Okay guys... sorry it took so long. Christmas break hasn't been as smooth as I had hoped. Before I begin, I need to clear up something you (yes, YOU) brought to my attention.
Beast was captured by Omega Red off-screen and brought in to fight. When did this happen? I don't know, off-camera or something. That was actually a goof on my part... so we'll just see this is what happened.
Anyway, this is the turning point in the story. After this, things won't be the same. Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Chapter Six - The Legal System at Work
Wanda Lehnsherr, no longer dressed in her X-Men uniform but in a red suit and skirt, appearing more presentable to the crowd of reporters gathering outside the front steps of the Xavier Institute. She was flanked by Amara and Jamie, dressed in normal clothes. Magneto had suggested he take them with her both to present a "cute" front and to show the reporters that there were students willing to stay at the Institute.
"Ms. Lehnsherr," a blonde man yelled over the crowd. "What measures are you taking to prevent another attack?"
"Additional security systems are being installed as we speak. We are in the process of hiring full-time security guards as we speak."
"Is that where your father is?" a redhead woman asked.
"Yes. Mr. Lehnsherr is currently meeting with potential employees as well as security specialists. We expect the staff to increase over the next month."
"And what of the students left at the school? Why have their parents not pulled them out?"
"Their parents trust us with the safety of their children. Following mutant disappearances around the country, the parents of our remaining students and many of the unfortunate victims felt that the Xavier Institute provided the best possible protection for their children. Many have expressed concern over the safety of their children had they remained at home. The assailant has also been connected to the murders of various mutants in their homes, and in one case, he even went after a mutant in a maximum security prison who had avoided the death penalty. The question isn't whether the Xavier Institute was secure enough, but how dangerous this man is."
"Some of your critics believe that if your father had been home during this attack, it could have been prevented. Where was he and could this have been prevented?"
"My father was away on business. I am not at liberty to discuss that matter, but I assure you that it has been put on hold in order to deal with the immediate threat presented last week. At this point, whether or not Mr. Lehnsherr could have stopped this man cannot be determined. The unnamed assailant used technology that could nullify mutant powers in immediate areas and none of our staff was able to do anything about these weapons."
"These weapons, they sound a little too advanced to be real. With all due respect, how could such technology exist."
"I'll tell you how," a brown-haired man in a blue suit said. He wore silver-rimmed glasses with a blue tint on them. He had a two-man camera crew with him, which was more than any of the others had. The major news networks had their own cameras stationed from their vans, but this man seemed to be with an investigative news show. Wanda was quite familiar with the man named Ed Kelly, host of the sensationalist "The Bottom Line" television program. He had a smug look on his face that only a top-rated TV show host could wear. His crew pushed through the crowd and made way for him. "This fine institution has been here for almost twenty years, and the first class was taught by only four instructors: Mr. Lehnsherr, his close associate Ms. Darkholme, a Mr. Wyngarde, and a fourth man whose real identity has never been made public, a man going by the name of Forge." Wanda raised an eyebrow. This wasn't looking good.
"I assure you, Forge has-"
"You're such a sweetheart, let me finish," Kelly said, switching between false sincerity and low-toned deviousness. "Forge's mutant ability was quite interesting... he could take metal parts, a few wires, maybe part of a tape recorder and he could make advanced machinery, things like robot probes, laser guns, hovercrafts, anti-hex force fields," Kelly said the last one rather pointedly, referring to an incident that occurred back when Wanda was still a student, "and maybe, just maybe... a mutant nullification device."
"We have no reason to believe that Fo-"
"Then who else would create such technology? Independent laboratories? Why they'd need a cowload of funding! Who else? Maybe the government? Now why would the government create technology to hurt the very people they've spent millions of dollars trying to protect? Could there be some holes in this conspiracy theory?"
"...What conspirac-"
"And now you're denying it! These are your X-Men! Liars, hypocrites and CHILD-KILLERS!"
"If Forge did build these devices, we had nothing to do with it. We haven't seen or heard from Forge in almost ten years. We don't believe Forge would create weaponry that could be used against his own people, and we don't believe Forge is involved in any way. All we know is that this assailant is well-trained as an assassin and has access to weapons and devices outside of known technology. We are working with the police to find this man and bring him to justice." Without saying another word, Wanda walked back into the Institute with Amara and Jamie, ignoring the further questions being asked by the reporters outside.
"There you have it!" Kelly said. "The X-Men are denying the only logical evidence in this case, and with more and more disappearances across the country, the X-Men are concerned only with their own safety! These so-called defenders of peace and justice have turned their backs on the people, and that's the Bottom Line! And... cut. Good stuff. Let's go, boys."
Once inside the foyer, Wanda leaned against a wall, sighed, and rubbed her face.
"Are you alright?" Jamie asked.
"I...I'm fine. Just a lot of stress, that's all. Jamie, Amara, get back to the dorms." They nodded and left. With the meetings taking place inside the Institute, guards had to be placed at the dorms. Robert Drake, Colossus, Kurt and Pyro had volunteered, and with Pyro guarding the girl's dorm, Amara was more than happy to return. Checking the time, Wanda rushed down the hall.
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"And... just... allow me to sign this..." Senator Gyrich said. He was seated at a desk in his office, signing a document legalizing freedom of religion, somehow unaware that such a law was already in effect. The senator signed his name and handed it to his smiling young female assistant.
"I hope the others agree to this," she said.
"I'm sure they will. It looks like I'm finally doing good work here. Who will accuse me of being corrupt after this?" The senator's assistant smiled and took the document out of his office. Suddenly, the office changed. Senator Gyrich wasn't in his office, but in his bedroom, sitting on his bed. His wife slept behind him... but he was just in his office, wasn't he?
Outside of the senator's bedroom, the mutant illusionist Mastermind handed the document to the X-Cutioner.
"He has signed it," Mastermind said reluctantly.
"We will move on to the next house, then." Senator Gyrich noticed a flash of light under his door. He rushed out to see what was happening, but there was nothing there.
"Heh... strange." Gyrich returned to bed.
"Honey, what's wrong?" his sleepy wife asked.
"Nothing, just imagining things again... too much time at the office, that's it. Too much. We'll go to the park tomorrow with the kids."
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"All's quiet here," Robert Drake said into the radio. He stood with Colossus at the entrance to the boy's dorm, each keeping their eye on a different end of the hallway. Robert Drake was dressed in a blue outfit, though it could barely be seen through the icy layer he had covered himself with. Colossus still wore his blue-green armor, and crossed his arms. "How about you guys, you doing fine with the ladies?"
"Peachy," Kurt growled. He leaned against the wall in the hallway where the girl's dorm was, watching as Pyro talked to someone inside. "This guy's too busy flirting. I have to watch all sides myself."
"I'm not flirting, plushy, I'm just checking in on the girls to see if everything is alright." Kurt heard Amara giggle and rolled his eyes. "Hmph. Looks like I got my hopes up for nothing. This girl giggles at any idiot who shows her any concern. Drake, you want to switch places with me or what?"
"No."
"I hate you."
"So what's Brazil like?" Pyro asked. Amara sat on her bed close to the door, giggling.
"Well... it's nice... and warm..."
"Warm? Aw, hell no, I like a hot climate. None of this warm stuff!" Amara giggled again. Kurt slammed his head against the wall. "It get hot often in Rio?"
"Very," Amara said. "But the weather is always nice..."
"You two are giving me induced heatstroke," Danielle groaned.
"There's no problem if we're just having a nice chat now," Pyro said. "So Dani, where are you from?"
"Doesn't matter," Danielle sighed. "If they were to shut this place down, I wouldn't have anywhere to go."
"Aw, come on now, you've got to have some family."
"I had a grandfather, but he had a heart attack a few years ago. Now there's nobody." Danielle noted the silence in the room. "What about you, Pyro, do you have any family?"
"Nah. Had a dad, he went and hanged himself after some real nasty writer's block. Mum died when I was two... had a sister, she got some disease, died before I was even born. Life's a huge tragedy." Pyro ignited his left flamethrower and created a smiley face. "That's why you gotta balance it out. Just keep smiling." Danielle couldn't help but smile at the fiery face.
"You're so funny, Johnny!" Amara squealed. Danielle's momentary smile disappeared and she rolled her eyes again. "Hey, when this is all over, we should go to Brazil! I'll show you around, I know everyone in Rio! My mom would just love to meet you!"
"Sounds like a plan, Amara. Hey, maybe we could bring Darkholme and his sibs along, they'd enjoy it!"
"Well, I meant just you and me..."
"Oh, brother," Danielle groaned.
"Just you and me?" Pyro asked, confused.
"It's more romantic that way!"
"Romantic...?!"
"Sure, I'm your girlfriend, aren't I?"
"GIRLFRIEND?!" Pyro jumped so high, Danielle could've sworn he almost hit the ceiling. "Listen, Amara, you're cute and all, but I've got about three years on you... you're still a minor, I mean-"
"...She thinks you were kissing her," Danielle explained. "You know, when I accidentally shut her down."
"Afraid not, l-" Pyro stopped himself from saying 'luv,' fearing it would only complicate things, "-little lady, I thought you needed some CPR, and it turned-"
"Sounds like there's some trouble in the foyer," Kurt said to him. "I'm gonna go check it out."
"Er, no, how about I handle this? Yes? Sounds like a plan, thanks mate!" Pyro zipped out and ran down the hall.
"Hah," Kurt said. "Hey Amara, if your offer is still open, I'd like to see Rio!"
"Great!" Amara giggled. Danielle groaned and buried her head under a pillow.
"Hey, false alarm, it was just Lance and Cannonball goofing around," Robert said over the radio. Pyro had already disappeared. Kurt shrugged.
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The war room was lit only by the red holograms of the captured mutants projected from the central table. Magneto stood at it, controlling the mechanical hologram projectors himself. Seven chairs were set along the table, usually reserved for the X-Men, the largest of which was reserved for Magneto himself, and next to each chair stood another representative from each party, a sort of right-hand man there to assist their leaders in any way possible. Clockwise sat Mystique with Scott standing next to her; Warren with Lance Alvers; Storm with Evan; Nick Fury, a commanding officer in S.H.I.E.L.D. with a nameless subordinate; Callisto, with Jubilee; and quickly joining the meeting was Wanda, though Toad had been filling her seat until that point. He quickly hopped off.
"...Why are you in my seat?"
"Just takin' notes for you. They needed someone, so I volunteered. My family's on the line here, I ain't sittin' this meetin' out." Pietro nodded to Wanda, standing next to Magneto as he spoke. Toad whispered a quick recap to her.
"The X-Men have lost Beast, Mastermind, Converse, Stalwart and Forge to them," Magneto summarized to the others. "Callisto has lost Arkady Rossovich, who we know has been brainwashed into serving our enemies. Warren and Ororo, none of your charges have been captured, though you will both be interested to know that Father Stryker is in league with these people. Sergeant Fury?"
Nick Fury stood up from his seat as Magneto sat down. The hologram projected was a basic layout of the base itself. Fury was an older, gray-haired man with a black eye-patch and a black jacket with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. He had to put his cigarette out before entering the Xavier Institute. "SHIELD Intelligence indicates that this base was used by Soviet forces before 1989, and since then fell into the hands of Hydra. Hydra has since been disbanded and re-formed, but we have no idea what this new organization is called or what their chief objectives are. Clearly, they've learned some tricks to keep our spies out of their camps. Though unconfirmed, we have reason to believe they are involved with the Pure Blood Movement started by Bolivar Trask..."
"...An agent of yours," Storm said coldly.
"Former agent. He split from SHIELD when he found that we wouldn't allow him to... act on his views. Since Trask's assassination, which I'll remind you remains unsolved, the PBM has been laying low, but not so low that we couldn't keep our eye on them. Though not openly connected with them, Father Stryker's views coincide with theirs, and we've seen increases of PBM activity in every city that he's stopped at during his world tour two years ago, after he officially renounced the pope and his views. We can't confirm his involvement, so we can't do anything about him, but if you can find me concrete proof that Stryker is one of the masterminds here, and nothing this organization has done has been big enough to warrant SHIELD attention. Until we can officially link the Pure Blood Movement, Stryker, and the remnants of Hydra, then we can finally identify this organization and give you a hand driving them down."
"You need proof? I thought you had more power than that," Storm scoffed.
"We're still a government organization, so we're still under some bureaucrat's thumb. I can give you two squads and two heli-jets, but until you guys can give me the proof I need, that's all I can offer."
"Your help is appreciated," Magneto said. "We will divide our forces into two main teams, each containing a SHIELD squad and a troop of mutants at the helm. Ororo, I trust you can provide us with a... third team."
"I could," Storm said slyly. "But I'd like to know what I get if I agree to all of this."
"Come on, isn't stopping these mutant-killers enough incentive?" Callisto asked.
"Of course not. If I'm going to be putting my boys in danger, I'd like something more than moral reward." Evan crossed his arms. "I'll name my prize. Any new technology we find, I can keep it and... patent it."
"You've always been so selfish!" Callisto yelled.
"And you've always been naive!"
"Enough!" Magneto roared. "Ororo, you will have claim over any technology not created by Forge. The rest of you, name your prices."
"I don't need one," Callisto said.
"Nor do I," Warren agreed. He glanced at Callisto, who rolled her eyes and then looked away.
"I want Stryker's head," Mystique said. The room grew silent and everyone stared at her. "I want to be the one who finishes him. My children are at risk, and I want to make sure that he won't threaten them again."
"Are you saying the rest of us couldn't do that?" Storm asked.
"No, I know what you, Warren and Callisto are capable of. I trained you, after all. But this is war. We have no room for error, and I'll sleep easier if I KNOW Stryker is dead." Scott nodded, as did Toad. "I will go with you. Whether my children will go... they're old enough to decide for themselves."
"I'm in," Toad said. "My dad and sis are there. I'm gettin' 'em out of there."
"I'll talk with Kurt and Marie later," Mystique said.
"It will have to wait," Kurt said, teleporting in on the table. Magneto deactivated the holograms.
"Kurt, why aren't you at your post?" he asked.
"Relax, I got Gambit to cover for me. I have news, the worst kind. Turn to CNN." Magneto turned on a large screen behind him and tuned it to CNN. A news reporter stood outside the White House, explaining the situation inside.
"...This bill has been signed through, and despite its sudden appearance and lack of prior introduction, it has all the right signatures, so to speak. There is nothing against a bill being passed in this fashion, and unfortunately, this one is now a law. Again, the main focus of the law is that it disallows mutants any of the rights granted to residents or citizens, relegating them to the status of game animals... this is just horrible, folks... mutant hunters now have carte blanche to mock, taunt, murder, lynch, slaughter any mutants... this is just unprecedented, nothing like this in American history..." Magneto slammed his fist onto the table and the walls of the war room rippled with magnetic energy.
"This... I don't..." Magneto looked up. "FURY! You knew about this!"
"I didn't, it's just happened! You heard them yourselves, this wasn't even presented in congress, it was-" Fury was pinned against the wall by his own chair, now broken into fragments securing him there. His own gun and the pistol held by his aide floated before him, each barrel pointed between his eyes. "Magneto, we had no idea! We-"
"...The senators all recall signing some sort of bill, but none of them remember this specific one," another reporter said, talking to the anchor. "Strangely, they all remember suddenly being back in their homes and offices, as if signing the bill had just been a dream. Some believe this may be the work of a mutant, but this makes absolutely no sense. Why would a-" The screen exploded. Panels were ripped off the wall and hurled around the room, forcing everyone to duck for cover. Toad jumped over a metal panel and Scott blasted it away from him. Storm kept them away from her with a strong, localized wind.
"MASTERMIND!" Magneto screamed. "THE TRAITOR!"
"Wait, wait, hold on a minute!" Toad pleaded. Magneto's fury continued, and he had to hop around to avoid flying objects. "You see what's going on? They take Jean, they already had my father, they blackmail him! They're still in charge!" Magneto calmed down.
"...I should have seen this..."
"I'll see what other information I can get on this," Fury said. "These bills always have different clauses. We might be able to use that..." Fury stopped for a moment, listening to someone through an earpiece. He removed it and placed it on a small socket on the hologram table, connecting it to a speaker for the others to hear.
"Additionally... wow, get ready for this... all sovereignty is hereby handed over to the acting Supreme Hydra..."
"No..." Fury said in disbelief.
"Any known mutants are to be taken to special facilities... that's it. They fucked us over. Viper's got a dictatorship, mutants are fucked, all in less then two hours."
"There has to be SOMETHING we can do!"
"I'm afraid not. We've got everyone looking over all the constitutional laws, maybe there's a loophole we can find and exploit, but it looks like Viper found a loophole herself. It's got all the right signatures, they've all confirmed that they signed it, it's too late to be vetoed... they can try to appeal to the courts, or try passing a bill canceling this one, but since Madam Hydra's in control, it won't make any difference, because if we can't find a fault in the bill itself, she can just dismiss any action to cancel it out with a new one... assuming she decides to let congress stay."
"We'd better prepare for the worst," Fury told his allies. "Hydra's probably going to take over SHIELD, so I'm going to try to rally as many of them to our side before all of this is over. We'll get to work figuring out how to deal with this mess and get things back to the way they were. The mutant hunters will want blood, but eventually, Hydra will find a way to get in here, but until you can find a way to leave the country without trouble, you'll all have to stay inside."
"They wouldn't dare touch me," Ororo said. "We're officially withdrawing from your little team-up and resuming business."
"Ororo, are you insane?!" Callisto cried.
"Now that it's illegal to be a mutant, where will they all turn to? The underworld. There's money to be made." Ororo stood up and walked out of the room, followed by Evan. He lingered a bit, looking back at everyone with a look of reluctance, and left.
"Warren, Callisto, Mystique... you are welcome to remain here, until this is all cleared."
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"Brilliant," Father Stryker said to Viper. "Truly brilliant. Were your plan not so underhanded and deceptive, I would applaud it. I could do without this little immorality you call entertainment." He sat with Viper and the Professor in the White House. The former president had been stripped naked and forced to dance for their amusement. After a few minutes, Viper called for the guards to take him away, and Mastermind was brought to them by the X-Cutioner.
"Ah, Mr. Wyngarde, the man of the hour," Viper said.
"I did it. I did everything. Now you give me back my daughter."
"Petty old man, you didn't expect me to actually keep my end of the bargain? You don't watch enough movies, darling. Take him to the cells, make sure he's locked and... ah... er...?" Viper found herself suddenly in a cave, surrounded by wolves. "What in... where is everyone? How did I..."
"Illusions!" the X-Cutioner yelled. Viper somehow snapped out of the illusion, and Mastermind had already started running down the hall. The X-Cutioner drew a nullification blaster and fired it, but Mastermind rolled and dodged the laser blast. He turned back and waved his fingers. The X-Cutioner was at the zoo for a moment, but then the illusion faded. Mastermind was nowhere to be seen. The X-Cutioner looked up, then to his left, and fired another beam weapon through a wall. Mastermind, outside the White House, had barely dodged the attack, and after fooling the X-Cutioner into thinking he was on a blimp, he jumped over the fence and ran down the street. The X-Cutioner jumped out of the hole in the wall.
"You can't hide, mutant..." The X-Cutioner burned a hole through the fence and jumped through, pushing his way through the crowd of protestors. He realized that the crowd was too much for him to move through, so he decided to cut it down. He jumped off the head of an older man and over the crowd, hurling small razors in various directions. An old woman, a young man, a red-haired teenager, a black businessman, a rotund man, a woman with a third eye- they all fell, their blood flowing from their necks and onto the streets. Noticing them, the thinning crowd made way for the X-Cutioner. "There you are!"
With Mastermind spotted running across a street several blocks away, the X-Cutioner reached for another razor... but he was out. He had wasted them all on the crowd. Suddenly, he was at the zoo again. The X-Cutioner snapped out of the illusion just in time to jump as a car nearly hit him. Hopping off the roof as it passed, the X-Cutioner activated his teleporter device and appeared just four feet from a very surprised Mastermind.
"No sin will go unpunished," the X-Cutioner intoned.
"Oh?" The X-Cutioner was again trapped in an illusion, now finding himself standing on a raft in the ocean. Once it was over, he saw that Mastermind had hopped onto the back of a bus. The X-Cutioner reached down to his belt, but his teleporter device had been taken. Mastermind waved to him and disappeared in a white flash.
The X-Cutioner was not angry. He was, however, fearful. He reluctantly returned to his superiors.
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"So this is the way it's gonna be," Robert said to Lance and Kate in the cafeteria. Their leader was still elsewhere with Magneto. Further down, Kurt, Rogue and Toad were having their own conversation. "We're going to stay here until they can figure out how to get us out of this mess."
"Why did this have to happen?" Kate asked. "Things should be like they always were... are we all going to die?"
"Do you have to be so damn negative all the time?!" Robert yelled.
"Back off!" Lance yelled back. Elsewhere, Kurt and Toad were having some sort of struggled. They teleported onto the table between Lance and Robert. "Gah?!"
"Let go, Toad!"
"It's for your own good!" Toad finally managed to pull a syringe away from Kurt, though his grip failed him and it sleep out of his hand, sliding over to Kate. She looked at it. Lance watched her nervously.
"Whoa, what is that stuff?" Robert asked.
"Legacy," Toad said. His tongue pulled it away from Kate's reach and he put it in his hand. "Something like a super-anti-depressant, to put it in simple terms. Storm has people who make the stuff, Evan gave me the lowdown on it."
"How dangerous is it?" Lance asked.
"First few shots, it's like a happy little wonder drug. About five or so, the addiction kicks in. It's made like that, it's got some chemical that gives you a permanent addiction after a certain amount. Tabitha and Gambit deal the stuff, but I dunno if they do it themselves. It's made Storm a lot of money."
"Look, one little dose isn't going to hurt," Kurt bargained. "You said it takes five, I'll stop before then!"
"I said five or so, I don't know what the exact amount is!"
"I'll take that," Jubilee said, joining in. She took the needle from Toad and it exploded in a multi-colored burst. "No more of that."
"Awww..." Kurt whined. "That cost me a bundle!"
"So how do you guys feel about all this?" she asked. They all muttered responses, all negative. They felt it was an obvious enough answer that they didn't want to waste energy giving a formal reply. "Well, thanks for the encouragement."
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Ed Kelly stood at a desk in a television studio, holding a stack of papers. The story about the X-Men and the X-Cutioner had been quickly discarded in favor of a new angle that would guarantee viewers. Kelly swore that he couldn't get a story this good if he had sold his soul to the devil himself, assuming the network allowed such a transaction.
The studio hand signaled to him. "Five, four, three, two..."
"Hey folks, I'm Ed Kelly and that's The Bottom Line! If you're not glued to your chairs, do so now, because you won't want to miss what we've got for you tonight! A list of identified mutants and their places of residence! Now, you may think this is a little cruel, but in light of a recent change in American policy, we are legally allowed to do this!" Kelly chuckled to himself. "In Sacremento California, the West Park Boarding House, run by Callisto Guccione," Ed winked at the camera. "If that's her real name! Currently residing in her household are Jubilation Lee, or if you prefer, the wonderfully sickening nickname 'Jubilee', an old Kentucky boy named Samuel Zachariah Guthrie, a reformed Russian criminal named Arkady Rossovich- but don't get your hopes up, he's already been claimed by government sources- as well was three unidentified mutants, seen here." Images of Berzerker, Scaleface and Torpid were displayed.
The West Park Boarding House was empty when the rioters arrived. A man with a crowbar forced the door open and led the others through, with bats, clubs, chains and pipes, bashing everything inside. Lamps were shattered, tables broken, curtains shredded, windows bashed out.
"There's nobody home!" one of them yelled after the mob had made their way to the rooms.
"Then we won't leave them a home to come back to!" The kitchen and bathroom cabinets were raided and all sorts of cleansers and solutions were thrown around the house. Someone tossed a match into each room and the rioters ran out, cheering and hollering.
"...proceed in alphabetical order then? You've got it!" Kelly continued reading off the list of known mutants. "...LeBeau, Rembrandt, from New Orelans..."
Somewhere in New Orleans, Jean-Luc LeBeau ran from a crowd in the dark swamps. "MUTANT LOVER!" the mob cried. Jean-Luc jumped on a boat, and sped away. He heard a clang behind him and then another, and then the motor stopped. A hole appeared near his foot, then a bullet pierced through his shoe. With his boat slowed down, three of them managed to catch up to him, each carrying three or four rioters, each armed with handguns and rifles. With his boat surrounded and sinking, Jean-Luc stood up. He wasn't about to go out like a coward. A rock hit him in the knee and he fell onto the floor of the boat. Only two minutes later, the boat was shredded and the water had turned red.
"...The man known only as Logan..."
Logan sat at a bar with his claws drawn. Nobody dared approach him.
"...Rasputin, Piotr, a Russian immigrant..."
The door of a very small apartment in New York was thrown open, with bullet holes surrounded the gap where the doorknob used to be. A man with a black leather jacket and a thick mustache led his men into the apartment. It seemed that nobody was home, so the man sent his men to look in every room. Under beds, inside closets, in the bathtub... there was nothing. Disappointed, the man called for his men to leave. Once they were gone, trapdoor in the bedroom, disguised by the carpeting, opened up. An older man with receding black hair looked up and stepped out, followed by a teenage boy who closely resembled him, his brown-haired wife, and finally, their little blonde-haired daughter.
"We must find Piotr," the man said in Russian. "It is no longer safe here."
"...Smith, Tabitha, who has an apartment in New Jersey..."
Tabitha Smith's apartment looked the same as ever, trashed and unclean. There was a knock on the door. Someone outside, speaking in a... "mellow" voice, asked her a question.
"Hey Tabitha... uh... you a mutant?" Tabitha was not home. He didn't get any answer. "Guess not. Just wonderin'. The purple monster on TV said you were... I'm gonna go lie down for a bit..."
"Not to mention our good friends at the Xavier Institute, run by Polish immigrant Erik Lehnsherr. Among his staff are his children, Pietro and Wanda Lehnsherr, Frederick J. Dukes, John Allerdyce from Australia, Dr. Hank McCoy and Jean Grey. Among the surviving students are Dorian Leech, Roberto Da Costa, Rahne Sinclair, Danielle Moonstar..." Kelly continued reading through the list. "Be careful, these mutants are all armed and dangerous... consider them all lethal weapons. These mutants are a threat to all of us, you, your family, and your children. They must be stopped at all costs, and that's The Bottom Line!" As the cameras stopped rolling, Viper approached Kelly at his newsdesk. "How was that? Outstanding, I hope?"
"Outstanding indeed, Mr. Kelly. You have done your country a great favor." Viper set down a small wad of cash. "Down-payment on your next job."
"Next job?"
"Yes. I want you to leave this little show of yours and move on to bigger things. I want you to anchor our news network."
"Anchor a news network?" Kelly idly thumbed through the bills. "Alright, alright, sounds good... which network would this be?"
"You will have CNN to yourself. We are doing a little... house cleaning at that network, and we are redesigning it a little. I hope there are no objections."
"Hmm, no, none at all," Kelly said, smiling as he counted the money he had just been given.
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Kurt and Rogue stood on the roof of the Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House, watching as mutants ran through the streets, fleeing from mutant hunters. The mutants came in all shapes and sizes, but the mutant hunters came in a greater variety of appearances: old, young, black, white, thin, wide, slobbish and well-dressed. Children were poking at a skinny green-haired man bleeding on the sidewalk.
"Never thought I'd see this day," Rogue said. They watched as their mother, disguised as a regular human, walked into the Brotherhood house carrying a few papers with her.
"Mom has our documents," Kurt said. "Magneto and the X-Men are going to stay holed up in their metal house."
"What about everyone else?" Rogue asked.
"Callisto and her kids are staying with Magneto," Mystique said as she stepped onto the roof. "Nobody knows that Warren is a mutant, so he and his 'hired servants' are safe at home. Ororo has already isolated herself to the point that the government no longer has any reason to believe she actually exists, and her employees are staying with her until they can figure something out. Scott and Todd have decided to stay with Magneto as well. We haven't been outed yet, but we can't stay here."
"Where to then, Magneto's?" Kurt asked.
"No. I have other plans."
-------------------------------
"I'm not angry with you," Father Stryker said to the X-Cutioner as they boarded a private helicopter outside the White House. The X-Cutioner let his head hang low, detecting Stryker's lie. He raised it only to look up and see what was going on outside the gates of the White House as the helicopter took off: a chain gang of mutant protestors were being lead into black vans by military police in riot gear. More than a few of the mutants were bleeding, limping, bruised, or in some instances, missing limbs. One of the riot cops held the body of a young girl and tossed it aside when he saw one of the captured mutants attempting to use heat-rays from his eyes to melt the chains. The riot cop yelled something and three more rushed to beat the already bruised mutant.
"I could only affect him for so long," the X-Cutioner admitted, reluctantly. His voice was slower than usual and Stryker could detect every hint of the fear he tried to hide. "He had more experience."
"I know this, my son," Stryker told him, putting an almost sarcastic emphasis on the last two words, "But let's forget about this. He served his purpose and we don't need him back. Madame Viper's men will be screening all the mutants they've captured, and you won't have to risk yourself once we've gotten rid of them all." Stryker looked out the window over the darkened city Washington, D.C. Fires had broken out across the city, and lights from various buildings and street lamps had been destroyed. He could see a riot squad suppressing a mob of protestors at the front lawn of the Washington Memorial, and smiled as he saw the mutants weren't getting up after the riot squad made their way to them. He held a pewter crucifix in his hand, rubbing it as if letting go of it would cause everything to return to normal. That was the last thing Father Stryker wanted. "The Lord has blessed us, my son. Today, we have overcome His enemy's children. Tomorrow, there will be nothing left of them. Only the pure souls will see the sun's light again, and only the pure souls will see His light when their time comes."
After a moment of silence between them, the X-Cutioner nervously asked, "Are you going to kill me, father?"
"Yes." There was nothing in Stryker's voice that indicated that he didn't mean what he said. He answered the X-Cutioner's question as if he were answering a question about the weather or the color of his hands. The X-Cutioner's head hung even lower than before. There was another moment of silence.
"I am glad to have served you, father. I am glad to have carried out the Lord's will... in penance."
"Don't flatter yourself. You're spawn of the devil, no matter how many of your brothers you help destroy, your fate will be the same as theirs. If it's any consolation, your suffering may not be as great... but I can't guarantee anything."
"Yes, father." The X-Cutioner let his head fall into his hands. He lived his life in constant fear of the fate Father Stryker promised he would eventually meet, but his loyalty to the priest did not fail. Even if Stryker ultimately hated him for what he was, he gave the X-Cutioner more respect than anyone else had, and to him, that was greater motivation than even the word of God.
Well, this is awkward. Democracy turned to Fascism?! Viper running the show?! Ed Kelly taking over CNN and anchoring an entire news network? Where will Mystique and her kids go? The X-Cutioner, a mutant-hunting mutant?!
Tune in next time... SAME X-TIME, DIFFERENT X-CHANNEL!