It was a beautiful day.

Really. He wasn't just thinking that because it was nice out, but also because today was the day he would finally be implementing the plan he'd worked on for so long.

Granted, there'd been other people involved. Panu had helped, for example, by running those simulations. Ambrose hadn't been sure, but apparently that was within the scope of Panu's powers! He'd be sure to ask the boy to do more of that in the future. Maybe buy him a cat. Cats were nice.

And Cail. Cail had been very agreeable, immediately accepting his newly made-up position as the JW representative, and overall PR man, on the Utopia Planning Committee. Once they'd started to spread the idea around, Cail had been beautifully talented at finally swinging people over to their side, too - at last count, the Committee counted at least one senator and one globally-respected scientist, which was a great start considering they'd created it about a week ago. Even right now, minutes before he'd step onto stage, Ambrose could see Cail quietly talking into his phone. His enhanced hearing let him pick up, even over the crowd swarming in front of the stage, who was apparently a Congressman on the phone. Ambrose truly loved that man - or at least, he would, if he could truly love anyone for anything more than their utility.

Oh, and his new hires, the Capitoline twins. Couldn't forget about them. Ambrose could see them at the stage's base, waving the encroaching press back. A quick sniff told Ambrose that the younger one's power was in use, because that whiff of air immediately made him feel just a bit calmer than he felt before. That power had been so useful at recent, supposedly peaceful rallies. The man could start a riot single-handedly, especially during a windy day. It was incredible.

So yes, maybe it'd been a team effort. Okay, it'd definitely been a team effort. But this? Today? This was all him.

Until Cail took the stage, that was, in which case it was all Cail, but that was irrelevant.

"You're up," a harried-looking techie hissed, hand pressed to his earpiece as he tried to hear what was being said. Ambrose peered out at the crowd in response, still mostly concealed inside the building - his building - behind the stage. Just this morning, the plaza in front of the JW building had been bustling with people trying to get to work. Now, half the block was cordoned off to compensate for the huge crowds that had showed up to see his announcement that would take place on the large stage right in front of JW's main entrance. Their PR team hadn't been specific - just said that Mr. Jaager was going to announce a project that would change human-mutant relations everywhere, especially in the wake of the riots - but that had been enough to warrant such a turnout. Apparently he was more popular than he'd thought. More popular than the pink-haired X, even, who he'd only learned was a Ragnarok member (surprise!) when he'd whined to Madeline about having to attend the rally earlier. He'd complained about not being informed before she informed him that he'd been too busy playing Fruit Ninja to care, and that was on him.

She definitely deliberately stepped on his foot with her pointed heel on her way out. Sometimes, he was sure that the only reason Madeline wore fancy shoes was for their secondary use as passive-aggressive weapons.

"I said you're up," the techie said with more irritation. Ambrose didn't mind. He was too busy basking in the moment to get angry at his little minions. He lingered for just enough time to be especially obnoxious before he finally pushed open the door, strolling out in the warm afternoon air.

The crowd fell mostly quiet as he stepped up onto the stage and took his place behind the podium. It was burning out, the sun pounding down relentlessly on everyone in attendance, and Ambrose felt like he was baking in the expensive black suit he wore. But he'd only have to be out here for a bit - enough to take the glory, before he handed over the floor when it came to the technical aspects.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and all those around and in between," he began, his tone appropriately somber for the topic at hand, even if his opening statement had been slightly unusual. "By now, I'm sure all of you are aware of the tragic bombing of a mutant shelter in Odessa on June 24th." That was the date. That was the date, right? He'd drilled this speech, however short it was, relentlessly, but had only memorized the date for its dramatic effect. He didn't actually care; if he hadn't needed to know it, he probably would've said May sixth or something equally ridiculous.

"In light of such an event, there have been outbreaks of rioting throughout the city," he continued. "In conjunction with the more and more frequent malfunctions in META bots, New York City - or any city, for that matter - is no longer a place where mutants can feel safe."

This was where he'd had to be extremely careful, when he wrote the speech. He couldn't sound too adversarial, or people would latch onto him. And the attention, especially went everything inevitably went downhill, was highly unwanted. So he had to sound like he was doing this for all the right reasons, and as if it wasn't even him doing this. If he sounded as if this was less of his decision and more of a necessary solution, less fingers would be pointed at him in the future.

"And that. Isn't. Right," Ambrose said firmly. Someone started cheering. And before he knew it, the entire crowd had been worked into an excited uproar. He saw Remy smirk at him out of the corner of his eye, and was surprised to feel only the smallest spike in excitement when he breathed in - mob mentality was a powerful thing, and he was watching it play out right here. He could've kept going, rallying up the emotion even further, but he didn't want that. He wasn't supposed to be a figurehead - this should feel like a natural progression, not a forceful shove.

So he waited until it quieted down sufficiently to speak again. "In light of that sentiment," he said, calmly. He could feel excitement - real, genuine excitement, which was surprisingly a strange feeling - burning up in his gut. It was time. "Jaager Worldwide is proud to announce that we have put our full support behind the Utopia Planning Committee. Now, you may ask, 'what does that mean? What's Utopia?'" He took a breath. "Utopia will be exactly what it sounds like - a utopia. It will be a place for mutants, where we don't have to live in fear that we'll be shot down in the street by a malfunctioning META bot for the heinous crime of possessing the X-gene." The crowd was going again, cheering wildly, and Ambrose could feel the emotion crackling beneath his skin. He had to speak louder, to make himself heard, but he was a brilliant orator and he knew it. And he was taking full advantage of every bit of public speaking skill he'd ever possessed.

"Utopia will be a safe place for those who don't feel safe anymore. And until it is safe, however long that takes, Utopia will be there to take the tired. The poor. The huddling masses yearning to breathe free!" He spoke with false conviction, with affected passion, but the crowd ate it up. He didn't even need to try all that hard; at this rate, he could've just read his speech in monotone and it would've had the same effect.

Ambrose briefly recalled writing that part, as Cail peered over his shoulder. "That's a bit dramatic," he'd said.

"It's the irony," Ambrose had said absentmindedly, staring intently at his screen. "You know, that it's how Americans are supposed to be treated, but mutants aren't, so we're giving them a place where they can be treated like that."

"I thought you majored in biochem," Cail had said dryly in response to what was actually a decently sophisticated bit of thought, compared to what Ambrose's mouth regularly churned out.

"I did," Ambrose had responded, shrugging. "I also paid attention in middle school English. Somebody pulled the same trick in one of the books we read. I'm not above 'taking inspiration' from middle school novels. And everyone loves quotes. Never read the whole poem, but who cares? This is the only relevant part."

Brought back to the present by the quieting of the crowd, Ambrose continued speaking. But he said his next words almost softly, to add to their weight. "We are persecuted for the supposed crime of being less than human," he said lowly. "But being human isn't about what you are. It's about who you are. And Utopia will be a place where we can be free to be human however we like."

The crowd virtually erupted. He stood there, just basking, finally watching his month of planning come to fruition. God, so much planning. He hated being cooped up, and the Ragnarök work coupled with the JW work had been almost physically painful. But this? This was worth it.

"I'll now be giving up the stage to JW's representative on the UPC, where he will be taking questions," Ambrose said once the noise had died down again. He glanced off stage. "Commander Cail Rendfur?"

As Cail walked onto the stage, Ambrose shook his hand before relinquishing his position at the podium. If he could, he would've felt exuberant. Incredible. Ecstatic.

As it was, he just felt smug, and something dark and vicious stirred inside him.

"Mr. Rendfur! Where will Utopia -" "Mr. Rendfur, who else is -" "Mr. Rendfur - when do you estimate -"

Ambrose walked back into his building, letting the door swing shut behind him, muting the sounds outside.

His work here was done.

So, having been told to be at some speech from a big shot for "crowd control" , Linely was once again finding himself relatively bored. The guy was rabbiting on about how Mutants were seen as "less than human" and how they all had to get their own country. What next? Was he going to build a wall between the mutants and non-mutants that the non-mutants would pay for?

He liked other mutants, he wanted to protect those who didn't break the law, he realised that they needed better protections from non-mutants. This so called "Utopia" was just that , a land of nowhere. Just some dogooder politician that would promise the world and fail to deliver.

His name-Ambrose Jaager-was big enough to warrant police protection though, so he deserved that credit at least. Linely merely looked menacing and made sure this heavily whipped up crowd stayed in check. Yeah, Jaager had got them fired up, a real rabble rouser. It was plainclothes today, but the fact that he was with a bunch of boys in blue proved that he was an officer. They had a less inspirational speaker now, so the crowd was dispersing nicely.

Hades watched from afar. Not too far away that should the need arise he could not be on scene within minutes, but he was well aware of the abilities of the Capitoline twins and had taken steps to avoid them. The other reason was that he was coordinating a team of elite snipers that were currently stationed at strategic yet hidden locations. The beauty of being in the know ahead of time was that one could choose the perfect place to build blinds and coordinate overlapping fields of fire. There were other advantages of operating near a location with established communication and network protocols. Each of the snipers had gun cameras alongside their scopes. Simply glass a potential target and get facial recognition back in seconds. That was the advantage of being tied into almost every law enforcement and governmental database that Panu could get access to, there were precious few that he could not.

The snipers were currently operating under passive protocols, no lasers or anything active as they covers the entire scene from multiple angles. If the target could not be taken out with a single shot there were snatch and grab teams stationed ready. In troubled times like these it paid to be well prepared, and Ambrose paid very well.

Snapping back to the present as Ambrose stepped on stage, Hades kept glassing the scene. A speaker on a stage was an easy target for a skilled sniper. Most people stood still, others paced at a steady cadence. Once people got into their speech however, movement tended to minimalize, which was when any attempt would most likely occur.

In the background there was a steady back chatter of his team and the liaison with the local law enforcement. He tuned out the speech. He knew the gist of it already, essentially his current most esteemed employer wanted declare and create the “independent republic of mutants” or its equivalent. Creating what was essentially a new country certainly raised the stakes and would make his job more interesting. Threat planning on a national level was different from just protecting an organization, but as usual Hades was already moving contingencies in place.

The speech ended, judging by the reactions of the crowd they took it well, Oppressor de Libor and all that. Ambrose headed back inside, Hades still tracked his progress through the windows. The ground floor windows were of a thinner glass and with the tungsten penetration rounds he could still take out any potential threat. Once Ambrose entered the lift, building security took over.

Hades was not there to question his employers motives or the sanity of his plans. He would see where they would go, confident in his ability to outlive almost all involved. He would still be there when the dust settled. Besides the Idea of running security for a nation, and having the resources of a nation under his command did appeal. Ambrose would as usual dictate the objectives, but how they were reached was another matter entirely, and Hades did enjoy a challenge now and then.

It was nearing the end of her trip, an end to her week that had been eventful, both pleasantly so and not so pleasant. She had in fact got more out of this trip than she have ever dreamed of getting thus far but it was enough to leave an impact on her for sometime to come. Corrine though tried to consider the option that maybe she would be coming to New York after all after all the craziness that had gone on. In fact, she had just finished packing her things but still had another day she could expend before she would be getting on the plane back to the Atlanta airport.

To spend that time she had decided to go on one last walk around New York, hoping to find something just as interesting until she heard what sounded like a cheering crowd. Curiosity peaked, Corrine followed the sound until she came to what was known as Jaager Worldwide, a seemingly large building holding some sort of announcement. Moving closer, she was there long enough to hear what all the fuss was about: a mutant only nation being announced. And they called it a utopia. This project sounded strangely like an idea drawn from an old fictional story of the same name, something that was plain drawn from fiction.

Corrine frown, finding it extremely unlikely such a thing could exist, not without problems arising. A utopia was a perfect place, an equal society for everything, from justice to economics to...well everything. Not to mention Corrine couldn't help feeling this sounded far too ridiculous and alienating for mutants, a backwards step for them since she felt some peace could maybe be found or perhaps a way to avoid there being so many problems. "This idea couldn't be more ridiculous." She said to herself, but anyone close enough could have heard her. "Mutants who make an effort to make change their own way would be thrown for a loop to make a decision." The woman grumbled, hating the thought of being forced to give up making a change as a vigilante, her ionized gas billowing slowly off her body as usual as she stood just on the edge of the crowd.

She cheered! She oohed and awwwed where appropriate. Maybe even a bit more than was appropriate. For whatever reason, Maya was feeling TOTALLY PUMPED!

Was this the answer? Utopia? Maya'd found a way to fix herself in the future at just such a place! And now, with Rowan slowly looking less and less human it was feeling like an even more amazing idea. Maybe they could even start a Full Circle in the arctic. Igloos were round, right?

Maya may have screamed like a fangirl for the man as he got off the stage. What a visionary! What a leader!

"That is a very bad man." In the Mansion living room, Lori felt the need to remind everyone of this fact as she leaned her hip against the back of the couch. She'd been surprised to see the enemy on TV as she passed. Even more surprised to see a group of kids so ready to gobble up what he was spitting out.

"If you guys want to go hide away in a deep, dark, cold hole, that's your prerogative. I don't trust that guy." She jabbed her finger toward the television and a rainbow distortion appeared on Jaager's left nostril.

Some reactions were fake. This Panu knew, because he had files for the Capitolone twins in his head, and he knew what was being done to the crowd.

Some reactions were fake. But fake was no so bad. Fake was the extra push some needed to get past fear that idea was just pretty lies. Utopia would be real. Ragnarok had time money conviction needed to make it. Fake was rationalization, justification, brains working over time to supply reasons why the person was cheering. Reasons they would remember later, and make true.

Fake cheering was only placebo until Utopia was real. The blonde boy started to cheer with the rest of them, then put hand over his own mouth, looking very pink-faced and flustered and Need To Be More Dignified Than This. He made Big Effort to stand up straight in his child-sized suit and wait for the end of Ambrose's speech like a good boy.

Panu Jaager, adopted son of Ambrose Jaager, stood at the end of the stage and took his father's hand so they could walk off together. Ms Brass said that Family Men made for better PR, so today, while cameras were still watch, they would be family.

Fake was warm strong hand wrapped around his own. Family was only fake until he could build a better one in Utopia.

“Sssh,” Jiri ssshed the Mansion's new PR lady. “If you don't like it, go yell at your own TV. Some of us are trying to listen.”

Seriously, when did she even get hired, she'd just sort of shown up one day. Apparently she used to run a pharmaceutical company that had, like, seventy billion accounting fraud scandals before suddenly it went off the radar. How that qualified her as publicist of a private school, he did not know.

Huh. Could failed pharmacists-turned-publicists sponsor school clubs? He should maybe slip some papers for his journalism club on her desk, and see if they ended up signed. It was either that or find a Ruddy clone who didn't care what Ms Taylor would do to him.

A thought for another time. Right now: texting. Such texting.

Leo get down to the living room right now you NEED to see this history papers are for losers SHIRTLESS DRAGON MAN IS MAKING A MUTANT NATION

“Besides, Jaager's cool. Have you even met him? I've seen him when he's just playing to the cameras, and this isn't it. He's, like, being serious. And I, for one, want to drink that cool aid.”

Yeah. So naysayers could just go shoo. Seriously, why would the guy even make a big announcement if he wasn't serious? Dude had nothing to lose from staying silent. The plans must be hella far along for him to be confident enough to announce like this. Adults were so cynical that they wrapped straight around to stupid sometimes.

leo leo leo leo leo leo leo come faster

Jiri lifted his hands in the air and cheered with the televised crowd. A few of the kids around him were startled. A few more took a second, but they joined in all the same.

For the record, tvs were weird things and he much preferred watching stuff with salt softy on her little screen, away from all the people.

Adder wasn't completely out of touch with his surroundings, though, and it would take more than thirteen-odd solitary, tech-empty years to keep him from noticing that something very, very big was going on. Plus the city was basically literally on fire half the time, it seemed, and Cafas kept apologizing for not being able to make their training sessions -

So when he passed the mansion living room and noticed the very, very strange energy of the crowd inside (the crowd itself wasn't too weird; this place was filled with weird kids who did weird things like bunch up for no real reason) he slowed down so he could still hear what was going on as he continued down the hall, away from all the people.

Go somewhere else?

Nope. Not going to happen, unless somewhere else included some other part of the school. He had more important and interesting things to do, like stretch out in the sun and nap.

Utopia. Huh.

Strictly speaking, a utopia was an imagined place, a paradise. It was a wonderful, wishful idea, but for most people, it remained as an idea.

For everyone except for Jaager Worldwide, apparently.

The man speaking had a face made for television, and the charisma to match. It was easy to watch him, and the information he gave made it doubly so.

Juliette's eyes were glued to the television on the wall, the world around her having the faded into the background. In reality, most people around her were in the same state. The E.R. was the quietest she had ever seen it, which would have been slightly disconcerting if not for the noise of the television that had captured the attention of all the people there. With everything that had happened in the last little while, she had thought that things couldn't get any more strange or unexpected. Then came this curveball.

The woman watched silently for the entirety of the segment, not minding that she was supposed to be working rather than standing idly at the desk. The idea of Utopia was... So unlike anything else, and she didn't know what to think of it. Would it even work? Would someone shut it down? Would it incite horrible things as a result? Would she ever consider going there?

"What a load of ****," a man in the waiting room yelled. "I'm here to get fixed and get out. Is anyone actually working here?"

Juliette's eyes shifted to where the noise had suddenly erupted from. She recognized the man; he had been waiting for over five hours at that point. It made sense that he was a little frustrated. However, his bout of frustration seemed to have opened the floodgates of talking for the people around him. The E.R. was even louder than it normally was with the added topic of Utopia.

The brunette sighed and grabbed the clipboard in front of her. "I am. Working here, that is." Thoughts of Utopia would have to wait.

Abby had been called into the room by one of her classmates. There was apparently a big thing going on. She wasn't sure what exactly it was, not until the man started speaking. Utopia? It sounded nice. A place where no one hurt anyone. "A place for mutants" he said. It sounded nice. But she was a mutant and not a lot of other mutants in her class liked her. She seemed to be like a disease to some people. Like being a shark-shifter meant she would eat every single person she came across.

That's when Abby saw the person at the edge of the stage. She knew him. Panu. It had been awhile since she had seen him. But she didn't need to see him to talk to him. He had given her that phone. While the kill-the-gate lady came in, the little blonde headed out of the room. She would get more information from Panu probably. And her phone was in her room.

A safe place for everyone. It sure sounded nice. And if Panu would be there, she'd have at least one friend.

Randy stared at the TV, coffee in hand. Was this guy serious? A Utopia for mutants was clearly too good to be true. Especially coming from a super corporations CEO. IT was one hell of a stunt to be sure, but Randy had seen things of this nature before. He gave it three weeks until the guy was announcing his bid for president.

The roof offered a very nice view of the plaza, which was overly crowded. Jaager Worldwide sure knew how to generate a buzz. Hence why she took the rooftop instead. Normally it was much safer down among swarming masses, but there were enough METAs to negate that.

Ambrose Jaager took the stage. She couldn’t see him all to well from this distance, but he seemed likeable enough. His speech began simply. The Odessa tragedy, the frustrations of rioting. “But what are you planning Mr. Jaager?”

Utopia… It sounded amazing, but wrong. Mutants we NOT less than human. They where better than human. Putting everyone all in a single location was a terrible idea. Memories of her last days in the PIT came to mind. A dead world. It was humanities fault. Why punish the mutants?

Beyond furious with his proposed Utopia she pushed herself up from her prone position. Glancing to the sniper, who had been oblivious the entire time as she broke onto the roof and laid down next to him, she chuckled. “Glad to see Mr. Jaager has such wonderful security.” With that she slipped off to the fire escape and left him to his job.

Aura had gotten close to the announcement Ambrose was considering. After their encounter she did not trust him and assumed nay major announcement would be bad for Mutants. Still she needed to know what was going on now and first hand knolage without the colorful brushes of reporters was what she liked. Still getting Close had been tough, even with her skills and Lisa's connections.

She took a breath and what he proposed, it sounded beautiful, it was in fact what she ahd always wanted. Even knowing the lie Utopia must be it was stilla tempting thought that made her druel at the thought. Wiping her lip, she shook her head, not sure what she would do next, but knowing she needed to stop Ambrose and save her people with his death.

Maybe it was time to kill ambrose, even if she died in the process it would be better then whatever Ambrose had in store for the world. However maybe it would get rid of many fo the humans and have at least some positive outcome.

It was as she was leaving she saw somone move down a fire escape, a woman she had not seen in some time. Seyta.

Alice was among the living room throng engrossed in Ambrose Jaager’s grand announcement. She had simply been trying to pass by in her pursuit of the kitchen pantry, but all thoughts of hunger were forgotten when the CEO began his impassioned speech regarding the recent tragedies and misfortunes afflicting the mutant community. She could hear the crowd’s excited fervor through the television’s speakers, their enthusiasm nearly drowning out Jaager’s mic-boosted voice.

Certainly, the charismatic man’s words resonated with her to a certain degree; she, like most mutants, had been on the receiving end of anti-mutant bigotry plenty of times. She had witnessed horrible things happen to her peers and heard of much, much worse. It was no wonder that most of the living room’s occupants listened to Jaager with rapt attention, save for a brisk blonde woman who pointed an accusatory finger at the television screen, making her suspicion for the speaker and his proposed mutant utopia (literally named Utopia, it was a little on the nose) very clear. It all sounded incredibly ambitious, but Jaager seemed utterly confident in his company’s ability to build the nation and have it serve as a safe haven for any and all mutants in need.

Her stomach rumbled and interrupted her train of thought. She recalled her original purpose for coming downstairs: food. She picked herself up and ducked past the onlookers towards the kitchen. Utopia sounded nice but it wasn’t for her, not when she had her first semester of university and a new, normal life to begin soon.

Hiding away, huh?