AN:I don't know why I wrote this. It's actually rather depressing. You probably don't want to read this.

AU: Hate groups have become more active and more attacks against mutants have occurred. Focuses on a rally held to discuss discrimination against mutants. One-shot.

Warning: Contains violent and graphic themes and disturbing imagery. Contains swearing.

Little Suzy

"I don't get why the Professor won't let us leave the mansion."

"Because it's not safe."

"Neither are X-men missions!"

"Yeah, but if we go outside now we'd be in danger from normal people, what are you going to do when they attack you huh? Freeze them? That'd make you no better than Magneto and his cronies."

"Will ya both please be quiet? Ah can hardly hear mahself think. Ah know ya want ta go outside but ya can't so ya might as well just watch some TV or somethin'!"

A new voice spoke from the doorway. "An excellent idea Rogue. In fact I believe there may be a demonstration on right now about the very topic you've been discussing. Maybe things will improve if people are willing to stand up and support mutants."

"Tha' Professor's right, let's see if I can't fahnd this program."

"They are dangerous and I just think that people have a right to know who can go around blasting lasers from their eyes and hurling chunks of metal whenever they get angry. Mutants are a real threat, and people should have the right to defend themselves from them!" The crowd roared in approval as the senator left the podium and resumed his seat on stage.

"That was Senator Kelly with his ideas on the recent uprising of anti-mutant hate crimes. Now, coming to us with his views on the issue, please welcome Senator Lee!"

An aged man rose from his seat and strode confidently to the podium. Few cheered for him, but he waited patiently for the crowd to settle before speaking.

"July fourth, two-thousand and six. John Hopkins, Baltimore. One Susan Smith was born to Mr and Mrs John and Mary Smith. Weighing approximately seven pounds, or three-point-two kilograms. She had red hair, just like her mother, and blue eyes just like her father."

Those at the venue and those watching at home had no idea what Lee was getting at, and surprisingly even the mutant haters had fallen silent, waiting to see where he was going with this.

The large screen behind him flickered and suddenly instead of a large video of him, he was stuck in a little corner down the bottom as a large picture of a newborn baby appeared on-screen.

"This is Susan Smith, just four minutes old. Little Suzy was a healthy baby, and was let out of the hospital after only two and a half weeks." The picture changed to show a small suburban home. Completely average, it was the sort of house found in brochures about America. "This is where Mr and Mrs Smith lived. When they brought little Suzy home for the first time their neighbours threw a party welcoming her to the neighbourhood."

A picture of about fifteen people crowded into a small living room appeared on screen. Quite a few people in the audience let out an audible 'Aww...' when they saw John and Mary holding up Susan in the middle of the picture.

"At nine months," A picture of a toddler in a light blue sundress appeared. "Susan was able to say 'mama' and 'dada'. " Another 'Aww...'. "And at only ten months and twenty-three days Susan learned how to say no. Three days later she could say yes, and by the time she turned one she was able to tell her parents, very loudly I might add, that she was ' hun-gwee'."

The crowd chuckled when Lee imitated speaking baby. The screen now showed a video of Susan with her mother and father behind her as she tried to blow out a single candle on a rather large cake. The crowd laughed when the little baby fell on the cake and kept blowing until the candle finally went out. People smiled as she cheered and clapped her little hands together.

"That year, Suzy got a new pacifier, two new dresses and a teddy bear." Another photo came up this one of the kitchen. Mary Smith had an apron on and was mixing some batter. "Suzy loved pancakes. In fact, she loved them so much she didn't even want to wait for them to be cooked." Susan was in the next picture, and in a series of images crawled along the bench and tried to climb into the pancake mix.

Even Senator Kelly laughed at the picture of a little red haired toddler covered in batter.

"By fifteen months Suzy was waddling around the home, and every day when John got home from work, she would run up to him and yell 'daddy up'." A second video appeared on-screen.

Suzy was playing with some blocks when a door opened off screen. She got to her feet (almost falling over in the process) and ran as fast as she could. "Daddy! Daddy! Up! Up!" John put his briefcase down by the door and picked her up, swinging her around. They both laughed and Susan clapped her hands.

The video stopped and Senator Lee continued. "By the time she was two Suzy could walk and talk and on her second birthday she gave her dad a gift when he got home, because she didn't want him to feel sad about missing her birthday."

A drawing appeared on-screen. White paper with crayon stick figures. One had brown scribbles for hair, and the other two had outrageously long red stripes dangling off their heads. "They had it framed and put it in their living room."

"When Suzy was two and a half her parents bought a dog. A little beagle named Dumbo. Suzy loved him." A third wave of 'Aww...' swept through the audience as a picture appeared of Susan sleeping, using Dumbo as a pillow. "She especially liked his fur." This elicited a few chuckles.

"This is Susan's favourite dress." A shy Suzy smiled at the camera from under her long red hair. She was wearing a white dress with bright flowers all over. "Her best friend is a tie between Dumbo and Bambi. Her teddy bear from when she was one." A bear appeared on screen. Brown and fluffy with big hazel eyes.

"July fourth, two-thousand and nine. Suzy turned three. Here's a picture of Suzy with all her favourite things." The image that appeared was of the Smith family in the lounge room. Dumbo was curled up around Suzy who was trying to feed Bambi her pancakes. Her parents laughed in the background.

"Three days later, Suzy was playing in her front yard. She dropped her ball and ran to get it. Her mother, Mary saw the car coming from the front porch, but couldn't get there in time." The crowd stirred uneasily. "Don't worry, Suzy wasn't hurt. Without realising it, Suzy became insubstantial and the car went right through her. Suzy was a mutant."

The crowd stirred again. Some felt the usual hatred towards mutants, but it wasn't the same... Hating an adult, or even an unruly teenager is a lot different to hating a three year old kid.

"Suzy didn't understand why her mother rushed her inside. She didn't know why she was 'never allowed to do that again'. She didn't even know what it was she did." Some who had earlier shouted about mutants being freaks started nodding at this. Yeah, she didn't know what she did. She was ok. Yeah.

"The next day Mary Smith had to go to the doctors. She was feeling unwell and asked her neighbour, Marcus Rielly if he could look after Suzy for an hour or two." Some people in the crowed began to realise where this was going.

"Marcus said yes. I mean, why wouldn't he? He'd looked over Suzy before, dozens of times. In fact, he'd been there at all three of Suzy's parties. He'd seen her growing up from a little baby to the three year old girl you see behind me." The picture of Suzy in her favourite dress was back.

"He also saw Suzy save her own life." The audience murmured, and people who'd been watching the discussion live on TV sat forwards in their seats. "He knew Suzy was a mutant. And he hated mutants. He smiled sweetly to Mary, watched her drive away. He told Suzy to go into her back yard and play."

The senator's face fell flat, and in a grim tone he continued. "Then he attacked her. With his bare hands. He beat her and he beat her and when he couldn't stand the little demon pretending to cry... He killed her. Snapped her neck with the same hands that had given her a ball at her last birthday."

The crowed was silent.

"Three days ago Mary Smith came home to find her daughter brutally beaten and murdered. When the forensics arrived the investigator took one look, and then threw up."

The audience broke down in tears. Mothers, fathers and siblings all felt horrible, regardless of their feelings towards mutants. Even those who hated mutants, and those few present who had attacked or tormented the 'freaks' before took no sense of achievement from what they just learned. Some fainted in the crowd, and viewers grabbed handfuls of tissues to dry their tears.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Suzy Smith was three years four days old. She had red hair just like her mother and blue eyes just like her father. She loved pancakes and her best friend was either her teddy Bambi or her dog Dumbo. She was a mutant. She is now dead. When the police questioned Marcus about it he admitted it freely. These are his words. 'The bitch was so sweet; all the time smilin' and playin' but you gotta know she woulda killed us all. She was a freak! A mutant bitch and she played us all.' Marcus was taken into police custody, but when they arrived at the station the commissioner let him go.

"After all, the victim had been a mutant. Within an hour of killing a three year old girl Marcus Reilly was at a bar and being congratulated by his friends. He was a member of the Friends of Humanity."

Those who wore Friends of Humanity badges with pride suddenly looked at them with revulsion. Most tore them off and threw them away.

"Now I want you to think about this. She was three years old and she was killed for something she had no choice about. Something she didn't understand." The senator looked around the audience. "Now I want someone to come up here and say she deserved to die. I want Senator Kelly to get up here again and in front of the world say that Marcus Reilly should be allowed to go free."

His voice rose and tears fell from his eyes. "I want someone, one of you people who discriminate against mutants. Someone who beats up mutants for what they are not what they do. I want someone like that to get up here on stage and tell the world that what happened to Suzy Smith was alright. Senator Kelly thinks that Marcus should go free. Should he?"

The crowd roared "NO!"

"We heard Henry Gyrich earlier supporting a plan to lock up all mutants. Should they really be locked away for what they can't help? Should Suzy have been locked away!"

"NO!"

"Mutant's deserve the same rights as the rest of us. Mutant's deserve the same freedom as the rest of us. And when a mutant like Suzy gets killed, the guy who killed her had better go to jail!"

"YEAH!"

"Mutant's are people too!"

"MUTANT'S ARE PEOPLE TOO!"

In a room in a mansion in Westchester a bald telepath gave a sad smile as he looked around him. "It appears that things may be getting better after all."

Fin

AN: When we're born, we are all the same. Full of love and innocence. As we grow we learn how to hate, and things don't really get better from there.