Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 68: Distraction

A black haired woman walked quietly down a metal corridor her entire focus on the door before her. The only sound in the corridor was the clicking of high heels as the woman made her way over. Wearing glasses, a business suit and having her hair done up in a bun, she exuded an air of professionalism.

*Clank* *Click* Reaching her objective, she opened the door in a swift motion and walked into a dark room. The small light from a lamp lit up one side of the room, where a computer sat along with a man. The man was old, with hair that was starting to grey and a few extra wrinkles on his face, it was easy to tell that he had seen better days.

The man was hunched over the computer his hand moving restlessly as he scrolled through information. Every now and then he would stop and stare intently at the picture on the side of the computer. The picture showed two young children, one was a boy the other a girl. The boy had silver hair and a lanky body, while the girl had short red hair and chubby cheeks.

Every time the man looked at the picture the room would shake slightly. This had been going on for too long. Or that's what the woman though. It had already been weeks, months since they had disappeared. 'And ever since he had started to close in on himself'.

His rage was building; she had known him long enough to know he was ready to blow. Every day that they didn't find them was just making his eventual explosion even bigger. The rest had started to question what was wrong with their 'Leader' The man that had brought them all together.

Her being the second in command had to make sure everything was running smoothly, to make sure that they stayed in line. If anyone of them were to leave the rest might just follow. 'Thankfully none of them have seen him in a while'.

Looking at the hunched back of the man that was only in his late 50's, but looked like he was in to his 70's she let a sigh out. Walking behind the chair he sat in, she reached up for her glasses. It was time to distract him, to take his mind off 'them'.

Grasping her glasses and taking them off the woman's body started to shift. The clothes, hair, eyes, body shape, everything changed in a few seconds as the suit disappeared and a blue goddess now stood in the room.

With red hair, blue skin and yellow eyes, coupled with a white dress, with skulls on the front, boots and gloves, Raven Darkholme, better known as Mystique spoke to Max Eisenhardt, well known as Erik Magnus Lehnsherr and better known as Magneto, leader of the mutant group, 'The Brother Hood'.

"Erik, there has been reports of a possible mutant in New York." Magneto didn't turn around as he replied, still searching. "I don't care." Mystique resisted the urge to sigh as she continued. "Charles and his kids seem very interested in this certain Mutant. They could be very powerful."

Magneto stopped for a second before he continued his work. "He can have this one. I'm too busy right now." Mystique felt her anger rising as she grabbed his chair and forcefully turned him around. "You need the distraction. 'They' can wait. You need to clear your head."

His face also scrunched in anger. He stood up in anger as the room trembled and the metal walls around them started to groan. "NO! I need to find 'them' and kill whoever took them! And I won't stop till then!!!" He shouted out in anger as Mystique held her ground. She had been with Erik long enough to know when he was truly enraged.

Right now he was frustrated, tired and high strung. As if to prove her thoughts right after shouting out like that he flopped back into his chair, looking more tired than she had ever seen him. Walking a bit closer she rested her hands on his shoulder as her voice turned a bit gentler.

"You need rest Erik. We have our best people working on it..." He looked like he was going to protest again but she continued. "You know it's true, plus the others are getting restless. Avalanche and Pyro have been jumpy for the last few days. They need some action. And..."

Her voice turned deep and grave to get her point across. "They need to see their leader command them like always. So they know everything is ok, even after 'They' disappeared." The Air seemed to escape from his body as he limply sat in his chair.

Magneto's thoughts raced a mile a minute as his analytical mind knew that Raven was telling the truth. Seeing that she was getting through, something she had been trying for the last few days, she went in for the kill. "We'll find this mutant, turn them to our cause, and maybe even fight Charles over them, calm every ones worries and get right back to looking for 'them'."

It took a few minutes but finally a determination that hadn't been seen for the last few weeks sparked into his eyes and he steadily stood up. Rubbing his chin that had grown a small amount of stubble, he raised an eye brow in surprise before walking towards the door.

Mystique morphed back into the black haired business woman as he made his way out and put back on her fake glasses. She had done what she came to achieve. 'Hopefully this distraction will keep everything together'. A cold light shone in her eyes as she looked down at the computer in front of her.

The small picture of the two siblings shone in her eyes as she looked at them, before they moved to the small logo that was in the background of the information being displayed. The information Magneto was desperately taking apart. Giving one last hateful look at the skull with tentacles coming out from it, she turned her back and followed Erik out.

They had a mutant to recruit.

Chapter end