Emma was sitting on her bed. She had needed to get away from the noise of the rest of Sanctuary for a while. To anybody else it wasn't that loud but to a psionic outward noise wasn't the problem. Emma had been trying to meditate and open up her mind for close on an hour now but couldn't seem to focus on anything enough. She wasn't too bothered by this occurrence; she was just in one of those moods where she couldn't find the energy to do anything. She was completely lethargic. And with Brennan and Jesse getting their regular check-up there was no one to talk to or hang out with.
Emma let herself drop back onto the bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling, wondering when Shalimar would be back. She had gone out to introduce some new mutants to the underground and had declared that when she got back her and Emma were going to a club to catch up on some serious partying.
None of them had gone out in a while due to the constant, nagging worry of Gabriel Ashlocke. Adam had taken caution over risk and told them that they were not to go out unless it was on new mutant business, they were not to give Gabriel any chances in which to kick their asses. But Shalimar wasn't scared of Gabriel. Or atleast, she did a good job of hiding it. Emma knew better than to mistake Shalimar's bravado for actual emotion. She was as scared of Ashlocke as anyone but Shal needed to be free to roam and could always be counted on to wear Adam down.
'Emma, I need you in the lab, quickly.' She jumped as she heard Adams voice come over her com link, she had completely forgotten that she was wearing it. She sat up, reluctant to go anywhere but knowing by Adams tone that something was up. She slid off the bed and walked out of her room.
'So, either of you know what the hell this assembly is about?' asked Alex as the trio of him, Maia and Mac took their seats in the main hall.
'I heard it was just a regular one, you know the usual stuff that tends to bore us all senseless,' replied Maia as she took off her jacket and hung it up on the back of her chair.
The hall was full of kids. Maia had managed to secure the gang some seats at the back of the hall so they could talk through the speeches made by the teachers. They could see everybody sitting in front of them, the year 7's at the front so they could be scared into submission by the teachers on the stage, the year 8's and 9's in the middle. The year 10's and 11's would be up the hill at the other school having their own assembly, as they couldn't possibly have squeezed them all into the main hall down the hill.
Mac had always hated assemblies. What was the point? All the tutors ever talked about was responsibility and being mature. They had all heard it a million times before. And no one ever thought to open any windows so it always got unbearably hot no matter what kind of weather was going on outside.
'Excuse me, could you all please be quiet?' One of the teachers attempted to gain some kind of peace, but it was like trying to draw blood from a stone. After about ten minutes of various teachers trying their own ways to gain silence (shouting, coaxing, some attempting to bribe the student body) the kids in the hall quieted down enough for the principal to speak.
'As you will all have noticed, outside it is snowing.' A laugh made its way around one class like a mexican wave as one kid made the obvious reply of 'duh!' The principal, completely undaunted made to carry on.
'What's up Adam?' questioned Jesse as he rounded the corner into the main room of Sanctuary. Adam had the computer screen up in front of him. It was showing the blueprints of a massive building accompanied by a smaller map. The building was in between suburbia and shopping centers, next to a main road.
'This is HAHC, a high school located in London. I've heard some rumours in the underground that this is Gabriel's next target.'
'Could it be a trap?' asked the still wary Shalimar. She didn't like Gabriel, didn't trust any information about him and most certainly didn't trust the man himself.
Adam looked at Shalimar. He knew she was just being cautious and he knew that she could handle herself but that didn't keep him from worrying about her.
'Could be,' he stated simply looking Shalimar in the eyes and sending a reassuring smile her way. She smiled back, rolling her eyes knowing exactly what he was thinking. He was feeling guilty and as per usual when anything bad happened to any of them he was wondering what he had done to these poor little new mutants. It was written all over his face.
'I know this could be a trap but it's a school. If there is even the slightest possibility that something is going to happen there I want Mutant X to be a part of it. You can land on the roof and if it's a false alarm then you can get away without being seen.'
The team nodded as they went to get changed out of their 'lounging around Sanctuary all day with nothing to do' outfits. Ten minutes later they were all sitting in Helix, strapped in and ready to go. Adam forwarded all the details of the school to them and they were away.
