xp_logs | Angelo and Fred, Tuesday evening

Angelo and Fred have drinks and catching up at Harry's. Talk gets serious.

"Feels like forever since I caught up with you", Angelo said wryly as he carried the tray of drinks to their table. "Which is probably partly 'cause I was a hermit after Africa..."

Fred had snagged one of the beers from the tray and inhaled it before Angelo had even arranged the rest of them on the table. It wasn't a desire to get drunk; it took more than beer to accomplish that. He was just thirsty and that's how he drank. Sheepishly, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and handed Angelo one of the beers, "Ah can give yah lessons in hermitry, if yah'd like. Ah've gone for tha record a few times."

He took it and drank a little less hastily. "I think we could go pretty well in competition. You've got nothing particular to hermit about right now, though?"

Fred shrugged a little, "Don't know what Ah wanna do or how Ah fit into the world. Standard twentysomething bullcrap, Ah guess. How about you?" Fred drank his next beer a little bit more like a human being, "How are yah doin, Jello?"

Angelo mirrored the half-shrug gesture. "Not having a problem with where I fit in the world, thanks to the Professor, but... eh. Nothing that won't pass with another round of phobia therapy. You know there's always a place for you at X-Corps if you want it."

Fred tried his best not to look concerned when therapy came up, "Iffen yah need tah talk, man...Ah get it, least Ah think Ah do, or I could...?" Fred shut himself up with another large slog of his drink.

Angelo waved a hand, trying more for reassuring than dismissive. "It's just fire. Been a thing for me for a long time and... well, you were there. I worked through it once, I can do it again."

Fred lit a cigarette, ignoring some of the ash falling into his current drink, "Just cause it happened don't make it fine, bro." He tipped the remains of his drink down his throat, "No one is forcing yah to make like it's nuthin, all Ah'm sayin."

"No, they're not", Angelo agreed, trying to pretend he hadn't been staring at the lighter flame. "But this is the..." A moment to count. "...third time I've nearly died by fire. Maybe it's my destiny but hell, I'm still here."

Fred, thick as he was, caught Angelo looking at the Zippo. He lit another cigarette, and handed it to the gray mutant. His voice got a little quieter, a little meaner, "Maybe..maybe it ain't the fire, hermano." Fred avoided Angelo's eyes as he grabbed another beer, "Maybe...maybe it's the assholes holdin tha' torches that's the problem..."

Angelo accepted it and took a deep draw, comforted by the small gesture and the cigarette itself in equal measure. "Yeah. Trouble is, it gets out of control. Second time, it wasn't even an asshole, it was John trying to fight off an invasion, years ago when we were still in school, but they tased him."

Fred's hand rested near Angelo's. He went to clasp his large mitt over his friend's, but hesitated and just took a drag off his cigarette instead, "Still counts as some asshole, rompin an'ah stompin down the side of Shithead Mountain, decidin the world would be better without us..."

Angelo caught the aborted movement and reached to pat Fred's hand quickly instead. "Yeah, there is that. Seems like we're right in the middle - human supremacists, all the different mutant supremacist groups, I know at least three, and then there's us trying to go for integration and they all hate us for it."

Fred smiled, and gave Angelo's hand a small squeeze, "Hate? Hate don't bother me. Only kin I have what don't hate me is mah Uncle Frank.
Hate is fine. Hell, it's the most 'Merican think Ah can think of. But when you start decidin yah get tah play judge, jury, an hangman...Ah dunno, Jello. Sometimes, Ah think..."

Angelo tilted his head curiously at that.

"Think what? You can tell me."

Fred sighed, pulling a full half of his cigarette into his lungs. He chased it with the entirety of another beer. As he finally exhaled, his voice came out even, "Angelo, they tried tah kill yah. You're one of tha better people Ah know. An' they woulda kept doin it. Woulda killed yah, or any one of us. And those kids... What about the next asshole that thinks Genosha was a good idea? Or tha next Mutie Messiah that wants tah make New York his own goddam Thunderdome...?" Fred sighed, "Is throwin these monsters in jail an pattin ourselves on the back really what we should be doin...?"

"Apocalypse was bad", Angelo agreed, "and Genosha was worse. The Moreaus got what they deserved and then some... but buddy, if we take that step every time, what does that make us? There's a reason the X-Men have that golden rule."

Fred waved his hand, "Ah ain't talkin about shootin folk that jaywalk or litter, Jello. But these guys like that Scottish Prick and Apocalypse and those MLF Killers...it ain't tha same. They wanna play without gloves, fine by me. But if you're killin people, usin people..."

"We still can't", Angelo said, low and intense. "Don't you get it, 'mano? Its a slippery slope. We start by playing executioner just for the serial killers or the worst of the worst, pretty soon it slips and before you know where you are, it'll be anyone that might be a threat. The Vault exists, the death
penalty and maximum security exist, we've got to keep to the law. Trust me, I know what happens when people start killing in self defense and don't stop."

Fred got quiet. He blinked a few times, trying to get something out of his eyes. Finally, "...they're gonna get us, Angelo. You, an Callie, an Vette, an Kyle an Doreen...all those folks they just don't like or can use or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.." he lit another cigarette, but could bring himself to take a drag off of it, "Ah don't think...Ah even can die. But they're gonna break out, and they're gonna make orphans and widows an jus keep doin it an...an it ain't goddam right..."

"They might", he had to admit, tapping the ash off his half-burned cigarette, "but that's the choice we make by being in this life, when we could just go off and live quiet somewhere. Because somebody has to be out there, fighting the fight to change things. And some of us probably are gonna die doing it, sooner or later. But the kind of people we're standing against murdered my baby sister just to make a point, and I am not ever, ever, again going to go anywhere near the path they're on."

Fred looked like he wanted to say something else...but it just devolved into cursing a little under his breath as he gulped down another beer. "Ah...sorry tah get all mean an weird...Ah just...Hadn't seen yah a lot since..."

"Since Genosha", Angelo finished with a nod. "It changed everything. I know. I promise, I don't think any less of you for being mad at the world, and if you really want to go that way... there's X-Force. But the stuff they do marks them, Fred, more than they were marked to start with. I'd hate to see it happen to you."

Fred started shaking his head, "Jello, Ah don't think that Ah'll..." He stopped, stared off in to space for a moment, then held up two of the many empty glasses, "Ah gotta no fuckin idea what Ah'm sayin. Next round on me...?"

"Sounds good", Angelo said, eyeing him with some concern. "You know, it's okay if you're not done re-evaluating yet. It was... pretty huge."