Author's note: Here we are, the third chapter (again, out of ten) of my appallingly politically correct drama. This is the point where you get to choose sides folks, so let the ideological crap begin!

Doza: Thanks man. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that this will blow my previous fic out of the water, so stay tuned :D

Mad Rose: Thanks for the kind words. And as for tension, then I hope this chapter delivers!

Previously on…

The Astonishing X-Men are a team of mutants, led by CYCLOPS and EMMA FROST, who fight to protect a world that has long feared and hated them. Their recent rise in popularity though, thanks in part to their recent ream-ups with the celebrity/superhero team Fantastic Four, as well as the trendy new lease on what people call "Mutant Culture", have made their lives all the more bearable. The resurrection of their long dead teammate COLOSSUS, has also improved their morale.

On the morning of September eleven, the world was horrified to witness the fall of the Two Towers, the result of two passenger airplanes getting commandeered directly into them. The death toll was flew past the thousands. After recognizing that it was an act of terrorism, the American Government and her close allies, have decided to wage a war on Terror. This was four years ago. The War on Terror still rages on.

When an American brigade find themselves under heavy attack from Iraqi guerilla, one of them, CHRISTIAN LEWIS, suddenly begins to feel the thoughts and emotions of every one surrounding him. Unable to take the enormous strain, he sees a glimpse of four women covered in blood red burkas, right before uncontrollably releasing a psychic shockwave that kills everyone in a four hundred mile radius.

When Emma Frost and SCOTT SUMMERS are contacted by the CIA regarding the problem, they remain conservative as to whether or not they should investigate the case. All the while, the women in burkas are plotting to change the world, and they plan to use Cerebra to do it…

Chapter 3: "Bad Day"

"More shocking news of escalated violence, as the bodies of six U.S. Marines were found brutally hacked to death in an abandoned hospital, just a few miles south of the Western Encampment. The military is still very tight-lipped on as to how the six U.S. Marines were killed, and are quick to deny that they perished in the same way as those of the heroic Emerald Company, apparently just hours before. The names of the soldiers will be withheld, until their families are properly notified…"

Kitty let out a soft sigh as she turned the television off. "Some of the kids are asking about why we don't do anything about the war." She then commented, turning to the rest of her teammates. Everyone was on edge. And everyone had their reasons, as it was the end of a long day. Emma and Scott sat beside each other on the couch, right in front of the television. Henry sat comfortably on a chair, while Peter preferred to lean beside the closed door. "And what did you tell them?" the headmistress asked, tilting her head back and staring at Kitty through icy eyes. The rest of the team turned and waited for her response. "I…" Kitty stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Xavier Institute, Campus Grounds/ Two Hours Ago

"Stop it! Sto- - enough! Get down here this instant!" Kitty ducked for cover as a beam of pink, concussive force flew right over her head, landing an inch away from the young mutant covered from head to toe in a black burka.

"Killers! You're all killers!" Beckah Adamson hovered in the air, her entire body aglow with pink energy. Her soft, brown hair seemed to come to a life of its own as she flew overhead, casting a menacing shadow on Kitty and Sooraya.

"Calm down, Beck!" yelled a male student who stood huddled with a small crowd of students, a safe distance away. "Come on, girl, you're going to get yourself expelled!" another student added, hoping that they could somehow urge the furious mutant to get back down.

"Why don't you stay in your own land? Leave decent people like us alone?" Beckah half-asked, half-yelled, as the energy around her began to crackle with fury.

"But…I didn't do anything…Beckah…I'm not even Iraqi…" Sooraya stammered, as she slowly, cautiously got back to her feet. She may have the power to rend flesh from bone without effort, even just to protect herself, but it didn't mean that she would jump at the first chance she could do so.

"Seriously, Beckah, you are risking some serious consequences!" Kitty threatened, as she stepped in front of Sooraya, holding her arm wide out, as if preventing entry. "You know the school doesn't tolerate any sort of violence! Especially against fellow students! Now get down from there before you seriously- -"

"My daddy's dead!" Beckah screamed, cutting Kitty off mid-sentence. It was her own words that seemed to reach her, as the anger she felt gave way to a sense of shock. Of a horrible acceptance.

"…" Everyone looked on in silence as the airborne mutant's body began to tremble in emotion.

"He…he was supposed to be home by Saturday…it's been three years…" the mutant declared in a cracked voice. "They said the war'd be over…they said…they said…" Beckah bit her lower lip as she began to descend, the pink energy around her dispersing with each second she drew closer to the ground.

"God…" Kitty felt her heart break as she watched the student immediately crumple to her knees. She knew Beckah. She knew her yesterday when she was so proud to get a passing grade from Economics. She knew her the day before when her eyes lit up at the sight of Julian Keller. But the mess of a human before her, it wasn't Beckah. It was a shell of her.

"I'm…I'm so sorry for your loss…" Sooraya whispered, walking past Kitty, with no more fear of the danger that Beckah posed. A second later, Kitty found Sooraya on her knees as well, holding the other young mutant, now in tears, in a comforting embrace. "We have superpowers…" Beckah whispered in between gasping and stuttering. "…we have so much…"

"…" Kitty wanted to look away, but she couldn't.

"…we should be the ones out there…we should…we…they're fighting for us…" Beckah continued, still miles away from any sort of composure. The other students still kept their distance, some of them clearly overwhelmed by the emotional state of their schoolmate.

"…why does there have to be a stupid war…?" Beckah asked, before burying her face on Sooraya's shoulder. Kitty closed her eyes.

"I… felt… daddy… die…"

Faculty Lounge/Now/20-:41

"She told 'em to mind their own business." Logan interrupted as he entered the room. "Sorry I'm late."

"Nothing to apologize for, Logan dear. It's expected of you to be late." Emma responded, crossing on leg over the other. "In fact, should you be punctual, I will be forced to kill you at first sight, as it would be a sign of the end of the world's imminence. Now, do sit down."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." The Canadian mutant apologized, as he took a seat on the chair opposite where Henry sat. The blue-furred mutant mouthed a painful expression, prompting Logan to smile.

"So. What we know." Scott declared, trying his best to put the conversation on track. "Yesterday, at around six in the morning, Emma and some of the other telepaths felt a sudden spike in psychic energy in Iraq. Apparently, this is the exact same spot where about a thousand people, soldiers and civilians alike, end up dead. It's too much of a coincidence not to ignore."

"And, as we just heard, not twenty-four hours later a small troop of soldiers were K.I.A." Emma added.

"We can't be sure of anything at this point, but the sector where the soldiers were killed was already American occupied, at least for months. So we have a good thousand dead in an instant, and half a dozen more killed in the middle of their own territory." Scott continued. "There's little chance that these two incidents are connected, but the strange circumstances surrounding them merits some sort of investigation."

"So, you're saying we go fly there and ask questions?" Logan inquired.

"That's the problem." Emma responded. "Mutant problem or not, we can't risk sticking our neck in a situation like this. "

"But…why don't we?" Kitty asked, after a moment of silence.

"…" Emma raised her eyebrow at the young mutant.

"We could, you know. Make a difference. I mean, we've…we've argued, time and again, that it's not our superpowers that make us special…that it's the person inside of us, our values, our…we're just people. Granted, we have occasional fights with space invaders or whatever, when we get back down to it, we save the world sure, but…do we change it? For the better?"

"Kid has a point. Or is getting to one, I really can't tell…" Logan muttered.

"My point is…we're superheroes. So why don't we go out there and tackle real problems? Why don't we go out there and stop…I don't know, world hunger, or, or psycho dictators or… white slavery? We can make a difference! I mean a real difference! Why stop at hitting bad guys? I mean, they'll just come back, over and over again! You, Emma, you can change people. If the root of the world's problems are, are ideas, or, or some stupid convictions, then with a telepath like you, we can actually beat it back! We can fix the world!"

"…" Emma closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"So why don't we?" Kitty asked, raising her hands in the air as a sign of exasperation.

"Because we don't have the right." Scott responded.

"What?" Logan half-asked, half-scoffed, as he put his boots atop the coffee table.

"We aren't gods, people." Emma chided. "We save the world, time and again, yes, but there is a balance. Always a balance. We can't just put on our tights- -"

"See? Tights!" Logan interrupted. "She said tights. Not costumes, tights. I told you we looked like pansies, Slim. Hydra-hair called ma a bumblebee for Pete's sake…"

Sizzlers/Three Hours Ado

"Logan." Greeted a raven-haired woman. She had a light brown trench coat over her slim figure, not at all unlike Logan's choice of clothes for their meeting. The woman peered out the diner's windows as se took a seat in front of the Canadian mutant. He was already halfway through his cheeseburger. There was something about the way the sunlight danced off of the parked cars that caught her eye.

"Jess." Logan greeted back, tipping his hat to the woman who had just recently slit his throat with his own claws.

"So, how have you been?" she asked, shaking her head as a waitress came by, possibly to ask her if she wanted anything.

"Drunk."

"How are you currently?"

"…I miss being drunk. You?"

"Level Seven Weapons Training. Then I'll be flying to Japan where the rest of the Avengers are currently holing up. I tell you, Logan, these new cadets really, really suck. They couldn't even concentrate long enough for the Eskrima segment."

"You're in charge of the male corps right?"

"Yep." Jess responded, taking a sip from Logan's coffee without bothering to ask.

"And you wonder why they can't concentrate?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, one, you wear a skin-tight spandex costume when you teach. Two, you have the power to release your super pheromones into the air. How the hell can you still wonder why they can't concentrate?"

"All part of their training session. Brass wants to see how good they are even under…certain atmospheric conditions."

"You mean how good they fight when they're as randy as hell?"

"Uh-huh."

"Sucks to be them."

"So, matter at hand?"

"Yeah, sure. What did you get?"

"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. psi-division did feel the telepathic spike that your team felt at the same time, so the powers that be already know it's a mutant phenomenon we're dealing with."

"And they haven't contacted the X-Men, why exactly?"

"That's the rub. It's just level seven and above who even know that it was a…uh…"

"Mutant attack, yeah."

"Yeah. And even us, we need to be pretty tight-lipped about it."

"…They're hiding something."

"Like always."

"Damn. Thanks for the head's up, Jess."

"No big."

"Oh, and Logan? Yeah, Fury wanted for me to tell you, that he thinks you look like a Sheila in your tights."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah."

"I knew it, that fuc- -"

Faculty Lounge/ Now/20:49

"Logan. Back on topic?" Henry reminded.

"As I was saying…" Emma resumed. "…we can't just go out there and change the world as we see fit. We can't."

"And why not?" Kitty asked, not able to let her patience get the best of her. "Why did…why were we given these abilities if not to use them for good? The good! I mean, we have kids who can grow trees in deserts for crying out loud…"

"…" Scott licked his lips and turned to his girlfriend.

"Katherine…if you don't know why, then you're not the woman I expected you to be." Came the headmistress' cryptic response.

"…whatever." Kitty responded, shaking her head in frustration. "Maybe you just come out with 'Legally Blonde' one-liner rip-offs whenever you know that you're wrong, and that you can't admit it."

"Perhaps we should vote." Peter suggested, finally speaking. The team turned and looked at the Russian mutant, with expressions of exhaustion clear on their faces. "I hear, always, this country is great because the people get to vote. Then why not settle this with vote?" he asked, pushing himself off of his leaning position and taking a few steps toward his teammates. "Like Katya says…this war, it is chance for us to make difference. And the spikes have reported that it is mutant who cause recent devastation…does it not mean we, as X-Men, must be there to assess situation? It is mutant problem."

"Right. It's perfect." Logan added. "Think about it boys and girls, we get a meal ticket to Iraq, and while we're there, we can help end the war. Hell, we just need 'Ehms' here to put some shiny, happy thoughts into their leaders' brains and we can put a stop to it then and there! No more war. Hell, we don't even have to leave! We can just strap Emma on Cerebra and- -"

"And what then?" Henry asked. "Do we put a stop to communism? Do we go to Singapore and force them into becoming a democracy?"

Larry King Show/One Hour Ago

"There are a lot of…criticisms about the lack of action that super humans put into world affairs. That for all your…astonishing powers, you still opt to tackle internal matters, even though what the world has its eyes on right now, are the tensions between numerous countries, who all seem to have very capable wartime operations. Your thoughts on this…?"

"I am very certain that I do not speak for all mutants…" Henry pushed his glasses up after the second that it slipped down his snout. "…but like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, we X-Men have taken it upon ourselves to not interfere with sensitive, international issues. And up to this point, countries that are currently in…disagreement with our point of view have done well to keep their meta-humans out of the scenario as well. I'm sure you will agree with me that superhuman involvement would easily undermine any progress that our diplomats have so far achieved."

"That's very interesting how you seem to insinuate that countries refer to their super-powered individuals, as their very own weapons of mass destruction."

"An arms race is an arms race, Larry, no matter what kind of arm it is you are racing with."

"This of course, shows a very frightening scenario. Super-powered individuals seem to be popping out from around the globe, and soon enough, even developing countries wouldn't need any nuclear programs to be considered a threat on a global scale. All they need is a super-powered individual who they could groom into their person of mass destruction."

"Yes, it is undoubtedly true that we've seen a rise in the meta-human population. As the moment, we could only hope that countries, which do get their hands on the more powerful ones, would have enough common sense to not use them for warfare. Should a full-blown meta-human battle erupt, the scale of destruction could be…unfathomable. For all sides."

Faculty Lounge/Now/20:55

"But that's different!" Kitty argued. "This is war we're talking about. Not politics."

"War is politics." Emma corrected.

"Why? Because you're so good at it?" Kitty shot back.

"Do you think people will see the difference, anyway?" Scott asked. "People see us in television, we win a war for them, then great. But what about the people who aren't on our side? What about Syria? Lebanon? Afghanistan? North Korea? Iran? What do we do when they start sending super soldiers into our lands? It's bad enough that a third of the world already hates us, but if we go out and do these things, then a whole boatload of other countries are going to distrust us!"

"Is that what you're afraid of, Summers? Kick a kid out of the backyard and he comes back with stooges? Because I'll tell you what we'll do, we fight them off! Old school! Like every other freak dumb enough to enter our crosshairs…" Logan remarked. "I mean, besides! Who says they didn't fire the first shot anyway? Who says that it wasn't one of theirs who started this whole f#cking mess in the first place? For all we know, we could be morally obligated to go out there and even the odds!"

"Why? What justifies us over them?" Henry asked.

"Because we're don't bomb their cities!" Kitty snapped. "Because we don't bomb our own cities! Because we don't steer airplanes into their skyscrapers! Because we're right!"

"Now that's highly debatable…" Henry muttered.

"…" Emma shook her head in disapproval. "People. For a second. A second. Let us act like adults. The only thing we picked up, for certain, was a strong mutant signature. We don't have a body to go along with it. We can't just fly into foreign lands with a half-baked manifesto, and absolutely nothing to back it up."

"Oh? Rachel and her team do it all the time." Kitty commented. "…I think helping people must run in her blood or something." She noted, practically stabbing a dagger right into the headmistress' heart. "Helping and not wanting anything in return, I mean…"

"You're out of line, Katherine." Scott declared through gritted teeth.

"Why?" Peter asked. "You let Miss Frost say what is on her mind. All the time. Why not Katya?"

Highway/Four Hours Ago

"Rubbish!" Emma declared as she peered out the window. It almost wasn't worth the new luxurious Mercedes CLS if you'd spent time arguing inside instead of enjoying how well it handled.

"I'm just saying. Telepaths have gotten a really bad rep lately… and your demonstration back there could have really riled up some people…" Scott explained, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Well what would you have me do? Use my bedroom voice instead?" Emma sarcastically asked.

"Oh, hell no. That's not even funny." Scott immediately responded.

"We didn't have a choice, Scott. Like you said, he posed a danger, so I reacted. And I solved the problem in the most efficient way possible. I think I deserve a bloody medal."

"…You could have been less…I think you could have played it out more subtly."

"How? Make him believe he had gonorrhea?"

"I don't know! Something! I mean, you just showed New York that you could mess with a person's free will. That's not something a lot of people appreciate."

"Is that right? What do they appreciate then? Getting blown to bits?"

"You don't have to be sarcastic."

"Well I don't know what I need to do to get into your thick skull, sometimes!"

"I'm not the one hiding behind an English accent here, Emma."

"Excuse me?"

"…Nothing."

"No, that's not a nothing. That's a something."

"You want me to thank you for saving the day? Fine."

"Oh don't even think about changing the subject, Scott."

"…I'm not chang- -"

"You want to say something to me? About me? Then go! I'm listening! I'm right here, listening!"

"Nothing! No- - God, just forget about it, okay?"

"Well, excuse me, but I'm not going to wait until we're in a, a battle for our lives just so you could pour your heart out in an inopportune moment just for some sort of dramatic effect…I mean, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting you, you turn into an emotional pressure cooker! I'm not like Jea- -"

"…"

"Like…oh."

"Listen…"

"So that's how you like it."

"Emma…"

"Shut up. Just…"

"…"

"Stop thinking at me."

"…"

"Stop- -God, Scott… I can never be good enough, can I?"

"…"

Faculty Lounge/Now/21:00

"Why not Katya?"

"Because Emma knows enough not to cross any lines." Scott defended, as Emma looked away.

"Really? Isn't that mind control talking?" Kitty asked. "Because I don't know if you're deaf on both ears, Scott, but the things this woman says about your wife, Jean- -"

"Not another word, Katherine!" Scott snapped, forcing Kitty into silence.

"Scott, stop." Emma whispered, at the same time Logan turned and gave Kitty a reprimanding look.

"…Sorry." She remarked, looking away.

"I don't think we could be civil about this." Henry noted, as he took of his glasses and cleaned them with the end of his lab coat. "Unless of course, we rewrite its definition as 'let's all kill each other over differences in opinion'…"

"Me neither." Scott remarked, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm pretty sure my shades are about to accidentally slip."

"…all feelings aside, the last thing the students need is to see the faculty in another all-out Battle Royale. I can already sense two telepaths and a young feral who're listening in…" Emma noted in an exhausted voice. "…this is going to be the talk of the school by tomorrow."

"Not if I give them a little talk myself, first." Logan snarled.

"If we could Logan, less testosterone, more brain." Henry responded.

"Then let us make it civil." Peter remarked, staring into the eyes of every member one by one, with each one staring back. Katherine was taking deep breaths, clearly still keeping some of her emotions regarding the subject repressed. Emma seemed to be elsewhere. Scott furrowed his brows and nodded at Emma in utter silence. "Let us vote."

Chapter 3, End

Next Chapter – where things don't go as planned, where I didn't forget about Captain America, and the Women in Red reveal themselves to the world.

Author's note: That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed! And if you did, then review! And if you didn't, then still review! Chow!