"What are your specific views on the Superhuman Criminal Registration Act?"
"Regarding the legislative intent of the act, I believe the law itself is quite sound. However, in practical application..."
Peter was currently being interviewed by MJ—or rather, participating in a mock interview. The root of the session lay in the intense debate sweeping across America following Senator Kelly's recent submission of the Superhuman Criminal Registration Act to Congress. Make no mistake, many weren't discussing whether the act was beneficial or morally right; they were simply looking for an opportunity to voice their own biases.
For instance, radical voters of the Democratic Party argued that the act was effectively still a form of discrimination against mutants. Since the vast majority of superhuman criminals were mutants, they claimed this was merely the Mutant Registration Act under a different skin. To be fair, this logic was somewhat absurd, akin to claiming that opposing "looting" was an act of racial discrimination because the perpetrators happened to be Black.
On the other hand, extremist Republican voters believed the whole thing was an utter scam, a political conspiracy concocted by the Deep State. They argued that many super-villains didn't actually have powers—take Shocker or Mysterio, for example. They had no innate abilities and relied entirely on high-tech gadgets to commit crimes.
Now that the government was only registering superhuman crimes and ignoring high-tech crimes, was there some hidden agenda?
The rights and wrongs of the matter were truly difficult to parse.
"In other words, you believe the act has merit and its starting point is well-intentioned, but it could easily fall into a pattern of abuse."
MJ summarized Peter's words. As an intern at the Daily Bugle, she and her employer generally didn't need to cater to the radical voters on either side of the aisle. The Daily Bugle had always declared its political stance to be centrist, representing the so-called silent majority—"ordinary people with common sense."
Though the fact that the Bugle's profits had been declining for years seemed to suggest a few things in itself.
From beginning to end, the outbreak of the Nimrod crisis remained a fog to the rest of the world. The general public didn't know they had once been invaded by an enemy from the future (which was now another universe). No one linked the collapse of A.I.M. to mutants.
In fact, when Magneto publicly expressed his gratitude to the Avengers for their contributions to mutant rights, most people were utterly baffled. Some even suspected the Avengers of treason, wondering if they had taken a bribe from Magneto, only to be immediately shut down by angry crowds—after all, Captain America was still on the team!
Aside from that, other impacts caused by Nimrod were equally difficult for outsiders to grasp: why the X-Men were in Paris, where that giant Sentinel in Paris came from, and so on.
Thinking of this, Peter contemplated the events that followed. The Institute had taken in a significant number of the mutants Rogue had been caring for. Most of them had severe physical mutations and were prone to discrimination; some were willing to stay at the Institute. However, even more people, upon hearing that the X-Men could take them to Genosha, still chose to go there.
It seemed that, at least for the time being, Genosha remained a paradise for mutants.
"Good, at least I have enough material to satisfy JJJ," MJ said, closing her notebook. "You helped me out, Peter. How about I treat you to dinner?"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
In the basement of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Gambit, Remy LeBeau, was being temporarily "detained." In truth, the X-Men had no legal authority or mandate to hold prisoners; this was undeniably illegal imprisonment.
But Gambit wasn't in a hurry. The X-Men hadn't fitted him with a mutant power dampening collar, which meant he could leave whenever he pleased. Because of this, he was perfectly relaxed, waiting to see what tricks the X-Men were trying to pull.
Soon enough, his interrogators arrived. One was the Rogue he had encountered earlier—the one who supposedly needed protection—and the other was Wolverine, Logan, whom he had fought alongside. Gambit was quite surprised to see Logan and couldn't help but remark, "You're still kicking, mon ami."
"Cut the chatter, you bastard."
Logan sat down across from Gambit, his arm hitting the table with a heavy thud. "Where is Sinister! And where is the kid!"
"What, a long-lost father looking to get his daughter back? That's not a great idea, pal. Even though we haven't known each other long, I can tell..."
Before Gambit could finish, Logan popped his claws. Gambit raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I know, I know. Good cop, bad cop—a routine that hasn't gotten old in centuries. If that's the case, why didn't you just send that telepathic lady from your team in here?"
"Because we don't want you to think of us as enemies. I've talked to them, and I can tell you're not a bad person."
Hearing Rogue speak, Gambit nodded nonchalantly. Just like he said: good cop, bad cop.
"Just as I suspect you didn't know that girl is actually a clone developed by Hydra. She was created as a weapon by the Weapon X department."
Rogue's sentence dragged the casual Gambit back to reality. He sat up straight and looked at her. "Wait, what did you say? Hydra? Nazis?"
"Yes. The Avengers confirmed this a while ago. Logan saw the girl at a Hydra base in Budapest—Product 23 of the Weapon X project."
Gambit rubbed his forehead helplessly. He was wondering if Rogue was lying. As a Frenchman, the idea that he had been working for Nazis was simply too absurd.
After a pause, Rogue was the first to ask, "Where did you meet Mr. Sinister, and why were you working for him?"
"I..." Gambit paused for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "A few years ago, my powers started spiraling out of control. Everything I touched would explode instantly, and I couldn't stop it. I met him while I was looking for a doctor. I thought he was a good man; he performed a surgery on me that let me control my powers again. As payment, I do him a few favors—and it's no exaggeration to say, I'm a master thief."
Logan snorted.
"Really. The first time you guys went to Genosha, I planted something on your jet. I bet you haven't found it yet," Gambit added. "A man named Otto Octavius used Sinister's connections to install a program on your plane. You might want to check it out."