, as are Toad and Nightcrawler. Cyclops is glaring at Colossus, who seems to have joined the brotherhood recently and Marvel Girl is keeping an eye on Pyro. Beast and Avalanche seem to be the most relaxed save for their leaders, as they just nodded at one another and waited. Rogue and Mystique are each glancing at the other while pretending not to.

"We're here to see about enrolling Amy in school," Professor X said. "We can teach you how to control your power and fit in with society."

Amy's helmet beeped and she glared at him. "Stay out of my head!"

"I was just scanning who was present, not their thoughts," Xavier quickly excused himself. "I just want to make sure there are no surprises."

"And I would like you to join the Brotherhood," Magneto said. "The Friends of Humanity are just a new face on an old evil that humanity is riddled with. We seek to protect mutant kind from those that would prey upon it."

"Violence is never the answer-" Xavier argued patiently.

"Yes it is," I interrupted him. "War is the final arbiter for when a peaceful solution can't be found. War can't say who is right only who is left, but sometimes that is the only solution."

"That is very perceptive," Magneto said, "Though I find hearing a human say that somewhat disquieting."

"Human?" Amy asked me.

"These two groups only concern themselves with X-Gene mutants," I explained. "Xavier talks about equality, but notice the lack of humans in his group. Magneto is much more honest, but is coming close to becoming that which he hates."

"X-Gene mutants?" Beast spoke up. "What other mutants are there?"

"Let's start with the races of man," I suggested. "The Atlanteans split off from normal humans and when crossed with current humans you get people like Prince Namor, he's a crossbreed so he's a mutant, though he doesn't carry the X-Gene."

"Recruiting royalty, much less royalty that despises air breathers, is a problem," Magneto said dryly.

"Very true, but any human Atlantean crossbreed would have the same potential," I pointed out. "And that's only one race. The Deviants are going for the demonic look and despise all normal looking people. I'm not sure where they live anyway. The Inhumans are the closest to X-Gene mutants you'll find and their adulthood ritual is to expose themselves to Terragen Mist which mutates them. They live in a hidden city on the dark side of the moon."

"Really?" Pyro said with a snort.

"It's true," Xavier said.

"The Mole Men live below the surface and the less said about them the better. The Savage Land... I also can't say much about."

"Nice to know we ain't totally alone," Rogue muttered.

"Plus we have the occasional spontaneous mutation without the X-Gene caused by atavistic traits. Spiderman is a good example of that."

"What about the Fantastic Four?" Beast asked.

"Cosmic ray bombardment, similar to the Hulk and Gamma radiation except they didn't need his rare gene sequence to survive," I replied.

"You seem to be extraordinarily well educated on the topic," Xavier said. "And why can't I sense your presence?"

"Amy turned out to have the X-Gene and asked me to activate it for her," I replied. "I did some homework so we wouldn't be taken by surprise. Of course, I was already researching the subject to look for others like me, though I didn't find any."

"You forgot the Kree," Amy pointed out.

"Oh yeah, the Kree race when crossed with humans produce very powerful mutants. I'm not sure about the Skrulls, but then there are lots of aliens the human race has not produced children with."

"And you are?" Beast asked curiously.

"Heavily adapted to the use of high technology," I replied. "Genetically engineered or possibly just altered by the eternal grind of evolution."

"And that's made you immune to telepathy?" Marvel girl asked.

"No, I'm immune for a different reason that I don't plan on sharing."

As some unseen signal passed between them, Wolverine and Sabertooth attacked each other, which lead to both teams going at it.

"Magneto, Xavier care to withdraw and continue uninterrupted?" I asked, while Amy popped up a holographic display and began popping up turrets from the sand that opened fire, sending streams of water, paint, glue, glitter, and whatever else she'd loaded them with. Magneto nodded and Xavier sighed before floating over in his hover chair as we moved a little ways away.

"What is her power?" Magneto asked, as Amy was busy laughing and playing.

"Building and repairing advanced tech," I replied. "Note: I said tech and not weapons, though she is capable of that."

"Didn't you make your fortune on advanced technology?" Xavier asked.

"Yes, and hopefully as she matures she'll become skilled enough to work on the stuff I design for my own use, but in the mean time she can play with the stuff I designed for public use."

"I'm already past that point and I need you to patent some stuff for me," Amy said absently. "Release the cute and fluffy bunnies!" she ordered harshly into the mic.

Xavier and Magneto were unable to stop themselves from turning to look as two large cannons popped up out of the sand and began firing fluffy white bunnies with startling accuracy. Those unable to dodge found that the bunnies had teeth and claws that while not remotely deadly were still quite painful. Those that could dodge found that the rabbits could quickly rebound and attach themselves to whatever they could reach.

"They're regenerating," Xavier said as he saw a rabbit with its head bathed in flames regrow skin and fur.

"They're partially metallic," Magneto said as Colossus stumbled around with what looked like several dozen bunnies glued to him. "That much fur in this heat can't be good for him."

The two mutant leaders turned to look at me.

"I made the bunnies, but the rest was her," I swore.

The X-Men and the Brotherhood actually had to team up to fight off the bunnies, Pyro and Wolverine being required to permanently disable them.

"Release the Kitties?" Amy asked hopefully.

I laughed. "No, those are for your personal protection, not as object lessons."

"A show of force?" Magneto asked.

"Or a demonstration of group effort?" Xavier asked curiously.

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other," Amy said. "I could have asked for poison claws on them."

They turned to me.

"I could and would have if she'd asked. Amy wanted to make a point, she's happy where she is and violence will be met with enough force to make any victory a Pyrrhic one."

"Most people would not put themselves in my grasp while saying such things," Magneto said dryly, not making any overt threats, just reasserting his perceived superiority.

"I'm not actually here," I replied. "This body is just the one I use to watch over Amy with and if either of you actually harmed her (unlikely as you wish to recruit her) I have no problem using nuclear warheads on your respective places of residence."

"Interesting," Magneto said thoughtfully. "And how do you feel about offers of employment? Just because I can't recruit her doesn't mean we have nothing to offer. I could use someone to look over the environmental systems at my base periodically to insure they are functioning properly."

"Can I?" Amy asked excitedly.

"Poke around secret bases and peek at new tech? hmmm..." I teased.

"Please?"

"Finish your armor first," I replied.

"It would be easier with some decent neural interfaces," she groaned.

"Your mom said no piercings or implants until you're sixteen and I'm not stupid enough to go against her on this. You'll just have to work with muscle movements, voice commands, and your suit's A.I.."

"She is so overprotective!" Amy whined.

"You're the one who designed neural implants to resemble the current college fads."

"They work best when implanted at nerve clusters and this way no one would think they were anything more than jewelry," she pointed out.

"And you don't see why your mother would have a problem with you getting pierced there at your age?" I asked dryly.

"Definitely not letting her see the work around interfaces I developed then," she muttered.

"You work on external tool packs while I help with the internal systems and you'll be ready to fly by the middle of next month at the latest."

"Woot!"

"You do know he'll be using her visits to try and convince her to join, don't you?" Xavier asked.

"And she'll be trying to convince them to turn to our way of thinking in return," I reply.

"And that is?" Magneto asked.

"Mars is a bit of a fixer upper, but still conveniently located," Amy replied. "The Inhumans live on the moon and are pretty happy with their domed city, but Mars has better gravity and room for expansion."

"The environment leaves a lot to be desired," Magneto pointed out.

"Terraforming may take a century or two," Amy admitted, "But the rewards far outweigh the costs."

"Your plans are even more grandiose than my own," Magneto said. "Let me know how they pan out. I'll be in touch." He floated off to retrieve his team who were still cleaning themselves up.

"I'll also be offering a similar deal," Xavier said with a nod. "Call when you are ready and we'll schedule things." He nodded politely and floated off in his chair.

"Blood samples?" I asked.

"Everyone on the field except Colossus," she replied cheerfully.

Typing by: Stephenopolos