#topic: mutants

[beginagainbugle]

In Response to Central Park

The Daily Bugle has received a letter in response to the events at Central Park from a man who has seemingly risen from the dead! I guess what they say is true! When mutants die, they never truly stay dead, do they? While the Daily Bugle is publishing this letter, it is important to note that we do not condone this behavior, nor do we stand by it. However, it seems that Mr. Summers is angry. That he’s waging a war. Mutants waging a war on humankind? Wouldn’t be the first time, would it? – J. Jonah Jameson

The history of the human race is one filled with horrific events, one plagued with massacres. You, as a species, have two world wars under your belt. You have decades of history which see human beings bought and sold like merchandise, entire races of your own kind forcibly removed from land that is rightfully theirs in order to make room for others with more in way of riches. You have built bombs capable of aftershocks that last decades. Every time there is someone more vulnerable than you, every time, you find a way to exploit those vulnerabilities. You weaken them further, you take what is theirs. You go to ‘war.’ 

You are not, I suspect, accustomed to these people fighting back.

Rebellions are so easily crushed. That is what the history books show us, even when these rebellions are framed as terrorist attacks or wars where both sides had some chance at winning. This, however, is rarely the case. A war is not a war when one side has weapons significantly more powerful than the other. A war is not a war when society as a whole favors the victor long before they have won. A war is not a war if the outcome is predetermined.

When the United States government sent their enforcers to Central Park, when they set up a trap designed to hurt as many of my people as possible, they were not anticipating a war. They view mutants the same way their ancestors viewed the people they removed from their homes when arriving in this country, the same way they viewed those they sent out to work in the fields — as something less than. 

I am here to tell you all that they, like those who made these assumptions before them, are wrong.

Mutantkind has tried to adhere to the laws humanity has set in place for them. We have gone above and beyond for people who sling slurs in our faces. For years, the X-Men have fought for humanity and still, you hate us. We have fought alongside you and you kill our children in the streets. You send men with guns into parks, you aim those guns at children, you threaten them for the crime of having been born. We are so very few and still, you keep coming for us. 

Central Park was the last straw. Today is the day we stand up. Today is the day we say no more.

I know what people will say about me. I know many of you will read these words and accuse me of inciting violence. I understand this. I wish I saw another way to go about it but, truth be told, I don’t. All we have left is threats. The threat of revolution, the threat of a fight we know you are not prepared to win. You are not used to the people you knock down getting back up. You are not used to the downtrodden fighting back. That changes now. Make no mistake — this is a threat. It is one you have driven me to make because nothing. Else. Has. Worked.

I didn’t want a fight. I really didn’t. What I want, what I have always wanted, is peace for my people. You took that from me. 

I know by now you’re all aware of what happened in Central Park. I know what the papers said. I know you know what happened to me. I’m telling you it doesn’t matter. You can’t kill an idea. It always comes back, resurrected or reborn into a different form. 

This war isn’t one we started. It isn’t one we wanted. But it is one we will fight. It is one we are prepared for.

Are you?

- Scott Summers

[beginagainbugle]

An Essay in Response to "On Diplomacy: A Manifesto by Magneto" & the newly Ratified Accords

The Daily Bugle received this letter only a day after Secretary Ross and Agent Ross announced the new amendments to the Accords. It seems not everyone appreciates the olive branch – and money – thrown their way. But we’re an honest source of news here at the Bugle! We’d be remiss if we didn’t show you this shocking story just as we received it! – J. Jonah Jameson

First and foremost, I feel the need to start off by quoting an old friend of mine. Several weeks ago, an anonymous source delivered quite the message from him and his words were as follows:

There are those amongst us who believe that diplomacy is the answer to the conflict between mutants and humans. I regret to say that there can be no diplomacy.  Diplomacy and negotiation are predicated on the very simple idea that two opposing parties have some measure of equality; that one can offer something to the other and gain something in turn.  Further, both parties must have a degree of respect for the other party, something that will hold them to account for any agreement reached.

There is no equality, and there is no respect…

I ignored his speech because I know him. We never agree on anything these days and even if I hope to reason with him, nothing I say will ever change how he feels about you people. The two of us — and I mean not to sound boastful — but we have been tasked with leading a sizable amount of mutants with each group strongly believing in one idea or the other. In Magneto’s case, I refer back to the quotes above and in my case, I have always given you a lot more credit than you probably deserve. My ideals and the ideals of many who look to me as their leader, all revolve around finding a peaceful means to end the conflict that you started between those with ‘gifts’ and those without. I am the person he refers to in his point about diplomacy.

However Mr. Secretary, if I am to be completely honest, my old friend has a point. It almost pains me to agree with him on anything these days because in order to see his side of the coin, that means I must face the reality that my ideals fall on deaf ears sometimes. I had hoped it would not come to this; that I wouldn’t have to leave the shadows and safety of the school I protect in order to speak on the hypocrisy within the propaganda you keep shoving down the American people’s throats, but it would seem you have left me no choice in the matter. Let us begin…

Agent Ross starts his foray into this shameless propaganda that means to justify discrimination of mutants and those like us by offering a rather smooth, backhanded compliment ——as if he has ever been in the presence of a mutant as opposed to the heroes he/they once hailed that are the primary reason for these Accords in the first place.

“There are those among us who have incredible gifts. Dangerous gifts. A brave new world.”

Dangerous, Agent Ross? Our ‘gifts’ are incredible, but dangerous? We do not need your backhanded compliments. Call it what it is. You all think that we are something to be feared and leading your speech with such nonsense is an insult to our intelligence. Your words are but a subtle jab; a way to incite fear into average person, but I digress. There’s more, my fellow mutants.

“The secretary says that I’m ‘uniquely qualified,’ because I’ve seen it. Not because of my training or my expertise. Not because of the missions I’ve flown or the lives I’ve saved. But because I was there, when Superheroes fought. And I gotta tell you –” He laughed again. “It’s amazing.”

Just what exactly have you seen Agent Ross that uniquely qualifies you to speak on behalf of mutants? Aside from Dr. Banner ( a special case I will not dive into today ), how many mutants have you seen up close? How many have you actually met in person and conversed with in some lengthy form? How many have you seen in combat against ‘your kind’? One experience with a bunch of heroes that — at one time — could freely walk the streets without being persecuted does not make you uniquely qualified to do anything on our behalf. All the people have is your word on your experience, but who’s to say your word wasn’t fabricated for a moment such as this?

You go on to describe what you saw in Wakanda as a beautiful dance that left normal people in awe of what you were witnessing. You practically ooze saccharine as it pertains to our unique abilities but then you swing the hammer in such a way backwards that I have to wonder if my hope is wasted on the likes of you homo sapiens.

“…the dance has to end… the dancers have to come offstage, and into the audience…. We have to learn how to share that world. It needs to be safe for everyone who lives here.”

Agent Ross… Mr. Secretary, it is rare that I read something that isn’t written by Magneto and feel the need to react harshly, but this is one of those times I cannot let your unfairness go unaddressed. I will not reduce myself to inciting a war you all cannot win, but I will say this:

You claim that the ultimate goal of these Accords is so that we can all share the world and feel safe while doing it, but what you fail to understand is that we mutants have wanted this all along. Not the Accords, but the permission to live among you as regular people. We all bleed the same thing Mr. Secretary, but I cannot help but point out the hypocrisy of your words. Furthermore, who are you to tell those with gifts they were born with to ‘get off the stage’, as if this stage was one many mutants asked for. Even IF we register; take off the masks and reveal our locations to you day and night, what are we truly accomplishing here? Registering our names won’t make anyone feel any safer. All this does is allow you easy access to us. Should you decide in your next speech that the best thing for the entire world is to eliminate those pesky dancers then we are but sitting ducks — something I hope has never even crossed your mind.

Persecuting people… telling the public that we’re all dangerous mutants that need to be put in check is not how you make the world a better place. You hardly know us, Mr. Secretary. You’ve never once sat down with us nor taken the time to reach out and actually educate yourself about what you are truly dealing with.You are operating on assumptions; using your irritation at the Avengers for costing you billions of dollars by assuming all of us are exactly the same. 

Not all of us are like my old friend. A vast majority of us are living every single moment alone and in fear; fear of you and the world that continues finding ways to paint us out as horrible people. Instead of trying to find common ground that does not include throwing us in holding cells for not bending to your will, you and Mr. Stark — who likely hasn’t met many mutants either — decided that we needed to be checked; never mind the fact that most of us haven’t done a single thing to deserve this treatment except exist in a world that has never taken kindly to anything different. My mutants are not suiting up everyday fighting aliens on your behalf. We’re not costing you billions or embarrassing you on national televisions with our heroics. The true embarrassment is you, Mr. Secretary.

“We made these rules for one reason, and one reason only. To prevent terrible intentions from becoming unbearable realities.”

What intentions do you speak of? Even though I do not know the Avengers well enough to speak on their behalf, I think it’s safe to assume that all they’ve ever done is use their abilities on behalf of humanity. I’ve never met Captain America but of all the Avengers, I admire him the most. Not only did he help save your sorry hides from an alien invasion, but he walked away with no bloodshed after the very people who made him turned their backs on him. If that is how you treat one of your own, I shudder to think how you would treat people like us. Speaking of us and your so-called rules…

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. —Article 14; the US Constitution

The rules of governing citizens as stated in the Constitution apply to all and we mutants have never questioned it. Many of us walk the straight and narrow; we obey the laws despite being forced to remain in the shadows due to the prejudices you keep pumping into the media. A majority of us have never broken any of the laws and on the off-chance you happen to catch an occasional rule breaker, it’s often because of something your people have done first. Left unprovoked, we go about our business. When provoked, well… 

My point is that despite the clear violation of the Constitution that these Accords are in direct opposition of, we mutants carry on anyway with the hope that things will change for the better. Your latest stunt does nothing but further HIS argument — that you not only see us as monsters, but as something other than rightful citizens who are awarded the same protections by the Constitution as everyone else. Yet you extend a hand to us as if things are going to magically change with the signing of our names yet in the same breath, we are to be taken by deadly force if necessary; killed, chained or even locked away without any kind of trial if we oppose you.

And if I am mistaken and by rules you meant the Accords, then I must sincerely apologize. The rules placed in society are meant to be followed if the government and the people governed are meant to coexist peacefully. However, when the rules are unfair and unabashedly biased, the people… the citizens of that society, have a right to push back. I’ll not deny my mutants that right.

Mr. Secretary, up until now, all I’ve ever done is try from behind the scenes to see both sides of the coin. I have done nothing but train my students in the art of peaceful coexistence. Nothing good can come from fighting our own people. In the same breath, it would seem that the world I’ve been fighting for all my life seems ever more out of reach with each law you pass. It’s a shame we are all being forced to suffer on behalf of your ire with others, but shame on me for expecting more from a government who — historically — has a nasty habit of destroying the things that make them uncomfortable or feel inferior.

This new law you have passed will only incite the rage of the one who continues to be a thorn in your side. This is my final plea to see reason. At the end of the day, when you finally grow tired of ratifying papers and decide you wish to solve the issue in the same manner you have solved all of this country’s issues in the past, I will go silent. I will stand aside and let things unfold, no matter how much it may pain my heart. 

TO MY FELLOW MUTANTS,  my final message to you all is to survive; to use your common sense when presented with scathing propaganda like this and proceed in a manner that allows you to live with no regrets down the road. I will never fully relinquish my faith because it is my hope that someday the people in power will realize their mistakes. It’s never too late you see. However, my loyalties have always been first and foremost, to my fellow X-Men; my mutants and my family. I will NEVER encourage you to retaliate with violence, but I will understand if you see things HIS way as opposed to my own, especially now.

In closing, Mr. Secretary, I will NOT be registering under your Accords and neither will the children left under my legal guardianship. Do what you must, but heed my warnings: even the most docile of creatures will fight back when backed into a corner. I pity anyone who comes at me or my students looking to collect when we’ve done nothing wrong. When you are finally ready to accept just how wrong you are and agree to work with me on an answer that doesn’t just benefit your side, give me a call. You won’t find me or my school, but finding you — wherever you are in the world — will never be a problem for someone like me. My powers are something that should keep you and your entire staff awake every night, but is it not fortuitous that I have always been on your side?

Sincerely,

          Professor X & Leader of the X-Men

[beginagainbugle]

In this issue of The Daily Bugle …

Headline: The Daily Bugle provides the exclusive insight into events in Central Park on January 26th. Mutants, the grand majority associated with the ‘X-Men,’ engaged in a bitter battle against Enforcement agents. Dozens of our esteemed agents were murdered in cold blood, and a mere week after this gruesome event, severe damage was caused to the Raft prison. While CCTV and other security details are still being processed, it seems safe to assume mutants yet again target law enforcement, taking innocent lives as they go! More details to be found inside our special edition issue – ‘Are We Safe?’ We discuss mutant gene testing, Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning, major mutant organizations’ views on registration, and theories surrounding damage to the Raft! (Story under read more!)

Page 3: Tony Stark, widely known by alias Iron Man, was interviewed by Christine Everhart on WHiH World News. Stark has long since acted as the face of pro-Accords sentiment in New York and was one of the first individuals with enhanced capabilities to sign on the dotted line, encouraging his now fractured team to do the same. In this interview, however, he doesn’t follow the standard party line. We’re sure you’ll all agree that what he does say is very interesting indeed! Read the full interview transcript on page 3, and decide for yourselves whether Stark has finally gone off the deep end!

Page 6: With agents facing heavy criticism following the crisis in Central Park, Captain Carol Danvers casts her own hat into the ring in an attempt to amend the Accords and their implementation. The Second Chance Initiative brings those who would otherwise find themselves behind bars instead are recruited to the cause. Amber Grant discusses on page 6, and make sure to send thoughts to the editor!

WHAT WE KNEW WOULD HAPPEN by J. Jonah Jameson (Editor in Chief)

Some believe that the press should be impartial. Some believe that we should report the facts of the matter as blandly as we are capable, that we should swallow down our own thoughts and feelings on events and push forward no agenda but the truth. My dear readers, that is not journalism as we promote at this paper. We have a responsibility - no, a duty - to bring the good people of New York not only the details, the minutia, of such events, but also the perception that my reporters have always boasted of so readily.

It is the age of media, and by the time this paper goes to print I have no doubt that the city at large will have already heard of the events that transpired at Central Park. Mutants coming into contact with Enforcers, causing mass collateral damage of our esteemed public space (and lawns paid to maintain with taxpayers’ money, may I add!) and injuries to both innocent civilians and the men and women who signed on only to cease the actions of these reckless few.

Am I to stay quiet on matters of such grave importance? Am I to tell you that over two dozen Enforcers lost their lives that day, some of them reduced to mere dust, leaving nothing for their families to bury? Am I to mourn the loss of a man who calls himself Cyclops, who leads enhanced individuals into battles with no foresight into the consequences sure to follow? Am I to sympathise with these people who brought fire and ice onto our streets, to the kind of people who destroy a site intended to house the most dangerous in our society so that we may all sleep peacefully in our beds at night?

My ex-wife would say yes. That is why I am now married to my one true love - journalistic integrity. Mr. Stark (noticeably absent from the scene, I must say. Did anyone check the local bar?) speaks of responsibility, yet the second someone asks him to further his opinions on these unregistered individuals, he steps back, afraid to offend.

What happened to the man on television, Mr. Stark? You once had so much to say against Senator Stern and their assertions that such individualistic attempts at justice and heroism needed to be quelled. You would think, with him standing on such a high pedestal, he would quite enjoy the feeling of preaching en masse. Please, sir. On the other side they have such outspoken rebels, including your good friend Oliver Queen. If you can not do it, I will have to. I owe it to the people of this city to tell them what everyone is too afraid to say.

Mutants are dangerous. The X-gene is a nuclear bomb waiting to go off, and no one has proven that more than Magneto and his accomplices. Every day, we live under the constant shadow of fear and doubt, not from the alien armies that have trampled our cities in the past, but from the weapons of mass destruction that live in the apartment across the hall from ours. They battle in public. They resist arrest. They hide their Institute far from the public eye - why?

Because they are preparing for a war. Yes, a war. I have said it here and now, and I must say that the day I am proven right will be a dark one indeed. I will take no pleasure in it, readers, for it is sure to be an event of mass calamity.

The Panel, Stark, Danvers, the Enforcers and United Nations behind them say that we should be quelling fear. We should be reassuring the public, comforting them. They try so hard to remain diplomatic that they miss the necessity of their measures. The Accords were voted on by over one hundred countries. One hundred, readers. We couldn’t get a hundred countries to agree on their favorite ice cream if we attempted to. Do you realise the enormity of the document we all have such ready access to?

This is the age of accountability. This is also the age when we, as upstanding citizens of New York, this fair country and indeed the world as we now know it, stand up and say enough is enough.

Children are terrified. Their parents cannot comfort them, for who is to say that tomorrow when they go to work, Supergirl will not fly through the office causing the building to collapse behind her? Who is to say that the day after that, Spider-Man, as I have yet again predicted, realises what he is truly capable of and sets out on a rampage across the city? Could we stop these people in time? Would we have a hope to mobilise so readily?

No. No we would not.

Mutants destroyed our park. They threatened our children. They killed our brothers, our wives, our valiant soldiers. When foreign enemies invaded our country and threatened our way of life, we did not stand idly by. We picked up our weapons and we went to fight for what was rightfully ours.

If the mutants wish to avoid law enforcement, if they wish to resist arrest and risk the destabilisation of a facility intended to house the most horrific of villains, then they may do so. They may do that with the right any man and woman has to act of their own free will, even if that is to terrorise the nation they claim to want to be a part of.

But we also have a right. Pick up your phones, your pens, your swords. Get what you must. Prepare yourself for an incoming battle, readers, because our way of life as we know it has changed.

One dead mutant in a park. Dozens of dead humans. The numbers are not kind to us, and they never will be.

It is time to remind them that we have power too.

We have always had the power.

[beginagainbugle]

“On Diplomacy” -- A Manifesto by Magneto!

The Daily Bugle received this letter from an anonymous source – but it was signed by Magneto himself! This letter is nothing short of a Manifesto! We print this letter not to ‘profit from fear’ as some degenerates would claim – but so our citizens can be informed of the dangers we face from Unregistereds and Mutants alike! – J. Jonah Jameson

There are those amongst us who believe that diplomacy is the answer to the conflict between mutants and humans. 

I regret to say that there can be no diplomacy.  Diplomacy and negotiation are predicated on the very simple idea that two opposing parties have some measure of equality, that one can offer something to the other and gain something in turn.  Further, both parties must have a degree of respect for the other party, something that will hold them to account for any agreement reached.

There is no equality, and there is no respect. 

Humans do not see our kind as people, but as weapons, and one does not negotiate with a bomb or a gun.  The only thing humans want from us, the only thing we have to yield in comparison to them, is our powers.  Our gifts, engrained in our DNA, every bit as much a part of us as a limb.  To demand we register, to yield control of our powers, part of our very being, to forces outside ourselves, is not simply an act of discriminatory policy, but an act of violence. 

And violence will be responded to in kind. 

No more will we stand idly by while our brothers and sisters are forced into hiding for fear of being whisked away from their homes and families by men in suits.  No more will we stand by while our brothers and sisters are harassed in the streets because they were born with gifts the rest of humanity has dreamt of for centuries.  No more will we stand by while our brothers and sisters face ignoble death in the alleys of our cities at the hands of humans who act on nothing but fear and hatred. 

We are the next phase of human evolution, and it is our responsibility to each other and to the future to ensure our survival–by any means necessary.  The less evolved have declared war on our people, through the Accords.

It is not just our right, but our obligation, to remind them why weapons come packaged with a simple warning:  handle with care. 

[beginagainbugle]

In this issue of The Daily Bugle …

Headline: New York City is frozen in fear once more this weekend. But there’s no evil witch this time, and no heroes to save us from her. In fact, it is the superpowered who hold the fate of the city in their hands now. An army, led by Magneto and made up of other prominent Mutants, have stormed the United Nations building here in the city. They’ve attacked and taken control of Stark Tower. They’ve destroyed the bridges leading out, so there is no chance of mass evacuation. Perhaps the rich can rely on private jets or helicopters, but even then they fear being shot down from the sky. The entire city is a hostage to a group more powerful than we can possibly imagine. It was at the U.N. that Magneto made his demands, the specifics of which are detailed on page 3. Stark Tower would have been one of the more central places to launch a counter-attack from, or at least assume a defensive position. But that possibility crumbled with barely a fight. (What does that say about Stark himself? We have been unable to reach him for comment.) I myself have championed Mutant rights in the past, but these events are not about equality. They are about fear and domination. And readers... I am afraid. I am afraid of what this means for humans and Mutants alike. 

The Bugle will continue to give regular updates on this story as it unfolds.   Read all that we have so far inside, including eye-witness accounts of the events. 

Page 3:  The Daily Bugle has managed to get an inside source on the events that happened, including a list of the demands Magneto made! The Mutant and his army don’t just want an end to registration, they don’t just want Sentinels off the streets —they’re demanding a country of their own. To be ruled by no one but themselves. No word yet on whether this will mean taking homes away from innocent civilians, or who will be forced to pay the price if the world governments will authorize such an annexation!  Read and judge for yourself on page 3!

Page 6: Magneto’s coup, is both proof and culmination of the fears many people have held about superheroes. It is the crux of registration, the reason for the Accords’ existence. And yet now, there are rumors that registration will come to an end — or at least face some very big changes. Some fear that superheroes will be allowed to simply take over, effectively ruling by sheer power. Even a just king is still a tyrant if his powers are unchecked! But the Bugle also wants to explore what positive changes might be made to the Accords, and how we might all move forward after this very, very long weekend.  Read more speculation and theories inside on page 6!