Note: And this is it! The end of this fic, at last. Thank you again to everyone who reviewed. I don't need feedback to live, but it does warm the soul. :)
Truth? The situation was growing more infuriating by the moment.
Principal Kelly stood at his office window, arms crossed and a scowl on his face, watching the procession of Institute students leaving the campus. Other students - normal students - stood on the sidewalk and grass, well back from the departing mutants. Some were shouting. A few were throwing paper wads and soda cans.
None of the mutants seemed to notice, or care, even when the small projectiles hit them.
Kelly seethed. Didn't they see? Couldn't they tell they weren't wanted? Hadn't he made it abundantly clear that their kind was not welcome in his school?
The mutants unhurriedly crossed the street, even as the normal students increased their attack. The second the mutants' feet hit the other side, Grey flung a hand up and all of the flying objects went zooming off in impossible directions.
Just like that shotput ball. Another few inches lower in its trajectory, and it would've cracked his skull instead of cratering his desk. And then there was the earthquake in the gym on his first day, and the half-remembered soccer game, and the monsters running loose at the dance, and the "mysteriously" exploded soda machines all over the school, and McCoy's rampage...
He stepped away from the window and sat down at his desk - his new desk, because the previous one had been too damaged to repair. Not dangerous? Ha!
There was a folder on his desk that he didn't recognize, so he opened it first, slightly curious. After flipping through the pages inside, his curiosity gave way to fury, and he abruptly stood and stormed out of the office. "When did this arrive?" he demanded of his secretary, waving the folder.
Dorothy jumped, startled, but recovered quickly and said, "While you were talking with the guidance counselors about-"
Kelly didn't wait to hear the rest, but went back into his office, slamming the door behind him. This time, he went straight to the phone and dialed a number he'd never wanted to know in the first place. He was furious. He was beyond furious.
"Xavier Institute," a voice said by way of greeting; Professor Xavier himself.
"What is this?" Kelly snapped. "What are you trying to pull with this trick?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Mr. Kelly."
Kelly slapped the folder down on the desk. "THIS! The recommendation that your students be staffed into ESE!"
"They do meet the requirements."
Kelly laughed - a short, incredulous sound, even to his ears. "Those requirements are for children with learning disabilities and physical handicaps, not your mutants."
"I think that if you look at the enclosed medical and psychological evaluations, you will see that I am not fabricating any of this. They all require special services and accommodations."
Kelly flipped through the pages again, trying to find one that he could exploit against Xavier. In the momentary gap, the mutant said, "For example, Scott does need accommodations in testing due to his vision problems."
" 'Vision problems'? He shoots lasers out of his eyes!"
"And can only see in shades of red. Certain styles and colors of type are very difficult for him to make out."
Kelly conceded defeat on that one - which he hadn't brought up anyway. Typical for Xavier to pick an argument he knew he would win. Instead, he found two that seemed to be so patently absurd that Xavier had no hope of defending them. And he started with the file for one of the school's basketball stars. Former stars. "You're trying to pass Daniels off as 'other health impaired'?"
"Evan has skeletal abnormalities."
Kelly bit down on his tongue to keep from saying something he might regret later, in front of the review board Xavier would most certainly report him to. Tasting blood and the bitterness of inevitable defeat, he moved onto his next attack and ground out, "Grey is not emotionally handicapped. I've never seen a student less likely to be EH than she is!"
"Nevertheless," Xavier said, his tone infuriatingly calm, "she was diagnosed as schizophrenic - a diagnosis which the state of Connecticut still supports, if you care to check."
"I don't."
"Is there anything else, Mr. Kelly?"
"Yes. I'm going to do everything in my power to block this."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Your time would be much better spent in service of your students, as opposed to chasing down an impossible goal."
"Keeping my students safe by keeping your students away is not an impossible goal!"
"I must inform you that it is. I have already brought the matter to the state Department of Education, and they agree that if the students meet the qualifications, you must allow them to be placed. They are not willing to risk a lawsuit or the loss of federal funds that would surely result from barring duly staffed special-needs students from services. I expect the mandate should be arriving on your desk shortly."
Kelly was too incensed to speak. What was more, he did not trust himself to speak, so he slammed the phone down onto its cradle. The file folder stared up at him from the desk, mocking him, mocking his inability to handle what should have been a simple matter. With an angry, incoherent shout, he swept it off the desk.
The pages fluttered around, but he didn't care. He had to think. He had to come up with a plan, some way to get past this roadblock... A idea came to him, pure and brilliant in its elegance. It would take time to come to fruition, and patience, but like any good school employee, he had plenty of patience.
Significantly calmer now, Kelly gathered up the fallen papers, laid the folder back on his desk, and sat down. The first order of business was to deal with those mutants he could take action against. Xavier's protection did not extend to everyone, after all.
Alvers and his crew had seen the inside of Bayville High for the last time. Kelly started filling out the paperwork to have them expelled, all the while thinking about his newly-born plan.
Truth?
The X-Men were in more trouble than they knew.
