Arrested Development

[forge]

Forge sighed at the scene, knowing that some very important things needed to change – and would change, at this rate. He looked around, assessing the situation just as Nightcrawler appeared and took care of Hannah. Good, Forge didn’t want to have to explain any of this to the little girl – he was very bad with children.

So he watched as the German nodded to him, implying the rest of the students – though just about all of them had been ushered to the Common rooms by the teachers, save for Paige, Jubilee, and yeah, that was Jones there in the doorway.

Forge immediately rolled over to Candice, but looked up at Jones.

“Hit the hay, Jonesy, everything’s okay.” Forge said, offering the kid a smile. He’d had a talk with him earlier in the week, and found the little TV turner to be a most enjoyable conversationalist, despite his age. Forge figured that if you never slept, it was like living 30% longer anyway. “Go to the common room, we’ll keep the students informed soon enough, okay?”

The kid nodded, and went to follow the other students. The Cheyenne checked out Candice, making sure she was still alive… she was, must have just passed out. He frowned, and tapped his communicator.

“Colossus – you missed the big fuss at the entrance, grab Josh, the new guy we picked up from Baltimore and head up to the lobby… we may need his talents.”

Then he took a second to send a fraction of his will into his side computer, and an announcement went over the PA system: Teachers, please remain with students in the common rooms until further notice. Everything is under control, thank you.

Forge passed a look between Angel, Shadowcat, Jubilee and Paige – all of whom were standing solemn in the lobby.

“Okay guys, what’s done is done – now we need to work on getting him out of there. Angel, you said you called your lawyer, right? The agents said a representative will be here shortly. Bobby gets his phone call soon, so he’ll let us know where he’s at. If we don’t hear from him in the next eight hours, we’ll investigate ourselves.”

He looked at Paige. “If you and jazz-hands” – he nodded at Jubilee – “are just students here, I’m going to have to ask you to go to the common room with the others. If not, then who’s responsible for you here?”

[husk]

Paige crossed her arms. "I'm responsible for me."

She appreciated Forge's position, and didn't want to cause an argument with someone she was *trying* convince to let her join the X-Men... but she wasn't a kid, nor a student, and was older than Kitty-Cat Wheelchair Roller as it was. Being shuffled off was not her style.

Looking at Jubilee, she smirked, and walked away down the hall.

[Shadowcat]

If Kitty had been born a telepath rather than a - a phaser, or whatever she was, she'd probably have agreed with Paige's assessment.

I am such a useless idiot.

A little girl had been under fire and Kitty had just stood there behind Forge like a total until someone had shouted at her to go intangible, which she'd done, slipping into the well-practiced pattern of flickering back ... without grabbing anyone else. Not even Forge, who was in a wheelchair, or Candice, who was unconscious, or Hannah, who was seven, or... or anyone.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid.

She sat on the edge of a decorative planter, one of her elbows propped on her knee and her forehead balanced on her hand, a figure of abject misery and frustration. Everything was fine and she didn't think anyone was hurt and it wasn't like she could've done anything in the first place, but it was always a possibility. All that training to stand still and defend herself and no one else. Genius, Pryde.

“Okay guys, what’s done is done – now we need to work on getting him out of there. Angel, you said you called your lawyer, right? The agents said a representative will be here shortly. Bobby gets his phone call soon, so he’ll let us know where he’s at. If we don’t hear from him in the next eight hours, we’ll investigate ourselves... If you and jazz-hands are just students here, I’m going to have to ask you to go to the common room with the others. If not, then who’s responsible for you here?”

Kitty looked up in mild confusion at Forge, but Paige had already performed her flounce-out, to which, to be fair, she was entirely entitled.

"That was kinda harsh," she said quietly. The girl was dating a guy who'd just got hauled off at gunpoint, for goodness' sake. "And I think Jubes should stay." So I can bite her head off. No, Kitty. That would be uncharitable and impolite.

"She trained with us a while back," she explained to Forge. "A long time ago, before you were here."

Did they really need to get into the Cure? No? No. Also impolite.

[Jubilee]

“If you and jazz-hands are just students here, I’m going to have to ask you to go to the common room with the others. If not, then who’s responsible for you here?”

Jubilee turned slowly to face Forge, her hands on her hips, her face set in stone. Miss Sunkissed Blonde delivered her last line and did a dramatic exit--Jubes had a feeling they were going to get along just fine. They'd both been the only two with the stones to speak their minds to the agents' faces.

"And I think Jubes should stay. She trained with us a while back. A long time ago, before you were here."

Jubilee shot a glance at Kitty that was both surprised and grateful. She hadn't expected Goody Two Shoes to stick up for her, especially against a teacher. Or--who was this guy, anyway? Whoever he was, she had a feeling she went back farther with Xavier's and the X-Men than he did.

"There's no way I'm not comin'," she said defiantly, her eyebrows raising, as if daring him to refuse her. "Bobby and I have been two-of-a-kind since he was in diapers--so three years now. Anything that gets decided about him, I wanna be there to hear it."

"And 'jazz-hands'? What are you trying to say? One little flinch and they wig out, that's not my problem."

[forge]

Forge looked back at Paige, taking in what she'd said, then he looked to Shadowcat and finally Jubilee. His assessment was pretty simple: Paige was a student, Jubilee was an X-Student, both had not reacted to a situation that required delicacy. He said what he did out of anger, though, and Kitty was right... so...

He nodded to Shadowcat. “Point taken, and I concur. If she's been through the ropes, that's good enough – but she's your responsibility. You're an X-Man, I trust your opinion.”

He looked back once more at Paige, and thought he'd need to eventually talk to the southern belle about the situation.

Then his eyes fell on what he thought was Punky Brewster all grown up. He nodded. “Fair enough, you know Bobby and are worried about him. You're a guest of the school then, and you're Shadowcat's responsibility, since she vouches for you. Though your hand gestures may seem like nothing to you, and you may not care about the fact that the fifty armed men took concern with them – but considering you could've easily gotten children killed just now, I suggest you re-think the situation and glean some insight from it. Tense situations with that much on the line require some forethought into every action you make. I do apologize for the nick-name though – it was very impolite. I'm Forge, X-Man.”

Already he was making plans. He needed to get everyone on the horn, discuss future plans for housing – because after this bullshit, and Stryker, it was becoming clear that housing the X-Men with the school was just a bonehead idea. No offense, Xavier, wherever you are.

A few other things were still on his plate, and he was thinking it's time to resolve some of them... time to share the load, and come clean with everyone. Time to put the teamwork to the test.

(ooc - just about ready to move on out of this post and back into a slight mixed time. A lot of smaller things to handle now, that can get bogged down with team-posting. Just let me know when you guys are ready to move forward.)

[angel]

Well, that had all gone... Shit, to be perfectly honest, though thankfully Nightcrawler had been able to sort it all out in the end. Pretty impressive for a guy who had attempted to assassinate the president.

Not of his own will, of course, and he'd been cleared when they'd recovered Stryker's files, but still...

Warren had no chance to reply to Forge before the girls had their little... girl moments, and he found himself looking around with a raised eyebrow. Yeah, fine, they were worried. But he was worried too, and he'd still managed to remember that abusing cops was likely to make what happened to Bobby worse in the long run, even if it made him feel better in the short time.

Before things could go any further, Warren shook his head.

"Yeah, I called my lawyer. Cameron's a human, but he's very mutant friendly, and he's incredible at what he does. Call me on the comm when the rep arrives, I have to go make a couple of calls."

One of which was going to be to Bobby's parents. Yeah, cause they were really going to love hearing from who they thought was their son's boyfriend that he was now accused of murder and was... well, they didn't even know yet.

With a sigh, Warren shrugged.

"I'll be around, you all know where to find me if you need me." Though he had a feeling that he'd end up in the sky before long - this whole situation had left him feeling much more claustrophobic than usual.

[Jubilee]

Jubilee was taken aback when Forge, rather than taking the bait and continuing to try and scold her, took a more humble approach—and even apologized for the ‘jazz-hands’ thing. It was the best way to detour a massive explosion from the fiery girl, which most at the school knew, but Forge had no way of knowing. Jubes wondered momentarily if he was a psychic.

“No, you know what—Just forget it,” Jubes said, much less angry than it had been moments before. She was ready to drop the argument. She looked at him appraisingly, resting her hands on her hips. “And, uh, don’t ever apologize for a good nickname,” she said in a tone that clearly said ‘Don’t worry about it’.

“I don’t.”

The fact that she had been assigned to Kitty, when she was a good four years older than the girl—who wasn’t even an adult—was hard to swallow, though. Jubes had always like Kitty, though they’d usually been on opposite ends of POVs, but Jubilee generally found it hard to answer to the top bosses like Ororo and Blue, let alone Miss Kitten.

“So, Captain, My Captain, what are my orders?” she asked with a smirk that was more teasing than sarcastic. She’d seen how upset Shadowcat looked, so she figured she ought to go easy on her. "Howabout I retire to my old room for a while?" It was what she was going to do, whether there were other plans or not.

[Shadowcat]

“Point taken, and I concur. If she's been through the ropes, that's good enough – but she's your responsibility. You're an X-Man, I trust your opinion.”

Kitty's face froze halfway into a deer-in-the-headlights expression at his second-to-last sentence.

What? What? I have a Responsibility?

"What?" Kitty summarized.

“So, Captain, My Captain, what are my orders? Howabout I retire to my old room for a while?"

Kitty stared at Jubes for a few seconds before her features hardened slightly. It wasn't really what she'd said, per se. It was that she was already saying it. Kitty was still kind of stuck on the whole one of my best friends just got cuffed and put in a squad car thing.

"Do whatever," she said simply. "If someone's already taken it just pick out a new one. We'll talk to Storm later."

Nice, Pryde. Now you've got a crazy person whose every action is now your responsibility. Very nice...

"Is there anything else we can do right now?" Kitty asked Forge, who was the only (for her) recognizable adult. "I think they have to release where they're taking him to and stuff, but we won't know that until they choose to give it to us, so..."

Please let me just go cry again.

[forge]

“on my way” Colossus said over the X-Comm.

Forge nodded as if Piotr could see it, and looked back to Kitty. He shook his head.

“Actually you, Paige and I are going to be on the Bobby detail. She needs to be involved, and you seem to know your way around the law, so I want you there too. They’ll be sending a rep over shortly, according to Agent Smith. I’ll let you know when he gets here, okay?”

He half turned, then turned again to face her. “And thanks.”

Shadowcat had proven to be useful so far today, and intelligent and understanding of her circumstances. She knew when to talk, and when to shut up, and was willing to help in any way possible. It was very nice to have someone like that on your team.

He wheeled his chair around, stayed near Candice. Hopefully she’d just passed out.

It was just then that two emails happened to cross into his Inbox simultaneously, his side-computer alerting him with a sound only he could hear. He took the few seconds to scan over them, and he tensed up quite fiercely. Both were bad news… and both demanded attention.

Great.

They needed to get on the housing thing as soon as possible. This means they’d need property in the area, maybe with a house already on it? if not, they could build one. Being at the school now that the world knows they’re there has become too dangerous to deal with.

They needed to continue the investigation into the hacked computer, and now he had more evidence on that.

They also needed to deal with his second email, concerning Madelyne Pryor – and the strange news it brought with it.

Finally, they had to deal with Bobby, the media, and the law. This was the biggest priority.

Forge ran his hands through his hair, thinking. He’d need to put different people on the different tasks, because all demanded attention… but who to assign to what. He was already having some ideas.

[Skin]

Angelo's dark brown eyes watched as everyone with guns suddenly pulled away, leaving the mutants to their school again. He didn't have the faintest idea what had just happened, but police, FBI... giant robots? This was all starting to look just a little loco.

Still, he was here... no sense in turning back now. So instead he dropped to the ground, readjusting the skin on the bottom of his feet to cushion the impact, and shrugged, hiking the straps on his backpack up again.

"It's now or never, Angelo," he said under his breath. "Just walk in and introduce yourself."

It took saying that at least two more times before his legs finally got the hint and start moving towards the door. Placing one gray hand on the doorknob, he turned and pushed it open only to find himself staring at a small group and one woman lying unconscious on the floor.

Sí. Muy loco.

[Shadowcat]

“Actually you, Paige and I are going to be on the Bobby detail. She needs to be involved, and you seem to know your way around the law, so I want you there too. They’ll be sending a rep over shortly, according to Agent Smith. I’ll let you know when he gets here, okay?”

Ooh, no such luck. No, wait. Was that a dismissal?

“And thanks.”

She blinked and half-smiled. "No problem," she said weakly, her eyes passing over Candice as Forge turned to look at her, hoping she was all right. "Um. Should we get her down to the med lab or something?"

Forge looked suddenly preoccupied. Maybe she should just, like, take her down herself... but how was she supposed to maneuver Ms. Taylor all the way down on her own? Magic?

She stood up from the planter, her back popping after the time it had spent bent oddly; Kitty never hunched, at least not as completely as she had just then. She wiped carefully under her eyes for stray mascara, coming away with fingers barely tinged black, a good sign. No crazy raccoon eyes, probably.

The door opened, and a boy came in, but didn't say anything. Kitty had the unmistakable impression that he was new. Newness flowed from his very being.

"Hi," she said, her voice tired but not unwelcoming. Kitty was never unwelcoming. "Can we help you?"

[forge]

"Um. Should we get her down to the med lab or something?"

“Looks like she just passed out, though I'm keeping her head up just in case it's some kind of seizure. We've got something better than the med-lab. A mutant we found in Baltimore – the guy healed my leg in a matter of seconds.” Forge said, looking back at the young Shadowcat. “Candice is breathing normally, shows all signs of sleeping...”

When the new guy stepped through the door, Forge started for a moment. Nothing visual, mind you, just a gut instinct to draw a gun. It had been a tense few minutes there... he normally wasn't so edgy.

Seeing as how Kitty didn't know the guy, he could assume that he wasn't a regular student there. Considering the news of Baltimore, Candice had told him the influx of new students was getting some major intake.

Forge just realized that the security around the school was probably less than perfect. He added 'meeting all the students and teachers in one spot' to his list of things to do. He'd have to ask Ororo if he could call an assembly.

He looked up, waiting for the guy to introduce himself after Kitty asked if he needed help.

[Skin]

There was a girl asking if she could help. Well, that was two for three on the politeness meter since his arrival... made his odds a little better.

"Hola. The name's Angelo Espinosa. This is Xavier's, right?" He stuck his hands in his pockets, glancing around. "Nice place. Little heavy on the traffic, though."

[candice]

Opening her eyes, Candice sighed loudly. She'd passed out again. Great.

Then there was the joy of having her head held up by the De-legged glasswalker guy – the techno-shaman. He'd have been pretty cool if he didn't always look at her like she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

She nodded thanks to him, and looked around.

Even better – there appeared to be a new student talking to Kitty Pryde. She'd need to address him soon.

Forge helped her up, doing well despite being stuck in a wheel chair.

“Thanks, Bandero.” She said, straightening her skirt and suit top. “I uh, have blackouts around violence... it's nothing major, just pass out a lot. Probably why I never wanted to join the X-Men.”

That and my power isn't exactly useful for battling evil... unless we find that rare mutant who's only weak against Mountain Dew or room temperature coffee.

“Bobby?” She asked.

[forge]

Forge shook his head. “They took him. Though no one else was hurt. They're gonna send a rep to talk to us about it later, and we can find out where he is and such. You sure you're okay?”

She nodded a confirmation. He believed her.

Tapping his communicator, he said: “Colossus. Never mind on Josh – I'll give you an update on what's going on later.”

He looked at Candice again.

“If you're up to it, you'll probably need to address the school, and talk to this guy here.” He nodded back over his shoulder at the new mutant in the doorway. “Also, as soon as you can, update me on all the mutants currently here. I know we've had some influx. I'm going to cross reference the list with the video footage of the grounds... just want to make sure everyone's accounted for. I've got a funny feeling...”

He shrugged, unable to voice how vulnerable he was feeling the school was. The defenses were good... at night time. They needed boosting for daytime.

“I'm going to roll outside for some fresh air. I'll keep you updated, you do the same me.” he said, and she nodded in approval.

Forge himself rolled out past the new guy, nodding at him as he did so. Then he was out the door.

(ooc: Forge Continued elsewhere)

[Shadowcat]

Candice woke up (finally, thank goodness - Kitty had privately been sure she had brain damage) and she and Forge appeared to be having some Grown Up Time, discussing security and violence blackouts and other things she was pretty sure didn't concern her, at least not directly. Everyone was basically ignoring the new kid, though, so she concentrated on that.

Just got to get this one out of the way. Just got to get him settled so I can go back to my room. I hope someone's taken Hannah, I can't deal with anyone else crying right now...

"Hola. The name's Angelo Espinosa. This is Xavier's, right? Nice place. Little heavy on the traffic, though."

"Yeah," Kitty said. "For Gifted Youngsters. My name's Kitty Pryde. It's not usually so... busy... well. I guess not the same kind of busy."

She shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself and shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "We'll get you settled eventually - don't worry, you'll have a room by tonight. You just need to talk to Ms. Taylor - that's her right there - or Ms. Munroe, but you might want to wait on both, I bet they're pretty busy, what with the - the confusion."

She sighed, rubbing her left arm stiffly. "I don't know. You should just... I mean, come in and stuff, I just don't know where we're going to put you..."

She looked to the adults, but Forge was already rolled off, Angel barely counted, and Ms. Taylor had just got up from being unconscious.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. Give 'em food. Just feed people into submission. It never fails.

[Skin]

Angelo watched Forge roll out the door, not having a moment to even get in a word before the wheeling mutant was gone. Okay then.

The pretty little girl was dancing around, obviously uncomfortable. The fainter was just waking up, which was better than not, and other people were milling in and out, so it looked like she was his only in to this place.

"Sure, chica, some food sounds mighty fine," he said, giving her his friendliest grin, which turned out more like a smirk than anything. "I'm a poor man, and I've learned to never pass up a free meal."

[candice]

Probably raining on Angelo's parade, Candice was recovered enough to see to it that he would have an easy entrance into the school. This likely meant less time with the pretty young girl alone.

She caught up to them as they were leaving the lobby. "Hey. I'm Candice... sorry about this whole mess, it's been a very unusual day here. I could use some lunch too, do you guys mind if I join you? I can discuss the school with you then."

She looked at Kitty with a smile. "And thank you, ms. Pryde, for taking the responisibility to show him around."

They were already through the door, and halfway to the kitchen when the action in the lobby took place... thankfully for the intruder there. Candice would've soaked her in something unpleasant.

[Shadowcat]

"Sure, chica, some food sounds mighty fine. I'm a poor man, and I've learned to never pass up a free meal."

"Oh," Kitty said, now even more uncomfortable. What was she supposed to say? Oh, how nice, I'm middle to upper myself? "Okay, cool. Here, just follow me."

She'd almost got out of the lobby, pushing her hair behind one ear nervously, when Ms. Taylor caught up to them, evidently well enough post-faint to be Administrative.

"Hey. I'm Candice... sorry about this whole mess, it's been a very unusual day here. I could use some lunch too, do you guys mind if I join you? I can discuss the school with you then. And thank you, ms. Pryde, for taking the responisibility to show him around."

Kitty smiled at the praise, then turned to smile at Angelo. She was already starting to feel a little better. Maybe having something to do was good for her. She could show Angelo around; that would take her mind off things, and they couldn't do anything for Bobby until much later anyway...

[New thread or assumed yayinfolunch?]