Disclaimer: The characters portrayed in the following work of fiction are property of Marvel and are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment and not profit. God, how I wish I was making a profit.

Author's Notes: Part of the Mutatis Mutandis timeline, following the story entitled Fallout. All MM stories are archived at www.originofspecies.cjb.net This will NOT make much sense if you haven't read the rest of the MM stories, I'm afraid. See, I'm telling you now so you don't have to leave confused comments in the review box.

Odium
by N

In semi-gloom a trio stood, illuminated only by the white static of the television screen and the blinking tip of a cigar. Smoke curled in the air before lazily wafting towards the ceiling.

"Logan, this is a non-smoking room," Storm murmured with mock disapproval. Wolverine shrugged.

"Chuck?" he grunted. Xavier had his fingers tented and his heavy brows were knit together in consternation.

"Senator Hull," Xavier said at last, "is of great concern to me." He shook his head. "Rather, the results of his actions are of great concern to me. He is holding an anti-mutant rally in Chicago, and my fear is that Magneto will see this as his final opportunity to dispose of what he sees as a threat to mutant dominance."

"If Magneto kills Hull at the rally, the public will only be more convinced that mutants are dangerous," Storm said. "Does he not understand that?"

"Magneto is many things, but stupid is not one of them," Xavier replied. "He knows. But unlike us, Magneto relishes humanity's fear. To him, fear is power, and if we are feared then we are have reminded the humans who is superior." Xavier's voice was softly sardonic as he said this. There was a bitter taste in his mouth.

"What should we do?" Wolverine seemed impassive.

Xavier thought long and hard. "We shall attend the rally. The children are already packed for Massachusetts?" Storm nodded. "Very well. Alert them, please."

Storm and Wolverine exited, leaving Xavier alone. He sighed and rubbed at his temples absently, a strangely vulnerable figure in the false glow of the television. Chicago, then Massachusetts, all in a stolen jet and always with the risk of casualties.

"Erik," Xavier murmured. "The danger you place these children in… Nothing is worth all of this. What will it take to stop you?"

***

Kurt Wagner had been debating whether or not to steal the hotel towels when the announcement that they were to meet for a briefing came. After being told that they would be flying not directly to Snow Valley, Massachusetts, but rather going to Chicago, he had felt his heart sink. He'd really thought that maybe, just maybe, they'd had enough excitement for a little while.

"Ja, velcome to America," he muttered aloud. "One non-stop party."

Kurt was currently standing in the deserted hotel hallway, just trying to relax a little before boarding the jet. Again. He closed his eyes, willing himself not to feel tired. His ears twitched as he registered the barest sound of footsteps. His eyes snapped open, and he saw Clarice rounding the corner, her head down. He relaxed.

"I thought you vere one of the hotel staff," he said. Clarice jumped a little, and Kurt realized she hadn't even seen him standing there.

"Oh, Kurt, hello," she said. Her voice was strained.

"Clarice? I know ve have really only just met, but I… That is… are you okay?" He couldn't really explain why her presence should make his speech so clumsy.

Clarice nodded. "I'm just worried," she said. "About the Acolytes." She smiled a little. "They're my friends, you know. And Erik…" She trailed off, and then shrugged. "I don't want to see anybody get hurt," she finished.

"Don't worry," Kurt said, trying his best to sound mature and capable. To his own ears he sounded sort of… dorky. "Ve'll stop your friends, and maybe you can talk to them, make them see that they're risking their lives for no good reason."

Clarice nodded. "I hope we get the chance," she said.

***

Chicago - it's a hell of a town.

Or it soon would be, at any rate.

William Hull's political rally was scheduled for three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon in beautiful Grant Park. A podium was set up in front of the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain, which held the distinct honor of being one of the largest fountains in the world… although that didn't mean it wasn't really ugly.

A crowd of hundreds jostled in front of the pink marble fountain. Many bore anti-mutant signs and t-shirts, and one memorable gentleman had stripped to his boxer shorts and had painted 'Only Good Mutie Iz a Dead 1!' on his chest and back. It was rumored that both Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer would be present at the rally, gathering footage for upcoming shows.

At 2:45 PM, Senator William Hull was having the sweat wiped from his brow by a blonde attendant while he adjusted his red power tie. The notes for his speech were lying beside him and a hive of other attendants bustled past him, to and fro, making sure everything was in readiness.

"Fifteen minutes, Senator," one of the drones informed him and he nodded. Tipped the blonde girl who'd been dabbing his face a wink.

"How's security?" he asked a solemn looking man in a black coat.

"Everything's been taken care of, sir," he said.

"Great. This is a day the world won't soon forget."

* * *

At 2:45 PM, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr was coincidentally thinking along the same lines as Senator Hull. He and the Acolytes were stationed inside a closed-down fish and chips restaurant just down the block from Grant Park. The windows had been covered in brown paper, effectively shielding them from prying eyes.

"This day will go down in history," Magneto said meditatively. "Our children and our children's children will look back on this day as the turning point in the Battle of the Species." He paused for a moment. In the silence they could hear the sound of outside traffic.

"An end to fear," Magneto murmured.

Someone's brakes squealed.

"I expect everyone to do exactly as I have outlined." Magneto went on in a commanding tone. "Gambit, Quicksilver, you will be expected to take care of the majority of Hull's so-called 'security.' Pyro, Colossus, Chamber, Sabretooth and I will serve as the… focal point." His lips twitched in a bitter grin.

"Get ready to move."

* * *

At 2:45 PM, the X-Men and assorted hangers-on were preparing to disembark from Xavier's 'borrowed' jet.

"I hate Illinois," Lance muttered sickly from his seat. He really couldn't handle flying.

"I thought you were from Illinois," Bobby remarked.

"I am. That's why I hate it."

Kitty gave him a withering look. "Lance, we went to the same school. It wasn't that bad."

"You lived in the suburbs," Lance retorted. "Trust me, Illinois blows. The only good thing about it is Jerry Springer."

Scott bit his lip. Too easy.

"We're going to have to hustle to get to the rally in time," he said instead. "Let's just hope that the professor is wrong and nothing happens."

"Yeah, except a bunch of bigots get their rocks off," Jean muttered. Scott ignored her.

"Come on, let's move."

* * *

The rally started promptly at 3:01 PM. Hull took the podium to a thunderous cheer of approval, smiling and waving his arms above his head. Fists were raised in salute and the scent of hysteria vaguely overlaid the smell of freshly cut grass and sunshine.

Such a brave new world.

"In this country," Hull was saying into the microphone. "We have laws to control the possession of lethal weapons. But I say, what about people whose very DNA makes them living weapons? How can we rest easy in our beds at night when the kid in the trench coat down the block finds out he has the power to cause explosions merely by thinking about them?"

A defiant shout went up from a group of men in t-shirts printed with an eagle emblem on it and the letters "FoH."

Hull smiled and made 'calm down' gestures. "We cannot allow these people to live in anonymity. It is a risk to the safety of our children, and indeed even to national security!"

Another mad round of applause and cheering. Nobody seemed to notice that the "inconspicuous" men in black suits stationed about the park were for the most part laying unconscious at the rear of the crowd.

"We are not powerless! We have to take action while we still can, and show these freaks of nature WHO is the dominant species on this planet!"

3:11 PM.

The cheers turned to screams imperceptibly as a half-man, half-beast tore through the rear of the crowd, headed towards the podium. At the same instant from the left a metal juggernaut lumbered forward, and from the right came a sudden burst of flames, accompanied by high-pitched laughter.

Hull's face fell, and he looked quickly for an escape route. Behind him the remaining security and assorted hangers-on were engulfed in a bio-blast, and suddenly a walking nightmare had pinned Hull's arms behind his back.

*Sieg Heil, Guv,* There was a certain bitter amusement there.

"Senator," a cool, refined voice said. Hull looked up to find Magneto slowly descending to earth, his face ominously hidden by his helmet and a crackling magnetic field surrounding his body. "I think it's time you met the future."

Several chairs shuddered and flew into the air, their metal legs bending. Chamber stepped back as they wrapped themselves tightly around Hulls limbs, pinning him and causing him to fall to the ground.

The crowd was still mostly assembled. The Acolytes had effectively herded it into a tight circle of screaming, weeping people. A few bodies lay on the brilliant green grass as a warning.

Magneto approached the podium.

"You came here today to see who is the dominant species," he said, and actually smiled. "As I think is fairly self-evident… we are. And there is no stopping us."

Then the Sentinel thundered to the earth.

* * *

"Oh, fuck."

Scott Summers wasn't exactly known for being vulgar, so hearing the esteemed X-Leader utter such profanity caused Lance Alvers to focus all his attention on the other boy.

"What?"

Scott pointed upwards and Lance watched as a Sentinel passed below the tree line, presumably landing near the rally.

"Oh, fuck," he said.

In unspoken agreement, they both started running.

* * *

Magneto did not pause. He rose rapidly off the ground, electromagnetic field crackling. "Is this all?" he asked with contempt, his hands outstretched towards the giant robot that had just landed on the ground and was starting to advance. "Trask's little toy? Pathetic."

His arms outstretched, hands curling into claws, his face registered the barest surprise.

"Plastic?" he muttered.

The Sentinel's chest panel spiraled open and a laser canon jutted out like a malformed organ and fired. Magneto flew backwards, protected from the blast by his shielding. The Sentinel was on him immediately, an unstoppable automaton programmed to kill. It shattered the stage in the process, sending both the Senator and Chamber flying.

The crowd broke from its frightened circle, fleeing this new threat. The Acolytes let them go, their attention completely riveted on the giant robot that was doing a fair job of shitkicking their boss.

"Do SOMEthing!" Quicksilver yelled, breaking the temporary paralysis.

Before anybody could do more than take a few steps, however, the air hummed and another Sentinel thundered to the ground. It turned with disarming speed and pistoned one huge foot at the loosely gathered Acolytes, nearly crushing Sabretooth beneath its heel. Pyro swore and attempted to melt it, but elected to run when the other foot moved rapidly towards him.

*Gordon Bennet,* Chamber whispered to nobody in particular. The first Sentinel was still battling Magneto, while the second was busy attempting to vaporize Gambit, and coming awfully close.

On the grass several feet away, the Senator was calling for help. Out of the corner of his eye Chamber noticed secret-soldier types surging out of the bushes in response. They didn't seem overly worried about the robots. A group of them started to drag the Senator, still wrapped in chair legs, away from the panic while others dropped to position and held their guns ready.

There was a brief yell as the Sentinel tossed Colossus a good thirty feet. The Russian landed against a tree, knocking it over. Sabretooth seemed to have vacated the premises.

A sudden beam of red light came shooting out from the shade of the trees, knocking the second Sentinel off-balance. Gambit took the opening and after charging the Sentinel's left foot, ran like hell away from the thing. The Sentinel meanwhile was trying without success to squash the furry blue mutant bamfing in and out all over its body.

"Neutralize the threat!" nameless secret-soldier #14 yelled. Three of the heavily armored guards opened fire on the fleeing Cajun, and would have cut him in half if the boy wasn't unnaturally agile and The Blob hadn't chosen that precise moment to come crashing out into the open and lob a tree at the soldiers. The sky darkened with sudden clouds.

*Right, that's it,* Chamber psi-muttered. The energy field housed in his torso started crackling, and with a mental sigh he decided if they were in fact about to be crushed by giant Go-Bots from hell he was going to personally ensure that the attacking humans went down with them.

* * *

This is a nightmare, Scott Summers thought to himself as he blasted at one of the Sentinel's arms. Kurt bamfed out as he did so, reappearing on the ground in time to teleport a bewildered looking Pyro out from the path of one of the robot's lumbering feet.

"Eric!" he heard Clarice cry out, at the same time Wanda hissed the word "father."

"Scott," Jean said. Her voice was strangely calm. "We can't beat them."

Don't I know it. "Clarice," he said instead. "Help Kurt get your friends. Wanda-"

"You don't' tell me what to do, X-Man," she said and started to move forward.

"Oh no you don't," Jean said threw a telepathically constructed shield up in front of the girl. Wanda bounced off it, surprised. Knowing the Scarlet Witch, Scott was a little surprised to see Jean's shield had done any good at all. "If you go, you will die with him."

Jean began to float at the same moment thunder crackled overhead and an eldritch light flared up by the remains of the podium. "Scott get everyone back to the jet."

"Jean-" Panic had a stranglehold on his heart.

"I'll be fine." Her voice was still calm, but as she moved away her eyes seemed to blaze with inner light. Trying to pursue her anyway, Scott found that the shield that had blocked the Scarlet Witch was still there, and he had no choice but to watch as Clarice and Kurt teleported madly, bringing shocked Acolytes to the opposite side of the barrier.

* * *

Face to face with the Sentinel, Jonothon Starsmore had time to reflect that it really didn't' look much like a Go-Bot after all before it leveled a canon with an opening that looked roughly the size of a subway tunnel at him.

Then the arm swung away from him and fired instead at the other Sentinel, which appeared to be trying to grind the self-styled Master of Magnetism into the ground. This, Chamber deduced, had not been what was intended. His suspicion was verified by the sight of a beautiful red-head floating in the air about twenty feet away, her mouth set in a grim line of determination. She moved her hands in a sweeping motion and the Sentinel's arm twisted, trying to break itself apart like a wounded starfish. It seemed temporarily immobilized. Bullets fired by the soldiers who hadn't run off ricocheted off an invisible shield surrounding the girl.

*Thanks, luv,* Chamber sent at the girl, and then let loose the inferno within himself. At the same moment, lightning struck the Sentinel from above.

Soldiers dove for cover - those who didn't make it were engulfed in a crippling bio-blast. The Sentinel shuddered and jerked as it was blown backwards.

Chamber stumbled, his energy reserves depleted for the moment. Suddenly Clarice, dear sweet Clarice, was at his side. *Clarice?* he asked unbelievingly.

"Gotta go, Jono!" she said, and blinked them away seconds before the first Sentinel fired a shot at them. He found himself standing suddenly with the Acolytes and a dozen others. The red-head landed a moment later, and he could feel the headache pounding behind her skull.

"Scott, go!" she shouted, and took up a defensive posture. A laser shot hit the telepathic shield and she grunted with the effort of holding it.

Cyclops nodded. "Follow me!" he instructed. X-Men, Brotherhood and Acolyte members all took off running after him, and only Rogue played the part of Lot's wife and looked back.

* * *

The Sentinel tried to follow. Jean kept its feet stuck to the earth with a great force of will; sweat stung her eyes and it felt like her mind was about to tear itself apart with the effort. But she found that she could hold it, and the more it struggled against her the more she felt the urge to rip it apart.

Blow it all away, she thought to herself. Something in her mind seemed to turn over, to ignite… and then Storm was there again, hammering the Sentinel with lightning and distracting it. The strange pressure building between her lobes dissipated.

Time to go.

Jean turned and fled.

* * *

"Senator Hull? Are you alright, sir?"

"Yes, fine. Get Trask on the phone, now. And get me the hell out of here."

* * *

Xavier was waiting at the jet, and the majority of the X-Men and Brotherhood members bolted past him and up the ramp without pause. The Acolytes slowed, seeming to all grasp the situation simultaneously.

"Wait a minute," Pyro said, nearly skidding to halt. "We-"

"There is no time," Xavier interjected. "Without Magneto you have no escape. Come with us, please. We only want to help you."

Gambit's eyes narrowed. "I don' t'ink so," he said. "You be wantin' us in your custody, non?"

"Better than the alternative, bub," Wolverine growled. The sound of multiple sirens wailing seemed to emphasize the point, and Gambit boarded the jet without another word. Jean and Storm landed at that moment, Jean rubbing her temples.

"We have to go," Storm said shortly and climbed aboard. The urgency in her manner seemed to decide them, and the rest of the Acolytes started to follow. Save one.

*I don't bloody well think so.*

Xavier seemed about to speak when suddenly Clarice appeared at the jet's doorway, her expression annoyed.

"Jonothon Evan Starsmore!" she snapped. "You get your butt onboard this jet this instant! A giant robot just squashed Magneto into jelly and we don't have time for your bullshit!"

Chamber blinked. *Yessum,* he replied sheepishly, and followed the others onto the jet. The engines roared to life as soon as everyone was secured, strapped next to unlikely neighbours. The jet rose into the sky at a speed that made not a few of them hiss frightened air over their bottom lips, and then shot in westerly direction.

"Well," Bobby Drake said in the uncomfortable silence. "Any of you guys ever been to Snow Valley?"

* * *

~end odium~

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