Riots Under the Street

"PULL BACK! PULL BACK!" The leader of the SWAT team shouted. His men pulled back to the safety of a different tunnel barely dodging lasers and other objects thrown at them. "How many of those things are there?"

"I counted at least twenty," One officer hissed holding his arm. "Right before that witch burned me with her hands."

"Well that tear gas was a lousy idea!" Another shouted. "One of those mutants just blew it right back at us. Good thing most of us got our masks on in time…"

"I was nearly eaten alive by that one that turned into a dragon!" Another yelled.

"And on top of it all they got lasers," The SWAT leader spat. "How's Chen and Harrison?"

"Still frozen," Another officer was looking over two officers who were paralyzed. "I don't know what that kid did with her hands…"

"That's nothing look what one of them did to us!" Another snapped. Three of them were covered in some kind of tar like substance. "Sir we can't handle this! We're not equipped! We gotta retreat! We're lucky nobody's dead yet!"

"Negative! Our orders are…" He stopped. "They've stopped firing. It's quiet."

"Maybe they've left?" One officer suggested. Then the strains of a soft flute melody could be heard. "What the hell…"

"A flute?" Another officer asked. "What are they doing? Giving us a concert?"

"What the hell are they up to?" The SWAT leader wondered. Then he heard a noise behind him. He turned around and saw hundreds of tiny red eyes glowing in the dark and screamed.

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"This is Trish Trilby reporting live from West Street Bayville," The reporter spoke not far from an open manhole that the police were surrounding downtown. "Reports of a firefight with the mutants known as the Morlocks have been confirmed. Although the authorities have cordoned off this area we still have quite a crowd here. Some are protestors from the FOH others are people who live in this neighborhood. Police speculate it's only a matter of time before…"There was a commotion behind her. "Something's happening…Someone's coming out."

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" The SWAT team scrambled out of the sewers looking worse for wear. "RUN!" Behind the officers were dozens of rats streaming out of the sewers.

"RATS! RATS!" The officers screamed. More rats fled out of the sewers into the streets, panicking the people of the town.

Trish tried not to completely lose control when the rats ran over her foot. She jumped around and chased down the SWAT team leader. "Sir! Sir what happened down there?" She yelled, trying to keep her mind on the story.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" The SWAT team leader shouted. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK HAPPENED? WE GOT OUR ASSES KICKED THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED! THOSE %%%%$$$ FREAKS NEARLY KILLED US!"

"Are you saying that the Morlocks are out of control? That the police can't handle them?" Trish asked.

"EXACTLY!" The SWAT Team leader shouted. "There is no way in hell my men and I are going back down there! They're just too dangerous! Not only do they have weapons there are too many of them! And we have no idea what else they can do…"

"Weapons? Are you saying that in addition to their powers the Morlocks are armed?" Trish was alarmed.

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" He shouted. "If something isn't done soon to contain these freaks this town is gonna be over run with them! I'm out of here!" He ran off."

"That's the situation," Trish spoke. "Things are looking grim in Bayville as the mutant population runs out of control. Now the question is what can be done about this mutant menace and who will stop them? Or can they be stopped at all? This is Trish Trilby reporting from…AGGGHH!" She screamed as more rats ran over her foot.

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"This is intolerable!" Mayor Chandler pounded on his desk. "This situation has gone beyond out of control!" He glared at Xavier and Ororo who were in his office. "You mutants are responsible for all this!"

"I told you sending men down there would be a big mistake," Abrams snarled. He and the Chief of Police were there as well.

"Sir we're just not equipped to handle this," The Chief of Police told him.

"Obviously! Maybe you X-Men could do something useful for a change!" Chandler snapped.

"Get mutants to trap mutants," The Chief of Police said. "That's an idea."

"Yeah you can get rid of those freaks once and for all!" Chandler told them.

"The X-Men will not hunt down the Morlocks like animals and chase them from the tunnels," Xavier shouted. "These people have nowhere else to go!"

"What's wrong with your place?" Chandler asked. "Sounds like those freaks will fit in there!"

"The Morlocks hide themselves from society because they have grown to mistrust and fear humans," Ororo's voice grew hard. "And quite frankly I can understand why."

"Quite frankly I don't care," Chandler snarled. "Xavier are you going to do something to end this problem?"

"If by 'ending' the problem you mean hunting Morlocks, no," Xavier told him.

"Then if you don't do something I will! As of now I am imposing a mutant curfew!" Chandler told him. "Any mutant found on the streets after 8 p.m. will be arrested! Especially if it's one of your X-Men!"

"You can't do that!" Ororo shouted.

"Watch me!" He snapped. "I'm calling in the National Guard! Maybe they'll get rid of those freaks!" He picked up a phone and started to dial.

"Are you insane?" Abrams shouted. "You saw what happened! Besides there are power lines and gas lines all over those tunnels. They could start a fire that could go out of control!"

"Those Morlocks are already out of control!" Chandler shouted. "As Mayor of this city I have to do what I have to in order to keep it safe!"

"You mean do what you think the voters will respond to!" Abrams snapped.

"This is no time for posturing," Xavier said. "Perhaps if we can talk to the Morlocks…"

"The time for talk is over!" Chandler snapped. "I want them gone! Now! End of story! And if you're not going to help me Xavier I'll find someone who can!"

"You mean like the FOH?" Ororo asked sternly.

"More like the army but at least the FOH aren't wrecking our city!" Chandler snapped. "If you're not going to help get the hell out!"

"We're going," Ororo stood up and left with Xavier. "It's obvious you're not ready to listen to reason."

"Reason! Those freaks murder a decent citizen and terrorize the city and they think I'm unreasonable!" Chandler swore.

"That's not what you called Spears when you found out he was sleeping with your wife," The Chief of Police told him.

"Ex-Wife!" Chandler snapped. "And that was over a year ago!"

"Still you really didn't have any love for him did you?" Abrams asked.

"If I were you Detective I would concentrate more about capturing that mutant that started this whole mess rather than throw around some wild conspiracy theories!" Chandler snapped as he picked up the phone. "Shirley! I want you to contact the army! Now!"

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"Well that went well," Ororo sighed as they returned home. They found the rest of the X-Men in the living room watching television.

"So what happened?" Jean asked. "What did the mayor want Professor?"

"He wanted us to remove the Morlocks from the tunnels," Xavier said.

"You're joking," Thornn asked.

"Please tell me you said no," Ray asked.

"Don't worry," Ororo said. "We have no intention of hunting Morlocks and removing them from their only refuge."

"Besides it may be too dangerous even if we considered such a distasteful option," Xavier sighed.

"Yeah I can't believe the Morlocks have weapons," Scott said.

"As if their powers weren't enough…" Ray shook his head. "But Callisto would have never allowed a weapon in the Alley before. I just can't believe it."

"Believe it," Thornn said. "That was Spyke's idea."

"What?" Ororo gasped. "And you didn't tell us!"

"I didn't think it was important at the time!" Thornn snapped at her. "Besides you're one to talk, you guys have lasers all over the place!"

"Only for defensive purposes!" Ororo shouted.

"What do you think the Morlocks are doing?" Logan asked. "I hate to admit it but I'd have done the exact same thing in his place."

"Is it true that they're imposing a mutant curfew?" Tabitha asked.

"I'm afraid so," Xavier sighed.

"Man that bites!" Tabitha snapped.

"What do you care?" Rogue asked. "We hardly leave the mansion after dark anyway. Now that I think about it most of the time we hang around the mansion."

"Yeah ever since the whole disaster at…" Kitty began. "I can't remember which disaster started all of this. Can anybody?"

"There have been quite a lot of them haven't there?" Kurt sighed.

"The point is while we may be stuck here the Morlocks aren't so lucky!" Ray shouted.

"He's right," Scott said. "There's no way they can survive!"

"The news said they're sending in the Army," Jean frowned. "The Misfits aren't…"

"No way," Lance said as he and the other Misfits walked in. "General Hawk told that jerk of a mayor to take a hike."

"Go Hawk," Tabitha said.

"Yeah well the top brass wasn't too pleased at that," Roadblock told them. "But they didn't exactly press the issue. I think Eddington's glad for some reason we're not doing it."

"I don't need to read his mind to know that he is up to something," Xavier frowned. "He will most likely use this turmoil to his advantage."

"You mean his agenda," Pietro frowned. "He'd love nothing more than to have every mutant in America under military control."

"And a mutant riot would be a good example he could use to make his point," Logan growled. "Maybe good enough for people to pass that Mutant Registration Act or others like it."

"He'd have an unlimited source of weapons," Lance was starting to put it together. "How much you wanna bet other countries are also doing what he's planning?"

"And some of them won't even bother with niceties such as waiting for a law to pass democratically," Logan growled. "Forget the Cold War of the 80's, we're looking at a new Mutant War."

"And whatever country has the most mutants under control will have the most power," Scott said. "This is getting very bad very fast."

"What do we do?" Angelica asked.

"Nothing for the moment," Xavier frowned. "We're going to have to wait and see what happens next before we can. It's all we can do for now. But one thing's for sure, we're going to have a very big mess to clean up."

"Hey! Something's happening!" Roberto shouted.

All eyes turned to the television. Trish Trilby was reporting. "In an attempt to flush out the Morlocks the National Guard has sent down some gas and explosives. However something has gone terribly wrong…" Behind her a house exploded into flames. "Somehow a gas line has been breached. North Street is going up in flames!"

"Oh man," Ray gasped. "It looks like a war zone out there!"

"Oh goody!" Todd groaned. "Now the city's on fire!"

"X-Men move out!" Scott ordered and the students were about to leave.

"Just a minute," Xavier held up his hand. "I'm afraid we can't leave the Institute due to the mutant curfew."

"What?" Kurt yelled.

"Professor we can't just…" Scott began to protest.

Xavier cut him off. "Scott we have to follow the law even if it is an unjust one." The phone rang. "Although I have a feeling that the law might be changed very quickly."

"Oh I get it now…" Todd grinned.

Xavier casually answered the phone. "Hello there Mayor, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call. I see. Well as much as the X-Men would like to assist you I'm afraid due to the mutant curfew…No I don't think a one-time suspension will quite cut it. Well then in that case we're on our way." He hung up the phone. "The Mayor has reconsidered his position and rescinded the curfew."

"All right!" Kurt pumped his fist.

"Misfits move out!" Althea shouted as the Misfits ran out the door.

"Hey! That's our line!" Scott said as the X-Men followed.