"Are we heading straight to Salem now?" Emma asked.
"No, we're doing something else first, it won't be just us. You should have known by now that I have been raiding several underworld hubs that Sebastian Shaw has in New York" Ray started. Trying to shed some explanations while craftily evading the topic of his rather licentious behaviour.
"Fisk told me…"
"That's the reason I know Kingpin is not working with Shaw. He's the one who told me the location of those cells" Ray revealed, "I went to him first asking how to deal with Shaw and Kingpin revealed to me some of Shaw's deepest shady businesses".
"…" The blonde bit her lips, it wasn't a topic she liked touching.
"The one working with Shaw is Erick" Raven revealed.
!!!
"How do you–" Emma looked at the smiling Raven and that told her everything she needed to know, a double spy.
"Ever since you both got rid of Carter Banks, the brotherhood has no major sponsors. I will explain it to you: the government is currently planning to establish a mutant registration act" Raven carried on.
"How do you know this? wouldn't that be great for us?" Emma questioned.
"Erick may not have financial sponsors, but he has connections among politicians. This mutant registration act is not as nice as it sounds. SHIELD is involved in the shadows... more than a mutant registration act of freedom for us, it is a categorisation act to differentiate useful from useless... mutants with excelling combat capabilities will be enlisted on SHIELD, the army, the marine... that is their true intention, for us to expose ourselves. It is never about us being free... that is what Erick is fighting against, although his methods are still twisted and narcissistic".
"I still don't understand, why would you attack those cells and why… do it so brutally" Emma asked seriously, she needed to know if that information was true.
"… I can't answer the second question, I have my reasons" Ray divagated and avoided that part of the topic, "But it has to do with Raven; our objectives coincide. How long have you known that those are Shaw's mutant training camps, Emma?"
.
"… from the beginning, I was there when the first one was set up" she grimaced.
"..." Ray indicated for her to explain further.
"Shaw gets mutants from the southern border with Mexico, he gets them from the coasts of Miami coming from Cuba. He gets them from the Mediterranean and Africa. And he's not the only one... Magneto also engages in this practice" Emma stared at Raven, "Is that why you told him?".
"Yes, however. Even Erick is not heartless enough to exploit those under him for financial gain, unlike Shaw… compared to the Hellfire Club, our connections are laughable. Still, allying with Shaw, a past enemy, is his last resource".
"Is this what mutants have to go through?" Jean flinched, disgusted at the power struggle, how complex it was, and the fact that innocent mutants were entwined in between with no way out, used as cannon fodder.
"Having a mutation is not the same as having a 'superpower', Jean. Most mutants don't have a mutation as combat and self-defence efficient as we do. Extra arms, fewer fingers, enhanced vision, toxic saliva, blowing air stronger... you name it. All of them count as mutations, they have different traits that wicked people can find useful for different scenarios. Shaw built those underworld cells to take advantage of mutants. Drug trafficking, prostitution, thievery, thugs... even for scientific purposes. There are organisations like SHIELD who are eager to experiment with mutants and add them to their forces. As long as there is no legislation, we're the same with ownerless dogs in the streets"
"That's... disgusting".
Jean didn't know how difficult it was, and how bad of a bullet she dodged by remaining quiet about her powers with everyone.
"That's why we're doing something about it, one step at a time," Raven said.
…
Ray reached a building not too far away from his house in Brooklyn after driving for a while.
"I bought ten apartments in this building for a purpose".
Ray led the girls in and there were people inside. More than a hundred, most of them teenagers. Emma and Jean gasped. There were just too many. There were also a lot of boxes everywhere scattered
Some kids ran and embraced him.
"Ray!"
"Hi, Brandon, how are you guys?"
"It was a bit boring today but we knew you were coming!".
The kids strolled around Ray who seemed a bit uncomfortable with the contact, but still didn't push them away. They also strolled to Raven, a lot more as unlike him she was seemingly more in tone with the kids and knew how to behave and make them laugh.
Emma recalled the information she got from Fisk, how the news devastated her as she realised a degree of cruelty that she didn't know Ray was capable of. All a lie, or at least an illusion.
"They're... survivors..." Her hands clenched down harshly, 'I doubted him...'
From the start, she knew there were innocent mutants in those cells, but hadn't finish them all, he had saved them. There were so many... A lot of food, water, beverages, games, clothes... Ray had spent a lot of money to make sure those kids lived comfortably here, although this lodging was just temporary.
Among them there weren't just kids, there were adults as well, although fewer in number. They were invited to sit down.
"I will be driving you to a better place, tonight".
"Huh, but we don't want to go!"
"Be good kids and I'll reward you".
The kids didn't want to go. It was the older teenagers and young adults among the group who had to pull them aside and apologise to Ray for their attitude. Compared to the kids, they were more aware of what sort of monster Ray was. They saw him massacre every single one of their assailants, time and time again until nothing was left.
'Even if he can sometimes smile… a monster is still a monster'.
While everyone prepared to depart, Ray and his group sat in one of the apartment's hallways where they were explained what sort of jobs they were tasked to do while in those cells. While kids weren't asked to do much generally... they were still asked to clean and attend the goons, basically... to work for their food.
Mutants with better powers could get higher in the hierarchy, and those... usually, would get corrupted with power and start abusing their keen. Ray had erased all of those. As such, next to no mutants remained with highly outrageous powers.
All of these kids had experienced a different type of abuse in their lifetimes, and yet they could still laugh.
"These kids..." Jean teared up, unbeknownst to her, her conviction strengthened. Something had to be truly wrong in this world for such a thing to be allowed to happen. Throughout it all, Emma remained silent.
"Are you Lady Madeline?" One of the older boys asked her, she flinched and evaded his gaze, trying to become small due to the guilt.
"I'm sorry..."
An apology was just a cheap word, she knew it wouldn't accomplish anything, but that was as much as she could say at the time.
"I apologise on her behalf too".
!!!
"Ray, don't apologise for my sake!–"
He didn't do anything wrong, no, he was the only one who did anything right. Emma didn't want him to lower his head for her, but he still did.
The young man shut her mouth, covering it with his palm and stopped her from speaking, he faced the older kids who had in their way, tried to protect the kids while they were in those cells, receiving all the burden to the point their faces and bodies were all scarred.
He lowered his head in shame, "I hope you understand she wasn't much different from you. She was being used too... although the crimes she committed can't be forgiven, I will have her pay financially for your tuition. Just so you know that you all can have a bright future from now on, She and I will be paying for it".
"..." Emma nodded
It served as a closure.
"We forgive... whatever it is that you have done against us. All we want is to live in peace".
"And you will" Raven said, for people like them whose greatest aspiration was to have a peaceful normal life, that academy was the best option.
A pretty girl pulled Ray's hand awkwardly, her name was Alana Harrison. She was twelve years old. The girl had just dressed up and ready to go to wherever she was taken, she had no say in the matter.
"Ray…"
"Alana, I'll be taking you guys to an academy–".
"Can't I stay with you? I don't feel secure anywhere else" She requested, aware that the answer was more than likely going to be negative. He wouldn't hit her, or spit on her... but he'd still decline.
Ray sighed and patted her head, "Where I am it's dangerous, it is better if you're in a place that's truly safe. That's where I'll take you".
Alana clenched her hand and nodded, just the answer she expected from him, but she still had to try. Although the tears in her eyes exposed her unwillingness. Still, they couldn't deny their saviour.