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Slaves to the Cause: Scene 14"Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury," Kincaid's lawyer began his opening address clearly and concisely. He was a military man, dressed in a highly decorated uniform. His severe haircut and abrupt movements were indications of a savage, even ruthless man. From the bench besides his own lawyer, the President of the United States of America shuddered as he watched Kincaid's representative strut about like a crowing peacock. "It must be understood that what we are here to discover is not merely the innocence or guilt of one man. No one man is wholes responsible for the state of our once great nation, now fallen into the hands on mutant vigilantes and terrorists. But it must be clarified that there is one place where the metaphorical buck stops. And it is on the desk of that man."
The President winced as he had a finger pointed clearly at him. It felt like he was being stabbed. The blank faces of the jury members followed the finger, and the representatives of the nation took a good luck at the flinching appearance of their so-called leader. Next to the President and accompanied by the other defendants from the political world, Senator Hawley set his jaw and stared right back at the lawyer. This was going to be one Hell of a fight.
In Westchester, the Xavier family did as much of the rest of the world was doing at that moment in time. Professor and Doctor Xavier sat in front of the TV in the rec. room and watched the same images that were being beamed out around the globe. Neither mutant was in any doubt that the trial was a farce. It would criminalize the mutant population beyond the point of redemption. It would make the X-Men out to be no better than the Brotherhood, ruthless in the endeavour to make mutants the superior race on the planet. In the end it would irrevocably sign the death warrants for all the X-Men in custody, including the two of them.
It would also bring an end to a government that by the large had protected mutant rights, albeit without ever crossing the line to giving them full acceptance. The President, elected representative of the people of the United States, would go to jail for a very long time, if not the electric chair. The same fate awaited the men and women on trial with him, doomed because they refused to see mutants as lower life forms. The control of the most powerful country in the world would pass into the hands of a military dictator. From there, the only limit to the damage Kincaid could wreak would be his own imagination. No mutant, anywhere, would ever be truly safe from this madman.
They say there together in glum silence, watching all that proceeded without ever raising their voices to comment upon it. The collars around the Xavier necks bleeped incessantly, whilst the military lawyer mentioned evidence collected from the defendants themselves, from their offices and homes and kept secure in a top-secret facility. Evidence collected also from the imprisoned mutant terrorists themselves. The lawyer named names; Cyclops had been forthcoming it seemed, as well as Iceman, Storm and Jubilee. Members of the Brotherhood had helped out, including Sabretooth and the Blob. This trial would seal all their fates.
In the end, the opening day of the trial outlasted Charles Xavier's stamina for listening to such depressing and degrading talk. He turned his wheelchair in a tight circle and left the room. But there was nowhere to go, nothing to do. Endlessly empty corridors echoed with the ghostly memories of the children that had once called this place home. If he concentrated hard enough, Charles could almost hear them calling out to each other as they ran from one class to another. Sam Hawley moaning at an imagined petty vendetta that Blaze had against her, setting her yet another extra French assignment. Charles allowed himself a small smile. Blaze hadn't told Sam, but the girl had a knack for the language of diplomacy and the extra assignments were meant to stretch that ability.
Turning the chair round again, he could picture Jubilee, Iceman and Kitty coming back into the mansion following a training session in the grounds. They were all in the grey X-Men training gear, dripping with sweat and drinking water from sports bottles, but they were laughing together as they passed Xavier by. He imagined a door banging closed upstairs, and Wolverine chasing a group of boys down the stairs, waving his claws angrily as if they had done some injustice. The boys escaped, hiding behind Cyclops who scowled at Wolverine's aggression, before turning his back on the feral in a gesture of contempt and walking towards the kitchen…
"Dad?" Ilehana placed her hand on her father's shoulder, a look of concern on her face. Only when she brought him out of his daydream did he realise his face was wet with tears.
"I can see them." He confided in his daughter, "Almost as if they were really here, almost as if I hadn't let them all down so terribly…"
"You did nothing of the sort." Ilehana lectured him kindly. "It will work out, you'll see." But he could tell from the tone of her voice that the Vixen did not believe her own words. He glanced to the window, and wondered when it had started to rain. The sky was heavy and black, the raindrops falling so that the bounced on the windowpane and on the gravel path outside. As if knowing that her own shortcomings had been deduced, Vixen followed the imaginary Cyclops and headed to the kitchen. Xavier merely closed his eyes and wished for an end to the pain.
The End