Aaron Sefter wasn’t a bad kid. On the contrary, he was one of the nicest, most polite young men at his high school. He got good grades, was active in a good many school activities, and was well-liked by many of his classmates. He also never, ever, picked on anybody less fortunate or different from him. Aaron would even go to the defense of such pitiful individuals.

Aaron Sefter was a boy nobody would ever suspect. That is why he was chosen to spread a little message.

On that bright Monday morning, Aaron Sefter walked into homeroom. It had been a cold morning, so he was wearing his trenchcoat. While the school did have security guards who would routinely check students, they let Aaron in without incident. Like I had said, Aaron was a good guy.

Aaron walked into homeroom, a big smile on his face. Just when the homeroom teacher was about to take attendance, Aaron stepped to the front of the room. “Excuse me Mrs. Forester,” Aaron said politely. “I was wondering if I could take attendance today. I sort of have an announcement to go with it.”

Mrs. Forester just smiled and let Aaron take over. She thought it was sweet of him to help. Aaron stepped behind the podium, and faced the class. He was still wearing his trenchcoat, but nobody thought it was odd. The guy was probably too eager to give his announcement to go to his locker first.

Aaron didn’t look down at the attendance sheet. “I hope nobody minds if I go a little out of order here,” he said. He turned his gaze to a bright young man in the front of the class. “You, Theodore Numberg, are here. You’ll also be in Congress in twenty years, when you vote in favor of unleashing the Sentinels.”

Aaron then turned his gaze to a Goth-chick sitting near the back. “Kathleen Beaumont, you’re also here. A pity you’re going to be here for another fifteen years, which is when you get pregnant by a man you’ll be cheating on your husband with. To get off the hook, you lie and say a mutant raped you.”

Aaron continued down the list, happily reciting future sins while his classmates looked on in confusion.

“...disown your daughter when her powers develop. She commits suicide the next day.”

“....give your college roommate’s name to the Friend’s of Humanity, just because you were jealous of his grades.”

“....hide evidence that would have saved your client from death row, just because you didn’t want to get a reputation as a mutant sympathizer.”

“...choked a newborn baby to death only because it had gills.”

“And finally,” Aaron said with a slime. “We come to Owen Cradgett. Yours is the darkest and most blemished future among this entire class.”

Aaron allowed this to hand in the air, before vehemently adding, “You sir, will come to enter the employ of Shaw Industries. And to think, I once loaned you five dollars,” Aaron spat out.

“Each one of you will eventually bring pain and misery to mutants, in one way or another,” Aaron continued. “In fact, it could be said I would be doing the world, and mutants, a great favor by making sure none of you live to see another day.”

With that said, Aaron kicked the podium down and opened his trenchcoat. Beneath it, Aaron had several handguns and two automatic machine guns.

“So, for the protection of mutants everywhere, I’m going to kill you all,” Aaron said. He wore the devil’s smile.

“So, where you from?” Jason Tilly asked the man seated next to him.

This man set his glass of scotch down and turned his head at Jason. “Born and raised in Greece,” he’d responded. “Just came in on the flight from Athens this morning. Waiting on a changeover flight to-”

“-Detroit,” Jason finished with a chuckle. “My flight was delayed an hour, and that was three hours ago. Memorizing the flight schedule was just one way to pass the time.”

The man nodded. “Looks like I’ll be here for almost two hours myself. Stick around and let me buy you a drink. There’s nothing to pass the time better than sharing a few drinks.”

“That, I will drink to,” Jason said. He extended his hand to the man. “My name’s Jason Tilly.”

The man accepted Jason’s hand. “Jon Bloom. So, what about you Jason? Leaving home or going home?”

“Leaving, thank god,” Jason replied. “I’ve got some business down south, and now couldn’t be a better time to get out of Boston. You know, because of that trial and all.”

“Oh?” Jon raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I had heard of the trial. Some man killed a mutant because he felt his property and life were endangered by the mutant’s sheer presence?”

“Yeah, that’s the trial,” said Jason. “And the guy actually got away with it. I mean, I agree with what was going through the guy’s mind; some muties can go out of control, and lord knows the psychos that go after these ‘heroes’.”

“Yes, at first glance it would seem that he’d simply done what had to be done,” Jon agreed.

“Yeah, but then you have to think about the kind of message this can send,” Jason continued. “Think about it. Now some guy who doesn’t like blacks can just blow some away, and then say he was defending himself.”

“Or mutants can go after Friends of Humanity and the like,” Jon stated. “All with the excuse that they’re protecting themselves from an inevitable attack.”

“Exactly,” Jason agreed. “That’s why I’m glad I’ll be gone for a couple weeks. By then, all the fighting and shit should be over with, and everybody will come to their senses. Especially the damned politicians.”

“Quite,” Jon said. “After all, what were they really thinking, allowing such a defense to go as far as it did? They even allowed the mutant victims to bring in a special prosecutor, and such an abysmal one at that!”

At that moment, flight attendant’s voice echoed over the P.A. system. Jason sighed and set his drink down. “That’s my flight, finally.” Getting off his bar stool, Jason offered his hand to Jon. “Well, it’s been good talking to you.”

“Yeah, it’s been good talking to you too,” Jon responded. He accepted Jason’s hand, and shook it with a smile. “Just a shame you weren’t able to leave town before the mutants made their move.”

“Huh?” Jason was confused. Until he felt his entire arm shake violently. Then his entire body. He began shaking, from the inside out. In a matter of seconds, his bones had shaken to powder, his organs had liquefied, and Jason Tilly became little more than a balloon that had burst.

Jon Bloom, AKA Dominic Petros, AKA Avalanche, wasn’t bothered by the blood that now covered him. He’d seen worse after all. All around him, however, there was a frightened panic.

“Scratch one juror,” Avalanche laughed. He turned to the large windows facing the runways and landing strips, a smile on his face. “Heh, now for some real fun.”

“And it was then that the Lord looked down on these abominations, and in His infinite wisdom, He found that they was not good!” the priest cried out to his congregation. “But the Lord did not cast these abominations out. In His judgment, He allowed them to multiply, to threaten His children. For He desires to test our worth!”

The masses seated within the church murmured and nodded their agreement.

“Our Great Lord loves us, has placed us above all His other children,” the priest continued. “Yet now Satan has placed these threats among us, and the Lord allows it, because He believes in us! We must now prove ourselves worthy of His love! We must cast these abominations back to hell where they belong!”

“AMEN!” the congregation yelled as they rose out of their seats.

Except for one, a thin man with reddish-blond hair who remained standing when all others had returned to their seats. He wore a heavy jacket that went all the way down to his ankles.

“Or,” the thin man began loudly. “It is Satan’s lies and manipulations that have led us to oppose our brothers, whom the Lord loves as much as He does us.”

There was complete silence in the church. The priest had been left speechless.

“Let’s start with the other races, shall we,” the thin man continued. “The blacks, reds, yellows, browns, shorties and the like. Perhaps the Lord finds them to be good too, because He’s the kind of guy who likes a little diversity. You know, mix a little color among all the white faces of the world, and things look a lot more interesting.

The priest pounded his hand against the podium, his face purple with rage. “Silence infidel!”

“Shut it padre,” the thin man added calmly. There was a flicker of fire in his eyes. “As the first children of God, you should know that you’re better seen and not heard.”

The thin man then returned to addressing the congregation. “The Lord even set up all those alternate religions. He saw that the Jewish ideas were going well with everybody, so He made a son to set up a new little religion. Every time it seemed people weren’t enjoying what He was giving them, He created a little altered way of thinking that’d appeal to them. He put on weight in some cases, grow four extra arms, pretend to be a few hundred different gods. You know, the sort of stuff you do to stay on top. I figure He gets a big kick when He sees all His children fight each other because they think they’re parents are different and all right. Man, that God is one nut, wouldn’t you say?

“But what about homosexuality?” the thin man asked. “Come on ladies and gents, that kind of action isn’t really that deviant. Lots of straight men love to get head and do girls up the ass, and I’ve yet to meet a woman who doesn’t enjoy getting her muff dived into.”

“That ungodly talk is not permitted in the House of God!” the priest screamed.

“Interrupt me again and I will strangle you with that ridiculous collar,” the thin man quickly said. He then readdressed the congregation, whose full attention was on him. “I mean, come on, homosexuality is just a way for men and woman to indulge in their sexual desires with there being no chance of propagation. They are helping to keep the world’s population down, and for that I salute them!”

The thin man brought his hand up to his head in a quick salute.

“Really, the one minority you should have a problem with is mutants,” the thin man continued. “Think about it! The least among them could kick the ass of the greatest among humanity. If they wanted to, mutants could rip this world a new one several times over. The Lord only knows why they haven’t already. After all, you’ve given them more than enough reason too.”

The thin man slipped of his jacket. Beneath it, he wore a form-fitting black bodysuit. Around his neck hung a pair of goggles, which he applied over his eyes. The thin man then raised his hands palm up, and a small flame appeared over each.

“Every day, you slander and degrade mutants. Every day, you kill mutants with the defense that you’re defending yourselves from the inevitable. Every day, you piss off the very things you claim to be scared to death of.”

Pyro cast his gaze over the frightened congregates, finally meeting eyes with the priest. The flames had leaped from his hand to spread around the chapel. Bars of fire covered the painted windows, massive three-headed dogs of flame were placed before each door, and a large cross of fire hovered over Pyro’s head.

“To prevent what you shall do tomorrow,” Pyro whispered, “I shalt kill thou all today.”

The cross of fire shot across the chapel to the podium, where it consumed the priest in flames of judgment.

“May I help you miss?”

“Yes, you may,” said the handsome brunette. She approached the desk nurse with a smile. “I was just wondering, has this hospital had any patients who were mutants?”

The nurse furrowed her brow. “Um, I really don’t know. Most of them look normal, so I suppose we might have had a few we didn’t know were mutants.”

“So, this hospital has never treated a patient who was an obvious mutant?”

“You mean, like, with three eyes or scaly skin or something?” the nurse asked. “In that case, then no. Even if I wasn’t on shift at the time, I certainly would have heard about it.”

“I’m sure you would have,” the brunette replied. She gave a short laugh. “I suppose that would make my next question hypothetical. Since it has to do with hospital policy, maybe I should speak with an administrator.”

“I’m sure that I can answer your questions to your satisfaction,” the nurse said.

The brunette gave a coy smile. “Are you really sure? I mean, it’s kind of important.”

The nurse gave a slightly annoyed smile. “Our administrators and doctors are very busy. Trust me, I am more than qualified to answer your question.”

The handsome brunette gave a sigh, looked up at a security camera, and nodded. “Very well then. My question is this. I an individual who was clearly a mutant came in with potentially fatale wounds, would this hospital do everything in its power to save that mutant’s life?”

The nurse opened her mouth, then closed it. After a few seconds, she opened it again. “Well...um, I suppose,” was all she said.

The brunette shook her had and sighed again. “I gave you every chance, the video from that camera should show that. But you hesitated at the mere question of it. If you’re gonna hesitate at that, you’ll obviously hesitate when the situation itself occurs. That would make the answer to my question ‘no’.”

“Now wait a minute,” the nurse started. “When patients are brought it, instinct takes over-”

“Including the instinct to act against those that are different from you,” the brunette finished. “I’m sorry, but you leave me no choice.”

The air around the handsome brunette shimmered. For a moment, the nurse though she saw a faint glow surrounding the woman.

“In order to protect injured mutants from the gross mistreatment that they’re sure to suffer here,” the brunette declared, “I’m gonna have to kill everyone in this hospital and reduce it rubble.”

The nurse barely had time to process what she’d been told before she felt a painful jab in the center of her forehead. After that, there was nothing.

“Today, the city of Boston is in a panic. Throughout the city, riots are taking place as members of Boston’s ethnic and cultural populations try to kill each other.”

*Click*

“The most massive gangwar in the city has erupted. All at once, gangs of Hispanics, blacks, and Asians have begun attacking each other in broad daylight. The city’s law enforcement is hard-pressed to contain the damage, and it’s been suggested that the National Guard may be called in.”

*Click*

“Shortly after the unexplained destruction of Logan Airport and the sudden crash of numerous airplanes, the FAA have declared the city of Boston a no-flight zone.”

*Click*

“I repeat, a student at Liberty High School opened fire at 8:35 today, killing over a hundred students before the school’s evacuation and the arrival of the police. After all attempts at negotiations failed, the police were forced to rush the school, resulting in a tragic shootout that has left several dead, including Aaron Sefter, the student who perpetrated today’s bloodbath.”

*Click*

“I repeat, another church has been set on fire! Fortunately, this church has been evacuated shortly after three other churches were set fire to. Sadly, those churches were burnt to the ground, with no apparent survivors.”

*Click*

“I stand in the middle of what just might be the largest mass murder in the history of Boston, if not the entire nation. Every man, woman, and child in Boston Memorial has been brutally slaughtered, leaving behind a total of over one thousand mutilated bodies. As of right now the police have no suspects, though the possibility that this may have been a terrorist attack has not been ruled out.”

*Click*

Mayor Thomas M. Menino had shut off the television. What he had just seen was the sum of all his recent nightmares come to life. Menino had known the dangers of Terrence Dover being found not-guilty, and still he made certain that was what had happened.

The phone on his desk was ringing. Menino disconnected the phone, then threw it against the wall. When Menino didn’t hear a crash, he turned.

Crouched on the wall like an insect, the phone clasped in his tongue, was the Toad.

His blood running cold in his veins, Mayor Menino leapt from his chair and rushed for the door. Toad threw the phone from his tongue to Menino’s feet, where it knocked him to the ground. Toad then flipped off the wall and onto the Mayor, straddling him.

Toad glared down at Menino, his long tongue dangling over the man’s terrified face.

“Tell me what you did,” the Toad hissed.

“I placed pressure on the DA’s office to go along with Sam Guthrie’s wish for a special prosecutor,” Menino said quickly. “I-it would have looked back for the city if we hadn’t given the victims every consideration-”

“Shut up!” Toad snarled. His tongue dipped down, licking Menino’s forehead lightly. Toad’s face contorted in disgust. “The taste of your lies sickens me! Tell me about the jury!”

“Wh-what about the jury?” Menino asked softly. “They were entirely unbiased as far as we know-”

Toad’s tongue had shot into Menino’s mouth, wrapped around his own tongue, and yanked it hard. Menino whimpered as his tongue was stretched painfully, then nearly choked when Toad let go.

“Lie to me again, and I’ll pull on something more important,” growled Toad. He smiled. “And I won’t let go until it’s gone. The Brotherhood knows who made up the jury, Mr. Mayor.”

“Oh god...” Menino whimpered. “Please, I didn’t have a choice. My career would have been destroyed if I hadn’t-”

“Thousands are dead because you did!” Toad yelled. Spittle flew onto Menino’s face, little greenish globs that made him lose feeling in his face. “You, Mayor Menino, engaged in a conspiracy to pack the jury with Friends of Humanity. You saw to it that a killer would go free, and set a dangerous precedent that my brothers and I are only too willing to take advantage of.”

Toad leaned down, until his face was inches from Menino. “What do you think that will do for your career?”

Then, just as Mayor Thomas M. Menino was certain he would die, the Toad was gone. Left alone, with nothing but the knowledge of what he’d done, the mayor a shattered city wept.

Author’s Note

In case nobody read James Grasseli’s X-Force stories, this story is a direct spin-off. In “Trial of a Man”, an ex-military, mutant hating freak gunned down a mutant because he was protecting his property. The mutant had done nothing to this man, but according to Terrence Dover, the mutant’s very presence was a threat to the United States of America. And as a former member of the US military, Dover felt that he had to protect what was his.

Yeah, I know. I think that defense was full of shit too. If one man killed another man for the danger he might represent, that man would go to prison for the rest of his natural life, if not sentenced to death. But Terrence Dover was found not-guilty.

Now, imagine your the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and you just heard this. Basically, that verdict gave every human in America a free pass to kill mutants, because that mutant could potentially be a threat. Well, guess what, that now means that every human is now a threat to mutants. And, of course, mutants have a right to protect themselves too.

This is the 50th issue of Super-Villain Team-Up. This is also my twelfth issue on the title. That constitutes a run on regular titles, and I’ve decided that this will be my final Brotherhood of Evil Mutants story at SVTU. The Brotherhood will still appear elsewhere, but for now I’m done with their exclusive stories.

I couldn’t think of a better farewell than to have the Brotherhood slaughter thousands in supposed self-defense, voicing their protest of the grave injustice done to mutants everywhere. They killed children, the sick and invalid, men and women leaving to visit their families, and the religious. It tis an act of unspeakable evil that the Brotherhood have done, but was it really wrong?

X-Force, who worked with the system and failed, might not think so. Most mutants, the X-Men included, might just find themselves hard-pressed to call the Brotherhood’s actions wrong.

Stephen Crosby