Author's note: Thank you to Rasha007, NicoleR85, partygirl98, kmj1989, Jinx of the 2nd Law, anonymouscsifan, NotMarge, and Bamboooozled for the reviews! Gosh, everybody wants a beat down! But Raven won't rise to that bait. She has a purpose here, besides just being mean, and can't afford to. We will discover what's up on Monday ;-)

Partygirl, the Ralph Nader thing was true! The Critical Mass Energy Project was an anti-nuclear power group he founded in 1974, the year this is taking place. Today's update has a few historical references in it too, all of them true, to the best of my knowledge. Nazi Germany, the stuff about Nixon and Ford (and the public's reaction), etc

For those of you who will wonder, The Pentagon Papers were documents released to the general public in The New York Times in 1971. It was basically a big pile of "hey, look how bad your president lied to you and to Congress about Vietnam!" The guy who released them to the public, Daniel Ellsberg, was actually a target of the guys sneaking around causing Watergate. And The Federalist Papers were "anonymous" essays written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay in favor of ratifying the US Constitution.

Yeah... while I went to college for Microbiology, I've always had a secret love for history ;-)

To the American People

I turned to see my wife coming towards me in fine form- her eyes were flashing with righteous fury, and her hair, illuminated by the fireball waiting for launch in her hand, had never resembled flames more than that moment as she glowered at the other woman.

"That first one was a deliberate miss because you helped save me in April," Zoey snapped once she reached my side. "But the next has your name on it if you don't get out of this house in the next five seconds. No one speaks to my husband like that within my hearing."

She also locked you in a closet, darling. Aren't you mad about that, too?

"And you owe me a new door."

If Zoey hadn't looked so irate at that moment I would've laughed at the deadly serious way she added that as an afterthought. I highly suspected our closet door was a smoldering wreck right now.

"It was only what he needed to hear," Raven sneered. "All this talk of peace makes us look weak, and now the humans are taking advantage of that. We need to-"

"You broke into my house, locked me up- I'm assuming so you could impersonate me to mess with Hank's head- and insulted my husband," Zoey interjected in an eerily calm voice. "Now I'm tired, hungry, and very hormonal. You've said what you wanted to say. So unless you want me to redecorate your face, I suggest you get the hell out of here."

Raven seemed to consider the warning for a long moment, eyeing my wife with evident hatred in her cold yellow eyes. Zoey stared back unflinchingly.

In the two times she'd seen Raven over the years, Zoey had managed to be stiffly polite in their interactions despite the disdain the other woman treated her with.

Apparently she'd now officially reached the end of her tether- though to be fair, it probably wasn't a long one. Her fuse was remarkably short these days, being pregnant and all.

I would've wrapped my arm around her in solidarity at that moment, but I was rather afraid of setting her off like an angry firecracker.

But then Raven broke first, an amused smirk on her face. She rolled her eyes and set off for the front door, morphing into a generic workman on the way.

Without another word, she was gone.

Both Zoey and I let out deep exhales at the exact same time. The fireball flickered out of existence.

"You ok? I asked gently, feeling safe enough now that there was no open flame in her hands to pull her into my arms.

"No," Zoey muttered, rubbing her forehead with one hand vexatiously. "She pretended to be me, didn't she?"

"Yes," I replied.

I pulled away so I could see her expression. She currently looked deeply unsettled, but she was still my Zoey.

Same face, completely different eyes. I'd know you anywhere, my love.

"I knew it wasn't you immediately, though."

She looked slightly mollified. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. She was eating my ice cream, she called me 'baby,' and I could smell she wasn't pregnant," I explained with a shrug. "And... I just knew. I looked at her and there was no... no pull, I suppose. No connection. Not like what I feel when I look at you, or you look at me."

Zoey's cheeks flushed as she smiled and snuggled against me, our babies between us. My words had apparently comforted her, though that wasn't necessarily my intention. I'd only spoken the truth.

"Why was she here?" she asked, her voice muffled by my shirt. "Besides to be a nuisance, I mean."

I quickly detailed what Raven had said. I tried not to let the guilt I felt over the upcoming mutant registration bill bleed through my account, but Zoey sensed it anyway.

"This isn't your fault, Hank," she soothed.

"It certainly feels that way," I said bitterly. "All of us were safe in relative obscurity for the most part, and then I had to go and stir up trouble."

"You mean 'we.' I'm the one that stood up in front of my boardroom, remember? Don't pretend you acted alone in this," Zoey retorted. "Hank, what you said to Mystique is true- Kelly won't get the support he needs without provocation. He's just one lawmaker who probably would've come up with something hateful without you raising awareness anyway."

She reached up and cradled my face between her hands.

"The only thing you've done is opened people's eyes to the humanity in all of us mutants, and shown there's more good than bad. You can't let him stop you, darling."

"I don't see how I can fight legislation like this," I confessed painfully.

"Neither do I," she admitted. "But I think I have an idea on where to start."

We worked late through the night together, as Zoey ignored my exhortations to get some rest.

"I'm too hyped up to go to bed right now," she argued. "And anyway- I can't sleep without you."

Ooph. She went right for the heart.

"Ok," I conceded. "Let's just get this done, then."

By the time we finally climbed into bed, exhausted but satisfied, there was an open letter directed to the American people to be delivered to the office of The New York Times waiting in the mailbox. There was no return address.

It read:

"To the American people:

On August 17, 1938, the Nazi Party issued a degree which required all Jews to carry identification cards that indicated their Jewish heritage- something that was defined three years earlier by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. A "Jew" was designated as someone with three of four Jewish grandparents. The classification had nothing to do with whether or not a person identified with the Jewish faith or recognized themselves as a Jew.

It was based on something they could not help: their heritage.

The Nazis took this process a step further after the invasion of Poland, requiring all Jews to openly wear a Star of David. This made it easier for Jews to be disenfranchised, denied their civil rights, and openly discriminated against by the people they once called their friends and neighbors.

But how does this pertain to the American people?

Thankfully, it does not- yet.

This is not a country searching to dehumanize and blame a certain group of people for their nation's decline. This is a country of people not easily led by the nose by lawmakers who believe they know best. This is a country which rightfully questions its leaders, something that is necessary if Watergate and the Pentagon Papers are anything to go by.

No, this is not Nazi Germany. This is the country which did its utmost to punish the Nazis to the fullest extent of international law for the reprehensible crimes committed against European Jews and other "undesirable" groups. It follows that the people of this great country would not allow their own friends and neighbors, their fellow citizens, to suffer the same fate. Especially for something that is completely out of their control.

The concept of the United States government targeting its own citizens the way the Nazis did would be utterly disgraceful. In the first place, such a law would be largely unenforceable by legal means.

How could the totality of a people be identified of a certain attribute, barring a physical trait, except by open admission? And who would willingly allow themselves to be identified, if they feared discrimination would result? Clearly, no one would choose such a thing.

So how would a law targeting a certain group be enforced? The only answer would be to tear the Constitution of the United States to shreds. Are we really going to allow the government to go door-to-door, demanding blood samples and other evidence from its own innocent citizens without probable cause? It would be a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, and it would affect us all.

And furthermore, to argue that the protection of the Constitution does not extend to a certain segment of the population by virtue of not being "human" enough- well, that reasoning certainly sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The idea that the people of this great country would allow such an injustice is unconscionable. And I, for one, will not stand for it.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen."

We didn't sign our names, hoping that the anonymity of the writer would help readers view the letter with clear, unjaded eyes.

"It'll be like The Federalist Papers of the twentieth century," Zoey joked.

I sighed. "You are such a nerd," I told her lovingly.

We also intentionally never mentioned the word "mutant," in an attempt to allow people to draw the parallels from their own personal experiences and then make their own conclusions without the associated stigma.

In an ironic way the timing of all of this was actually to our favor.

Less than a month ago President Gerald Ford had issued a presidential pardon for Nixon following his resignation over the Watergate scandal, sparking public outrage from people who wanted to see the man punished for his involvement. And now that the former president was currently claiming illness, there were some who believed he was faking it to get out of the subpoenas he was under for the trials of his former aides. The indignation was made worse by the fact that he was excused from appearing.

Whispers of government corruption were quickly becoming shouts. The (very valid, in this case) suggestion that the government would step all over the Constitution in pursuit of enforcing this law would no doubt feel very real to the American people.

It would no longer be just mutants worried for their freedom, it would be everyone. The time had come, I hoped, for all of us to throw in our lots together to stand for justice.

We could only wait and see. And then pray it would be enough.