This Very Important Parade
It was a disaster.
The obscenely large crowd of protesters easily dwarfed the number of mutants gathered for the rally. Xavier and the other expected speakers had immediately given up any thoughts of going through with the speeches they had planned on making. Instead, they settled for simply being seen. A lot of the younger students held up signs, and a lot of the prettier ones had their pictures taken and were interviewed by whatever media members could make their way through the nearly riotous throng of anti-mutant protesters.
Storm shook her head in bewilderment. "This is insane," she said.
Wolverine grunted and started stomping off.
"Where are you going?" Storm called after him.
"To get some air," Wolverine answered evasively.
"Logan! Don't go looking for trouble."
"Wouldn't have to look far, would I?" Wolverine answered cynically nodding in the general direction of the giant mob gathered behind police barricades.
Xavier wheeled up towards Storm, a troubled expression on his face. "Ororo. Very quietly… start gathering the younger students onto the jet."
"Okay," Storm agreed immediately. "Is everything alright?"
"We've done all we can here," Xavier reasoned, but Storm was pretty sure there was something else behind the Professor's words.
xxx
Wolverine strolled casually parallel to the police line, immune to the hundreds of voices shouting profanities and threats in his general direction.
"Sir, I'm really going to have to ask you to stay away from the crowd."
Wolverine glanced up at the police officer. He didn't look hostile, but he also didn't look intimidated. He wore his long black hair in dreadlocks, and had an "M" tattooed over his right eye. "For my safety?" Wolverine asked wryly.
The other man gave him a knowing look. "For theirs."
The amused smile faded from Wolverine's face when a man-shaped robot almost the size of the surrounding skyscrapers landed a short distance away from them.
The cop looked just as shocked as Wolverine. "What the—?"
"MUTANT DNA DETECTED," announced a booming voice, and the robot fired a blast of deadly energy from its hand.
Wolverine was ready to spring out of the way, but was shocked to realize the blast was aimed not at him, but the police officer.
Rather than jumping out of the way, the other man raised his hands in what Wolverine assumed was a futile effort to protect himself, but instead the energy seemed to absorb into his hands, and seconds later he fired back at the giant robot, destroying it in a massive explosion, throwing everyone nearby except the cop off their feet.
"That's a neat trick you've got there," Wolverine noted approvingly as the smoke cleared. "You got a name?"
"Name's Lucas," the other man answered as he offered Wolverine his hand and helped him up. "But everyone calls me Bishop."
A few other cops were staring openly at him. "Bish', what the hell?" one of them gasped.
"You know how you guys are always asking me what that M on my forehead stands for? It's mutant."
xxx
Two more sentinels landed amidst the few mutants still remaining at the site of the rally.
"MUTANT DNA DETECTED."
"My God," Professor Xavier whispered breathlessly as the sentinels began firing into the crowd, killing innocent mutants.
"Kurt!" Storm shouted as she dodged energy blasts and her hands glowed with electric energy. "Get the Professor out of here!"
Nightcrawler grabbed Xavier and disappeared. A split second later Xavier's wheelchair was hit by an energy blast and vaporized.
"Rogue, Bobby, get everyone you can onto the jet!" Storm shouted above the chaos as she started firing powerful blasts of lightning at the robots.
The lightning bolts bounced off the sentinels' armor ineffectively, and they continued to march forward, undaunted. Nightcrawler appeared back at Storm's side.
Storm managed to maintain her poise despite the situation. "Kurt, we need to buy them some time. I'll fly, you teleport. Try to draw their fire."
Nightcrawler nodded in acknowledgement. Storm was about to take off, but Kurt put his hand on her shoulder lightly. "May God protect you, Ororo," he said with quiet determination, then disappeared.
Then Storm was in the air, firing useless blasts of electricity at the sentinels to distract them. She was vaguely aware of Bobby shooting ice blasts at them as he and Rogue shepherded students and other civilians towards the jet, and Kurt appearing and disappearing erratically around the sentinels, trying to draw their attention like Storm.
"Storm," Bobby called over the comm, sounding frightened. "We got everyone we could onto the jet. Get out of there!"
Storm tried very hard not to look at the bodies on the ground as she began flying back towards the jet. "Where's Logan?" she shouted into her microphone.
"I'm on my way, darlin'," Wolverine answered over the comm. "I've got a cop with me; friendly. He'll be hitching a ride with us."
"Alright, that's everyone, then," Storm said. "Let's get out of here!"
In the confusion of battle, a Sentinel fired at Storm while her back was turned. There was no time to warn her, nothing to be done.
The sudden whoosh of teleportation made Storm whirl around just in time to see Nightcrawler's eyes widen in pain. The smoke from his teleportation had barely cleared, but he was solid enough to take the deadly energy in her stead.
The last thing Kurt Wagner saw on this earth was the horrified eyes of the first person who had ever shown him any kindness, the woman he had never been able to tell he loved. He was dead before his body hit the ground.
"Kurt!"
Everything stopped. Storm didn't even notice she was falling, having lost control of her flight, until she was caught by a running Wolverine. He didn't set her down until they reached the jet.
xxx
Wolverine gently set Storm down in one of the passenger seats and strapped her in. She started to say something, but he gently placed a finger on her lips before moving to the front of the cockpit. "Anyone here know how to fly?" he asked.
Bishop stepped forward.
"Good," Wolverine said, taking the copilot seat.
"Wait a second," Rogue protested, "who is he?"
"His name's Bishop," Wolverine answered before Bishop could. "We can do meet and greet later. Sit down."
Bishop nodded and dropped into the pilot seat next to Wolverine.
"You know, I've never flown anything this advanced," Bishop admitted as they brought the engines online.
"It's a piece of cake," Wolverine answered. "Practically flies itself."
Bishop seemed to gain confidence from that and eased the plane off the ground even as it shook slightly from weapons impacts. "So, you've flown it before?" he asks.
"Hell no," Wolverine answered cheerfully as they ascended.
They quickly discovered to their dismay that the sentinels were able to keep up with them even at top speed.
"I can't shake them!" Bishop cried as the jet rocked with another impact.
"Storm!" Wolverine shouted.
"Their armor is hardened against electricity!" Storm answered desperately. "There's nothing I can do."
"Yes you can," Wolverine growled.
"Logan, I—"
Once again he knew exactly what to do, what to say. "They killed Kurt!"
Storm's eyes suddenly went white. "Everyone hold on to something!" she warned, her voice menacing.
A massive tornado dropped between the X-Jet and the sentinels. Bishop cursed as alarm bells went off, and fought desperately to steady the jet as winds tore it in every direction.
The jet was tossed around for minutes, but finally Storm released the tornado to reveal that the sentinels were no more.
Storm slumped back in her seat, emotionally and physically spent.
xxx
A flurry of questions bombarded the President as he entered the White House Press Room, but he waved them off as he approached the podium.
"Thank you all for coming," the President began, immediately silencing the crowded room. Cameras flashed as he spoke. "Today by Executive Order I authorized the deployment of the Sentinel Program. The initial operation focused on the most dangerous mutants we were able to easily locate, and we will continue to act until this threat to our national security is eliminated."
This time not even presidential authority could stop the tidal wave of questions, but that simple statement – no more than a soundbyte, really – was all he gave them. An overwhelmed-looking press secretary replaced him at the podium as he strode confidently out of the room.
A very angry looking Nick Fury stood near the door. "I can't tell you what a terrible mistake you're making, Mr. President," he warned.
"Nonsense, General Fury!" the President answered, clapping him on the shoulder in what would look deceivingly like a friendly gesture to the cameras. "I just guaranteed that history will remember me as the president that solved the mutant problem."
