Chapter Notes:
There we are, some explanations, some discussions and a first glimpse of what MC has been planning.
Chapter 16: Discussions and Interviews
"Ugh, do I really have to be here?", I whined pulling on my tie. Normally, I wouldn´t mind a suit but right now it felt like a prison. Domi looked wholly amused at my intense pacing in the small lounge we were provided with.
"This was your idea, Al. Even you have to admit that this works better with you on the forefront. Or do you want me to get Tony here?", Domi said.
That he wasn´t exasperated by now was a sign of how much patience that man had. Which was why I had dragged him away from his responsibilities in the Sanctum.
I grimaced at the thought of Tony being the one to go into the interview alongside Hank.
At one of our big meetings for the implementation of the Accords, we had voted on who would be the people representing these ideas to the public and advocating for the rights of the enhanced and the mutants. There had been many discussions about this between the different groups. And there had been so many different groups; the X-Men, a few sorcerers, the PR-department of SI (plus mutants) and several groups of lawyers (SI, Xavier's contacts, Matt Murdock and acquaintances).
They had a surprisingly hard time deciding on one representative for the mutants. Summers was too stuck up. (Not that anyone said that out loud, but that was definitely the reason.) Storm didn´t really have the patience for press tours. Logan was just out of the question. And Xavier, well, people would be very touchy about telepathy.
Someone who could mind-control people might not be the best choice to elicit sympathy for mutant kind.
The second representative was – to my surprise – chosen quite quickly. Logically, I knew that I was the natural choice. We had someone for the mutants, now we needed someone for the enhanced and sorcerers. I fit both of those categories. I was also an established "superhero" (feels weird man) with a lot of good will from the public. That didn´t mean that I was above sending an all too amused Ancient One a few stinky glances.
Immediately after that meeting, I had gone to Tony for advice on handling the media. Five minutes into that conversation I resolved to ignore his tips and go to Pepper for help instead. Tony might be very experienced in leading the press around in circles, but I wasn´t going for quite that much flashiness. A little more diplomacy, please and thank you.
Back to the present where I was still in the early stages of a nervous breakdown. I shook out my arms to get rid off some of the tension, sighing again.
"Fine. I´m still somehow gonna put my foot in my mouth.", I said, wrinkling my nose. Such an ugly figure of speech.
"I´m sure it is going to be just fine.", Domi tried to placate me.
I huffed out a laugh. Some people were in for a rude awakening.
One might be surprised to hear that I was actually a pretty good public speaker after all the whining I was doing. Sure, I always had a bad case of nerves beforehand, but usually those would either disappear or be unnoticeable because I was quite skilled at hiding my feelings. But that was for presentations, speeches or debates. Personal questions? For those I didn´t have any filters for my thoughts yet. Sooner or later would come a question I hadn´t been prepared for yet and then…
I shook my head. No need to think more negative thoughts. I sent Domi another whiny look.
"Now I´m glad Hank is in another room, he´s just as nervous as you, I reckon.", Domi said with a smile.
"True, true."
The door opened and a young man with a headset stuck his head through.
"We are going live in 20 minutes. Do you need anything last minute, Mr. Bluelight, Sir?"
I suppressed the automatic frown at the address and forced a smile I really didn´t feel right at that moment.
"No, thank you."
As soon as the door closed I sent Domi a reprimanding look. My so-called friend was looking at the ceiling, trying and failing to keep his facial features under control.
"Don´t."
His lips quivered and I could see a tear in the corner of his eye.
"Yes, Mr. Bluelight, Sir. As you say, Mr. Bluelight, Sir.", he choked out.
He started snickering when I let out an annoyed groan. I buried my head in my hands.
As long as my friends had fun with that name…
Fifteen minutes later I stood next to Hank just backstage, waiting for our introduction. By now, my mind had cooled down. I would have to be careful with this one.
The interviewer was a bit of a douchebag. He wasn´t our first choice for the introduction interview but our chosen reporter had to cancel last minute. I might be paranoid in thinking Hydra had something to do with that but it had been suspicious timing.
And canceling this interview would have not been a good reflection of us. Sadly, Mr. Douchebag´s history had suggested he would be not that mutant friendly. Thus, Hank and I were prepared for some hostile questions that weren´t fully cleared with our PR-Team. The most important thing was to show no rash anger from our side.
Thankfully, Hank was used to a room of two dozen teenagers at a time and I had the power of hot chocolate on my side. Oh, and meditation. And a frequent exposure to Tony Stark. Thinking that way, I actually felt better.
Hank had adjusted his tie for a last time when our signal came. I walked out into the bright light first, Hank followed.
I had a pleasant smile on my face and waved to the applauding studio audiences as I made my way over to the host. It was somewhat disturbing to get standing ovations and people screaming my name, but I reminded myself that these people had just gone through an alien invasion and were still in their hero-worship phase.
The host, Mr. Douchebag, held a hand in my direction and greeted me with a big (slimy) smile.
"Welcome, welcome!", he said. "Please, take a seat."
I sat down on the first big armchair as he greeted Hank. My guess was that they had brought out these big armchairs to accommodate Hank´s size.
With both of us seated, the questions started. The first few were softball questions that served to catch up the unaware viewer on the press conferences and statements that SI had facilitated.
"Now, Mr. Ravenstock. You started your career as Bluelight anonymous. Can you tell us why and what changed your mind?", Mr. Douchebag asked.
"Well, I think anyone can guess that being anonymous for someone like me is just generally preferable. Especially because I am not affiliated with any government and without the protection I have now through having proven myself, some agencies might have had few too many questions.", I explained. Not the most concise clarification, but it would do.
"So, for your protection?", the host fished.
"And for those I associate with. Endangering myself is one thing, but a lot of my friends and contacts are subject of the Accords we presented the UN last week."
"Ah yes, the Superhero-Accords!", Mr. Douchebag exclaimed. I winced.
"That´s not a very accurate name, but yes.", I said calmly. I was sure we were getting into more dangerous waters now.
"Not very accurate you say?", he asked with a curiosity that I couldn´t help but think was faked.
"Yes, they are about a lot more than just super-heroes, they include mutants, enhanced and sorcerers of all ages and sizes. Mainly, they are aiming to protect the rights of those who may be perceived by some as less or other than human.", I said.
"Do you think those rights are endangered, that they don´t fall under existing ones?", he tried to bait.
"Of course, they should be included. Sadly, that effectively just hasn´t been the case."
"What do you mean?", Mr. Douchebag asked leaning forward.
"Do you remember those raided facilities that were marked with my symbol? They were used to hold mutants against their will. Mutants, that were experimented on. Now, why didn´t you hear anything like that from your government? Simple, they already knew about mutants."
"Are you saying the existence of mutants aren´t a new development? And aren´t you afraid of criminal charges being brought against you? As you said, you aren´t affiliated with any government and therefor aren´t qualified to storm enemy labs or anything like that."
"Oh, I´m sure the government has bigger fish to fry in these cases. I am not that worried, and I have been in contact with government agencies before. It seems I am too useful. They also wouldn´t make themselves that popular with going after me.", I said with a smile to show my confidence.
That drew some laughs from the audience.
"And when it comes to mutants, they have existed along-side the human population from the beginning. Humans have always had mutations and the mutants as we now them today aren´t new either. There have been documented…", Hank took over and went into full science teacher mode.
He spent the next few minutes educating our audience in all matters of mutant kind.
"Nowadays mutants have a lot easier time building connections and communities. On the flipside, they face more dangers when they are inevitably discovered. Keeping the existence of mutants secret would just not have been feasible for much longer. That is why we were so prepared in our presentation to the public."
As Hank finished his explanation, I saw a glint in the host´s eyes. I leaned back in my seat and crossed my legs. Let´s see what his angle was.
"Now that you mention it, - ", Mr. Douchebag started while repositioning himself in his seat. "There has been a not insignificant amount of…" He paused, seemingly rethinking his words. "- worry, about how fast this response was."
I tilted my head to the side and met his eyes with my version of Tony´s media-smile.
"And your question is?", I asked, careful to not sound too suspiciously cheerful.
He gave me a smile back that was just as insincere.
"Well, I guess my question is if you can understand that many feel apprehensive of the sudden emergence of these powered individuals."
"To a point. But I think some of the people you are referencing, who are more of a loud minority by the way, go a bit further than just feeling apprehensive. Some even refuse to see mutants as human, which is just utterly wrong and also proves the need of the Accords.", I said.
It was true that as soon as more about the mutants had become public, "critics" popped up, condemning mutants and questioning their involvement in the invasion. It was largely right-wing media that pushed these beliefs, which didn´t surprise me. It wasn´t a very popular opinion. Our PR-campaign was doing its work and the copious amount of video footage, that showed the X-Men and even some unrelated mutants helping, spoke a lot louder than the conspiracy theories.
In a twisted sense, the conspiracy was somewhat right if you thought about it. I mean, I was more or less passively helping the aliens along… Well, let´s not tell anybody that bit.
Of course, I was sure that there were right-wing commentators that just spouted anti-mutant propaganda because it would gain them something. Just as there were plenty of leftists or liberals that were secretly bigoted against mutants. Whatever, that was sadly just the way of the (political) world.
Funnily enough, a certain J. Jonah Jameson was on our side in this whole debate. And did I ever take a spit take at that. To Tony´s dismay it was a literal one and I had been sitting across from him at the kitchen table. Apparently, the infamous host of The Daily Bugle had been right around the corner from Stark Tower when the invasion hit and had been saved by Hank personally, which colored his outlook on mutants. When I finally stopped choking at my tee, I mused if that meant J. J. wouldn´t target Spiderman in the future. We would see.
"Furthermore, - ", I resumed, wondering where all this fancy language was coming from. "American media has been thoroughly enamored with Captain America for the last 80 years without doubting him. Same with Ironman, who is arguably a lot more dangerous than big-and-blue over here."
Which was honestly more of a half-truth. Some of Hank´s intentions left me glad that he had to spend a lot of time teaching the kids.
Mr. Douchebag shifted again on his seat and cleared his throat. He was clearly uncomfortable.
My guess was, he didn´t expect me to be so direct. Well, there was a reason no one wanted to debate me in class; I got my stubbornness from my father and honed it for years.
Also, when I get excited about a topic, I don't know when to shut up.
"Those can hardly be compared.", argued the host.
"Captain America was born a normal human, he- "
"Ah!", I interrupted, pointing at him. "And that is the crux of the issue. What do you consider normal? Is that even important? Why is it easier to condemn someone that hasn´t had a choice in being born different than our societal blueprint of what a human should be, rather than condemning those that were enhanced later?"
Before Mr. Douchebag could get another word in, I held up my hand.
"Let me phrase it another way. It may be hard for so many people to rethink what being human means, but it is necessary. Take us example. Of us three here, who is the least human?"
Hank raised an eyebrow at my line of questioning but stayed silent. He knew what I was getting at. The host was frowning at me, uncertain if this was some kind of trap.
"Well, if you phrase it like that, I would have to say Dr. McCoy is the least human.", he said hesitatingly.
"Which is probably what most people would say.", I assured him. "Genetically speaking though, that would be me."
Mr. Douchebag looked at me confused.
"I´m afraid, I don´t follow."
"You see, I had my DNA tested and it turns out that while I am in fact human, there were quite a few alien ancestors in my family history. That is also where the artefact came from that gives me my signature teal color.", I explained.
There were surprisingly little embellishments in that. Out of curiosity I had given Hank a blood sample when I stayed late at the school a couple of weeks ago because we were discussing Accord matters. He was quite perplexed when he analyzed it. Of course, he couldn´t tell me a lot about the non-human parts, so I let Ree scan my blood. And promptly facepalmed.
I could have just scanned myself from the get-go. That was so unnecessary.
Feeling stupid, I listened to Ree´s analysis. Ree could tell me surprisingly little, the Ring only held data on the aliens in my current universe. My body was from a different one. It made sense, otherwise the Infinity stones would have been able to affect my body. Still, I wondered what the differences to your regular human were. I hadn´t noticed anything.
"You have alien ancestors?", the interviewer asked, astonished.
"Yes, as far as I can tell. I have a lot information about a sorts of aliens, but none about who my ancestor could have been. It looks like they settled here centuries ago and gave the artefact to the next generation to make sure Earth wasn´t disturbed by other aliens. A bit like what the sorcerers are doing but on a smaller scale."
"Ah yes, the sorcerers of the Mystic Arts.", Mr. Douchebag said. He seemed awfully glad to be able to change the topic. "They have been very absent as far as the public can see. They also weren´t in New York."
"That´s true.", I said and nodded. "They have been working to protect the world from interdimensional threats for a very long time now. The order is also steeped in traditions. That we managed to convince them to go public is already a miracle. As long as an enemy isn´t using magic, they are unlikely to get involved. I can´t begrudge them that after seeing some of what they have to put up with."
I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I had to help document said threats in preparation for presentations of the work of sorcerers to the UN. Most of the unwanted visitors were disgusting. And way too slimy. Urgh.
"But they are just regular people that go to this order to study, right? How does that work? Do they apply or something?", Mr. Douchebag asked curiously.
I laughed at the image of the Ancient One sitting on her desk reading through CVs.
"Not quite. Well, you have to know where to go and if it is right for you, you will find it."
A sufficient bullshit answer. I actually wasn´t sure how sorcerers were really admitted. I also wasn´t sure the Ancient One would give me concrete answer either, though.
It wasn´t long before the interview came to an end. We got another big round of applause and exchanged some bland pleasantries with the host.
I knew some of my arguments weren´t the most faithful. I didn´t often go into the data or react to some of the host more valid points. That wasn´t an accident. This was supposed to convince the casual listener, the general public.
The carefully worded arguments would be something I brought before the UN or something similar.
Finally, we were backstage and reunited with Domi. My shoulders immediately slammed down and I took of my tie. I groaned exaggeratedly and Domi laughed silently at my misery.
"Now, it wasn´t that bad.", Domi said as he steered us towards the an empty corner where we could open a portal without causing a disturbance with the staff.
I rubbed my neck, humming uncommittedly. I hadn´t noticed how tense all the attention on me made me until all that tension was gone.
"Cheer up, we´ll grab a bite to eat and then you have another interview at 2.", Domi said and clapped me on the back. I groaned again.
"Oh, and the team is definitely going to want to talk to you about your casual alien reveal. That wasn´t something they were briefed on.", Hank added. He gave me meaningful look.
"Ah, oops.", I said wincing. I could already imagine the desperation on the poor PR-team´s faces at that development.
"Hm, I´ll make it up to them by getting them some of my new banana bread. I fiddled with the recipe and got the exact texture I wanted.", I said, thinking quickly. "Have to make sure no one has a nut allergy though…"
"Banana bread?"
Hank perked up, his eyes shining bright.
"Can I have some?"
I gave him a wide-eyed look and turned to Domi.
"That feels like a cliché, is he really… - I mean, bananas?", I muttered.
Somehow I think that Domi´s laugh was directed at me, not Hank´s request.
Chapter End Notes:
Man, that interview went on for longer than I thought it would. I didn´t want to just gloss over the PR-work that MC´s plan requires, so that is what you are getting this chapter.
The next stage of his plan involves Hydra. That is going to be fun.
