Chapter 15: "Something's Not Right Here"
Krissy was a bit surprised to be the one asked to give the tour, since that was usually something one of the Summerses did. Though she supposed with Chance being gone, they needed more people to fill in, and she didn't mind giving tours and in fact actually kind of enjoyed the performance aspect of it. It was just that, well, this wasn't her usual thing, and she was surprised by it.
Not that she didn't appreciate the chance to deviate a little from her usual routine, especially because it seemed like all Christian wanted to do lately was kiss her and call it 'practice'. She was kind of looking forward to the fact that Thanksgiving was coming up in a couple weeks, and then the semester would be over soon after that — and yes, she was aware that looking forward to being rid of him was a bad sign. But she also really couldn't help the fact that he looked so genuinely thrilled when he could kiss her without making her hallucinate, and she just… didn't have the heart to mess with that.
But for now, Krissy was thrilled that Scott had asked her to follow Elin's lead and step up and represent the school a little more.
The girl that she was showing around was actually a student at the Canadian school, but she was transferring in January because her family had moved across the border, and she wanted to stay close to them. In fact, her family had moved that weekend, and that was why she was there and not back at school.
Krissy listened politely to the girl as she went on about how much she was going to miss her old friends at school as they went through the halls and Krissy showed her where the important things — like the game room — were.
"...and I was really just getting used to things up there, you know," the girl was saying as Krissy took her down to where the science labs were. "I was a late bloomer, so I had no idea I'd even need to go to one of these schools, and then to get some help with my powers, that was just… I really needed it."
Krissy nodded along. "That's the whole point," she agreed.
"I just don't know what I'll do without the safety net, though," the girl said, a bit wide-eyed. "I mean, where do you go? You don't have a government liaison to supply you, right?"
Krissy paused, her eyebrows scrunched up, though she was trying to learn how to put on a poker face, and she managed a semi-decent one (for her, anyway) as she turned toward the girl. "Supply me?"
"Yeah, you know, for boost?" the girl said, in a completely matter-of-fact tone.
Krissy frowned a little deeper. "No," she said slowly, "we don't… that's not how we do things here."
The girl seemed shocked. "But how do you handle your powers?"
"We learn to control them," Krissy said, still frowning, but now more than a little concerned. "We have a strict no-drugs policy."
"Boost isn't a drug," the girl said, shaking her head. "It's… just what it says."
Krissy frowned at her for a long moment and then didn't ask before she teleported them both into Hank's lab. "Dr. Blue!" she called out, as the girl looked suddenly worried, what with Krissy keeping a hand on her at all times.
"Is there a problem, Miss Wagner?" Hank called out from around the corner — then peeked around the wall as he hung upside down.
Krissy nodded. "I think … you're going to want to take a look at Colette here."
Hank dropped down — landing on his feet after a little flip and then straightened his lab coat before he made his way over to the girls. "What seems to be concerning, my dear, sweet girl?"
"It's nothing," Colette started to say as Hank gently led her to one of the exam tables, but Krissy cut her off.
"Boost," she said simply. "Apparently, there's an official supply of it over the border." Her tail was twitching behind her at the thought of it, especially considering one of her best friends in the world was over there right now.
"Oh?" Hank asked, his eyebrows high and a look of surprise on his features as he turned toward the young lady in his exam room. "Do tell." He simply started checking her over, humming to himself and doing his finest job of being totally relaxed and approachable.
Colette chewed on her bottom lip, though Hank's bedside manner was certainly helping. "Well, yeah," she said slowly. "When I got there, they said it would help me control my powers."
Hank tutted to himself. "Balderdash," he muttered. "In all of our years training young mutants to come into their abilities, we have yet to require anything as drastic as a drug to help hone their skills." He gave her a kind smile. "You'll be incredible without the drug, I assure you."
She looked a bit wide-eyed as she shook her head lightly. "I've never used my powers without them," she admitted.
"There is a first time for everything," Hank said, still with a bright, warm smile.
Colette seemed to regard him carefully, then smiled back at him and even seemed to be totally relaxed by the time the exam was over, though Krissy teleported back to Hank's lab as soon as she had shown Colette off get picked up by her parents.
"So… um. What," Krissy said before the smoke had even cleared.
"I'm not sure," Hank said. "I've already informed Scott of the situation, though I am rallying with the thought process that it might be time to send our feral friends north of the border to say hello. Drop in … that sort of thing."
"Yeah, because an official supply doesn't exactly sound like a good thing," Krissy said, her tail switching behind her and giving away her irritation.
"Indeed," Hank agreed. "Of course … the other option — and one that might be more wisely followed — would be to simply ask Chance to keep his eyes open."
Krissy nodded. "Well, yeah, that keeps him safe, but what about everyone else?" she pointed out.
"If there is an official dispensary, then he can let us know about it, and his father would likely level the place."
Krissy giggled a bit at that as she hopped up to sit on one of the tables. "Wouldn't that look pretty bad though? 'X-Men go on rampage and destroy rival school' and all that?"
"Well, when you put it like that …"
"Scott said I should try to be more of an ambassador for the team," Krissy said with a small smile.
"Ah, there is the trouble … taking advice on how to be a good ambassador from one who does not know how to relax more often than not."
Krissy gave Hank a dry look. "My problem has never been not knowing how to have fun, you know."
"We'll devise a more reasonable solution," Hank promised. "No matter how hard Scott argues that leveling the place to dust would be the most fun and fastest method of correction."
"Maybe after Chance leaves, huh?" Krissy teased.
"I'd venture a guess that Scott would be sure of that before he let loose his wrath."
"Oh possibly," she said with a little laugh before she jumped down from the table and looked a bit more serious. "I just want to make sure one of my best friends in the world is going to be okay, that's all."
"A concern we all share," Hank promised.
"He's doing really well," Krissy said with a little smile. "I saw he got to go out with Alpha Flight on a run… no suit, but he looks really happy."
"Yes, well … he's doing what he loves," Hank reasoned.
Krissy smiled at him. "Thanks, Dr. Blue," she said before she teleported over to give him a hug. "Sorry to drag you away from whatever you were doing."
"It was timely and rather helpful," Hank promised as he squeezed her back. "Now … go wreak a bit of havoc."
"That I can do," she promised with a little twinkle in her eyes before she disappeared in a poof of purple.
For the most part, the end of the semester came up faster than expected for a lot of the kids. Midterms and then plenty of work on the team… there had been plenty to occupy them. Plus, since Westchester ended early so that the rest of the schools could do exams there for those kids that wanted to be on the team — or even the junior teams at their own schools — that meant there was sort of a mad dash to get done with a whole lot of work all through November.
Which, Sying reflected, was actually pretty nice, because otherwise, he wouldn't have had much to distract him from the fact that Krissy and Christian were still a thing, for reasons he simply couldn't fathom, especially when it was clear to him that she wasn't even really flirting with him or joking around with him, just… sort of… letting him be in her space.
She wasn't down to breakfast yet, though, so he wasn't quite to the moping stage that he usually got to when he sat down to breakfast, and besides, he was perfectly well distracted when the news came on talking about the 'next generation of heroes' showing Elin and her dad going with Scott to the Avengers Tower.
It was actually a decent broadcast, too, talking about the cooperation between the two teams and the fact that the next generation had some solid backing, that sort of thing.
Sying couldn't help but smile at the good press, especially when he knew that Scott and Elin had worked that out between themselves, and he bumped Elin's shoulder with his as he sat down beside her. "Nice job," he said, tipping his head to where the broadcast had briefly shown a picture of the full junior squad in action for reference on the 'next generation' angle.
"Yeah, you look great," Elin said, not missing a beat.
"I meant on the whole PR thing, and you know it," he said, shaking his head at her.
"It's gotten a lot easier at school," she said, tipping her head to the side. "But there have been threats to the staff … I think that's the end of my public school run."
"I'm sorry to hear that. The threats to the staff part," he clarified. "I'm not gonna lie: I'll be glad to have you back, if nothing else because I need my favorite aunt to complain to," he teased.
"Well the worst part was listening to the teachers being upset that I'd leave for their sake," Elin said. "But … it's not time yet, I guess."
"It will be one day," Sying said. "I mean, it's kind of a big deal that you went and they didn't just straight up kick you out, right? Progress?" He said the last word with a dramatic little look.
"Yeah, and Scott talked to them … they're going to make arrangements for us to come in from time to time. Keep the lines of communication open with the kids … especially with some of the older kids manifesting late." She gave him a tight sort of smile. "Part of the job, right?"
"Hey, if we need another ambassador, I could go and pretend to be a clueless alien and see how long they'll believe it," he said, just to tease her into a smile.
"You could," she agreed perfectly straight faced, ignoring his tease to try and rile him.
He grinned. "I could drop Kree words into every other sentence…"
"And it would be amazing … all the way up until they decided we were just screwing with them."
"Yes, but it would be hilarious until then," Sying said, grinning over at her and bumping her shoulder again before he went back to his breakfast.
A few of the others started to trickle in at that point, right around the time that the broadcast was being repeated on the 15-minute mark, and Sying had to smirk when Chance sat down on Elin's other side with a grin.
"I really like the mask-less look," Chance said, still grinning at Elin.
"You're probably still afraid of tiny ninjas," she said as she lifted her mug to her lips.
"Probably," he agreed with a little smile.
"Still waiting to see when your maple leaf will take flight," Elin said in a conversational tone. "Not quite the same look on the ground."
"Yeah, I know," he said. "It's still in development. But definitely after Christmas, though I'm kind of hoping I'll at least get to test fly it before the semester's out."
"Send pictures," she said, smiling his way a little.
"Of the test flight, for sure," he said with a nod. "But I still promised you I'd take you flying when I got it for real. You know, signed on the dotted line and all that. Allowed to take it off the test field."
"You'll let us know," she agreed. "While we're all here just … waiting for the next thing to happen."
Chance waved a hand at the screen. "Seems like you're doing a little more than waiting around, El. Seriously. Good for you — that's amazing!"
"That?" she said, tipping her head toward the screen. "That was a glorified 'take your daughter to work day.'"
"It was a public 'here i am' debut of not just you but pretty much the full team," Chance said. "I mean, you were going as team leader, in uniform, pretty sure that was all you."
"Yeah …" she shrugged. "I guess they were looking for it, though. It wasn't staged."
"Yeah, but it still looked great, and it's a big boost to the team, so… hey. Congratulations. The world welcomes you to the big leagues or whatever," Chance said with a crooked smile.
She smiled into her coffee mug and nodded to herself. "Well … thank you. But you're on that lineup too."
"Yeah, but I already had the 'world welcomes you to the Canadians' so…"
"Attended by six loons, three moose, a beaver, and a woodchuck, right?"
"Hey, I'll have you know there was an elk present too," he laughed.
"Ah, yeah … I forgot our lesser antlered friends. My mistake."
He laughed and shook his head at her. "Seriously, Elin. Dad told me about the whole thing with the school and the jacket and … you're kind of amazing, you know that?"
"You know, you've said that before, but I still think you're just … biased somehow."
Chance leaned over with a grin. "You know, you've said that before, but I still think you're missing the point," he said.
"You think so?" she shot back.
"I know so," he said.
She made a point of sniffing before she picked up her mug. "Maybe. Maybe not."
He shook his head at her, but before he could really argue it, he had spotted Gerry, and he gave Elin's shoulder a squeeze on the way past. "Talk to you later, 'kay?"
"Probably," she said. "I'll be here."
Chance shook his head at her but rushed to catch up to Gerry, who was headed out to go drive around NYU campus with Charlie so she could decide if she wanted to go there or not. But since Charlie wasn't there yet, Chance wanted to catch him for his own advice.
"Can I borrow you?" he asked.
"There's a late charge," Gerry said, grinning his way.
Chance just laughed. "Alright, but I can only pay in, like, ice cream or something."
"Keep your lips to yourself and you got a deal," Gerry said brightly.
Chance nodded, though he pulled Gerry into the garage so they could go for a drive to avoid being overheard — just far enough out that none of the Lee-Varr clan or the Howletts could hear. "Okay, so. Jamie," Chance said, turning to face his friend at last. "I don't know why I'm dating her, and it's kind of weirding me out, and I needed a second opinion, and I know — I know it's weird because she used to be Hydra and there's the background with Viper and you and your mom and all of that — but I don't know, Ger. I really don't know what's happening," he said, the words spilling out all at once.
"Alright well … I mean … how did you get all tangled up with her to start with?"
Chance held out his hands as he shrugged. "She just started talking with me at lunch. No one else really talks to her since the Viper thing, so I guess she decided I'd give her a fresh start?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And the next thing I know, she's asked me to the dance, and seeing as Elin was going with Jacob at the time, I didn't really have anyone else to go with…"
"Well yeah, I kinda get that.… She's got a real thing about her that makes you kinda want to give her a chance," Gerry said. "But … how did it go from that to … this?"
"I really don't know," Chance told him honestly. "I don't. I keep trying to figure out how to get out of it, and then I just end up digging myself a deeper hole somehow." He ran a hand through his hair. "It feels like every time I try to break up with her, I end up ... I end up sleeping with her instead. And that's not what I'm going for here, Ger, you gotta believe me."
"I dunno … sounds like it's a little more involved than you're letting on."
"Is it?" Chance asked, shaking his head. "I really don't know."
"Well I mean, it's not really easy to go from ready to walk away to fooling around."
"I don't know, Gerry. I come prepared with reasons why and then she'll kiss me and the next thing I know…"
"Maybe don't let her do that then? I mean … if you can't control yourself." Gerry couldn't help but tease a little bit.
Chance threw up his hands. "I should be able to, though! That's the problem here!" he said, totally seriously.
"Do you want to?"
"Well, yeah! At least, I think so," Chance said.
"You need to figure that out first," Gerry told him. "And if you can't around her, then figure it out away from her."
Chance let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah… I just… I swear, I thought I had finally worked up the nerve to ask Elin out and then Jamie came along and …"
"Well if it was that easy, maybe you don't really want to ask Elin out."
Chance's head came up and he stared at Gerry as if he had horns coming out of his head. "Only since I was two."
He held up both hands quickly. "Hey. I'm just saying …"
Chance let out a breath and rested his head in his hands. "Yeah, I know. That's what's got me twisted up, to be honest. I don't know how this happened."
"It doesn't sound right," Gerry said.
"Thank you," Chance said. "I knew it didn't. I just… I can't figure it out."
"I can't think of any reason to not know how you got into that serious of a thing with a girl," Gerry said. "Especially if you were headed toward a different one. Either something is up, or you don't want to try with the other one." He held up a hand again. "And I'm leaving it like that; I don't need the explanation of why I'm wrong. Just girl 'a' and girl 'b'."
Chance nodded quietly as he thought it over and then finally sat up, leaning against the seat of the car with his head tipped back. "Yeah…"
"I know that I might be overstepping? But history on that one considered? You might want to just … not try to figure it out."
"I need to figure out how to break up with her," Chance pointed out.
"Slip out the back jack. Make a new plan, stan…."
"You're turning into Sying," Chance said with a little laugh.
"It is a fitting song, and the title alone should be worth its weight in gold in this situation. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover … come on."
Chance shook his head lightly. "Yeah, but I don't… I'm trying not to be that guy, Gerry. The one that just up and drops a girl once he's gotten what he wants."
"No, I get that … but if you can't even remember how you got from point 'a' to 'q', then you know … you're not being that guy. Something is wrong."
"No, no, I remember how I got there," Chance said with a little frown. "I think. I just… don't understand it. It's like I lose all ability to argue the point around her. In my head, I know I don't want to sleep with her. And then it's like I just… blank."
"Sounds almost like you're in love," Gerry said.
"I can't be, though," Chance said, looking even more confused as he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. "Not with Jamie. Right?"
Gerry shrugged openly. "I don't know. Feelings are more Lottie's thing."
"I'm not asking my sister how to stop sleeping with a girl, Ger."
"No … but you could find out when your 'crush' song is playing easy enough." Gerry grinned. "She lights up like a Christmas tree."
Chance couldn't help but smirk. "You've been spending a lot of time with my sister."
"It's hard to miss," Gerry defended. "And if it's that big of a problem, you know she'll come to you."
"You know I trust Charlie more than anything. I just … she already told me I like Elin, so this whole thing with Jamie just drives her nuts. She can't understand it either."
"What about James' little girlfriend?"
"The ever-cryptic 'things are being set in motion', yeah, real helpful."
"She said she'd clarify if you ask the right way," Gerry said. "More than Wiccan will do."
Chance nodded lightly. "Yeah… I think… I think you're right, though. Christmas is coming up and I'll have a few weeks on my own. Maybe that'll help clear my head, being back with family and all. Right?"
"Probably the best thing you can do," he agreed.
Chance grinned over at his friend. "Thanks," he said honestly. "I really needed a sounding board."
Gerry grinned at him and nodded. "Any time."
The holiday break was coming up soon, and the kids who had a place to go were leaving for a few weeks to be with their families. But before the week was out, Jerry Box had another meeting scheduled with the young Chance Summers.
The young man seemed surprised to see Box there, since Horton had been working with him to finalize his contract, and he raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "Something up with the suit?"
"In a way," Box said with a little smirk. "There are a few things that I'd like to discuss with you, but before we do that, I think it's high time that you tried your new flight suit on."
Chance broke into an uncontrollable grin. "Really?"
"Unless you don't think you're ready to take the first step," Box said with a noncommittal shrug.
"What, are you nuts? Of course!" Chance said, the grin growing even wider.
"Then I think you should head on down to the workshop and have Mr. Hudson show you how it's done," Box said. "When the two of you have finished … simply come back so we can figure out the rest."
Chance grinned and got to his feet. "Best early Christmas present ever," he said as he rushed off to go find Mac.
When he got there, Mac was grinning too, and Chance didn't even bother with any small talk or introductions. "Okay. When can we fly?"
"Let's make sure you're fitted to it first, bud," Mac said with a smile.
"Oh fine," Chance said, though he was still grinning.
Mac took the time that was required — and very little more than that — to get Chance situated By the time he had it on — and was just starting to learn the ropes on how to operate the thing — he was nearly bouncing in place with a massive grin splitting his face.
"I guess a race around the world is too big a first step?" Chance teased as he looked over the suit and just couldn't stop grinning.
"I mean … if you just want to start your flight career losing …"
"Hey, if I win, I get bragging rights for the rest of forever. If I lose, it's because it was my first flight," Chance pointed out.
"You won't," Mac said, grinning. "Your specs aren't the same as mine. You're still basic … once you get the hang of it and all signed up, you can start tinkering."
"You'll have to tell me some of the tricks you've used to get the speed up," Chance said.
"Oh, I'll do more than that," Mac promised. "You'll want to know how to fix anything that goes wrong — and it's not so much an engineering thing as it is a repairs after fight kind of thing."
"Hey, I can do that much," Chance agreed, still with a steadily widening grin that was bordering on laughter. "Semester's worth of working with you on this — I think I got it. And Oliver's been a great help too. He's a genius, Mac."
"Oliver's great to tinker with," Mac said. "But he's not a pilot. How about we start off with a solid hover?"
"Oh, okay, if we're starting small," Chance said with a smile.
"And then I'll skunk you around the base a few times."
"You're so on," Chance said, grinning wider as he focused on the controls, though once the suit was off the ground, he just started to laugh. He had to take a few minutes to get used to the way the suit worked, but he couldn't stop grinning by the time he came to a stop, still a few inches off the ground, and looked Mac's way. "Okay, that's it; I'm never coming down again."
Mac was grinning broadly. "I know. It's hard to stop, isn't it?"
"Seriously!" He spun around in the air for a moment. "This must be … man. People who can fly can't possibly appreciate it. This is just… wow."
"I happen to think that most people that can do half the stuff that we can't don't get it," Mac said.
Chance was still grinning as he nodded. "It looks okay, though, right? I mean, I feel a little weird..."
"Looks great," Mac said. "And you'll get used to it with a little practice. I promise."
Chance nodded and then tipped his head toward the door. "What do you say? Race you?"
"Sure; I'll even give you a head start," Mac offered.
"Oh, I can cheat on my own," Chance assured him before he simply took off and opened it up, grinning the whole way, even after Mac did catch up to him — because there really was something amazing about flying without a craft.
After Mac passed him, he turned up the speed and did a climb that was nearly straight up before he did a little twist several hundred feet up then swan dived straight down again — totally showing off.
Chance just started laughing as he caught up to Mac again. "Okay, you're teaching me that one."
"I'll teach you a few things. The rest of it, you kinda got to learn just because … you know. Tactical evasion … stuff like that."
"What, you mean it's not just about learning to smoke you in a round-the-world one-on-one?" Chance laughed.
"Um … no…" Mac said, with one eye closed, a lot more drawn out than what was necessary.
"I feel like I've been lied to," Chance teased, still in a great mood as they did a lazier lap than the earlier race. He grinned as he looked down at the ground below them. "Not that I'm complaining. This is amazing."
"We'll start working on flight what … start with three, four days a week after break?"
Chance grinned and nodded. "You're on."
When they finally landed and started heading over to get out of the flight suits, Mac was still grinning. "So … when you head back, stop by my office, would you? Heather has a few things she'd like you to bring to the Howlett kids."
"Can do," Chance promised, though he paused and handed Mac his phone. "Hold on. I promised Elin I'd send her a picture when I got to try it out. Can you snap it?"
"You bet," Mac said. "Want to go back up and get the clouds in the background?"
Chance grinned even wider. "That's perfect!" he agreed, taking off as soon as Mac was ready.
"Let's go, then," Mac said, following a step or two behind — phone in hand.