Genosha - Stemming The Tide: Ethical Dilemmas

[xp_daytripper]

During the hike to Jayresh’s people, various talks are had about their situation and what they should - and will - have to do.



"So just give it a tweak, yes?" mused Marius, studying the bit of leafmould he held cupped in his palm. Even this handful of dead plant had its own little tangle of red. Concentrating, the X-Man hooked one temporarily clawed finger around a tendril, and pulled.

His yelp as the leafmould burst into flame was decidedly unmanly.

Wanda's hand shot out and quickly put out the fire with a few well-practiced hand motions - no powers, simply knowing how to pat it out. "The darker the red, the worse the reaction," she said, wryly. "Even though you will not be able to tell what will happen when you manipulate it, know the color of the strings and know your environment. I do not wish to be the one to set the woods on fire this night."

"In fairness, I wasn't expecting spontaneous combustion," Marius pointed out. He shook the remains of the leafmould from his hand, his ego rather more singed than his flesh. He glanced up at Wanda and cocked his head. "You said you couldn't do luck, right? So what was it you did when the helicopter was going down?"

She had to think about it for a moment - this was all very strange, actually. Wanda had dealt with other chaos users and luck users but, probably thanks to Chthon's earlier influence, her power had always been a unique flavor. With Marius using "hers" at the same time she was, it was ... in her minds eye, the lines split and doubled, constantly shifting and moving. This could be a drawback or perhaps a plus, if she could time her usage to Marius'. But that was for later. Now, she had to explain the difference and she thought back to how Jennie's powers worked.

"If that had been Jennie in that pilot's chair, her powers would have made sure that the helicopter crashed just so - turned just right, found the ground with the least amount of trees, that kind of thing. One touch and suddenly, the best luck. I can imitate that ... kind of. But my powers are made for chaos, Marius, and sometimes the outcome is truly very weird. I mentioned the butterfly flaps the wings part earlier, yes?"

When he nodded, she continued. "In order for me to land that helicopter without killing us all, I was that butterfly but a thousand fold. You touched one string to cause that fire, I moved, oh, hundreds, on the way down. I caused the right engine to explode, which allowed us to miss a tree that would have killed us. But another tree on the way down caught the tail just so, allowing our descent to turn us away from the main forest." It was hard to explain outside of her own head. "Luck, I suppose, gives something or someone the opportunity or the opening it needs. Chaos manipulation is about forcing that opening to exist when it never would have."

"Granted, had it been Jen in the pilot seat we might've landed safely only to have the engine explode. She did rather have some issues with balance on occasion." Marius rubbed at his chin. "Cause and effect, cause and effect . . . engineer a series of causes to increase the odds of the desired effect. I believe I see." He dropped his hand and flashed her a quick grin. "However, I suspect this to be leading to some permutation of 'stick to the basics'."

"Perhaps it is showing my age but, Marius, I have been dealing with my powers for twenty-four years now. And I spent most of that not knowing what the hell I could do." And there was that whole thing with the piggy backing Elder God ... "So, there is no shame in admitting that, yes, 'stick to the basics' might be your best bet. You saw the condition I was in after the crash - there are limits and I pushed them. Hard. I do not want you doing the same."

"So, 'Marius, please refrain from breaking the laws of reality.' Yes, yes. If you insist. Why are people always telling me that?" The levity held for an instant, then the smile fell from his face. "And people?" he asked, a speculative look in his yellow eyes. "You did something to the blokes in the hanger. What happens if I use it on people?"

She turned to meet his eyes. "It honestly depends, Marius. A pull on a string attacked to a leg, broken bones or torn ligaments. But the right touch, the right string and they die. And it's not always a clean death. Chaos. Entropy. You unleash that on a human body and the results are not always what you want them to be." And here it was, the one thing Wanda had been hesitant about. Over the years, especially the last few, she had caused a number of people to die. But she'd struggled with it at first and, then, it had become part of the job. She knew when to 'pull the trigger' and when not to.

But Marius didn't.

"I find myself hard-pressed to care," Marius said, and there was a heat in his voice now. He flexed a hand, and the retractable claws Catseye's mutation had given him extended a fraction.

Raising his face back to Wanda he continued, "They took Yvette and Laurie an' some others right off, do you know? It's why they weren't in the cells with us. Don't know for what. Trying not to . . ." His hand curled into a fist, and for a moment he had to stop. "They showed us their 'public policy' towards mutants. Made sure we knew what they could do. Killing them -- compared to what they'd do to us, it's the soft option."

"Soft?" At that, Wanda's powers widened and red flared to life, living rings of energy coiling around her wrists. "No, Marius, there is nothing soft with using my powers to kill, especially when anger is what fuels you. It is not clean, it is not kind and it will impact you as much as it does them." The lines around them were mostly the gentle red markings and a few of them moved - animals, scurrying away from the encroaching humans. "Anger fuels your words and thoughts but when the battle is over and we go home, it won't be anger you have to live with."

"Better angry than helpless," Marius snapped, the bitterness so sharp it actually rippled the lines around them. The X-Man looked away for a moment, composing himself, before turning back to Wanda, and though the heat was still there it was softer now.

"I was on that table," Marius said quietly. "Me an' Jen an' Kyle. We all were. Drugs and injections and -- and other things. These sort of people, people who can do that -- you aren't human to them. And when they're done you aren't, not even to yourself." He forced out a deep breath, and the unconscious distortion of the lines relaxed. "It's not . . . the same, as what Campbell did to us. I know. Don't know for sure what the Genoshans are using, but it's not. Even still, when they brought out that girl, that 'example', that's what I saw."

The memory of what that monster had done to people Wanda cared about sometimes seemed as fresh now as it did those years before. "Campbell changed you against your will," Wanda said, watching the chaos lines shift and wind as if it would remove those memories from her brain. "And the Genoshans are changing others against their will. But killing someone? Oh, that changes you in ways you never thought possible." She dropped the powers with a sigh and rubbed at the back of her neck. "Besides, using your anger is good up to a certain point. And then it just makes you sloppy. Trust me, this power is not one you wish to be sloppy with."

Marius looked at her for a time, muscles in his neck and jaw working in frustration before he finally dropped his gaze. "Right," he said at last. "All right." And, though he couldn't really bring himself to feel it, she probably was. X-Men weren't supposed to kill. In many ways, it was easier to kill with one's powers than just disable -- and of all the things that could be said about doing the right thing, "easy" rarely made the list. But memories of Yvette's tearful pleas for the Genoshans to spare the students and Korvus' battered, mottled face disappearing behind the stairwell door still haunted him.

Time, she thought, to change the subject. "Until a chance to actually use the powers comes up, I am going to insist on two things. When possible, I want us to train - you might get an innate grasp on most of the power but not all of it and the last thing I want you to do is accidentally knock a tree down on yourself or something. The other? Meditation. That was how an old friend got me to control the power when it wanted to run wild."

Meditation might also help in other areas, too, like the anger and needing to focus on something other than the guilt and horror. Wanda hugged her arms around her middle as she watched him. She was worried. About all of them, about their situation and the ones left behind but worried about Marius, too. This worry, at least, she could work on and keep an eye on him. It gave her something to do, too.

The younger man gave her a look of mock-offence. "If you insist. But I am compelled to mention I was knocking down trees long before the benefit of your powers, though admittedly" he conceded, "often with my head. And running wild, come to that." He steadfastly turned his eyes towards the trail with an air of extreme nonchalance.

Wanda's own eyes narrowed as Marius' tail smacked her quite obviously in the back of the knee. "Depending on how meditation goes," she said, at least with some humor, "you might just end up knocking down trees with your head once more."

Marius grinned, and this at least was genuine.

"Apologies. Chaos, you know."





Taking a sip of water from her water bottle, Lorna continued to march forward. Her thoughts were lost thinking about Terry, Angel and Sam - hoping that they were okay. Looking behind her she saw Sharon, stopping and stepping aside letting others pass until she was side by side with her. "Hey. How are you doing? Water?" Holding out the water bottle.

"I'm okay," Sharon shrugged, smiling at her friend. "Must be the cat in me, I'm not thirsty at all. Did you know cats can go up to a month without water if they have food?" If it hadn't been for the circumstances, she would be quite enjoying herself out here, actually.

"No, I didn't know that." Lorna said, thinking about that little bit of information. Looking back over at Sharon and smiled a little. "I am glad to see that you are okay. We haven't actually talked since yesterday. Just wanted to make sure you are holding up alright."

"I'm always alright," the catgirl smirked. "I mean, I'm worried about my friends, but I spent a veryverylong time being a cat so I got very good at being okay. Surviving," she clarified. "I'm good at surviving. How about you? How are you doing?"

Lorna smiled at her, "I am glad to hear you are doing okay." Sighing and turning towards the front. "Tired. It was brutal yesterday. I cannot remember how many copters I brought down. All I could think about was surviving and trying to protect my team." Looking back over at Sharon. "But today, I am just...I don't know. I just hope everyone is okay."

Sharon cocked her head in thought. "You mean the people in the coptors? That you hope they're okay?"

"No, Terry, Angel and Sam." Pausing when she thought about the pilots in the coptors. "I didn't give a second thought about the people inside the helicopters. All I saw was machines that just had a lot of bullets."

"It's hard to give second thoughts about people whose job it is to kill you just because someone told them to," Sharon agreed. "I mean, it's not like they were trying to kill us because they were hungry and needed to eat us to live. Killing people just because someone told you to is NotRight."

"I agree not right. As an x-man, I personally try not to harm others gravely. But yesterday...it was all human instinct to stay alive." Taking another sip of her water as her mouth got really dry. "It was either them or my team. And I chose them."

Sharon put an arm around Lorna's shoulder. "There was nothing else you could choose," she told her, and then grinned. "Besides, being on your team, it's nice to know your team is okay with making those hard choices and doing things they might not like for the good of the team."

Nodding, "Yea I know. I just don't want to be on their level. But I'll do what I can to protect those that I consider family." Looking over at her and smirked.

"Me too," Sharon nodded. "But I like it best when we can just cook for people instead of protecting them," she joked.

Lorna chuckled, "Me too Sharon. When we get back, why don't we cook something that everyone will talk about for weeks."





Meggan paused in mid-step as they made their way through the forest. Several small tree roots snaked through the center of where they needed to walk, linked to an even longer one, and she looked back behind her. She didn’t want Matt to fall over those, or just get stuck.

“Matt? Come around this way, with me,” Meggan advised. She reached out to touch his arm, ready to guide him by hand to the safer area, if he wanted. A way that didn't involving hopping. “There’s a big, thick tree root poking out of the ground right here, for…about three feet. It’s regular grass again, right after.” It was a very healthy tree root, too, not one to be nudged aside with ease.

Powers or no powers, Matt was not used to hiking like this outdoors. He liked the urban jungle. Hiking 5th Avenue? Easy, even with all those women in their killer heels. Hiking forest in Genosha was a whole different thing entirely and even with his stick to help him he was needing someone to spot for him too. There wasn't a lot of sounds low to the ground to help make his sonar very effective either.

Reaching out with his stick he found it and traced the length a little ways before moving sideways towards Meggan. "I'm slowing everyone down," he murmured with a sigh. He hated that. Poor blind Matt. It seemed like if it weren't one thing here it was another.

“No, you’re not, Matt,” Meggan returned. She didn’t think he was a hindrance of any sort. “Giant tree roots could slow anyone down. Especially around here.” Or make them go faster, if they’ve stumbled along several feet in the aftermath. “Small dip in the dirt for your right foot to avoid a couple feet ahead,” she quickly pointed out. She had almost missed that one, as she swept her gaze around the ground in front of the two of them. Several vines draped along the trees only looked suitable for swinging on, and weren’t a danger for Matt.

"I found it," Matt replied. That was the point of his stick. He held it easily in his hand, arcing it gently in front of him checking his path before he took a step. It was automatic at this point and he rarely paused unless he found something with it. As his left foot took a step, the stick was checking the path to the right and vice versa for his other foot. "Did you hear the adults last night?" he asked, they were supposed to all be asleep, but he had heard them talking. Enhanced senses combined with incredibly high stress levels meant that he had trouble falling asleep. Plus, his head hurt with another migraine. He had to keep moving though. Stopping was not an option.

Meggan had awakened in spurts throughout the night. Not because of discomfort, really, since she could sleep almost anywhere. It was just to listen for anything that sounded out of the ordinary or scary after a particularly loud bird had shrieked nearby and startled her from sleep. “No, sorry,” she replied, suddenly curious. “I missed the talking. What did they say?” If adults had been talking under the cover of darkness and late night drowsiness, then she’d just missed it by a while. So her interest was roused. A medium-sized mouse scurried through the leaves just then—but since it successfully traversed the path to safety before Matt came through, she decided she didn’t need to warn him not to step on it after all.

Maybe he shouldn't've brought it up, "They were talking about killing people," he admitted quietly, taking her arm so that they could stay together and people wouldn't over hear them. "About killing everyone that tried to stop us. Or looked official," this did not sit well with him, but at the same time, he understood the emotion right now. It was running high.

Meggan frowned at that, hoping he was wrong, thinking to ask if he was certain, but she didn’t think Matt would have misheard. Not with his ears. She didn’t think she could ever do that, not to a person, even soldiers for an evil man. “Actually killing them? Even if they…if they weren’t sure they were the soldiers, only a chance of being official, and it wasn’t a fight?” Looking official didn't mean they actually were official. Someone could have picked a very bad day to wear something in the same vein as the ones after them. It was nothing as simple as tying up an officially evil soldier in the middle of the forest, and waiting for someone else to find him. This sounded much worse.

"Yeah," Matt agreed, "...I guess if it wasn't a fight and they just left us alone, it'd be different, but...I don't know. Thou shalt not murder is a commandment. Pretty sure that kidnapping a bunch of innocent kids and all that is a pretty bad thing too though," this entire situation was so messed up, it was not easy to say what was better or worse, it was all just shades of gray.

“It just seems wrong all over just now…a new definition ” Meggan agreed. She didn’t know what they could do about the discussion, whether they should tell somebody else in the group, someone who hadn’t voted on death. Picking people off because of a chance of them being responsible for something just seemed like it was reaching new levels in the category of wrong.

It was not a black and white world and while Matt had learned that from an early age, he sometimes still clung to the idea in the hopes that it could be. There was nothing black or white about what was happening now. "One of the staff at my old group home used to say that two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left," Matt said as they walked along, "She was full of crap like that, but I think she might've been on to something with that one."

It didn’t sound like bad advice to Meggan’s ears. “Do several rights and lefts together as a mix-up, and sometimes you’ve gone in circles and managed to get dizzy from consequences.” Since some things were right and wrong at the same time, or you couldn’t tell them apart from circumstances. “But oh, yes, she sounds like she might have been.” And the two of them were headed straight for a shrub filled with thorns at the side of the path, so she tried to gently steer Matt away from harm. “Thorny patch ahead,” she murmured to him.

While Matt's sonar gave him a vague outline, of whatever soundwaves hit, he did not get anything resembling details, so the thorny bushes had looked to him like any other bushes, a vague, oddly shaped mess. What things looked like in reality and with his sonar were two very different things too. It was a good thing that he was blind maybe, because he didn't think having double vision would work so well. "Actually, that makes some sense," Matt replied, letting Meggan guide him away, "Right and wrong aren't so clear cut. You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons and vice versa. And what is right to one, might not be right to another, so how do you choose? I just...I can't help but think that who ever they kill might have a family or something."

“You just go with what doesn’t feel nearly as wrong as the rest, for you or some others?” That was right, Meggan had also realized with some disgust, whoever was killed might have wives or husbands or little babies. Pets, even. “If not a family…then someone they’re very close to and that needs them, that isn’t part of any of this if it was a mistaken and not-official person stumbled into, and would miss them if they were gone.” People who might never know where they had disappeared away to, or even what had happened. There was going to be a lot of thinking.

"I guess," Matt wasn't sure it was something that he was able to really have a decent opinion on. It'd be nice if there was a priest to talk to. Not bloody likely. "This isn't something where someone is going to win or lose. Everyone loses. I guess all you can do is minimize the damage as best as possible."






Wade was sticking close to the kids, alternating between walking up either side of the group as they hiked because he was paranoid about being flanked and taking up the rear because he was also paranoid about an attack from behind. It wasn't that he doubted the others and their abilities, it was more... he needed something to occupy his mind with that wasn't a fantasy about killing Genoshans.

Wandering up the left side of the group, the spare staff he'd made in hand, the mercenary wandered up to where Pinkie and Molly had paused for a moment. "Hey," he said, keeping his voice low as he stopped near them. "Everything okay?"

Molly nodded a little. "I tripped, sorry," she said sheepishly. He had been moving back and forth so much and she kept wondering where he went and didn't see a tree branch sticking out of the road.

"Sorry," echoed Megan. She was moving slowly, afraid of brushing her wing against any branches. She didn't want to mess up the split and make her wing start hurting again. "I'm fine," she added.

"No worries," Wade said, pasting on a smile for the girls. He was still hyper-alert, but he could see Molly was a little tense, herself, and he wanted to keep an eye on Pinkie while they walked given her wing and how he wasn't entirely sure his tongue depressor splints had been quite good enough. "I'll pace you guys for a while, how's that?" And while he paced them, he thought... it might be time to have a bit of a discussion about some of the more unpleasant things they might see.

Every time Wademan got out of her line of sight Molly would quickly glance around to see where he went. She didn't like not seeing people when they were walking. What if they weren't there when she looked back?

"Are there lots of soldiers? Is that why we have to hide?"

"Something like that, half-pint," Wade said, nodding. He offered Molly a smile. "The soldiers work for the people who took you guys from the rally. They're not real happy that we came to get you back or that some of you escaped on your own."

This was the kind of conversation he would have liked to never have. Sometimes you didn't get what you wanted, though. "So... I need you two to be careful. You and all the other kids. And I need you to be prepared in case the bad guys find us."

"Stormtroopers," Molly said quietly. She glanced down, nodding. Bad things had happened.

"What do we gotta do?"

"I'll be careful. I'll dust the soldiers if they get close to us," Megan said softly, feeling much more confident about her ability to control her dust than ever before.

Wade smiled. "That's an excellent plan, Pinkie," he said, nodding. He tried to figure out a nice way to say what needed to be said next, but he just wasn't sure it could be done. "In addition to being prepared, I... need you both to understand that we might have to hurt some of the bad guys back if they find us." He wouldn't say that they wouldn't want to hurt the soldiers, if they came, because he knew that it would be a bald-faced lie - at least so far as he was concerned. And Wade made it a policy not to lie to his kids if he could help it. "Because I'd rather hurt them than let them take you guys back, alright? We're not looking for them, we're trying to avoid them, but... it could get a little messy if they find us. And I need you both to be prepared for that too."

Molly rubbed her hand, then fidgeted with her shirt collar. Her stomach felt funny, nervous. "Messy?" she said. She remembered blood on the ground. It almost looked like paint but it was from someone's head.

"Do we have to hurt them too?" she said. She didn't say 'beat 'em up' cause she couldn't do that anymore.

"Okay," Megan agreed. "I'm not much of a fighter, but I promise not to freak out. I kind of... panicked last time but it all worked out." Just remember your training, she added to herself, even though she was a little worried that her training would never quite prepare her to see a dead body up close. "Don't look at the bodies?" She was tired and losing track of what she was saying aloud and what was an inside thought.

"No," Wade said, shaking his head. "You don't have to hurt them - and you shouldn't have to look at any bodies because you'll have dusted them and they'll be off in some happy place in their own heads. If there's fighting, the two of you just head quietly in the other direction and try to stay out of sight. Just..." How did you tell a pair of kids not to look at you while you killed somebody? "Just don't worry - we're not going to let them take you back, okay?"

Molly folded her arms, glancing around the trees.

"Okay," she said quietly. She let out a little breath. "But don't go away though."

She wanted to believe Wademan but the other X-People came to rescue them and they got taken too.

Megan glanced from Molly to Wade. "Just dust and run. Got it." She looked back to Molly and remembered the time they were in the sewers together, seemingly a lifetime ago. "Let's stick together. We'll be alright."

Molly brushed her hair behind her ears. Megan was there, and Wademan, and other people. They could fight people. They had powers and stuff. Good thoughts.

She managed a soft smile, then nodded a little.

Reaching over, Wade tugged gently on a loose piece of hair that had fallen back into her face. "I'll stay close," he said, nodding. It was a simple enough request, after all. He wasn't sure he'd really gotten the point across to either of the girls, but he was really hopeful he wouldn't have to kill anybody in front of them.





"Just pretend it's a nature hike," Jean-Phillipe muttered to himself as he nearly tripped over a large exposed tree root. "Merde," he answered his own statement. That word had gotten quite a lot of mileage ever since the group at the protest had disappeared. And it would probably get even more before things were through.

"It could be worse," said Emma from where she walked behind Jean-Phillipe, not even deigning to notice the tree root as she glided gracefully along. "I presume you are not particularly susceptible to our mosquito friends." She made an all-encompassing gesture as Jean-Phillipe turned back to look at her, a gesture clearly intended to convey the sense of “you-are-electrical-and-can-thus-fritz-the-small-death-evil-things-even-as-they-land-on-your-exposed-skin-and-thus-are-lucky”.

"If one more person suggests that I change my code name to any variation of Bug Zapper, they will regret it." He did have to admit this particular benefit of the constant low-level electrical current on his skin was not one he had previously considered, but was rather grateful for. "Could you not use your diamond form?" he asked Emma with a shrug.

"I have been," replied Emma. "Short bursts when I need to. But I can't go diamond too often." Her hand gesture this time managed to convey

maintaining-a-telepathic-shield-slash-lookout-requires-constant-vigilance. "The things I do for these people..." she said and trailed off with a melodramatic sigh.

It was rather like being around an older, blonde version of his cousin, Jean-Phillipe decided. Which put him immediately on much more familiar ground. "Ah, the burden of having a power that is useful to the group," he said with a nod. "Although perhaps I should not be so amused about it, because I suspect that will lead to me becoming your own personal insect repellent or some such."

Emma smiled briefly. "I can take care of myself," she assured Jean-Phillipe and allowed diamond to ripple up and down across her features. A speculative look appeared in her eyes as she looked at the rest of the group straggling through the forest. "And I'll do the best I can for everyone else. I'm just not sure that we're making the right decisions."

Jean-Phillipe harrumphed. "I am not the person to be looking to if you wish for someone to argue with on that score," he told Emma. "If it were up to me..." He shrugged. "But it is not. Perhaps it is for the best, I know I can be...impulsive." His lips curled. "But I should very much like to show them just what a 'mutant terrorist' is capable of."

Emma, for the first time, really looked at the man she was following, which made her raise an eyebrow. "You were Magneto's, weren't you?" she asked bluntly.

Jean-Phillipe wasn't offended by bluntness. He rather appreciated it. He could be quite blunt himself at times. "One of them, yes." Which was one of the reasons he'd ultimately left that behind. When you realized that your idol had feet of clay, and a tendency to use up and discard young, fiery, idealistic men just like you...

"Did you join him because he told you things you wanted to hear?" asked Emma. "Or did you understand him? Where he came from? What happened to him during his war? Why he believed the things he believed?" Emma gracefully slid under an over-hanging branch. "Why we need to listen to some of the truths he told us, not just the idealism that Xavier spruiks."

"It was not any one thing," Jean-Phillipe replied. "Oh, he certainly appealed to my vanity, and my desire to be 'special'. I was quite jealous of my cousin's powers, and when mine came..." He rubbed at his forearms, where the scarring remained from the electrical fire caused by his manifestation. "He was there, and taught me to master my abilities. And so I went with him." He shrugged. "Perhaps Xavier is deluded in his own way, but I have come to prefer his vision to Erik's."

"Xavier is less deluded, more insanely optimistic," said Emma dryly. "Erik is more - pragmatic." She raised a hand in negation as Jean-Phillipe looked sharply back at her. "I am no more an adherent of Magneto's philosophy than I am of Xavier's. But Erik learned things in the concentration camps. Six million Jewish people died in those things. Over ten million, if you include all the others the Nazis thought should perish for being different. For being the other. And not a single country that joined the fight against the Nazis did it to save a single one of that ten million." For a moment, Emma frowned in sorrow, then erased the frown. "And if they had won, no-one would have stopped them killing all the rest of Untermenschen."

She shook her head. "No-one is coming here to save the mutates. No-one will come to save us if we lose. We are taking on a government. A legitimate government. We are terrorist, a militia, an invading army. Unless we win this, we will vanish into the camps and be forgotten until something else brings down this government. If they send their mutates out to invade other countries, the world community might care, but otherwise we are completely on our own. I will take Erik's philosophy of crushing the opposition beneath our armoured feet in this case, because otherwise we are all going to be killed and the world will pretend not to notice." Emma smiled wryly. "So - I would like to make sure our plans are foolproof."

"Homosexuals were part of the untermenschen," Jean-Phillipe noted. He -had- studied history, after all. "And yes, I should like our plans to be foolproof as well," he said. "I prefer not to die young in this backwater, with nothing but the mosquitos for company."





Fred lumbered along, making little noise save his grumbling and the occasional natural crunching under his feet; one odd side effect of his power was that his steps were naturally muffled. It seemed that, the more opinions floating around on what to do, the shorter his temper got. He was still a Trainee, and he'd seen for the first time just how potent the more senior X-Men could be. That, and the fact that Jayresh had given him some rolled cigarettes, were the only reasons Fred wasn't even less pleasant. Still, "...damn forrest, damned pissant insects flying around, damn...damn..." Fred sighed to himself, "...just damn."

Warren and the forest didn't tend to be too close either - he was a city boy through and through, his ventures out into the 'wilderness' usually involving various comforts provided when you had a lot of money. And as much as he pulled his wings in close, they still caught on trees, the tips dragging on the ground and not helping with the whole trying to be quiet.

"It's better than the alternative," Warren replied, falling into place just behind Fred.

Fred turned to look at Warren, blinking, " Mr. Worthington, right? Ah didn't realize that there were any alternatives..."

"Please, call me Warren." Warren offered him a smile. "You could have remained in captivity. The rest of us could have been captured. We could have more injured than we already do." He paused. "We could be in India."

"Those ain't alternatives," Fred grumbled, holding back a lower branch so Warren and his wings would clear easier, "Hell, we could be on the surface of the damn sun. Just cause there're worsen things..."

Warren shrugged. "I'm an optimist, some of the time. I tend to look on the bright side of things." He nodded to Fred in thanks as he ducked under the branch. "We're free, which is a plus. We've found each other, which is another plus. We've found a guide, another plus. All of these things mean we have the opportunity to rescue those still held captive and find anyone else who isn't."

"An what happens when we find'em? What about the other mutants ain't with us? What's to stop these assholes from grabbin us again!?" Despite his anger, Fred kept moving the brush out of the way of the winged mutant, and kept scanning the area around the group...

"We'll dissuade them. They don't have the benefit of surprise anymore." Warren paused, looking for the right way to explain this. "The only reason the Genoshans think they can get away with this is by labeling us terrorists. And unless we're careful, that's exactly what they'll turn us into. It's a fine line we're treading, being here."

Fred grumbled, lighting another cigarette with the still smoking remains of his last one, "Terrorists? Us? They kidnapped a bunch of us and they're doin God knows what to the ones who didn't make it out. Iffen we're terrorists, then fine. Iffen that's what we are tah get our friends back and get the hell home, then fine...!!!"

"No, it's not fine," Warren replied. "The X-Men aren't terrorists. We're in a sovereign nation here, and it's easy to spin to make it look like an invasion. We're interfering in the operation of a country, and if it gets out of hand, the repercussions for us - and mutants worldwide - could be devastating. Magneto and the Brotherhood are wanted worldwide, and the reason why the X-Men continue to be able to operate is because we haven't crossed that line into being terrorists."

"Magneto goes looking for fights." Fred spoke with a even drawl, like what he was saying was the most sensible thing in the world, "These assholes brought us here. We're finishing a fight we ain't responsible for startin...!"

"That doesn't justify any means necessary. Yes, they provoked us. Yes, they took our own prisoner, but that doesn't give us the right to destabilize an entire country because of that. The Genoshan people as a whole aren't responsible for the crimes of their government, and it's up to them to topple their rulers, if that's what they want. We absolutely have to hold them to account for taking our people, for the way they treat mutants, but if we interfere further than that we give Magneto legitimacy, we show the world that we think we're above their laws, that because of the power that we have, we think we can do whatever we like. And just because we have the ability to do that, it doesn't mean we should."

Fred blew smoke out of his nose, "Mr. Worthington, Ah..." Fred sighed, "Yeah. Sounds really nice. Lettin people decide for themselves whether or not we're pets or meat or guns. Everyone gets tah hold hands and move towards the future together." Fred looked back to Warren, "How long were you held in their facility, Mr. Worthington? How many did yah see with numbers on their heads, or punches did ya take...?"

"I'm not saying that what they did was right, nor that they should escape justice for what they've done. But who are we to administer that justice? What gives us the right to make that decision?" Warren ducked under a branch, otherwise not paying attention to their surroundings otherwise.

"True change isn't imposed on a country from the outside, it has to come from within. Sometimes people will turn a blind eye to the atrocities of a regime, or tell themselves it's justified if those in authority tell them it's okay. But they can and do change their minds - Germany didn't keep the oppressive regime created by the Nazi party, and South Africa ended it's apartheid with a vote, despite all of the violent resistance to it over the years. We didn't force a regime change in India, we simply countered the use of mutants in combat. It's the same here - we absolutely must rescue our friends and expose to the world the abuse the Genoshan government is subjecting mutants to, but we can't bring down a government just because they've attacked us. It's not our right."

Fred stopped. He took a few breaths, and then dropped his cigarette on the ground, "...Yah got some good points, Mr. Worthington." Fred fished one of the last cigarettes from the crushed pack he'd been given, "When we find out how many of our friends are in bags or hospital beds, when we find out how many people have been taken and turned into tools...iffen we live tah find out how far this goddam place is from Germany or India or wherever..." Fred looked back over his shoulder. Maybe he was narrowing his eyes because he was pissed. Maybe he was narrowing them to keep them from getting wet, "Tell yah what, when we find out every inch of the evil these people have let happen, you can tell me alllll of that all over again, yeah? You can say it to everyone left. See how warm it keeps em. We'll call it a damn social experiment."

A very large branch split the small trail in half. Rather than navigating around, Fred just stomped on it until it looked more like a gnarled root, "Iffen your plan is tah use real nice sounding ideas when we get outta this forest though? Hate tah break it to yah, but they got artillery and brainwashing equipment. And they don't mind using either. Suppose no one told them any of this crap, huh...?" Fred tried to laugh, but it died in his throat after a single harsh bark. Instead, he just sighed and moved further ahead...

"Well, if worse comes to worse, we have telepaths," Warren replied simply. And there were also the crowd from Snow Valley, which Warren wasn't going to say out loud. The X-Men held themselves to a certain standard and followed a certain code, and the Snow Valley group did as well - but what those standards and codes were extremely different. And while Warren often didn't agree with the lengths they went to, and would always prefer to find another way - there was a reason why the team was so busy, and handled things that the X-Men didn't and couldn't. Because sometimes, the most extreme measures were the only option left.