Loose Ends (Part Two)

Everything after the fight and Quire putting himself back together was pretty standard. S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up late to the party to take control of the scene. Seeing as how aliens and modified superhumans were involved, S.W.O.R.D. also joined the party. Hellion was able to get us the hell out of there before we got swept up in it. Mister Summers and Miss Frost could handle the crap that came with that in the aftermath.

The rest of the team was able to take out Van Roekel's Imperfects. Hellion apparently took great pleasure in smacking Jay around, which was fair. Even going back a while, the stuff Jay did led to one of his friends and Hellion squad members being killed, and another being pulled out of Xavier's by his parents. We dragged him back in one piece. Whatever was done with him from there? I didn't care anymore. My job was done.

But Quire though...

In the day after we returned to the school, I hadn't seen him, but word through the halls was that he was somewhere around. When I asked Dr. McCoy about him, he frowned and said to me:

"Part of me is glad the boy is alright. But another part of me is afraid that things were safer with him in the containment unit."

If the guy was really that much trouble, and that kind of a powerhouse to back it up, it would be annoying as hell to deal with him. But thinking about it made my head hurt, even a day later. Whatever. We had actual staff for this. Why did it have to be my problem? I still had classes to worry about.

Speaking of which, I found myself walking outside in the cold between classes with Wing and Hellion. The former was still getting used to the wildness that came with our new extracurricular activities.

"So... all of this is X-Men stuff," Wing said, floating through the air, relaxing as though he were propped up in his bed, "I can see why you and Armor said it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be, Bel."

Hellion let out a huff, his breath visible in the frigid air, "You should have figured that out after the attack on the school and the thing in Limbo," He muttered.

Wing ignored him and continued venting about current events, "And now Quire's back? You know he tried to take over the school and start a race riot before, right?" He flipped around in the air and lowered himself closer to my side, "Dude, I'll never be safe with my thoughts again," He whispered poorly.

I moved Wing out of my personal space and kept walking, "Unless he's actively trying to read you, or you're five feet away from him, I wouldn't worry about it," I replied, "We hang out with Ruth and train with the Cuckoos, Wing. I figured you'd be used to telepaths by now."

Hellion nodded at my point, but offered his own thoughts, "Yeah, but last time I checked, Blindfold isn't hostile. Quire is a major shitbag. No idea what the teachers are thinking letting him stay around here."

The problem was though, if Quire took off on some shitheel world tour and caused some big dust-up somewhere that someone else had to deal with, it would fall back into our laps anyway. All mutant b.s. tended to have an effect of trickling down to the school. Probably because we were the most public mutant gathering in existence since Genosha was annihilated, thus making us the next easiest target to vilify.

Antagonizing a smarmy teenager with more power than he needed seemed like a real recipe for disaster. If they were playing things conservatively until they could figure out what to really do, I couldn't really blame them.

"They're probably thinking that either way, if he starts something it'll be the X-Men's problem anyway," I said, "Might as well keep him in the fold so only our stuff gets destroyed."

In response, Hellion gestured to the school grounds around us, "Yeah, but if he starts something here he might almost destroy the school again," Wing's body language read of concern and agreement.

"Not helping, Hellion," I sighed, before addressing my friend, "I don't know, Wingman. We'll handle this stuff as it comes up, and that's if we even have to. I'm more concerned with trying to keep the team alive."

Hellion shrugged his shoulders, hands shoved into his coat pockets, "The more you do it, the easier it should get. Everyone else is getting used to listening to you too," Both Wing and I turned to give him pointed looks. He self-consciously folded in on himself, "Yes, that includes me, asshole. After the last few crapstorms we've navigated through, I think you're earning some of that authority you've been ordained with."

"'Ordained', you say," I repeated with a grin. Wing snickered at my side.

Hellion rolled his eyes at our unsaid questioning of his scholastic intellect, "Yeah, I know what words mean, Marcher. Unless you're saying you actually volunteered to head this team up."

At that, I winced. In the end, it wasn't forced on me, but I hadn't been particularly keen on doing it at first, "Not a chance. Dealing with you people is like herding cats through a minefield."

I still had misgivings about how I was doing as leader. But we were all still alive. Plus, people kept reassuring me that I was doing a good enough job, and if enough people had the same opinion on your performance, there had to be something to it.