AU Reader Omake — ‘97-verse: Divide and Conquer
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Hello there, everyone and here's the third non-canon omake chapter of '97 Verse.
Enjoy.
After swiftly dispatching The X-Cutioner, his Friends of Humanity, and the anti-mutant protestors by dropping them all into the hundreds of magical portals (or having Stephen do it for her...) and returning to the United Nations HQ courtroom, the blonde woman revealed to Dr. Valerie Cooper, who demanded an explanation behind their subsequent disappearance upon realizing that Magneto's defense attorney also had powers, that she was an apprentice to the Sorcerer Supreme himself.
She added that she was an excellent student. (This was only mostly a lie; she was an excellent learner, but she was still a horrible mage.)
As Doctor Strange was one of the well-established superheroes (who was not a mutant, just a human who learned things), that gave Noa a pass and an excellent cover story to keep her mutant status a secret. It came in handy for her, and she intended to use the excuse while it lasted.
On the other hand, she reassured Dr. Val and the panel of UN Judges that she will release all of them after they properly settle the trial of Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto. She stated that with them temporarily out of the way, they wouldn't be disrupting the court session anymore. Her fellow blonde reluctantly conceded the point, and ordered the UN Forces to subdue the interlopers for committing insurrection once Noa had them released in a specific landing spot.
Soon, the trial of Magneto ended in favor of the Master of Magnetism himself, thanks to Noa and her masterful defense before the UN HQ's courtroom. The X-Men witnessing it now understood Magneto's confidence in his old friend, and it showed well. Her expertise with the law was truly not to be trifled with, for good reason.
As a result, the Master of Magnetism was granted a pardon, and he was interested with Dr. Val in the upcoming talks of admitting Genosha into the United Nations with the Interim Council. Magneto may have had strong reservations with Charles' dream, but he was determined to continue his friend's will and legacy. As long as the world eventually accepted the mutants' right to live and coexist with humanity, even if they didn't like it.*
After that, as promised, Noa released everyone caught by her (cough, Stephen's) magical portals outside the UN HQ, and they came out of them relatively unharmed with the UN Forces surrounding them to prevent their escape. She even managed to (have Stephen) release the weapons in a separate pile.
However, the Friends of Humanity and the protestors, including X-Cutioner, suddenly found themselves bereft of clothes, ending up in their underwear. Some had even wet themselves from the fear and shock. It was caught on live TV, discrediting the Friends of Humanity and their supporters and painting them as laughingstocks.
No one was going to live it down for a long time.
Sheepishly embarrassed, the blonde lawyer explained that it was a side effect of falling inside the portals for 30 minutes, slowly disintegrating less durable inanimate objects. Either way, the UN Forces were able to move in and subdue the rioters, too shocked at their predicament to run or fight back. Carl Denti predictably threw a tantrum that it wasn't fair as he was cuffed and taken away.
However, their weapons reverse engineered from Sentinel technology were no joke. Especially that one energy rifle from Carl... Good thing that they weren't smart enough to mass produce it or else the X-Men would have been depowered by now, mused; while the UN Forces did confiscate most of the weapons from the Friends of Humanity, she didn't release the few remaining Sentinel arm cannons or the mutant depowering rifle from the portals.
Noa had kept them inside her own small personal dimensional storage, a useful spot to place her stuff and bring it out when needed. It never hurt to be crazy prepared and she had a funny feeling that they would come in handy.
Although, she noted with a frown, it's a shame that the rifle only has one shot. That was clearly meant for Erik had Carl got inside the UN courtroom and hit him with it. I wonder who built that weapon?...
Then Noa heard a loud beeping sound, turning her direction to the device with an X symbol on the left side of her table. Curious, she opened the communication channel and asked. "Hello there. What is it, Erik?"
"We have a situation, Noa," her friend answered with a grave tone, which got her eyebrow raised before she decided to go to the X-Mansion.
Contacting her secretary via the intercom, Noa informed, "Genevieve*, could you reschedule my appointments for the afternoon? Something urgent's come up."
"Of course, Ms. Schaefer. Be careful.", her fellow blonde mutant complied.
Genevieve's telekinesis was mundanely useful when it comes to arranging the items and documents to their proper places in Noa's law firm. It helped that she had work experience as one of Herbert Landon's assistant staff, over at Brand Corporation.
Thank you, Charles, that was the best recommendation I could've gotten, Noa smiled whilst remembering the day when Professor X visited her and brought in Genevieve.
Her fellow blonde may have gotten over her low self-esteem issues of her mutant status after meeting Charles, but she had politely refused to join the X-Men, wanting to resume her normal life. Thankfully the Professor understood this and reached out to Noa, recommending her to take in Genevieve as her secretary.
Using the Sling Ring to open an orange magical portal in front of her, the mutant attorney made her quick entrance into the X-Mansion's infirmary, where Magneto and the X-Men were gathered together. She even noticed another redhead woman lying unconscious in bed and experiencing convulsions, for which Beast tended to her. They told her what had happened recently while she was away in her work.
"Let me get this straight. Not only did the Jean Grey you knew turn out to be a clone, with the actual Jean Grey showing up here. But then the clone revealed her true allegiance to this 'Sinister', called herself 'Goblin Queen' before causing psychic mayhem inside the mansion, and took away her baby Nathan. Is that right?" she summarized with a frown.
"Pretty much," Wolverine confirmed with a grunt.
The new ward, Roberto Da Costa asked in curiosity, "Who's Sinister?"
"Sinister is the most evil man ever existed. He was a scientist in the 1800s and he started cutting up mutants. Stealing our DNA to enhance himself, prolong his life," Morph explained whilst subconsciously transforming into a shell-shocked dark haired man with a thousand yard stare. "... he can even take away our will. I should know."
And he's going to experiment on the baby. That's... that's monstrous, Noa thought with, barely holding back her simmering rage at Sinister's intentions. Scott seemed to agree as he punched his fist on the wall and lamented his helplessness.
"Sinister has plagued us for far too long! And it is time the madman pay for his malevolent appropriations!" Magneto firmly declared with promise of retribution.
"I can show you where he is," the shapeshifting X-Men member offered, and insisted to Cyclops that he wasn't going to let Sinister hurt anyone else anymore.
"Rogue, Wolverine, Beast. Tend to our wounded. I will lead the others in a surgical strike," the Master of Magnetism ordered, which Cyclops conceded, so long as they get his son back.
Noa spoke up before they were about to leave, "And walk into a trap? If I were the bad guy, I'd be expecting heroes to come to my evil lair directly and set a trap before them."
Erik said in response, "Then we shall spring the trap."*
"Remember when you and Charles used to play chess? You let the pawns go first before moving in the more powerful pieces, where they would impact the enemy where they least expect it,*" she reminded her old friend.
Storm* deduced with widened eyes, "I see. Ms. Schaefer is suggesting we use the divide and conquer maneuver. Sinister and his pawn, the Goblin Queen, will be expecting the heaviest hitters coming at the front door with brute force... but not the others who are beneath notice, and can sneak in to rescue Scott's son from their clutches."
"Correct," Noa confirmed with smile before turning to Morph, Bishop and Jubilee. "You three are with me. Morph, give us Sinister's location. I will open the way to his lab while Erik and the X-Men approach from the front and draw their attention."
Magneto nodded in agreement, trusting Noa and her tendency to sneak around when she wanted to be. Not only that, he is good at drawing attention and he's not very subtle when it comes to using his power of magnetism.
But Cyclops protested in concern, "I appreciate your help, Miss Schaefer. But Sinister is a dangerous monster. You may have learned magic from Doctor Strange as his student but you're a civilian. You don't have the combat training or experience."
Chuckling with a mischievous smirk, Noa opened a small magical portal and pulled out the mutant depowering gun from it in front of her fellow mutants. They recognized it as one of X-Cutioner's arsenal, the piece he held in reserve during the rioting at the UN HQ.
Brandishing it, she responded. "Trust me, Mr. Summers. He won't see this one coming and I have a few more magic tricks up my sleeve..."
*Shout-out to Heath Ledger's Joker who note of the double standards of society in a nutshell.
*Without Magneto's epic speech to Dr. Val Cooper, the UN Panel Judges and The X-Cutioner whilst bringing up the entire floor of the UN HQ courtroom to the atmosphere with his power of magnetism that gave him a pardon, Genosha wasn't subsequently admitted into the United Nations. At least here, it's a start with baby steps.
*Genevieve is a mutant with the power of telekinesis who can move objects with her mind. She is from Spider-Man The Animated Series' "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge" crossover episodes with the X-Men.
*Reference to Ian McKellen's Gandalf the Grey's reply to Radagast the Brown when walking into the lair of The Necromancer a.k.a. Sauron in "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug".
*Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto had played chess together as their favorite pastimes in the X-Men live action films.
*Because The X-Cutioner was subdued earlier, Storm had never lost her powers. However, it resulted in certain consequences of its own regarding Forge and The Adversary...
Enjoy.
Divide and Conquer
Tell them that you got your powers by learning magic from Doctor Strange, no one bats an eye. But when you tell them that you are a mutant, everyone loses their minds!*, Noa Schaefer thought with amusement as she was busy preparing court filings in her humble law firm. It was a busy day for the draconic mutant attorney, as many had been since the conclusion of the trial of Magneto.
After swiftly dispatching The X-Cutioner, his Friends of Humanity, and the anti-mutant protestors by dropping them all into the hundreds of magical portals (or having Stephen do it for her...) and returning to the United Nations HQ courtroom, the blonde woman revealed to Dr. Valerie Cooper, who demanded an explanation behind their subsequent disappearance upon realizing that Magneto's defense attorney also had powers, that she was an apprentice to the Sorcerer Supreme himself.
She added that she was an excellent student. (This was only mostly a lie; she was an excellent learner, but she was still a horrible mage.)
As Doctor Strange was one of the well-established superheroes (who was not a mutant, just a human who learned things), that gave Noa a pass and an excellent cover story to keep her mutant status a secret. It came in handy for her, and she intended to use the excuse while it lasted.
On the other hand, she reassured Dr. Val and the panel of UN Judges that she will release all of them after they properly settle the trial of Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto. She stated that with them temporarily out of the way, they wouldn't be disrupting the court session anymore. Her fellow blonde reluctantly conceded the point, and ordered the UN Forces to subdue the interlopers for committing insurrection once Noa had them released in a specific landing spot.
Soon, the trial of Magneto ended in favor of the Master of Magnetism himself, thanks to Noa and her masterful defense before the UN HQ's courtroom. The X-Men witnessing it now understood Magneto's confidence in his old friend, and it showed well. Her expertise with the law was truly not to be trifled with, for good reason.
As a result, the Master of Magnetism was granted a pardon, and he was interested with Dr. Val in the upcoming talks of admitting Genosha into the United Nations with the Interim Council. Magneto may have had strong reservations with Charles' dream, but he was determined to continue his friend's will and legacy. As long as the world eventually accepted the mutants' right to live and coexist with humanity, even if they didn't like it.*
After that, as promised, Noa released everyone caught by her (cough, Stephen's) magical portals outside the UN HQ, and they came out of them relatively unharmed with the UN Forces surrounding them to prevent their escape. She even managed to (have Stephen) release the weapons in a separate pile.
However, the Friends of Humanity and the protestors, including X-Cutioner, suddenly found themselves bereft of clothes, ending up in their underwear. Some had even wet themselves from the fear and shock. It was caught on live TV, discrediting the Friends of Humanity and their supporters and painting them as laughingstocks.
No one was going to live it down for a long time.
Sheepishly embarrassed, the blonde lawyer explained that it was a side effect of falling inside the portals for 30 minutes, slowly disintegrating less durable inanimate objects. Either way, the UN Forces were able to move in and subdue the rioters, too shocked at their predicament to run or fight back. Carl Denti predictably threw a tantrum that it wasn't fair as he was cuffed and taken away.
However, their weapons reverse engineered from Sentinel technology were no joke. Especially that one energy rifle from Carl... Good thing that they weren't smart enough to mass produce it or else the X-Men would have been depowered by now, mused; while the UN Forces did confiscate most of the weapons from the Friends of Humanity, she didn't release the few remaining Sentinel arm cannons or the mutant depowering rifle from the portals.
Noa had kept them inside her own small personal dimensional storage, a useful spot to place her stuff and bring it out when needed. It never hurt to be crazy prepared and she had a funny feeling that they would come in handy.
Although, she noted with a frown, it's a shame that the rifle only has one shot. That was clearly meant for Erik had Carl got inside the UN courtroom and hit him with it. I wonder who built that weapon?...
Then Noa heard a loud beeping sound, turning her direction to the device with an X symbol on the left side of her table. Curious, she opened the communication channel and asked. "Hello there. What is it, Erik?"
"We have a situation, Noa," her friend answered with a grave tone, which got her eyebrow raised before she decided to go to the X-Mansion.
Contacting her secretary via the intercom, Noa informed, "Genevieve*, could you reschedule my appointments for the afternoon? Something urgent's come up."
"Of course, Ms. Schaefer. Be careful.", her fellow blonde mutant complied.
Genevieve's telekinesis was mundanely useful when it comes to arranging the items and documents to their proper places in Noa's law firm. It helped that she had work experience as one of Herbert Landon's assistant staff, over at Brand Corporation.
Thank you, Charles, that was the best recommendation I could've gotten, Noa smiled whilst remembering the day when Professor X visited her and brought in Genevieve.
Her fellow blonde may have gotten over her low self-esteem issues of her mutant status after meeting Charles, but she had politely refused to join the X-Men, wanting to resume her normal life. Thankfully the Professor understood this and reached out to Noa, recommending her to take in Genevieve as her secretary.
Using the Sling Ring to open an orange magical portal in front of her, the mutant attorney made her quick entrance into the X-Mansion's infirmary, where Magneto and the X-Men were gathered together. She even noticed another redhead woman lying unconscious in bed and experiencing convulsions, for which Beast tended to her. They told her what had happened recently while she was away in her work.
"Let me get this straight. Not only did the Jean Grey you knew turn out to be a clone, with the actual Jean Grey showing up here. But then the clone revealed her true allegiance to this 'Sinister', called herself 'Goblin Queen' before causing psychic mayhem inside the mansion, and took away her baby Nathan. Is that right?" she summarized with a frown.
"Pretty much," Wolverine confirmed with a grunt.
The new ward, Roberto Da Costa asked in curiosity, "Who's Sinister?"
"Sinister is the most evil man ever existed. He was a scientist in the 1800s and he started cutting up mutants. Stealing our DNA to enhance himself, prolong his life," Morph explained whilst subconsciously transforming into a shell-shocked dark haired man with a thousand yard stare. "... he can even take away our will. I should know."
And he's going to experiment on the baby. That's... that's monstrous, Noa thought with, barely holding back her simmering rage at Sinister's intentions. Scott seemed to agree as he punched his fist on the wall and lamented his helplessness.
"Sinister has plagued us for far too long! And it is time the madman pay for his malevolent appropriations!" Magneto firmly declared with promise of retribution.
"I can show you where he is," the shapeshifting X-Men member offered, and insisted to Cyclops that he wasn't going to let Sinister hurt anyone else anymore.
"Rogue, Wolverine, Beast. Tend to our wounded. I will lead the others in a surgical strike," the Master of Magnetism ordered, which Cyclops conceded, so long as they get his son back.
Noa spoke up before they were about to leave, "And walk into a trap? If I were the bad guy, I'd be expecting heroes to come to my evil lair directly and set a trap before them."
Erik said in response, "Then we shall spring the trap."*
"Remember when you and Charles used to play chess? You let the pawns go first before moving in the more powerful pieces, where they would impact the enemy where they least expect it,*" she reminded her old friend.
Storm* deduced with widened eyes, "I see. Ms. Schaefer is suggesting we use the divide and conquer maneuver. Sinister and his pawn, the Goblin Queen, will be expecting the heaviest hitters coming at the front door with brute force... but not the others who are beneath notice, and can sneak in to rescue Scott's son from their clutches."
"Correct," Noa confirmed with smile before turning to Morph, Bishop and Jubilee. "You three are with me. Morph, give us Sinister's location. I will open the way to his lab while Erik and the X-Men approach from the front and draw their attention."
Magneto nodded in agreement, trusting Noa and her tendency to sneak around when she wanted to be. Not only that, he is good at drawing attention and he's not very subtle when it comes to using his power of magnetism.
But Cyclops protested in concern, "I appreciate your help, Miss Schaefer. But Sinister is a dangerous monster. You may have learned magic from Doctor Strange as his student but you're a civilian. You don't have the combat training or experience."
Chuckling with a mischievous smirk, Noa opened a small magical portal and pulled out the mutant depowering gun from it in front of her fellow mutants. They recognized it as one of X-Cutioner's arsenal, the piece he held in reserve during the rioting at the UN HQ.
Brandishing it, she responded. "Trust me, Mr. Summers. He won't see this one coming and I have a few more magic tricks up my sleeve..."
*Shout-out to Heath Ledger's Joker who note of the double standards of society in a nutshell.
*Without Magneto's epic speech to Dr. Val Cooper, the UN Panel Judges and The X-Cutioner whilst bringing up the entire floor of the UN HQ courtroom to the atmosphere with his power of magnetism that gave him a pardon, Genosha wasn't subsequently admitted into the United Nations. At least here, it's a start with baby steps.
*Genevieve is a mutant with the power of telekinesis who can move objects with her mind. She is from Spider-Man The Animated Series' "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge" crossover episodes with the X-Men.
*Reference to Ian McKellen's Gandalf the Grey's reply to Radagast the Brown when walking into the lair of The Necromancer a.k.a. Sauron in "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug".
*Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto had played chess together as their favorite pastimes in the X-Men live action films.
*Because The X-Cutioner was subdued earlier, Storm had never lost her powers. However, it resulted in certain consequences of its own regarding Forge and The Adversary...