Chapter 20
Things went well for the first two weeks. The X-Men settled into the city and their new home. Trish found the room with the largest bed and closet and nearly died from happiness. The New X-Men managed to make the news regularly as Trish was a field reporter most of the time and they often pitched in to help clear up whilst two of them stuck to Trish like glue.
That did get a little annoying for Trish. Especially when Santo tried to argue that he should accompany her into the bathroom.
Cessily soon put her new boyfriend in his place.
But for mutants, trouble always finds them.
"It's disgusting is what it is Sadie!"
"Believe me, Scott, I fully agree, but this is San Francisco and if there is one thing we tried to protect it's a persons freedom of expression."
"Sentinels are not art!" Emma scowled. "Has the world forgotten that Sentinels were used to commit genocide against the mutant nation of Genosha, my god! Why don't we just add a gas chamber from World War II and complete the tableaux?"
"The world has not. But we are talking about weak minded fools who have money and pull. This fool, Ghi something or other, has decided to use Sentinels as his masterpiece of art work and some fool has decided to fund it."
"Are you investigating the artist and financier?" Harry asked from his set across from Sadie in the Mayor's office.
"On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that he wishes to move known weapons of mass destruction against mutants to their new home. Especially when he could have gone to New York, Paris or any other major city in the world.
"It strikes me as suspicious that this 'event' would occur so soon after the great mutant exodus to San Francisco."
"Please don't describe it like that Harry." Scott grimaced.
"I have a few contacts in local and federal law enforcement, but ideally we would need to contact SHIELD."
"Whatever you do, don't drop Harry's name." Emma smirked. "Tony still hates him."
Harry just sat there with a smug grin.
"Doesn't this constitute some form of racial hatred?" Scott asked as he kept the conversation on track.
"I checked, I have chased every avenue I could think of to legally stop this, but I was turned down. Forget the fact that X-Men are friends of San Francisco, I simply don't want weapons of mass destruction in my peaceful city!"
"So… this is considered art?" Harry mused. "Let it happen."
"What?" Emma demanded.
"Let it happen. The X-Men will be there and I will address the gathered patrons." Harry smiled.
Scott sighed. "You had better make sure that the city's insurance policies are up to scratch, Sadie."
The art show was disgusting.
If it wasn't bad enough with two looming Sentinels as the centrepiece, all the patrons had decided to dress as the X-Men. Granted it made it easier for the real X-Men to blend in, but it made it much harder for Wolverine to refrain from gutting people.
"Kid, whatever you're gonna do, do it now or I'm painting this place red." Wolverine growled at Harry.
Harry simply rose into the air. "Follow me."
Immediately the assembled X-Men flew up to join him as Harry moved to hover between the Sentinels.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Harry addressed the assembled rich, famous and utterly dumb. "You came here to see this so called art. These machines were created with one purpose. To kill mutants. Painfully and horrifically. And they did so, they eradicated fifteen million mutants on Genosha in seconds.
"So in essence, what you truly came here to see is DEATH!" Harry roared angrily. "A pale imitation of myself and an insult to everything I stand for! If these machines had truly sought to do my work then they would have turned on their makers and destroyed them!"
The crowd was backing away nervously just in case Harry decided to smite them.
"But you seem to have missed the true point of Death. Death is merely an aspect of life. Of existence. Without life you cannot die. Life is the true point of death. When death comes you should celebrate the life you lived.
"So, in order to honour the true meaning of Death, I will exercise the freedom of expression that you all seem to cherish. That allowed this disgusting display to be allowed."
Harry turned to the X-Men floating just behind him. "Use whatever tools or powers you need to dismantle the Sentinels and place the parts in front of me. But avoid scaring the fools."
They split into two teams, Cylcops, Emma, Rogue and Sunfire began dismantling the left Sentinel whilst Gambit, Colossus, Shadowcat and Iceman worked on the right. Angel stood nearby acting as a guard for Harry, a symbolic gesture.
As the X-Men quickly lowered the armour and various parts to Harry, Harry would melt them down using his dragon fire.
The crowds watched in awe.
"How can you let him do this?" The so-called 'artist' demanded.
"As he stated, he is only invoking his right to freedom of expression, Mr. DuMonde." Sadie smirked.
"But he is destroying my masterpiece!"
"Your welcome to go and argue your point with him." Sadie offered.
Guy DeMonde was a self-proclaimed artist. A man of vision. Someone who brought beauty to the unwashed masses and helped to improve the world and her people.
He also claimed that you pronounced his name: 'Gee'.
Everyone else with a grain of common new he was an egotistical little bastard who provoked controversy for controversy's sake and that he hadn't given a blessed cent to charity his entire life.
His mother also claimed his name was pronounced 'Guy'.
He also claimed a broad-minded vision. Which never seemed to let him see beyond his own ego. So when Mayor Sinclair proposed he should confront Death… it seemed like a reasonable suggestion.
"You! Stop that! You are ruining a masterpiece!" Guy objected as he huffed his way up to the area where Harry was melting his 'art' to its raw components.
"Quiet! Can't you see I'm working here?" Harry scowled.
"You sir, are destroying a work of art!"
"Actually I'm dismantling weapons of mass destruction. But if any one asks I'm expressing my creative freedoms." Harry smirked.
"That's the last of it Doctor Potter." Scott informed Harry respectfully as he and the others levitated the soles of the Sentinels' boots over to the pile.
Seconds later there was a twenty-foot pile of molten metal and plastic on the platform.
Harry rose up and addressed the crowd again.
"This is true art. This is true symbolism. This is an expression of humanity over coming what obstacles and threats come at it." Harry said indicating the pile. "And now, from the ashes of humanities enemies, I will show you life."
Harry began waving his hands over the pile and it began to move. It grew taller and thinner.
The crowd watched in wonder.
The pile seemed to become liquid as it flowed upwards and the body of a man some thirty feet tall. It soon became clear who the figure was.
Logan couldn't help but snigger.
Scott was not pleased.
When he was finished a thirty-foot tall metal statue with full colour of Cyclops holding the baby Hope was standing on the platform.
"Scott Summers, Cyclops. The leader of the X-Men and acknowledged spokesman for mutant-kind, the baby Hope, is his adopted grand daughter and the first mutant born after M-Day. This is what they looked like after Cyclops lead the X-Men to rescue Hope from the worst of both mutant and non-mutant kind. An image of hope and life created from a life of persecution and the tools of that persecution." Harry announced to the crowd.
What happened next truly shocked the crowd.
The statue moved. It smiled at the baby, just like Cyclops had when he held Hope. The statue of Hope responded.
Nobody moved as they watched in awe.
"YOU DESTROYED MY MASTERPIECE!"
Almost nobody.
"Shut up Guy." Sadie snapped. She indicated for her bodyguards to remove the man from the building. She was in perfectly safe hands with Kurt and Illyana standing with her.
The crowd was so engrossed that nobody noticed a figure dressed as Magneto carefully slink out of the building. Nobody had deduced he was the real deal.
He had come to cause a distraction but after seeing just what the man claiming to be Death had done, he couldn't allow himself to sully the event.
No. In fact he needed to re-think his current methods and possibly seek an alliance with the man so that they might together rebuild mutant kind.
"That's absolutely beautiful Doctor Potter." Mayor Sinclair declared with happy smile and tears in her eyes as she approached the X-Men on the platform.
"Thank you, Mayor Sinclair."
"Does it have a name?"
"A name?"
"Most artists give their work a title or name which describes their intent for the piece." She explained.
"Ah. I have never been much of an artist. But I suppose 'Hope's Protection' might be apt." Harry mused.
"Perfect." Sadie turned to the assembled patrons. "I am officially declaring this to be one of San Francisco's Historical Treasures. Anyone attempting to sully it is not welcome in this city." She stated with authority.
It was a few days later that Mayor Sadie Sinclair turned up at the new X-Men compound.
"Mayor Sinclair, a pleasure to have you here." Scott greeted the X-Men's newest and most outspoken supporter.
"Please, just call me Sadie in private. Is Doctor Potter around?"
"Probably in the infirmary with Hank. I'll show you the way."
The two bodyguards quietly fell in step a respectful distance away.
"Is there a problem?" Scott asked as they walked.
"No, I just have a few questions for Doctor Potter, really it's my own curiosity, but they might come up officially later."
"I see, and please, feel free to use our first names, especially if we are to use yours." Scott smiled.
"This place looks finished."
"Magic has a way of speeding things up."
"And freeing you. The only reason I could make this appointment is because Harry made me a witch. I can cut down on travel time and the need to take extra security. The citizens are going to love it when I announce I cut my carbon foot print to nearly zero!" She grinned.
"Sadie! What brings you down here?" Harry smiled warmly as the group arrived at the Infirmary. "I think Warren might start getting jealous if he finds out you're seeing other men on the side." He teased.
"Hush you. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your art creation."
"Oh? Like I said, I've never actually done public art before. The closest I come to an artist is when I would sit with my kids and we would do finger-paints and the like." He said with fond remembrance.
"The Master of Magic covered in bright colourful paint… that would be an interesting sight." Hank muttered as he continued to putter about in the background.
"Actually, I was wondering if there was a specific reason that various individuals have been arrested for public indecency outside the building during the middle of the day." She smirked with a knowing look.
"Oh god, it's SHIELD all over again." Hank groaned still working away.
"Public indecency?" Scott queried.
"Urination, defecation and public nudity." Sadie grimaced. "In the middle of the road. They suddenly turn up and stop traffic before… doing the deed."
"Haaarrry?" Scott growled.
Harry had the worst 'innocent smile' ever on his face. "It wasn't me?"
"Haaaaaarrrrryyyy!"
"Fine, I put some protective compulsions around the statue. Anyone who wants to deface it or disrespect it in a way that is detrimental to others enjoying it will find themselves outside the next time the streets are busy and doing one of the three."
"So gross." Hank sighed from the back.
"What do you mean by deface or disrespect?" Sadie asked.
"They have to actively be about to attempt to vandalise the statue or the area around it for the purpose of disrespect to the statue or what it stands for. So, if someone simply has a weak bladder or drops a piece of food, nothing will happen. It's all about intent." Harry explained.
"You have a disgusting mind." Scott grimaced with disgust.
"At least this way they get arrested for an equivalent crime." Harry shrugged.
"By any chance, did you take into account what would happen if groups of people attempted to vandalise the statue?" Sadie asked.
"Ummm-"
"Or the fact that there are ten cameras located outside the art gallery?"
"Ah-"
"Dr. McCoy, do you have a computer with internet access down here?" Sadie asked.
"Of course, Your Honour."
"Sadie is fine Doctor." She assured him as she followed the oft-blue mutant.
"Then please, call me Hank. Now, what are we searching for and should I be adding it to the school's list of banned sites?"
"Just type 'San Francisco Mass Defecation UTube.'"
"Would you excuse me for a moment." Scott scowled before he vanished on the spot.
"Good Lord! There are UTube videos with literally tens of thousands of hits!" Hank exclaimed.
"Videos of what?" Lorna asked as she teleported in with Scott, Amara, Jean and Emma.
"People defecating and urinating!"
"On UTube?"
"Apparently."
"I would have thought they would have taken those videos down." Amara commented.
"They tried, but people keep putting them back up." Sadie explained.
"Oops." Harry smiled sheepishly.
"Oops? What do you mean oops? What did you do?" Jean frowned.
"Well, I'm not responsible for the videos but I am responsible for redirecting vandals and racists into doing this instead of destroying the statue I made."
"So all these videos are of racists who wanted to, what… graffiti and the like on that work of art?" Lorna asked.
"Mainly those who hate mutants and want to hurt mutants. Regular teenagers will just urinate on the front sidewalk. The severity of the punishment is based on the severity of the attempted crime."
"I approve, could you do something similar for the compound?" Emma asked calmly.
"You approve?" Scott asked with raised eyebrows.
"Of course. This type of punishment protects the innocent but forces public yet peaceful punishment on the criminals. It seems perfectly in keeping with the X-Men's standards, in fact it is even better as Harry isn't giving them a sound thrashing like we usually do."
"And it leaves the perpetrators open to arrest and prosecution." Lorna nodded.
"I'm fairly certain Mayor Sinclair doesn't see it that way!" Scott objected.
Sadie looked at them innocently. "See what? I have no idea what you are talking about. I just came here to talk to Harry about his first attempt at mass healing. What are you talking about?"
"What?!"
"I believe that is our cue to leave." Jean smiled as she grabbed Scott's arm and gave Emma a nod before they vanished.
"By any chance, have you perhaps put any protections on the rest of the city? In the event of invasions and the like." Sadie asked. "San Francisco is no stranger to major violent events and I would be stupid not to expect more now that the X-Men are officially citizens."
"I hadn't even thought to do that." Harry frowned.
"Well, forget I mentioned it. Anything too drastic and I would have to inform Washington and that might not be the best idea in the light of our current woes with the SRA." She said with a wink to Harry.
"Me? Drastic!" Harry cried in mock outrage. He then grinned smugly. "Yeah, it'll be epic!"
It was a few days later that Hank approached Scott and Harry with his latest proposal.
"Despite Harry's mission to turn people into witches and wizards, we still haven't made any progress to returning mutants their powers." Hank stated as they sat in Scott's office.
"Well that's not entirely true. I have plenty of information and I have a feeling I have everything I need barring one final ingredient."
"Oh?" Scott queried.
"We have the mutant energies from Michael Pointer's old body. We also have Michael who has been helping me. I've already begun reactivating the X-Gene, we just need to be able to put the energies back in the right people."
"And you can't do that yourself?" Scott asked.
"No, but I think I know who can." Harry smiled knowingly. "They are simply unavailable at the moment."
"Hope." Scott sighed.
Harry nodded. "Hope or another mutant soon to be born."
"I don't understand why you think Hope will be able to do this." Hank frowned. He and Harry had discussed this frequently since they arrived in San Francisco.
"It's all about evolution. Mutants are an evolutionary response. Evolution is all about adapting to new circumstances and threats. Therefore, Hope, or someone soon to be born will be able to either re-energise the mutants or put the energies in Michael's body back where they belong."
"So you are guessing?" Scott asked.
"Educated guesses, but yes."
"And Hank, your proposal is…?" He prompted.
"There are several notable experts in the field of genetics and biology who might be able to come to a more definitive answer and possibly long before Harry's theories are capable of being tested. I wish to seek out and try and recruit these people for that purpose."
Scott looked at Harry, who just shrugged. "It's a good idea. Even if they don't come up with a solution to this issue they will learn new things and that is always good."
"Are you going to be joining this club?"
"Maybe, I have plenty of things I need to work on, but I am probably the foremost expert on the planet when it comes to the human body. At least the basic human body, mutants are new to me."
"And your magical knowledge would also be useful." Hank added.
"I can't think of a reason not to go ahead, other than reminding you to try to not do anything against the laws of man… like Stark and Richards did with that clone of Thor."
"Good Lord no!" Hank exclaimed with a shudder. "Although I am curious on the justifications for cloning Michael Pointer's body?" He asked as he turned to Harry.
"Done with permission and for the sole purpose of using the body as a form of receptacle. It will have no mobility or intelligence and therefore cannot affect the life of Michael Pointer himself."
"Unlike the Thor clone that attempted to usurp Thor's identity." Scott noted.
"Exactly."
"I will leave you two to your philosophical discussions, try not to destroy the fabric of existence whilst you're at it." Scott grimaced. It was never a good thing when a being with as much powers as Harry got melancholy and introspective.
"Actually, I was meaning to tell you, I will be away for a few… for a time. Not sure how long but I hope to be back soon."
"Define soon." Scott asked warily. When a fifteen million year old creature says they will be back 'soon', they could mean anything from ten minutes to several hundred thousand years.
"It's a time travel thing. I'm going to try and go back and meet Odin for the first time. He and Brunhilde say they can't tell me about myself now as they are supposed to tell me back then." Harry paused as he saw the looks of confusion. "I'll try and be back within a year."
The girls were even less happy about Harry leaving.
"Pleeeease can we come with you?" Laura begged.
"Both Odin and Brunhilde said you weren't there, so it's best if you aren't there this time." Harry hugged her. "You will be fine. You will take care of each other and maybe you will find more boyfriends."
"But I only want you!"
"Us too." The Cuckoos added.
"Whilst I am gone I will work on my time travel and try to refine my returns so that I am not gone for long. But I really need to learn more about myself and Odin won't talk to me in this time period."
"We'll take care of them." Lorna promised.
"But if you take too long we will nag Brunhilde into taking us to get you." Dani warned.
"When you do return you will need to marry the rest of us officially." Amara informed him.
"I can't do that until I take over the world and change the laws of the US!"
"Actually, the All-Father would be able to marry you." Brunhilde corrected.
"And T'Challa would probably be willing to work something out in Wakanda." Lorna nodded.
"Before you go there is one thing we have to do." Laura said with a hungry look.
Harry didn't leave for another three days. He spent all that time in the bedroom and he left with a huge smile on his face and several satisfied women sprawled out around the room. A perpetually healing body meant no real loss of stamina and nearly a million years worth of sex with women of different cultures made him a god.
Scott Summers was a practical man. He didn't keep much that wasn't of use to him. There had been times when he had to stop himself treating people like assets. He would find himself thinking about whether a person was useful to him, Jean was the one who had slapped him down. He had begun to slip back into that way of thinking after her death… Emma wasn't much help as she was happy to think of people as assets.
Unfortunately the most useful asset he had ever met had just left. Harry Potter had essentially left to go on a journey of self-discovery. Scott was about to find out that just like his Harry's adopted father, Harry Potter left chaos wherever he went. Usually good chaos… today was bad chaos.
The phone rang and he answered it.
"Summers."
"Professor Summers? I'm in a bit of a pickle. Do you think you could come down to the police station."
"Megan? Is that you?"
"Yes sir."
"What happened?"
"I was attacked and Hi Ho saved me. But now they want to put him down I told them no and they keep shooting him! I don't know how much longer I can hold him off." It was clear Megan was getting panicky.
"I'm on my way."
Scott slammed the phone down and immediately put a mental call out for Emma.
"Pixie's in trouble, I'll be out in the city for a bit."
"Do you need back up?" Came the reply.
"Put Jean on standby. I might need her knowledge of Harry and what he did to Pixie's new dog."
"Very well, try not to be too long. I've just got back from Milan and I have some 'items' for you to inspect."
Scott couldn't help but chuckle at the way she used innuendo in a private mental conversation.
"EWWW!"
Then he remembered that there were other telepaths around.
"Girls, this is a private conversation." Scott admonished.
"We can't help what we hear, Mr. Summers." The Cuckoos responded with an audible sulk.
"But you can pretend to not hear." Emma retorted. "If you behave yourselves I might be persuaded to take you to Milan so you can buy your own 'items' for when Harry returns."
"We always behave ourselves!" Came the haughty reply.
When Scott arrived at the police station he found all the police and admin staff outside hiding behind a makeshift barricade of squad cars. Guns were pointed at the entrance and he could even see snipers perched on rooftops and a SWAT team getting ready.
He made his way to the highest-ranking officer, the local precinct captain.
"I'm Cyclops of the X-Men, I'm came here to pick up a student, Megan Gwyn, what's the problem here?"
The Captain, a well built man who hadn't let the desk job get to his physique, looked at Cyclops with an incredulous expression.
"'What's the problem?' I'll tell you what the problem is! Your student has a metallic monster in there. It already mutilated several men and keeps threatening to attack us when we try and capture it!" He said angrily.
"Did you threaten Megan? That dog has heavy charms on it so that it won't attack anyone unless they threaten it or Megan." Cyclops frowned.
"We were trying to do our jobs! We got a call that someone was being attacked. We got to the scene and found your girl and her dog standing in the middle of dismembered bodies! We took her into custody but when we tried to separate her from the dog it turned into this huge monster and started snarling and growling."
"But it didn't hurt any of your officers?" Cyclops pushed.
"Not directly, but-"
"I'm going in to talk to Megan, see if she has her dog calmed down. I suggest-"
"Absolutely not! No one goes there until that girl is out and I've had a team sent in to put the dog down."
"That dog was modified and charmed by Harry Potter, it was created originally to destroy all mutants! How exactly are you going to 'put it down'?" Cylcops challenged.
"If necessary I'll call in SHIELD and have them snuff it, but I will not have that thing running around my city!"
Cyclops stood staring at the man for a few moments. This was wrong. It didn't make sense. He needed to get into the building to check on Megan.
Then he had a sudden insight.
He could teleport.
"Where tha' hell did he go?"
"I thought Cyclops only had the eye-beam thing, didn't know he could teleport." A lieutenant mused.
"Find out where the hell he went!"
"Mr. Summers! You came! I mean, Cyclops."
"This doesn't count as the field quite yet, Megan. At the moment we are two civilians attempting abide by the law."
"I was! Those big meanies in masks came and started attacking me! I was walking home with my friend from the Dazzler concert and they came out of no where."
"What about what the police said? Hi Ho dismembered them?" Scott really hated Harry for not naming the silver puppy before he gave it to the eccentric girl. It just sat there happily in Megan's arms.
"Dismembered means removing body parts. Hi Ho didn't do that. He just snapped a few bones and joints." She said with certainty.
Cyclops sighed. This was likely going to be a long night of pointless arguing with prejudiced cops. "We need to make the police feel safe, Megan. Why didn't you teleport back home when they all started running and screaming?"
"You taught us we had to stay and do our civic duty. They still haven't taken my statement!" She said indignantly.
"Take your dog and return to the school. Report to your counsellor and explain the situation." Scott ordered.
"Yes sir." Megan said before teleporting away.
Scott found himself alone. In a police station. He had a sudden desire to rifle through the files and see what dirt could be found.
He frowned. "Emma?"
"It would be considered informational retrieval for the purposes of-"
"Stop trying to nudge my actions, Emma." He thought fairly annoyed.
"Actually, that was me." Came Jean's thoughts. "I think Harry and Emma have corrupted me!"
Scott barely managed to refrain from banging his head against a brick wall, repeatedly.
Scott's prediction came true. Fortunately the arguing took place in the Mayor's comfortable office.
"There is absolutely no proof that those boys were doing anything other than walking peacefully down the street when that… girl and her dog attacked them!" The Captain, Daniels, argued.
"We have plenty of magical truth serum that Doctor Potter made for us, we could always use that." Scott offered.
"You can't force someone to take that stuff, Scott, just like you can't force them to take a polygraph." Sadie pointed out.
Scott just smirked. "I wasn't talking about making the attackers take it. I was thinking of asking Megan to take it and to testify about what happened. Especially when she got back to the precinct."
Daniels paled slightly, but both Sadie and Scott caught it.
"That stuff has never been verified or tested. I definitely don't believe that some nut calling himself 'Death' can make it." He sneered.
"We can always offer to have it tested." Sadie suggested.
"Doctor Potter left strict instructions not to let it out of the X-Men's possession. Any testing will have to be done back at the compound."
"Not good enough." Captain Daniels smirked. "The people have a right to know justice is being served."
"And they can. The 'People' can set up a televised test. But the only people handling the serum will be the X-Men."
"We'll have to see what the courts think of that. I'm thinking that maybe this serum should be a controlled substance. Does it even have FDA approval?"
"No, and as per Harry's instructions, it won't be available to the government until they clean up their act and abolish things like the SRA."
"There is precedent for using it Captain. I have reports from Queen Ororo that Wakanda has tested it and deemed it safe and they are already making it mandatory for court cases to prevent fraud and perjury." Sadie spoke up.
"This is not Wakanda, Your Honour, this is the United States of America. We have higher standards." He declared arrogantly.
"You really don't know much about the world outside America, do you Captain?" Sadie smirked. "Wakanda is the most civilised and technologically advanced country on the planet. Nobody has higher standards."
"America is the greatest country on Earth! We lead the free world!"
"Actually, we only think we lead the free world. We are the only country that claims that to be true." Scott sighed. He'd spent a lot of time in other countries and he realised that the arrogance of those claims by politicians tended to annoy other countries. Especially when those countries were far older than America and more involved in the rest of the world.
America did a lot of good but that good was sullied by the 'holier than thou' attitude of the politicians and 'patriots'.
"You're one of those damned liberals, aren't you!"
"Captain Daniels! We are not here to debate politics!" Sadie snapped. "We are here to discuss the situation regarding the attack on Miss Megan Gywnn and the subsequent actions of her pet."
The Captain looked at Scott with disgust before turning his attention back to the Mayor. "The fact is that we only have her word that she was attacked. We have plenty of evidence that her mutt attacked the boys."
"I have here the witness statements of two individuals who saw Miss Gywnn being attacked. I also have the two 911 calls, one of which was from Miss Gwynn herself during the attack." Scott answered as he placed the flash drives and papers on the Mayor's desk.
"We still have to hear from the boys. See if they corroborate your witnesses."
"Actually, Captain, that would become a matter of 'he said, she said'. The witness statements and 911 calls push the facts in favour of Miss Gywnn." Sadie corrected. "Now, you will send an officer to GreyMalkin Industries to get Miss Gywnn's statement and then you will file charges against the men and hand the case over to the DA."
"With all due respect Madam Mayor, you don't have the power to direct my investigation."
"My power, Captain, lies with the law and the people." Sadie stood and leaned slightly on her desk intimidatingly. "I will be keeping a very close eye on this case and if I think for even one second that you are misapplying the law and abusing your position, I will take what I know to the press and you will find yourself under investigation. Am I clear?"
Daniels stood up angrily. "I can't believe you are taking the word of mutants over humans." He said as he stormed out.
Sadie slumped into her chair bonelessly.
"Welcome to the mutant race, I think you just earned your place in it." Scott said with a sad smile.
Sadie returned the smile before she grew serious. "Get your student the best lawyer you can find, Scott. If this goes to court I want you to counter sue. It's the easiest way to bring corruption and bigotry to light."
"It's a shame Jennifer Walters was disbarred. Not to mention Matt Murdock."
"What about the New X-Man, Prodigy? Does he still have his powers? Couldn't he absorb what he needs and pass the Bar?"
"Unfortunately he was depowered. But you have given me an idea." Scott smiled.