Defenders of the Peace

Owen had finally gotten his conformation on his office location three weeks before the beginning of the school year. His office on the third floor was small and contained only an empty desk with a computer on it and an empty file cabinet. What it did have was a great view onto the center grounds of the campus. The school had a large campus with many buildings situated around a center that had a large clock tower and a large grassy field. I have been here for almost half my life and now finally I have accomplished my dream. He thought as unpacked his box of office supplies. After a half an hour he had organized his desk. He sat down and put his feet up on his desk. Leaning back in his chair he thought of all the work he had yet to do. I see that your paycheck is well earned. I have something I need to discuss with you. Malone’s telepathic voice rang in Owen’s head. He instantly stood up and responded Sorry! I was just taking a short break. What do you need?

This will be easier in my mind. Malone said telepathically.

Alright. Whenever you’re ready. Owen said.

Instantly the world around him changed. He found himself suddenly standing in Malone’s office. The place was full of pictures of James when he was enrolled in Xavier’s school. Clippings of newspaper articles pertaining to the school were framed and hanging on the wall. His desk was beautify carved and completely organized. Files in the inbox were neatly stacked and organized in the order that they had arrived in. James was standing behind his desk in a full suit and tie. He allowed himself to appear as he normally looked in his mind this time. Owen could tell the small discrepancies though. James made his face look much younger than he actually was. His blue eyes had the sparkle of youth currently. In reality James’s face betrayed the years of stress the job has caused him. He was a tall man that kept in shape just in case of trouble around the school. Owen looked at himself and saw that he was also dressed in a suit and tie as well. There were two leather chairs in front of the desk.

“Please sit.” Malone said.

“Ok…” Owen said as he slowly took a seat. He had no idea why James insisted on doing this instantly.

“While a student you had a long list of accomplishments. President of the student council for three years. Leader of the Student Organization for the advancement of Mutant Rights for two years. You completed your teaching certificate with a high GPA. You also lead a study group for the Self Defense classes as well as the Power Control classes for four years. Overall one of the best students to ever walk these halls.” Malone said.

“Yes… Where is this going?” Owen said.

“Of all of my staff you are the best choice for what we now need.” Malone said.

“What do we need?” Owen asked.

“With all the increased rioting I have been authorized to make a squad of people who will have jurisdiction on all city cases involving mutants. This squad’s job will be to break up mutant riots and deal with any mutant who breaks the peace. These are very dangerous times for everyone involved with protesting the MRA. For that reason I am forming a small group of defenders of the peace. We can’t have another major incident otherwise they could pass that law and oppress us within a week. We can’t let that happen and that’s why every Xavier Academy is creating a group. You will have access to everyone’s files and you can pick your team from anyone. I would prefer that they be older students or staff but it’s your call.” Malone said.

“I am the youngest teacher on staff and you pick me? Why me?” Owen asked.

“I already told you why. You are the best qualified on my staff. I would do it myself but I am irreplaceable in administrating the school.” Malone said.

“I… don’t know what to say…” Owen said.

“Say that you will accept the job.” Malone said.

“I am honored. I will do my best.” Owen said. The scene around him changed as Malone’s large elegant office faded into his small almost empty office. I know exactly who the first person to join should be. Quinn would do anything to join. Then I am going to have to talk our other drinking buddy Dr. Stern and his sister Elexus.

---

A week and a half before classes.

Owen had been digging through a long list of names he had complied of potential candidates and finally found one he had liked. His name was Nathan Asher and his photon manipulation ability would be incredibly useful in dealing with large riots or with detaining rebel mutants. He had only been attending classes for a year but had tested out of the core power and defensive classes which meant he knew how to use his powers effectively. Owen stood up and stretched his back.

His office was completely organized and now had a few new personal items in it. His teaching certificate hung on the wall next to the photo of his graduating class. His desk now had a photo of his family and a phone. The filling cabinet was now organized with all the files of his prospective students and with files of potential members for his squad. He had yet to come up with a proper name for the group and was still having trouble. He had finally gotten a more comfortable chair for his desk and had gotten two chairs for any visitors to his office. It finally looked like a teachers office instead of a cleaned out space.

After stretching Owen sat back down and picked up his phone. I suppose there is no reason for putting this off. Might as well call him today.

---

Five days before classes.

Owen found himself enjoying one of the last few days of summer. He was sitting at a bench out by the clock tower. The sun was setting and filling the sky with different shades of bright orange. The cool summer breeze was helping Owen handle the heat. Classes were set to start September 1st and August was always the hottest month in Michigan. He still hadn’t finalized his squad to his satisfaction and was still looking for team members. I don’t mean to intrude on your relaxation time but I just heard about something and I think you should know what’s going on. Malone’s telepathic voice shattered Owen’s concentration on relaxing.

What’s going on? Owen asked.

I just got notified that there will be a government inspection team overseeing our school for the first week of classes, Malone said telepathically, and they won’t take no for an answer.

Don’t they realize that they would incite the students!? Owen exclaimed.

From what I could tell they didn’t care. Something is up and I don’t like it. Malone said.

I’ll see what I can find out about it. Owen said.

Be careful. You don’t have any jurisdiction on anything yet. You get jurisdiction at 9AM the day of classes. Malone warned.

I don’t plan on getting caught before I start. Owen said.

---

Three days before classes.

Owen leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. The formerly clean desk was now scattered with folders and papers. Most were files on people who either went to class or were on the staff of the school. He had gotten three full squad members and the doctor but now he really needed some more firepower on his squad. The problem was most of the teachers he had asked declined to join. They felt they would be needed more at the school than anywhere else and he couldn’t blame them for saying no. It was potentially very dangerous work that included a spot in the limelight. Figment would be good on the front lines as well as myself. Magician will make an excellent front liner as well as someone who can assist in setting up decoys. Echo will be great at scouting and could be good as a front liner. All four of us against a mob or a few skilled rebel mutants. Yeah I am going to need some more people especially a computer expert for intel. Owen directed his thoughts towards Malone. Any luck on tracking that super hacker I asked you about?

Good news on that front. I have narrowed down the search on the famous computer hacker Jade Spider. Turns out your hunch was right. She is in our backyard and we got a bonus. She may not know it but Cerebro confirms that she is a mutant. Malone responded telepathically. He sent an image of where she was located to Owen who instantly recognized that section of town.

Excellent. That puts the ball in my court. I am going to pay her a visit tomorrow. With my telepathy I shouldn’t have any problems getting into her place.

---

The first day of classes.
8:00 AM

Classes were set to begin at 9 o’clock am but before the official start of class there was the annual greeting ceremony. The whole purpose of the ceremony was for Malone to prove to the public every year that the students of his school weren’t a threat to the city. It also helped the new students get an idea of what to expect from the school year. As a student Owen always skipped it but now he would be forced to attend for the first time. He wouldn’t have to give any speeches but the public did need to see his new group. The day was turning out to be the perfect summer day. A slight breeze kept the temperature down and it was nice and warm already. The clock tower was behind the podium that Malone was speaking from. His speech dragged on and on about the ‘dark times’ for mutants and how they must all ‘bind together like a family’ and support each other in these times. Owen was board out of his mind and kept thinking of how he was going to handle his first class. It would be the first time teaching without someone looking over his shoulder. Or rather the first time teaching without someone in the room watching him. It was always hard to be alone in a school that had telepaths. He also had yet to hear from Kimiko and that was making him a bit nervous.

I couldn’t have been more blunt about the time limit. I said two days and I haven’t got anything from her. Why the hell is the government here? And why the hell didn’t she get back to me? Owen thought as he noticed a few of the agents standing around. They were dressed in the typical government three piece suits with sunglasses and psyblockers. There were many of them roaming around the school and Owen knew that the students wouldn’t like that. He figured that there would be a few fights on the first day. He was hoping to avoid a full scale riot on his first day but it wasn’t looking good. Some students glared at the agents and others stared menacingly at them. Others demonstrated their powers in subtle ways with angry faces. Oh yes this is going to be such a great day…

Finally the ceremony was over and he was free of obligations until his first class of the day. He decided to stick around in case anyone had any questions for him. When he accepted this job he knew he would have to deal with the public but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Like anyone on their first day he was nervous but the sight of the press had really made him almost afraid of his job. He was glad that the cameras left after the speech. Now there were only the students and staff left on campus. He talked with a few people about things and everything was going smoothly. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 8:37 AM and figured he would stay for a few more minutes before heading to his office since his first class was at 10.

The rippled mirage of a Japanese girl in her late teens flits across ancient and dirty windows as Kimiko scuffs across the worn oak floors of her tiny efficiency apartment. As she usually does, she wears shorts, a pink tank top and fuzzy slippers. Working from home has its advantages. The décor suited an elderly man rather than a 20 something Japanese girl. Old leather recliners covered with plaid throws sagged in the tiny living room and the small 2 burner hot plate in the kitchenette was heating a battered tea kettle. Pouring a cup of hot water so she can make her tea, she speaks aloud as if carrying on a conversation with the very air. As she speaks, however, her words appeared on her laptop screen as if typed by invisible fingers. “OK kiddies,” she murmurs to herself as she spoons sugar into her cup. More windows flash open and line after line of code light up the window. Kimiko emerges from the dingy kitchen, her eyes flick toward the old console television set. It flickers to life and she watches the channels flip of their own volition until she finds one that blasts techno music through the tiny apartment. Kimiko returns to her desk chair, folding herself up into it. Skimming the screens, her eyes narrow in concentration and the files and code become a blur.

The air shimmers gently behind Kimiko and a young man with sandy brown hair, blue eyes and a slender build appears on the thread-bare throw rug in the living area of her apartment. "You have quite the reputation Miss Jade Spider. Or rather Miss Kimiko Mizuki." Owen said

The sound of the voice speaking so closely behind her, forces a soft cry of alarm from Kimiko’s throat and she leaps to her feet, spilling her tea in the process. In a blur of motion she leapt for her laptop, closed it and had it clutched to her chest as if to ward off any blows. Seeing the man standing quite calmly gave her pause. “What on Earth are you doing here? Who are you?” Her voice is heavily accented as she speaks.

"You know something? Your face is quite beautiful even when you are completely surprised," Owen said with a kind smile, "Anyway I am here to hire you for a job. I work for Malone Institute for Higher Learning and I really need to know why the government is sticking its nose into our school."

A brow arches up on Kimiko’s face. “I’m what?” She asks incredulously when Owen compliments her. His knowledge of her real name and how he found her concerns Kimiko greatly. But the offer of a job to poke about in the Government takes precedence for the moment. “A job? At the school for Freaks?” She lowers her laptop slightly, no longer using it as a shield. “Alright. I’m listening.”

"First off I wouldn't call us 'freaks' especially since you are a mutant too. What I need is for you to find out who the government sent to spy on us and why. I need you since I know you can do this without getting caught. Our first day of classes is in two days and I expect you to have something by then. If you deliver we can talk about a more permanent position on my team." Owen said. As he leaves Owen added, "I look forward to our next meeting." Owen produced a business card with his name and number embossed on its simple white surface. He then turned and left through the door rather than disappearing into thin air.

Shaken and bemused, Kimiko stared at the door that Owen exited through. A deep-voiced Mrowww coming from the large gray tomcat head-butting her shins called her attention back to the real world. “No. I don’t like him, either, Gandalf.” She bent to pick up the cat and nuzzled him. “But, I like the government even less. So…” She scuffed back to the TV tray that she’d been working at and puts the cat down so he can lap up the spilled tea. “Alright Owen Harold. Let’s see what you’re all about.” Mere minutes was all it took to do a rather indepth background check. She smiled and Gandalf leapt up to take his rightful place on her lap. “Too easy.” Her eyes narrowed slightly and she got down to work. Window upon window flashed open on her laptop screen. Calls were made to friends, raids organized, infiltration on the highest levels happened with non e the wiser. She had was she wanted.

The day she was to contact Owen came and Kimiko was still unsure what she wanted to do. She could send the information to him in an encrypted file. But his email was likely being monitored. She knew agents were at the school. She could go to him…pretend to be a student. She shuddered. She hated people. Well, they made her uncomfortable. And they expected her to talk…it terrified her. The problem was…the MRA. It affected her too. Sure she might avoid the authorities for years. But sooner or later, she’d get caught. She’d calculated her odds in a matter of nano-seconds and good as she was, it was inevitable.

A young Japanese girl, loaded down with a suitcase, laptop bag and being led by a large gray tomcat on a lead entered the common area of the Malone Institute of Higher Learning. A baseball cap with the brightly embroidered script that announced she was “Fabulously Evil” covered her ebon hair with her long ponytail waving behind her as Kimiko entered the grassy commons. Most of the students and onlookers had scattered to their classes or other duties. A couple of the Government agents, however, remained behind menacingly. She lowered her eyes and tried to make herself even smaller than she was while looking for her quarry. She just caught a glimpse of Owen looking about the commons nervously as if expecting trouble.

Raising her hand to catch his attention, she moved Gandalf along with a slight nudge of her toe to roust him from luxurious stretch in a conveniently sunny spot. “Mr. Harold?” She called querously, for all the world a lost first year student. “Mr. Harold? Can you help me?”

Three weeks before the start of classes

"Dr. Stern, can you spare a minute?" Owen asked as he stuck his head through the door. Derrick lifted his gaze briefly to look over in the direction of the voice and see who called his name before going back to his work.

"Anytime, Mr. Harold," he answered distractedly, "Just don't take offense if I keep my attentions elsewhere here. The school roster was changed again to add the even newer students and I have to label their biological samples to make sure of which ones will require special attention in the future. I'll also have to go through some prior tests as well before the school year starts, because that's when the bigger injuries mostly happen."

"Derrick, you're rambling again," came a voice from inside the room, "Owen does not want to hear the every detail about what you're doing. He just asked to talk. Go ahead and come in, Owen!" Hearing the familiar voice, Owen entered the room to see Elexus sitting against the wall watching her brother with a somewhat exhausted look. Dr. Stern however seemed completely oblivious.

"Ah good to see you, Elexus. This concerns you too actually. I have been given the task of pulling together a group of what Malone calls 'defenders of the peace'. We will be given jurisdiction on any city cases that involve mutants. Also I need to ask you for a huge favor, Dr. Stern." Owen said.

"Sounds like fun," was Elexus's only response before Dr. Stern turned his attention to Owen fully this time, seemingly aware that the request may be serious.

"How can I help you, Mr. Harold?" he said kindly as he walked across the room with a box of vials in his hands, moving to an upright cooler nearby and placing the vials in it.

"Well, doctor, I need you to prioritize the defender patients over any others. My squad must be ready as soon as possible if we get knocked down," Owen said, "I know it’s a huge favor, but with all the riots I am thinking we are going to be busy. I don't want to think of us getting injured, but it's inevitable."

Dr. Stern didn't reply at first, focused solely on putting vials away in some fashion or another that was typical protocol amongst the other staff in the infirmary. "If their injuries are serious enough, we will be sure to prioritize them," he spoke absent mindedly, "If not, we will be busy and will take care of the more serious injuries of the students first."

"I don't think you understand. Derrick, I am asking you to prioritize regardless of severity of injury," Owen said pleadingly. This was the first time in a long time that he had used the doctor's first name. He only used it if he was being incredibly serious. "It's going to be a small group and we won't take up an entire ward or anything. I am going to need everyone that is in the group to be ready all the time."

"You know I can't do that, Owen," the doctor replied, clearly knowing why his first name was being used, "Chances are these kids are going to get themselves in far more danger than your defenders will with their new powers and reactions to everything. Not to mention their never ending curiosity." He closed the cooler and turned his attention Owen. "All I can promise you is serious care during a serious matter. I'm not gonna put a band-aid on your scrapes while another student was stabbed through the stomach because their classmate can't keep his bones from shooting like projectiles when he sneezes." Elexus's stifled laughter echoed from the corner where she sat comfortably still, seemingly enjoying just watching the two struggle to get their points across to each other.

"Yes, that's true, but sprained ankles lower mobility, and a low mobility can get us killed out there when we are breaking up riots. I know it goes against what you were taught in med school but just... keep what I said in mind ok? It would really mean a lot to me," Owen said. He remained silent for a moment and then remembered what he needed to ask Elexus, "Oh and, Elexus, would you be interested in joining my little group?"

"I could definitely use the stress relief, so you can definitely count me in," she answered Owen with an amused smile before turning her attention back to her brother. "Will you still look over the defender group’s injuries now?" she asked with feigned look of hurt, causing Derrick to gaze up at her with a slightly irritated look in his eyes, "You're not gonna help your sister when she gets a sprained ankle that could cause her to trip in the middle of battle and be unable to defend herself against a possible death blow?"

The doctor groaned in frustration at the thought as his shoulders sagged and his head hung in defeat. There was no way he could NOT help them now. "Must you use my love for you against me?" he sighed, and she just smiled smugly and crossed her arms in a victorious manner.

"Alright," he spoke up before turning to Owen with a serious determination in his eyes, "I'll let your team have their priority, but on two conditions." He held up two fingers for emphasis before counting them off, "ONE: You and your team come to me personally and not bother the other doctors and nurses here, and TWO: If things get too serious, you take me with you so that I can help you on the field directly. Is that reasonable?"

"You have yourself a deal, doc. Welcome to the team. So far we got three members and one auxiliary. Like I said, a small group. Anyway, I will let you know when we meet up. And speaking of meeting up, you down with getting a beer latter?" Owen said.

"You ask me that every time, Owen, and I always say 'no'," Derrick said as he moved back to labeling more of the vials he still had left as well as organizing the student files that accompanied them, "And then you never listen to my answer anyway, so I really don't see the point of giving you one now."

"Right, see you at eight." Owen said without even acknowledging the doctor's response. He walked out the door and his voice echoed off the hallway, "Remember, eight sharp!"

---

One week before classes

BAM. BAM. BAM.

“Derrick!!!” A startled yelp escaped the unsuspecting doctor at the noise. Due to the surprise of the sudden sound he jumped slightly, spilling a bit of the coffee in his hand over the lip of the mug and onto the floor. Well that was wonderful. Ignoring the noise outside the door of his lab, he moved to clean up the mess he made instead.

BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM.

“Open this door! I know you’re in there! You’re not in the infirmary so this is the only other place you’d be!” The angry vocal continued.

“Hold on one second, Lexi,” he yelled hurriedly through the door, “You made me spill my coffee.”

“Do I sound like I care?!” she answered back, “And don’t you ‘Lexi’ me. I would phase through this door right now if I wasn’t so mad at you I couldn’t bring myself to concentrate!” Derrick didn’t say anything in response to that, knowing full well that it would only put fuel to the already storming fire. He was quick to finish his cleaning, but moved to the door hesitantly before opening it.

There in the hall stood a scowling Elexus Stern, brown eyes wishing to burn a whole through the door like fire. Her arms were crossed and her posture intimidating, but he reacted to her the way a parent would watching a child throw a tantrum, staring at her with exasperation while willing her to go away. However, she didn’t budge aside from blowing a dark brown lock of hair from her eyes.

“Don’t give me that look,” she ordered calmly before stomping past him and into his lab, “You deserve every bit of the anger I’m throwing at you for what you did.”

“And what pray-tell was that?” he asked with nonchalance as he closed the door behind her. They didn’t need more witnesses seeing them fight. Pretty much the entire staff was aware they got into it now and again, but now that some of the students were starting to arrive to set up their dorms the potential for more people hearing their issues was all the greater.

“Derrick, I hold classes in the danger room and have for three years now. I go there to practice. I go there to run tests, and I go there to run simulations to make sure none of my students are thrown into something I believe they can’t handle. Hell I practically live there for all anyone knows!” she exclaimed with frustration her tone building back to its earlier volume, “And in all those years I’ve never seen you even around the danger room, so please tell me why, after all this time you kept away, I saw you in there practicing!”

If the doctor could pale he would have, stunned into silence at the fact that the one time he had thought to brush up on his attacking abilities he had been caught. Elexus took his lack of response for what it was, guilt-filled silence, and groaned in frustration, combing her hair back with her fingers in a mannerism of stress.

“Argh! How can you be so smart and still be so stupid?!” she asked rhetorically before continuing, her tone now more frustrated than angry, “You even broke protocol and went in completely alone! You know you’re supposed to have someone manning the controls at all times while you’re in there, Derrick. If you didn’t want me to know about it you could have at least asked Owen or, God forbid, Quinn to take over! Do you realize how dangerous that was?! What if the simulation overpowered you, huh?!” At the display of concern from her, he had the decency to look slightly guilty before answering.

“I’m sorry I worried you, but I didn’t intend to be long and it was only that one time,” he spoke honestly as he put his hand on her shoulder to calm her, “If it makes you feel better, I promise not to do it again.” There was a moment of tense silence on both their parts before she sighed long and slow and he felt her finally relax a bit.

“Why is it you’ve got a stick up your ass about every rule and protocol except for the ones that are there for your safety?” she asked wearily, the question causing him to smile and chuckle a bit before going back to the counter where he set his discarded cup of coffee and took a few sips from it.

“I secretly like making you worry,” he answered amusingly between sips, “It reminds me how much you care.”

“Ass,” she whispered scornfully, her eyes watching him closely for a moment before she continued, “Just what were you doing in the danger room anyway? You hate using your powers for attacks.” She paused. “And don’t think I’m not mad about that whole thing either. If you insist on using your powers, you could at least use them sparingly and not use them in a pointless exercise.”

He knew better than to reply to that. Experience showed that ANY discussion having to do with his powers led only to fighting. Choosing to ignore her last comments, he decided to answer her first question alone. “It occurred to me a couple of days ago how little time I’ve had in the field, and after making that deal with Owen a while back I thought it would be in everyone’s best interest if I made sure I was still useful should worse come to worse.”

“Ah… I should have known it had something to do with that,” Elexus responded, “You know how I feel about that whole thing too, right?”

“Yes, and frankly I think it’s hypocritical.”

“Hypocritical?!” she scoffed indignantly.

“Yes,” he said boredly, “It’s okay for you to go off and put yourself in harm’s way at every turn, but when I offer to help for what will probably be a brief period at most, you throw a tantrum about it.”

“I did not throw a tantrum!” she defended, “I just don’t want you shortening your life any further!”

“Your concern is noted.”

“Stubborn bastard,” she mumbled, causing a small victorious smile to form on his lips. When she caught sight of it, she glared half heartedly at him before checking her watch. “Well, it’s about time for me to leave you with your beakers and other boring stuff. I only had a few minutes to yell at you before I have to see Malone about getting the track repainted before classes start.”

“Yes, that sounds much more exciting than what I do,” he said sarcastically as he finished his cup and went to rinse it out in one of the many sinks available. Elexus ignored him as she headed towards the door.

“If I see you in the danger room again, I’ll go in there and kick your ass myself. Understand?”

“Yes, mother,” he said distractedly before she slammed the door in her exit. Relieved that that crisis was averted, he returned to the tests he was carrying out before his decidedly ruined coffee break.

---

The first day of classes

She was nervous, which wasn’t a new feeling at these orientations. The last time she felt that way was in her first year working as a teacher, but since then all these things ever did was bore her. Usually she’d pass the time taking in the sights of the crowd, counting off sleeping people, looking for familiar faces, and checking to see what her brother and the other teachers were doing; but now things were pretty distracting all their own.

This time, Elexus found herself watching government agents walk the grounds with skeptical looks on their faces. They almost looked like they were expecting to get attacked at any point, and considering the times and the situation, she couldn’t blame them. Daily life felt like fighting a war now, and it seemed like drafts for each side were always taking place, so it was really hard for anyone to relax. Still their presence at the school was more than disconcerting and she could feel it in the students and other teachers as well as the agents themselves.

She tried to take pity on them, normal government humans stuck in a place where everyone has a weapon and reason to attack you, but in the end she couldn’t really go for it all. She just wanted them to go away, and the idea that they would be here for weeks on end only left her frustrated and huffy.

She let a puff of air escape her lips as she lazily clapped at the end of Malone’s speech. She could only hope that no one would try to talk to her about what he said later. She looked off into the audience to see that Derrick wasn’t even bothering to pretend like he had heard a thing, his focus on a clipboard he was writing on in his hands. He wasn’t part of the teaching staff and one of many doctors and nurses working in the infirmary, so he didn’t need to be displayed to the public like a set of trophies. She chuckled at the sight of him, kind of jealous that he could so easily get away with that kind of thing and not offend anyone. Something about being a doctor and being a workaholic all in one seemed to make blatant rudeness and ignorance slightly more forgivable.

She noticed his lack of attention had caught the eye of one of the agents, and immediately stiffened as he was approached and asked about what he was doing. Again being a doctor seemed to pay off for him as he spouted off words that neither she nor the apparent agent could understand before standing up and heading off back inside to his lab.

“Hello,” spoke a female voice nearby, causing Elexus to turn her attention to see a reporter with a mic in her hand and a cameraman behind her, looking on expectantly. She grumbled a swear before smiling at the woman.

“Hello, do you need any help with anything?” she asked with a fake respect in her voice. This was just about everything she hated about being a teacher. You had to think of the school and the students as well as yourself, and she knew it wouldn’t do any good for any of them if she rudely did like she wanted and blew the woman off.

“You are Miss Stern, one of the teachers here, correct?” the woman asked. Elexus just nodded, making sure to smile. “So what are your powers then?” She resisted the urge to groan audibly and skillfully dodged the question. Did she mention she hated the press too? They seemed to always ask mutants that question. Apparently it was the only thing of interest the mutant race had.

To appease the press before classes began to start, she spent the next couple of minutes answering questions before they got bored of her. Thankfully they had only wasted a half hour’s time before she was actually free to leave the area. She noticed some of the other teachers and students already heading back inside, and relieved at the sight she stretched her back a bit before hopping off the makeshift stage and following the crowd. She had a P.E. class to start in a few minutes and brand new students to torture, so it would be best to get a start on all that now.

Breathing heavily, Quinn collapsed backward onto his desk next to a half-naked TV reporter. “Once again,” he said, trying to get his breath back, “I’d like to personally thank you for the advances you’ve made in human-mutant relations.”

Next to him, Keely Cole of Channel 7 News laughed and shook her head. “That is such an awful line.” She rolled onto her side and gave him a steamy look. “I bet you say it to all the girls too.”

Propping himself back up on his elbows, Quinn shrugged with mock innocence. “Only the humans, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense.” She rolled her eyes and laughed again. They’d met at a bar downtown two weeks ago and had had an amazing one-night stand—at least what he could remember of it was amazing. Quite a lot of tequila shots had gone down that night as well. They’d muttered things about calling one another the next morning, but they’d both been so hung over neither of them had followed up on it and he’d pretty much forgotten about it. Until this morning.

Quinn had been on his way down to the greeting ceremony that opened classes every fall when he’d rounded a corner to find Keely standing in front of a camera, covering the ceremony for Channel 7. Somehow after a few minutes of awkward conversation they’d wound up bak in his office, tossing everything off his desk as she unbuttoned his pants. Apparently finding out he was a mutant—something they hadn’t covered the first time around—was not a problem. Good to know some people didn’t let prejudice stand in the way of a morning quickie.

“So, shouldn’t you be down there, welcoming in the new students?” Keely asked. Her fingers wandered across the tattooed X on his shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you be down there filming it?” He returned with a teasing grin.

“I already shot my opener, the rest is just B-Roll footage and my camera guy can take care of that easily. Besides, this was a lot more fun.”

Quinn’s grin widened. “Which is also my excuse for being up here rather than sweating my balls off and trying to fake being serious and attentive, and in a suit and tie nonetheless.” He glanced around the room to see the offending tie was now dangling off the end of a recreation of a Roman-Iberian Falcata sword.

“So,” Keely said brightly, sitting back up and swinging her legs to sit on the edge of Quinn’s desk. She glanced around the cluttered office then, taking in the walls lined with more sketches and diagrams to the shelves laden with How-To books, sculptures and other projects in various stages of completion or dismemberment. “You must really like taking stuff apart.”

“Sort of. It helps with my powers.”

“Oh?” Keely said, sounding genuinely curious, but he couldn’t help thinking there was a reporter’s gleam in her eyes along with that interest. “You still haven’t told me what you can do.”

Quinn smiled and rolled off the desk, stretching briefly before flopping backward into the space behind his desk where a chair would normally be. There was no chair behind the desk in Quinn’s office, but he landed in one just the same. Today it was a high-backed, overstuffed armchair like his father used to have in the corner of his office. Keely let out a choked gasp and slipped off the desk to stand in front of him. Like most people, she couldn’t see his creation, not even Quinn could truly see it, not with his eyes at least. In his mind he could see the lines of the wood and the velvet in a semi-transparent opalescence.

One of Keely’s hands brushed out to touch the apparently empty air below Quinn’s own arm and her eyes went wide as her fingers brushed against the worn velvet. Usually he wasn’t very good at getting textures quite right, but he’d spent enough time in that old armchair that he knew every detail about it.

“Wow,” Keely said quietly. “That’s…really awesome actually.”

Quinn grinned and pulled her forward into his lap. “Sweetheart, you have yet to even scratch the surface of awesome.” They were just leaning in when they both heard the door to the art room next door open and a few chattering teenaged voices entered the room. Luckily the blinds were drawn over the windows that separated his office from the art room. Quinn and Keely both froze like a pair of deer caught in the headlights for a long moment, but the students continued chattering happily.

“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Keely said quietly as she disentangled herself from Quinn and began re-buttoning her blouse.

“Damn overachievers,” Quinn muttered as he began hunting for his own pants. Class didn’t even start for another twenty-five minutes. What the hell were they doing here this early? “You know, you don’t have to run off so quickly. It’s an art class, you could give the kiddies something far more gorgeous to paint than a bowl of fruit.” He reached down to pick up the bowl in question, its fruit scattered and bruising across the office floor with the stacks of sketches, designs, and blueprints that had been piled on his desk just a short time ago. Grabbing an apple, he took a bite of it.

“I don’t think so,” she replied, but a suggestive smile blossomed across her lips a second later. “But a private modeling session isn’t entirely out of the question.” The art room door opened again and a few more students joined the first pair. Keely leaned in and gave Quinn a quick kiss and mouthed the words “call me” before heading out the door, fussing with her hair as she left.

Grinning, Quinn took another bite of his apple before he finished getting back into his clothes. The tie he left where it was hanging though. This was one hell of a way to start a semester he thought happily, and with Owen’s new team to look forward to could only get better, or at least more interesting. With that in mind he headed out into his classroom.

Delphine tilted her head forward, allowing her sunglasses to slip down her nose far enough for her to see over their tops. She threw a quick glance around the downtown coffee shop, searching for anything or anyone that stood out. However, the businessman reading his newspaper, the hipster typing on his laptop, and the threesome of women drinking lattes all seemed innocuous. There were no bulges of weapons under coats or suspicious looks thrown her way.

It was probably overkill, Delphine knew, but it was habit and one that had saved her life before. Of course, that was back when she was actually working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Now she was just a private citizen, officially retired and thrown out to pasture in Michigan of all places. Scoping out the coffee shop was definitely a waste of her time, because absolutely nothing seemed to happen in Grand Rapids, and the only suspicious looking person in the place was the one she’d invited here.

Slipping her sunglasses all the way off, Delphine still didn’t relax as she made her way to a small table in the far corner of the restaurant and the scarred man who sat there sipping a cup of tea. Lars Wilson had been one of the agents who’d trained Delphine back when she was first starting with S.H.I.E.L.D. since then he’d been sidelined as well due to injuries he received in the field. Of course they’d just shoved Lars behind a desk rather than forcing him all the way out as they’d done to her.

Lars stood as she approached and gave her a smile that the scars on his face pulled into more of a grimace. Delphine leaned in to kiss the air beside each of his cheeks. “It’s good to see you again, Lars,” she said, genuinely meaning it. Lars was not only a link to the past she’d had to leave behind, he was also a friend. One of the few she really had left, and one of the few with high level security clearance and access to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s servers.

“Kathy, you look lovely, as always,” Lars said, dropping back into his seat as she took hers.

“It’s Delphine now,” she corrected.

“Delphine, that’s right,” Lars said. “Delphine Deniaud, right? Very European. It suits you.” Delphine just shrugged, she’d had so many names over the years she’d stopped feeling much attachment to any of them. Her father had started the trend once they’d left Latveria, giving the entire family new names to help them blend into their adopted countries, first France and then the United States. By the time she’d joined S.H.I.E.L.D. she’d already gone through four different identities. Since then the number had grown to the point where Delphine Deniaud was number nineteen. And unfortunately it was looking like it might well be her last one, unless Lars had found anything for her.

“So?” She asked, trying not to sound impatient.

Lars chuckled a bit. “You always were impatient, Ka—Delphine,” he said. “I warned you about that.” His laughter faded away then and he got down to business as well, pulling a Manila folder out of a computer bag beneath his chair. Delphine felt her hope deflate at the size of it.

When she’d been “retired” one of the first things Delphine had done was call Lars and ask him to dig around and see if he could figure out why she’d been given the boot. She knew the official reasons, the screw up on her op along the Latverian-Symkarian border, but she could think of dozens of agents who’d screwed up far worse and walked away with little more than a slap on the wrist. There just had to be more to it than that!

“Is this everything?” Delphine asked. She truly believed that Lars wouldn’t hide things from her, but…there was nothing in this folder that she didn’t already know. No information, no hint of a great conspiracy or anything else.

Lars sighed and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Delphine, but we both know why you really got the axe. It’s not right and it’s certainly not fair, but what else is new?”

Delphine swore under her breath in Hungarian and French. She really hadn’t wanted to believe it, but the truth really had been staring her in the face the whole time: she’d been retired because she was a mutant. Things had always been rough, but lately they seemed to be getting even worse for mutants. She’d never felt much discrimination from within S.H.I.E.L.D., but Nick Fury and other high-ranking agents tended to beat the prejudices out of their recruits, but even S.H.I.E.L.D. was not an island. They ultimately answered to politicians and other interests in Washington, and recently things there had taken a turn toward the anti-mutant, and someone within some defense committee or military sub-panel had decided to take it out on her.

“Is there any way to find out where the pressure to can me was coming from?” Delphine asked, quietly simmering beneath her calm looking exterior.

Lars shook his head. “Not really, could be anyone from a senator to some assistant to an assistant of someone’s aide who just knew where to put the right piece of paper. If it helps at all, a whole bunch of people were livid about the whole thing, myself and the Director included. He tried to fight it, but apparently the President and a whole lot of other influential folks are already pissed at Nick Fury and are taking great pleasure in saying no to anything he wants right now.”

“Thanks for trying, Lars,” Delphine said, pushing out of her chair. She needed to get out of here before she started taking her anger out on her friend.

Lars seemed sad to see her go so quickly, but promised to keep digging for a way to get her back in. “If you need anything, just call me,” he said.

She promised she would before exiting the coffee shop in a hurry. Out on the street she started walking quickly, not even sure where she was going. She just needed to get away right now. Of course, what she really needed was to punch something.

A tall, somewhat stocky brown haired man was leaning in his customary spot against an old gnarled oak that appeared to be around a hundred years old. Brown eyes peered above thin, black rimmed, artificial glasses, over the top of cracked physics text. The wrinkled button down white shirt, and dark slacks completed the illusion of a classic nerd, obsessed with his work. No one would bother him here with his backpack next to him, and a pen stuck in his mouth. It bobbed as rhythmically, as if tracing the words he were reading. While the textbook was real, he wasn't reading it. Instead, there was a pencil in his hand, and he was sketching all the reporters and agents who were there, quickly. Nathan though it crass to use his powers unnecessarily, as mundane magic had worked for centuries.

Nathan glanced down to the pad, and flipped to another blank page. The hand started sketching again, and if he could remember the person through the sketch, he could recreate them. How they moved, and talked; their instinctive gestures and body posture. In this case, he was serving two masters. Owen would no doubt appreciate a little initiative from one of his newest recruits; having the this kind of information would be generally useful if some idiot wanted to start trouble. His martial arts master, Jeffrey Cohen, had also somehow heard about the reporters at commencement and wanted him to look for an old friend, an old enemy, named Darion Carter.

When Nathan had inquired about Mr. Carter, Jeffrey shrugged, and replied that he knew him from his army days. Considering Jeffrey never talked about his army days, and had quite a few impressive scars from them, it made this request all the more interesting. He chewed the metal pen for a second, and reconsidered that thought. Jeffrey probably couldn't talk about his service. Apparently, Mr. Carter was a semi-famous war reporter making a decent transition to working back in the States. Jeffrey thought it amusing to tell him absolutely nothing about the 'target' in question other than that he would know the man by his eyes.

The thought brought a shrug to young man. He could handle himself well enough to be recruited to a task force after all, and was apparently Jeffrey's best disciple. Coming from a man who refused to go to the Olympics in any running, shooting, or martial event despite the fact that he was pushing sixty as 'worthless dick posturing' felt good. Besides, with all the guards, and the tense faculty, what could one man do?

The pen dropped out of his lips as his self-indulgent musing got cut short by something more intriguing. It was a beautiful red head, with blue eyes, and an athletic yet curvy figure. He licked his suddenly dry lips. Nathan had never seen her before, and she appeared to be going to commencement. He smiled. His right hand started sketching automatically, and he wondered what she would look like closer up, and in more intimate circumstances. He barely glanced at the man walking next to her in a dark leather jacket. He stared at the red head for a bit more while something nagged at him. It was too hot for a jacket.

He glanced at the man again, and flipped to another page. It smelled like trouble. The man started tensing up, and scratched his shoulder blades idly. He turned and put a hand on the red head's forearm, and spoke briefly to her. A flash of dark jealousy gripped his heart, and rage as her face stopped smiling. The man just shook his head, and slipped through the crowd. Nathan sight of him, and remembered to focus on the 'mission.' More paper, a refill of a mechanical pencil, and half-cramping hand later a hand clamped down on his right shoulder.

A pleasant baritone informed Nathan of his displeasure. “I don't like being watched.”

Nathan gulped, and stuttered, “S-S-Sorry.”

“Next time remember to turn the textbook pages, it is a dead give away. You have promise, just try not to stalk me or my ward. I would hate to have to kill you.”
“Your ward?”
“The red head.”
A flash of recognition occurred. The man in the dark jacket. The shoulder blade scratching was unconscious, just the feeling of being watched triggered this guy's instincts.

“Uhh, sorry.”
“Don't worry about it kid. Blackstaff used to be a nasty bastard; no reason he would stop being a sadistic prick now.”

Nathan slowly turned to look into blue eyes. Women might call them beautiful, if they didn't notice the cold hell fire burning in the man's eyes. He shrugged and bowed his head.

“I am Darion Carter, a reporter. Don't get your back up, I don't give a shit about mutants or normal people. Everyone dies just the same with a bullet through the brain.”

The calm clear voice was chilling in this respect, and Nathan finally mustered the will break eye contact. The man was about six feet tall, and heavily muscled in a lean way. He was also covered in scars, his face bearing three, and his hands more.

“Was tortured, your teacher's fuck up. Still probably scared I hold a grudge and want to kill him. No worries, I don't do that kind of thing anymore.” The smile with bared teeth made it a lie. He was frozen in terror. Darion was scarier than Jeffrey in person, a feat he had not thought possible. Nathan glanced down at the man's hands, heavily callused with thick heavy knuckles and more scars. “As long as you don't fuck with me we will be just fine. Tell Jeffrey I might stop by later today, and kick his mutant ass around his half-assed dojo again.”

The man simply let go and walked away. Nathan massaged his shoulder in shock; the man had a grip of iron, but looked like he was in his mid-twenties, not late thirties like he expected. Another thing registered. Jeffrey was a mutant? Nathan quietly packed his things away, adjusted his glasses and started walking towards his first class, Number Theory. It wasn't until he was in class that Nathan remembered something else. Owen would probably want to hear about this. It might get a little awkward to explain it all, that he screwed up already by ogling the wrong red head on mission that was self-assigned.

“Shit.”

Owen’s decision to stay was instantly changed when he saw a young Japanese girl, loaded down with a suitcase, laptop bag and being led by a large gray tomcat on a lead entered the common area of the school. A baseball cap with the brightly embroidered script that announced she was “Fabulously Evil” covered her ebon hair with her long ponytail waving behind her as Kimiko walked up to Owen. What the hell is she doing!? he thought Moving in?

“Mr. Harold?” She called curiously, looking like a lost first year student. “Mr. Harold? Can you help me?”

“Why yes. I believe we have a meeting scheduled in a few minutes. If you’ll follow me please.” Owen said as he led the way to his office. Sorry to intrude but just act normally and look like you’re talking to someone. I need to know what you found out about the government right away. If you think your thoughts directly at me I can read them like we are talking. He telepathically said to Kimiko.

---

In a van parked close to the campus of the Malone Institute for Higher Learning sat a man in a black coat with black sunglasses on. He was in his mid-twenties and looked extremely board. He wouldn’t have even been on this mission if it wasn’t for his powers. He was the only one from Omega X who had the qualifications to mix in with the regular agents. He had a black headset on and was monitoring the opening ceremony on the campus. He leaned back in his chair and stretched only looking away for a second.

“Imprint, we have a problem. He is moving back into the building for a meeting. Do we change the plan?” a voice from one of the agents disrupted his small moment of relaxation.

“Don’t let him in the building. He might have found out what we are up to. You guys need to stall him and hurry up with the rest of the operation.” Imprint said.

“Stall him how?” one of the agents asked.

“Arrest him for all I care, just do it!” Imprint yelled.

---

In a few seconds all the agents on the grounds surrounded Owen with their weapons drawn. This can’t be good… He saw Kimiko shoved off to the side and out of the agents way. What the hell did I do to them?

“You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?” one of the agents said.

“I understand but I want to know what I am being charged with.” Owen said. He was stalling for time. He scanned the school and quickly found the minds of all his squad mates. Ok group. We have our first crisis. For some reason I am being arrested and I would like everyone on standby in the commons incase this gets ugly.

“If you understand your rights than you should follow us. We don’t want to make a scene.” The agent said.

“I am not going anywhere until I know what I am being charged with.” Owen said.

“Sir…” the agent began.

“In about 20 minutes I am going to gain jurisdiction on all mutant cases in the city. I have a constitutional right to know what I am accused of doing. I would like to know so that I can prepare my defense.” Owen said.

---

Back in the van Imprint was ready to start phase two of the operation.

“Sir there is a problem.” A voice said over his headset.

“Deal with it yourself. Call in the Calvary if necessary but don’t distract me. I am needed elsewhere.” Imprint said.

---

“If you don’t tell me what I am charged with I am going to resist this arrest because I will think you are creating charges to make the school look bad.” Owen warned. Ok forget what I just said I need everyone down here now! he yelled at his squad telepathically.

Kimiko smiled when Owen turned to answer her and she started to follow him as he instructed. She jerked in shock when his voice suddenly sounded in her mind demanding she give him the information she’d found mentally. “Hey! Get out of…” But before she got a chance to finish her snappish retort, a hulking shape shoved past her roughly throwing her to the ground, scattering her bags and worse, startling Gandalf. Gandalf stood before her hissing at the government men menacingly while Kimiko hugged her laptop to her chest protectively. Her eyes were huge behind her thin-framed glasses.

Owen’s summons for help from the other team members while he struggled against the agents rang clarion clear in her head. But beneath that, she heard the radio traffic of the Agent’s ear pieces. A slow smile bloomed on her face. Mentally noting the orders and conversation, she informed Own of the location of the hidden van where the head bad guy was and then with a mere thought flipped all the frequencies of the earpieces to a blasting death metal pirate radio station. The resulting screaming cacophony of blaring guitar blasted into the ears of all the agents lining the commons, sending them to their knees.

Kimiko remained where she was, seemingly an innocent, non-threat. But she was busy mentally taking the weaponry of the Agents apart. Firing clips and bolts fell to the ground as hand guns literally fell into their component parts onto the lush grass of the commons. She tilted her chin down, looking over her glasses and watched the consternation of the Government Agents as the grabbed for their guns only to grab parts of their guns.

Slowly, she reached out to draw Gandalf into her lap trying to calm the feisty feline. ”You better hope your ‘team’ gets here quick….I can’t stop them from using their fists all over your ass.” She sent mentally. Just to ensure every reporter in the place came galloping to the scene of the scuffle, Kimiko started screaming, “Mooooom! Mom! They’re hurting meeeeeee!”

The bowl of fruit Quinn had intended to have his class paint had dwindled to just the bowl and a slightly battered pineapple by the time the class was actually set to begin. He’d devoured his way through two apples, an orange, and a few bananas and was still hungry. The rest of the bowl he’d filled with a few arbitrary items from around his office. The last few stragglers had just finished trickling in and taking their places behind easels and he was finishing off his last apple while he handed out syllabuses for the semester when Owen’s telepathic distress call made him jump.

No matter what, he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to telepaths busting into his brain. Owen’s words quickly overrode the awkward feelings of telepath contact though. “Crap!” He snapped aloud, forceful enough to make his class all turn his direction. “Start drawing the bowl, class.” Quinn said as he dumped the rest of the syllabuses in the lap of the nearest student and hurried to the door. “And remember that you can’t get away with anything at a school where the guy in charge can read your minds!” With that final warning he dashed out the door and down the hallway.

I’m on my way, Quinn replied mentally, But I know someone who can probably get there even quicker than I can and help you stall.

His cell phone was already out of his pocket and scrolling through the contacts for the one he wanted before he hit the stairs. Thankfully, Keely picked up on the first ring.

“Hey,” she said brightly, “It’s good to know that you’re not the kind of guy who says he’ll call but never does, but this is certainly sooner than I expected.”

“Yeah, sorry, are you still on campus?” Quinn asked as he jumped down the last three steps to the landing. A few students scattered out of his way with startled looks.

“We’re just packing up, why?”

Ok forget what I just said I need everyone down here now! Owen’s urgent words made Quinn double his speed. Smug, bigoted bastards. He didn’t know what the government agents were up to, but he sure as hell knew it wasn’t legitimate. With a mother who was a judge and a father who was a lawyer, even if Quinn hadn’t followed in their law school footsteps he could still smell legal BS a mile away.

“How would you like to do me a favor and get a possibly juicy scoop out of the deal as well?”

Keely’s laughter was rich even over the phone. “I knew I liked you,” she purred. “What do you need me to do?”


Camera man in tow, Keely Cole hurried across the commons toward a cluster of government agents surrounding one of the young teachers and a young Asian woman. Turns out it was lucky as hell she’d stopped to refresh her connection with Quinn, she and Mike, her camera man, were practically the last reporters left on campus to catch this, which meant one of her favorite words: exclusive.

She ran a quick hand through her hair once more, just to make sure it wasn’t still tangled from sex before she held her microphone at the ready and hailed one of the agents. “Excuse me, sir! Keely Cole from Channel Seven News, and I was wondering if I could get a few comments about what’s going on right now.” Mike was right behind her, camera rolling. The girl screaming for her mother felt like icing on the cake.

Her microphone held before her like the weapon it was, Keely began rapid-firing questions at the agents. “Is that a teacher at the Malone Institute you’re with? Are you arresting him? What are the charges? Is this a move by the government against mutants? Do you personally have something against mutants?”

Ok, group. We have our first crisis. For some reason I am being arrested and I would like everyone on standby in the commons incase this gets ugly.

Being a man who startled rather easily was a curse. That much was apparent to Derrick as he glared down at the shattered beaker on the ground, filled with disappointment and frustration. He should have probably felt somewhat violated as well since he never enjoyed the raiding of his mind that Mr. Harold and Malone seemed to frequently do.

What it was that made telepaths averse to speaking normally, he didn’t know, and he never bothered asking. There were really more important things to focus on in his life at the moment and getting to understand the way the mind-readers worked was not one of them. What was one of them, however, was the liquid that now spilled and mingled amongst the glass at his feet.

He had half a mind to bombard Owen with every bit of the scientific knowledge in his brain. It wouldn’t be anything helpful as a response, but he was sure it would get his irritation across; especially since he knew he just may overwhelm the man a bit. Of course he had no true understanding of Owen’s powers, but he was sure assaulting the man’s mind with information he knew Owen didn’t care for would be just as annoying and a perfect example of what he was putting the dedicated doctor through.

Ok, forget what I just said! I need everyone down here now!

In no rush to help, Derrick just sighed as he lazily went about cleaning up the mess he made. He grumbled a few choice words at how inconsiderate this whole thing was before moving to one of the windows in his lab. Chances were Owen would keep at this annoying form of speech for a while, and it would mess with his concentration, so there was no better thing for him to do than just watch the first trial run of this inexperienced defense squad unfold. Who knew? Maybe he would have a better understanding of how much was to be expected of him if he were to actually help on the field.

I trust my services won’t be needed, he mentally responded in as bored a tone as he could manage, Let me know when you get in over your head. He smirked a bit as he imagined the irritation those last couple of words might cause. OK, so he wasn’t entirely over his botched experiment to let his irritation with Owen go completely. It was nothing new. If anything the man should have known better.

He opened the nearest window only to have his ears quickly assaulted with the sound of a screaming girl, crying out what seemed to be a barely eligible garble to him due to the fact that his lab was up a few levels in the science building. It sounded like she hadn’t been screaming too long. She appeared to have enough power in her lungs to be heard from the 6th floor with ease, and he knew a minute or so of that would weaken her voice immensely. Chances were he was right.

“This could get interesting,” he spoke up with a curious tone as he watched from his spot by the window to see a news reporter come onto the scene. The woman clearly had earned the right to her job. There was no question that it was dangerous down there, and she seemed to have enough guts and persistence to not care whether or not she was putting herself in harm’s way. It was a ‘no guts, no glory’ mentality that reminded him of his sister immediately. Of course Elexus went about it a slightly different way.

“OWEN!!” Speak of the devil. A blur of short dark hair and umber skin sprinted across the commons and up to the surrounded man. Despite the agents’ disorientation after being so easily unarmed by some unknown force, they honed in on the shrill cry of her voice rather quickly and made sure to take steps to block her way.

“Ma’m, you need to keep your distance,” one of the agents spoke up, “This is a governmental matter. Any interference will result in your arrest as well.” The lack of firepower didn’t seem to deter their will as they tried to threaten her with the bulk of their bodies, using themselves as a wall between her and Owen. She wasn’t intimidated.

“Out of my way,” she growled irritably, pushing past them despite their warnings, “I won’t stop you. I just need to talk to my ’friend’.” She stressed the last word. Her glare focused on Owen, hinting to how little the word meant to her at that moment. She was clearly furious and a force to be reckoned with entirely, but apparently the agents who had blocked her way weren’t aware though, because immediately one moved to grab her. Big mistake.

Her self defense training flipped on almost instantly and without even a thought to her actions she turned and grabbed the shoulder of the offending arm that held her before sending a knee to the man’s diaphragm and flipping him onto his back. Too enraged to care about what she had just done, she immediately turned her attention back on Owen before any of the other agents could respond. Then, without word or reason to her behavior, she punched him square in the jaw, grabbing the collar of his shirt while he fell back due to the force of her blow.

“I don’t care if you are the leader of this team and friend of Derrick’s,” she growled lowly as she pulled him back towards her, “You have no right to invade my mind.” Then before he could respond she pushed him from her and back to his feet. “So. Stay. Out.”

I’m on my way, Quinn replied mentally, But I know someone who can probably get there even quicker than I can and help you stall.

Good any help would be appreciated. Owen thought. Then he watched his carefully constructed rational nonviolent civil disobedience turn into a potential riot in all of three seconds. Suddenly he was given a location of a van by pinpointing the center of the radio frequencies and thus the command center of this government operation. Then all the agents ripped their earpieces out and threw them on the ground. They then reached for their weapons which practically fell apart in their hands. It only took him a second to know the culprit. The technokinetic beside him warned him mentally You better hope your ‘team’ gets here quick….I can’t stop them from using their fists all over your ass. Kimiko started screaming, “Mooooom! Mom! They’re hurting meeeeeee!”

“Excuse me, sir! Keely Cole from Channel Seven News, and I was wondering if I could get a few comments about what’s going on right now.” It was at that moment he noticed the reporter. Her and her cameraman were filming and asking questions. “Is that a teacher at the Malone Institute you’re with? Are you arresting him? What are the charges? Is this a move by the government against mutants? Do you personally have something against mutants?”

Shit! We are supposed to diffuse the situation not start a riot! Owen thought as he looked around at the gathered crowd of students and staff. Most were watching the events unfold and just waiting for an excuse to pick a side. Teachers get the students out of here! We don’t need a riot on the first day! I can handle myself. Owen ordered all the gather teachers telepathically. He was glad to see them jump into action and start clearing the commons of students.

---

Imprint watched his mission to hell in a hand basket in all of three seconds. Comms went down and then he saw that an agent called for reinforcements which he couldn’t stop. That wasn’t the worst of it. Then a reporter showed up and started filming and asking questions which his superiors wouldn’t like. This was going to end up on the news and now there was no stopping it.

“Shit. I need something I can use as an accomplishment,” Imprint mumbled to himself. He watched phase two go off without a hitch and now hoped that without coordination they could accomplish phase 3. He picked up his cell phone and called his superiors, “We are going to have a problem. A headline news problem.”

---

I trust my services won’t be needed, the doctor mentally responded in a bored tone, Let me know when you get in over your head.

Just be ready in case of injuries Doc. Owen responded mentally. “OWEN!!” At that moment he saw an extremely pissed Elexus literally running towards him. Oh good reinforcements that actually know not to escalate the situation.

“Ma’m, you need to keep your distance,” one of the agents spoke up, “This is a governmental matter. Any interference will result in your arrest as well.” Owen saw that the commons were getting less populated by the students and teachers which was good even though there were still some stragglers.

“Out of my way,” she growled irritably, pushing past them despite their warnings, “I won’t stop you. I just need to talk to my ’friend’.” Wait a minute… She couldn’t mean me… right? Owen thought as she took out a federal agent. That was it the first actual action of the fight which gave the agents an excuse to counterattack. What is she doing!? He was so shocked at her actions that he forgot to telekinetically block the sucker punch right to his face. His thoughts were scattered as she grabbed his shirt.

“I don’t care if you are the leader of this team and friend of Derrick’s,” she growled lowly as she pulled him back towards her, “You have no right to invade my mind.” Then before he could respond she pushed him from her and back to his feet. “So. Stay. Out.”

“I didn’t move around the furniture I just talked to you.” Was all Owen could say in his defense. He regained his footing and now noticed something odd. All the agents were pulling back. It was like they were retreating. Owen could feel that something was very wrong. The air around him distorted as he put up his telekinetic armor. The first manifestation of his telekinetic abilities that he could control was a defensive field of telekinetic energy around his body. It was how he had gained his codename since the air around him was distorted when he used it. It looked like he was radiating a high amount of heat but he would be cool to the touch.

Something’s wrong everyone be ready for a counter attack. Owen warned his group telepathically. He almost hoped Elexus would try to punch him again since she would break her hand if she did. He couldn’t see anything but he somehow knew that something was out there. All his instincts screamed at him to be ready for an attack.

“CEASE MUTANT ACTIVITY.” a loudspeaker said from out of nowhere. What the hell? Then a gigantic metal monstrosity appeared right in front of him. It was three stories tall. He had no idea what it looked like before it fired a beam at him. He only had a split second to max out his defensive field before the attack struck him. With no chance to get ready for the attack he was sent flying backwards. He landed hard and then flipped himself to his feet. His nose was bleeding mostly from the blow to the face but also from the strain of his defensive barrier. He could now see his attacker clearly. He had never seen a robot like this one before and suddenly a second appeared standing next to the first.

“Is that the best you got?” Owen asked. Phrenic get everyone to the shelters! Figment get here a little faster! Jade try and hack into that thing and shut it down! Echo get ready to flank them while I attack. Magician try and sneak up behind them invisibly! Owen shouted orders telepathically. He charged forward trying to distract the two attackers for his tactics to work.

She wanted to punch him again. There was no doubt about that. The way he just blew her off as if she were just throwing a tantrum brought about frustration that couldn’t be compared to anything else, and his abrupt negligence of her ‘personal space’ despite her warning only made her furious. Who did this smug little bastard think he was? What gave him the right to delve into her mind and blow off her desire to keep certain thing to herself?

Alright, so she may have overreacted. Actually she knew what she just did was childish and stupid, but in all honesty she just felt too betrayed and too vulnerable to not want to immediately punch him. She did what she usually did best, acted without thinking, and chances were it was probably the main cause for the all around ‘badness’ of the situation increasing. Still, she wouldn’t regret it though. Why? Because it felt good. It felt damn good, and she would do it again now if she could. Unfortunately the situation wouldn’t allow that just yet. She had other matters to take care of.

Something’s wrong. Everyone be ready for a counter attack.

An involuntary flinch ran up her spine, causing her face to contort for less than a second before relaxing into irritation once again. A brief glimpse of a memory she could only wish to be forgotten flickered in her mind.

“Ignore it. Ignore it,” she chanted both mentally and verbally to herself. Against her own wishes though, her eyes failed to unsee the image. She could almost smell the blood of her own limbs in her nostrils. The scent leaving a tanginess to her mouth. “Fight it. Fight it. Fight it.” Her chant changed as the image of her teen self experiencing the pain of her own personal torture became clearer and clearer.

“CEASE MUTANT ACTIVITY.”

A sigh of relief escaped her at the interruption. Thank God for whatever that was. Wait… What was that? Elexus blinked herself out of the trance Owen had inadvertently placed her in, quickly gazing about the area for whomever or whatever had spoken. She didn’t have to look far of course as what was possibly the larges machine possible appeared before them.

“What the hell?” she unknowingly echoed the man beside her’s thoughts.

The attack aimed for Owen caught her in the blast as well, and with no defense shield to save her she was hit with what she could only assume was full force. The strength of the attack blew here a good 50 feet from the rest of them, and it would have no doubt carried her further had there not been a lovely, concrete column and the school building it was attached to in her way. A cry of pain was all she could manage at the impact, but thankfully the blow was fast enough to not give too much thought to it.

With a few groans and a newly rekindled self hate for her emotions, she let gravity help remove her from the buildings front wall, cradling a rib she knew had to be broken or at least cracked. Geez, first blow and she already ached all over.

“Damn it,” was the only thing she could manage. Why did she have to be so weak? Why were her own stupid emotions always working against her in times like this? Why couldn’t she just get up and get over it like anything else.

Phrenic, get everyone to the shelters! Figment, get here a little faster! Jade, try and hack into that thing and shut it down! Echo, get ready to flank them while I attack. Magician, try and sneak up behind them invisibly!

“Why can’t you just give orders from a radio like anyone else and avoid the mental harassment?!” she said with unrestrained frustration both verbally and mentally, “Stay the fuck out of my mi—” A pair of hands covered her eyes, causing momentary panic to run through her before a familiar voice echoed from her back.

“Now. Now. No need to be rude and go about throwing tantrums,” came the familiar calm tone of her brother.

“Derrick?” she asked stupidly.

My apologies, Owen. Elexus will be of a sounder mind soon enough, she heard him say mentally to the others before speaking aloud again. “I should have known something like this would happen what with you being so moronically stubborn all the time,” he sighed, “Good thing I knew to run down here the minute I saw you throw your first punch. Or would it be better if I called it a kick?”

“Get your hands off me, Derrick, before I flip you to the ground again like I used to do when we were little,” she growled.

“’Used to’ my ass,” he scoffed nonchalantly behind her before grumbling, “You did it last week.” She couldn’t help but smirk triumphantly at the memory. He ignored her expression though and refrained from removing his hands from her head, letting them still cover her eyes. “One moment and you’ll be free of me,” he spoke up quickly in response before going silent again. Instantly she felt an unnatural warmth emanate from his hands and onto the temples of her head before filling her entire body.

Shit.

“No! No, don’t!” Her cry was too late. Immediately after she felt her body relax and her anger, frustration, and fear subside into the background almost as if they were nothing. Quickly she threw his hands off her and turned to face a glare on him.

“God damn it! You didn’t need to do that! I was perfectly fine!” she roared angrily only receiving a look that simply asked if she was kidding or not from her twin. The man looked just as frustrated as she felt at that moment, but that wouldn’t evoke any sympathy from her. He knew she hated when he did that. Hell, she hated EVERYTIME he used his powers on her.

“There is no time to argue how stupid you’re being right now,” he spoke in a calm tone laced with irritation, “Owen and the others need you to stop acting like a self centered bitch and get your head in the game.” At his words she flushed embarrassingly, knowing full well he was right and she would probably owe him something after this… if she didn’t punch him in the face for his rudeness first.

The slight redness to her cheeks only lasted a moment or so before she quickly defaulted back to glaring at him. Then, not saying anything, she crouched to the ground and brought her hands to the cement pathway at her feet. With a sigh she activated her powers, letting the cement’s composition and texture overcome her body and turn her skin, eyes, and hair gray till her body looked as if it was chiseled from the ground itself.

“Thanks,” she spoke quickly, her voice now harsh like gravel due to the change, “Remind me to buy you a box of Junior Mints after I punch you.” She didn’t wait for a response after that, sprinting back to the makeshift battlefield to quickly do as Owen ordered, despite the fact that he didn’t deserve her good behavior as far as she was concerned. Derrick was right though. There was a time and a place for things, and right now this time and place was begging for her to relieve some anger on two walking tin cans.

Getting ready to flank, she said impassionately as she moved up beside him, Will attack on your mark.

The sudden rush of air of the … Robot landing behind her, blew Kimiko’s cap off and sent it tumbling unchecked across the grass of the commons.

Cease Mutant Activity.” The metallic monstrosity boomed.

Uh-oh. Kimiko thought irreverently. Owen’s mental warning was unnecessary. He followed that up with orders like some General on a battlefield. Wait! It was a battlefield! Tilting her head back, Kimiko looked up and up and up, taking in the three-story tall metal construct behind her. She swore in soft Japanese under her breath. She should have emailed the report.

Suddenly, the robot shot an energy beam directly at Owen, catching him full force and tossing him several feet away. The fire-tempered dark-skinned woman was also caught in the blast and was hurled harshly against the wall of the school. Kimiko winced when the woman was smashed into the stonework and fell forward.

Jade try and hack into that thing and shut it down! Owen shouted into her mind. Kimiko’s wince became a gape of shock “Do what?” She stammered outloud, forgetting to communicate mentally. Hugging poor Gandalf tightly against her chest, Kimiko gulped once but started trying to find a way in to the construct’s systems. She’d never seen anything like this before…not even a hint of anything like it was on the web. She had to start from the bottom and learn as she went. The movement and propulsion systems were nothing she’d ever seen before, but basic mechanical knowledge covered a great deal of the essentials. Hydraulics and movement by wire. Check. She could interfere with that reasonably well if she touched it. Which was the last thing she wanted to do. Continuing her mental explorations, she found the central core. Or what she assumed was the central core, since she was locked out with amazing effectiveness. And to someone like Jade Spider, that was a challenge she lived for. Mental fingers touched and felt along peripheral systems. Visual, audio, speech centers were touched, dissected and studied. They had to lead to the central core, so she kept looking.

Her entire mental exploration took less than 15 seconds and in that time, she continued to monitor the radio traffic in the area, picking up cell phone calls from frantic students, reporters scrambling for a story and calls to the police. She allowed a small portion of her attention to keep track of the van she’d located earlier and caught the radio traffic from it. ”They just called for some back up…something about censoring the news story.” She advised Owen. ”I can direct feed it to the ‘net if you…gotcha!” She whooped when she found a tiny portal into the construct’s central core.

For all the good it did her. The central core of the robot was the most complex and shielded piece of hardware she’d ever encountered. Who designed this beast? She had to wonder. Soon she delved more fully into the problem at hand. She sensed the robot preparing to fire once more and screamed “Look out!” Without realizing it, she reached out with her hands and forming claws to mimic what was happening in her mind, she clawed at the visual center of the construct, disrupting the signals to the core and preventing the robot from targeting Owen momentarily.

The construct barely hesitated as its sight went offline briefly. It lifted a SUV-sized hand and bending slightly, swung it down at Kimiko, having assessed her as the threat invading it’s systems. Kimiko shrieked and scrambled out of the way, Gandalf under one arm and her laptop under the other just in time to avoid being squashed like an irritating bug. Diving aside, Kimiko skinned her knees and elbows in her efforts to protect the two most precious things in her world. ”A little help here!”

“I’m coming as fast as I can!” Quinn yelled both telepathically and out loud. “It’s not my fault my office is in the ass-end of the other side of campus and—Holy crap!” The sight of a gigantic robot’s head suddenly appearing above the building between him and the commons actually caused him to skid to a stop and stare in shock for a moment.

”CEASE MUTANT ACTIVITY!” The robot boomed electronically.

“There is a part of me that is obscenely excited about beating the crap out of a giant Iron Man,” Quinn said to himself before grinning and taking off at a sprint again. He rounded the administrative building just in time to see Aura and Echo take a blast from the robot. His grin faded, although the thrill of adrenalin still pumped through his veins.

He threw a quick glance around the scene to get his bearings and assess threats. A handful of G-Men who seemed oddly disarmed and scrambling to cover their own asses, Echo and Aura getting back to their feet, the oversized Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot, an Asian woman he didn’t recognize, and Keely and her cameraman struggling to find a safe distance while boldly continuing to film everything. If they both lived through this she was either going to hate him or they were going to have the greatest sex ever.

They were out of the way though, and Echo and Aura could take care of themselves. The other girl though, he wasn’t so sure of the new girl though, especially when she cried out for help on their telepathic channel. Quinn wasn’t sure how she was linked in with the rest of them, but he wasn’t about to ignore her.

I’ll be with you guys in just a second, Quinn mentally assured Aura and Echo. Saving damsels in distress always comes first. An invisible replica of a police riot shield formed along his left forearm. It wouldn’t do a thing to stop the robot from squashing him like a spider, but it would keep off any shrapnel and hopefully keep him from roasting like a marshmallow if that thing decided to shoot lasers from its eyes or anywhere else. That was the theory at least.

Quinn’s free arm unceremoniously grabbed the small woman around the waist and hoisted her off the ground, computer, cat and all. “Okay, sweetheart, let’s get you the hell out of here,” he said as he lifted her half over his shoulder and raised his shield between the two of them and the robot before he started running again. He made a beeline for the covered walkway in front of one building where Keely and the cameraman were half hidden behind supporting pillars, their heads and video camera poking out to catch the action.

The girl’s cat, caught between her arm and Quinn’s shoulder yowled and dug all four sets of claws into Quinn, catching in his shirt and skin. Dropping his shield, Quinn disentangled the cat from himself and set the girl back on the ground. “Okay, everyone safe here?” He asked quickly, itching to get back out in the field. The cameraman and Keely both nodded and she even gave him a quick smile. “All righty then, I’m going to go pop a can opener up that thing’s ass and be right back.”

He turned around and rushed back toward the action. Okay, Aura, where do you want me?

Delphine didn’t know how far or how long she’d been walking. She just felt the drive to keep moving, striding quickly down the streets of Grand Rapids, because if she stopped she was going to scream or cause a blackout. And some people had the nerve to wonder why organizations like the Brotherhood of Mutants existed. If Delphine didn’t have too much lingering respect for humans like Lars and Director Fury she would have found it fairly easy to buy into some of their philosophies at the moment.

Her cell phone buzzed in the pocket of her coat. Delphine didn’t even bother to look at the number or ID before answering. “I’m sorry I ran out so quickly, Lars,” she said. “I just really needed to be alone. I don’t blame—”

“You can apologize later,” Lars said, interrupting her. He had that edge to his voice that she recognized from back when he’d helped train her, one that instinctively made her shut her mouth and snap to attention. “I was just leaving myself when the computer in my car registered an anomaly. Just stay where you are, I’m coming to pick you up.”

“Wait, Lars, what—?” He hung up before Delphine could finish her question. “Damn it,” she muttered, but on the inside her heart started to beat a little faster. This felt almost like old times. The rational part of her brain told her firmly that it wasn’t, but she still couldn’t help but hope.

It didn’t even take a minute for a convertible sports car to roar down the street and screech to a halt in front of Delphine. She hopped right over the door and into the passenger seat as a few other drivers honked as Lars’ sudden stop disrupted the flow of traffic. They stopped honking though when Lars flipped a switch on the dash and the car lifted straight up into the air. Delphine couldn’t help but smile as Lars flew them between two apartment buildings. She was definitely going to miss the toys at S.H.I.E.LD.

“Thanks for the ride, but what exactly are we doing?” Delphine asked. “You said something about an anomaly?” Her experience with the sort of things S.H.I.E.LD. classified as anomalies told her it meant trouble.

“Yeah, the car’s sensors went off almost as soon as I hopped in. I pulled it up on satellite and saw that.” Lars pointed in front of them where Delphine distantly saw something huge moving. Judging by the buildings around it the thing had to be thirty feet tall at the very least.

Delphine swore in three different languages before making her way back to English and asking Lars: “What in the world is that thing?”

Lars shook his head. “I don’t know. Think is, I requested permission to investigate closer and take it down if need be, and I was immediately denied.”

“That does not sound above board,” Delphine said. As they drew closer she could make out a little more, enough to tell her that the thing was some sort of robot, or it was armored at least, and it capable of firing something that looked horribly like lasers.

“No, it doesn’t, especially when you consider that thing is smack in the middle of the Malone Institute of Higher Learning—the local mutant school,” he added off of Delphine’s blank look. “I know I’ve been ordered to stand down, but you don’t have to take orders anymore, and you really looked like you wanted to hit something.”

This wasn’t exactly what Delphine had hoped to achieve today, but it was certainly something, and Lars was right, she really did want to punch something. He brought the car down, hovering a few feet above the ground at the edge of the campus so he wouldn’t technically be disobeying orders. Delphine leaned over and gave Lars a quick peck on his scarred cheek and a quiet thank you before jumping out of the car.

She rolled as she hit the manicured lawn and came out of it running. Her fingers wrapped around the cell phone in her pocket and drained its batteries in a second. The charge wasn’t much, but it boosted her speed and strength just a bit. Hopefully that would be enough until she could get her hands on the electricity hiding behind that looming monstrosity.

Owen ignored Elexus’ mental complaints as he charged forward trying to draw the fire of the sentinels.

My apologies, Owen. Elexus will be of a sounder mind soon enough, Owen heard Derrick say mentally through the connection he had establish between the entire team.

Getting ready to flank, Will attack on your mark. Elexus said mentally.

Racing forward as fast as he could Owen leapt with all force he could and was instantly swatted away like an annoying fly. Owen landed back in the dirt leaving a large person sized imprint in the grass. The force of the attack and landing didn’t hurt him but dazed him for a second. So much for being on the front line. Owen thought as he got back on his feet.

They just called for some back up…something about censoring the news story. Kimiko advised him mentally, I can direct feed it to the ‘net if you…gotcha! He saw that Kimiko was being targeted but was unable to help. His telekinesis was different than everyone else’s as he could chose to either use his ‘aura’ ability or use it like everyone else. Since he was in aura form he couldn’t do anything to help deflect the SUV that was thrown at her. Luckily she dodged the SUV. The other Sentinel fired at Owen again. Owen leapt out of the way as the ground exploded sending dirt everywhere. We don’t have the firepower to take these guys on directly. A little help here! Kimiko yelled mentally.

I’ll be with you guys in just a second, Quinn mentally assured Aura and Echo. Saving damsels in distress always comes first. Quinn grabbed Kimiko and hauled her (with all of her stuff) over to where the cameraman and newswomen were. Shit! We can’t win this! Owen thought as he saw the whole situation falling apart in front of him. He was there best shot and he knew he couldn’t take on both of them at once.

Jade, go viral on the net. Figment, cover the civilians and Jade. Echo, get ready. Owen ordered everyone as he ducked behind the SUV that was recently thrown onto the lawn. He tried to quickly switch between his aura form and regular telekinesis. Suddenly the car disappeared as it was lifted up by a Sentinel. It fired a capture at him and because he was switching telekinesis abilities he was forced to allow it to hit him. He fell to the ground pinned by the heavy steel net. That’s it these fuckers are going down! Owen thought as he threw the net back at the sentinel. Now Echo! Owen yelled mentally. The Sentinel swatted the net away. It was not able to do that with the SUV that leapt from its other hand and smashed into its face. I am not a one trick pony asshole! Owen thought as a smile slid across at his first successful attack.

No sooner had Kimiko screeched--and it was an unflattering, cowardly screech--but a handsome youngish man scooped her and Gandalf up off the turf, tossed her over his shoulder and had run with her and poor Gandalf to a more protected part of the school building. No sooner had she been released when Gandalf made his immense displeasure known by nailing the young man with his claws, indignant about his rough treatment.

Once more, Owen, who was called Aura in his mutant guise, started shouting orders into their heads; Jade, go viral on the net. Figment, cover the civilians and Jade. Echo, get ready. And just that quick she had the names of the team. If I survive this, I’ll look into them. She thought sarcastically. While she couldn’t hack the robot (and that irked her to no end), she could feed the news cast directly over the net with ease. Folding herself up in a cross-legged position behind a brick pillar, Kimiko opened her sticker-encrusted laptop lid. With a mere thought, she brought up nearly a dozen files at once. Smiling she laced her fingers and stretched her arms out cracking her knuckles, “And now, on with the show!” She grinned. Reaching out mentally, she found the feed signal from the camera and hijacked it wholesale. She streamed it directly into her files so that it completely dropped off the radar as far as the bad guys were concerned. In a hairs breath of a moment, it was flashing up on every bulletin board, video, blog and social networking site on the web. “Take THAT!” She shouted. It self-propagated like the most aggressive virus along with Keely’s commentary. The woman was about to be an overnight sensation and had no idea. “You’re welcome.” Kimiko giggled happily to the oblivious new reporter.

Kimiko’s eyes widened when the robot-thingy shot a huge net at Owen. She was about to shout a warning, but it was unnecessary when he managed to fling it back at the Sentinal. ”Dude, I can’t even touch that thing. The core is so protected and so…foreign I have no idea how to get in. Its learning as it goes! You better do something fast or it’ll figure us all out.” It irked her that she couldn’t simply play with the thing’s wiring at will. ”I can give it a blind spot or two briefly…and maybe if I could touch it….no. I am NOT getting that close. Never mind. Tell me when and where you want a hole in its eyesight.

That’s when she saw an oddity, someone running toward the fight rather than away from it. "What the…." She leaned closer to her screen and peered at it. A tawny-haired, green-eyed woman was heading into the fight like someone who knew what the hell she was doing. Kimiko recognized the fluid, no-motion-wasted physicality from hundreds of action movies. But was the woman friend or foe? Boss? Incoming woman at your…uh…damn it! Um…behind the robot thingy! Your right!”

That warning given, Kimiko returned to monitoring the airwaves for anymore transmissions from the van she’d noted earlier. “Come on little fishy, fishy, fishy.” She cajoled, hoping for more transmissions so that she could trace them.

Elexus made sure to stand her ground despite witnessing Owen’s attempted attack being batted away as if it were merely a bug bite. Thankfully he seemed to be okay for the most part, getting back to his feet rather easily as another voice echoed through her head. This was the one she wasn’t quite familiar with. She had never known it before and really had no sure idea who it could be from. She made a quick guess thinking it was the little Asian student whom didn’t leave the area as soon as the atmosphere went tense and menacing.

Yes, she had seen the girl. Of course the only time she managed to give her a glance was when she was moving to punch Owen in the face but that little moment of insanity didn’t leave her completely unaware of her surroundings... for the most part.

When she saw the metal monster before them focus an attack on the girl, she was quick to sprint in the direction, knowing full well she wouldn’t get there in time, but still not below trying as best she could to save her. It was only good fortune that Quinn arrived in the nick of time…. Of course she wouldn’t tell him that. The smarmy bastard would probably gloat if she did, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit thankful to see him pick her up and move her out of the now line of fire.

God damn this waiting for orders part was frustrating. She felt absolutely useless just standing there doing nothing, unable to attack until her orders were being called out. Still she kept her distance, making sure to keep an eye on any more people who were unfortunate enough to get in the line of sight of either robot. Thankfully most of the faculty and students had cleared out already except for the few brave/curious/stupid ones who stood by to watch.

Jade, go viral on the net. Figment, cover the civilians and Jade. Echo, get ready. Happy to finally have an order, she did as she was told, picking whatever sentinel that seemed to have grabbed Owen’s attention. It was clear with the way things were going that they weren’t going to be able to manage a fight against one on one, so hopefully their chances were better with dual attacks.

When the order came, she moved full force. Punching strongly into the steel only to see decent sized dents form as the cement of her hand crumbled and cracked slightly. The Sentinel seemed to not be affected, too focused on the SUV that hit it head on. “Shit! The metal of this thing is dense!” she spoke aloud to herself as she continued her attack, thinking her punches themselves were maybe too weak. In her attacks she was unable to notice she had gained the metal monster’s attention before it slowly lifted a foot and moved to stomp on her. She only had time to swear before bringing her hands above her to guard from the oncoming attack.

The weight of the foot was definitely something to be feared as the force of it slowly brought her to her knees below. Her cement form didn’t seem to be lasting, the skin of it crumbling and cracking revealing small bits of flesh underneath that only showed the slow loss of strength in her powers. “Looks like I can’t last too long like this,” she said before letting her tongue slide along her teeth in a malicious manner as a smirk formed on her lips. In an instant she activated her powers once again, this time taking the very metal from the sentinel’s foot above her.

At the change in materials she seemed to grow a bit more in strength bringing herself to her feet just long enough to throw the foot off her and duck out to the side before moving in to attack again. This time though she at least left a sizable mark, punching a hole clear through the very skin of the beast so that the components of the side of the foot she had just been under sparked to life and showed themselves. Despite the pathetic size of the small hole in comparison to the body of the giant robot, she couldn’t help but let a victorious grin appear on her face. Maybe they could do this after all.

Figment, cover the civilians and Jade.

Aura’s orders chafed Quinn. He didn’t want to be stuck on the sidelines while Aura and Echo had all of the fun. He wanted to be out there with them, even if his powers weren’t the most useful in this situation. It wasn’t like he could create a weapon that would have much effect on a giant robot since his peculiar brand of telekinesis couldn’t recreate the propellants and chemical reactions necessary to create something like a cannon or a rocket launcher. He could put one hell of an edge on a blade though, one sharp enough to slice through things on a near molecular level.

He gritted his teeth and followed orders though, reaching out and allowing his power to surge through his fingertips, creating, panel by panel, a thick domed wall between the civilians and the attacking robot. It dug into the earth for support, flattening grass and leaving a six-inch wide trench. Beyond that though, it was completely invisible to the naked eye, even though it was as strong as steel. Keely, her cameraman, and the young woman he’d just rescued could all see straight through it. Unfortunately, Quinn’s sight was blocked by his innate connection to his creations. All he could see were blobs of color and moving blurs.

It came as a shock when a flash of bright red—what he could only assume was some sort of laser—hit the wall. Quinn reeled back, swearing as pain stabbed through his head, psychic backlash from the blow. It was hard enough and unexpected enough to make him stumble and drop to one knee…and sneeze.

“Dammit,” Quinn muttered, getting back to his feet and pressing his hands back to the wall to repair the damage the blast had caused. The pain in his head increased and made his eye twitch for a moment and his nose bleed. Quinn raised a sleeve to wipe at the blood and sneezed again. His eyes were suddenly watering and his nose was stuffing up.

“Son of a…” Quinn glanced down at his shirt sleeve, which was dusted with short gray hairs. The skin around the scratches on his shoulder was starting to itch. “Crap,” he said, sniffling. He looked over his shoulder to see the large gray cat next to the young woman he’d swung over his shoulder, cat and all. In the rush of the moment and the battle raging around them, he hadn’t even thought about the cat, but it was hard not to think about it now that his allergies were flaring up.

He sneezed again. “Well, this is embarrassing,” he said to himself as he quickly added a heavy vault-like door into his wall. “Okay, folks, I know you can’t see it, but there’s totally a wall to protect you from what I can only assume is the bastard love-child of Iron Man and Giant Man.” He banged on the side of the wall, which, being telekinetic energy, didn’t give the reassuring clang of steel or any sound whatsoever. “See you all at the victory party.” He gave them a quick grin, the effect of which was lost in the middle of a sneezing fit.

Quinn slipped through the vault door and let it shut heavily behind him. Sorry, Aura, but a giant robot is going to be the least of my problems if I stay anywhere near that cat for much longer, the civilians are about as protected as they’re going to get though. Without constant contact most of his creations would last about half an hour before they dissolved, although the wall was big enough it would probably only last about fifteen without him there to constantly reinforce it. Less if it took too many hits. He would just have to make sure the battle didn’t last that long then.

It took him a moment, and another sneeze, for a large, two-handed battle axe to form in his hands. Quinn grinned and swung it once for practice before charging toward the scene. Aura had just smacked the thing in the face with an SUV—which made Quinn grin even wider—and Echo had just punched a hole through the robot’s leg, but ultimately it didn’t look like they’d made too much progress. He headed for the same leg that Echo was attacking. A swing of his axe and the blade connected with the monstrosity’s ankle, slicing several inches in and a foot down before he dragged it free.

“Hello, Elexis, you’re looking particularly lovely today,” he said lightly as he swung again, this time only getting a glancing blow as the thing recognized the assault on its leg and lifted it up, forcing Quinn to dodge back or get clipped by a gigantic metal boot. “How’s your morning been so far?”

Imprint had shut down all the comm.s between the units in an attempt to have them not be traced by the technopath. Once that happened everyone worked on a predetermined plan of escape. At this point no one was allowed to even speak for fear of them being followed. Phase two had been completed and phase three was under way. The sentinels were keeping the defenders of the school busy while they would escape. The primary target had been secured and now all agents had returned to the van. He was glad that nothing else had gone wrong as he felt the van accelerate away from the school. At least we got what we came here for.

---

Owen watched Echo use the opening he had given her to attack the nearest Sentinel. While she kept it busy he turned his attention to the other one. He picked up the remains of the SUV and threw them at the second Sentinel hoping to damage a sensor. He was not successful as the Sentinel used its eye beams to disintegrate the SUV remains.

Dude, I can’t even touch that thing. The core is so protected and so…foreign I have no idea how to get in. Its learning as it goes! You better do something fast or it’ll figure us all out. I can give it a blind spot or two briefly…and maybe if I could touch it….no. I am NOT getting that close. Never mind. Tell me when and where you want a hole in its eyesight. Jade said mentally through his connection. That is not what I wanted to hear. Owen thought as he threw up a telekinetic barrier to block a Sentinel beam. He could feel his energy slipping away from all the heavy blasts. He wouldn’t be able to take much more of this intense fighting.

Boss? Incoming woman at your…uh…damn it! Um…behind the robot thingy! Your right! Jade warned him. That’s just what I need. Some dumbass coming to ‘help’ and get in the way.

Sorry, Aura, but a giant robot is going to be the least of my problems if I stay anywhere near that cat for much longer, the civilians are about as protected as they’re going to get though. Figment informed him. We need to change it up and take one of these things down if we are going to win.

Jade blind the one on the right. Echo try and rip its head off once I get on its shoulders. Figment do you see some idiot joining us? Be ready to save their ass if they need it. Owen issued the new orders and only gave them a second to comply. He grabbed Echo with his telekinesis and threw her at the head of the one on the right. Hopefully Jade would blind it in time. He began using his telepathy to try and sense out where this dumbass was behind the Sentinels.

The handsome professor let out another brain-numbing sneeze, probably hard enough to completely erase all knowledge he’d gained in 3rd grade. Begging allergies, he stepped back outside the protective ‘barrier’ he said he’d erected around Kimiko and the news crew. She barely looked up as she continued to feed Keely’s video and commentary onto the web. To her great disappointment, no further transmissions were to be found from the mysterious van, so she let Aura know that salient non-fact. In a separate window on her laptop, Kimiko, zeroed in on the image of the incoming woman, captured a photo and started up one of the most successful facial recognition software programs on the planet to work on it. The one at Caesar’s Hotel and Casino in Vegas. The NSA? Pffft. Interpol? Children. Always go with the money or the sex industry for the latest and hotest tech. As that program worked at trying to identify the woman running toward the battle, she watched Aura, Figment and Echo try their best to pound holes in the giant robot with little effect. She drew a sharp, anxious breath when it looked as if Echo was about to get squashed by a huge robotic boot. But, somehow she didn’t and her skin changed. Ahhh, a material copy of some sort. Interesting. A mere thought opened her files on the individual team members and facts she’d gleaned thus far flowed into them without her apparently making any conscious effort to do so.

Throughout the apparently one-sided battle against the robots, Kimiko noted the light-hearted commentary between Figment and Echo, she had to suppress a giggle and shake her head. Aura’s new orders sounded loud in her head and she winced heavily, causing the programs she was running to fizz to static very briefly. ”Stop shouting! Jeez!” Kimiko groused mentally. ”We can hear you. Her use of American slang seemed particularly out of place given her strong Japanese accent and it just lent another layer of unreality to the entirely surreal atmosphere of fighting giant robots like in a bad B grade movie. Bending even lower over her laptop with Gandalf sitting nonchalantly at her knee and grooming himself, Kimiko concentrated on re-entering the Robot’s vision center. As she’d warned Aura, it had learned to defend against intrusion there and Kimiko was forced to spend precious seconds finding another avenue to blind the monstrosity.

”Damn it”She gritted out. ”Give me a second…it shut down my previous access point…hold it….wait….HA!” She hooted in triumph when she managed to access the visual cortex via the audio wiring. Now it was deaf as well as blind. ”Got it, both eyes down for 5 seconds. It’ll recycle and close off that access in that time. I’ll work on its motor control too.” Kimiko didn’t pause to watch what the others did with the window of opportunity she’d managed to give them, even if it was frustratingly brief. She’d never encountered anything as sophisticated as these systems. And that automatically made her fall head over heels in love with them. She had to know more. While she was basically booted from the audio and visual systems of the robots, they couldn’t shake her presence from their systems entirely. Completely switching directions, literally, she turned her attack on its motor-control. Perhaps she could…”Oooo! Timber!” The robot to the left faltered in mid-stride forcing it to crash down onto one knee heavily denting its armor and barely keeping it from falling into the deserted street outside the school grounds. But just as she’d gained some control of its motor functions, she was shunted out of that system, forcing her to change tactics.

Kimiko rapidly opened several more windows and got algorithms running to randomize her entrances and attacks on the robots systems. She couldn’t keep up her ordered and structured efforts and hope to affect these things the way she needed too.

At Quinn’s oh-so-heroic arrival, Elexus couldn’t help the amusement that danced in her eyes as she listened to him. If there was one thing about him she found redeemable it was his mutual affection for battle. Of course in her mind, she was better at that expertise. She made sure to not to acknowledge his arrival immediately in any other manner though, keeping her focus on the foot before her as she brutishly grabbed a hold of the hole she had formed in the metal and pulled at the steel in order to expand its size. The monstrous thing managed to boot her off rather quickly with the seemingly effortless lift of its foot.

“Have a thing for the shiny metal now, do you?” she asked mockingly. At his compliment, which she could never manage to take as either real or mocking, she couldn’t help but spare a glance at the sentinel armored skin that now covered her. The purple and red was probably a strange look indeed, but it wasn’t like she’d know what it looked like anytime soon. She managed to give her fellow professor a skeptical glance momentarily, “The more I learn about your taste; the more I don’t want to know.”

She didn’t say more than that as Owen’s orders came through. Jade, blind the one on the right. Echo, try to rip its head off once I get on its shoulders. Figment, do you see some idiot joining us? Be ready to save their ass if they need it. The soldier like mentality in her took to the orders immediately , eyes growing fierce as she focused her attention on the robot in question, this being the one that they hadn’t been focusing much of their attacks on. It was furthest from their action so naturally it needed to be drawn back, lest it turn its focus on someone who couldn’t manage to save themselves from it.

She acted instantly, making sure to sprint in the direction of the Sentinal, thinking that she would need to jump on it and find a way to climb up to its shoulders herself; so it would be an understatement to say that it was a surprise when she felt a telekinetic grip around her lift her from the ground. She couldn’t help the startled yelp that escaped her at the action, and the flush that followed only aided the feeling of embarrassment. She’d have to make a memo for herself involving some alone time with Owen in the danger room. Clearly one punch wasn’t enough anymore.

As if to make up for the shameful, girlish cry, she steeled herself as best she could. Ignoring the desire to hurt a certain psychic and instead take it out on the iron giant she had aimed towards. A malicious sparkle formed in her eyes along with a pleased grin when the unsuspecting robot turned its gaze towards her, the light in its eyes fading out momentarily. 5 seconds was more than enough time. She licked her lips with pleasure and spread her arms out enough so they could grip the neck of the metal beast. Then with all the grace and ease of a professional fighter she landed on the side of its head, using the force of Owen’s telekinetic throw to her advantage as she ripped at the bolts that held it in place.

The initial force was strong enough to get her slightly more than halfway through the steel neck, but not completely. She did her best not to panic as she heard the circuits behind the eyes boot up again, the sound like a computer after removing it from sleep mode. She needed to be fast. Quickly, Elexus landed on its shoulder and brought herself around the back of its head. She crouched to where here initial tear finished and quickly pulled the rest of the tear through, ripping at the steel and causing the metal itself to scream as circuits pulled themselves apart and gears were brought to a stop.

With a final crushing noise, that sounded more like a pop than anything else, the head came off entirely. The force of the pull caused her to toss it out of the way and behind her. Thankfully, she had enough good sense to aim the head at an open area, but that was really all she could manage. She would have to put faith in Quinn’s manner of protecting the civilians in hopes that it didn’t roll or bounce somewhere and endanger them.

The robot went limp soon after, its massive body teetering beneath her warningly. “Shit,” was all Elexus could manage before the monstrosity began to fall backwards causing an intense feeling of vertigo to rush through her veins. Not wanting to be crushed beneath the thing, she quickly scrambled over its shoulders during the fall, gripping the edge of the ripped through neck and hoisting herself into a flip over to the collar and sliding down the front of its torso as it fell.

The minute it made contact with the ground, a thunderous sound echoed about the area and she immediately lost her balance causing her to fall down between its legs with little to no grace before landing on her stomach and doing an unceremonious belly flop onto the grass. She could feel the air in her lungs escape her in protest as pain shot through her, reminding her of the cracked or broken ribs she had received in the earlier blow. The number of swears that shot through her head she didn’t have enough breath to exclaim so only a groan escaped her at the sensation.

“One down, and one to go,” she said both verbally and mentally as she took a moment to collect herself while lying on the grass. In a minute she’d get up to join the others in taking down the second one, but for now she needed to catch her breath and let the adrenaline take a moment to cover up that brief feeling of pain that overcame her.