Green Acres

Summary:
August 15 2014: The newly relocated Nest gets a couple of visitors

The Nest

A formerly defunct ranch about 20 miles off the I-95 between Gotham and Metropolis


Characters

NPCs

  • Anabeth O'Neal
  • Gus
  • Charmer

Mood Music:
[* None]


The invitation had come to both Mike and Berto at the same time. To Mike it had been 'Come on down and see what all your hard work has done.' Since after all, he'd helped out with the rescue and the Nutates were sure to be glad to see him. To Berto… well, it was pitching an idea. This place was supposed to help victims of human trafficking recover and if Red Team took off like Berto seems to think it will, there's a possibility that he may want to know about this place.

Sadly, Nancy's not in at the moment, having taken a trip to get more supplies. Most of the Nutates and able bodied family members are hard at work putting their new residences in order, repairing fences, painting and such. Three older women man the kitchen and it is just about nearing lunch time…

*

Roberto shows up in typically ostentatious style, his mercury droplet of a car skimming the curves and grades of the private drive with a quiet purr that belies its speed. You'll have to forgive him: he doesn't get out of the city all that often, and a country road is prime territory for indulging his inner speed demon. He rolls up to the end of the drive, shuts down the engine, and exits the vehicle, looking around. There doesn't appear to be any sort of welcome wagon in evidence, but then again, the location is supposed to be keeping a low profile. He shrugs, puts on a pair of stylish sunglasses, and heads for the ranch house, his shorts and tank top keeping him comfortably cool in the summer weather.

*

A sleek-looking TRON styled motorcycle arrives a few moments after Roberto's arrival … and unfolds into a robot, about twelve feet tall and menacing. But then it releases, and a human-sized guy steps away from it, and it folds down into a smaller box-like shape. Mike Drakos has arrived.

And he's completely flabbergasted at the Ranch. Not because of the hard work — because it's so very, VERY low-tech. How do they LIVE?

His horror at this primitive lifestyle is entirely ridiculous, given that his parents insisted that he go every summer to a no-tech camp, even when he was having 'robot parts' issues. Well, perhaps not ridiculous. Perhaps it's an act. After all, the 'rents have recently bought a "ranch" - that is, a smallish place that they have hired people to work as an organic farm because Ana is too busy despite 'retiring' and Kyr is too easily distracted by work.

But his main reason is that he looks around and it seems like they're using extremely not-green technology, no windmill, no solar, no thermal pool — it's tragic!

*

Nancy is just coming off the highway and heading the last 20 miles to the Nest. The pickup is filled all the way to the top of the bed with supplies, both for the kitchen and for the rest of the building. Housing over 30 people takes a lot of supplies and as Nancy is driving, she is thinking to herself what she is going to do to supplement the grant from the Maria Stark Foundation. She has no worries that the money will last the next five years, like it's supposed to, but what about *after* those five years? If she can find a way of stretching out that money to last a few more, that would be ideal. But how? She thrums her fingers on the steering wheel.

At the ranch, one of the folks working on the fence looks up as the vehicles pull up. An older man, tall but stocky, he pulls his sunglasses off as he approaches the pair, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his brow. "Hello there!" he calls out amicably. "Can we help you boys?"

The other people working on the fences watch the interaction between the older man and the pair warily, some having an air of scared rabbits, while others look like they hope this is going to turn into a fight.

*

Bobby has been working out on the fence, but comes walking back up when he sees Gus stop to talk to an unfamiliar looking ca- no wait. That little silver teardrop. He'd recognize that car anywhere. "Berto?! Mike?! Is that you guys?"

Bobby himself is wearing an a-frame and jeans. He's not super fit, but he does wear it rather well. Though clearly he's been sweating and working in it because he's got dirt and sticky all over him. He breaks into a jog to close the distance.

*

Roberto glances over his shoulder as Mike arrives, managing to look even more incongruous than he does in the idyllic surroundings. It takes him a moment to recognize the mechanical mechanic, but once he does, he greets him with a wave and a smile. "Olá, Mike. I didn't realize you were a transformer, too." He hasn't heard about Mike's involvement with the group here, but he does know that he's friends with both Cold Bobby and Nancy, so it's no great leap of logic to guess at his connection.

The fence-builders who approach get waves as well, with a friendly grin thrown in for Iceman. "Indeed it is," he answers, adding for Gus's benefit: "I'm Roberto da Costa, from the Xavier Institute. I'm just here to visit." No fights to be watched, people. Move along.

*

"Bobby! Yes. It is us," he says, lightly shoulder-punching 'Berto, and walks over to the older guy. "It's good to see you're doing well, sir. I was concerned, when we were removing you from that prison they had you in. Some of you were not doing very well."

He waves a casual hello to the guys wandering around with the 'can we has fight' expressions. At least one of them he remembers tasering.

*

The people that were around Bobby groan as he leaves. In the summer heat, working close to the Ice Nerd is the best place to be! The one known as Charmer decides since the cat is away, the mice should play and starts to sit down. "You folks don't need me," he tells them as he pulls out a cigarette. "You're doing great all on your own." And naturally, they all agree with him.

Gus looks over the two, sizing them up. He's about to say something when Bobby vouches for them and their being here. The older man nods his head. "Sorry about that. If you know what this place is, then you know we're a little apprehensive around strangers. Name's Gus. I'm Millie's dad." He thrusts out his hand after wiping it off on his overalls. Looking over Mike, he nods. "Some of us 'incentives' were being treated none too well. We kept tryin' to escape. They didn't take too kindly to that, it seems."

The drive to the Nest is relaxing, almost idyllic. She will *not* however ever be playing country music on the radio of the pick-up. No no. Maybe some Plain White T's or some Good Charolotte, but no country. Ever. The poplars that act as a windbreak also mask what is behind them. Windbreak… that means… maybe an orchard? Ooooh, maybe one of those high end fruit wine places that the hoi-paloy seem so fond of these days. Definitely something to talk over with Nesters.

*

As Bobby gets closer it's apparent that the hammer he's holding is made of ice. Yes, Ice Nerd is his own tool belt. Unless he needs nails. Ice nails are a long term solution to absolutely nothing.

"Hey Gus. It's okay, I don't know if you remember but Mike here was with us when we pulled you out. And Bobby-the-Handsomer…" Berto gets a grin. "He's a friend. He's going to be helping a lot of people. Some of them might need, you know, a safe place like this."

Turning to his friends he puts the hammer down and offers his hand to shake each. It's cold because he doesn't need to be sweating more than he already is and it makes him like a mobile AC out in the field. Oh yes, popular is the ice nerd in the summer heat.

"Nice that you could both make it. Nancy should be back pretty soon, she just went to get some more supplies. We're going through a lot with all the repairs."

Yeah they could have hired people to do it with the Stark Foundation's agreement to support them but hard work is a therapy all its own.

"TAKE A BREAK!" Bobby calls out to the workers. "ALMOST LUNCH TIME!"

*

Still smiling, Roberto takes Mike's punch gamely, swaying to the opposite side a little bit when it connects. He lets the metal mutant pass him and take the lead in the conversation, as he appears to be more familiar with the locals. He simply puts his hands on his hips and watches, looking as friendly and non-threatening as the next Brazilian beach bum.

Bobby and Gus's handshakes are firmly returned, though. "There's no need to apologize," he assures the older man, looking around at the ranchland surrounding them. "You have a beautiful place here. I would be protective of it, too."

His tone turns less formal as he answers Bobbuman the White. "Puh-lease. You've got that whole sweaty ranch hand thing going for you right now. If not for the car, there would be no contest. And that's all this guy." He hooks a thumb laterally at Mike.

*

When Bobby yells out that it's break time, everyone seems to let out a groan of relief. Hard work and labor might be good for the soul, but it's hell on the muscles. People take off their gloves and start heading up to the main house. Charmer gives Bobby a glare. After all, he just was getting to skive off before he gave them all a break. Sorta defeats the purpose of his conning the bunch he was with into letting him be lazy.

"Care to join us for lunch? When yer havin' ta cook for 30, two more mouths really won't be noticed." Gus starts to head up to the house just as Nancy pulls into the long driveway. "And looks like Nan is just in time for lunch. I'd say she had perfect timing, but that's Billie's thing."

Nancy hops out of the pick-up, having had the drive up to figure out who the two new people were. "Hey! It's hot stuff and metalhead! Hey!"

*

Mike smiles slightly at the comments from his compatriots, and says to Gus, "So, while I understand the value of hard work, I have some ideas for improvements that would make this a greener ranch, and might even make it cheaper to operate. Like solar panels and some small wind-turbines, and a thermal-bed system for heating and cooling the barns."

He'll be glad to discuss it further, but first he has to do something mean to Nancy… because he hears her truck coming. And she's playing some sort of Mellow Rock Channel. That will not stand. Her radio starts to play "You picked a fine time to LEAVE ME, Luciiiiiilllllle, foar hongry chilldrun and a crop in the feeeeullllllllds, …" just as she's coming up the driveway.

*

Bobby grins and toes his hammer aside so no one trips on it. "Ah yes, there she is now." He waits for Nancy to pull up and hop out.

"Hey there cutie. We've got visitors, as you've already seen." Nan's already met both Mike and Berto so there's no need to make introductions.

"So everyone's headed in for lunch. I think it's pulled pork. And yeah, Berto, Mike please do stay. We can give you the dime tour when we're done and you can meet everyone. Mike, they're gonna especially want to see you. Hope ya don't mind getting hugged."

*

"I'd love to join you. I'm not much of an eater anyway," Roberto replies graciously. His low appetite isn't a manners thing: the sun out here is strong, and his shoulders, arms, and legs are bare. He'll happily put away anything protein- or vitamin-dense, but he's got more solar super-calories than his body knows what to do with already.

Nancy gets a roguish grin as the group heads toward her, the house, and the promise of dinner. "How's it going, Nan?" he asks.

*

This is the time of luncheon. Mike allows himself to be invited in, but he's not going to be able to eat much, because he's recently refueled. He nods to the others and happily accepts a lemonade, hard or otherwise, and hugs, hard or otherwise. The house isn't as young as it was once, and he starts scanning it for things to fix.

*

The radio breaking out into country was the clincher when she saw the pair. That had to be Mike. And he's got his sense of humor back. When she hops out of the truck, she is dressed a lot less gothy then usual. It's hard to do the whole corset and heels look when you're on a farm. So, it's her Doc Martens, jeans and a t-shirt, with one of Bobby's dress shirts worn over it. She hugs Bobby the Cooler tight and gives him a kiss. "Good, cause I'm famished!" she tells him.

Walking up towards the house, they have set up a covered patio for eating. It's the only way to sit all 30 at the same time. Pulled pork, coleslaw and corn on the cob is the order for the day. "I am doing rather well, thank you," she tells Roberto, slipping an arm about his waist so she becomes a Nancy sandwich between a hot and cold Bobby.

Once Mike is identified as one of the people that helped with the rescue, he is given what seems to have become the traditional greeting for their saviors. He is hugged, his hands shaken, patted on the back and otherwise made the center of attention. It seems they all want to know every detail of how he got involved with the rescue and his involvement in it from one end to the other. Nancy goes to sit with her mother, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead. Brushing Annabeth's hair with a hand, she looks at her mother. "You're looking well today."

"That hunk of a doctor came in and gave us another treatment while you were gone. Does he have an older brother? An uncle maybe?"

"MOM!"

"What? I can't get a little attention?"

*

Bobby grins and mentally thanks Angelo. At least he's not getting glared and screamed at for being a homewrecker. Wouldn't that be awkward to explain. He watches as Mike gets mobbed with thanks, appreciation and curiosity, grinning over to Berto. "Dig in. Or just pick at it. I don't remember if you said you ate. I'll let Nancy make the introductions but that's her Mom, Ananbeth right there, and the sulking guy over there is 'Charmer'. Careful what you let him talk to you about."

*

'Berto smiles and returns Nancy's hug, then listens as Bobby identifies some of the people present, committing their names to memory. "One of those hypnotic voice powers?" he asks of Charmer, lip twisting as he makes the connection between code name and warning. "Those sure can get irritating."

He plops down at a seat near the O'Neals and grabs a small portion of the pork, forgoing bread and sauce. Definitely a picker, then.

*

Mike takes a serving of bread and sauce and no pork, and adds a pinch of something from a belt-pouch, and eats. He lets Charmer talk to him for a few minutes, saying, "Yeah, that's interesting."

Of course, he's actually analyzing what the guy does to make his victims believe and trust him.

*

The meal is a happy hectic mess. There is talking, laughter, the occasional tiff. Charmer, or Jason as he is actually named, is pushed over to sit by Nancy by another young woman. "You just keep that fat mouth to yourself, Jason. No one wants to hear it." Charmer feigns innocence, even as he is forced to sit in Nancy's little bubble. Nancy can't help but laugh.

"When are you going to learn that Becky is immune to your silver tongue?"

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying. Besides, it's more of a challenge that way. I gotta try actually being charming for a change!"

Nancy shakes her head and rolls her eyes, enjoying her lunch. Annabeth taps her and points to Roberto. "Now, if you had to go and dump Jeremy, you should have gone for him. Fancy car, good looking, and that Rolex doesn't come cheap."

"Mom! Stop trying to set me up, please!" Nancy leans her head down to rub her temples as Annabeth looks over to one of the other two moms and winks. Is Nancy's mom trolling her?

*

Bobby takes it all in stride. He's had time to get used to the notion that Anabeth has good days and bad days. Today is a very good day so perfect time for visitors. When the meal winds up he looks to Nancy and Gus. It's not all work here of course but the faster the work gets done the quicker their living conditions improve. "Alright, Nan, Warm-Twin, Mike, wanna take the tour?"

*

"If you're going to flatter me, Annabeth, at least let me sit a little closer so that I can hear it all," Roberto cuts in, tossing a teasing smile at Nancy as he scoots down the table. And then spends the rest of the meal proving that he's not above charming her mother just to embarrass her.

When the meal is complete, he nods at the other Bobby's offer. "Sure thing. Let's see what you've got here."

*

Mike has enough data after a few minutes, his 'tampering' reset happens twice before Becky moves Jason to the Time Out Bubble. He moves on to talking to other people, and not eating much. At the invitation, he nods to Cold-Bob Squarepants, and turns and says "I'll have Nancy bring by the proposals once I see where they could go best," to Gus and a few of the other 'responsible' types that he was talking with.

*

Roberto's remark causes Nancy to face palm. Just what she needs. Another swarthy handsome man flirting with her mother. What's worse is she flirts back! She's old enough to be their mother!! She should know, cause Annabeth is her mother!

Gus chuckles and gets up. "Alright folks, that fence has got a lot of work to do on it still. Nancy mentioned something about an idea for the land, so we're gonna want it nice and safe." The ex-high school principal is well regarded and though there are groans of reluctance, they all clean up their mess and then head back down along the road. Even Charmer.

Nancy sighs when lunch is over. "It's always entertaining here, that's to say the least. Come on. Lots to show you. Well, lots as in empty acres. But I might have an idea."

*

Bobby walks with Nancy over to a barn that serves now as a tool shed and a garage. Inside are a few ATV's and helmets. "You guys know how to work these? The grounds are pretty big and walking would take a while." Picking up one of the helmets he starts to adjust the straps. "Well, shall we?"

*

Roberto wears a perfectly innocent (or, perhaps, shameless) expression as he follows Cool Bobby into the garage. Flirt? Him? He simply had a steady interest in what Annabeth has to say, and enjoyed her jokes, and just happened to have a quick change in subject or a kind compliment ready whenever the woman had an odd moment or made a strange comment. After some of the jerks he has had to deal with in the business world, a run-of-the-mill schizophrenic made for a rather pleasant conversation partner.

He nods and hops astride one of the ATVs, popping a helmet on lackadaisically. "Oh, sure. We had some of these on the grounds back home. I used to steal them from the gardeners and…" He trails off, realizing what a spoiled brat he's cast as in this particular anecdote. "Sure, I know how to drive them," he finishes, snapping the straps on the helmet shut.

*

ATV? Why? Mike just points across the lot to the metal box and it rises and floats over to him, unfolding. It folds around him and there's a moment of molten-metal followed by some thoroughly unrealistic Transformer movements — someone is making fun — and then there's an ATV-like vehicle where Mike used to be.

*

Nancy laughs over at Roberto, giving him a nudge. "You made her day. She'll be insufferable now, after you and Angelo in one day. But, she's getting better. So… who knows. I might get my mom back. She gets more days like this now."

In the barn, she starts putting on her helmet and has to stop to watch Mike transform. She shakes her head. He never ceases to amaze her. "Okay, I'm taking a ride on him, cause that way I don't have to steer and cause when am I *ever* gonna get a chance to say that again?"

*

Bobby snickers and revs his up. "You're gonna have to finish that story one day, Bobby. I guess I'll lead since Mike's never been here… unless he's gonna let Nancy steer him. Which I guess kinda defeats the point. Where to first Nan? Windbreak?" Even as he asks he's already pulling out in that direction. Once they get going he goes into tour mode.

"This place used to be an old sheep/cattle ranch. Hasn't been used for it in years but the old grazing fields are still here along with what's left a loading dock for the goods. Most of those building's will probably have to knock down. Windbreak's over at the edge of the property."

*

"You should see the air I can get on one of these things if I go all Sunspotty and give it a rocket boost," Hothead Bobby boasts as he follows close after his cooler-headed twin. He's just possibly feeling a little outdone by Mike's Michael Bay routine. "But, I mean, I won't do that," he adds sheepishly. "It's hell on the shocks."

From then on, he goes quiet, simply listening to Bobby's tour guide explanations of the different areas they visit.

*

Mike laughs at 'hell on the shocks' — he's had days like that. Yeah, his voice comes out of the radio that he has in his ATV even if the others don't have one.

"Just make sure you have a helmet," the vehicle-mutant says. He follows Bobby-the-colder along the path, and at one point says, "Better hold onto the handlebars, Nancy," because the ground is getting bounceworthy.

*

In the time that he's been using them, Bobby's learned to drive these things fairly well, but he's not up to anything fancy quite yet. It's a good bouncy twenty minute drive (taking the long way through a dried watercourse) to get to the windbreak at the far end of the property. It's a triple line of tall trees and really actually looks quite pretty now in late summer. Adds a kind of… country ambiance to it that's hard to quantify. "Ah. Here we are. Nan did you wanna explain what you wanted to do?"

*

Nancy does indeed grab onto the handlebars. She may not have to steer, but that doesn't mean the gopher holes don't make things a little chaotic at times. When they arrive at the windbreak, Nancy gets off of Mike and unclips her helmet. "Well, I was thinking, with all those large trees keeping this place protected, this might be the ideal place for an orchard, or maybe a vineyard. And those other buildings, we could turn them into a vintners. Make those high end fruit wines that are so popular right now. And local stuff is popular these days too. 100 mile diet and all that rot."

*

"Some of that is a great idea," Mike says unfolding into a robot form like the one from the hospital invasion. "But… it takes at least five years for grape vines to come into productive life, up to ten for fruit trees, and it's rather difficult keeping them from being killed by hard frosts in spring and by drought in summer. You may want to look into organic crops, especially things like chickens, eggs, and berries, vegetables, things you can grow in greenhouses. And rotating the crops. I was reading about a farm in Montana that did that, actually free-ranged the chickens by using movable coops with the vegetables and so forth on trailer-mounted systems. It was very different. Not sure I'd like to do that all the time."

*

"The other option is to make the place a working ranch again though I'm not sure that it'd be any less work than farming… possibly quite a bit more. Either way we'd need some outside expertise because we don't exactly have any agriculture experts in the Nutates or their families. Whatever it is, just giving them something productive to focus on helps a lot."

Bobby takes his helmet off again to admire the Nest from a distance. Wow. What have he and Nan gotten themselves into?

*

"Well, we do have five years for the grant. So we really need to be looking long term. We could possibly do both? Start the orchards for the winery now, so they'll be ready in five years, but in the area closer to the houses, have the organic vegetables and free range chickens? And yeah, berries will be needed for the winery anyway. I'll have to see if Ms Potts has anyone that can help us with this whole organic farming thing. Everyone in the Nest is a city kid."

*

Bobby's no help there either sadly. Largely a city kid himself. However… there are other matters to discuss. "So you said you had a few ideas for things Mike?" He's seen what the technomancer can do. His knowledge of things mechanical is very, very impressive. Good thing Nan's seen him at work too.

*

"Well, you need a powerplant or two… you're paying people for your electricity, they should be paying you for your leftovers. You also need to fix some pumps — I will totally help with that — if you expect to be able to irrigate from the well I felt on the way. Which _feels_ like it's safe enough, no arsenic or lead, but you might want to get it tested by the county before using it, and you do need to check on your legal rights and on whether this place has used pesticides," Mike answers. He scans over the farm more carefully, sending out some drones that will measure things like 'soil quality' and 'Monsanto Infestation Risk' for genetically modified crops in neighboring areas.

*

The area is fortunately, largely given over to ranching and the neighbors at least are up to code. Further out there's things like standing water that might be an issue.

"Heh. You know you might become a fixture around here yourself if you keep stuff like this up." A thought seems to occur to him and he leans in. "And you should definitely talk to Brazillian Bobby later, in private. I think maybe you could help with something he has planned and I'll bet he's thinking the same."

*

"Hmm? You mean his 'use mutant powers to do cool shit to make people's lives better' thing?" Someone has been reading the mutie gossip boards. Or maybe writing … no, just reading. When all that was happening, Mikey was still emotions-off, so he wouldn't have been able to be intrigued or interested.

"I kinda came to that same plan m'self a month or two back. I'm thinking once I learn enough, I might find a few other people who have powers that work well with repair and stuff, start a company. Call it Damage Control or something like that."

*

"Damage Control, mmm? That's a good name. You'd sorta do what you do in M-Town?" Bobby shifts on his ATV looking thoughtful. "Might still wanna talk to Berto even in that case. Business partners can be helpful with such things I'm told."

He takes a deep breath. "You doin' okay? After the other night…"

*

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm better. I still need to find the man I verbally abused. But what I'm really worried about… this 'burning human' garbage that's happening next week. I mean… the name alone is provocation. Have these people forgotten their mothers?" Mike's kind of in a unusual situation. His parents neither freaked out, nor kicked him out, nor called him spawn of satan, nor declared him demon-possessed. And they were both very religious! It's almost like they weren't stereotypes or something, and how can that possibly be possible?

"No, I shouldn't be thinking that way. It doesn't have to turn out as a chance for riots. I just wish it was out in the middle of a desert where it couldn't hurt other people."

*

Nancy has been listening. Really! But she's done that thing again where she is looking at this huge responsibility that she's been put in charge of and is feeling a little overwhelmed. Soil condition, call the county, damage control. Wait, what? Nancy looks over to Mike. "Damage Control? So… like a company of mutants that fixes the crap that other mutants and supers pull? Mike, I think I love you."

*

Bobby smiles, a touch sadly this time. "M-Town's always been like that, long as I've been there. Which isn't long but still. Some folks want the trouble, they think it'll bring them attention they can use." He sighs. "Hotheads."

*

Nancy shakes her head. "They're only giving Creed more fuel for his fire. Look how awful we are. Look at the things I do. I can't believe I used to buy into his baloney. I don't know what has him so angry, but I'm betting there is more to this then just him wanting to be Friends of Humanity. I know why I was so angry at supers, and I wasn't nearly as adamant about it as he is. So, what crawled up his ass and died?" She slips an arm around Bobby's waist, enjoying the closeness as they discuss.

*

"Creed?" Mike pauses. He grins, and says in the voice of a television character from the late 1980s, "Wellll. Let's see. What could have crawled up his posterrrior, whispering all sorts of dirty little hateful things? Could it be, SATAN?!" … with echo effect.

*

Bobby shakes with restrained laughter and he gives Nancy a squeeze. "Oh. Too good Mike. And I wish. No, Creed the political figure. You know how M-Town is Mike. There's a good chunk of mutants who are just tired of being on the outs and are willing to force the issue. Then there's the sane mutant rights crowd, then there's the honestly worried normal folks, then there's the people like the Friends of Humanity. It's a wonder we don't get riots there two or three times a week."

*

Nancy looks over at Mike and can't help but laugh. He's one of the few people she knows that can make talking about Creed funny. "You're the best, Mike. Though aren't you a little young for SNL from the 80's? Or did you just Youtube it?" She nods over to Bobby, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You have the extremes on both sides, and then the concerned people on sides that just sorta get caught up in the fervor. I get scared sometimes. That this won't end well. Humanity has proven over and over through history that we're not really the get along with our neighbors type. We tend to have an us or them mentality until one side is so crushed as to not be a problem anymore."

*

"I don't really sleep, haven't for years," Mike says. "Well, a few hours a night. So I watch lots of old stuff."

He shakes his head at the negativity. "If we do nothing to try to change things, they don't change. It's no longer legal to own slaves in most of the world. It's no longer legal to treat women as property in most of the world, and women have the same property and citizenship rights as men in over half of the countries in the world. Mutants are just humans with a gene that gives them added powers. It's idiots like Creed and his friends who make it seem otherwise, who are causing so much of this idiocy. The old idea that people hate and fear that which is different simply because it is different? Nonsense. Only if they're taught to fear it."

*

Bobby's not sure he agrees. History has shown, at least to him, that humanity has an endless ability to separate itself into camps. But… the point's not real worth arguing because he's right in that things don't change if no one makes an effort to change them.

"The situation is pretty bad at the moment though. This kind of thing has split nations before. Either we yank ourselves back from the brink or the extremists get their way and we fight over it. Which is why I'm glad you're going into business. It has to start to become normal or nothing is ever going to change."

*

"Well, part of the problem is that whole Homo superior moniker. I mean, really? Who came up with *that*. Let's just give everyone that doesn't have a power an inferiority complex. Oh, and then there is the whole grading of powers. That is just dumb. It's like making our powers a competition." She nods along with Bobby's sentiment of the business idea being a good one.

"I've been in business for almost five years, just not openly as a mutant," Mike says. "Even before I went metal, most of our clients knew I was a mutant and they were fine with it - the few who weren't, well, they didn't get a Drakos Motors sports car, did they?"

*

He shrugs. "The majority of the PR problem is pure racism, and we need as a society to extinguish that pernicious weed. If it weren't for mutants, they'd be even more violent towards blacks, or latinos, or … yeah."

Mike nods when Nancy mentions the stupidity of 'Homo Superior' … "How about Homo Sapiens Mutans? But even that's nonsense. The human genome is often completely scrambled. It should be fixed at what was there at birth: Homo Sapiens Sapiens. And I can't even begin to say how stupid the power-grading thing is. I mean, come ON. I'm a Gamma class according to one guy, an Omega according to another, and an Alpha-Minus according to a third."

*

Bobby nods. "That's the other obsessive human need. The need to categorize. Unfortunately now that genie is out of the bottle and we're going to spend a lot of time stuffing it back in." He turns and looks back toward the Nest. "This is a start though. Taking care of these people and anyone else who finds their way to our door. Maybe not a change the world start… but a start."

*

Nancy looks over to the Nest and smiles, giving Bobby a squeeze. "Yeah, it's a good start. Teaching them that mutants and people can live together. That there doesn't need to be hate. That reminds me, we need to talk to Angelo about Jinx. She's still in that pocket dimension, as far as I know."

*

Mike looks blank at the mention of Jinx. No clue. He's just content to stay here, look out at the country side, waiting for Bobby-warm to stop doing wheelies in the dirt, and to play an MMO on his internal computer system over his high-bandwidth uplink.

What? Computer brain, multitasking.


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