Yes, she is. And maybe not as long as you think. Thanks! I hope you enjoy this next timely installment!
Oops. Hope I didn't spoil anything. And Xi's not a traitor. Now he knows what to avoid. Thanks!
Chapter 18: Stopping a War
No one said anything when Xi, Block, and Komodo came back. They were too busy being in an uproar.
"What do you mean they're voting?" yelled Hawk into a communicator. "I don't care! You have to stop them! Now! That is an order!"
"We're all gonna die," whimpered Pietro. "My perfectly wonderful self is going to die."
"Shut up, Pietro!" snapped Wanda.
"Does this mean it's time to eat?" asked Fred.
"Might as well," shrugged Althea. "Let's go get some food. And coffee."
"Coffee is good," agreed Todd, as the teens went into the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, the Baroness was hitting on Piotr again, to the anger of Destro and Kitty. "Do you know what would look good on me?" she purred. "You."
Piotr blushed. Kitty fumed.
"A black eye would look even better," she grumbled. "A fat lip, a bloody nose, a few teeth knocked out. And then I'll get to work on her!"
Xavier was drinking from two bottles at once. Logan was either trying to get him to stop or get him to share. It was hard to tell.
The other X-Men decided to join the Misfits. A few minutes later, several explosions and shouts of excitement could be heard.
Hawk sighed. "Might as well let them have their fun," he murmured. "Nothing can stop the Bill now."
"Au contraire," came a voice from behind him. He turned, to find Piranha grinning at him.
"There's still a chance," she told him.
"What?" he asked. It was better to grasp at any straw he could find than give in to the inevitability of the crisis.
"Go there again," she told him. "Bring us with you. I'm sure we can convince them of what's going to happen."
"How?" Hawk asked suspiciously.
"Well," she said, "ever since Komodo lost the ability to speak, we've discovered he has a unique ability to place people in whatever scenes are running through his head. Get us to Washington, and we'll show Congress first-hand what the Bill will create."
"And if this makes them even more afraid of mutants?" asked Duke, walking up.
"Then at least we tried," shrugged Piranha. "Would you rather live knowing you might have been able to prevent this from ever happening to us?"
"You're right," sighed Hawk. He turned to Duke. "Gather everyone up. We're going to try this one more time."
"Soon, the voting will be over," Zartan said gleefully. "When it is, the Bill will have passed, and I will be able to come to power. Zanya! Zanya?"
He looked around, but Zanya was gone. He spied a note, and picked it up.
"I've decided to go to the good guys. I bet they'll pay a lot for the information to wrap this little scheme of yours up. Remember, we're mutants, too. Hasta la vista, you nut. Your loving daughter, Zanya."
He crumpled up the note in rage. "Ooh!" he seethed. "When I find her, she'll get such a yelling at!"
The group materialized in Washington, D.C. once more. They were instantly on the alert, but the streets appeared to be deserted. Hawk nodded at Piranha and Komodo. "Do it," he ordered.
Kurt grabbed the two, and they teleported inside the Capitol, while the rest stood guard outside.
Time was almost up when the three materialized in the middle of the chamber. Several people gave out cries of surprise and fear, and Piranha held up her hands.
"If you pass this Bill," she said, loudly and clearly, "we want to show you what will happen!"
"Don't listen to her!" yelled Senator Kelly, standing, his face turning purple. It's a mutie trick!"
"Trick this!" growled Piranha, and the room seemed to dissolve away, replaced with a scene of total devastation.
"What-?" started one Senator.
"Twenty years from now," Piranha told the group, "this will be the face of Washington. If you pass the Mutant Registration Bill, a violent rebellion will start all over the country. Mutants and humans will fight each other, and destroy everything. Everything, do you understand? You, your homes, your families. And they will be destroyed in turn. And when it's all over, fifteen years later, the population of the entire country will be twenty thousand humans and fifty mutants. And other countries will join in, and others, and the whole world will be at war. Only a handful will survive the close combat. And then the mutants will launch their nukes, and the humans will launch theirs, and almost everyone left will be destroyed."
As she spoke, the group passed through each image. They saw children dying in beams of red light. They saw their families murdered in their beds. They saw mutants popping like popcorn. Buildings tumbled, cities fell. Bright glows lit the skies, as huge rings of smoke marked the outward expansion of concussive blasts powerful enough to rip anything in their paths to shreds. At her last words, the scenes faded, and they found themselves back in the chamber.
Several of the gathered men and women were white-faced. Most of the group were in shock. Finally, one Representative gathered the strength to speak.
"How do we know this is true?" she asked.
"You don't" Piranha quietly answered. "But we had to live it."
Silence reigned.
"Voting has concluded," the Chairman said suddenly.
"No, it hasn't," someone said. "We still have ten minutes."
The Chairman tried to protest, but he was shouted down, and the entire Congress started madly working on their voting computers. For ten minutes, all that could be heard was the tapping of fingers across keyboards, and then the Chairman cleared his throat.
"Voting has concluded," he said nervously, his voice small. He knew that Zartan would not be pleased, and that he could kiss his political career goodbye.
The votes appeared on the display. Under "For" were three votes. There were none under abstentions.
"The Mutant Registration Bill fails," said the Chairman, and he sat suddenly as his knees gave way.
Piranha smiled at the gathered men and women. "Thank you," she said, and the three mutants teleported away.
hr
Outside, the others were still keeping watch.
"How much longer do you think they'll be?" Jean asked Scott.
"No way of knowing," he replied.
Then they smelled brimstone, and heard the air displace itself, and knew that the others had returned.
"Well?" asked Todd. "How did it go?"
Piranha looked at them all solemnly, then grinned. "We defeated it!" she cheered.
The cheers of the assembled group could be heard through the entire city.
"Guess this means we're going," Cobra Commander told Hawk.
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Hawk answered curtly.
"Cobra! Retreat!" yelled Cobra Commander, and the Cobra troops left.
The Baroness quickly scrawled a series of numbers on a piece of paper and pressed it into Piotr's hand. "Call me," she winked, and withdrew with the others.
Flint sighed with relief. "Glad they're gone," he commented.
"You have no idea," growled Low Light.
"Well," Hawk told them, "time to get back. And someone try to get Xavier away from that liquor store!"
Next time: We're not done yet! Zartan reveals one final surprise, with deadly results! Who will the victims be? At this point, anyone! Tune in next time, for chapter nineteen of Misfits In Time!