Chapter Fourteen: The President's Opportunity
And here's Chapter Fourteen. Though the X-Men lost one of their own, they still strive to bring peace between mutants and humans. In this day and age, we humans need to work together for a better future as well, one with less fear and hate.
You can consider this a filler chapter if you'd like, if you want to skip right to the next.
Review responses will be in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.
In the White House, the President of United States made his way to the Oval Office to make his televised speech to the world.
"Today I've been given an opportunity to shed light on recent occurrences from the attack that ended in this office to the unexplained phenomenon that swept the Earth – nearly annihilating our way of life."
Entering the office, he greeted the journalists and camera crew as he sat at his desk. When the camera was rolling, he began his speech.
"My fellow Americans, in this time of adversity, we are being offered a moment, a moment to recognize a growing threat within our own population, and take a unique role in the shape of human events."
Suddenly, there was static, and the TelePrompTer flickered off, along with the lights.
"Did we just lose the feed? Are we still live?" Then he noticed that everyone in the room was completely still. He could faintly hear wind pick up outside the windows, and turned to see the sky darkening. Thunder began rumbling, and rain was pouring down. He turned to face the journalists and nearly jumped out of his seat.
There were seven new people in the Oval Office, many of them wearing leather uniforms. The white-haired woman that stood beside the TelePrompTer was smirking, her eyes glowing white.
"Good morning, Mr. President," the bald man in the wheelchair greeted politely. He was seated between a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail with her white bangs framing her face, and a man with a visor over his eyes.
The president then saw, with a jolt of fear, the devil-looking assassin wave a two-fingered hand from his perch on the fireplace mantle. He stood up.
"Please, don't be alarmed," said the man in the wheelchair gently. "We're not going to harm anyone."
"Who are you people?" the president demanded. They all stepped forward.
"We're mutants. My name is Charles Xavier. Please, sit down."
But the president didn't budge. "I'd rather stand."
Charles Xavier turned to the two-toned haired woman. "Rogue."
She wordlessly placed some files on the president's desk. Then she stepped back beside the man with the visor.
"These files were taken from the private offices of William Stryker," Xavier explained.
The president carefully examined the files. He frowned suspiciously. "How did you get this?"
"Well," Xavier smirked, "let's just say I know a little girl who can walk through walls."
The devil-looking mutant snickered. The president glared at him before looking back at the files, sitting in his chair. "I've never seen this information."
"I know," said Xavier calmly.
"Then you also know I don't respond well to threats," the president continued rather harshly.
"Mr. President, this is not a threat. This is an opportunity. There are forces in this world, both mutant and human alike, who believe that a war is coming. You will see from those files that some have already tried to start one, and there have been casualties. Losses on both sides."
The president noticed the man with the visor shake, like he wanted to cry. He watched the woman, Rogue, turn her head slightly and reach out to take his hand. He also saw another man with sideburns, this one more dangerous looking, look at them before turning his attention back to him.
"Mr. President," said Xavier, wheeling himself closer, "what you were about to tell the world is true – this is a moment. A moment to repeat the mistakes of the past, or to work together for a better future. We're here to stay, Mr. President. The next move is yours."
"We'll be watching," the man with the sideburns promised.
Thunder began clapping again as the president fixed stares with him, the woman with white eyes, the assassin, the man with the visor, the two-toned haired woman named Rogue, the teenage boy, and Charles Xavier. As the sun began shining again, the mutants had gone, the lights came back on, and everyone else in the room unfroze.
And there's Chapter Fourteen! I love how Rogue was standing beside Cyclops in the movie. It's like Singer was unintentionally teasing us Scogue shippers!
Remember when I said that the novelization had a different ending than the movie? Well, they filmed this scene with Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) present as well. I found a blooper of this scene in which Janssen entered the set and stood between Anna Paquin (Rogue) and James Marsden (Cyclops), apologizing for being late. What a way to lighten the mood, am I right? And Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) said he saved her a spot beside him, but Janssen just said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'd like to be with my fiancé." And the whole time, Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) and Halle Berry (Storm) were trying not to laugh. I even faintly heard Sir Patrick Stewart (Xavier) say, "Mr. President, she's not really here."
All in all, I thought this was cute.