A Higher Calling (Part Two)

16 students died.

5 died by exploding from the Legacy Virus that Jay had unwittingly Trojan Horse'd into the school. Two more died from being caught in the explosions. Nine had been killed when the Purifiers and the Sapien League stormed the dorms.

It had been six months since the last group funeral on campus. It had sucked then, it sucked now. It was actually worse, because I knew Kevin more than I knew the other kids that died when the Danger Room had gone nuts. I knew him better than I knew the other kids that had died here.

We weren't close, but we'd hung out sometimes. We'd eaten lunch together. He'd been with the Hellions when they'd helped me save Laura. The guy had never been a ray of sunshine, but to go out like that?

Of the kids that died, only Kevin and another student were buried in the graveyard on campus. They didn't have anywhere to go, no one to take them.

The next day, I limped my ass to the graveyard for the ceremony and stood with my team all dressed up for the ceremony. All of the Hellions were distraught, especially Cessily. The poor girl was bawling through the entire funeral. Eddie stayed with her the whole time. Even though she was dating Eddie, a part of her might have still liked Kevin.

Jay wasn't anywhere in sight. Not with the New Mutants, or anywhere else. I had no idea what had happened to him, and to be honest, I didn't care. He might have been tricked by Stryker, but his desperation for answers no one could give and a quick fix for what he saw as a personal existential problem got others killed. It might have been cruel to think that way, but as far as I knew he wasn't going six feet under the ground the way others were.

Eddie would have broken his jaw if he'd caught sight of him. I couldn't say I'd be able to blame him for it.

In the aftermath of the funeral, we stood watching the cleanup of the school grounds. Bodies and equipment were moved after the battle had ended, but part of the dorms and the mansion needed to be fixed.

"I still don't get it," I said, sitting on the railing of a balcony, overlooking the front lawn, "Even with what Jay gave Stryker as far as intel, why would he ever think he could just walk in here and do what he did?"

A floating Eddie scoffed at the sight of the derelict campus, "He got pretty fucking close, dude."

Hisako leaned with her elbows on the railing nearby, "They had anti-telepath implants. And that glove Stryker had wasn't just a weapon. Why do you think none of the automated defenses were active when you got here? He took them all offline with that thing right at the start."

That explained so much in hindsight. There would have been way more damage on the lawn had the defenses been active. More Purifier/Sapien League bodies as well.

"How did you guys hold up during?" I asked, giving Hisako a nudge.

"Better than you and Eddie," Hisako said with a small smile, "They split us up when they found you two weren't with us. They had me helping to escort the younger kids. You know, protecting them underneath the mansion," The last line of defense, as it were.

Ruth spoke up from where she sat in a chair, "She was assigned with the other telepaths, yes. She got to see Miss Frost use Cerebra."

I nodded and turned to Laura, who stood a little bit off by herself by the corner, "What about you, Laura?"

"The front lines," The green-eyed girl replied, "I ran across Saberwolf and fought alongside him. He was very effective," She sounded impressed.

I could only imagine what that team must have looked like on the battlefield. Blood and body parts everywhere. I needed video of that action.

"Hey," Eddie complained, "Sol and I kicked plenty of ass too."

"You two got shot," Hisako deadpanned.

Eddie did not dispute that fact, "-And DJ healed us. Neither are things I told my parents about when they called me," He said resolutely, "I'm not getting yanked out of here after all of this."

Hisako's expression turned to one of worry, "A lot of parents are pulling their kids out of the school."

I couldn't blame them. What happened was all over the news. I'd had the same conversation with my parents the day before, after the attack. It started before dawn, ended before noon, and was news by the evening. Luckily by then, I was fixed enough that I could tell them everything was fine without my voice giving away my real condition.

I didn't tell them how many kids died. I didn't tell them that one of the kids that died had been an acquaintance of mine.

I didn't have to tell them I'd been shot. I didn't have to tell them that I'd almost been killed by a world-famous religious leader. I didn't have to tell them that I'd made that religious leader into a religious corpse.

I didn't have to tell them that the only thing I'd felt once I'd killed a man was a sense of satisfaction that he wouldn't hurt anyone else ever again. They would have pulled me out so quickly, I'd have been on a plane before I hung up the phone.

What would taking me out of Xavier's do for me at this point? Even if I wanted to go, which I absolutely didn't, you couldn't just stick me back into a regular school and have me readjust.

No, for better or worse, I was here now. This place was mine. My friends were here. What I wanted was here. I wasn't about to roll over and give it up because it was dangerous.