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Shattered Like Glass: Scene 07On departing the X-Jet, Shockwave was bundled into a war room debriefing by her tutor Cyclops' firm hand. The thing droned on for ages, and much as she wanted to she couldn't follow what was being said. Blaze did a lot of the talking, all the while holding her stomach as if afraid her intestines would somehow fall out. The thrill of being in her first X-Men meeting was numbed by Sam's feelings of guilt. If she hadn't distrusted Blaze, she wouldn't have run away from her, and she wouldn't have ended up on the fated subway train. Blaze wouldn't have chased after her and wouldn't be hurt now.
But Shockwave was not one to worry about something she had already done and couldn't change. Mostly she was tired, and was very happy when the debriefing was finally called to a close. Cyclops agreed that the best place for his young charge was bed, and spoke to her sternly that whatever punishment she had earned for breaking curfew and sneaking off would be decided tomorrow.
"Sam! Where have you been?" Wolfsbane pounced on her roommate almost as soon as Sam opened the dorm door wearily. Vertigo and Iona were there too, eyes wide with worry for their friend. "Are you all right? Were you with the X-Men? Did you get to go on the X-Jet? What happened? Was it the Brotherhood?"
"Sheesh Wolfie, calm down." Sam dropped onto her bed with a groan and kicked off her shoes. "I've just had the Spanish Inquisition from General Annoying and his goody-goody squad…"
"From who?" Vertigo raised a plucked eyebrow quizzically. "You mean Scott and the X-Men?"
"Yeah…" Sam waved a hand in the air vaguely, "Same difference. What I don't get is why the Prof was so quiet…"
"Start at the beginning." Iona advised, "We want to know everything…"
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Apparently so did the rest of the world. The stress started to tell on the mansion's inhabitants. Bobby flipped and nearly iced Jubilee when his little brother appeared on one of the news channels to identify Iceman to the nation from the footage from the subway incident.
"Chill Bobby," Shadowcat had advised, "Jubilee'll do worse to you than you can do to her…"
It was slightly forced humour but Bobby appreciated it, and so did Charles Xavier. Sat in his office, he drew his telepathy away from his younger X-Men before they knew he was observing them. He couldn't help it, reaching out to his precious children at times like this, just making sure that they were all right. Perhaps he did take his telepathy a little for granted but he would be so lost with it, or without them…
The stresses of the current situation were taking their toll in another part of the vast mansion. Logan and Gambit were arguing in the garage amidst various parts of motorbikes and scattered tools. Xavier could gather from them that at some point it had been over some engineering nuance, but neither had a clear idea any more why they were mad.
"Look Gumbo, all you know how to do is pick pockets an' steal candy from babies, so don't come down here tellin' me what…"
"You t'ink you good enough to take on Gambit?" The handsome Cajun thief challenged, matching Logan's snarl with one of his own. "What you bring to dis team, eh mon Ami? Fleas?"
"Like you can talk, Swamp Rat." Wolverine countered, letting his claws slide through his knuckles as Gambit charged a handful of bolts. Xavier had heard enough.
#There are people in this world who would like nothing better than for the two of you to rip each other apart and spare them the task. I hope you are both not intending to give our enemies that satisfaction. # Devoid of wit, Xavier's telepathic rebuke made both X-Men drop their aggressive stances and scuff the floor with their boots like naughty school children. As if the Professor didn't have enough of a house full of those without his members of staff joining in.
A ringing phone brought Xavier back to his classically decorated, comfortable office. An open book lay on the desk in front of him with a cup of earl grey tea that had long gone cold. The aging gentleman sighed deeply, and reached out a knarled hand to take the phone and bring it to his ear.
"Professor Xavier." The voice at the other end was a familiar one; Samantha Hawley's father Michael. The Senator had been a great ally since his daughter's mutation had opened his eyes. He had reversed his stance completely from being totally anti-mutant, to one of the greatest and most vocal supporters of mutant welfare. Xavier didn't need telepathy to hear in the Senator's voice the same telltale sounds of stress that seconds ago had been in Gambit and Logan's voices.
"Senator Hawley," The Professor spoke as formally as the gruff man on the other end of the line. "What news?"
"Only bad my friend." Hawley glanced about him as he stood in a back corridor of the Senate chamber, watching so many of his colleagues whispering and conspiring amongst themselves. "The Defence Department was holding your brother as you had requested in a secure facility. But it wasn't secure enough, and when he broke free there were no other measures in place to bring him back under control.
"The blame is resting firmly on the President's shoulders." Hawley continued, "His stance has always been anti-mutant registration, which in the eyes of a lot of the people here is hypocrisy given that he was keeping this obvious mutant locked up in secret."
"My brother is a dangerous criminal." Xavier was forced to admit. "Criminals are registered and locked away, and whether they are human or mutant is irrelevant surely…"
"The point has been raised," Hawley admitted, "And countered. If Juggernaut was kept locked up, and if mutants like Magneto can be brought to trial, the question has been asked what of these mysterious X-Men? The President has been accused of pandering to a bunch of dangerous mutant vigilantes. He knew about your activities a long while ago Charles, a fact he cannot deny given the strength of the opposition force against him."
"Michael," Charles asked cautiously, "How strong is the opposition? What is most likely to happen?"
"It's strong Charles, and growing. The President is being flaunted as a puppet to potentially explosive mutant factions. The administration is already considering asking him to step down, but that may not be enough."
"What more could they want?" Charles asked breathlessly, eyes clouding with the fear of his worst nightmare coming to pass. Was it all his fault?
"To declare a state of national emergency, impose martial law and curfews. They would have the power to arrest any mutant on that basis alone…" Michael Hawley's voice choked a little out of worry for his little girl. "Get them out of there Charles, please, protect them. If this is decided, they will come for all of you…"
Professor Xavier replaced the handset with a careful click, pinching the bridge of his nose and drawing his brows together in mental, physical and emotional pain. Was this the end of his dream?