"With greater insight as to the causes of what destroyed half of Bayville's backyard a week later, what are your opinions on the incident now in retrospect, Professor?"
Professor Xavier sat across his interviewer on an island, to himself. His interviewer, a smart looking woman in a gray blazer and bright red blouse, rested her elbows on a desk near wide enough to sit two. The Professor sat across from her in an interview style inteded for a live audence. His body faced a focused crowd behind an array of cameras, while his head was aimed in the general direction of his host.
"Well," the man folded and refolded his hands in his lap. He'd picked up the mug that sat on the small table to his left a couple of times but had yet to take a sip. "I'm not sure that I'm qualified to speak on the specifics of the incident itself. That's a matter for police and government agents to assess damages and seek out those who may be a danger to others."
"But you know those who are on the recording, correct?"
"Pardon?"
In the recording of the interview, highlights of the fight with the Juggernaught are playing over Xavier's left shoulder.
"You identified those involved in the destruction of the town as Mutants, and that the creature that attacked to town is, in fact, your brother."
"Generally in these sorts of circles, it's seen as a rather impolite way to describe people with such abilities as simply 'Mutants.' They prefer to go by 'Gifted.' For they are just like you and me, but simply are born with a quirk in their DNA that allows them certain abilities beyond the typical. A 'gift' if you will. The man, who made the unfortunate decision to lead this rampage, is in fact my stepbrother. As there are people who make poor choices, such as stealing, there are gifted people who make poor choices as well."
The host leans back in her chair with a crooked smile on her face. "A 'gift' is the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes?"
"The abilities on display in downtown Bayville are, of course, on the side of the extreme -"
"You're a," the host looks at a paper on her desk, "professor in genetics with a niche specifically in human genetics."
"That's correct."
"In your studies, did you predict that anything that we saw on display could even be possible? Super people having a grudge match? Did your brother, being one of these creatures, the one that destroyed the town, have something to do with your interest in the subject?"
"It's believed in ever-growing circles in the genetics community that the next step in our evolution as a species is not in a small step but a large leap. The species is always looking for better ways to adapt to its environment in an ever-changing landscape, such as -"
"So, men with claws and people who can make tornadoes are the next step in evolution?"
"Evolution is not linear, and it is not planned. A variety of factors also affect a person that could foster such changes in an embryo or a genetic line, such as radiation -"
"So all our kids and grandkids are eventually going to be Spiderman and Superman, is that what you're saying?"
"That is not what I'm saying -"
"Because when we all look at the tape, professor, we see a bunch of hopped-up lunatics tearing apart a peaceful suburb, and you've been on a crusade to blame genetics."
"I'm not blaming genetics, I'm -
"Then what are you doing?"
The professor's chin momentarily dipped towards his chest. He collected a breath that straightened his sagging back and shoulders.
"Ma'am, the last people that blamed genetics for a person's behavior were led by a very evil man with a small mustache, and I'd appreciate you not conflating me with such an individual. As for what I'm doing, I'm attempting to shed a little light and help a group of people who have been long been marginalized with no reguard by the greater public."
"Marginalized individuals, you say?"
"In the film, you clearly see a man destroying an innocent little town where nothing bad ever happens. What I see are young individuals attempting to stop what would have been a greater tragedy. On location reports by first responders and witnesses all agree that conventional means proved ineffective against the giant and that it was only when the strangers appeared did the rampage ended."
"Whose to say they weren't in on it together?"
"You're eyes if you look long enough, ma'am. If they were in on it together, why not join in on the destruction of Bayville? Bayville, a sleepy town where, over the past five years, there have been 3 reports of gifted, or if you'd prefer, mysterious MUTANT deaths and 2 unreported ones. All were not even given the courtesy of a 48-hour investigation before being filed away without or having the body being identified. Labeled simply as John or Jane Does before being cremated, their remains mysteriously disappear.
"That's not mentioning a country-wide epidemic of under-reporting or investigating the disappearances of those described with similar abilities to those shown. They were simply branded as 'runaways' or as 'drifters' despite many being minors and being run out of their town."
The host leaned back, rested one hand on her lap, and curled a fist on the desk. "There are more?"
"Every person in the world has some degree of mutation that is either passed down by our ancestry, aggravated by our environment, a way to solve a problem we all face at large, or a mixture of the stated and more. Yet, when I look at you, I call you human, and when you look at me, you call me human, yes?"
"Sure, but these mutations… gifts, we saw last week, what do they have to do with evolution?"
The Professor threaded his fingers together and let them come to rest in his lap. "I don't know, and there is no real way to know. However, I know the moment I look at you and you look at me and we can't call each other equals, than its not the evolution of our bodies we should be worried about but the evolution of our society."
Anna and Kitty shared the phone between them, but Kitty zoned out about halfway through, and her eyes hadn't left the window of the bus since. Anna knew the feeling, she was there not that long ago. The interview live stream ended, but the live comment feed was still active. Little gray bubbles flew by so fast they were hard to read. She saw one say "psudo science bullshit," and another, "the Prof is such a little weirdo cuck". There were a couple others were on the other end of the spectrum reading: "Dayum that bitch got cooked!" and "One of the better interviews on this station. Wish he could get more screen time".
When the bus finally arrived at school and Anna got off, she felt the snap of the early winter air on her exposed neck and face. It then quickly penetrated down into her sore muscles and hollow feeling bones. Steam rolled off in great plumes all around her from other buses and from the breath of her peers. A flood of bodies pushed past her to start their days, but she found it difficult to follow along with them. When she looked to her left, just a few feet away, she spotted Kitty looking the same way she felt.
Anna took the other girl by the hand. When she caught her eye, Anna flashed her a cocked eyed smile and said, "I know. But whatever happens… we all face it together."
Kitty's glassy eyes grew a little more red and puffy then before as a tear ran its way down the profile of her cheek. "Yeah," She breathed in sharply before flashing weak smile back, "We face it together". Anna felt the other girl squeeze her hand tight.
However, as the day rolled on, Anna had a hard time not looking over her shoulder and feeling like every glance her way was weighted down with something on the other end of it. She spotted more posters of the X-MAN appearing in shadowy corners and under stairs and wherever else the fluorescent light couldn't touch. She found just as many becoming increasingly more and more brutally defaced. Instead of just a few crude messages, several had started crossing out her eyes or saw through her throat. There were remnants of ripped corners still clinging to the walls by thin strips of transparent tape or bright blue tack, like little grave markers of fallen 11x8 paper soldiers. What stopped her in her tracks was the mural.
In the breezway between buildings was a spray-painted image of her lying in a pool of her own blood. Standing over her was a guy with rippling muscles armed with one smoking gun in either hand and a big fat combat boot resting on her back. On his black shirt with ripped sleeves were the letters FOH in bright red, and dangling between his lips was a half-smoked cigarette.
Anna stared at her own face lying dead on the brick in front of her. It wasn't her face exactly. No one had been able to clear up the image enough from the photo to tell it was her, so instead it was the pulpy face of some-anybody. Despite the soft jawline, large nose, and crooked teeth, they decided to give her X-MAN persona; she had no issue seeing herself in the image. She reached out and touched the split lip of her face, and red, tacky paint stuck to her glove. The whole thing was still wet.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Anna snapped her neck back when she heard the voice and spotted a couple of boys. Like the man in the image, they too wore black shirts with the letters FOH emblazoned on the front in red. "So he really did do it!"
"Who?" Anna spun to face the boys so quickly that one of her backpack straps slipped from her shoulder. "Who did that?" She pointed a rigid arm at the painting.
"My boy, Nathan!" Answered a boy with bright blond curly hair. He took out his phone, scrolled through the screen, then showed Anna a smaller digital version of what was on the wall. "I'll admit it translates a little differently on the big scale, but he's got some talent."
"I didn't think he was going to actually skip class to do it." His friend decided to add. "Guy is already on his second strike with Mr. Morgan. Could have gotten a write up for that shit."
"Hey," Anna threaded her backpack strap back over her shoulder and did her best to soften her voice. "That's pretty cool. Mind if I get a closer look?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure. He's got an Insta with a bunch of other stuff like it." The guy brought up the Instagram and handed it over to Anna. "He made all his art around this one dude named 'Dreadnought' who is like this mutant hunter or something."
"Wow, will you look at that," Anna said just before raising the phone above her head and smashing it on the ground at her feet. She ground the fragments of screen and crumpled electronics beneath her boot heel.
"The fuck is wrong with you - you crazy bitch!" The guy moved to push her, but instead she grabbed him by the collar.
"You think I'm crazy?" Anna shoved the boy hard into the wall, where he lost balance and dropped onto his rear. "Boy, you haven't even seen crazy yet." With both hands, she grabbed him by the collar a second time and pulled him up to her eye level. She rubbed his face against the wall hard enough for the paint to dye his skin. "You think this shit is cool? Huh? You think this is funny?"
"Payton!" The guy squeaked, "Do something, man!"
"I got you, Ashton!" Anna paused when she heard the sound of a knife being pulled free of its sheath. She turned only in time to see the glint of a six-inch buck knife get plunged into her shoulder.
"Mother fu-" She shouted and dropped the boy. He scurried away from her as Anna clung to her shoulder and spun to face her assailant. "Oh, you are going to regret that!"
And apparently he already did. At least he did enough not to move a muscle or even blink. All the boy with the knife did was stare at her with his mouth agape. Not a moment later, the boy whose face Anna had redecorated with paint was staring at her with the exact same lack of expression. Then Anna's attention slowly shifted from the boys to the buck-knife one of them was carrying, and she discovered it didn't have a drop of blood on it.
"Wha-Wha-What the fuck?" The boy with paint on his face started to chuckle, and tears welled in his eyes. "Why - what - why?"
His friend with the knife dropped it on the ground. It was there under the bright light that Anna could see the tip was dented. Her eyes flicked back up at the boys, and she bared her teeth. She pretended to lunge at the pair, and they darted away from her, screaming for their lives. "She's one of them! She's one of them!"
When the dust settled, Anna knelt down and picked up the knife with slow probing fingers. The metal was thick and there was hardly a single knick or scratch on the surface. The knife could have been bought yesterday as far as she could tell. Yet, there was the long dent at the tip. She curled she shoulder inward to take a look at the point of impact. Her favorate top now had a new hole it it, but the skin completely unscathed.
"Well… shit."
"But you swear you're okay?" Kurt rested his hand on Anna's shoulder while they walked in the direction of the bus later that day. "Anna, you were attacked by a knife!"
"It's not like it's anything crazier than we've already been through. Not that long ago, I had a man literally twice my height in a headlock."
"Maybe, but that's different! That's-" Kurt waved an arm to the horizon before them, "out there. This is school!"
"I'm fine, Kurt." Anna tugged her phone out of her pocket when she felt a text. She saw it was from Kitty, who was apparently already on the bus.
"Where are u?" It read with a suspicious lack of emojis, her texts typically had.
"I'm literally 30 seconds away," Anna replied and tucked her phone back in her pocket. She felt it vibrate again, but whatever Kitty had to say to her could wait the few seconds it would take for her to board their bus.
"You could still be in shock," Kurt continued. "I hear that happens after something traumatic like that. Maybe you're still running off adrenaline and don't even know it."
"This thing happened almost three hours ago, Kurt. Look, I don't know why exactly I'm fine, but I swear I'm totally good."
"Okay… if you say so." Kurt scratched the fine hairs on his chin. "A little brother worries, you know."
By the time they round the corner to the lot where buses were parked to board, they found that no one was particularly interested in finding their bus. Instead, everyone, including the teachers and staff, was only interested in what was going on around the flagpole near the enterance of the school.
"And I don't frankly give a damn what you think!" She heard the shout of an adult in the middle of the crowd. "Now board your bus before I make you!"
Anna and Kurt rushed to the scene and found in the middle of the pack were three boys dressed in those FOH shirts surrounding a teacher. She didn't know the teacher personally, but she'd seen him around.
"We're not asking." Said the tallest boy of the bunch. He was holding a balled up red flag in his hand. "The people need to know this is a safe place, because if it's not, that's a problem."
"If there is a problem, young man, that's for us staff members to figure out. Now give that to me and go to your bus!" The teacher grabbed a loose end of the red flag, but the boy didn't let go. "Do you have something in your ears, boy? I said to return to your bus!"
"And I said not till after this place is marked as safe against whatever fucking mutants are out there!" The boy shoved the teacher to the ground. "The Friends of Humanity are the only thing standing to defend the human race!"
When the teacher fell, he hit his cheek on the concrete base of the flagpole. He lost his glasses, and his thinning hair was disheveled. He bent at the waist, out of breath, and his face was red from pain.
"Fuck these guys." Anna pushed herself into the twisted mass of her peers. "Hey!" She shouted above the growing restlessness of the crowd. "Hey, you ass clowns! Why don't you pick on someone in your weight class?" She felt and hand grab her by the wrist. She spun on the spot with a fist raised to see it was Kurt who had grabbed her. "Kurt?"
"No, Anna!" His wide eyes flipped between her and the scene unfolding before them.
"Kurt, what are you doing!" Before she could get an answer out of them, she heard one of the FOH boys surrounding the prone teacher shout.
"Whose calling us ass clowns? Easy to hide in a crowd and say that shit!"
Anna turned back towards the boys to call back when someone cut her off at the pass.
"I called you that, and who's hiding?" Emerging from the crowd was a linebacker from the football team, along with a couple of his friends. "You get off on knocking down my English teacher to the ground, fuck face?" He pointed with his squared jaw and cracked his knuckles. "Want to take on someone who can actually fight back?"
The three FOH kids leave the teacher on the ground and face the newly arrived boys who stand at least a head taller then all of them. "Why are we fighting?" The ring leader says as he unravles the Friends of Humanity flag before him. "We are all brothers and sisters against the same enemy. The Mutants who tore up our town."
"Really, is that what you think?" The linebacker squared up to the leader. "You're painting with some pretty broad strokes down there, little man. All I saw in that fight was two groups having a fight, and I'm just glad the good guys won."
"You can't actually think it's that simple."
"Let me put it in a way you might better understand." The linebacker leaned in close to the boy's face. "As someone whose been told a lot in my life that I'm "one of them," or that "I might be one of the good ones," I can't say I like where you and your little shit eating friends are going with all this."
"You know I don't mean it like that. I mean, come on, they aren't even human!"
"That's not what that professor said on the news. Said all of us are mutants in all sorts of ways. If that's the case", then the linebacker and his friends cross their arms over their chest like Anna had in the news footage. Time stood still as Anna looked around and saw several of the students around her do the same thing as the linebacker.
"Enough of this shit!" One of the FOH boys draws a knife out of his boot and lunges for the linebacker. The linebacker, in turn, cold-clocks the boys and drops him to the ground. What follows is a melee outside the school with students attacking other students.
Anna feels an arm wrap around her, and the world disappears in a flash, only for it to return from the point of view of inside the bus. "What the -" She turns to see Kurt holding her from behind with glassy eyes, staring out the window over her shoulder. He was leaning on her, and she could feel his labored breathing. "Kurt, did you -"
"Oh, thank God!" Kitty popped up in a seat next to them. "I tried to text you, but you weren't answering!"
They looked out the window and into the kayos in front of their school. Dragging, fighting, punching, kicking, utter destruction. The only thing to stop it all was a loud and sudden bang from what sounded like a gun. When Anna looked, she saw at the top of the stairs to the school was Pricipal Darkholme holding a starting pistol into the air.
"Enough!" She shouted loud enough to rattle the windows of the bus. "This is a place of education, not some sort of barbarian proving ground!" She loaded a second blastic cap into the pistol. "Now, when I fire this again, you will all have thirty seconds to get on your bus. Anyone who is not on their bus will be expelled. Ready?"
BANG