Chapter 3 Graydon's Choice
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As luck would have it, one of the members of the Friends of Humanity was in Bayville, and me managed to contact the state headquarters in Polotown.
Graydon Creed was being soon brought before the state leaders, Murdock and Farmer.
"So, Graydon, do you expect us to believe that you didn't know that your half-brother was as deformed as this?" asked Murdock.
"I... I thought it wouldn't matter. He's a mutant regardless of what he looks like, so he's an enemy anyway."
"Listen," said Farmer, softening a little, "I know that you want to protect a relative, but this is war. Humans against mutants. You can't be partial to a monster just because he happens to be a relative. The blue woman is related to you as well, and yet you have never tried to protect her."
"It's just..." Graydon thought for a second. "He tried to be kind. I want him to be put away, I just... I just don't want him to be hurt. Just take away his... ability to reproduce so he can't create any more mutants, put a collar on him, and he'll be harmless."
"Graydon, the only solution is to kill them all. I can promise that I will try to make it quick and painless," said Farmer. At this, Murdock harrumphed, obviously disapproving of the idea of extending any mercy whatsoever.
"I'll tell you what," suggested Farmer. "To prove your loyalty, you need to bring Kurt here. Succeed, and you will move up in our ranks. Fail, and you will be kicked out."
Graydon gulped and looked at the people in front of him. Then his eyes steeled. These were the only people who had ever been really kind to him, understood his plight. Kurt was nice, but he was only one person. And the X-Men as a group had never treated him as an equal. He was there as a diplomatic envoy to the wild-type world, not because they thought him to be a valuable potential member.
"I will do it." He walked out, and as soon as he was in the hallway, he burst into tears.
Meanwhile, back at FOH's national headquarters in Washington D.C., Epstein and Carlton, two of the leaders, were discussing their latest plans.
"After the death of Dr. Malloy," said Epstein, our project at anti-mutant chemical warfare has been delayed. Only temporarily, but delayed nonetheless. So for the time being, we will content ourselves with increasing the anti-mutant sentiment in the US.
"How?" asked Carlton.
"We have plans to get a mutant, an obvious mutant, to attack J. Jonah Jameson. He has written articles in support of mutant rights before. If a mutant kills him, it will prove that mutants pose a threat to everyone."
"I thought he wrote an anti-mutant article a few months back."
"No, the article was 'Mutant Vigilantism: The REAL Mutant Menace.' He is basically opposed to all vigilantes. Superpowers per se do not bother him."
"I see. Who is the mutant?"
"One we captured in L.A. a few weeks ago. A teleporter. She is obviously a mutant." He pressed a button on a remote control and a metal screen lifted, revealing a room behind a glass wall. Chained to a wall was a young girl, fourteen perhaps, with hot pink skin and green pupil-less eyes. She had pointed ears, and marks on her forehead and eyes. She was wearing a shapeless navy blue cloak and did not appear to be conscious.
"Her name," said Epstein. "Is Clarice. Clarice Ferguson."
Mr. Claremont looked at the young man behind the screen. Having joined the army in hopes of turning his life around, and later having been transferred to covert ops, he would be an excellent specimen to test the new procedure on. He turned to the man behind the desk, a strange mustached fellow with green skin and a big forehead.
"So, with the new menace of our enemies using mutants or other superbeings against us, I'm sure you can see why we need to produce an American army of superbeings."
"I understand," said the green-skinned man to Mr. Claremont. "But you know, we already have such people at work here. Me, for instance. And I'm sure you've heard rumors of the Fantastic Four." He wondered at this representative of GeneDef Defensive Industries, what his real agenda was.
Claremont did not bat an eye at this. "But you don't have a program to make lots and lots of them. Just a few random people here and there created by accident."
"Me, for instance. Yes, I suppose getting a normally lethal dose of gamma radiation while carrying barrels of waste would qualify as an accident. Fortunately I have an analog of the X-gene that enabled me to survive gamma radiation."
"Ah, yes, the G-gene. IT gives you near-immunity to gamma radiation and the ability to project mental images of yourself into the astral plane."
The green-skinned man nodded his enormous head. "Yes, but those images cannot do anything until one is hit by gamma rays. Of course, there are limits to the images one can project of themselves; one cannot, I believe, become as big as a planet or become all-powerful. As far as I can tell, the images of one's self currently are restricted to intelligence and strength, and perhaps psionic abilities."
"Well, Mr. Sterns, we can do more than that. We have a process that can give normal humans superpowers, and I believe that the young man behind that window is just the person to try it on. His structure is such that we can put as many as five unstable M-genes in him."
"M-gene?"
"Mimicry. M-genes are artificial constructs that enable one to copy any genetic abilities of others, including X-genes and G-genes. Unfortunately, they currently are only able to copy half the potency of the copied genes."
"So you want to test it on this man?"
"Yes, Mr. Sterns."
"Very well." He pressed a button and began talking to the man behind the glass screen.
"Mr. Rankin? I believe we have a new assignment for you. Come here and we will explain it to you."
Calvin Rankin nodded from behind the glass and walked to the door.
[A/N Claremont is a reference to X-Men writer Chris Claremont. Epstein was referred to in my third "Essex Plan" story, Father Figure, when Wolverine mentions that one of the founders of FOH was Jewish and so FOH would not ally itself with the Red Skull. Dr. Malloy was referred to in Father Figure as the doctor planning to drug mutants so as to disable their mutant powers. He was killed by Cloak and Dagger. The identities of Mr. Sterns, Calvin Rankin, and Clarice Ferguson are hopefully known to my readers. If not, wait and I'll fill you in later.]