"Good morning Los Angeles!"

Crystal's salutation sent up a storm of cheers and whistles from the mutant protesters, especially from the male segment. Jack may have been the empath, but Crystal had her own facilities for moving a crowd. Some celebrity writers had rather unkindly speculated that her stunts weren't the only things that defied gravity, but when asked if her beauty was genetically enhanced, she had famously answered, "Isn't everyone's?"

Her smile was downright celestial as she waved in appreciation of the raucous reception. "When Friends of Genetic Freedom contacted Jack and me and asked to stage a rally around our court case, our expectations were high. Well, let me tell you that you haven't just met our expectations - you've blown them away!"

That brought another roar from the audience. Jack stepped up beside Crystal and took over the microphone.

"Take a look around," he said. "You're going to see people of every race, class, and religion in the country. You're going to see non-mutants as well as mutants. Do you know what unites us? It's our humanity. We're here because we refuse to stand by while whole class of people is branded, cataloged and tracked like cattle. This isn't about hiding who we are. Crystal and I have never made that a secret. This is about--"

Jack's concentration wavered for a moment, and something flickered over his face. His eyes were drawn toward the edges of the rally, where a large group of mutants were murmuring uneasily over the arrival of the riot cops, and a few were trading insults with the anti-mutant protesters across the street.

Crystal looked up at Jack with concern and lightly touched his arm.

"This is about fair treatment under the law," Jack said, regaining his focus. "Criminals deserve registration. Sex offenders deserve registration. Innocent men and women, your friends, your family, your neighbors, do not deserve to be registered merely because of their genetic makeup!"