Mess with the Bull
I was flipping through channels on the rec room's flat screen TV. There was nothing good on. Back in Hillwood, I only got maybe thirty channels, and could always find something to watch, here we have over three-hundred channels, and I can't find a thing!
"Hey, mind if I pick?" Scott startled me. I wasn't really paying attention to the TV, my mind was on other things.
"Oh, sure. There's nothing good on." I told him.
"Well, there's always the news." Scott said. Oh joy, the news. Every single time Scott has control of the remote, it goes straight to the news. It doesn't matter what station, just whichever one he flipped to first. Today, it was the national news.
"And the man was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Now on to our ongoing coverage of the mutant problem here in America." The newscaster told the television audience. I didn't like being called a problem. Problems were things that I solved. I was never a problem, or at least, I tried not to be.
"We take you to a live shot at Hillwood, Washington." That caught my attention. It was a helicopter shot of the city, from what I could see, they were showing the downtown streets, the place where Helga's float lost control before I saved it. "It appears that a large anti-mutant rally has broken out in the city. Police are on the scene trying to contain the rally, and stop them from marching on city hall. It appears their efforts are having little effect."
It was horrifying, seeing my hometown coming apart like that. And for what? To make the humans feel better about themselves?
"On the ground we have reporter Donald Silver. Donald?" The shot changed to a man standing on the side of the street where the mob had just passed.
"Hey Sarah, this street was just ten minutes ago, calm, quiet, and clean. Now that the mob has moved through, it looks like a flood came through and tore up the whole street. I have here, a gentleman who was caught in the violence. Hello sir, what's your name?"
"Gerald Johansen." Gerald?!
"Gerald?!" I suddenly said.
"Is something…" Scott began, but I shut him up.
"Can you tell us what happened Gerald?" Donald asked.
"Well, I saw the mob coming from a mile away. I heard them shouting at the top of their lungs 'no more mutants'! I tried to get out of the way. They were throwing tear gas, some had bats. It definetly wasn't peaceful." Gerald told the reporter. Gerald looked okay. His eyes were a little irritated from the tear gas, but otherwise okay.
"Can you tell us more about the leader of this mob?" Donald asked.
"Yes, his name is Big Bob Pataki. He owns a chain of electronic stores across the state. He's not a good man." Gerald finished.
Scott spoke up. "So, your home town seems to be falling apart. Arnold?"
I was walking out of the room. I needed to get to Hillwood.
"Arnold, where are you going?" Scott asked.
"I'm going to Hillwood." I told him, very sternly.
"And what are you planning to do? Attack the mob? That will only add fire to their cause!" Scott told me.
"I have to do something Scott. That's my home! My family is right in the middle of all this violence! You expect me to just stand by and do nothing?" I knew what his response would be. It was always the same.
"Alright, but we're going with you." Scott told me.
That was unexpected. I was expecting more like 'you can't go. It'll open up the institute to unwanted ridicule', but nope. He always surprises me.
"Where are we going?" Kitty suddenly asked, walking through the wall.
"Ja, vhere?" Kurt said after he teleported in.
"What's with all the ruckuses?" Jean asked, as she, Rouge, and Helga walked in.
"We're going to Hillwood." Scott told the team.
"No, you're not. Not without me." Logan said as he walked in.
We all looked at each other.
"Alright, here's the plan." Scott began.
The plan was mainly we'd be damage control. Make sure no citizens were harmed, including the protesters. Helga would make sure no one would stumble across the jet. Normal X-men stuff. However, our plans usually fall apart when we first arrive.
We arrived in the hanger. Nightcrawler had already prepped the jet, and it was ready for takeoff. We were all dressed in our uniforms. Mine was black, with dark blue stripes down the arms, and blue gloves, with the usual gold colored belt with the X symbol of the buckle.
We took our usual seats. Kurt and Logan took the flight controls. Kurt was a very talented pilot. He was the only one who got a perfect score on the flight simulator. We all felt safe with him flying.
Helga sat next to me. She was wearing here black X-men uniform, same as the new students'. She held onto my hand. I looked worried at her.
"Will you be able to do this?" I asked her.
"Yeah, it needs to be done." She told me.
"Everyone ready?!" Kurt announced from the front.
"Hit it elf!" Kitty answered back.
"Vith pleasure." Kurt said, as he opened the doors at the end of the runway. This action would cause the alarms inside the mansion to go off, which means we had less than a minute to get out of there before the professor or Storm would close them. Kurt started the jet rolling. We needed to reach a speed of at least 150 MPH to even hope of takeoff. The jet was picking up speed. The door was coming closer and closer.
"Come on old girl." I heard Kurt say under his breath.
We then could feel the wheels pick up off the ground. Here comes the door. There's the door. There goes the doors. We were clear, and flying safely.
Kurt let out a sigh. He looked at Logan and they both laughed.
"Well done elf. Like always." Logan said.
Kurt chuckled. "Approaching cruising at 48,000 feet."
We always flew above the commercial air traffic. It was safer that way. We were also in stealth mode. No radar could pick us up. We were only two hours away from Hillwood.
Watch out Big Bob. You messed with the bull, now you get the horns.