A/N: A story that has been sitting in my computer for years. Decided to revamp and post. Dedicated to Jeannie-Redd and Russia's-little-Kiska, my fellow sirens.
Set after the final episode—enjoy!
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Principle Kelly sifted through papers on his desk after a long day of work. So many unruly students, even after most of the mutants had gone on to bigger and better things. Students were just always unruly around here, with more attitude than they could handle. He blamed the mutants most of the time, but even he had to admit that sometimes there was no way he could pin the fault on them. Children just didn't behave, and that was that.
But how he could twist it just so, so that the mutants would bear most of the fault. He was good at that. They were nothing but menaces, all of them. Freaks of nature that had no right to live among 'normal' humans.
Robert Kelly leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. Pushing some papers aside, he pulled out a campaign flyer for the latest mayor. If only he was the ruler of the town… how he would make some changes around here… Which is why he had petitioned to become the next mayor. The mutant community didn't take well to his opinions, but that was their problem. He was here to defend those who couldn't defend themselves.
That's when he heard it. A low growl was coming somewhere within the dim room. Kelly looked up, and saw a pair of drooling fangs, grinding together angrily. That's when his heart lurched in fear.
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Cue theme song…
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Wolverine took a deep sniff of the musty air, the fog hindering his heightened sense of smell. He took a moment longer than usual, that was all. It didn't take much to tack the scent of his oldest enemy. He growled when he got a big whiff of dirty cat.
"This way!" he yelled, taking off into the fog. The rest of the X-Men team followed at his heels. Iceman huffed and puffed at the rear.
"Tell me again why we're defending the dude whose main deal is to get rid of mutants?"
"Because we have to prove to him that not all mutants are the same," Cyclops replied as they wound around a street corner.
"Something tells me he's not one to change his mind about us…" Nightcrawler countered.
"Even still, how bad would it look to have the anti-mutant activist killed by a mutant?" Jean added. "It would only prove him right."
Suddenly, Shadowcat stopped in her tracks. Iceman ran ahead to keep up with the others, while Rogue stopped to see what was the matter.
"Kitty, what's going on?" Rogue called. Shadowcat's eyes swelled with pity, and she pointed off into a nearby alleyway. Rogue followed her direction, looking to what she was motioning to. She gasped when she saw a woman getting mugged in an alleyway.
"Rogue, what's the hold-up?" Cyclops called through the fog to them. He noticed what they were looking at. "Sabertooth is going to get to Kelly before we can! We'll have to get to her later. Com'on!"
They hesitated, watching the man run off with the woman's purse.
"But Cyclops!" Rogue begged. "What about--!"
"Com'on, girls," Jean said sadly. "We have to go."
"But--" Kitty began.
"I don't understand either, but he's the leader. Let's go."
Kitty followed obediently, but not without looking back at the woman and her pleading expression. The man was long gone with her purse, ready to cause credit card and insurance hell.
It didn't seem fair, and she didn't understand, but with every fiber of her being, she ran off with the other X-men.
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Rogue burst through the front door with her fellow X-men, fuming. The mission had been a success. They had saved Kelly and sent Sabertooth home with his tail between his legs. He had been outnumbered, sure, but victory always felt good.
But Rogue was mad.
"Whah couldn't we spare two seconds to help that woman, Scott?" Rogue demanded.
"I told you," Scott replied impatiently. "Two seconds could be all Sabertooth needed to slash Kelly with his long fingernails. We had no time to fool around."
"'Fool around'?" Rogue choked, her voice going louder. "Savin' that woman's finances, dignity and quite possibly her life is not 'fooling around'."
Kitty stepped into the conversation too, and the others stuck around to see how this age-old argument would turn out.
"Why don't we make time for the little people occasionally?" Kitty said.
"Because the big people matter!" Scott shouted, now getting angry at his authority being questioned. "Because the 'big' people make the rules and differences that save thousands of the 'little' people's finances, dignity, and quite possibly their lives."
"Oh, Principle Kelly is a man who cares about the little people, uh-huh," Rogue said cynically.
"That gives us no reason not to save his life, you know that. At that particular moment, we could make more of a difference saving him than some random mug victim on the street who won't even remember us."
"I don't know, Scott," Jean said quietly. "I think I'm with them on this one. Kelly had more than enough time."
"Not you too!" Scott said, throwing his hands in the air. "Why is this so hard to understand? We saved the people that mean something to this entire country. Think about the big picture."
"So random people on the street don't mean something to this country?" Jean put her hands on her hips.
Scott sighed loudly.
"When it comes down to it, I'm the leader here, and you have to trust my decisions. That's it."
With that all three girls at the same time snorted and stormed to the dressing room to get out of uniform.
"Can you believe him?" Kitty complained.
"It's like he's lost all respect for the Cause," Rogue retorted. "The little people are what makes this a country in the first place!"
"Just drop it, you guys," Jean said, just as angry as them, but trying to be more mature about this. "You aren't going to win this one."
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Time for the first commercial break. Don't
worry, the chapters will be longer after this. Please review.
Signed,
--RedRogue
