A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

The Mutant Problem

—-Sam—-

I'm almost overwhelmed with happiness at what I just watched transpire. People are legitimately seeing Loki as a hero and Avenger now. We finish up in the bookstore and I take Loki's hand as we leave. He looks to me smiling his nervousness from before gone. 'My god that smile I adore him!' 'That does it!'

"Come on trouble you can't go to the mall and not have Cinnabon!"

I begin pulling him with me in the direction of the amazing smell of the sweet cinnamon rolls that I just realized I haven't had in six years.

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Loki laughs slightly at my excitement over the snack as we take a seat. I think he figures out it's well deserved as he tries it. Before I know it mine's gone. I lean back in my chair my stomach satisfied with the warm cinnamon goodness I just treated it with. I'm feeling extremely relaxed even in the middle of the busy food court, that is until I hear a gruff male voice start shouting.

I flinch back not even knowing what he said or if it was directed towards Loki or myself. The man comes closer, he's really trashy looking and he's wearing a Friends of Humanity T-shirt. Loki stands up to face him apparently not liking what he had said. I can only guess now that it was directed at me. Though Loki stands at nearly half a foot taller then this guy he stupidly shows no fear and glares at Loki.

"It figures the monster from the 2012 massacre would get engaged to one of them!"

I'm scared to death of the random man and his hostility but I'll be damned if I let him talk to Loki like that without at least trying to defend him. I stand up and join Loki's side I try to glare at the man but I don't feel like I'm all that intimidating right now. His outburst took me by complete surprise and my anxiety's once again threatening to spill over. I force myself to speak though instead of sounding authoritative or confident like I wanted, it comes out sounding as scared and meek as I feel.

"Leave us alone."

He laughs and I see he's not alone there's a whole table of people who are dressed similarly who've taken notice of us. They stand up and begin coming over. I feel myself begin to shake in fear. Loki looks incredibly pissed and I can see he's about to do something he'd regret so I grab his arm. I need him to help me right now I need to get out of here.

He looks down at me and his anger is immediately replaced with concern. He nods seeming to understand what I need. He pushes me to the side of him that's further away from the hostile group of men and quickly ushers us away from the scene off to a more secluded area of the mall towards an exit. From behind us I hear one of them yell.

"That's right! Get out of here filthy mutie!!"

Loki's expression shifts to pure rage at this. He's not the only one, accompanying my fear there's also now anger. The slur while already dehumanizing to any mutant under normal circumstances is also hurtful on a more personal level for me because of everything that happened to me. Loki's seen the scars. He was livid when he saw the slur had been carved into my thigh. Loki draws a dagger at the same time changing into his armor and glares back at them. Some of their expressions divulge the fact that they realized they've fucked up.

"WHAT THE HEL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

A few of those members back off. He steps forward and I grab his shoulder still basically hiding behind him. Fighting them won't help anything it would destroy the progress in the trust Loki's gained with the public and reacting with violence would go against what the X-men taught me. If I did that then I'm no better than the Brotherhood. I speak quietly through the nerves.

"Let's just go."

He looks at me seeing I'm on the verge of an anxiety attack and reluctantly nods. He gets rid of the dagger and we turn to leave. One of the men are stupid enough to yell again as we walk out.

"And don't come back!"

I feel Loki start to turn around again but I hold onto him and continue towards the door. Loki realizes I just want to get out of here right now so he puts his temper aside and helps me do just that. We sit on a bench just outside the mall and he calls Mary to let the others know what happened. As he makes the call I begin breaking down into sobs I had somewhat forgotten what being discriminated against while out and about was like.

I never had to worry about that in Tønsberg. An old fire reignites inside me, this has been a stark reminder of the very reason I joined the X-men as an active member and not just a student. Maybe when I'm the princess of New Asgard people will listen and I'll be able to stop the injustices inflicted on mutants.

At this moment I decide to do whatever I can to protect them with whatever pull my new status will bring. Loki wraps his arms around me knowing I'm too much of a wreck to perform the spell with our sling rings to get home right now. We sit for a while I eventually stand up wordlessly conveying to him that I'm steady enough to complete the spell. We head home.