connor

Connor grasped Kijani's hands, gently, glad of her presence. As the tear fell, moved around, to pull her into a hug, taking comfort and hopefully giving it with the hug. There was no words to say. Connor thought he'd be prepared for anything. But there was no preparing for this, this act of...terrorism. This utter destruction of something worthwhile.

He'd already put into action helpong to find the rebuilding of the school, but the actual building would have to wait, for now.

"I love you, Kijani" he said softly, so soft, it was almost a whisper. It times like this, it was important to remember that, love. He was silent for a few moments, content for the moment, to just hold her.

"So many..." He hadn't eaten for hours, and sleep was but a distint memory, but he didn't even notice either human need, "so many, dead or hurt. I didn't see any sign of bruce, or Clark, and only five teachers, six if you can't Kagerou, have been found..." Speaking about it, only made it seem more real, and yet, more bearable. Slightly bearable.

"I love you too, Connor..." She rested against him, breathing in the fact that he was here and whole and alive, trying to hold that in. Trying to savor it before the memory that so many others, so many children were not, took the joy from her. "Kagerou's alive. That's great news." She exhaled slow, realizing that she hadn't even considered that she'd still been at the school. Kagerou had helped Kijani redefine herself, to discover who she wanted to be. She owed the woman more than she could ever repay.

"I haven't found anything concrete. No one is taking responsibility. No bragging, no gloating, not even a dangling-carrot hint. Whoever did this..." She shook her head, not wanting to admit it, but feeling that there was no other way. "We're dealing with pros, Connor. A well-organized, well-trained group. This was no random attack by someone unhinged. This is just the first shot in a battle." With that said, she tried to remember to breathe, and kissed Connor's palm. It was rough and calloused. Too much work.

"Have you eaten?" She pulled back, trying to put a bit of a smile on. "Wait, what am I saying. You're a Stark with work to be done, of course you haven't eaten. Come." She strode to a small corner of the room, where there was a small fridge (reading NO SAMPLES) and a flat stove. Inside were several easy to prepare meals, labeled in plastic bins. Basically all that needed to be done was to add some butter to a pan and dump the contents in for the appropriate time. "What do you want? Omelettes? Stir fry? Pancakes?"

"You say that as if it's a bad thing" Connor said, a small hint of amusement in his tone. But worry was dominant in him, now. Nothing to go on. He had expected it, but if Kijani's sourcds couldn't find anything, was there anything to find? Maybe...it had just been a case of a student losing complete control. But that couldn't be possible, a student with enough power to level the school? No.

So who would gain from this?

Connor watched as Kijani went over to the fridge, unable to help but remember helping her with making her papers pretty much unstoppable. Starting to make the two minute noodles, which up until then, Connor had considered to be fine. How she had managed to get food delivered to the school, Connor still didn't know. He found himself smiling as he watched her, rising up and following.

"Omelettes sound good" he said, deciding that a break would be good. Especially before dealing with parents. Maybe just not thinking on it for a while would bring something out, give some clue to follow. He didn't know. But it was worth a try. "When this is all over, let's take a break and go somewhere"

"Those definitions don't always fit every situation. People can change, for better or worse. And that's why there always has to be someone else ready to do the job that needs to be done. Don't misunderstand though, there are still rules. We can't just take out anyone without good reason. But my first job is to keep an eye on the academy. You decide on what you want to do. If you're in then I'll see you at the academy." Not waiting for an answer she drove off. A few seconds later the data pad shorted out and became useless.

Before long she arrived at the disaster zone. The SHIELD emblem on her shoulder was pretty clear as she surveyed the damage. No one seemed to be searching anymore. Everyone was resting, wandering, or mourning. In her short career she'd never seen anything like this. While looking there was chatter from the comm in her ear. Her organization was trying to track down who did this attack. They were a threat and where their loyalties lie was unknown. After talking with the few remaining teachers she went to the medical tent to talk to students there.

Returning the smile she nodded. "Of course. I know your condition makes it difficult. We can't have one of the paramedics in your head. Trust me, you don't want that." Moving the glasses briefly she shone a light in his eyes to check their dilation. "I should talk to Stark, see if he can make you something to shield your eyes since all your other things are buried."

Nicholas taking in this information further he would need a little but of time to digest what she said and if he wanted to join Darksiders,"This could help me get started on my feet...and could promit me some amnesty form the law for the multiple murders" He thought to himself having so many hypothesis on what he could do.

He looked around and finally behind him to see that June was gone so the tall super stood and started walking towards the academy.

Harry

Harry gave a shrug, keeping his gaze on Kagerou when she moved his glasses briefly, "These work. I'm not fussed." He said softly, "Do...do we know what happened, here?" he asked, almost afraid to. What could do this to the school, perhaps the one place he felt like he had belonged? Where his abilities could be understood?

"I probably do need another pair, though. There didn't appear to be much of the dorms left, and my second pair were in there..." He said, as if that thought had just come to him.

Estella

This entire time she had been trying to figure out how to tell Makoto about Storm. Nothing seemed appropriate to say so she held her tongue for the moment. And then Flood let the cat out of the bag. For a second she had a flashback to the woman's final moments that they shared in their mind. Snapping out of it she took a deep breath to try and keep herself together. But there didn't seems to be much success in that endeavor. "She... she didn't make it, Makoto. I found her. I tried to get to her, but there wasn't enough time. All I could do... all I could do was..." Looking like she was about to have a breakdown her expression suddenly softened.

She looked at Makoto for a moment as confusion crossed her face. Glancing around she shot one glance down at herself. She spoke to herself it seemed, her speech pattern having shifted similarly to that of Storm's. "Dear girl, what have you done?" Looking back up she tried to remember what had happened. Yes, the academy was attacked. It had knocked her out, presumably buried. Estella had found her and they "talked" briefly before she began to slip. Believing death had come to take her she could feel the pull to let go, and she did.

Storm

Had she been mistaken on what the sensation was? Lifting her hand up to her mouth in shock she took a couple steps back. "No, this cannot be. Estella what have you done?" Transferring a mind to another body was not unheard of in her experiences. It had always required extremely complicated technology or a very high level telepath to accomplish though.

Noticing the pain with mixture of confusion on Makoto's face she stepped forward cautiously. It didn't matter how it happened at the moment. Makoto needed comforting. "Do not cry dear. It's me, Ororo. I don't know how but I am here with Estella. She saved me the only was she could." Being at eye level with Makoto was not something she was used to. Compared to her normal height Estella was quite a bit shorter.

"M-mom?" Makoto wimpered, a name she had only ever called the fierce weather wielder in their most tender moments. She stood, completely stunned. It felt like her heart was being rung out. Her second mom was dead, but was still alive?

It's amazing how even in this delicate moment, one would still rationalize as if there were no such thing as aliens or super powered beings. None the less Makoto was, in that moment, struggling to wrap her head around the fact that her alien friend who had absorbed someone else's consciousness in the past had absorbed and preserved her mother. Suddenly her friend and Ororo's consciousness seemed beyond foreign to her, they were strangers. It was too much at once, too much to process, too much to handle alone. Who does she talk to? What does she say? How does she handle this? Why had she lost her only family again?

Slowly, using a nearby table for support on the way, Makoto sat down. Wanting very much to be left alone she began to cry. At first it was slow and quiet but steadily grew into a sob. Not a loud obnoxious sob but just a painful cry of loss.

Despite the current conditions she couldn't ignore Makoto. Others could wait, right now her daughter was in pain and no matter what she was going to do her best to comfort her. They both likely needed it in all honesty. Waking up as someone else was not as easy thing to deal with. Thank god Estella's powers were not tied to emotions like her previous ones else the attack would not be the only damage dealt today.

On instinct she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Makoto tightly. It was something she had grown accustomed to doing when raising her over the last few years. Her trying to get away didn't prevent her from holding on. It represented a level of trust that no matter what she would not let her go. "It's alright. Let it out Makoto. I know this is not easy to wrestle with. I'm having trouble believing it myself." Reaching up with one hand she wiped away a tear of her own. How exactly were two people supposed to inhabit the same body? Coexistence could be difficult enough in the physical world. But in a mental state it was much more unknown.

"We'll figure something out." Having done the usual run of tests to be sure Harry was not in any immediate danger she wrote a few things down on a pad and looked around. There was still so much to do. One of which was finding a place for everyone to go. What little remained of the other structures would not be sufficient protection should the attack be followed up. There were not many options for them. Perhaps the government would be able to assist with that, as much as she hated being beholden to a talking head.

Speaking of someone new arrived. A young woman wearing a SHIELD uniform. Likely a agent sent by Fury to assess the security threat. While the head of SHIELD could be rather pushy he was someone she could trust. And anyone he sent wouldn't be there to harm them. Very soon they would need to talk.

Harry

When Kagerou was finished with him, Harry leaped off what he was sitting on. He pulled his hood over his eyes despite his glasses. "Thank you. I'm going to go see if I can be any use, finding any surviving students" He said, starting out the tent, knowing he wouldn't be much help, at least for a few days, but being outside was better then being in that tent with injured and medical staff.

He looked about, seeming to be at a lose when he took everything in.

You can't do anything, boy-o! it was like a cackle in his mind, and Harry growled, SHUT UP he closed his eyes tight, as if in concentration, before sighing heavily, and opening them again, pulling his hood down further.

There didn't seem to be anything he could do, but just to prove the damned voice wrong, he moved about, searching for anything he could do.

KATHERIN
@Caits
"That was sort of my point Phoebe. It doesn't matter if they are here or with their parents. Some of the super parents can protect them as well as we can, but not all of them have super parents. Some of these kids are first generation like my dad was. Their parents would just be cannon fodder. I don't think that spreading the damage is the best idea. We need to draw the fire away from the norms as much as possible. We need all the supers together." Katherin told her.

Flood looked over at Harry and smiled. "It's always good to see a student trying to help. But we've done all we can right now. All that's left is to simply clean up what's left." He told him with a small frown etched on his face. It quickly went away though to be an replaced by a look of curiousity. "What do you plan on doing now kid?" He asked never looking directly at him.

phoebe

Phoebe knew that this was true, yet it didnt make her feel better. Not one bit. She sighed softly, and nodded "I know. It doesn't mean I have to like it" she said softly, swallowing. Right then, all she wanted was Ryan, and Daniel. But she couldn't go to Daniel, couldn't risk it. She sighed again, looking over to see who was around

harry

Harry flinched as Flood spoke to him, glancing at him briefly and then away. He gave a shrug, "I don't know" he said, "I could go home, but then I might be putting my dad at risk. I could stay here, but I'd rather not have death memories. There isn't much I can do, really. To be honest, I was just here to find a way to...control my abilities. But super strength is easy to control, and mimicry is never that hard, really. It's just my,..other abolitiesl he shrugged "I don't know"

Given the state most of the students were in she stopped asking questions. Instead she began to walk around and spotted a couple heroes conversing away from the others. Phoebe Allen and Katherin Winter if she recalled from previous reports. During training she was required to read up on all the emerging heroes and villains. Making her way over she raised a hand briefly before getting within earshot. "Hello, I am Agent Tennor. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD to asses the situation. I would appreciate if you could tell me everything you know about the incident here." As one might expect the terminology was very impersonal. Such was usual when encountering an Agent.

@Caits

"If you're talking about your eye problem, just talk to S.H.I.E.L.D. about it. Or any rich person you know really. Cyclops got his glasses no problem, and I think shooting death beams out of your eyes uncontrollably is a tiny bit worse then whatever you have. You know how I know? You haven't hurt anyone by looking at them, that's how." Flood shrugged off any worrys Harry had brought up. He then thought about the living problem for a moment. He snapped his fingers and grinned. "I might have an idea." He pulled out his phone and looked through his contacts. "Ever heard of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters? Because I know they haven't been destroyed recently. I could probably get you in there. I'm pretty good friends with Logan. He almost tolerates me as a matter of fact! He only tried to kill me twice the last time we talked!" Flood began getting excited at the opportunity to talk to Logan again.

Phoebe

Phoebe looked to this Agent, staring at her, her expression blank, deliberately making it so. Phoebe didn't particularly like SHIELD agents. Part of her always thought they thought they were better then anyone else, that because they had SHIELD to back them up, they were better trained, better skilled.

"Why should we? For all we know, SHIELD ordered the destruction of the school" Phoebe said, that theory just dawning on her. While she knew SHIELD were happy for the school to be in existence, if SHIELD found it a threat, would they do this?

Maybe that was a question for Flood.

"In anycase, we don't know anything" Phoebe replied, before looking to Katherin, "Have you seen Makoto, do you know if she's here?" She asked, sure that their friend would be here, but Phoebe hadn't been looking for her, merely hunting her way to her fathers office.

Harry

"You haven't seen what my abilities does, to myself, and the person who I...imprint with. Imagine experiencing your whole life, memories, thoughts, feelings, in one go. Most just assume they...are confused for a few moments. Others are effected worse. And as for me...Every time I absorb someone else's...mind" he chose for lack of a better word, "I feel like I'm losing a little bit more of myself" Harry sighed softly, "Xavier was a teacher here. Or taught here. I don't know if he was in the school at the time of the attack. And I'd rather not immerse myself in another school. Tell me, would you just go to another school, another place, and hide, after this? Or would you aim to fight, to figure out what happened, and to help?" Harry looked over at Flood, meeting his eyes for exactly two seconds, before looking at a spot a few inches higher.

"I see... You're putting yourself in a difficult spot. You know that right?" Flood asked as he closed his phone. "Do you want revenge? Or do you want justice? Don't answer, just think about it. If you reach a solid answer call this number." Flood quickly listed off his phone number and looked at the sky. "I'm going to continue investigating the destruction of The Academy. Not because I liked it. But because people died here. Without me and everyone else you see around." He motioned to everyone else around the makeshift camp. "They will never get justice." Flood got up and looked at the nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "I gotta go Harry. Just make sure to remember that phone number." He walked over to the agent and smiled. " Hello there. Let me guess, S.H.I.E.L.D. sent you here to evaluate the situation and how bad cleanup is going to be, right? That or you came here to start recruiting since most students here don't have anyone else to go to. Stop me when I'm right." Flood looked somewhat pissed at the presence of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

@Caits
Katherin shook her head. "No I haven't seen her. I am sure if she has heard that she is here. She would probably be looking for Storm. She answered. She hadn't seen the older woman either. Had she survived the attack? They needed a list of survivors. She grabbed a notebook and started writing down the names she had seen.

SHIELD and the school haven't always been on the greatest of terms. At best they usually tolorated each other. The whole idea of a school built for the purpose of training heroes and villains seemed stupid to even her when she was sent here in the past. The facility was a powder keg and it was a wonder it lasted this long.

This however was a tragedy and June didn't take kindly to her organization being accused of terrorism. But she knew better than to just go off on them. Emotions were high and she wasn't there to start a fight. After a sew seconds of silence she sighed and shook her head, breaking the typical soldier motif. "Listen, I know we as a whole haven't always seen eye to eye. But SHIELD would not do something like this. There were innocent people in this program and if I thought for a second they were responsible all of you would be the first to know." Phoebe mentioned not knowing what happened and seemed to dismiss her. That was fine as someone else approached.

Turning her attention to Flood, June studied him for a moment. From what she knew and could remember of this guy he could be rather unstable. He seemed to have mellowed out though after getting into the hero gig with Stark. More insinuations were thrown at her. Though this time they were quite a bit more reasonable. "The first one. They wouldn't send me if they wanted to recruit newbies." Well so far she was very unwelcome here. June however wouldn't be intimidated and just stared back at the young man.

@t2wave
Flood relaxed and rubbed his temples. "Glad to see a SHIELD agent is being honest for once. Sorry I got a little in your face about that. This whole thing is just stressful. If The Academy had been destroyed any other way, I would be celebrating right now. But this... this is horrifying." He looked at the rubble with a hope that he was hallucinating and everything would be fine. But it was still rubble and people were still dead. " Not sure if you knew this agent, but I was with SHIELD for a bit of time. Didn't turn out well for me. A little too structured ya know?" Flood looked at the sky and shook his head. "I'm rambling though. What do you need Ms..." Flood trailed off not knowing her name.

Following Floods gaze at the rubble she couldn't help but agree. She did know of his short work with SHIELD but didn't say anything about it. When he asked for a name she smiled slightly. She did enjoy hearing her own name even when she was the one saying it. "Tennor, June Tennor. My story is kind of opposite. I attended the academy briefly before getting involved with SHIELD. I didn't have a name at the time. People called me 533 at the time."

Now she was the one rambling. It wasn't something she did often and she caught herself. "Like I said earlier, I'm assessing the situation. SHIELD wants to know what happened so we can prevent it from ever happening again." Glancing at the medical tent she wondered if she should call in. They could provide a secure facility for everyone to stay while everything was sorted out.

harry

Harry took the number, and not glancing at it, shoved it into a pocket. He looked over the destruction, eyes grave. He sighed, looking over To where there seemed to be a group forming.

He over hesrd what was being said, and he spoke up softly "you can't prevent things like this happenings. As long as people want power, they will display their skills like this" he looked down at the ground, not looking at any of them after a quick glance. "s.H.i.e.l.d has a curious way of being in places just that little bit too late to stop things happening. And typically, those that aren't shield agents but 'meta humans' brought together by SHIELD, battle and get justice"

He shrugged, "this school was something special. If those that wanted to hurt meta's and those with special abilities, they have hit the heart of our community. I was raised to stand up for my beliefs, for those I care about, and yes, to follow orders. The students will want to fight too" he stepped closer, swallowing "and
You won't be able to tell them not to."

phoebe

Hadnt Phoebe seem that Storm didn't survive? She winced, and began to look for Mokato, "I'll see if I can find her" she said softly, wondering where she would be, or even if she could do anything.

All Phoebe wanted was to just find a quite area and let herself feel. But she couldn't, not while people were suffering. "Mokato!"'she called