The last of the civilians were evacuated and loaded onto the Blackbird, their panic was hdrowned out by the deep thrumming of its engines spinning to life. The X-Men had swept the ruined city block by block, Jean guiding terrified souls into the aircraft and tried to shield with her telekinesis while Logan cleared paths. Now, the doors sealed shut with a hydraulic hiss, and the craft lifted shakily into the air, a plume of smoke trailing behind.
Inside, Logan paced with unease. His muscles were tense, ash and dust still fresh on his claws from the earlier skirmish. He glanced toward Beast, who was frantically recalibrating the flight systems.
"Get us the hell away from this shitstorm, Hank," Logan growled. "Before we're turned into scrap metal."
"I'm trying, Logan," Beast replied, eyes flicking over readouts. "But the magnetic fields all around us keeps pulling us back."
Suddenly, a violent jolt rocked the Blackbird. The entire craft groaned as if gripped by invisible hands.
Rogue's voice cracked, full of panic, "We can't leave Gojo! Not like this!"
At the cockpit, Jean Grey's eyes were burning with psychic strain, her hands trembling as she projected a barrier around the ship. " Magneto is dragging us in he's manipulating the field around the Blackbird!"
Back on the battlefield, Magneto's eyes flared with a pale blue light not the usual cold steel hue, but something deeper as his power was being unleashed at its fullest. He raised his hand slowly, fingers with little effort as he twisted the magnetic fields around the jet. His power no longer merely bent metal, it reached into the forces between atoms, grasping the very bonds of reality.
Inside the ship, Jean screamed, her face slick with sweat, veins on her temple pulsing. "I can't hold it—!"
A sudden shockwave exploded outward from the ruined earth below and enveloped the plane.
Gojo hovered midair, eyes focused, his hands outstretched as he managed to stave off the pressure in Jean with his telekinetic force. With one sharp motion, he shaped the energy into a spiraling drill of telekinesis and hurled it at Magneto. It screeched through the air, destabilizing the magnetic currents around the Blackbird and slamming into the Master of Magnetism's chest. The pull on the aircraft lessened immediately.
Inside, Jean gasped and sagged in relief as Gojo's voice echoed through the minds of everyone aboard.
"Go."
He then increased his own telekinetic strength behind Jean's, forming a shield-like current beneath the jet. Jean straightened, her face still taut, but a breath of calm returned to her.
Then a knock. Inside his mind.
Gojo flinched.
'ProfessorX?'
"Not now stay out of my head," Gojo hissed mentally, his tone sharp and biting, like a blade drawn without hesitation.
But then he felt it Charles was trying not to be an intruder. It was only his voice that got through into his mind space, alone in the vastness.
"Gojo... I apologize. I ask only for permission. No intrusion."
Gojo sighed, lowering his mental walls just enough.
"Speak."
"Erik's powers... it's not only metal. It's polarity. The fundamental electromagnetic spectrum. He's evolved tapping into the invisible architecture of the planet. If he isn't stopped, tectonic plates will shift, oceans will rise, the poles may invert… if they already haven't started."
"Yes I am well aware professor, I can literally see it happening already. He's rewriting physics," Gojo responded grimly.
"Exactly. But there may be a way. I need you to remove his helmet. Just for a moment. Let me in. I can still reach him, speak to what remains of Erik Lehnsherr. If anyone can sway him—it's me."
"And if he's already gone?"
"Then I'll know. But please, Gojo. I need your mind to reach his."
But before Gojo could respond he felt a shift all around him.
A crushing force that would have turned most to bloody mist slammed into him, flinging his body sideways like a ragdoll. Pain ripped through his ribs as he was sent crashing through several steel structures and concrete barriers.
The psychic link snapped.
From the rising dust, Magneto appeared, eyes still glowing with that pale blue brilliance. His voice rang out, calm and filled with a terrifying admiration.
"Admirable. Very few can resist my command of the Earth's fields... and you've done it twice. Once with your dome, and now with the jet. Remarkable."
He raised both arms and the air shimmered as he pulled debris, vehicles, shattered girders and beams together in a violent whirl, condensing them into a massive magnetic hammer.
He brought it down with terrible force.
Gojo barely had time to lift his head when the hammer slammed into him, smashing him back into the ground.
He flickered—his body phasing in and out of space, trying to teleport. But... nothing.
His eyes widened as he saw it. The very space around him had been warped. Gravity, magnetism, and raw electromagnetic energy twisted together like a net forming a barrier. A cage. His teleportation was being blocked.
"So this is how it feels... to be contained," Gojo whispered, just before the hammer smashed into him again.
But it wasn't just the impact, if it was then his natural durability would have held out. He was being bombarded with three fundamental forces gravity, electromagnetism, and spatial distortion—all concentrated on his body. His personal telekinetic barrier flickered. Then cracked. Then failed.
And Gojo was buried.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters – Observation Deck
Fury stood silently, eyes fixed on the monitors. Beside him, Captain America leaned forward, watching the moment Gojo vanished beneath Magneto's hammer.
Steve's voice was low. "By God... is he dead?"
Fury didn't respond immediately. He stared at the seismic readings, the atmospheric distortions, the satellite feeds showing the chaos radiating from Havelstadt outward. The city already crumbled all the way to the edges. Roads buckled. The skies over neighboring cities had gone red from heat and ozone disruption.
"Sir!" A technician turned. "We've got tectonic shifts across western Europe. The magnetic poles are showing irregular fluctuation."
Another agent shouted, "We're getting calls—World Council. Line 1, 2, 3, and 6."
Fury pressed a comm link. "What?"
"Nick! What is going on out there?"
"Where are the Avengers?"
"Do you understand the global scale of this event?"
"We want options, now!"
Fury growled. "You think I don't know the scale?!You think I'm not watching the planet twist like a damn Rubik's cube?!"
He cut the line.
Steve placed a hand on the console. "So... what now?"
Fury's jaw clenched. "Now we see if he gets up."
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