The mist-covered entrance behind them, Soren and the others slipped quietly into the interior of the colossal Statue of Liberty. The inside of the monument, rarely seen by anyone outside of maintenance crews, was a vast maze of metal supports, narrow stairways, and winding corridors.
The only way to reach the torch, where Erik's device waited, was to climb upward, floor by floor.
Every step echoed faintly in the hollow space, and even the steady hum of the distant machine above felt like a heartbeat, growing stronger the farther they went.
"Be careful. Erik won't leave the machine unguarded." Storm's voice was a low.
Wolverine took point, his heightened senses guiding them as they moved through a wide display room, where old exhibits about the history of the statue stood in dusty silence.
He froze.
"Wait." Logan growled, holding up a hand.
"Someone here."
The group instinctively tensed, forming defensive stances.
Storm's eyes flickered white, ready to summon lightning, while Jean lifted a hand, psychic power gathering invisibly in the air around her.
"Where?" Jean asked.
They scanned the room, but saw nothing.
Only rows of old, life-sized sculptures, worn, bronze-green copies of the statue's face, hand, and torch, placed as museum pieces around the chamber.
Soren, unlike the others, didn't tense. He was relaxed, his perception opened to its fullest, a web stretching through the room.
A flicker…
A heartbeat where there shouldn't be.
The barest trace of breath hidden among lifeless objects.
He leaned closer to Jean, speaking softly in her ear.
"Jean… guess what I found?"
Her brow furrowed, sensing his hubris.
"What is it?"
"An old friend."
Across the room, hidden in plain sight, Mystique felt a chill creep through her.
She hadn't expected to see him here.
Soren Macaluso.
A man she knew well, too well… it was bad enough that the X-Men were here, but with Soren among them, things had taken a wrong turn.
She had blended herself perfectly, mimicking a part of a weathered Liberty sculpture down to the smallest crack and patina.
It should have fooled anyone.
"Raven," Soren called out.
"Come now… old friends shouldn't be so shy. No hello?"
The others spun to face him, confused. Their gazes shifted, trying to pinpoint who he was speaking to, until one of the statues stirred.
The bronze sheen faded. The rigid pose softened.
Slowly, a pair of vivid yellow eyes opened.
"Dr. Macaluso…" Mystique sighed, stepping away from the display she had merged with.
"It's been a long time. How… did you find me?"
"You did a good job." Soren admitted with a small smile.
"Your mimicry was flawless. Every texture, every contour. You made yourself indistinguishable from stone."
His gaze locked onto hers. "But you missed one thing."
Mystique's brow furrowed.
"What?"
"Dead things don't breathe. They don't have heartbeats. No matter how well you mask yourself, you're alive. And I can sense that, Raven."
Mystique's talent for shapeshifting had fooled countless enemies, hidden her in impossible places…
She exhaled, a brief, rueful smile on her lips.
"Impressive as always doctor."
"Raven." Soren's voice softening. "Give up. Magneto's plan it's suicide."
"You know this won't end well for Mutants. You've seen the fear in humans already. If Erik does this… it'll destroy any chance we have at peace. You'll be hunted, hated, exterminated."
The others watched in wary silence. Even Logan, always quick to jump in, held back.
Mystique hesitated, visibly torn for the first time.
"Dr. Macaluso… are you a Mutant?"
Her voice was steady, but there was a brittle edge to it, like she already knew the answer she feared.
Soren was silent for a moment, the question hanging heavy in the air.
"No."
The word struck harder than expected. Raven took a slow breath.
"Then you don't understand." She snapped.
"You don't know what it's like, being one of us. Especially when your body betrays you."
She gestured bitterly to herself. "Do you have any idea what kind of life I've had? I spent years hiding in Tibet, in caves, in monasteries, because in the world you live in, people like me don't belong."
Her words echoed in the hollow chamber, charged with unfiltered frustration.
"But Magneto… Erik… he promised something different. A world where Mutants would be the rulers. Where we wouldn't have to beg for scraps or hide in shadows. A world where no one could pass laws to exclude us, to cage us, or burn us alive in fear."
"And for the first time in my life… I believed it could happen."
Her voice broke as she sucked in an uneven breath, fighting to keep control of her emotions.
Soren's expression softened, but his voice stayed calm and sure.
"Raven… even if Erik's vision seems beautiful from where you're standing, it's built on a fatal flaw."
"The machine Erik built, doesn't work the way he says it does. It doesn't safely awaken the latent mutant genes in humans… it forces their bodies into something they were never meant to be."
He felt the presence of Professor X's mind nearby.
'He's right.' Charles mentally transmitted. 'Raven… it's true.'
Raven shook her head, refusing to believe it.
"No… no, I saw it. The councilman… after Erik's machine, he had powers! I saw him…"
"He's dead, Raven." Soren interrupted, his voice like a cold blade.
"A few days after that demonstration… his body broke down. Turned into water. The mutation wasn't real, it was a death sentence."
The words hit her like a strike to the chest.
"No… no, no, no…" She whispered, her whole body trembling. "It can't be… Erik promised… he promised…"
Soren felt it then, a ripple of danger, sharp and immediate.
Without thinking, his hand shot out, a burst of psychokinesis flaring just in time to deflect a long, glistening tongue snapping towards Jean.
THWACK
The tongue recoiled, and a guttural snarl came from the shadows.
On the wall clung an ugly, reptilian mutant, his skin sickly green, eyes burning with hostile hunger.
"I hope you've made peace with your gods." Soren's aura shimmered with dangerous energy, he shifted in front of Jean protectively.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Fellow Phantoms and aspiring Phantoms to be, if you seek to access advanced parts of this story procced to my shadowy realm of p@treon.
PhantomDream