> "Umm, question, how realistic do you want this to be?"

There was something unspoken in that question that made Maya squirm in her seat. "I think a prototype is fine looking like a prototype. We can worry about aesthetics at a later date unless you think the looks will affect your ability to sell or re-purpose the idea. I'll help in any capacity that you recommend." If it even came to that. She could just drive a prototype for as long as she lasted, right? No big deal. Beggers can't be choosers and all that.

> "...We may need your input on various aspects of the design, like how stiff is too stiff, how porus the suit would need to be etc. Here is my card with my number and email."

"Oh. Here is my card." Maya started to pass over a card and then frowned, plucking a pen from the table to scratch through first one line and then another. She wrote a new number on the back. "Here. Sorry. My bookstore, the Full Circle is... temporarily closed. I'm staying at the Mansion so that's the number I wrote on the back, but the cell number's the same."

So that was that, it seemed. Maya ducked her head and looked around for anything she had to pack up.

>"Oh, and Maya..... Thank you so much for sharing your situation with me and letting me help."

"No. It is I who should be thanking you. Please, use me or my name in whatever capacity will give you greatest success. If that means press, so be it. I've dealt with them before, I'm sure I'll deal with them again." She offered him a smile and took her leave.

Maybe she was too free in giving permission, but her name wouldn't be worth much to anyone much longer. If Richard could get some traction by using it, so be it.

The press, true to form, started calling the very next day.

"Is it true your home was recently repossessed by the government?"
"Your mutation is killing you, how does that make you feel?"
"How did you meet Mr. Bent?"
"Are you active on the X-men team again?"
"It's long been lauded for being a human-friendly mutant establishment, I can't be the only one wondering when the Full Circle will reopen?"

Endless questions. Many the same, but a surprising number of new ones. They did their homework. Eventually, Maya felt the need to reach out to Mr. Bent by phone.

"Is there anything I can do besides field questions?"

A few days had passed since "The Project", as it had come to be known as had started. a few very very busy days. Upon doing somme research Richard had found that Maya was not the only aeromancer with that same problem there were a number of them and as is often the case nowadays with the advancement of the internet, they had formed a group. Needless to say the group had welcomed the idea with enthusiasm and a number of aeromancers both male and female were flying down to the tech convention.

Progress wise they had printed some crude prototypes of a hand with various materials that contained voids, but these were more for dialing in the printers and parameters than anything else. Although It would be good to get Maya's feed back on them. The companies helping out with this project had welcomed it with open arms and enthusiastically allocated more resources to the cause. Soon they would have enough people from each sector to essentially work around the clock. In the middle of all this maelstrom of activity Richard was hard at work. He had become the de-facto manager of the project and thanks to his abilities and his sharp mind there was more than enough work to keep him busy from morning till evening. Still one had to make time for the press. Soon Richard was facing a wall of microphones and being barraged by waves of flashes from cameras.

"As some of you may have heard a number of days ago a person in need presented us with a request. Would it be possible to create or build a body for an aeromancer in need. An aeromancer is the term for a mutant that can control air. For a growing number of aeromancers, there is a possibility for their X-gene to become unstable. I am no geneticist so don't quote me on this but apparently, as this illness progresses, it becomes progressively harder for the aeromancer to remain, well, solid. As the condition becomes more advanced the aeromancer eventually turns incorporeal and... ceases to be. There is no
known cure for this condition. The challenge was put forth and a number of companies responded." Richard paused and indicated the display board behind him upon which the names of the various companies were boldly printed. "The challenge is to create at least a working prototype by the end of the conference in 3 weeks time. So that is the first reason for this challenge. The second is that there is considerable interest from the movie sector for the creation of suits that can be animated by aeromancers to help reduce costs of digital animation. I have time for a few questions." Microphones like lances were thrust forward with increasing vigor and it was as though a tidal wave of noise was suddenly unleashed. Richard immediately help his hand up and waited for the noise to die down. "Please, ladies and gentleman, one at a time or I will have to bring this meeting to a close". This time
there was a little more order, a little. The managers of the venue stepped in and soon there was something approaching an orderly queue of questions being fired Richard's way which he did his best to answer.
>"Was the person who met with you called Maya? Were you aware that she is involved in a  government investigation? Does that change your view on this project?"

"Firstly I thought it was one question only so my answer to you madam will be brief. Yes her name was Maya, no I was not aware of the fact. Finally, our goal is to help people who are in need regardless of where they are at. The same way you would not deny a wheel chair to one who could not walk for any reason. Next."

"Just what is so challenging about this project?"

"I wont bore you with all the specifics of the project, suffice to say that we are planning to 3D print a body essentially out of what we call polymer alloys. To 3D print something human size has been done before but with traditional materials like metal. To print with more than one material has also been done before, not so long ago a company 3D printed a shoe from 3 different materials, a durable plastic for the outer sole, a softer material for the inner sole and a rubber like material for the body of the shoe. As you all know the composition off the human body is vastly more complex. The polymer mix that would work for say the eyelids would be very different from that needed for say the knee. In fact there are so many variations in this one job that we are attempting to combine cutting edge technology from a number of companies and do what no one has tried before. We are attempting to create and mix polymer alloys of different composition on the fly and use them to create a truly multi-material structure. Another challenge is that it must be light enough so that it can easily be moved by an aeromancer yet stiff enough to retain structural integrity when the aeromancer exits the suit. I hope that answers your question."

"What about patents?"

"An agreement has been signed granting the right of usage to all companies involved, as to final ownership of the final patents that will be up for discussion, although join ownership is very much an option."

"What do you get out of it?"

"Excuse me? Come again?" Richard wore a puzzled expression on his face.

"DisCom gets to try out their new distributed computing algorithms, AcuPrint gets to show off their touted high precision printers, PolyMat get to design and tailor make the "Polymer Alloys" as you call them, I could go on. But you work for Firebird Industries, a weapons company, so what is in it for you and/or your company?"

The noise level diminished rather dramatically at this question. It was as though those in attendance partially wanted to say "How dare you ask such a question?" yet at the same time were very interested in his answer.

"It is true, I am currently employed at Firebird Industries, who among other things do manufacture weapons for law enforcement and the military, we also build armored transport vehicles, protective vest and armor and secure communication hardware. To answer your question, currently there is no direct benefit for my company. Although I am getting to know many potential business partners for the future. I am actually here on unclaimed vacation time with the blessing of my company. In my line of work, I design protective equipment that saves lives. I am told that last year our products saved many lives, the lives of people that in all honesty I will probably never meet. This however is an opportunity, not only to push the boundaries of what has been done but also to help improve the lives of one person or a few people who are actually on their way here from all over the country and some from overseas. I get to meet them, work with them and hopefully improve their lives. To me, that is reward enough."

Richard glanced at the clock. "Alright people, that is all we have time for today. Thank you for coming.If you have more questions you were all provided with an email address. There should also be another press release scheduled. We will try to keep you all posted." He had barely left when his phone started vibrating.

>"Is there anything I can do besides field questions?"

"Maya, good to hear from you again, actually yes, we have a number of test parts we would like your input on. Let me know when it would be convenient for you. The guards have you on their list, when you show up grab a badge and you can walk straight in. I hope the press have not been too vicious on you."

It would have been a quick jaunt from the Iris apartments, but now that Ghost was living at the Mansion full time, the commute took her a fair bit longer than she expected. Traffic, you know.

When she jogged up from the subway stop, Maya was surprised to see some of her future friends at a small shack she could only assume belonged to the "guards" that Richard had mentioned. "Strike." Emanuel looked equally surprised to see her, but that didn't stop his warm greeting. Well, warm for him.

"Ghost. You know Wendy and Gray." She nodded to them all in turn, familiar faces all. "It's a regular air elemental party up in here." Said the only weather manipulator that Ghost had ever met.

"You're here for the prototype?" Maya gave Emanuel, AKA Strike, a side hug, but she'd never been that close with the others. "I didn't know you had an incorporeal form. You do weather."

"I got the idea after this crazy dream I had..."

"Oh no." Maya felt the blood drain from her face. Was this her fault?

"Hush up. Go get your badge and let's go see what this engineer has cooked up."

Maya did just that. Shiny plastic "VISITOR" badge in place, she led the team into the complex. Not that she knew where she was going or anything, but in that shared future dream she'd been a squad leader. Apparently they all fell back into step as easily as Ghost did. 10 years of an alternate reality was hard to forget, sometimes.

They stopped at a bank of desks manned by some frumpy looking secretary staff. "Page Mr. Richards, please. The air elementals are here."

By this time there were indeed a row or so of prototypes, a few heads, an elbow, two or three hands, a few legs. Each made with different materials with varying properties of varying thicknesses. For each of the prototyles was surrounded by a privacy curtain so that only the prototype protruded. This was inas case any of the air elementals had a wardrob e malfunction while testing. Richrd was no expert on air elementals but did not want a potential repeat of his encounter with Maya. Maya, Ghost, the random person whom he had met in a random encounter that had spawned this glorious endevor, this thrilling adventure. Richard honestly did not know if they would succeed or not, but by God they would put 100% into it and see how far it would take them.



Richard wasw duly paged and arrived to take charge of a group of people he had never met before as well as a rather white faced Maya. As he led the group to the testing area he quietly asked Maya. "Is everything alright?". When the group reached the fenced off area now protected by security guards, Richard handed each of them a clipboard and explained to them about testing the various prototypes and giving feed back. Truth be told he was feeling drunk with wearness. The last 4 days had been a whirlwind of suggesting software changes and downloading information about the hardware of different companies and meetings with engineers as to how to make it all play nice together. "..So ladies and gentlemen thank you all very much for coming, and.. well Have at it." He finished

"Same as usual, Mr. Bent. How about you?" Maya was surreptitiously trying to watch their engineer without directly watching him. He was sagging. The pep in his step seemed artificial. When no one else was looking, he seemed to take long moments without blinking.

All four of them had their clipboards. Two men, two women. For a sample size, it wasn't huge, but then the subset of air manipulators that had incorporeal forms must not have been huge to begin with. Wendy hopped to like it was Christmas. It was pretty exciting to have new toys to play with.

"Everything okay?" Strike checked with Ghost who nodded him away. She could handle this. Her squad... no, her friends could play.

Maya picked up a hand and wandered back toward Richard. She set her clipboard down next to their woozy looking mutant engineer. "Have you been sleeping, Richard?" She tried not to sound accusatory or motherly even though she felt both.

"This one's way too heavy!" Wendy's voice echoed out from one of the jointed leg pieces.
"No. The joint's locked. See?"
"Is that for balance?"

Their chatter faded like background noise. Maya ran her hand over the finger joints and measured the prototype against her own hand. She could probably fit inside it while solid if it was more hollow.

Richard watched as the air elementals jumped to their task with gusto. Already from just observing them he could thing of about 4 or five changes. Maya wondered over and seemed to be examining one of the hand prototypes. He must have spaced out for a second or two as her question jolted him back to the here and now.

>"Have you been sleeping, Richard?"

"Umm, sleep? Ummm.... Hmmmm." Richard furrowed his brow trying to remember when he had actually slept. "Umm... I takes naps to keep up my energy levels." He said, slightly defensively. Just then the chief engineer of one of the groups walked past Maya with a concerned look on his face and whispered to her. "He works himself far too hard miss, try to convince him to rest." He slipped her a hotel room key on the table then continued past. Truth be told Richard had been overworking himself, he did have a tendency to do that.
But there was a time limit to this project and he was determined to at least get a working prototype by then end of it. He often put the needs of others before himself. Sometimes to his detriment. Some of the engineers had given him the nickname "Mr Responsible". He was not overbearing, oh no, always eager to help but perhaps overworked himself a little.

"So what do you think of the prototype? Want to give it a try?" Richard asked Maya. Slurring the words ever so slightly due to wearyness. He seemed to rock occasionly from side to side.

Maya was surprised at the fondness behind the words of the whispered conversation from Richard's aide. It was funny now that she'd thought he was a pervert when they first met. Now, as she looked around at the privacy curtains and all the jointed pieces her friends were playing with, it was impossible to make that same mistake.

She squeezed her hand around the key card. "I'll get him there." Honestly, with how out of it Richard was, they probably could have just talked in front of him, no cloak or dagger necessary. Still, just in case, Maya made her voice carry away from Richard to the aide. The guy gave her a thumbs up. Between his assistants and the other elementals, work was getting done here.

This would be so much easier if he didn't have pride. She could just make him pass out and carry him on a breeze. As it was...

Maya let her knees buckle in front of Richard. Dramatic? Sure. But from what little Ghost had observed, Richard couldn't realize that he was too tired to be here. But he wouldn't hesitate to go out of his way to help.

"Sorry. Just... not sleeping well these days."

In all his interactions with Maya/Ghost, Richard had to admit that drama and sudden events were never far behind. Still a lady in need is a lady in need. He hurried to catch her as her knees buckled. she urmered something about not sleeping.

"Goodness me, lets get you to where you can rest. Mark can you take over for a bit, I am going to to take Maya to one of the Hotel rooms to rest. If you need me you have my cell number. You have the list of things and I will text you any further ideas we have. I really think that we should go the non jointed route. Or at least put say 80% of effort in that direction."

Mark yelled back a "Yes yes...Will do!"

Was he imagining things or did Mark wink as Ghost? And what were those looks that some of the research team were giving each other and Maya? Regardless Maya needed rest and away from the press. He also had a sneaking suspicion that Mark was using some of his hacking knowledge to filter calls to his cell as his cell had been suspiciously quiet ever since they started the challenge. Speaking of which much progress was being made. Now that the team had the regular input of the air manipulators or whatever they choose to call themselves they were refining ideas. Most of them preferred a mainly hollowed structure, something liken to the internal structure of avian skeletons. They had also helped settle the dispute on which route to take. One train of thought was to create something like a suite of armor all joints, another train of thought was to create something like a latex suit glued together in places or printed in one piece, by altering the composition of the plastic in different areas they could achieve the same functionality. The air manipulators had gone for the second idea. So now with the direction decided the team were scrambling to get checklist items completed.

• Determine number of sub-components that make up the suite
• Determine if the suit can be printed in one piece
• Categorize the different material properties of each section and sub-section of the suit
• Start printing further prototypes for testing    
  
• Analyse and compare effectiveness of different manufacturing techniques for suit components
• Start full body scans of testers and detailed scans of various body segments
• Designate teams for main areas (Head, Hands, Feet etc)

If Richard were to be honest to with himself his next statement was a little hypocritical but it needed to be said. "Maya you should rest more and take care of yourself. I heard you have a son, how is he doing?" They reached the hotel room in question. There were two double beds. Richard helped Maya into one and said "I might grab a quick nap as well." He had barely finished the sentence when he fell fast asleep.

Holy cow, he was quick to suggest the hotels. And again, Maya realized just how jaded she'd become when she suspected him of trickery. She was the one tricking him. She had the key card and the request from his aide. She'd slept just fine last night. At least no worse than usual.

She was quiet for their whole trip. Richard was, no doubt, focusing on the task at hand. Maya was feeling guilty and trying to make sure Richard stayed awake and supported by subtly altering the air around him. She used a light touch here and there until she was sure she'd constructed a sort of safety net around him.

It wasn't until he spoke to her that she realized she'd been staring around him.

"You're right." Though she did hope he would take his own advice, here. "My son is 3 years old. He's hanging out with Grandpa at Xavier's Sister School today." She babbled about his exploits just to fill the space as they walked to the hotel room. Rowan's current obsession was sunflowers. How tall they grew, how you could eat the seeds, and how the flowers faces tracked the sun. He probably knew more about sunflowers than any other 3 year old Maya had ever met and that was saying something since she often dropped her kid off in a classroom full of them.

Either Richard was too tired to notice that Maya had a key to get in, or it just didn't matter to him once he saw an available space to sleep. He all but passed out. Which was good because Maya had been psyching herself up to make him pass out if he didn't at least try to rest some.

The elemental sat on the empty bed across from Richard with a huge sigh. "What am I going to do with you?" There was no tea to make here. Nothing to tidy, really. Perhaps she should leave him a note and get back to the testing area? That sounded like a good idea.

Maya scrounged up a pad and a pen and made her apology. She tried to position the paper just so near Richard's face so that the tech wizard couldn't possibly miss it.

{OCC hope you don't mind the time jump, let me know if you want to edit}

The conversation to the hotel room was a blur to Richard. He wondered if Maya had used her
powers to get him to the room, he vaguely recalled feeling cushions of air or things that felt like he was leaning on way too many shoulders. Richard woke refreshed and returned to work having learnt the lesson that perhaps, just perhaps he should rest a little more. It was surprising the amount of fresh inspiration one could get when one slept a little more. He was starting to get to know Ghost over the days, he enjoyed hearing about her son upon which she clearly dotted and looked forward to meeting him one day.

It was almost a week and a half into the two week challenge and things were looking up. Firstly they had a prototype suit up and running. Not just body parts but a whole suite. True, it was currently a bit stiff so the movements were a little jerky but it was amazing progress. It was also true that all the suits looked like faceless rubber zombies that would not have looked out of place in a zombie horror film but then again this was science and in this case form followed function. If they got the material properties right individual companies could spend as long as they wanted to in perfecting just the right look. Another thing that had stemmed off the success of Richards group, as it had become known, despite Richard's vehement protests, was that other groups wanted to attempt similar things, it was like the two week Tech convention had suddenly become a nursery for startups. Much to the delight of many the Technology Convention had now turned into a year long experiment called "Technology Startup Joint Initiative" or TSJI for short. Not all things were rosy however. Since it was Richard and his group who essentially started this, they got a lot of attention. It wasn't that publicity was bad it was just that Richard did not necessarily want much publicity, it was a necessary evil to obtain funding but other than that he found it a bit overwhelming. he just wasted to help people and invent things. Now it seemed like he had temporarily become some soft of celebrity and he disliked it. It tended to distract from work and waste time. Of course one could never say such things on camera.

Today was three days from the two week deadline and three days from when the air manipulators would fly back to return to their jobs. There was a new batch of suits that should be ready for them. As Richard entered the convention center, he thought he detected a different vibe in the air. There seemed to b e a large number of people wondering around with a different attitude than the usual. Richard considered that inconsequential. There was *groan* another press meeting today and even though one scheduled things, the media always seemed to want to corner him for "exclusives" or to ask about things. As Richard made his way towards the research area a number of reporters and cameramen rushed forward to be met firmly and politely by the security. Richard nodded a thanks and kept moving towards his safe haven, his work area. Suddenly there was a commotion, Richard turned in time to see a baseball bat rapidly descending towards his face. Instinctively he raised his left hand to ward off the blow. It was successful but he heard a "Crack" sound a lance of pain erupted from his left arm. He gasped and stumbled back only to be pushed from behind towards someone that Richard could only describe as "punk". In the background he could hear shouts of what sounded like "Bird watchers attack!" and "Beat the Mutie Lovers!".

Richard was in shock, as such his mind detachedly noticed details, like the stench of the punk's breath, the scar over one eye when he blinked. "What are you lookin at, Mutie lover?" the punk growled. Richard, his mind blank just said what was on his mind. "Your breath...it stinks." The punk moved and Richard felt a fiery burst of pain in his chest. He had just been stabbed. He fell back the dagger still embedded in his chest below the heart. He suddenly began to find it harder and harder to breathe as his left lung began to collapse and fill with blood. As he was falling back it felt as though he was gently caught by invisible arms mid fall. Around him the background sounds changed. he idly noted the ring of camera-phones that had sprouted from the onlookers. He also idly wondered if he would get to see what happened when air manipulators got mad. "Do't kill them... please." he whispered as his world turned grey.

"Only 3 more days of this circus."

While Ghost understood the sentiment, she would miss her friends. It had been a strangely tight-knit community, that future compound where her Majesty the Queen had collected the world's Air Elementals in order to jump start the collapsed jet stream. "You'll have to write."

"There's still 3 more days, ya'll."

"Yeah. Ease up on the sap."

"Love you too." Wendy opened the familiar door like she had so many other days that week. With the elementals all engaged in conversation and the tech team scrambling around just inside the doors.

"Run!" A small stream of people brushed past including someone with a microphone. Her cameraman booked past the now open doorway and they stopped to set up at their now safer distance.

"Wha-?"

"Reporting live from the Tech Joint Initiative, this just in. Attackers revealing themselves to be Bird Hunters have—"

Ghost didn't wait around to hear any more, she just rushed in with her flip-flops slapping the tile floor in a weird echo of the attack she heard from inside the throng of people ahead.

"Protect the civilians!"

That's right! Strike had been X-Force. The European X team! She could trust him to take care of the crowd. "I could kiss you!" But she was already incorporeal and slipping through the scrum of bodies. She hit her X communicator, alerting her team that she needed back up ASAP. It would probably turn up too late, but...

Ghost sent a sharp gust at a man with a baseball bat, throwing him back and away from his huddled prey. It was difficult to see who was bad and who was just panicked. There were cameras everywhere, ready for the press conference that had been... about to start? She guessed.

> "Beat the Mutie Lovers!"

"Nuh-uh!" She was fury. She was wind. Ghost slammed a small group of attackers back with a broad stroke of wind. They had to lean in against it to keep their footing and so when she dropped the force, all three of them overbalanced and fell forward onto their faces. "There will be no beating. I would like to refer you to the inbound police officers." She used a strong gust to pick up one man who had a knife in hand. He was deposited at the top of a crane arm on the manufacturing floor. With no safe way down, that should suffice for now.

"RICHARD!" Someone screamed.

Richard? Ghost cast around for her new friend, but without physical sight, she could not identify him in the few people who were left scrambling around. She started to come into her weight slowly, touching down onto her toes first and ending in a fighting stance.

She hadn't predicted that the Bird Hunters were waiting for that exact moment.

"She's solid!"

"Pile on!"

One man threw himself at her and she stumbled back, using wind to deflect his path. She stumbled right into a pair of restraining arms.

"He's been stabbed!"

Stabbed? Richard?

Someone hit her in the gut, bringing her focus back to the fight. She had to get to Richard. Ghost felt the hairs on her arms stand up. "No!" She coughed and sent a sharp uppercut of wind to knock back the man who had hit her. "Strike! Th- Machines!" She struggled between shouting and breathing. Both couldn't happen at the same time and she needed them to. Emmanuel either didn't hear her or it was too late.

Lightning struck the man who had hit Ghost, blinding her momentarily. It arched around the man's body, bouncing between his teeth as he screamed.

Someone punched her face hard enough to break her eye contact away from the sizzling man. She was dazed and sagged against the man who held her. They were trying to pull her away from the scene, and as much as they seemed to know about her power, they sure didn't realize that they couldn't hold her anywhere that wasn't airtight.

She was heaved up toward the open back of the van and poof like magic she just wasn't there any more.

Ghost shoved the lot of them toward their own open back of the van. Anyone that she had not stranded up high, she also shoved toward the vehicle. She allowed them to slam the doors shut once they were inside and burn rubber. Then she hit the van with a perpendicular force that was hard enough to rock the van onto two wheels. It helped that she wasn't the only air elemental who'd blasted the thing.

The vehicle tipped, tires spinning fruitlessly in the air.

Good enough for now.

"Keep them contained?" She wasn't sure who she was asking, but she was sure they all heard. Someone would.

Ghost reformed slowly near a crouching group and was sad to see Richard at the center of it. "Ambulance?"

"Already on the way."

There was an awful lot of blood. Hands were working to put pressure on the wound(s)?, but it was the wheezing that bothered Ghost most. She sat tailor-fashion next to him and put her hand on his chest and closed her eyes. If she hadn't been intimately aware of how air passed through the lungs and into the body, this never would have worked. As it was, she had her work cut out for her by doing this from the outside of his skin. She just didn't think Richard would have approved of her possessing his body, even in an emergency.

She worked carefully to re-inflate the collapsed lung while someone repeated "Hold on. Hold on. Hold on." under their breath.

Richard's world was turning grey and kept annoyingly slipping in and out of focus. There was also his hearing, it seemed to keep switching on and off like it was some digital device.

*Grey* A group of attackers got slammed back then fell forward. *Grey* The man holding the knife intent on ending Richard life was suddenly picked up by an invisible hand and deposited high and far out of sight. Suddenly he caught sight of Ghost becoming solid again, this time with no wardrobe malfunction. Idly he wondered why that thought popped into his head. He suddenly thought of sunflowers and wondered if he would get to see her son. *Grey* A flash of lightening struck the group of people piling on Ghost. Wait, when was Ghost under attack? Who would attack his friend. Richard struggled to get up, each breath a fiery lance, his world turned very grey and started to turn black. Why were his limbs so weak? He looked down, an action that seemed to take an age. Red? What? Bleeding? There was the sound of someone doing something rather bad to a Van? Car? Vehicle? Then Maya's face loomed over Richard. She looked like she was shining, her face looked beautiful, it was the most beautiful thing Richard had seen, it was like an angel. Was the angel trying to say something. The mouth was moving but no words. Hand, holding his, warm hand. comforting. He tried to grip with with all his strength. It ended up being a weak and feeble attempt. What was there so little oxygen in the air, the world went dark.

Then came back as it felt as if someone was taking his lung and treating it like a balloon, it was expanding and contracting but not in sync with him breathing, it was an... odd sensation. He refused to let go of the hand he was holding. It turned out to be Maya's, sadly she seemed to have lost her glow. "Your halo? It's gone." Whispered Richard. The last sight he saw was being loaded into a vehicle. It was white.

She could have gotten out at any time. She did, for short periods. For surgery. For bathroom breaks. For food. Otherwise, she let him hold her hand. Everyone needed someone to hold when they were hurting and until some family showed up Maya intended to be that somebody.

Would this have happened if she hadn't run into him at that convention? What if she'd never bothered with coffee? Was her life worth his? The questions were her burden until he woke up.

Rowan balanced precariously on the arm of Maya's pleather, placid beige hospital chair. Mommy's knee was not a safe place to sit any more. Sometimes it was like it wasn't there. Sometimes his legs got in the way, and she couldn't hold all of him any more. He was getting that big.

"That one's a C. Uhm... A? P!"

"That's a T, hun." Rowan held a picture book between their crowded faces. "So what's that say?"

"It's a cat."

"I mean the word. You just looked at the picture."

"But it's a cat. He says meow, mom. Right from his kitty lips."

Maya rolled her lips together, not sure what to do with his straight face and honest admission. That wasn't the point. But.... well... "You're right. You're so right. What about the other page?"

Something, a small movement or noise made Rowan look up at the man who'd been sleeping in the hospital bed. Maya's hand stretched between their chair to the bed. It was the tether she offered to the man who'd taken a heck of a stabbing for no logical reason that Maya could discern.

"Is he sleeping?"

> "Your halo? It's gone."

A smile warmed Maya's face. "No, sweety. He's not sleeping anymore. Can you hit the nurse call button? The red one, right there?" The elemental helped the kiddo down and moved to close the distance between herself and the man in the bed who'd warmed her hand for the last few days.

"Halo, Richard?" She grabbed the water cup and offered him a sip. "They must have you on the good stuff."

The world slowly swam back into focus.
>"Hello, Richard? They must have you on the good stuff."
"But you were glowing and everything, you looked beautiful..." Richard trailed off as he brain slowly spun up to speed and cogniscence returned to him. Realizing what he had just said he gratefully accepted the proffered water as a distraction to the colour that rose in his cheeks. It was a delight to his parched throat. In the corner a TV was showing new reports. There was footage of Ghost.. Maya and the other elementals fighting and then the X-men coming on scene. He turned to her. "Thank you for saving my life. I.." his words were interrupted as the camera showed some of the Bird Hunters being dragged away. One was asked why he stabbed an innocent scientist.

"Innocent? He was helping a mutant under government investigation, Government Investigation, he, they were all helping criminals, whats to say they aren't all in it together. Let this be a message if anyone body helps mutants, criminal mutants" He spat the word out. "They are fair game, they all deserve to die" he yelled as he was dragged away. The camera switched to a photo of Richard and talking about him. Richard switched it off. There was an awkward silence. Richard racked his brain for something to say, something to hopefully distract Ghost from the fact that a Bird Hunter had just said in essence that Richard had been stabbed for simply helping Maya.

"Umm, oh I never got to tell you that we have a full suite ready for you to try on. We can do that tomorrow. With today wasted there is only tomorrow and the next day before you all have to go. There is still so much to do before then." Richard sounded a little sad, he was, he had immensely enjoyed working with the elementals. Despite his protestations he was also getting a little famous at the Tech Convention, so much so that with the agreement with Firebird Industries he was due to split his time between work at Firebird and at the convention center helping startups and managing projects. But back to the present. From the look on Maya's face she needed more distracting. "Is that your son?" Richard said waving and smiling at the young dark skinned child.

Looked beautiful? As in, she didn't look beautiful any more? Ghost let that one slip through the cracks since he was on pain medication and properly embarrassed already. No point in trapping him in a girlsplanation that he didn't even need.

She only smiled and welcomed Rowan over into the circle of her free arm when Richard thanked her. Really. She would have done it for anyone. But that probably wasn't what he wanted to hear right at this moment. Ghost freed her hand from Richard's finally. Now that he was awake... well, he was awake. He would be alright.

Rowan watched the television intently. "You trapped the bad guys! I like the part when you used your special powers. It's so cool, mom. They were trapped like cshhhg." The kiddo made a cage with his hands. Thankfully he was focusing mostly on the "cool" parts of the story. Words like investigation and FBI didn't mean a whole lot to a 3-and-a-half year old.

But there was something to add after he'd switched off the television. "They're pressing charges against Emmanuel. For electrocuting that guy. The uhm... Bird Hunter? I think is what they're called? Anyway, the guy's in the hospital with burns and an arrhythmia. Emmanuel is in custody."

"When I grow up, I want to be a trapper. Like you, mom."

Ghost ran her hand along Rowan's head ruffling his hair between her fingers. His skin was a dusty and unnatural kind of gray. His ears seemed to be both larger and slowly as he grew migrating upward on his head. His nose... well, it was the most obvious part about him that screamed "mutant." The tip of his noes was dark and moist. Dog nose.

"Who knows what the future holds, Ro? This is the part where I tell you to stay in school and listen to your teachers. If you want to be a good trapper, that is."

> "Umm, oh I never got to tell you that we have a full suite ready for you to try on..."

Rowan got pulled close enough for a kiss on the forehead. "First, you need to focus on healing up. If you so much as try to get out of this bed, you'll have a professional trapper to keep you here."

And Ghost smirked as Rowan shouted the line they'd rehearsed while Richard had been resting. "Get better, sleepy head!" And then became absorbed with the remote control that Richard had abandoned. He fiddled with the back panel where the batteries were held.

"I don't know how much I can make sure things are taken care of on your behalf, but I'll do the testing. Even beyond that, Richard, I live here in the city. If this project continues to be your baby, so long as I'm available I will consider myself on call for you."

Ghost took the remote casually out of Rowan's hands when he managed to open the battery panel. He let out a little cry of "aww" when she set it on the other side of the bed out of his reach.

> "Is that your son?"

Oh. She completely took it for granted that Richard didn't know who she'd invited into his room.

"Mister Richard Bent please meet my son Rowan Csendes."

"Nice to meet you hands!" The kid offered his hand for the shaking.