Disclaimer: The X-Men (including all prominent characters and distinctive likenesses thereof) are the sole property and trademark of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All other characters, locations, circumstances, and situations represented here are purely fictional. Any resemblance to any real people, places, or events is unintentional and purely coincidental. No profit or payment of any kind is being derived from this story.
Setting: Minutes after the events of X-Men 2.
Note from the author: This chapter is long, but well worth reading, as it sets the tone for the entire story to come. It is a reworking of a FAMOUS speech that most people will recognize immediately – with some VERY notable differences. It will help if you have read various X-Men and Marvel comics: including Captain America, Iron-Man, Nick Fury, the Avengers, and the Ultimates.
"The Speech"
The President sat in his chair, completely dumbfounded. The leader of the free world, the commander-in-chief of the most advanced, and most powerful military the world has ever known… was utterly in shock. President John Armstrong McKenna only had a few minutes to compose himself after the mutants left the Oval office. "Freezing" the entire staff, the entire security detail, and just about everyone within the Whitehouse compound, was not just a precautionary move on the mutants' part… it was a demonstration of power. The President understood that demonstration, and was even more convinced that he had made the right decision: that it was time to give the mutant population of his country (and the world) the PROPER respect and attention they deserved. He calmly placed the late Colonel Stryker's file folder in his desk drawer – since the contents of the blue packet were nothing new to him. What had initially shocked him was these mutants were able to get this information – sparse as it was. Stryker was a low-level errant operative that was given a dead-end task of developing mutant soldiers and assassins. Somehow he managed to botch what was designed to be the simplest of jobs. If these mutant "X-Men" hadn't taken him out, Lieutenant Lyman and his men were already ordered to execute Stryker and destroy the Alkili Lake facility. The only good that came from Stryker's work was the research and analysis of the Cerebro machine. This machine's capabilities were already being duplicated, reversed engineered, and reproduced by better qualified, and MUCH better funded, facilities than Stryker's "Weapon X" division. The Cerebro capabilities would make a necessary addition to the rest of the weapons and technologies being secretly developed and deployed under the decades-old Mutant Protocols.
Pushing those thoughts aside, President McKenna composed himself – just as the television crew, security personnel, and administration staff in the Oval office became "unfrozen" from their mental stasis.
"Mr. President, are you ready?" asked the director.
"Yes, I am", replied President McKenna.
"Then we're live in five, four, three, two… ", and the director pointed at the President, just as the red light on the video cameras flashed – indicating that this time they were indeed broadcasting to an expectant nation – and awaiting world.
The President looked up at the camera, stared solemnly for a couple seconds, and mentally steadied himself for a speech that he had wearily written himself – fully knowing that the eyes of the planet would be upon him. On his shoulders was the responsibility of steering the immediate course of human history. He took in an even breath… and then spoke:
"My fellow Americans… In the normal course of events, Presidents come to this chamber to deliver speeches, news, and reports on the state of our Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people.
We are seeing it in the courage of those who are risking their lives right now to go the aid of their fellow citizens in need. We are seeing the state of our Union in the endurance of the rescuers, who are at this moment working past their own mental pain, emotional stress, and physical exhaustion from which most aren't fully recovered yet. We are seeing it in the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers. We are witnesses to the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own.
My fellow Americans, for the last nine hours, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our Union -- and it is strong. Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
On this day, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars -- but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war -- but not at the corner of every home, town, and city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacks -- but never before on hundreds of millions of civilians – OUR ENTIRE POPULATION. All of this was brought upon us in a single day -- and night has fallen on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.
Americans have many questions tonight. They are asking: Who attacked our country? Who attacked the world? The evidence and information we are gathering all points to a collection of loosely affiliated mutant terrorist organizations, chief of which are the self-proclaimed Brotherhood of Mutants. They are the same murderers wanted for countless crimes over the years, all over the globe, and are responsible for the attack on Liberty Island just one year ago.
These mutants are to terrorism what the mafia is to crime. But their goal is not making money; their goal is remaking and recreating the world -- and imposing their radical beliefs on people everywhere.
The terrorists hold fast to a fringe philosophy that has been rejected by the vast majority of people worldwide -- a fringe movement that perverts and corrupts its followers with an unbridled hate towards their fellow man. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill all human beings, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children.
This group and its leader -- a person named Erik Lehnsherr -- are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Hellfire Club, and the Mutant Liberation Front. There are hundred of these known terrorists in more than 60 countries. They are recruited from their own families, nations, and neighborhoods and brought to secret camps in remote locations, where they are trained to use their unique abilities for terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction.
The United States respects all people of every kind, whether they be mutated or not -- after all, we are currently home to the largest known population of mutated humans on the planet -- but we condemn the Brotherhood of Mutants and their supporters. Their supporters are threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the supporters of the Brotherhood are also committing murder.
And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Brotherhood, the Hellfire Club, and all such organizations: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of these groups who hide among you. Release any prisoners, including American citizens, you have unjustly confined. Cease and desist the murder, kidnapping, and subsequent impersonation of journalists, diplomats, and politicians – such as the LATE Senator Robert Kelly – whom we have just recently discovered to have been murdered and impersonated by members of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Our prayers and condolences are with his family, friends, and constituents. We demand the immediate and permanent closing of every terrorist training camp, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to the appropriate authorities. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.
These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Brotherhood of Mutants and all of their kind must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.
Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we enjoy every day -- a world full of different people, enjoying their lives and freedoms to their fullest, secure that noone will use any unique gift or ability, no matter how powerful, to cause them harm. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. They see themselves as something OTHER than human. They call themselves HOMO SAPIENS SUPERIOR, as if they were somehow our genetic masters.
These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America, and the world grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking each other. They stand against us, the whole of humanity, because to them we stand in their way.
We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.
After all that has just passed -- all the lives taken and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them -- it is natural to wonder if America's future is one of fear. Some speak of an age of MUTANT terror. I know there are struggles ahead, and dangers to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined by them. As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of MUTANT terror; this will be an age of liberty, here and across the world.
Great harm has been done to all of us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom -- the great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time -- now depends ON US. Our nation -- this generation -- will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened this day, and to whom it happened. We'll remember the moment that the pain came… the moment that hundreds of planes plummeted to the ground, the moment that thousands suddenly died of heart attacks, that millions were injured and thousands killed in automobile, boating, and railway accidents. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.
I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.
Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice -- assured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America.
Thank you.
~~~~~~~~
In a secluded mansion in Westchester, New York, in a room full of cowering students and nervous adults huddled around some wide-screen television sets… there was utter silence. Professor Charles Xavier looked grimly at his staff and students… still reeling from the loss of Jean Grey, and now doubly reeling from a speech that left a LOT of room for interpretation.
Will WE be considered part of the "terrorist threat"?
We have Kurt Wagner among us, he mused. Would we be considered to be supporters of mutant terrorism for harboring him – seeing as Mr. Wagner had attempted to kill the President (albeit, under the control of William Stryker)? Shaking those thoughts, he turned to his fear-stricken children. "Everyone, let's get to bed. Students, you are dismissed. There is nothing more we can do for now." Then he did something he swore he'd never do – he used his powers to psychically calm their nerves. The students, some still visibly crying, began shuffling out of the main rec room and up the stairs to their various sleeping quarters.
The adults present, Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Kurt Wagner… all remained motionless – caught up in mental speculation of HOW exactly the President meant to wage this new AND VERY PUBLIC war on mutant terrorism. "Professor, was it all for nothing?" asked Storm, choking back sobs as she spoke. "We did all that… lost so much… just to have it blow up in our faces?"
"No! She didn't die in vain!" shouted Cyclops. "Jean didn't die so we'd just end up fighting people we're supposed to protect… she didn't… she didn't…" He began shuddering – and Logan came and held the man up. It was the second time in a few hours that these two men had hugged awkwardly. Cyclops eventually composed himself, silently thanking Logan for his haphazard support. Scott Summers could still feel her – his Jean. She was there, in his mind and in his heart.
Professor Xavier stated, "No Scott, Jean chose to sacrifice herself so that WE could live on. We must discuss the ramifications of the President's words… but let's do it tomorrow. People…" he looked at his weary X-Men, "today was probably the first battle in a new war – a war I thought would never come."
"But Professor", asked Storm, "if they only go after mutant terrorists, they won't come after us, will they?"
"Perhaps Storm, perhaps…", he answered, "but in my experience, it is always wiser to prepare for the worst. A lot of people died today… more than anyone knows – humans and mutants alike. The President was right about one thing: night has indeed fallen on a different world than the one we were in this morning."
~~~~~~
In a remote island location, Mystique, Magneto, Mortimer Toynbee (aka Toad), and Victor Creed (aka Sabertooth) stared at the satellite television broadcast in stricken silence. "And so it begins", said a dour faced Magneto. He was dismayed, not by the President's reaction, but by the hints and details that laced his speech regarding how much the United States government knows about the mutant community. *How could they know about the Brotherhood… or the EVEN more secretive Hellfire Club… or about ME?* he thought to himself. This was bad… very, very bad.
"I should have killed McKenna when I had the chance!" said Mystique.
"How were we going to do that exactly?" asked Toad, "turn yourself into a dog and bite him in the ass?" Creed laughed out loud at the remark.
"Maybe I'd…"
"QUIET! BOTH OF YOU!" shouted an extremely agitated Magneto. "The hunt is on… and WE are the prey. We must prepare ourselves… and turn the hunters in to the hunted!"
"Looks like this was a shitty time to hang with you dudes!"
Everyone just scowled and collectively rolled their eyes at Pyro.