The Blame Game
"My school…" Kelly looked at the devastation around him. "My school. It's gone. Kaput. Gone."
"I am not cleaning that up," Bazooka shook his head.
"You!" Kelly glared at Bazooka. He grabbed him by the shirt collar. "You destroyed my school! You destroyed my school!"
"I did not!" Bazooka tore himself away. "Blame Cobra! They're the ones that attacked the school in the first place! Well actually you can blame Guyrich and Trask too but…"
"Wait a minute," Kelly shook his head. "Wait a minute! No, you didn't destroy the school and they didn't destroy the school…it was ALVERS WHO DESTROYED THE SCHOOL!" He looked at the rubble. "I knew the kid was a troublemaker but this…this is ridiculous!"
"Hey it wasn't all his fault!" Bazooka said. "He was only using his powers in self defense against the terrorists! Okay it got a little out of hand…"
"Let's back this up here!" Kelly snapped. "If the mutants weren't in the building, none of this would have happened would it? None of the craziness, or the monsters or the terrorists, right? None of you people would have come here! In fact the school would still be standing now right?"
"Well…" Bazooka gulped. "Technically…"
"Okay," Kelly nodded his head rapidly. "Okay. Now we are getting somewhere. Now I see the problem!"
"Um are you okay?" Bazooka asked. "Do you want to lie down?"
"Oh no," Kelly laughed. "I'm fine. Just fine. In fact, I am better than I have been in a long, long, long time! You know they say that every man has one defining moment in his life! One instance that forever shapes his destiny and this…this is it! This is my destiny! Oh yeah! I know what I have to do now! I can see the future as clear as day!"
"O-kay," Bazooka gulped. "Uh maybe you should get a drink of water or something?"
"I'll be fine!" Kelly said laughing maniacally. "In fact, I am going home and I am going to start packing! I am going to take everything I own, throw it in my car and drive back to Massachusetts! That's it! That's the first thing I'll do! I'll have to move back in with my parents for a while but it will be worth it! GOODBYE BAYVILLE! GOODBYE CRAZINESS! GOODBYE INSANITY! GOODBYE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kelly went off laughing.
"What a nut," Bazooka scratched his head.
Meanwhile Alpine and Gung Ho were putting Guyrich and Trask away in a security vehicle. "Okay you losers," Alpine said. "Back to SHIELD with you. And they can have you!"
"You Joes haven't won anything!" Trask sneered gleefully. "You've failed! Hear me! Failed! Now everyone will know about mutants!"
"Oh yeah," A guy walked up. "This is for you." He held out a piece of paper.
"What's that?" Alpine asked.
"It's a summons," The guy explained. "Congratulations Trask, you're being sued."
"WHAT?" Trask yelped.
"That overgrown transformer you built wrecked several buildings and businesses," The guy said. "Including some owned by Extensive Enterprises. This is a class action suit suing you for damages."
"But…But…" Trask sputtered.
"I'll make sure he gets that," Alpine took the paper and stuffed it into Trask's mouth. "There, you've just been served!"
"Thanks," The guy walked away.
"Anytime," Alpine chuckled. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
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"Can you believe what happened?" One student gasped. Several students had taken refuge at a nearby pizza place. Many of them were in shock. Others were angry.
"I'm still in shock," Another told him.
"I knew there was something wrong with those kids at the Institute!" Duncan snapped.
"Told you they were all weirdoes," Mindy agreed.
"Honestly how could they let those creatures walk around loose like that?" Another cheerleader said.
"Hey those 'creatures' are kids just like us!" Taryn snapped.
"Apparently not exactly like us," A cheerleader said.
"Trust you to defend them. You dated one of those freaks!" Duncan snapped.
"So did you! Remember?" Taryn snapped. "Until she dumped you!"
"Gee I wonder why?" Duncan fumed. "Now I get it! She was using me all along to get Summers jealous! Nobody treats me like that and gets away with it!"
"Yeah it's time we put these freaks in their place!" Another jock shouted.
"But…" Taryn started to protest, but Paul stopped her.
"Forget it," He sighed. "They ain't gonna listen!" He pointed to the Jocks and the Cheerleaders. "Look at them. They've got a new target to pick on. Come on, let's go." They left the pizza place, shaking their heads while the Jocks were plotting on ways of making the mutant's lives more miserable.
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Back at the Institute Falcon and Xavier were arguing. "How were we supposed to know that Trask and Guyrich would show up that soon?" Falcon yelled. "Maybe an extra detail of security would have stopped them but not Cobra!"
"This whole thing was mishandled from start to finish!" Xavier said. "You allowed us to be revealed. I can't even use my powers to erase everyone's mind! There are just too many people spread out now!"
"That wasn't our fault!" Falcon shouted. "We did everything we could considering the circumstances. What would you have liked us to do? Put a couple of tanks in front of the school building?"
"Didn't stop you from hiding a few missiles now did it?" Xavier snapped.
"Which happened to save your school from being blown up again!" Falcon told him. "And besides it was a mutant that turned the school into a parking lot! A former student of yours I believe?"
"Have you at least found the Brotherhood?" Xavier asked.
"Not a trace of them," Falcon sighed. "How much you want to bet Magneto's taken them away somewhere?"
"If it wasn't for the reckless way you handled this…"
"Look who's talking! You people are even more reckless than we are!"
"Who do you people think you are?"
"I think we're the people who saved your students' lives!" Falcon spat.
"I didn't ask you to come here," Xavier snapped.
"And we didn't ask you to set up a paramilitary operation in the suburbs!" Falcon retorted. "Did you really think that you could set up an outfit like this and no one would notice? This isn't exactly in the middle of nowhere you know! How naive can you possibly be?"
There was an uncomfortable silence. "Look we'll try to keep the Institute out of the newspapers at least," Falcon said. "SHIELD and a few other friends of ours will help with that too."
"How very generous of you," Xavier quipped.
"Look Professor I feel bad about what happened," Falcon said. "But blaming each other isn't going to accomplish anything!"
"Oh well as long as you feel bad that makes everything all right," Xavier snapped. "I knew this was a mistake!"
"Oh yeah humans and mutants working together a mistake," Falcon groaned. "Well that gives me hope for the future!"
"If ever there was an incident that proves that we cannot rely on the military to protect mutants this is it," Xavier said.
"Oh really? Well if you'd listened to me in the first place none of this would have ever happened!" Falcon snapped. "If you kept the kids confined to the Institute for a few days Scott, Taryn and Jean would never have been kidnapped, your kids wouldn't have ended up in a battle. We would have gotten rid of Cobra as well as Guyrich without the school becoming rubble! Not to mention endangering hundreds of innocent lives! The way I see it, this proves that mutants need our protection more than ever!"
"And what about that mutant on your base?" Xavier snapped. "Are you protecting him for his own good?"
"That's none of your concern," Falcon told him.
"I think you'd better leave," Xavier said. "You've done enough already."
"Yeah," Falcon sighed. He left the building. Jinx was outside. "You say goodbye to your boyfriend?"
"Yeah," Jinx sighed as they drove away. "At least he's the only one there who doesn't blame us for the fiasco. It wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have known that would happen."
"Tell that to those kids," Falcon sighed. "And the worst part is, the worst is yet to come. I just hope they're strong enough to face whatever the future has in store for them."
