Chapter 10: Capital City
(Bobby)
After the plan was arranged, they were allowed to rest until dawn, which was in a little less than 3 hours. Many, including him, took the opportunity to sleep, but the blissful rest passed by all too quickly. Pete had found the Brotherhood's coffee maker, and after a portion of time, pots of coffee were swallowed to caffeinate themselves. Bobby was halfway done with his second cup (which was actually a bowl) when the Professor went over the plan to get to the Blackbird again. "Once we get near the school, we'll leave the cars and continue on foot. I will freeze the soldiers so we can get to the jet undetected, and without incident. Rogue has agreed to remain here with the children while we're gone."
Bobby turned to Rogue, who gave him a small smile, and a big hug. "Be careful out there."
"Yeah, you too." he said, rubbing her shoulders as he broke the hug. After a quick, non-lethal peck on the lips, the underground lair was partially emptied as the X-Men and Brotherhood marched out. The Brotherhood lead the way to the cars, uncovering their personal one and getting inside. Bobby, Pete, and Kitty went into another, while the teachers piled into the specialized one.
As he drove, Bobby could almost hear the silence filling the car, and he kind of liked it. Compared to the night's previous gunfire and explosions, dead silence was quite enjoyable. After about twenty minutes of driving, they pulled over and continued to their home on foot. Mystique and Magneto murmured quietly to each other along the way, but no one else said a word. They just wanted this to be over, back to the way it was before.
The school was soon within sight and they gathered near a cluster of trees and bushes.
"This should only take a moment." the Professor announced, closing his eyes. After a couple seconds, they reopened. "Alright, it's safe now."
"Are you sure they're, you know, frozen?" Bobby asked. Everyone looked at him. "Sorry! I don't want to get shot!" he defended, blushing.
"You have my word, Bobby." Xavier said, leading the way. Sure enough, as they got closer to the school, n soldiers reacted to their presence. They slipped inside undetected, and hurried to the elevator, and after a short descent, reached the lower levels. After a short walk down a hall, the jet loomed over them.
Storm and Cyclops were the pilot and copilot, respectively, and the others buckled into the passenger seats. After a few pushed buttons and flipped switches, the jet was airborne and vanished from sight as the stealth mode was activated.
"Can someone please tell me why we couldn't use Cerebro? We walked right past it." Mystique said, her arms crossed.
"If we had, the Professor's mental paralyzation would have worn off and we'd have been made. Just…relax, okay?" Logan replied, actually sounding a little comforting at the end. She sighed, worried for her…boyfriend.
'Wow. John is somebody's boyfriend. Sounds so weird.' Bobby thought, smiling to himself
Aside from the occasional chit-chat, the flight wasn't very talkative and Bobby stared out the window, thinking about what might happen if things didn't go as planned.
Almost an hour passed before they landed in D.C.
"Alright, so what now?" Kitty asked as everyone undid their seatbelts and stood, eager and uneasy.
"Now we convince the President to let us all live." Magneto said, sounding tired. The jet remained cloaked as everyone left, making mental reminders of its location. When the time was right, Xavier again froze everyone nearby and they walked through the front doors right under everyone's noses. An alarm blared as they entered. "Mutant sensors." Cyclops realized. Logan cut through the alarm's control box, silencing it. After a stern glance from Xavier, Storm, and Scott, they continued on and located the President's office. Locking the door behind them, Xavier closed his eyes and the President's mime-time passed.
"-get it finished." McKenna said, his finger on the intercom. He looked up, startled at the sudden appearance of mutant occupants.
"Greetings, President McKenna. I believe you know why we're here." Xavier said.
The President pressed a button. "Security!"
"Yeah, they won't come." Logan informed.
"Look, I didn't want this, but your kind started this. Hell, I was glad we had a truce." McKenna defended.
"Our kind? If you wanted a truce, how can you still refer to us as if we're aliens?" Storm asked, taking a step forward.
"I was almost killed! People wanted answers, they…they wanted blood! I had to do something to appease them!" he said, slamming a fist on his desk.
"So you went with genocide? I guess this makes you the new Hitler." Magneto mused, an uncomfortable look on his face.
"People still harbor a lot of fear towards mutants. Half of the population takes extra precaution to make sue their kids are safe! We're talking protests at known mutant residencies, cross burnings, all non-lethal, but effective. And legal. We're trying to coexist, but people are scared. Everyone turns to me in a time of crisis, and I made a decision. And as it turns out, people have been preparing for this. Bomb shelters, mass gun storage, even scientists working towards ways to screen someone's blood to detect the X-gene." the President explained, looking to each mutant in the room.
"So you're saying people didn't care about the truce?" Bobby asked.
McKenna sighed. "No, not really. Whether a mutant killed a human, or vice versa, the truce would've broken eventually. We just can't live without war."
"You're the fucking President! Can't you say some safe word and end this? We're…we're talking about extermination, here!" Scott blew up.
Gulping nervously, the President stood, leaning against his desk. "By the time word spreads about a cease-fire, it wouldn't matter. Too much is happening. People don't care anymore. Schools are closing, police are working around the clock, we're even detaining mutants for questioning, but I'm trying to spare them!"
"The ones you capture, what happens to them?" Mystique asked, narrowing her eyes.
"They're…" the President glanced around at the mutants. "They're transported to the closest base, and interrogated." he continued.
"Interrogated?" Scott asked.
"For information; locations on other mutants, the level of threat they pose." McKenna replied.
"So you don't kill them?" Bobby asked.
"Not unless they won't cooperate. Those that do, we keep for future usefulness." the President answered.
Xavier tilted his head to the side slightly. "You really wanted this truce to last." he realized.
"I really did." McKenna said, nodding. "I didn't want to start a war."
'And yet you did.' Bobby thought, wanting to hate the man, but finding himself unable to.
"Is there anything you can do to stop this? Please, innocent lives are dependent on it." Storm pleaded.
"The Operation has already begun. It's in motion, there is no stopping it. My suggestion to survive this is to move out of the country. Most of Europe is very pro-mutant." the President declared, looking helpless.
"That's your answer? Run and hide?" Logan asked disbelievingly.
"I'm sorry. I can try to close Pandora's box, but I can't guarantee it'll be secured." the man replied, sitting back down. "You have my allegiance. You always have."
Only one or two of them believed the President fully. The rest either didn't, or only did to some extent.
A/N: Coming up: a plan to rescue Pyro doesn't go as planned, and Mr. XYZ's identity is revealed.