Kurt wiggled around in the wheelchair until his broken tail rested comfortably in the seat with him. "I do believe I can walk."
Dr. McCoy made a note on his chart while Heidi fussed with the breaks and the handles so she knew how to use them. "Not for a whole day, you can't," he replied. "Heidi will help you through classes, and you can keep her company too."
"It'll be fun!" Heidi smiled, turning the chair in a circle.
He grinned and held on. "Whoa!"
Hank looked up and Heidi immediately stopped. "Sorry," she smiled at him, leaning on the chair.
"Your schedules are the same for now until things get sorted out on the school side of things," he said, handing Kurt a packet of papers. "Between the two of you, I'm sure you'll manage not to get too lost."
Heidi was quietly pleased to have a consistent companion for that day, not that she didn't know anyone in her classes. She was silently grateful Sarah, who had never quite warmed back up after Heidi busted up the forest fight club, was much younger than she seemed and wasn't in the trimmed-down Junior class. The schedules had only just been hashed out and on a short list of teachers, so more classes would be available as instructors came back.
"The teachers will be finding those who set the bombs," Kurt explained, quiet to keep their conversation private in the halls. "No one else seems to be trying."
She was glad he caught on so quickly to her powers. It was nice he'd thought of that. "What do you mean?"
"Have you heard any news about the criminals being caught?" he asked, looking up at her. "We have much to contribute… more than most police forces." She only caught a bit of his expression, one mixed with determination, pain, and rock solid faith. "This is what they do. It is what we do, when others cannot." He seemed to catch on that she was looking at him and lightened up, giving her a grin with his pointed teeth. "Though, we are not all supposed to know that."
She grinned down at him and got up in his face, hoping to cheer him. "Then you shouldn't go telling people."
"You know already," he said. "Well, you know enough that it would make sense."
Their class was only about 10 kids, and that was the whole of the 11th year class. Heidi already knew Kurt, Bobby, and Anna so thankfully it wasn't all strangers. Kitty, apparently, was super smart and joined them for classes even though she was a year younger.
Heidi never thought she'd be somewhere even smaller than her school back home. After a week of more new faces flooding in, the student body topped out at around 150. A couple of kit buildings were up now as dormitories and classrooms, so getting Kurt out and across the lawn a few times for the different classes was a real treat.
She wheeled Kurt out of their last class of the day and met up with Anna, Bobby, and Kitty outside. Anna grinned at Kurt. "Powers class. You up for it?"
"I am supposed to attend, yes," he said, "but the good doctor will be very upset if I participate."
Bobby set the pace, walking slow so they'd all be on their way together. "Be nice to see everybody," he said. "Kinda sucks we're not all together like before." He looked at Heidi and smiled. "Nice to have new faces, though. You'll like powers class. Nothing like stretching out and letting loose after sitting in desks all day."
"Don't get on Wolverine's bad side," Anna advised. "He's got his soft spots, but generally he'll rip you a new one if he thinks you're slacking off."
Heidi recalled the name but not having ever seen him before. "And is he a teacher? Or just like a coach?"
"He teaches history," Kurt explained. "His normal name is Mr. Logan."
"He's older than dirt," Bobby said quickly. "He's lived through a lot of it. And not just recent history, we mean waaaaaaaaay back."
Kitty cleared her throat to butt in, adding, "He doesn't look it, and it would be smart not to say anything about that." She looked over at Anna. "Where has he been, though? He wasn't here after the" – she paused and chose against referencing the bombings, Heidi guessed out of consideration for Kurt. "He kind of disappeared for a bit."
"He was getting his daughter," Anna replied, and Heidi thought she detected a little bitterness or jealousy in it. "Anyway, he's back now and he's gonna be pissed if we're late."
Heidi pushed Kurt along, not questioning when Bobby bit the bullet for them all and pressed the basement button for the blood sample, or when she heard them whoosh right past the usual stop at the medical sub-basement. The others were calm and content to chatter, so she kept pushing Kurt right into a large gym buried deep under the school.
"We can sit over there," Kurt said, pointing to a spot against the wall with some materials piled up. The gym was scattered with things, set up in a challenging obstacle course, and a couple of the discarded blocks and ropes stood in for a useful bench.
Heidi sat and, after looking over the set-up and the terrifying man waiting there, realized he wasn't what she expected when she heard Wolverine, but the more she took him in the more fitting it seemed.
"What took you so long?" he growled.
A girl, one who looked about freshman age, was adjusting an obstacle and came over to look over Heidi's friends warily. She was already sweating and a little short of breath.
"This is Laura," he said, answering a question they hadn't asked yet. "She's going to join us." He pointed to one end of the course. "Start here," he said, then pointed to the opposite end, "and get there. No touching the ground. Simple. Anna, show her how it's done."
Anna straightened and rolled her neck and shoulders to loosen up, then went at it with more stamina, flexibility, and creativity than Heidi had ever seen anyone show in P.E. class back home. The ROTC had some stuff like this, but that was cushy in comparison with safety nets everywhere – Anna took it on like a force of secret ninja fury… though a bit less gracefully than that. She fell once, but was only on the floor for a split second before getting right back on track.
When Bobby took his cue to go next, Kurt sighed, fidgeting in his chair. "This is not fair."
Heidi tore her eyes from the most amazing displays of mutant powers she'd ever seen – which she could admit wasn't saying much, since she'd never seen an elemental mutant as powerful as Bobby – and looked over at Kurt. "Bet you could do all this easy."
He nodded, giving a proud grin. His tail tip even flipped a little. "Yes. This is play for children in the circus," he said with a barely audible purr. "I am best at games like these."
"YOU!"
Heidi nearly jumped out of her skin at a shout from Logan in her direction.
"You're next," he said.
"I'm what?" Heidi whispered, her heart suddenly beating like a tympani in her ears.
Kurt tried to say something, but Logan drowned him out.
"You're not the one in a wheelchair. You're still in class now, so you're next!" He pointed at the starting point. "Start once Laura's past the midpoint."
Heidi hurried over, unsure what to do or say. She was less than half as capable as any of the others, but if this was child's play for them, and if mistakes were allowed and powers were encouraged, maybe it wouldn't be so bad? She could do this, or at least give it her best try.
Up on the platform, she tried hard not to look down but look ahead, through the various ropes, pipes, platforms, and slopes to where Laura was struggling her way through.
Laura was just as new as Heidi, and Heidi worried about the clear strain of it on the younger girl. Of course, Laura looked and moved like she was much fitter than Heidi and that was worrying too.
She didn't consider herself a vain person. She also didn't consider her new school friends to be judgmental types. Oh but if there was any way not to make a fool of herself in front of them, she prayed she'd have the luck to manage it!
Once Laura appeared on the other end of the middle obstacle, Heidi leapt across the first gap just like she planned and had seen the others do.
She landed well, her miracle complete. Her confidence soared, as did her heart rate, but that was less important as she immediately turned to the next one, a set of ropes for crossing another gap. She'd seen the timing was important and she took the first but missed the swing to the second. Chickening out, she gripped onto her current rope, stranded between the platform and the second rope.
Her arms grew weaker and she grasped about in her mind for how to get it going again. Adjusting her grip and steeling herself, knowing she only had about a second of strength to hold on with one arm, she threw her other hand out and attempted making her powers help like Bobby's had.
She did lose her grip on the rope, but only after being thrown clear over the next two obstacles. She didn't know what she hit or grabbed at along the way, and after she landed everything was immensely fuzzy for a few moments, including her hearing.
Someone sat her upright and suddenly she felt a cold blast to her face that made her gasp and brought things back into focus.
"I was trying to tell you! She's never done this before!" Bobby was yelling.
Heidi put together it was Kitty snapping her fingers in front of her face. "Heidi?! Heidi, focus on me. Show me you can focus. Look at me, okay?"
She did her best to keep Kitty's face in focus and it was quickly getting easier.
"Doc's gonna kill you," Anna was saying, still only a blob behind Kitty's head, but Heidi could at least grasp she was talking to Logan and not her.
Kitty met Heidi's gaze and grinned. "Hey, you!" She looked over her shoulder. "She's back, Kurt!" She looked back at Heidi and held up her finger, moving it back and forth, near and far from her face. "Keep your eyes there, just looking for good responses. Nothing too rattled in the brain box, right?"
Heidi smiled a little, but only when she realized nothing was broken. "No, just all the same screws loose."
Kitty relaxed, relieved. "Well good. You sure gave us a scare! You stay right there until you feel good enough to stand. You got banged around pretty good!"
Heidi heard shouting still, and then a particular shout that both terrified and reassured her.
Hank pounded across the floor from the gym door. "HEIDI!"
She wanted to shrink down and disappear. His fur was flared up and he looked nearly twice as big, his eyes wide and searching, but when he saw her they shifted and so did his attention – straight to Logan.
"What were you thinking?!" he roared and, to Heidi's surprise, Logan roared right back.
"I didn't know! She's in my class! All of them do the same thing – I've even got my girl here!" He threw an arm wide to indicate Laura's general location, but he seemed a bit off balance from Hank's reaction.
"She's not here to fight crime or show off or whatever the hell you teach these kids to do! She's here for her own safety and look what you did!" He bore his teeth and Heidi saw a flash of shock cross his face. He backed down a step and his fur settled a bit. "Look what you did," he spat again and turned to Heidi, taking over for Kitty.
By the time he took a knee to examine her, he looked old and tired. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, really," she said, holding his hands when he offered them to help her up.
"Go slow." He helped her to her feet and relaxed more to see she just had some scrapes and a bruise on her hip from the fall. "Good," he sighed, "good."
Kurt, who Anna had wheeled closer, cleared his throat. "Doctor? We did try to tell him…"
Hank growled a little, but just took hold of Kurt's chair and wheeled him along while walking Heidi to the infirmary. "You need a checkup. You both do."
The next day, for powers practice, Hank met her at the elevator and took her to a separate room from the others. It was a smaller space with some household objects around – a few drinking glasses, blocks, a bowl or two, a ziplock of sand, etc.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," he said with the tone of someone who'd practiced their lines.
"You didn't do anything," Heidi replied. "I wish you hadn't locked yourself up in your lab, though. It was pretty lonely after dinner."
He looked at her with surprise since she'd successfully thrown off his script. "I – Well, I had things to do. Some evidence came in that needed analyzing." He gestured for her to stand at a table in the center of the room. "I feel better about things when I get work done."
Heidi leaned on the table. "Was it evidence about the bombings?"
He nodded, but wouldn't say more. "You surprised me yesterday. I think you surprised the others, but I hadn't expected you'd do something like you did in there… not after what you'd told me about your powers. What happened?"
"I tried to do like Bobby did," she held up her hands, "with these. I didn't expect ice, obviously, but I was going to fall from the rope anyway so I thought I might as well try. That's what the exercise was for, wasn't it? To try?"
Hank grunted and set a plastic bowl on the table and poured some sand in it. "That was a warm up. It wasn't a test." He reconsidered and added, "Well, it was a test for Laura, but the others could do that course without breaking a sweat."
Heidi felt her face burn in embarrassment. That sure put her performance in context. "Oh."
"What you need," he said, "is a chance to see where your powers are and how to use them safely. Less chance for you to hurt yourself and others. Ideally, all the new students will get this chance. You clearly manipulate the air, though typically in such a way that produces sound, so that gust that moved you on the course was a surprise. Did it feel natural?"
Heidi shook head. "Kind of forced. I really didn't want to fall, especially not in front of everyone."
"Don't think about 'everyone'," he said. "We'll work a little today on your resonance. That's the most dangerous thing about your powers. The most dangerous thing about sound is exceeding what's safe for human ears and objects."
"Like glass in car windows," Heidi said, straightening up.
He nodded. "So we'll work on your control of that. If you can reach frequencies of regular things, you'll be able to check yourself before anything or anyone gets damaged."
"And if someone comes after me or someone else, I can keep them from doing anything awful?"
"Where is this coming from? I thought we'd been through this?" Hank frowned. "Don't use your powers against people. That's not what we stand for here."
Heidi nodded quickly. "I know, I know. And I'm not saying we should. I'm just… Well, if there's a need, or an emergency, I'd rather be able to help. I don't want to be the victim, or a bystander." She thought of what he'd said in the gym, something that had nagged at her all night when she hadn't been sleeping anyway. "Am I really that different from the others?"
He looked at her directly. "You don't have to be like them. What"- he paused to collect his thoughts – "What we do here, what we don't tell the others, is for their own safety." He drew his lip back a little in disgust, but not at her. It seemed more to be at himself. "You know more than I wanted you to already… You have a right to as normal a high school experience as you can get." He shook his head and refocused, tapping the bowl of sand. "This is going to help with that. See if you can find what frequency will make this sand resonate. There are a lot of densities in these grains, so this should be a good start. Just make some of them move." He put earplugs in with a small smile and gestured for her to begin.
The lesson was a lot less fun than she imagined.
Afterward she went to check on Kurt and found him and Bobby in Kurt's room, which was just up one floor from Heidi's in the main house. The dorms had been finished in record time, and she now didn't have to share her plush room. Neither did the boys, at least not yet.
They both looked up and smiled when she came in.
Bobby had cards and Kurt was apparently doing tricks with them. Bobby grinned. "Hey you! How was your class with the doc?"
She was used to guys as friends. She'd hung out with her brothers' friends for years and had grown up with the neighbor boys working in the dairy. "Not nearly as fun as yours," she said, pulling over the chair from Kurt's desk to sit and watch.
Kurt lost interest in the cards. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to say this without being mean about Pops…" She reached around for ways to say what she needed to say nicely, but came up empty. Blunt would have to do. "He doesn't want me on the same level as you guys… Not that I'm anywhere near that, but you – you all are prepared for anything. If someone needs help, you're ready and able and definitely not stuck standing by. You're like heroes. You're not even 'like' heroes – you are heroes. I'm" – she caught herself before she said 'a pudgy girl from Wisconsin who knows more about the south end of a cow than anything else'. Giving them more of a reason to think that didn't seem smart.
Both seemed to understand anyway.
"There is a saying in my circus," Kurt said, tentatively, "and my English version may not sound right… but it goes: learn to fall and you have mastered the king of tricks. Fall safe, I mean." He smiled nervously.
Bobby filled in the gaps. "He means none of us got where we are overnight."
"I did," Kurt looked at Bobby in confusion, "on a plane."
Heidi giggled and Bobby rephrased. "I meant we practiced and worked hard at it. You get leaner and stronger and fail a lot. I've been here for years and started out a clumsy kid. Anna doesn't have physical powers, and she started this stuff when she was really a kid. Kitty, well, Kitty's a natural at just about everything she tries so don't measure against her."
Somehow that wasn't encouraging and Heidi just leaned back in the chair. "Right."
"Listen," Bobby said, "I go running in the morning. Did you want to come with me? It'll be a start and we can, y'know, hang out a little more?"
She sat up. "Really? You'd be okay with me coming along? I'm no sprinter," she said quickly, "so I don't want to slow you down."
He grinned. "Psh. Don't think about it. It'll be fun. It's not like we haven't noticed you're already an early riser. Just don't be late. I get going before breakfast, so how does 6:30 sound?"
"That sounds late compared to home," she smiled.
"Good! We'll meet up on the back porch and get some time in."
She got up, cheered by the idea. "I'll be there." She listened to the clock downstairs chime the hour. "I've got homework, so I'll turn in. See you then!"
As she left, she heard something odd and peeked back around to corner to see the two boys playing a rapid-fire game of rock paper scissors. Kurt was very intent but still losing every round. She headed to her room to get her assignments done and dig up some workout clothes. Boys, in her experience, were very weird.
After a week, Heidi had hoped for more success. Bobby, and Hank when he found out she took up jogging, told her this was a long-term investment and any progress was worth celebrating, but it was difficult to get excited about gasping marginally less than she used to after a mile. Bobby also pointed out muscle confusion was the fastest way to results, so that second week he started to put obstacles for her to go through on their run.
"Snow wall!" he shouted cheerfully, blowing one up like it was nothing to him.
Heidi put in a kick of speed and struck a pose on her way through the thin wall so it left an imprint for a second before it fell.
He laughed. "Ten points!"
"I got," she huffed a little, settling back into the normal rhythm, "fifteen for the last one!"
"Your last one was more creative," he shot back. "Need a water break?"
She nodded and slowed to a stop, fishing her bottle from the backpack he had on. There was a group behind them and she pulled him off to the side. He couldn't hear them coming yet, but this was a common occurrence and he let her haul him around by the backpack straps.
Heidi stiffened a little and he noticed. "What is it?"
She just turned away from the road so her flushed face and sweaty curls were less visible as the group of four girls in tight bright jogging suits came around the corner of the path.
Small schools, Heidi discovered in those first few weeks, were all the same. She had hoped this one would be different. It was, as far as most of the newbies all started on the same level, but it didn't stay that way for long.
This group looked like every other popular clique in her primary, junior, and high school. It also looked like its rival group, led by Marrow and populated mostly by visuals.
Heidi counted herself lucky to be a "main house kid". That way she only heard about the Pretties' late-night makeover sessions and truth or dare games, so she wasn't among the normal girls being routinely excluded from them for the sake of establishing an elite.
At the head of the girl side of the Pretties group, the one jogging up the path, was Trisha. Heidi didn't know much about her, except that she could glow and did so beautifully… especially in areas that got the boys gossiping.
Trisha was in their grade, as was one of the other girls who had mild elemental control over plants. The rest were mainly 8th and 9th year girls, between 14 and 15 years old.
Heidi made it a point to sit behind and away from Trisha at any opportunity. Thankfully Anna also enjoyed making faces at the popular girl's comments, so Heidi wasn't by herself in disliking her. Anna was just better at it.
"Bobby!" Trisha called, waved, and jogged over with a bounce to her step. "Imagine seeing you out this early? That slush back there was you, then?"
Heidi didn't want to look. She was sure Trisha was some kind of distance runner. She was everything else, it seemed.
"It was snow a bit ago, and it's not much of a coincidence," he said. "I've been running this early longer than you have." He waved at her cohorts and they gleefully waved back.
Trisha stepped between him and them. "Just following a good example. Maybe you and I could" –
"Thanks," he said suddenly, "but I've got a running partner. We're going just fine, right Heidi?"
Heidi looked at him in surprise, but found herself smiling. "Yeah. We're doing just fine."
He held out his hand for the water bottle and took a swig before putting it back in the backpack. "Let's cut across through the woods for a bit. It's a shortcut I know." He nodded briefly at Trisha. "Have a good run." He turned his back on them and Heidi kept pace as they headed into the woods along the path.
Heidi wasn't sure what to say. It seemed too surreal.
After a few seconds, presumably when he was sure he wouldn't be heard, he asked, "You don't like them much, do you?"
"Not much, no," she said, focusing on not tripping on roots.
"Me neither," he replied. "Part of what I liked about this place was it wasn't like Baywood. We had all the same drama at school, but when we came back here, it was home. I liked leaving the fake people and popularity contests behind."
"Why would that matter much?" she asked. "No offense, but you'd be homecoming king if we did that here."
"Yeah? Cool." He grinned at the compliment and she couldn't help smiling with him. "Still, though, there's people who fight for it, and there's people who've just got it."
That sounded a lot like something her brother Clyde would say. True, but playfully conceited and a humblebrag she loved to hate.
"Pop!" she giggled.
He looked at her, confused. "What?"
She shot him a grin. "That's the sound of your head when it gets too big. So watch it!"
He blinked in surprise, then busted up laughing until they both had to stop so he could have a turn catching his breath.
On the day Kurt was allowed to walk to his classes (and he did very well) Heidi reported to Hank again for her lessons. It still stung to be away from her friends, but she hoped to convince her over-protective Pops to let her work on something more useful than making glass wobble but not break, and everything from marbles to metal rattle.
He was waiting for her, wearing earbuds and bent over a laptop.
She came over to see what he was looking at, and leaned on his large furry arm. "Hey," she said, smiling when he looked over at her.
He didn't jump in surprise, though he did give a small start. Once he saw her he calmed down and took the earbuds out. "Ah. You're here. How have your workouts been? Better? Easier?"
"A little," she said. "This is sound equipment. What are the recordings of?"
"Crowds," he said. "Crowds and phone calls." He sat up a little straighter and took a second to collect his thoughts. "Heidi," he said slowly, "I know you've been frustrated with our lessons… You've been very good at them so far, despite the occasional complaint."
She wished she hadn't complained now, but all she could do at this point was look repentant.
"I've come up with a few new skills for you to work on," he said, "but I want to stress to you the same thing the others have to know to do what they do."
Heidi stared at him, her eyes wide. "What is it?"
He looked her in the eye. "We can do things that make normal humans very uncomfortable. They're right to be afraid of us, if we use what we have against them. The only thing between us and evil is our choices, so however we use our powers" – he paused to fix her with an intense look that sent a ripple through her muscles under her skin, stronger even than goosebumps on top – "we must never use them cruelly, selfishly, or recklessly. People can always be hurt. If one of us lashes out, we bear the consequences together." He frowned sadly. "That's the way it is. Do you understand?"
Heidi nodded, careful not to do it too fast in case he thought she was taking it lightly.
He seemed satisfied and nodded back. "Good. I have here several recordings. We're going to go through them and work on your listening. Let me know what's easy and what's challenging while you pick out the different voices and ambient sounds." He had a notebook out and clicked a pen to take notes. "This should give us some guidance before really pushing your ability to isolate and analyze sounds."
Heidi grinned and sat up straight, eager to get started as she imagined she was playing spy and reporting back secret information back to headquarters.
That was difficult considering the recordings were from a busy train station and the work quickly got tedious.
"Man," she yawned after detailing the forty fifth individual voice from the same two seconds of recording, "baritone. Probably a singer once. He's on the phone with someone, talking about hiding dogs' pills in a hotdog." She was leaning on the table leaning her chin on her hand. "That doesn't work, y'know. My dogs always spit them out. Grinding them up works better."
Hank turned and gave her a withering look over the rims of his reading glasses. "Are you done?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Has anyone tried to put your meds in a hotdog? Wouldn't fool you, would it?"
He blinked and closed the laptop. "You've gone loopy. We're finished, I think."
At the prospect of being finished, she brightened up. "Aw, but that was funny!" she grinned. "Come on."
He just snorted a little and rolled the earbuds up with surprising dexterity considering his massive hands.
In the quiet she seized a chance to ask something she'd been itching to ask. "Do we know who did it yet?"
He frowned as he finished with the wires. "I can't tell you that."
"Is anything happening, though?" she pressed. "Everyone's wondering. I mean, everyone who knows we're trying to find out."
She knew she shouldn't ask. She knew he wouldn't tell her anything compromising, but she'd been having nightmares. Kurt had too. It'd been nearly three weeks and the bombing had all but disappeared from the major news networks – no resolution at all. Just like Kurt had said.
He was quiet as he closed the laptop and gathered his notebook. "We have a few leads," he said, finally. "That's more than we had. And I promise, we're pursuing them to the best of our ability." He helped her off her chair and back out to the hall toward the elevator. "If Anna asks," he added, "Remy is a real asset to the effort. I know she didn't expect she'd have to share him right after he got here. Would you tell her that much for me?"
Heidi stopped short of the elevator. "What do you mean? Aren't you coming up?" She saw in his face he was about to say no and she flushed angrily. "You haven't been upstairs all day! You can't just stay here all night too. Just… Can't you just come up for dinner? We can walk outside? It's not all that cold. I'll wear my warmest coat and you can get some fresh air?"
He wavered a moment and almost said no again.
She tried to mimic his look from before, the important one from his speech.
He smiled a little. "Alright. But I do have to get some work done after. Dinner and a little short walk."
Hank did come up and it was very nice to have him around, but he went right back to seclusion the next day and Heidi couldn't get him upstairs again. She came back up from her lesson with him, alone, with nagging hunger rattling through her guts.
The food at XI was east coast food, light meals and healthy veggies. She lied to herself, saying she didn't miss the whole milk, Wednesday doughnuts, and quality burgers with fresh local beef and cheese. Cheese. Heidi rubbed her stomach, hoping that would help silence it.
She'd noticed she had more energy, and that her clothes were starting to feel loose. That was a start in the right direction. She resolved to eat a bit smarter, rather than just less, so she ditched the tail end of the cafeteria line and went to the house kitchen instead.
The music was another plus to this plan. Someone had a great playlist of new songs going, as well as a not-too-terrible sing-along in progress.
When Heidi walked in, she found Kitty and Ms. Kate singing along to Kitty's mobile speaker, veggies all over the island and decorative little cookies cooling on racks.
Kate ran her knife expertly through carrots, turning them into perfect snack sticks while Kitty scooped and bagged them. In between, Kitty checked on a couple of pans on the stove that were giving off ridiculously good smells.
Kate smiled to see Heidi and waved her in. "Hungry?"
Kitty grinned too. "We're meal prepping."
Heidi came over to see what a production line they had going. "Yeah, that smells really good! Is this what we're having at the cafeteria tomorrow?"
Kitty made a face. "Psh. No. This is mostly mine for the week. I'm vegetarian."
"We're not in a position to buy meals for all needs," Kate said, turning the volume down for easier conversation. "But the kitchen is open and we keep stuff around for making anything anybody could need." She smiled at Heidi. "Couldn't get the doctor out of the basement tonight?"
Heidi pulled up a stool and took a cookie when Kate pointed them out. "No… It worked yesterday, but not today. He's kind of preoccupied tonight. It could be serious."
"Doc's always preoccupied," Kitty said. "He's big on his work."
Kate looked up at Heidi. "I'm curious… What do you think of the girls in your class?"
Heidi stopped mid-chew, both because she remembered she'd made a resolution to eat better just a few minutes before and was now eating a cookie, and she wasn't sure if Kate was looking for good comments or dirt on her classmates. "What?"
Kitty took a pan off the heat and gave the pot a stir. "We were talking about bullies," she said. "I wouldn't be in here cooking on a weekday if someone hadn't put bacon in everything I made this weekend."
Heidi's gut clenched uncomfortably. "They didn't!"
Kitty turned around and nodded, clearly trying to keep her temper in check. "Not just on top. Raw bacon strips." She mimicked picking up and dropping the meat into a pot. "Plop. Right in it. Forget not being vegetarian, it wasn't even sanitary after that!"
"We don't encourage that behavior," Kate said, deftly chopping the ends off a couple of carrots with a sharp snap. Her phone rang and she looked down. "Oh. I was expecting this. Are you alright on your own, girls?"
Kitty nodded. "Thanks, Ms. Kate! I've got it from here."
"I'll be back to pack up the cookies when they've cooled." Kate took her phone and left to answer it.
Heidi leaned on the island to steal a carrot stick rather than another cookie. "Do you think it was Trisha?"
"Could be," Kitty agreed, "though it seemed pretty juvenile. The middle schoolers were swarming the place the day it happened, so it could have been a bunch of them too." She looked at Heidi, confused. "Why would they do that to someone? I mean, was it me? I didn't think I'd done anything to deserve that."
Heidi shrugged and shook her head. "I'm sorry all the same." After a moment of quiet while Kitty bagged up a few more carrot sticks, Heidi glanced toward the door just to make sure Kate was still on her phone call down the hall. She sat up closer to Kitty. "Could you tell me what you had to do to get on your team?"
Kitty stared at her. "What, you mean to do things outside school? I thought you weren't big on that?"
Heidi shook her head. "No, but I'm sure there's something I could do outside of hurting people. The team does more than just that. I know it's not something they're actually recruiting for, but I just wondered… how did you get in?"
She thought about it a second. "Well, it's different now… And there isn't a proper name for it, but Bobby's been calling it getting certified. Like field certified. Generally, you've got to be able to take care of yourself when someone or something is trying to kill you." She caught Heidi's gaze and sobered. "And I'm not being funny, I mean it. It's ugly out there. They don't pull punches."
Heidi felt a quiet chill and sobered too. "Right. Pops hasn't gone into much detail. I just get the feeling he doesn't want me in all that."
"Of course he doesn't," Kitty said, relaxing. "If my parents knew, they wouldn't either. And none of us get asked to do anything unless the Professor thinks our powers will be important to the mission. Kurt did a rescue before school started, since things were supposed to be stealthy and he's good with kids. Anna's all pissed Remy's been called up to help investigate this bombing thing, but from what she said, he was already doing that kind of thing for the Professor in Louisiana." Kitty shook her head incredulously. "Really, he's pretty amazing to watch. Awful scary what he can do, but he's a riot. Anna's lucky."
Heidi nodded and got up from her stool. "Can I help?"
Kitty beamed. "Only if we can turn the music back on!"
That night, Heidi did manage a couple of hours' sleep, but fell awake again around 11pm. She got her phone out and scrolled through her voicemail. Her brother left her a few messages to help with her homesickness and she knew them by heart but listened to her favorites over and over.
"Hey kiddo! I know this is hard for you, but we're all really proud. Listen to this when you can't sleep, okay? Here, the mic isn't too good, but I'm going to get some of people snoring to help."
First, the dog.
Then her dad, with her mom's calm breathing behind.
After that, each sibling, including Clyde as he narrated what they all looked like before holding the phone out to record.
She was almost dozing off again when she heard Kurt's phone ring and him rustling around in his room above her. She shut off her phone and listened deeper, catching chatter and the rush up and down of the elevators. Heidi grabbed a robe and got outside in time to catch Kurt at the stairs. "What's happened?" she whispered, following him.
He looked worried at her presence, but didn't object. "I do not know yet. The team is back, I think. Be very quiet."
Heidi grasped his hand and the sound of their steps disappeared. It was easier to muffle noise with contact. "Quiet as a church mouse," she said, and kept pace with him all the way to the sub-basement elevators.
The doors opened to the infirmary, full of teachers and several faces Heidi hadn't seen in awhile. Remy was there, holding up Scott who had a massive bloodstain on his leg. Jean and Hank took over looking after Scott and the Professor wheeled to Remy immediately. "What did you get?"
Remy produced several crumpled handfuls of papers from his coat, and took a pocket camera from his boot. "Couple pictures," he said. "Not enough, but a few. We got in fine, but somethin' tipped'em off. I caught up what I could off the desks."
Kurt jumped in at an unspoken order from the Professor and took the papers and camera down a hall Heidi had never been down, moving quickly and purposefully.
She wished he'd stayed because now she didn't know what she was supposed to do.
While looking around for something she could help with, she noticed the Professor looked haggard and worn. He was more pale than usual and he looked like he hadn't been sleeping.
He was still all focus. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking Remy over.
"Shot caught me in the arm," he said. "Don't think it hit home." He turned to look at it like he hadn't given it much thought. "Nah," he said and shook his head, "just nicked me."
The professor frowned. "Heidi."
She came over, unsure it was a good thing to be noticed down there. She still didn't have real clearance. "Yes?"
"See to Remy, please. Take him to Hank and help him with Scott as well. Remy, as soon as you're patched, get to control and tell us what we're looking at with the photos." He left immediately, driving down the way Kurt had gone.
Heidi didn't like the wild look in Remy's eyes and got him to look at her before trying anything. "Are you really okay?"
He looked at her and took a very careful breath. "Mostly. Things went all sour fast." He fell into step as Heidi led him to Hank. "We found our marks," he said, answering her question before she felt it right to ask. "Followed a couple'a them small town gang leaders that did the bomb buildin'. They was meeting with some slimy types in perfect suits." He rubbed his forehead and flinched since he used his sore arm. "Felt like one'a them 'good ole boy' clubs. More money than anyone got a right to, with no one t'say no." He pulled himself back to the present, realizing he was on his way to a tangent. Heidi saw some signs of shock, but he was holding up well. "All we meant t'do was get out what it was they had going." He gave Heidi a hollow glance. "What kind of people think it's okay t'blow kids up and still call themselves 'friends of humanity'? How's doin' that human at all?"
A chill ran down Heidi's back.
"And they were the ones that tried to blow up Kurt?" she asked, wanting to stop so she'd have more time to ask questions.
Remy shrugged. "Thing is… That don't seem the case. I don't think they're the ones, even though they were busy celebratin' it. All those little gangs, they got attention for makin' and settin' the things, but they sure did a lotta introductions. Felt more like the devil was runnin' a meet'n greet rather than a business meetin'."
Bobby poked his head out from one of the infirmary rooms. "Heidi? What are you doing here? Never mind. Doc's gotta do some cutting to get the slug out of Scott's leg. Jean's in here, she'll deal with Remy."
Heidi helped Remy inside and assisted like she had with Hank that first night. She fought hard to imagine the torn skin and messy flesh as patching up a cow hide, but there was Remy wincing at the pull of the thread through him.
This time she knew him. When she'd helped Hank patch up his leg, Hank was right there and it was a demonstration, not a familiar face with a bleeding arm. She could almost hear the crack of the gun that shot him, and then thought of the damage a bullet through the thigh could do.
She, Bobby, and Kurt all got passes out of their first and second classes of the day, though for the nightmares Heidi had made the additional rest time useless. She slept, but not well.
On top of the homesickness, she dreamed of angry men in suits with guns, broken flesh and people bleeding. She always woke with explosions. They were always unexpected, never safe, and she was always in the center. It was like she would spontaneously combust, hurting everyone around.
Bobby sat near her for the rest of classes that day, but she took a solo run in the evening to make up for missing her morning with him.
On her way back, she saw Remy, Piotr, and Laura out on the lawn. It looked like they had a couple of dummies set up for boxing practice.
They weren't the only ones taking advantages of a nice evening. The gardens and yard were lit for after-hours sports. There was a soccer game going on nearer to the dorms, and the basketball court was a popular spot too. Heidi saw Trisha glowing away among her friends, seated in a good spot to watch the basketball players.
She jogged over to her friends while Piotr was showing Laura how a good stance could make her punches stronger.
Remy smiled to see her. "Bonsoir, Biquet!" he said cheerfully. "You were my angel last night. Feelin' just fine now. You get sleep enough?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, enough. You?"
"Not too big a fan of pills," he said, "but it was nice t'be out quick. Didn't even dream. Stuff like that don't let the nightmares in."
Heidi looked at him, unsure if he knew how relatable his comment was.
"You wanna join?" he asked. "I'm givin' close combat tips." He grinned. "We're just funnin', though, if anyone comes askin'!"
She regarded the dummy and the haymakers Laura delivered that knocked it back and forth.
Remy noted her hesitance. "Not your flavor, Bichet?"
Heidi frowned. "No, that's not it. Show me how? Self-defense, right?"
He nodded. "Could say that. Jus' basics for now, yeah? Helps if you enjoy tryin' somethin' new." He helped her put on some gloves. "Laura can scrap, like Anna," he explained. "I don't expect you'll fight like her."
Heidi relaxed a little. "Good. I don't know if I could hit anybody like that."
Remy chuckled. "Nah. Fightin' is confidence. Think of this. You'll know what to do come anythin' bad. On top of that, if y'look like y'know what you're doin', you'll scare anyone good. That's half the battle."
"What's Piotr working on?" Heidi asked.
Piotr heard and looked down at her with a small smile. "I am not fast. I hit very hard, but I am not quick." He pointed to Remy. "Our friend here is very very quick."
"And I told ya," Remy replied, "you can get quicker. It's technique. You'll get it."
Heidi paid attention and Remy was an adept teacher. He got her throwing simple combinations at the dummy and, as long as she thought of it as a dummy and not a person, she found she liked the rhythm of the punches and the different tones of her gloves hitting the padding. High, low. Right, left. Jab, swing. Strong, light.
"Y'strike with some art in it," Remy praised.
Laura was winded and took off her gloves. "Why would anyone want to hit soft?" she said, sitting down on the grass. It was fall, the grass was crispy with cold and patchy, but snow wasn't due for weeks. The workout was plenty to keep them all warm.
Piotr looked down at her, and Heidi stopped to listen. "Fighting is not about being stronger than the other person," he said. "It is about avoiding more fighting."
Heidi stared. "What?"
Remy nodded. "He's right. My ole daddy used to say the best fight is one you don't start. If you can get 'em to back down before anyone gets hurt, you win."
"But if they do not back away," Piotr said, "and the cause is right, then you fight."
Laura laid down to catch her breath more and cool off. "So scare them off?"
Remy chuckled. "You gotta get a little bigger before you scare anybody. Them claws are a start, but you gotta know what you're doing with" –
Heidi heard the screech before them. She heard it when it was still just a shift in tone of voice from a couple of girls at the basketball court. She heard a shove and a rip and then the screech that made her friends look up.
By then Heidi was halfway to the court.
By then the crowd at the court was tightening into a knot with Trisha and a couple of underclassmen visual girls going at it like furious cats in a pit.
The others were right behind her. Piotr, with his long stride and better fitness, hit the crowd first and parted them but when he saw the girls scrapping he suddenly wasn't sure how to pull them apart.
Laura, crowded up close behind him, ducked around and yanked them apart. Since the two younger girls were on the offensive, Laura could only grab one at a time while keeping Trisha at a distance. Whoever Laura grabbed would just cheer on the other and join the fight as soon as she was let go.
"STOP!" Laura roared, but it barely made it over the cheering and the yelling.
In all Trisha's scratching, clawing, and hair-pulling, she caught hold of Laura's ponytail and yanked to get within reach of the other girls.
All bets with Laura were off. It was good they didn't hold still like the dummy or some of her punches would have actually hit home.
Heidi watched in terror, hearing the chaos multiply. She saw Remy trying to haul Laura away and get between the fighting girls. He was having marginally better success.
Heidi concentrated and put one hand down toward the ground and the other in the air. She directed a massive bass boom downward, knowing the crush of people would keep the sound in and focus it on the fighters who, she hoped, would be disrupted. With her upraised arm she sounded a loud siren alarm toward the main building, calling for help or at least some authority other than Remy and Piotr who were only seniors after all.
The downward blast did its job, though it surprised the crowd and was a bit too strong on the fighters in the middle. All of them, including Remy, were physically stunned, covering their ears belatedly and put off balance.
The crowd heard the alarm she made, and several on the fringes slipped away to avoid getting caught encouraging a fight.
Heidi didn't see Hank and Kate arrive until they broke through the far side of the crowd. She stopped her siren.
Kate, usually pretty cuddly and understanding toward the students, was livid. "Who's involved?" she demanded, rather than 'who started it?' None of them were getting off easy.
The girls pointed at one another, all talking – well, shouting – at once.
"She's been on us since" –
"They just up and jumped me when" –
"She told us we wouldn't get in trouble and" –
"Do you know what she did to" –
Hank turned on his teacher voice. "That's enough!"
They went silent, refusing to look at one another while Remy and Piotr shooed the rest of the onlookers away.
Kate looked at Laura. Heidi noticed they were about the same short height. "How involved are you in this? These two are from your class, aren't they?"
Laura made a face. Hers was already normal while the others' faces were still red from slaps, scratches, and punches. "I tried to break it up!"
Kate eyed her, clearly not fooled by the half-truth. "Your father will deal with that. Did you see who started it?"
Laura growled under her breath before answering, this time with the full truth. "We were way over there when it started. We didn't know it was going on until Heidi took off over here like a bat out of hell."
Hank looked at Heidi and was quiet for a second before asking, "Do you have any insights?"
She wasn't quite sure what he wanted, but she remembered the train station recording. "Hold on." She thought back and combed her memory to just before she ran over. With her hands in front of her, palms facing each other and close to her chest so it could direct the sound out where they could hear, she reproduced what she heard.
It wasn't much beyond Trisha saying she was getting up to go get a coat and a couple of whispers she amplified between the two girls.
"There she goes."
"Come on."
Heidi replayed through the shove, the rip, and the start of the fight.
She then lowered her hands and pointed to the long tear at the shoulder of Trisha's shirt. "I'm guessing one of them grabbed her by the sleeve, but … well, that's a guess."
Heidi thought she saw a smile cross Hank's face, but it didn't stick around.
He looked to Kate. "Did you need help getting them back?"
"Yes, please. Come on, girls. We'll be discussing this at length."
The teachers took the offenders back to the main house, presumably the same as being taken to the principal's office, and Heidi realized she was really tired.
"Nice work!" Remy grinned at her. "Lookit you, dealin' it out! Didn' know you could do that – replayin' stuff."
Heidi tapped her temple. "Good memory. Usually."
Laura was left behind, though she wasn't happy. "Dad's gonna kill me," she muttered. "Then he'll bring me back so I can clean up the mess."
Piotr patted her head. "Yes. It is a lesson to be learned."
"Let's not think too hard on it," Remy said. "I know where t'get some ice cream that'd be just perfect for a couple heroes and a couple recovering outlaws." He winked at Laura and took hold of both girls' arms, steering them along. "Come on, Piotr!"
Heidi realized they were headed for the back shed. "Bobby hides his ice cream back there."
Remy didn't slow down. "Sure does! And he got good taste."