Joseph, master of magnetism, felt an almost guilty pleasure as he used his powers to drift free of the pull of the Earth and into the air. He felt free and unfetered by the concerns that bothered him in his life as an X-Man. He had been found as an Amnesiaic in the jungles of South America and had made his way north to find the X-Men. He had hoped that they would help him to remember who he was, to use his powers and to stop the nightmares that haunted him. He had been a naive fool.

The X-Men had told him the truth about himself. That he was really a deranged serial killer and international terrorist. That he had used his powers to cause immense amounts of harm and that he could spend a lifetime trying to repair the damage that he had wrought with out ever coming close to making amends.

It had been a stunning revelation that was made worse by the understanding that it was his evil that had driven a good and kind man, Charles Xavier, into becoming the monster called (for no reason Joseph could discern) Onslaught. Most of the heroes who had guarded this world had committed suicide to stop Onslaught; a move Joseph still didn't entirely understand. But it had only made things worse.

So here was; a murderer who was being allowed to stay with the X-Men against their better judgement. A maniac being given a second chance to show that he could seek some sort of redemption. As Rogue never tired of telling him, only the X-Men would have given a man like him a second chance at all. He could spend every hour of every day trying to atone for his past and never succeed.

But his nightmares told him a completely different story. It had taken him weeks to get even close to piecing together what was happening in them. It hadn't helped that he was banned from using mansion archives to learn anything about his past at the express command of both Cyclops and Rogue. But it hadn't stopped the dreams from returning to haunt him in the dark hours of the night. He saw himself as a child in a camp with many other people; most of whom he realized were going to die. He saw himself fighting against the X-Men in brief flashes of a world that he could never quite grasp. He could see a house burning and hear the screams of a little girl burning. He felt a paternal instinct towards her but she must have survived as his daughter had died fighting Onslaught (as his son never tired of pointing out to him). What was the secret behind the thoughts that blazed in his brain and haunted his thoughts.

He sighed and checked the time. He never had enough time to relax and be by himself. It was always time to train and learn how not to use his powers. Well, not exactly that but it seemed as if the X-Men were almost ashamed to have mutant powers. They dreamed of blending in with human society by pretending that they didn't have powers and weren't different. Most of the X-Men were physically beautiful and had useful and flashy powers. But what about those whose powers couldn't be restrained and who could never pass as human. Beast and Nightcrawler could use image inducers, but was the solution to live a lie? Joseph forced these thoughts from his head. Whenever he mentioned him to Rogue they caused her to burst out in a tirade against his past. He had enough to do today without ending up in the infirmary for a concussion.

Joseph landed gracefully on the front lawn of the Mansion. Cable was there doing some sort of Askani exercise that Joseph would rather never hear about. The idea of founding a religious cult on the idea that "What is, is" seemed to be both redundant and cowardly. The decision to accept the world as it was seemed to him to be an abdication of responsibility to try and change it. Joseph didn't like the cyborg much and it was clear that Nathan's attitude towards Joseph was one of utter hatred. Cable was a man who nursed a grudge forever and he held something, or everything, against the man that Joseph used to be. He never ceased watching and Joseph had the feeling that if he ever gave Cable an excuse he would be dead the next minute. The man had even made sure he "accidentally" showed Joseph a gun filled with plastic bullets.

Actually, the whole Summers clan was a little hard to take most of the time. They were the righteous leaders of the struggle for Charles Xavier's dream. But Cable had an edge to him that made Joseph suspicious that he had killed his fair share of enemies. Scott was insufferably correct and had no ability to understand the need for flexibility; perhaps a consequence of his powers and the lack of flexibility he had because of them. As for Jean, she seemed to him to be the typical housewife wannabe. There was no hint of the spark or the fire he remembered of her in his memories when she had worn green and gold. The change was shocking and besides, he really did dislike her husband.

He walked into the mansion and tied his long hair back. To be honest, he regretted shaving the beard off. He had strong features but his face was still that of a boy on the verge of manhood. He looked like a kid next to Wolverine, Bishop and Cyclops. The beard would have added a sense of maturity to his features. He would have to give some thought to growing it back.

Today's session in the Danger Room was going to be complete torture. He was going to be facing Storm and Phoenix. He could expect to lose quite handily and quite quickly. The key was to keep control of his powers and that meant he was never able to cut loose and actually take out one of his opponents. The result was typically an afternoon of getting beaten to a pulp. Joseph still wasn't entirely clear on why this made him a better fighter. If they were going to be soldiers for a cause then why couldn't they kill? All that Rogue had been able to do to dissuade him was to tell him that "X-men don't kill" and that thinking this was was what had made him an "evil sleazebag". But when Joseph looked into the eyes of Cable, Cyclops or Bishop he saw a hardness that seemed to indicate a different story.

Joseph walked into the locker room and took off his street clothes. There was a number tattooed on his arm and he had always wondered what had possessed him to tattoo a string of numbers on his arm. A tattoo was supposed to be a social statement and he still hadn't figured out what this one was supposed to mean. He slipped into a non-descript olive green jumpsuit and looked once into a mirror. Yes, the beard was definitely a good idea. Then he headed over to the Danger Room.

Jean and Ororo were talking and joking as he walked in. He took the opportunity to begin stretching his muscles as they discussed the X-Men and life in general. From what little he overheard, it almost seemed as if they were talking about Jean and Scott's sex life (which was an utterly absurd thing to suppose and so he was pretty sure he was wrong about that). He was just stretching the back of his legs by pushing against the wall when a blast of icy wind swept him off his feet and sent him flying.

"You must always be prepared for a surprise attack." Ororo said as he spun out of control. Of course, he would have been screamed at for days if he had tried the same thing on the two ladies. He reached out his power and stabilized himself only to find himself being flung against the ceiling.

"Be careful about committing your power to counter one attack as you may leave yourself open to an attack from another direction." Jean ventured in a helpful voice as she focused her TK on him. Magneto used his power to counter the force being exterted on himself perfectly. He then flipped upright and grinned.

"You must learn to use your power to do many things at once, Joseph, or you will always be vunerable to opponents operating in concert." Ororo said as she used the air to lift her up.

"So how are you going to get me, Storm, if I just sit here and and use my power to englobe myself?" Joseph asked. He was no fool, attacking the women would get get him clobbered like it had before. This time he would maintain the defensive posture. It might have been different if he had metal available, but they carefully demagnetized the Danger before every session with him in it. Too annoying to repair Hank had told him. As he floated there feeling smug, he noticed that he was sweating heavily. In fact it was utterly stifling where he was. Storm smiled at him. Joseph closed his eyes and imagined his shield as a sphere. Then he pushed out a column of force right into the spot where Storm was hovering. It sent her sprawling and, in fact, was a lot stronger than he had intended it to be.

"Distract him, Jean." Ororo commanded and Joseph felt something slip into his head. The sensation drove him crazy and he dropped his shield even before Jean did anything. A burst of wind sent him flying and he fell a dozen feet to land on the floor with a dull thud.

"I buffered his fall, Ororo, but he reacted really badly to that probe." He heard Jean say, but it sounded as if it was from far away.

"He is going to have to learn how to deal with telepathic opponents sooner or later. If his reaction is this poor then it means we will have to work with him that much harder. Better here than in the field."

"I know, Storm, I just feel bad. If I had realized this I wouldn't have sprung it on him as a surprise. Instead I would have started up a special training session." Jean walked over to the fallen Joseph. "I hope he isn't badly hurt. Listen to me, Joseph, are you okay? Should I call Beast?" Jean looked at the young man as he seemed to breath heavily. He rolled over and Jean gasped in shock and horror as she saw his eyes. No longer a piercing blue, they were pools of magnetic fire.

"You . . . you tried to kill me. You and Charles. I trusted him and you . . . you destroyed me." Joseph heard himself saying from a great distance away. It was as if he was only an observer and somebody spoke through his mouth. His eyes were blurred by an odd redness and Jean's beauty was slightly distorted as if his eyes were out of of focus. He could feel his arm move as Jean backed away and Ororo came running towards her. He could feel energy flow through him like he had never imagined. The demagnetized floor exploded and Jean was bound by metal pipe. "You killed me." he heard himself say. "You and Xavier killed me and left me worse than dead." He could feel the energy changing and he realized the intent. Whatever force was controlling his body was going to squeeze the life out of Jean Grey-Summers and he was helpless to prevent it. Inside his head he fought with al his will to prevent it, but whatever was doing this was far stronger than he was. Lightning blazed into him and he could smell scorched cloth in his nostril and the pain of seared flesh. The force controlling him compensated for it almost immediately and began to store the power.

"Leave her alone, butcher. If you must punish somebody, then punish me. I was the one who made the mistake of trusting you back then. I thought that you had reformed. I was wrong." Storm said to the prostrate man.

"Lightning against me, Storm? Have you so quickly forgotten what happened last time?" The force began to feed the lightning back at Storm and she screamed as she was slowly electrocuted. "Why did you all turn against me? I tried my best and if I failed it doesn't change the fact that we were friends." Joseph listened in wonder to the words coming from his own lips. Why was he saying this and what did it mean. Could the X-Men have been allies with a serial killer like Magneto? Were these repressed memories of his own past come back to haunt him now when he had finally won free of his own evil?

He never saw the lithe figure in the disgracefully scanty outfit slip into the room. Nor did he realize that she was there until she plunged her psychic knife into his head. He screamed; feeling the pain more vicariously than anything else and felt the horribly wounded force sink into his mind. It seemed almost to drain away into places too dark for him to follow. He found himself suddenly in charge and promptly passed out from the pain of his wounds.

"Is everyone okay?" Psylocke asked.

"Been better but I'll survive." Jean replied as she used her TK to break her metal bonds.

"It looks worse than it really is." Storm said. The two women looked at her skeptically.

"Can't BS two telepaths, Ororo. He really ate into you and I am going to make sure that Hank has a look at you before anything else." Jean said with a determined look.

"I'm fine." Ororo protested.

"Then why are you still lying on the floor?" Jean asked with a < raised eyebrow. "That was a lot of energy that he hit you with."

"Just knocked the wind out of me." Ororo protested. Jean nodded and sent a telepathic call to Hank who assured her he was on his way.

"Speaking of him, who exactly was that. Up in the booth I could have sworn that was Magneto you were fighting in here and not Joseph. Magneto is dead, isn't he?" Psylocke asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Jean replied.

"It is early to be certain, but as far as I can tell my telepathy must have roused a fragment of Magneto's personality still present in Joseph's mind. More disturbing, is the possibility that Magneto in his entirety rests beneath the Joseph persona. This means that we could be forced to deal with a reawakened Magneto at any time. If the original memories and experiences become available to Joseph, Rogue's little ruse will be exposed and we will have a real problem."

"I did what I had to do. It was too dangerous to tell him the truth-- especially if Magneto is buried in there somewhere. He is a good kid and I think he might be an asset to the X-Men someday." Rogue protested. Gambit shot her a guarded look. He was definitely uncomfortable about this.

"The question is what do we do now that it appears that Joseph might one day become Magneto again?" Cyclops asked.

"I could try psychological therapy. My training is minimal but I am a telepath. Maybe I could bury the Magneto persona so deep it never resurfaces or I bring him to terms with why it is wrong and enable him to overcome it. It is worth a shot." Jean ventured.

"No way, Jean. It is too dangerous. There is no way I'm going to let you risk yourself for a person like that. No, there has to be a better option." Scott said with a tone of finality.

"The Wolverine option, we could simply kill him." Ororo said.

"Sounds good ta me." Logan cracked off.

"He is a helpless patient in our hospital. If we simply murder him then we are no better than he is." Hank pointed out.

"I can live with that. If Magneto is in the wimp's head than I have a score to settle with ol' buckethead." Cable pointed out.

"Look, I know he can reform. I've seen it." Rogue pointed out.

"Listen all of you. I have as much reason to hate Magneto as the next man but the lady is right. Joseph deserves to be given a chance to overcome this. When you wear the uniform of a hero, sometimes you have to act the part even when it hurts." Gambit pointed out.

"And if he does turn into Magneto again?" Logan asked.

"Then, mon ami, I will help you send him straight to hell." Gambit replied. "But let us give Jean a chance to put things in his head right first. Fair enough?"

"The risk to Jean is unacceptable." Scott thundered.

"Scott, listen to me. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions about the risks I am going to take. I'll do it, and God help us all if I fail." Jean said. Around the table, everybody lapsed into silence as they pondered the alternative.