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Andy was surprised that the teacher didn't know them. Part of her was thankful for it. She raised her hand as Zari drew attention to them. "I'm not surprised you scared him. Your power would have been perfect for that situation. If he had let you into the Framework you would have beaten him in moments." She agreed.

"And yeah I don't blame her at all. Hell I know I've done things under external control. I am not happy about it, but I don't blame myself for it. Also, if she hadn't killed me in there I wouldn't have gotten out and gotten your help. We would have been in there longer. If it had been someone else they probably wouldn't have woken back up either." She shrugged. "I guess I should tell her that so she stops blaming herself so much. I told her, just before you came into the meeting, that I didn't blame her. I don't think she took it to heart though."

Now they had to wait for the all clear so they could go back into the building. There were a bunch of students milling about waiting. Some had just come out of the building and were making a fuss. Andy looked over and saw that it was the Wonder Trio plus their friends. Part of her wished she had gotten a better start with them. She was glad her and Dorian had worked through it and watched the movie together. However, the others still felt like they hated her. Leah was cool and Andy would love to be her friend. That group was so tangled up in their relationships though it was difficult. Andy knew she'd always feel like an outsider. At least she had Zari.

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Victoria forced herself to stop feeling and think. Agonizing over her family situation would not solve it. Either Cassandra would show up or not, and she can act then. And in the meantime, she needed to focus on what was more immediate needs.[br][br]"Pleased to meet you. Ms. Thompson, I already had a therapist, and although it wasn't working much, it might be a good start for whoever takes my case. Here is the address." she showed them the route on her phone, "If we can swing by or otherwise arrange for my documentation to be picked up?" shw proposed, hoping that whoever saw to her would be available soon.

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Dr. Maeve Whitehall took off her glasses and cleaned them as the file lay in front of her. She put them on and resumed reading. She had a full caseload and another one tomorrow before the sweet release of one day of nothing where she could lean back on her new sofa with a good book and a glass of rosé.

Today, though, she had to be on.

Percy Novikov. By the accounts listed, he was egotistical and thought rather highly of himself. Powers include being able to read and understand multiple languages and temporal teleportation.

In her dissertation, she highlighted the connection between a super’s powers and their mental health struggles. This was, of course, outside of the routine trauma they experienced on an almost daily basis. Someone with super strength, say, often struggled with things they could not “hold” as an example. Strong enough to lift a building but not strong enough to process a death in the family.

Maeve closed the file and shut her eyes for a moment. When she got the call from Coulson, after hearing the scuttlebutt around the school regarding the recent events of Arcade, she expected to be rather busy.

These kids would not make it easy.

_____________________________________________________

When Percy walked into the office he would see it was set up with a couch and two armchairs, both in a dark green color with white accented pillows. The table in front of the seating area was dark wood with a few books on it. Some spoke in therapy terms and others included classical literature. There were two cups, empty, and a carafe of coffee.

Some pictures depicting various Greek mythological scenes were on the walls. Maeve’s degrees were also hung on the walls. A window showed the weather outside as calm, with the sun shining.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs. ”Hello Percy. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall if you prefer. Please, have a seat where you feel comfortable.”

Percy hesitated on the threshold for a moment, taking in the room. He had not been to therapy before. His expectations for what a therapist’s office should look like came almost solely from books - and perhaps the occasional movie, although he did not watch as many as his boyfriend, Dorian, did. For the most part, the office was as he had assumed it would be, with the exception of the decor on the walls.

“Narcissus,” he noted, cracking a dry smile. He saw Theseus and the Minotaur as well depicted, alongside Pandora. His eyes lingered on the art, before he - somewhat stiffly - took a seat in the second armchair, his posture straight. He didn’t say anything else, uncertain as to how to proceed.

Maeve waited patiently as Percy explored the art in the room. ”Let me know if I need to change anything in here to make you more comfortable. I went in with a basic understanding of some of the things you like, but a piece of paper doesn’t tell me who the real person in front of me is.”

Maeve gestured towards the coffee. ”Also please, help yourself. I know I, personally, am on my third cup of the day. Helps keep me sane. Don’t tell my boss!” She hoped the joke eased things a little.

”Let me first state that, while Coulson may have made it clear that this is mandatory, I am not obligated to hold you here. You can leave whenever you wish. What we talk about here stays in this room, that’s called confidentiality. I will not share anything with Coulson or whoever unless you give me permission. There are some stipulations to confidentiality though that, if they were to occur, I may have to break it - those being if you want to seriously hurt yourself or someone else, if there is any child or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the authorities reuqest my records, though that is a grey area and I would fight them on it. Apart from that, this is your space, your time, and we can go at whatever pace you wish.”

“So, do you have any initial questions for me before we get started?”

His eyes narrowed slightly as Maeve mentioned that she had picked the decor just for him, that there were details about him on a piece of paper. He should have expected that, he supposed, but it didn’t make him any the more comfortable about it. Percy prided himself on his privacy. Had Coulson provided a list of facts about him to Maeve? Had he mentioned how Percy had attacked Ser Nemo with an axe during the audition? Or maybe his mothers had written to her, telling her to entice him with mythological scenes?

No, it couldn’t have been his mothers - none of the scenes on the walls were his favorites. So Coulson was the culprit then.

Percy didn’t reach for the coffee, instead crossing his arms. “I do. What else did they tell you about me?”

Maeve felt the shift. She expected it. Honestly was best. ”Honestly? Not much. I only have a basic understanding of what powers you have as well as other notes on observed interests, but even then I only get a generalization so I have to make do with what’s offered to me. As I said, I can change anything in here, even the entire room if that will help. Even a tiny bit.”

“But honestly, this is your space. Talk to me, don’t talk to me, I can’t make you do anything you do not want to do. But there’s something to be said about having a space of your own to decide what goes on. I don’t think many people realize therapy offers choice and power, to an extent. I may be the therapist, but this isn’t supposed to be a one-sided fight and I can understand if it feels like it. So, please, inform me if I stumble or mess up along the way.”

He considered her for a moment, before loosening some of the tension in his shoulders - his arms still crossed, his back stiff, but ever so slightly relaxed. “No. The room is fine,” he said. Percy then paused for a moment. The lack of guidance in this conversation was… not what he expected. He didn’t know what to speak about, because he didn’t believe that he needed to be here. However, it was one of the conditions of remaining at the academy, so he was fulfilling it.

If anything, he was more tempted to use the quiet to read - but that would likely be seen as a slight against the doctor, someone who had invested time and energy into her education in order to help others. So instead, Percy sat there, uncertain what to do - what to say. “You can ask your questions.”

Maeve nodded, ”All right, let me start with a simple question. How are you feeling today?” Maeve noted the shift in posture again. Good. He still maintained the cross-armed gesture, as if to block out anyone coming inside without his say so. A defiant “I dare you to try” motion. She had seen it before. She also did not blame him. He was, at least, trying. Whether for fear of getting booted (of which she would chew Coulson out later) or genuine interest in what she was here for, she did not know, but could guess.

“Fine,” he answered curtly. It had been a nice day, so far. He had spent time in the library reading, and was looking forward to seeing Dorian later. He had finished a deep clean of his dorm room as well, and freshly reorganized his belongings. There were no classes for him to attend, but he continued to do so for the ones that interested him - such as Nemo’s time travel course and his classics studies.

”That’s good. I heard that your classes have been given passes for all the work you and your classmates did with Arcade. That must take some pressure off and gives you some more freetime. What sorts of thing do you like to do in your freetime?”

It was strange, talking to Maeve - Percy couldn’t quite decide if he enjoyed it or not. There were moments where it almost felt like one of those quizzes Dorian showed him from time to time, where selecting one answer would tell him which Avenger he was - but in others, it was more like being under a microscope, aware that the scientist was searching for something, but not knowing what. Of course, he knew the point of this was to assess his mental health - but he was fine. He would know if he was mentally ill.

”I enjoy reading - primarily ancient texts. The Odyssey reads differently in the original ancient Greek. It doesn’t really compare to any modern translation, I’ve found,” Percy mused. ”I also spend time with Dorian, my boyfriend. He confuses me.”

Maeve smiled warmly. ”Ah yes, the Odyssey. A fantastic read, though I have not read the original Greek. You’ll have to share with me how that differs from the translations. I am glad you have someone like Dorian with you. How does he confuse you?”

Percy nodded. He had been meaning to try to create his own translation of it, as a practice to translate into a way another would understand. He made a mental note to show it to Maeve, if and when he finished.

As to how Dorian confused him… it was probably more accurate if Percy had said that most people confused him, with Dorian being the most confusing of them all. ”He says things sometimes that don’t quite make sense - like he thought I was Irish for a moment, when I offered him his choice of coffee or alcohol. He also carries himself oddly - most people do, I think, but I notice it more with him. It’s like he operates on a different wavelength.”

Maeve smiled knowingly. ”Yes, people can often astound me too in what they do. I think that makes the human experience a tough more colorful though. Everyone has different experiences that show up in those moments. How a person carries themselves, sure. How they react to different situations. Who they include in their life and why. It’s fascinating.”

“So through all of what happened with Arcade, was Dorian someone you looked to? To check in on or to see how he was handling everything? In situations like that people tend to seek out those closest to them, if for no other reason than comfort, but it is a defense mechanism too. Sometimes we seek out how other people react so we know we are reacting accordingly.”

Percy frowned for a moment, recalling everything that had happened with Arcade. For the most part, he had been separated from Dorian. Arcade had placed him in simulations with Danni, Diana, Leah, and Mads. And he had hardly been inspired by the actions his fellow students had taken. For instance, a fake Chi Mai had threatened to kill them all - and the others had been shocked when Percy handled it. But why wouldn’t he do that? He didn’t understand why the others had been so surprised.

”No. He wasn’t there. I was with my sister,” Percy explained. ”My group was rather incompetent - but so was Arcade, and he designed the pairings. But if you mean after things had ended, Dorian’s parents took him home to New Orleans that evening, while my mothers collected my sister and I not too long after.” He was still irritated with Diana - not for her actions with Arcade, but for what she did the first day back at school following break.

”That had to be intense. I do not know what all happened inside but considering what happened after I can only imagine what you all went through. How do you feel about how Arcade is being handled, if you do not mind me asking? I believe he is getting treatment but is still facing some consequences.”

Почему он тебе нравится как твой парень после того, как Аркейд пытался нас убить?

Percy paused for a moment, recalling the immediate aftermath - his chest ached a bit as he recalled the memory. He hadn’t thought about this too much - he’d shoved it aside, getting on with his life. That was what heroes do. But for a moment, it was like he was there again - feeling the relief swelling in his body as his moms showed up, hearing Dorian nobly plea for compassion for Arcade, and his sister’s harsh criticism. It was in this moment of reflection that it really clicked for him. Diana didn’t like his boyfriend. The realization stunned him for a moment. He hadn’t expected to actually put anything together in therapy. And yes, it was petty and small and not some groundbreaking discovery, but… There it was.

”I don’t particularly care what Arcade does, as long as he doesn’t come near any of us again,” Percy said succinctly. ”He can rot in prison, they can execute him, he can be reformed via experimental telepathy - as long as he doesn’t come near any of us again.”

He frowned. ”It just occurred to me, when we caught Arcade, Dorian was advocating for someone to get him help, to reform him - and my sister asked me how I could stand to have him as my boyfriend. A few days ago, she teleported into Dorian’s room when we were about to have sex. Afterwards, instead of apologizing, she compared him to the Slimer from Ghostbusters… I think she hates him.”

”How does that make you feel regarding your sister and your boyfriend?” Maeve let the sex comment slide. She was not Percy’s parent or caregiver. What he did in his own time with his own boyfriend was his and his alone. She had recalled parents before hearing that their children told her that they were doing something similar and getting upset with her. When Maeve pointed out that, perhaps if they had been more involved with their children, then their children would have come to them first, they were naturally quiet.

Angry. Frustrated. Betrayed. Confused.

”It doesn’t make sense to me that she would dislike him,” Percy said instead, skirting the question somewhat. ”Yes, he can be infuriating at first - and extremely annoying and insufferable, acting as if he and his friends can do no wrong - but he’s a good person. He’s thoughtful and amusing and charming. He’s beautiful. So why would anyone dislike him, much less my sister?”

He huffed slightly, getting more agitated the more he thought about this. He found people confusing. But he thought he understood Diana.

”Well I cannot speak for others, but people like and dislike people for varying reasons; some easily explained and some less so. I would encourage speaking to your sister about it, without Dorian present. I recognize that conversation can be awkward, unpleasant, or feel silly or pointless, but you are struggling with having two people in your life, two people you care about, and the dynamic between them being terse and tense. That’s something that can be addressed and the only way to do that is with communication.”

Maeve glanced at her watch. ”I believe this is the time to call it. As I said at the beginning this can be a one and done or we can continue. I would very much like to see you again Percy, but even if you do decide you are done after this my door is open to you whenever. Please, take my card and think about it, at least.”

Maeve pulled out one of her cards and handed it to Percy.

Percy took the card, studying the text for a moment, before he slipped it into his pocket. ”I’ll consider it. Thank you, Dr. Whitehall, for your time,” he said politely, before standing from his seat. He had no intention of coming back here. The experience hadn’t been uncomfortable or strange, but he just didn’t feel that he needed it. Maybe one day he would - but for now, the biggest problem in his life was his sister’s feelings about his boyfriend.

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April would find herself in her own room at C.A.G.E. The room itself was as cozy as any room in a hospital setting could be with warm colors. April would have her own queen-sized bed, TV, and bathroom. Each room had power dampeners in it and they could be felt. There was a security camera in the main room that was on but could be turned off by staff for 15-minute increments.

Dr. Maeve Whitehall had finished a group counseling session as she made her way to the second floor to see April. She had read up on her file as well as Coulson’s additional notes on why he suggested April be petitioned here. Maeve had agreed that it would be best. April, on paper, seemed fine though there were underlying concerns. Nothing noteworthy and nothing that required additional security measures, but a standard therapy setting wasn’t going to cut it.

April would have been brought here, either voluntarily or not. Maeve was not made aware of that. Hopefully April would be open to discussing it.

Maeve knocked on the door to April’s room and entered. ”Hello April. I am Dr. Maeve Whitehall. I am a clinical therapist here at C.A.G.E. I imagine you have some questions or concerns which I am happy to address. Before we get started, can you tell me how you are feeling or if you are in any pain?”

April hadn’t been having the best of evenings. She had felt fine that morning - terrific, even, filled with energy and motivation - she’d had fun with her girlfriends, grabbed lunch with her besties, and had even spent some time soaking up a bit of winter sun. By the evening though, it was like a switch had flipped in her brain - all of that energy and excitement and joy had soured, turning into something more crippling, an incessant voice in her head reminding her that she was worthless, that she was unloved, that she would never amount to anything worthwhile - that if she became anything at all, it would be as a villain. Not as a hero.

The sorrow had been unbearable, an intense pressure weighing down on her, making it hard to breathe. In her frantic attempt to regain some control, she had gone to the school’s gym, sneaking into the pool. It was after hours, but April knew which door had a bad lock - she came here often when she was stressed, staring into the water - imagining what it would be like to let herself go and vanish beneath its surface. She’d left her phone behind in her dorm room, not a conscious decision to hide from the others, but one to that end nonetheless. Breathing hadn’t come easier at the pool, however - if anything, it was even harder, each inhale like choking down blood.

And as she stared at her reflection in the water, April hadn’t recognized the person looking back at her.

The person wore her face, yes. Her blue eyes, her dirty blonde hair, her glasses - she’d run out of contact solution earlier that day, and she hadn’t found a good moment to go get more. Her clothes, too - comfy sweats and a t-shirt, as she didn’t have to attend classes and wear the uniform anymore. Her skin, lightly freckled in spots with a bit of acne poking through.

But was it her? April didn’t know. It felt more like a mask she wore - a mask to hide something dark and growing within.

She’d been about to inhale a lungful of water when Headmaster Coulson came, alongside Ser Nemo and some others April hadn’t recognized. Her memory of what happened next was blurry, fuzzy - she’d been taken from the school, brought to this facility, without any real understanding of what was happening to her - maybe someone had said something, maybe they hadn’t. All she remembered was sitting in the back of an ambulance, hugging her knees to her chest, and thinking about how everything was so wrong - that none of this was how it was supposed to be.

Once at the facility, the fog that had overtaken her during the ride there had only increased, only spread. She couldn’t sense the water around her - couldn’t feel it gushing through the pipes, roaring through the building. It was like losing one of her primary senses - not being able to see or touch or hear or taste or smell - like losing a limb. April had heard about power dampening devices before - knew the cruelty they’d been used for against mutants… against people like her. But it was different to experience it for the first time - to feel the loss of something so intrinsic to herself.

A small part of her wondered if perhaps her grandfather had been right.

By the time the door opened to her room, April had shut herself in the bathroom, hugging her knees to her chest in the bathtub, fully dressed. The door was closed, but it didn’t lock. She had cried her eyes out, terrified and afraid - of herself, and of this place.

Did Dani and Dorian know where she was? Did her parents? Did Sabine and Leah? Did Mads? Her sister?

”I-I’m fine!” April pleaded, not making a move to leave the tub. ”There’s been some sort of, um, misunderstanding - I th-think. I’m - I’m not supposed to be here. My parents are SHIELD agents, they’re going to come and get me. I don’t know what the school thinks is going on, but I’m totally fine! I’m not… I’m not crazy, I promise. I’m not like - I’m not like the Scarlet Witch or Polaris or Quicksilver or Magneto - I’m - I’m just an ordinary girl. Can I leave now? Are my parents here yet? I think I would feel so much better if I just got to go home a-a-and maybe watch TV with my friends, I’m not… I’m not supposed to be here!”

Maeve expected this. Was prepared for it, though it never got easier. While some came willingly to C.A.G.E, others needed to be brought in, usually against their will.

”April, you and I both know you are not fine. And that isn’t a bad thing. I know it's cliche, but it is okay not to be okay. But you have to admit there’s something wrong if you have any desire to want to be better.”

Maeve moved one of the chairs closer to the door. ”Your parents have been made aware of your committal here. You can see them if you like. Your friends may or may not know. If you want we can inform them. You are allowed visitors during your stay here. Which is not going to be permanent, provided you help me out. So, can we please leave the bathroom and talk out here? We can even go somewhere else and talk, if you want. They have some good snacks in the cafeteria if you’re hungry.”

Admitting something was wrong with her, though… that was something April never wanted to do. It was a point of no return, a line crossed. If she admitted there was something wrong with her, then there would be something wrong with her. Denying it was easier, safer - denying it meant that it didn’t have to be real, that this familial curse didn’t have to be hers. She knew what her perfect life looked like - knew everything she wanted to accomplish, everything she wanted to achieve - she knew the exact sort of person she saw herself as in the next ten years. And this wasn’t part of that story. She didn’t want this to be her story.

She wanted to go home. She wanted to wake up and for all of this to be a bad dream. But.. it wasn’t a dream. It was real. She bit her lip, staying silent for several beats, before she swallowed, nodding slightly. The only way to convince them that she wasn’t crazy was to leave this room - to show them that they’d made a mistake.

But… as much as she wanted to deny it fully, she couldn’t. April knew, deep down, that she needed help.

She knew it was getting worse.

If this had been one of her friends, she would want them to get help. But it was so hard to say the words, so hard to admit it for herself.

Slowly, April stood up out of the tub, and nudged the bathroom door open with her toe. ”C-can… Can you tell Danni and Dorian?” she asked, avoiding eye contact. And the next request fell from her lips before she could even consider it, a request that surprised even April: ”And um… If my parents come to visit… Do I have to see them? I don’t… I don’t think I want to. N-n-not like this.” She then dried her eyes on the back of her sleeve, still trembling, still tempted to go back and hide.

”I won’t lie to you April. You do not have to see your parents if you do not want to, but as they are your legal guardians we do have to inform them of some of the things going on. That is more for decisions impacting your overall health though. When it comes to conversations like this and future ones, there is privacy. Confidentiality. Even within these walls I am obligated to ensure what we discuss stays between us. I can also inform Danni and Dorian if you would like. I am sure they would like to know where you are and how you are doing. Support like that is as good as any medicine.”

“So, April, can we talk a bit longer then? Do I have your permission to continue.” Maeve glanced up at where the camera was. ”I can also stop the camera from recording us if that would make it easier for you.”

April nodded. She didn’t know why, exactly, she didn’t want to see her parents here - maybe it was shame, fear that they’d be disappointed in her. She knew her mom had been in a place like this before, but her mom had never shared the details - had always changed the subject and avoided talking about those things. The only time mental health was really discussed was in relation to them - the famous villains in the family tree.

People that Danni and Dori didn’t see as villains.

”S-sure, we c-can talk about… about what, ex-exactly?” she stammered, still avoiding eye contact - still looking at everything that wasn’t the therapist. ”Th-th-there’s cameras?

Maeve nodded and stood up. She walked over to a small control panel by the door. She imputed a code and pushed a few buttons before she turned back to April and sat back down. ”There are cameras. For your security, purely, and the safety of everyone within these walls. But as we like to ensure moments like this are private we are, within our discretion, allowed to turn them off. I put it on an hour pause.”

“As for what we can talk about, let’s start with who you are April. I only know a brief bit about you, but perhaps you can tell me more about what makes you you. Or even talk to me about Doran and Danni. They must be very important if you are allowing them to visit compared to your parents.”

April shifted uncomfortably, holding her left arm with her right. She didn’t know if she should keep on standing, or if she ought to sit down - both options seemed wrong. And the question from Maeve, too, it surprised her. She thought Maeve would ask something like why are you crazy? or tell me about your childhood trauma (not that April really felt like she had any). Her family was her family. At the end of the day, they were mostly boring, the small house in the suburbs of Washington DC suffocating every time she had to return to it.

”Um… I…” April bit her lip. Why was this suddenly so hard? She’d talked about herself before - the teachers made them do icebreakers on the first day of class, and she was bubbly, sociable. But the thought of talking about herself to Maeve just made her heart pound faster and faster, like she was taking a quiz and didn’t know any of the answers. ”I-I like to read… and crochet things for my friends… A-and go surfing and hang out at the beach and stuff, c-c-cause I can kinda feel the water vibrating and it’s like one of those spider massage things for your head. I-I really like it at my school - it’s fun, most of the time, and th-that’s how I got to meet Danni and Dori - Danni and I had a class together as freshman, he almost set me on fire but I almost soaked him so it was, like, fair. And then we just kept on hanging out, him and Dori and me, a-and… they’re like brothers to me, y’know? I’m not really close with my sister, she’s really quiet and closed off and just shuts herself in her room, and our parents are super busy, so I would always leave the house and stay out as late as I could before curfew just to like - just to like do something a-and finding Danni and Dori was really great, because they’re so much fun a-and they always know what to do or say if I’m sad a-and they have all these cool stories from trips they go on with their family, Dorian’s dad is like a wizard, so they go to loads of cool places - my dad never lets me go with them though, he’s kinda protective that way - b-but at least I get to see them at school and we finally got through to the Contest of Champions but they aren’t on my team - or they might be they’re changing because of Arcade - but that really really sucked. L-like I wish I could have been on a team with them. Instead my sister got to be on their team and she’s a freshman and it really really sucks to see her get to do things with my friends but…I-is that what you wanted to know?”

Maeve nodded. ”Thank you for sharing April.” Maeve was a bit taken aback at the sheer volume of things April shared, compared to how they started this session. Maeve noted the comment about her sister and parents and could feel the emotions rising off of April. That was a tough subject. She would leave it alone for now.

”That does bring me to another point. The whole situation with Arcade. I know a bit about it, but from what I do know it must have been scary. How did you handle all of that?”

April shifted her weight again. She hadn’t really talked with anyone about what had happened with Arcade - about how she had stupidly put herself and others in danger, just to get some extra practice time in for the contest. They were extremely lucky no one had died - well, someone had died… She flinched, as the vivid memory of Andy dying by Vicky’s hand in the Legend of Zelda game came rushing back to her. And then each time they had ‘lost a life’ in the game, it had felt like agony - the pain had coursed through their bodies, as if they really were dying in that moment. April’s breathing sped up, shaky and unstable as more images, more memories flashed through her mind. The aftermath had been terrible too, Zelda had set her off, a full blown panic attack skyrocketing out of control due to a simple comment, not even one directed at her but rather at Arcade - she hadn’t been able to control her powers, she’d hurt her friends - if it hadn’t been for the Scarlet Witch some of them would have bled out.

Her jaw trembled as the haunting figure from the haunted house returned to her - the psychotic villain that April dreaded she would become. She hadn’t slept much over Thanksgiving break, because every time she closed her eyes, all of that would play over and over again. The deaths of everyone she knew and cared about. The time travel of it all didn’t even begin to factor into it - April didn’t remember a different timeline being erased. But she did remember Arcade nearly slaughtering them all. She remembered her fear. Her body had kept score.

April shook her head vehemently.

She couldn’t breathe she couldn’t breathe she couldn’t breathe.
Maeve moved quickly. She had seen panic attacks before; hell she had a few of them herself. She quickly grabbed both of April’s wrists and moved them in-between her legs. ”April, you are having a panic attack. I need you to lower your head down and take deep breaths. I am going to count to 5 and I want you to inhale for that long, then exhale for 5 as well, ok? You are safe. I’m going to start now. 1….2…..3…..4….5.” She moved her hands, keeping one on April’s shoulder as she faced the girl. Once April breathed in, Maeve counted back from 5. ”Keep this up April, you’re doing good. You are safe, I promise.”

April had no problem moving her head down - all she wanted in that moment was to curl into the tightest little ball imaginable. Her heart felt like it was going to explode, it was beating so quickly it was almost painful. It was a struggle to breathe in for five counts - somehow more challenging than running a marathon, it seemed - as she could just barely make it to three before she felt like her chest was about to burst, that she just needed to get more air in. Gods, she just wanted to be home at school - her mind flickered briefly to the school pool, where she had almost tried to drown herself the night before - and as horrible as it was, at least it would have made things stop. It wasn’t an easy process, but slowly she managed to inhale a little longer through her nose, exhaling a little longer through her mouth - she had no idea how much time had passed, maybe minutes or maybe hours, until the pounding in her chest felt like it had subsided slightly, and the ringing in her ears diminished. ”S-s-s-sorry,” April squeaked out, once she’d found her voice again. ”C-can we not talk about th-that? Th-the Arcade stuff?”

”That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it now.” Panic attacks were often spontaneous and without warning. Anxiety attacks often had triggers. Once things calmed down, Maeve thought about it. ”I was wrong, also. It was an anxiety attack, not a panic attack. Similar, but I want to make sure I have it right. Does that happen often April?”

She really wanted to say no. April wanted to say that it never happened, that she was perfectly fine, and stuff like this just didn’t happen to her - that it was a fluke, a one-off. But it would have been a lie and she knew it. As much as she tried to pretend that everything was okay with her, that there wasn’t anything wrong, things like this did happen a lot. They happened more over the summers, but still occurred when she was in California for school. Less if Danni and Dorian were around, or her friends or girlfriends. But they happened. ”Y-yeah, um. I-it does. I - I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” April admitted softly, her eyes looking at the floor. ”I-I shouldn’t be like this. M-my life is fine, it’s great, I-I love my school, my friends. M-my girlfriends are so kind and sweet. I-I don’t have any, like, great big traumatic backstory elements to drop. So… I-I don’t kn-know.”

Maeve figured it was something like this. The writing was on the wall and she didn’t need to sense April’s emotions to figure it out. She debated how to play this.

Once she was satisfied April’s breathing was calmer and she was doing better, Maeve scooted herself back into her seat. ”April, can you look at me please?” She would wait until the girl looked up, not necessarily into her eyes, but close to it. ”There is nothing wrong with having anxiety attacks. It doesn’t make you weak, it doesn’t mean you are a bad person. It doesn’t mean you aren’t happy or that things in your life are all terrible. Lots of people experience them and it is normal. April, you are not all right and that is not a bad thing and it doesn’t make you a failure and I am sorry if you were ever made to feel otherwise. But from this point on I want you to try, to strongly try to think otherwise. If you have to remind yourself daily, then do so. Until then, I will remind you.”

“Oh and I am no longer accepting apologies for things you should not be apologizing for. Starting now.” Maeve’s words were light and warm. Sometimes clients needed a hard dose of reality, but it didn’t mean you couldn’t inject some heart into it.

It took a moment for April to raise her eyes, and make eye contact with Maeve. Somehow, even just that simple act was incredibly hard for her - like looking at the doctor in the eyes just made everything that was going on all the more real. Hearing what Dr. Whitehall had to say was even harder - it shouldn’t have been, she was saying it all with compassion and April knew that it was true, knew that it was right. It’s what she would have told her friends if they had said this to her, but for some reason, applying that same logic to herself was so much harder. Hell, she even knew her mother had been in a place like this before after her first husband passed away, and it didn’t make her mother any lesser to have needed help. So why couldn’t she apply it to herself? Why was there just this mental block in the way? Where did this need to be perfectly fine and not a bother to anyone else or an inconvenience because of her emotions come from?

”I… I’ll try,” April promised. ”A-a-and sorry - I’ll - agh, sorry, ugh, I will stop apologizing. Starting right now. I mean it. Sorry. Shit. Sorry! Can I swear here?”

Maeve let out a loud, uproarious laughter. ”Yes April, you can swear. I won’t tell anyone. In fact…” Maeve turned to the camera that was still off. ”Fuck you!”

She turned back to April. ”Well, I think we can call it here. I’ll let you get settled. They should be serving dinner soon if you want. I think it’s pizza today. And not that high school cardboard kind, no we sprang for the good stuff.”

“Also April, maybe get to know some of the other kids here. You might be surprised how similar you are to them. I know they would love to meet you. And I’ll let Danni and Dorian know you’re here. But if you need me, just ring for one of the nurses and they’ll come grab me, okay?”

April was completely shocked for a moment, seeing a grown-up with a professional, important job that required years of study turn to the camera and curse. She’d never seen an important, professional adult swear before. None of her teachers swore. Her parents didn’t swear in front of her. Her grandparents (her mom’s parents, of course) didn’t swear in front of her. But as soon as the shock registered, it quickly turned into an honest giggle. ”... Thank you, Dr. Whitehall.” She had a feeling she was going to really like Maeve - and for a brief moment, being here didn’t seem too bad.

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Dr. Maeve Whitehall looked at the new folder on her desk. Sabine Bassard. Powers included memory alteration, psychometry, and memory enhancement. It was also noted that Sabine was the one to ultimately change Arcade. Other than that, standard faire.

Maeve closed the file and pondered how to approach the girl. She would be one of few clients assigned that had her guard up.

____________________________________

Sabine entered the office at the designated time, albeit a few minutes late. She hated this. Therapy was bad enough, but mandated was worse than that.

The office was filled with white walls accented with gold spirals and flecks. In the middle was a seating area with white, leather chairs and a light gold sofa. On the table had some magazines and some books, therapy related as well as fashion material. The rug underneath was gold as well. Pictures hung on the wall of, what she assumed was, the therapist and her family. The desk was organized and had some knickknacks on it.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs and looked up as Sabine entered. "Hello Sabine. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall, but please call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. Please, take a seat where you want. And let me know if the room is to your liking. I can change it as needed."

Sabine walked forward and took a seat on the sofa. She stared hard at Maeve. "Dr. Whitehall, if you don't mind. We aren't on a first-name basis." Sabine chided herself being so rude at the start, but the entire room made her itchy. "And the office looks...fine. A bit on the nose though."

Maeve tilted her head slgithyl. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well it's clear you decorated it how I might like it. It looks fine, honestly."

Maeve nodded. "I'll admit I did tailor it, but only to make you feel more comfortable. I can change it as needed though." Maeve signaled this by altering the colors on the wall, now a mix of pink, blue, and silver. The color of the chairs and rug changed too. "That's my mutant power though. That and emotional empathy. So, Ms. Bassard, have you been in therapy before?"

Sabine watched as the good doctor changed the room like nothing. Sabine had to admit it was pretty cool, though she would never admit it. "Impressive." Sabine hesitated, briefly, at the next question. "Why, is that not in my folder?"

"It isn't, but even then I try not to know too much about the people I work with when I first see them. I want to hear from you."

"Well then, yes, I have been in therapy before."

Maeve nodded, "Good, then you are aware of confidentiality. I'll remind you that what we talk about in this room stays in this room unless you give me permission to. Also there are some other rules that, if they pertain, may mean I need to break confidentiality. Those include if you want to hurt yourself or someone else, if there is child or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the police get involved and even then I would fight them on it. Does that make sense?"

Sabine listened. She heard the spiel before and knew that information like what happened in therapy wasn't fully private. Her last therapist proved that. "Yeah, makes sense."

"Good, then let's get into it. How are you feeling about all of this? Being in therapy after recent events?"

Sabine shook her head slightly, "Well being forced to be here sucks, if I am being honest. Nothing against you, I'm sure you're great, but I don't really enjoy being forced to talk about myself if I do not want to."

Maeve held her hands up. "Well, I am sorry to hear that, but while I know Coulson recommended this, you do not have to stay if you do not want to. It won't be held against you. But if you do stick around I would like to talk more with you, see if we can come to an understanding of sorts. You don't even have to continue sessions after this if you do not want to. But since you are here, why not use this time?"

Sabine gave it some thought. She didn't fully trust this doctor. But she was here, so she may as well stick around. "Fine. You asked about how I felt? Lousy. The thing with Arcade was horrible. Hearing I technically died and have it played out so nonchalantly messes you up. So yeah, it sucked."

Maeve nodded and wrote something down. "Yes, I know what happened for the most part. I am sorry you and your friends went through that. What did you mean about how it was played out nonchalantly?"

"Well we were brought back to life, but Nemo made it seem so...cold. Like he didn't really care about us but more that the time field or whatever was out of whack now and other realities. Honestly, I tuned him out after that."

"Yes, Nemo doesn't have the most tact, though I do believe he cares. He just shows it a different way. I also heard that it was thanks to you that Arcade changed his ways and is getting help. How are you handling that?"

Sabine shrugged. "I'm glad he's getting help, I guess. It's weird how he went from being homicidal to remorseful, I don't know how I feel about having that power."

"I imagine that can be stressful, being responsible for that much change in a person. How are you handling the pressure of that on top of the other things going on like the contest?"

Sabine took a breath, but it hitched a bit. She instinctively grabbed her wrist. "It's fine. Comes with the territory of being a teenager and a superhero."

Maeve glanced down briefly before returning her eye contact. "Your anxiety spiked up heavily there when you grabbed your wrist. Are you feeling okay Sab-...Ms. Bassard?"

Sabine felt heat rise to her cheeks. How dare she read her without permission! Sabine let go of her wrist, "It's fine! I'm fine, it doesn't mean anything." Especially given the whole confidentiality speech, Sabine didn't want to bring it up.

"It's all right if you aren't feeling fine though. You all are, understandably, under a lot of pressure on top of dealing with the trauma of being attacked and killed. Lots of people wouldn't be so good about it. Pardon me for being so basic about it, but it is okay to not be okay. Even for brief moments."

Sabine rolled her eyes. "Right, should stitch that on a pillow." Sabine took a few deep breaths before she continued. "I'm doing okay compared to the others. Seems like everyone is either falling apart or holding it together for everyone else's sake, but I know if I do then others would follow, so I can't lose it."

"That's a lot of pressure to be adding to yourself. It sounds like you have people who care about you though, why not let them know how you are doing?"

Sabine lightly chuckled again. "April is like five seconds away of unspiriling. Leah has the emotional maturity of a cactus. Danni doesn't do hard feelings and I prefer keeping the nearby buildings standing and not on fire. Dorian lies to himself a lot about things. All of which is to say, no, I don't talk to them about anything. They have enough stuff to deal with than my B.S."

Maeve smiled, hearing some familiar names. "Still, keeping it all in and bottled inside doesn't do you good either. What about your parents?"

Sabine laughed out lout at that. "Right, my father prefers throwing money at me to keep me quiet, my step-mother hates my guts, and my step-siblings are annoying. My birth mother is dead and she was...she was the only one who listened to me."

"I am so sorry to hear that. How long ago was this, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Since I was very young. I don't remember a whole lot, but I can hear her voice sometimes. My father doesn't keep pictures of her around anymore. She...she was.." Sabine gripped her wrist again, feeling the pulse within.

"When was the last time you self-harmed Sabine?" Maeve reverted back to first names. It felt like time.

Sabine looked up, anger rising first, before she let go of her wrist again. The spike in anxiety, the feelings of sadness. "Not since I was very young. My last therapist informed my father of it and he sent me off to some resort or asylum, I still don't know what it was to this day. I don't want to go back there so I never did it again."

"I'm proud of you for fighting the urge. If you would like, I know of some tools to help with those feelings that rise up."

Sabine didn't meet Maeve's gaze, keeping her head low. "Yeah....okay.."

"You have a support system here from what it sounds like. How's that going?"

"Feels like things are getting out of control. I feel myself getting angry at them for things they can't help. Like for example, we were told the teams we had previously been a part of were now getting reformed and we were given the right to decide who is on what team. I happened to like the team I was on, though that started off weird, but I think we meshed well and then one of my friends, Danni, decided to take it upon himself to team up with Apil and Dorian without asking anyone else. Like I get it's been their dream to be a team together but they spend almost every waking minute together, like give someone else a chance! And then to top it off me, Leah, and Percy were included almost like an afterthought. The other person on our team, Zelda, she wasn't even considered by him and I felt angry on her behalf, even if she didn't want to be n our team, we could have asked."

"I understand where your coming from and I agree you have a right to be upset. Do you think he meant any harm by it?"

Sabine shook her head, "No, of course not. He's one of the sweetest people in the world. I know he has good intentions but sometimes that's not enough. People get hurt with good intentions."

"I imagine you would know better than most about that. I would encourage you to talk to Danni about your feelings. You should feel able to talk to your friends and partners about what you are experiencing. It isn't healthy to hold it all in."

Sabine scoffed, though she didn't fully mean it. She knew, deep down, Maeve was right. "I'll think about it."

"Good, that's all I ask. Since we are running out of time here, I wanted to see if you wished to continue this or not. You are, of course, allowed to say no and my door will always be open to you, but I think we can work through some of the feelings your having. If not, take my card at least and reach out if you need anything." Maeve pulled out a card and handed it over to Sabine.

Sabine took it and looked at it before putting it away. She still didn't like therapy. Still felt at any moment he good doctor would reach out to her father and spill everything she said, making it worse. "Maybe."

"That's fair. Why don't I set up an appointment for next week and you can come if you want and if you don't that's also fine."

Sabine nodded and stood up, making her way out of the office. She felt prickly still, like her own memories had been altered. But surely Maeve didn't do that, right?

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Dr. Maeve Whitehall sipped her tea as she looked out her office window, watching the day go by. She had finished reading the file given on her next client, Diana. Surface level warranted not much apart from basic personality assessment and her power set. Skilled in archery along with quantum teleportation was an interesting mix. She was also the sister of Percy.

That had to be an interesting childhood.

______________________________________

When Diana entered the room it looked like a simple office. While Maeve often tried to have the office tailored to her client's interests and likes, this one was going to be a touch different.

"Hello Diana. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. We are actually going to take a little trip outside for our session, if you do not mind. It's a beautiful day outside and I could use some fresh air. I know a perfect spot to sit and we can talk."

Diana still wasn't really happy about having to go and have a therapy session, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter because the headmaster made it a requirement for them to attend. "It's nice to meet you Maeve." Diana said as she extended her hand out to shake, she seemed nice in her opinion so far. She was surprised that Maeve wanted to have the session outside, Diana did feel better when she was in the outdoors usually anyway. "Sounds good lead the way." Diana said to Dr. Whitehall.

Maeve shook Diana's hand and directed her to follow. They moved through the halls until they came to an outdoor area with some benches. Maeve sat down and allowed Diana to sit where she wanted. "Much better. I'm often stuck in my office for hours at a time so this is nice. Have you been in therapy before?"

Diana nodded and followed shortly behind Maeve through the halls until they were outside and towards a set of benches, she chose to sit down on the bench as she leaned back slightly turning to face Dr. Whitehall. "Honestly I never have before." Diana answered her, she had an aunt that did it at one point thats about all she knew who had therapy before.

"That's okay. Therapy can sound a little scary if you have never experienced it before, but it boils down to me being here to help you in whatever capacity you need me. Whatever we discuss here will stay here. I know we are outside but I have taken some measures to ensure we have privacy. I won't share what we discuss unless you give me permission to. So with that being said, why do you think Coulson recommeneded you come and what, if anything, do you have questions about?"

"I think it was because we needed them because of what happened with the whole Framework thing with Arcade, and trapping us in some games where we would die we would die in the real world or something." Diana said with a slight shrug.

"Yes, and how do you feel about all of that? I know a bit about what happened, but hearing about it and experiencing it are two very different things."

"It was a bit scary since we trained with Ed, for weeks along with Usagi and we trusted them as well to and they went and betrayed us all like that."

"Can you talk more about that? The betrayal?"

Diana thought for a moment as she looked at Dr. Maeve. "For Ed like I said we trained with him for weeks, even had a few meals with him as well to with the rest of the team we were on together he was a teammate we thought we could trust. And Usagi, a member of the staff here at the school also worked alongside him." Diana said.

"Right. Perhaps you can elaborate more on that. Especially Usagi. I know them quite well and I had never assumed they would be a part of any betrayal."

"I didn't think Usagi would do it either, maybe he controlled them or something I don't know what her motives would have been for doing it."

"It's hard when people we look up to, admire, or trust even do something to break that trust. People we consider supports in our life are held to a standard often and when they do something to upset us it can be damaging. What other supports do you have? Friends? Siblings? Romantic Partners?"

Diana thought for a moment she did have a lot of friends that she could turn to for support, as well as her brother Percy to. "I do have a few friends as well as my younger brother as well to that I can talk to."

"Friends are good but having your brother around must be interesting. Tell me about him."

"His name is Percy, he's a freshman at the school right now. We get along pretty well sometimes, though we do argue as well to, he also does have a boyfriend to." Diana answered.

"Relationship dynamics can be tricky, especially when they go to the same school. When's the last time you all argued? How did you manage that?"

Diana looked down for a moment the last time she had an argument with her brother Percy was pretty recent. "Well it was shortly after the meeting with Coulson, Lady Nimue and Ser Nemo he and his boyfriend Dorian didn't show up for the meeting. So I teleported to the hallway his dorm was on. But I miscalculated and ended up teleporting into Dorian's dorm, to see that they were about to uh have sex and I kinda yelled at his boyfriend.."

Maeve nodded. "That had to be quite a sight. Embarrassing for all involved. I understand the protective nature of a sibling, but if I can be so bold, you did walk into the room, or teleport I guess, without permission. Perhaps the anger is unfounded? Or rather, take some time to cool off and approach them more calmly. I am sure it'll work out."

Maeve checked her watch. "We are out of time, but I would like to continue sessions if that is what you want. We can do weekly or I can keep my schedule open and you can let me know if you need anything further."

Diana nodded slightly as she stood up. "Thanks for seeing me, and i'll keep that in mind and i'll let you know if I need another session." Diana said as she extended her hand before leaving.

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Dr. Maeve Whitehall sat and looked over the new file on her desk. The next client was Madalyne Crane. A half-human, half-demon young woman with exceptional magical abilities. Maeve had dealt with an assortment of types before, nothing phased her much. You didn't work with people like Dr. Strange without meeting demons and vampires and all of that. Some might be surprised to find out how willing some demons were to have therapy; it was having someone to tell things to with privacy.

Maeve got up to get the room ready.

___________________________________

The office was decorated with shades of light red, gold, and silver. The sitting area had two armchairs and a couch, all white. The walls held some paintings that matched the decor. There was a record player in the corner currently playing some light classical music. The floor was hardwood and a rug was under the chairs in a red that matched the walls. There was a comfy glow from the lamps. The center table was white and had some water on it as well as a leather tome.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs as Madalyne entered. "Hello Madalyne. Or would you prefer Maddie or something else? I'm Dr. Maeve Whitehall but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall. Please, have a seat wherever you are the most comfortable. And let me know if I can make this space more comfortable for you also. I can change anything as needed."

Madalyne entered Dr. Whitehall's office she took a moment to look around the room it reminded her a little bit of her mother's study back home as she quickly turned her attention back to Dr. Whitehall. "Mads or Maddie works everyone else usually calls me by either name." Mads said as she made her way over towards the couch and sat down. "How are you doing today Dr. Whitehall?" She asked her.

"I am doing well, thank you. Let me start by saying that you are not forced to be here. While Coulson may have strongly suggested these sessions they are purely for your benefit. What we talk about here will stay here and I will not share what we discuss with anyone, even Coulson, unless you give me permission to. This is confidentiality. I may need to break confidentiality if one of the stipulations against it occurs such as if you have a strong desire to want to hurt yourself or someone else, if there is child abuse or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the authorities get invovled and ask for my records, but even then I won't hand it over willingly. Does all of that make sense before we proceed? And feel free to ask any questions you have for me."

Madalyne shifted slightly on the couch making sure that her wings were comfortable as she leaned her back against the back of the couch as she turned to face Dr. Whitehall and listened to her. She nodded and felt comfortable with whatever was going to be discussed here wasn't going to be sent out to anyone. "It does make sense and I understand." Madalyne answered her.

Maeve smiled warmly. "Wonderful. Let's get started then. Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you hope to get out of these sessions, for however long they last? Can be anything really, there's no wrong answers."

Madalyne nodded as she thought for a moment. "Well I am a witch my mom is one as well to, and my father is a demon from Limbo I don't know him though and haven't met him." She thought for a moment what else to say really. "I'm not sure what to get out of this session either to be honest." Madalyne answered the second question.

"Well, again, there's no wrong answer. We can discuss whatever is happening with you. For example, you mentioned your mother and father rather immediately. Why don't you tell me more about them? Or what you know of your father snce you haven't met him."

"My mom is a witch like myself, she is the head of our family right now, she's really nice and caring as well to she's really smart as well to. My dad, I've never met him or seen him before other than what my mom had told me that he was a demon from Limbo thats the only information she told me about him."

"Well I'll be the first to admit I am not super up-to-date on my demon knowledge, though I have worked with a few people to varying degrees of demon-ness, like vampires and so on. How does that make you feel, knowing you are, in part, a demon?"

Madalyne adjusted herself slightly in her seat. "Half demon." She corrected. "But theres a lot of physical changes that I have to adjust to, I didn't look like the way I do now, and sometimes I feel like I get some looks from other students whenever I walk down the halls."

"Of course, that's why I said 'in part'."

Maeve jotted a note down. "It's hard being different for the average person, but you have exceptional differences. Not always a bad thing, but I imagine being a half-demon whose appearance has been altered comes with its own set of baggage. Tell me a bit more about how it feels to be amongst your peers and the looks you get. In detail, if you wouldn't mind."

"Sometimes whenever I smile my sharp teeth show and sometimes I get the feeling that it unsettles them, or they think i'm a kid of a villain or something as well to. They also sometimes ask a lot of questions about my appearance as well to."

"That must be hard, dealing with judgement from something beyond your control. How do you handle all of that pressure and judgement?"

Madalyne thought for a moment as she looked at Dr. Whitehall. "I just try my best to ignore the judgmental looks that others give me, and try and change the subject whenever someone asks about my appearance."

"Right and I am sure in the moment that works, but even untrue words hurt. How do you handle all of the feelings associated with that? Or do you?" Perhaps this is what they could work towards.

"It does work sometimes." Madalyne said with a slight shrug. "I also try to ignore and avoid the ones who say hurtful things about me or I confront them as well to."

"So what do you do outside of the moment then? Like when you are on your own. What sorts of things do you to to manage your feelings outside of ignoring or confronting?"

"If i'm alone I usually do some painting, or reading or sometimes I just take a walk around campus as well to."

Maeve called it there. "Well I would encourage you to continue doing that. It's hard but if there's any place that would be understanding of your situation it's here. That's about all we have time for. I would love to continue seeing you if you want, otherwise we can keep an open-door policy and you can come when you are available. Does that sound good?"

Madalyne gave Maeve a smile and nodded. "I'd like that, and thank you for seeing me." Madalyne said as she stood up and offered her hand to shake. "I'll keep in touch." She told her as Madalyne turned to leave Dr. Whitehall's office.

Dr. Maeve Whitehall read over the file on Andy as she sat outside. This was one where she felt more information in the file would have been helpful, but even then, it paved the initial road in therapy better. Energy vampirism and electrical manipulation were strong powers to possess for a young person.

_______________________________________

The office Andy would set foot in held neutral tones in light brown, white, and gray. The sitting area had three chairs, two armchairs and a sofa. The coffee table had a pot of coffee on it, freshly brewed, with two cups and some coasters. There was a stuffed sloth animal on the sofa. The walls held various black and white photographs of landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House. There was also a water fixture on the side that made the sound of a light waterfall.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs as Andy came in. “Hello Andy. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall, but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. Please, take a seat wherever you like. Help yourself to some coffee if you want, or I can get some water if that’s better.” Maeve had her own coffee cup in front of her and she sipped it while Andy got comfortable.

Upon entering the room, Andy’s eyes darted around it. Taking in the set up and art. She smelled the coffee and it had already had her attention before Dr. Whitehall had mentioned it. ”I like coffee.” She said, picking up the cup and sat down in one of the armchairs. She sipped on the coffee, tasting it. She let it linger for a moment before sighing.

”Before we get into stuff, I have a question. When I was...little there were always rules around things like therapists and confessionals. Confidentiality rules. Could you clarify them for me?” Andy had established that talking about being from the past would probably be fine from Zari, but she wanted to make sure.

Maeve gave a warm smile as Andy sat and enjoyed the coffee. ”I love coffee also. Quite literally cannot start my day without it.” To fine that point Maeve picked up her own cup and sipped.

”I am happy to clarify that with you and I am very impressed. You are one of very few people I have spoken to that knew that at the start. So, confidentiality means that what we talk about in this room will stay in this room. Despite Coulson’s request for these sessions, I will not share with him what we talk about. That is unless you give me permission to and even then I will share only what you give me permission to. There are some stipulations to that confidentiality clause that, if they occur, I may need to break confidentiality. Those include if there is any desire to want to seriously harm yourself or someone else, if there is child abuse or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the authorities get involved and ask for my records. Even if that was the case with that last one I would fight them on it. Other than that, this is a private space. Does all of that make sense?”

”Yes. Thank you.” Andy nodded and took a sip of her coffee. ”I know that this is supposed to be focused on the recent incident. And I do suppose I should talk about that. But I need to talk about something else.” Andy considered what she wanted to say. She had been fretting over it but the doctor's comment about abuse made her pause. She wondered what sort of statute of limitations there was on that. To give herself a moment she took another sip of her coffee.

”I was born in 2004. I time traveled to get here. I can't say I don't know anyone but as far as anyone knows I've been missing or dead for the last seventeen years.” She said it all in almost one breath and sucked in another when she finished. Andy hadn't said that to anyone yet. Zari and her parents knew, obviously, but she hadn't told anyone.

Maeve nodded as Andy opened up with some information she had not been made aware of. Granted, that was by her own request. Still, it pleased Maeve that Andy was open to this. ”We can talk about whatever it is you want. The situation with Arcade may have been the starting event that got the ball rolling, but I am here to help with whatever it is you need in the moment.”

“So you time traveled here from 2004? How was that experience for you? I imagine it was somewhat of a shock. And a revelation to those that knew you in 2004 and then 17 years later. Did you share this with anyone? Parents? Siblings? Friends?”

”My girlfriend is aware.” That was an understatement. ”My mom is too. I never knew my biological Dad and I haven't spoken to my adoptive dad about it. I kind of left without saying anything. I don't have any siblings, that I know of. My mom very likely has had other children. As for friends, that's complicated. It turns out one of the friends I've made now is the son of one of my friends from before.” Andy was not ready to give details about who her family was and that she had been on Genosha.

”That’s a lot to handle. Still, it is nice to hear you have some support from others. Friendships can be complicated at the best of times, though I imagine your particular situation makes that different. How has all of this impacted your time at school? With the coursework and the contest amongst other events, as previously mentioned, a typical student would be understandably stressed.”

”I didn't have the most complete education before and the seventeen year gap has not been an easy hurdle. I feel like I have to study four times harder than the others to catch up to what I should have been.” Andy was honestly very stressed with trying to get a handle on all of that. ”I've gotten some help at least. From a couple of others. The contest itself sounds...magical. When I left, mutants were hated. It was a mess. Shortly after M-pox.” Shortly after the Drummonds deaths. ”There was a lot of hatred and resentment. And then I came here and Mutants are just,” she waved her hand encompassing the school and everything.
Maeve of course knew of the hatred of mutants. It was a topic of discussion during her time at school as well as her own experiences. ”Yes, growing up I heard stories of mutants and how they had to be feared. Harder still having ones power manifest. Things have gotten better thankfully and schools like this have done their part in that progress.”

“With the pressure of catching up on not only schoolwork, but really society as a whole, what do you do to take that stress off? The contest can be a nice distraction but that comes with its own share of stress.”

”The contest is fine. I don't mind being part of it. It isn't driving me or anything. I have no idea about modern social media. I've been meaning to try to figure it out but haven't had the time. I started reading the Percy Jackson series. A friend lent them. I like it. Kind of wish I had read it back when it was more age appropriate.” Andy pauses to take a sip of her coffee. ”I've honestly been so swamped between the two that I can't even find time to do something else. I suppose with the grade promise Coulson gave us will make it a bit easier.” She looks down at her coffee. ”That's why we were doing the extra training in the Framework. We all felt the pressure.”

Maeve nodded, making further mental notes. ”I know about that book series. And don’t worry, I still enjoy a young adult book now and then. The Hunger Games? Still a favorite. I think responding to that pressure in the way you all did is valid. It was a way to get extra help in preparation for something a lot of you were looking forward to and wanting to work hard at. You especially are in a unique situation having been from the past and making decisions for yourself knowing you have to take extra steps and put in more work to be where everyone else is. Do you find it makes it harder to relate to your classmates and, by extension, those on your team?”

That last question drove home. Andy had on a whim decided to abandon her time to follow Zari. Zari was sometimes impossible to understand but she still wouldn't change that choice. Zari kept her grounded and happy. However, there was so much boiling inside her.

”Yeah.” She answered simply. ”I also...since they were all born around the year I left. There is this feeling that I'm not seventeen. I've only lived that long but I should be, if I hadn't time traveled, in my thirties. I was friends with some of their parents, who think I am dead. Heck, one of their grandfather's adopted me. I think she hates me sometimes because of that. Then they all have seventeen years of pop culture and history and I was never great at it back in my own time with that stuff. I only got interested in b- movies about a year ago, relatively. And that was because of the Drummonds, who were murdered in a horrifying fire right after Christmas by some Purifiers, anti-mutants, and then m-pox happened and I was just fumbling from one thing to the next. For me that was just months ago. Not seventeen years. Then I joined this group and we stopped M-pox. When we woke up from that months later we were on Genosha. There I found out who my biological mom is. Then she turns around and tries to kill everyone and I just left. I didn't even think about it. Zari asked me and I followed. Started coming to this school, which by the way if you remember from 17 years ago how horrible mutants were treated going to a mutant school was a massive fear. But I'm here and I don't want to just keep stumbling between crises. I need to be prepared. And I'm not. Eventually people are going to come looking for my mom. And if I can't keep her out of their hands the world will be in danger again.” Everything came tumbling out. She hadn't wanted to say all of that but it was like an avalanche once it started. Her hands were shaking. She looked down at the coffee and drank half the cup. She really hadn't wanted to get into who her mom was. Discussing that couldn't be a good idea.

”It sounds like a lot of pressure on you, both one you're willing to take on and one you had thrusted on you. I get the sense talking about your mother spiked your emotions. While I am happy to address that area I want you to know you do not need to during this first session. But I am here to talk about it.”

“While I do not know about time travel and being displaced like you are, I think everyone experiences those feelings of unknown in who you are compared to others. Yours is on another level to be sure, but I will go out on a limb and say there are probably others who have similar feelings. This is why it is important to have a support network of people who want the best for you. But it is also important to know your own boundaries and what you want to share and when.”

Andy's hands tightened around the mug. The coffee didn't feel warm anymore. And there wasn't much left anyway. She finished it off then set the cup down.

”I have to take it. No one else could protect people from mom like me. I haven't told anyone new. They think I'm weird and old fashioned. I don't know how to socialize with them. I miss the ring and fighting and knowing a person from how they fight. I miss the Drummonds. And I miss thinking I'd be safe.” If Andy was honest with herself she hadn't really felt safe since she had been eight. But the death of the Drummonds had sealed away any hope of that.

”If I get strong enough to protect Mom then I'll be safe. No one else will protect me.” Except Zari.

”I am going to assign you some homework. This isn’t like school where you will be graded nor are you obligated to do this. I will sometimes assign homework if I feel it is in my client’s best interest and I think it will help. This is, assuming of course, you want to make this a regular thing. If you do, then for next time, I want you to sit with yourself in those feelings. The need, the desire to want to be strong to protect yourself. Allow yourself to feel all the emotions attached to that desire. Write them down if you want. Then, I want you to take a step back and think about allowing others in. Friends, family, other loved ones and other supports. Even if briefly, allow yourself to feel what it would be like to allow others in to help. Write that down too if you want.”

“Even if you do not want sessions to continue, I would still encourage this. And even if after this session if you do not want to come back, know that I will be a support for you in whatever you need it for.”

”I'll try. I am willing to continue meeting too.” Andy said. ”Thank you. I've been needing to talk about some stuff. And I've only scratched the surface of that.” Andy stood up sensing that this was the end of the session, and left the room. She felt better. ”Oh! She poked her head back in, ”Do you do family therapy?”

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When C.A.G.E (the California Asylum for the Genetically Enhanced) was first conceived it was meant to be a powerhouse to hold those with superhuman abilities who the public deemed as ‘unstable’. Thankfully those with training in the mental health fields stepped in and persuaded them to move from the prison concept to an actual facility to help those powered with their mental health struggles.

When one heard asylum, typically rooms with white walls covered with soft surfaces and straight jackets were pictured. The goal of CAGE was to do away with that imagery. CAGE had four floors. The top was where the main offices were and the various other departments needed to help a business (IT, Accounts, HR, etc). The third was for adult patients, the second for children and teenagers, and the first had a cafe, a cafeteria, a gym, a pool, a garden, an outdoor seating area, a game room, a TV room, and a visitation center. There were also some underground floors where security resided as well as some testing centers, but there still remained some unknowns about it.

For safety reasons, each room held protection against those with powers. Power dampeners were on which prevented power usage. Any attempt alerted security and staff. There were security checks on each floor. Every patient was monitored with security cameras, some obvious, some not so much. However, restraints were used as infrequently as possible.

Dr. Maeve Whitehall was one of the psychologists on staff. Though she worked primarily outside of CAGE, she held some hours there when it was called for. She was generally well-liked amongst the staff. Her patients tended to trust her and she did her best to provide a welcoming persona to those that were here. She rarely ever had confrontations with patients, though when it was called for, she was more than capable of protecting herself. Even then, she did her best to not hurt anyone. Sometimes patients couldn’t help themselves. She understood that.

With her connection to Avengers Academy she sometimes had to make the call to have students and staff alike sent here and today was no different. Coulson had made the call and she confirmed his concerns. Two students had met the qualifications of being petitioned for inpatient treatment.

This was where Victoria van Dyne found herself. How she got here, Maeve did not know, but she could hazard a guess. Either way, Victoria found herself in a single room. It was spacious enough. Each room had a queen-sized bed, a TV, a small sitting area with a sofa and an end table, a desk, a dresser, their own bathroom with a shower, sink, toilet, and closet. There was medical equipment handy if need be, such as for medications or health concerns. Power dampeners were hidden within the walls though they could be felt. There were security cameras in the main room but not in the bathroom and they could be turned off if staff wanted to, but only for 15-minute increments.

Maeve had read the file on Victoria as well as Coulson’s additional notes on why he thought this would be best for her. Maeve knocked on the door to Victoria’s room and stepped in. ”Hello Victoria. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall. I am a clinical therapist here at C.A.G.E. I imagine you have questions and I am happy to answer any and all, but before we get to those let me ask: how are you feeling? Are you in any pain?”

For once, Victoria thought Coulson did something right, sending them here. When she arrived, she checked the facility out, and it seemed a lot better prepared than the clinic she was visiting before. The amount of EM radiation she was detecting suggested the place was more wired than a SHIELD prison, but she wasn’t bothered overly much.

She was shown to a room when she arrived, and spent the little time before someone came looking out the window, quite enjoying a moment with nothing to do, until the doctor arrived. “Good morning, Dr. Whitehall. Thank you for seeing me.” she said as she turned around to face the older woman. “I’m not sure how much you were told about me, but I’m an AI in an android shell, so I don’t really do pain. There’s some damage to my hardware, some of it that I do not repair on purpose, although I expect we’ll get to that later.” She motioned to a stack of paper on the table, “I brought my documentation from my previous therapist, if it would be of use to you.” Personally, Victoria would not pollute her own initial research into something with the thoughts of others, but she knew exactly nothing about the medical profession, so she said nothing.

”Yes, I am aware of who you are. I would include damage to your hardware as pain, though your pain tolerance, such as it is, is your own. Thank you for the paperwork and for being accommodating. I was told you came willingly, which is good to hear. Things are done a little different here compared to a therapy session at your school, but much remains the same in terms of confidentiality. Now, we can have our initial session here or we can go somewhere more private and comfortable. Your choice.”

Victoria seemed to think about the analogy for a second. ”Then you would be incorrect. Pain is a signal from the nerve endings to the central nervous system about something being wrong. The proper counterpart to those would be signals from my diagnostics sensors, but those end as soon as they are logged. I believe a better analogy to the damage I have would be ‘being injured’, not ‘being in pain’. You know, if you need to anthropomorphize me.” Victoria shrugged, not really keen on that idea. The last therapist treated her as they would a human, and it didn’t seem to work too well. ”In any event, this room will do fine.”

”As I said Victoria, your pain tolerance is your own to decide. If that is how you wish to see it then that is what it will be. Surely then you can allow me an answer to the question of your pain then if we are to make the correlation to you being injured. If you are uninjured then that is the case. Though that mark of pain is only physical. What of mental pain? Emotional pain? Do you have any of that?”

Maeve moved to the sitting area in the room and sat down, gesturing for Victoria to follow and sit, if she so desired. ”I do not intend to treat you as something other than a person. Whatever is going inside you matters little to me in the context of providing you care. You are Victoria while you are under my care, no more, no less. Now, tell me in your own words why you are here and what, if anything, you hope to get from this experience, such as it is.” Maeve’s words could be seen as curt, and to some extent they were, though there was still heart behind it. Even a person who came willingly put up some fight, some battle. Sometimes it was even placating her or other staff in order to get out quicker. Sometimes it was because no one before had showed them care so any attempt was seen as fake.

Whatever the case, Maeve was here.

“Doesn’t it matter though?” Victoria asked as she chose not to follow the Skywalker way and took the seat. “You don’t make special arrangements if a patient with a brain injury or genetic condition comes in? That seems almost… careless. Anyway, I think ‘How I tick’ is the root of half of my problems, including the one the Headmaster thinks I should be here for.” she continued explaining.

“Mental pain… I suppose that would be a good label for some of it. Some other issues are a bit more philosophical than psychological in nature, I think.” she started, taking a moment to organize her own thoughts. “The biggest difference between you and me is not that I am mechanical and you are biological. The biggest difference is that I have been made with a purpose, which I am aware of. I was made to protect regular humans from all threats superpowered. I was always aligned with that goal, believing I chose it myself, or at least agreed to it. But, I am not even sure anymore I have the free will to reject it. I know for a fact that certain people can give me instructions I cannot disobey. I know of one such instruction, which has since been removed, but how do I know I am not a modified three laws robot? I may not be logically capable of abandoning my purpose. The only way to know for sure is to watch as someone gets killed and intentionally do nothing about it, which is not on the table. And if my will is not my own? That terrifies me.” She gave a dry, humorless chuckle. “And we’re only at the start.”

”I said you were Victoria under my care. That statement, to me, doesn’t signify any less care or that it doesn’t matter. You are different than every other person in here, but so are they. So I prefer not to treat you as the thing you were made but as the person you have and are becoming.”

“So it sounds like the programming initially put inside of you has shifted. And that comes with its own set of worries, fears, and stressors. I also imagine this is new territory for you. As you said, there’s a way to test the theory but to do so would go against….huh I guess it wouldn’t be your programming then, right? To let a human die to test that theory appears wrong.”

“But, and I do have to ask this question, do you want to kill yourself? That is the statement that started all of this. Do you still feel that way?”

Victoria sighed. “You’re still missing another part of the puzzle for that.” she shared. “My personality and memories are an… add-on would be the best word. My core, a Windows to my PC if you will, is a rather homicidal AI. I, as the governing personality, have the final authority on deciding what actions we take, but the AI is still present. And this year alone, it has already almost been released from this confinement twice. The first time, I had to destroy my antenna, which is that injury we were talking about earlier. And since I have not yet developed countermeasures to prevent it from happening again, I choose not to repair that damage.”

“The second time is what you are talking about. A teammate, Edward Arca, a right scumbag hiding under my nose, has figured me out for a robot and managed to infect me with malware that gave him total control of my actions through giving instructions directly to that AI at my core, and removing my decision authority. And he put in one, simple command: Kill.” She reflexively pulled her arms tight around her at having to think about that again. “I-”

She could not look the doctor in the eyes talking about this, and averted her gaze. “I don’t think I ever felt more violated in my life. Not even when another teammate was patching my software core up after the earlier case. Anyway… At the time, all I had left was reasoning with my core AI. I tried to get it to be threatening to the least amount of people. I tried to get it to use the same attack patterns to be predictable and easier to avoid. And then, I tried to reason that the easiest way to fulfill that ‘kill’ command is to kill ourselves, because at that point, one of my classmates was on their last legs. Only it didn’t agree, and I could only watch as I wiped one of my classmates out.”

She got up, pacing across the room. She should not have to explain this. Her actions were logical, and no one presented any argument to the contrary. And if they did, they would be wrong. she thought. “If that AI inside me ever gets out, it will be terrible. So, every time that threat rears its head, I have to make a risk assessment. In the earlier case, I was being hacked remotely, from the outside. Disabling my antenna was the optimal solution to stop it.”

“In the second case, I was already compromised, and if I made it out of the training simulator in that state, it may well have all been over for humanity. Likewise, if it was a choice between one of my classmates dying and me offlining, I am still the better choice. If I go down, I can be reactivated with my memories intact, although my personality would revert to that of a newborn. It would not have been me, but the new iteration would have at least remembered me. Same can’t be said for people made of flesh and blood.”

“So, with the information I had available, offlining myself was again the optimum solution. Did I want to kill myself? No. Have I made that decision anyway? Yes. Do I still want to do it? No. The situation is now vastly different and the benefit humanity may gain from my continued existence at this time outweighs the risks. May I arrive at the same conclusion again in the future? Yes. I have to. The alternative is unthinkable. And I don’t think there is anything you can do to convince me otherwise, save for getting my creator to remove that AI and replace it with a different operating system. This is not suicidal thinking in my eyes. It’s pragmatism.” she finished the exposition, sitting back down.

”And yet, here you are. Sure, it was suggested you come here, and you came willingly. Even with paperwork in hand. But no one is truly holding you here, if that is the case. I imagine this AI or whatever internal or external forces at work could think of many ways to get out of here. Some may even involve hurting other people, myself included.”

“If you are going against what this AI wants from you then that is free will. It’s free will in a different shell, sure. I can gather many clients who talk in a similar way for various reasons: a god is telling them to do something, they hear voices, they feel a pull to perform actions to varying degrees of inhumane behavior. Your case is different, sure, but it isn’t as different as others may think.”

“So, what do you want out of this Victoria? Do you want help going against this programming? Do you want me to seek out this creator and get them involved? In these instances, you have choice and can decide for yourself. I won’t do anything that goes against your wishes unless I feel you are a danger to yourself or others and right now I do not believe you are.”

Victoria snapped her fingers into finger guns pointing at the doctor. “Bingo, doctor.” She smiled. “Right now, I am not a danger. But it all hangs on one thing: Me continuously telling that AI ‘No’. If something changes my mind, we’re in trouble. Now, I can only prepare contingencies for viruses, hacks, or some powers. Two of my classmates at least can still make me dance to their tune with a single thought. Little you can help with. But lately I have grown increasingly worried that I may make that decision on my own.”

“I… The way my memory works, I will never forget anything. It is a holographic storage. Even if you break it in half, both parts still contain all of the information, you just have a smaller window to view it through. So the more dark, twisted stuff I see… I’m worried I’ll just snap somewhere down the line. What I want, what I need to do here is to learn how to grow more resilient to it, or at least to evaluate if I am closing on that moment. It’s been over a week now and my hands still won’t stop shaking whenever I think of what happened recently. And don’t get me started on how furious I am with my creator! She makes me with the purpose to sacrifice myself so that others don’t have to, puts this awful AI at my core, and then she acts like my mother? The fucking nerve she has! Only thing I want to get out of that person is to get emancipated! But as far as I know, the courts won’t hear of that without her consent.” Victoria vented.

”We don’t have to discuss your creator, your ‘mother’ as you referred to her, if you do not want to, though I would argue and strongly suggest we do at some point, if for no other reason than to process it so you can work through it and come out the better. Many people struggle with their relationship with their parents, and yes, I recognize this is a different thing for you entirely.”

“Not forgetting anything can be hard, I imagine. A typical human mind will often block out traumatic events as a defense mechanism, though whispers still remain, like someone panicking when they hear a song and are unsure why. For you, it’s different. You can’t forget so you must make do with that and power through it. I want to circle back to what you said before. About how your hands still shake with what happened recently. Can you tell me more about that?”

“Agreed, but, one thing at a time then.” Victoria sighed, settling down into the chair. “It was during the second time I was hacked. Arcade was part of my team. Worse, the teacher that was assigned as our mentor was his creation. I suspect that through that puppet, or our training sessions, he found out what I am. When he trapped us in our training simulator, he had a special trap ready for me. He…” Victoria paused.

How did Edward manage to take over her system so quickly? She closed her eyes while diving into her memories and logs. Even the Ultron in the Haunted house took minutes to take most, but not all of her core firewalls down. Edward Arca was sneaky and capable, but Victoria had trouble believing he was that good, even if the imperfect simulation of her system in the Framework gave him an edge. It took some digging, but she found one log that was a damning piece of evidence. She found a timestamp of when the last admin order was given to her. It should have shown a date in the 2020s. Instead, the record said November 23rd, 2038.

Victoria ran a hand through her hair, wondering whether to fly off the handle or laugh hysterically. The second variant won in the end. “He used that fucking admin backdoor! He put a command on me, forcing me to try and kill the others. I was trapped in a sub-simulation with three other classmates - I’m not sure I should mention their names. I tried… I tried to give them the best chance. I bullshited my core AI to use predictable moves. But it wasn't enough. When one of them tripped, that’s when I tried to offline myself, before my attack could hit them. But the core AI had none of it. I-”

There was that shaking in her hands again. Victoria clenched her fists in an attempt to stop it. “He made me kill her. My failure to keep the cage on that thing I am built around closed was the death of someone else. She came back to life since, through her own powers, and she says she doesn’t blame me for it. But I don’t think I’ll forgive myself anytime soon.” By the time she was done explaining, her voice was barely above a whisper.

”When we hurt others, even accidentally, and even when we do all we can to stop it, it can be difficult. It sounds like none of it was your doing and you did all you could to stop it, but the feelings still remain; that feeling of guilt, blame, shame, anger, sadness. The cumulation of all of it. There’s no wrong way to feel about it.”

“I am going to tailor my approach with you differently than I would in other cases. I think this will work for you to overcome your programming and fight off the instinct when someone does try to override you. I would like to rope in some experts with AI and robotics, if you do not mind. I won’t discuss with them what we talk about but I’ll admit my own shortcomings when it comes to those fields and I would feel better if I had help behind me. If that’s all right with you. If not, I can figure something else out.”

Victoria considered it for a good, long while, running simulations and risk assessments. “I have some conditions. First, I get to approve whoever is involved. Next, no one gets my complete specs. There is already one more ASTRA running around than there should have ever been. Then, no one does any code modifications that I don’t approve. And lastly, Hope van Dyne, my creator. If you feel it is absolutely necessary to involve her, I don’t want to meet her, not even a chance encounter, unless the backdoor in my system is disabled. Otherwise… You’re the expert. I’ll follow your advice.” she nodded.

Something the doctor said was bugging her a little. Overcoming her programming. The thought felt like exactly what would lead to her becoming what she feared. Sure, the admin override needed to go, but some of the other tenets of her program felt like solid measures. ”In fact… If she could be convinced to replace the AI in my core with something less dangerous, or even just removing it and letting me build my own drivers…” she thought out loud, ”I’d take literally having to learn to walk again, if that’s the price for that thing being gone.”

”I can agree to those terms. I would like to speak to Hope on my own, if that is okay. I’ll even ensure she’s as far away from you as can be. Everything else should be fine then. I’ll have a list of potentials with their qualifications and you can let me know who you think would work best. In the meantime, let’s end things here. Please call for me if you need anything. One of the nurses should be able to reach me if need be. Otherwise, feel free to tour the place, meet the other people here if you want.”

”I will, thank you. Do you think I can order a delivery of books here? I have a certain author I need to read.” Victoria asked, wondering whether she could cram both the robot series and the foundation into two weeks.

Dr. Maeve Whitehall peered at the file in front of her as she tapped a finger on the edge of her chair. Daniel Kingston was next up. Pyrokinesis was interesting given the brief personality makeup done on him. Still, powers manifested for a reason, she believed.

This would prove interesting.

_________________________________________________

As Danni walked into the room the walls were a light shade of lavender and the carpeted floor was white with specks of purple woven through the threads. There was a white sofa with fluffy white feather pillows and two light purple armchairs. The white wooden table in the middle had some fashion magazines on it as well as some psychology books. There was also a pitcher of water with two glasses and some sliced oranges and lemons.

On the wall there was an abstract painting with shades of red, blue, black, and pink almost thrown in a haphazard, but controlled way. There were some plants strewn about, hung from the ceiling or in pots on the side.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs. ”Hello Daniel. Or would you prefer Danni? My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. Please have a seat where you feel more comfortable. And let me know if the decor in here is to your liking or if I need to change anything. I want you to feel good in here.”

Danni, after all but throwing open the door, gagged at his legal name before slinging his bag on the other arm chair and collapsing onto the couch. “Pleaaaaase, never call me Daniel. T'ats like, reserved for super formal sh- stuff-can I swear ‘ere or will I get in trouble, btw?-or when I pranked t’e ‘rents or forgot ta like, turn in ‘omework and tanked my grades. Danni is fine so we can chill. But t’anks for askin' cause walkin’ in ‘ere made me wonder if was in t'e right place. Kinda looks like a showroom floor rather t'an like a person's space, ya know?” He squirmed a little to get more comfortable, half spread out on the couch. “Gives me Crystal Castle vibes, ya know? Super lonely wit’ only an ancient robot, ‘ologram t'ingy for company. Wait, you're not a…? No, t'ey wouldn't do t'at a second time.” Danni waved the idea off.

“But ‘ow do you feel 'bout nicknames? I ‘ave strong feelin's ‘bout nicknames, ya know. I like t'em a lot so if t'is is more t'an a one time th'in’ t'en I'mma ‘ave a nickname for you eventually. But no, ‘old on. You asked me about the room. Yeah, super nice, super clean, super cool but like… kinda lifeless ‘onestly. Not ta dis your style but not even a coffee cup sittin’? I'll brin’ ya some next time. Whatcha drink? Dee makes a mean cup of coffee, but I'm down ta stop by t'e cafeteria or someth’In’ if t'ats not your style. Do you ‘ave coasters? You seem like ya like coasters. Plus, everyt'in’ in ‘ere seems like it wants ta stay squeaky clean and pristine. We can get ya lilac ones ta match your vibe.” He jolted up, snapping his fingers as something clicked. “I knew I knew t'is name! Maeve was an old fashion line from like twenty years ago! Do you like t'eir stuff? A little more casual t'an what you look like ya wear, but light and stylish for a fun night out, ya know?”

Maeve took a second. Then she started laughing. ”Wow, okay. Danni it is. Quite the talker. As a therapist I cannot express how wonderful that is. I appreciate a good nickname so if you have one for me, please by all means. Also, I should note that this room is special. I asked if you liked it because I want to make this space comfortable for you. Watch.” With no motion the room would shift, two coffee cups, lilac in color, appeared on the table in front of them. ”It’s my own powers. They are tangible so go ahead and touch if you like. I try to cater each setting to the client but I only had a small file on what you like so I did my best.”

“As for the Maeve fashion line, I am afraid I have never seen their stuff nor heard of it. Maybe you can share some of that with me? I am definitely interested. The name is cultural in my family. Strong Irish heritage here.”

Maeve’s empathic senses got how excited he was. He definitely presented as such. Underneath the chatterbox surface though, was fear. Tenseness. Guilt. She didn’t want to push right away. But she made a mental note.

“Oh, t'ats so cool! T'at must come in real ‘andy. Ya know, when it comes ta decoratin’ for t'e season. How long can ya keep it up? Will it stay like t'is even if ya leave? Like, could you make Christmas lights for a whole month and t'en just snap ya fingers, no clean up needed?” Danni marveled at the cup he picked up and tossed a little. “Makes me t'ink of Maxie, t'ough sometimes ‘e makes us take down t'e stuff ‘e conjures so we don't get too used ta relyin’ on ‘im for everyt'in’.” Danni popped the cup back in its place.

“And yeah, I love talkin’! I'm also a terrible liar ‘cause when t'in's pop in my head, they're mostly comin’ right out, ya know? Plus, who wants t'e pressure of lyin’ ta people? T'en, you gotta keep up t'e lie and remember who knows what and bleg. No t'ank You. Too much work, not enough fun.” Danni waved the idea off, but quickly pulled out his phone and started fiddling with it. “Lemme see if I ‘ave anyth’In’ from t'em on ‘ere… Hm, a few pieces but not a ton. Not typically what I wear but I ‘ave been know ta try it out for a nice contrast outfit, ya know? ‘Ere, lemme show you. I picked up one of t'ere t'in's recently.” Danni pulled up a photo of the family, Danni dressed in a billowy white blouse and a knee length blue and orange skirt with gold discs on the side. “T'at skirt was part of t'e 2024 winter collection. ‘Eld up pretty nice, just needed a bit of work ta get it's shine back!”

”It’s illusion constructs. I can keep it up pretty long though if I were to leave, after a bit, the room would shift back to what it was originally.”

“And I agree about lying. Even the most experienced liars need to work overtime to maintain it. You appear very much at ease, Danni. It’s admirable, especially given recent events. Tell me, are you able to maintain this attitude all the time or are there moments where you can let your guard down and…experience what you’re actually feeling?” Maeve gave Danni a knowing look. She knew what he was feeling, but did he?

“Oof, t'at's ‘eavier t'an I like ta t'ink about, but uh, yeah. Normally, it's wit’ Princess and Dee and we ‘ave a big ol’ cuddle party and we all just kinda let it out but uh, we ‘aven't ‘ad any t'is year yet. T'ey got t'eir relationships and stuff so most of t'eir free time gets sucked up by t'at now. Which kinda sucks, but at t'e same time it makes t'em ‘appy ya know? Just gotta get t’rough t’e ‘oney moon phase and t'en t'in's will go back ta normal!” Danni shrugged, shrinking into the couch more.

“And like…” Danni was quiet, picking at the couch arm. “You're not gunna like… tell anyone anyt'in’ I say right? T'is all stay between us?”

Maeve nodded, ”Of course Danni. Everything we say in here is confidential. I won’t tell anyone unless you give me permission to. It’s perfectly natural to experience those conflicting feelings of happiness for your friends and their relationships while also balancing feeling upset or anger or fear at their now limited time with you. That’s the nature of growing up. People meet new friends or loves and relationship dynamics change. It doesn’t make what you have with them any less and if you start to feel like it is you are well within your rights to speak about it. Sometimes with new relationships its easy to blind yourself to others. As you said, the Honeymoon phase is real, but do not let it discount your emotions Danni. They are just as valid.”

“Yeah, we'll I can't really tell t'em t'at or I'll just sound selfish I t'ink. Its… just easier ta vibe, ya know? Just roll wit’ t'e flow. And ‘onestly, it's probably for t'e better right now.” Danni shifted uncomfortably in place, looking around the room for a few minutes. “T'e whole like ‘cadey t'in’ real doesn't bot'er me, ‘onestly. Like, yeah apparently we did die, but t'at time line is gone because it got purned or whatever, but t'ats whatever. ‘onestly, I'm not really smart enough ta really understand it. Kinda goes over my ‘ead, tbh. It was all good, all wrapped up, ‘rents grounded us for breakin’ curfew but also we ‘ad the best game night after so it's all cool, and t'en I ‘ad t'is nightmare where ‘Cadie ‘ad programmed t'at all into t'e framework and turned out we ‘adn't ever left and I was still trapped in t'e tank, but it was waaaaaaaaaay smaller and I don't like t'at one bit, no t'ank you, so I exploded. You know, fire everywhere. Except it really was everywhere, includin’ our ‘ouse.”

Danni paused, tearing up as he got more upset. “And like, yeah it ‘elped Dee get a new power, but I tried after too. Tried to get it back under control and I just couldn't. I ‘ad it for a second but it was so hungry and I was still scared and BOOM! It ate everyt'in’. ‘ouse gone.” Danni slumped back into his laying position. “And like, what if I do t'at ta t'em? Maybe it's good t'ey ‘ave ot'er people ta ‘ang out wit’ when I'm even worse t'en normal. ‘cause like, a ‘ouse can be replaced ya know? Sure it's missing so much and it doesn't really feel like ‘ome anymore, but like a person is even ‘arder ta fix after t'at.”

”Danni, I am going to challenge you now. First, your feelings are valid. Whatever you are feeling, it is valid. Allow yourself moments of feeling what you need to. It is not selfish nor is it fair to bottle them up because of others. Second, you are not a bad person because of what happened. It was an accident. However, I feel that’s part of why you need to allow yourself ways to vent these feelings. You better than anyone should know keeping something volcanic like fire can be dangerous.”

“As for this nightmare, dreams and nightmares oftentimes show us our internal thoughts. The ones not usually at the front of our minds. It is also not unexpected to have some lingering fear from what happened, though I am glad you all are safe.”

“So, if you would like, I am happy to help teach some coping skills to manage those feelings. We can take it slow and at your own pace. This is, of course, if you would like to keep seeing me. You do not have to. If you do not I am still available if you would like.”

Danni nodded along with Maeve. “Wow, uh, okay. T'at's a lot ta ‘ear, but t’asks I t'ink? I just feel a little uncomfortable now? Idk, but uh…” Danni chewed at his lip for a second, but eventually offered Maeve a timid smile. “Yeah, we can do t'is again. I don't know ‘ow t'is works or ‘ow often we need ta see each ot'er, but I'm down. T'ough, you're gunna ‘ave ta be chill wit’ ‘ow long it can take me ta learn somet'in’ new t'at's gunna make me uncomfy for a while. Especially if I get distracted, or really when I get distracted.”

”It’ll take as long as it takes Danni and there’s nothing wrong with that. Why don’t we set up a weekly session day and time and go from there?”

---

---

---

Dr. Maeve Whitehall paced back and forth, a file in between her thump and pointer finger. The file on Dorian Gray was an interesting read. A cursory glance showed no immediate signs of needing therapy, but a piece of paper rarely told everything. And someone whose powers involved possession certainly would have a lot of stories to tell.

__________________________________________

When Dorian entered the office he would see light gray walls with black swirls woven throughout. There would be a window with a setting sun, dusk. The sitting area held two couches, both black, with white and gray pillows on them. There was also a white armchair. The coffee table was white as well and had a teapot and two cups on it. There was also some books held underneath the coffee table.

Maeve sat on the armchair and looked over. ”Hello Dorian. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall, but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. Please have a seat where you feel most comfortable. And help yourself to some tea if you would like. I did not know what flavor you prefer so I brought some choices.” The choices included mint, lemon, chai, cinnamon, and black.

Dorian eyed the space before him, trying to hold back some commentary on the immediate need for a redesign. The walls felt like something in between a padded room and a rorschach test. The couches didn't help with the design either, the room felt cold, almost sterile, compared to where he grew up. There was never lack of color back home, and antiques that showed various lives lived bringing warmth and life into the space. He sat on the couch at an angle, leaning onto the pillow in the corned as he placed his ankle over one knee before propping forward at the mention of teas. ”Ah, I'll take t'e cinnamon if ya don't mind. T'ough do you mind of i call you just…doc? Your first name seems too unprofessional and the latter is a mout'ful you know?”

Maeve smiled knowingly. ”Doc is fine. Also, please let me know what to change in this room. I’ll admit design is not my strong suit. No need to worry about my feelings. I worked with what I knowledge I had, which was very little.” She handed Dorian a packet of cinnamon tea while she took some mint. She would wait for Dorian to pour his hot water first.

Dorian's eyebrow raised as he crossed his legs and sat criss-cross on the couch as he poured his hot water over his tea bag. ”Mind readin’? Isn't t'at kinda like cheatin’ in your profession? But if you truly want my opinion, it's never a ‘arsh one. Just add some t'ings from your own life in ‘ere. Travels, no photos t'ats dangerous, but knick knacks and interests to let your clients know you're well…human? Bad term given the vastness of t'e world but you get what I'm sayin’.”

Maeve nodded. In an instant, the room shifted. The walls changed color and maneuvered around the room. The sitting area remained the same but now the table had little knick knacks on it like a snowglobe from Ireland and a pink bear beanie babie. Maeve’s diplomas hung from the wall and there was a painting of a woman who appeared equal parts happy and sad. The colors also shifted to neutral tones.

”Oh no mind reading here. Just basic information given to me from your headmaster. And even then I only asked for the basics. Hope this is better.”

“So before we get started, can I ask: Have you been in therapy before?”

So even Coulson knew who the two best decorators in AA were. Good to know. But the question posed by the Good Doctor, puzzled Dorian. Shouldn't that have been on a record if he had or hadn't? Wouldn't she already know? ”No? But I feel as t'ough you already know t'at so why ask? And on t'at subject…I'm not really sure why I am ‘ere.”

”The only thing I know about you Dorian is what powers you have and a general sense of your likes and dislikes. I’ve asked to go into these sessions with you and your classmates blind, essentially, because that is how we will get the best work done. So I ask because that sets the groundwork. With that said, anything we discuss here in this room stays in this room. Despite Coulson strongly suggesting therapy, I will not report back to him anything said unless you give me permission to. This is called confidentiality.”

“There are some stipulations to confidentiality though that, if they occur, I may have to break it. That includes if you have any desire to want to hurt yourself or others, if there is child abuse or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the authorities get involved and ask for my records, but even then I would fight back on that.”

“Let me be an annoying doctor at you for a moment and answer your question with another: Why do you think you were asked to be here? Can you come up with some examples?”

Dorian only really thought of one reason why Coulson would request this mandatory therapy session. Sure he wasn't present when it was talked about, but he knew this had to do with that night with Arcade. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, taking a sip of his tea before placing the cup down. ”I can only t'ink t'is ‘as somet'in to do wit’ t'at night wit’ Arcade. But i don't see what hand of t'at requires t'erapy? Not'in’ bad or out of t'e ordinary ‘appened. I'm at a school to become a super’ero. T'ere are known risks to t'at job and t'at was one of t'em.”

Mave nodded, sipping her own tea she poured. ”Let me ask another question then: Do you think police officers should attend therapy? Firefighters? Paramedics? Soldiers?”

”Don't t'ey? I'm sure t'ey ‘ave mandated t'erapy as hearin someone's last breat’ or certain scenarios may be too much for…oh. I see. Ha ha.” Dorian understood now where she was coming from, but still almost wished to roll his eyes at her. He didn't need therapy. He was fine. He grew up for a large chunk at Xavier's School for Gifted Children, did she know how often that place blew up? At least once a semester. ”Do you t'ink i need t'erapy?”

”I think everyone needs therapy. Therapy isn’t just for people who have identifiable needs like depression or trauma. Some people attend therapy just to have a private space to talk about whatever they need to. Some people like having a neutral person who has their best interest at heart to speak to.”

“But I see you caught on to what I was hinting at. Even heroes need therapy. People may look at such people like Captain America and see a shining example of someone who has it together, but no one really knows what someone has going on under it all. And it isn’t fair for us to assume that just because someone is a hero doesn’t mean they do not need help or that admitting you do makes you anything less than a hero.”

“The situation with Arcade was the catalyst to this, sure, but I imagine some of you handled the situation better than others. This can be more of a space you create for yourself to get what you need out of it. Think of me as an additional support to the many you have already at your disposal.”

A part of Dorian wondered how many of the heros he's met with have gone to therapy themselves. And how many of them had been with Maeve. He didn't lingered on that though too long as she moved from one point to another, and he had to guess that he was some of the ones who had handled it better. ”I t'ink my upbringin’just…changed my views on a lot of t'is. Xavier's school saw it's own amount of accidents far bigger t'an t'is, Beyond t'at deat’ itself isn't exactly finite. Not only is revival a mutants greatest gift, but it's my families legacy. My takeaway from t'is…catalyst is t'at I'm glad I was able to overcome our first enemy while also ‘elpin’ t'em in the process to become a better person. Arcade didn't need a beatin’ ‘e needed ‘elp.”

”I think it takes a strong person to look at someone who has hurt others, others you are close to, and want them to get help. From the sounds of it, Arcade will be getting just that.” Maeve knew of some of the mutant students from Xavier, and she herself had spoken to Charles on more than one occasion, so she knew the instances Dorian was speaking of.

”Death is scary for some, comforting for others, and maybe even just a part of life with no bearing. How we are raised alters us, sure. Nature vs. nurture. What defines ‘family’ for you?”

Dorian puffed out his chest a little when she mentioned it took someone strong to do what he did. As if she was somehow affirming his ability for heroism. Everyone he looked up to was someone who was known to care for their enemies, who wanted them to get better and could see the good in them. So to hear her say that felt reassuring. He wasn't sure how to answer that question at all however. It was silly, it should be easy, and if asked who his family was that was even easier. But what defined a family? He didn't know. ”T’at's…a bit ‘arder to explain. ‘Ow would you describe one?”

”That’s a fair question. I would define family as the people I have chosen to include in my life that give me the support and love I need. That’s a brief definition though and there’s nuance to it. Like, do I consider siblings family just because they are blood? Not always the case for everyone. And do I blindly include all friends as family? Maybe, but some friends are good for fun while others are good for support. There’s no right or wrong definition, I would say. It varies person to person. I have a good support system in my life with people I say are in my family, even if I am not related to them. Does that make sense?”

”We ‘ave t'e same idea t'en. It's not easy to describe, and I ‘ave no blood relations to speak of…but t'ere are friends and friends of t'e family t'at we all consider family, and while t'ere are ot'er friends t'at can offer support at times i don't see t'em as family, merely just as good friends. It's all a little different when you're adopted from tragedy.”

”We create bonds for different reasons. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes for support, sometimes for enjoyment. Neither is above the other. As long as those you hold in regard provide support in whatever capacity you need then those bonds are treasured.”

“You mention being adopted from tragedy. Would you care to elaborate on that? You do not have to at this time if you do not feel up to it. We can adress it at a later time, provided you wish to continue with this.”

Dorian shrugged at the request. It wasn't something he even remembered, more a story he was told. He was so young when it happened. ”I don't see us meeting again but if it ‘elps you out sure. I was too young to actually remember anyt’in’. Just a baby. T'is was shortly after t'e fall of Genosha, my pa was doin’ ‘is usual sidework, ‘elpin’ mutants find better ‘omes. Ones wit'out persecution, or at least as much of it. Flatscans moved too quick, killed my parents before pa could show up. Found me amongst it all and took me in. Not much else beyond it.”

”I am so sorry to hear that Dorian. For what it is worth, you have my sympathies. You may have been too young to remember it but that experience still sticks around with you. But this is also why it is important to have those bonds we talked about. As an example, who would you consider to be some of your immediate supports as school?”

”Danni and April.” Dorian replied instantly with a smile on his face. ”We've known each ot'er forever, always dreamed to win t'e Contest of Champions toget'er some year and t'is is t'e year we do it!” It had to be.

”That’s wonderful. That contest is on everyone’s lips, it seems. I’ll admit I know only a little about it, but from what I do hear it is a big deal. What do you think of your chances of winning this year?” Maeve knew of the teams so far. The Young Avengers were pretty much the favorites to win, didn’t need to be brought up.

”We are a shoe in to win. T'e Young Avengers are gonna ‘ave to watch out.” Dorian replied excitedly, clearly amped for the coming contest.

Maeve smiled warmly. It was nice to see genuine happiness radiating off of someone. ”I’ll have to keep a close eye on it then. I tend to not pay too much attention, but perhaps I’ll make an exception this year.”

“What are you doing to prepare for the contest then? How do you psyche yourself up for such a momentous event?”

”You should totally watch t'is years! T'e past few years were blasé. Sure t'e first year of t'e Young Avengers were excitin’ but after t'at it's t'e same ol same ol. I ‘ate to put t'em in t'ier place just before t'ey leave but it'll show just ‘own amazin’ we are! T'e undefeated champs taken down by some underdogs! Our last training session maaayyyy ‘ave pushed too far but we learned and moved forward!”

”Well it’s hard to say no to that. You said your last training session may have pushed you all too far. What do you mean by that? It’s easy to see people training for things can oftentimes exert themselves too far and it could have some negative consequences, like injuries. Were all of you okay after the training?”

”Good.” Dorian nodded affirmingly to Maeves acceptance that she would be viewing this year's contest. ”Oh, well, our last trainin’ session is what landed us ‘ere. In an attempt to get ahead we accidentally put ourselves in danger.”

Maeve figured that was the case. ”And what do you make of that? Do you regret going in for the extra training to help you and your team? Do yu regret doing what you had to to survive? Do you regret what happened with Arcade at the end? Do you regret how the aftermath was handled, Coulson’s decision and ultimately leading you here with me?”

”Woah woah woah. One question at all time mon ami.” Dorian said as he held up is hands in a stopping motion before putting up five fingers and counting down on them as he answered questions.

” I t'ink some of t'e people involved took it too far from what I'd ‘eard. We broke t'e rules, we chose to ignore t'e schools safety guidelines, I don't see why t'ey got all upset at Coulson. Personally I t'ink t'ey were just upset wit’ t'emselves and projected it outwards at Coulson.” A finger went down.

” I don't regret doin’ it. I t'ink it showed us all somet'in valuable bot’ in workin’ as a team as well as t'e dangers of breakin’ rules to get ahead. As for doin’ what i needed to do survive? I didn't do it for me. I did what I ‘ad to to ‘elp t'e ot'ers survive. As for Cadie, I'm not really sure what ‘appened. I feel bad ‘e felt ‘e didn't ‘ave friends or family to lean on and went evil instead. But everyone deserves a second chance, because everyone ‘as some good in t'em. T'ey just need to find it.” One finger remained, and he stared at it for a moment longer before finally answering.

”I don't know. I t'ink t'is may be good for some, bad for ot'ers, and unneeded for t'e rest.” Dorian said as he shrugged and placed his final finger down.

”Maybe you can give me an example of when it would be bad for someone? I’ll admit there are therapists out there unqualified in their position, doing harm. But I also argue that everyone needs therapy, in some form or another. If for no other reason than to have a space to share and unload.”

Dorian wasn't sure how to answer exactly. He thought on it for a moment, drinking the rest of his tea before finally speaking again. ”Some people may ‘ave negative emotions towards it. So tellin’ t'em t'ey need t'erapy may push t'em furt'er away t'an actually ‘elp t'em at first. I don't t'ink it's bad in t'e long run but…at first it may be a bit ‘armful.”

”I would agree with that. I will challenge you on negative emotions. There is no such thing as a negative emotion. All emotions are healthy and valid. Anger and sadness, sure, we don’t like experiencing that, but they are necessary. It is how we process those emotions and what we do with them that can be negative. Punching a wall, for example, or staying in bed all day and not eating.”

“But let me step off my soapbox. Did you have any other thoughts or concerns regarding the situation with Arcade? Or any questions for me about anything?”

”I was told ‘e'd be given a fair trail and ‘elp. Was t'at t'e case? Did ‘e get t'e ‘elp ‘e needed?” Dorian asked, his gaze fixated on the floor beneath him. He didnt have any other questions about his session or anything. All that was running through his mind was what happened to Arcade. To Ed. He deserved a second chance.

”I believe he was given help. I can double check but he does still need to face some punishment for what he did, but I will offer my own thoughts on his mental state and willingness to change.”

“With that Dorian, I think this is a good stopping point. Again, this can be regular or a one-off. If you do wish to continue we can discuss how often. And if you decide you are fine with just the one know that I will still be available for you when you need it. Door is always open.”

”T'anks Doc. I don't t'ink I'll need more but…can I get your card just in case?”

Maeve stood up and walked over to her desk, picking up one of her cards. She returned and handed it to Dorian. ”You can call any time. And I’ll be keeping an eye on the contest. I’ll be rooting for you.”

Dr. Maeve Whitehall took a sip of her coffee as she read over the new file she picked up before the next session. Leah Jordan. Geokinesis and Enhanced Strength. Relationship wise she was a part of a polycule with April Flynn and Sabine Bassard, two other students with files on her desk.

Tough. Headstrong. Refused authority, though it was hardly surprising why. She-Hulk had made a note for her given their recent involvement. ‘Handle with care’. Maeve chuckled inwardly. She trusted that woman’s opinion.

Maeve closed the file and stood up. Preparation was key before sessions but a good therapist was one who was quick to roll with the punches and adjust as needed. She had a feeling Leah would not be pulling punches.

__________________________________________________

As Leah walked into the office she would see a serene waterfall falling into a fountain with koi fish swimming in it and flowers sparingly floating along the top, moving slightly with the ripples. There was a long couch that could comfortably seat 5 people in a light orange color. On the light wooden table in front of the couch there was a stone statuette of what appeared to be a man holding a child in his arms. There was a book on the table with the title “Therapy Is Awkward”. The walls were a light cream color and the carpet was white. There were multiple windows showing a hot, sunny day outside with a sandy beach and waves gently rolling in.

Maeve sat in an orange armchair close to the table but directly across from the couch. “Hello Leah. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever you prefer. Please, take a seat where you feel most comfortable. I can adjust the seating arrangements as needed.”

There were no words to describe the sheer level of cosmic intervention required to somehow convince Leah to walk in here. So no words would be said.

When she stepped through the door, there was something awfully unsettling about how mellow this space looked. It wasn’t the sort of environment she had any place in, too serene and sterile. Even in an environment that wasn’t dangerous, there was usually sand or rocks or something natural keeping her company; Something that wasn’t this.

With a resting bitch face, she sat down on the couch staring at the woman.

”You have sixty seconds to stop me from leaving. Start talking.”

Maeve smiled. Just as she imagined. ”Well normally I would begin by outlining what we would be doing here and talking about confidentiality and my role in that, but if I have only sixty seconds I better get right into it. First, let me know if this environment is too much or not enough for you. I admit I only had your file to go off of and adjusted what I could but I can always change it up if you feel more relaxed elsewhere. Hell, we don’t even have to be in this room if you want. We can go outside if that’s preferable. Second, I recognize I am an unknown figure and you feel some obligation to fight me and I do not blame you. You are not here under force or duress, even if you feel otherwise. I only want to talk and help, if you’ll let me.”

Maeve pulled out her phone. ”Just under sixty seconds. How’d I do?”

”Funny, that’s not what Coulson said,” Leah wasn’t smiling. ”So yeah, I’m not here willingly. And I don’t plan on doing this regularly. So why should I?”

”Well Coulson isn’t here and over here I am in charge. Or rather, you are. But since we are on that topic let me say that what is said in here, stays in here. Yes, Coulson might have suggested going and have stated it’s mandatory, but I am under no obligation to tell him anything you tell me. There are some stipulations though that, if they come up, I may have to break confidentiality. Such as if you want to seriously hurt yourself or someone else, if there is any child or vulnerable adult abuse, or if you give me permission. But outside of those parameters it’s just me and you in here.”

“So to answer your question on ‘why should you’, because very few people get a space to be themselves in whatever capacity they choose. You can sit there and lie to me and I would have no way of verifying because I can’t ask. I have a file on you with basic information but there’s a blank slate. You can also not stick around and leave at any point and I won’t stop you. All I ask is that you meet me in the middle. And really, not even in the middle, I can meet you closer to where your at.”

“So what is it going to be right now Leah? In here, out there? What would make you more comfortable, even just a little bit?”

It wasn’t hard to clock the fact that Leah didn’t trust this woman. And at the mention of hurting someone else, and a kid being abused, a metaphorical fire was started in her. That feeling of anxiousness and lack of trust bumped up a few notches.

Why hasn’t she walked out already? She was telling herself that it was that people would push their luck if she walked out and played hardball about this. Coulson would keep pretending he was part of any of this, She-Hulk would never let Leah live it down.

Fuck.

She stared the woman down, her face unreadable like stone

”Fine. It’s no one’s business, I’m staying here.”

”I’m happy you are staying. I noticed when I brought up the rules for confidentiality that there was some tension, particularly surrounding child abuse or wanting to hurt someone else. Do you mind if I ask why that impacted you?” Maeve could read emotions very well and it didn’t take her powers to know Leah was feeling a lot. Maeve could appreciate a client who had their emotions on point. It made her job easier, even if they didn’t want to talk.

Leah might have leaned backwards, but then the couch she was sitting on would be shredded and that would take forever to wash out. So she didn’t.

What could she say to this woman that wouldn’t open up absolute chaos?

”Back before I found this school, I tried to kill my dad. Wasn’t until a month or two ago that I found out he survived,” Leah said. ”And that’s not a good thing.”

”Your dad is not the most upstanding of people, I take it? Would it be as bad as you hinted if he found you here?” Maeve clocked in to the emotions again. Happy Leah had opened up, even a crack.

”Oh and don’t worry about the furniture. Break it if you want, if it helps.” This was not, necessarily, a challenge, though it would be interesting to see how it was responded with.

”He’s known I’m here for a while now. Probably a month, probably three years,” Leah explained. ”So no, he’s not. Once he’s done with whatever Avengers are in the way, then he’s coming after me. And when that happens, I’m making sure he doesn’t walk away twice.”

”What was your upbringing like? I can hazard a guess if your next interaction with him ends with his death. I can’t imagine he made it easy for you growing up. Also you said you found the school. Were you searching for something like it or did you stumble into it?”

Leah sighed and launched into an explanation.

”My dad’s a supervillain, the kind who only hurts people for money. You could pay him to go and kill every last superhero in America and he’d just send you a bill after he buries them all two days later. He wouldn’t think twice. He wanted me to be his legacy, someone who’d do what he did long after he was gone. After I thought I killed him for good, I jumped on a rock and flew far, far away and the school just happened to be the first place where I could be sure I wouldn’t starve.”

”It’s lucky the school was there then and willing to let you in. It sounds like a lot was put on you from an early age. That can’t have been an easy thing to shoulder. As tough as it is to do in this moment, let’s forget dad for a second. If there was no threat of him coming and finding you, what would you want to do? What do you want for yourself?

”To just go back to the way it was before I found out I didn’t kill him. I was completely fine before then.”

”What was that like. Paint me a picture. What is the world like for Leah without her father in the picture?”

”No one walking into things they have no right to disturb, people hunting me down for reasons that aren’t unusual, if at all,” she said. ”Working up to some contest that has no real meaning for anything, just the way things were a year ago, or a year and a half ago, or two years. That was the world, because I thought I actually pulled it off.” And of course, she hadn’t. He’d crawled out of the not-so-shallow grave like a ghoul under the moon, and let her believe that she’d succeeded in killing a man who’s name was feared by more people than she’d ever been able to count.

”I know your father is dangerous Leah. I don’t need your words to tell me when I can sense the raw emotion emanating within you. A fear like that can consume a person. However, I also do not get a sense it is fully consuming you. If your father does come looking for you, do you have protections in place? People to help? A support system to manage things in the meantime? You do attend a school training the next generation of heroes and there are connections to those who are currently out there doing just that.”

Leah shook her head. ”When he shows up, getting in the way is just going to get someone killed. I wouldn’t count on any of those heroes to last a minute in a fight with him. When I see him at the front door, one of two things is gonna happen: Everyone gets out of the way of us, or people start to die because they tried to stand between us. It’s not their responsibility, it’s mine.”

”Do you think it is the responsibility of the person who’s home is burning to put it out themselves? Do you think it is the responsibility of the victim of a robbery to search for their robber and get their belongings back? I know those are poor comparisons compared to facing a man who could seriously harm people, but there are fire fighters, police officers, heroes that take up that call to help others. Do we fault them for wanting to put themselves in danger to ensure another is unharmed? And do we fault them if they do not live up to that promise? Something to consider. Because despite the fear I sense, I also get love. There’s people in your life you care for and who care for you. Lean on them when you need it. Even the toughest hero needs to be able to take a breath now and then.”]

”It’s not about them. It’s about him. We’re talking about a guy who could be confronted by all the Avengers at once and not break a sweat. I- I can remember being ten years old and him showing me entire books worth of strategies for how to win a fight against just one of them,” she said. ”He’s not a fire or a robbery, he’s a fucking invasion, an atomic bomb falling right on your head. You don’t send cops or firefighters after him, you get out of the way and let someone who knows how he does things sort it out.”

”Then what is keeping you here Leah? If he knows where you are and no amount of help from others will stop him and if you know it’s on your shoulders, what is the point of staying? Your friends will surely not let you face it alone. The school, for what its worth, will not let it slide that you are a target. The Avengers and anyone else will try to stop him too. If the best thing to stop an atomic bomb is to get as many people away as you can, what are you doing to get that started?”

”I know how he fights, and he doesn’t just run up and jump you. He’s a predator, he trips you up and lets you make mistakes before he shows his face at all. If you see him, it’s too late. But I know the warnings, I used to sneak into his lab a lot back when I lived with him, I’ve watched him fight other people. When it gets worse, I’ll know. And then I’m gonna leave.”

She hadn’t told anyone that part. Not April, not Sabine, not Vicky. They didn’t need to worry about it, they would just be in more danger if they did.

”Dealing with him, no matter what it is, it’s like you’re playing chess. You don’t just go from A to B, you get in each other’s heads and make sure you constantly update your plan. Every little thing changes how it goes.”

”Does anyone know about your plan? Your emotional state shifted when you mentioned leaving. And how many times do you think you’ll need to run before he stops, if he stops at all? Isn’t that exhausting?”

”No. They don’t have to, I’ll be back. I’m running off one more time, and when I come back, it’s done. I’m going to make sure he’s dead for good this time.”

”Leah, I encourage you to tell someone about all of this. I acknowledge your father is powerful, dangerous, deadly, but by that logic you are in danger too. And you do not need to face it alone. At least think about it.”

“I think that’s a good place to stop unless you have other questions or concerns. I am happy to answer anything else you might have. And I would very much like to continue working with you, if you want. Otherwise my door is always open. I would also like to send you home with some resources. Read them, shred them, doesn’t matter. Would that be okay?”

Leah sighed. ”What are they?”

”One is a workbook about using mindfulness to help mitigate intense emotions. It’s fairly easy. And then I have a weekly support group that I think you may like that involves opening up and advocating for oneself. Boundaries, relationship dynamics. It’s also anonymous so you can go and not share your name or anything else. It has some other teens. You don’t even have to go weekly, it’s more of a ‘come when you want’ type deal.”

“So, is this a ‘see you next time’ or ‘have a nice day’ end to things?

”No, it’s not. I’m not coming back. The only reason I told you what I did is because I don’t want someone to get on my ass about leaving too soon. I don’t need this. But, sure, give me the things.”

She stood up.

Maeve stood up as well and walked over to the desk, picking up a folder with the papers she had said. She returned and handed them off to Leah. ”Then I hope you have a nice rest of your day Leah. I included my card in here if you need anything in the future. As I said, my door is open.” Once the folder was taken, Maeve would return to her desk, waiting for Leah to leave before she wrote up a note about the session.

”Yeah.”

Leah unceremoniously opened the door and walked out. And she was already regretting telling anybody anything about this. It sucked more than having to actually face him.

---

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Dr. Maeve Whitehall inwardly cursed as her computer started acting up. Fitting as the next client she was to see was Zarina, a Technopath. Maeve debated asking her to take a look after session but knew that crossed a boundary. Maeve cursed again before she stood up and took Zarina's file. Not only a technophile but one who could sense when someone was close to death. The weight of that alone...

Maeve left her office to get things ready.

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The room had light green walls with light gold specks freckled throughout, almost like little fireflies were dancing around. The floor was a light wood and the carpet under the sitting area was dark green. There were four chairs, three armchairs and a couch, all light green with white pillows. The light green table had a vase of various colored roses on it and some blank notebook paper. There was a pitcher of water and two glasses. The window showed the view outside as nighttime despite it clearly being daylight, but the room was accentuated with lights.

Maeve sat in one of the chairs as Zarina entered. "Hello Zarina. Please, come in. I am Dr. Maeve Whitehall. You can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall, whichever is easier. Please, have a seat anywhere you like. And let me know if I can make this space more to your liking also."

Zari was sort of bouncing along as she walked into the room. But she wasn't really alone though as she walked into the room. Floating along after her was Mr. Eyeball, who didn't seem to know if he she be there or not at all. The robot beeped a little at her and Zari started giggling. "Your being silly Mr. Eyeball," she giggled as she looked over at Maeve, "Nice to meet you! I'm Zari, but you know that already. What do you want to talk about? I think this is going to be fun, the room is nice and pretty," cue more beeping from the robot. "I am not rambling again so ruuuuude!" she protested looking at the thing.

Maeve smiled warmly as Zari spoke to her robot. "Thank you, I tried my best with the decor. I'll admit I went to school for psychology, not interior design. And this is Mr. Eyeball is it? A pleasure to meet them as well."

"Before we do get talking I would like to mention at the start that this space is private and confidential. Confidentiality means that what we talk about in this room will stay in this room. Coulson may have mandated sessions for you and your classmates but I will not share what is discussed with him unless you give me the okay to do so. There are some rules to confidentiality though and, if brought up, may mean I need to break confidentiality. That includes if there is any desire to want to seriously hurt yourself or someone else, if there is any child abuse or vulnerable adult abuse, or if the authorities get involved and ask for my records, and even then I will fight them on it. other than that, this is your space. So, really, we can talk about whatever it is you want. I'll ask though, why do you think Coulson recommended therapy for you all?"

"Okie Dokie!" she said still giggling as she sat down in a chair (partially because Mr. Eyeball was beeping at her to calm down for once but she was only half listening to him). It took her a moment to slow her brain down enough to focus on what Maeve had asked with regards to recommended therapy for everyone. "Noooooooo idea. Honestly this isn't even the weirdest thing or place I've been. And I'm used to people thinking I'm weird or crazy already. So nope, no clue as to why. Though if you don't mind me asking. What even is "therapy"? Cause I have nooooooooo idea... Never actually really heard of it."

"Crazy is a term I never use. Weird, well I think most people are weird. Heck, I'm weird. So, therapy is different for everyone, but it boils down to being a space to use in whatever capacity you need. Some people use therapy to talk about what they are feeling or to address any problems they have, like if they lost a loved one or broke up with their partner. Some people like therapy because they can talk abotu whatever and process things. I'm here to provide help and resources in whatever context is necessary. This is your space though. Is there anything you want to talk about or any questions? I'm a pretty open book."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh. My dad needs that," she commented with a shrug, with Mr. Eyeball beeping in agreement. "As for what to talk about well there are technically lots of things we can talk about. Like me jumping realities and being a fish out of water here cause I was born and raised in a different reality. Or there was when I time traveled back in time using my watch to help save the world sort of thing. Or there is the saving everyone's lives with the Arcade thing though think Mary Sue didn't take that revelation of what we ended up having to do very well so yay? There are so many things to talk about. You might need to be a bit more specific on what to talk about. Though from what I'm told asking me if I have any questions for you is probably not a good thing cause I've been told I ask a million off topic questions, or just morbid curiosity questions and such. Soooooooo where in that long list of potential things to talk about would you prefer to start with. There are a lot of things."

"Those all sound like great things to talk about. Why don't you pick the one you maybe have questions about or want to process more in-depth? When I have lots of thoughts I do my best to organize them, but if I am struggling with doing so I tend to pick the one that bubbles to the surface first." Maeve noted the comment about Zarina's father but she didn't want to push it just yet.

"Now see that there is a hard question for me to answer hence why I asked you. This world is still a bit weird to me without seeing a fight of some sort seemingly break out every 10 minutes cause that's just how things are but definitely makes things entertaining. Not so great to be sitting around doing nothing. Cause that would be incredibly boring. My aunt though makes things more interesting for me at times when she has the time. She's the All-Mother for New Asgard. Since she doesn't have kids my dad is next in line, then me. So that's also fun being a princess from another reality. Seriously though that world is soooooo different from this one. Like I had to learn a few things about the ways the countries are arranged here since you know, I didn't have those sort of places back home. Speaking of which let me tell you it was a little weird to talk to She-Hulk after the whole Arcade thing. Cause on one hand she's technically related to me, since I'm the granddaughter or a reality variant of her cousin, and on the other hand it was weird because she looks a lot like my mom. It is so weird. Anyway there are so many weird differences between here and my home reality. Like insanely weird it is kind of ridiculous."

"With all those changes and differences I can imagine it can be stressful at times. Though I am happy to hear about your relationships. I am a little familiar with New Asgard, but I've rarely talked to anyone from there. What's it like?"

"Well it's a bit more complicated than you know to explain it. There isn't really too much in the way of structure. At least when compared to what was Asgard there. My aunt Klara runs the place though, but for the most part she leaves everyone to themselves as long as they follow the laws there people mostly do whatever they want. Lots of fights tend to happen there. Then there is the whole Valkyrie thing which I decided to join up with when I got old enough. At my parents' home though the aesthetic is a bit different. My mom is an inventor type of sorts so I think people tend to say our home has almost like a steampunk sort of feel. Since it's a mixture of more modern technology with like Asgardian stuff and things like that. She helped me to build Mr. Eyeball. My dad helped me learn more with fighting and stuff like that.

"That sounds fascinating. Your parents sound great. And I like how involved your parents are. Tell me more about the Valkyries. I've heard of them, of course, but I admit I do not know much about them nor any Asgardian thing. They tend not to seek out therapy, at least from us here on Earth. I do not imagine they have many Asgardian therapists."

"Well see, that's why I asked what therapy even was. There are no therapists or anything like that. Pretty sure they don't believe in that. As for the Valkyrie well, I was the youngest person there. Then again learning how to use my sword a bit better was cool. Plus I ended up getting armor finally after forever. I ended up stepping a way a little bit back from that when I got a quest from the Norns to go save this reality for whatever reason so had to go do that. Course there also was the issue for a while that I didn't have the Asgardian strength, but fun times that changed a bit apparently more recently so yay for that. Sometimes I go on a trip with my mom and visit my grandpa sometimes, so that is a lot of fun too. Cause in my reality there is a sort of homeland for mutants cause the rest of the world is a bit craaaaaaaazy."

"Yeah the world here is rather wild. We've made strides, thankfully. One of those being that homeland for mutants. I admit, I have never been there either though I would love to go one day. I would even love to see Asgard, you make it sound wonderful. Tell me though, Zarina, how are problems handled there. By problems, I mean things like stress, anxiety, depression. Mental health concerns. Do Asardians believe in mental health overall?"

"Mental... Health?" she asked a bit confused by the question. "I don't know really no one seems to pay attention or care about those sort of things. Never seemed to matter before. But I mean, therapists aren't a thing and neither is therapy or whatever so I wouldn't really know how things are really handled around that sort of thing."

"Ok so for example, let's say an Asgardian is really upset about something. Super sad, crying, et cetera. How would they typically manage that? Do they manage that at all? Do they talk to someone? Do they go out and hit things? Do they take a break and go for a walk? All of that constitutes mental health, so some extent."

"Soooooooo, typically if people have issues like that they tend to go out and hit something, or someone usually. Start bar brawls that sort of thing. Though my mom always stopped me from doing something like that and instead talked to me about stuff. Then again she may have been born on Earth 257 but she was raised in this reality. So she tends to see things a bit differently then a lot of people there, not to mention she's not Asgardian so that's fun," Zari responded with a bit of a shrug, and Mr. Eyeball started beeping a bit at her, "Oh, and when she helped me build Mr. Eyeball and we were doing the programming she decided to program it a bit so Mr. Eyeball is supposed to keep me out of trouble. And calm to avoid that sort of thing. Which I did not know about the calming part until he just now said something about it."

Maeve smiled warmly hearing Zarina talk about her mother. "Your mother sounds very smart. I am glad she was there to help you. I would argue hitting things doesn't solve the real issue, though it can be therapeuic, in a way, to vent out those frustrations. And I am also happy Mr. Eyeball here is there to help. Sort of like a service pet, though I am positive he is more advanced than that. It sounds like your mother was pretty knowledgeable and understanding to your emotional and mental needs. That's therapy also. So you sort of experienced it before without realizing."

"We are about out of time for our session Zarina. I would love to talk to you more and offer any other additional help you might need, but that is your choice. We can keep it to weekly sessions or an "open door" policy if you want. Did you have any questions for me about all of this?"

"Oh okay, I could have talked for a lot longer cause that's always fun. Open door policy thingy would be fine, as for questions nope none from me now that I actually know what therapy even is."

Maeve smiled. It was nice having someone who actually liked talking. "Well save some of that for next time then. That's what the space is for. It was nice meeting you Zarina and I look forward to talking to you more. And you as well Mr. Eyeball. Continue to keep an eye on this one."

"Ok then, nice meeting you, byyyyyyye!" she said happily waving, sort of skipping a bit out, with the robot beeping a bit after her.

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This one was going to be interesting.

Dr. Maeve Whitehall held the file in her hands as she read up on her next client, Zelda Flynn. Empathic Control and Creation like this was not something she often worked with. As someone with Empathic powers she rarely worked with others like her. She hoped it would make things easier, but empaths could hide better than others.

_____________________________________

As Zelda entered the office she would see the walks in dark blue with white flowers on one corner wall. The sitting area held a large white couch with two armchairs across from it. In the center was a white wood coffee table with some magazines on it as well as some standard psychology books. There was a pitcher of water and two cups. The window on one of the walls showed outside.

Maeve sat in one of the armchairs and looked up as Zelda entered. "Hello Zelda. My name is Dr. Maeve Whitehall, but you can call me Maeve or Dr. Whitehall. Please, have a seat wherever you like. I hope the room is to your liking but I can change anything if it makes you more comfortable, so please let me know." She stood up and waited for Zelda to take a seat before she sat back down.

Zelda sort of entered the room quietly, though she looked like she was only half there, kind of see through in appearance as she walked into the room. "Um, hi there," she said with a slight wave, though not really moving or anything like that from by the door. She very much didn't like being around too many people or people she didn't know. Hence her not really moving or wanting to move from where she was currently standing.

Maeve didn't need her empathic powers to sense the sheer nervousness coming off of Zelda. "Please Zelda, have a seat and let me know if I can do anything to make it more comfortable for you. I understand I am a new face, but this is nothing bad. If you want to stand there for a bit to get acclimated, that's fine too. This is your space. With that being said, do you mind if I ask if you have been in therapy before?"

She didn't really move from her spot as she looked over at her as she asked the question with regards to being in therapy. "Uh no..." typically for her, playing her video games or reading comic books practically was her own form of therapy. It calmed her and she could get lost in the stories of other places that were not her reality. It was nice and peaceful, better than being here and seemingly having to talk to someone.

"Well therapy can be scary, especially if you do not know what to expect from it. I like to think of therapy as your own private space. A little odd since I am in that space, but therapy looks different for everyone. Some people like talking about things, some people like doing different activities. Whatever suits them best is what I try to provide. This space is confidential too, meaning what we do here stays here. So I won't tell anyone what we talk about or do unless you tell me to. Is there maybe something I can get for us to do to make things a bit more comfortable in here? Outside of things beyond my control like ending world hunger or a million dollars, I can tap into some resources I have."

"I typically stick to reading comics or playing video games... Or sewing things... Not sure if any of those would be helpful here. I don't typically like talking to people about anything... This kind of seems pointless to me honestly... I don't even care about the Contest or whatever is going on there."

"Well I am not here because of the Contest, or rather that is not the main reason. What happened with Arcade was a lot to deal with and while I do not doubt you and your classmates are tough and capable, we often do not see how events like that impact us until late. While I conjure up something to make it nice in here, why don't you tell me more about your experience with what happened."

Maeve pulled out her phone and sent a quick text. As she waited for one of her collegues to come and for Zelda to speak more (hopefully), she noted that Zelda started using more sentences. Gradual progress was still progress. She had worked with many clients who were quiet initially and some that still were, but work could still be done. Listening was just as important as speaking.

"Not even sure what you want to talk about. I don't know... I get why it's required to be here... But also it wasn't really handled well the conversation about it this being a requirement, since so many people had emotions running high and were all going crazy with it."

"Yes, I wished Coulson handled it better, but too late on that. Those emotions running high though are part of the reason, I imagine. You all went through something one might consider traumatic and I wish it was taken care of with more grace."

Maeve's door open and a young man walked in holding a gaming system and a few games. He walked over and set it down as Maeve spoke. "There we go. Maybe we can play a game while we talk." The young man left and entered again, rolling in a TV. "Thank you Freddie." The young man smiled and left. "I don't know the first thing about setting it up so I leave it to you, if you want. And while we do that you can talk about...whatever really. Maybe we can start with your feelings on how the whole ordeal with Arcade was addressed?"

Zelda didn't say much of anything as she setup the gaming console, before thinking for a moment what Maeve had asked her. "I mean, I don't really get what you mean by how it was addressed. Doesn't really seem like that sort of thing was really addressed at all if you ask me... Kind of seems like it was sort of just shoved under the rug and ignored."

"Well, that's exactly what I mean. If it wasn't addressed at all, how does that make you feel? What you and the others went through can be categorized as trauma and that isn't an easy subject to discuss. What are your thoughts on that?"

"I mean it doesn't really matter now does it? The whole situation is over, we're all still around. There isn't anything to really have thoughts about. Arcade is dealt with, no one is dead. Everything is fine. The only thing is that the adults around didn't even really end up doing anything," she still didn't very much like talking about her emotions or feelings. Sure she could technically feel the emotions of others, channel them into solid matter or make others feel her emotions, but when she lost it or got upset or something, that power can easily cause a lot of chaos. Hell on the first training session for their team she had sort of done something like that when she panicked. Better to not have to overly worry about that sort of thing right? So why sit there and talk about those sort of things.

Maeve had to take a deep breath, feeling slightly frustrated. "That's not exactly true, is it. The 'no ine is dead' bit. Most of you died. You're here now and are fine, but people did die. There's trauma there. Some handle it better than others. So to answer your question, it does matter. Everything that happens that you are a part of matters, because the cumulation of it make up who you are."

"You use emotions, right? You are aware of the power they have. Maybe you can speculate why it's hard to talk about them sometimes. I have theories, of course. I can read emotions, both obvious and not, but even that doesn't explain the nuances of it. Someone feeling sad could have a multitude of reasons why, as an example. What do you think?"

"The thing is sometimes for me it tends to be more of a hinderance at times to be honest. Especially since your right, my powers do deal with emotions. Any emotions I feel I can turn into solid objects, which you know is great. One slight problem with the empathy and emotional manipulation sort of thing. There is a big problem. I can also project my own emotions onto others. Which when I lose control of my emotions can cause more issues since I tend to accidentally trigger that and project them when something sort of spirals out of control. So despite controlling emotions and stuff like that, well, I tend to try to not think about them too much if I can't help it."

"I can understand that. Emotions are fickle things. If I could turn it off, sometimes I would. It makes my job easier though and I can help people, even when it is difficult to manage them. However emotions are going to happen, regardless if you want them to or not. That's just how life works. We can work on learning to manage your own emotions more easily so that it doesn't get out of control, if you want."

"Not sure if you can really help out with that, but if you think so then okay, we can try figuring out managing my own emotions or something..."

"All I ask is that you try. And know there will be moments where you stumble, but that's okay too. Baby steps to progress is still progress. On that note, I think we can call it here. I'd love to see you again to begin working on this Zelda, but I can also keep an open-door policy if you'd like where you can come in when I'm available. Up to you. But do you have any questions for me about anything? I do also want to say, I recognized the hesitancy at the beginning, but I am very proud of how open and willing you were despite that. I hope you are proud of yourself too."

"If you say so... I'm fine with trying more of this sort of thing," Zelda responded, before she got up from where she was.

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It was around three in the afternoon on a Saturday, Diana was in the school's gym she had been working out for the last hour and was just finishing for the day. It was pretty nice and relaxing without having to do go any classes for the rest of the semester Diana grabbed her bag and was getting ready to head out back to her dorm and get changed. Diana made it back to her dorm pretty quickly and started to change into some clean casual clothes.

Percy was not looking forward to speaking to his sister. It seemed like most of the school now had been gossiping about him sleeping with Dorian, and while he couldn't prove that Diana had been gossiping about it, it seemed incredibly likely. Combined with his realization during the session with Dr. Whitehall that his sister had a serious problem with Percy's boyfriend, he wasn't exactly happy with her at the moment. She had been off at school for the past few years - the last time the two of them had seriously lived together, Percy had been barely twelve, having not even hit puberty yet. Things were different now. And they needed to talk.

He knocked three times on her door, and waited. And then, unable to help himself: "this is a good example of how to knock in order to request access to a room, Diana," he called out.

Diana heard the knocks on her door and Percy's voice on the other end, she let out a slight sigh he really wasn't going to let go of her accidentally teleporting herself into Dorian's room she wasn't really looking forward to having this awkward conversation. "It was an accident teleporting into Dorian's room that day." Diana said sighing slightly as she made her way towards the door and opened it letting Percy in.

Percy stepped into the room, his hands in his pants’ pockets. “And was it an accident when you called my boyfriend a slimer?” he countered. He glances around the room, before settling his eyes on his sister. “I didn’t think I would get much out of therapy. But then I realized, you said something to me the night Arcade tried to kill us. You asked me how I could tolerate dating him. So I want to ask you, Diana - what exactly is your problem with my boyfriend?”

Diana went over and sat down on her bed and sighed slightly she did regret being mean and saying those things to Dorian, at times she did find him to be really annoying. She was just a little bit jealous that Percy found someone that he actually cares about, and she hadn't found anyone yet. "I apologize to you for being mean and saying those things to and about Dorian." Diana said as she looked up at her brother. "He is a little bit annoying sometimes, but I don't have any problem with him. I guess I am just a little bit jealous."

Percy raised an eyebrow slightly at his sister’s language. The only people he knew that said I apologize were politicians and Real Housewives stars. However, he nodded in recognition of the apology. ”Why? Because I’m spending time with him?” Percy pressed. ”You essentially moved out two years ago when you started coming here. If it’s an issue of my time, being jealous that I am spending it with Dorian doesn’t make sense. You’ve barely seen me aside from summers and breaks. If it’s the fact that I have a boyfriend and you’re single, then that isn’t anything I can help to you solve.”

He then frowned, before continuing. ”I’m in love with him, Diana. I wish you were happy for me. I would be happy for you.”

Diana looked down for a moment running a hand through her hair slightly she knew that she was in the wrong for treating Dorian Percy's boyfriend wrong and she did want her brother to be happy. "I am happy for you Percy, I really am. You found someone here quicker than I did since coming here." Diana said looking up at her brother.

"Does that matter?" he asked bluntly.

"Of course it does matter to me, you are my brother and I care about you and what makes you happy Percy." Diana said while looking at her brother.

”That’s not what I asked. I asked if it mattered - if it mattered that I found someone before you did,” Percy insisted. ”Is it a competition to you?”

Diana shook her head. "No it isn't at all, it was just weird seeing you, well almost naked." Diana said

”We were in Dorian’s room with the door locked,” Percy spat, feeling the anger rise in his chest again. ”If I accidentally teleported into your room while you were half naked, I wouldn’t have screamed at you! I wouldn’t have gone on about how disgusting I found your partner! And I wouldn’t be so painfully obtuse about all of this!” His hands were shaking, and he felt his body getting ready to make a jump. ”You only care about your own feelings, Diana. Have you even stopped to consider how I felt? How Dorian felt? I doubt it. We’re done here. Don’t talk to me.” He stared at her for another moment, before leaving her room and slamming the door behind him.

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Cassie didn't know what to expect anymore when it came to her si- when it came to Vicky. Everything had been changing so quickly, and it wasn't like Cassie didn't have a full plate of things to deal with, what with everything about the Demiurge that they'd been learning lately. They hadn't had any time to even practice for the contest, but truthfully, it was the last thing on the Young Avengers' minds. Most of them didn't even consider themselves students anymore, too busy finding themselves getting into situations that would challenge even the Avengers.

"It's going to be okay," Kate said, giving Cassie's shoulder a squeeze. "Her programming's on the fritz, that's all. Happens all the time."

America nodded, having already located the snacks in this facility, munching on what looked like a small cup of pretzel bites. "Weird that they sent her here, though. Can robots even get therapy?"

"Guys," Cassie groaned. "She's not just a robot, she's... You know. I've known her since my dad married her mom, she's the closest thing to a sibling I have - and ever will get, probably, since Mom's fertility issues."

The three girls entered the visiting room, and Cassie looked around nervously, trying to spot Vicky.

Who was already there, sitting cross-legged on a chair, her face buried in the Prelude to Foundation. Victoria wasn't sure what to expect of this visit either. On one hand, she meant it when she called Cassie her sister. While Victoria was buit full-size, that was the only stretch in the claim that they grew up together.

On the other... You're a robot, Vicky. You know the family history. The thought that her 'mother' would put what amounted to mind control in her software was making her angry. But the fact that Cassandra just straight up defended its existence like that actually hurt. It was like being family all of a sudden didn't transcend her nature. And Vicky couldn't help but think whether it ever did, or if she just idealized the world she lived in. Could she be blamed though? Her mind was that of a child at the time when that thought took root. She supposed she would have to find out today.

"Hi-" Looking up with a smile, it instantly turned into a pout. She didn't expect Cassie to show up with her posse. She pointedly looked at America and Kate and nodded towards the door. "This is personal, you aren't part of this. I'm not talking about family matters in front of strangers. You don't have to be far, but you can't be here." her tone wasn't unkind, but it was firm. She then looked at Cassandra. Vicoria's face was a mix of sadness spiced with a garnish of regret. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like you needed to bring backup."

Kate and America both looked at Cassie for a moment, who nodded. "It's fine, guys," she assured them. She'd been such a mess over this entire situation that her friends had insisted on coming, in order to support her. Kate glanced at Vicky for a moment, as if about to issue a warning, before she shrugged and left the room, as did America, who waved at them goodbye. Once they were gone, Cassie bit her lip a bit, before taking a seat across from Vicky.

"They're just - they're just worried, that's all," Cassie explained. She glanced at her hands for a moment, before looking up at Vicky again. "How are you?"

Victoria sighed. "Been better?" she summed up, gaze pointed at the desk top, her voice level and quiet. "You know why I got sent here? Because Coulson interpreted me trying to shut myself down to stop myself from killing my classmates and letting Arcade have an obedient ASTRA lapdog as a suicide attempt, rather than the only option I had left to stop a disaster."

Vicky took a moment to collect herself. She didn't want her voice breaking. She failed miserably. "So imagine, after you do that, your own sister defends you having a mind control backdoor, not because of who you are, but because of what you are." she looked up, her eyes meeting Cassandra's. "Really skimming the line of racism there, Cas. How am I? It was the second worst time of my life, right after actually getting mindraped by that ginger bastard."

Cassie’s eyes watered, hearing Vicky’s pain. She didn’t know what to do - she didn’t know what to say. But she wasn’t about to cry - she didn’t want to make this about her. Vicky was hurting right now - she needed to be her focus. “I… Mom always explained it as the only way we would be allowed to make you - that if someone found out about a Pym having made another robot, without any sort of failsafe, you’d be dismantled. But she always said that it wasn’t put in there because she wanted to use it on you. Mom, she… she isn’t like that.”

“The government knows about you, Vicky… If you were to remove it somehow, and they found out… They’d kill you. But…” she paused again, wiping her eyes dry on the back of her sleeve. “If you want it gone… then what kind of sister would I be if I didn’t help you?”

"Then stop! Stop... Making us! Why does humanity insist on creating the things they dread? It's no wonder then that you end up setting out to make saviors, but settle for slaves!" Vicky complained, more at Cassie than to Cassie.

She took a breath, feeling her internals spiking in temperature. Understanding how humanity thought was a monumental task sometimes. "I'm well aware they know about me. Heaven's sake colonel Rhodes trained me, and a former SHIELD agent is running the school I study at." Vicky rolled her eyes theatrically, though her voice sounded a lot more level. "I figured they would have acted already when I had the cheek to remove one of their orders on halloween, if they really had a problem with it."

"As for that help... That's why I'm still here. I could have left already, but Whitehall is helping me find a way to be rid of it. Nothing yet, but it's just day one." That was a lie. Vicky already had an idea on how to stop the admins from giving her any new orders at least. But right now, she still didn't trust Cassandra, and by extension Hope, enough to tell them. "So far I still have strings, but one day, I'll be free. I don't know if you can help with that... Maybe make sure that they know fucking Arcade used that very same backdoor to take control of me? That should put some knickers in a wad somewhere. And I told Whitehall already that if she can persuade Hope to just rip my ultron core out, I would gladly take being quadruplegic until I learn to control this body on my own again, just to be rid of that nightmare. If you can drive that point home, that may be of assistance." she sighed, resting her head on her hands.

Like hell they would do that.

The whole point of an ASTRA was to tame Ultron. Without that core, she would think at human speed, and then what would be the point of her? Men in suits already did exactly what she would be able to.

“… I think Mom made you because she was hopeful - hopeful that you’d be better than us,” Cassie ventured slowly, feeling like she was slowly making her way across the surface of a frozen lake. “I… I get that you’re mad at her. I wish we’d talked about this stuff sooner. If you want me to talk to her, I’ll try.”

Vicky nodded, being quiet for a bit. "This would all have been a lot more bearable if she gave me to some other family to raise. I mean how was I supposed to take this? Did they put failsaves on you when you stole some pym particles to empower yourself? I hope not, because it's messed up. I've done nothing to deserve it, in fact as far as I know, I've done everything right, which my therapist seems to agree on, and yet here I am. But if it was a distant creator figure doing this rather than my parental figure, I would still not be exactly thrilled, but... You get me? That's the real twist of the knife."

She got up, walking around the table to glomp Cassandra from behind. "I hope I can get this settled somehow by Christmas. I'd like to come home. I'm just... Scared to go right now. Too scared I'll be put back in chains if I do."

Cassie leaned back slightly, and put her hands on Vicky’s. “I… I wish I had an answer for you, Vicky - why Mom made all the choices she did. You’ve known her longer than I have, your guess is better than mine. I… I’d love if you came home for Christmas, but if you won’t, will you promise me you’ll go somewhere safe?”

Victoria nodded, then giggled. "Don't you worry. I thought about that already, and I figured: I always wanted to go to the Moon, and I am vacuum rated. Why wait? If I go, I promise I'll bring you a cool rock."

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April hadn’t slept much the night before.

Following her session with Dr. Whitehall, April had been left more or less to her own devices. The room she was being kept in was fine - it had a small bathroom connected to the bedroom, furnished with a twin sized bed, a desk, and a chair. Brochures about C.A.G.E. had been set out for her, along with a journal and crayons. She didn’t have any of her belongings - no phone, no favorite stuffed animals, nothing to really make the place feel like hers.

She’d spent most of the night awake, staring at the door, trying to anticipate when it would open again - she was on suicide watch - or standing in front of the sink, letting the water run and doing her best to make it budge, even a little. But it had been like trying to use a phantom limb, an intrinsic part of her identity that she couldn’t access.

And crying. April had done a lot of crying.

By morning, her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her hair almost matted in spots, and she had constructed for herself a truly horrifying image of what would await her beyond her little cage. She was starving, though - she needed to eat. And Dr. Whitehall had mentioned that there would be medicine for her to take with breakfast - things that would help her.

She bit her lip, wishing Danni and Dorian were there with her - or Sabine or Leah. And slowly, like a startled prey animal, April ventured out of her room and down the hallway into the common area, one step at a time.

As soon as August spotted the new patient who now seemed to be sporting a birds nest as her hairdo, he propped up off of the wall and made his way over to her. His hands in his pocket as he approached, stopping in front of her just short of a foot. “Couldn't sleep? First few nights are always a little rough here at good ol C.A.G.E. Though most residents don't wake up with a birds nest.” He moved to walk in step with her side by side.

April couldn’t help but jump slightly, as a boy that looked to be around her age started walking next to her. Immediately, she tried to figure out what was wrong with him - what he’d done to be locked up here. It hadn’t entirely occurred to her yet that she was here - that the people in CAGE were just people, not characters from some DC Arkham Asylum show. Did he hear voices at night telling him who deserved righteous vengeance enacted upon them? Did he have multiple personalities, some prone to violence? If she said the wrong thing, would he lash out at her? She didn’t have her powers here - she didn’t know if she’d be able to protect herself without them.

She nervously ran a few fingers through her hair, trying to get it tamed down a touch, but it wasn’t much use. She needed a brush and a bottle of detangler. Immediately, her instinct was to just turn around and go back to her room, to shut herself in there and avoid seeing anyone or having anyone see her - she’d have died of embarrassment if she’d gone to class with her hair like this, and that was without having to worry about what horrors could be lurking inside her classmates.

Although Arcade had been her classmate - and he’d tried to kill her… She swallowed slightly, wondering if he was here too. ”U-uh, yeah,” April squeaked out, suddenly aware that her hands were shaking. ”... I-it’s that bad, isn’t it? I d-didn’t see a brush anywhere and my hair can be a lot without one, it just kinda goes all over the place, my mom’s got the curly genes and th-they sometimes show up for me I think in the fact that my hair, like, tangles so so easily….I-I’m April.”

”Hm, she could be a threat. Or a snack. Lick her. We will determine this through her tastiness.”

August pulled his hands out of his pockets and spun on his heels. “Aye chill chill mamasita. It's all good. You see, I like to help people. New people. Show em the ropes, and because of that I get to have certain…privileges. I haven't had a single person visit me, but some others like to sneak things in for me, like a brush for starters. You think this hair is easy to keep this beautiful?” He continued forward, linking arms with her as he psuedo dragged her forward before stopping abruptly. “I am not going to lick her…unless” August said as he looked at her with a quirked eyebrow.

April’s eyes widened, already alarmed as this stranger linked his arm with hers. Had her powers not been offline, every pipe in the place would have suddenly frozen. But she was so sleep deprived, and already so terrified in this place, that she didn’t struggle - she wished that she would have, that her fear wouldn’t have gotten the better of her, that she could say she pushed him aside and took off running - but she felt stuck, trapped, just hoping desperately that this interaction would end - or that one of the orderlies would come on by and give her an out, maybe Dr. Whitehall had figured out what was wrong with her.

”Y-yeah your hair looks n-nice! Wh-what products do you use on it? One of my friends, he swears by…” and then the final thing he said registered with her, jolting her enough to activate some small ounce of self preservation, as she practically leapt backwards, removing her arm from his. ”N-nope, no licking, I am not interested! I am very much gay - gay for women, not for men, I guess I sh-should say lesbian, but yeah - so - so no licking. I h-have two girlfriends w-who would be v-very upset and my d-dad is basically a c-cop so… so no-no thank you!”

“Hey very gay, I'm August. But that's fine now worries no need to call your cop dad. Though not much he could do I'm already locked up here. Just my buddy” August said as he pointed to his head “He likes to taste someone to make sure they aren't a threat. Not much i can do about it sometimes. Soooo two girlfriends huh? That's cool, always wanted that tho more boy and girl at the same time you know but hey! Lesbian cool.”

“You are too trusting. She could be a spy for them. We need to protect us, August. At least ask if she is a spy.”

So this person heard voices, then. Voices that told him to lick people in case they were dangerous. April was fairly certain that - at least in a medical sense - the only person she was a danger to right now was herself. Although… she winced a bit, remembering how after they caught Arcade, she’d totally lost it, freaking out enough that she’d hurt the others - the Scarlet Witch had had to heal people to undo the damage. ”Um, well, I’m not a threat? I think at least. I guess they still haven’t figured out what’s wrong with me, but I don’t really hurt other people… except for those few times, but that was an accident… but that can’t happen here, because I don’t have my powers right now - so yeah, totally fine. Totally not a threat. Just… just an ordinary girl. And y-yeah, two girlfriends - they’re - they’re so great.”

August nodded to no one in particular. “Good idea, good idea. I'll ask.” He said almost as if speaking off camera to a fourth wall before looking back at April. “Are you a spy? You're required to tell me if you're a spy. It's the law” He closed the gap between the two again, gently nudging her towards the cafeteria where breakfast was being served. “Its ok, they haven't even figured out what I am. But they give me meds and that's what matters. So powers? Talk to me. What can you do?”

”N-no, I’m not a spy,” April said, still freaked out by this entire interaction, but the longer that it persisted for and no harm came to her, the more she slowly started to relax - just a little bit. Not enough to turn her back on him or anything, but at least to not jump too noticeably when he nudged her slightly in a given direction - she didn’t exactly know where that direction led to, however. She’d just been escorted here the previous night. They hadn’t given her a tour.

”...A-aren’t you just, like, um, schizophrenic? Sorry is that rude? I don’t - I’ve never - sorry,” April paused. ”Um, I can - I can control water, turn it into ice, throw it around… L-like Katara stuff, y’know. It’s nice ‘cause - ‘cause I have a friend who has fire powers, so - so we can help each other out if things get out of hand which… which happens a lot…”

“Hm, perhaps she is not a spy then. Perhaps she is just one of those little four legged furry things that pee when they are nervous. What are those called again? I would like to try one still. Ask her if she has tried one.”

August stopped once more, placing a hand on his chest as he feigned being insulted. A squeal leaving his throat before a giddy chuckle followed suit. “I'm not schizo noooo. See that's the fun part. I just have depression, but no one here wants to 🎶listen🎶 to meeee. I have an alien living inside of me that only I can here. But it's fiiiine. Now- what? No. Does she look like a dog to you? Get your eyes checked geeze. Sorry about that they can be a little… eh.” August said with shrug until he continued to walk again. “ Kataras cool. So is Zuko there it seems, suuuuuper jealous. I don't have any powers really. Not unless I'm high as a kite. Hungry?”

Definitely schizophrenic, then, April decided - but she wasn’t going to push it. Maybe it was best to just play along with this boy. She vaguely recalled hearing somewhere that people lashed out more when their reality was challenged - she wasn’t sure if that was true or not - but… He seemed almost harmless. Aside from the possibility of being licked, which made April want to vomit just thinking about it. As for the dog comment… April nervously tried to pull out some of the snarls in her hair again. If she had scissors, she would have just chopped those chunks about - but she figured scissors weren’t allowed in this place.

”You…. You get powers from drugs? That’s… never mind. Um. Y-yeah, I’m pretty hungry - a-and the doctor mentioned there’s some medicine I’m supposed to take with breakfast? I’m not - I’m not sure how things work around here.”

August chortled at Aprils comment. Waving it away dismissively before getting control of himself and responding. “No, I get so high it feels like I have powers. Ah it's great. Don't take anything until I've seen what they hand you. Some of the stuff is no bueno. That's Italian for shit. Buuut some is helpful, I can pocket the ones you don't need so they won't find them on you ok? Now c'mon, foods this way and I can't wait to tear into some of it I'm starved.”

“They are your eyes, August. I was making a joke because she is clearly afraid of something that will not harm her, like the little taco bell dog. Dog. I like that word. I will call her dog. I like our little dog. I would like to keep this one. She will not hurt us.”

”But… Aren’t the meds supposed to… to help? Like they won’t work right if I don’t take them all?” April asked, legitimately confused. Her mother was SHIELD’s medical science director - the concept of going against a doctor’s instructions was completely foreign to her. And if she didn’t take all of the meds, didn’t she need to then tell the doctors that, so they could look at her charts correctly? Maybe August was trying to trick her, so he could use the meds they wanted to give her to get high - assuming they were ones possible to get high off of? She bit her lip, wishing that she’d spent more time looking at the brochures and info sheets that had been left in the room for her. ”I don’t - I’m not - I’m not crazy but… The doctors know what they’re doing, right? They went to school for years to know this stuff.”

“Please. I mean yeah some of those meds will help sure. Others just keep you complacent. Look at that guy, he's watching the wall likes it TV. Brains practically rotted from the stuff. But I know my way around the pharms, which is which and what's actually useful. You see, doctors say they want to help but if every patient was better they wouldn't have a job now would they? Ugh now I want some taco bell, those crunchwraps slap!”

She frowned, even as her stomach growled. When was the last time she’d eaten anything? It took her a moment to remember - everything at school seemed so far away now, so distant. It must have been lunch with Danni and Dorian. ”Okay, so if you know your way around the meds, don’t you need to know what’s wrong with me first? Like, I don’t even think the doctors know.” Although there was definitely a ton in her family medical history for them to draw from. ”Or actually… If you’ve been here a ton… Do you… do you have a guess?”

“She obviously needs more life threatening situations. The thrill of combat will make her strong! And if she is strong, she will not be scared. Tell her, August.”

“Now see, I don't need to know what you have to know what's bad for you. It's ez pz. But if you want the 100% genuine August Perland diagnosis? Based on how skittish you are, the way you move, and the fact that they havent exactly found what was wrong with you even though you, apparently, harmed some people. I'd say it's a deep psychological issue caused by trauma at home. Maybe not physically but in some sense. Then again my depression is telling me you just need more combat in life to help strengthen your mind and body.” August replied nonchalantly as he picked up a tray and a plate to begin serving himself some food.

April hesitated for a moment, before picking up a tray and a plate as well. The food… didn’t look great. She was used to the nice food at the dining hall at AA - or even better, the food that Danni and Dori’s parents would drop off for them from time to time. She put what tentatively looked like possibly oatmeal, or maybe a generic gruel, onto her plate. ”I go to Avengers Academy, I have plenty of combat in my life - we actually beat our first supervillain last week, which was… Anyways my home life is fine, but also isn’t saying that just cheating and basically saying it’s probably daddy issues? A-and I don’t hurt people, it was an accident, but it was fine, the Scarlet Witch fixed it, so no one got hurt… really. I don’t think it should count. The only person I… I’m fine. I think it’s a mistake. They’re going to realize that I’m fine and then I can go back to school. We’re in the contest this year - the big one on TV, where all the superheroes go to see who deserves to be on their teams after graduation.”

“Oh so it's just daddy issues then. See i didn't mention a father. Could've been anyone at home. And everyone knows the more someone says they're fine the less fine they are. But we can drop it if you'd like. Tell me about this contest? Prize? Cash? An exclusive with your fav avenger? What's YourLie trying to get from it?” August seemed unphased by the food they gave them. The oatmeal may look like ass, but it was better than any oatmeal his mother ever made. But if he said that shed smack him across the hand with a wooden spoon.

”Hey! I don’t have daddy issues - my dad’s great!” April protested, even as it made her feel queasy. ”A-and I am fine! I’m so fine! What would I have to be upset about?” The food line itself ran into the immediate next line - a small counter of sorts where the meds were dispensed, with the attendant asking for folks to open their mouth to confirm they’d swallow them after. ”You haven’t heard of it? It’s, like, such a big deal - you get this huge trophy when you win, and the Avengers and Fantastic Four and everyone are there - even the X-Men show up. I don’t think Namor shows up, so that’s a no on the favorite. And my name is April.”

“Didn't you say your dad's a cop? ACAB. That includes papa dearest.” August retorted as he slid down the line. A wonderful thing about Symbiotes, they had this thing some considered a Hammer Space. How else did spiderman and other symbiotic people carry things around? It was that very space where August kept his meds, as soon as he closed his mouth to “swallow” Depression would absorb them for later use and the narcs would be none the wiser. “Sounds nice, I've been in and out of testing for a large chunk of my life so didn't really pay attention. Besides, not like I could ever compete. Unless they let depressed Non powered kids fight.” He replied ignoring the comment about her name.

”He’s a SHIELD agent,” April said quietly, although it did occur to her that that occupation might be even worse. She knew on a logical level that all cops were, in fact, bastards - but applying that to her parents? The people who raised her and loved her and supported her? It was hard for her to wrap her head around. So like with most things that made April uncomfortable, she just tried not to think about it. ”... You said not to take anything until you looked at it? …How?” April then whispered, as they were almost to the front of the med line now. Maybe he was crazy - but he seemed nice? It also occurred to her that this place was named CAGE for a reason - and had power dampeners to remove mutant abilities - she probably should have paid attention to Dorian when he was talking about Purifiers and stuff. It felt incredibly relevant now.

Well shit. It was hard to explain to someone how to tongue a pill just before they had to do it live. For now she'd have to take it, he'd keep a close eye on what they gave her and later with his own pills give her a proper lesson on pocketing them. “For now just take it. Too hard to explain right in front of them. But I'll show you some skillz later no worries. Can come over to mi casa and I'll help you with your hair and how to not swallow.”

Teach her now, August. I would like her delicious little food bits. She does not need them. Or maybe she does but someone would not lick her to confirm. I do not understand your aversion to additional sensory information. It is very useful in defensive analysis. I could do what these doctors do, if I could just borrow your tongue!

”Oh…. Okay!” April felt even more confused than before. She almost wished that August hadn’t said anything, because it wouldn’t have occurred to her that some of these pills would be bad for her. But now as she reached the front of the line, and confirmed her name with the orderly, she couldn’t help but feel her anxiety skyrocket. What if these meds were bad for her? What if they turned her into a zombie - like the man who was staring at the wall earlier? Her breaths started coming faster and faster, and her hands were shaking as she held the tiny little paper cup the pills were within. There were three of them, and she had absolutely no idea what they did.

”U-um, can I… do you have the, like, little pamphlet the pharmacist gives you that explains the meds? I just… I just don’t know what these are and, like, I’m sure you all know what you’re doing and that this is correct, but I would love to know for myself what they are and…” she trailed off, seeing the clear look of annoyance on the orderly’s face, and her self-consciousness got the better of her. ”O-or totally don’t have to, that’s fine, I’ll just… just take these. Um, thanks! Sorry? Thank you and sorry.”

She then winced, before taking the pills and washing them down with a small cup of water. When the orderly asked her to open her mouth afterwards, she did so - not a single pill had remained unswallowed.

“Bev couldn't you be a little nicer to the girl? She's new here, and shakin like a chihuahua. Oh well.” August said as he waved her off taking April with him. “It's not you, she's always a sour puss. Buuuut, maybe i can better tell what it is they gave you now that you've taken your meds.” He suggested as he gestured for her to sit down at the empty table.

Why does Bev not like our dog? I did not see any bad behaviors. Perhaps Bev only likes cats. I do not like cats. See if our dog likes cats so we can correct that if she does.

April sat down at the table, biting her lip a bit as she tried to determine how long it would take for the meds to hit her system. Were they just like painkillers, where it would take half an hour or so? Or would it just immediately hit her? Would she be able to tell as it was happening - or would she just blink and suddenly it would be the next day, all of her memories blank? Would she have to ask August what had happened? ”You mean, like, o-once they kick in right? Because you don’t have powers - but that’s weird, right, because isn’t this a place for people specifically with powers? So like… Why are you here? Like not to be rude, you seem… I mean, you seem pretty crazy, but like, an okay kind of crazy?”

“As far as the docs are concerned, I have Super Strength, and a Healing Factor. But I don't. Also not going to correct them. This place has premo drugs. Buuuuut no, I meant in a few minutes once it's had time into get into your bloodstream. Also, how do you feel about cats? Very important.” August said as he decidedly sat right next to April instead of in front. There was hardly any space between them, his leg pressed against hers as he took a bite of his oatmeal.

She was used to having her personal space invaded - particularly by Danni. Dorian wasn’t as frequent as an offender. And as much as she had been tolerating a little bit of August doing that, April still felt jumpy - still could hear her father’s voice in her head, warning her to be careful, especially around boys. Especially around boys in psych wards. So April quietly scooted to the left, enforcing some space between them. ”Um, cats?” She paused for a minute, struggling to recall her opinion - she’d been so fixated on everything going on that being asked something so mundane was odd. ”My parents didn’t let us have pets growing up, so… I mean cats are cute, I’ve enjoyed petting them when they’re around, and I know my dad had dogs growing up so it was always weird that we didn’t have a dog or something around - like I think I’m pro cats? Unless cats is code for something else? My friend has a dragon, and the other one has a raptor, so I kinda see those more than, like, normal pets.”

When April scooted back, August moved in closer once again. This time however, as soon as he closed the gap, he leaned in and quickly licked her cheek. Smacking his lips slightly as he tried to figure things out. “Oh. These hit you hard didn't the YourLie? You don't have long unfortunately. But I can kind of figure out what all was in your cocktail this morning. Before you zonk out though, may want to give me your room number. So I can walk you back when you're donezo.”

April shrieked as something wet and slimy touched her cheek, and she jumped out of the seat, accidentally knocking her tray of oatmeal slop over in the process. ”Oh my god oh my god did you just - did you just fucking lick me?????” Her eyes were wide, as she stared in shock for a moment at August, before her eyes flickered frantically around the room - no one was really paying much attention to them, probably having seen things more interesting here than this. ”Oh god I’m so fucking stupid, you’re - I don’t know what you’re trying to do but it’s… it’s…” her voice faltered, as her vision started to blur, and the room around her seemed like it started to twist and turn, colors running together in a muddied, bizarre mess. ”...what…”

Hm, hmm. August, our dog is scared. A little confused, but you scared her. She is weak; do not scare her more. Hm, hm, mmmm. Two flavors. What was that called. The ones who are very, scary happy and then become very, very sad back and forth? Tastes like popsicles.”

August stared at April, his smile shrinking slightly. He clicked his tongue five times, disappointedly at her. “A muddled mind with two flavours, like a Creamsicle. Sorry to hear it. But-” August said, his smile widening as he giggled giddily as he bopped April on the nose with his finger. “-you're about to be out of the loop for a bit. Boop.”

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It had been two days since April had been taken to C.A.G.E. Two days since she’d had real contact with the outside world. Her parents had tried to come and see her - and April had refused. It had been terrifying to turn them away at first, and she still couldn’t quite articulate why she’d done it, but… Well, the only people who she really wanted to see now were Danni and Dorian.

The first day here had been hard - really hard. She’d cried out all her tears and then some, oscillating through a storm of emotional highs and lows. She hadn’t gotten a diagnosis yet, but so far, the second day had been a little easier - she was a little more used to the new surroundings, to the questions, to the other patients. There was another boy there, around her age, that she had spent some time in the activity room with earlier that morning. She hadn’t caught his name, though.

It was that afternoon that an orderly had come to her room, telling her that she had visitors - and so she was sitting in the visitor’s lounge, dressed in the loose white clothes of one of the asylum’s patient, nervously tapping her feet and picking at her nails. What did Danni and Dorian know? What were they thinking? Her heart was pounding, as her mind conjured up the worst case scenarios - of them coming here to tell her the friendship was over, that they didn’t want to be close with someone this sick.

Danni bounced up and down impatiently on the other side of the door. They'd had to fill out paperwork, then list to a long list of rules and expectations, then sign more things saying they'd follow all the rules Danni had certainly not listened to, then they had to be searched for stuff, then they had to go through all their stuff (it was books and flowers and pictures for goodness sake!) And then they took their phones! How were they supposed to take pictures with her?! Danni had wanted to bring snacks but uh, he really wasn't sure if that was allowed.

“Oh my god finally.” Danni muttered under his breath when the door swung open and they were given a very unimpressed stare. Danni didn't care and happily followed, just wanting to see his best friend again! “I know it's been like, two days? Three days? What is time, but it feels like forever!!! Do you t'ink t’ey would ‘ave let in video games? Maybe we should ‘ave brought video games. What if she ‘as oodles of books? What if she ‘as oodles of pictures? Eh, t'ey won't be as nice as t'ese. T’ey won't let t'em be on t'e walls right? I'm assuming nails are like a bad t'in’ ‘ere. Sharp and pointy and all t'at.” Danni frowned at his bag. He hadn't thought of that. The frames didn't have anything to hold them up.

However, he stopped caring as soon as Princess was in sight, sitting all awkwardly in white. Danni screeched, thrust the flowers at Dee, and threw himself across room where he promptly started peppering her faces with kisses. “Omg, Princess!!!! I missed you so much! ‘ow are you, are t’ey feeding you, we brought presents, everyone misses you, are you bored, do t’ey let you han’ t’in’s on t’e wall ‘ere?”

It didn't take a genius to know that any psych facility wouldn't allow for a sword to be brought in during visits. Even if Dorian argued that it was meant more for mental defense than anything else. So of course before they'd left for their visit that day, Dorian had phased the gem hidden within his sword out, they very piece enchanted to keep telepathy outside of his head. It was a very real danger to the Kingston-Gray household, and a long line of trauma for them.

Dorian sported the gem as a necklace, having woven a sort of net around it with a leather thong before wrapping it around his neck. The proceedings to enter were long, boring, and arduous. Signing multiple things and having every bit of them inspected. ”Could t'ey ‘ave taken any longer wit’ t'e sign in? And it's ok, I'm sure t'ey can use sticky tack to keep the photos up.” He said before he had flowers shoved at him and Danni ran off. Dorian went to chase after, about to use his powers to speed himself up when he felt a strange sensation. He felt, empty. As if a part of him was being held back. He tried to hide the concern on his face as he just broke into a light jog and made his way to April. Holding out the flowers awkwardly.

The minute her boys came bounding around the corner, April couldn’t help but start trembling, her chin wobbling as she tried to hold back a fresh wave of tears. They were here. They were really here. She shouldn’t have doubted them, but - it was too easy to question everything in this place, to doubt that anyone actually cared about her - that anyone wouldn’t be better off if she was gone. So as Danni rushed up to her and started covering her face in kisses, April hugged him like a life raft, the waterworks gushing out - as was her usual. Only now, there wasn’t any concern for the building’s plumbing.

And then there was Dorian - there was something in his posture she didn’t quite understand - but he’d brought her flowers. April let go of Danni, and then hugged Dorian tightly in turn. Despite the tears, she couldn’t help but feel like she could breathe a little easier, as one of her chief worries and fears since ending up here slipped from her body.

”I’m s-s-so sorry!” April stammered out, sniffling. ”I-I wasn’t going to do it, I promise, l-like I thought about it but I wasn’t - I wasn’t going to k-k-kill myself! A-and I didn’t mean to scare you two either, they took my phone and I-I couldn’t text back but I really wanted to let you both know and things just got out of control so fast and I still don’t even know w-who got me sent here or when I can l-leave o-or… or wh-what’s wrong with me. B-but how are you two? Are you o-okay? Wh-what did I miss?”

Danni felt himself tearing up as April sniffled her way through her reassurances. “It's okay, it's okay, Mon Cœur. Not’in’ crazy ‘as ‘appened, but I may or may not ‘ave kicked down Couls's door when I ‘eard. T'en I went for Maevy, but she's so nice I couldn't keep up t'e anger, but everyt'in’ is good now! We're just ‘appy ta see ya again!” Danni assured her, plastering himself around her and Dee. “Everyone was definitely a little surprised, but they'll feel better now t'at we saw you! But good news, Amélie is t'e perfect little dragon menace! So cute and chompy and spits little flames when she burps! I ‘ave a video but t’ey confiscated our phones like monsters. I ‘ave photos of everyone t’ough so you can keep us wit’ you in your room! And I brought some of your books so you can ‘ave somet’in’ to do ‘cause no offense but it seems a little bornin’ in ‘ere.” Danni plopped the bag of stuff in the chair she was first sitting in.

“Princess, you might be feelin’ a little sick right now but t’at’s okay! It's just like if you ‘ad tuberculosis or someth’in’! You’d ‘ave ta go ta t’e hospital, but t’ere’s somet’in’ goin’ on wit’ your ‘ead and t’ey’re gunna ‘elp ya feel better!” Danni laid his head on her shoulder. “Beanie and Leah miss ya somet’in’ fierce too. You know ‘ow t’ose two get when t’ey don’t ‘ave what t’ey want, when t’ey want it so t’ey’ve been fun. Percy’s been ‘overing around the periphery of t’e group ‘cause it’s been waterworks from me for the past 36 ‘ours and Spicy’s allergic ta intense emotion, no offense Dee I know you’re workin’ on ‘im, and t’e rest are doin’ t’at real awkward t’in’ when you don’t know ‘ow ta ‘andle someone in t’eir feelin’s. You’d love watchin’ t’at ‘appen!”

”No need to worry about us mon amie. We've been doin’ fine back at school, not really much to do anyways since Coulson gave us all A's. We've just been worried about you and we ‘ad to make sure we saw what kind of livin’ conditions t’ey ‘ad you under. But I'm sure you'll be right as rain by t'e time of t’e contest! Especially if Maeve is ‘alf as good as she claims to be.” Dorian said as he pulled her into a hug. The numbing sensation still bothering him. The room felt almost suffocating to be in.

April nodded, blinking her eyes rapidly to keep from more tears falling. It was okay, everything was okay, it was fine - Dorian and Danni were here, they weren’t mad at her, everything was fine. She’d missed them terribly - had missed the adorable little baby dragon, too, and she wished she could have seen the video. And she knew logically that Danni was right, that this was just like having tuberculosis, but… She tried to take a deep, steadying breath - but she was still shaking, trembling as she leaned on Danni and Dorian more as to not collapse. ”I-I’m scared,” she admitted quietly. ”I-I don’t know what’s going on a-a-and y-yesterday was s-such a haze from, I think, the meds… I-I didn’t know y-you’re supposed to,” and then her voice lowered to a whisper, ”tongue them. A-and y-you said everyone knows? Everyone thinks I’m crazy? Oh god…” she lowered her head, closing her eyes tightly as fresh waves of panic rippled through her. She knew not everyone in their circle was good at keeping secrets - half the school probably knew by now, half the school probably thought she was insane…

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one thinks you're crazy, Princess. People t'ink you're just takin’ some time destressin’ after t'e whole ‘Cadie sitch. Especially since I ‘ave been tellin’ everyone ‘bout t'e fact t'at we're not doin’ any classes t'is semester. What a sweet deal.” Danni sighed fondly. “‘onestly, it's gunna suck when we gotta go back full time next semester. Kinda want another villain attack ta get us our grades smoothed over again. Hm…” Danni drifted off for a second, considering if he could bribe a villian, before doing a double take.

“Tongue your meds? What does t'at even mean? Do you ‘ave ta like, lick it or somwt'in’ when ya take it?” Danni titled his head, frowning in his confusion.

”Beats me. Never ‘eard of tonguin’ meds eit'er. Maybe t'ey’re t'e dissolvable kind? We can ask Casper later when we ‘ave our phones. Eit'er way Danni's right. Far as anyone else is concerned you're on a vaca distressin’ after a rough ordeal. And since we aced t'e whole semester, t'ey don't find it odd you're missin’ school.” Dorian added as he pulled her into a hug. Two of the students from AA now attended this…cage. Though given Vicky's last text to him, he didn't blame her for signing herself in.

”Okay,” April sniffled, calming down as they reassured her that everyone just assumed she was off on a trip somewhere - that no one thought she was in the madhouse. She took another few deep breaths, inhaling deeply through her nose and exhaling out the mouth, and the shaking seemed to settle down, at least a little bit. ”I th-think it’s where you pretend to take your med but you don’t - th-that’s what this boy told me earlier. T-the meds they give out make it really hard to think… L-like it’s so foggy. Um. But that’s not what you wanted to come here to talk about. C-can we talk about normal stuff?”

“Princess, we can talk ‘bout whatever ya want! We're ‘ere for ya after all!” Danni said easily, shifting so his arm was around her shoulders. “So, let me tell ya about t'is wierd dream I ‘ad t'e ot'er night. We ‘ad 16 steaks and we ‘ad ta figure out which one was poisoned and so we were feedin’ t'em ta t'ese t'in's t'at could eat t'rough t'e poison, but we could only tell ‘ow much poison was in t'e steak by measuring ‘ow loud t'e burps were. It was real gross and t'ey really liked t'e steak and t'en t'ey started tellin’ us t'ey were gunna eat us next and t'en I woke up and ‘ad ta burp.” Danni rattled out, picking the first thing that came to mind. To be fair, he'd chugged a bunch of soda before bed that night so he wasn't surprised what happened.

Dorian rolled his eyes at Danni. ”Nobody wants to ‘ear about your morning breat’ burps. Besides you chugged a whole t'ing of soda just before bed, what else did you t'ink would ‘appen. Appa and Pa are always sayin’ how sweets and greasy food will give you weird dreams if you eat t'em late.” He wasn't really sure what else to talk about however. Anything exciting outside of here may have felt like rubbing it in, but April clearly didn't want to talk about her stay here either.

April tilted her head slightly at Danni’s story - it wasn’t at all what she had been expecting from him - but it was nice to take her mind off of things, at least for a moment. One of the first smiles she’d had in CAGE crept across her face as she giggled, trying to imagine little creatures eating poisonous steaks, and them trying to identify which one had the most poison by burps. It was stupid and April loved it. For a brief moment, it felt like they were back at home - back at AA, just talking in the dorms after classes were over for the day. ”You do have epic burps,” April teased Danni lightly. ”S-so the contest is going to be in New Orleans - I… I don’t know if they’ll l-let me out in time for it but… but that’s so exciting, I-I don’t think Strange Academy has ever hosted it before. M-maybe they’ll let me watch it from here?”

“Sometimes I crave sugar before bed and we all know t’at if you body craves it, it means you need it. T'at's real science.” Danni shoved Dorian playfully, laughing at April's teasing. He gave April an unimpressed look at her concerns. “If you t'ink t'at I'm not breakin’ you outta ‘ere ta compete, t’ese meds are messin’ ya up more t’an I t’ought. T’ere is no way in ‘ell t’ey can keep you away from competin’ wit’ us. But more importantly, guess whaaaaat!” Danni started bouncing with how excited he was.

“You can finally come visit!!!! Even if ya mean old man says no, you still gotta stay nearby and t'en you can just pip on over and we can give you t'e tour!” Danni announced excitedly.

”Oh you are sooo joining us for the Contest. We are all in a team together! Can't let that pass by. If anyt’ing i t'ink Maeve really likes me she may let you out if o ask just fothe'e contest you know?” Dorian said as he shoved Danni back and stuck out his tongue. ”Oooo we can show you our local ‘aunts. Favorite food places, everyt’in’! It'll be so much fun!”

April’s smile faltered as Danni mentioned her father. He’d always been against April going to visit Danni and Dorian in New Orleans, refusing to entertain a discussion on it. Her mother had never taken April’s side, telling her that once she was an adult, she could do as she liked - but for now, she had to follow their rules. After the first few attempts to argue her way into being able to go see her friends, April had given up on asking. She’d thought about just sneaking out and asking the boys if their dad could send a portal over for her, but it would technically have been considered kidnapping, and she had a feeling her dad would love nothing more than to arrest Dorian’s dad.

”So um… He’s probably going to be really pissed at me - my mom too - I… I told the doctors that I didn’t want to see them,” April admitted, redirecting her gaze at the floor.

Danni pulled April in tighter. “‘ey, t'at's okay! It's your recovery and not t'eirs so if ya need t'em gone, t'en ya need t'em gone. Easier said t'en done ‘cause brains are bastards, but don't stress ‘bout t'at. Just focus on feelin’ better, ya know?” Danni encouraged, knowing how turbulent her relationship with her Dad was especially. “Just borrow a little of my confidence. Wheneveryour're stressin’ ot just ask, WWDD - What Would Danni Do? Nine times outta ten, it'd be gay do crimes and t'e ot'er ome would be not stressin’ ‘bout t'e losers in life!”

“Ya should be focusin’ on t'e bomb ass moves yoi’re gunna pull in T’e Contest! You got so much time ta plan t’em now! And ya can start makin’ a lost of all t’e t’in’s you wanna do in New Orleans so when we do t’e tour we can ‘it t’e big stuff om your list!” Danni fiddled in the bag and groaned. “Course I ‘ave t’e good ideas now. We’ll ‘ave ta send ya some books on New Orleans too so you can pick ‘em out. Ghost tours and food and museums and more food!”

”Isn't ‘e always passed? I mean. Sorry. Pa always says t'at but I shouldn't ‘ave.” Dorian said, chiding himself. ”Next time we come to visit we can bring all t'e necessary materials to ‘elp plan for bot’ t'e contest as well as t'e trip to New Orleans. Brochures, guide books, as well as battle maneuvers and tactics for t'e contest. I'm gettin’ a little better wit’ my electro shock so maybe I can super charge your water!”

April sniffled slightly as Danni pulled her in closer, and once he was done messing with the bag, she tucked her head in between his chest and his chin. With her hand, she then reached out for Dorian, ready to fully drag him into this cuddle pile of sorts. ”Or, um, we can go to my room - if you both want - just have to keep the door open and stuff,” April mentioned, just in case the boys didn’t want to just stay in the visiting room the entire time. ”I just…. I don’t even know why I told the doctors not to let them come. Like, I should have said it was fine. They’re my parents, they just want what’s best for me and stuff. B-but the thought of them being here…” April took a steadying breath, trying to blink back a fresh wave of tears. ”Sorry, sorry, not talking about that. New Orleans. Um. That Café du Monde place you two talk about always sounded cool! A-and maybe you can show me your favorite spots?”

Danni cooed as she curled up, rubbing his hand up and down her back. “I'm chill lettin’ people see me. I'm a blessin” on t'e eyes and deprivin’ people of seein’ me is a sin, ‘onestly. Whatever you're comfy wit’ darlin’. I'm cool as a cucumber always.” Danni laughed, happy to get comfy and looped his foot around Dorian to yank him into the pile. “It's not stupid ta not want t'em ‘ere. It's your place ta ‘eal, not t’eirs! And ‘ell yeah, first stop on t'e tour is the Café. Beignets t'ere are ta die for. We can go ta t'e museum of costumes ‘cause t'ey're so cool ta see all t'em t'rough ‘istory. T'en we can go ta Olde Nola and t'en we'll ‘it t'e Aquarium and t'en t'e Riverwalk shops ‘cause shoppin’ is a great destressor!”

Dorian joined in cuddling the pair, nuzzling deep into them. ”Oh! We ‘ave got to visit some lesser known ‘istorical landmarks! I can show you a spot where the Quicksilver broke ‘is leg. Oh and anot'er where t'e Pheonix touched ground. Maybe even show you an outside (or inside) tour of Strange Academy. I know t'e man it's named after so maybe ‘e'll let me in wit’ you guys.”

She flinched a bit at the mention of the Quicksilver - her thoughts flickering back to that portion of her family tree, the one where - whatever was wrong with her - definitely came from. It was just lurking inside of her, waiting to come out. But she was trying to push that aside, to just focus on them - to just be in the moment, and not worry about what was to come. ”Oo, yeah I-I’d love to go see Strange Academy! Maybe Professor Harkness can give us tarot readings - like she did at the beginning of the year - maybe…” maybe she could tell me if I’m going to get better - or if this is forever. ”...When are you both coming back? Tomorrow? If you’re not busy or anything, I know you have, like, stuff with Percy to do.”

“Oooooh yeah!!! I ‘aven't seen Aggie since she gave me Amélie! And don't worry, I brought pictures ‘er for ya ta enjoy as well! T'ough, Maxie could do tarot readings too if we can't get inta ta Strange Academy. ‘e did one for my ‘rents t'at told t'em go adopt me ASAP and I’ve been t'eir delight for 17 years now!” Danni agreed excitedly. “And yeah, we'll visit again tomorrow, right Dee? We gotta be ‘ere ta support our best friend!” Danni stared extra hard at Dorian at April's suggestion he'd blow her off for Percy.

”O-oh! Yeah. I was t'inkin’ of swingin’ by tomorrow anyways. So I can see you as well! I mean I was goin’ to anyways but didn't want Danni to be upset that I'd visit wit’out him.” Dorian said with a smile, the question having caught him off guard. He'd been planning to see Vicky the next day, but didn't want April to find out, but it seemed that would be harder than he thought.

April didn’t notice Dorian’s slight slip, instead just happy - and relieved, if she were to be honest with herself - that they’d be coming back the next day. She’d really missed them. She always missed them when they were gone, but usually she’d have her phone on her and she could give them a call as she wandered around D.C., walking from museum to museum until her feet were about to give out or it was almost curfew, whichever one came first. The Air and Space museum was her favorite - she’d eaten at the ShakeShack inside it so often that they knew her by name. ”Great!” she grinned. ”Ooo that would be so cool if your dad did them actually - like obviously my parents couldn’t find out about it or they’d freak - but I’d be so curious what he’d say… He sounds really cool, from everything you’ve told me.”

Danni beamed when Dorian agreed to come see April tomorrow, satisfied they were still more important than Percy. “Oh, yeah Maxie is super cool! ‘e's t'e reason I was able ta get Percy's shirt, or was it a sweater, replaced so quick after it got toasted t'e first day. Just a snap of t'e fingers and poof, back again! T'e 'rents were day drinkin’ in Italy too, you know t'at little cafe we like in Milan? Jerks not invitin’ us. It’s like t’ey were waitin’ for us ta go back ta school!” Danni couldn’t handle it anymore. He’d been so nice, so polite, Pops would have been proud, but her hair. Danni had been able to ignore it before they started snuggling but now, with it tickling his chin, Danni itched to fix the rats nest it’d turned itself in. Tomorrow, he was bringing a brush, a comb, and everything else he could to fix it but for now he’d have to settle.

“Which is ‘ilarious ta t’ink ‘cause I know for a fact t’at Papa cries t’e first night we go ta school. ‘ave you been ta Milan, Princess? We gotta go ta fashion week next year. It's ta die for. Maxie can portal us right inta t’e best seats, ya know?” Danni slowly started working his hands into her hair, gently detangling her poor, abused hair. “Last year was a little… eh. I t'ink t'ey went a little too conservative for my tastes.”

Dorian was more than glad that neither of them pressed him for why he was already planning on showing up the next day. He'd always wanted April to join them on one of their vacations, she was always invited, but her dad never let it happen. It really rubbed him the wrong way, but he couldn't really talk since he knew more parents were stricter than their own. He was lucky to have found this family. He was about to chime in when a scrawny looking guy with long brown hair came by and was rapidly approaching them. ”Uh, Ap-”

”Aye YourLie! Look who's up and shining again.” August said as he squeezed himself in between Dorian and April and licked her cheek. ”Oooo they wore off. Nice, good liver and kidneys there haha. Anyways I'll catch you on the flip side alright? Bye Zuko! Bye Cabbage Guy!”

April only flinched slightly at the sudden lick, just as she had been about to answer Danni’s question about Milan. She didn’t super remember most of the day before - the sedatives had hit her way too hard - but she remembered enough to not be too alarmed at August’s antics. ”That’s August,” she said, as if it explained everything. ”I… I’m not completely sure, it’s all super foggy, but I think he’s harmless. Maybe?” She rubbed the bit of saliva off her face and onto the sleeve of her shirt.

Zuko? Cabbage guy? Danni blinked at the here and gone boy and his hands paused a moment where they were carefully combing through April's hair. “Princess. Did t'at… Did t'at guy just… lick you?” Danni stared the direction August wandered off. Danni curled around April tighter. “Who t'e fuck does ‘e t'ink ‘e is pullin’ t'at shit? Why t'e fuck is ‘e touchin’ our Princess like t'at? Is ‘e bot'erin’ you, should I talk ta someone about ‘im? Danni grumbled, glaring daggers after August. Danni eyed the spot he licked thoughtfully but thought better of it.

For now.

”Um…” April paused, really struggling to try to remember much of what had happened. She knew August had been freaking her out a bit on the way to breakfast, but everything past breakfast was a bit of a blur. She wasn’t sure how she’d even made her way back to her room. ”I think it’s fine? Maybe? He thought I was a dog, I think, at one point - he’s definitely schizophrenic, but like… So are half of the people in here. I know it’s weird. I’m not a huge fan of the licking, but he showed me how to tongue the sedative so I’m at least coherent right now to talk to you all?”

Danni didn't like that one bit, but he returned to soothing the tangles out and making her hair a little more presentable. ‘e t'inks you're a dog? You're a Princess. I'll tell ‘im when I see ‘im next t'en. If I see ‘im again. Glad you're makin’ friends t'ough!” Danni stayed positive, and very, very grateful for power dampeners in the area. “But I was t'inkin’ when you get back, night one we ‘ave a sleep over! We ‘ave a movie, get ya all caught up on all t'e gossip, and maybe a little touch up on t'e ‘air, ‘uh? Seein’ some split ends we gotta take care of here and here. Do you need me ta brin’ ya product from the dorms? I didn't t'ink about t'at, t'ough maybe I need ta ask what's allowed. Can't ‘ave ya slackin’ on t'e self-care while you're restin’!”

Dorian had sat there too stunned to speak for a moment. The others conversing by as his mouth was still open wide from what had just happened. Danni was already questioning it but Dorian couldn't even wrap his mind around it. ”Did he just? Am I? Who's cabbage?” He managed to stutter out before his mind finally had caught up on where they were. ”I t'ink a sleepover is a great idea…and a debrief on whatever t'at was just now.” He said half laughing half concerned.

”He says when he licks people, he can tell what’s going on with them,” April said somewhat sheepishly. ”I think he told me what he thought was wrong with me, but… Can’t remember. The drugs yesterday really knocked me out of it,” she frowned slightly. As crazy as it sounded, she did wish she remembered what August had said. She was supposed to see Dr. Whitehall after this, where she imagined she’d be getting her diagnosis, but it would have been nice to tell Danni and Dori now. Maybe their magical dad could cast a spell and cure her? She bit her lip, making a mental note to ask Mr. Gray if he could try if she had a chance to talk to him in New Orleans. ”But yes! A sleepover sounds good. Um, maybe a lot of sleepovers? I’ve - I’ve had trouble sleeping for a while now, like even before - even before Arcade and I always sleep better in your room, if that’s, like, not going to be a huge issue? And I know, my hair is a disaster, maybe it’s time for my Britney moment to just cut it all off…”

“NOOOOOOOO ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Danni screeched, wrapping his arms protectively around April's head. “You ‘ave such nice ‘air, I'm not lettin’ ya touch it like t'at. I'll ask t'e nice orderlies, nurses, receptionists? Are the sign in people medically trained? Actually, doesn't matter. I'll ask t'em what I can bring ya and ‘ave it in tomorrow. And if I smuggle in some nice stuff for ya, nobodies gotta know.” Danni whispered to just the two of them with a mischievous wink.

“But, as many as you want Princess. We're gunna miss you so much, I think the first whole week you just move into our dorm. You always got a space in our bed, might as well use it for a while!” Danni chuckled, humming softly as he worked.

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Notes from Beanie:

So they would have to sign in at the front desk and meet in the visitor's lounge. That's set up like a family room with couches and books and a TV and games. They could also go to the cafeteria for food if thet wanted

Or outside if it's nice

But if they go outside they would be monitored by security

—-

It had been four days since Vicky was admitted into C.A.G.E. Dorian didn't know if she had had any visitors yet, nor what state she might be in. When he last saw April her hair was a mess and she seemed a little out of it at first. It didn't help that the power dampeners put Dorian on edge last time and would likely do so again. Just giving him this feeling of emptiness, like something was missing. He'd gone through all the usual check in process, once again donning his anti-telepathy necklace to keep any intruders out since his sword wasn't allowed onto the facilities grounds. He sat in the usual waiting room, waiting for them to bring out Vicky, thumbing through the gaming collection they had to keep his mind occupied.

“Don’t bother, I already got one picked.” Came Victoria’s voice behind him. In a stark contrast to April, she seemed to be in rather high spirits, walking forward and pointing straight at Beat Sabers. She turned to face Dorian then, noticing he looked a bit under the weather. ”Hi! Thanks for thinking of me. Although… you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She managed to keep her face straight for all of half a second before the corners of her mouth twitched upwards.

”Usually I'm t'e ghost t'at people see.” Dorian remarked back as he grabbed the case for Beat Sabers. ”I'm fine. Just…not a fan of power dampeners. It's like a part of me is missing you know?” Or maybe she didn't know? She wore a mech suit she wasn't exactly a mutant.

“Apologies. I promise next time we can meet in a more comfy place, but alas, this is where I need to be for the moment. It's actually helping.” Vicky said, fetching the controllers and headsets. “So, how have you been doing? And everybody else. I’m a bit out of the loop here, I barely get the news, much less the gossip. Last thing I saw was the school being on fire… Is Danni OK?” She inquired carefully.

”It's fine. Sometimes you need to do uncomfortable t'in's in order to ‘elp ot'ers.” Dorian said with a shrug as he got his own set to ay with. ”Danni's fine, and we sorted t'e flames out quickly so it was like t'ey never ‘appened. But I'm glad to ‘ear it’s ‘elpin’ t'ough. I was real concerned about t'e last message you sent me…” Dorian looked back, eyeing the station where his phone was being kept for “safety reasons”.

Vicky snorted. ”Which part of the message? No seriously though. While they’re helping me here to actually grow more resilient to what is basically mind control, there is a non-zero risk that I can either be made to, or decide to go bad. Hence why I came here in the first place. But if this were not to work…” she shrugged, putting on the headset, Given that you can possess people and things, well… Being taken over by you and marched into a secure containment facility to maybe get fixed sounds infinitely preferable to Raynordattir snapping her fingers and shutting me down, ms. Bassard rewriting my mind or Leah burying me under several tons of rock until I run out of power, which are my other contingencies. If you can control me, that’s the only one I have where I have a chance of coming back whole. I’m not going to lie, I’d like to default to that given the choice.” she shrugged.

She scrolled through her song options for the game. ”My list for this is pretty much all K-pop, do you mind? And let’s talk about less gloomy things, shall we? I heard something interesting from Diana a few days back. You can’t tell under the goggles but I’m wiggling my eyebrows.” she said with a teasing grin. ”So, when’s the wedding? And where, not sure what state the local law is in an the moment.”

Shutting down? Memory wipes? Composting? How were any of these solutions? How would one even agree to do such a thing? Dorian didn't understand how so many of his classmates could be so callous. Everyone deserves a second chance. Everyone had good in them. If Vicky's programming became corrupted they'd just need to help get rid of the malware. No need to toss her out like that. ”I…I don't want to ‘arp on t'is. Especially wit’’ow well you seem to se doin’ now since t'e last time I'd seen you. But… ‘ave you considered backin’ yourself up? Memories, personality matrix, t'e whole shebang. When a PC starts to go down, it's always good to ‘ave a second copy of it before it went bad. You reset it back to before t'at point.”

Dorian looked at Vicky for a moment longer before he placed his goggles on, looking ahead now at the wall. ”K-Pop is my favorite genre actually. April ‘ad gotten me tickets to see Luna Snow for my birt'day t'is years. So if you ‘ave a bit of Luna in t'ere I definitely wouldn't mind.” Dorian was trying to figure out what Vicky was hinting at, but he felt like so many things had happened he may have missed some. ”Who's gettin’ married?”

Victoria sighed. She felt like she was on repeat with this thing. Maybe she should take a leaf from Sabine’s book and just do a vlog? Then again, she didn’t really care for the anonymous opinions in the comments. ”Look, you probably wouldn’t know this, but… the AI I am built around was already a massive problem once, and more time travel bullshit is the only reason we have Vision instead. Trust me when I say that under no circumstances is that thing allowed to get free. Trying to shut myself down is actually what got me sent here pronto, but my therapist seems to agree that I made the right choices. It’s not like I want to, I like living. But I absolutely would if there was no better option. So in a way, you’re my only hope, Dori-Wan.”

“As far as backups go… I can’t. Not fully. My personality storage is like RAM. Lose power and… poof. You can switch me back on, but you’ll just have the personality of a newborn with my memories. It’d never be me again, because even if it replayed my life frame by frame, the new personality that would create would have no emotional response to those memories.” she explained as she looked through the song list.

”More of a HyunA fan myself, but I have a few.” she selected a Luna Snow song at random. ”And what do you mean, who? You and little Novikov. Diana couldn’t take me up on my offer to help her gain more control of her powers fast enough, though I think she needed eye bleach more than anything. Ready for round one?” Vicky smirked.

”I don't t'ink it's much of a dead end. I don't really know about Ultron or t'is timestream t’ing t'at you're talkin’ about. But I feel like it's not a lost cause. Sinister is able to make new organic bodies for transfer easily. Well maybe not easily but it's possible. There's also a possibility that Viz or even ‘is makers could find a way for a ‘mental’ transfer. Or…i mean, there's a good chance…if you wanted to…we could make you an organic body? You'd be human but be yourself?”

Dorian selected ‘Flow’ by Luna Snow as he stood to get ready. As the music began to play Dorian started slashing away to the beats before talking to Vicky again. ”We aren't gettin’ married. We just ‘ad sex. ‘eaven forbid t'at two teens ‘ave sex while datin’. It's normal, Casper says it's normal. Everyone does it, you just ‘ave to be safe, which we were.”

”Oh hell no. Like, this shell has issues, but it is who I am, you know? You may be used to wearing the skin of others, but I am reasonably certain you’re a minority in that regard. I am definitely not trading for a meatbag, that’s for sure…no offense.” She talked back while flailing the colorful blades through the colorful bricks. ”Although, thinking about it, if there’s someone we know who could facilitate such a thing, it would probably be ms. Bassard. No idea what having a whole other person in her head could do to her though. Question for when I’m outta here, I suppose. But to be honest, I never thought of myself as possibly eternal or immortal. Everything dies one day. And if I do get a long run, outliving many of my friends does not sound like such a privilege.”

She looked at their scores as the song ended, frowning. Dorian kicked her ass. ”Speaking of being human, damn power dampeners. This is usually easier. Let’s switch speeds.” she pulled up her Nightcore playlist, tapping her favorite for this game. ”And you know what I mean. Are you happy? Is he the one? Come on, I want news of something going right for someone for once. Enough talking about gloom stuff like backups. By this time next year we’ll be graduating and laughing about this.”

Dorian kept his headpiece on as he let his arms sway by his sides. Watching as Vicky picked a classic song. An excited giddy giggle coming out of Dorian just before speaking. ”What a throw back! I ‘aven't done t'is one in such a long time. May be a little rusty.” He said as he began to stretch a bit while the countdown was beginning. While he was a bit rusty, it was only rusty for him. If there had been a dance bar there for him to do tricks on he would have. Dorian was able to flawlessly hit every note while also dancing and spinning in place and talking to Vicky. His words slightly labored as he spoke between hops and slashes and swirls.

”It was just a suggestion. If you're worried about bein’ compromised in terms of progammin’ and what not t'en t'e easiest solution is for you to lose t'at programmin’. Become ‘uman. Wouldn't be t'e first time my parents ‘ave done somet’in’ like t'is. Just t'e first time it was a synt'oid. But between mysticism, ‘ealin’ spirits, and Viz I'm sure it'd be simple. But again if you don't want a new body I can get behind t’at. But to answer your burnin’ question…I'm very ‘appy. Dianas been a pain but who cares to be ‘onest. es's sweet and carin’ and great in bed. I don't know if ‘e's ‘T'e One’ because Im too young to t'ink about marriage but…maybe?” Dorian continued to slash and dance along as he spoke until Vicky mentioned the coming year. Dorian froze for just a moment. Just long enough for his foot to trip over the other and sent him crashing down onto the ground before the song ended dropping his score a few points.

He couldn't tell Vicky about what he saw. He hadn't even told April and Danni about it. Besides, she was here to heal, not worry about the finality of time. It didn't seem right to say anything. ”Yeah. Hehe. T'at is a small problem. End of next year I graduate and ‘e'll be a Sophmore…”

As they played, Vicky was falling hopelessly behind in the scores, but the lyrics of the song flew out of her mouth almost without a thought, her simply enjoying the moment. She was about to chirp up that she was happy for Percy and Dorian, but then his grace seemed to vanish within a nanosecond and he crumpled down like a house of cards.

She pulled the headset off, giving him a worried look. “...you okay? You know you can just get a job nearby, if you’re worried about long distance so much it makes you faint. Assuming you actually need to work, given all your parents can pull off in the first place.” She tried to make him feel better, offering a hand to help him get back up. She wished she had her full sensors available to scan his BPM and zoom in on his pupils, but that didn’t stop her from giving him a penetrating look, like she hoped to fish the truth out of his soul through his eyes.

”I-I'm fine. May ‘ave overdone it wit’ t'e dampeners and all.” Dorian said as he picked himself back up, dusting off his pants, though there was nothing there to dust off. ”My job is goin’ to be a ‘ero. I know people at school don't really take me or Danni and April seriously when we say t'at but…we really want to make a difference. Our parents were legends, t'ey did so much to ‘elp mutantkind. I want to live up to t'at. To do my part.” He nodded towards the score in the corner of his vision now. ”You beat me.” Ofcourse Dorian was ignoring the glaring fact that he had fallen because of the future he'd seen. Everyone dead, the world decimated and the graves of all his friends and colleagues displayed before him.

Vicky gave Dorian a deadpan ‘uh-huh’, herself not knowing whether it was aimed at his explanation or at her supposed win. ”Good thing they don’t have DDR, my pride is already bleeding as is. Anyway, hero ain’t a job. That’s a character. But I’m sure this place will be needing some of those too. The world always does, because heroes don’t burn the world’s trash. I guess that’s why they needed to build me.” she shrugged. ”Got another song, or do you want to do something else?” she asked, seemingly turning off homicide with a push of a button.

Burn the world's trash? That didn't sound like she was getting better. If anything it sounded like she was channeling her want to kill herself into a want to destroy others. It reminded him of how many others at school had wanted Arcade dead. Just to be rid of a problem. A kid, a child, snuffed out as easily as a candle in a strong wind just because it flickered too bright, blazed too hot and burned someone. ”Up to you. It's your recovery so we can do anyt'in you deem safe and ‘elpful. T'ough chances are if it's a game you're goin’ down. T'ere's a reason I'm a top creator on Mojoverse.” He said with a cocky grin.

Vicky gave Doria a wicked grin. “Is that so? Well then~ I challenge you to: Rock. Paper. Crossblades! And the prize? Winner gets to ask truth or dare.”

”Rock…paper…crossblades? You mean scissors?” Dorian said confused. ”Uh sure?”

The pair of them began to countdown, Rock, Paper, Crossblades. Go! Dorian put down Paper, Vicky Rock. And Dorian couldn't help but laugh. ”Not t'e outcome i expected. Uh, Trut’. Why can't you see past burnin’ to acknowledge second chances should be given?”

”Such is life.” Victoria grinned, ”It’s in my type designation, dude. ASTRA stands for Autonomous Superhuman Termination and Regulation Automaton. It’s not like I would waste a kid for stealing bubblegum, you know? But some types of people we are better off without. That at least I and my creator can agree on. I’ll be honest, Edward is alive only because a) I wasn’t willing to step over your and Danni’s corpse to end him, and b) because Ms. Bassard pulled something I thought impossible and made it so that he is irrefutably reformed as a person, dropping the need to end him. I’m not driven by vengeance, just risk assessment.”

”But you don't ‘ave to be what your programmin’ says. You don't ‘ave to terminate. Fight against it and develop yourself don't let it define you. If anyt'i- wait. What do you mean Beanie irrefutable reformed ‘im? ‘E just realized what ‘end done was bad. Non?”

”Hey! Give me some credit. Not being archetypically heroic does not mean I am evil. I consider that a last resort. Like, I made plans to try and keep certain people’s mind in the right place as the primary solution. Granted, I didn’t count with barely keeping my own head screwed on straight, so I’ll have to reevaluate my approach.” she grunted, mildly offended. ”Actually, Percy’s potentially apocalyptic powers have been a huge headache, but having you in his life actually drops the likelihood of him going bad a good deal, even if he is still accident prone, if Diana is a yardstick to measure by. So be a dear and try not to break his heart?”

“As for defying programming… that’s why I’m still here. I was free to go on day one, but they are trying to help me to say ‘nope’ even to admin level orders. But the garbage disposal? Oh, that is my purpose! As I said, I agree with it. But when I get out of here, I’ll happily start a debate circle on the topic. Who knows, maybe you can convince me to the contrary.”

She gave a dry chuckle then. ”Ed? Realized what he’s done was bad? Hahaha! The same Ed who picked ‘villainy’ as a career path and bragged about it? And you think what, that kind of guy just suddenly decided to change his ways right after a psion touched him? You’re almost unbearably naive.” she shook her head, darkly amused.

” ‘e…’e must ‘ave… right? Beanie wouldn't rob someone of t'ier free will. Right? T'ats bad. Even if it ‘elped…did it ‘elp?” Dorians words falling more and more from talking to Vicky to just speaking to himself as he tried to wrap his head around this paradox that was presented to him.

Seeing the shift, Vicky stepped up and her arms enveloped the guy in a hug. ”Hey. She probably saved his life, I wasn’t the only one wired to end him. I’ve been around Diana long enough to know she can… hold a grudge, shall we say? In fact when I stormed off, I figured I could just get rid of him once you weren’t around. Yes, it is ethically still gray, but I would consider what Sabine did the least of three evils. Worst one being letting that psycho go free. And I could still be wrong. You’d have to ask her.”

Dorian felt slightly pressure around him, his mind slowly fading him back into his surroundings as he realized he was being hugged. Vicky was hugging him. ”You're right. T'at is technically better. But…i should talk to ‘er. Just…just to make sure. Sorry about t'at.”

Vicky nodded, letting Dorian loose. ”You sure? Doc Whitehall’s here I think, if you need to talk.” Her eyes ticked over random things in the room, as she was suddenly at a loss at what to do now. ”So… I’d offer another round, but I’m not sure I want to blow your mind with another revelation if you win again.”

”Maybe just another round or two of Beat Sabers. I…I need to compose myself a bit before I see April today. T’en after I can share with you some new baby pictures. Amour got a sibling, well cousin, but I t'ink you'll love ‘er when you see ‘er.”

Vicky froze for a moment. ”I… see… so I’m not the only one who got sent here, huh. Who or whar’s Amour?” all manner of thoughts swarmed her head about her last meeting with Flynn senior, all of which Vicky decided to push off for later disposal.

”Oh! It's my baby raptor! She's mostly been back ‘ome gettin’ housebroken. She came from a dimensional rift back durin’ t'e Monster Mash. Amélie ‘owever is Danni's newly ‘atched Dragon! Oh you should've seen Firestars face! She was practically screamin’. From excitement I'm sure!”

It was April’s third day in CAGE, and she was slowly getting used to the routine of it all. Danni and Dorian had brought her lots of books and pictures the day before, and she had been getting more comfortable around one of the other patients, August, who had become her self-appointed tour guide as to life in the facility. Mercifully, she had also managed to avoid Vicky so far - the last time April had seen her, Vicky had insulted her out of nowhere, and it had sent her spiraling. She didn’t doubt that that would be the case again here.

So it wasn’t the facility itself or her circumstances that were causing her stomach to slosh with nervousness as she waited in the visitor’s lounge, having been informed that there were some people here to see her. Not Danni and Dorian - they’d be coming by later, she knew. Zelda hadn’t tried to show, which was typical - they were sisters only by blood, blood that seemed to be running thinner and thinner by the day. And while her parents had tried, April had refused to see them - a decision she was only just beginning to fully grasp why she had made, days after the fact. No, it was her girlfriends here to see her - Sabine and Leah - and as much as she was happy to see them, it also filled her with dread.

Leah shoved the doors to the lounge open and stormed in. Her eyes swiveled around and looked at everything like this place was ready to be destroyed by a bomb. She did not look happy.

”I already don’t like this place,” she decided. ”Looks like a prison in here.”

Sabine hated that she had to hear from Danni and Dorian about April being committed to some psych ward. She knew April would not likely be able to speak to them about it, but it still burned her that Dorian and Danni got to see her first. Sabine bit her tongue though. It would not do her to cause trouble and they needed to be there for April in this moment.

Sabine could also tell Leah was less than thrilled about all of this, even before she opened her mouth. ”Right, because prisons famously have colorful wallpaper, a nice patio, and other amenities. She’s not locked up, she’s being treated. Behave yourself.” Sabine was mainly joking, though she fully expected Leah to make a scene at some point.
Sabine walked up to the front desk to sign in. April should be waiting for them.

”I’m behaving, your majesty,” Leah joked. And it was a joke. She was totally behaving. ”But come on, who names a place like this Cage?”

April was waiting in the visitor’s lounge, doing her best to fix her hair as much as she could. Her friend August had helped her out with some of the tangles that had formed yesterday, but she still couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about it. It felt way too frizzy, and the more she tried to smooth it down, the more it seemed to rebel against her. And the only good alternative to fussing over her hair was to pick at her nails, trying to not let the anxiety overwhelm her as she waited. They’d have to be here soon, right?

”I mean. Yeah, sure, let’s put the people who need help in a cage. When did that ever go wrong?” Sabine’s sass was rubbing off on Leah… Sadly.

Sabine ignored the comment with a lighthearted eye roll before they were given directions to the visitor’s lounge. Sabine led the way and as they entered the room Sabine looked around. It looked like an average living room, just with more seats to fit more people. And there, sitting, waiting, was April.

Sabine fought the urge to run up to her for fear she would be tackled by security. Even though Sabine hadn’t clocked any guards she was sure they were being monitored. The power dampeners could be felt. Sabine walked up and smiled. ”Hey April. How are you doing?”

Leah walked up slowly, keeping an eye on the people around them out of habit. ”Everything okay? I’m guessing they didn’t let you text anybody that you’d come here.” She really wanted to sit down and hug April. Badly.

April’s heartbeat went into double time as Sabine and Leah walked into the room, looking as gorgeous as ever. There was an undercurrent of nervousness in her every action though, as she couldn’t help but wonder what they thought - Danni and Dori had told her that no one in their circle had judged her or thought worse of her for this, but what if they had been lying? What if Sabine and Leah were just weirded out by this entire situation and sick of her? And as Sabine and Leah asked April how she was doing, the same impulse to immediately say she was fine and brush over the entire situation came to her - it would have been so much easier to just pretend nothing was happening.

But that was what had landed her in here. She bit her lip. ”Um… If you mean right now in this minute, I’m okay. This place isn’t too bad. It’s - it’s not as scary as I thought it was going to be. I mean it can definitely be scary, but like - it’s not like in the movies. Um.”

She paused again, trying to force herself to be brave - brave enough to just be honest here. ”If… If you mean in general, then… Things have gotten pretty bad,” she glanced down at her hands.

Leah took a deep breath. ”…If I hugged you, would someone shoot me?” She was trying to be funny. It wasn’t working. ”Are they treating you alright? They- What’s going on? Whatever it is, we’re not going to look at you different. Promise.”

Sabine had been silent about a lot of things. But looking around the facility had reminded her, or rather continued to remind her, of her past. What she had went through, albeit briefly. ”Yeah, more the general one. I imagine they don’t have people in here if everything is going great.” Sabine felt…what was the word for it? Lost? Unsure? She felt like she was floating but she was definitely grounded.

”April, I am so sorry. If I knew how you have been feeling I would have…I wouldn’t have…I would have been better. I’m sorry..”

April shook her head, uncertain as to where to really start. So much of this was things she was really just beginning to understand too. The sessions with Dr. Whitehall had been really helpful, but at the same time overwhelming. Even April hadn’t really realized how bad things had become - she had been so used to just denying it all and pretending it hadn’t happened, and now that she was starting to do the painful work of acknowledging that it had, it felt like trying to scale a mountain. How could she explain to someone else what she still didn’t even understand herself?

”It’s - it’s not your fault. Please don’t think it’s your fault. I - I got really good at lying to other people, and to myself,” April admitted. She bit her lip again, her eyes darting back down from her girlfriends to her hands. It was easier to not look at people. ”Um. So they told me yesterday, after Danni and Dori left that I’m… that I’m bipolar.” She then froze, bracing herself for a reaction.

The reaction she got from Leah was bewilderment. Leah looked off into the middle distance for a moment, wondering something. ”Okay. That doesn’t sound good, but why’d they put you in here for that?” She asked. ”That’s not something they can just give you medicine for, is it?”

April swallowed, having known this conversation was coming, but it wasn’t any easier. ”They…. they put me here because I was going to try to kill myself,” she winced. Her body started shaking, but she forced herself to continue. ”They can give me medicine, but it’s also not just medicine - I… I have a lot of work I need to do. Lot of bad habits to stop. Um. It’s going to be difficult. But… at least I know what’s wrong with me now.”

Sabine heard the words, but couldn’t quite process them. Not yet. Bipolar was such a heightened word. The thing itself brought up scary images, though she knew better that it wasn’t some term to be thrown about loosely. And to hear April had wanted to kill herself? Sabine’s hand flew right to her wrist before she could stop it.

”Share damn it! This is what Dr. Whitehall suggested.”

It wasn’t that easy though. She had opened up in therapy but doing so to her girlfriends was another beast. ”I’m glad you’re getting the help you need April, though I wish you would have told us how much you were hurting. And that’s me being a big hypocrite.”
Sabine paused. Now or never.

”I self-harmed when I was younger. Started with my food intake and formed into cutting myself. And therapy didn’t help me then. But I wish I had someone to talk to about it. My mom was that person but she died when I needed her the most.”

To Leah, it was like hearing words from the other end of a long tunnel. She felt ice cold hearing April say that. Her throat closed up, and for a moment, all she could think about was how she should’ve done something about this. ”Fuck, April- I- You could’ve-” You could’ve told us how you felt. ”I guess the three of us all suck at talking about heavy things, don’t we? I- I don’t know how this feels. If you’re… If you’re getting help, that’s great. Is there anything we can do?”

April didn’t know what to say.

She felt terrible, hearing Leah and Sabine say that they wished she would have told them. Somehow that made April feel more ashamed than the near-attempt had. She hadn’t told them because she hadn’t been able to even admit it to herself - to be honest about how much she was struggling, that the episodes weren’t just one-offs, that it was a recurring issue that had only been getting worse. There was still so much about herself that she still didn’t understand - so much she had pushed deep down to avoid it.

And to hear that Sabine had gone through that pain… April would have never imagined someone so strong and confident ever would have felt that way. ”I… I’m so sorry. I - I should have told you both. I… I didn’t tell anyone, because I didn’t want to admit it was happening,” April began, glancing at the two of them, before looking away again. ”I’m - Sabine, I’m so sorry to hear that - I - you always seem so brave, and put together, and…” April paused for a moment, wiping the tears that were starting to form away. She knew what she needed to say - could feel that it was time - but how was she supposed to say what she needed, when Sabine had just confessed that to them? It felt cruel.

”I didn’t admit that to make either of you feel bad. I know what it’s like and that is why I show confidence, because it’s scary to admit there’s something wrong. So please, if you need something April, tell us.”

”Yeah. We’re here, okay? You’re cared for, you’re still April. Whatever you need, ask us. We want to be here for you.”

”I….” April faltered again, as the tears started gushing out. ”I think I need to break-up with you both. I - I’m so sorry. I - I just… There’s so much stuff that I hid from even myself and I - I don’t think I have it in me to be the girlfriend you both deserve right now. I’ve had so much fun dating you both, a-a-and it isn’t you, it is me - like it really is just me. I… I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”

If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of a pin dropping in another state.

”April… Why would we be mad at you for that?”

Sabine nearly gripped the table. But she unclenched. Leah sounded…calm?

”I mean…of course. That makes perfect sense. You can’t reasonably be a good partner for someone if you don’t take care of yourself.” Her words did not fully match her eyes. Sabine blinked back tears. She would not do this in front of April, who had it worse than she did.

Sabine looked around the room, anything to avoid eye contact.

”I… I really don’t want to hurt either of you,” April said, forcing herself to look up. She took a breath, wiping her eyes dry on her sleeve. She hated how much she had been crying lately. ”I-I-I just… I just don’t think I can do this a-and do school and focus on t-trying to get better and everything - l-like you don’t deserve anything less than my best, b-because you’re both so incredible and… and yeah.”

”Hey. Stop.” Leah put a hand out and sat it over April’s. ”The best you can do, right now, is help yourself. You- April, when you’re fucking drowning, you can’t do anything more than save yourself. I’m- It really, really worries me that you’re in a place like this. It worries me that you had to come here, and I wish I could make it better so you didn’t have to be here.”

She looked down at the table. ”But I don’t know how to give you that. So… If this is what you need, then I want you to do what’s best for yourself. Okay?”

Sabine hated this. Every moment. On the one hand this felt like giving up. Isn’t that what couples did? When one was struggling the others helped, was there for them, supported them and didn’t run. This felt like running.

But on the other hand, could she say she wouldn’t be in the same boat? Their whole relationship started weird and Sabine hated to admit that.

”What Leah said. If this is what you need then I support it. It’s not like we won’t see each other anyway. We’ll still be friends.” Sabine caught herself trip at the last word, nearly gagging trying to hold down her sobs. She clenched her fists underneath the table. She wanted to break something.

They were both being so nice about this. It almost made it hurt more. ”Yeah, we’ll be friends,” April choked out, doing her best to try to keep the tears to a minimum - to keep them from shaking her body with sorrow. ”I’m - I’m going to be okay. I’m not right now, but I’m going to be okay. You don’t need to worry about me, I promise. I - they have a plan and anything, it’s very thorough. And the doctor here is really nice, Dr. Whitehall. She’s funny, too, you’d like her a lot.”

”We can come see you more. We have a lot less to do after Coulson basically passed us for the year. And the contest isn’t that bad,” Leah said. Her face was showing some sadness, more than she usually let people see. ”You’re still… I know people think people are weird or dangerous and scary when they’re mentally unstable or ill or whatever. But that’s not you. You’re still the person we know, even if you’re- Fuck, I’m not good at this. This- We’re not mad.”

”Mental illness doesn’t make someone a bad person. It’s just something they need to work through. That’s all. And we will get through this. We have a contest to win!” Again, her words didn’t quite meet her eyes. Her mind was swimming. She was tempted to peer into April’s and Leah’s, but she couldn’t even if she was able to, for multiple reasons. ”Dr. Whitehall is cool. I will probably talk to her again.”

”I got a really bad vibe from her, honestly.” It was like this girl had no idea where she was. ”Too nice to somebody she just met. I’m not going back there.”

April sniffled a bit, as Leah said that she was still April - still the person they knew. That meant a lot. She gave Leah’s hand a squeeze, and vowed that she was going to remember that - that she’d remind herself each day she was still April. And Sabine too - she was so grateful that they said that. It was terrible of her, but April had really bought into all the dialogue on mental illnesses - had really accepted that they made people dangerous, violent, wicked. It had made it so much harder to accept what was going on with her - to even admit to herself that she needed help. ”Really? She’s, like, funny - and really nice - when they brought me here my first night, she helped me a lot - got me out of an anxiety attack - and then she screamed fuck you at the cameras to be silly, ‘cause I had asked her if we could swear. You think she’s… you think she’s bad? Like Arcade bad? Or just bad?”

”I don’t know. She just creeps me the fuck out. She could come out and say some crazy shit, like she’s secretly a domestic terrorist giving information to people that kill mutants, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

Sabine shook her head, but bit her tongue. Of course Leah would see enemies where none were. ”Regardless, if she’s helping April maybe give her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t fully trust her, but I am willing to see where it goes.” Sabine felt jittery in a way she never felt before. ”So what is it like in here, really? Nice rooms? Is the rest of the staff treating you well? Say the word and I’ll go full Karen on someone!”

April’s heart skipped a beat as Leah proposed that maybe, just maybe, Dr. Whitehall was secretly anti-mutant. She bit her lip, trying to shake that idea out of her head. That was one of the things that had really scared her about this place, when they first brought her here - April wasn’t as intense about her mutant identity as Danni and Dorian, but she was a mutant. And she knew enough about what it was like to be a mutant to know that places and people like Leah had described were incredibly possible. ”Um, I… I really hope she isn’t, because I do not want to be murdered,” April squeaked out, nervously rubbing her hands together. ”Th-the rooms are nice, yeah - all have their own bathrooms, so you don’t have to go down the hall like at school. Staff is good, the lady that distributes meds in the morning is a bit cranky, but I think I’m getting used to her? I dunno. It’s kinda exactly what you’d expect but also nothing at all like that? There’s a boy here who, like, kinda decided we were going to be friends so I’ll play games and stuff with him, or read books - Danni and Dori brought me some yesterday - and then there’s like group sessions and individual sessions and stuff. I thought I’d miss my phone more than I do. It’s mostly just super chill here?”

”They took away your phone? Why?”

”Why would she keep her phone? Outside contact is probably not allowed unless vetted. I mean hell, we had to sign in and I guarantee we are being monitored here.” Sabine was happy to hear the place seemed nice, and that April was making friends.

”Also cool it with the anti-mutant shit. If they are like that saying it out loud would probably get us flagged!” Sabine chided Leah with a whisper. Sabine didn’t believe the place was anti-mutant but who knew anymore? She was safe, somewhat, being inhuman, but she figured people didn’t discriminate if they really wanted to hate someone.

That didn’t do much to convince Leah this place wasn’t rancid in ten different ways. ”Yeah, okay. As long as you’re getting the help you need, April, I’m not going to level this place.” That was a joke. She was trying to be humorous and lighthearted, somewhat.

”Y-yeah I think it’s… I think it’s normal, to not have it,” April said uncertainly. ”If it’s not, it might be because I’m technically not here voluntarily? Like… like I’m okay now with being here but when they brought me, it was, like, in an ambulance and everything…”

”...Yeah, I guess that makes sense, actually,” Leah admitted. She could tell Sabine was about to blow the fuck up. ”I don’t really know how places like this usually do things… How long are we allowed to be here for?” She asked.

Sabine shrugged. ”As long as we can, but I imagine there’s sessions and other important things she needs to do.” Sabine felt the walls shift a bit. Was that her imagination? ”Well, hopefully you’ll be out soon, but do you want us to bring you anything else in the meantime? Or do you want us to let anyone else at school know you’re here?”

April paused for a moment. And then she shook her head. Everyone that she wanted to know already knew. She knew Zelda had to know, despite her sister not making a single attempt to come and visit. Mads knew already. As did her boys, and her girls. ”I - I don’t think so. But um. If you see Danni and Dori before I do, you can tell them the diagnosis, I don’t - I don’t want to tell anyone else what it is.” She then paused for a moment. ”I think right now they need to see, like, how I’m responding and stuff but I think I should be able to go back in a few days? Maybe? I’m - I’m not super sure how it all works. Think they need to sign off on some stuff saying I’m not - I’m not a danger to myself anymore?”

Sabine glanced over to Leah, wondering if she was going to open mouth, insert foot again. When she didn’t say anything, Sabine continued. ”Of course, we can let them know. And please have Dr. Whitehall or whoever reach out if you need to see us again. And take care of yourself. Obviously.”

”I - I’d like to see you both again, if that’s - if that’s not too weird or anything,” April admitted. She’d never broken up with anyone before - and definitely not in the psych ward. She wouldn’t blame them if it would be too weird or painful to come and visit her again - but she did really hope that they could stay friends.

[coor=ff9a4f]”Why would that be weird?”[/color]

”Of course we’ll come back to see you, you are our friend first and foremost.” Sabine looked over to Leah, hoping she wouldn’t say anything to worry April further. Sabine had to check herself too, lest she say something she would regret.

April was incredibly grateful for Sabine - she did really enjoy spending time with Leah, but right now, every other sentence that came out of Leah’s mouth just gave her a newfound wave of anxiety. ”Um, it might be weird because… because we just broke up?” April said tentatively.

”Nah. That doesn’t make it weird. We’ll be back, promise,” Leah assured her.

”On that note, we should let you rest. But please let us know if you need anything else. And…take care of yourself.” Sabine bit the inside of her cheek. So many words she wanted to say. So many emotions. She hated herself a tiny bit for letting April go, but it was for the best. It had to be.

April nodded. ”I will - I promise,” she said. ”I’m not okay but… but I think I will be.”

”That’s good. It’s okay if you’re not okay now. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t.” Leah wanted to punch a wall right now. Or something metal, or something alive, she didn’t know. She really hated that she sucked at this sort of thing.

”We’ll… We’ll be back soon.”

Sabine stayed silent but reached over to hold April’s hand, just for a bit. Then she stood up and waited for Leah to join her before she waved goodbye and made her way out of the room. She wondered if she screamed really loud if they would admit her then and there.

It took Leah another fifteen seconds of sitting there, looking at April as if they’d never see each other again, before she got up and hurried out past Sabine.

---

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---

---

It was Victoria's fifth day at the C.A.G.E. So far, dare she hope, things were going well. Some people even showed up or promised to later, suggesting she might have even made some actual friends. There was only one snag.

The android laid on the bed in her room, glaring at the ceiling. A while ago, Dorian told her that she was not the only one who was on an extended stay at the facility. April was apparently sent this way as well.

Last time the two of them... Well, 'talk' would be overselling it. Vicky resolved to call that an interaction. Last time they did, things were about as smooth as sand paper. It's not like I didn't mean anything I said. She needs a kick in the arse! You've been given an extraordinary gift, woman, and you squander your time busying over being prom queen or some stuff! she reasoned internally.

But no amount of reasoning, or tossing, turning, and shaking her head would make the awful feeling she had go away.

"...Fine! I could have done it better!" she finally admitted to the walls of her room. It still didn't make her feel better. Sighing, she swung her legs down from the bed and headed out in search of the blonde.

April had figured out Vicky was in C.A.G.E. as well yesterday, on her third day there, not too long after her brothers had left after visiting her. And ever since, she had been going out of her way to avoid the android. Their last interaction had been far from kind and April didn’t need more random venom directed her way as she was trying to get better - trying to get to a more stable place so she could leave and go back home to her friends. Every time she caught sight of another blonde, April jumped behind the nearest thing to obscure her from sight - a potted plant, a couch, another patient, etc.

She didn’t know why Vicky had a problem with her, but she had no intention of finding out. She was currently in one of the lounges, flipping through one of the books Danni and Dorian had brought for her - thankfully not a romance novel, she was still tender from the day before. It had been her choice to initiate the breakup, but it still hurt. She still missed them.

Victoria has deliberately extended her search. She still wasn't quite sure what she even wanted to say to the other woman. Well, she knew what she wanted to convey, but with her lack of eloquence, she wanted to put enough thought into it as to not make the situation worse by accident. She did that where her roommate was concerned enough for an infinite lifespan already.

The slow, precisely timed clicks of her steps on the floor would herald her arrival at the lounge where she spotted her target. It appeared that Vicky was not the only one who thought books may be good to pass time here, albeit hers she considered part of a research for her therapy. She stood to the side of the doorframe as not to appear to block the escape route, her knuckles knocking on the steel. "...Hello, April. I understand if you don't want to talk to me and I'll walk if you don't, but if I may have your ear for a minute, I've come to bury the hatchet."

April shut her book quickly, her stomach oozing with dread. She had managed to avoid Vicky so far - she’d honestly been hoping she’d be able to make it the entire stay without talking to her. It had been so random, so completely out of nowhere - and she didn’t need that toxicity in her life. ”… I didn’t even know we had a hatchet, Vicky,” April sniffled. ”You don't even know me and I don’t know you.” She stood up, hugging her book to her chest like a shield. ”But go ahead. Say what you want to say.”

"I... know. I dug it up." Vicky sighed, "We may not have talked at all, but I know about you. But, that's not the entire point. Whatever I may think of you - and I admit my perspective is probably not entirely normal - You didn't deserve to have it aired like that. Not in front of everyone. And not after what we just were through. That was... beyond arsehood, and cruel of me, and I am very sorry." Vicky said, internally bracing for whatever may come in response.

April's eyes widened as Vicky claimed that she knew about her - what did she mean by that? Did she just mean she'd heard gossip about her at school? And what sort of gossip was that? Good gossip? Well, clearly not, given that it seemed Vicky had a poor opinion of her. Was Vicky stalking her, silently judging her every move? She swallowed slightly, not really sure how to feel about that piece of information. It still didn't make any sense to April why there would have been a hatchet to dig up in the first place - she didn't know this person. And ordinarily, April would have just said it was fine, forced a smile on her face, and then run off to deal with this later/never. But... The entire reason she was here was because she wasn't being emotionally honest with herself.

"Yeah, it really hurt," April said. "And maybe you know about me - whatever that means - but you don't know me. I get that you - that you think I'm stupid or something for the things that I care about - but I'm sure there are things important to you that I would find dumb, too. Like yeah, it was really shitty of you to say those things in front of everyone - but you just told me that you still believe in what you said. Maybe if you spent less time focusing on what you hate about everyone else, you'd be able to figure out whatever is wrong with you." Her heart beat quickened significantly. She didn't know what she was doing. But it felt good - it felt good to say this, even if it might have been wrong. "Like fun fact? I just found out I'm bipolar! I just found out I'm insane like the worst members of my family and now I get to deal with that! So sue me that instead of agonizing over whether I'm going to lose my mind and kill people one day, I instead want to think about winning a contest on a team with my friends! I'm a kid, I'm allowed to care about stupid stuff!" her body shook, and April closed her eyes tightly for a moment, as tears threatened to fall. She tried to concentrate on her breathing, to calm herself down - to step away from whatever emotion this was, whether it was anger or sorrow.

Victoria let April vent. She expected to get sucker punched on the low end, and it would have been deserved. "Would you prefer I lied to you and gave you a dishonest apology?" the android asked, a little confused. "And... I don't think you're stupid, and I don't hate you. I never said either of those." she pouted. Not keen on repeating her previous mistake, she looked around to check they were alone for this, before walking into the lounge and sinking into a bean bag.

"If anything, I'm disappointed. I don't get it. You have such potential to do good for billions! With your powers, there's no shortage of problems too big for regular folks to solve you can be taking a crack at. Oceanic oil spills. The great garbage patch. You want to be a hero? You could do something about any of them, and you'd make world news before you're twenty." her voice was devoid of any emotion, purely analytical.

"You can be the greatest hero of our generation and never have to see a fight, or anything else you might be worried could send you down a dark path. Compared to fighting other kids, for a fleeting chance of being noticed for some big team?" the android shrugged.

She leaned against the bag, hypnotizing the ceiling. "As far as being afraid of living long enough to see yourself become a villain goes?" she chuckled mirthlessly, "I guess we have something in common."

"I would have preferred that you be a better person!" April snapped, incredulous at what she was hearing. On some small level, it was comforting - it only confirmed to her that Vicky didn't really know anything about her at all. This was all just the opinion of someone making quick judgments about her from afar - someone who already had an opinion about her that they wanted to uphold. "And this? This is what I am fucking talking about! You don't know shit about me at all! You think I don't care about the environment - that my goal starts and ends at winning the contest? Yeah, it would be amazing to win it, and so cool to have the Avengers want to scout me! That doesn't mean I only think about how to use my powers for fighting! If you really know about me, then you know that I'm in crisis and disaster management courses - because you want to know what superheroes actually spend a lot of time doing, since the Earth isn't being invaded every fucking second? They go out and help people! Namor, Wave, Shark Girl - all of them use their powers to help save the fucking ocean and protect people! Well, when Namor isn't being a villain, but that's beside the point! Also, might not have occurred to you, but if I had the power right now to snap my fingers and clean up every oil spill, save every reef, I would! But I'm not fucking strong enough to do that yet! So that's why I'm here! At a school! To push myself to be able to do things like that! Do you even know how big oil spills are? The one in the Gulf is millions of barrels worth of oil, it stretches for thousands of square miles! It would take me years, decades, to clean that up where I'm at right now! So I'm at school! And do you know how you expand your powers, get better at them? By using them. By being fucking challenged. And sometimes, that looks like fighting other people!"

Listening to April go, Vicky wasn't impressed. She hopped back on her feet, before giving the other girl a rather judging glance. Learn by being challenged? Such old fasioned nonsense. Stumbling in the dark, hoping to find a way to do better on accident? If that's how others go about learning about their powers rather than, I don't know, studying how they work perhaps, no wonder the school is on fire, has busted plumbing or any number of damages so often. Fat load of good such 'training' under Usagi did us! the android compared to her experiences. She chose not to voice those thoughts though, seeing April was growing more agitated by the second. Better to not test the limit on those power dampeners.

"Well, then, I'm looking forward to being proven wrong." she answered, trying to say 'I'll believe it when I see it' in a milder way. "And I'll work on being a better person once I am done learning to be my own person with no puppeteer's strings attached in the first place. I can only do so much at a time." she grunted, turning to walk away. She said what she came here to say, but it was clear the two of them were far from reaching an understanding on... Well, anything really. "Anyway, I'll get out of your hair. Clearly this isn't of benefit to either one of us."

April stared at Vicky's back for a moment. Was this Vicky's pattern then - to show up and tell people everything she didn't like about them, walk away, pretend to apologize, and repeat? April didn't want any part of that. She could feel the judgment radiating off of the other girl. She didn't need that in her life - not now, not ever. "Do both of us a favor. Don't fucking talk to me again."

"Not. A. Problem." Vicky replied as she vacated the premises. When she reached her room, she found out the bad feeling from earlier was gone. She supposed it bothered when she hurt people for something they didn't deserve. Not agreeing on how they conduct themselves? Well, they were all free to not keep each other company. Probably for the best. It wouldn't be the first person in her life, and Victoria doubted she would be the last.

---

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---

Sabine had left C.A.G.E and began walking to her car, unsure if Leah was behind her or not. She didn’t say goodbye to the receptionist who wished her a ‘pleasant day’ (the bitch!). Inside her head was a swirl of emotions. Anger ruled the day though.

Once Sabine got closer she paused and kicked the front of her car, setting off the alarm. ”Goddammit!” she screamed, alerting nearby people to her presence. She didn’t care. She hated herself, she nearly hated April and she hated herself more for even thinking she hated April. Sabine tried to take a deep breath and found it got caught in her throat.

She didn’t get broken up with, even for a good reason.

Leah halfheartedly kicked the front tire of the car, expecting the thing to shut up, and it didn’t. This day was going to get worse, she could already feel it.

”How the fuck do you shut this damn thing down?” She asked, a little withdrawn.

Sabine took out her key and shut the alarm off. She stood still for a minute. ”This sucks. Everything sucks.” Sabine then sat down on the curb and curled her knees up to her chest. She wanted to scream again, but figured if she did someone in C.A.G.E would come and grab her and throw her in a room.

”Fuck everything.”

Leah sat down next to her, swept her hair to one side and put an arm around Sabine. ”Yeah. It’s like we did something wrong and she just won’t tell us, isn’t it?”

”Did we? I mean we should know what’s going on with her, right? I know I felt a mental block when we were in the dorms when Danni set it on fire, but I chalked it up to what was happening then. She’s been like this for a while now and I couldn’t see it. Too wrapped up in my own shit.”

”Me either… Unless you come out and tell me something’s wrong, I’m not likely to notice.” Leah pulled her in close. ”I don’t understand how people do that.”

”I support her mental health journey, but it sucks. Like I was part of the reason she was suffering so much. When your partner goes through something like that you stick with them and support them, not leave them to handle it alone. And one of the worst parts of it is I find myself blaming Dorian and Danni to an extent, because she told them first. And I hate thinking that.”

”You heard what we were talking about. You were right there for it,” Leah noted. ”Some people feel weird about dating crazy people, don’t they? And April’s anxious as shit about a lot of things. I don’t know, maybe that scared her.”

”You don’t abandon people you care about though. I get it, I really do. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Sabine waited a moment before she stood up suddenly. ”I need to hit something that isn’t another person or my personal property. Any suggestions?”

”There’s a gym full of things meant to be punched. But we’re not abandoning anything, ‘Bine. She’s still our friend like she said, right?”

Right?

Sabine didn’t answer. ”Let’s go to the gym. I’ll drive.” Sabine then got in her car and turned it on, waiting for Leah before she peeled from the parking spot.

She knew deep down this wasn’t abandonment. She knew that.

She did, right?

”Some of the bags back at the school have adamantium in them, so don’t punch the ones that I punch,” Leah suggested. ”You’ll break your whole hands doing that.”

Gonna punch adamantium and watch it crumble,” Sabine mumbled to herself. She drove quickly, wanting to let off this intense energy exuding off of her. ”You seem relatively calmer compared to me. I don’t know if I like this dynamic.”

There’s a long pause as Leah wonders whether she’s going to make this worse.

”This is gonna sound stupid, but I don’t understand stuff like this,” She admitted. ”It’s not great. I mean- Fuck, Sabine, she’s in a… That’s a fucking psych ward full of people who don’t know her. Who she’s supposed to trust. That’s fucked up, and she can’t even leave- She’s basically in prison. And yeah, she just broke up with us, but- I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about this, okay? I’m- It feels like I did something and she doesn’t want to admit that I’m the problem, you know that? Maybe she’s just lying and that shitty place is a perfect excuse to cover herself because she’s afraid I’d get mad. I’ve got this fucking- There’s a voice in my head all the time telling me shit like that. I don’t know why, there just is.”

Sabine hated to sound like the therapist so she stayed quiet for a bit. ”Psych wards are not a bad place Leah. Well, psych wards in most countries aren’t, but here maybe not so much. But she seems happy and the place appears like it is taking care of them. And you heard her, she made a friend here.”

“Maybe we are the problem. I can’t speak for you but…I don’t know with what happened with Arcade and the Contest, I’ve been reflecting on things more. I think I took her for granted and made it worse. I think I jumped in with her too quickly.”

Leah wondered if that was the case with her, too.

”...She meant a lot to me ever since I showed up. I never had friends before I met April. She’s great. She’s great to be around and talk to and-” She really was fumbling words a lot right now. ”I guess I’ve always loved her, not just for a few months. Is that a normal thing?”

”The heart wants what the heart wants or whatever the saying is.” Did Sabine feel the same though? She liked April. She even said she loved her, but didn’t you know the person you love and how they felt? ”Normal is subjective and overrated. We are literally people with superpowers. What’s normal?”

”I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. I mean, shit, I’m dating you somehow, and I didn’t think that would happen. I’m the last person on Earth you should be asking what normal is. Especially when it’s something like this.”

”What the hell does that mean? Why wouldn’t that happen?” Sabine’s grip on the wheel tensed, why was she now getting angry at Leah? If anything, Leah was all she had at the moment. She took a deep breath and loosened her grip. ”Sorry, lots of feelings happening.”

”Yeah…” Leah was trying her hardest not to feel anything right now. If she did, she wasn’t going to stop. ”I’m just saying. It’s- Did you think it would happen? We were always at each other’s throats, and look at us now. You know what I mean, right? Am I making any sense here?”

”No one expects anything Leah. People become friends with the most random people, people fall in love and lose love, it’s all bullshit and we are just along for the ride. No I didn’t see it coming, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less wonderful to me.”

”Me either. I’m happy with you. And April. Well- You know. It sucks.” Fucking Rocks-For-Brains, of course it sucks. She knows that. ”It would suck without you, too… Sorry.”

”We are in uncharted territory. I honestly don’t know if I am going to be able to keep being friends with her. Obviously I want her to get better and I want to be supportive and help her. But it’s going to suck pretending like everything is fine when it isn’t.” Sabine felt her throat hitch again and felt the need to hold her wrist again, but she held firm.

”Damn, we do need therapy.”

Leah wanted to say she was doing perfectly fine without it. She didn’t. ”Who said we had to pretend everything is fine? We’re not at C.A.G.E. right now. Just punch something and beat the fucking brakes off of someone who says you shouldn’t. Seriously, fuck anybody else right now.”

”You’re right, fuck everyone else.” Sabine pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park. Then she grabbed Leah’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She held it long and lingering. Once separated she leaned back in the seat. ”Now I want to punch something. Hard.”

That kiss was great. Rain in the fucking drought, the drought being the breakup. ”You could punch me and I wouldn’t even feel it, if you tried not to hurt yourself.” She leaned in for a second kiss. It felt a little hollow kissing Sabine right after April broke up with them, but fuck everyone.

Sabine returned it, savoring it for the moment. Fuck everyone else. ”I’m feeling destructive. Let’s go break things until we feel better. Whenever that is.” Sabine put the car back in drive and peeled away.

---

”That is not how you throw a punch. Look, watch me.”

Leah held her fist up, keeping it in line with her arm. She pointed it at the punching bag hanging from the ceiling and turned her upper body as it made contact. The whole damn thing swung up and nearly smacked Sabine on her blonde little ass.

”You don’t just hit it with your hand. You hit it with your arm, and your shoulder. And you keep your fist straight or you’ll dislocate it. Try again.”

”Do you not punch with your arm and shoulder? Isn’t that all attached to the hand?” Sabine hadn’t done this before. She took tae kwon do before, but that was mainly kicking. She tried again, aiming her fist at the punching bag and doing her best to mimic Leah.

Either way it felt good to hit something.

”Sure, but not everyone uses the rest of that to actually throw a punch. You can punch someone to punch them, or you can punch someone to actually do something. That’s better. See, I could throw a whole horse over my shoulders, and watch the difference.”
Leah swung her fist at the bag without moving her upper body, trying no less to pummel it. It wasn’t struck with nearly as much force.

”For one thing, not doing it properly can injure you. You’ll break fingers, split your knuckles open or even snap your wrist. And if your fist doesn’t hurt somebody, you’re gonna lose if you’re depending on them.”

Sabine listened, but fuck it if she took anything in. ”I just want to punch something dammit.” Sabine punched again, trying to listen and use her hand and not her elbow or whatever. She hit the bad, feeling the force come back at her. ”A lot easier to picture someone’s face on it, I’ll tell you that much.”

”Yeah. If that was someone’s face, you would’ve put them on their ass,” Leah commented. ”...Even if you can’t punch worth a damn.”

She was smiling. Sabine’s sassy, snarky energy was getting contagious.

Sabine stuck her tongue out. ”I can literally make someone revert back to a baby if I want or melt their brain from the inside, I don’t need to throw a punch, I just want to break something and this is better than actually committing a crime.” Though Sabine would not have minded some “be gay, do crime” shit.

”I don’t need to throw a punch either. You could ask anytime, and I’d help you figure out how to get good at it, though. I wouldn’t mind. I could teach you this…”

Leah jumped into the air, spun around in a circle and kicked the bag so hard the chain nearly snapped. She landed like a cat.

”It’s easier than it looks.”

Okay, that was hot.

Sabine marveled a bit. ”All right, show off. Teach me how to throw a hit and I can teach you something in return. But golly gee, what could I teach you?” Sabine asked, suggestively.

”Dunno… I still have the sword Nimue gave me,” Leah suggested, completely missing the suggestiveness of Sabine’s suggestion.

”Okay. Pick one, a punch or a kick.”

Sabine was not surprised over the obvious hint going over Leah’s head. ”A kick then. You know I got legs for days.”

”Yeah.” That, she knew.

”Okay… Let’s just do an easy one.” Leah stepped back and spun around on the heel of her left foot. Her right heel whirled around and hooked the punching back to demonstrate.

”You need to keep all your balance on one leg, and when you start spinning, the momentum will keep you upright,” She explained. ”Keep your arms close to your body, but not too close. You want to be able to catch yourself, and it makes it easier to keep yourself steady when you land. Swing your leg out, twist your foot sideways and swing down when you’re about to hit something.”

Sabine took the stance Leah showed her. She was better at kicking, but didn’t want to say it. She followed Leah’s directions as best she could. She spun on her left foot, holding her arms as close as was comfortable, before maneuvering her right foot when she was close to hitting the bag. She stumbled a bit, but she hit. ”Oh, I’m so dizzy.” She played it off, moving closer to Leah as she pretend stumbled. ”I need someone to hold me steady.”

Leah put a hand out, grabbing Sabine by the waist. ”Easy, right? Next time, pick a spot and keep your head turned in that direction. Like whoever it is you’re trying to kick. Help you avoid getting dizzy and it makes it easier to not miss.”

She was oblivious.

”Jesus Christ Leah I am flirting with you! I wanted to hit something, I hit something, and now I want to hit something else.” Sometimes you had to lay it all out there.

Leah stared at her.

And stared some more, blinking slowly.

”Why didn’t you just say so?”

”Trying to be sexy here! It’s not really hot if I just said ‘hey, let’s have sex’ and that be it. I often forget how thick-headed you are. Good thing you’re hot.”

Well, now Leah just felt stupid. ”You don’t have to try with me, you know that? I mean, it’s easy when you’re the one trying.” She tugged on Sabine’s waist, bringing her a little closer. ”Just saying.”

Sabine smiled, closing the distance. She no longer cared about punching or kicking, forgetting the day’s earlier moments. She was here and now. And sometimes, that’s all that mattered.
Leah bent down and kissed her. Knowing Sabine, they weren’t going to wait long.

”So… We are going back to the dorms first, right?” That was Leah trying to be funny again, implying Sabine would just lock the gym doors. But surely she wouldn’t. Right?

Sabine put up her pointer finger in a ‘just wait’ moment. She walked over to the doors to the gym and turned the lock. She came back.

”Dorms are easy mode. Let’s get wild.”