Extracurricular Activity (Part Six)

So, Magneto's helmet worked both ways, which was neat. Instead of just keeping thoughts out, it could keep thoughts in as well. I would rather have tried to figure out a way to swipe it for myself, but using it to keep Quire's thoughts trapped in his own head was good enough for me.

He sat bound by metal tendrils in a large metal orb, glaring up at me, "So you had to get a handout to feel man enough to step up?"

"Yep," I declared, putting tape over his mouth before tapping on the orb. Magneto took that as the cue to close it up. Good riddance. I couldn't wait for Magneto to send it off. I hoped he got to enjoy a G-force headache to go with the concussion I gave him.

Apparently, Magneto was strong enough and adept enough with his powers that even halfway across the world, he could direct an object. Something about reading the planet's magnetic field in order to determine location. I had enough trouble following the science behind my own powers; I wasn't about to dig deeper than I needed to understand someone else's.

Are we trusting Magneto to get him home in one piece?" Hisako asked out of concern, "What if he just dropped him in the ocean or something?"

"Do you really care?" I asked.

Hisako hummed in thought, "No. Not really."

Having been spoken of as though he weren't well within earshot, Magneto spoke up, "I know exactly where the Institute is from here. I'll place him right on your lawn."

Oh, man. I wanted Saberwolf to get to it and rip it to shreds with Quire in it before he could get out so bad. He would probably scream.

"You're better than that, Bellamy," Professor Xavier admonished, having read the very obvious thoughts near the surface of my mind.

"I'm really not," I assured him.

"That's great," Hisako said, interrupting my fantastic thoughts, "But how are we supposed to get home?"

Magneto chuckled, and with a wave of his hand, he called forth another orb.

"Oh," I said quietly, "If you think these things can get people out of here without getting fired on by the quarantine, why haven't you?"

I would have been on the first metal ball available. Then again, I had other places, other options. Most of the people that had chosen to settle in Genosha probably didn't.

"Genosha was meant to be home for many of the people still here. It was a dream," Magneto said, "Even in the state that it is, they still do not wish to leave that dream behind."

For them, it had more than likely been their only chance for a real life with any semblance of safety or a future. And it turned to dust; dust that they had chosen to try and rebuild on top of.

"Now," Magneto offered, "Where to for you?"

I thought about having him take us to our respective homes, me to San Francisco and Hisako to Tokyo, but as the one that had been roped into things in the first place, that meant I had to see it through to the end, "

"Open Quire's ball back up," I requested with a sigh, "I'd better go back with him and make sure everything is copacetic," I would just have to catch another flight home or something. My Christmas break had already been put on hold for a day or two. It could wait a bit longer.

Hisako tapped the empty orb with her foot, as though to test its integrity, "Will we be alright in these things?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that, "You survived entering a planet's atmosphere in a collapsing shuttle. I'm pretty sure no matter what you'll be fine."

Hisako still seemed pretty tentative, "Yeah, but he could throw us at the sun or something, couldn't he?"

That sounded like a lot trouble to kill two random X-Men. Magneto felt much the same way, "Not only is that a highly inefficient way of dealing with a threat, even if I felt that you were one, Charles would never allow me the thought to do so."

That made sense. Honestly, I was more concerned with being stuck inside the orb with Quire for at least twelve hours than I was with any treachery from Magneto. It was not going to be a good time. Him killing us while we were stuck in there might have been doing me a favor.

"See?" I said, "Also, this is better than my plan to leave was. Faster too."

"What was your plan, anyway?" Hisako asked.

My reply could be described as cagey, "Let's just let that sleeping dog-. Professor, no. Shut up," He didn't say anything, but his smirk showed that he'd read my mind, seen my shitty plan, and had been prepared to spill the beans for everyone's collective amusement. Once I was certain he wouldn't, I finished my original thought, "...Let's just let that sleeping dog lie."

It was finally time for Hisako and I to go our separate ways. Seeing as how it was the last time I would see her in-person for a month. I wrapped her up in a tight bear hug, expecting her to squirm. She simply hugged me back.

"Call me when you get home," I told her.

"Same, when you get back to school," She said, "Merry Christmas, Sol."

I gave her a pat on the back and gestured her into her orb, "Yeah-yeah. Get out of here already, would you? Flight's already gonna be long enough for the both of us."

Hisako climbed inside of her transport, winking at me just before it closed, "Totally. But at least I don't have to share my ride with Quire."

She just had to get in one more for the road, didn't she?

Before I got into my metal ball, I shook hands with Professor Xavier and Magneto, thinking to myself how nuts this would have been for me to see myself doing just a matter of months ago, especially at the same time. Dogs and cats living together kind of stuff, at least as far as I could digest.

Once I was in my orb, I sat across from Quire, staring back at him as he glared with enough intensity that it probably would have pureed my brain if he had his powers active. I had no coverage on my phone, and nothing but time to kill, so, I decided to do what I did best; run my mouth to amuse myself and annoy someone else.

"So, you ever seen Holes? It's an American classic. Peak Shia Labeouf, in my opinion, which is kinda sad and a whole 'nother topic for later. But Holes is totally one of the best movies based on a book I've ever seen. Most of them just aren't very good, you know? Like Eragon. Jesus, man. A movie about dragons and shit should be way better by default."

I liked to think that the groan the bound and gagged Quire let out was because he felt the same way about that I did about the history of poor cinematic adaptations of books, and not because he realized that I was not going to shut up for the entire time we were stuck inside of that ball.

"Like, the inspirational scene near the end, with the heroes getting ready for the big battle? When I saw that dragon walk out of the shadow in armor, I laughed my ass off. Probably not what they were going for there."

I did not shut up about my shitty taste in movies for the entire flight, and I was fully charged, so I was wide awake the whole time. Quire had no telepathy to shut me down with, so he had to listen. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.