"This isn't going to go over well." Wanda predicted as the Misfits and their Handlers headed towards General Hawk's office.
"Really? What's there for him to get mad at?" Pietro asked sarcastically. "I mean, besides the Institute getting attacked and half the student body being slaughtered or that we let Emma Frost stroll onto the Pit and out again without arresting her. Seriously, what's there to get upset over?"
"If there's nothing wrong then I guess you won't mind being the bearer of bad news?" Lance looked at him.
"Oh no you don't! Not again! Getting throttled by Frost was quite enough for one lifetime!" Pietro snapped.
"With most people that would be true." Fred snorted. "With you—"
"Shut up."
"Quiet in the peanut gallery." Althea said without looking back as they stopped outside Hawk's door. "This is going to be hard enough as it is so no one—and I mean this—NO ONE is going to do or say anything to aggravate General Hawk. You got it?"
Althea's answer came as a stapler came crashing through the door's window, spraying glass shards all over the hallway.
"Too late." Shane commented. Ignoring him, Althea reached for the doorknob but recoiled as a sudden stream of profanity greeted her from the other side of the door.
"—OF ALL THE STUPID, IRRESPONSIBLE DUMBASSERY! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THOSE BASTARDS I'LL—AARRRRGH!"
It went on in this vain for a while…usually peppered with more profanity.
"Think the General found out about the stolen underwear?" Brittany asked Daria and Quinn.
"Somehow I don't think that's it." Quinn gulped.
"Sir?" Althea raised her voice as she stepped towards the door again and pulled it open slowly. "We have something we need to report to you. It's really important—"
"I already know." Hawk said bitterly, raw anger buried just underneath the surface. "It's all over the news."
"I didn't think it would be public knowledge this fast." Todd blinked. "I mean, fires and attacks and stuff is just another day there isn't it?" Hawk looked at him quizzically.
"I never heard that Stamford had a reputation for trouble." He commented. Then his mouth twisted down. "Not that it'll ever be known for anything else ever again."
"Sir?" Althea asked in plain confusion. "What are you talking about?" Now it was Hawk's turn to look confused.
"Haven't you heard? It's been all over the news! Stamford, this small little town in Connecticut, was wiped out—destroyed—by some super-powered villains who decided to have a gang war in the middle of town! Hundreds of people were killed, including scores of children!"
"Oh my god…" Cover Girl went dead white. "If only we knew earlier, we could've done something..."
"We knew." Hawk spat out bitterly, hands clenched into fists. "When the fight started we were specifically ordered by the government and the Pentagon to stay out of it. Not to stop those monsters, not to approach Stamford, hell not to even be in Connecticut!"
"WHAT?!" Several people said it at the same time. Others asked, "WHY?!"
"Because the Powers That Be—" Hawk growled and everyone heard the capital letters, "Didn't want us—or any agency they didn't trust—getting involved. They kept us out, they kept the Justice League out—including the Avengers—as well as any group containing mutants or known to be friendly to them; We were deliberately kept out. Hell, I've heard they kept some non-official teams like the Young Avengers, the Teen Titans, and the New Warriors out at gunpoint."
"Maybe it's just as well." Althea suggested. "The New Warriors are idiots."
"True but I doubt even they could've made things worse." Hawk groaned. "Instead, the government sent in General Kincaid and the GRSO, supported by some regular army and national guard forces, plus some new group called 'Superhuman Restraint Unit' or, as they've become nicknamed in the Pentagon, the Cape-Killers."
"Why wouldn't they want us to help?" Low Light rocked back on his heels. "We're just about the only ones who could've stood a chance at stopping those bastards…and WE'RE the ones they kept out? What the friggin hell General?"
"The government didn't want to make it look as if they were dependant on mutants or super-powered beings in order to protect the people." Hawk ground out. "Instead they wanted to take the opportunity to test some new toys the high-forehead types drew up to stop people with superpowers…I guess they wanted to see if they could keep the League or mutants in line if the need ever arose."
Althea swore. "Are you telling us that hundreds of innocent people were allowed to die just so some agencies wouldn't look weak? That for the sake of pride in the 'regular' human race was more important than saving lives?"
"That's EXACTLY what I'm telling you and you know it." Hawk snapped. Then his shoulders slumped and he sat back in his chair. "Sorry Wavedancer." He said as he rubbed his eyes. "I'm not in the best of moods."
"No one can blame you for that." Roadblock said, speaking for everyone. Hawk nodded gratefully. "What happened to the GRSO and the troops that were sent in?"
"They were wiped out." Hawk grunted. "Then the government decided to send in X-Factor…and X-Factor got its head handed to them. By the time the government FINALLY decided to call us and the League in…it was over. Except for counting and identifying the bodies."
Hawk nodded towards the TV that occupied a corner in his office. "They showed a satellite feed of Stamford during the…well, during. It's a short clip. You should probably want to see it. You can all stay here and watch…I've no need to see it again. Once was enough." With a stab of the remote, Hawk turned on the satellite footage of Stamford's destruction and then left.
No one said a word. The tape couldn't have been very long, but it sure seemed to. Scenes of destruction and chaos, punctuated by the more than occasional explosion dominated the scene. Some news agency had been thoughtful enough—if that's the word—to include the name and brief description of the villain as he or she…or it…appeared on the screen at the bottom.
It was an odd mixture of villains; some famous, others obscure. Some with big-time villains and others were usually regarded as a joke.
The Swarm, a Nazi super-scientist whose body was composed entirely of cosmically-radiated bees, battled with Queen Bee, an alien insect queen, and Killer Moth. Mutated bees and giant moths darkened the sky as they flew against one another…and against any poor soul who happened to be in their sight. Solomon Grundy roared as he checked the costumed-clad Rhino into a two-story house as Bane was thrown into a crowded parking lot by Rampage. A disgusting, oozing purple pus of a creature with green spots called Plasmus fought the actor-turned living mudman, Clayface. The Puppet King was smacked upside the face by Toyman's yo-yo. Hairbag, a being with the head of a man and the body of an ape—one of Mr. Sinister's Marauders, apparently on loan to Luthor—battled Monsieur Mallah, an ape with the mind of a man.
Two odd similarly themed teams: the Cadre; comprising of Crowbar, Fastball, Shatterfist, Nightfall and the members of the Wrecking Crew; Wrecker, Thunderball, Bulldozer, and Piledriver, duked it out with each other at a construction site with building tools and equipment.
Trident, the Atleantean criminal was socked in the face by Devil Ray (formerly known as Black Manta) and Dr. Destiny unleashed his mental powers against those of Mentallo. The super-strong mutant known as (were they serious?) Unus the Untouchable tossed around the villain Blackmass as Lady Lunar cleaned Pyscho Pirate's clock. Mr. Freize had Firefly pinned down behind what had once been Stamford's police station and Psimon floored Dr. Spectro.
Livewire stood atop a transformer tower and dueled with Electro, bolts of electricity and lightning flashing across the town, striking anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way.
The satellite feed captured more than just battles though. It showed collapsed buildings, rubble and shattered cars strewn across the city. And the bodies. Oh yes, the bodies. The ground was slick with spilled blood and broken bodies, soldiers and civilians alike, stomped out with nary a thought by the battling supervillains. A burnt out tank served as evidence that the National Guard and the Army had arrived to no avail.
The Misfits occasionally saw a familiar face of X-Factor arrive and try to save the people or stop the combatants. Willow was seen carrying several of the wounded away on stretchers made of vines. Telek tried to get between Livewire and Electro as they dueled with lightning atop a transformer tower. Angelica was physically sick when the mutant was electrocuted, on screen, until little remained of him but charred ashes and bone fragments. He wasn't alone. American Eagle was strangled by Omega Red's metallic tentacles. The fate of the other members of X-Factor was—perhaps mercifully—not shown.
The image then panned over to the Stamford elementary school. The Misfits watched faces pale as screaming children tried to get away from the battling villains. One of them they recognized as another one of Sinister's Marauders, Arclight. And the one he was fighting was…Althea checked the caption. Nitro.
"Oh god no…" She half-murmured half-prayed as Nitro was slammed into a school bus. He rose, his eyes full of menace and hate as he put his hand against the side of the bus. There was a white flash of an explosion and then static. That was the end.
General Hawk appeared behind them just as the picture was cut. "That's the end." Hawk sighed. "Rescue teams arrived on the scene not long afterwards. From what we could determine, there are at least five or six hundred dead. Probably more. None of them were apparently the villains who caused the damn massacre." He added bitterly. "This wasn't even a major fight. Just a little dustup as far as they were concerned. Already there've been others all across the country, across the entire world: Metropolis, Coast City, Hub City, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Chicago, Paris, Buenos Aires, Rome, Berlin, Tokyo, Calcutta, London…None of them have been as bad as Stamford." Hawk assured them. "Most of them are small brawls that start and end before anyone can even show up to stop them."
"I guess the Institute was just the beginning." Wanda said, shaken. "What happens now?"
"There's word that they're going to pass the Registration Act." Hawk said bitterly. "But it's not going to just be for mutants anymore…anyone with super-powers: mutant, magic, or other, or even heroes with just good gadgetry and martial art skills are going to have to Register with the government and become employees…or face imprisonment. If it passes."
"Which it almost certainly will after this." Althea winced, feeling sick to her stomach. "This is bad. Very bad." That would do as an understatement until an even larger one came around.
"I wouldn't count on it." Everyone was taken aback at the sound of a new voice coming from behind them. Whirling around, they found themselves confronted with a frighteningly forceful looking man in a black cape and cowl; terror of criminals and embodiment of vengeance, the Dark Knight of Gotham City: Batman. "The Act hasn't been passed yet. This is far from over. Come with me if you want to see the one way it can be avoided. I doubt you'll like it though."
"If it avoids Registration and round-ups how bad can it be?" Todd wondered then cringed under the Batman's glare.
"After you see the solution, you tell me."