A/N: Okay, this chapter was getting really long, so I cut it in half. As a result, this is not the next to last chapter. Once again, this chapter is the third from the end. At this point, everything gets pretty legal. As a small disclaimer, I just want to say that I don't know everything about how the Federal Court System works here in America. If I mess something up, please forgive me. With that said, enjoy!

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Jake Roberts had been a lawyer with the ACLU for nine years now. He had started as a low-paid paralegal before he passed the bar. After that, he had been assigned to smalltime cases around the country. He had fought to protect the environment as well as America's minorities and had climbed the ladder in good time, but he had never gained the lofty heights he dreamed of. Someday he planned to be the top lawyer for the organization and run every detail of every case. And now, he finally had the chance to start moving in that direction.

Xavier v. USA would put him on the map if he won. Then again, if he lost, it would likely mean the end of his career. He was banking everything on this case including his family, which would likely break up in a divorce if he was fired or demoted back to a lower department. Mrs. Roberts was already giving him trouble about his salary as it was. Why he insisted on working with the ACLU and taking these worthless cases, she would never understand!

The truth was, nobody understood why he refused to work at some big firm. He certainly had the talent to go nearly wherever he wanted. When he graduated, he had offers from all the biggest firms in the country! So why was he settling for a mid-level job at the ACLU, an organization that was notorious for paying their lawyers a mere half of what they were worth? Whenever asked about it, Jake simply said he liked it there and changed the subject.

But when Jake had heard that the ACLU had filed suit against the United States over the Anti-Mutant Act, he was the first to sign up for the case. After waiting for so long, the case he had been waiting for had finally arrived. It was the case that would make him a star! He had persevered through the paperwork and red tape and found himself as the head lawyer on the case. He couldn't have been happier!

At least, he had been happy at the time. Now, he was nothing but nervous. The ruling would come soon and Jake was terrified. He had performed well in court, but so had the US Attorney, a 53-year-old legend named George Wilbanks who served his country as the best lawyer in the US Attorney's Office. He hadn't lost a case in thirty years. Jake was still a few months away from his thirtieth birthday!

And so everything in Jake's life had led him to this moment, where he sat in an uncomfortable chair wearing the nicest suit he owned and going over all his reasons to be there in his mind. Meanwhile, Hank McCoy, the mutant who was helping him with the case, paced back and forth across the small temporary office. Jake was still yet to figure out just what Hank's mutation was, but felt it would be impolite to ask.

"You mind not pacing like that?" he asked the large man.

Hank stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Jake with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Nervous?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I've never had a case like this before."

"Relax. You did great."

"So did Wilbanks," said Jake with a frown. "What did I do to face George Wilbanks in my first big case?"

Hank smiled reassuringly at him. "It'll be fine, Jake. Stop second-guessing yourself."

Jake smiled back at him in response. He couldn't help but notice that as confident as Hank sounded, he had still been pacing back and forth in the office for the past hour and a half.

Finally, Jake's pager began buzzing on the desk. The two men looked at each other gravely.

"Judge is back," said Jake, standing up to get his coat.

*****

"Mutants, as they are currently defined by the government's top scientists, are individuals with genetic flaws that give them incredible, and often dangerous, abilities," said Judge Rourk when the court had reassembled. "Many of them cannot control these abilities and have caused quite a bit of damage and even losses of life over the last few years. Since the Anti-Mutant Act passed, we have seen riot after riot across the country, as well as three orchestrated attacks on our government that have ended in the deaths of the President, two Congressmen, and dozens of American soldiers as well as private citizens.

"But at the same time, mutants are people, not animals. They have emotions and relationships just like everyone else. And I am not convinced that every mutant is out to kill humans. I'm sure there are good mutants out there. But it is the bad ones who keep appearing on the evening news night after night.

"It is my opinion that America's mutants, at this point in time, are out of control. Two months ago they assassinated the President of the United States and attempted to kill the entire Congress as well. The Capitol Building, which was built during the early days of this country, is gone. Taxpayers are now forced to pay millions of dollars to rebuild and fix the damage inflicted by mutants. In light of these incidences, I cannot argue that mutants should not be restricted or controlled in any way. And so, I find in favor of the United States of America. It is the ruling of this court that the Anti-Mutant Act is constitutional and will remain in place."

The sound of the Judge's gavel was drowned out by the buzz of the crowd. Cheers sounded from the back of the courtroom as George Wilbanks shook hands heartily with everyone around him. Jake stood up slowly and retreated from the courtroom through a side door, where Hank was waiting in the hallway. They left the building quietly while the three young lawyers who made up their team went to field questions from the media.

The two slipped into Jake's car and drove off silently. They were both still reeling from the Judge's words. They left Oakland and entered the California desert outside the city. Ordinarily, Jake would enjoy driving the Camry along empty highways as fast as could with no other traffic in his way. But tonight, he didn't even have the heart to open the windows and enjoy the dry, cool air. The shock was still sifting through his mind. After an hour of silence, Jake spoke up.

"We'll appeal. It's not over yet."

Hank looked at the man to his left. "We'll get 'em next time, Jake. This had to go to the Supreme Court anyway. Even if we'd won, they would have appealed."

Jake nodded. The words stung his heart. They were the final confirmation from another person that indeed, he had lost the case. This wasn't a nightmare and he wasn't about to wake up to find that he had actually won.

Hank looked back through the windshield and sighed as he pulled out a cell phone. "I suppose I should call Charles."

"Yeah."

"You want to speak to him?"

"No way."

"Fair enough." Hank flipped the phone open and put it to his face before giving the voice command to call the mansion.

"Tell him to come to DC though. I want him in the courtroom next time."

"Sure thing."

The phone only rang once before Charles answered. "Hi Hank."

"Hey Charles. Have you seen the TV?"

"Yes, we have. What happens now?"

"We appeal. We'll file it tomorrow and head to the Supreme Court in a couple months."

"Do you think we can win?"

Hank hesitated as he glanced at Jake through the corner of his eye. "It'll be tough. Losing here was big, but we can still win it. It's not over yet and Washington is a long way from Oakland."

"So you're not giving up hope then?"

"Not yet. Not until it's all over, Charles."

"Good. Is there anything you need?"

"Actually, yes. Jake wants you to come to DC with us."

"Me? Why me?"

"Charles, you're the client here. If you don't come to the Supreme Court proceedings then it looks like you don't really care about all this. That doesn't exactly help our case."

"Okay, I'll be there. When?"

"I'll let you know. In the meantime, just tell the kids that this isn't over."

"We will, Hank. Thank you."

Hank hung up the phone and laid it in the car's cupholder while he whispered to himself. "Don't thank me yet, Charles."

*****

The appeal was filed the next morning, a Friday. By Monday, Jake, Hank, and their team were in Washington. They rented a small office as close to the Supreme Court as they could get and began working. Soon, the trial date was set for August 6, two months away.

After one month of nonstop research and planning, Jake was beginning to think he couldn't do it. Wilbanks was simply too good for him. He was considering handing the case over to a better lawyer who could win it. It was all just too overwhelming for him to handle anymore.

One night in mid July, he and Hank stayed late into the night at the office looking for a precedent, of which there was none. Finally, Jake crashed into his chair and admitted to Hank what he was thinking.

"Hank, what would you say if I told you I was leaving the case?"

Hank looked up in surprise. "I don't know. I suppose I'd ask why."

"Because I can't win. Because I don't have enough experience yet."

"You're not giving up on me, are you Jake?"

Jake sat back and thought for a second before answering. "No. I'm just thinking of giving the case to someone with more experience who can beat Wilbanks."

"Sounds like giving up to me," said Hank with a strange smile on his face.

"No, its just.I don't know if I can do this."

Hank sat down on the small couch in the office and looked at the man he had come to count as a friend over the last few months. "You can. Don't let the system wear you down."

"It's not the system, Hank. It's the pressure. I have to win this case. But if I can't win it, then I have to give it to someone who can."

The question that had been gnawing at Hank for months once again arose in his mind. He took a deep breath and decided to ask. "Jake, why are you doing this? Why did you take this case in the first place?"

"To get rich and famous. Why does any lawyer take a high-profile case?"

"You're lying," said Hank smugly. "There's something personal about this case for you. What is it?"

Jake sighed as he stood up and walked to his window. He looked out over the city and tried to come up with the right words. "I used to have a little brother named Brad. He was only two years younger than me and we were best friends as kids.

"When Brad turned thirteen, he started doing things nobody could explain. It started small. Machines would act strangely around him. The TV would flicker when he came in the room. The radio would suddenly turn on without being touched. Eventually, sparks of electricity started shooting out of his hands when he was mad. He didn't understand it. None of us did, really. The doctor couldn't figure it out. He said that Brad was absorbing too much static electricity. Over time, he started firing bolts of electricity out of his hands like lightning! That was when we started hearing about people called mutants. We would just hear little bits and pieces of mutant stories here and there around town. Most people didn't believe they really existed. But my family, we knew that Brad was a mutant. Mom and Dad got scared of him. They talked to him less and less. They stopped buying him the things he wanted. Of course, I still loved Brad. He was my brother, y'know? We were still best friends. Personally, I thought his powers were pretty cool.

"But on his sixteenth birthday, Mom and Dad decided they'd had enough. They took the family to Yosemite National Park for a vacation to celebrate his birthday. We had a great time for a few days, and then it was time to leave. My Dad sent me to the car with the luggage and told me to wait there. After a few minutes, Mom and Dad showed up, got in the car and drove away without Brad. They explained to me that Brad was a mutant and that meant he was bad. I don't know where they left him, but I never saw Brad again.

"Ever since then, I have never once felt any love for my parents. I hate them for what they did. Now I have a son and I can't imagine ever abandoning him somewhere to die like that! Anyway, I decided that I would change people's minds about mutants. I went to law school and found a job at the ACLU. I figured if anyone was gonna fight for mutants' rights, it'd be them. But I got there and found out that they didn't care about mutants at all! I tried to convince my bosses that we should be helping mutants, but they just shrugged me off. Then one day I heard about this case and I had to join it. I had made a promise to myself that I would make sure nobody ever did what my parents did to Brad." He turned around to look at Hank with small tears in his eyes. "That's why I'm here."

Hank sat in shock of the story he had just heard. Living in the Institute, he had heard all sorts of stories about human persecution of mutants, but he had never heard of parents simply abandoning their own children to die! He stood up and walked over to Jake, knowing full well that there was nothing he could say that would make up for the loss.

"I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry about your brother."

"Thanks," said Jake sincerely. He had never told anyone about Brad, not even his wife. It bothered him just to think about. He decided to change the subject.

"Let me ask you something, Hank. I've just been curious about this since we met. What's your mutation?"

Hank smiled at him. "Did you notice that when we met, I didn't shake your hand?"

"Of course. I thought it was strange, but I didn't say anything."

"Well, my hand isn't exactly what you would have been expecting. You see this watch?" Hank raised his arm so Jake could get a good look at it.

"Yeah, it's a great watch. I've noticed it before. Why?"

"It's much more than just a watch. It's actually a very clever disguise." Hank pushed a button on the side of the watch and immediately turned into his normal furry blue form. "This is what I actually look like."

Jake jumped back in surprise. He had never dreamed that there were mutants with mutations like that!

"I also have enhanced strength, but that would be fairly difficult to give an example of in these surroundings," said the Beast with a smile.

Jake stared at Hank in silence for a moment. It was a shock to see his friend so differently, but he was quickly growing more and more used to it. Somehow, he felt he shouldn't be so surprised.

"Have you always looked like this?"

"No, it's only happened recently. I appeared to be a normal person just as you've seen me up until three years ago. I used a serum to keep my mutation at bay. But I'd rather not get into that right now."

"That's fine. So you live in a house with all mutants, right?"

"Yes," answered Hank. "There are ten of us there."

"So are you aware of a lot of mutants around the country?" asked Jake.

"Yes, we know of quite a few."

"Are they.y'know, good?"

"Some are good people. Others aren't."

"So which group is more prominent? The good mutants or the bad ones?"

"The good, by far. I've had the pleasure of meeting plenty of caring mutants who work for the good of everyone in my lifetime."

"And what about the bad?"

Hank looked out the window and across the Mall. From where he stood, he could see the construction site where the Capitol had once stood. If he turned his head, he could also see the very end of the White House, now home to a new President. His head fell with a heavy sigh.

"They're horrible people. I happen to know the ones who attacked the Capitol, and they're the most wretched creations I have ever met."

"You're kidding! That monster in the red and black costume? You know him?"

Hank nodded. "He calls himself Magneto because he can control magnetic fields."

Jake was surprised by this. Somehow, he had never imagined that Hank and his client had connections to the bad mutants of the country.

"So what about those mutants who saved everyone? The Congressmen say a group of mutants fought Magneto and got them out of the building before it fell. Do you know them?"

Hank looked down at Jake and tried to word his response just right. "I've met them, but I don't know them well."

Jake didn't need to know that he, in fact, represented them. The two stood there and stared at what had once been the center of American government. Finally, they returned to work and spent the rest of the night researching for the fast approaching day that they would find themselves at the hands of the Supreme Court.