Peter did not rest for long; he immediately opened a portal and arrived at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Here, seeing a Spider-Man appear via portal didn't seem to surprise anyone particularly. Peter made his way to the Headmaster's office, but after knocking, he found that no one answered.
Then, the voice of the White Queen echoed in Peter's mind.
"Spider-Man, please come to the school's conference room. We are all here."
Peter blinked, then immediately turned and headed to the conference room on the first floor. Sure enough, the entire X-Men team and Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat, were all gathered there. Peter pushed the door open, only to see Cyclops make a shushing gesture.
They were watching television.
A man Peter didn't recognize was on the screen, but after watching for a few seconds, he realized this was Senator Kelly—the man the X-Men had rescued from an assassination attempt by the Brotherhood of Mutants. As the primary proponent of the Mutant Registration Act, this Senator was now representing the entirety of Congress in a press conference that, perhaps, no one but mutants cared about.
"I must admit, before that assassination attempt, I never imagined things would get this bad. From our original intent, the Mutant Registration Act was meant to better serve the public, acting as a preventative measure against the increasingly rampant crimes committed by mutants and other superpowered individuals. But we were wrong."
Senator Kelly stood on the lawn of Capitol Hill, voicing his views. "We wrongly concluded that all mutants were potential criminals. We scrutinized them through a biased lens. This act, which claimed to be in the name of freedom, was actually filled with rhetoric that mirrors the sentiments from the very founding of our party. Our great founder, Abraham Lincoln, once signed legislation here to liberate all Black Americans, yet we nearly betrayed his spirit."
Logan used his claws to pry open a bottle of beer. Though he didn't remember it clearly, he must have already been born while Lincoln was still alive. Back then, the fundamental bases of the Democrats and Republicans were the opposite of what they were today; Kelly's opening remarks felt a bit like he was looking for trouble where there was none.
On the screen, after a brief recap of Lincoln's great deeds, Senator Kelly finally brought the topic back to the main point and his legislation.
"Our constituents pursue safety. Our people long for a shred of legal protection in this era where superpowered crime is becoming more severe, and I cannot deny them that. But neither can we allow our nation, our people, and our society to be fractured because of it. Therefore, I announce that starting today, Congress will no longer pursue the 'Mutant Registration Act' or any related legislation targeting mutants!"
The conference room suddenly erupted with sparse applause and joyful laughter. Iceman and Nightcrawler were laughing the loudest; Beast and Emma Frost were both smiling and clapping. Cyclops couldn't help but adjust his ruby quartz glasses to keep them from sliding down. Logan continued drinking, still wearing a brooding expression, but after Colossus patted him on the shoulder, he smiled and handed over a bottle of beer.
The happiest of all was Kitty. Seeing this scene, she shouted "Hooray!" and threw her arms around Peter's neck. Peter was caught off guard, and she quickly realized what she had done. Looking a bit embarrassed, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stepped back.
"Uh, it's fine. I'm happy too, it's just... I probably don't feel it as personally as you guys do."
As Peter spoke, he turned back to the television. For some reason—perhaps because Anansi had enhanced his Spider-Sense—he felt this press conference wasn't over. There seemed to be more... heavy hitting news to come.
"Therefore, as an alternative, I will propose a more referenceable and valuable piece of legislation to Congress."
Senator Kelly's words cut through the celebratory atmosphere in the room. Everyone looked back at the TV in unison, wondering what this guy was about to say. If he wasn't going to push the Mutant Registration Act, what was he planning?
"We will introduce... the 'Supervillain Registration Act.' This legislation will target only those superhumans who have committed crimes, have a criminal record, or have been apprehended. The names, ages, DNA samples, and power profiles of these superhumans will be kept on record. All super-criminals, upon their release, will also be subject to professional supervision and periodic reviews."
"Furthermore, for all super-criminals with a record, we will invite professionals to design solutions specifically tailored to counter their superpowers, and all such information will be registered. We will create individual files for every super-criminal, tracking their itineraries to counter or neutralize their abilities!"
In a suburban warehouse, Otto Octavius watched the press conference with his Sinister Six. His hands wouldn't stop trembling; the ALS in this cloned body was worsening. It seemed he would have to swap bodies again very soon.
It appeared he needed to rapidly increase the combat strength of the Sinister Six and then find Jonathan Drew.
Meanwhile, at Avengers Tower, Captain America and Tony were also watching the broadcast. Cap sighed, seemingly lost in thought. Tony looked at him and asked, "You don't think this is a good thing?"
"I'm worried they'll give an inch and take a mile. Today it's registering super-criminals; tomorrow they'll demand that superhuman vigilantes must register before they can volunteer to help; the day after, they'll require all superhumans to register."
The Captain watched the news, feeling a sense of helplessness. However, it seemed he had no real grounds to oppose legislation targeting supervillains, especially after the breakout at the Raft.
At the same time, many others were focused on this press conference. In fact, the importance of the information being revealed here was far greater than Peter realized. At this moment, a significant number of people were tuned in.
Even Mr. Sinister and Gambit, who had arrived in Europe, were no exception.
"Boss, there's no movement from Genosha. We released several thousand political prisoners who oppose Magneto and even blew up one of his prisons, yet there hasn't been a peep of news."
Gambit watched the news. He didn't have much of an opinion on these matters; the only reason he worked for Mr. Sinister was because Sinister had helped him control his powers when they were spiraling out of control. He was here to help out of gratitude.
"No news from Magneto is good news. It means he doesn't have time to deal with us. We only need to handle the X-Men."
Sinister smiled, revealing the purpose of this trip.
"We need to find Rogue before they do."