This was not the way it should have gone

[Storm]

Ororo slowly regained consciousness.

Her body felt the way it did when she was awoken straight out of a dream: paralyzed, heavy, as if embalmed in warm concrete. And it ached. She didn't think she could move. That must have been some dream.

She kept her eyes closed for a few minutes, thinking about absolutely nothing. Fireworks, fluffy clouds...

Oh NO.

With an awful sickening plunge, she remembered where she had been when she fell asleep.

Images from Baltimore overtook her like a tidal wave. Midair, flashes of steel and the rush of wind... Oh god - zombies - the little girl! - tigers - plants... death... civilians - chaos, blood everywhere, and the X-Men scattered -

Her lips parted with a stilted gasp and her eyes snapped open. Yes, there was the familiar smooth ceiling. She was on a table in the lab.

She heard the low sound of voices. Where was everyone? What had happened to her team, her friends? How were Bobby - Kurt? She had to get up.

With a jerk, she pulled her limbs into movement and tried to lift her torso off the table.

"Aaau!"

She couldn't help crying out as staggering pain shot through her chest, and she immediately flattened herself again, fighting for breath.

[lixer]

Joshua Foley had been resting peaceably in his own mind, where there were no such things as mutants and glowing skin and raising people from near-dead. He was having a nice dream about cute girls and beer and a hot tub, when a sudden noise assulted his ears and he was forced to face conciousness again.

"Aaau!"

Josh opened his eyes, staring straight up at a ceiling he didn't recognize. He took a mental inventory of his body (it seemed very detailed to his still-fogey brain, and he wondered where he'd come across the notion of most of it, having failed basic biology his freshman year of college) before sitting up and swinging his legs over the steel table he'd been laying on. The sudden rush of blood from his head made him slightly woosey, but without concious thought or effort he bade it return... and it did. Blinking at his surroundings, he noticed the woman on the table next to him.

She was stunningly beautiful, was the first thing he noticed. Like, take your breath away gorgeous. Which may explain why she was having trouble breathing.

"Hey," he said automatically, "hey are you ok?" Without thinking, he reached down and touched her arm, mostly to make sure she was still alive, and he started to glow that shimmery gold color again. It was her chest, he realized as his conciousness dipped into her flesh - her chest had been nearly crushed by something large and powerful. As soon as he thought it, his was travelling through her body, mending broken ribs, tying broken blood vessels, soaking up the internal bleeding. And then he moved on to her head, whisking away the tiny wound from the tiger's bone as if it had never been there.

Josh stumbled back as his conciousness swept back through his arm and into his own body. He released her arm and starred wide-eyed at the woman who had just been gasping for air as she took an easy breath.

Oh my god, what am I?

[angel]

Red stains on his normally white feathers turned to pink, and Warren carefully scrubbed out the last of the blood. Thankfully, most of it hadn't gone past his suit, but there had been so much blood, and filth - he was taking his time to enjoy a nice long shower, washing away the grime as if he could wash away the memories.

He could still feel his hands around her throat, hear the screams of the dying as she dropped them too quickly for him to save. Three out of ten. Tears mingled with the water running down his face, and he braced himself against one tiled wall, not sure who he was upset for, and who he was angry at. "Oh god, I'm sorry." The words were little more than a whisper, but the tremble in his voice was unmistakeable. Sniffling, he washed his face, scrubbing at it in an attempt to get rid of his tears.

Bobby was down in the labs, along with Ororo, the boy he'd picked up, and Forge across the hallway. Too many injuries for such a useless fight - they'd taken out one member of the Brotherhood, from what he'd seen, and managed to get themselves targeted by the Sentinels. What did we even do? All those people dead - more than once, in some cases, and so many injured. And the building blown up - he felt himself slipping into despair.

Drying himself off, he set his jaw stubbornly. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to face it, didn't want to be reminded of his failure. Wearing his towel and a black look, Warren stalked back to his room. Pulling on jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt, pushing his wings through the slits in the back impatiently, Warren searched for a jacket. He stuck his phone and wallet in the pockets, thinking about going out and getting thoroughly drunk, but after a moment thought the better of it. Knowing his luck, his face would be all over the news, and that could mean supporters or detractors if he went out in public, especially dressed the way he was, with clean white feathers nowhere near hidden. He realised that he'd left his suit, covered in dried blood, sitting on the floor in the bathroom, and decided to take his towel back and take his suit downstairs. As much as he didn't want to, it would be a good idea to duck in and see how everyone was doing, see whether the guy had woken up yet, check on his injured teammates.

He was still frowning, not even taking the time to smile at a group of three pretty girls he passed, and his mood didn't improve when he got into the elevator down to the labs. What if the worst had happened? He'd been occupied with the dark haired Brotherhood woman for so long that he hadn't been able to do his job, and if something had happened because of him... He threw his suit down, glad to be rid of it for the moment, and glared at the others hanging up. The X-Men were not the same group he'd originally heard of. They'd lost people - good people, from all reports - and he wondered if things would have been any different if the Professor, Jean or Cyclops were still around.

The troubling line of thought was entirely forgotten when he walked into the lab to see the guy he'd picked up glowing gold and touching Storm, and the headmistress breathing more easily.

"Hey... You're awake. I thought you might be hurt, man, brought you back where you could be looked after." There was an implication in the statement - Where they look after mutants, - that Warren didn't even think to keep back. After all, the guy was glowing gold - how could he not be a mutant?

"I'm Warren." He held out a hand expectantly.

[Storm]

[OOC: Oo! Flattery will get you everywhere, darling ; ).]

Ororo lay as still as she could on the table, gasping in stilted breaths. She shut her eyes, trying to quiet the stars and lose herself in the darkness again, but that was no help. Waves of pain radiated out from her torso; all the darkness did was close in her world.

Only her furrowed eyebrows indicated what was happening inside the boundaries of her body. She didn't react when the healer touched her; she barely even registered the contact.

But a moment more and the pain began to subside. Her breath caught in her throat and she held it, as if letting out would make the pain return. It kept receding... her organs relaxed, the bruising cleared, and when she finally let out a tentative exhale her ribs creaked no more.

She opened her eyes.

Something was glowing gold next to her. She drew in a long, deep, calming breath, and felt energy return to her body as she turned her head. There was a boy - someone unfamiliar. She wasn't surprised by him, though; such was the way of life at Xavier's, and besides, that golden aura was comforting, even though the young man looked distressed. She could feel the shadow of his fingers on her arm...

Storm smiled as comfortingly as she could. But after her last experience, she didn't want to move too hastily. She merely opened her lips.

"...Thank you."

When Warren entered, she stayed quiet. His words did explain the newcomer's presence. She waited to see how he would react.

[lixer]

"I didn't do anything, I swear." Josh held up his still-glowing hands in surrender, trying to convince himself more than either of these two strangers that he wasn't a mutant, that he didn't have special powers, that he hadn't cured the woman, nor his friend back at the battle. He was not a mutie freak. He couldn't be. He was the golden boy - always perfect, every part of him perfect. But one look at his hands held before his face and he realized that now he truely was a golden boy.

"I'm Warren."

Starring at the man for a moment in incomprehension before realizing that the angel was addressing him. "Josh," he said automatically, "Josh Foley." He looked suspiciously at the hand, before deciding that not being a mutant, he wouldn't have any effect on the other. Josh grabbed his hand with determination and shook it, and blinked hard as he had the imprint of the man's entire cellular structure appear in his mind. Unlike the woman he didn't appear to have any major injuries, and Foley's conciousness stayed put in his own body, thank god. He wasn't sure he was up for another ride through the blood stream of anyone else just yet.

"Uh, where am I?"

[Storm]

Storm took a few more thankful, easy breaths, and smiled gently at the flustered young man. "You are at Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning. A school for the 'gifted.'"

She picked herself up slowly and carefully onto her elbows, white hair streaming out behind her. Incredible, the pain was completely gone. She had never encountered a mutant with such an amazing power of healing.

"And you are gifted." She swung her legs over the side of the table and sat up straight, feeling every vertebra in her back align. She took another deep breath, stretched her torso, and rolled her neck. God, it felt good.

"My name is Ororo Munroe. Some call me Miss Munroe, or Storm on special occasions. It's good to meet you." She smiled, not wanting to spook him with too much talk of mutant powers.

"You did well, Warren." She turned and gave the winged young man a thankful smile as well.

[angel]

"Josh. Nice to meet you." Before Warren could answer the question, Storm was up and obviously much better. School for the gifted - true, but not a school in the usual sense of the word. Not only for kids, but for anyone that needed to learn to use their powers.

At Storm's praise, Warren gave her a half smile. He couldn't accept the kind words when he knew he'd failed - Three out of ten! - but he wasn't going to be rude. "Good to see you're feeling better." His smile became more sincere, wider and more charming. "You had us worried for a while there. Had to pick up a few strays to make up for all you lot." Of course, one of them had been passed out as well, but the winged mutant had actually thought he'd needed help. Obviously, he'd been wrong.

Looking to the other table, where Bobby lay still unconcious, Warren pointed to him. "Josh, do you think you could...? Just to make sure he's ok?" Bobby had exhausted himself revealing his new powers, and Warren just wanted to be sure that he hadn't gotten any injuries. "You know, just try - don't have to wake him up, Iceboy can use the extra beauty sleep." There was that worried joking coming out again.

[lixer]

"And you are gifted."

"I'm... I'm really not." Foley protested, looking back and forth between the two. "I'm just... normal." But even as he said it he recognized the lie. He wasn't normal. He'd healed two people in as many hours, one from the brink of death and one from very bad, and possibly fatal, injuries. There was no mistaking what he was, and if even if there had been any doubt he was glowing gold. That pretty much put an end to all arguement there.

"Josh, do you think you could...? Just to make sure he's ok?"

He wanted to scream no, to convince them that he wasn't this mutie freak who could magically make everything right with a body, but the concern was vivid on the angel's face, and his joking manner couldn't hide what he really thought. "Yeah, I can... I'll try, I mean, I don't know how... really."

Snapping his mouth shut, Josh turned to the guy on the third table in the room. He certainly didn't look good, although at first look there weren't any outward signs of injury. Almost scared to find out what problems there were inside, Josh walked over and stood, starring down at the young man who was breathing shallowly as he slept. He reached out a hand to touch him, but then drew it back again and turned to Warren.

"What's his name?" Somehow, it just didn't seem right without knowing his name. It's not like it was an accident, like the other two had been. If he was going to try to heal this guy, he'd feel better knowing at least his name.

"Bobby.... Iceman, if you want to think of him that way."

Josh nodded and turned back to the kid, swallowing his nerves and repeating the name in his head. Well Bobby... Iceman... whichever. I hope you don't mind my intrusion... And with that, Josh lowered his hand to touch the other man's shoulder.

It all happened very quickly - the sensation of knowing automatically his biological makeup, and then falling into his body, into the comfortable, humid darkness, and finding his way without concious effort to what was hurt, broken, and in need of repair. But Josh was worn out from the shock of the day, and overuse of his newfound powers, and although he took care of the minor cuts and bruises efficiently, his body pulled away, calling his conciousness back to it, as it stumbled.

Coming back into himself was like being a rubberband, stretched to its limit and then let go, smacking back into his head with a jarring force. He reached out a hand to steady himself before turning back around to the two sets of curious eyes in the room. "He'll be fine, he just needs alot of rest. I think so do I."

[angel]

It didn't take eagle-like eyesight to see that the Foley guy wasn't exactly into the idea of being a mutant, was still shocked by his powers, and Warren wondered how he'd gone so long without realising. Unless the glowing gold was a new thing. Not everyone starts sprouting wings. Josh's pronouncement that Bobby just needed rest brought a visible sigh of relief from the winged mutant.

"I'll take Bobby up to his room, then, so he can get some proper sleep - those tables don't look very comfortable. And I can show you to a room as well, Josh. If that's ok, I mean." He was looking at Storm, but he didn't expect to see any negative reaction. "You can get all set up properly once you've had a rest."

Scooping up Bobby for the second time that day, Warren walked slowly and carefully toward the exit. "It's a lot harder without the wings helping, ooof. You need to lose some weight, Ice Boy." Now that he knew Bobby was fine, he was back into his usual joking mode - although the friendly teasing was delivered quietly so as not to wake the young man up. "You know what everyone's going to think, me carrying you up to bed like this?"

[OOC: If you two aren't finished, keep going and assume Angel comes back for Foley. Just thought I'd get Warren out of the way and let you two talk, or move on, or... Maybe you should visit Forge before you fall asleep Unless his healing is being completely looked after by Conduit. *shrugs* I'm all vague and boring!]

[Storm]

"I'm... I'm really not. I'm just... normal."

"Well, yes," Storm replied. "We are all normal, and gifted. It is possible to be both, particularly as no one is normal." She smiled again, and carefully let herself down from the table, testing her limbs gently. Everything was in perfect working order. Amazing.

At Warren's mention of Bobby, her face became concerned. She wanted to go to him, but the two young men seemed to have something to work out for him on their own; she deferred to their judgement, although after Josh made his pronouncement she strode to Bobby and looked him over quickly herself, just to be sure.

Then she nodded at the newcomer, and at Warren as he lifted Bobby. His griping made her laugh lightly. "You both should get some rest." Then again -

"How - how long has it been?" She wasn't sure what time it was, or what day for that matter.

[OOC: I think I'll bother Forge! That will be fun. Want to come, Josh?]

[lixer]

(Forge said if I bothered him he'd kick me with his remaining leg. He's already got a whole group of doters )

Moving out of the way for Warren, Josh kept a hold of the table, thinking he might just faint again. Or vomit. He was trying his best not to do either when Warren said he'd find a place for him to rest.

"You can get all set up properly once you've had a rest."

Set up properly? Here? Foley had no plans on staying at this... place. Wherever it was. He had classes, and a job, and baseball, and the Reavers... Oh. It felt like a lead weight hit his chest as the thought of Don, pocket-knife out and threatening, crossed his mind. Don would kill him if he ever went back to the Reavers. And what about this glow? He couldn't waltz into class or work or practice glowing.

Josh rubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other still holding onto the table, as he tried to decide what he could do. There had to be something. He couldn't just walk away from his life like this with no word. But he couldn't tell anyone he was a mutant either. Oh man, this sucked.

But rest did sound good. Maybe things would look brighter after a nap. And then he could decide what to do about his problem without two pairs of mutant eyes looking at him. He nodded to Warren and waited for the angel to answer Storm's question before they left. He had no idea himself how long it had been since he'd passed out in Baltimore.

[angel]

Shifting the unconcious boy in his arms, Warren looked down at his expensive wristwatch. "Not that long. Baltimore..." Went to shit, "Uh, well... It wasn't the most successful venture." They'd fared better in Alcatraz, when it had only been five of them - plus him in the sky, but he'd been avoiding the fight - against a horde. Apparently the Brotherhood had started playing dirty. "After you went down, and then Bobby went down, and then Forge went down... They sent Forge to a hospital, and the rest of us hoofed it back to the helicopter. It's only been a few hours, they're probably still putting together news reports."

He realised that he should clarify about Forge, so she didn't worry. Hospitalisation wasn't the best news to share, really, although his condition was worrying. The guy had lost a leg, after all. "Forge is back here now, though. Apparently his sister has been looking after him." Siblings apparently had a weird thing with their powers interacting. Warren was an only child, so he'd never even thought about it.

"Anyway, this one is getting pretty heavy, so I'm going to take him up to his room. If you need me, my communicator's in my pocket." He pushed the button for the door with his elbow, backing out carefully so as to avoid bumping Bobby's head. "Hey Foley... Josh. You coming with?" He had one foot stuck in the door, holding it open like an elevator.

[angel]

[Exit Warren and Bobby to 'First impressions...' - leaves you lot free to bother Forge ]

[Storm]

As Warren spoke, Storm took yet another deep breath, this time to calm herself, and leaned ever-so-slightly against the table. Forge had been seriously injured... but if he was back at the mansion, there must be a great deal of hope. She suddenly found herself desperately wanting to check up on him.

She straightened up.

"Thank you, Angel." She smiled. His codename sounded like a pet name, and how appropriate it was at this moment. He had saved more than one person at the battle, it seemed.

[OOC: Off to... other threads! Greater things! Somewhere else!]