The mood of the team in the briefing room that day was that of tension, of anxiety. It had the muted air of a force defeated. It was not a morale that the Professor particularly liked, but under the current circumstances, he couldn't very well blame his charges for their feelings. Storm, Beast, Rogue, Logan and Cyclops sat around the table. To the far end of the room, in front of a large wide-screen projector stood Jean, arms wrapped around herself, features drawn in stoic determination as she looked at what was on the screen.
It was a DNA string. Next to it were two cells... a virus and an antibody. Her brown brows were tilted. "The information we garnered from the government server was extensive," she said, the light from above the table reflecting in her fine-rimmed spectacles. "Hank and I collaborated on interpreting the data, and Kitty assisted in helping us access the mail files and converting them to text files. I wish I could say what we found was nothing to be concerned about..." She ran her fingertips over her lips, taking a moment to collect herself. "It is. What you see in this projection is the contingency plan of the United States government in dealing with what they call the 'Mutant Problem'. It's a problem they feel they need to control, and the Legacy Project is their answer."
Rogue frowned. "Legacy... isn't that what all those files 'r' called?"
Jean nodded. "Legacy is the codename for their defense against mutant-kind - the viral body you see before you now."
Rogue felt a yawn inside of her. A virus... they were making viruses to deal with them?
Professor Xavier's brows knitted, and he pulled in a steady breath. "What does this virus do?"
"Thankfully it's still in development, so this virus may not exist yet." She pulled a laser-pointer from her pocket and clicked it on. "What you see here is a healthy human cell." The red point of light floated around the much larger of the two cells. "It has a nucleus, and all the chemicals and bodies needed to create more cells of it's kind. Viruses are, very simply, packages of RNA or DNA encased in a protein shell, that invade healthy cells and use their replication material to procreate. Without healthy cells, viral bodies are helpless, and cannot multiply." She pressed a button on her laptop and the slide changed. The picture was now of a close-up of a DNA string, and a close-up of a viral body. In both of these were highlighted segments. "This particular virus, the Legacy Virus, needs the existence of a particular DNA sequence in its host to activate. Without it, the cell ejects the foreign material and the virus is flushed out of the body. The government have dubbed this DNA sequence the X-Factor gene."
"Catchy title," rumbled Logan.
Jean eyed Logan unappreciatively for a long moment before continuing. "From here on in it gets a little complicated. To put it simply, once the virus locates this x-factor gene, it absorbs it into its RNA and replicates. The virus goes through the body this way, targeting the special systems that are responsible for a mutants' abilities. The mutant slowly loses their abilities, till they're no longer present in their bodies."
Rogue felt herself glancing to Logan, her heart thumping in fear.
Silence dampened the room, the Professor weaving his fingers together and bringing them to his jaw, leaning on them dourly. "Did you manage to find out how they were planning to utilize this virus?"
"Affirmative," said Jean, pressing the laptop again. A tree diagram was up on the wall, all leading up to National Security. "This project is funded by the Department of National Security. I can only assume that the president knows about this. It's a project that would have been under the highest of secrecy. For Magneto to have found out, he would have had to have someone on the inside. Of course, he does have someone on the inside."
"Senator Kelly," supplied Xavier.
"Exactly," said Jean. "Another project we saw mentioned in mails and documents, also funded by the DNS is 'Project Sentinel'. From the context in the messages and the incredibly brief descriptions we were able to gather, it doesn't refer to something medical. It's a defense project. In one document, they referred to using the Project Legacy in lieu with Project Sentinel to gain total control of all dangerous mutants. The word 'sentinel' connotes someone that stands guard. I have a feeling it's some form of policing project, with mutants in mind as the target." Jean turned off the pen and the slide show, folding shut her laptop.
Eyes were down turned and hands clasped together, a darkness in the usually bright brave features. One by one they looked to their leader, Professor Xavier, their need for his wisdom, his guidance, his calm, painfully evident. He lifted his head proudly, sighing a little, looking to his team with a quiet defiance.
"This shall not slow our work," he said. "We will fight this, however, we will do it as X-Men. It won't be easy, trying to combat something like this, and staying within the confines of the law. Unlike our renegade counterparts, we will not take human life. We will not endanger those that cannot defend themselves against us. And as always, we will defend our human neighbours from our own kind and any unjust acts that mutants may try to inflict upon them."
Logan clenched his teeth, hazel-green eyes flashing with anger. "So while these bastards try to take away what makes us who we are, we're gonna smile and hand 'em our freedom as well?"
Xavier's eyes grew cool then. "No, Logan. As I said... we will fight them." He sighed, looking down, a dent of sadness in his brow. "This is a war, after all."
A bleep chirped from the console beside Xavier, and he pressed a button at it.
"Professor, I know you only want us to use this button in emergencies, but I think it kinda counts as one and-"
Xavier's expression softened a touch, and he fought to keep the smile off his face. "Slow down, Jubilee, and tell me what's wrong."
"It's the news sir... you guys are on it."
The energetic voice of the news reporter spoke over the muted whirr of helicopters, the slightly shaking camera work detailing the destruction left from the night before. Policemen staggered into ambulances, trails of blood dribbling down their harried features. A shot cut in of four men carrying away officers on stretchers... both of them enveloped in vinyl body bags. The children about the television looked on in horror, holding themselves, covering their mouths or just shaking their heads in disbelief. One boy looked back at Cyclops, a frown of worry on his face.
"You didn't do that, did you Mr. Summers? You didn't kill people, right?"
Cyclops' jaw tightened a little as his expression hardened. "No, Jake, that was the other guys."
"What other guys?"
"The Brotherhood."
Rogue gasped, "Oh mah God..."
On the screen was suddenly shaky footage of a group of people creeping in front of the building. Two broke away from the main group, and these two the cameraman followed. One was taller, obviously masculine, the other was shorter with dark hair and a shock of platinum bolts.
"Footage of the perpetrators was enhanced by the FBI," nattered the television reporter. "From the two groups of people leaving the complex, only one mutant was identified." A fuzzy infrared image of a tired old face in a smooth round helmet was flashed on screen in a small yellow border. "This man was imprisoned last year for an attack on the International Summit from the Statue of Liberty. The attack irreparably damaged the statue, the structural integrity of the extended arm insufficient to allow repairs. Erik Lenscherr was sentenced to life imprisonment at an undisclosed location, which was inexplicably discovered. He escaped when followers of his militia group laid siege to the top secret government installation, destroying the very infrastructure of the building itself."
Another picture flashed upon the screen - it was the dark shady figures of the X-Men fleeing the scene. "The second group of unidentified mutants are thought to be a separate entity from Lenscherr's self-proclaimed 'Brotherhood of Mutants', though they are still suspects in this attack. They arrived half an hour later to the scene, the Brotherhood suspects fleeing shortly afterwards. Computer enhancement was able to salvage this image from the news footage." Another image swept out from the picture of the X-Men. It was a zoomed in picture of Logan's belt, the yellow of the 'x' belt buckle proudly spelling out his affiliation to anyone with the right knowledge. "Witnesses claim that the second group all wore uniforms, each one bearing an 'x' similar to this one. Are they a highly organized vigilante group? Are they terrorists? Officials say that from the differentiating behaviour of the two groups, and the actions of the two, that the 'X-Group' may have been there to stop Lenscherr's Brotherhood." The report cut to a swarthy police-chief, talking to a reporter beside the camera.
"From eye-witness reports we were able to gather that the second group were highly organized, and highly focused. They did not inflict any harm on our officers. All they seemed to be interested in was getting inside of the building."
"Are you saying that this second group are innocent of the damage the lab suffered?"
"No," the Police Chief said. "Not at all. They still trespassed upon private government property, and they need to be detained and questioned, despite what their intentions were. This is a serious crime and we need to find out what went on here tonight."
"What is your response to speculation that the two groups may have been working together?" asked the reporter.
"Current evidence doesn't point to that scenario, but it is a possibility. Not a very strong one, but a possibility none-the-less."
Jubilee turned from the television screen, looking to the Professor, voice soft and eyes sad. "They said that a reporter and five news crew died. Thirty policemen died, Professor. From organ rupture and burns and stuff."
The Professor laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I know Jubilee."
Rogue massaged her brow, eyes closed, a crease of stress between them. "What are we gonna do, Professor? They think we're terrorists. This'll give the Government even more reason to neuter us of our powers."
Xavier sighed, rolling his chair away from the television. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it is not totally unexpected." He pressed his lips together. "Our level of secrecy has always been of high priority, but now it's importance is of even more consequence than previously imagined." He trundled away from the sitting room, away from the stunned groups of children. The X-Men followed him slowly. "I knew that the X-Men would one day be identified, and I was hoping it would have been under much more favourable circumstances." He sighed. "Although our introduction to society is less than amiable, our actions shall speak for us and hopefully clear our name."
From behind Rogue, Logan folded his arms. "And what actions are those?"
Xavier looked to Logan. "That of a peaceful group, a group formed to help society, not thwart it."
The X-Men trailed behind Xavier in silence as they made their way back to the briefing room. Although their collective mood was that of defeat, somehow, despite their dire circumstances, there was hope.
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