The New Mutants

Breaking news

"...Regardless of your stance on recent events," A newscaster's voice crackles on, "The images we are about to show you are... very disturbing."

On screen was a scene of mass destruction, fires flickering on the ground, buildings reduced to little more than rubble and ash. Genosha had just been attacked, less than a week after being introduced into the UN.

It was a disheartening scene for a lot of people. Not so much for the overly-religious Ferguson household.

"Good riddance." Ned Ferguson snorts, "I can barely believe they were let into the UN in the first place."

"Ned..." Martha chides, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"I'm serious!" Ned replies, "You think those freaks of nature should be allowed to even exist? Hell no! God meant for humans to be on top of the food chain, not a bunch of genetic mistakes."

"Ned!"

"Whatever. Dinner ready?"

Clarice bit at her nails thinking about the current situation. The disconcerting visuals still on-screen were gruesome, but her father's words made her wonder about the morality of the situation. Sure it was kind of mean, but Claire wondered what would happen now, if the mutants would take revenge or-

Blink

Clarice was now outside, streams of pink energy now wafting off of her. In front of Clarice was a forest, one she had played in so many times before as a child. Behind her was a small, two-story house, a shocked Ned Ferguson looking at his daughter from the back porch.

"Claire?" Ned asks, mouth agape,  "You're... you... you..."

"Dad!" Clarice exclaims, running towards her father, "I don't know what happened, I don't-"

"GET OFF OF ME!" Ned yells, shoving his daughter down, "Freak! Pink-skinned demon!"

Clarice stumbled to the ground, a strand of magenta hair falling in front of her face. That wasn't right. She had brown hair... right?

"Martha!" Ned shouts, running inside, "Get me my rifle! We're being attacked!"

Little Todd Ferguson peered out the kitchen window, but ducked behind it after making eye contact with his sister, or in his mind, a monster, a devil sent from the depths of hell. 

Clarice scrambled backwards, her breath shortening. This wasn't right! She was human! She wasn't a mutant! She wasn't a demon! She just couldn't be! Clarice Ferguson was told all her life that mutants were the great evil of the life, and now she was mutant? Why? How?

Ned Ferguson rushed outside, hunting rifle in hand.

"Get Todd upstairs!" Ned yells, like some sort of hero, "I'll fend off this demon! I'll kill it!"

Ned Ferguson, assistant pastor of Righteous Rock church, lined up his shot. He was doing God's work. He wondered if this would finally catapult him to the head pastor position. Ned's finger squeezed on the trigger, about to shoot out a deadly metal capsule fueled by gunpowder. That would show that stuck up child of a pastor, going on about how everyone deserved love.

Blink

BANG!

Clarice Ferguson was in the middle of the woods, no idea were she was. Clarice, "Clair" Ferguson was alienated from her family, and lost in the forest.

(God I'm morbid)

Samuel Guthrie flew through the air, his earbuds fitted snugly in his ears. After multiple attempts and nearly 50 dollars in earbuds, Sam had finally figured out how to keep earbuds in his ears without them falling out and away. 

But the distressing news was about to make the young mutant fall.

"For our audio listeners," The newscaster continues, "The images we are referring to are that of Genosha, the newly-formed nation, a safe-haven for mutants... Genosha has been attacked and is now in a state of severe devastation."

Samuel gasped, losing concentration for just a split-second. The young mutant hurtled through the clouds, his breath ripped away from him.

The ocean surface got closer.

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Even closer.

Controlled breathing, control your breathing.

It's right there.

At the last moment, Samuel's powers kicked back in, shooting him across the surface of the water like a bullet. Genosha was close. 

He could see the smoke on the horizon.

(So edgdy.)

Wham!

A FoH (Friend of Humanity) slammed against a wall, thrown by 16 year old Hisako Ichiki in her psionic exoskeleton. Hisako's battle against the beret-wearing oppressors, which had been raging on for hours, was finally coming to an end.

"You done?" Joshua Foley asks, leaning on a balcony high above.

"Yeah." Hisako mutters, her armor fading, "For now."

"...You look like shit." Josh says, walking down to the ground floor, "Lemme help."

The gold-skinned young man laid his hands one his friend, and almost instantly, her cuts fused together, her bruises faded, and her swollen eye quickly diminished. Hisako smiled at her friend, before looking around at the unconscious terrorists.

"Why'd they do it?" Hisako asks, already knowing the answer, "Why'd they kill Ed?"

"They- I-" Josh starts, before taking a deep breath, "They just don't like us."

The two walked outside, hiding underneath a couple of dirty sweatshirts they found in the dumpster. As they traversed the concrete jungle, they came across an electronics' store with a multitude of televisions on display. All the TVs were on one channel. All the TVs showed the same images.

Genosha in flames.

(note to self: thx for making me relive 'Remember it' you rat-ass one-shoe no-sock basturd)