Author's note: Thank you to ZabuzasGirl, Rasha007, NotMarge, Guest(s!), NicoleR85, partygirl98, kmj1989, and anonymouscsifan for the reviews! First Guest, your reviews made me laugh. So impatient for the babies! Not yet, but soon! And they're going to be adorable (I think, anyway).

I posted a second chapter for What Could Be. Some people have already taken a look (thank you!) but I thought I would also announce it here.

Anyway, today some crazy stuff happens. Hold on to your butts, folks. The speeches given in this chapter are lifted from X1 and DOFP. So if they sound familiar, that's why!

Also... I figured out how long this story is going to be, guys. Eighty-four chapters, plus an epilogue. So there'll be a total of eighty-five. We're so close to the end! It makes me so sad. I hope you guys stick with me until the end, and PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR THE ENDING OF THIS CHAPTER! The cliffhangers, the cliffhangers! I really don't mean to do this to you, my dear readers, but they just tend to be good stopping points :-/

And Chaos Ensues

It was a strange thing, being approached by random strangers as I moved through the crowd. I was so used to being avoided in public that it was almost like an out-of-body experience to have individuals purposely reaching out to me.

People- mutants and humans alike- kept stopping me and trying to thank me for what I'd done for mutant kind. Some of the mutants said they would've never come forward about their powers to their families and close friends without my example.

These people are going to think my natural color is purple and not blue, with all the blushing I'm doing.

I tried to be polite as possible, but truthfully I wasn't sure how to handle their expressions of gratitude. Mostly I felt awkward and a vague yearning for my serum, so I could just be anonymous again. It wasn't like I'd done any of this for personal acknowledgement, after all.

It made me wish that Zoey was there with me. She was so much better than I was at social interactions.

The attention was detrimental for another reason- it was making it impossible for me to help look for Erik and Raven, leaving Charles alone in that endeavor. He had the best chances of locating Raven through her mind, but I'd hoped I might be able to assist him by sniffing her out somehow. The crush of people was unfortunately making that impossible.

"You're like a celebrity now," Sean teased as the four of us X-Men moved towards the stage.

Gwen and Moira had already drifted off to be with the other pro-mutant protesters. We hoped that being away from us if a conflict broke out would provide them both a little safety.

"Can I have your autograph, Beast?"

I scowled at him. "That's not funny."

Alex snickered. "Yes it is."

"Gentlemen," Charles chastised absently, still focused on finding Raven.

On the positive side of this new-found notoriety I was suddenly experiencing, the other people in the crowd who recognized me parted ways to let us through to the front row without complaint. We reached the edge of the audience to stand directly in front of the small stage while only dealing with the obstacle of being distracted by well-wishers.

Now I know how Zoey feels about people touching her tummy, I thought to myself in exasperation as random people patted me on the back. Personal space, kind people. Please.

Charles still hadn't found his sister by the time a press secretary came out to introduce Senator Kelly to the crowd.

"-And now, please welcome member of the ninety-third Congress, Senator Robert Kelly," the man announced, trying to drum up some applause.

His attempts failed. Kelly took the podium to a chorus of boos, waving genially.

Alex used the opportunity to yell at the congressman to, and I quote: "stick it where the sun don't shine, asshole!"

Very mature, Alex.

"Thank you, thank you," Kelly said, with an aplomb I begrudgingly admired. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"Mutants," he announced. "They are among us-"

"No shit, Sherlock," Alex muttered.

Indeed.

"-And they are a danger to us all. These are people who have unnatural abilities, abilities that are a threat to every man, woman and child in this beautiful country. Super strength, shape-shifting, the ability to start fires- what's to stop these mutants from breaking into a bank, or impersonating the president, or burning down a home? Burning down our homes?"

He took a moment to let that sink in.

"The same thing that stops a human from grabbing a book of matches and doing the same damn thing!" someone shouted from within the crowd. "Common decency!"

"Here, here!"

Several others whistled to show their agreement.

Kelly blinked in surprise- I don't think he expected his audience to contain hecklers. He was a man, I think, much like Senator McCarthy back in the 1950s. Eager to point the finger and play on people's fears to start the witch hunt. Communists, mutants. We were all the same to them.

I grinned at Kelly's discomfit.

People are smarter than that now, Senator.

"Th-the point is, these mutants are dangerous. And I think the American people deserve the right to decide if they want their children to be in school with mutants. To be taught by mutants. To sit next to them on the bus! Ladies and gentlemen, we must know who these mutants are, and above all, what they can do!"

The Friends of Humanity members of the audience applauded at that statement, but I'm proud to say that the majority of the crowd was quiet. Their silent disapproval was a weight over us all.

"I'm proposing a piece of legislation called the Mutant Registration Act. It will require all mutants to notify the government what their powers are and to wear an identifying-"

But we never got to find out what mutants would be required to wear, because at that moment the microphone began to vibrate uncontrollably, cutting Senator Kelly off.

The apparatus holding the red cloth backdrop in place behind the podium then blew backwards- along with all the people on the stage. They collapsed in a heap beneath the curtain, their struggling vaguely reminding me of Charlie the cat's panic after he weaseled himself under a blanket and couldn't find his way out at home.

At the same time, the firearms of every single police officer present in the park lifted into the air-

And aimed themselves at the crowd.

Oh my stars and garters.

Some people screamed and tried to run away, but the guns fired a few warning shots without any visible operator. Everyone ducked and cowered away from the threat, while the police were left helpless. The press of people looked to be on the verge of a stampede.

Having successfully created chaos, the perpetrator of all this mayhem chose that moment to finally make his appearance.

Erik Lehnsherr, looking the part of a villain in his helmet and cape, floated down from the sky onto the stage with a smug grin on his face. The podium's microphone floated into his hand like he was the new emcee of this little shindig.

I swore silently to myself.

Of all times to make an overly dramatic entrance, he has to pick now?

"Humans!" Erik announced in a commanding voice. "You try to make laws to-"

Time to move fast.

"Havok!" Charles commanded desperately, trying to set our plan in motion.

Alex raised his arm to take aim at Erik-

And all three of us non-telepathic X-Men dropped to our knees, blinded by a pain so strong it was like a huge nail was driving through our skulls.

I could barely think, barely hear. All of my senses fell away, leaving only an exquisite agony behind.

"Emma Frost," I choked out. "Charles-"

"I'm trying-"

"-You're right to fear us," Erik declared. "We are the future! We are the ones who will inherit this earth! And we will not allow ourselves to be placed in chains! Let this man's death be an example-"

He's going to kill Senator Kelly. We can't let-

I strained to get up, but that was a useless effort. It felt like someone was stabbing all of my limbs with a knife wrapped in barbed-wire.

"To my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this: no more hiding. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long-"

Barely able to see through the agony, I caught sight of Emma Frost grinning viciously at us from among the line of pro-mutant protesters just in time to see Moira and Gwen sneak up behind her and whack her on the head with their picketing signs.

May God bless you, ladies.

It was just the distraction Charles needed. He was immediately able to get under Emma's mental shields and freeze her, though his strained expression indicated how taxing that was.

"I've got her!"

The torment in my head finally lifted, leaving a faintly ringing echo in my ears. I wanted to collapse, to bask in the relief of the absence of pain, but there was no time.

"A new tomorrow, that starts today!" Erik finished grandly.

He began to turn towards the men on the stage behind him, now free from the curtain and frozen in terror-

And then Alex hit him with a well-aimed energy blast, right in the chest. Erik's eyes bulged out almost comically as he collapsed like a rag doll.

Now!

I sprang into action, bounding onto the stage from the front row in one leap and ripping Erik's stupid helmet off.

In my peripheral vision I saw Sean and Alex running to subdue Emma, leaving Charles free to control Erik before he recovered himself.

The guns that had been floating in the air under his power now fell down into the waiting hands of the policemen, several of whom made a mad dash for the stage to tackle Magneto.

He glowered at me from his prone position on the platform's floor, but I felt no compassion towards him at all.

You deserve every second of misery you get, Erik. For wasting your gifts on hatred and war.

But this wasn't quite over yet. There was still one player left unaccounted for.

Raven.

My eyes found her easily, the one person wearing an expression of grim determination and focus rather than panic in all the chaos reigning on the stage.

It was like I saw her moving in slow motion, reaching for the gun at her hip as she shape-shifted out of her congressional aide disguise and into her natural blue form.

Senator Kelly could do nothing but gaze at his executioner in terror as she raised the gun, aiming for his head-

I heedlessly jumped, hurdling over the police, and tackled Raven just as she pulled the trigger.

I didn't even stop to consider what a bad idea it was to risk my life like that, especially for a man such as Robert Kelly. He was despicable and execrable, but I knew I couldn't let him die at the hands of a mutant.

It would just prove him right and cement the passage of his hateful bill with his death, ruining the lives of my children and mutants everywhere.

I couldn't let that happen.

There was a loud, deafening bang, followed by a searing pain in my chest and screams from the crowd.

In my mind's eye I saw a vision of Zoey's face, wearing that brave little smile as I promised I'd come home to her tonight-

And then everything went dark.