The cell wasn’t made of metal. Erik made sure of that.

She sat behind reinforced glass, walls layered with polymer and psychic dampeners. No chains. No cuffs. Just her—and the silence that clung like frost.

Magneto stood beyond the barrier, hands clasped behind his back, gaze cold as the Arctic. “I didn’t want to do this,” he said, voice like war drums beneath a whisper. “But humans would have done worse.”

She didn’t answer. She hadn’t spoken since he dragged her from the ruins of her safehouse. Not when the Sentinels closed in. Not when he offered her safety in exchange for obedience.

He wondered which part she hated more—being taken… or being protected by him.