"Thank you, Irene. We now switch to our correspondent, Hector Gomez, who is in New York City. Hector?"
"Thank you, Rochelle. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm speaking to you from the demonstration being led today by the Reverend Jerry Gordon. Rev. Gordon, who has repeatedly called mutants as 'abominations of God's creation', has said that today's gathering is a 'meeting of the faithful' and not a venue for expressing 'anti-Christian sentiment'. Despite that, however, as you can see, there are several banners being displayed here that read 'Magneto Is Guilty', 'Punish The Mutant', and other statements that condemn both Magneto and mutantkind in general."
"Mein Gott," Nightcrawler said to himself as he watched the people down below him. He was on the roof of a building directly across the street from Rev. Gordon's "meeting of the faithful". Warren had asked permission to check on what was happening at Worthington Industries. After arranging a pickup point upon his return, Warren left Nightcrawler to occupy himself moving from rooftop to rooftop, viewing what was taking place in the streets below.
Rev. Gordon was standing in front of his followers, apparently delivering a sermon on mutantkind. "Ladies and gentlemen, God is looking upon our country and the world today!" he began. "Today. God has given us the opportunity to bring righteous justice upon the wicked!"
The reverend strode out to the front ranks of his audience. He held up a Bible. "For it is said by God the there will be a time of reckoning for those who do evil! They will be cast our of heaven and sent to the lake of fire to burn for all eternity! Magneto has taken power that does not rightfully belong to anyone but God and used it for his own ends! His stiff-necked pride has made him believe that he is God!
"But the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who brought the plagues upon Pharaoh for his pride, who laid Sodom and Gomorrah to waste for their impiousness, who smote the enemies of his people, has struck down Magneto and those like him who would appoint themselves as the new stewards—no, not stewards but masters of humanity! The Lord has handed Magneto over to us so that justice might be done and the will of the Lord be carried out!
"And when Magneto reaps what he has sown with bloody hands and cold, black heart, then we shall see that the Lord is our God, that He is a mighty God who will never tolerate those whom He was marked as unclean to hold sway over His people!"
The reverend held his hands high above his head, as if sending out a supplication to the heavens. "Praise the God of Justice and Might! Praise the Lord who destroys the evildoers, the unclean, and those begotten by Hell!" he roared.
The people responded with rapturous shouts of "Amen!" interspersed with chants of "Guilty!" and "Punish the mutant!"
Nightcrawler's stomach turned sour at the sight of the demonstration below. When he parted ways with the X-Men after helping shut down Col. Stryker's Alkali Lake headquarters, he sought refuge in a monastery. It was there that he began to learn about his relationship with God and how mutants fit into the tapestry of Divine Will. Slowly but steadily, he began to form a strong belief that mutantkind was just as much a creation of God as humankind was. As a result, he returned to Professor Xavier's school after his time in the monastery in order to put his belief into concrete action.
His belief was challenged time and again whenever he and the X-Men had to confront both mutant and human threats. But it was when he came face-to-face with his estranged daughter Talia for the first time that his belief faced its severest test.
At first, Talia's normal human appearance gave him hope that she hadn't inherited his mutation; unfortunately, it turned out that she merely had the added ability to conceal her true appearance which was similar to Nightcrawler's right down to the tail, pointed ears, and blue skin. At first, Nightcrawler's belief was shaken when he made that discovery and he nearly abandoned his faith—and his daughter. Talia, however, showed that not only had she accepted her mutation but had also learned how to use it in accordance with Professor Xavier's teachings—as well as her father's own belief that mutants had the freedom to choose between good or evil, just like any of God's creatures. It was Talia's own resolute faith that she could be a force for good that eventually led to Nightcrawler coming into his own as her father and as a member of the X-Men.
Now, as Rev. Gordon ranted below him, he knew that his belief, strong though it was, had a long way to go before it would be shared by the rest of the world. The reverend was still talking about deviants, freaks of nature, and other creatures who were not made by the hand of God when Nightcrawler decided to interject himself. He crawled down the building and then leapt onto a nearby lamp post, giving him a good view of the crowd and, hopefully, keeping him out of harm's way should things get ugly. He hoped that, with the presence of the media and the police at the demonstration, no one would attempt anything rash. He didn't want to have to respond in kind.
Nightcrawler called out to the reverend: "Pardon me, for interrupting, Reverend, but may I have a word or two with you?"
"Evil!" "Satan spawn!" and "Mutant!" were some of the catcalls that greeted him in reply. Nightcrawler, however, was already used to insults and said nothing by way of retort.
"Here we have one of the fallen!" Rev. Gordon declared, gesturing with his Bible towards Nightcrawler. "Here we have one of the Devil's own! Does he not come in the form of his infernal master and creator?"
More jeers came Nightcrawler's way but he maintained his composure. He spoke clearly and loudly enough for the reverend to hear him: "How can a man who claims to be a servant of God spread such hatred for His creatures?"
"His creatures?" Rev. Gordon was actually dumbstruck for several moments. His followers waited with bated breath for his response to his questioner.
"His creatures?" the reverend repeated. "His creatures?" Rev. Gordon drew in a breath before continuing in a thunderous voice: "Mutants are not God's creatures! Mutants are inhuman abominations that have been set on Earth by the Devil to wage war against humanity!" He paused for effect. "Look at yourself—do you think that God would create something as hideous as you?"
Nightcrawler answered: "You needn't remind me of my appearance, Reverend. I'm well aware that I look nothing like what you would regard as a normal human. And yet, in Scripture, does not the Lord warn us of being led astray by outward appearances? If I'm not mistaken, I believe He called the Pharisees 'whited sepulchers', pure on the outside but filled with rot and corruption."
"You speak of Holy Scripture?" Rev. Gordon asked. He turned to his followers. "We shouldn't be so surprised, should we? For does not that same Scripture also say that Satan can quote the Lord's own words to suit his twisted purposes?"
"Yes, it does, doesn't it, Reverend?" Nightcrawler agreed amiably enough. But the look he gave Rev. Gordon was no less pointed for being subtle. The reverend didn't catch on right away but when he did, he was furious.
"How dare you imply that I serve the Anti-Christ, you demon?" he challenged Nightcrawler. "Brothers and sisters, let him not mislead you! For does not his own form give him away? While I occupy a human body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, he is made of the clay of Hell and shaped by the hands if Satan!"
"And what about me, Reverend?" Nightcrawler looked up and saw Warren hovering in the air close by. "Do I look as if I had been created by the devil as well? Do I also have an appearance that would lead you to conclude that I am a monster? An inhuman creature?"
Nightcrawler watched the young mutant. His voice was calm and even but the look on his face was inscrutable—a combination that easily led Nightcrawler to conclude that Warren was holding a great many emotions in check. If he remembered correctly, Warren's own father had wanted to cure him of his mutation. That was how the anti-mutagen came into being; Worthington the Elder wanted to remove the stigma of mutanthood from his son. An admirable goal, to be sure, Nightcrawler admitted, but one that ultimately made things worse for humans an mutants. And as for Warren, well, he had chosen to keep his wings and did not allow his father to administer the cure to him. Instead, Warren had come to the school to learn how to put his mutation to use to build a bridge between humanity and mutants. Fortunately, his father had slowly come around to seeing his son's way of thinking—but only up to a certain point. Worthington Laboratories still manufactured the anti-mutagen as a weapon against mutants deemed as threats. Nightcrawler wondered how long before the cure became worse than the disease once again.
Rev. Gordon stared at Warren, who wore his black uniform and whose wings moved with the easy grace of any creature of the air. Finally he screamed: "You're a blasphemy! You've been given the form of God's servants and yet you choose to consort with these abominations!"
"If there's one thing I've learned in my lifetime, Reverend," Nightcrawler said, "it's that God would never condone the ignorance and the bigotry that you wish to feed with your words."
"What do you know about God?" the reverend demanded. I've dedicated my life to serving Him—"
"I know, Reverend," Nightcrawler told him in a voice filled with regret. "And therein lies the tragedy." He spoke to Warren: "Let's get out of here, my friend. There's nothing more we can do here—at least for now."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Wagner," Warren said. Nightcrawler teleported himself to the roof of the building. Warren followed him, wings carrying him upward easily.
"Damn, I was sort of hoping that wouldn't happen," Wolverine said. He stood in the headmaster's office with Storm, Sean Cassidy, Elizabeth Braddock, Alex Summers, and Dr. MacTaggart. Theresa had reluctantly left her dad's side but cheered up when he told her that he would meet her at the dining hall when he, Dr. MacTaggart, and the older mutants were done with their meeting.
"Well, what do you expect, Mr. Logan?" Alex said. "The city's probably crawling with TV news crews because of the trial. I don't think Mr. Wagner and Worthington deliberately decided to debate that crazy preacher on air."
"Yeah, well, I guess Kurt and Warren did okay," Wolverine grudgingly admitted. "At least he and Warren got out of there before anything crazy could happen."
"You think some of these demonstrations might turn ugly, Logan?" Sean asked.
"I don't think so, Irish," Wolverine replied. "I know so. It's only a matter of time before—" A news bulletin on the television interrupted Wolverine before he could finish his statement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt Hector Gomez's report to bring you a news flash from another part of New York City. We turn you over to Daniel Bell. Daniel, are you there?"
"Yes, Rochelle. Right now, we are in an area of New York City that has been referred to by those living around it as M-Town or Mutant Town. The majority of its residents, as its name obviously suggests, are mutants, with a small number of humans living there. These humans are apparently either related to M-Town's mutants or are simply on good terms with them, thus making them sympathetic to their non-human neighbors' struggle to survive.
"About half an hour ago, that struggle just became more dangerous with the arrival of several anti-mutant gangs who are intent on driving out the mutants of M-Town and claiming it as their own territory."
Lady Yuriko Oyama watched as the anti-mutant mobs swarmed into the streets of M-Town. Beside her, Dr. Innocenta stood quietly, viewing the monitors in front of them. They were inside a vacant building on the edge of the mutant ghetto. The room where they were watching the proceedings outside was outfitted as a n operational command center.
"This should be good," the man at the console said. He typed in a command and some of the monitors displayed another group of men standing in an alley. "Looks like Macon's team is ready, ma'am," he remarked. "So are Reese, Miong, and Domingo."
"Excellent," Dr. Innocenta said. "Keep your eyes open, Mr. Nelson."
Nelson nodded. "We'll keep you posted if any unexpected guests show up."
Dr. Innocenta turned towards the Lady Oyama. "I believe it's time for us to begin."
Yuriko nodded. She fell in behind the cyberneticist and left the command center.
Toad fell into bed, dog-tired, after another night patrolling M-Town for trouble. He woke up to find that trouble had erupted almost at his front door. Instead of sunlight hitting his eyes, gunshots assaulted his ears. He immediately leapt out of bed and went to the nearest vantage point to find out what was going on. When he saw what the trouble was, he had a feeling like deja vu—the mob out on the streets reminded him of the night when he met Lorelei—
His heart began to beat faster. Lori! he thought. What's happened to her? He left his roost, quickly and unobtrusively making his way towards the building where she and her friends lived. He prayed he wouldn't be too late.
The goggle-eyed man and his companions ran as fast as they could. Behind them, a gang of anti-mutant bigots carrying weapons tailed them closely.
"This way!" Goggle Eyes told his fellow mutants.
One of them—a young woman whose skin color was like that of a giraffe asked him, "Are you sure?" She was carrying a little girl with big ears. Behind her was a long-haired teenager.
"I think so!" Goggle Eyes answered her. When they went in the direction he'd picked, however, they found themselves in a blind alley.
"Oh, damn," the teenager said. "I think we'd better go back." Just as they turned on their heels, however, they saw a car pull up and block the alley. Another group of men stepped out. They were also armed—pipes, baseball bats, and a couple of shotguns.
"Well, well—look what we've got here, boys," one of the gunmen said. He raised his weapon.
"No!" Giraffe Girl cried out, trying to cover the little girl as best as she could. The gunman fired but Goggle Eyes stepped into the line of fire, taking the shot that was meant for Giraffe Girl.
"Jorge!" Giraffe Girl cried out in horror.
The thugs stepped closer. The long-haired teenager grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her to her feet. He pointed to a nearby fire escape. "Go!" he told Giraffe Girl.
"Terry, what are you going to do?" she asked.
"Just go!" Terry screamed. The thugs were all smiling ferally They were eagerly anticipating the end of a successful first hunt.
Giraffe Girl tried to reach for the ladder but couldn't. She set the little girl down on the ground. "Lacey, Lacey—you have to get up there now."
Lacey stared at the thugs and then at Giraffe Girl. "Georgina, I'm scared, I want to go home..." she said, tears flowing from her eyes.
"We are going home, Lacey," Giraffe Girl said. "But to do that, you have to get up there. Can you do that? Please? For me?"
"I'm not leaving you, Georgina," Lacey said.
"I'll be right behind you, Lacey." Another command to leave came from Terry. Giraffe Girl hugged Lacey tightly. She was beginning to cry too as she removed Lacey's sweater and tied it around the little girl's waist. "Now, go on—fly! Fly, Lacey!"
Lacey looked at her doubtfully but stepped back. Her wings unfolded from her back and she began to flap them, slowly at first but gaining speed. Soon enough, she was leaving the ground.
The thugs saw her. "Get that mutie!" A shotgun took aim.
"No!" Terry ran towards them and—to the thug's surprise—disappeared. While he was invisible to their eyes, he leapt for the one with the shotgun and knocked him flat on his back. The other thugs wondered what happened.
"He's invisible! But he's here somewhere!" the other shotgun man said. He stared firing at random, hoping he'd hit Terry. Unfortunately for the young mutant, the man's luck held. With a cry of pain, he rematerialized slightly behind them, hands pressed to a wound in his side.
"Got him!" the second shotgun man whooped. The other gunman got up, weapon ready. One of the bat-bearing thugs gave Terry a kick. The young mutant cried out.
Giraffe Girl watched as they surrounded her friend. She knew this would be her last chance to escape. Up above her, safe from harm (or so she hoped) was Lacey, who was calling down to her. She looked at the little girl and smiled at her.
"Goodbye, Lacey," she whispered as she walked towards the thugs beating on Terry. "Hey! You stop that!" she told them. She jumped the closest one but he easily threw her down onto the concrete on top of Terry.
"You like your friend so much, mutie?" one of them said. "Join him in hell, then." Another shotgun blast rang out. Lacey screamed from her perch.
"Hey! Let's get the last one, boys!" a pipe-wielding thug said, pointing at Lacey.
"You got it, Gerry!" one of his companions said. "Got any more ammo, Baxter?"
Baxter—the second shotgun man—said: "I got enough ammo to wipe out every mutant on Earth!" He handed some spare shells to the other shotgun man. "That enough, Bobby?"
Bobby nodded. "Let's get that mutie." He pumped a round home.
Lacey saw them coming and ran up the fire escape. She peered into the first open window she spotted—and was yanked inside. She tried to fight her way free but a voice whispered softly: "Quiet down, kid. Those guys will find us quicker than I want them to if you keep making noise."
Gerry, Baxter, Bobby and the rest of their gang came into building through the same window Lacey had used. They found themselves in an empty hallway lined with three doors on either side. Bobby told his friends to take one door each. They muscled the doors open.
"Nothing in here!" Baxter declared. Gerry said the same thing. Bobby came out of the room he'd picked.
"They must have gone upstairs while we were trying to get that damn fire escape to work," Bobby said. "So let's split up. Three upstairs and three downstairs." His friends muttered agreement. Just as they were about to carry out their plan, they noticed a man wearing a trench coat, jeans, a black vest, and combat boots standing at the end of the hallway.
"Hey, man—seen any muties here?" Gerry asked.
"Muties?" the man asked.
"Muties—mutants," Bobby explained. "You know, those freaks of nature who want Magneto to become president or pope. You seen any?"
"The only freaks of nature I see are right in front of me," the man answered.
"What the hell did you just say?" Baxter demanded. He hefted his shotgun menacingly. "You just better take that back, mister. So help me, if you're a mutie lover, you'll be sorry."
"If you don't leave now, you'll be sorry," the man replied. "Get out the way you came and I'll forget you were here."
"Yeah? You asked for it," Bobby said. He fired his shotgun. Baxter followed his lead. They pumped round after round at the man.
The man was still standing. He began to walk towards them. Gerry ran towards him. Once he was within striking distance, he swung the bat, intending to smash the man's skull. What happened instead was that his bat hit nothing but empty air. Then the bat left his hands and the business end of it smashed into his knees, sending him to the floor. He howled in pain.
"What the—?" was all Bobby could manage to say before his shotgun was turned on him and Baxter. The other three thugs fled.
Lacey heard footsteps coming her way. She held her breath as the closet door was opened.
"Come on, Lacey," David Caine told her, smiling. "They're gone." He held out his arms to her. She ran to him and he picked her up.
"I was scared," she told him. "I thought they were coming back for me."
"I told them to leave," David said. They stepped out of the room where he told her to hide while he dealt with the thugs chasing her. "And they left."
"Am I going home now?" Lacey asked, leaning her head against his chest.
"I guess so," David replied. "At the very least, I'll take you somewhere safe." He put his headset on and spoke into his mike. "Talk to me, Stun Gun."
"We're on our way to the rendezvous point, Danger Zone," Stun Gun replied. "And we've got some refugees with us."
"All right. See you at the rendezvous point," David said. "Be careful—all of you."
"Copy that," Stun Gun said.
"Come on," David told Lacey. "Let's get you away from here."
"We're clear," Phase told his teammates as he passed through one of the walls of the tunnel they were navigating.
"Okay." Stun Gun turned towards the mutants huddled behind him. "Let's move," he told them, waving them forward. His other teammate, Flash Bang, followed the mutants from behind, making sure that all of them stuck together.
"We'll be passing Morlock territory pretty soon," their teammate, Fox, who was serving as forward scout, reported over their headsets. "I hope they let us through."
"Either that or take these refugees in," Flash Bang said.
"Don't worry," David broke in, "you're getting close to sanctuary. Is Eden still online?"
"I'm here, Danger Zone," Eden Kane said. "How's the team?"
"Given the circumstances, we're all okay," Stun Gun said. He was the acknowledged leader of the quartet of young mutates that David worked with on a semi-regular basis whenever he was helping the Mutant Underground. "We're making slow but steady progress down here."
"All right," Eden said. "I'm monitoring the news broadcasts. Magneto's trial is officially underway. But that's not keeping a lid on all the trouble going on in the city."
"Some idiots just don't know when to leave well enough alone," David remarked. "Although if this is well enough, I'd hate to see what it would look like if things turned bad."
"You may just get your wish, Danger Zone," Fox interjected.
David immediately picked up on Fox's on-alert tone of voice. "What is it, Fox?"
"I just spotted some Morlocks in a tunnel about fourteen meters from where Stun Gun and Flash Bang are," Fox said. She knelt over the torn and blasted remains scattered along the tunnel. "They're dead and it sure wasn't natural causes."
"Fox, turn on your visual," Eden told her, "and let me see what you've found." Fox did as she was told and Eden saw the bodies from Fox's perspective. It was a bit closer than she would've liked. "Looks like they were in a fight...edged weapons and automatic fire are my guesses as to what killed them."
Fox's view moved; she was looking down the tunnel now. "What is it?" Eden asked.
"You're right, doc," Fox replied. "I just heard gunfire."
"Fox—stay put," David said. "Don't go down that tunnel until you hear from me again."
"Copy that, Danger Zone," Fox said. "But you better hurry. I think things are about to go from bad to worse."
Nightcrawler and Warren were making good time back to the school when their headsets came to life: "Commander Logan, this is Danger Zone—do you copy?"
They heard Wolverine's voice acknowledge David's call: "I copy, Danger Zone. What is it?"
"Are you en route to M-Town, Commander?"
"Yeah, we just saw the news so Storm and I figured we might do some good. Where are you?"
"In the city—where else? Commander, I just received word that there may be fighting going on under the city too."
"What? In the Morlocks' territory?" Wolverine's surprise was plain to hear.
"Yes, sir," David replied. "The bad news is that I have a team taking some refugees to safety but they might get caught in the fighting. Do you have anyone you can spare to assist them until I get there?"
Nightcrawler responded immediately: "I'll do it, Herr Logan. Warren and I are nearby."
"Kurt?" Wolverine paused and thought it over. "All right but be careful. And keep your headset on so we know what's happening."
"Ja, Logan," Nightcrawler said. "We're on our way, Herr Caine."
"Danke, Herr Wagner," David said. "I'll give you the coordinates for my team's position."