Aberrant: Mutant High - [ST-Dave] An Offer You Can't Refuse

[Dave ST]

She lowered her head and nodded slowly. "Neither do I Michael. Go get a bag packed and I'll call the school once you leave."

She turned to her mutant guests but her expression didn't seem to lighten any. Her son was being taken away from her, whether for the best or worse was irrelevant: her son would still be gone. "If what you say is true then Michael will be safer with you than here at home. If those... people, arrive I'll send them on their way. Take care of my son, please. Help him find that life all of you are searching for."

[Courier]

With heavy steps Mike walked upstairs and then started to pack. This sucked.

[Stargaizer]

Josh stayed downstairs, naturally, as the tension in the air mounted. It wasn't a hostile tension, more of an awkward tension, but still there nonetheless.

He waited for one of the other two, the ones with the social skills, to say something; but they didn't. He waited for mom to say something, but she didn't either. It was down to him.

She doesn't seem, understandably so, to like the idea of letting her son leave... Josh pipes up, rather timidly at first, "You do know that you're welcome to come and see him off at the school... It might be better if you weren't here when AGEIS shows... Plus you'd get to meet Dir. Drumm, the man in charge of our school." Hopefully that would break more tension than it created, and let her know that she was still his mother and still welcome in his life.

Hopefully he wouldn't make anything blow up...

[Dave ST]

"I considered that." she said as calmly as she could to Josh. She was a bit choked up about her son but she really didn't care for Josh after the tongue lashing he felt compelled to deal on her just moments ago. "His father is at work right now, after he comes home we'll make arrangements to go to the school this evening and meet with the Director. I just don't want Michael here when those other people arrive."

[Courier]

After a few minutes Michael walked back downstairs with a stuffed athletic duffel bag in one hand and a heavy backpack in the other. 5 minutes of packing to abandon a life. This sucks! This isn't fair!...

Mike said quietly, "Good bye mom. I wish... I want..." Mike and his mom hugged each other for a long moment.

[GDP_ST]

Alex watched the newly-outed mutant and his mother, the expression in his blue eyes at some halfway point between empathy and envy. As they broke the hug, the warmly-glowing young man stepped forward.

"It's not a forever goodbye, Mike. It might help to think of it as boarding school." He shrugged one shoulder and smiled apologetically before turning to the front room window and peeking out to see if Shard was okay. It would not be unfair to say that the handsome solar mutant was paranoid enough that he half-expected to see black helicopters hovering over the Christian's front lawn deploying an assault team.

[Courier]

Mike looked from his mother to Alex and then back. Then he realized what Alex was doing he said, "You're expecting someone, the other side, like right now?"

[Dave ST]

Shard shot back two rows of pearly whites along a foreground polished obsidian. It was rather comical. He waved and shrugged as if to give the signal 'you guys planning on taking forever, or what?'.

He'd tried to talk to some of the kids, and even did so with a young boy who lived a few houses down from Michael until the boys mother screamed for him to get away from the 'monster', threatening to take away his X-Box. Shard didn't care too much, he just told the kid to listen to his ma and shooed him off.

Casually he just chilled in front of the van.

[GDP_ST]

Somewhat relieved, Alex turned away from the window and glanced at the others.

"I blame film and television for making me so paranoid." he grinned sheepishly. Of course the bad guys wouldn't attack white-bread mundane suburbia in force. Stupid, Alex. "At any rate, it's all clear, so let's be off."

He waited by the open door as Josh and Violet went out to the car and Michael said a final goodbye to his mother, then nodded farewell himself and accompanied Mutant High's newest student down the path and into the minivan.

Sliding into the passenger side as Mike climbed into the back, Alex grinned at Shard and mimed wiping sweat off his brow. "Hardest part's over." he told the other with a wink of one dazzling blue eye. "Now we just need to get back to LHA in one piece."

Shard chuckled with a sound like gravel in a trashcan as he started the engine.

[Stargaizer]

Josh took a moment locking his chair into the van, then turned around at Alex's comment. "You say that like it's going to be difficult or something. I mean, come on, we're just a group of school kids on a field trip; who'd want to mess with us?" He flashed everybody an innocent look that was marred only by a smirk.

Then he turned around and said under his breath, just loud enough for everybody to hear, "And if they did, they'd be sorry."

[GDP_ST]

Whatever collection of deities, Fates and angels that watches over mutants was feeling kind today. The drive was long and, for Alex, nervous. If anyone but Shard noticed the glowing youth surreptitiously glancing at the rear view mirrors and out of the window, they didn't remark upon it.

Everyone tensed at one point when, on the final approach to the LHA, a siren blared from behind them. The cop car that went rushing past and into the distance caused all the young mutants to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

The minivan parked up, the gates of the school safely closed behind them, Alex let himself relax and smiled over his shoulder at Michael.

"Welcome to Mutant High, Mike. Let's get you settled in..."