Dire News At The Door ((Open For All Reactions))

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Mrs. Mary MacNeilly's report to the New York State Education Department was far from glowing. Her report caused a lot more concern and shock than normal process usually allowed. They did their research on previous inspections just to see how long this mutant school problem had been going on. Despite their research showing there had never been an issue as large as what was put before them, they had to take action on what Mrs. MacNeilly had reported.

The NYSED informed the superintendent in the district Xavier's was located in of the issue. They also got in touch with Westchester County's office about Xavier's certificate of occupancy due to the structural damage Mrs. MacNeilly had witnessed happening to the school building. With the report of mutants on the grounds the state and county governments got their information squared away before sending representatives to the school with protection from law enforcement. Child Protective Services got into the loop after being informed of a young girl living at the school surrounded by mutants who quite possibly could not control their powers.

As the media got wind of what was coming to a quiet yet secretive school in upstate New York, TV stations sent crews out. Some of the government representatives were glad to talk vaguely about what was happening at the school live. With the cameras aimed to put the people going into the school on film, a TV reporter stepped into the frame.

"This is Samantha Boulevard here not far from the town of Salem Center in Westchester County. Government officials from the New York State Education Department are here delivering a notice of probation for the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The school came under scrutiny recently during an inspection by a certified educational inspector. My sources have told me that this school poses as a private institution for education but has been revealed to be habitat for mutants."

Comments

[marvel_boy]

"A habitat for mutants?" Topher was sitting in the common room at the Xavier Institute, curled up in his sweats, his plate of jalapeno poppers suddenly forgotten about.

"That...that makes us sound like some kind of...like this place is some sort of zoo or something!"

[iced_cherub]

Bobbi had been passing by with her soccer ball and stood in the door way. "Well looks like I'm not going outside to play for a bit. And seems more like a cult thing... You know when they hole up somewhere to live." And she realizes she's probably not helping much.

"Sorry."

[legacy_of_evil]

Norman watched the news with a mild bit of fascination. A habitat for mutants? That was rich.

"A school for mutants. Well, at least someone was trying to help them." he says aloud.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Defense Department calls in the near future."

[call_me_phobos]

Alexander didn't like this at all.

That was Brooke's school they were talking about and they spoke of her people like they were terrorists or worse. That made him angry on her behalf.

He watched the news report in full before making a decision, though a part of him really wanted to smite every single journalist and reporter on the face of the earth right now.

[notmadeofglass]

For as much as Tina liked to pretend that she had divorced herself from the world of mutants and secret schools and everything that it entailed she couldn't help but keep up-to-date on things. The news alert fitting her search parameters pinged and Tina caught the live stream on her souped-up phone.

"Shit."

Whatever her situation with her Steve-Quinn and her own personal drama, it was going to have to take a backseat. Rose was going to need her and that meant being back in the US for an undetermined amount of time.

Tina shot off a text to Rose: How fast do you need me there?

[wild_child]

Rose texted her back.

Don't know what you think you can do, Frosty. Might be better to lay low, before the you know what hits the fan.

[sonoflongshot]

The news was on as Aiden puttered in the kitchen. he normally had cooking shows on the small television in the kitchen, but there hadn't been one new to him on. He finished chopping a mound of onions, with his eyes slightly moist when he heard Xavier's mentioned.

He looked up and watched the news.

"... oh, poop."

[crawler_kid]

Angel had been in the living room, doing some of her reading for school.

"Everything okay in there, Sugah?"

[the_next_avenger]

Joe didn't like what he was seeing.

The news report made it sound like this school was a breeding ground for terrorists but Joe didn't believe that. After all of the hatred and bile mutants had to take on a daily basis, was it any wonder that they'd shut themselves away from the world? They hadn't done anything wrong as far as he could see, yet they were being put through the ringer for trying to be safe.

The issue of mutants was a sore one for Captain America. Steve Rogers had always felt like he hadn't done enough to help them with the status he'd earned in his lifetime and that America should be further along in granting mutants the same rights and freedoms as everyone else.

Dad would probably try to help out somehow but Joe wanted to help, too. He didn't know how...but he had to think of something.

[agent_timeout]

The phone rings. If you listened closely, you could almost hear 'ANSWER ME, GOOFBALL!'

[comic_awareness]

Bruce caught the news and got on the phone to Sara.

[summersspawn]

Sara was at school, watching the news on the big TV in the student lounge. She answered on the first ring.

"Oh my God. Are you watching the news?"

[im_a_librarian]

Dawn, working in a library, actually caught the news in the paper.

Wait. Didn't her cousin David go to that school?

[talk_to_you]

This was... this was pretty much every single variety of bad rolled into one. The only things that could possibly be worse involved Apocalypse, Sinister, or Magneto. At least it wasn't any of those things.

But it had happened. And he felt more than a little responsible for it.

He wondered if he still had any UN contacts from his time there as a translator...

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel kissed her husband's cheek as she telekinetically adjusted her suit. It was the most conservative thing she had to wear, and it would have to do. "This isn't your fault, Doug. Just make sure the kids stay calm and no one goes on the super defensive. The rest of us will deal with the circus on our doorstep."

She straightened up and took a breath. She could do this calm, rational back-up thing. She had been Mother Askani. She could handle helping Xavier present a calm front.

Rachel gave Doug a wink and smile as she went out the door toward the front of the building.

[fourshelled]

Athos was not watching the news. He was sitting by it happening in a fashion. He was in the middle of the vast lawn as various suited people marched up to the front doors. The man-sized turtle was sitting in the lotus position, meditating.

Except the air was charged with some sort of energy that disturbed the ninja turtle's pool of inner calm. He cracked open and eye to watch what was going on.

[symkarian_princess]

Nika was between classes and in one of the lounges in Alfred Lerner Hall. She was checking out the latest news on her tablet when something caught her eye. She opened up the streaming news service and blinked.

She set down her tablet and picked up her phone. First, she would call Lisa to check on the team as needed and make room available for family if necessary. Then she would call her niece and nephew to make sure they were both all right.

[vesper_verde]

As Marcelo's secretary was wont to do, she informed him of news that might pertain to him. Like the information about a private school in Westchester County that was getting media attention.

He sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He wasn't surprised by the news outside of the tone it carried. Stephanie had been forthcoming about being a mutant to him. It wasn't a far stretch for him to figure out the school she went to when they had met was possibly the one on the news.

He glanced at his phone. He wasn't sure if she was at work or in the middle of class. He wasn't sure if she heard the news. Though he did pick up his phone and call. Even if it was just a message to say he was there and could meet her anywhere she needed.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie was watching the news on a TV in campus, and feeling like she wanted to tear some of the people around her from end to end. She was glad she wasn't a telepath or an empath, but the blind ignorance and barely-concealed hatred was still apparent in the air.

"I trust you've been told about the news?" Her voice was clipped, tense, and she ducked out of openly public space into a place where there were far fewer people around. "My old school's all over it."

She knew she'd have to come clean publicly sooner or later, but this was making the whole situation more urgent than she would have liked.

[guardian_devil]

Matt Murdock had called his daughter to turn on the television when she got a free moment and check out the news.

Mags had done her dad one better and had excused herself from class, choosing to watch the news from her smartphone in the hallway.

A flare of worry coursed through Mags, causing a bolt of flame to shoot out from her hand. She quickly stamped it out with her black Converse sneaker before biting her lip.

Man. That...that wasn't good in the least.

[stormy_skrull]

"Really?" Mary said, watching the TV. "This is what gets people upset? I'm a freaking alien from people who've tried to conquer this planet every other Wednesday and I don't get any of this crap."

[brother_bear]

Misha watched the news feeling that rare Logan anger bubbling up inside. This was going to hurt the people who needed this place most.

He went to check on his stealth armor. Something told him there would be extra patrols to make sure idiots didn't try to breach the walls.

[realstarpower]

Ryan watched the news break, a gnawing growing in his pit. Man, that just had to suck for the X-Men, being outed like that. People weren't going to react very well to that.

He imagined what it would have been like for him, waking up with powers one morning, only to have everyone hate you.

...wait. Waking up with powers one morning. Ryan paused and tilted his head. "Uhm. Am I a mutant, too?"

[shadeblossom]

Hana's first thought at seeing the news report was that she needed to get into the village and get the kids from school. There weren't too many protesters outside Xavier's yet, but it was a matter of time before more turned up. Probably nastier ones.

She went in search of Logan. Normally, he'd pick the kids up in the afternoon, since Hana dropped them off in the morning. Today, though, she wanted to be there.

[canadianwildboy]

Logan was deep into reviewing school security when Hana showed up. He was thinking about the kids outside the wall as well and wondering if reporters or government types had shown up at the elementary school to harass the kids.

He looked up when Hana entered the control room. "Nobody's panickin', are they?"

[ngm_adults]

Charles Francis Xaiver had spent the vast majority of his adult life working toward helping mutants. He had taken his home and opened its doors to those mutants he could reach (though often, he would admit, also those he thought could do the most good for the world).

During that same time, he had spoken repeatedly on the need for mutant rights, for the need for tolerance and understanding of those who were different. He had become regarded as one of the leading experts in mutation.

And during all this time, he had hidden his own mutation from the world, for fear that it would do more harm than good for the cause. His own secrecy had become paramount to protecting those under his care, and for the families he had watched them raise.

Now, he watched the media circus on his front door, and for the briefest moment, he felt fear that his dream was about to come crashing down around all their ears. That this would no longer be a safe place for mutants. That fear would rise up in humans and the haven he had built would turn into just one more target.

Something... something more had to be done.

[nohoundsallowed]

"You know, with inflation and prestige adjustments, I should be asking for a quarter for your thoughts," Rachel said quietly. She approached the Professor with a wry grin.

[summersspawn]

Sara decided that it would be better to arrive as quietly as possible, which meant, no Quinjet. She flew to Westchester under her own power, landing in the woods about half a mile from the school, then walking the rest of the way.

She threaded her way through the throng of reporters, officials, and assorted gawkers outside, then pressed the call button at the gate, and simultaneously sent a message to her sister.

Ray? Can you hear me? I'm outside. I don't know what I can do here, but I've come to help.

[nohoundsallowed]

One thing Rachel hadn't expected that day was her baby sister to show up at the gate. She had assumed Sara would stay relatively safe with the rest of the New Mutants down in New Jersey. Then again, she had assumed it would be a normal day that day she went to a conference, and then administrative hell blew up on their lawn.

How creepy would it be when I say I can always hear you if I put my mind to it? Come inside and try not to let any reporters sneak in after you.

The redhead had the gate open to admit one and hopefully only one.

The Announcement

[ngm_adults]

The Professor wheeled his way on to the steps of his home, looking out over the assembled crowd of reporters, aware that the eyes of the world were on him. He took a breath to steady himself, then began to speak.

"My name is Charles Xaiver," he began. "For nearly forty years, I have been the headmaster of this school, first as a School for Gifted Youngsters, and then as the Xaivier Institute when it became necessary to transform into something more. Among my former students are such luminaries as Doctor Henry McCoy, Katherine Pryde-Wisdom, and Alex Summers. Many more of my former students returned to this place after their graduation, to raise families, and to help guide the next generation of students.

For all of those forty years, this school has been exclusive, looking for gifted students that it could help guide toward making the world a better place. And I would like to believe they have.

You also know that I am considered one of the world's leading experts on mutation, alongside Doctor MacTaggert and Doctor McCoy. I have been an outspoken proponent of Mutant Rights, and debated vigorously with Senator Kelly about the ills of subjugating mutants to the kinds of prejudices and regulations this country had otherwise long left behind. I have made it my life's work, along with educating young people, to see that all people, regardless of what gifts nature has bestowed upon them, are treated as equals by their fellow man.

For all those years, I have sought to keep my students safe in whatever ways I could. I have sought to keep the world safe, from those who would do it harm.

My name is Charles Xaiver... and I am a mutant. And this school was founded with the purpose of finding mutants and offering them the opportunity to control their gifts and use them for the betterment of mankind. To that end, I took my original class of students and formed them into the team the world knows as the X-Men.

I take no shame in that I have kept these things a secret, only regret that the secrecy went on for so long, because they were necessary to protect the people I cared for and those who were my responsibility to protect. But circumstances have forced my hand.

Moreover, it is a changing world. The number of mutants has expanded to a level I would never have dreamed of all those years ago. And new threats still remain throughout the world, like that misguided young woman claiming kinship to Magneto.

This is a school and so shall it always be. Let all mutants know, that if you desire it, you have a home here. Let my home, as it has always been, be a safe haven for mutants, and an example of all of us, human and mutant, working together for a better tomorrow."

[wateronthebrain]

Erin has been following the news. Her father had taught her to always pay attention to the media. She knew that what showed up on television, on the internet, and in print was only part of the story.

A school for mutants. It's fascinating. If she had been able to go to a place like that maybe she would have learned control faster. For two years before she met Bruce and the others she had struggled on her own.

She still worries about the control she has. The human body is mostly water. What if she lost her temper?

They are a lucky bunch of people. She hopes that they can remain open as a school. She also wonders if she can do anything to help them. She has no idea.

[pym_kitten]

Chris just watches the tv, chewing her lip nervously. She'd taken the weekend to hang out with her mom, and wished she was back at the Institute with everyone else. There had to be something to be done about this. Maybe she could ask her father and Uncle Steve to try to make a public statement of support... everyone listens to Uncle Steve.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

Alisa pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched the news report. This was great! Now there were MORE reasons for the common public to start getting on mutant's backs.

"Great, now what are dey gonna do? Start scannin' kids at every school to see if dey human or not?" She muttered to herself. "Maybe every college will go back to lookin' at who graduated an' start pullin' degrees 'cause dey t'ink de dirty muties cheated dem. Lovely. As if I don' got enough on my plate already!"

Alisa could not take anymore. She turned off the TV and tossed the remote control on the other end of the couch. There was a small bit of fear creeping up into her. With mutants getting so much attention, and none of it any good, it could spell a problem for her business. It made her actually hate humanity a bit more.