Kree, Shi'ar, and Skrulls, Oh My!

Pro-Mutant Bias

Kate sat down heavily at the kitchen table, still very much not awake even after sleeping in and just staring into her coffee mug for a long moment as she willed herself to wake up a little faster. She'd just started to take her first sip when Kurt came to sit beside her, smirking a bit to himself at how tired she was as he wrapped his tail around her waist and scooted a little closer to put an arm around her shoulders as well and kiss the top of her head.

She wasn't really paying attention as Bobby came in and, as usual, turned up the volume on the TV to catch the news — until she heard her own name on the broadcast.

She looked up in surprise as the news report talked about her new hate speech policy — with the headline flashing under the screen reading: "Pro-Mutant Bias at Bishop Headquarters?"

Bobby glanced over at her surprised expression and tried to say, "Hey, you knew this might—"

But Kate shushed him as she glared up at the TV screen, the glare only deepening as J. Jonah Jameson came on to share his "informed opinion."

"Do you honestly think it's a coincidence that Ms. Bishop has been seen with these terrorists more and more frequently just before these so-called 'policy changes' were announced?" he was arguing, looking positively livid, as usual. "Are we really going to let one of the biggest publishers in the world be run into the ground by a little girl who doesn't know better than to stay out of trouble? She should be on the party circuit, not censoring solid American authors!"

Kurt looked over at Kate and frowned at the expression of pure fury on her face. "Kate—"

But she shushed him, too, waving her hand at him, the coffee completely forgotten as she just got angrier and angrier. Jameson just kept ranting about the state of the publishing industry, and about her version of "censorship," claiming that this was "just another example of these terrorists trying to silence our right to free speech" and other such things.

He was winding down when he got to the real kicker, though. "Now, I'm not saying it's not understandable," he told the anchor on the panel. "All of us at her age have made questionable decisions — and it doesn't help that this impressionable young woman is apparently dating a much older mutant, nearly twice her age. No doubt he took that little girl to that school of theirs and filled her head with all sorts of half-truths and indoctrination." He twisted his mustache for a moment. "But youthful mistakes shouldn't be acted out to crush the public's right to know the truth about this mutant menace!"

Kate switched off the TV as soon as JJ was done ranting. "I'm going to destroy him," she said through her teeth before she stalked upstairs, leaving the coffee cup behind as both Bobby and Kurt shared a look over the table.

Peter Parker's door was unlocked, but he was still sound asleep, and it was hard to tell where he was in the mass of blankets and pillows until Kate spotted a foot sticking out from underneath the covers and just grabbed and pulled. He let out a surprised yelp as he toppled out of bed, and once she knew he was awake, she put a finger in his face. "I'm going to destroy Jameson, and you're going to help me," she informed him.

"O-Okay, what's happening?" he asked, still waking up and wide-eyed and a little bit panicked at the rude awakening.

"You were right about him coming for me earlier rather than later. So you know how he works. Help me wipe the floor with him," she said as she grabbed him by the hand to pull him to his feet. "Come downstairs. I'll show you the crap he's saying."

"Can I just—"

"You and your Avenger jammies are coming whether you want to or not," she informed him, still pulling on his arm, and he let out a long sigh and just let her drag him downstairs, where Bobby and Kurt were still in the kitchen — though they had moved on to smirking as Kate dragged Spiderman down.