MARVEL : STARTING WITH GOKU TEMPLATE

"No surveillance. No interference. No disruption to their lives," Nick Fury repeated, his voice dangerously low. "Professor Xavier, your demands are not just excessive. They're absurd. As the Director of SHIELD, the agency tasked with protecting this entire planet, I have the authority and the obligation to investigate any potential threat to global security. And like it or not, that's what you are."

His one good eye narrowed, the forced smile from before completely gone. For some reason, ever since he'd stepped out onto the snow, the Professor's negotiating position had gone from accommodating to absolute. It didn't make sense.

"Even if we accept your conspiracy theory about Stryker," Fury continued, pressing his point, "it's undeniable that your man, Kurt Wagner, was the one who appeared in the Oval Office. His existence is a threat. So here's my final offer, Professor. You can have your privacy, for now. But one thing is non-negotiable. I want the data on every mutant you know of. It will be entered into a secure SHIELD database, Level Ten clearance, firewalled from every other agency on the planet. That is the only way I can guarantee we can respond appropriately when the next crisis hits."

"And my answer, Director Fury, is no." Charles's voice was quiet but carried the unshakeable weight of conviction. "That is my bottom line. Most mutants are not a threat. They are children, hunted and feared for something they cannot control. They have spent their lives facing dangers brought on by the intolerance of humans. If a crisis arises from one of my own, I and my X-Men will resolve it."

"You have to understand, Professor," Fury shot back, his patience gone, "you are not in a position to be making demands. I am only having this conversation because I don't want this situation to get any worse than it already has. But make no mistake. We have you outgunned."

The air crackled with tension. The SHIELD agents tensed, their hands on their weapons. Across from them, the X-Men prepared for another fight.

Just as the fragile truce was about to shatter, a new voice, cold and laced with a weary, theatrical sorrow, echoed across the clearing.

"I have told you for years, Charles. Humanity will always fear that which is different. They will hunt us, cage us, and when they are done studying us, they will try to exterminate us. Now, at last, you see."

"Magneto!" The name was a curse on Fury's lips. He spun around. Standing on the ramp of the Quinjet, as if he owned it, was the man himself, regal and imposing. At his side stood Mystique and the boy, Ethan. It was a checkmate Fury hadn't even seen coming. The kid, he realized with a jolt of ice in his gut. He wasn't changing clothes. He was staging a jailbreak right under my nose. Careless.

"Marvel, take him down!" Fury roared.

But before Maria could even flare her golden aura, Magneto simply snapped his fingers.

There was a series of sharp, cracking sounds. The blue, glowing devices on the necks of Fury, Carter, and every SHIELD agent sparked violently and shattered. In the same instant, the world froze. Fury found he couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't even blink. His mind was still his, but it was a prisoner in a cage of his own flesh, screaming into a void. He could only watch as Professor X's ultimate power washed over them.

Ethan's plan had never been to fight with Magneto. It was to use him as a key to unlock Xavier's cage.

"They are not all like Stryker, Erik," Charles said softly to his old friend. "Don't let your pain cause you to give up on them all."

Magneto just shook his head, a sad, knowing smile on his face. They'd had this argument a thousand times. They both knew it would never be settled.

Suddenly, a defiant roar ripped through the psychic silence. Captain Marvel, her body erupting in a blinding golden flare, broke free from the mental hold. Her energy-infused physiology, more alien than human, gave her a resistance others lacked.

Ethan didn't seem surprised. He gave her a cold, level look and a subtle nod towards her frozen, helpless husband. The threat was unspoken, but crystal clear. You may be free, but they are not. Don't move.

She understood. Her golden aura subsided, her fists clenched in frustration. She was a goddess held in check by the fragility of the man she loved.

"We will be leaving now, Director," Professor X's voice echoed in her mind. "Please inform him that I will bring Colonel Stryker and all the necessary evidence to his headquarters in two days' time. We will have our talk then."

With that, the X-Men boarded their jet. As it lifted off and vanished into the sky, the psychic pressure released.

"Fury!" Maria yelled, rushing to his side as he gasped, stumbling forward. "What happened?"

He shook his head, disoriented, the phantom feeling of being trapped still crawling on his skin. He looked at the empty sky where the X-Jet had been, then at the captured Stryker, and finally at the defeated forms of Magneto and Mystique being loaded onto his own jet. It was a partial victory, but it felt like a total defeat.

"It seems," he sighed, the weight of the day finally crashing down on him, "it's time to get the Avengers Initiative fast-tracked."

"Director," a quiet voice said. Captain Carter stood beside him, her shield on her back, her eyes looking out at the snow-covered landscape. "I think the Professor was right. They were victims in all of this."

She stared at the snow, but she was seeing something else. An older snowfield. Ice. A plane going down. She remembered the static-filled promise of a dance with a blond-haired boy from Brooklyn. Pushing a monster into a swirling vortex of light. Then, what felt like minutes later, stepping out of that same light into a world that had aged half a century without her. Seeing this one-eyed man instead of Steve. Learning Howard was dead. Learning Bucky… Bucky was an old man, dying in a hospital bed. And Steve… Steve was just gone. A ghost, missing for fifty-five years.

If she had known this was just another government man chasing ghosts and hurting children in the process, she never would have come. She should be out there, looking for him. She should be by Bucky's side. Anything but this.