Nothing Less than Extraordinary

xx20xx

"I've had my powers since as long as I can remember," Zaine began. I expected him to go into an opening statement while pacing back and forth based off the tone his voice had, but he stood firmly at our table. But then again, this was just the beginning. "For your record, Your Honor, I have invulnerability along with the ability to control my body's density to pretty much withstand anything I need to."

"This is a gross simplification, Your Honor," a man more representative of a paper-pushing Agency officer than a lawyer announced. What little of the introductions I heard allowed me to realize he was deputy director. "Zaine Union can alter his density to be as impervious as diamond or sparce enough to walk through walls," he informed. He could what? "This poses a huge threat because while he's a walking bulletproof body, his muscle density alone has allowed him enhanced speed and strength and—"

"Qualities the Agency and the military especially knows all too well," Zaine interrupted with a raise of his voice. He looked back to the judge. Whispers began in the audience and even Col. Matthew's face winced.

"Order!" the judge commanded before looking at our opposition. "Colonel? Hensley?"

"This isn't a case proving the origin or intelligence of the Agency, Your Honor," the SAS deputy director denied. "This is about the events centered around the Maxwell Academy and the terrorist act that happened right here in D.C.. The SAS has been a cleared operation for almost two decades and this hearing isn't focused on its review—"

"It should be up for investigation," Cheshire voiced and received a glare from the judge.

"He's right," Zaine said. "The Agency got his origins out of greedy, underground military interests. That's how I ended up being under a microscope for the first ten years of my life and how Maxwell needed to step in and house a bunch of kids who may or may not have even known about their powers before they either hurt someone, themselves, or became lab rats. Now the Agency is full of non-mutants. Some of them want to send us straight into Maxwell's Academy thinking we'll learn to control ourselves and walk back into society as if we're normal. Some of them want to just capture us and send us to that island because they're scared if we actually do learn about our powers," he preached. "But the Agency isn't stupid. There are too many of us out in the world to catch and ship to some boarding school. So they watch and they wait and they decide what they're gonna do to us dependent on who we are, what we can do, and what we've already done—we don't get a say. They do. And that's exactly how a hierarchy of ethics has been neglected and abused for a long time now and I think all of us sitting at this table can attest to it."

"Do you have an example of this negligence?"

"Yes," Zaine nodded. "That 'target subject' the general talked about on the news was me," he announced. Now, the whispers turned into another dull roar. I really wanted to reach over and grab Zaine's hand, but I knew he was strong enough to get through this...but mostly I was three seats away. "After a freak accident involving a Special family was covered up, the military started taking action about the spike in explicit mutations they were noticing. I came from a military family and had powers since I was young, so my sister and I were the best bet for running tests. But they only continued monitoring and training me, not her." I looked over and saw Warren look down at the table and clench his jaw at the mentioning of Emma. I looked over my shoulder towards where I saw Marshall Union (unbeknownst to his own son) and his strong eyes stayed attached to Zaine. "A few years later, my family and I had enough of them trying to 'enhance my abilities,' so I left. I was out for barely 24 hours before the Agency came after me...and my sister...and her boyfriend." Zaine looked over at Warren and he eventually looked up to give him a nod of confidence. "While Warren got away and got to live his life for another four years before being caught, me and my sister weren't lucky. The Agency cornered us and used force...on a fourth and sixth grader...and Emma got killed. It didn't matter to them at all. I'm sure it wouldn't have mattered what they did to me if it wasn't for Maxwell Noble."