Categories > Cartoons > X-Men: Evolution > Aftermath
DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
CHAPTER 13
Even with things looking better for mutants in the future, that doesn't mean that the amount of paperwork has lessened.
Professor Charles Xavier was actually done going through his paperwork, and now he was going through mail he had been getting from lots of people he had never even heard of before. They were just common, average people writing to express what they felt over everything that had happened.
Some people were apologizing profusely for ever believing that the lies fabricated by Stryker and the FOH could ever be true... some people doubted it all from the beginning... some people didn't know what to think at all... and some people still felt glad that a bunch of "mutant freaks" were killed.
The few people remaining who were glad over what happened would probably get theirs soon enough, one way or another... in Xavier's mind, this whole tragedy reflected Aesop's fable of Jupiter and the bee, and the moral that went with it: "He who prays hard against his neighbor brings a curse upon himself."
If only Hank were here, Xavier thought. No doubt the wise and intellectual mutant would have found lots of quotes applicable to this situation. Two from Voltaire came to mind, about how prejudice was the logic of fools, as well as how if someone could make you believe absurdities, they could make you commit atrocities.
"Professor X" was never really the vindictive or vengeful type, but this whole debacle came close to bringing out that little "dark side" that resided somewhere within him. He remembered full well how he wanted to strangle Stryker with his bare hands when the madman came in and showed him the ghastly pictures of all the mutants killed in the middle of the night.
If Xavier were just a bit more vindictive, he would have relished just how hard the FOH fell after flying so high during the massacres. In fact, the President himself had taken all the money the FOH had acquired during the debacle and instead given it to the victims of the families. As the President told Xavier afterwards, he felt that if the FOH had been allowed to keep that money which they really didn't deserve, it would have contradicted the idea that crime didn't pay. The government was also footing the bill for the reconstruction, which was good.
Not that money could ever bring any of them back...
Xavier knew full well how ever after the horrors of the Holocaust during World War Two, there were people these days who said that the Holocaust never happened, who ranged from anti-Semetic hate mongers to mere skeptics and conspiracy theorists. (Interestingly, practically none of these people resided in Europe, where the Nazi concentration camps still remained as a reminder to the world.) For all Xavier knew, some decades down the road in the future, there could be people claiming that the "Mutant Holocaust" never happened, in spite of the irrefutable evidence which Xavier and Magnus showed to the world, supplied by Stryker himself.
Now, I've never tampered with anyone's mind unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary... yet it is so tempting to confront these hate mongers and burn those ghastly images into their minds.
Also... while such a thing would have surely sounded racist, Xavier felt horrible over being one of the most powerful telepathic mutants world, if not the most powerful telepathic mutant in the world, and still being taken down by humans like Stryker. Maybe it had to do with being so powerful and yet, at the same time, being so helpless to do anything.
It must be one of the worst moments of being a mutant... knowing you have so much power which you can do such wondrous things with, and still being so helpless and unable to do anything about it.
Xavier could feel himself just sinking into a well of depression...
I really should stop thinking about it now... after all, dwelling on the past will do me no good.
Even though Xavier may not have been as religious or devout as some other people he knew, such as Kurt, he had come to develop his own philosophy regarding virtues such as forgiveness and patience.
He could eventually forgive all the various FOH members, who were brainwashed by Stryker and therefore not entirely in charge of their facilities during it all.
He could eventually forgive the President of the United States for allowing such a thing to happen, even if all this was so elaborately planned that he himself was fooled along with everyone else.
As for the press and the media... well, perhaps he wouldn't be forgiving them as soon. They were quite ready to say all those damning things about mutants after Stryker had attacked them. After all, they lived for and produced sensationalism, anything to ensure their sales, practically the same way birds flew and fish swam. It wasn't as though they stopped and thought about it, saying, "Hey, maybe we should make sure this is true first?"
They had indeed gone through dark times... but those who had been murdered would be remembered and honored, and would not have died in vain.
Xavier knew that the trick was to remember the past, but still be able to move on towards the future.
And my X-Men...
He would never forget those who had died, and would honor their memories, for they could never be truly replaced... and yet at the same time, he would happily welcome all their former rivals and enemies to the team.
What a diverse group we now make in terms where we all came from, he thought to himself.
Of course, he planned to recruit more members. Warren and Betsy were only among the first of his new recruits since the massacres. He had already sent out letters to Forge, Dorian Leech, Danielle Moonstar and others, inviting them to come. Even after what had happened, the Institute was the safest place for mutants to be at the moment.
As Xavier continued to think to himself, words from that fateful night back in the nation's capital came back to him...
No one knows how old mankind is... but it is most certainly old enough to know better.
Xavier had an uncanny feeling that he would go down in history remembered for those words... and he wouldn't have minded that one bit.
Looking back down at his desk, he also saw the time on his clock: Nine PM. Maybe I'll just go through a few more letters before I retire for the night, he thought to himself.
"Charles?"
He looked up again to see his old friend standing there in the doorway.
"Magnus... what can I do for you?"
Magnus lifted the chess set he had been carrying under his arm and showed it to his old friend.
"It's been a while since we last played chess... and if I recall correctly, you still owe me a rematch," Magnus added with a tiny smile.
Xavier couldn't begin to describe how wonderful he felt to see Magnus smile like that again, especially after all these years.
Besides, the letters and paperwork would all still be there in the morning.
"Alright, Magnus... let's play."
As Magnus set up the chessboard, Xavier thought to himself: This chapter in mutant history is behind us... let the next chapter begin.
A/N: Ah, to be honest, I was looking forward to writing this one. Also, this is the only chapter in the fic (outside the prologue and epilogue, that is), which has dialogue in it... just thought I'd point that out.
Note about Aesop's fable, "Jupiter and the Bee": I have a book of Aesop's fables, which is where I got this from. If anyone's interested, the book I'm referring to is a hardcover book whose ISBN number is 0-448-06003-5.
Note about the thing with the press preferring sensationalism: Now, I'm not going to be so stereotypical to think that all journalists and news companies or whatever are a bunch of people who twist the truth into whatever increases their sales the most... but often, a lot of them do. These days, the news often seems more like the commentaries of whoever is giving it, rather than simply information about what's going on in the world. Even then, they don't always give both sides of the story, typically gravitating towards the negative and whatever will definitely get people's attention. I've seen for myself how lots of news reports, even "special reports," are so slanted in their arguments that you could roof a house with them.
Note about the thing with playing chess: I got that from the X-Men movies... but somehow, it just seemed right to put it in here.
Up next is the epilogue... -Quillian
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
CHAPTER 13
Even with things looking better for mutants in the future, that doesn't mean that the amount of paperwork has lessened.
Professor Charles Xavier was actually done going through his paperwork, and now he was going through mail he had been getting from lots of people he had never even heard of before. They were just common, average people writing to express what they felt over everything that had happened.
Some people were apologizing profusely for ever believing that the lies fabricated by Stryker and the FOH could ever be true... some people doubted it all from the beginning... some people didn't know what to think at all... and some people still felt glad that a bunch of "mutant freaks" were killed.
The few people remaining who were glad over what happened would probably get theirs soon enough, one way or another... in Xavier's mind, this whole tragedy reflected Aesop's fable of Jupiter and the bee, and the moral that went with it: "He who prays hard against his neighbor brings a curse upon himself."
If only Hank were here, Xavier thought. No doubt the wise and intellectual mutant would have found lots of quotes applicable to this situation. Two from Voltaire came to mind, about how prejudice was the logic of fools, as well as how if someone could make you believe absurdities, they could make you commit atrocities.
"Professor X" was never really the vindictive or vengeful type, but this whole debacle came close to bringing out that little "dark side" that resided somewhere within him. He remembered full well how he wanted to strangle Stryker with his bare hands when the madman came in and showed him the ghastly pictures of all the mutants killed in the middle of the night.
If Xavier were just a bit more vindictive, he would have relished just how hard the FOH fell after flying so high during the massacres. In fact, the President himself had taken all the money the FOH had acquired during the debacle and instead given it to the victims of the families. As the President told Xavier afterwards, he felt that if the FOH had been allowed to keep that money which they really didn't deserve, it would have contradicted the idea that crime didn't pay. The government was also footing the bill for the reconstruction, which was good.
Not that money could ever bring any of them back...
Xavier knew full well how ever after the horrors of the Holocaust during World War Two, there were people these days who said that the Holocaust never happened, who ranged from anti-Semetic hate mongers to mere skeptics and conspiracy theorists. (Interestingly, practically none of these people resided in Europe, where the Nazi concentration camps still remained as a reminder to the world.) For all Xavier knew, some decades down the road in the future, there could be people claiming that the "Mutant Holocaust" never happened, in spite of the irrefutable evidence which Xavier and Magnus showed to the world, supplied by Stryker himself.
Now, I've never tampered with anyone's mind unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary... yet it is so tempting to confront these hate mongers and burn those ghastly images into their minds.
Also... while such a thing would have surely sounded racist, Xavier felt horrible over being one of the most powerful telepathic mutants world, if not the most powerful telepathic mutant in the world, and still being taken down by humans like Stryker. Maybe it had to do with being so powerful and yet, at the same time, being so helpless to do anything.
It must be one of the worst moments of being a mutant... knowing you have so much power which you can do such wondrous things with, and still being so helpless and unable to do anything about it.
Xavier could feel himself just sinking into a well of depression...
I really should stop thinking about it now... after all, dwelling on the past will do me no good.
Even though Xavier may not have been as religious or devout as some other people he knew, such as Kurt, he had come to develop his own philosophy regarding virtues such as forgiveness and patience.
He could eventually forgive all the various FOH members, who were brainwashed by Stryker and therefore not entirely in charge of their facilities during it all.
He could eventually forgive the President of the United States for allowing such a thing to happen, even if all this was so elaborately planned that he himself was fooled along with everyone else.
As for the press and the media... well, perhaps he wouldn't be forgiving them as soon. They were quite ready to say all those damning things about mutants after Stryker had attacked them. After all, they lived for and produced sensationalism, anything to ensure their sales, practically the same way birds flew and fish swam. It wasn't as though they stopped and thought about it, saying, "Hey, maybe we should make sure this is true first?"
They had indeed gone through dark times... but those who had been murdered would be remembered and honored, and would not have died in vain.
Xavier knew that the trick was to remember the past, but still be able to move on towards the future.
And my X-Men...
He would never forget those who had died, and would honor their memories, for they could never be truly replaced... and yet at the same time, he would happily welcome all their former rivals and enemies to the team.
What a diverse group we now make in terms where we all came from, he thought to himself.
Of course, he planned to recruit more members. Warren and Betsy were only among the first of his new recruits since the massacres. He had already sent out letters to Forge, Dorian Leech, Danielle Moonstar and others, inviting them to come. Even after what had happened, the Institute was the safest place for mutants to be at the moment.
As Xavier continued to think to himself, words from that fateful night back in the nation's capital came back to him...
No one knows how old mankind is... but it is most certainly old enough to know better.
Xavier had an uncanny feeling that he would go down in history remembered for those words... and he wouldn't have minded that one bit.
Looking back down at his desk, he also saw the time on his clock: Nine PM. Maybe I'll just go through a few more letters before I retire for the night, he thought to himself.
"Charles?"
He looked up again to see his old friend standing there in the doorway.
"Magnus... what can I do for you?"
Magnus lifted the chess set he had been carrying under his arm and showed it to his old friend.
"It's been a while since we last played chess... and if I recall correctly, you still owe me a rematch," Magnus added with a tiny smile.
Xavier couldn't begin to describe how wonderful he felt to see Magnus smile like that again, especially after all these years.
Besides, the letters and paperwork would all still be there in the morning.
"Alright, Magnus... let's play."
As Magnus set up the chessboard, Xavier thought to himself: This chapter in mutant history is behind us... let the next chapter begin.
A/N: Ah, to be honest, I was looking forward to writing this one. Also, this is the only chapter in the fic (outside the prologue and epilogue, that is), which has dialogue in it... just thought I'd point that out.
Note about Aesop's fable, "Jupiter and the Bee": I have a book of Aesop's fables, which is where I got this from. If anyone's interested, the book I'm referring to is a hardcover book whose ISBN number is 0-448-06003-5.
Note about the thing with the press preferring sensationalism: Now, I'm not going to be so stereotypical to think that all journalists and news companies or whatever are a bunch of people who twist the truth into whatever increases their sales the most... but often, a lot of them do. These days, the news often seems more like the commentaries of whoever is giving it, rather than simply information about what's going on in the world. Even then, they don't always give both sides of the story, typically gravitating towards the negative and whatever will definitely get people's attention. I've seen for myself how lots of news reports, even "special reports," are so slanted in their arguments that you could roof a house with them.
Note about the thing with playing chess: I got that from the X-Men movies... but somehow, it just seemed right to put it in here.
Up next is the epilogue... -Quillian
Sign up to rate and review this story