Many things had happened over the last few days. The American military had
managed to enter the enemy capital, effectively toppling the regime of the
enemy dictator. Many people in the news were saying that this war would
soon be over and that people would be able to get back to normal shortly.
Meanwhile, the coverage of the peace movement dwindled to practically
nothing as reports from embedded journalists from the front lines dominated
the airwaves. Kitty was uncertain about the need for her to give her
speech, as it seemed with each passing day she had less and less to talk
about. Paul had managed to convince her that there was still much to say,
but that she'd just have to take a different approach.
Now it was the morning of the debate. Kitty was pacing around her room, completely focused on her speech. She was going over all of the details in her head, making sure to remember all of the things that Paul had told her about staying calm and relaxed. She was so focused that she didn't notice herself phasing through the wall of her room as she paced. She didn't even look up when she phased through the wall of the bathroom just as Kurt was stepping out of the shower.
"Ah! Kitty! What are you doing in here?" Kurt shouted and dived back into the shower before Kitty saw him undressed.
Amidst all the steam, Kitty suddenly realized where she was. "Oops! Sorry!" she said embarrassed. "Don't worry, I didn't see anything!" she called back as she phased back into her room. "Geez, I have got to stay focused," she muttered, and finished up preparing her speech.
X
That evening, Kitty stood backstage with Paul. Professor Xavier and the X- Men had come to support her and were sitting out in the audience. Rogue was sitting with them, although she couldn't help feeling like she would be more at home sitting with the people who supported the war. City hall was packed to capacity and there were several news crews covering the proceedings. The audience was clearly divided, with Henderson's supporters occupying most of the seats on the right side of the room and the peace supporters holding the left side.
"Are you ready for this?" Paul asked Kitty.
"Yeah," said Kitty. "I've been waiting for this all week,"
"Good," said Paul. "I just hope Henderson doesn't get too personal,"
"I'm not gonna worry about what he says," said Kitty. "I know I don't have to defend myself against him,"
"That's the spirit!" said Paul. "You're gonna do great! I know it!"
Kitty smiled and waited for the proceedings to begin.
Onstage, the lights came up as Tina Sanders stepped up to the speaker's podium.
"Good evening," she said. "Bayville News is proud to present tonight's public debate. I'm Tina Sanders and I'll be moderating tonight's events. Now, I'd like to introduce our two speakers tonight. First, representing the Bayville Patriots, please welcome Mr. Gordon Henderson,"
Kitty heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see a very tall, very strong-looking man . "Excuse me, little girl," he said, and walked past her. He glared at Paul for a second and then moved on.
"Was that him?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, that was him," grumbled Paul. "Mr. Goliath himself,"
Henderson walked out from behind the curtain and took his position on stage as the right side of the audience began to applaud. Kurt gasped at Henderson's sheer size. "That guy's a giant!" he said.
"I'm glad he's not a mutant," said Scott. "That guy makes Juggernaut look like a midget!"
"And now," Tina continued. "Please welcome, representing Bayville United for Peace, Miss Kitty Pryde!"
"Well, you're up. Good luck!" said Paul, and walked off the stage and out into the audience, where he took a seat with the X-Men. Kitty took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage.
Now it was the left side of the audience's turn to applaud. The X-Men all stood up, except for Xavier, and gave her a loud ovation.
"Yay! Go Kitty!" shouted Kurt, as Jean put her fingers between her lips and gave a loud whistle.
Kitty smiled when she saw her friends in the audience and gave them a quick wave. She also saw a few people on the right side of the audience with confused looks on their faces as if they were baffled by her presence and involvement in such a major debate.
The crowd settled down as Tina began to speak. "I'll quickly explain the format of tonight's proceedings," she said. "Each representative will have 20 minutes to give a speech and then we will move on to take questions from the audience. Mr. Henderson, you may speak first,"
Henderson stepped up to the podium to a large round of cheering from his supporters. He cleared his throat as the applause died down and began to speak.
"Good evening," he said. "I shall be brief. Frankly, I don't think I have to explain why I'm up here. We've all heard the arguments go back and forth over whether this war was justified, we've heard the baseless accusations leveled against us that our president has embarked on a war of conquest. I don't need to defend our position because as we've seen over the last few weeks, we have been proven right again and again!"
Henderson's supporters erupted in applause at this point.
"Why doesn't he just gloat some more?" Scott muttered.
"He's got a point," said Rogue. "Ah mean, they didn't really put up much of a fight. We proved that we didn't have anything to worry about when we went in there, didn't we?"
Xavier heard this and turned to Rogue. "Rogue, perhaps you should consider whether victory is really a justification for the what our government has done?"
"Ah dunno. Maybe," she replied, not really convinced of the point Xavier had tried to make.
On stage, Henderson continued his speech.
"Now I ask, what is there left to debate? This war is over, for all intents and purposes. We have won, thanks to our dedicated military and the foresight of our leaders. And make no mistake. This is just the beginning. We are going to make the Middle East and the whole world safe and secure, because it is our obligation to ensure that all citizens of the world can live in peace and freedom!"
There was more wild applause at this. Henderson quickly motioned for silence so he could continue.
"But sadly, there are still many people who cannot see the good in what we are doing, both in our country and around the world. We have constantly had to explain ourselves and defend our beliefs from people who are committed to standing in our way and in the way of progress. We have seen other nations stymie our efforts and try to appease this insane dictator and in the process make it possible for him to spread fear and terror to his neighbors and the world with his weapons of mass destruction. And yet now, when the war has been won and the time for rebuilding has arrived, these same countries that were so adamantly opposed to us liberating this society are now trying to make sure we cannot rebuild it and create a stable foundation. They would rather protect their own interests then protect the people who have been living under a regime of fear for decades. But our interest is not in oil, or empire. Our interest is ensuring these people's dreams of having a stable, secure, and peaceful government, and we will not let anybody stop us from making their dreams a reality,"
Henderson was on a roll by this point. He had his own supporters eating out of his hand and he was even beginning to win over some of the peace supporters with his words.
"That leaves just one more issue to be addressed," he said. "I'm going to address my next comments to the people in our own country who have protested what we are trying to do, who have stood against us, who have clamored that we should preserve peace at all costs, the people who have had the audacity to compare our president to murderous tyrants like Hitler and Stalin. I say, 'Shame on you' for what you have done!"
Kitty gasped at this, and the left side of the audience began to grow uneasy. Henderson ignored them and continued.
"Before this war started, we saw a great deal of people protesting in the streets all around the world. Those protests had their proper function at the time. But when our President said that we were at war, the protesters should have recognized that they had lost, and that they had nothing left to protest about. They should have joined us in supporting our soldiers and supporting our President. But what have we seen instead? Not only have these protests continued, they have lost all semblance of being peaceful! We saw last week just how much some of these people really care about peace!" he said scornfully.
In the audience, Paul bristled. "That's not true!" he said to Xavier. "We didn't start that riot!"
Henderson continued. "Now don't get me wrong," he said. "I support the first amendment as much as the next man, but the time for dissent is over, and frankly, the actions of some of these demonstrators are just as bad as the terrorists that attacked our country two years ago!" Henderson's face began to turn red as his voice went up in pitch. "These people deserve every bit of scorn they're asking for!" he suddenly shouted, and his eyes found Paul in the audience and zeroed in on him. "You have been an embarrassment to our society with your words and your actions. You claim to be on the side of peace and human rights, yet you contradict yourselves with everything you say and do. How can you claim to be for peace when you turn peaceful protests into violent riots? How can you claim to be for human rights when you purposefully ignore the genocide that has been going on in that country for years? I say you people need to get in line right now and start supporting us if you want to retain any kind of credibility! Our President said it best: if you're not with us, you're against us! Now is your time to choose! You all saw that statue come toppling down; you saw that regime fall apart. We have been proven right, and you who have supported the peace movement and compared our president to murderous tyrants have a lot of explaining to do!"
Kitty recoiled from the podium in horror at hearing this. She wanted to run back behind the curtain, get out of the building, get as far away from this man as she possibly could.
The audience erupted in shock. The peace members were united in their boos of displeasure, but Henderson's supporters were not quite as vocal. Many of them did continue to cheer, but there were some of them who appeared to be confused and taken aback by what their spokesman was saying.
"Can you believe this guy?" asked Jean over the roar.
"Vhat's he trying to do, start another riot?" asked Kurt.
"Still convinced this guy's all right?" Scott asked Rogue.
Rogue shook her head uncertainly. She had agreed with Henderson's comments about needing to protect American security, but the things he was saying now made no sense to her at all. "Maybe you're right, Professor. Maybe this war isn't so good after all if this is what winning it is going to do to people,"
Meanwhile, Paul was furious. "That bastard!" he shouted. "How the hell can he stand up there and say those things?"
"Hey, calm down!" Jean said, trying to keep Paul from jumping out of his seat.
Paul groaned and clutched his hands to the sides of his head. "What was I thinking?" he asked. He turned to Xavier. "Look, Mr. Xavier, I'm sorry I asked Kitty to get involved in all of this. I didn't realize this guy would be so vicious!"
"I understand, Mr. Rubens," said Xavier. "But I've known Kitty long enough to know that she is capable of amazing resiliency. I think she may manage to impress you and this audience yet,"
On stage, Henderson took a deep breath, perhaps realizing the impact of his last speech. He turned to Kitty. "Now Miss Pryde, I hope I haven't frightened you with my words," he said calmly, his face a strange parody of what it had been just a moment ago. "I certainly didn't mean to make it sound like I was attacking you personally with what I was saying. But you need to realize exactly what kind of world we live in today, and you need to realize how misguided some of the people you're supporting are. I'm sorry that your friend Paul Rubens can't see just how dangerous our world has become or our need to ensure our own safety,"
With that, he stepped away from the podium and sat down in one of the chairs near the curtain, leaving Kitty alone.
X
Kitty felt nervous and very small as she stared out into the audience and the bright lights. As she looked down at her notes, she realized that there was no way she'd be able to defend her positions from the accusations that Henderson had levied. She looked up as she realized that everybody was waiting for what she had to say. She took a relaxing breath and began to speak.
X
Now it was the morning of the debate. Kitty was pacing around her room, completely focused on her speech. She was going over all of the details in her head, making sure to remember all of the things that Paul had told her about staying calm and relaxed. She was so focused that she didn't notice herself phasing through the wall of her room as she paced. She didn't even look up when she phased through the wall of the bathroom just as Kurt was stepping out of the shower.
"Ah! Kitty! What are you doing in here?" Kurt shouted and dived back into the shower before Kitty saw him undressed.
Amidst all the steam, Kitty suddenly realized where she was. "Oops! Sorry!" she said embarrassed. "Don't worry, I didn't see anything!" she called back as she phased back into her room. "Geez, I have got to stay focused," she muttered, and finished up preparing her speech.
X
That evening, Kitty stood backstage with Paul. Professor Xavier and the X- Men had come to support her and were sitting out in the audience. Rogue was sitting with them, although she couldn't help feeling like she would be more at home sitting with the people who supported the war. City hall was packed to capacity and there were several news crews covering the proceedings. The audience was clearly divided, with Henderson's supporters occupying most of the seats on the right side of the room and the peace supporters holding the left side.
"Are you ready for this?" Paul asked Kitty.
"Yeah," said Kitty. "I've been waiting for this all week,"
"Good," said Paul. "I just hope Henderson doesn't get too personal,"
"I'm not gonna worry about what he says," said Kitty. "I know I don't have to defend myself against him,"
"That's the spirit!" said Paul. "You're gonna do great! I know it!"
Kitty smiled and waited for the proceedings to begin.
Onstage, the lights came up as Tina Sanders stepped up to the speaker's podium.
"Good evening," she said. "Bayville News is proud to present tonight's public debate. I'm Tina Sanders and I'll be moderating tonight's events. Now, I'd like to introduce our two speakers tonight. First, representing the Bayville Patriots, please welcome Mr. Gordon Henderson,"
Kitty heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see a very tall, very strong-looking man . "Excuse me, little girl," he said, and walked past her. He glared at Paul for a second and then moved on.
"Was that him?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, that was him," grumbled Paul. "Mr. Goliath himself,"
Henderson walked out from behind the curtain and took his position on stage as the right side of the audience began to applaud. Kurt gasped at Henderson's sheer size. "That guy's a giant!" he said.
"I'm glad he's not a mutant," said Scott. "That guy makes Juggernaut look like a midget!"
"And now," Tina continued. "Please welcome, representing Bayville United for Peace, Miss Kitty Pryde!"
"Well, you're up. Good luck!" said Paul, and walked off the stage and out into the audience, where he took a seat with the X-Men. Kitty took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage.
Now it was the left side of the audience's turn to applaud. The X-Men all stood up, except for Xavier, and gave her a loud ovation.
"Yay! Go Kitty!" shouted Kurt, as Jean put her fingers between her lips and gave a loud whistle.
Kitty smiled when she saw her friends in the audience and gave them a quick wave. She also saw a few people on the right side of the audience with confused looks on their faces as if they were baffled by her presence and involvement in such a major debate.
The crowd settled down as Tina began to speak. "I'll quickly explain the format of tonight's proceedings," she said. "Each representative will have 20 minutes to give a speech and then we will move on to take questions from the audience. Mr. Henderson, you may speak first,"
Henderson stepped up to the podium to a large round of cheering from his supporters. He cleared his throat as the applause died down and began to speak.
"Good evening," he said. "I shall be brief. Frankly, I don't think I have to explain why I'm up here. We've all heard the arguments go back and forth over whether this war was justified, we've heard the baseless accusations leveled against us that our president has embarked on a war of conquest. I don't need to defend our position because as we've seen over the last few weeks, we have been proven right again and again!"
Henderson's supporters erupted in applause at this point.
"Why doesn't he just gloat some more?" Scott muttered.
"He's got a point," said Rogue. "Ah mean, they didn't really put up much of a fight. We proved that we didn't have anything to worry about when we went in there, didn't we?"
Xavier heard this and turned to Rogue. "Rogue, perhaps you should consider whether victory is really a justification for the what our government has done?"
"Ah dunno. Maybe," she replied, not really convinced of the point Xavier had tried to make.
On stage, Henderson continued his speech.
"Now I ask, what is there left to debate? This war is over, for all intents and purposes. We have won, thanks to our dedicated military and the foresight of our leaders. And make no mistake. This is just the beginning. We are going to make the Middle East and the whole world safe and secure, because it is our obligation to ensure that all citizens of the world can live in peace and freedom!"
There was more wild applause at this. Henderson quickly motioned for silence so he could continue.
"But sadly, there are still many people who cannot see the good in what we are doing, both in our country and around the world. We have constantly had to explain ourselves and defend our beliefs from people who are committed to standing in our way and in the way of progress. We have seen other nations stymie our efforts and try to appease this insane dictator and in the process make it possible for him to spread fear and terror to his neighbors and the world with his weapons of mass destruction. And yet now, when the war has been won and the time for rebuilding has arrived, these same countries that were so adamantly opposed to us liberating this society are now trying to make sure we cannot rebuild it and create a stable foundation. They would rather protect their own interests then protect the people who have been living under a regime of fear for decades. But our interest is not in oil, or empire. Our interest is ensuring these people's dreams of having a stable, secure, and peaceful government, and we will not let anybody stop us from making their dreams a reality,"
Henderson was on a roll by this point. He had his own supporters eating out of his hand and he was even beginning to win over some of the peace supporters with his words.
"That leaves just one more issue to be addressed," he said. "I'm going to address my next comments to the people in our own country who have protested what we are trying to do, who have stood against us, who have clamored that we should preserve peace at all costs, the people who have had the audacity to compare our president to murderous tyrants like Hitler and Stalin. I say, 'Shame on you' for what you have done!"
Kitty gasped at this, and the left side of the audience began to grow uneasy. Henderson ignored them and continued.
"Before this war started, we saw a great deal of people protesting in the streets all around the world. Those protests had their proper function at the time. But when our President said that we were at war, the protesters should have recognized that they had lost, and that they had nothing left to protest about. They should have joined us in supporting our soldiers and supporting our President. But what have we seen instead? Not only have these protests continued, they have lost all semblance of being peaceful! We saw last week just how much some of these people really care about peace!" he said scornfully.
In the audience, Paul bristled. "That's not true!" he said to Xavier. "We didn't start that riot!"
Henderson continued. "Now don't get me wrong," he said. "I support the first amendment as much as the next man, but the time for dissent is over, and frankly, the actions of some of these demonstrators are just as bad as the terrorists that attacked our country two years ago!" Henderson's face began to turn red as his voice went up in pitch. "These people deserve every bit of scorn they're asking for!" he suddenly shouted, and his eyes found Paul in the audience and zeroed in on him. "You have been an embarrassment to our society with your words and your actions. You claim to be on the side of peace and human rights, yet you contradict yourselves with everything you say and do. How can you claim to be for peace when you turn peaceful protests into violent riots? How can you claim to be for human rights when you purposefully ignore the genocide that has been going on in that country for years? I say you people need to get in line right now and start supporting us if you want to retain any kind of credibility! Our President said it best: if you're not with us, you're against us! Now is your time to choose! You all saw that statue come toppling down; you saw that regime fall apart. We have been proven right, and you who have supported the peace movement and compared our president to murderous tyrants have a lot of explaining to do!"
Kitty recoiled from the podium in horror at hearing this. She wanted to run back behind the curtain, get out of the building, get as far away from this man as she possibly could.
The audience erupted in shock. The peace members were united in their boos of displeasure, but Henderson's supporters were not quite as vocal. Many of them did continue to cheer, but there were some of them who appeared to be confused and taken aback by what their spokesman was saying.
"Can you believe this guy?" asked Jean over the roar.
"Vhat's he trying to do, start another riot?" asked Kurt.
"Still convinced this guy's all right?" Scott asked Rogue.
Rogue shook her head uncertainly. She had agreed with Henderson's comments about needing to protect American security, but the things he was saying now made no sense to her at all. "Maybe you're right, Professor. Maybe this war isn't so good after all if this is what winning it is going to do to people,"
Meanwhile, Paul was furious. "That bastard!" he shouted. "How the hell can he stand up there and say those things?"
"Hey, calm down!" Jean said, trying to keep Paul from jumping out of his seat.
Paul groaned and clutched his hands to the sides of his head. "What was I thinking?" he asked. He turned to Xavier. "Look, Mr. Xavier, I'm sorry I asked Kitty to get involved in all of this. I didn't realize this guy would be so vicious!"
"I understand, Mr. Rubens," said Xavier. "But I've known Kitty long enough to know that she is capable of amazing resiliency. I think she may manage to impress you and this audience yet,"
On stage, Henderson took a deep breath, perhaps realizing the impact of his last speech. He turned to Kitty. "Now Miss Pryde, I hope I haven't frightened you with my words," he said calmly, his face a strange parody of what it had been just a moment ago. "I certainly didn't mean to make it sound like I was attacking you personally with what I was saying. But you need to realize exactly what kind of world we live in today, and you need to realize how misguided some of the people you're supporting are. I'm sorry that your friend Paul Rubens can't see just how dangerous our world has become or our need to ensure our own safety,"
With that, he stepped away from the podium and sat down in one of the chairs near the curtain, leaving Kitty alone.
X
Kitty felt nervous and very small as she stared out into the audience and the bright lights. As she looked down at her notes, she realized that there was no way she'd be able to defend her positions from the accusations that Henderson had levied. She looked up as she realized that everybody was waiting for what she had to say. She took a relaxing breath and began to speak.
X