The X-Men took their seats in the front row as they prepared to watch their beloved professor duke it out with their enemy.
"Wow, look at this crowd!" Pietro said. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in the room with them.
"Why wouldn't anybody sit in the front row?" Jubilee asked.
"They know we're mutants, they left it open for us so they can catch our reactions on camera clearly," Eric said. He somehow both adore, and despised Jubilee's naivety. She represented everything sweet that could be hurt by the cruel world he knew.
"This is gonna be a pain in the ass," Logan grumbled. There was no doubt in his mind that he would have to listen to hateful nonsense this ignorant halfwit was about to spill.
"I know, but we have to go through with it," Jean said. "You can't just claw your way through all the problems," she smiled.
"Wanna bet, Red?"
"No! With your determination, you would eventually succeed in anything," she admitted. "But please, just go with it tonight. I'll make it up to you," she whispered.
Logan turned to her, his curiosity sparked. "Damn, Jeannie, ya know I can't refuse anythin' to ya," he said, his thoughts wondering about how exactly she was going to make it up to him.
"Is anybody else nervous?" Ororo asked.
"I'm not. I know professor will do fine," Scott said.
"I know he will, it's just...the people's reactions. I don't know what to expect," she said.
Jean could sense a lot of mixed emotions in the room, but she wasn't going to let her know.
Charles and Henry made their way to the long table in the middle of the stage, as the moderator called them up. Jean felt the tension and anticipation in the audience. She then looked at the stage. She felt fear, and it wasn't coming from Charles.
"The guy's afraid," Jean whispered to Logan.
"He should be," he said. "Maybe this won't be such a pain in the ass after all!" he said excited.
"Thank you, gentlemen, for joining us," the moderator said.
"Gentleman, my ass!" Logan whispered, staring Henry down.
"Mr. Gyrich, many people think that you were responsible for the attack on mutants. How would you like to respond to that?" moderator asked.
"I'd like to start with that I am sorry what these mutants had to go through..." he said with as much fake politeness and compassion as he could muster.
"Bullshit!" Logan whispered. Jean squeezed his hand to calm him down.
"But I had nothing to do with it," Henry added.
"Mr. Xavier, would you like to say something to that?" moderator asked.
"Yes, I would. If you had nothing to do with it, why did the man at the bomb shelter say your name?" Charles asked calmly.
"Well, the man seemed very unstable...he was crazy, he could have said anyone's name..." Henry said.
"But he said YOUR name," Charles added.
"Perhaps he, or someone he knew tried to get a job from me, and I refused," Henry said, trying to make it look like an act of vengeance.
"Mr, Gyrich, that sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go through just because of a job opportunity," moderator said.
"Even she's catchin' up on his bullshit..." Logan said. Jean had to shush him again.
"He probably hated mutants and needed somebody to blame it on. He then regretted his actions, and did not want to take responsibility for them," Henry said, throwing his hands in the air, as if this was an obvious conclusion to this whole situation.
"Mr. Xavier, anything to say?" moderator said.
"I know you're familiar with the name "Bolivar Trask"," Charles said. Playtime was over and it was time to get down to business. "Just in case I need to remind anyone of him," Charles said, looking at the audience. "He was arrested more than a decade ago for selling military secrets. He was also the one who created the sentinels - creatures specifically designed to target and kill mutants. He was your close friend, am I correct?"
The whole room was dead silent. They all intensely stared at Henry, wondering if and how he could get himself out of this.
"Mr. Gyrich, were you close friends with Bolivar Trask?" moderator asked when Henry didn't answer Charles' question.
"I was..." Henry said quietly.
"Did you share his personal opinions about mutants?" moderator asked.
"No, I did not," Henry lied.
"You helped him with his research," Charles said. "What else would you think of us?"
Henry, now pushed in the corner had no other choice but to admit it. "At the time, I shared his opinion. But I changed my mind," he said, trying to save what was left of his integrity.
"What exactly did you think? What did your incarcerated friend tell you about us?" Charles asked, leaving the moderator out of the conversation.
"Don't talk about him!" Henry said, losing his cool.
"Your friend tried to kill us, and he betrayed this country. I would like to know why you shaped your opinions based on what he believed in," Charles continuously kept hitting the soft spot.
Henry knew he was done. More evidence would eventually come forward about his research, people he worked with would betray him to save themselves. He would be prosecuted, and found guilty. Now he had nothing to lose.
"All he did was try to save us from you! From this mutant plague!" he pointed at the X-Men in the first row.
"Asshole!" Logan tried to get up, and Jean had to restrain him with her telekinesis.
"Hang on, Logan," she said softly.
"Look at them! Do you want this to become of us? Freaks polluting the gene pool? Did you forget we got nearly destroyed by Apocalypse?" Henry shouted.
"We stopped him! We saved as many people as we could!" Charles said, passion ringing in his voice. "I am not going to deny that there are bad mutants among us, but they don't speak for all of us! Just like you don't speak for humans. The dearest thing in my life is a human, and she's sitting right there!" Charles pointed at Moira, who's eyes got instantly watery. "I love humans, and I would do anything to protect them, but you, sir, are a disgrace to humanity!" Charles said, trying to keep himself from shouting.
Henry was furious. He had to be restrained by the guards as he tried to walk over to Charles. The audience was stunned, and nearly all of them covered their mouth as the guards were leading Henry away.
The moderator took a few breaths, and quietly asked Charles if he had anything to add.
"I think this person wants to ask a question," Charles said, pointing at a woman in the audience. They brought a microphone over to her.
"This woman in the front row," the woman said as she pointed at Jean. "I was by the school when it happened. She could have killed us all in an instant. But she didn't. None of them did," she said.
"Of course she didn't. None of us would EVER do that," Charles said. "Can I just say one more thing?" he asked the moderator, who nodded quietly.
"I know this is all very new to you. It's still very new to some of us as well. But this pointless conflict has to stop! Apocalypse did not speak for us, just like this man did not speak for you. We can't keep killing each other just because we're afraid of the unknown," Charles now thought back to when Logan traveled back in time and found him. How lost, and hopeless he was. "I need you...I need us to hope again. We all want the same thing, however different we might be. I know you're all tired of how the things have been, and so are we. We all want a better world for our children where they can be accepted as who they are. Where they can thrive and evolve their skills and abilities. We will stand with you, and help create that world."
The woman who just spoke about Jean stood up and clapped. More and more people joined in, even the moderator.
Moira ran on the stage and hugged Charles tight, as the X-Men hugged one another in front of the stage.
"See? That wasn't so bad!" Jean told Logan.
"Better than I thought it would be," Logan admitted. "Ya still "makin' it up" to me though, right?" he asked mischievously.
Jean laughed, looked at him with a spark in her eye and nodded "yes".