We Fight Crime

By Adrian Tullberg.

888

I am Erik Magnus Lehnsherr.

I am more widely known as Magneto.

Ah yes, now you recognise me, I see that all too familiar spark of fear in your eyes. I do not intend to harm you.

Yet.

Yes, you're correct. The group known as The X-Men did overturn my organisation. The human authorities, well known for attacking my people the instant they stumble, captured a significant number of my brothers and sisters.

The rest were forced to scatter. A once proud army, now hiding in the back alleys and trailer parks of this nation. Rather than gather in groups, or cells, which the current administration seems keen to locate, we have struck out individually.

No, I don't know where they are. I deliberately instructed them not to tell me. The frantic tone of the press releases shows that my brethren learned their lessons well.

I have a number of false identities. My powers allow an unparalleled manipulation of computers and their networks. Despite all the security and passwords, it's all magnetic impulses in the end.

However, the speed of my departure didn't allow me to take any of the shielding I commonly employ to escape detection.

Yes, that helmet. I can generate the masking fields myself, but certain circuits built within the helmet itself create the fields once they come into contact with my body's magnetic energies. It stops me from having to perform the mental equivalent of juggling while doing everything else.

However, I found a kindred spirit.

A creature - it's too simplistic to call him a machine - emerged here on Earth. He and his kind battled for the survival of his species and the conquest of everything else.

Others of his kind opposed this warlord, and gained the help of this planet's so-called rulers.

Overwhelmed, he would have certainly been captured - if I hadn't discreetly intervened.

Why?

He needed - needs fantastic amounts of energy simply to function. Energy I can provide.

In trade, he hides me.

His kind provides a masking field, which hides them from conventional detection in concert with one of their signature abilities.

You might know him. They're known as Cybertronian Natives, but the media has dubbed them 'The Transformers'.

Yes. Megatron of the Transformers. His alternate physical mode can hide mutants as well, with minimal calibration.

No, you can't see him.

Because I'm pointing him at you under the table.

Keep that in mind concerning the terms of our relationship.

I activated one of my false identities. Sgt. Noam Reuben, formerly of the NYPD, now transferred to Los Angeles, perpetually on the lookout for a decent deli.

Megatron is my sidearm.

The reason I'm telling you this? We both have affairs to arrange. They may be looking for a mutant and a Decepticon, but a mediocre human criminal should slip right by the radars of our respective hunters without any trouble whatsoever.

Don't pretend you're something more than what we're looking for. It's embarrassing.

Just follow these instructions, keep your mouth shut, and you'll survive. Right now, my lieutenant is increasing my caseload by the minute, and I'm ten minutes over my lunch break.

I'm Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

He's Megatron, Supreme Commander of the Decepticons.

We fight crime.