The library was quiet, as a library typically should be, but never had the library in the Xavier mansion been so still.
The X-Men gathered had yet to change out of their uniforms following their mad dash to the jet post-battle. Ash and dirt clung to exposed portions of their faces and arms while the lengths of the fabric stretched over panels in their uniforms were missing patches, revealing padding and thin plating beneath.
Kitty looked relatively untouched, but you wouldn't be able to tell that by the thousand-yard stare she had fixed on the overlapping flames in the fireplace.
Eventually, Kurt and Jean joined them following an examination by the Auto-Doc downstairs. Kurt's sallow skin and ruddy eyes nearly matched the stained bandages fixed around his left wrist. Jean, on the other hand and had arms laced with lacerations and a tissue in one nostril to staunch her nose bleed. The idea that these were the best possible versions of her friends, newly released from the robot doctor made her question the validity of the machine's capabitlitys, or perhaps that they were lucky to even be alive.
Even with the team whole again, the silence remained unbroken. Someone, Anna wasn't paying attention to who, continued to maintain and stoke the fire. The heat slowly allowed her to feel the pinpricks in her fingers and shoulders again. If that was a blessing, she wasn't sure, but at least she was now fully aware this all hadn't just been some sort of dream.
"What happens from here?" Kitty asked in a whisper that a mouse would struggle to hear. Her glazed eyes continued to reflect the dancing flames, and their subsequent soft yellow illumination made her sockets look hollow.
"I'm not sure." Scott leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his hands together. With how stiff the maneuver looked, Anna could feel pain in her midsection just by watching him. "We wait for marching orders from the adults, I guess."
Evan put his hand on Kurt's knee, and Kurt held it in place with his hand. He stroked the back of Evan's calloused knuckles with his thumb.
"We did good out there." Jean crossed her legs on the couch. Her voice sounded strange, like she'd inhaled a pillar of smoke. "We saved a lot of lives stopping Jugernaught. The cops, hell, even Ororo and Logan, none of them could have stopped him without us." She paused to clear her throat. "We saved the day today. The X-Men."
"There were so many cameras," Kitty whispered to the point that it sounded like a whimper.
Scott tousled his hair, "I think it's why the professor gave us the helmets."
"Wish I had thought of that before I took mine off." Anna rubbed her forehead with her hand. She could feel grit grinding against the flesh of her face.
"That's why we had the watch cloak as a backup. You had yours on, right?"
She checked her watch, and the pulsing icon on the face indicated it was still on. She tapped the button to deactivate it. "Still witnesses."
"Nutoriously unreliable. I wouldn't worry about it."
Jean pulled the wad of bloodied tissue out of her nose. "What's done is done." She sniffed. "There's no use worrying about it now."
"Oh my god." All eyes turned to Kitty.
Jean rubbed her nose. "What?"
The phone in Kitty's hands was trembling. "We're all over the news… CNN, ABC, FOX-" She turned her phone around to show the others a video of a bird's eye perspective of the fight they just had. It was at the point Logan pounced on Jugernaught, and Jugernaught in turn grabbed him by the leg, twisted it, and cast him aside at fastball speed.
"And what's just as baffling as the one-man terrorist who took the small seaside town of Bayville by storm only hours ago," Declared a lady reporter in the typical clear-cut way of speaking the profession is known for, "are the masked individuals who stepped up to eventually defeat him."
The video then displayed Scott's optic blast ripping into Jugernaught's chest.
"We've had reports of some sort of previously unseen laser technology spotted on the scene, as well as an individual able to disappear and reappear at will. There have even been reports of unusual weather patterns allegedly connected to the site of the battle. Witnesses report seeing a woman supposedly directing a tornado while floating in the middle of it."
A blurry image of Ororo popped up on screen. Likely taken from a window in one of the buildings, it was at such a bad angle that it barely caught the shape of Ororo. But if you knew what to look for, you could see her.
"The conflict only ended when one of the masked men seemingly wrestled the large man to the ground, where he soon lost consciousness."
Anna watched herself overpowering Jugernaught, who stood easily twice her height. He fell backward and took a knee. However, the camera was too far away to see Kitty removing the helmet, so a moment later, Jugernaught seemed to fall limp and pass out without a clear reason as to why. Then there was the shot of Anna taking off her helmet and staring back into the camera. Thankfully, the watch's scrambler seemed to be working just fine, otherwise, they would have had a great shot of her face.
"The masked individuals fled the scene, and the terrorist was captured by-"
Kitty paused the video, "I can't listen to any more."
Kurt scratched his head. "At least they aren't calling us the terrorists."
"Not yet," Anna mumbled, what was meant to be just a thought, but realized she had said it out loud when Kitty cranked her head in her direction. Anna averted her eyes.
"No way!" It was Evan's turn to stare at his phone. "Nuh-uh!" Before anyone could ask, he turned his phone to show Xavier sitting with a reporter at ABX7, the local news station.
"-And you're a professor of genetics, is that right, Mister Xavier?" Asked a blonde woman with long hair wearing a silver powersuit.
"That's right. I have the papers to prove my credentials should the need arise." Said Xavier from the edge of a cheap-looking desk in his wheelchair.
Kitty leaned in, "What the heck?"
"I'm sure that won't be necessary, thank you, professor. I was told you could give us some insight into what happened this evening. If I may ask," The reporter hardly bothered to repress a chuckle, "how exactly can a professor in genetics explain a terrorist action involving futurstic technology?"
All the students leaned in close.
"Well, Susan, the answer is just as simple as it is complicated. This terrorist was no ordinary terrorist, and the individuals who fought and defeated him to save the town were no super soldiers with superior technology. Miss Harper, these idividuals are Gifted, or more commonly refered to as, Mutants."
Anna felt her ears begin to ring.
"Gifted? Mutants?" Another snarky chuckle from the reporter, "Excuse me, professor. What do these terms even mean?"
"For a while now, there have been goings on unknown to most. It's been easier for my people that way. With this terrorist action, it seems our way of life is impossible to conceal any longer."
"I'm sorry, professor. Are you telling me you, this terrorist, and these masked people are part of some sort of secret society?"
"Nothing quite so conspiratorial."
Anna could feel Scott shaking from where she sat. "What. Is. He. Doing?"
Xavier went on, "Animals are required to constantly evolve in order to survive. Giraffes have long necks to eat from trees, cheetahs run fast to catch prey. Mutants are simply the next evolution of the human species, and those abilities vary in order for our species to test and discover what works best to continue forward."
"Are you suggesting that what we have seen in downtown Bayville are superpowered people? Do all geneticists believe what you do?"
"There are many interpretations of the data. However, you could say I have unique insight."
"And how is that?"
"That mutant terrorist that attacked the city… he is my brother."
Anna thought the stream was buffering, but instead it was simply the length of time the reporter stared at Xavier.
"What?"
"Students," Ororo entered the room flanked by Logan. "I apologize we've been gone so long, I-" She caught a glimpse of the phone in Evan's hand. "I see you already know…"
"What is he thinking?" Scott stood and shouted. "What was the point of even concealing our identity out there if he's just going to tell everyone! What does he want, people to burn crosses in our yard?"
Logan leaned on one of the chairs for support. Anna noticed he had a pretty bad limp in his walk. "Easy, kid. Just take a breath."
"To hell with that! We risk our necks out there while he's sitting in the ship-"
Jean put her hand on his shoulder. "Scott, I'm sure there is an explanation. We need to hear what they have to say."
Scott bit his lip. It was hard to tell with his sunglasses, but she thought she saw tears collecting in the corner of his eye.
"I was hoping we could be the ones to tell you." Ororo looked from Scott to the rest of the students. "Xavier told me before he took a cab to the station what his intentions were. I wanted to give you all a moment to decompress before telling you. He… is going public with Mutants. He wanted to be clear he wasn't going to reveal anything about us. He will share no identities about the masked individuals and no details about his institute. In light of Jugernaught's rampage, he saw that there was no way to avoid the Mutant conversation any longer. If that was the case, he thought it was best if he got ahead of the narrative."
"He should've asked us." Scott hissed.
"There wasn't time. He had to act quickly in order to direct the media away from you all."
Kitty looked up from her place on the couch. "Are we in trouble?"
"It doesn't seem that way. Reports all seem to agree that the masked people saved the town and the lives of many by defeating the terrorist. Xavier suggests, and I agree, that we move on with life as normal to draw away any suspicion."
"And you all did save a lot of lives." Logan looked at each of the students in turn. "You all deserve medals if it were up to me. You stepped up well and above your weight class. You took care of each other out there and watched each other's backs. You were a real team. Ororo and I couldn't have done it without you."
"All of this," Kurt looked at Anna, and she looked right back as he said. "Just got really real, didn't it?"
"There is…" Ororo clasped her hands in front of her and looked at the ground as if praying. "One more day of the weekend left. I would suggest taking it to get some rest because on Monday, you are to be back in school. Xavier isn't sure if he will be on the premises, so until he can come home, I am to be in charge. Logan and I will keep you abreast of any changes."
Scott looked back at the group from where he stood. "We're family." He said, though the film in his throat. "No matter what happens, we're going to be there for each other."
Anna stuck her hand in the open space between everyone. "To family."
Slowly, the others placed their hands on top of hers. "To family." They said in unison.
** AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey there! I wanted to let you know that I've decided to publish the entire backlog of Rogue Evolution on my website, artoflupin.com. There you'll find chapters as far ahead as "Snow Fall 11.6", and in a couple of weeks, I plan on having the log on my website be a chapter ahead of any other site I post to!
If you'd prefer to wait for uploads here, no worries, uploads will continue here as scheduled.
Thanks! **