Chapter 21: The Burden of Justice

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"Just keep moving forward and don't give a shit about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do, for you."

~ Johnny Depp

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<(Omniscient POV)>

"That was some mission, huh? *Sigh* I swear I never thought I would ever see a man forcing himself on a monkey. I thought we were on this mission to save metahumans from the trafficking ring but seeing those animals getting abused at the hands of those bastards changed my entire viewpoint on humanity. That was the first time I felt ashamed of being a part of humanity. Meta or not, human beings truly were the biggest of jerks." Anna Marie, aka, Rogue ranted angrily to her teammates.

"I know right? That memory really left a scar in my mind. I still can't believe such disgusting stuff can happen. Rape itself is disgusting but raping animals is another level of absolutely vile cruelty. I am glad that I had permission to kill them. Driving their own dirty gold through their skulls and squashing their dirty brainmatter gave me another level of pleasure " Lorna Dane, aka, Polaris said with a disgusted expression on her face as she remembered what she had seen in those mafia camps.

"Yeah, but still I feel that maybe killing is not always the answer. We could have just handed them over to the local authorities instead of killing every single one of them. They would have been punished according to the law then. What we did there was neither nice nor right." Piotr, aka, Colossus mumbled with a slightly sad face as he looked out through Blackbird's window, their own personal crime-fighting private jet.

"You are too kind Piotr. I don't agree with mindlessly killing everyone as well but I do think everyone should pay their dues. And being a brother to two sisters, I can say that rapists are the people who deserve to die the most, even more so for people who use innocent animals to commit their vile debauchery." Pietro, aka, Quicksilver said while clenching his stomach making it apparent that he was suffering from a stomach ache after remembering all the disgusting things he had seen at the base of the criminal gang that they had infiltrated.

"They were bad people no doubt but still killing them all was a little bit too..." Piotr muttered while twiddling his fingers in deep thought. He wasn't sure that what Lorna did was right or not. In fact, none of them were.

They were the newly formed X-Force, the pilot group formed to battle modern metahuman threats as well as rescue and help metahumans all over the world. Even though their real identities remained secret from normal civilians, they were still quite famous as a secret crime-fighting supergroup who dealt justice whenever it was required. But none of them had ever faced a dilemma like this before. 

They had eliminated threats before but those were all done by their previous generation, their teachers who were the original X-men and even then they were all threats that needed to be eliminated to save humanity or some other grand purpose. But this was the first time that they eliminated human beings not to serve some great purpose but simply to punish them, to make them pay for what they had done to their innocent victims.

They did not know if they were right in doing what they had done. They all wished that they could have asked their mentors what would have been the right choice. Unfortunately, they did not have enough time to ask for their teachers' advice during their mission, so they did what they felt was right. 

What they were worried about the most in this case however was not the fact that what they did was good or bad. What they were truly worried about was that some of them had felt good after killing those criminals while delivering justice and it was possible that they might want to do it again... and again... and again until it became a regular habit, to kill everyone who stood against them not caring if they truly deserved it or not. 

And most of all, they were afraid. They were afraid that they would fail their god, their patron who had always believed in them no matter what, the one being who had never failed them and always made sure to stand by their side no matter how adverse the times were.

"Do you think Atem would be disappointed by what we had done? Do you think he would be angry?" Anna asked with a soft voice as she traced her gloved fingers on the glass window of the flying plane.

"Atem being angry at our actions is much better than him being disappointed. If he is angry at us, he would at least admonish us which is much better than him and all the other X-men making disappointed faces at us the entire time we are with them." Pietro informed with a sage expression on his face.

He remembered the last time he had disappointed everyone back at the mansion when he had broken his legs by trying to show off while fighting against a bunch of anti-metahuman super-terrorists. None of the X-men had said anything to him back then but the looks they had given him made him swear never to repeat such mistakes ever again.

"And to top it off, we didn't even find a substantial amount of funds in the terrorist camps while completing this mission. Only a few million dollars. It barely even covered the fuel costs for the jet and our own expenses. So in a way, this entire mission was useless. Right Sigma-1?" Lorna asked the AI flying the plane with a downcast expression.

It was one of the many child-type AIs made by Zoya to serve a particular purpose or a group. This one was their own personal AI assistant to aid them in their missions and training. It handled all the technological parts of the team's missions including its financials as well.

"Not necessarily. Even though we did not get too many physical or digital assets from the terrorist organization, I was still able to form multiple contracts with the local government and get Genosha as well as the different companies under Meta Enterprises some pretty lucrative deals. Also, even if we do not consider money, we still save more than a thousand victims from the trafficking ring. That's a pretty big achievement on its own." The AI tried its best to cheer up the team with its unique gender-neutral childish voice in a bid to not upset them even more.

"See, our hard work was not completely for naught. I am sure a lot of people around the world would appreciate what we do. Maybe a few years from now, we will be known as genuine superheroes. Children would play with our action figures while celebrities would talk about our brilliant exploits. Yep, I can already see quite a bright future for us." Pietro added with a huge smile on his face as he daydreamed of the day when he would be swarmed by hot teenage idols and pop stars wherever he went.

"Yeah, sure little brother. Like that's ever happening. You should see your face, nobody is getting close to it without puking at least once." Lorna joked at the expense of her half-brother as she sipped on her diet coke.

Most of their mood had recovered quite a lot now from Sigma 1's words and they were feeling much more confident than before.

"Reaching destination in 5 Minutes." The AI informed from the plane's control panel as the Blackbird began to descend to reach its destination.

The jet had been flying in stealth mode and was invisible to visible light as well as radar or any other detection sensors. So without attracting any unnecessary attraction, it easily landed on the School's basketball court which had opened up to reveal a huge underground parking space.

"It's safe to leave the aircraft now." The AI helpfully declared after the plane's engines stopped humming marking the end of their ride.

"I wonder if Atem has come back from his trip." Piotr thought aloud to himself.

"I sure not hope so. I really need some time to digest what we did in this mission and to know if it was right or not before we have to answer Atem. Maybe Principal Ororo could be of help. She always has answers to questions like these. She is the best whenever it comes to deep stuff like these." Anna said as she picked up her backpack and walked towards the aircraft door that was slowly opening on its own under their AI's control.

"Yeah, about that..." Piotr laughed awkwardly as he stared at the majestic figure standing outside the aircraft looking at them with smiling eyes through the now-opened door.

'He had gotten even more charming and irresistible. He is almost like a masterpiece crafted by the most talented artist, something that should not exist in this world.' Anna thought to herself as she looked at the figure. 

"Well, you are right. Ororo does know a lot more about things when it comes to deep emotional or mental stuff. But, may I at least ask what this is about? Surely, you are not trying to hide something from me, are you?" Atem asked with an innocent smile as he raised one of his brows at the group.

"I knew I was cursed with bad luck when some of that dipshit's brain matter spilled onto me after I killed him," Lorna mumbled to herself while everyone else was forced into an awkward silence.

"Huh? Killed? So you guys killed someone or maybe killed a lot of someones. Interesting, if I remember correctly, this should be your first time taking a life right? Well, that explains the enormous amount of negative emotions radiating from your minds... Anyway, we will discuss this later. For now, freshen up and report to Ororo... Oh and if you see any ninjas dressed in red trying to sneak in, you are free to deal with them any way you want. There have been too many of those for the last few days." Atem snorted, annoyed at the memory of the dozens of times the ninjas had tried to enter the Academy grounds in the last week.

"Oh and by the way Anna, visit me in my room when you become free later. I have a gift for you. I think you will quite like the surprise I have planned for you. It's something that will change your life for the better." He smiled at her mysteriously before turning back and leaving, not bothering to explain himself further.

"Shit Rogue, I think you are in trouble." Pietro softly said a little while after Atem had left from their sights.

"I wish I was in trouble like her. Maybe Atem would spank me into a good girl. God, his voice alone almost made me wet down there." Lorna admitted as she fanned herself using her hands in an exaggerated way.

"What? Don't be disgusting Lorna. I am sure Atem doesn't want to do any such... adult stuff with me, right?... Right?" Anna asked herself doubtfully with flushed cheeks and a red face.

It was unknown whether she was genuinely asking herself the question or hoping for it instead. But whatever it was, the thoughts going through her mind right now were not at all as pure and virtuous as one would expect from a girl her age.

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