The brotherhood of men does not imply their equality. Families have their fools and their men of genius, their black sheep and their saints, their worldly successes and their worldly failures. A man should treat his brothers lovingly and with justice, according to the deserts of each. But the deserts of every brother are not the same.

Eric Hoffer

***

"How many of you know a mutant?" The Rogue/Marie Denver on the television screen, yelled out to the crowd of over 50000 people. At least half of the crowd raised their hands. Everyone who wasn't with Rogue was sitting in the Media room, watching the whole speech on the massive mini Movie screen.

   She continued "Are they any different to the Humans that you know?"

   A resounding 'NO' shook the entire street that they were lining.

   "That is exactly my point my friends. Our own leaders wish to persecute people just like us! There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. They have committed no crime to society. Most are just normal people with a slightly different DNA structure, trying to get along with their lives, but are struggling to survive, because already, they are being prosecuted by a government who thinks that they can be judge and jury to someone who deserves exactly the same treatment that any normal person would get."

   She raised her hands in a gesture of frustration. "I know when I voted for our Government, I voted for the people I thought would govern this Country in the best way, but—" She didn't finish the sentence, as a gun shot sounded and Rogue/Marie Denver fell down on the Stage.

   Massive shock rippled through the crowd and the group watching the whole thing live on the television, while medics (and a livid Logan) ran over to Rogue/Marie Denver who was lying on the stage, barely breathing.

   Remy who was sitting next to Kitty as they were watching the whole thing, took in a choking gasp. His hands began to glow pink and his red eyes blazed, but Pyro grabbed a deck of Cards off the table and threw Remy the 7 of Spades. The pink glow transferred over to the card then Remy tossed it up into the air, where it exploded with a bang.

   The fire it caused was quickly extinguished by Pyro, who looked slightly annoyed 

   Everyone still stared at the Television screen, where they were lifting Rogue up onto a stretcher. Her right shoulder bleeding profusely.

   Logan seemed to have convinced one of the Medics to let him ride in the Ambulance with her, because as soon as Rogue's stretcher was pushed into the Ambulance, Logan jumped in behind her. The Paramedic closed the doors, and the Ambulance sped away, sirens blaring.

   The phone rang and Kurt picked up the receiver "Yes Logan." He commanded quietly into the phone. Logan said something back, and Kurt nodded. "Yes, oh that's good… yep… I'll be there in 2 minutes… ok…" He clicked the "end" button on the phone.

   "I'm going to teleport Rogue back here, she's going to need surgery to get rid of the bullet in her right shoulder, but then Logan says he'll do the rest." Kurt explained to everyone else in the room. With that, he teleported out, leaving the familiar smell of Sulphur and Brimstone to waft around the room.

   Chase hurried out of the room, while everyone else stayed in the media room, watching the chaos that was erupting on the Television. Police were now on the scene, a few were standing on the stage, looking for "evidence", but most were in the crowd, stopping them from panicking. The looked to be escorting people out of the area.

   Remy looked furious, but worried at the same time. His face was paler than usual, and he even seemed slightly sick.

   "It's ok Remy, She'll be fine." John said soothingly placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "She'll be apples mate!!"

   "They should be in the infirmary by the time we make it down there." Lance said quietly, and they all headed towards the med lab.

***

   "She's absolutely fine, the bullet missed all her main blood vessels, and only grazed her right lung." Chase said to the crowd that was waiting in the living room. "She's sleeping right now, but she should be fine to leave the hospital tomorrow morning."

   A collective cheer went up throughout the room. All the colour in Remy's face returned, and he headed towards the room that Chase had just exited. Chase didn't try and stop him.

   Logan himself came out of the room, rubbing his head. As Kitty remembered, when Rogue took someone else's powers, she always left the person with a killer headache. Todd handed him a glass of water, which he greedily emptied in seconds.

   "Thanks, bub," He said gruffly, plonking the empty glass down on the nearest table. He then stalked off somewhere. Kitty assumed he was going to go to his room. But then again, when she thought about it, he was probably going to head to the Danger Room, to vent off some steam.

   Kitty pondered this for a while, but over heard Jean asking Chase something, "I thought you could heal people, why did Logan have to give her some of his powers?" When Kitty thought about it, it was a fairly good question. She waited for an answer.

   "Yes I can heal, but it is fairly taxing on me when I do it, and it takes a while for me to recover. But with Rogue, Logan usually insists that he lends her his powers. He's quite protective of her, and he insists that it doesn't take anything out of him. Not that it would really matter in Logan's case." Chase explained.

   "But can't Rogue still use the powers of people she has absorbed, even if it was a long time since she absorbed them?"

   Chase was slightly reluctant when answering that question. However it wasn't as though he didn't want to, only that he didn't know how to. "Yes… she does retain some of the powers she has borrowed from others. However she needs to be consciously thinking about that person at the time. It's rather complicated… Sometimes, she has dreams that involve other people, and she accidentally invokes other people's powers."

   Kitty tuned out, she knew that the conversation would soon turn technical. And even though she was interested in finding out about her friends mutations, she didn't want to be lectured on the subject. She excused herself and made her way out of the room.

   "Kitty! Wait up!" She heard Pyro's familiar voice call out to her. She stopped in the corridor and waited for him to catch up. "I noticed that you're wearing some of Rogue's old clothes, so I organised for you to go to the shops tomorrow, to get some new one."

   Kitty felt her whole face light up. "Really? You mean, really shopping, like at a Mall, with like real money?" She knew she sounded a bit flabbergasted, and ditzy, but at that point she didn't really care.

   Pyro laughed out loud. "Yes, at a Mall, with real money."

   Kitty let out a small squeal and launched herself at the poor guy's neck. He just laughed and gently hugged her back. "Are you gonna come with me?" She asked while she was still attached to his neck.

   "No, I'm sorry." He said sadly. "But I organised Warren to go with you." He laughed again at her facial expression, which was one of annoyance and disappointment. "He's actually really nice bloke. I think you'll enjoy his company."

   "So he's gonna carry all my bags?" She asked coyly.

   "If you can convince him to, maybe. He's mainly there for your protection. You know those wings he has on his back?" She nodded; it was hard to miss them. "They aren't just for flying. They are a really good shield, can protect you from basically anything the FOH can throw at us."

   "Who or what are the FOH?" Kitty asked. She had heard this name in scattered conversations, over the past few days, but had never asked anyone what it stood for.

   "You don't know?" She shook her head. Pyro let out a huge breath, "The FOH, are the Friends of Humanity. They're a radical group that strongly believes that Mutants are dangerous to Humans and should be locked up or killed. Very chummy with the Ku Klux Klan"

   "Are they even legal?"

   "Yes, we think they have big friends in high places. They managed to get some sort of a law passed. So they are Legal. We think that Senator McPherson is one of the 'big friends' so to speak. We have some evidence showing he is a member, but it's not rock solid." Pyro turned down the corridor that led to the sleeping quarters.

   "Do you think that they were the ones who held us captive all those years?"

   Pyro shrugged, "Quite possible. They have been known to kidnap mutants and do 'research' on them."

   Kitty let out an involuntary shudder. Pyro noticed this and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Listen Kitty. You're safe with us now; we won't let them get you. I promise."

   "How can you be sure? I mean, 4 years ago, we thought we were safe, and look at what happened to us! And now, the attitude towards Mutants is worse. How can we ever really be safe when the world wants us dead?"

   "There are only a few who want us dead. We are unfortunate enough to live in a country that has some very racist people. But there are many who believe that we are just normal people, who are struggling with something we have no control over." Pyro said gently, trying to calm her down.

   "Yeah sure there are, and look what happened to them. They get shot…" Kitty said bluntly.

   "Kitty, what Rogue did was her choice. She knew the consequences and the drawbacks, but she still decided that it would be a good idea." Pyro said soothingly, somehow his accent making her feel slightly better. The words he said did not.

   "Just because she knew it might happen doesn't make me feel any better. In fact it makes me feel quite the opposite." They stopped outside her room.

   "I'll see you tomorrow then?" Pyro asked. Looking at her hopefully. "Probably in the afternoon. I have to do some stuff in the morning."

   "Yeah, maybe." She said her goodbyes and closed her door behind her. She was tired. And her back was starting to ache. She remembered that she had jarred it when jumping out of that window. How she had forgotten she didn't know but she brushed the pain aside.

   She quickly stripped off her clothes and walked into the small bathroom that branched off her room. She turned on the shower, and stepped under the warm water. After letting the water flow over her body, she grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squirted some onto her hand. She then began to gently massage it into her scalp.

   How nice it feels to be clean. Kitty absent mindly thought to herself.

   Yes, it does doesn't it… Kitty heard Jean's voice resounding through her head.

   Kitty tensed up. I thought you didn't go into people's heads without permission Jean.

   You were projecting your thoughts. I couldn't help it. It's so weird talking like this again. It's been so long since I've used my powers.  She mentally shrugged back. So how come you left so early?

   I was tired and felt like a shower, plus I need time to accept all this.

   I know the feeling. Everything has changed. EveryONE has changed.

   Kitty sighed as she washed the foamy shampoo out of her hair. She then grabbed the conditioner and squirted some onto her palm. Somehow I get the feeling that something else has happened. That no one wants to talk about.

   Mmm… Yeah, I know what you mean. She paused for a second, as though she was talking to someone. Then after a few seconds, she began talking again. Look at Todd, and Lance. Todd seems so much more… I dunno… sad.

   And Lance looks depressed. Like his mum died or something. But he didn't have a mum… so that doesn't make sense

   Yeah… Jean was quiet again. This time Kitty was sure that someone was talking to her, so she projected her thoughts over.

   Who're you talking to?

   Warren, you know, Angel? Jean replied.

   Yeah, I'm going shopping with him tomorrow. Pyro organised it for me. Kitty told Jean as she turned off the taps.

   Yeah, I went yesterday with Kurt. It was so weird. Jean mentally nodded, while Kitty reached for the fluffy white towel hanging behind the door. She wrapped it around her chest and grabbed another towel and began to dry her hair.

   I don't think I'm going to get used to listening to him talk without his German accent.

   It's not just that… He isn't the Kurt we used to know. Jean sighed.

   When I woke up this morning, Kurt was the one sitting next to my bed, and we talked for a while. He told me a bit about what happened after we were abducted. They stayed in the Brotherhood house, and apparently they killed Mystique right in front of him.

   That might be it… But then Kurt and Mystique were never close were they.

   Yeah, but she was still his mother.

   There was an awkward silence between them, as Kitty began dressing herself in on of Rogue's old pyjamas that someone had dropped off in her room. Yeah, I'm going to bed now, I'm exhausted. Kitty told Jean as she climbed into the bed.

   Ok then, goodnight.

   Night Night.

***

   Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise, unfortunately I don't own. However, I'd gladly take them as a gift… any takers? No? Oh well… it was worth a try.

A/N: Hehehe… Yeah, I know that was slightly evil, but it all has a purpose.

   Okies, I think I should do some shout-outs, Umm… here we go. I'm not gonna do any exact ones, quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered.

   MarvelsX-girl, ZenZen, Dowriter12, ishandahalf, Yumiko, Carla1, ChaosCat, RogueLeBeau, Suzaka, Rogue15, Kitty, arayah, Never In Ur Wildest Dreamz, Neurotic Temptress, Shockgoddess and GhettoPixiStixLover.

   That's it… coolies!! Yeah, so review this chapter, and maybe I'll give you another chapter.