"Mutants' abilities are encoded in their genes," Nico said, eying him as he got more and more aggravated. She just wanted to know if she'd need to dodge. "Mutates have something weird happen to them, and poof, super powers."

She grabbed a gingerbread man off one of the plates on the table and bit its head off.

"On the other hand, most people hate and/or fear mutants because they were supposedly going to replace us all as the next stage in human evolution, and now everyone who has extra-normal abilities has to work for the government or be thrown in prison." She bit off an arm. "Unless their complete failure to even slow down the alien invasion proved that was a dumb idea. So. Not exactly the best place ever right now."