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

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel Grey-Ramsey pulled into Xavier's fast enough to almost clip the sides of her car on the opening gates. She didn't bother parking in the garage, abandoning her vehicle somewhere on the drive way before the house.

The Professor himself was coming back from his conference. They need to do an assessment of what went wrong and how they were going to react to it.

So far, Rachel was reacting by telekinetically flying over the front lawn while helping her cousin keep Animus under wraps.

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[seismic_shockwave]

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.

[nohoundsallowed]

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.

[seismic_shockwave]

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 ..."

[nohoundsallowed]

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."

[seismic_shockwave]

"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?"

[nohoundsallowed]

"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."

[seismic_shockwave]

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."

[nohoundsallowed]

"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."