Maysville mutant relocation center, California:
The mutant prisoners are guarded by Sentinels. Several are forced to do heavy work, watched by human guards. One of the mutants in the trenches, Fred Dukes, moans and drops his hammer. He is exhausted. His friend, Angelo Unuscione, exclaims his name concerned.
Two human guards laugh. One of them orders Dukes to get up. No slacking! Worn out already? the other mocks. He thought this blob was supposed to be indestructible!
Take off the inhibitor collar and find out! Unus threatens. Nah, don’t think so, comes the reply. How about instead they put Dukes in the hole, see if a few hours in the sun can melt off some of that blubber…
Suddenly Dukes’ and Unuscione’s inhibitor collars make a strange noise, then something whooshes past them, and the next moment the collars are gone and their powers work. Suddenly, he feels much better, Dukes remarks with a grin.
He hits one guard, while the other calls the Sentinels for help. Code red! One Sentinel begins to attack, then stops and stutters in mid-command, then is taken apart by the power of Magneto (joined by Quicksilver and Polaris).
Fellow mutants, he is Magneto, he announces. And they are free! While Polaris takes care of a batch of Sentinels closing in, Magneto turns to Dukes. Did he hear correctly? He is invulnerable? Pretty close, Dukes replies. May he place him in a magnetic force bubble? He guesses so, Dukes replies unsure, as he begins to levitate. Magneto thanks him and drops the bubble on another Sentinel that is terrorizing the inmates, thus taking it out spectacularly.
The mutant prisoners do the rest, destroying the Sentinel in their rage. Magneto, Polaris and Quicksilver watch. Should he help them? Quicksilver offers. No, Magneto replies. By doing it themselves, they transform themselves from prisoners into an army. Are the guards all captured? he asks Polaris. The lucky ones, she replies. Magneto allows Quicksilver to return to his sister.
Fred Dukes exclaims this was awesome! Did Magneto see him smash through those hunks of junk? He did indeed, Magneto replies and addresses the freed mutants. Today they have struck a blow not only for their own freedom but for the liberation of all mutantkind! Their destiny is now in their hand. He asks them to join him. To fight beside their brothers and sisters against the oppressors who put them here.
Dukes climbs on the car Magneto is standing on, assuring him he is with him. They are never locking him up again. Well said, Magneto commends him. What’s his name? Fred J. Dukes. No, he is no longer bound by human rules… human names. He can choose for himself. Dukes thinks for a moment, then smiles and whispers something in Magneto’s ear. Magneto takes his arm and holds it high. My friends, it is his honor to present them the Blob.
A soldier with a sharpshooter rifle watches this, ready to fire. Then he lowers the weapon and walks towards Magneto, his will no longer his own. He is followed by Charles Xavier, who is dressed in a basic black and gold X uniform. He introduces himself and states he and Magneto should talk.
Meanwhile in Washington DC, Trask tells a crowd that they heard the president. This brazen attack on American soil will not go unpunished. To that end, he has empowered him to form a special task force whose goal is to find the terrorist Magneto, wherever he may hide… and bring him to justice!
A journalist asks how he answers charges that there were human right violations occurring at Marysville?
Impossible, comes the reply. There were no humans at Maryville, only mutants.
Magneto, his guest Xavier, Polaris, Quicksilver and his sister Wanda watch the interview on Asteroid M. Just as he predicted, Xavier remarks. They are coming after Magneto. Let them, comes the reply. Even if they weren’t cloaked by technology and mutant talents, they’d have a hard time finding Asteroid M. They only travel here by means of their teleporters, Wanda informs Xavier. There’s no trail to follow. They are safer here than on Earth.
Polaris and Quicksilver examine the sniper’s gun. All ceramic and plastic. No metal whatsoever, even the bullets. They were expecting them.
If what he hears is true, they’ll soon have Sentinels from the same materials, Xavier points out. Magneto may want to scale back his plans.
Magneto orders Pietro and Lorna to send a file report to Apocalypse in Egypt and asks Wanda to fetch Sofia.
Once the three are out of the room, Xavier remarks that, if Magneto doesn’t want them to know he is their father, he shouldn’t dote on them so. Furious, Magneto asks if he read his mind. Never without reason, comes the reply. But Quicksilver looks just like Magneto. Polaris has his powers and – he refers to a picture of Magda and Anya – this woman who he presumes is his wife resembles Wanda. The way Magneto behaves toward them. It’s hard not to see.
Magneto admits Xavier is perceptive. Xavier asks him to call him Charles. And he is Magnus, comes the reply. Magneto extends his hands as he expresses his hope that Charles will also call him friend… ally. Charles keeps his arms crossed on his back. He admits he believes in Magneto’s cause, but his methods concern him. They are on the verge of all-out war between humans and mutants. Surely there are other options.
He wishes there were, Magnus replies. His daughter Wanda is a human. She’s inspired him to prosecute the conflict with more restraint than he might have otherwise. But it must be fought.
Wanda returns with a thin pale woman with a bald head, a number tattooed on her forehead. Magnus introduces her as Sofia and explains Wanda has helped her adjust since she left her homeland.
Xavier looks shocked. Magneto explains that President Nixon and Vice president Ford have done terrible things to mutants, but they are far from the worst. Sofia is from the nation of Genosha. A place where mutants are enslaved, both physically and mentally.
Wanda adds that Sofia’s “master” brought her along with him on a business trip to Australia. Wanda helped her escape. They did horrible things to her. Magnus suggests he not take their words but read her mind. Xavier asks Sofia if she is willing and she agrees.
He enters her psyche and sees the horrors and humiliations she’s been subjected to. Horrified, he breaks off the contact, sinking to his knees. He knew they practiced Apartheid, but he had no idea… if the rest of the world knew!
He’s not that naïve, Magnus scoffs. The Soviet Union provides military aid to Genosha… a non-Communist country. Why? Because they not only know what’s going on there… they want it for themselves! They see forced mutant labor as the way to save their economy from collapsing. And Xavier’s own country seems bent on treating mutants the way it once did the Africans, the Indians and the Japanese! So, does he truly believe they have non-violent options? Xavier looks back at Sofia, then takes Magneto’s hand. They have one option, he announces. The liberation of Genosha!
An ordinary day in Hammer Bay, Genosha, until Magneto and his army are teleported in and attack the Citadel, Genoshan state security headquarters.
The Chief Magistrate gives orders to sound the alarms. No more alarms, this is it. Either Magneto dies today, or they do! This is why they are here, she addresses a group. Get out there! They do not take orders from her, the group’s leader replies, but have no fear. The Soviet Supersoldiers know their duty, the Black Widow announces with a smirk. And soon they join the battle.
Not part of the battle are Quicksilver (who longs to be there), Xavier and Polaris. Instead, they are in a prison where mutates are kept. Xavier reminds Pietro this is the frontline. Lorna agrees. Even they don’t have the numbers to take the entire island without help. She releases the mutates and Pietro with superspeed frees them from their shackles.
They can liberate their bodies, he tells Xavier but, unless he can do the same for their minds, they’re no better than cattle. Xavier strictly orders Pietro not to ever speak about those people that way again. One after the other, he mentally frees them, telling them he is just giving them back their faculties. They’ll set themselves free.
The mutates join the fight and the Magistrates are forced to divide their forces.
Xavier reminds the others that they still have to seek out the other prisons. That, moment they are surprised by the Crimson Dynamo. Natasha was right, he announces. They planned this well. But not well enough… He fires upward and brings down the ceiling on them.
“No!” Magneto shouts and flies there. He finds Quicksilver, who carries out an injured Polaris, but Xavier is still inside. Magneto looks at the rubble, then rises into the air and addresses the Genoshan magistrates.
He announces he will make this offer once and once only. Surrender now and they will be treated according to the Geneva Convention.
Big talk, considering the battle is far from won! the Chief Magistrate shouts back. Give her one reason why she should accept! Because he researched her country, he replies. Their main export is iron ore.
The ground begins to rumble as he uses his power to lift off a mountain top and levitates it over Hammer Bay. Clearly strained, he orders the Chief Magistrate to listen to him very carefully. He will plunge this land into the ocean. He will kill every mutant in this country rather than see them continue to suffer. Death or surrender, human He’ll leave the choice to hers.
