Mutants. [Only a slight pause, because he's gotten the idea by now that he'll have to explain.] Homo Superior. The next step in evolution after Homo Sapiens.

[The pride in his expression very quickly turns to anger.]

It's not just experiments. In my time, they've tried to set up a government registry for us, like criminals, and one really special guy managed to brainwash the most powerful telepath in the world and turn him against us in an attempt at genocide. [He gives his own shudder.] I felt the attack. Like a migraine on steroids, but with this feeling of someone being inside your mind and slowly - melting it, or breaking it, or something like that. Not your brain, your mind.

You can't say something like that without explaining it. [He crosses his arms over his chest, eyebrows arched. Your turn.]

Nice try. "Always" genocide. Are we talking World War II, or something more personal?

I was just wondering about vampires not long ago. Since there's werewolves here, I figured there must be vampires out there somewhere.

[He smirks a little.]

Genocide's a pretty stupid idea if you're a vampire, though. That's killing off your food supply.

Don't let it get out, but so are mutants. You'd be surprised how few of us there actually are on the side of doing something about all that shit instead of playing house with humans and hoping they'll change their minds eventually.

That's the part that gets to humans, though. That's why it'll never end if we just sit around and wait. Having something they don't have is enough to start a war.

Not what I said. [Yeah, he's blissfully unaware of Magneto's "kill all the humans" command to Jason during the Alkali Lake showdown.] We'll do what has to be done the next time they come after us, stop it before it can get as bad as it did last time. Yeah, humans'll probably die, but it'll be their own fault.

[He laughs to himself, recognising that feeling.]

Hell, I took free room and board at mutant school to stop fighting for survival, not to have things get even worse. Then I end up here and it's apparently every world out there at stake. I wouldn't go back to burning down squats to throw the cops off our trail, but I can't say it wasn't easier sometimes.

When I wasn't homeless. [A shrug.] There was an underground in the city, y'know, a mutant network. They'd find some condemned place and we'd move in until the cops figured it out. But it was a few months until I figured that out, and sometimes even longer between squats.

It covered our tracks. Anything we couldn't carry with us ended up ashes, so they figured they'd been wrong about their tip and it was just an arson. That's when we were lucky enough to have a pretty high-level telepath with us.

After that, when they'd just bust in, it was enough distraction for us to get away.

Mutants. [He holds his hands up, as if his point's been made.] We're a threat just existing, and the more prominent ones are harder to attack. So stomp on the broke and homeless ones.

[And now he's actually getting to his feet, a bit wobbly but able to keep himself standing.]

They sent a SWAT team to raid our school. You tell me.