The X-men continue, every single day, to use their powers for peace in a world that hates and fears them. Unfortunately, despite their efforts at making things better, they are still deeply hated by those who do not understand. Among those who hate them is presidential candidate Senator Edward Kelly, who is looking for ways to try and keep mutants in line.

As hatred for mutants rise, there are those individuals who believe that mutants are deserving of ruling the world. Among those individuals is Doctor Nathaniel Essex – Mister Sinister, who has recently kidnapped Scott Summers and Jean Grey with help of a reluctant Nightcrawler, whom he brainwashed. However, during the rescuing of Scott and Jean, Raven Darkholm reveals to Nightcrawler and Rogue that she is Nightcrawler's biological mother.

However, despite things for mutants starting to become increasingly worse, Scott and Jean have blossomed to something even closer. What had gone from them being two best friends translated to a romantic attraction that formed during their time in the Savage Land. Now, after having been rescued from Sinister's clutches, the two have become a couple.

Issue 45: The Wide Awake Project

X-Corporation Tower Kitchen – Thirty-Five Minutes Ago

Bobby Drake sat at the kitchen table in X-Corporation, swirling his spoon around in a bowl of Frosted Flakes, but not really bothering with touching it. Since it was his first day of his sophomore year of high school, one would think that should excite him. But, for Bobby, ever since the rescue mission in Baton Rouge, he'd been feeling a sense of loneliness coming over him a lot more frequently.

After having saved Scott and Jean from Mr. Sinister, the two became an official couple. Not that they had acted like any less of a couple prior, though. But, now that they were together, they were doing things such as kissing, hand-holding, and cuddling, and it had only been nearly a week. Bobby could only guess that the two were releasing out all of their pent-up feelings that they had for one another that had been festering since the Savage Land. However, seeing his two friends together, it made Bobby crave to have something like that with someone.

Giving up on eating breakfast, he put his bowl into the sink and proceeded to head off to his room for a morning shower and get dressed. However, as he walked towards his bedroom, he saw a sight that made his chest constrict.

He could see Jean clearly attempting to sneak out of Scott's room. It was no lie that Jean and Scott sometimes had sleepovers; before, those were just for the two of them to help each other get through nightmares. But, as of two days ago, Jean had been sneaking into Scott's bedroom at five in the morning so that they could have a make-out session before their day started. Plus, it was conveniently before Bobby awoke at six-thirty A.M to prepare himself for school.

Watching Jean sneak a kiss to Scott before going off to her own bedroom made Bobby's chest ache. He longed to have something like that with somebody. As if it weren't enough that he had to watch his friends Johnny and Angelica kiss in the halls with their arms around each other, now, he had to bear witness to Scott and Jean doing the same. As he took his shower, his thoughts ran through his mind.

'I am happy for Scott and Jean. It was about time that they fessed up to their feelings that they clearly have been having for each other ever since the Savage Land. But . . . I do want to have something like that . . .'

Being the only openly gay student at Marsden Regional was tough enough on Bobby. But, now, his feelings of isolation seemed to be escalating as he watched his two pairs of friends fall in love with one another. It didn't help that he still had a really hard time being accepted by his parents and that he felt this need to protect and defend himself from his own family. He hadn't spoken to his parents in months, and it wasn't because he wasn't trying; he constantly was the one calling them. They just chose not to answer the phone or call him back. It was clear to Bobby that his parents were ashamed of having a gay mutant for a son.

'Damn you, Mom and Dad . . . why can't I just be accepted by you?' Bobby thought as he rinsed his hair off in the shower, closing his eyes as the tears threatened to come and down his face and mix with the water pouring down from the shower. 'Every time I am in my parents' presence, they look at me as though I am the devil. What have I done to deserve such a thing? Why do I bother calling them trying to have a relationship with them? I get it; Warren and Jean constantly tell me all the time, "Give it time; it will get better." But, it's not getting better. Why should I be the one to put in all the work?'

Seeing Scott and Jean being open with the affection that they shared made Bobby wish that he could have that. But, seeing as to how he had yet to find a person in his high school who was out as gay, Bobby was in a constant state of waiting and waiting for that to come along. As he stood there in the shower, the water pouring down over him, he finally allowed the tears to fill his eyes and roll down his cheeks. He would only cry when he was alone. Jean, Warren and Scott were the only ones he'd ever allowed to see him in a state of tears, because he knew that they cared. Once he was out of the shower, he got dressed for his day and grabbed his backpack, putting the smile on his face and not allowing anyone to see that he had just cried his eyes out in the shower.

Marsden Regional High School – Present

As Bobby walked down the halls towards his English class he had with Peter and M.J, he noticed Johnny and Angelica kissing in the hallway with their arms wrapped around each other lovingly. Bobby once again felt the jealousy sinking in.

'Why can't I have that with somebody?' he wondered as the tears threatened to come to his eyes. Swallowing the lump in his throat to prevent himself from crying again like he did in the shower that morning, Bobby proceeded to get to English class, where he saw Peter and M.J awaiting on him. Having not seen them all summer, Bobby was relieved to get back to being with them. With Peter being at science camp all summer long, Mary-Jane and Angelica being at sleep-away camp up in Upstate New York, and Johnny being away on a trip with his sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law, Bobby hadn't been able to see any of his friends. Though, he did see Peter once, and only once, because Peter's Uncle Ben had gotten killed by a gunman walking home one night. Bobby, of course, when having heard about that showed up for the funeral, given that Peter was his best friend.

"Hey, Bobby, how was your summer?" asked Mary-Jane brightly, pulling him into a firm hug.

"Boring," Bobby replied. "To be quite honest, it wasn't the same without you guys being around."

"Same here," Peter said. "Believe me, Bobby, I've missed you; it sucks that the only time we ever saw each other was at my uncle's funeral." As Peter said those words, Bobby could see the sadness crossing his friend's features.

"Hey, you do not have to speak about it, at least not right now. Besides, things seem to be getting crazier and crazier. I mean, I am hearing news stories about this Spider-Man character swinging around on a web. He'd managed to stop that Aleksei Sytsevich guy who was in partnership with the Russian mob last week. Apparently, the dude was going around the city terrorizing it dressed in some ridiculous robotic armor calling himself the Rhino," Bobby pointed out. "And meanwhile, earlier this week, I had to rescue two members of my team from some crazy, mutant mad scientist who calls himself Mr. Sinister."

"Wait, that's what people are calling that guy? Spider-Man?" asked Mary-Jane in fascination.

"Yeah, apparently. Just watch as J.J Jameson bashes him in the news media," Peter quipped.

"Actually, dude, that's already going on right now," Bobby said, pulling up a news article on his phone for the Daily Bugle. "But, while J.J Jameson bashes this Spider-Man guy and the rest of the X-men, there are others out there who see us as heroes. It's insane to think that the X-men and Spider-Man have the country this divided in terms of heroes and American crime fighting. From what I can tell, Spider-Man's a hero; frankly, so are the X-men."

"Of course, you'll believe that the X-men are heroes, Bobby," Mary-Jane said. "You're part of it all. Your identity as Iceman is the worst kept secret of all time."

"I chose to reveal my identity to the public, M.J," pointed out Bobby. "And besides, did you hear about the sophomore class trip this coming October? We're going to Octavius Enterprises because Otto Octavius is planning to build robotic arms with artificial intelligence. I mean, I am not much of a science buff, but, this actually is a trip I'd want to go on. After having missed the trip to go visit Dr. Curt Connors, I do not want to miss out on this. Trust me."

"Glad to see your enthusiasm for science Bobby," Peter said with a grin, punching his shoulder.

"Believe me Pete; I'm going on this trip because I do not want to be stuck in a classroom all day with Duncan Matthews and Flash Thompson. The day that that happens is the day that I die," Bobby said.

"Though look on the bright side. Even though you did miss the tour of Curt Connors' lab, at least you got a free trip to a pre-historic land known as the Savage Land," Peter quipped.

"Please don't remind me," groaned Bobby, causing Mary-Jane to giggle. "You're laughing at my pain right now, Mary-Jane?" he asked her.

"No, I'm not; I'm just saying you went to the real-life Jurassic Park. Who would have thought it'd be located in Antarctica of all places?" M.J asked.

"Good point." Bobby nodded as their English teacher walked in to start the class, causing everyone to turn their attention to the front of the classroom.

The White House – Oval Office

Senator Edward Kelly and William Stryker were sitting in the Oval Office with President Norman Osborn for over an hour, discussing the launching on the MRD using Bolivar Trask's Sentinel program. President Osborn was more than happy to get the initiative started; however, it was going to be up to Senator Kelly to continue the program if he ended up winning the presidential election.

Currently, his biggest opponent was Libertarian Party member Lilandra Neramani, a huge supporter of mutant civil rights who paid close attention to the United States Constitution, or at least she claimed that she did. She was well-spoken, eloquent, intelligent and a successful business woman with a very clean record with almost no legal issues. In fact, the woman hadn't gotten sued once. And with the next presidential debate about to come in Chicago, Illinois, Senator Kelly was determined to win over the United States. It was ironic that his biggest competitor was a Libertarian Party member when it would typically be a Democrat. But, Lilandra proved to be a very determined, intelligent woman with a class and grace to her that made her liked by mutants.

"Alright, so, how exactly are we going to be starting the MRD? What will we be calling this initiative?" asked President Osborn.

"The Wide Awake Project," Senator Kelly replied. "It's important to me that we start this, because you know who my biggest competitor is right now? Lilandra Neramani, a Libertarian, of all the political parties. All I know is she's one hell of a successful business woman with a lot of ambition who knows what she is doing. She's the heiress of Chandilar Industries and Aerie Law Firms; well-spoken, intelligent, and a graduate from both Harvard and Oxford. This woman isn't stupid."

"We're not denying that, Senator," said William Stryker. "But, I can guarantee you that once The Wide Awake Project is launched; you will be even higher in the poles than this Nermani woman ever would be."

"I sure do hope so. With the debate tomorrow, that's when we will launch it and present the Sentinels officially. We need to somehow make sure that people know that the Sentinels will not be put into the wrong hands again," said Senator Kelly. "You do know if that ends up happening, we'll be screwed again. We cannot afford what happened with Cameron Hodge and Obadiah Stane. I will never, never trust people like those two morons ever again."

"That's why I can assure you, Senator, that I will not betray your trust, not this time; in fact, I would like to be your personal advisor once you are elected," Stryker said calmly.

"Really, William? Well, that is quite the honor for me," said Senator Kelly.

"Well, I guess you can say that everything is set in stone. You may present The Wide Awake Project tomorrow, Senator," said President Osborn around a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. President, for backing us up and being behind us," Senator Kelly stated.

"Well, after that mutant attack on the White House earlier this week, we cannot take any chances, Senator. I think that keeping the American people safe from mutant kind is the most important thing right now. We must make sure that this will work."

"It will work, Mr. President. I can guarantee you that. But, I also know we are dealing with anti-mutant rioters right now. I think the fastest way to calm them down is by assuring them that they are being heard loud and clear," said Stryker.

Kirkland Junior High School – Chicago, Illinois

'I can't believe what I have gotta put up with at this time. Eighth grade, at least one more year until I get the hell outta here so I no longer have to deal with all these jerks here,' thought thirteen-year-old Kitty Pryde as she walked down the halls of Kirkland Junior High School.

Most would think because of her small, petite appearance that Kitty was one to let people tread on her. However, that was far from the case. Being the daughter of computer scientist Theresa Pryde, and Colonel Carmen Pryde, Katherine "Kitty" Anne Pryde wasn't one to take anything from people. Her father had groomed her to be strong and independent; while her mother's high intelligence got passed down to her. She'd grown up with her grandparents telling her stories of the Holocaust and how her grandmother gave birth to her mother during the Second Day War in a bomb shelter in Israel. Kitty coming from a family of survivors made her even more determined than most girls her age.

Walking towards lunch, Kitty could hear the snickering of two girls in her class, Riley and Sydney, two of the more overly popular girls in her grade.

'What the hell are those two bitches laughing at now?' Kitty thought bitterly. She had very little patience for Riley and Sydney. It was because she dealt with other issues in her life than just two idiotic, overly-popular girls that got joy out of teasing people and wearing too much makeup. Kitty constantly got teased by those two for her intelligence. But at this point in her life, she could honestly not give a flying crock of crap about it. Suddenly, that was the moment Riley stuck her foot out, tripping her over.

Kitty glowered at the two girls, having had more than enough, before she got up and into their faces. She flipped them the bird. "Fuck off," she spat, not taking a single moment of it. "Quit walking all over me and acting as though I am below you! I am not your dog!"

"Oooh, Kitty Cat's got a tempter," Sydney taunted.

"At least I've got a higher IQ than you two put together," Kitty growled. "I said it once, I'll say it again. The two of you are jerks! If you spent more time studying and less time caring about what I do, then maybe you wouldn't have ended up in summer school for both history and English! You have the balls to laugh at me behind my back and post shit about me on Twitter, but you don't have the balls to say it to my face. To me, that's very telling. You're both cowards!"

Instantly, that silenced the two girls. The fact that Kitty had the nerve to stand up to them and tell them that she wasn't taking their abuse was something that shocked the both of them. In fact, the small crowd that had gathered around upon hearing Kitty's rant let out a chorus of their own "Ooohs" as well. It was no secret that Kitty was the toughest girl in the entire middle school. Boys admired her for her resilience.

"I rest my case," Kitty said. "Class dismissed," she added before walking off to the cafeteria. Suddenly, that was when she felt a headache coming over her; she'd been getting migraines for the past month or so. She just assumed that they were because of stress due to the fact that she was going to be working on applying to a prestigious, all-girls science academy for high school.

Grabbing her lunch from the cafeteria – veggie burger, chocolate milk and French fries – Kitty took her seat in the cafeteria beside her only friend, Noriko "Nori" Ashida. Nori was as confident as Kitty was, and like Kitty, Nori tended to clash the most with Sydney and Riley and was very strong-minded.

"So, I heard you put Riley and Sydney in their place," Nori said with a grin on her face.

"Someone had to," Kitty said, pulling her veggie burger out of its tin wrappings, making a face. "Is this edible, Nori?" she asked her friend.

"Why'd you pick it?"

"Because it was either that or the main course of the day: Domino's Pizza. And the salad bar isn't the least bit clean, or healthy. I'm telling you, Nori, we live in a city where we've got the best deep-dish pizza, and our middle school serves us crap pizza," Kitty said in disgust.

"I can completely agree with you. Anyone who calls this food is out of their minds," Nori said with a shrug, picking at what appeared to be a sandwich of sorts.

"What is that?" Kitty asked Nori.

"Fish . . . I think," the Japanese girl answered back to her.

"What kind of fish?" Kitty asked.

"I hope cod," Nori said with a wince.

Kitty made another face. As a middle school class ambassador, she'd made several complaints to the class president about the cafeteria lunches. It was hardly edible. "Yeah, I hope so, too. I saw you eat a meatball yesterday; it bounced off the floor."

The two friends proceeded to eat in silence. However, that was the moment they could see commotion nearby between several football players and some of their classmates, foreign exchange student Roberto DeCosta, and Sooraya Qadir. The two kids seemed to be in an altercation with the jocks. She knew for a fact that both Roberto and Sooraya were mutants. Roberto's powers allowed him to absorb and channel solar power, and Sooraya could turn her body into dust. From what Kitty could tell, a food fight was breaking out between Roberto, Sooraya and the football players. Cups of frozen yoghurt, fries, tater tots, chicken nuggets and slices of pizza were flying everywhere in every which way. Several students screamed in panic.

"Alright, I suggest we get the heck out of here," Nori said, grabbing her friend by the arm.

"Yeah, I don't wanna get hit by anything. I swear, the person that hits me with a slice of pepperoni, they'll lose a finger," Kitty said as they proceeded to exit out of the cafeteria. That was the moment Kitty's headache seemed to be getting worse and worse as they walked out of the lunch room. They knew that they wanted nothing more than to avoid this situation, because it was something that would further trigger them. Both Kitty and Nori had sides to them that were temperamental and they had that switch in them. It was what bonded them, but, it also got them in trouble.

Just as a soft pretzel went flying at Kitty's head, that was the moment something odd, but, miraculous happened. The pretzel just seemed to pass right through Kitty's head, followed by a cup of frozen yoghurt, followed by a hot dog. It was something that greatly shocked the thirteen-year-old girl to no end as she continued out of the lunch room.

"Kitty, what was that?" asked Nori.

"Honestly, I really do not know," Kitty answered back to her friend honestly.

"It seemed as though the food just phased right through you!" Nori said in surprise.

"Phased?" asked Kitty.

"Yes; I saw it. I know exactly what it looks like! You're a mutant!" Nori said, her eyes growing wide.

Kitty stood there, taking in the revelation about the fact that she might be positive for the X-gene. After having heard of the intense discrimination that mutants were currently going through, she only hoped and prayed that she wasn't a mutant. But, hearing her closest friend in a way confirming it proved it to be true.

Up next: Pryde and Prejudice

A/N: Be sure to go check out my Archive of Our Own page for some sexy cut scenes for the series. Maybe it'll help some of you to pass the time as we deal with this Coronavirus epidemic right now.