Now I was thinking, what would be the one group lobby in Washington D.C. that would be against mutant registration? And then it hit me…

Xavier: I wish it hadn't. Oh god where do you get these ideas? Be afraid people. Be very afraid.

The Odd Couple

At breakfast the next morning Xavier and Hank sat at the restaurant in the hotel. "Oh…" Hank groaned as he drank his second cup of coffee. There were bags under his eyes. "What a night. I never should have drunk that purple margarita. At least I think it was a margarita…"

"You just had to stay at that party until one in the morning didn't you!" Xavier snapped as he poured his third cup of coffee. "Those noises were bad enough all night but then you had to come in singing."

"Don't start with me Charles I am not in the mood," Hank snipped.

"And to top it off your snoring kept me up the rest of the night," Xavier grumbled.

"I do not snore."

"Yes you do."

"I do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do you always have to be so argumentative in the morning? Every time we go away you always get cranky."

"Well maybe if some people were more considerate of others…"

"Me? You're the one who was hogging the covers all night!"

"What do you need so many blankets for anyway? You're covered in fur! Which by the way you left huge clumps of in the shower."

"It's summer time. I shed. Deal with it."

"Well if it isn't Charles Xavier," Senator Kelly walked up to them. "Again."

"Oh goody it's our own personal ray of sunshine," Hank grumbled.

"I just thought I'd let you personally know that I will also be a guest on the Allbright Hour tonight," Kelly grinned.

"What does that have to do with us?" Hank asked.

"Didn't he tell you?" Kelly pointed at Xavier. "You are going to debate the topic of the Mutant Registration Act tonight."

"When were you going to tell me this?" Hank looked at Xavier.

"Last night but I got distracted as you recall," Xavier told him.

"So you not only keep secrets from normal people, you keep secrets from your own staff," Kelly huffed. "I can hardly wait until tonight to put you in your place McCoy. You're going to pay for making a fool out of me!"

"I don't have to make a fool out of you," Hank said. "You do that so well all by yourself."

Kelly sneered and turned on his heel. Unfortunately he bumped right into a waiter with a full tray. He fell on the floor covered in food. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" Kelly shouted.

"Oh yeah blame us for your clumsiness," Hank snickered.

Kelly managed to get to his feet and skulk away. "Great now we're being blamed on everything that happens to Kelly!" Hank sighed. "Although that was priceless. Now back to the topic of tonight's debate…"

"You said you wanted to do more public speaking," Xavier sighed.

"So I did," Hank said. "Well I can't shy away even if I wanted to, look what's in the paper."

"What's this?" Xavier looked. "An open letter calling for the Mutant Registration Act?"

"Look at this list," Hank muttered. "It makes you sick."

"I agree," Xavier sighed. "Educators, scientists, as well as several other organizations. The Friends of Humanity, the editor of the Wall Street Weekly, the Girl Scouts…"

"The Girl Scouts?" Hank asked. "What the hell did we ever do to them? What, they're blaming us for the recent decrease in cookie sales or something?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," A tall man with sandy hair and a suit walked up to them. "Some people are so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Howdy, I'm Combine. Paul Combine."

"Nice to see that someone wants to talk to us," Hank shook his hand. "What do you do here, Mr. Combine?"

"I'm a lobbyist in Washington. Mind if I sit down?"

"Be our guest," Xavier motioned. "I say it's encouraging to see some people aren't afraid of us."

"Sir not everyone here in Washington is for this bill," Mr. Combine told him. "There are a lot of people who see registration of mutants as nothing more than a flagrant violation of civil rights! Okay, so there are a few mutants who are crazy and want to destroy everything. There are always going to be people like that! Hell normal people have been doing it for centuries. Might as well register the entire population of America. Way I see it, these powers mutants have were given for a reason. Lotta folks are just jealous cause they don't have powers themselves. But a person has the right to protect him or herself from harm. Hell if our founding fathers were mutants, it would have been written in the Constitution!"

"Well that's a very…interesting way of putting it," Xavier said.

"Dang government wants to control everything! But it can't!" Mr. Combine snorted. "Well don't you worry Mr. Xavier, you got friends too in Washington D.C.! Yes sir, the NRA is behind you one hundred percent!"

"The… NRA?" Xavier looked at him.

"Yeah! When you think about it, we got the same problem you do!" Mr. Combine said. "Group of nuts or stupid kids ruining it for the rest of us law abiding Americans! Most of us are peaceful and only wanna use guns for personal protection or hunting. But all it takes is one nut to blow up a police cruiser and well…You think you have image problems?"

"Oh…my," Hank blinked.

"Don't worry about that bill passing! Hell we've stopped half the bills in this town from getting through!" Mr. Combine laughed. "It's the least we can do. Since you guys came out of the closet gun sales are up by 45 percent and there hasn't been hardly any push for any new gun registration bills. They're too worried about mutants."

"Well that is something to think about," Xavier felt rather ill.

"Granted there are quite a few chapters that want to use their rights to blow you guys away," Mr. Combine said. "But they just don't see the big picture! Don't worry, sooner or later we'll straighten 'em out. We already kicked a few of 'em out. Of course they just formed their own splinter group."

"Splinter group?" Xavier blinked.

"Yeah call themselves the Defenders of Human Freedom or something like that," Mr. Combine waved. "They wanna blow every mutant up they see with guns that aren't registered."

"Oh my," Hank gulped.

"Well like I said don't worry," Mr. Combine got up. "Together we'll stop this law from happening! See ya later!" He left the table.

"Well that was…" Xavier tried to find the right words. "Informative."

"So our only supporters so far in Washington D.C. are a crazy drunk general and the National Rifle Association," Hank looked at Xavier. "Politics does make strange bedfellows! I don't know whether to feel relieved or terrified. No terrified. Definitely terrified."

"I knew mutants would have problems…" Xavier groaned. "But even I couldn't predict this! This isn't exactly the image I was counting on."

"Well look at the bright side," Hank said. "With the NRA with us, we have some clout. And…"

"And?"

"Maybe I can finally get that autographed picture of Charlton Heston," Hank shrugged.

"Your bill sir," The waitress came up to them. "May I say that the two of you make a nice couple."

"Couple of what?" Xavier blinked.

"Oh come on, you think we're…?" Hank's jaw dropped. "But…"

"I mean it's so obvious the way you two share a one bed room and argue with each other," The waitress smiled and left. Several people were already looking at them.

"And I had a hard enough time getting a date before," Hank moaned.

"I can't stand it…" Xavier groaned.

Next: A museum outing goes terribly wrong! So what else is new?

Xavier: You had to put in the NRA bit didn't you? We're gonna get letters.

Hank: I'm so outraged I'm writing one to myself.