Chapter 10

THE DAILY GLOBE

THE NEW MUTANT MENACE?

Over the past week, the country and the entire world has been left reeling by the mysterious so-called Regenesis event that seemingly reversed the devastating effects of M-Day that had left nearly every mutant on the planet powerless, in some cases fatally. This almost immediatly resulted in civil unrest worldwide as formerly depowered mutants clashed with anti-mutant groups, though peace was re-established relatively quickly. However, within less than 24 hours, another earth-shattering event occured as the entire island nation of Genosha somehow returned from the dead! The long-disputed island had been devastated by an unidentified terrorist attack two years ago and had never been resettled or repaired, but now stood as if the destruction had never happened at all. This seemingly impossible event left goverments and experts across the world utterly baffled. That is, until now.

Early yesterday morning, a Genoshan television broadcast began circulating online that allegedly revealed the truth behind both Regenesis and the Genoshan Miracle. An individual refering to himself only as "Ginnungagap" appeared on a government broadcast and claimed to have been the person behind these events, and showcased several mutant abilities of varying difficulty, including turning an object into gold.

Response to the broadcast has been mixed, as many government officials and media claim that the footage is an obvious hoax, and that the relatively minor skills shown in the recording could easily be faked on behalf of the Genoshan government to bolster their own legitimacy, especially compared to the events he claims responsibility for. However, others have pointed out that mutants of similar levels of power have been recorded before, and it's unlikely that Genoshas first action upon being brought back to life would be to create propaganda. Opinions on the validity of the recording remain contested, even as nations across the world scramble to readjust to the presence of mutant citizens, as well as the position of Genosha in the international community.

Though word from official sources such as SHIELD remain silent, anonymous sources have revealed that both the organization itself as well as it's government connections are less divided and have allegedly confirmed that the recording is in fact real. If so, what are the implications for a world with a superhuman that can literally bring the dead back to life? Are these the limits to his power? Are there any limits? As a nation that has only recently concluded a conflict about the accountability of superhumans, are we facing an even greater threat?

Despite the short period of time since the film was leaked, sporadic protests have already shown up across the U.S, most of them organized by the fundamentalist group The Church of Humanity, a religious offshoot of the long-time anti-mutant political organization Friends Of Humanity, and social media both supporting and opposing Ginnungagap have sprung up online overnight, along with rumors that he has been sighted in the U.S, though these rumors remain unconfirmed.

Well-known businessman, inventor and pardoned former criminal Norman Osborn was quoted as saying the following: "The American people are understandably tired of living with the constant threat of risking life and property in the endless brawls caused by superhumans, be they artificial or mutated ones, and now they have to face someone who uses life and death itself as playthings? What's stopping him from simply waving his hands around and wiping out humanity altogether if he feels like it? As a reformed villain myself, I know all too well the temptation of power, and I urge all my fellow citizens to rise up and demand that the government do their job and bring mutantkind under the same banner as every other metahuman! We will not be intimidated! You are not above the law just because you're powerful!"

Other detractors includes Henry Peter Gyrich, long-time critic of the superhero community, and current Secretary of the Superhuman Armed Forces: "Unbelivable, we'd JUST gotten on top of this whole Civil War bullcrap and on the way to actually making superhumans accountable to the law like every other person, and then this asshole decides to just knock the whole thing over again, and for what? To repower a bunch of random people who shouldn't have powers in the first place! Yeah, I bet ordinary citizens were just so bored not having to worry if today was the day their neighbors kid was going to turn out to be a mutant and melt their skin off because their powers activated and they couldn't control them."

Gyrich refused to answer questions regarding the political status of Genosha, citing national security concerns.

For more on the history of Genosha, see p.15

For more on M-Day, see p.9-10

.....

"Wow, they are not dealing well with this at ALL." Ellie whistled as she watched the interchangable talking heads on the TV screen trying to yell over eachother, the same topic being discussed as on almost every other channel. Next to her, Santo, still in his human form leaned over the backrest of the couch.

"Yeah, welcome to life outside Genosha, where every time mutants do anything at all, it's headline news, usually the kind where they start screaming about how evil we are for existing. I guess it must be frustrating if you thought the thing you hate most in the world was going extinct only for a ton of them to just come back to life overnight."

"Get used to it" said Cessily, a mutant girl with red hair and silver-colored skin which had earned her the codename Mercury. "Bad guys come back all the time too, the teachers talk about it all the time. Remember that guy with the white skin and red eyes? The one with the stupid name that sounded like a 10-year old came up with it? Sinister, or whatever? He's come back to life like a dozen times."

Santo finished climbing over the couch, and grinned at the simple joy of being able to do so without crushing it "Yeah, but that doesn't count, those were all clones, that's like his thing. The people Magic Man brought back aren't close." He turned to Ellie "You're not a clone, right?"

She blinked "I don't... think so? I mean, if I was, I wouldn't know, but when he brought the others back, I watched him to it, and he just reversed all the damage to their bodies and then they woke up again. I don't think that counts as cloning."

"So what's Magic Man like?" Cessily asked curiously "I decided not to have my mutation changed, so I never got a chance to meet him, and Santo here" she glared at the boy "is being distinctly unhelpful"

Santo shrugged with a grin "Sorry, I was a bit busy not being made of rock anymore to really judge his personality. He could be a dick all he wants though, considering he gave me my handsome face back!"

"You know he hates that name you came up with, right? Magic Man?" Ellie smiled "I think he feels it's undignified or something."

Santo laughed "Too bad for him, last time I checked it was trending on Twitter. He should have come up with something catcher than that weird Norse thing he's using, it just sounds like he made it up himself."

Cessily tossed a pillow at him "Maybe he's opened a book once in a while, unlike you!"

Ellie decided to cut them off before the pillow fight escalated further "TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, he's... pretty nice, I guess? I've only known him for a few days, but considering he's done more for me than literally every other person I've ever met other than Miss Frost, I might be a bit biased. Also, he's weirdly neurotic for someone who could turn the moon to cheese if he wanted to. I think his powers make him nervous for some reason."

Santo rolled his eyes "Yeah, it must be so hard to get the entire world to cater to your every whim by waving a hand around. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but still, what does someone like him have to worry about?"

.....

This might be mildly abusing my powers, but when Jennifer told me that the Genosha tape had finally leaked, I decided I wanted to see what the response was online, so I decided to make a smartphone for myself. Apparently, one of the perks of reality warping is you can just make yourself an unlimited data plan and not get pissy messages from the service provider all the damn time.

I was also surprised to see that it's still called Twitter here and not one of those stupid made-up standins Marvel always uses to avoid copyright.

Less surprising is the response to my existance. So far we got #MutantAntiChrist, #KillAllHumans, #KillAllMuties, #MutantMessiah, and for some reason #MagicMan.

Goddamnit.

Jen glances up from her paperwork and watches me scroll down the feed with a sour look on my face. "I'm guessing it's about what you expected?"

"I don't know why I'm surprised, it's not like I've never used Twitter before. Guess it's different when you're the guy everyone hates and/or expect to solve all your problems."

Jen gives me a sardonic look "You realize you're talking to one of the most visible superheroines on the planet, right? I guarantee you the crap you're looking at is easy mode compared to my own Twitter feed."

I wince at the memory of the horrible misogynist shit I've seen on social media in general. "Point taken. Still though, you'd think literally bringing people back from the dead would gain me a bit better press than this." I could technically just unmake Twitter by wanting to, but that seems like an actual abuse of my powers.

Jen shrugs before standing from her desk and putting away the papers she was looking over into a file "If you're done punishing yourself, I think it's about time we get going to meet the Gem candidates. Speaking of which, that reminds me, you only had five gems with you. Aren't there six of them?"

"The current holder gets to keep the sixth one... for now. Let's say he's on probation."

She looks uncertain, but decides to go with it "So, how do we get there?"

I smirk "Well, you think, you wink, you do a double blink, you close your eyes, and JUMP!"

"Absolutely not."

"God, why do you hate movies?!"