Morning Has Broken Into Several Pieces
"Well, forgive me Xavier," Carl snapped. "I'd just like to be a little more involved in my son's trial! I mean I am his father! I should have some say in his defense case!"
After breakfast Carl and Vi had stopped in Xavier's office to discuss what to do about Evan, only to discover that Xavier had already decided for them. "Mr. White is a very respected and highly talented lawyer," Xavier told them. "He is also a mutant as well so he's empathetic to your son's plight."
"Oh well I'm glad someone is," Carl groaned as he sat back in his seat.
"You must trust me on this," Xavier said.
"Trust you?" Vi glared at him. "That's how we ended up in this mess in the first place!"
"Xavier we sent our son to you so that he could learn to control his powers," Carl told him. "What did you do? Train him to be a soldier to fight crazy villains and giant robots. And then you let him run off to the sewers living like a homeless bum with other mutants who are probably criminals or drug dealers or god only knows what they are! All of which you deliberately kept from us! So forgive me if I don't have any confidence in your plans! Especially considering your track record!"
"Mr. Daniels you are understandably upset," Xavier tried to diffuse the situation.
"Upset? I went past upset when my son was arrested for murder!" Carl snapped.
"Carl," Vi warned him. She turned to Xavier. "It's not that we don't appreciate what you're doing for us now."
"I just wish you did more before!" Carl said. "Maybe if you had, Evan wouldn't be in this situation!"
"I have to agree with you on that," Xavier sighed. "I'm just as frustrated as you are."
"I doubt it," Vi grumbled. "When can we see Evan again?"
"Soon I promise," Xavier said. "Mr. White is already trying to work out weekly visits. Which is difficult enough after Mystique's prison break."
"Okay who is this Mystique again?" Carl asked. "I mean it's kind of like keeping track of all the characters in a long Russian novel around here."
"She's Rogue's and Kurt's mother," Xavier explained. "Former leader of the Brotherhood boys. A very cunning and dangerous shapeshifter who has infiltrated Bayville High School as both Principal Darkholme and Risty Wilde. She also recently tried to assassinate Senator Kelly."
"She blew up the mansion once didn't she?" Vi asked.
"Yes, while posing as me," Xavier nodded. "And she's currently pregnant again."
"Again?" Carl asked. "Who's the father?"
"Zartan, leader of the Dreadnoks," Xavier told them. "A group of ruthless mercenaries that work for Cobra."
"Which tried to blow up Bayville High in order to get my son and the other mutants," Vi nodded. "Now I remember her. Kind of hard to forget a woman whose tried to kill your son so many times."
"Yes she is a formidable adversary," Xavier sighed. "Who knows what she's planning now that she is free?"
"I know I am going to regret asking this but are there any other enemies we should know about?" Carl asked. "Besides this Magneto character?"
"Well…" Xavier hesitated. "There's the FOH of course, Bolivar Trask, Graydon Creed, Senator Kelly, Apocalypse, Cobra, Hydra…"
"Forget it…" Carl held up his hand. "I think I get the picture. What's Hydra again?"
"A terrorist organization that deals with weapons and spies," Xavier said. "They created X23, Logan's clone."
"Oh I thought that was Cobra," Vi thought.
"No Cobra is a terrorist organization that is determined to rule the world," Xavier corrected. "They created Xi. It's easy to get them confused."
"As much fun as this conversation has been, let's get back to the subject of Evan's defense please?" Vi rubbed her temples.
"Look I'll try to have you visit Evan as soon as possible," Xavier promised them.
"Thank you so very much," Carl said sarcastically.
Ororo was outside when the Daniels left the room after several sarcastic remarks later. "How did it go?" Ororo asked them.
"Besides the fact that we have no control over our lives?" Vi glared at her. "Just peachy keen!"
"And you thought we'd be safer here?" Carl asked Ororo. "Xavier was mentioning all the little friends you've made over the years!"
"Look I know it may sound odd to you that we know a few sorcerers and the ruler of another dimension," Ororo sighed. "But really it's…"
"Wait! Back up!" Carl stopped her. "We were talking about Cobra and the FOH. What's all this about sorcerers and other dimensions?"
"Uh…Nothing," Ororo gulped. She quickly changed the subject. "So how do you find the Institute, Vi?"
"I find it easy to see why Evan wanted to leave here," Vi looked at her. "Now what was all that about other dimensions?"
"Oh, that…Kids' experiments and games, nothing much," Ororo said quickly. "I mean how are you holding up?"
"Not well. And having all this free time while not being able to do work on my own son's case isn't helping. I need to do something, anything to keep me going," Vi sighed. "I've already taken a sabbatical from work. My law firm practically threw me out the door. I just…feel so useless!"
"Well…" Ororo hesitated. "You could help out with the students in the classroom."
"You mean like a substitute teacher or something?" Vi looked at her.
"You're kidding right?" Carl looked at her.
"In case you haven't noticed we're a little short handed here," Ororo explained. "And McCoy is the only certified teacher here. The rest of us are pitching in and doing what we can. I've been teaching Social Studies. McCoy is teaching English classes. Scott and Jean are doing Math and Science. Logan…"
"Let me guess, gym?" Carl folded his arms.
"Yeah…" Ororo nodded. "John Proudstar helps out where he can. Mostly he assists McCoy in English and Logan in Gym. The Professor teaches advanced classes in Physics and Genetics."
"Don't you have any arts classes?" Vi asked.
"Not much to speak of," Ororo said. "Although Forge has agreed to set up a small shop class. He does have his GED and is tutoring the children in…"
"COMING THROUGH!" Forge shouted as he zoomed by with strange looking skates on his feet.
"HOW DO YOU STOP THESE THINGS?" Roberto shouted as he zoomed by them as well wearing similar skates.
"I KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE TO USE THOSE SUPER POWERED ROTORS!" Ray shouted as he whizzed by. "ELECTRIC ROLLER SKATES! WHY DIDN IT HAVE TO BE ELECTRIC ROLLER SKATES?"
CRASH! BANG! CRASH! SHATTER!
"In what?" Carl asked. "Demolition 101?"
"We really need some help on this," Ororo sighed. "Excuse me…" She ran after the students.
"We don't have much of a choice do we?" Carl moaned.
"Well what else are we going to do around here?" Vi threw up her hands.
"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Forge screamed as he zoomed by, nearly knocking the Daniels over.
CRASH!
"Besides survive…" Vi moaned.
"You know Vi…Maybe we've misjudged those mutants from the sewers," Carl sighed.
"Yes, maybe they're saner than the ones here…" Vi rolled her eyes.
Next: Getting to know Lockheed better. This should be good.