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Title: Existential Calculus
Author: technosage
Series: X-men movieverse
Warnings: G
Characters: Scott "Cyclops" Summers; Professor Charles Xavier; Magneto
Word Count: 362
Standard disclaimer: Not making money here, not claiming ownership. Not mine, but I wish they were.
Author's Notes: For 31_days - Day/Theme - 7/numbers game. This one's for just_like_rogue who made me love Scott Summers, where every other writer before her had failed.
In Scott's head, it never stopped. Gazes locked, Professor Xavier and Magneto forever squared off in philosophical debate.
"The world is filled with good men and women." Xavier would begin, eyes warm and hard at once. The image of ruthless compassion. "Would you burn the village for the sake of one witch?"
"Evil triumphs when good men do nothing, my old friend." It had the sound of a very old argument, because it was. So old it had stripped all heat from Magneto's steely gaze. "I'm no McCarthy, Charles, but good men are fairy tales and we are at war. It is us or them."
The Professor's gaze began to ice over. Cold logic coming to the fore. "If you must consider it a war, Erik, then look at the numbers." Creases formed around his eyes, frown-lines from reasoning with a madman. "Mutants are outnumbered. We must make peace with humanity if we are to survive."
"You think like a victim, Charles." Both eyes and voice lit with wry humor. "If the numbers don't favor us, then we simply change the numbers."
"Of all people, Erik Lensherr, I never imagined I'd hear you propounding genoicide." His eyes looked ancient, then. Fury and pity in them.
The Professor had scored, because Magneto flinched. A tiny shadow darkened his gaze for a single instant. His voice came cool; the next remark offhanded, a point of clarification and nothing more. "Ad hominem attacks are not a valid form of rhetoric." Then he smiled, ostentatious and insane. "Think of it as thinning the herd."
Shaking his head, the Professor�s expression grew tired and his eyes filled with resignation. "Many mutants will die in this war of yours--"
"Ours. And I prefer the term homo superior." Complete unconcern in his gaze, Magneto drew his cloak around himself. "The losses are regrettable--"
"Avoidable--"
"Necessary--"
And so it went until Magneto called it a numbers game and they came around to the beginning again. Both saw it for a numbers game, the only issue how they did the math.
Scott agreed. It was a numbers game. He just counted, named and mourned every single loss.
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Disclaimer: As always, no money is being made here. X-men, Spiderman belong to Marvel and 20th Century Fox. SGA belongs to SciFi. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and Scholastic. Fallen Angel belongs to IDW. Graphics belong to their representative companies. I'm just here to have some fun.