Shelby was gradually working through her latest assignment, and considering that Saph was out for once she could work on it out in the open instead of stuffed into the bedroom late at night. She'd been given a small booklet with various snapshots of skulls, and her assignment was to give the bones identities based off of their unique attributes. She was struggling slightly, but this was only the second time she'd done something with this level of expected depth and precision. 

Scattered around her were a host of different anatomy books, a few snacks and water bottles, and the remote to the TV. Which she was hording. At 4pm, Olivia was supposed to be on TV with Derrick, at the Rally for Equality in Washington Square Park. She was looking forward to it, but was rightly a little nervous considering the tension still in the air.

Saph was supposed to be out there, too. She wondered absently if he would make an appearance on TV as well.

Glancing at her phone for the time, she turned the tube on, and flipped through stations until she got to one of the news stations offering a live broadcast of the event. When she landed on the channel, a few people were still filtering in, while a reporter gabbed on about something or another. In the background, she could see a few figures up on a platform...

--

Olivia, with Derrick at her side and Beck, one of the leaders of the Code Grey ground behind her. She had feathered arms crossed as she overlooked the turn out. She was please, to say the least. "Looks like we lucked out with the weather, eh boys?" 

Derrick nodded at her silently. He looked nervous... place faced and sweaty. Given that he wasn't generally a fan of larger crowds anyone who knew him could easily attribute his behavior to that. Olivia turned and hugged him, planting a kiss on his clammy cheek. "Look alive, love. Camera's should be rolling by now... we want to have our best faces on!"

She moved off to converse with Beck before the rally was officially due to start. Derrick looked out onto the gathering of people, squinting against the lights angled up at them. He swallowed thickly, then headed for the podium to finish setting up the mic and other equipment for the night. 

The crowd was huge. Saphirus stood, his badge placed on the chest of his X-Men uniform. He'd been called in to stand on the police line near this protest. Familiar faces stood around him; officers he'd gotten to know over the years waited in a tense silence as they prepared for the worst.

This group, Code Grey, had a bad set of odd when it came to protests turning into riots when they were lead organizers. All of the officers here were vets; experienced at running a line with mutants involved. It also helped them feel more secure that there was a line of META bots as well; while word had gotten around that they weren't always the most reliable, they were still safer to have around than not for most of these officers.

Saph peered into the crowd, speaking into his walkie, placed on the opposite site of his chest of his honorary badge. "Anyone recognize the two unknowns up at the podium? I can only identify Beck up there." He knew who they were, obviously, but this was an easy way to snoop

He heard a reply after a moment. "They are with Code Blue out of Seattle. The girl is on the watch list." He knew it! he @#$^in knew it! His eyes laser focused on the bird girl for a moment as he settled back into the line.

He knew that they would be able to control the situation if it started to get out of hand; they were well prepared this time around, but that meant they still had to watch like a hawk.

At two minutes past four, Beck and Olivia were back on stage, with a small following of other group members behind them. Beck took the mic first, since it was his turf, and was greeted with cheering from the gathered crowd.

"Good evening! Thank you, every last one of you, for making time in your busy schedules tonight to gather here with us. Here, in beautiful Washington Square park!"

Beck turned and waved Olivia to join him at the mic. Her feathers ruffled with pride as she strode forward, a visual representation of mutant pride. "Tonight we have two representatives from our sister city, Seattle. Olivia and Derrick, of Code Blue, are here to help us bolster our spirits in such trying times."

Beck went on for a minute or two longer, comparing the two cities and the hardships that both face. When he was done, he stepped off to the side and allowed Olivia to take the spot light. She shined in it, confidence dripping from her. The lights bounced off of her feathers. She was truly a spectacle to behold.

"Good evening, my fellow equalists!" She started, earning a cheer from those gathered. "And thank you for inviting me and my partner to your beautiful city!"

--

Back at the school, Shelby rolled her eyes. Olivia always had been one to puff herself up and lay it on real thick for the cameras.

--

Once the introductions were out of the way, Olivia had jumped into her prepared speech full swing. She had a lot of points to cover; quite a few that were designed to hit sensitive spots within the crowd, and hopefully rile them up.

"...We cannot remain an ostracized group, isolated from the rest of the world by fear and hatred. We deserve the same rights as everyone else, regardless of what color our skin is, how many arms we have, or what our unique abilities may be."

Those gathered roared in agreement, hoisting signs over their heads. Olivia continued on when their ruckus quieted.

"Rights to fair housing; Where bias landlords cannot force us to pay more than our human neighbors because of phony 'liability' regulations. Rights to equal opportunities for jobs, and within the work place; so mutants cannot be forced to go without insurance, or let go because of what they are." She had to pause, and wait for cheering to subside once more.

"..'All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights, the right to life, liberty, and security of person'... All we ask are for those same rights to be applied to mutant kind!"

Saph watched the proceedings carefully, eyeing the crowd for known instigators. This chick was laying it on thick. The crowd was getting riled up. He scanned the faces of his former officers as well; apprehension was the mood of the moment. He felt it. It was real.

The sergeant in charge was keeping a cool head, though. That was good. He ordered them to spread out a bit more, watch from more angles.

While they did so, Saph couldn't help but listen to the speech; she was saying the right things; anyone who didn't believe that things were a bit messed up was delusional, but the way she said it, it was like they planned to do something about it today. Things like that took time.

He found himself shaking his head a bit, but stopped himself. Had to remain professional. A META walked past the line, moving to a new ordered position. He couldn't help but watch it closely as it passed.

She went on about that for a bit longer, before switching tactics. Turning slightly, Olivia motioned Derrick to step forward and join her at the mic.

"Humans must get involved. This is not a mutant only issue. Standing by silently is just as bad as actively participating... Together, as a community, we need to make is known that the tactical segregation and dehumanization of mutant kind is not okay!"

Derrick, who still looked rather sick in comparison to her, was by her side. They clasped hands, and together lifted them into the air. "Being pro mutant does not mean you are anti human, and vice versa. If we are going to defeat this, if we are going to defeat hate, we need to stand as one! Human, like Derrick here, and Mutant, like myself."

--

Shelby, who had been peering at one specific corner of the TV screen where she thought she might have seen a glimpse of Saph, was suddenly drawn back to Olivia and Derrick on the stage. She got it now, after hearing what her ex had just said.... She understood why the two of them were dating. To say it was disgusting and infuriating was an understatement. Olivia was with him purely to further her goals! She'd captured herself a human to drag along with her to rallies, who she could use as a pawn to boast about how awesome she was.

Suddenly bitter about the whole thing, Shelby decided to go back to her homework instead of playing 'Where's Saph?' on the screen.

A few minutes after she'd zoned out of the show, she heard her phone chime. A message notification. When she checked, she saw it was from an unknown number. All it said was 'Turn on the news'.

Hesitantly, she drew her attention back to the screen..

--

"What are we?!" Olivia screamed, tossing her claws fist up in the air.. which was still wrapped around Derrick's.

"UNITED!" Chanted back the buzzing crowd.

"What do we want!?" She shrieked again.

"EQUALITY!" Came the booming reply.

"When do we want it?!" Derrick turned to her. He was ghostly pale and had a frown fixed on his lips.

"NOW!"

Olivia gripped her clawed fingers around his jaw, pulling him close. The two kissed; An obvious mutant and a average human male, and the people gathered lost it.

And then there was the distant crack of a firearm.

Derrick buckled and fell.

The people in the crowd panicked, while Olivia dropped to her knees and threw her body over that of her prone boyfriends.

Oh god, they were chanting. He hated chanting. Why the hell did people need to come up with stupid slogans and battle cries for stuff like this? It didn't make much sense to him, but hey, he wasn't exactly an experienced protester; more often than not he ended up on the other side of things.

That was where he was now, after all. Sitting here, waiting for a protest to go bad. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against some railing. He was kinda hoping this thing would wrap up soon; he was more in the sort of chill with your girlfriend and do nothing sort of mood.

He shook his head a bit when the couple on stage suddenly kissed. Cameras flashed, getting their famous headline pictures and whatnot... The whole situation actually seemed a bit familiar. Huh.

CRACK!

His attention suddenly perked, and he leaned forward onto his feet, looking about. He'd felt that... Jesus, a gun shot... He charged forward without thinking, jumping and guiding himself to the podium as people gathered around.

"Everyone back, give him space... EMT! I need an EMT here!" He pushed the crowd back himself, looking down at Olivia, who was weeping and trying to shake him awake. The X-Man's eyes focussed in the direction of where he'd felt the shot come from.

The EMT's were making their way down. Another officer made his way through the crowd to clear up space, and Saphirus was off toward an apartment building behind the archway they'd been posted under. He call the location of the shooter in, but he couldn't pin it down exactly. They would be in a good place to lock the building down and scour it, though.

He made it to the location, and started heading up just as the META bots arrived. Soon, cop cars would pull up as well.

Before he could really think, he was standing on the eighth floor, staring at a man in a hallway. His hair was close cropped to his head, grayed, his eyes hard and stern, sweat dripping down his brow, and a rifle in his hand.

"Sh$#." He raised the weapon to fire, and Saph's instincts kicked in. As a Meta stepped into the hallway behind him his crowbar shot forward in a flash and found purchase, lashing right through it's target, and embedding itself in the wall behind him. The Masochist stared for a moment, the shock still settling onto him.

The rifle hit the ground.

He'd killed him. Shelby's friend had been shot. The META reported the status of the situation. After a few moments, he realized the robot was talking to him.

"Sir, please respond, you do not appear to be wounded. Are you alright?"

Reality filtered back in quickly. He heard the call over the radio. The victim had passed.

"No... no I'm not."

As the crowd, full of people who didn't know what had happened and were rightly worried, tried to scatter the gathered officers stepped into quell and contain the situation. The few reporters who'd shown up for the rally were in fits, trying to both get to safety and cover the new breaking news story.

Past the chaos, Olivia was up on the platform with Derrick still, putting pressure on the wound that had caused him to collapse. He'd been shot through the chest. Quickly, medical professionals swooped in to try and save him...

--

"--oadcasting live from the situation here. We're just getting in bits and pieces of the situation as it develops... As far as we know currently there has been one injury, and--" Another voice chimed in from off screen. The female reporter paused to listen, quietly moving a hand to her mouth as the update stunned her. After a moment of composing herself, she turned to address the camera again.

"We've just gotten another update on the developing incident. There has been one fatality, no other injuries. The male victim was with the rally group visiting from Seattle, Washington. We've also just been informed--"

Shelby was fixated on the screen, but she wasn't paying attention to what was being said any longer. The reporter's voice faded out... the chaotic chorus of panicked voices in the background faded away into an annoying buzz. She was too busy trying to process what had just happened. How... why...?

Derrick was dead. Her friend was dead. He had been snuffed out before her very eyes. Before the eyes of the city.

Her vision blurred. She was alone in the room, currently.... so there wasn't anyone to witness her as she broke down. Shock, horror... numbness settled in. She couldn't get a breath in fully without gasping. With shaking hands she lurched for her phone.

Olivia... she must have been the one to text her! She needed to get a hold of the bird mutant. It had to be false; Derrick couldn't actually be dead. He was her best friend. She managed to find the number and hit the call button before bringing it up to her ear.

--

Olivia was screaming. Deep, soul wrenching screaming. Beck had an arm wrapped around her shoulders as she sobbed. They were off to the side as the police moved in and took over the scene. Olivia's phone, which was still tucked in her back pocket, never went off...

-Click-

"Hellooooo~"

The voice would sound familiar. Hadn't she sold some art to someone with a voice like this once?

"Is this Heidi? Oh, I must tell you I adore the latest edit on your work! The monkeys really make the ringleader's eyes POP!"

The sound of someone moving about quickly could be heard in the background. Shuffling. "My goodness, have you been watching the protest? Some poor boy was shot~"

Someone picked up. "Oliv--"

"Hellooooo~"

That... was not Olivia. In fact, that was a voice she was semi familiar with. She'd been back and forth with him on edits to his painting quite a while ago.

Confusion hit first, and she checked to make sure she hadn't dialed the wrong number. Nope. Unknown.

"...W-what? What is this?"

"My goodness, have you been watching the protest? Some poor boy was shot~"

Her legs buckled and she plopped down onto the couch, staring blankly at the television in front of her.

"... why did you send me a text to watch the news...?" Her voice wavered, but she tried to pull herself together. Part of her wanted to just hang up and get a hold of Olivia, but another part of her honestly wondered what the hell was going on.

How was this guy involved? She'd finished his painting and sent it to him already, and other than a few short conversations during the process she didn't have anything to do with him.

A reply came to her last inquiry, but it was a different voice.

"Oh, but Heidi dear, why wouldn't you want me to contact you on your tellular phone? I wouldn't want you to miss the main event, would I?"

The voice of a sweet old lady she'd spoken to in the past chimed in.

"My old bones would have ached for lack of poetic justice if you didn't tune in on your televisor, and see that dreadful woman's plan bear fruit!"

A tiny, innocent laugh echoed through the line and into her ear.

The voice switched, and Shelby felt a very heavy sense of foreboding settle over her.

"Oh, but Heidi dear, why wouldn't you want me to contact you on your tellular phone? I wouldn't want you to miss the main event, would I? My old bones would have ached for lack of poetic justice if you didn't tune in on your televisor, and see that dreadful woman's plan bear fruit!"

....Main event? Dreadful woman? What the--? She blinked, loose tears escaping, and focused on the tv again.

"Poetic justice...?" She echoed hollowly, unable to summon the energy to get angry or upset at the terminology this person was using.

"... Who is this?" It most certainly wasn't the weird little old lady, nor the eccentric circus dude. ".... What are you talking about?"

"... Who is this?.... What are you talking about?"

The voice changed again. This one would be unmistakable. She likely still heard it in her nightmares.

"Oh, come now Heidi... You must know who I am by now. And might I say... I love what you've done with your art!" A rough cackle ripped through the line as he lost focus on that neat moniker of a default voice he used.

"To think, I wanted to destroy you once, but when they came to me with their delicious plot, they wanted to use you. He was only option B! My, was he upset when I demanded they didn't touch you. I don't know why. Either way, his dream was going to end." He spoke in an amused tone, as if he wasn't talking to someone whose best friend had just been killed.

"Oh, come now Heidi... You must know who I am by now. And might I say... I love what you've done with your art!"

... Roach. Of course, of %$^&ing course it was that anthropomorphic waste of space. Quickly, anger started to boil under the surface of her anguish. She remained fixated on the tv, but her fingers clenched around the phone.

"To think, I wanted to destroy you once, but when they came to me with their delicious plot, they wanted to use you. He was only option B! My, was he upset when I demanded they didn't touch you. I don't know why. Either way, his dream was going to end."

"...They?" She echoed back slowly, eyebrows furrowing together as she tried to figure out what he was talking about. They wanted to use her? Plan B? ... He was upset?

She understood, vaguely, that he was talking about Olivia and Derrick. She wasn't sure why, though... Had be planned this? Had he found out that she was friends with them? Was this the retribution he had screamed at her through the danger room door? She felt a shiver run through her and the urge to vomit crept up.

".... H-his... dream?" She swallowed thickly. He was lying, she knew that. There was no way, not in a billion years, that her friends would... would even consider....

"You're lying." She ground out, surprised to find that her teeth were clenched together painfully hard. 

He hummed his words until she started repeating him, which enticed a quick, and drastic mood swing from him.

".... H-his... dream?"

"DID I @#$%ING STUTTER?!" He immediately calmed when she called him a liar. "Oh Shelby... Believe what you want, but deep down, you know it's true. Your friends are shallow, bitter people who don't, or didn't care about you, respectively." He cooed through the line.

'But alas, I care very little if you actually believe me! If I know you, the question will burn a hole in your mind until you find the truth~" He was so smug in this knowledge of her behaviors. He acted like he knew her. Like he knew what her motivations and instincts were.

Did he?

Either way, he won. She would either give up on this, and leave it, or do what he wanted and check it out just so she could be more miserable about it.

She jerked the phone away from her ear at his outburst, while her heart jumped into her throat. She'd nearly forgotten exactly how volatile Roach was... how frightening he could be. After  a moment, she heard hi start to speak again in a much calmer tone.

... She did not like what he had to say.

"... How dare you." Her voice wavered, and she wasn't sure if it was from anger or fear. Both, maybe. "Never in a million years would I put an ounce of faith in a single word out of your mendacious mandibles." Her freehand clenched at her side, before she wrapped it around her middle. She was starting to feel like she was going to throw up... actually, she knew she was going to throw up, she just wasn't sure when.

"You are a sad, pitiful excuse for a creature, and I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that you suffer for all that you have done." With a shaking hand, she pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up on him. Then she stared at the blank screen for a while while the news program continued to drone on in the background...

-- 

A while later she was in her room, settled in the corner of the bed with her back to the wall and blankets drawn up to her armpits. In her lap a book was settled across her legs. It was a photo album. She'd brought it, and two others, with her from Seattle. It was packed full of memories.

Derrick's smiling face was there, smooshed into hers when they had both been kids.