Mutatis Mutandis

Summary: The blade slid into the flesh, its sharpness balking at first and then easing in with a sickly wet sound.

The Mutant Question was the topic of the day now. It seemed to escape people that the mutants weren’t a real force yet. Some day, perhaps. A generation, maybe two – yes.

Now? Just a tool, whether they wished it or not. There simply weren’t enough of them to coalesce in a movement of their own, no matter how often Magneto got his purple-caped ass kicked in a televised manner. Just a tool to be used by older interests, established and strong, by the entrenched ideas and old hates. Or Ideals.

A fascinating look at how global politics might function in a universe that has mutants in it. Set in both Washington D.C. and Chechnya, this story deftly explores the complications superpowers could add to real-world problems. Some things are different, and others depressingly similar. And X-Men fandom could always use more espionage, international incidents and people getting stabbed in dark alleys.

Cloak and Dagger

Summary: Logan's not the first.

She writes Rogue poetry and makes her watch Masterpiece Theatre and strange British comedy that Rogue mostly understands and finds herself laughing at, startled and happy. Brea lives on a whole different plane. Sometimes it's lower than the rest of them, sometimes it's higher. But it's definitely different.

Brea knows things. When she discovered Rogue's limitations, she wrote out a detailed list of sex toys that didn't require body-to-body contact and left it, folded only once, halfway under Rogue's door. Bobby found it first. Brea turned his face green for a week. "For envy," she said, and winked at Rogue.

I love this original character, and her power, and the way she connects with Rogue. Sensuous and sharp.

La Brea

Summary: A student’s-eye view of Xavier, post-X2.

“T.H. White,” I said. “He’s not like the others. He tells you the right names of things.”

“How so?”

“When Arthur turns into an ant, he turns into Messor barbarus. Most writers would just say he turned into an ant. They wouldn’t say what kind, not even to themselves. That’s the problem with fiction.”

The original character in this story has one of the most fascinating mutations I've ever seen, and it would be well worth reading for that alone. There's a lot more going on here, though, in his interaction with Xavier. A wonderful insight into his state of mind after X2.

Nameless