X-Men '97 (TV Series)
Mutant Liberation Begins (2024)
Alison Sealy-Smith: Storm
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Quotes
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[after Storm is shot by X-Cutioner while protecting Magneto, she realizes that she cannot summon her weather powers while Magneto restrains X-Cutioner]
Storm : The breeze is gone. I cannot feel it, nor the moisture, nor the air. What has he done to me?
[Magneto approaches Cooper and the Tribunal]
Val Cooper : Magneto, this was not what we wanted.
Magneto : Lies. This is your dream. My kind splayed before you, powerless and afraid. All the X-Men have done is use their awesome power to protect a world that hates and fears them. Behold, their reward.
[Magneto points at a weakened Storm]
Magneto : What must we do to be good enough? Is this the high road's destination? If so, I say, as I have too many times before, never again.
[Magneto raises the stage]
American Judge : Let us go! No!
[Magneto brings X-Cutioner, Cooper, and the Tribunal towards the sky until they have an aerial view of the East Coast. He then hovers over X-Cutioner's helpless body]
Magneto : Bigot, ingrate, sycophant, worm. So small, I could smite you with a step. There was a time I would smite you all for what was done to Storm.
[Magneto hovers away from X-Cutioner]
Magneto : But today, I have saved you from your own, for an old friend has challenged me to remember this view of Earth. How vast it is versus how small we make it. Charles Xavier entrusted me with his dream, and it does not ask you to love or embrace my kind as your own, but merely to accept that this is a shared world with a common future, and that my kind, like yours, have the right to live in it. I am trying to be better.
[Magneto places X-Cutioner facing downward]
Carl Denti : Please...
Magneto : Do not make me let you down.
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Wolverine : What was the Professor thinking?
Beast : 'The only safe and sure way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.' Mark Twain.
Storm : Beast isn't wrong. The Professor had a plan.
Bishop : Seen a lot of futures, but Magneto leading the X-Men? That's a new one.
Gambit : Maybe we go change it back, huh?
Rogue : Look, plenty of us at this table have paths so dirty they don't squeak no matter how much spit you got. Maybe we should take a page from the Professor's playbook and give Erik a second shot.
[Magneto enters the room]
Magneto : I have arranged for the Morlocks to travel to the mutant nation of Genosha. It saddens me that none of you, nor Xavier himself, thought to use his considerable finances to do the same. But this is one of many mutant matters on which we can and will improve, my X-Men.
Cyclops : Guess we can assume those jerks in the sewer are...
Magneto : Alive, but not unharmed. The tragic fact that I did not consign those sapiens to the waste bin of history is proof of my desire to honor Charles Xavier's dream of mutant-human...
[sighs]
Magneto : coexistence.
Cyclops : Okay, prove it. Let Jean scan your mind, see your real plans.
Jean Grey : Scott, no.
Cyclops : What? You did it with Gyrich.
Jean Grey : I accessed Gyrich's mind for information. Using my powers to assess honesty is another matter. Even if I sensed Magneto's intentions were sincere, that's today, this hour, this minute.
Cyclops : Then we check every minute of every day.
Magneto : I was under the welcome impression that you and Mrs. Summers were leaving us.
Cyclops : Not a chance. I'm keeping an eye on you.
Jean Grey : Scott, read the will again. Like it or not, this is what the Professor wanted.
Magneto : Please, my intentions here were not to cause drama or discord.
Storm : You must understand. You have been our fiercest foe for years. A desire for you to prove yourself is only natural.
Magneto : And Storm, you are the closest thing to a goddess as we will ever see. So, I do not lightly deny your request and demand your trust instead. Xavier wanted this.
Cyclops : Maybe he was wrong.
Magneto : After all our tête-à-têtes, you have finally realized what I did ages ago. Even Charles Xavier can make a mistake.
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[Jean enters Storm's room to discover that she has disappeared, leaving a letter for her]
Storm : [narration] Jean, my sister. You of all the X-Men know the heartbreak of saying goodbye, having said it so many times. So I ask that you help the others understand why I could not stay to say it this day. My faith in your family's future is strong. And I cannot rob you of a bond you have more than earned. It is human nature to crave connection, as it is also mutant nature to be heard, seen, to feel another soul finally seeing yours.
[pause]
Storm : [narration] Connection is a fragile treasure. One we sacrifice so much to maintain. Only to then sometimes watch it break in a blink that changes your life forever.
[pause]
Storm : [narration] We are no longer connected, Jean. And now we walk in two very different worlds. But trust that I will cherish what we shared as X-Men, memories that already feel like a lifetime ago.
[Jean reads the letter to the other X-Men]
Jean Grey : Like another woman's life. Or another person's dream. Love, Ororo.
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Beast : [CLEARS THROAT] Inhibitor collars use radiation to temporarily neutralize our mutant powers. The X-Cutioner's laser rifle fired a concentrated dose of that same radiation. It affects genetics on a cellular level, suppressing a mutant's abilities without the need for a collar itself. Ororo...
Storm : How long?
Beast : Additional tests will be needed before...
Storm : Hank, please. How long?
Beast : The effects appear permanent.
[Storm gasps softly.]
Jean Grey : We'll fix this. Scott and I aren't going anywhere, okay? Not until you're well again. I swear. Beast, we need to contact Muir Island.
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Cyclops : Storm, Jean's in labor. Morph's here, but they're losing the line!
Storm : Rogue, fly Cyclops to Jean immediately. Magneto and I will protect the judges.
Cyclops : Be careful, Storm. It's still Magneto.
Storm : Circumstances do not offer us a choice. I need your men stationed at every door. I want those in the lobby to assist the other X-Men. You, uncollar Magneto. You...
American Judge : Well, now, who does she think she...
Storm : Do not think. Be silent. Heed my commands, and you shall survive.
