The Mutant Program, to Morgan's surprise, was a booming success. She was sure that anyone with a surfaced Mutant gene would be too emotionally damaged to join. It was like her mom said,
"The more powerful someone is, the more tragic backstory they hide," Morgan asked Peter about this particular topic a few years ago. He said Pepper wasn't so far off,
"When people think that way, it keeps them from seeking out enhancement. You know if everybody saw Bucky Barnes as this happy go lucky guy with a metal arm and super strength, they'd all want german scientists to experiment on them. But the world knows he's miserable. And that keeps them from looking for trouble." That made sense to Morgan. Her dad, as far as she knew, didn't have it so bad. Tony's parents were tough on him, but at least he had them for his childhood. That alone was better than what most "superheroes" got. And the only thing that made him special was his smarts. On the polar side, Wanda had it rough. Both of her parents died in front of her, and she was tortured for most of her teenage years. And resultantly, she's considered the most powerful Avenger. And in between these extremes, Peter Parker's parents died when he was young, and he was raised by his aunt who had a bit of financial trouble. His powers were very useful in certain regards, more fantastical than Tony's but far less strong than Wanda's. Because of this ideology, Morgan was able to closely guess a child's ability level by just speaking to them for a few moments. Though Morgan was left Stark Industries by her mother, and she had an intense passion for business, she always stopped by the Mutant Center in New York. She even had her own Office and often toured new students, mostly for her own entertainment. She enjoyed meeting young prodigies and was fascinated by their unique abilities. But of course, some were always stranger than others. Riley Robinson was 9 when she arrived in inNew York. She was not what you typically expect of a Mutant child. She was talkative, confident, and bold. Morgan walked into her office to see Riley was already in the room, but not sitting in the chair, across from Morgan's lounger, but rather laying in suspension a few feet above the desk. Though Riley's hands were behind her in a casual position, it was obvious she was straining to keep herself up. And as soon as Morgan distracted her, she somehow fell upwards towards the ceiling and crashed through the panels.
"Would you come down please, if you can?" Morgan asked.
"Well, actually this is down for me. See, for some reason, what's 'up' for me switches every once in a while. I've been stuck with your down being my up for the past few weeks. If I try, I can usually lift myself downwards a few feet, but… I don't feel like doing that right now." Morgan laughed.
"It's ok if you can't control it. If it was easy to control, we wouldn't need a school." The mutant gene started with a few people back in the 20s. Now, in 2046, mutants are .08% of the population. Meaning, 8 in a thousand people have the mutant gene. It shows up in 40% of those people. This means that in a thousand people, 2 have noticeable mutant qualities. Or, 1 in 500. Unfortunately, only 38% of these people ever made it to one of the Mutant Programs. Despite them putting a center in every Important city they could manage, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Berlin, Dubai, Mumbai, Bangkok, Geneva, New York, Tokyo, London, Shanghai, New Delhi, Shenzhen, Dhaka, Jerusalem, Guangzhou, Taipei, Tel Aviv, and Paris, they still couldn't reach 62% of the population. 14744000 Mutants in total were currently in the Mutant Program, with around 77600 of them in each city. Morgan Stark had a slight obsession with numbers. Once you did all the math you came to the conclusion 19 out of 12500 people were in the Mutant Program. After sorting through some paperwork, Morgan looked up and smiled at Riley. She reached her hand towards the ceiling and Riley took it.
"Congratulations Ms. Robinson, You're 1 of 19 in 12500. Riley laughed nervously at the unsatisfying ratio, then awkwardly floated behind Morgan out the room.
Peter had been pacing on the roof of MCNY's(Mutant Center; New York) head building for 30 minutes. Morgan and he had not spoken for a few weeks. They hadn't had a falling out necessarily, but there was always a stall in their relationship around this time of year. They both missed Tony and often didn't know what to do with each other. Sad people need happy people to lift them. Other sad people just drag each other down. But Peter knew that the sooner he broke the ice, the better it was for their relationship. It would go the same way it went every year. They would meet eyes, wordlessly burst into tears, and hold each other for hours, mourning the death of Tony and bearing the weight of what he left behind together. Then, once they'd pulled themselves together, they'd sit on opposite sides of the couch and attempt to make conversation, but in reality, no one would verbally communicate for another hour or so. After a while, they might speak. Something light, stocks, the weather. After a while, they'd work themselves up to talking about family and friends. Peter and MJ lived in a well-hidden penthouse in Queens. It's hard to find unless you're specifically looking for it. Finally, they'd talk about him. Tony. Peter would share a fond memory, Morgan would listen. They'd swap funny text messages from friends and family.
"Morgan, I know this is a tough time of year for you, but I really need that file by Thursday. Thanks!"
"Hey, Pete, you haven't shown up for work in a minute. What's up?" And more like it. These types of messages weren't funny except they got them every year from dozens of people. They'd end the night, a little tipsy huddled on the couch watching some mindless action movie. The less plotline, the more fan service- the better.
"Hey, Morgan?" Peter said after the movie had ended, had gone through all the credits and was back to the title screen(They were both too lazy to turn the TV off.)
"Shut up I'm asleep." She numbly replied.
"He would've loved you." Morgan didn't respond.
"I know you don't believe in heaven or whatever, but if he has a conscience somewhere, he'd love you so much, and he'd be so proud of you." Morgan turned away from Peter to hide silent tears. Neither of them said another word, and within a few minutes, they were both asleep.