nextgenerationmarvel | Mama Said There'd Be Worse Days Than This ((Open for Inspection Aftermath))

Doug was still with Topher, working on keeping him calm, even though they'd gotten him inside. A familiar tingle in the psychic rapport he shared with Rachel told him she was near.

That you, hon?

Yes, Doug. Sit-rep beyond Topher? Her cousin was mostly what she was aware of. She did not sense any strangers on the grounds, so the 'bad lady' as Topher put it wasn't around. She glided down to her feet at the front doors. The doors opened without her twitching a muscle.

Rachel moved with determination through the building.

Brianna received a pretty major head injury--Dani's heading up getting her stable and inside. Rose received some fairly major injuries and is confined to bed until she finishes regrowing some internal organs. Kayla's pretty shaken up about the whole thing and trying to process the guilt of it.

...And I'm pretty sure the inspector from the Department of Education is going to have us shut down.

Everyone's having bad, negative thoughts, Topher chimed in, unaware of the conversation that Doug and Rachel were having, but aware enough to know that they were probably having one. Between his Aunt Jean and Rachel, Topher'd been around telepaths long enough to know that they used their minds more than they ever did their cell phone plans.

Brooke would be having a field day if she was here right now.

I'll check on Kayla after I handle Topher. When I get to him, you're free to go and check up on things further. Topher and I will be having a nice round of multi-colored glowing and squinting, she sent to her husband. That was what she could spare. Animus was most likely not enjoying the caging. Her strength was vast, but Topher's was not.

The door to the room Doug had taken Topher to open gentle and Rachel sidled in. It closed behind her as she moved toward her cousin. It's a not a good day all around, she sent to Topher as she pulled up a seat in mid-air in front of him. You're safe now. I'm here. Take my hands.

Topher did his cousin one better. He pulled her into a long, fierce, somewhat terrified hug, before pulling away and giving her his hands.

Sorry that you had to rush back from your thing, cuz.

Rachel blinked a little at the hug but gave him one back. Being that close let her feel the strain of holding Animus back much more acutely.

I'm an X-Man. What's life without a little unexpected rushing? There was a thought of a wry smile but not one on her face. Instead she took in a deep breath. Your turn. Deep, steady breaths. And when you're ready, close your eyes. We'll take care of Animus.

Topher nodded. He sat down, all lotus-position, and straightened his back some. He breathed in and out deeply, the way he'd learned to do so during his yoga sessions down in Salem Center.

He shut his eyes deeply and Animus' terrifying face leapt to mind right away, grinning darkly at him from behind the glowing bars of the psychic cage.

Topher grunted in surprise.

Stop that.

No.

Edited 2013-01-21 07:01 (UTC)

What felt like warm wings wrapped around the part of Topher's psyche that was not the dark creature. Rachel had promised her cousin safety, and she would deliver it. She had the raw power to, but she preferred not frying family members' brains. She was using some of the power, but it was backing up her refined strength.

You are not wanted, Animus. You should learn to not force yourself on my cousin. The green fire bars of Animus' cage were reinforced by strands of red peeking out from the tongues of flame. Once she was confident the cage would hold, Rachel sent in two small talons of her own energy between the bars. The raptor-footed shapes clawed at Animus, trying to take bits of psychic energy away.

Topher felt the warmth and comfort emanating from the wings. Outside, he visibly relaxed a little bit.

Animus, though, laughed a dark, rumbling laugh that shook Topher's psyche. We already faced off once before, when I first sprang from Christopher's mind. I returned. Attack me all you want, little firebird. I'll always return. We're forever tied, your cousin and I.

The small yet strong raptor claws kept reaching through the bars to pluck at Animus' energy. She kept the wings around Topher despite the rumbles from Animus' posturing.

I will be here whenever he needs me most. I will help make him stronger to face you on his own. You will not win, and then it will be you regretting being tied to him.

Go ahead. Teach him. Strengthen him. But remember that sooner or later, all Phoenixes burn out - and when you do...well... Animus laughed again, though this time there was pain mixed in with the sound. He'd never admit it, but Rachel was doing some damage to him.

Rachel kept up the claw attacks. Bit by bit she would wear the entity down. She couldn't get rid of him, even if the temptation was strong. It would harm Topher more than do him any good. Though she did have to smirk and roll her eyes on the psychic plane.

I'm not the Phoenix now, but I was and will be again. I've been to the end of time. You cannot scare me with your doom-saying. It is all sound and bile. Let me know when you can speak in anything other than weak, dark threats.

I'd rather not show my hand yet, Rachel Grey-Ramsey.

Rachel would notice, though, that Animus seemed to be quite a bit weaker than he had a few moments ago.

See? I knew you little evil psyches could learn to talk beyond threats. A small hop into poker terminology. She could feel Animus weakening with every snatch of the claws. She kept at it. Though when she sent her telepathic voice to Topher himself, she moderated it to not make his head hurt.

How are you doing, Topher? How much weaker you need him?

Just give him one last psychic bitchsmack? Make him quiet for a couple of days so I can, you know, recuperate.

And possibly spend some time making out with his ridiculously hot boyfriend to forget about this day.

One psychic bitchsmack coming up. But Topher? I'm in your mind. I don't need to see your thoughts about making out with Jeremiah.

The talons withdrew from the cage for a moment. What came back was one massive bird of prey foot. The talons went through the bars and scraped against Animus to take one last giant scrape of the energy he had harvested.

Heh. Umm. Sorry. It's just...happy thoughts, you know?

Even as he thought it, he relaxed visibly. He felt Animus go down and unconscious and for a moment, all of the strength released from that went rushing into Topher. He floated up from where he sat, still holding on to Rachel. He opened his eyes wide and blinked. "Not gonna lie. That was too close for comfort." Animus getting released, he meant.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She was centered back in her own body and this was possibly the only thing that wouldn't give her a headache as she rushed to catch up on what happened while she was gone.

"Very close. Topher, how much shielding do you tend to have on a daily basis?"

"I usually just expend, expend, expend," Topher replied. "I don't really shield myself from anything. If I know someone tends to be overbearingly negative, I just try to limit contact."

Mostly, that just meant Brooke.

"That won't be good enough if you're going to compete with Sara to lead the next generation of X-Men," Rachel gently chided with a smile. She stretched a bit to work out some of the tension between her shoulder blades.

"I know you've had basic mental shielding classes like all students here, but I want you to sign up for an intermediate course after a refresher. You've already seen a leader can easily get into situations where limiting contact won't work."

"Oh please," Topher grinned. "It's hardly a competition." Besides, she's with the New Mutants now, and I'm still with the core team. We're both carving out niches for ourselves.

He nodded, then. "But no, I agree. I do need better control so I can lead when the time comes."

To say that Kayla was miserable would be a dramatic understatement. Once she had been "dismissed" from her duties, she had gone to her room and curled up in as tight a ball as she could on the bed, weeping bitterly until no more tears would come. Then, she was left with the devastating clarity of what she'd done, the implications that it would likely bring onto all of them.

Brianna might be seriously hurt. For all Kayla knew, she could suffer permanent brain damage. She could even die. Rose ... Rose would have died if it weren't for her healing factor. She'd seen her blood and guts everywhere. And then there was the school. The actual damage could be repaired quickly, but ... the inspector.

They would shut the school down, first.

And then they'd send in the armed forces to clear them out.

Of course they would, it was only logical. Mutants were still widely thought of as a security threat- and why not? She certainly was a threat to the security of the Mansion, and everyone around her. She'd hurt two of her friends. She'd possibly ruined their best hope for the future. All because she'd got a little cocky and wanted to show what a fucking badass she was.

They were right. I am a monster, a destroyer.

After Doug's rundown of the major issues, Rachel headed toward the girls' dormitories. She had gotten Animus under control for Topher and now headed toward the next problem she could handle. The Professor would have to handle the Department of Education fall-out. Rachel would help what students she could.

She knocked on the door to Kayla's room and waited to see if the girl would answer it.

Kayla didn't immediately answer the door, not really hearing it for the first ten seconds or so before she finally became aware of it. Roughly wiping her hand across her eyes to get some of the most visible tears off her face, she went over to open the door. Exhausted and stressed as she was from everything, she didn't think about her strength like she normally did.

The door came off completely in her hand. She just sort of stared at it for a moment, and felt the disgusting urge to laugh, though it would be without any joy whatsoever. It was just emphasizing how dangerous she was.

"Is Brianna going to be okay?" She finally managed to choke out, still holding the broken door in her hand.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at the door coming off its hinges. She enveloped the door in her telekinesis and gently tugged on it to signal Kayla let go.

"She will be. Dani has her stabilized in the med lab. We have the best doctors and technology at our disposal. Her parents are on the way here." The girl looked like guilty hell warmed over. "Can I come in to talk?"

It might be better than doing it in the hallway.

It took a couple of tugs, but Kayla let go of the door. She simply sullenly nodded and shuffled over to get a chair for Rachel, while she went over to sit on her bed.

"That lady was an inspector or something, wasn't she?" Kayla asked, without really looking up from the ground, or towards Rachel. "That's part of the reason everyone's panicking so much. You guys had this awesome place all set up and I probably just fucked it up for everyone."

She took a breath.

"Brianna is my friend. Rose is my friend. I could have killed them both. I almost DID. Rose would be dead if it weren't for her having her father's healing powers. I know she would be. I saw her guts spilling all over the place."

Her voice quavered a little. "All because I thought it would be really badass to do the fastball special thing with my powers. Knock out all the Sentinels in one go." She finally looked up at Rachel, and the girl who was normally cocksure and a little brash looked small and scared. "What if I do this again? What if they're right? Look how much I destroyed in the blink of an eye ..."

As Kayla shuffled to get a chair, Rachel stepped in and reattached the door to the frame. She tested to make sure it wouldn't fall off again before closing the door to give them some privacy. She settled down easily on the chair Kayla gave her.

"I believe that's what Doug told me, yes. The woman who was hear was from the New York Education Department." Rachel's voice was calm and collected. She had survived a future much worse than this. "What happens to the school is not your fault. It was bound to happen at some point. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before. We've had many close calls with inspections. Xavier's will still be a safe haven for mutants. We will continue to run in that fashion. If there's an issue from this inspection, we administrators will deal with it."

Rachel took her breath. "There were several problems with that training session. Most of it lies before you decided to get 'bad ass.' We're equipped to handle things that go that wrong. Both girls will be fine."

She paused and looked at Kayla levelly. "You could do it again. You have the powers to. That doesn't mean you will. We're not going to throw out someone who doesn't quite have control of their powers. That's what we're here for."

"What if the fallout from the school is some sort of government sanction? I'm not talking about losing the license. I'm talking about calling the Army out to shut down a "terrorist training camp". Or at least a serious investigation into what the hell you all are doing up in Westchester." Kayla took a breath and looked at Rachel. "I think if the worst thing that happens is that you guys lose your certification, we'll all be pretty goddamn lucky."

She shifted a little in her seat, but it was clear that she was responding well enough to someone who was logical. She needed that a lot more than just comforting.

"Okay. Maybe that's true. I guess what I can do is, firstly, not get cocky again. Because that was a stupid move on my part, what I did. I'm not going to feel okay about this for a long time. I mean, I'm glad- I'm so damn glad they'll both be okay, but we both know that Rose is only with us right now because of her mutant power." She looked up at Rachel. That last comment wasn't the morose muttering it had been before, but a considered comment. It was pretty much an objective fact.

"I'm more dangerous than I realized. This is something I'm going to have to deal with psychologically as much as physically. My parents told me I would destroy anything I touched, and that's what this feels like right now. Me destroying everything."

She looked down again and closed her eyes as if trying to wish away a malignant influence before she opened them again.

"What can I do? Other than just being more careful?"

"The fallout is our problem, Kayla. Not just yours, and we adults will shoulder most of it. We've been lucky, so very lucky to this point. But we've lived through Mutant Registration Acts and avoided apocalyptic futures more than once. They will come, and we will deal with it. Xavier's is more than a school." Rachel's voice had a certainty to it. She could be certain. She had been to the end of time and lots of points in between.

Rachel had a wan smile. "Cockiness and people your age go hand-in-hand. Human or mutant it happens. Most of the staff here have done similar things. We aren't going to shun you or wag our fingers at you. Sometimes, mutant powers are dangerous. It's part of our world."

She leaned forward a bit and rested her forearms on her thighs. "First, you'll get signed up for counseling. You've just gone through something traumatic, and we'd be remiss if we did not help you with it. Second, you will train with your powers to have better control. All training will be supervised by an authorized adult and, until further notice, will be in the Danger Room. Shi'ar technology can handle it better than the landscape. Once you are solid on those two, we'll figure out step three."

Well, there wasn't a lot she could say to that sort of conviction, that practically made her shudder. Kayla for her part looked a little steadier, though she was still far from happy at what happened, still feeling overwhelmed by the implications of her power.

"Counseling is good. I ... probably should've signed up for that before. I'm kind of a mess inside." She offered a wan, almost totally mirthless smile. "Okay, I can do that."

"Thank you, Ms. Grey."

"We'll help. Any way we can." She reached over and placed a hand on Kayla's knee. "You're not alone, and once you're part of the family here, you never have to be."

She gave the girl's knee a soft squeeze before standing up. "You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome."

Betsy was sleeping soundly for the first time in days, finally feeling as though the world had quieted down. Brianna hadn't called her yet but that was to be expected. Her little girl was probably having a grand old time at Xavier's.

Somewhere in the London night, she felt and heard her daughter scream in fear and pain. Betsy had only ever heard Anna scream like that once before...and she'd nearly died then.

Betsy Braddock sat bolt upright in her bed and reached out for her daughter's mind and found...nothing.

She tried to remember who else was on duty at Xavier's these days and remembered that Doug and Rachel were usually on staff.

Rachel, is Brianna all right?

Edited 2013-01-24 05:56 (UTC)

Rachel had just gotten Animus powered down and was heading toward the next bit of student damage control. She blinked and stopped moving at the sudden British presence in her mind. Then she shook her head and carried on.

Psychic rapport with her child. Duh, Rachel.

Honestly, I'm not sure, Betsy. I'm sorry. There was a training accident, and Brianna got hurt. Dani's in the med lab getting her stable. Doug said there was a head wound.

There was utter silence on the other end of the link for several seconds as Betsy processed the words that every mother dreaded hearing. She wanted to berate herself for not being there for her daughter but the time for guilt and recrimination would come later.

Right now, her little girl needed her.

I'm on the first flight to the States, Rachel. Just...keep an eye on her for me. I'll find Remy.

Rachel rubbed her temple as she held back Animus testing the bars of his cage. Great minds were not supposed to split in so many directions.

I will let you know as soon as anything changes or I get a full report of what her injuries are. I promise.

Rose was currently confined to the med lab. Which was just as well, because she wouldn't leave anyway. Not while Cajun was here. Rose didn't have many close friends, but Cajun was one, Frosty was another, and Snow Globe and Shake 'n' Bake were probably becoming others.

And one of them was hurtin' right now.

And the adults wouldn't let her leave until they were satisfied her kidneys and liver had finished regrowing and her intestines had settled back into her body properly.

Brianna had not awakened.

The original report was not good. Skull-fracture, internal bleeding and a broken leg. Any one of those would be a problem but not insurmountable. Any two would require a lot of downtime but eventually lead to a recovery.

All three now made it a wait-and-see matter.

Brianna, for her part, didn't realize she was unconscious. As far as he knew, she'd woken up after crashing into the tree to find that everyone was gone...and that the school was in ruins.

"Hello? Rose? Kayla? Topher? Where are you guys?" she yelled out.

No answer.

"This isn't bloody good." she said to herself. She had no idea what had happened to the school or to everyone in it but she had to find everyone.

She made her way to the crater.

In the real world, the pace of her monitor picked up.

Rose looked up. "Uh... Docs? McCoy? Reyes? Ya hearin' this?"

Mama Said There'd Be Worse Days Than This ((Open for Inspection Aftermath))

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