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Dr. Maeve Whitehall liked to have things in order. She had files filled with treatment plans, progress notes, and other such documentation when working with her clients. It made it easier to keep track of things. She kept them all under lock and key, of course. Privacy above all else.

Coulson had asked about her sessions and she gave him the barest of bare details. She noted no one had her worried or concerned apart from the two that were currently in C.A.G.E. and even then she was positive they would be all right and out soon.

Given the grand scale of the undertaking she was assigned, she thought it best to compile a report for herself regarding the students at Avengers Academy. It helped to understand the work completed and the work that needed to be done.

---

"This is Dr. Maeve Whitehall reporting on the work done with the students of Avengers Academy, asked by Director Coulson. Two of the students are currently under the care of C.A.G.E. and the rest were seen for initial screening sessions. These are my personal notes on the diagnoses of said students and my idea for treatment with them provided they are willing to continue sessions.

I will start with the students at C.A.G.E. April Flynn was brought in due to possible suicidal ideation given April's behavior and comments. While I believe April is not a current threat to herself I do feel strongly that she was suicidal. April appears to be under a great deal of pressure I believe stems from her parents and other family members given how strongly she didn't want her parents to see her. Despite this it is evident April has a strong support system behind her, one she is actively engaged in. My hope is that she continues to use her supports and be more open with herself going forward. I have diagnosed April with Bipolar II as there is no evidence of April being hospitalized previously for manic symptoms, this being the first and this being due to depressive symptoms. While I believe there is more going on under the surface, it is clear this is the most pressing issue.

Next we have Victoria van Dyne. This one is a bit more complicated due to Victoria being an android or robot created for a specific purpose. While there are human characteristics within Victoria treatment for her included bringing in a staff of roboticists and A.I. experts to help ensure she remains safe. Victoria came in due to a statement she made about wanting to kill herself. This warranted concern from Director Coulson. After speaking to Victoria I determined that, while she meant what she said, she did so with the belief it was the best option to prevent further harm to others. Victoria struggles with an internal "dialogue" telling her to do one thing despite her wanting to do something else. If this were a regular human I would consider schizophrenia or delusions, but I know there is an actual voice trying to control Victoria. The work being done includes learning to tune out this command, in a sense, and reprogram herself to make decisions that follow her own set of morals and beliefs. If I had to give Victoria a diagnosis I would say Unspecified Anxiety Disorder as this does present some anxious features within Victoria.

Now for the students seen for regular sessions. Percy Novikov seems to be a very bright student. It was easy to see him put up defenses when he thought I had a complete file on him with information he didn't want out. Once it was shown that wasn't the case he became less defensive, but still seemed on edge. He spoke highly of a boyfriend and seems to value that support, though I understand that Percy may rely too heavily on this partner and not value any other relationship. There seems to be tension with his sister regarding his boyfriend. While I am hesitant to say anything along the lines of co-dependence, I would keep an eye on this and ensure Percy is able to self-regulate himself and rely on other supports. Percy is diagnosed with Unspecified Anxiety Disorder.

Leah Jordan. I'm used to some people being aggressive when having to be engaged in therapy but she is on another level. Immediate distrust of an authority figure is not out of the question when someone has struggles from childhood and Leah definitely falls into that category. I do not know much about her father but from the information shared he is someone Leah fears; enough so she takes on the responsibility of managing him and pushing out anyone else willing to go to bat for her. This adds pressure to Leah and pressure needs to escape or it will blow up. Given the nature of all of this Leah is diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, though this will need to be monitored and potentially add anxiety from the stress.

Diana Novikova seemed put-together, especially given the events with Arcade. What seemed to upset Diana the most was the sense of betrayal. This is also noted in her relationship with her brother and his boyfriend. While the situation itself was awkward Diana seemed to take it a step further and outright insulted her brother's partner and demonstrated some anger towards her brother. Perhaps Diana sees this as another betrayal? Diana is then diagnosed with Unspecified Anxiety Disorder.

Madalyne Crane is dealing with struggles to her identity. I have worked with various other "species", whether that be actual demons, vampires, or "monsters" if other people's words are to be used, but Madalyne is in the middle of being human and demon, neither identity seeming to manifest outright. Madayne struggles with other people's opinions on her and while she says she doesn't pay much mind to what others say, even untrue words hurt, and I believe Madalyne is putting up a shield to defend herself. I also do not get the sense she has much in the way of support. I do not get the sense she is depressed or fearful, though there is underlying stress. Unspecified Anxiety Disorder for now until I can do some more tests.

Dorian Gray was fun to talk to. I believe him when he says he doesn't see the need for therapy, but I also believe he understands its value. If anything I think Dorian appreciates having someone to talk to that isn't his immediate circle. Dorian seems to put himself in charge of his loved one's safety and wants to be there for him, even at his own expense. He was quick to change the subject a few times, though when we discussed heavier topics he did not shy away, instead asking questions to fully understand what was being asked. I think he has dealt with a lot of trauma that hasn't fully manifested itself quite yet, though the signs are there. I think he has a solid support system and will be fine ultimately. As of right now Dorian is diagnosed with Unspecified Trauma- and Stessor-Related Disorder and I will keep an eye on him.

Daniel...sorry, Danni Kingston is a very active person. I believe therapists are guilty of immediately diagnosing ADHD with clients who are hyperactive and engaged, though I do not believe Danni falls into this. I think he is just that type of person. I think it is a defense mechanism to protect himself from handling intense emotions and, unfortunately, Danni finds himself doing more harm than good. I believe Danni cares greatly for others but that means he often puts himself down or prefers helping others versus himself. I think he holds it all in and, in doing so, unleashes it when he doesn't want to. I will give Unspecified Anxiety Disorder but I believe he may qualify for full Generalized Anxiety Disorder if this continues.

Sabine Bassard likes to put on a good appearance of having everything together. More often than not this stems from either a desire to want to ensure they are fine to other people or to themselves. Sabine has a history of self-harm and panic attacks, though I do not believe she wants to hurt herself significantly. A lot of the pain stems from her deceased mother and her biological father's treatment of her. Sabine has a steady support system that I don't think she uses to its full potential. I think a lot swims underneath the surface and she is scared of what that means. I think she puts pressure on herself and that is slowly forming cracks. I believe she has depression though I am hesitant to diagnose Major Depressive, so for now Unspecified, though I feel strongly this will change if she does not accept help.

Zarina was a ball of enthusiasm. She had no idea of what therapy consisted of but that did not deter her from opening up. I admit to being fascinated in what Asgard is and what it does for the people there. To hear it from Zarina's point of view they do things differently. Despite this, Zarina was given potentially more freedom to explore other avenues of who she is. I am admittedly hesitant to diagnose her with something but if I had to I would say there is underlying stress and confusion along with learning to step into who she is and make decisions for herself. Unspecified Anxiety Disorder for now though I believe this will change if she comes regularly.

Zelda Flynn kept her heart close to her chest, which is not unfounded when someone starts therapy. Despite this she did participate. I get the sense Zelda is slow to open herself up, even to people she considers close. She is dealing with emotions, both her own and ones she gleans from others and that is a bundle of stress within her. As someone who also notices people's emotions, it can be hard to parse through them as well as your own and that can often lead to confusion. I believe Zelda possesses the strength to overcome this, but it will take work to manage and mitigate the potential harm. As of right now I believe Zelda would be diagnosed with Unspecified Depression.

Andy had lots of good questions and wanted to learn more about therapy which gives me hope. She responded well to therapy and I believe she is willing to put in the work to help overcome what she is struggling with. There are major concerns regarding her family which I believe would be an eventual focus for her, but as it stands Andy struggles with being both her past self and her future self. What does it mean for her to be who she is and how it impacts her relations, and vice versa? Unspecified Anxiety Disorder for now with a potential Z-code for parent-child stress, but that will be for a later date.

Mary Sue came in hostile and I cannot honestly blame her. Thankfully it seems she is open and willing to work on addressing her concerns. There is a lot of hurt there. Worry. Fear. Guilt. While I believe some part of that stems from recent events with Arcade there is a lot more going on with her. Unspecified Depressive Disorder that I believe can step into Major Depressive once I delve more into her history.

Overall I believe the students each struggle with something. Whether it be issues of he past, concerns for the future, or the bonds that bind them they all are impacted. Some are more accepting of it than others. Each of them is hiding something within, something that worries and concerns them. This is not surprising and is standard. We don't like to admit there are problems. Even the ones who were eager for therapy or were, at least, not averse to it were not completely open at the start. While I believe none of them are a present danger to themselves I will note some of them display dangerous tendencies that would need to be addressed if they don't want it to progress further. I am not Big Brother, but I remain a support for them should they need it.

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Not even Sabine.

That fucking hurt to hear. What the hell happened?

Sabine could be a catty bitch when she wanted to be, it was just one of the things that made her so damn hot. And Leah had noticed that Sabine was avoiding April. But she figured things were just awkward. That maybe, just maybe, Leah wasn't the only one who didn't know how to handle things in a healthy and graceful way, like people expected. That would've made sense, but she didn't think Sabine was turning her back on April. She didn't think that those two had just become fucking strangers.

Is that what was happening? Was she going to have to choose between her girlfriend and the first person who ever treated her like a person? Her hands twitched at her sides, so she stuffed them into her pockets and glared down at the floor. April already had someone she could turn to, and it didn't help that Leah had been wondering if she was part of the problem because April hadn't turned to her.

I should have been better to you, was what she wanted to say.

"...I'll be around," was what she actually did say. So then she turned and walked back the way she came. Leah wanted to hit something solid. Too much of this whole mess just didn't register properly in her head. Why was I supposed to be mad at her? Why is Sabine mad at her when she's looking out for herself? Why can't I just be fucking good enough that she could trust me?! Constant questions going in and out of her head. None of it was April's fault, she got that. But she didn't get why April expected her to be mad. Or why it would've been weird to talk more.

Leah grabbed her bag by the door and stormed up the stairs.

All these little unspoken things that people communicated, Leah couldn't read. It was just so fucking weird, like a language she didn't know. Or like everyone but her was a telepath. Was that why she didn't see April's breakdown coming? Despite being her best friend? Did April try to convey she needed help?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!

She had to ask Sabine about it. She didn't know what else to do at this point.

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"Yeah maybe." Diana answered Gideon and gave a slight shrug, she did feel bad about Nemo dying though she got the feeling that there was something more to it. But they just found out that he died and there probably wasn't much else to really work with for now anyway, her attention turned towards the group that entered the building, Diana recognized both Harry and Eva pretty quickly. Though they seemed to be in their own little conversation, Zelda still hadn't answered her question on what she thought about Nemo dying. She listened to Mary who seemed to be upset that they were just being told about it right now.

"Personally I would have prefered to know as soon as possible than being told sometime afterwards or being lied to about it." Diana said to Mary, she preferred honesty over anything else really. Though she was curious since Lady Nimue and Ser Nemo weren't around to be their coaches for the contest. "Do you know who will be the replacement coaches for the teams?" Diana asked looking over at Vision.

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Madalyne looked over at Andy she at least was able to answer her question, Selene was her mother apparently and she seemed to be pretty bad or something. She watched as Max summoned up a portal and the little cat carrier was sent through it, at least they wouldn't have to worry about her. Madalyne heard a voice coming from the neighbor, and Andy seemed to recognized it and she went to leave and headed to the house next door.

"Yeah we could do one later if you want to." Mads said giving Danni a slight smile as her attention turned back towards Vicky, she still didn't answer her question. "Are you sure that you are okay Vicky?" Madalyne asked her, she didn't enter the estate just yet and wanted to make sure that Vicky was still okay before heading inside.

---

"Baseline averag-" Victoria deadpanned, before realizing Dorian was right. He couldn't see. She took her phone, filmed a panoramic shot of the estate and the surrounding area, and then connected to the phone and edited the shot to look like what she saw, before sending it to Dorian. "There. Now you can. The place is so-" she struggled to find the right word. Bewitched? Cursed? "-Enchanted, it is a unicorn short of me thinking it was woven out of a rainbow." she explained.

Then the news dropped, and the whole conversation about Nemo being dead through Dorian apparently having visions of the future to Danni bringing up talking to ghosts - Because that's a thing, apparently. - happened. Vicky merely nodded in agreement: "One of the staff was Arcade's plant and tried to kill us, another has the philosophy that we have to suffer in life to amount to anything good. So plus one on checking he actually died, and this is not one of Nimue's pain games. At this point, if a member of the MC Institute staff says the sky is blue, I'd still rather check."

Her gaze followed the direction to the estate after James suggested they go inside, but one look at the creepy hand of a doorhandle that looked like it belonged to a SCP foundation's containment cell made her decide there was no way in hell she was touching it first. Instead she turned to Mads. "I'll be fine, thanks. Whatever this is, it's working wonders." she tapped the piece of jewellry around her neck. Hanging there very loosely. One tug from being snapped off, and sending her to the afterlife.

She pouted, grabbed an edge of her armor's chestplate and instructed the piece to detach to expose her silver, gold printed skin. She told the nanites to let the object pass through, and the necklace sunk below her nanite skin, now safe from being removed. Nodding approvingly, Vicky reattached the chest plate.

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Sabine had, for the most part, calmed herself down. She was in an arguably better headspace. She needed to talk this through though. Among other things. Leah maybe? No Leah had gone after April. Which was good. April needed someone nearby to support her and Sabine couldn't be that person. Not yet. But Leah wasn't the most well-versed in managing emotional and mental wellness, though she tried, bless her.

And anyone else she considered a friend was not at the hotel. Which meant...she would need to go to the Kingston-Gray residence. And that sent further anxiety through her body. If she set foot on the property would alarms ring out letting them know a telepath has entered? Would she be blasted on sight? She still struggled with Dorian's lack of trust in her but they had worked it out; she could only imagine what his parents would think of her.

No, she needed to talk to them. Sabine moved up from the wall and took a step forward and ran into something. Or rather, someone. Sabine fumbled and fell, but she gathered herself. The person who fell was someone she had not seen before, and trust, Sabine would have noticed her. Sabine offered her a hand to help her up. "Do you say that to tall the girls you run into or am I just special?" Sabine instantly felt sick. Was she seriously flirting with someone?

Bad thoughts raced through her head. Her and Leah never had a conversation on exclusivity and they had a relationship with April, would Leah be open to a third again? And what the hell was she even doing considering that? God, she was fucked up.

"I'm here with my school taking part in the contest. Are you participating also?" Sabine looked around, seeing if she could catch someone she knew. Draw them into the conversation to say 'hey look, I am just meeting a new person, nothing sketchy!'.

Mary Sue had just been emotionally deconstructed by a robot, and she flinched back at his words. She opened her mouth for a few moments, as if to speak, but no noises came out. The one phrase, "Grief is better conquered", stuck with her for a moment, something intellectual to maybe break through the wall of shit between herself and her emotions, and she shut her eyes tight. "Sure." She said, her lips contorting into a frown. "That is... not an unreasonable analysis. Thank you Mister The Vision." She said, holding on to a bit of sardony to hide behind, attempting to not directly answer his question.

But, nevertheless, something in her was chipped away, and she was left with that awful feeling that something was broken that could never be fixed. Why didn't he just let her deflect? Ser Nemo would never not be dead, and she didn't know what to do with that. Grief didn't make sense to her; there wasn't anything to be fixed. She couldn't cure death, so why did she feel bad? What purpose did it serve? These problems circled through her head, and she gritted her teeth, tears welling up for a moment before she forced them back down. This just sucked. "What is the use in grief if the thing that caused it can't be fixed?", she asked quietly, maybe to nobody in particular..

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@PatientBean:

She took Sabine's hand, pulling herself to her feet, and bringing Sabine's hand to her lips to press a kiss to it. "Only when they look like art and royalty all wrapped up in one pretty package." She grinned, a little crooked, and chuckled at Sabine's revelation. "Yeah, on the Strange Acadmy team myself. Getting the parents settled before this afternoon." She took half a step into Sabine's space, drawing her hand to rest on Thuy's should and thumbing at the inside of the wrist softly. "I'm Thuy. I don't have anything goin' on until the exam so maybe we can... play around with something else you'd wanna call me." Thuy glances down at Sabine's mouth. The shadows on the wall stilled and drifted back down onto the floor.

@Blizz:

While the Sorcerer's Inn may not be the most extravagant of hotels, it makes up for it in character - with old peeling paint, dusty carpets in desperate need of resurrection, and furniture that must have predated the Battle of New Orleans. And of course, one of the more notable features was the almost random procession of hallways, a veritable maze with poor, inconsistent signage. It was easy to get lost - she must have passed the same copy of Circe Invidiosa at least half a dozen times when she would feel her goosebumps crawl up and down her arms, and a tingling sensation at the back of her neck. She would feel his presence before she saw him - before she saw her father at the other end of the hallway, dressed in a button up-shirt and shorts like he was any other tourist, a soft smile on his face.

"Mayra. It's good to see you, dear." He took a step forward, before holding up a finger, shaking it slightly as if to chastise her. "Now, I obviously do not need to tell you the consequences will be severe should you run off to any of your friends. Such as your girlfriend, Sabine Bassard. Huge fan of her social media. Such a pretty face. It would be such a shame if her brief brush with fame had to come to a premature end. So you will come with me, then, and I will talk, and you will listen. Do we understand each other?"

@BlueSky44@Nallore@Natsu:

The Vision regarded Mary Sue carefully, a pang of sympathy running through him. He had often wondered the same thing - for the loss of people he loved, through death or other means. He had grieved the loss of his marriage, just as he had grieved the loss of friends. Nothing in his programming had provided him with an answer to that same question - what was the function of grief, when faced with an unsolvable problem? Many feelings had a utility to them - pain was no different than an alert, a notification that there was a problem that needed to be solved. Even love was a sign of safety and trust, the foundation by which communities could be built in order to ensure survival, from simple companionships to larger families to entire peoples.

But there was no function to grief - no actions that must be implemented, no strategy beyond to simply feel it. It was only after Wanda had left him that he began to glimpse the true purpose of grief, to see that it was simply a different emotion under another name. He knelt before Mary Sue, bringing himself to her eye level. “Grief, my child, is love persevering. To ask what is the purpose of grief is no different than asking what is the purpose of love.”

He then rose back to his feet, considering Diana’s question. “There will not be replacement coaches. I will be here to offer you guidance in their place. I believe there will be additional teachers coming to act as chaperones, but they are not prepared to coach you, nor have they been approved by the Contest of Champions organization to act as coaches.”

Gideon, of course, wasn’t listening. Any conversation that didn’t involve her or something she was interested in, it was like it didn’t happen. Just in one ear and out the other. At best, if she really focused, she could catch a few sentences here or there. But it was soooo hard to bring herself to care about what the robot was saying. She didn’t listen to her vibrator so she definitely wasn’t going to listen to Vision. Instead, as she looked away from her phone for a brief second, her eyes latched onto an absolutely fucking gorgeous ginger across the way. She pulled down her sunglasses to get a better look, hardly believing what she was seeing.

Evanthe fucking Moore. Her favorite artist's favorite artist. She didn't even notice the other celebrity next to her, instead completely starstruck. Pop wasn't usually her taste, however songs about eating box definitely were. Gideon pulled her sword out of its scabbard, where it had been strapped to her back, and made a beeline up to Evanthe, the two-handed broadsword easily six feet long, if not longer.

"Would you sign my sword?" Gideon asked. "Please? You're, like, a legend, my dude."

Wiccan approached the pop stars a bit more nervously, constantly glancing back to Teddy with a bashful blush. Was he sleep deprived, stressed, and in the middle of learning about a demiurge problem that threatened all of existence? Yes. Was he a teenage gay boy meeting Harry fucking Simmons and Evanthe fucking Moore? Yes. "I love all your music," Wiccan gushed, preening a bit as he stood in front of Harry and Eva - as if Vision hadn't just told them one of their teachers had died. "My boyfriend and I, we got them to play David at prom last year, it was absolutely incredible. A-and your last album, Evanthe, can I call you Evanthe? It's a masterpiece. I'm - I'm Billy, by the way. It's an honor to meet you both!"

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"Okay," April said softly to Leah, as her insides briefly felt like they were curdling. For a brief moment, she couldn't help but wonder if she had hurt her - if she should have stopped the call to go talk to Leah instead. It wasn't what she wanted for herself, right now she just wanted to talk to Danni and Dorian, if she talked to anyone at all. And yet, she felt anxious, guilty that maybe she should have gone to Leah - even if they were exes, even if nothing was the same anymore and they could never go back to the friendship they'd once had - even if her fears were right and Sabine really had messed with her mind, and maybe then Leah's, too...

There were times, when talking with Danni and Dorian, that April felt like an alien. Her tears stopped for a moment, as she listened to Danni explain that it was fine, that Nemo was just a ghost now, and they could call him back to talk as much as they liked - that his death wasn't really any different than someone going home for summer break.

Death to her, it was... Final. Scary. Horrifying. It was an end. It couldn't be walked back - sure, some superheroes managed to get resurrections, but most of the time, death was death.

But just like money, death meant something different to Danni - it seemed almost... meaningless.

She stared at the phone. If she had gone through with it - if she had died that night - would he have been just as cavalier about it? Would he just have casually asked his dad to summon up her ghost? April wanted to hide from the thought, to bury it and never return to it. She wanted to break the promise she had made - the promise to not hide. "D-Danni... Is this what you would have done if I had died?"

Then Dorian dropped a bomb - Nemo wasn't supposed to die yet. He'd somehow seen this on the Astral Plane - April didn't know anything about how that realm worked or operated, had Dorian been seeing visions all along? Or was this something brand new? But if Nemo wasn't supposed to be dead... She didn't know what to make of that. Was the TVA going to come and prune their entire timeline then, because someone had died who was supposed to be alive? Had Nemo faked his death with Nimue's help? Was Nemo going to be resurrected somehow? Was the grave in Dorian's vision just incorrect?

Hypocritically, she couldn't help but be hurt too that Dorian hadn't told them - that he hadn't trusted them with this information. If she had seen that... it would have messed with her head. Hadn't they all just promised no more secrets? What else had Danni and Dorian been keeping with her? First the house, now this...

The emotional rollercoaster continued as she heard Danni ask one of the dads if they could do a seance, and then shouted out by name all the kids who had been lucky enough to get to stay there, including Vicky... Her body tensed up. It was killing her that Vicky, the person who had gone out of her way to bully her in Coulson's office and then again at CAGE, got to be at the home of April's best friends - meanwhile, April was stuck in a hotel with people who hated her. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.

All the water in the pipes came to a complete standstill.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Her hands felt like ice.

And her heart was pounding so furiously she thought it was about to burst.

"I-I have to go," April squeaked out, before hitting the end call button, and a fresh wave of tears rocked her.

She'd been doing better. She really thought she had been. She thought the meds and the new tools from Dr. Whitehall had been enough. She'd thought they'd fixed her.

But she felt just as broken as ever before.

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Percy didn't know what to think, as he caught onto the course of the conversation - that Ser Nemo was dead. He had the vague sensation of his skin crawling, discomfort enveloping him. He knew that death was natural and that it happened - that one day, each person on the lawn outside of the Kingston-Gray home would be dead, including himself. But death was normally distant, something that happened to people he didn't know. He didn't know how to feel about Ser Nemo dying. He hadn't liked Ser Nemo. He had hated him at times. Percy hadn't known exactly why, either - there was just something about the old man that got under his skin, that brought out this irrational anger he couldn't entirely control.

The others were discussing holding a seance to call back his ghost, and whether or not he was even dead. Dorian was on the phone, so Percy had made sure to hang back, unlike some of the others who seemed content to crowd around and join in on the conversation. Phone calls were supposed to have some element of privacy to them, even if Danni and Dorian had decided to have it in front of everyone else, so Percy did his best to respect that. In some ways, it felt almost like an out of body experience, as he watched so many strong opinions and personalities interact and clash, while he felt completely lost and untethered, an outsider looking in. Even Zari was preoccupied with other things.

"Weeell..." Casper paused for a moment, glancing over towards James. No conjuring ghosts on the lawn. Not after what had happened last time. He nodded, before giving his husband two big thumbs up. "I gueeess if your father says it's okay, then sure! Your coach wasn't violent, right? I might not be as scared of them now that I have babes around to help protect me, but I would love to not have to deal with an angry violent ghost if I can avoid it. Wait. Babes! Do we need permission slips for them to summon ghosts? Or is it okay since it's their teacher's ghost?" He then spun around, quickly locating Max. "Maaaaax can you make everyone really cute seance outfits too, if we are doing a seance? We all need to match the ✨aesthetics✨ of the room you built for me for this or it won't be nearly as fun!"

Needless to say, Ben wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that his sons' teacher had died - and he was somewhat concerned about the idea of hosting a seance. Not everyone had the relationship to death that his family did. And even among his family, Ben was somewhat of an outlier - he still usually excused himself whenever Casper summoned up a ghost for them to chat to, even if it was for the best of intentions. He remembered all too well what it was like to be on the other side, stuck, unable to change, while the world moved on without him. His tentacles grew restless inside their pocket dimension. "Yeah, let's all go inside, and get everyone's stuff put down, and then we can talk about this," Ben agreed, before trying to catch Max's eye.

"Thank you," Firestar said softly to Max. "I... I have obviously never had to do this before," she admitted, somewhat sheepishly. "And... yeah. I might take you up on that later. Thank you," she repeated, before stepping back away from the portal, still in California, as she had seen all of the children safely through. She had so much going on today, she wasn't able to step away to go attend the Contest of Champions - couldn't do more than just this one little duty to help fill in.

"...Yes. I will participate," Percy shifted his weight a bit uncomfortably. He didn't really want to - Nemo's death made him feel strange - but he assumed it would have been rude to decline, especially given that one of Dorian's dads would be running the seance. He wanted to make a good impression. So he would chat with the ghost if that was what was required of him. And then, having seen no one move towards the door, but still motivated to try to win over Dorian's parents...

Percy stepped forward, and carefully gripped the door handle. His hand jerked away from it suddenly, as an antique key appeared in the palm of his hand, the metal cool to the touch. The door then swung open, and a small glimmer of light shone off of the key, leading towards one of the staircases. He quickly looked back at the adults present, before specifically looking at Dorian. Was that supposed to happen?

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Magneto was waiting for her, once she had finished washing up. Even with the Louisiana heat, he found a hot cup of tea to be one of life’s few simple pleasures. Of course, his small home did have air conditioning - a must for a man of his advanced age. With a guided wave of his hand, a tray floated from the kitchen into the sitting room, laden with two small china cups, a teapot and cozy, and some biscuits he kept on hand for just such an occasion. There was a small television set in the corner, but the room was largely dominated by old black and white photographs, a record player, and shelves upon shelves of books. “How do you take your tea these days?” he asked.

”Sweet and strongly caffeinated.” She was still addicted to caffeine. Even though she did her best to get full nights of sleep these days. Maybe Andy had damaged herself by drinking so much caffeine that she could sleep through a dose that would kill others.

Andy sat down across from him. Her face was clean of any makeup. It was in her suitcase, which she had left in Max’s front yard. Hopefully, he had brought it in. If not, well hopefully it was still there when she left the house to go over there. She’d live with almost everything in the suitcase being stolen, but not the jacket. Even if Max conjured it back it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be the jacket that Ash had given her.

”How detailed do you want me to be about stuff since I got to this time?” There were things she definitely wanted to tell him. Some stuff would be fine to glaze over. But she also wanted to be honest. She wanted to start this relationship fresh. The nervousness and worry was still there, but it wasn’t as prevalent as it had been on Genosha. The pervasive fear that had lived in her bones seemed subdued. Even with the new worry that was clawing at her. She did not have the look of the kicked puppy that she had on Genosha.

Magneto nodded, pouring her a cup of tea and preparing it as to her liking. He wasn’t going to offer a comment on her overindulgence in caffeine - there were worse vices to have. And after all she had been through, she had more than earned a vice or two. Should she cause any damage to herself, it was nothing that James could not fix - a fact that he took great solace in. He set down the cup in front of her, before preparing one for himself.

“Andy, my dear - every detail that you are willing to share, I would like to hear.”

Andy nodded, ”Alright. Well the first thing we did was went to Zari’s world. I met her parents. That was a bit awkward. Her dad is a god of lies. He was able to tell that I was only there because Zari asked me and I didn’t have any ill intent. Once he got over the protective dad thing they helped me get an identity here.”

She smiled and pulled her wallet out of her pocket and handed over the ID in there. It wasn’t a driver’s license as she couldn’t drive, but it was a state ID. Andy had been through a lot of names. She even still had her fake ID for Andrea Elliot that Ash had gotten for her, it was extremely expired and she didn’t keep it in her wallet. Andy had been born with a name she had never bothered to get from Selene. She had been given a name from the foster system - Andy Lee Phillips. And then after the Drummonds died she took their name and became Andy Lee Drummond. On Genosha she had become just Andy, or Thundering Champion. Now though she had taken Magneto’s last name and hyphenated it with Selene’s. She kept the Drummond name as those two years were as like a family as she had ever had.

He studied the ID for a moment, a tiny smile breaking out on his lips. Erik Lensherr was a name he had assumed so long it was like a second skin - to see Andy using that surname filled him with a painful warmth. He had taken the name for his wife, for Magda, almost a century ago - disguising himself as one of her people, to conceal his heritage, his origins. Not that he considered Max Eisenhardt to be his true name any longer - it was closer than Erik to the truth, yet still eluding it, still missing the mark. His name was Magneto, now and forever. “A fine choice,” he said, “although I am somewhat surprised by the inclusion of Selene, my child.”

Andy smiled brightly, pleased he approved of the name choice. There wasn’t much of a choice in changing it again so she was thankful for that. ”Ah, well she realized I was taking your name and got jealous,” Andy explained. ”See the box that we imprisoned her in, changed. It became a doll and she can talk and interact with the world a little bit. I had a cat carrier bag I kept her in. Right now Max has her.” That was a relief. Even with the curse Selene had thrown at her she still felt lighter than she had in months.

“It became… a doll,” Magneto repeated, his tone filled with disbelief - not disbelief in what she was saying, but rather in the fundamental rules and structures of reality. At least Max was now guarding Selene - Magneto had faith in Andy’s abilities, but she was still just a child forced into a role that many adults would fail to cope with. “I see.”

Andy nodded. She could explain that later if needed. Though she didn’t really know the answers. Max would probably be better to ask than her.

”After all that we went to Avengers Academy for school. Her parents thought it would be good for her and she has a friend there. I thought it would be a good idea to join her too. I’ve not had the best formal education. I also did want to learn how to work in a team. We didn’t have a lot of time for that.” She frowned a little. ”Things went okay, sort of. The first day was kind of a mess.” She sighed. ”But I’ve forgiven the people who made that day bad. Let it go. We are friends now actually. I have a lot of friends now. It’s nice. Up until I met Zari I hadn’t had anyone my age that was a friend. Now I have a bunch.”

”School itself has been...difficult. I think something is sort of wrong with me and my ability to read. I always thought I was stupid. But a friend lent me these books and in the books the kids have something called dyslexia. That sort of matches what I experience when I read. It takes me forever to get through stuff. So I think adding that issue on top of not a whole lot of formal education, and what education I’ve had was sporadic, has just made it hard for me to learn.” Andy sighed and shrugged.

”Something else to worry about I guess. Anyway, just before Thanksgiving break there was an incident. We were all training really hard for the Contest and this kid on Zari’s team. Ed, or Arcade, he had set up these uh, tanks that the school has called the Framework and invited our three teams to go in and train in a simulation he had set up. However, he actually was using the whole thing as a ruse to start his path to supervillainy or something.

We get into the simulation and Zari isn’t there. He didn’t let her in, instead dosed her up and tried to kill her. He told us that if we died in the game we died in real life too. We had to play the games to survive, but there was no end to it. Eventually I was killed in the game. But the girl, Ardere, who was helping him, dragged me away. She touched my skin. I...” Andy took a deep breath. ”I killed her. Ate her soul and brought myself back to life.”

She didn’t feel bad about it, and she didn’t expect Magneto to judge her for it. It was just another body in her past, another person she hadn’t had a choice to do anything but kill. Andy didn’t know how many people she had killed. Had lost count in between the fire at the Drummonds and the fall of Genosha. A dozen or so between Purifiers and SHIELD agents alone (though the latter of the two were not her fault directly).

He frowned. There was a lot that he wanted to touch on - beginning with the fact that she had been murdered (even now, it seemed mutant children could not simply be children, a truth that made his blood boil, and the metal furnishings in the house shake ever so slightly) and ending with her description of herself as stupid (she was not. None of his children were - except for perhaps the speedster). At least she was making friends - he remembered how lonely she seemed on Genosha, even with her friend’s company. He did note how that friend was not here - but as to why, he could only guess.

“You are not stupid, Andy,” he reminded her somewhat sharply. “You are a child, one who has been robbed of the opportunities human children take for granted. You have survived for nearly eighteen years in a world that hates and fears you. You have lived when so many others have been slain. Perhaps you cannot see your own intelligence yet, but I do. And I will not stand for a child of mine to think of herself as lesser in my home.”

“As for this… Arcade… I should hope you killed him, if not, there is nowhere he can hide where I cannot find him.”

”Thank you.” She appreciated his reassurances. It was something she had not had a lot of in her life, and he made really good points. She had slipped through so many cracks. The fact that she was alive was surprising. ”As for Arcade, I don’t know exactly what happened, but he became contrite after. Part of the group was ready to kill him, and I would have if I had been left alone with him. Drained him of his life with no mercy.

However, Zari and I fought one of the teachers, Usagi, who was also working with Arcade. Then went up and fought Arcade. But we failed to save the others. He hit a button and they all died horribly in the game. So Zari reset the timeline. We went back and tried again. This time we were able to save everyone.

Then the Avengers showed up. They sent us all home, and took him. I don’t know where. I didn’t know you were here. I went with Zari back to her world. We spent Thanksgiving break there.” She paused. Should she tell him about her sleepwalking? She took a sip of her tea. The sweetness rolling over her tongue. It was good tea.

”While there, the last night we were there, I killed someone else. But this was different. I did it in my sleep. I don’t know what happened. I’m a little worried I’ll do it again. I don’t trust that it can’t happen again.” There was other stuff that happened. Little things, but a lot of it was parts of other people’s stories. Things like what happened with Leah.
”After that Dorian told me he found a picture of Zari and I on Genosha. I told him the truth and we planned to surprise his parents. He did not tell me you were his dang neighbor.”

She smiled and shook her head. Andy also wanted to unpack some of her feelings about Zari. She knew Magneto didn’t care for her. Andy had also come to realize that even if Zari did love her back it wasn’t in the same way that Andy loved her. It was time to let that relationship change. They’d be better as friends. She didn’t see a future for them as lovers. Andy wanted someone to give as much as she did. She wanted a relationship that was more than just friends. Even if a part of her was scared that it’d burn like everything else had. She couldn’t keep hiding from relationships. She needed connection with people and the relationship with Zari wasn’t what she needed. Not anymore. So it had to change. Had to match what it really was, which was good friends. Friends that had been through a whole shit ton together, but not lovers.

He then considered the next portion of her tale - the sleepwalking in particular was alarming to him. He knew many mutants who had had their autonomy stolen from them, who had been forced to wonder if they were responsible for the sins they had committed. Magneto took some solace in the fact that every death he had caused, the choice had been his own. But he did not think Andy to be one to make that choice so lightly. “Andy… When we are done speaking, would you humor an old man and allow James to take a look at you?” He wanted the warlock’s consultation as well - he was vaguely aware that Max had a means of revealing the truth. Perhaps they could glean what was responsible for her sleepwalking.

He then shook his head at the revelation that young Dorian Gray had not shared his location with Andy - “It’s the chattering one’s influence,” he dismissed. “There is too much of Casper in those boys.”

Andy snorted. ”Yeah, if I hadn't learned early on that Casper and Max were involved in raising them I would have figured it out on my own quickly I think. I’m glad that we were able to make a friendship. Even before they knew who I was. It was funny actually. One of the first times Dorian and I were hanging out he told me all about Genosha and how his parents had been involved. He told me that they had looked for me and he didn’t even know it was me. I was too scared to tell him the truth though. Later when he found the photo and showed me, he was afraid I’d be mad at him. Really I was afraid they’d all be mad at me.

As for James taking a look at me, I am alright with that. I like James. He was very kind to me when I first met him and the MU.” She remembered accidentally wandering into his room, the room of the guy who had died at the college. The two were roommates, and James hadn’t been told yet. Andy hadn’t had it in her to tell him the truth. He had no idea who she was but he had been so sweet. He let her stay there in the quiet until things settled and she was put in a trio room with Stareyes and Zari. At the time she hadn’t liked Zari much. She had thought Zari was insane. Andy had realized how mean she had been and felt bad about it and apologized. She also had promised that if Zari needed any help she would be there for her.

“Mm, Maximilian is far more palatable these days,” Magneto admitted. “His ambition has finally grown into his power - and his diction has certainly improved as well.” He nodded though, pleased that she was agreeing to have James take a look over her - even if the sleepwalking was not due to some outside influence, it would bring him some comfort to know that his child was well, and that she was not suffering from some unseen malady. “I understand why you were afraid that they - that we would be angry. You are grounded, as I previously said. But it is not anger I feel, Andy, my dear. It is relief - relief that you are home, that you are safe, and that you are happy.”

Andy smiled. She was thankful. Happy. Even if there was an aching fear that wasn’t going away. ”I am happy. Thankful to be back. I’m glad no one is mad. I accept being grounded. That’s fair.” She sipped her cooling tea. She had talked a lot. More than she had for a long time before coming to Avengers Academy.

”What about you? What have you been doing? How did the world become...so welcoming?” She frowned. ”I found it kind of unbelievable when we came to the future and there were just schools for mutants. For a while I was afraid the other shoe would drop and it’d be some sort of trap.”

Magneto paused for a moment. It was a question he had asked himself many times - one that plagued him on a sleepless night, wondering when the other shoe would drop - when mutants would be led into the gas chambers, and the horrors of his childhood would be repeated once more. He wanted to believe that history was on the trajectory of progress, he wanted to believe that they were safe. And yet… if he truly believed that, he would not still cling to life. He would not be here, waiting for the humans to show their true natures once more.

He allowed the Kingston-Grays to keep him alive, so far beyond his allotted lifespan, because he feared that mutants still needed him - that they still needed Magneto.

“I have done what I always have done,” he said finally, holding a steady gaze. “I have been the monster the humans fear, the nightmare lurking in the dark. The world may have changed, Andy. I do not believe the humans have. The moment that they return to their ways - the moment that they come for us - I will be ready. And for every drop of mutant blood they spill, I will answer with theirs.”

She wasn’t alone in not trusting this. A part of her was worried she had missed some massive brainwashing that had happened or something equally bizarre. The universe didn’t seem to be afraid of bizarre situations. Andy nodded.

”I don’t think I could deal with it going back to what it was.” She looked down at her tea. ”The world was so terrifying and seemed to want to drain any joy from me. From the day I realized I was a mutant I knew my life was in danger. That I’d constantly be one step from a horrible fate.” Andy hadn’t talked about her childhood much with anyone. The Drummonds had been the last ones she had really told everything to. Not even Dr. Whitehall or Zari knew everything. She didn’t think Zari would even understand. Her worldview was so skewed. Andy decided now wasn’t the time to get into it all. No one needed to hear it all. Maybe someday she’d tell Dr. Whitehall, it was different with a professional. Telling family took time. It had taken Andy months to tell the Drummonds everything.

”On Genosha, I was afraid it’d fall apart like everything else. I wanted it to work out. God, I wanted it to be home. I was starting to feel like it was. But my experience has always been once I start to trust a place is when it falls apart. Every foster home, the Drummonds, then Genosha. It’s been a pattern since as long as I can remember. So even if I thought that things were real here, that whatever had changed over the last almost two decades had been enough, there is this constant fear bubbling in the back of me that tells me I can’t trust it. I think that’s why I’m doing the Contest. It is why I am making sure I’m capable. I say it’s just so I know I’ll be able to keep Selene contained for as long as possible, but it is also because I know there will come a day when I have to fight for my life again.

I’m not afraid to take lives. Not anymore. Not since the Purifiers took the Drummonds from me. Part of me felt a little bad. But in the end I choose to kill because they chose it first. That’s why I don’t feel guilty about the girl and I wouldn’t have felt bad about Arcade. They chose to kill first. I will not allow myself or those I care about to die at the hands of another. Never again.”

“Never again,” Magneto repeated, setting down his tea and placing a comforting hand on Andy’s shoulder. “We will not allow this place to suffer the same fate as Genosha,” he swore. “Within the confines of the French Quarter, mutants are safe. It may not be an island, but it is a home. And when the time comes… You and I will be ready. You have made your father proud, Andy, my dear.”