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There was a great tragedy yesterday. It didn't specifically have anything to do with mutants. The victims were by and large human, and even Captain America, who was shot, has few attachments to mutant-kind. But it was an attack on the public, and the way Scott sees things, that means it was something that mutant-kind has a responsibility to try to protect against.
And if it happened once? It could happen again.
Planning helps Scott feel like he's in control of his world. So when something like this happens, planning helps him to cope. Never one to let a learning moment pass, he's brought Lorna out to the scene of the crime. The chinos and button-down shirt he wears blend in easily enough, though the visor over his eyes is unusual. Still, things are too unsettled for him to just wear the sunglasses.
"I guess we're lucky they haven't blamed it on a mutant yet," he says quietly as they get closer to the police cordon.
*
Kai has a name to clear, a name that has brought the world one step closer to nuclear war. The name of an assassin, blamed for the destruction yesterday and labeled a terrorist as well. It's no small task, and it starts with returning to the scene of the crime. He might look a little out of place, dressed in black beatik chic, with the long step of a cigarette holder poking out the side of his mouth.
On a leash he holds, there's a little dog, no more than twenty-five pounds. It's some kind of shiba-terrier mix, wiry-haired and dirt-brown. The animal trots along nose to the ground. "Go on, get the scent," Kai says, his accent English. "Good doggie."
*
When disaster lashes out and strikes at New York City, it tears at the heart of the people. The pain, the fear, the grief, it's a palpable thing that can be felt all through the five boroughs. But when such a thing occurs, it also shows one of the greatest traits of the people who choose to live in the great city. Their strength and ability to endure.
When the explosion happened, the Spectacular Spider-Man had been getting in some swing time before heading back to the Bugle. It wasn't the slow traffic that got his attention, nor was it the sudden activity in the skys above. What drew him to the reality of the moment was seeing the crowds gathered in front of the Macy's story window, watching the televisions flicker as the news was relayed. It was the gasps and hands held over mouths, the tears. Another moment of tragedy, another touch of history.
Yet because of this event all of the small crimes, the day to day muggings, burglaries, heists… they were all seemingly put on hold as collectively New York held its breath. It led to a lack of crime in some ways, but also to the street vigilante spending less time on patrol… and more time at ground zero. For now he is perched on the edge of a building overlooking the fair's grounds. Oh he'd tried to offer some help to the police, and been chased off at gun point for his troubles. /Menace/ after all.
But he does not leave, at least not for now. Instead he stays at his 'post', watching after the barnyard after the gate's been left open, fretting mentally and pointlessly.
*
Lorna side eyed Scott, looking mildly annoyed at being dragged out and about to a crime scene that on first glance, they wouldn't be getting closer to anyways. "Oh, not yet. Give it a few days. Or you know, however long it takes for them to find someone else to blame." She had put on her sister's charm again. Her usually green hair a muted brown once more. A sigh pulled from her lips as she glanced around, get hands shoved into her pockets while she played with a few ball bearings she'd hidden in there.
"Why did we bother coming out here again? I don't think we're going to find those responsible, much less do any good here. I've got six chapters in of reading to do this weekend that I haven't even looked at. " Green eyes scanned the area and she pursed her lips together in thought. Her floral print dress fluttering around her calves.
*
"We came because there will always be a next time, Lorna," Scott answers, hands in his pockets as he steps up near the edge of the cordon. Behind his visor, his eyes move quickly over the scene of the crime, taking in all the details. The scorch marks. The body bags. The fountain now empty, the abandoned stalls and food carts charred and smoldering.
"And next time, you might be here. And if the next time this happens, you're around, then you should know what to do. You should know how to handle yourself to help others and save as many lives as you can. What do you see, Lorna?" he asks, glancing toward Kai and the dog for just a moment.
*
The dog keeps sniffing around, and Kai watches him hopefully. The dog then sniffs his way over to a bit of funnel cake that got dropped in the fracas yesterday, and he bolts it down, tail wagging. Kai sighs, and he draws a kerchief from his pocket. "Come here," he says as he kneels. "Smell this and fight the scent, Kevin. I'm counting on you." The dog smells the kerchief, sneezes, then looks around without much interest.
Until the dog spies Scott and Lorna. Bark bark bark! Kai says, "Kevin, hush." Which is met with more barking, some fierce growling, another sharp bark. Clearly this little dog is a seasoned killer. People better beware. Kai sighs and calls out, "Sorry about that, he's an excitable little nitwit."
*
Dropping off of his perch, Spider-Man falls into the void between a pair of buildings, snaring an errant antenna as he falls and swinging around it twice before launching off of it to ricochet off a wall and then take up another place to keep a watch on the teams of workers and police officers handling the aftermath of the explosion. From a distance he's little more than a silhouette against the skyline, but he maintains a bit of a vigil, though his attention sweeps over the grounds. Behind the mask he frowns, tilting his head to the side as if hearing a distant voice.
*
Lorna looked less than impressed with Scott's lecture. A good student for her father, and several others, it seemed she judged the young man to be too young to really listen to. A huff of a breath followed his words and she rolled her eyes. "I've handled myself perfectly fine in disaster situations. Professor McCoy can vouch on how I helped take out killer robots." She frowned faintly, and then glanced around again anyways.
"Well let's see, what do I see? Or what do I sense from the metal in the area?" She tilted her head and was about to reach out with her senses before she spotted the barking dog coming over.
She backed up a step, crossing her arms as she eyed it and the owner. "It's cool."
*
Kai makes his way to the pair, spying the visor and suspecting that, if it's not something superhero related, it might be a new trend, and he's nothing if not trendy. The dog leads the way, kicking up dust off the asphalt with his hind claws, snorting. Then there's that low growl that culminates in a bark. However, when Kai draws close enough to converse, the dog ducks behind his legs, hunkering behind his humanoid shield, and peeking out from behind Kai to size up Scot and Lorna with big, sad puppy eyes.
Kai glances down at his fearless protector. "That's what I thought," he says. Then, to Scott and Lorna, "He's harmless. We're just looking the place over trying to find some sense in it. I'm Kai."
*
"Then this should be easy for you." Scott crosses his arms over his chest, apparently willing to wait for Lorna to get around to listening. Luckily for her, there's Kai to offer at least some distraction. Though knowing Scott, it won't actually last very long. "It's all right," he calls back to Kai, the slightest smirk crossing his features as he looks to the mighty beast. "As long as it sticks to the bark instead of the bite, we'll survive a little canine name-calling."
He nods to the introduction, uncrossing his arms. "I'm Scott. This is Lorna," he nods to the girl. "And it seems like there's not a whole lot of sense to be had here."
*
Lorna shot Scott a look back in response to his comment. Further witty remarks broke off as Kai approached and the dog hid behind his legs. An "aww" followed as she bent over, holding her hand out toward the shivering puppy. "What's his name? Is he a scent hound?" Lorna's expression brightened as she gave over her attention to the dog. A smile pulling at her lips.
"Are you a cop or something?"
*
Kai shakes his head and says, "Nah, he won't bite. He likes to think he's tough, but he got beat up by a cat yesterday. A cat." That last is directed at the huddling dog, because it's never too early for dog shaming. But Kai smiles at the pathetic animal. "His name's Kevin. Come on, Kev. Come say hi." The 'aww' does embolden the dog, and he creeps out from behind Kai, sniffing cautiously. His tail gives a tentative wag.
Kai lets the dog make introductions on his own terms. All it takes is a pat to turn him into a wiggling, wagging, delighted thing, perhaps relieved. "I'm an interested party," Kai says. "I know the man they think did it, and it's a complicated situation."
*
Scott's brows rise over the edge of his visor, lips twisting. "What sort of complicated situation leads you to blow up three vans in the middle of a populated area?" Shocker: Scott's not convinced there's a good excuse for that. "The way I hear it, it was a lucky thing there was a number of powered people around with suitable skills, otherwise there would have been even more dead and injured."
*
Lorna seems to shower affection down on the puppy, scratching his ears, belly and back with a grin. "Who's a good boy?" She cooed and patted the hounds head. A glance was spared for the owner, Kai, with an arched brow. "What was he mind controlled or something? Cause uh.." She glanced around and back.
"Yeah, it's a bit hard to do that and uh.." She trailed off, looking back at the dog. There was more in the world than most people knew about that could make things complicated.. At least, if she really tried to stretch it.
*
The dog wiggles from wagging so hard, and he prances lightly on his paws around Lorna. Is he a good dog? He is? That' fantastic! Lorna now has a new best friend. All bark, and wagging, and no bite.
Kai rubs the back of his neck, then plucks the empty cigarette holder from the corner of his lips and says, "This is going to sound crazy, but he's brainwashed. The reds got to him, and they did something to his mind. When he's himself, he's a good man, but he's got this… whateveryoucallit, conditioning. I swear it's the truth. When he's himself, he's my friend.
"What I can't figure out," Kai says with a look around the day-after wreckage, "is the bombing. I guess if they got to him and told him to do it, he'd have no choice, but he's Mr. Stealth and this is sloppy."
*
"It's not sloppy, is the thing." Scott shakes his head, looking out over the scene. "And unless they brainwashed a team, it's not one man either. There were three vans." He points out the deepest points of char. "Each of those had to be manned. And not just by one person, but by a team. They had to go off in tandem, or else timed so that people fleeing from one would run into the other. One person doesn't do that alone. And they don't do it without a lot of planning. There was security here. There was a schedule for who would be on stage, and when. None of this was an action of opportunity."
*
Lorna rose, leaving the dog to bounce as he wanted around her. "So you're saying it's the Russians, and they did something to your friend and that's why he, what, led the attack or something? Ever consider that maybe your friend isn't really your friend?" She tilted her head to the side, looking out at the site again as her gaze moved to each area that Scott pointed out.
"It's not sloppy if you want to send a message right? If you want to let people know what you can do. Or want them afraid. Then it's expertly carried out, right?"
*
"For a terrorist organization," Kai says, "it's not sloppy at all, but for an assassin, it's a lot of collateral damage, and he wouldn't have had time to plan it out. I saw him just the day before, and he was himself." He sighs. "Good luck getting anyone to believe it." He glances down at the little dog quivering with joy. It's heartening. Hard to stay too upset in the presence of a creature who's just so happy.
"You're useless," he tells the dog with affection. "He's not a scent hound, but he does smell." Kevin noses at the ground around Lorna's feet. He'll ignore the scent on Bucky's hanky, but potential future belly-scratchers must be committed to memory.
*
"Either your friend was slotted into an existing operation, or he didn't know anything about this," Scott grimaces, shaking his head as he looks around. "But it sounds like your friend wasn't exactly innocent either way. I heard there were multiple people who got shot, a conflict with the police. He might not have been involved in the explosions, but he wasn't an innocent either."
*
"Dr. Jekyl's spotless, you dig me, man?" Kai says. "It's Mr. Hyde who's got blood on his hands. Even if the pigs'll never see it that way, I know what I know." He sighs, and he drops his gaze to the pavement and the dog sniffing around busily like little dogs do. "He was getting help," Kai says. "He was trying so hard to get himself back. You want to blame someone, blame the reds for turning a war hero into a killer." Are those tears in Kai's eyes? Never. Men don't cry. He sniffs and lifts his head. "It's such a mess. I just want to know who these other guys were, and why they did it, and I want to help my friend if I can."
*
"Even if he was straight-up mind-controlled, that's not going to matter to the police. That's not the sort of thing you can prove in court. Just likely to get him locked up, either in a psych ward or in a prison." Scott: not the best at being reassuring. But at least he's trying to be practical. That's sort of helpful, right?
*
"You think I don't know that?" Kai says. "But what am I suppose to do, you know? Say oh well, he's a goner, let's see what's on TV?" He shakes his head. "I'm not saying there's hope, I'm saying I have to do right by my friend. Someone ought to be thinking of the man, not the monster." He shoots Scott a dour look. Practicality and Kai are not fast friends. "What would you do if it was someone you cared about?"
*
Scott is quiet for a moment, jaw setting. He is, it seems, a very serious young man. "I'd bring him in myself," he answers honestly, with a brief glance toward Lorna. It's probably not any sort of surprise to her - word at the Institute is absolutely that Scott Summers knows, follows, and enforces the rules. "But you're right that I wouldn't just walk away or leave it to someone else. It'd be my responsibility."
*
A rules enforcer and a rebel. This is certainly a mix. Of some sort. "Knowing he's as much a victim as the people he shot?" he says. "Would you sacrifice that man without batting an eye? There's a difference between doing what you're told and doing what's right." He glances to Kevin just to check up on him. The dog is on his back, rolling in some dirt. Kai just shakes his head. "Anyway, I'll take whatever I find out to Cap. He'll know what to do."
*
Lorna pursed her lips, folding her arms as she eyed Scott and Kai in turn. "There's a lot out there that humanity doesn't know about or cares to know about. And the American justice system is most definitely not equiped to deal with it all. It's only been proven time and time again that they're idiots that don't know that's going on." She grumbled, looking to the destruction before them and back.
"I don't know about your friend, but I do know that there's stuff out there that can explain what happened.. It doesn't make it right, nor does it excuse the deaths but is there really an excuse for those?" She arched a brow upwards and shook her head.
"I'd like to say that something could be done for your friend.." She paused, Jean and Professor Xavier coming to her mind but she wasn't going to volunteer them.
*
"Would you sacrifice hundreds more simply because they're not people you know?" Scott counters. "I know my friends. I know they're committed to the safety of others. I know that if it came to that, they'd rather take the hit than let innocent people suffer. So yeah, I'd do it. I can't say I wouldn't bat an eye, but I know who I am and what my purpose is." More than most, it seems.
He pushes a hand over his hair, letting out a huff of breath as he turns to take in the destruction once more. "You're right, there's a difference between doing what you're told and doing what's right. And it sounds like your friend is on the wrong side of that line."
*
Kai shakes his head, and his curls swish. Not exactly clean-cut, this one. "I'm not saying let him go free. He's schizo. He needs a psych ward, not prison or to be shot on sight." He gestures to Lorna and says, "It's like you said; there are things humanity doesn't know about that could get to the truth. It won't matter if he's dead, but where there's life, there's hope."
Then he scowls at Scott. "Do you know what brainwashed means? It's not him doing it. Man, the first casualty in all this was him. That's the whole reason I'm here, trying to figure out some way to prove what I know. If it was him doing it, I'd go after him myself."
*
Lorna glanced back to Scott, a crease of her brows following. "Wouldn't you try to save someone in our group if they were brainwashed or mind controlled into causing such destruction? If there was a chance to save them, you can tell me that you wouldn't do everything in your power to try to save them? Even if they did something so terrible?" She pursed her lips, folding her arms.
"Because I would. I would do just as he is, trying to do something to help them."
*
"I know what brainwashed is. I'm just saying, there's only so much saving you can do. There's a point where trying to save someone just because they're your friend ends up hurting other people. How many chances did someone have to put your friend in a psych ward before he got out and did this?" Scott half turns, gesturing to the chaos. "Or whatever part of this he was involved in, at least. How many chances does he get? How many innocent people die because maybe you could save him?"
*
"He didn't kill anyone yesterday," Kai says. "They survived. Which makes me think he's fighting it, because the assassin doesn't miss. So, yeah, I'm not done trying. I'm more worried about the terrorists who did kill hundreds of people. I was there yesterday, man. There were people on fire, the dead trampled by the living. Cap and I laid out bodies in the aftermath. It's not like I don't care, dig me? But his body count was zero, meanwhile he's public enemy number one, and the bastards who did this aren't even on the radar. It's not just about saving one person."
*
"The courts will see him as responsible for the attack, guilty by association, regardless if he actually killed anyone. There's also the question of intent and that whole you didn't kill that person but tried to." She shrugged, shoving her hands into the pockets of her skirt and turned her eyes back toward Scott.
"I don't know about you, but I want to ask Jean or the Professor if they might know something to help his friend. If it's brainwashing or mind control or something they'd know. And before you start ranting about how it's impossible to save some people. We won't know until we try. Plus, we'd be helping save innocent lives in the future if we can find him and either help him or stop him."
*
"Not succeeding when you tried to kill someone isn't exactly the same as not trying in the first place," Scott says, dry. "Whether or not you were brainwashed into it. And yeah, that whoever did this is getting away with it because your friend happened to be here? I think we can agree that's not doing anyone any favors. But you'd be better off giving the cops information about him so they can bring him in and find out who did organize this than trying to do it on your own." At the mention of Jean and the Professor, he sighs, turning to look out at the carnage. "Jean's not ready for this. It's…too much. But the professor, yeah. If he thinks it's worth the other risks."
*
"If it can be proven," Kai says, "it will affect the sentencing. It also establishes his separation from this," Kai gestures around, "so that the real perpetrators might be caught before they strike again." When Lorna mentions Jean or the Professor, Kai's features draw a blank. Aside from being civil-rights, he still knows so little about them.
Yet again he glances to Kevin, only to find the dog licking himself in a most indelicate way in pubic. "Kev," he says, "Have some dignity." Kevin resists dignity like Kai resists law and order. "I'm going to report what I find out to Cap," he says. "I can't think of a better authority. Besides, me and the police aren't friends."
*
"You can't trust the police to actually handle anything when it comes to powered people or anyone not human, much less expect them to treat anything out of the ordinary fairly." She muttered, and looked over at Kai.
"I wouldn't hold out for the courts in regards to your friend, even if we find proof about his mind being messed with. I'll poke around and see if anyone can help that wants to help. Either way, something does have to be done in regards to whoever set up your friend or controlled him or whatever." She glanced back at the destruction and rubble. "Though I have a feeling that others will already be doing that."
*
Scott rolls his eyes behind the visor, the expression still not entirely hidden. "Look, I get that life is unfair sometimes, and that the cards might be stacked against us. But giving up on the whole system, stepping away from it because you don't like how it works? That's never going to change it or make it any better. So yeah, sure. Talk to whoever you want. But if you really want the people who did this to pay for it? Then you're going to need something that'll stand up in court."
*
Kai shakes his head and says, "Oh no, I gave up on the system long before this happened." The words come casually, like it's no big deal. Then again, he is dressed like a beatnik, down to the pretentious cigarette holder. Typical counter-culture response to the establishment. "But you gotta turn up your audio, man, hear me when I tell you the times are changing. Look at the civil rights movement. Like, mutants, dig me? The system isn't going to give them their rights if only they ask nicely. I don't dig what Magneto did at that rally, but the fact there was a rally is what I'm talking about. Your voice has got to be heard, and no one listens to you if you're lockstep."
He tucks the cigarette holder at the corner of his mouth, and it moves back and forth as he worries it with his teeth."All we need to prove is that Bucky didn't plant the bombs. Which we do by proving he couldn't have organized it, which we do by proving he wasn't in the right state of mind to be able to do it. And, I guess, looking for more clues in the dirt. So I'll work on my friend, and you can work on whatever you think's best. We're not in opposition here, man."
To Lorna, he says, "That's the other thing, yeah. The people who did this to him. They're the string pullers. Take him in, they'll just turn some other poor schmuck into a puppet. But they're dangerous, dig me? Like, forget I ever mentioned them. They'll go after anyone they think is a threat."
*
Lorna flashed Kai a sharp grin, it wasn't a smile, but rather some mockery of one at his words. "The system is messed up Scott. Look at the civil rights movements. Humans can't even fairly judge themselves, much less handle mutants or anything more." She rolled her eyes and nodded toward Kai.
"Know how your friend isn't responsible? Neither was Magneto. You want to prove that your friend is innocent? I want to prove that my father wasn't attacking those people." She offered a hand toward Kai. "Lorna Dane, Magneto's daughter. Mutant and totally down to help you shake up this system and save some people."
A glance was spared toward Scott, almost in challenge before she looked back.
*
"Trust me, they don't want to come after us." Scott sighs heavily as Lorna joins in on the anti-establishment rhetoric. "There will always be a system. The world can't exist, can't function without one. And smashing this one just means setting up a new one. Or you can work with this one, change it. Make it better. Because if you turn it into us against them, then you're doing the same damned thing they've been doing. You're just flipping it. And how's that better? Just because you're the one on top now? If it's wrong, then it's wrong, and not just wrong because of whichever side you happen to be on at the time."
For all of Scott's talk about the system, for all his willingness to sacrifice, when it comes down to it, the young man is an idealist. He's a true believer that there is a possible world where humans and mutants live in peace.
*
Kai's eyes widen. "He's your dad?" He steps forward eagerly to shake Lorna's hand. "Lorna Dane, it's a pleasure. I believe it wasn't his fault. Everyone got so mad for no reason, and they just turned on him. No reason at all." He shakes his head. "No, I bet there was something else going on there." So quick to absolve the man.
Kevin sniffs at a lamp post and hikes a leg. Kai doggedly (har) pays no attention. Instead, he holds his hands up in a placating gesture and says, "I'm down with peace. I don't want to flip the table, I just want everyone to a seat, dig me? Instead of the police beating you for being black, mutant, queer, whatever. When the system's unjust, dissent is a duty."
*
A huff went toward Scott, "I'm not getting rid of the system, I'm just choosing to work outside of it till it stops being so square." She arched a brow as she retrated her hand from the shake that Kai offered. His defense of her father bringing a smile to her lips. "It was magic. An former roommate of mine picked up on it. We couldn't find the source there, but she's pretty good at that stuff. It's all over my head though."
She shrugged and glanced back the decimated field and back. "I'm not particularly good at the whole solving problems thing, if you need a robot smashed though, I'm your girl." A glance was spared for Scott again, "Also, when the system stop sending killer robots into Mutant Town or stops people from locking kids up in buildings and setting them on fire, then I'll be more than happy to trust the system to handle cases like my father's. Or even Kai's friend here. Or literally anything. I wouldn't trust them with a parking ticket these days."
*
"So how do you think it's going to get fixed, Lorna? You think it's just going to spontaneously burst into justice because it misses you?" Scott snaps. "News flash: That's not how it works. If you want something to change, then you have to change it. And there are good ways, right ways to do that. Look at Doctor Martin Luther King. Look at the peaceful marches. Look at the strides they've been able to make. And you know why? Because no one has room to label them dangerous."
Scott shakes his head, hands settling deep into his pockets. "Be mad all you want. But be righteous."
*
Kai smiles crookedly and says, "We agree, you know? On the essential points. Look, man, what King's doing is the duty of dissent. You think the cat isn't angry?" Slang and his English accent don't necessarily mesh. "Anger is a gift. If you use it right, and if you can remember to love the cats you're mad at." He finally pats down his pockets for a cigarette, putting the holder to use. Kevin has curled up and fallen asleep, one ear perked for cats and pigeons, or the dreaded crow. He's kind of prey-sized.
"Anyway, it takes all types. You're a square, man, and that's okay. Someone needs to change the system from within, some have to confront it. I don't hate pigs, but I'm already on the outside, and there's those that'd beat me to death as soon as look at me. So I'll bring what I find out to Cap. I know he won't."
*
"I'm not against changing the system, Scott! Trust me, I have been arguing that we need more pro-mutant sentators and the alike to change the laws and push for change. But I am sick of opening the newspapers to see another case of violence against mutants and letting it go. I'm against people like the Brotherhood because they don't care about the innocent people caught in their aims. But we can't just sit here and hope for change that might come in a few generations while innocent people die." She crossed her arms and exhaled a breath, her eyes closing for a minute as she settled herself.
"Or do you suggest we allow the human courts to judge things they don't understand and martyr my father and people like him? I'm not going to sit on my hands and hope for the system to catch up. Or as Doctor Martin Luther King said, "Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail… they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." She rattled off her rant, quite pleased with herself at having memorized the quote, and looked back to Kai, nodding her head toward him."
*
"What do you think the alternative is? Because we're different, we get to make our own courts? It should be completely all right for mutants to murder and no one who isn't a mutant can make that judgment, why? The good or bad of an action isn't dependent upon powers you're born with. That's the same line of thought that led to kings and queens who thought they could do anything." Scott takes a step back, then another, shaking his head to keep from growing any more animated.
"No one's just hoping for change. But you don't get to declare it happens just because you want it. You don't get to write people off on the basis of the actions of a few, the same way you don't want them to write us off."
*
Kai looks between the two, and on the topic of mutant courts he says nothing. Like he's got any place advising mutants on their own affairs. Instead, he listens, and he watches. And he smokes, a terrible habit, but these are the days when it's considered acceptable and even healthy by some. He's polite to turn his head to exhale rather than blow smoke in anyone's face.
"What do you suggest, then?" he asks Scott in a gentle tone. "For people the system as pushed out? Let's say I'm queer as a three dollar bill; what do you tell me when, because the system doesn't think I should exist, failing to pass means I could die?" Not that he's passes all that hard, but there's a margin for plausible deniability. A small one. "Hypothetically."
*
"The law states you have a right to a fair trial and be judge by a jury of your peers. I don't see the American courts bringing in mutants to judge mutants. Do you? Or do you think that humans can judge a case of misuse of powers correctly? I am not advocating for mutants to run around rulers of the Earth and playing at being outside of the law." She muttered, quieting her voice as Kai spoke. She nodded and gestured toward him.
"I'm not saying that it's the answer Scott. And before you start telling me to stop writing people off? Gosh, don't have a cow. I'm judging the system and how it's reacted to social progress, and dealing with minority rights, right now. It's got a pretty bad track record and I am not leaving the system to judge my father. Because frankly, most people aren't going to believe that the crowd went wonky because of magic. And in the meanwhile, innocent people are gonna be targeted by who ever it was that started that and it's gonna happen again. Do you really think the police, or courts are ready to handle someone like that?"
*
"There's your problem, Lorna. Mutants and humans are peers. And it's thinking like we're not that's just going to continue dividing us." Scott is unshakeable in his faith - sometimes it's an asset, but most of the time is just makes him infuriating to disagree with. "And if someone attacks you," he looks to Kai, "Then of course you fight back. You defend yourself. That's everyone's right."
*
Kai smiles, flashing pearly white teeth. "Damn right I do. Hypothetically. I don't—wouldn't care if he were wearing a badge or not. But I don't go looking for trouble. I'm just saying it makes me leery of the boys in blue." Scott's doggedness doesn't seem to upset him overmuch. Hey, one has to admire the man's got convictions.
Though he does say, "Even painting the pi—police in the fairest light, they aren't equipped to deal with magic, mutations, superpowers, aliens. The system will change, sure, but in the meantime, the people who can handle it should be. We're all peers, like you said, and an attack on one's an attack on all. If I can help someone the police can't, I'm going to act."
*
Lorna reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, glowering at Scott. "Peers in that we're people? Yeah. Peers in rights? No." For her part, Lorna was irriated, and it was obvious. But she seemed to be losing steam to argue with the Summers.
"I'm so done with this. Kai, right? It was nice to meet you. If you want to come find me to help you, here's my number." She dug into her purse, pulled out a tiny flipbook and scribbled her number and name down before handing off the piece of paper.
"Just ask for me or leave a message if I'm not there. I'll get it eventually." A glance was spared toward Scott. "We're not going to have a teachable moment here, so I'm gonna head back to the car." She grumbled, she didn't need keys to get into any car if she wanted.
*
"They'll never be equipped to deal with those things if we just take it out of their hands," Scott shakes his head, frowning after Lorna. "All we'll end up with is a whole lot of angry people, and no solutions to any of the problems. And ignorance on their part. They can't learn if we just assume they'll never understand." He takes a deep breath, forcing it out slowly as he turns back to Kai.
"Look, I'm sorry about your friend. And I hope there's some solution for it all. Just…think about other people's friends when you make your decisions too, yeah?"
*
"Call it a stopgap," Kai says, "while the masses are educated." He takes the number Lorna offers and says, "Ginchy. I'll be in touch." Then he offers his hand to Scott. "We both want the same thing, friend. Justice. And thank you, I hope there's one too." He sighs and looks out over the remnants of the fair and its downfall. "Thoughts of other people and their friends has kept me up at night. It's my personal pledge to you here and now that I think about it quite a lot."
*
Lorna shook her head as she turned to walk backwards away from Scott. "You're one of those people that thinks kids are mini-adults, aren't you? You wouldn't throw a three year old in a deep end of the pool right? You put them in the shallow end till they can swim." She arched a brow, and then spun back to continue back to the car not too far away.
It was going to be a long and awkward car ride back to Westchester, but at least she wasn't starting the car and leavng him stranded in New York City?
*