Hello and Happy Easter/Ostara/Spring!
My life has been astoundingly busy, and then, as is the case with all of us, I suddenly found myself with way TOO much time! So I updated! If y'all are still with me and want more of this, please do let me know, and donate to my Venmo Enshara. I am a full-time freelance artist in New York City, so as you can imagine, things are crazy and all help is appreciated.
For those who are still with me, hope you enjoy!
Season Four, Episode Three: God Loves
War Room, Xavier Institute, New York
SwashbucklingSwain smirked through the screen as behind him footage of the raid on Amistead Homes played out. "So the brave men and women of our police have done their jobs, and captured the mutant terrorists before they could murder more innocent humans. Now, you know some 'Mutants Matter' justice warriors out there will try to say – "Oh, too much force!" Too much force? To take a building stuffed with this many killers? I say, call in the cavalry, every time, till every single one of them is—"
"Turn it off, Kitty."
Scott let out a long slow breath as Kitty muted the video. Ororo sat, stone-faced, across from him. Hank massaged his furry blue temples, and the Professor seemed to stoop with weariness.
"So, it was a shitshow," Logan interjected bluntly.
"We confirmed that there was no actual mutant retribution planned," Scott began to defend, and Logan snorted. "Tell that to them." He jerked his head toward the screens, where a variety of news networks were paused in the middle of detailing the Amistead raid. "They're singing a different song. And their version's out first. With them controlling the narrative—"
"I didn't know you were such an expert on journalism, Logan," Scott sniped.
"I was in the military, dipshit: covert ops," Logan growled back. "If you can sell your story big enough the first time, it will take twice as long for the truth to break through."
"I thought you didn't remember your past – what, now you're saying you were a whistleblower? Is that why they filled your skull with lead?"
"Listen, you piece of—"
"Enough."
The Professor's quiet voice cut through the budding fight, immediately silencing both men. "We face a situation far graver than you know. My sources tell me that the equipment you encountered in your mission is merely a fraction of what our military possesses. There have been attempts to keep it from being deployed on a civilian level, but I feel this very crisis is exactly what its advocates will seize upon to have it unleashed. Our friend, Senator O'Connor, is already rattling at the bit to introduce legislation to require police departments to carry more of the weapons you encountered – and I fear that what they have not yet revealed is far worse."
"How do we stop it." Ororo's statement held both steel and defeat. Hank stepped forward when the door banged open.
"Sid—" Kitty said, at the same time that the Professor's voice dropped low into a tone of disapproval, as he warned, "Forge."
"I'm sorry, Professor," Sid panted. "But you all need to see this."
Recreation Room, Xavier Institute
There was an unearthly silence among the usually rowdy students as they gathered around the TV screen. "It's encrypted," Forge explained to the teachers and Kitty as they entered, the students parting to allow them to see. "They tried to make it so only people with the password could access it – it's been floating around a lot of the Humans First blogs and podcasts for months. I made sure to crack it, just in case. I monitor it, and generally it's just hate speech, but this time…"
He gestured towards the screen, where Representative Jim Moseby stood before a white background emblazoned with an H and F entwined. "My fellow Americans," he was saying. "In this time of crisis, we, the original citizens of this great country, have been forced to hide. To cower and to beg for scraps while the overpowered among us demand more and more. But no more. Now, we have strength on our side. And it is no longer time to hide.
I am calling all members of this resistance to gather this Thursday, the 22nd, on the National Mall, under the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, to show our strength. There, we will demand that our government stand once more on our side, and unroll Program 649, to protect us from the menace we have too long let slide."
"'Dis is bad," Remy said, unnecessarily.
"Why?" a younger mutant asked, the tips of his orange hair beginning to spark. "They should show everyone just what they are."
"It is bad," Scott said, voice rising to lift above the students voicing agreement, "because this will only escalate and bring out the worst kind of reaction. It will bring out Magneto."
"So?" another student declared. "He'll send them all running."
More students lifted their voices or stood up in agreement. Scott shook his head, grimly. "No," he murmured. "It'll be a bloodbath."
TITLE SEQUENCE
TITLE SONG: "Evolutionary" Composed by Emilie Autumn
Cast:
Wolverine: Hugh Jackman
Storm: Halle Berry
Professor Xavier: Patrick Stewart
Jean Grey: Famke Janssen
Cyclops: James Marsden
Beast: Kelsey Grammar
Rogue: Anna Paquin
Gambit: Taylor Kitsch
Iceman: Shawn Ashmore
Kitty Pryde: Ellen Page
Piotr Rasputin: Enver Gjokaj
Jubilee: Julia Ling
Guest Starring
Aaron Stanford
January Jones
Terrence Zdunick
With Ian McKellan as Magneto
Written by Albert Kim
Directed by Danny Cannon
Blackbird Hanger, Xavier Institute
There was a determined hush as the X-men moved back into the hanger, splitting into two teams—those who were headed out for the mission, and those who would remain behind.
"Feels all wrong," Rogue murmured, looking over her shoulder. "Going on a mission without Storm."
Ororo stood with unnatural stillness next to Professor Xavier. Swaying, half-hiding in her shadow, Walter glanced in awe and fear at the X-Men in their matching black uniforms.
"Trust me," Sid said grimly. "The way things went down between her and Professor Summers? You don't want both of them on that plane again."
"I wish I was going with you," Jubilee said softly to Sid. He ducked his head to the hide the blush the darkness already concealed and took her hand. "You'll be the voice in my ear," he replied. "I need you on the other side of this, helping the Professor to broadcast. You know my tech almost as well as I do, now."
"Not true," Jubilee said with a grin. "But I appreciate the flattery."
"I, too, wish I were coming on this mission," Piotr said heavily. Remy clapped him on the back. "Moi aussi. But if Mags shows up—"
"When," Rogue interjected grimly, adjusting her gloves. "He'll be drawn to the screamin' of thousands of mutant-hatin' idiots like flies to sh—"
"—when," Remy continued jovially, "Magneto shows up, Red, yo steel back wouldn't be much help, eh?"
Piotr nodded in agreement, though he cast his eyes forlornly to Kitty.
"I just want this done." Bobby tugged at his collar. "I have a bad feeling about all this."
"Why?" Kitty and Jubilee said at the same time. Bobby held up his hands. "Well, because none of this looks—"
"No, no," Kitty interrupted. "Why would you say those words? The death words? Adding in 'all' doesn't fix the fact that those are the words you say before everything blows up, and or you get eaten by a space rock monster."
"Okay, technically, the words themselves don't summon the creature, which isn't a rock monster by the way…"
Logan crossed his arms and grunted as he watched the young team move towards the plane. "Not sure I'd pick all the pipsqueaks to go on a mission like this."
"If we do this right, it'll be less messy than their last one," Scott said, as they moved after the younger mutants to the Blackbird. Logan snorted an elegant dismissal. Scott glared at him through his visor. "You don't agree?"
"Whatever you say, Cap'n."
Scott scowled. "You got somethin' to say—"
"Just said it." Logan pulled out a cigar, grimaced, and tucked it back into one of his pockets.
"If you're not on board—"
"Oh, I'm on board," Logan growled. "When those scum hit their stride and go out for blood—"
"We're going to try and prevent a riot," Scott snapped.
"Yeah?" Logan cracked his knuckles. "And what were you plannin' to do? Give 'em one of your rousing team speeches and make it all better?"
"And you'll just cut your way through the problem? Forty-thousand people? That your plan?"
"Right, 'cause your plans have been doin' so much for us up to now?"
Scott flushed red, and his jawline went tight. "You think you could do better?"
"I ain't after your job as team captain," Logan spat, pausing to finally face the other man. "But if 'Ro doesn't wanna fly with you anymore? That tells me all I need to know."
To that Scott had no answer.
National Mall, Washington D.C.
The press of red-clad bodies spread out over the public space between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument like blood through rivulets. The protestors waved huge Human Rights signs, snippets of chants from competing loudspeakers melding into a cacophony of simmering, joyful anger.
"Human pride, human rights, human beings won't stop the fight!"
"USA! USA!"
The chanting died off slowly as a large banner with an entwined H and F was spread out in front of the massive legs of the 16th President of the United States, and several security guards ushered the main speakers up the steps. The younger members of the still massing crowd cheered as SwashbucklingSwain stepped forward, in the flesh, to greet his followers.
"Hell yeah," he shouted into his megaphone. "Hell yeah!"
"You have got to be kidding me," Kitty groaned into her com mic as she and Sid phased through the trunk of a tree to get eyes on the steps of the memorial. "I thought that nail-biting, slime weasel lived in his mother's basement."
"Apparently not," Sid said, scanning the stage. "Can you get us closer? I can't tell from this range what they're broadcasting with."
200 ft. Above the National Mall
"Careful," Scott said from the cockpit. The Blackbird was hovering, in concealment mode, its exterior mirroring the blue, Maryland sky. "We don't know what kind of firepower they have."
"Don' look like much," Remy drawled into his mic, leaning with effortless casualness against a bench. He was wearing his duster with lazy elegance, and he nodded at two pretty, female protestors from behind his sunglasses when they eyed him. "Dey got twelve police surroundin' de stage, and at least four of dere own hidden 'round de perimeter."
"Weapons?" Bobby asked. He stood a few feet down, leaning against a tree, a bulky camo jacket covering his uniform.
"Guns," Remy calculated, lowering his shades slightly to get a better look. "By dere stance. Nightsticks." He leaned forward slightly, managing to look relaxed as a model as he scoped out the cops. "Can assume pepper spray. At least one cannister – tear gas. Prob'ly more in the cars."
"Anything unusual?" Scott pressed, his voice a low crackle in all their ears. "Tech you don't recognize?"
"If they don't know what they're lookin' for, Shades," Logan grumbled, posed against a parked motorcycle, "they can't ID it."
"Hey!" A man in a blue motorcycle jacket glared at Logan. "That's my hog, man."
"Oh." Logan stood up straight, momentarily nonplussed. "Uh. Sorry."
"I don't like this." Rogue flexed her gloved hands, her green cloak concealing her striped hair. "How did they mobilize this fast without anyone knowing? What do they think a rally is really gonna do?"
"You're assumin' dey smart enough to think dat far ahead, chere," Remy soothed over the coms.
"No." Bobby's voice was grim. "She's right – why expose themselves like this, at this time? Maybe half these guys are too stupid to consider it, but Moseby isn't. He's declaring himself, publicly."
It was then that the man himself stepped up to the podium. Some of the younger protestors, who had been chanting and laughing with SwashbucklingSwain, continued talking as Representative Moseby took the stage.
"I want to thank you all for coming out here, and showing your support," the congressman said into the microphone. "I want to thank y'all for your courage, your fortitude. These are dark times, trying times, for the human race. Some might say we're facing an extinction event. Some might say, we're outclasses, outgunned. To those people I say – you ain't seen nuthin' yet."
The roars of approval from the crowd sent a shiver down Kitty's spine.
"'Cause I'll say it straight folks – we're going to have to fight back. What we've seen from the terrorist front of the so-called mutant liberation movement should make every thinking American question how they can expect to sleep safe at night in their homes. How can we live in peace, knowing our children, at any moment, could be prey?"
Behind him two men stepped to the left and the right, and unfurled huge banners imprinted with gigantic mugshots.
"Holy shit," Sid said.
"What?" Scott demanded, uncharacteristically ignoring the swear.
"It's Jonathan and DeAndre," Kitty said, blinking back tears that were half-fear and half choked rage. "They have their mugshots."
"What? How?" Scott lowered the Blackbird by a few inches, causing its outline to glimmer in the reflected sunlight. "Those haven't even been released by the police yet."
"And now we know why," Bobby said darkly, as Moseby gestured behind him.
"—but that's the reality of this menace," the representative was hollering to his rapt audience, "they don't have to play by the rules of the rest of us. They know they have the power to ignore our laws, to ignore basic decency, to run roughshod over all the rest of us because – well, they've got the power!
"And now these young men," Congressman Moseby hollered into the microphone, one damning finger gesturing to the mugshots of Jonathan and DeAndre, "refused, and still refuse, to tell us where the human children they kidnapped are hidden!"
"'Cause they don't have any," Kitty hissed, as Sid shook his head. "This isn't going to end well," he said into the coms. "He's working them into a frenzy for a reason, and they're eating it up." The crowd roared at each pause in the Congressman's speech.
"You need to get up there and shut his mics down," Scott ordered. "Now."
"Copy that," Sid said, as he and Kitty held hands and began to subtly move forward, phasing through the crowd.
"Iceman," Scott directed, "I want you covering their route. Gambit, Rogue; I want you covering those police. Wolverine—"
"Somethin's off," Logan muttered, scowling at the cheering crowd. "Somethin' don't smell right."
"Maybe it's the masses of hateful peons screaming for mutant blood," Sid muttered, as he and Kitty neared the memorial steps.
"Non," Remy said, as the sound of Logan sniffing resounded through the coms. "Ain' dat. Dis man could yell at his people tru de screen – why come out in person, eh? He runnin' fo' president?"
"Starting your campaign run with a riot doesn't make you look good." Logan froze. "Unless…"
"Unless you ain't the one to start the riot," Rogue finished, stopping up short. She whipped her head around to look at Remy, as she said through the coms, "unless you're defendin' yourself against someone else."
"He's bait," Scott realized aloud. "He wants to be seen as the defender of the humans against the mutant menace – to show their new firepower. That's why he's doing all this. He's counting on being able to have his grudge match, live, and on the biggest stage in America."
"And that's how he got the mugshots," Sid continued the collective train of thought. "The guys at Amistead, the ones who have the tech – he's in with them. He's baiting Magneto because he knows they can fire back."
"Shit." Scott clenched his fists around the Blackbird's flight controls. "We have to warn him, before it's too late."
"Eh," Remy said darkly, his voice crackling over the coms, as two mutants materialized before them. "Might be late."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
War Room, Xavier Institute
Ororo, Xavier, and Walter stood in the War Room, watching the coverage of the rally from multiple stations on several screens. Jubilee stood off to the side, the camera and black box device from Sid ready to transmit as soon as she got the signal.
"Anything yet?" Ororo asked the question without looking away from the screens, eyes darting from one to the other. Jubilee swallowed and shook her head. "Nothing."
Walter took a huge breath to fortify himself and asked, "Wh-what are we waiting for? Aren't you going to stop them all?"
"We can't stop them spewing their hate," Ororo explained, voice cold. "That's perfectly legal. Until it becomes violence, we can't interfere."
"So…" Walter swallowed again. "We're waiting for violence?"
Ororo nodded, once. Walter fell silent.
Charles surveyed the roaring crowds, and his jaw tightened. "Where are you Erik?"
National Mall, Washington D.C.
"Who the hell are you?"
Remy asked the question casually, ignoring the gasps of fear from the human crowd who pulled away from the two recently materialized humans. The taller mutant was model-handsome, with perfectly tousled black hair and elegant sideburns framing a sensuous mouth and offsetting olive skin. He wore a tailored red jacket and black gloves, and his eyes were hidden behind Armani sunglasses. "A name, a name, a name…" the mutant mused, his accent the cultured kind that could set women to shivering. "Unus. The Untouchable."
The mutant beside him was shorter and leaner, bald with black tribal tattoos extending over his skull and down his bare shoulders and chest. He grinned at Rogue. "Nice dye job, honey."
Rogue flexed her gloved hands, not deigning to respond.
"Nice coat," Unus complimented Remy, still the picture of ease.
"Likewise," Remy responded. "Don' s'pose yo' two gentlemen would be interested in backin' down if new information 'bout what these humans got planned came to light?"
In response, the tattooed mutant waved his hand and two humans disappeared, only to reappear ten feet away – and ten feet in the air.
R U Game by Hael Plays Over the Following Scenes
"Guess not.' Remy had the card charged and ready within seconds as screams split the crowd. He lobbed it at the duo. When it was inches from Unus, the mutant raised his own hand. The card exploded against a forcefield, the kinetic energy blooming red-purple and setting off a wave of screams from the crowd.
Bobby saw the flash of red-purple energy and the expanding of an invisible field across the Mall. "Dammit," he hissed, looking for a way to join his friends.
"Long time, Bobby."
Bobby froze, and then literally froze, icing up his arms, before turning. The heat radiating from Pyro already had more panicked rally members backing away. "You shouldn't be here, John."
Pyro grinned. "It's good to see you, again."
Bobby forced himself not to look away from his opponent. "No, John. It isn't."
John sighed and shrugged. He snapped his fingers, and the lighters attached to his wrists flicked on, providing him with the flames he needed. The fire snaked up his arms, and he caressed it like a pet as more of the humans screamed.
Bobby let the ice overtake him, willing it to invade his insides, to dead his emotions to the boy who had been his best friend. "I'd say you don't have to do this—"
"But we both know I will," John finished with him. For a moment, the two shared an irrepressible smile. Then they raised their hands, and fire and ice met in midair.
Logan growled, dodging around panicked, angry humans as he tried to get to Rogue and Remy. He was gaining on them when, mid flash of kinetic energy, Rogue, Remy, the two opposing mutants and about six humans disappeared only to reappear across the Mall.
"Shit," Logan groaned. He tried to search out Kitty and Sid in the melee. Up on the memorial, he could see the security guards tightening their ring around the congressman. Below, the police officers were lining up, and unloading something from their vehicle. Goddamn it.
Logan scented rust and the blood tang of metal. He whipped his head around, animal instincts taking over as he scanned the edge of the crowd. There. A glint behind one of the trees, hovering within the branches, cold grey where there should have been green.
"This is your party, Buckets," Logan muttered as he narrowed his eyes at Magneto. "What are you waiting for?"
Kitty hissed as she was forced to phase through four people at once, dragging Sid with her. They reached the steps of the Memorial, ducking for cover under the growth of trees and bushes to the right. Two squad cars barred the steps up to the monument, and the riot police arrayed around them were moving something heavy out of one of the cars.
"What is that?" she asked Sid, squinting. Sid extended his arm out, feeling for the machinery, and pulled back with a gasp. "What?" Kitty said, as over the coms she heard Scott trying to quarterback the fight on Rogue and Remy's end.
"They're—" Sid winced, doubling over. "They're like the weapons from Amistead – mutant proofed. God, just trying to sense them hurts."
Kitty reached up to her ear. "Scott – Remy, Rogue – Logan. It's in the cars, the tech from Amistead. Do you copy? They're deploying it out of the squad cars—"
"They're loading it," Sid said, voice still raw, blinking through the pain as he watched the riot police fan out to create a barrier for the device. "It's some kind of cannon – looks like their version of tear gas cannisters…"
"Clear a path!" boomed one of the policemen. In the front, about a hundred of the protesters cleared a line towards where Remy and Rogue warred with the Brotherhood mutants. The riot police knelt, clearing a path for the cannon. Held by two policemen, and operated by a policewoman, it now had a clear shot.
"Rogue!" Kitty screamed into the coms.
The cannon fired. A white-blue shot of energy waved through the opening in the crowd. The mutant in red held up his hand, and the energy collided with an invisible forcefield. For a moment it splayed out, forming a blue dome. Then the dome vanished.
The reverberations of the hit knocked a dozen of the protestors to the ground. Rogue fought to stay standing as Unus gawked in dumbstruck horror at where his forcefield had broken.
"Che du coglioni?" he hissed. One of the protestors pushed to his feet, and, catching Unus' look of shock, pointed. "See? When we have tech to beat their powers – they're nothing!"
Other protestors cheered, and joined the man, stepping aggressively towards Unus and Rogue. The handsome mutant's face went ugly with a snarl. "Vaffanculo," he spat, and thrust both hands outward. The forcefield sent the humans flying.
Unus and the tattooed mutant laughed as the humans around them pulled back further in fear, but Rogue looked over at Remy. His gaze was locked on the widening path to the memorial steps, where the police were re-aiming their weapon. A painful hum that seemed to strike at her bones was already echoing down from the path.
Rogue made her call. Shoving down her distaste, she ripped off her gloves and vaulted up and into the air. She landed behind the tattooed mutant. "Sorry, sugar," she said as her fingers closed around his wrist. She gasped along with him as the drain took hold, power surging black through her veins. "I don't like it any better'n you."
Black tattoos inked themselves across her chest as she drank in the rush of alien power, fighting to keep memories at bay. The other mutant fell to his knees as the shot of blue-white energy waved down the open path towards them. Rogue took in a deep breath and reached out, handing the power itself the wheel. Seconds before the impact hit, Rogue felt a massive twist in her gut. There was darkness all around her, and a heavy sense of burden, as if she were carrying a thousand pounds.
Then she was gulping down water, sinking, the body of the other mutant dragging her below.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
National Mall, Washington D.C.
Kitty and Sid covered their eyes instinctively as the blast reached their friends. There were screams and gasps of horror; Sid looked up to see a tree on the other end of the mall on fire.
"Where are they?" Kitty cried aloud. "Did it-are they—"
"No," Sid answered, observing the clear line of fallen protestors, some of whom were coming to their feet. "It didn't reach them – I think they disappeared."
Scott's voice crackled in their ears. "Rogue took out one of the Brotherhood – used his powers to vanish them, Remy, and about ten civilians."
"Vanish them where?" Kitty asked, right as Logan's voice growled through, "Scott, what the hell is goin' on?"
"They dodged the blast," their team leader said. "Iceman is having it out with Pyro. I got no eyes on Magneto—"
"He's here," Logan confirmed. "Hiding. As usual."
"You see!" Moseby's voice cut through their communication, echoing over the chaos, drawing attention back to the stage. "We gather peacefully, to express our rights as American citizens. And what do the mutant terrorists do? They attack us, here, on steps dedicated to a man killed by a terrorist for the very rights we fight to defend!"
"Forge, Shadowcat," Scott said, "you gotta reach the system and start broadcasting."
"On it." Kitty grabbed Sid's hand and he motioned a countdown with his fingers. At three, they surged forward, Kitty phasing them at a run through several human protestors, then one of the riot police. They rushed the stairs, weaving to the left when they reached the columns. "Release," Sid said, when he spotted the audio-visual equipment. Kitty let go of his hand, and he slid to his knees, palming the tiny transmitter he had retrofitted himself.
"Hey!" shouted a member of the congressman's team, alerting security to their presence. Sid worked fast, pulling wires, inserting the transmitter, recalibrating the machine to broadcast an image. By the time a hand wrapped around his shoulder, he was done.
"Hello."
The holographic image of the Professor appeared to the right of the podium, to shrieks from the crowd. One of Congressman Moseby's security guards shot a dart at it, only for it to pass harmlessly through. "My name is Charles Xavier. I would—"
"A mutant!"
Xavier's image wavered, but he remained calm and composed, lightly ringed in blue. "I would like to speak to you all, and to you, Representative Moseby."
"I know you." Moseby had been staring, slack-jawed, at Xavier, but now he straightened. "I know you! This right here—this is the most dangerous mutant of them all. This mutant can reach into our very minds and take away our free will. I know you, Charles Xavier. We won't let that happen!"
"Congressman—"
Kitty watched as Sid was dragged bodily out from behind the column by three security guards. A glowing blue syringe was pressed against her neck. There was a smash, and then the device holding the transmitter went to pieces. Xavier's image blinked and went out.
Kitty phased through one security guard. Coming up behind him and hooking her arm around his, she shocked him enough to break his hold on Sid. When the guard turned and grabbed her, she wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him down. She phased through him to come up onto his back, putting a knee in his neck.
Two sets of arms grabbed her from behind. Kitty started to phase, and then gasped in pain as she inhaled a gas that burned her lungs. Through eyes that were suddenly teary, she saw one of the guards pocket the tiny blue capsule he'd broke beneath her nose. Her legs went limp as she was dragged over to the congressman.
"You see?" Moseby hollered, finding an additional mic and striding out again to take the stage. "This is the reality of how far these beings will go to establish their dominance. Do you see?"
The crowd roared their agreement, and Kitty shivered through the pain.
"But we don't have to take it anymore," the politician promised. "As you can see—we have ways of combating their menace." He grinned out at the crowd, and then turned to face Kitty. "Would you all like to see?"
COMMERCIAL BREAK
War Room, Xavier Institute, New York
"Scott? Logan?" Ororo said aloud, as the transmission went out. She turned to Jubilee, who was frantically trying to operate the transmitter. "Can you—"
"I don't know!" The tiny mutant was close to tears. She pressed both hands to her ears. "Sid? Sid, please…"
Xavier watched the screens of the rally as Congressman Moseby stepped forward, Kitty in tow. "Erik," Xavier murmured. "Where are you? What game are you playing?"
National Mall, Washington D.C.
Bobby and Pyro had been nearly body-to-body, fire and ice dueling, when the first blast went through the crowd. They had broken apart and watched as Rogue, Remy, and the other two Brotherhood mutants vanished. Now Bobby squinted up at the stage as Moseby turned to the side and continued his diatribe. "…we have been afraid of them for so long, but that ends now."
"Cyclops—" Bobby began. "What am I seeing?"
"I need you calm, Iceman."
"What the hell am I seeing?"
"Bobby—"
Bobby pulled his com from his ear and tried to move forward, only to have Pyro grab his shoulder. When he whirled to attack, pulling every ounce of cold remaining in the air, Pyro stepped back, hands up. "Wait, wait, just wait."
"I can't. We don't have an 'abandon your friends' option in the X-Men," Bobby snarled. When he turned to go again, Pyro moved to block him. "You won't get there in time, he will."
"He?" Bobby frowned and then sneered. "Oh—so your boss is here. Still hiding."
"Waiting," Pyro promised. "But he'll stop them, he'll stop this."
"When?" Bobby screamed. Pyro looked away and Bobby snarled, "Oh, I see—when he's ready? When she's already half-dead? Was that his plan?"
"Hey, they were the ones who planned this. That filthy congressman up there—" Pyro gestured furiously at the stage – "he did all this to show off his tech. You guys came down and gave him the excuse to use it – just like Magneto knew you would. Now he's gonna step in and fix your mess; you're welcome."
Bobby did throw a punch then, and John let it land. "Save it," John said, spitting out blood and a tooth as he righted himself. "You'll need it."
Logan growled, barreling through several protestors as he fought his way to the steps. When anyone complained or tried to push back, he elbow-checked them, thoroughly not caring how injured they were. He was seconds from pulverizing his way through the riot police when his body went stiff.
Logan snarled, hating every inch of his unbreakable skeleton, as he watched the helmeted figure in grey soar above him and towards the steps. Several protestors spotted Magento before Congressman Moseby, who stopped up short mid-sentence.
"Representative Moseby," Magneto thundered, his voice somehow amplified. "Not the most ideal circumstances for our face-to-face meeting."
"Not ideal for you, maybe." Moseby straightened, his expression, from what Logan could see, somewhere between fear and triumph. "But this is exactly where I need to be."
"Release that young mutant," Magneto commanded.
"You mean the terrorist who attacked a peaceful, legal rally?" Moseby shot back, gesturing to Kitty. "I think not."
Magneto raised his palms. Two of the squad cars rose into the air, and then began breaking down of their own accord. Within moments they had been reduced to liquid and formed two giant projectiles. "Reconsider."
Logan strained against Magneto's hold, but the older mutant held him fast. He could only watch as the riot police below turned their cannon on Magneto. The device was non-metallic; the old survivor was unable to influence it. Magneto waved a hand, and one of his projectiles separated into several hundred smaller, sharper ones, bullets without need of propulsion. He twisted his wrist. They aimed for the crowd.
War Room, Xavier Institute
"…seeing a Mexican standoff…"
"—mutant Magneto, designated a terrorist by the International Criminal Court—"
"—new kind of weaponry, we're looking for confirmation—"
"Professor, we have to do something," Ororo said over the cacophony of excited reporters attempting to explain the situation playing out over their screens. "We need Cerebro. If you can somehow stop at least the humans from firing—"
"Wait, Storm—"
"…or if not, if you can at least get—"
"Pr—professor Monroe," Jubilee tried to cut in, and was overridden as the weather-witch continued, "or if not, I'll get—"
"Holy s-crap," Walter exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "Your ship can do that?"
Ororo whipped her head around to look at the screen on the top left. The Blackbird had appeared, cloaking removed, to land on the left side of the Lincoln Memorial. When the gangplank opened, and Scott walked out, Ororo couldn't help but make the room go cold.
"Scott," Xavier said into the coms. "Scott, can you hear me?"
Scott looked up, briefly, enough for them to know he had heard them, but there was no reply as he strode towards the podium. The only guard not gripping Kitty and Sid leveled a plastic gun at him. Scott lifted his hand to his visor, and for a moment Ororo couldn't breathe. Scott stepped forward, and spoke, loud enough to be picked up over the microphones.
"If I wanted," Scott proclaimed, "I could annihilate everyone in a thirty-foot radius right now." He reached up and removed his shades.
Xavier and Ororo leaned forward together. "Scott," Ororo gasped out, "what the hell are you doing?"
Scott laid his glasses down, to a collective scream by the assembled. But the sound quieted when they looked up to see the mutant with his eyes clenched tightly closed. "Control," he said, his voice pitched low over the microphone. "I had to learn it when I turned thirteen. I'm willing to bet most of you remember how hard it was to control anything when you were thirteen. Much less a power you didn't want and didn't ask for. One that makes you different at a time when you just desperately want to be part of the whole. One that puts your family and friends, everyone you love, at risk."
Scott turned his head, closed eyes seeming to look out over the crowd. "It makes you afraid," he said. "Constantly. Not just of what other people think, what other people will do – but of yourself. Afraid you won't be able to hide it. Afraid you'll get angry, just a little, just like everyone does, and hurt someone, anyone. A friend, a lover, a stranger. And when you do slip? When you do let your anger or your fear win, and someone else suffers?" Scott swallowed hard enough that the mic could pick it up over the hushed silence. "There's nothing in this world that is worse."
Ororo looked to the Professor as Scott let the silence drag. The police still had their weapons trained on him, security still held Kitty and Forge, but they seemed to have entered a kind of stasis.
"I'm not asking you not to be afraid." Scott placed both hands on the podium, slowly. "I can't ask that of you. I can't ask you to do something I can't manage myself. Because I can't get rid of that same fear. That we'll hurt someone. That we'll lose control. And it's not unfounded." His fingers tensed. "I've seen it happen. Seen what comes of too much power in one person. Seen how it corrupts them, how it can destroy the best—" He fought through to his next words – "how it can kill the best of us. You're right to be afraid of that amount of power, in anyone. I'm afraid of it."
"What the hell is he doin'?" Walter asked, looking between the screen and Xavier and Ororo. "He tryna win them over? 'Cause it ain't gonna work."
"But before you side with this man," Scott said, gesturing to Congressman Moseby, "before you let that fear make your decision – remember that you're not powerless either. You have power right now, right here. All of you, together, have the same level of power of any mutant. And you have the same ability to hurt us. Remember that we're afraid, not just of our power, but of what others make of us. I don't believe I'm standing before a sea of evil people who want to murder mutant children, any more than we want the death of human children. I think we want the same thing – for a world where no one gets to decide who lives and who dies out of their own personal fear, or lack of control. I know how hard it is to fight that fear, and I know I'm asking you all to do something that might feel impossible, but I am going to ask it just the same – please, look at me. Look at us, up here, and then look to your left, and look to your right. Realize how much power you have right now." Scott turned his head slowly, blindly surveying the quietly rustling masses. He nodded, once. "Use it wisely."
The silence of fifty-thousand people was deafening. Ororo could hear her own breathing and wondered how many people were holding their breath. Congressman Moseby let his out on a snarl. "This? This is what you're selling?" He barked a laugh, and strode forward, the microphone picking up his voice as he advanced on Scott. "You want to talk peace and love with a gun to our heads?"
"Congressman," Scott said quietly, in a voice that couldn't quite reach the speakers, "you're the one with the gun."
Moseby sneered. "What's a gun to the power you have?"
"Both of them can kill," Scott countered. "That's still a choice you get to make."
Moseby laughed, but Scott looked past him, to where Magneto hovered. "He'll never listen, Scott," Ororo murmured. "You know he won't."
Magneto hung, gently floating in the air, left arm raised. Then, ever so slowly, he turned his wrist. The projectiles pulled back from the crowd.
Moseby's face had been ugly before; now it turned hideous with thwarted desire. "You threatenin' me, son?"
Scott's look of confusion was apparent even with closed eyes. "No, why are—"
"He just threatened me—she just tried to escape," Moseby said, turning on where Kitty was still held in the grip of his men. "She's tryin' to attack me."
The two policemen who stood by the podium looked confused, and the security guards who held Kitty exchanged looks. Moseby hissed. "I just saw this man try and attack me. You saw it too."
"Sir—" one of the policemen began, "I don't—"
"Goddamn it!" Moseby stalked over to Kitty and took the plastic weapon from the hand of one of his guards. "You'll wanna open those eyes for this."
A shot rang out.
National Mall, Washington D.C.
"No!"
Scott couldn't breathe. He stumbled, blindly, desperate, falling to his knees. Failed. You failed.
"Kitty—" he gasped. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry—"
"Dammit," gasped Moseby, sounding in pain. "You…scum…"
"What?" Scott asked. "What is – is—Kitty—"
"I'm fine," Kitty's voice reached him, and then he was feeling hands put his visor back on.
"Open your eyes, Scott," said Ororo's voice in his ear.
Scott obeyed. Blinking through the world in red, Scott could see Moseby on his knees, clutching a bleeding arm. Kitty helped him to his feet. He looked to the left, where a policeman was lowering his gun, his own expression shocked.
Scott looked out over the crowd, which didn't seem to know how to react. He looked up to Magneto. The old mutant slowly pulled his projectiles in, melded them back together, and drew back.
"This isn't over," Moseby shouted. "You mark my words—"
Scott set his jaw, strode forward, and grabbed the wires linking the microphone to the speakers. "No, Congressman." He pulled the wires. "I think we've all heard enough."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Main Lawn, Xavier Institute, New York
"…the standoff from the Memorial Incident resolved itself without loss of life, but the fallout is still continuing. Representative Moseby contests his aggravated assault charge, and has counter sued the DCPD for damages. Meanwhile—"
"It just doesn't end, huh?" Bobby murmured, as Rogue turned off her phone and pocketed it.
"No," he said grimly, as Magneto landed softly on the green. "It doesn't."
Xavier wheeled out to where Magneto stood, as students poured out of the Institute to get a glimpse of the Brotherhood. Bobby stood across from John, while Remy and Rogue, who were both still damp, stood across from Unus and the tattooed mutant, who glared at them.
"Erik," Xavier said softly.
"Charles," Magneto boomed, as always, playing to his audience. "I don't know if you've been watching the news lately, but it seems we're something of a draw."
"Yes," Charles answered mildly, "the rally and the response is on everyone's lips – as you no doubt intended."
"And what would you have done if we had not come?" Magneto replied. "Debated with a man willing to shoot a captured mutant girl to make a point?"
"There are more ways than one to expose the evils men do," Xavier responded. "And they have been exposed."
Magneto laughed bitterly. "Oh? You think the story will be one of unity and the triumph of essential humanity over division and prejudice? Still the same old Charles, then."
"So it would seem," Xavier murmured. "Still – your choice to stand down was admirable."
"It was the only rational response," Magneto stated. "To safeguard mutant life."
"And to come off without lookin' like the villain if Kitty got shot," Rogue said loudly. Magneto turned his head to raise a brow at her. "I would think your dip had cooled you off, Rogue."
"She nearly killed us," the tattooed mutant snarled. "Vanished us all the way into the Washington Channel."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout the swim," Rogue said coolly, arms crossed. "Lucky we got the humans out before they went under."
"They should have been left to drown," Unus asserted, his model-worthy face marred by his sneer.
"You' welcome," Remy said dangerously, "fo' chere here savin' yo' life, you."
"We did not need help," the tattooed mutant spat. He was still pale, and his tattoos had only partially returned to decorate his chest and face. "You almost drowned me. All to steal my powers."
"Honey," Rogue drawled, one brow raised in disdain, "I've sampled plenty of mutant powers in my day. Yours ain't that special."
"Liar," Unus sneered. "Vanisher's powers were all that enabled you to bring us here before the human hordes caught you."
"We would have made it out," Bobby shot back. With a loud hum and a rush of air, the Blackbird landed just behind them to their right. "Case in point."
The gangplank opened and Scott, Logan, Sid, and Kitty walked down. Some of the Xavier students set up a cheer.
"Well," Magneto said, "take the win, if win it is. A battle, if not the war."
Charles inclined his head towards Magneto. John nodded at Bobby. "You gonna apologize for my tooth?"
Bobby crossed his arms. "No."
John grinned, showing the gap.
Scott stepped onto the grass and let out a breath for the first time in days. "Shadowcat—Kitty—"
"I'm fine," she said. "Sid – you still have it?"
Sid held up the small vial and needle he'd taken from the plastic gun. "Swiped it from one of the guards. Well – actually, I think the policeman who shot Moseby saw me take it and let me."
"Let's get it into the lab," Kitty said, her excitement edged with anger. "I want to crack whatever it is, now."
"Be caref—" They were gone before Scott could get the words out. He turned to see Ororo looking at him with a lightly amused expression. "You can't stop them from wading into danger when we're just as willing to do it. They follow our example."
"And then ignore our advice." Scott sighed. "God – now half the world is gonna know our faces. There goes the protection of anonymity."
"It was time for us to stop hiding," Ororo asserted. Scott swallowed, still looking off after the others. "Ororo – I never meant…"
"I know. Scott, look at me."
He obeyed. Her blue eyes no longer held the rage and disgust he'd witnessed in the past few days. "You care about us—you make us the prime reason for everything you do. But when we go out on missions like this, we must be willing to put ourselves on the line for those who can't. That's why the X-Men exist. I was afraid at Amistead that you were so caught up in trying to protect us – to keep from losing any more of us like we lost Jean – that you'd lost sight of that."
"And now?" Scott ventured. "'Less worried?"
Ororo huffed a laugh. "Not at all. Now I know you want to carry the weight of the rest of the world as well as us. Careful there, Summers. Your back is not made of Logan's steel."
"It's adamantium," Scott said, "and I'm not trying to be a hero. That's the last thing I think I am."
"I know. And that's too bad." Ororo held up her phone. "Because the rest of the world seems to disagree."
Beach, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
The beautiful, pale blonde stood out among the other beachgoers as she strolled down the sand, holding out her phone to see the footage of the storied confrontation on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The byline read "Mutant Prevents Mass Protest from Becoming Slaughter." Emma used two perfectly manicured fingers to zoom in on the X-man speaking eloquently into the microphone, and grinned. "Atta boy, Scottie."
Undisclosed Location
"…sources have confirmed that the name of the mutant who prevented the situation from escalating is Scott Summers. We are still looking for confirmation on the names and identities of the others present, but for now we can confirm that designated terrorist Magneto is still at large, and Congressman Jim Moseby is attempting to fight his assault charge…"
The redhead moved towards the television screen and reached out her hands. The sound increased, Scott's words echoing around the cavern. She tilted her head, listening.
"See something you like?" Sinister asked. Jean blinked, and looked past the pale man, to the shadowed figure behind him.
"Yes," said a voice that sent a chill up even Sinister's spine. "I agree. Interesting."
Promo for Next Week: Jubilee discovers a heartbreaking truth, while Polaris uncovers a new dimension to his powers, with unforeseen consequences.