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New York City was not a new place for Kitty. She had grown up here. It was where she spent the vast majority of her life before leaving for Xavier’s Mansion, and it was where her mother still lived. Still, ever since the Brotherhood attack on President Kelly, New York was not the place she once considered it. 

Not for mutants at least. 

She remembered reading about how Muslim, or anyone who looked like they could be Muslim, people were treated after the attacks on the World Trade Center, and she figured it was a lot similar. The only difference was, it was normally hard to tell who was a mutant. Instead of horrible treatment of people who looked a certain way, there was just a general air of mistrust that hung over the city. With all the propaganda spread about mutants, it wasn’t hard to understand how people could be wary. They believed the person next to them at the deli could blow the city block up with his mind at any second.

She didn’t blame the humans for being afraid. When the people that are supposed to be leading you are feeding you frightening lies, of course you’re going to be afraid. It’s too easy to blame the bigot on the street for repeating what society tells him.

Still, walking these streets was no longer as fun as it once was.

“Are you okay, Ms. Pryde?” Professor McCoy leaned over and asked. He was currently camouflaged in a holographic projection. Instead of looking like his normal, furry self, Hank now looked like a fairly normal, if not burly, man. It was one of his own designs, built with the help of some of his friends. Hank loved being around people. It was a shame this was the only way it was possible.

“Fine,” she nodded. “It’s just…”

“Odd, I know,” he smiled sympathetically. “When a place ceases to be our home, it never feels quite the same again, does it?”

“No it does not professor,” she shook her head.

“Can we get pizza later?” Bobby asked as he rubbed his stomach.

“Are you serious?” Kitty smacked him on the back of the head. “Can you think of anything else?”

“We’re in New York!? What else is there to think of?” He answered defensively.

“Boys,” Kitty muttered. “Maybe the mission?”

The mission. The X-Men mission they were currently on. The more she thought about it, the more she was aware of the new team jumpsuit she was wearing under her street clothes. It felt too big for her, even if it was specifically made to compliment her skills and powers. It was like when she had tried on her mom’s clothes when she was a kid. It didn’t feel natural. Not yet, at least.

“Do you hear that?” Bobby stopped as the group passed a stoop.

They turned back to listen to the sounds coming out of a radio a group of locals was listening to. Coming from the speakers is the voice of a riled up evangelical preacher, “We were made in the image of the lord, our God. He made us to be perfect in every way and to be stewards of this beautiful Eden he created for us.  So I ask you, my flock, who are the mutants an image of!?”

“Satan!” A group of people yell back at the man.

“From your mouth to our Lord’s ears, my friends!” The preacher responds. “The mutant scourge is the product of the enemy of God, the Prince of Lies, Lucifer the Fallen Angel. They are his demon horde that walks among us, and it is our duty to make sure they do not overwhelm us. It is our job to save our Eden from these serpents! I call for you all to urge our president to deal with these devils as swiftly as possible. Our survival as a species depends on it!”

Kitty’s blood begins to boil as the broadcast cuts away to a news reporter, “And those were the inflammatory words of Reverend William Stryker today at a rally in New York City. Stryker, one of the leading voices in the Anti-Mutant crusade, is also the most controversial, often calling for violence against the newly discovered mutant population. It is believed that his rhetoric has been the fuel behind a rash of mutant lynchings in the midwest.”

McCoy ferried them away from the report, as he could see Bobby was about to say something, and Kitty’s hands were balled into fists of rage. They continued toward the Lee residence as the sun began to set. But as they approached their endpoint, what they saw took them aback. A mob of people stood outside the home, throwing rocks, bottles, and anything else they could get their hands on. Obscenities were yelled towards the family inside.

“Oh my stars and garters,” Beast said with exasperation. “This is not what we needed to see.”

“What are we going to do, Professor?” Bobby worriedly asked the elder mutant.

“Kitty,” he looked at the girl, “Can you get inside and get them out at the end of the street?”

She nodded, “I can do that.”

“Good, get in, and get them out safely,” he smiled comfortingly. “Meanwhile Bobby and I will go retrieve the vehic-”


“Molotov!” Bobby yelled as a flaming bottle flew out of the crowd towards the home. The mutant known as Iceman didn’t waste any time. He froze the water particles in a stream of air between him and the bottle, saving the building from being torched. 

Unfortunately, it also got the attention of the mob.

“There’s more of them freaks!”

“He shot at us! He did!”

“Get em!”

Shadowcat turned to her teammates quickly, “Go. Run. I’ll get the girl and her mother. You need to get out of here.”

Before they answered, Kitty took off in a sprint towards the mob. The first person she reach, a burly man with a shaved head and a swastika tattooed on his shoulder, took a swing at her with the tire iron he brandished. The object passed right through her skull, and she laughed as it did, “Better luck next time, Herr Douchebag.”

With a wink, she continued running, passing right through the incensed crowd. Each person she ran through freaked out in such a delicious way, she almost wanted to do it more. But she was an X-Man, and she had a mission to complete.

Before long, she passed through the front of the house, and began searching for Jubilation and her mother. Kitty found them, huddled in a closet. When she opened the door, they recoiled in fear, but she smiled warmly, “It’s okay. My name is Kitty Pryde. I’m with the X-Men. I’m here to get you out of here.”

That was when the second molotov cocktail shattered through the first floor window.