[IC] The X-Pendibles

[GrizzTheMauler]

Chrys grunts. "Give me just a second." He grabs Shawn's shoulder and shifts them to the lobby. Immediately, Chrys brings out his staff and charges in, spinning the staff and shifting it to hit the man from behind then shifting it back to his hands as he kicks him in the chest. Taking note of a few things about the man, he shifts back to where he started slamming his staff on the ground.

"I believe that you should attack from afar. This is the best tactic against energy users who use touch based attacks." Chrys checks put the objects in the room and the state of the building. "If it comes to it... I can take him out... though it won't be pretty." Even the thought of what he would have to do made him a bit queasy. Shift the man to a great height... and let him drop. That or shoft out a part of the mans body... but run the risk that the backlash, as there was always a cost to shift living things, would do permanant damage. "You may be resistant to higher levelsof radiation, but it will ultimately affect your power, Shaun. Be careful."

[Silver Carrot]

Heidi was noticing the man she saw enter the room walk in her direction. She couldn't let herself stare at him, both because if he wasn't the culprit, she might miss a telltale sign from somebody else, and if he was, he'd know she was onto him. When he was about ten feet away, he turned to her, and she immediately saw in his eyes that he was about to make a move. Her hand shot towards her gauntlet to switch it on, but it was too late. He covered the distance very quickly. What?!! He must have secondary mutations, or is otherwise able to apply his power to essentially give himself new powers. Who knew what else he could do? Could he absorb energy? Heidi decided she wouldn't fire on him until she found out and answer to that question, lest she make him stronger.

Then she felt it. The searing pain in her shoulder where his hand was. She cried out, causing anybody not yet evacuated to look in their direction. She tried to make a move, to think, but the pain was magnified in her brain. All she could think about was fight or flight. She tried to grab at him, but before she could, he placed his hand to her chest, and she was suddenly propelled through the window.

As soon as she landed, she opened her eyes. The pain was beginning to subside, and her head beginning to clear. She immediately noticed that she was no longer feeling the effects if the radiation. That was a plus, at least, though the pain in her shoulder was still incredible. She replayed the scene in her memory, and realised he must have removed her radiation sickness. So he wasn't a total scumbag, but most mutants aren't. Most mutant criminals have some moral code, because most of them believe they're right, or justified, or above the laws of man.

Her memory also picked up that Shawn had been trying to talk to her through the Comms during that ordeal. She switched them on, "Shawn. He can do more than just emit radiation. He can move really fast, and remove radiation, and I'm not even sure what else. Be careful. He might be able to absorb energy. Maybe even your electricity and my gauntlet!" Heidi wasn't thinking very straight right now, plus she didn't have enough time to verbally relay a battle plan. Besides, she couldn't even make one without knowing what this dangerous man could do, and she didn't want to get anybody killed. She really wanted to retreat to the ship right now, but she had to stay and watch. She might yet be able to help.

She turned her gauntlet on, and flicked all of the switches in preparation.

[Calabon2437]

The Nate's shift to cloak mode and scramble up the wall, up out of the hole and head right and left as the enter the foyer. Noting their team mate as she departs with all hast out a window. "Guys the force one needs to toss a woman, How much did you say you weigh Heidi? Is quite a bit. Lets try not to get hit is we can." So saying both Nate's then pause to resist the urge to hurl as the feeling of green sickness flows through them. "Um Booker, you got anything to help quell this feeling of sucking on a trucks exhaust?" Nate mumbles into his coms.

[Calabon2437]

Feeling something smash into his back, Crotalus pivots around to see what's attacking him and takes the kick to his chest. Interesting contact, well placed, decent power. Feign stumble back.
Seeing the boy standing there stomping the staff, noting the other boy standing next to him and hearing the comment about close and far combat. There seems to be some distortion on the wall, moving in separate directions, interestin, must have been someone in the hoe after all. Noted.Crotalus muses quietly.
Keeping a natural look on his face, a slight friendly smile with slightly raised eyebrows, he springs, seeming to blur, flipping over the two boys, landing just behind them in a crouch and sweeping a leg low to the ground to sweep their feet out from under them. As they stary to fall he grabs the back of their belts and as he stands jerks them behind him, sucking the radiation out of them. As they fly behind him, Crotalus stands at ease, watching them fly into the wall 10 feet away.
"My friends, I am curios what you can accomplish as one." Crotalus states in a warm voice, his facial expression never changing.

[Burning Kitty]

Rose Mary sees him turn into a blur and move elsewhere. She kicks off a pillar to propel her in the direction of the bad guy without losing momentum. She barely missed being hit by one of the boys sent flying. She shifts from absorbing radiation to being made out of metal. Her finges shifted into sharpened metal claws she thrusts them at him as she runs into him at full speed.

Tatiana had to admit she was impressed by what this creep could do. It was like he had a sixth sense about the attack that came from behind. She needed to take this into account. She decided to let the othes do their thing for a bit to see how he responded to attacks. It might reveal something she could exploit.

[Calabon2437]

Movement incoming, civilian position noted, reaction to deviation of momentum, further study to be determined. Crotalus mummers.

Nate mirrors himself as he moves along the wall to the ceiling, awaiting his chance to drop on their opponent. "It's fascinating what we all can do, we really need to get a better play book." Nate whispers.

[pyroman]

"Head back to the transport, Nate. Sage can give you a temporary fix. Well, more like something to make you feel the effects less. Once we get home we can get all of you patched up." Booker stood next to several police officers, creating a barrier behind the wall of vehicles to ensure that their villain of the week didn't escape. It took a lot of focus to make a decent barrier around the bank, so he knew that Sage was going to have to monitor a little more for the time being.

Emma set a hand on Booker's shoulder, the woman having been delivered to the paramedics to be looked over and taken care of. She focused as well, hoping to clear Booker's mind so he could keep everything focused on the barrier.

---

Shawn, with the help of Chrys, had been moved to the foyer much faster than he had anticipated. The displacement and replacement of his body left him feeling a little tipsy, but it was nothing he couldn't handle without a second to breathe. As he took his moment, he could hear Heidi speak back to him.

He wasn't human. He couldn't be. Any human with that many mutations surely would have exploded with so many different powers. This radiation fellow was a force to be reckoned with. There had to be some way that they could take him down, at the very least nullify his powers long enough to be apprehended.

The gauntlet.

It was a piece of technology that Heidi had created based off of Tony Stark's own suit. Whether is was a bolt of electricity, arc beams, or pure plasma, it mattered little to Shawn right now.

"Alright everyone, I have a really, really stupid plan." Shawn spoke through the comms. "We're gonna need Booker too. His constructs aren't effected by radiation, so as long as he's at a safe distance, he'll be fine. Heidi, I need you to charge the ever-living hell out of me with your gauntlet. I can suck up that energy and I should be able to condense a beam tight enough to fry our foe. As a backup, Nate can use his reflecting business to condense it even further. Something that tight should, should fry him to bits. While he's down, Tatiana and Nate can pin him while Booker put him in a holding cell or something with his constructs. Rosemary, I hate to say it, but I need you to scout around, make sure nobody is left in the building. Who knows how messy this is going to get."

He wasn't the most confident in his plan, but he was determined to fake it at the very least. Not even he, the hopeful, had fully mastered compressing his own energy into a solid beam. Heidi charging him up even more would make it even more chaotic, maybe even bring Shawn over the edge, but he shouldn't have to hold all of that energy in for long. He just hoped it would go over well enough to work. At the very least, their foe might fear the power of teamwork so much after this that he'd run away in fear.

[Tickout]

After setting out the cookies for their temporary guest, she had went to help her grandmother finish up with the cookie overload she had baked. She still wondered if airport security would even allow this many cookies to pass through, much less if they’d stay in one piece after a flight. She heard the repeat of his earlier question as she finished packing the last of the cooled cookies into the sealed container, and her attention went back to the escort the second she shut the lid to the tupperware. “Oh, yeah. Thanks. The big bag there” she pointed to the big bag set at the entrance to the kitchen, “is most of my stuff, and I just have a carry on purse at the door”. It was a cute little purse with a few logic puzzle books, physical wood puzzles, and a small, handheld video game console in it. With very, /very/ not scary video games, lest she have nightmares over it. Just some simple stuff to pass the time on a flight so she didn’t pass out and cause a potential ruckus on accident. She spoke up again when she realized she was forgetting the most important thing to pack. “Oh, and these cookies. We need to somehow smuggle them through the airport if they try to stop us”. She picked up the now sealed container of cookies upon cookies upon too many cookies and put it on the table. “Thanks again, man”. She should at least try to get his name at some point, she thought. Or just call him escort dude the entire duration of the trip. If the latter irritated him, she’d enjoy sticking with it.

The pressing issue of luggages taken care of, she went to tackle the more emotionally draining one; saying goodbye. She had hoped to prepare a little goodbye spheal mentally, on how she’d miss her a lot and come back one day as a proud mutant with control of her powers and could help her bake cookies again and do everything a normal teen was supposed to do. But alas, she had nothing. No emotionally touching planned farewell speech to the person she loved the most. Her grandmother took the moment of silence to speak instead, probably knowing that Bonny had no idea as of how to say goodbye. “I’m proud of you, sweetie. You’re going to make so many new friends and learn so many new things.”

She smiled a smile that Bonny couldn’t help but return. The thoughts of friends and a new school she could feel safer in helped to ease the sting, though only a little. “Yeah, I’ll try my best.” she paused for a second, the twitch of a smile fading from her face. “I’m… gonna miss you, grandma”. Her grandmother didn’t allow the smile to wane from her face, and instead pulled her grandchild into a hug. “Oh sweetie, come here. I’m going to miss you too. But you’ll have so much fun at the Institute, and meet new people and have adventures and control your powers far better. You can call me whenever you’d like, okay?”. Bonny gave a shaky nod in response, returning the bug before resting her head on her grandmothers shoulder and starting to cry. She tried to be strong, she really did. She was trying to think of all the good; controlling her powers, making new friends, but all she could think about was not being able to see her grandmother for a long time. She tightened her hug a little bit, tears now running down her face. The reality of the situation was hitting her full force. She wouldn’t be able to give her a hug again for a long time, or wake up to eggs and toast and spend a morning chatting before going to school. She wouldn’t be able to say goodnight, or spent the whole Saturday baking cookies for the many old friends her grandmother had. She didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to leave her grandmother. She didn’t want to go away from home.

Her grandmother pat her back a few times and let go of her, encouraging Bonny to do the same. Her expression shifted to concern when she saw Bonny crying, and she quickly went and grabbed a tissue from the counter before dabbing her eyes. “No no sweetie, please don’t cry. I’m not going to be gone forever. You can come see me whenever you can and you can phone me whenever you’d like”. She smiled, allowing Bonny to settle her crying down. “I’ll… I’ll call right when I get there, okay?” she said, sniffling and wiping the rest of her tears away on her sleeve. Her grandmother nodded before grabbing some more tissues and handing them to Bonny. With a word of thanks, she wiped down her tears and runny nose the best she could, tossed the tissues in the garbage, and gave her grandmother one final, quick hug and kiss to the cheek. “Bye bye, Grandma” She said, trying hard not to break back into tears again. Her grandma returned the kiss on the cheek before giving her a pat on the head. “Goodbye, sweetie. Take care, okay?” Bonny nodded, offering one last, shaky smile and taking a deep breath. She’d best leave as soon as possible, or else she wouldn’t want to go at all and most likely start crying again. She wondered if the escort had finished with the bags and whatnot as she said farewell. Hopefully so.

[GrizzTheMauler]

Chrys grunts, shifting mid air and drop kicking the man in the face. He shifts again, dropping to a crouch on the opposite end of the room as Croatus 'Noted the speed. I would say he and I have an equal reaction time... But I am hardier.' Keeping an eye on the man, Chrys shifts his staff back to himself and focuses, slipping into a combat stance. "I will keep him busy." The air around Chrys seems to wobble and darting forward into a shift to bring him in the man's blind spot, jabbing him in the small of the back with one end of the staff. Kicking off the ground Chrys shifts himself to a safe spot, shifting his staff for his bow and sending an arrow at the man.

[Silver Carrot]

@pyroman

"Wow, you're right, Shawn, that is a really stupid plan. Well, I think it would actually work if you can pull that off, but there's no telling the effect it will have on you!" Heidi spoke into the comms as she thought about all the possible options. The thing is, she was too scared to suggest any of them as they were very complicated, a lot could go wrong, and she still wasn't emotionally ready to trust the lives of anyone to her plans. "....Fine, Shawn, but the moment I suspect there's any harm to you, I'm stopping the beam and getting you out of there!"

She took aim with her Gauntlet, charged up a shot, and then fired a continuous stream of plasma at Shawn. She hoped to god that this plan worked, but if it didn't, she wouldn't let anyone get hurt in the process.

[Calabon2437]

"An interesting set of abilities, yet no real group cohesion. Should make for an interesting team should they get the time and proper training." Crotalus mummers as he takes the kick to the face. When the staff connects with his back his hand whips back brushing it, sending a charge of radiation into the staff, instantly causing it to heat up. "200 degreese, and raising 50 degrees every six seconds, should melt in two to three minuets." he says to it's wielder. Rolling with the hit to a handstand, pausing to note the teleporters location, then points at him and blast him with a almost invisible beam of pure radiation into the boys hand, searing the flesh and frying it. "To assume without proper study is to fail." Crotalus states pinwheeling his feet to snap a kick into the oncoming girl, redirecting her momentum towards one of the pillars, then using the spin to regain his feet and stepping quickly next to a well dressed youth near one of the tellers.

Nate and Nate wince as first their team mate's are tossed around then start to cheer as Chrys attacks back, only to cringe as the man seems unfazed, retaliates. They can smell the putrid ozone and cooked flesh, not a pleasant smell. As the man flips from his hands to his feet almost too gracefully and moves next to Chris, Nate and Nate finish positioning themselves above the man. "Now or never they whisper to each other, crouching on the ceiling, then they spring strait at the man. "God's if you are up there, please let this work." They whisper. And then he man looks right at them. "Oh shi....." They say in unison.

[GrizzTheMauler]

Despite the pain, Chrys only smiles. Shifting his staff off, to prevent the heat from being just mildly uncomfortable, he looks at his hand. 'This pain... This is actual pain, huh.' A strange light seems to appear in his eyes. "You really think that a little burn like that would take me down at all?" He feels the rush of energy flowing through as he places his good hand down, getting ready to spring forward. The berserker mentality is what the prof called it. Having such a high tolerance to pain, anything that made him feel it makes him feel alive.

Taking in every aspect of the room, the man, the team members and the radiation, Chrys closes his eyes and lets his mind go, spinning every scenario through his head in an instant and picking the best method of attack. "Shaun you'd better get back. It's about to become pretty chaotic in here." Chrys darts forward moving at a speed the man doesn't expect, and shifts, a loud pop being hear as he vanishes. Seconds later he appears to the left of the man and vanishes in what can only be described as an explosion of air, rippling through the room. Chrys vanishes again with another pop and does it again, above the man. The assault continues, with Chrys appearing in random spots bringing in massive amounts of built up air with each disappearance.

Chrys does it one last time and drops to a knee, breathing heavily as he kneels on the roof of the building. 'Equivilence Shift..." Chrys hurls up bile and a bit of blood on the roof. "I... I've done all I can... For now... I won't be able to use my power for a while. The cost is too high... He seems... A bit damaged from it.. Ruptured an eardrum..." Chrys hurls again. "Gonna rest... Now..." Standing and staggering a bit, Chrys falls over and passes out from the high cost of shifting such a large quantity of air to bring an extreme level of pressure onto the man.

[pyroman]

Shawn was not ready. He knew that risks might have to be taken when he first signed up for the program, but Shawn knew that this was going to be closer to death than he ever had been before. He started sucking up every little ounce of energy he could from the radiated area around him, compressing it all into his hands as tight as he possibly could. It was a literal shock to his system when Heidi joined in and aided his charge with her gauntlet. He took everything she gave him, the lights on his suit running wild while his eyes resembled one of those plasma ball lamps on steroids. He could feel his body ripping apart at the seams. He lacked the control required for handling all of this energy for any period of time, but all he needed was a second. Not even a second, hardly a fraction of a moment.

That small moment seemed like an eternity for Shawn. He was waiting for just the right moment, when everything was aligned just perfectly. It was near impossible to concentrate and focus with Chrys pushing as much air as he could onto Crotalus, but that was just what Shawn needed.

From the ball of plasma in Shawn's hands, a single beam shot out from it, as fine as a needle, but impossibly dense with plasma. It shot out far, piercing the air almost soundlessly. However, the further the beam got, the more unstable it became. It started to grow larger, the once streamlined beam was now erratic. The air around Shawn cracked and sparked with a blue color, his orb-like eyes almost smoking from whatever energy he was trying to dispense. He yelled out in what seemed to be a mixture of terror and exertion, a visage of rage taking place on what parts of his face could be seen.

Shawn couldn't see what had happened to Crotalus, or anyone else, for that matter. In that small moment, the irradiated door that Chrys had shifted into the men's bathroom ignited, creating a massive blast that easily took apart the wall dividing the restroom and the foyer of the bank. The windows shattered, the rest of the walls injured, but not fallen.

With the explosion, Shawn let loose everything he had, aimed all for Crotalus. After the violent explosion, the power in Shawn's eyes was gone, as was the life. He had been knocked unconscious due to a number of forces, leaving the young man laying on the ground.

Crotalus, in the midst of it all, was able absorb all of the radiation in the building just after the explosion went off. He took this chance to descend through the hole to the basement left by Nate to hide, burning a tunnel into one of the walls to reach one of the access sewer tunnels so he could escape. He had what he wanted. Money wasn't the prize here. All of these interesting subjects have been recorded and measured, and the next encounter was sure to be much more interesting.

---

After hearing the explosion from outside, both Booker and Emma rushed into the building to find the students. Shawn should have waited. He rushed his already half-baked plan to try and nab the bad guy before anyone else was ready, now Booker and Emma had no idea of the damage that had been caused.

"Kids!" Booker created constructs to start clearing away any debris, looking around the blast zone to see the status of his students. "Everyone check in, are you all okay?" Booker may have been in a tough spot before, but if worse came to worse, this could easily be one of the worst missions be was ever a part of.

---

It did not take Remy long at all to fetch the bags and load them up. However, after he was done, he waited by the door. He was not going to ruin this moment for Bonny. While he did not have a family of his own that he had similar sentiment with, he understood the importance of this goodbye, and would be ready for her when she was.

Once she was finally done, Remy smiled, his rugged but smooth features could easily rival that of Harrison Ford, if given the chance to battle with looks and acting. "Bonny, are you ready? We take off..." He looked at his wrist, as if inspecting an invisible watch. "Now. Load up into the plane and we should be at the mansion in a few hours. Sleep, relax, eat food, and ask any questions you may have about the school. I did teach there, after all."

[Calabon2437]

Nate lands in the basted space left from their opponent, feeling the sickness pulled from his bodies. He looks to where Shawn lays crumpled and one moves to pick him up in a fireman's carry while the other surveys the area and moves to the exit. "Any one know where Chrys went after his magic show?" Nate calls out.

[Silver Carrot]

Heidi watched things unfold, quickly noticing that Shawn was losing control. The plan wasn't going to work! She jumped back into the building but that's when the explosion happened, catching Heidi and propelling her into the wall. Dazed, she slowly got to her feet. The mutant had escaped, down this hole in the floor was the only possible explanation. Some of her questions were answered, at least. This mutant could absorb energy, meaning that he'd be pretty charged up right now. Any pursuit would be suicide. She ran over to Shawn. For all her logic and her calculations and planning, in the end she'd chosen to put trust in the abilities of another, and it didn't pay off.

Booker and Emma had now entered the building. Heidi raised her hand as she reached Shawn. "I'm okay, but I think Shawn's hurt. He tried to do more than he could!"

[GrizzTheMauler]

Chrys lays on the roof, luckily it wasn't damaged too much and he just rolled about, unconscious. His body lies bruised and reddened.

Chrys dreams of an ocean. His body floats in it, staring up at the serface. It's quiet, only thing he can hear is a steady pulse and someones' voices. 'Too much... The limit was breached multiple times over... His body isn't meant to handle that kind of stress...' 'He didn't know... He takes after his father... More so than we would like...' 'But we did learn there is a cost to his power... And such an amazing power...' 'Indeed... But if he gets out of control... He won't be able to he stopped. He can shift almost anything, Doctor.' 'But the cost of that is too high. How is the limiter working?' 'It's almost finished. We'll do the injection before he wakes. It increases the cost somehow which makes him unable to use as much of his power...' 'Excellent. I will inform the boy's father that we can limit his abilities... How permanent is it?' 'It should be permanent, we just don't know if it is, since he's the first mutant with this ability... And resists all our other limiters...' 'Well, they only need to do it to train him. So it should be fine.'

The voices drift away, and Chrys drifts into darkness.

[Burning Kitty]

When the wall exploded the first thing that Rose Mary thought was "Fuck!" She took Her second thought was to block it as much as possible. She put herself in between the explosion and her teammates. She didn't have time to shift into another form, her current form designed to attack the evil mutant would have to be enough or not. She couldn't watch as the debris flew at her, if she did die she didn't want that to be the last thing she saw. She pictured her mother, the last person that actually loved her. She imagined a life where she survived and her father died. She imagined being a typical girl, who dated, went to dances, fell in love, everything she never got to do but wished she could have. She was still imagining it all never hearing Booker calling out.

Tatiana never got to act on any plan she could formulate, she wasn't even sure she could with him pumping out radiation. She did rush in to help pull people out. She found Rose Mary just standing like a statue with debris lying at her feet. She checked for a pulse but being a metal statue didn't give her any indication of a pulse. She wasn't going to stop until she was absolutely sure. She tried to shake the girl but she was rigid like a statue as well. She took one of her pistols and began hitting her on the head.

Rose Mary blinked. "What?" Tatiana face palmed. "Don't what me girl. You were standing there like a dead statue. What the hell were you doing?" Rose Mary shifted into her normal human appearance. She stretched. "I was imagining a better life with my mother, just in case." A small tear escaped. Tatiana was uncomfortable. She did what she had seen on TV. She hugged Rose Mary, this to made her uncomfortable. Tatiana guided Rose Mary outside. "You need new clothes. These are practically shredded." She highlighted her point by literally picked up a piece of her shirt off her shoulder.

[Tickout]

It looked to her like her things were all packed and ready to go, and that was only confirmed by her escort. She gave a small nod as thanks for taking all her bags, but then rose a brow at what he said next. The flight left… now? Was it possible for them to even /get/ to the airport fast enough to catch the flight if that was the case? The closest one wasn’t exactly walking distance, and they’d have to go through customs to even get to the plane. “I hope you’re exaggerating on the ‘taking flight right now’ part of that statement” she said. “No way we’d make it on time.” She stepped outside as somewhat instructed, though, and suddenly things made a lot more sense. There was a plane. There was a plane parked on the street. A small plane, sure, but there was a plane parked on the STREET. He… there was a /plane/ parked on the road.

Words couldn’t begin to describe how shocked Bonny looked. She was expecting… well, a normal flight in an average plane that takes off from an airport. Or some variation of that. She was surprised no one had raised a ruckus over a plane parked on the street, first off. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then closed it again, then spoke when she actually had words to say. “I… you parked a plane. On the road. Just… there. I … don’t know how I’m supposed to react to this”. She felt shocked from just seeing a small plane parked on the road, flattered that she was getting such a personal escort, and kind of excited that she was going to fly in a cool two person plane. Even if her escort was a little on the… show offy side.

She approached the plane, walking around it once to look it over in mild awe. It was her first time seeing a two person plane up close, and she found herself looking far more interested than she thought she should be. She wasn’t a mechanic, but it just looked really cool. It was a plane in the middle of the street; there was no reason /not/ to check it out before boarding. Her fascination was luckily quelled pretty quickly, though why she was sent such a frivolous escort was beyond her. Judging from his ‘sleep during the flight’ comment, they weren’t too aware of her powers, so that wouldn't be it. After she was done inspecting the exterior of the plane and satisfying her curiosity, she opened the door and clambered inside.

The interior was spacier than she expected it to be, and she stood to look around for a second before taking a seat in one of the passenger seats. She didn’t see her luggage, but her carry on bag was within arms reach- she scooped it up, rummaging inside to make sure everything was there. Games, puzzles, books, check. She was ready. She allowed herself to look out the window to see her house- er, her old home now- one last time before focusing back on the toys in front of her. Maybe asking her escort some questions would come to pass the time. He said he used to be a teacher there- maybe he’d know what the place was like? Those questions were best to be asked once they were in the air, though. After they were flying safely. Oh, and his name. She should really ask his name.

[pyroman]

Booker gave the signal for the Police and other emergency workers to storm the building, combing deep through the building for anyone who might not have made it out before the blast. This was yet another disaster under his belt, and it wasn't anyone's fault but his. He knew what the professor was going to say. Booker would be surprised if the day didn't end with him losing his job. The kids weren't to blame. It was bookers fault for rushing this without properly preparing the kids for the worst case scenario.

"Emma, take Shawn and the others back to the transport. I'm going to find Chrys." Booker barked. It didn't take long for him to rush off to the stairs, looking for their missing number.

Emma did as she was instructed. Maybe the team wasn't fated to save the galaxy, but she was going to fight to keep it from being disbanded. They needed the work on a lot, but there were certainly worse starts to a group of heroes.

A brief sweep of Heidi's mind told Emma the girl's name. She could easily compare her to the library of Alexandria. She only hoped that Heidi wouldn't have a similar fate.

Emma knelt down next to Heidi. Shawn was alive, she could feel his mind trying to relive and process what had happened. "Heidi." Her voice was soft and careful. She scooped the young man into her arms and lifted him over her shoulder. "Report to Sage in the transport. We're all still alive, you didn't fail the mission."

Nate had already taken off with Shawn, so Emma's next plan was to gather everyone and make sure that they were all safe.

---

It seemed like his work was paying off. Bonnie was certainly interested in the plane and his extravagant lifestyle. He let out a small laugh. "Qui, I did land this plane in the middle of the street. He joined her in the plane and set everything up, making sure that she was set before the plane took off straight up, moving only vertical for a bit before shifting to normal, horizontal movement. "I am Remy, by the way. I do not teach anymore, but the Professor still employs me when I am needed."

[Silver Carrot]

Heidi slowly got to her feet. Emma was right. There were no casualties despite this group of ill-experienced, volatile mutants going up against somebody with such a dangerous power. Even so, Heidi knew she needed to be prepared next time. She was already starting to think of scenarios and plans that would have had a strong chance of working. She just didn't think of them back then. She didn't want to think of them back then. She was scared. She didn't want to handle the responsibility, because if she ordered everyone to follow one of her plans and it didn't work due to the millions of margins for error that not even she could take into account, and somebody got seriously hurt as a result of that, the guilt would cripple her for life and she knew it.

She had known she'd taken a tumble through the window, but she'd pushed that to the back of her mind while she was focused. Now she no longer was, and the adrenaline was wearing off. Her body was aching, and every single small cut she received from the glass started to sting. It didn't help that her brain is twice as sensitive to pain as everybody else's. Without another word, she slowly walked towards the transport.

---

Heidi entered the transport with a red face, puffy, glistening bloodshot eyes, and slightly wet lines down her cheeks from each eye. She sniffed, and sat down. With a voice that started off wavering, but steeled itself into a clear, calm and concise pace and volume, she recounted all the events of this mission from her perspective to the listening Sage, from her noticing the floor, to getting sick, to being blasted through the window, to watching the fight with the mysterious mutant, to charging up Shawn, to the mutant's escape. All of it very well explained and detailed though still to the point, with a very lean and conservative choice of words to convey the most meaning in the least amount of time. Heidi didn't even know she was doing this. Running through every possible way to word a sentence and choosing the best one just came naturally to her. At least, it did for reports and factual descriptions. When it came to actually conversing normally with people, that was a completely different matter.