Chapter 2
The X-men gathered in the War Room. On one wall was a large screen, and Kitty stood in front and just to the side of it with her laptop and a laser pointer. She waited until everyone had seated.
"Alright Kitty," said Storm. "What have you found?"
Kitty pressed a button on the laptop, and a map of the USA appeared on the screen. She pressed another button, and the map filled with a number of multi-coloured dots. In some places the dots were so thick they couldn't see anything of the landscape.
"These are all the known incidences of mutant murders for the past ten years," Kitty said.
Bobby gave a low whistle.
"Why ten years?" asked Piotr.
"It was a nice round number," Kitty replied with a shrug. "Besides, I figure that whoever '100' is, it's unlikely he would have killed a hundred mutants in less than a year. Not impossible, but unlikely that he—or she—could have killed so many without it being noticed."
"You might be surprised," Logan commented dryly.
"That's a lot of murders," Jubilee said, looking over the number of dots.
"Yeah," Kitty agreed and then pressed another button. "These are all the ones who were shot, like our girl. As you can see there's a lot more than a hundred here. We've got some concentrated areas—like this spot in northern California—which are probably done by the same person, or group."
Kitty indicated the spot she was using as an example with her laser pointer and Logan growled.
"That's where Rogue was living after she left here," Logan said.
"Really?" Bobby asked curiously.
"Yeah, some of her so-called 'friends' hated mutants," Logan said. "They burned out her apartment and ran her out of town when they found out she was one."
"Oh lovely," Kitty said cynically. "Well, I guess we know who's responsible for those murders then."
"Not for much longer," Logan said ominously.
"They might not be the only ones responsible for murders around there," Sam said, "as depressing as that is to say."
"Ahem, yes well," Kitty went on and then pressed a few buttons on her laptop. The display changed once more. "These are all the murders this year, and this," Kitty pressed another button, "is the number of shootings this year. So the good news is that there's only been four of them. The bad news, of course, is that anyone's being murdered at all. I think this is the most depressing research I've ever done."
"So, what do we do?" asked Bobby. "I mean, I thought that things were starting to get better with human/mutant relations..."
"They are overall," Storm assured him. "The problem is that there are always people who are never going to be able to accept mutants—and vice versa—no matter what happens. Right now the best we can do is see these people brought to justice. Kitty, how many of these murders were solved?"
"Oh plenty. Hang on," Kitty said, and turned to her laptop once more. "Okay, these are all the murders in the last ten years...these are all the murders that were closed...and these are all the murders where their main suspect got acquitted. Of course, we have no way of knowing if they were acquitted because they actually didn't do it, or because the jury was full of sympathisers, or whatever, but yeah."
"So how may open cases are there?" asked Storm.
Kitty pressed another couple of buttons, and Storm nodded at the display that came up.
"The unsolved/solved mutant murder case ratio is on par with the human murder case ratio," Kitty said. "So, I guess that's good news."
"Wow," Paige said, shaking her head. "Doing all of this must have taken you ages."
Kitty shrugged. "We were already tracking a lot of this stuff anyway. By they way, I should point out that the consistency of dots shouldn't be taken as an indication of where mutants are hated most. I mean, we have murders in District X—"
"Mutant Town," Bobby said with a smirk.
"—but they're not necessarily hate crimes," Kitty went on. "Plus some places would have small or even non-existent mutant populations, so of course, the murder rate would be lower, but that wouldn't mean that there aren't haters there."
"Okay so, what exactly is the point of this, then?" asked Tabitha. "We're not cops. We're not homicide investigators. What exactly are you expecting us to do about it?"
"Well, first of all," Kitty replied tersely, "we're trying to fill everyone in so that we all have some idea of what's going on. The second thing is that we're X-men, and we don't like to sit back and put our feet up while mutants and humans are killing each other."
"Yeah, but what can we do?" Tabitha persisted. "This isn't like WoW. We can't just use a mod or search or whatever for directions or coordinates. There is no Questhelper in real life."
"What have I told you kids about bring that game into the War Room?" Logan demanded with a growl.
"Hey, it's the World of Warcraft, and this is the War Room," Tabitha replied. "I stand by my decision."
"Actually, I think searching for these guys on the 'net is a good idea," Bobby said thoughtfully. "I mean, the guy threw confetti and took the time to write '100' on the wall. If he wanted to celebrate his 100th kill, why did he go to that much trouble? Why didn't he just, I don't know, treat himself to an expensive dinner or a movie, or...I don't know, something."
"He wanted to gloat," said Psylocke. "He wanted to let everyone know what he'd done."
"That's exactly what I think," Bobby said, nodding at Psylocke. "Look, we might not find anything. Maybe he's smart enough to realise that for all the anonymity on the internet, it is possible to track people down and bragging about killing a hundred people—mutants or otherwise—probably isn't the smartest thing to do. Still..."
"It's worth a look," Storm said. "Even if '100' isn't on there, we may be able to find others who aren't as wise and point the police in their direction."
"That's assuming they're not anti-mutant too and ignore it," said Sam.
"There is nothing preventing us from keeping tabs on them," Storm said.
"Well, worst case scenario we can always send the Brotherhood in their direction," Tabitha said cheerfully, and then frowned at the looks half the group gave her. "What?"
"While I have no objection to any of us being friendly with the Brotherhood," Storm said, "that's as far as it goes. We don't kill, and we won't use the Brotherhood as a convenient way to kill people without getting our own hands dirty."
"Just what are we going to do about that?" Psylocke asked abruptly. "The Brotherhood have made it clear they intend to kill a human for every mutant murder. Shouldn't we be trying to stop them?"
An awkward silence fell, felt all the more by those who were part of the friendly World of Warcraft rivalry.
"Obviously if we catch wind of any of their plans—times, dates, locations—then yes, we should be prepared to act," Storm said firmly. "However, as we do not know where their base of operations is, we are not in a position to tip off the appropriate authorities as to their location, nor are we able to apprehend them ourselves."
"Well, there is this wedding coming up," said Logan, "and Kurt's going."
Another awkward silence fell and Kurt wished he could make himself invisible.
"Oh come on, Logan, that's mean," said Kitty, pulling a face at him. "It's a wedding! You can't raid a wedding."
"That's right," said Kurt. "Haven't you ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean?"
"Yeah, Wanda'll have your head," Kitty said with a giggle.
"Not to mention Rogue," said Jubilee.
"What about Rogue?" Logan asked.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Jubilee asked ingeniously. "Rogue's one of Wanda's bridesmaids."
Logan paused, then grumbled. "Fine. Scrap that idea then."
"There is also the possibility that there may be other non-Brotherhood members there," Storm said. "I'd prefer it if we kept as many innocents out of this as possible."
"Yeah, can I just say that I don't want to plot against the Brotherhood like this?" said Bobby. "Okay, if our teams happen to collide on the battlefield, that's one thing. But plotting an attack on their home? I can't... I just... This school has been invaded twice since I've been here. Twice. I don't particularly feel the need to do the same to someone else, Brotherhood or otherwise."
"Not to mention if we do attack the Brotherhood at their home, and fail, they'll probably come after us at ours," Kitty said. "Aside from the fact that I don't want to deal with invasion number three either, we've also got a lot of students to look after, and they need to be our first priority. Besides, it feels a little like stabbing our friends in the back, and I really don't think I could do that."
"I'm with Kitty," Jubilee said quickly.
There was agreement from many of the others.
"I can see why you feel that way," said Psylocke, "especially when they helped us during the whole Sentinel thing. My concern is that we're in danger of forming a double standard. The X-men want humans and mutants to live together peacefully; if we want to bring the perpetrators of mutant hate crimes to justice, then we need to be prepared to do the same with perpetrators of human hate crimes."
"I agree, Betsy," Storm said, giving Psylocke a nod. "We are in an awkward situation with the Brotherhood, as we're not really enemies, but not exactly friends either—"
"We're frenemies," Jubilee said with a giggle.
"As it is, we cannot act against them at this time even if we wanted to," Storm went on. "Certainly, if we catch them carrying out their threat to kill humans, then yes, we have to act. Until then—or we catch wind of some other plan—we shall leave things be, and reassess at another date when we have more information."
"Anyway, back to this '100' guy, which is what this meeting's supposed to be about," Bobby said. "Kitty, any clues on what the other ninety-nine murders might have been?"
Kitty shook her head. "It could be any combination. As far as I can tell—and I haven't finished going through everything yet—there haven't been any other indications of someone numbering their kills. And as for the shooting itself, well, there's a lot of those. A lot more than ninety-nine. I have a few programs running, trying to find some sort of pattern, but the fact is we don't know that all hundred of them were shootings. He could have stabbed others or beaten them to death... Heck, we're only suspecting that he's even killed ninety-nine others."
"We're also assuming that we've got a record of all the kills," said Logan. "If the body wasn't found..."
"Or if it wasn't obvious they were a mutant," added Bobby. "Okay well, I guess he would have had some way of knowing if they were a mutant or not, but that doesn't mean who found 'em or who identified them would have known."
There was silence while they considered their 'needle in a haystack' situation.
"Well then, if no one has any more suggestions," Storm said, paused and glanced around the room long enough to get a silent, negative response, "then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for all your hard work, Kitty."
"You're welcome," Kitty replied with a nod.
Later that evening, Piotr lay in Kitty's bed, spooning with her and gently kissing her neck while she tapped away with one hand on her laptop.
"Katya," he murmured after awhile, "are you ever going to turn that thing off?"
"Hmm? Oh I'm sorry Petey," Kitty replied. "I guess I'm just getting a little caught up."
"I'd noticed," Piotr said as Kitty finally started packing up her computer. "It will still be there in the morning."
"Don't remind me," Kitty said, sounding resigned as she switched off the laptop.
Piotr chuckled lightly as Kitty lifted herself up to set her laptop on the bedside table. She then lay back down on the bed and turned around so she could face her boyfriend.
"Now, where were we?" she asked.
They kissed and cuddled. Piotr told Kitty how beautiful she was. Kitty told him he was the sweetest, handsomest man in the world. Unwilling to let yet other go, Piotr asked about staying the night and Kitty willingly agreed. She loved just laying there, wrapped up in his arms.
They had been dating for two years and they were deliberately taking things slow. Piotr never felt any need to rush into things, while Kitty was still smarting from her failed relationship with Bobby. Kitty and Bobby had been friends to begin with and it had been easy for them to turn to the other when they were feeling down; Kitty when she was homesick, Bobby and his frustrations dating Rogue, and dealing with his family who had all but disowned him. Somehow actions which had started out as simple platonic comfort started turning into something more.
Kitty would never forget the day that Rogue had walked in on them. She would never forget the look of betrayal on her face, nor would she forget Rogue turning her back on them and walking out. They'd attempted to catch up with her, but lost time getting dressed and by the time they'd gotten to the garage she was gone. They'd foolishly thought she'd come back, but she never did. Bobby tried calling her, but never got an answer. They eventually found Rogue's phone smashed against the base of a tree, and the motorcycle she had taken devoid of fuel some hours away from the school.
Their relationship hadn't been the same after that. They hadn't wanted to hurt Rogue, but they couldn't seem to summon up the willpower to stop what they were doing. Now Kitty couldn't look at Bobby any more without seeing Rogue's face. She didn't even know how to have a non-work or Rogue related conversation with him any more, because in the end their friendship had become all about sex. Kitty just couldn't bring herself to rush into a sexual relationship with Piotr.
"Meh," she grumbled under her breath.
"Something wrong?" Piotr asked, his hand gently caressing her back as they lay together.
"Oh sorry," Kitty replied. "I was just thinking about Rogue and Bobby."
"Ahh," he replied, was quiet for a moment, and then said: "Don't you think that it is time you put that behind you? Have not you and Rogue come to an understanding now?"
"Yeah, wow, she agreed not to hold a grudge against Bobby and me any more, whoohoo," Kitty said cynically. "That doesn't exactly... It doesn't change what we did."
"No, but it was almost five years ago now," Piotr said patiently. "I know it was hard when Rogue disappeared and we had no idea what had happened to her, but that's over now. Rogue's moved on. She's happy. Why can't you be?"
Kitty sighed. "I don't know. I made a huge mistake that cost me two friendships. I just... It's hard letting go of that. I don't think I can."
Piotr kissed her forehead.
"I think, Katya, you need to follow Rogue's lead on this one, and stop holding a grudge against yourself," he said.
"Hey all," Tabitha said into the microphone of her headset whilst sitting at her computer with World of Warcraft playing.
"Hey," Dominc replied. "And you are..."
"Tabitha. Boom Boom. One of the X-men."
"Right."
"Anyway, could one of you guys invite me to your guild?" Tabitha asked.
"So maybe you didn't know, but Allys can't join Horde guilds," Pietro replied in a voice that implied Tabitha was an idiot.
"Well, duh. I just created a blood elf rogue," Tabitha replied as she steered her new character around the blood elf newbie zone, picking up quests.
"At last!" John said. "An X-men who isn't a complete loser! Welcome to the Horde, my sister. What is the name of your toon?"
Tabitha chuckled and told them. Shortly someone sent her an invite to the guild, which she accepted. Abruptly a string of 'welcome's appeared on the screen in green text. Tabitha replied with her thanks.
"Yeah, I was getting bored playing Alliance all the time," Tabitha said. "I wanted to see what life was like on the other side."
"Better," John replied. "We have Barrens chat—"
"Oh hell not Barrens chat—"
"And Thrall."
"What's Barrens chat?" Tabitha asked. "I'm guessing it has something to do with The Barrens?"
"Ahh, well all orcs, trolls, and taurens go to the Barrens, so the place is usually chock full of noobs and retards, and people asking you to join their guild, and more people asking where Mankirk's wife is, and if you so much as breathe the name Chuck Norris, you're guaranteed to start a run of Chuck Norris jokes," John replied merrily.
"Oh I see. Goldshire," Tabitha replied. "Although, Barrens sounds worse. We get a lot of duelling though. Not so much on the Chuck Norris jokes."
"Chuck Norris will never have a heart attack. His heart isn't foolish enough to attack him," Wanda said.
Tabitha laughed.
"When the booeyman goes to bed, he checks for Chuck Norris," John said.
"Guys, this was not a cue for you to start on the Chuck Norris jokes," said Dominic.
"Says you," said John. "When Chuck Norris does a push up, he's not pushing himself up, he's pushing the world down."
"The grass is always greener on the other side, unless Chuck Norris has been there. In that case the grass is most likely soaked in blood and tears," Wanda said.
"Hey Pietro," said Dominic. "I think now we know why Pyro and Wanda got together."
"Like that was in any doubt," Pietro replied, and a chime sounded, signalling someone else signing in. "Hello!"
"Bonjour all," Gambit said.
"Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there," John said,
"Remy!" Wanda exclaimed. "Hey, how are you? How's Anna and Olivier?"
"They're both doing good," Gambit said and added proudly: "Olivier has my eyes."
"Yeah you mentioned that before," Wanda said, more amused than annoyed, "I can't wait to meet him."
"If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death," said John.
"Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability," Gambit said.
"Not you too," Dominic said.
"Shortly after the transaction was finalised," Gambit continued cheerfully, "Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month."
"I like it," John said. "Oh, we've managed to steal one of the X-men away from the Alliance."
"Hi," said Tabithia. "Tabby aka Boom Boom here."
"Hi Tabby," said Gambit. "I like the name; Boom Boom."
"Yeah, my mutant power is making psionic balls of energy that explode."
"Exploding stuff is fun."
"Totally!"
AN: All Chuck Norris jokes were stolen from various websites