Of Mutants and Men

[09]

         Whether they lived by the rules of a God or simply by gambling with Fate, this world was rotten, humans' morals corrupt. Their greed knew no limit and their selfishness shed the blood of innocent. Justifying their misdeeds by accusing one and other, they refused to be branded as the villain, claiming that they were simply fallen heroes who dreamt of building a better world.

Perhaps that was why Angelika was quick to join Caliban's organisation. They both shared different goals; Caliban hoped to make profit by relocating mutants and she aided those who were targeted by different organisations. But she needed him as much as he needed her. She brought in clients and he financed her rescue missions.

Angelika neither believed blindly in a God or did she expect Fate to be kinder. She took matters into her own hands, either standing firmly like a deeply rooted tree or swimming against the currents.

After the end of the Second World War, governments manifested perilous interest in mutants — enhanced individuals, they called them. The US government had actually succeeded in creating a super soldier to fight against the Nazis, by altering the genes of a regular human. But said soldier died in action and the scientist who held the secret formula was assassinated long before. This avant-première of how much of the world they could control through one mutant made them hungry, ravenous for another super soldier. S.H.I.E.L.D was one example. That distasteful, one-eyed wannabe pirate by the name of Nick Fury never ceased his search for mutants, claiming he wanted to create a group of heroes to protect the world. He had the guts to make an offer to her, she commended his bravery, she truly did, but who died and gave him the right to summon mutants and hold authority over them?

On the other hand, there were those like Bolivar Trask. The despicable imp deemed mutants as a threat to humanity. His fear was not completely unjustified, not after a bullet curved miraculously midair and assassinated JFK. Angelika still remembered the horror that shook her core upon hearing the name Magneto. Erik Lehnsherr had become a terrifying, merciless man. She had once hoped he would become the benevolent person his grandfather always wanted him to be, to be compassionate like his mother taught him to be. But Magneto became the name of a villain, one that left a foul taste in the mouths of those who uttered it.

However, Erik's violence did not justify Trask's quest to eradicate the mutant race. It gave her a horrible case of a déjà-vu but this time, she was not as defenceless as she once were. She was a fighter; what's wrong and right, just and unjust, she cared not. She simply planned to have Trask's head on a spike.

Would imprisoning Erik in a metal-free ditch put an end to mutants rebelling against humans' unjustness? No, others were just smart enough not to go public by killing the president. There would be more Eriks and Bolivar Trasks in the future; the heinous cycle of hatred will continue unless one part surrenders.

In the end, humans or mutants, they were all fucked.

—

"How do you feel today?"

Angelika stared incredulously at the bespectacled woman sitting across her, baffled by the sheer absurdity of her question. "You're the empath. Not to mention, I'm paying you over a hundred dollar per hour to fix whatever is broken inside me."

"Yes," Georgina chuckled, "But I'm asking you how you feel to help you assess yourself. I can't fix things in your stead, I'm merely a tool for you to use."

Georgina Woodley, former captive of HYDRA, currently the most expensive therapist in Washington DC. Just like Angelika was proficient with telepathy, Georgina was a formidable empath who sought to use her mutation to cure the damaged and so far, the telepath saw her more as annoying than helpful.