H20

[MorningStar]

They entered Nicolas' room and he seemed no worse for wear, making light of the situation even. After pulling Ava into a hug:

Better. NOW, to figure out how the hell I am going to survive the YEAR on probation. Any ideas? Or should I just go for broke and enjoy whatever time I have left?

"Stop being such a dumbass, Nicolas. You're going to get yourself thrown out of here if you don't tone it down."

Having fun was one thing, but Nicolas was now into serious territory. It was time to know when to quit.

Delilah watched Courtney with a discriminating eye as she spoke to Nicolas - her friend was about to LOSE it, Delilah was sure of it. She was only holding it together by a thread...

And then:

You're my....only....f...FRIENDS. You HAVE to stay here. You're the ONLY ones who give me HOPE...that I will...find my way. out of this....

"Aw, honey."

Delilah gave her friend a hug.

"We aren't going anywhere."

She searched Courtney's face, and found it closed off once again. The glimpse they'd had of her opening up to them was gone. And then just as quickly, Courtney herself was gone.

Delilah sat down on the bed with a sigh.

"Well, that was odd."

She pulled out her phone and quickly sent Courtney a text.

Ava didn't want me to say anything, but - I'm worried about you. If you want to talk, I'm here.

She put her phone away and looked up at the other two.

"What now?"

 

[Persephone]

Nicoals tried to put on a front, but Ava could tell that he was more upset about what his aunt said than what Dr. Starr said. He quickly pulled her into a hug and she let him. But after a few moments, Ava pulled away and smacked him on the shoulder.

"That's for being a--"

Delilah: "Stop being such a dumbass, Nicolas."

Delilah overlapped her sentence, but Ava welcomed it. Pointing to her friend, she looked at Nicolas with a pissed off look.

"Exactly!"

Delilah: "You're going to get yourself thrown out of here if you don't tone it down."

Ava just gave him a "duh" look and rolled her eyes. It was like talking to a stone wall sometimes. A hot, sexy stone wall, but a stone wall nonetheless. He lived for the thrill of pranking, however it had just caught up with him in a very serious way.

Courtney reinforced what both Delilah and Ava were trying to say by stating her mother was a force to be reckoned with, and Nicolas was on her radar. But oddly enough, she went even further....actually opening up just a bit. She mentioned how they were all friends, and that she didn't want to loose them. Delilah embraced her with a hug, but Ava just stood back stunned.

"Wow...I always considered you a friend Courtney, but I just thought you tolerated me. I'm glad you trust us enough to be your friends."

Ava smiled warmly, but she could tell Courtney was getting a little uncomfortable. She gave Nicolas one more warning before leaving via stepping disc. Looking at the spot she once stood, Ava wrapped her one arm around Nicolas, leaning into his body.

"I know she's always been odd....but there's just something different about her today."

As Ava was saying this, she was unaware that Delilah was already texting Courtney because she felt the exact same way.

"She seems...sad--SCARED, if that's even possible."

Delilah asked what now and Ava shrugged.

"Well, I have to head to Ms. Monroe's classroom for some private lessons before she and all the other students and faculty leave for the weekend get away. After that, i'm gonna start setting up for our own private party."

Ava said with a wicked smile while looking up at Nicolas. Glancing over to Delilah.

"I already texted Alcide with the location for tonight, so all you have to do is show up looking even more smokin' hot than usual."

Ava's playful expression became a bit more serious now.

"But....maybe you should try and talk to Courtney today? You're so much better at the whole...heart to heart thing than I am. I really want her to have fun with us tonight.."

 

[Rampage]

Nicolas watched as Courtney ALMOST opened up (her vitals were all over the place) and then shut down again, but not before impressing upon him a need to do better, if for no other reason than for her safety/sanity. He was more touched by that than anything else, and so he vowed to at least not get caught .

After she left the ladies sprang into action.

"Well, I have to head to Ms. Monroe's classroom for some private lessons before she and all the other students and faculty leave for the weekend get away. After that, i'm gonna start setting up for our own private party."

Ava said with a wicked smile while looking up at Nicolas. Glancing over to Delilah.

"I already texted Alcide with the location for tonight, so all you have to do is show up looking even more smokin' hot than usual."

Ava's playful expression became a bit more serious now.

"But....maybe you should try and talk to Courtney today? You're so much better at the whole...heart to heart thing than I am. I really want her to have fun with us tonight.."

I cannot wait.

Nicolas kissed Ava on the cheek as he gave her bottom a playful squeeze.

But that is probably for the best if you check her out Dee. I would hate for her to lose any peace of mind she has. I have seen what is underneath and it is the stuff of nightmares. I would prefer to help her all I can rather than face what COULD be.

He led the ladies to the hallway and closed the door behind them.

I probably need to be present everywhere I am SUPPOSED to be today. So I am off ladies. And Delilah? If you want I can telepathically send Alcide an imprint of your full unedited body scan...just let me know.

He playfully turned away from her disapproval (good thing he was invulnerable)...laughing.

Just kidding babe. You two have a good day...and Ava?

He pulls her into a sweet and lingering kiss then looks deeply into her eyes.

Thanks.

 

[MorningStar]

Delilah got up to leave as well as Ava started to go.

"But....maybe you should try and talk to Courtney today? You're so much better at the whole...heart to heart thing than I am. I really want her to have fun with us tonight.."

Delilah smiled at her reassuringly.

"Leave it to me."

She waited in the hallway with Ava as Nicolas locked the door. She couldn't decide whether to sneak into class late or ditch the rest of the day. She had enough on her mind without having to try and participate. Nicolas startled her out of her thoughts.

And Delilah? If you want I can telepathically send Alcide an imprint of your full unedited body scan...just let me know.

"Try it and you'll have a laser burn and a missing appendage."

Delilah smiled sweetly at him, before waving goodbye to Ava, turning on her heel and striding down the hallway. The soaps on her DVR were calling to her - hell, she had to do something while she waited for Courtney to answer her text.

 

[Arsenal]

Michael listened as Nic got one last shot in before leaving. He then watched Carole essentially freak out about the boy, calling him a danger. But there was something else going on here, something she would likely not reveal. But in order for this kid to have a chance he would once again need to intercede on his behalf or Carole would destroy him. Goddamn shame, he actually liked the kid.

Standing up slowly, he walked over to Carole, lifting her chin and looking into her eyes.

RELAX Carole. Everything will be OK.

He hugs her a moment, a moment she grudgingly accepts as she calms a bit. He then releases her and steps back. This wold not necessarily be easy, but it had to be done.

Now...tell me exactly what you see about him that makes him a true danger because, with all due respect to your expertise Carole, I have seen hundreds of boys like him and not one has failed to be a productive citizen. I understand some of the punishment provided here, but there is a difference between focusing a young man and ruining him. There was nothing to really arrest him on, definitely nothing that would stick once Dominique's lawyers show up at trial. And the publicity would have ruined you. Why were you so insistent on this for THIS kid?

 

[Shadow Weaver]

Hillcrest- Carole's office

<< Carole was ready to snap at Michael but he then attempted to gather her in his embrace. She immediately resisted at first...>>

<< He presented with care and CONCERN as he gently persisted and soon, she gave in and allowed him to hold her and calm her.>>


<< It had been SO LONG since ANYBODY could tell her>>

RELAX Carole. Everything will be OK.

<< and it meant anything! but Michael had been there for her time and again since their relationship began to evolve from strictly profession to personal. He'd been kind, helpfull, supportive and offered MUCH NEEDED balance and objective input when Carole seemed to be going to far in any given direction. Nicolas had NO IDEA how much he owed this man.>>

<< Feeling much more calm and having come out of her "search and destroy" mode from earlier, Carole seated herself at her desk, turning her chair toward Michael who was sitting beside her.>>

...tell me exactly what you see about him that makes him a true danger because, with all due respect to your expertise Carole, I have seen hundreds of boys like him and not one has failed to be a productive citizen. I understand some of the punishment provided here, but there is a difference between focusing a young man and ruining him. There was nothing to really arrest him on, definitely nothing that would stick once Dominique's lawyers show up at trial. And the publicity would have ruined you. Why were you so insistent on this for THIS kid?

<<sigh>>

You saw that girl in the infirmary, Michael. She was TERRIFIED. I blame myself. I KNEW her background. I should've been watching Nicolas EVERY MINUTE....

<< but they both knew she couldnt be EVERYWHERE at once.>>

I've seen boys like him as well. I've seen boys who were much quieter & seemingly benevolent become sociopathic murderers as well.

<< she said it so coldly and in such a detached way as she sat posed in her chair>>

<<FLASH>>

<< The original Victor family home. Upstairs. In the bedroom of Blaze Victor.>>
<< the sound of flesh being rend cut and ripped, of bone being scraped and fractured is heard. the bizarre view of a large, sharp kitchen knife rising and falling with rapid pace is seen as it plunges into the body of a young girl who was at first sitting in a chair but has now fallen to the floor.>>

<< Blaze Victor, lies dead after several seconds of painfull, bloody, knife plunging terror at the hands of her BROTHER.>>

<<FLASH>>

<< same memory. MOMENTS LATER, outside the house>>

<< Karen and Chris Victor arrive home to find their son standing at the end of the walk way in a clown costume complete with a mask and weilding a large, sharp, now BLOOD soaked, dripping KITCHEN KNIFE.>>

Karen: ADAM!?

<< Chris removes the clown mask from Adam's face. Both parents look at him with extreme bewilderment as the boy stands there, unmoved, detached with a cold expressionless face and the blackest eyes....THE DEVIL'S EYES.>>

....

<< as the memories flash through her mind's eye, Michael notices her looking at a picture of Courtney on her desk. A look of a mother who has profound REGRET. It's a brief moment and Carole seems not even to notice Michael is watching her before she snaps back into focus.>>

Are you going to tell me that it's NOT POSSIBLE that a boy with HIS kind of power and his agressive, brash behavior NOT to have the potential to cause HARM?

You and I, are our individual professions have BOTH seen it, Michael.

As the headmistress of this school. As a credentialed, licensed and board certified psychotherapist, I MUST protect these children from ALL POSSIBLE THREATS! That's one of the reasons why their parents have entrusted them to this institute!

It's one thing to cause pyrotechnics in a chem lab. Property damage, though serious enough, can be replaced. People's LIVES cannot! That young girl ...her family...

my daughter Blaze! my baby Morgan....all of her precious friends!

I can't sit back and WAIT for the next incident like this. He'll HURT SOMEONE next time! I just KNOW IT!

Michael, what he did was just unfeeling and it was irresponsible. It doesnt matter if it's halloween. some REAL HORRORS do not need to be revisited!

Dominique can't override my state sanctioned power to have Nicolas COMMITTED if I feel he is a physical danger to anyone or even himself. Dressing up as a serial killer and terrorizing people, including a girl who LOST someone to the real thing, that seems pretty dangerous, not to mention DISGUSTING to me.

Oh but because its Halloween and people dress up as OTHER monsters...that makes it okay in his mind?

Maybe we should invite students to dress up as Hitler and NAZI'S too...regardless of trhose among the student body who might be jewish or LOST RELATIVES to THAT monster!

Yes, we'd end up in court and as she and I both know, the attention and publicity would be detremental to Hillcrest not to mention the students who call this place home. Without a large and solid platform of evidence to justify it...Nicolas would be released in no more than 72 hrs and knowing Dominique, she'd most likely file a lawsuit against the school and me. I'm not at ALL FEARFULL of her reprisal against ME...I'm not without my own legal resources BUT I like the woman, I wouldn't want it to come to that and I have to think about the school as well.

<< Carole pauses for a moment, rubbing her hands over her face>>

Ugh...

<< She looks at Michael again>>

You know...if you TAKE THIS AWAY? As infuriating as Nicolas normaly is? I saw him doing well and going on to have a great , productive life as a mutant with education and training.

His other little pranks and class clown nonsense...it didnt HARM anyone, but what he did THIS time!?

<< she can't push the image of her OWN son in his featureless mask out of her head>>

It was just too much. You saw the terror in the girl's eyes. You saw the subsequent panic attack. The family of the victim demanded action. I had to show them that Hillcrest does NOT TOLERATE this kind of behavior.

I guess the question I'm wondering now is, Have I done ENOUGH? and even of more concern to me, does that young man AT ALL grasp the situation? His aunt SAVED him this time. But I'm worried that I could be WRONG about him all the way around....

just like i was wrong about my own demon seed SON....

 

[Spellbinder]

Hillcrest- in class

<< she had to get herself together. its bad enough she was seemingly coming apart in front of THEM but for anyone ELSE here to see that? oh hell no. Not happening.>>

<< anyone else wouldve been BEYOND late doing all that Courtney had done so far this morning. between her stepping discs , secretive casting of scrying spells with her crystal and knowing her mother's patterns and rourtine, Courtney had become one of the BEST class cutters in Hillcrest. Not that she spent all her time blowing off her lessons BUT if she needed to do something that confliced with her schedule, unlike some of her other peers, she could find a way "when there was no way" to pull it off>>

<< even amongst the student body, with all the powers and gifts represented, Ava, Courtney, Delilah and Nicolas were officially recognized by the faculty staff (some of whom were doctors) to be among the elite few OMEGA class mutants on campus. Mutants whose powers & potential would allow them to one day reach a point where they'd cause/effect things on a massive scale.>>

<< but being among the "most powerfull" didnt mean much to Courtney. She wanted & craved FREEDOM more than anything else & the closer she felt herself getting to it, the tighter her mother seemed to hold on to her but this tug of war was causing strain and fatigue between mother and daughter.>>

<< she wanted to be HERSELF, MORGAN. So what if she was a WITCH on top of being a mutant! Maybe her REAL friends would accept her just the same?? But Her mother and even SHE couldnt be sure. Their world and everything they had once believed had been forever shattered, illuminated with the BLOOD of their daughter/sister and friends by the hands of their son/brother...whom neither was quite sure if he was dead or alive.>>

<< it always came back to this...to HIM. She wanted to be FREE OF HIM.>>

<< Having left the others and arrived to her Spatial Perception and Teleporting class taught be Mr. Kurt Wagner, Courtney was sitting at her desk. Her mind and heart churning with thoughts, memories, longings. She looked rather stone faced and truthfully, at times, she completely zoned out and wasnt hearing what Mr. Wagner was saying. A pity that, since he had helped her to improve her mastery over her teleporting power greatly over the last two years.>>

<< her Diva chimes. A message from Delilah.>>

Ava didn't want me to say anything, but - I'm worried about you. If you want to talk, I'm here.

<< Courtney looked at the text. She didnt react outwardly but it was hard not to be touched by Delilah's warmth and care. It had softened the cold, hardness of Courtney just a bit over the last two years.>>

<< tapping the screen with her well manicured, black painted fingernails, Courtney replies>>

In teleporting class. meet me in the stone garden for lunch. tell ava and nicolas to be there too. NO ONE ELSE.

<< that was two periods away so over an hour. they all will have been seen IN CLASSES by enough people to not be missed or suspected of anything. Courtney had something she DID want to do and she wanted them to be there.>>

<< putting the phone back in her purse, she exhaled as she rested her face down in her hands and went on with the class>>

 

[Arsenal]

Michael listened as Carole answered him concerning Nicolas. Most of her argument stemmed on the UNKNOWN and a fear of being wrong about him. But even she acknowledged that there was no basis for what she planned to do. No, there was something else and, as she stopped for a moment fixated on her daughter's picture, he saw deep REGRET in her eyes. I became obvious that she was actually trying to overcompensate for something in the past. He needed to find out WHAT to help her, but he was not ready to press THAT hard yet.

He waited until she finished and then he spoke. His concern in the end was HER as much as the boy. He had a feeling that no matter what he would land on his feet..

Understood Carole, and I get you taking your responsibilities seriously. But you must realize the peril you almost put yourself in.

The opinion that he required 72-hour treatment would have been your own. He would have been out in less than 24 hours a la Dominique and an army of lawyers and the next target would be Hillcrest and your own certifications. Dominique would take apart every facet of your life, anything you wish to remain hidden would come to light, the names of all of these children would be made public, and she would likely have you de-certified once 20 to 30 docs disputed your assessment and Nicolas had a chance to charm the pants off a judge and/or jury.

The boy was insensitive, I give you that. He deserves punishment. But this tact will only expose YOU and your daughter to more scrutiny and alienate the young lady you are trying to protect. Nicolas is the most popular boy in school. I guarantee that in less than six weeks of her being a pariah on campus that her parents will complain that you are not protecting her from being ostracized.

He approaches her desk, understanding that she likely is not in love with what he has said.

Let me help you. It is obvious that dealing with Nicolas after this incident is bothering you greatly. I can take charge of his probation and with your permission, I will release him once I am certain he has learned his lesson and after the psych results come in. In the end, if he messes up again and you do expel him you will at least protect yourself from charges of undue bias. What do you say Doc?

Mike stood up, hands out , charm on ten. He knew this was a hard sell, but he also knew that he needed to find a way to separate these two before this issue went too far. Carole liked Nicolas, but he hit a nerve here, and Mike did not want the repercussions to ruin two people he liked.

 

[Seer]

and so

Let me help you. It is obvious that dealing with Nicolas after this incident is bothering you greatly. I can take charge of his probation and with your permission, I will release him once I am certain he has learned his lesson and after the psych results come in. In the end, if he messes up again and you do expel him you will at least protect yourself from charges of undue bias. What do you say Doc?

Mike stood up, hands out , charm on ten. He knew this was a hard sell, but he also knew that he needed to find a way to separate these two before this issue went too far. Carole liked Nicolas, but he hit a nerve here, and Mike did not want the repercussions to ruin two people he liked.

<< and so, Michael once again offered to help Carole, if only she'd extend just a bit more trust and Carole seemed to take hesitant but no less a step forward in accepting the offer of help and support from her confidant.>>

<< Both she and Courtney were in the company of people who cared for them and wanted to help them. Even as they were growing strained...even WEARY of each other due to carrying a secret haunting burden for 20 years now, fearfull that despite their best efforrs, that secret would come back for them in full bloody terrifying effect.>>

<< But Carole and Courtney are not alone. Will they allow themselves to let others help them find that which they have lost after all this time?>>

<< we must watch and see>>