{{"...if you're just joining us tonight, several mutant activist groups are angered over the possible organized public execution of a man suspected of being a mutant in the Middle Eastern country of Syria..."}}

{{"...Joining us now, live via satellite, is the Syrian Ambassador, Anel Oman. Mr. Oman, what can you tell us about this brutal public murder?"}}

{{"...Good evening, America, this is Peter Jennings, we now join Sam Donaldson live in Syria. Sam, what can you tell us?"}}

{{"...The alleged mutant was a man in his early twenties, supposedly executed by Islamic extremists for helping a woman who had just been beaten for not covering her face..."}}

{{"...this is the first public execution in hundreds of years, akin to the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600s and French Revolution of the early 1800s..."}}

{{"...Welcome to the O'Reilly Factor. Here in the Age of the Internet, we still have the same violent acts of the past haunting us..."}}

Dozens of different monitors are showing at least every American news broadcasting station, each of them talking about the same thing. Quicksilver, the silver-haired leader of X-Men Omega, stands with his arms folded, watching the disturbing news. His mutant gift of superhuman speed allows him to watch every broadcast at the same time.

The X-Men have recently taken up residence in this technological bunker located in the desolate area of the world known as the Australian Outback. The base's former owners were the cybernetic bandits known as the Reavers. After the X-Men's old headquarters was destroyed by the Phalanx entity, Harvest, it was Quicksilver who decided they should use the Reaver's base once more. *

(* Check out issues #24-25 -- Brad)

Quicksilver continues to watch the broadcasts, rubbing his chin. When the black and white photo of the slain mutant comes up, Quicksilver's heart sinks. The man had strange follicles on his chin as well as a spiky brow. Pietro sighs.

"The Syrians that did this are the real monsters," he mutters. He bangs his fist on the council. He didn't know the slain mutant personally, but feels he was like a brother because of the strange x-factor gene all mutants shared. Quicksilver is one of the luckier mutants; having no physical mutation, he is able to walk among the human-dominated world with no worry.

Quicksilver brushes some dust off of his new uniform, which is now leathery instead of the spandex-look. Pietro's uniform had to be modified to be more practical when he's running at top-speeds, allowing his arms and legs to move comfortably. The combined creativity of Psylocke and Blink spawned the new leathery looks for the Omega team.

Pietro's head perks up as a pre-taped news conference is shown. Warren Worthington, III, otherwise known as Archangel, is shown wearing a white sport coat and pants, along with a stylish collar-less blue shirt. He walks up to a podium. He adjusts the microphone, which squeals slightly. He smiles as the flash photography causes the keen-sighted playboy to flinch.

{{"As you might have heard, my mansion in the mountains of Colorado was completely destroyed by an explosion a few weeks ago. In light of recent events, I'm here to set the record straight that the explosion was caused by a gas leak. It had nothing to do with me revealing to the world that I was a mutant. I urge the mutants of America, as well as the world, to not be afraid..."}}

Quicksilver sighs with content. "Well done, Worthington."

"Thanks," Warren echoes, in his leather uniform. "That was earlier...yesterday. Christ, this is hard adjusting to being on the other side of the International Dateline."

Quicksilver smirks, "Time zones don't mean anything to the X-Men, Warren. Especially with two teleporters on the team."

Archangel glares at Quicksilver, "Anyway, after the news conference, Betsy and I went to the mansion grounds, just to make sure the police didn't recover anything we've covered up."

"Did you manage to find anything, like the Cerebro unit?" Quicksilver asks.

"We found bits and pieces of it. Rogue is trying to fix it up. She's got a few engineering skills she picked up here and there. We'll have to give Hank or Kitty a call if Rogue can't--"

"Let's just see if Rogue can do it first, okay?" Quicksilver snaps. "We don't need their help, since we've done a lot without them lately, anyway."

Archangel raises his hands, "Alright, hey - no problem. I kind of know what you mean, but they're still our friends, even if we're not exactly doing the same kind of work."

Quicksilver sighs and sits in a chair, reclining slightly as he watches the news casts.

"Well," Archangel begins, "I'm going to meet up with the others."

Without taking his eyes off the screens, Pietro responds, "Fine."

Warren begins walk out of the room. Just as he reaches the doorway, he turns back and looks at Quicksilver, who is rocking back and forth in his chair nervously.

"Pietro...," Warren says. Quicksilver turns his head slightly to listen. "I'm sure Luna's alright."

Quicksilver clears his throat and faces the monitors, "I know." Before Warren can exit, Quicksilver begins talking, knowing that he will listen. "What does a child's mind go through in a crisis like this?"

Warren shakes his head, "I don't know...I guess they'd just ask a lot of questions. There's a lot they probably don't understand." He turns around, as does Pietro.

Pietro looks at the floor, disdain in his voice, "I don't want my daughter to grow up in a world where she has to be in constant fear because of what she is..."

"She won't, Pietro..."

"I wish I had your optimism, Warren..."

Elsewhere...

Pyro stares at the setting sun while leaning against the outside of the base. He is wearing a similar leathery outfit to the standard issue Omega uniform, with slight altercations. John still feels out of place with the X-Men, and prefers to find his groove in a different way. He takes out his lighter and sticks a cigarette in his mouth. Cupping his hand over the end of the cig, he flicks the lighter and takes a couple quick drags. He slips the zippo back into his leather trench coat pocket.

"John?" a British-accented voice asks.

For a moment, John wonders if it was the girl of his dreams, Elizabeth Hurley. Well, he got the "Liz" part right. Psylocke casually walks up to her teammate, holding her breath as he blows smoke at her.

"That wasn't very nice, you wanker," Psylocke says, coughing.

Pyro smiles while the cig hangs out of the side of his mouth, "You love it, doncha, gel? Well, what's the big word? I imagine you have something important to tell me if it's interrupting my alone time..."

Psylocke sighs, staring at the sunset. "Well...hear the news?"

Pyro takes a long drag, exhaling smoke as he talks, "Yeah...that's too bad."

"You don't care that a man - a mutant - was murdered simply because he was a mutant?!"

"Not really, all those Islamic bastards need to rot in Hell--"

"Now John, I know you're not that ignorant."

"Bloody hell, who says I can't be? I'm a human being, I have freedom of speech."

"I just thought you'd be more touched by this...you are a mutant, after all."

"I guess I handle this kind of rubbish differently than you...X-Men." Pyro takes one last drag, flicking the filter onto the arid ground. He folds his arms.

"I know you're upset, John," Betsy says with a smile. "You can't hide all that raw emotion with testosterone. I don't even have to use my telepathy to see that."

John shakes his head. "It's just...bollocks...I don't wanna talk about it, especially with you."

"Fair enough."

Later, two other X-Men, Rogue and Joseph, gaze under the stars, laying on the roof of the base. Rogue has recently learned that Joseph is actually her son of an alternate timeline.* Joseph himself doesn't remember much of his life in that reality, and would pretty much prefer to forget it altogether.

( *All was revealed in the 2001 Annual - Dino )

"...so your power to absorb memories and life-energy was your way of coping with your mother's abuse? Why are you telling me this?" Joseph asks.

"Well, Ah don't know if that's why mah powers manifested that way...but they sure as hell stayed on for a long time. Only after Ah absorbed Cortez, after he had forcibly increased mah own power, was Ah able t' control it. Ah finally had control," Rogue explains. *

(* Check out issue #23 -- Brad)

"Look, I know that someone like you was my mother, but that's in a different timeline. If you're trying to bond with me, stop. I don't have any emotional attachments to you, and you don't have any with me. I might be Charles Lensherr, but I don't remember anything about that life."

"Ah'm sorry, Joseph...it's hard to accept the fact that we're related. Ah guess Ah'm just a little excited by the fact I can have children now...you're living proof that it was possible."

"I'm not sure that I understand, Rogue."

Rogue smiles, "It's a woman thing, Ah guess."

Joseph rests his head under his arms, sighing, "The constellations in this hemisphere are all different. I don't see the Big Dipper anywhere."

"And it's weird that it's only the afternoon back in the U-S."

"So, how is the Cerebro unit coming? I'd be glad to help. My control of magnetism has given me an innate understanding of electric systems."

Rogue smiles, "Ah'm no Forge. Ah'll need a lil' while longer, but I should be able to fix it. The Reavers left behind a bunch of scrap metal." Rogue pauses for a moment. "How you holdin' up with the team so far?"

"As best as one can be expected to perform after returning from the grave," Joseph replied.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Death," Rogue asked. "What was it like for ya?"

"My experience wasn't the same as others, I suppose..." Joseph replied. "After stopping Magneto,* my essence was scattered across the electro-magnetic spectrum. I could see and feel everything."

"An' now?"

"Now I'm human," Joseph replied. "And I'm better off this way. What I experienced shouldn't be an experience of any conscious being. It's not natural."

He extended his arm, magnetically taking control of small, metal particles in the sand and controlling them. Almost as if it were out of boredom.

"Have you spoken to Gambit, yet?"

"No," Rogue replied.

"You mean he doesn't know about your powers?"

Rogue shook her head, and suddenly, Joseph released the metal particles, looking at his teammate with awe.

"Why not?"

"Ah didn't feel he had t' know. He left th' team with very little explanation,* an' he hasn't made one effort t' call us an' let us know how he's doin'."

( *WAAAAAAY back in issue #7 - Dino )

"But... you still love him, don't you?"

Silence lingered in the air following his question.

"Rogue...?"

Rogue shifts her body on the roof, sitting upright, peering at the horizon. Dozens of crickets are chirping. For such a barren land, the Outback was full of life.

"Ah'm not too sure anymore."

Inside...

{{"...the slain Syrian mutant's name was Eldar Omar, apparently having no powers, just a physical mutation..."}}

Pietro is still sitting in his chair, his arms folded. He hears a cackle from the corner of the room. "Come out of there, Creed."

Sabretooth smiles, stepping out of the shadow. "Kind of funny-lookin', this Syrian kid..."

Quicksilver sighs in disgust, "You're sick, you know that?"

Sabretooth checks to make sure his broken shackle still looks like it's activated. "Well, come on, Pete--"

"Pietro."

"Okay, Petrii dish."

Quicksilver rubs his temples, "I don't need this right now, Creed. In case you've failed to notice, we're going to be needed if any riots break out because of this."

Sabretooth smiles, snarling, "Riots, huh? Sounds fun." Quicksilver glares at him. "Come on, I'm just funnin' ya. I'm upset about this BS, too. No one deserves to die just for being a mutant--"

"Or any other thing on two legs, you monster," Quicksilver snaps. "Or did you forget about all those people you killed? Did Wolverine's claw pierce your memory bank?" *

(* Back in Marvel's Wolverine #90 -- Brad)

Sabretooth knocks his skull. "I recovered, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you took advantage of Tabitha and then almost killed Psylocke. The question is, are you going to recover from THIS!"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!*

"AARRGGHH!!!" Sabretooth screams as one-thousand volts are pumped into his body.

Quicksilver stands over Sabretooth's semiconscious body, "Don't you EVER pull anything like that with my team, got it?!" Quicksilver's finger inches for the shock-button on his remote control.

"...got it..."

"What's going on?!" Blink yells as she runs into the room, kneeling beside Sabretooth. "Pietro? What did you do?"

Quicksilver grits his teeth, "I was reminding him who was boss. Sometimes it takes a little discipline to tame a wild animal." He zips out of the room, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Blink wipes her face of tears, "Why do they do this to you?"

Sabretooth smiles, "You're the only one who cares, eh?" He gets himself up, dusting off his clothes. He staggers a bit, trying to regain his mental equilibrium. "Don't worry about the Petrii dish, he can't hurt me...Wanna join me for a little midnight snack? Angel-boy brought back some Rocky Road ice cream from the good ol' U-S-of A."

Blink smiles, "Sure."

As Blink walks towards the pantry area of the base, Sabretooth plays with his broken shackle, laughing to himself.

Sydney, Australia - the next morning...

"We need to bomb Syria!!!" a man with a neon orange mohawk yells. In his hand is a sign with a picture of Eldar Omar on it. Under the picture are the words, "Rest In Peace, Brother". Hundreds of other pro-mutant activists are protesting in the streets as well.

"Syrians are worse than the Nazis!!"

"Mutants are humans, too!"

"We will not live in fear!"

"Hate destroys all!"

"Civil rights for mutants!"

Suddenly, a bunch of armored police vans pull up in front of the protesters. Out of the back doors, men in riot gear storm out. One of them has a megaphone in his hand. "Stand down! I repeat, stand down! You are all under arrest!"

"Flog you, mutant-killer!"

"Yeah, up yers, pigs!"

The protesters begin throwing rocks at the police. They raise their plastic, bulletproof shields. One officer catches a broken bottle to his eye. "ARGH!"

"Alright," the commissioner mutters to his men, "move in!"

As the police begin their advance, they are suddenly halted by what seems like a hurricane. They attempt to fight the winds, but they are too powerful. The policemen and their vehicles are pushed back.

When the winds die down, the crowd of protesters forms an opening for the man responsible for creating the winds. The man wears a white robe and has his long, blue hair tied in a ponytail. He has his own megaphone.

He speaks to the police, "I regret to inform you, gracious law-enforcers, but the events in Syria will NOT be tolerated! We, of GENE NATION, will put an end to anti-mutant sentiment at ANY cost!"

The crowd of protesters cheer as the robed man lowers the megaphone, almost out of respect to let the protesters show they are serious. They begin to chant "Gene Nation" over and over, bobbing their protest signs up and down.

{{"Gene Nation! Gene Nation! Gene Nation--"}}

{{"This was just moments ago on the streets of downtown Sydney, where police attempted to stop a pro-mutant group of activists--"}}

Quicksilver rocks back and forth in his chair. He presses a button on the council, turning off the monitors. "It starts...," he mutters.

NEXT ISSUE: A new Gene Nation has surfaced, but will the X-Men be able to stop them -- will they want to stop them? Difficult decisions will have to be made as Nationalism continues!