Disclaimer: There's really not much mention of ANY Marvel/Fox owned type things, except for the Statue plot device. The narrator is mine.
A/N: This is a short reactionary piece I felt I had to write directly after the September 11th tragedies. As I wanted to make it be in an X-Men setting (since that's pretty much all I was writing at the time), I decided to make it during the time period shortly following the Statue of Liberty incident during the movie.
Dedication: To all of the survivors of the Trade Towers and the Pentagon, and to the passengers on those four planes. Also, I got a rather interesting email that made me think about the innocents in this, not just the survivors, the dead, or the relatives involved, but the people of Arabic descent who had nothing to do with that day. You were right. And so my anonymous character is dedicated to you.
She stands there, for the entire world to see, tall and proud as always. Usually my heart beats faster and I smile in pride whenever I see her, but today I feel only shock and revulsion when I look up. She seems to agree with me, because that almost-smile she normally wears has been replaced, in my eyes anyway, with a frown. She knows what's happened, and she doesn't like it any more than I do.
Her torch is completely destroyed, and it's being said on the news that they won't be able to replace it. The materials from which she was made aren't as available as they used to be, and the hand and arm are so fragile at the moment that they might break off if efforts at repair are made.
Why? That question rings in my head over and over.
Why would anyone do this, use a symbol of freedom that everyone in the US respects to do...well, no one's really sure what the madmen were trying to do, but whatever it was couldn't have been for the good of America. It couldn't have been something that would have supported the freedoms which she stands for so proudly.
I have to turn away now, because looking at her makes me want to cry. And to get back at them. At whoever they are, those people who presumed to desecrate one of the most important monuments in America. I don't know who they were, or what their plans were, but right now it doesn't matter. They deserve the worst punishment possible for this.
I just heard on the radio that the madman who headed this, a psycho who calls himself "Magneto", and his cohorts were taken into custody. No one's saying what they're going to do with him. I know what I'd do.
He was a mutant, you know. They're saying he's very powerful, has the power to bend metal and do all kinds of weird things. Bet he thought he was doing mutants a favor or something.
He wasn't. Now mutants are going to be hated even more because of him, because of what he did. It's not enough that mutants who are very obviously that can't go out in public without getting teased and pushed around and generally harassed. No, now there's probably going to be death threats and people staring at mutants with true hate in their eyes, not just fear and suspicion.
I pull the hood of my jacket down lower over my face. Maybe it'll help hide my yellow eyes and too-pale skin until I can get inside. Maybe no one will notice and I'll be safe. For a little while, anyway.
I feel a hand on my arm, rough, pulling me around. A fist meets my face with what I know is too much force, and I crumple to the ground.
Maybe not.