Chapter Four

"Or, more correctly, that is not the specific job I am offering you," continued Magneto. Kitty tilted her head and gave him a quizzical look. "I did ask you to come here in hopes you would help restore the fusion plants -- but also that you would help rebuild the distillation plant that supplies Hammer Bay with much of its drinking water, aid in the research to restore the mutates to their true selves, find an answer to the mystery of that hidden genetics lab and a thousand other problems.

"Katherine, I asked you to come here to offer to you -- and I fervently hope you accept -- the position as head of the ministry of Industry and Technologies of the government of New Genosha."

"WHAT!!?!!"

"Your duties would involve directing the rebuilding of New Genosha's infrastructure -- its industry, public works including power, water and others, as well as control over the advanced technologies, deciding what can be used, what can't and continued research into those technologies."

"WHAT!!?!"

"You will of course receive a salary equal to your position," continued Magneto as if he was afraid to stop. "As well as housing and office space. And of course you will have a staff working under you as well as a seat on the council of government, involving you in the running of the government of.."

"Magnus, stop!!"

"You would be answerable only to me," he added, then stopped.

Kitty's jaw hung open. Now that Magneto had stopped, she couldn't get it to work, to say what she obviously had to say. She tried several times, without success, before realizing she was looking like a fish. Firmly closing her mouth, Kitty struggled to regain control of herself. Of all the surprises and shocks she'd received today -- indeed throughout her life -- they paled besides the one running through her now. Her mind was nearly blank; she simply couldn't believe it. Of every possibilty she'd considered in her mind even the wildest, most outragous ones didn't even come close.

And it wasn't even a job that would take a few weeks or even months, this was a task to take years!

Years? Decades more likely. A lifetime even.

It was preposterous. It was crazy.

He was crazy. He wanted her to put aside her life to help rebuild a country that represented everything she hated. That under him might become something even worse.

But, as she looked into his face, she realized Magnus was anything but crazy.

"Magnus...I..." began Kitty, but an upraised hand stopped her as Magnus spoke.

"I understand your hesitation, Katherine, but I ask you to please not make any hasty desisions." Kitty nodded in reply and Magnus continued, after a moment,  "It took me nearly a week to write that letter, to find the words... indeed to find the courage to put pen to paper and write the request that you come here.

"I am not a man accustomed to making such requests, to asking for help. I demand -- and if those demands are not met, I take. After all, am I not one of earth's mightest beings, the savior of mutantkind, whose very existance prevents the humans from outright war on our kind? Everything I dois  dedicated to placing mutantkind into their proper hierarchy, rulership of this world. Isn't it my right to do whatever is necessary, regardless of the suffering it causes, to save our people?"

Magnus looked away and shook his head sadly.

"Are you saying you don't follow that belief anymore?" asked Kitty softly.

"Yes...No... I ..I don't know anymore, Katherine....but I am now willing to consider the middle road."

"Middle road?"

"Charles has always believed we could and should live besides humanity in peace, while I have always said there could only be peace if mutants ruled humanity. I have tried my way and I have tried Charles' way and both have failed. But here I have considered the third option."

"New Genosha," he said, indicating everything about them, "will become our new homeland. Ruled by mutants, for mutants, a power unto itself, but a part of the world at large. Like Israel has become for the Jewish."

Kitty could hear the conviction in his voice and see that his eyes were clear and bright, not clouded with madness as they'd been so often in the past. But there was one subject he hadn't brought up yet and, as much as she hated to rock the boat at this moment, she had to. "And humanity?' she asked. "Those here and abroad. What is to be their part in your New Genosha?The last time I was here, the mutates were screaming for human blood and a lot of the people I saw outside consider humans good for target practice only."

Magneto frowned slightly but his gaze was steady. "As far as the world goes, if they will let us live in peace, I am prepared, for the moment, to do the same... but I will hold them responsible for the fate of any mutant within their domains."

"I guess that will have to do," replied Kitty with a wry grin, "For the moment. But as to..."

"But, as to the humans living in Genosha... that, Katherine, is a more... difficult... situation. Many are likely guilty of horrible crimes against mutantkind, and all of Genosha's humans benefited from the enforced slave labor of mutants."

"Maybe," replied Kitty. " But most just lived here, trying to live their lives with little choice in how their country was run. Genosha isn't, or wasn't, a democracy after all. And with a large standing army and a brutal internal security force that tended to the shoot first so you don't have to bother with the questions method, they hardly could be said to have a choice."

"Yes, I know," continued Kitty, holding up a hand to forstall interuption. "I'm oversimplifing things, and a lot of them were likely rat bastards who enjoyed lording it over mutants... but revenge -- particularly on a broad scale -- will only make things much worse for everyone. Without a doubt there are some still living in Genosha that deserve imprisonment and even death. Heck, even I might be willing or even eager to throw the switch on some of them, but you can't just judge them all guilty simply because they're human. I won't stand for it and neither will the rest of the world. And, while it might sound outdated -- if you do, then you become no better then them."

"Granted," replied Magneto. "Though I have never been one to care overmuch what the world thought of me. Believe me, Katherine, I do understand what you are saying and I do, to a small extent, agree with you on the points you have made. Unfortunately, most other mutants wouldn't -- and most certainly no mutate. But I will be following a more moderate path regardless of my followers' wishes for another reason you haven't brought up... Logistics."

"Huh?"

"A great many mutates are striken with the Legacy virus and -- despite the influx of free mutants to Genosha -- if you were to remove every human from here, the country would grind to a complete halt. Genosha did make great use of mutant slave labor, but many mundane but necessary jobs were done by human hands, mostly in the farming sector. As much I am loathe to admit it, humans are needed for New Genosha to prosper. At least for the moment." Kitty gave him a surprised look.  "I am not saying it will be easy or even pleasant for anyone involved, Katherine, but, as I told you earlier, I will do whatever is necessary to build New Genosha."

Kitty nodded in reply and considered what he'd said so far. He seemed sincere, but Kitty had to admit that her track record for reading people was lousy. But still......

"Ok, let's for the moment say I believe you, Magnus," she began. "If you would, would you mind explaining what brought this change of mind on? And while you're at it, include those 'difficulties' you mentioned earlier... but first, how about why, of all people you could be making this offer to, why you picked me."

"I chose you, Katherine, because I felt I'd become closer to you than any of the other X-Men during my time with you, that you would be more willing to hear me out despite all that has happened since then, and because I truely believe you are fully capable of succeeding in the almost impossible task I am asking you to undertake. You are highly intelligent, a gifted problem solver, unwilling to accept defeat, and an able leader. Traits which all lend themselves to solving the problems of this country."

"My ego thanks you for the stroking," replied Kitty sarcastically. "But that can't be all of it."

"Actually it is. I truly do believe you to be equal to the task," returned Magneto.  "Which I must admit will be no easy or quick task. As to your other questions...."  He paused for a moment, then went on. "If you would follow me?" he asked, as he turned and began to walk toward the door.

KItty looked heavenward for a moment, seeking strength, then held out her arms for Lockheed to leap into, and followed him.

They walked upward and inward within the Cidadel, passing only a few people, all of whom stared shocked at her, although Kitty wasn't sure if it was because they knew who she was or because of the small purple dragon in her arms.

In quick order, they came to their destination. "My quarters," said Magnus as he opened the door for her.

Looking around Kitty was impressed with the opulence, but noted the lack of any personal touches. "Don't spend much time here do you?"

"No, I do not," he replied. "You asked me earlier why I did not make use of any of the energy systems I have used in the past to power my previous installations.  Besides the simple facts that none of those installations required anywhere near the power needed by a modern city and that Genosha's geology prevents me from easily -- or even with difficulty -- creating a geothermal tap like I have in the past, there is one other... hindrance."

Magnus gestured toward a sculpture of metal and it began to shake slightly. Then it slowly rose into the air and floated toward him.

Kitty looked up at his face and saw that this simple display of his magnetic abilities was requiring an almost impossible effort. Then he moved it back into place and released it with a gasp.

She waited a few moments while he caught his breath, then asked, "What happened?"

"Do you recall our last battle?" When Kitty nodded an afirmative he continued, "Then you recall that, at the end, I was barely able to keep Wolverine from my throat. After you'd all left, I discovered that my mutant abilities were nearly gone."

"But... but how? Why?"

"To date, I've yet to determine the cause. Perhaps a side effect -- albeit a large one -- from my battle with Astra's clone of myself.  However it happened, or why, I am now forced to rely on Fabian Cortez and his mutant ability to amplify others' mutant powers to access my full powers. Unfortunately, the effect is temporary, and the more I use my power, the quicker it fades."

Kitty nodded and said, "that explains why you've let him rejoin you. That had us all wondering back at the manision."

"And much of my technology -- such as my many robots -- was linked, and in a sense powered by my magnetic abilities. Hence, why I cannot make use of metalic minions."

"I see."

"So you can understand my problem, Katherine. Add in the difficulties caused by a year long civil war fought between powerful mutants and high tech weaponry which has devastated Genosha, plus a world which would just as soon see Genosha, its mutants and myself wither away -- and unfortunately, at times untrustworthy allies in the form of some of my acolytes -- and I would face a daunting task even if my powers were at their peak."

"Magnus, I..." began Kitty, but he stopped her again with an upraised hand.

"I know, Katherine. It sounds like I've managed, by my own actions, to find myself in a difficult position -- which I have -- and I'm trolling for help to get myself out of it -- which I am. Whereas once that's done, I will -- as I have in the past -- return to my old ways. Slapping aside those hands which once had helped.  But I was speaking the truth -- I *am* speaking the truth -- when I tell you I wish to tread the middle road, to live apart but besides humanity. To dwell in peace....."

He paused, as if caught in thought, then turned and walked to stand next to a curtain-covered window. "When I first came to Genosha, I took these rooms as my own because they belonged to the former 'president' of Genosha. I found the irony to be irresistible. But," continued Magneto, his voice suddenly very tired as he pulled back the curtains, "the universe is not without its own irony."

Kitty looked out past Magneto, out across the dark city of Hammer Bay. Only a handful of buildings were lit. Here and there small fires could be seen burning in various parts of the city. She couldn't understand just what Magneto was referring to and she turned toward him for an explanation, but he'd foreseen her question and said, "Look past the city, on a direct line with this window."

She turned back and looked out past the city. There, sitting in a pool of floodlight created glare, were a collection of huge tents surrounded by barb wire. "What... is it?"

"A segregrated camp," began Magneto, "for the victims of the Legacy virus. Genoshain mutates mostly, but a few mutants also. All suffering from various stages of the virus. Originally set up by the remmants of the original government and maintained by those who maintained control of Hammer Bay, it is a dumping ground for all suffering from the Legacy virus, in the hopes of controlling its spread and limiting its effect.

"It is a death camp. Anyone who enters never leaves alive.

"And I... I have allowed this to continue."