(OOC: Continued from A Snake in the Garden. )

Neena stood in the open doorway, looking in at the mess that was the Headmistress’s Office. Shattered window, scattered papers, broken door…. It looked like a mini tornado had blown through. Yet another remodeling project to be undertaken.

But it was all surface damage. Nothing a bit of spit and polish couldn’t fix. The real damage had yet to be realized.

Several of the Infirmary nurses had began making rounds almost immediately after the initial Pain Wave faded. The majority of the kids and other residents were unharmed, save for a few random accidents. Like one of the electric elementals shorting out everything electronic in her room, as well as two up and down the line and across the hall from her. Rumors had already started circulating, everything from another Registration raid to alien invasion. Oddly enough that last one was accompanied by a claim to have seen a half-frozen body floating down the hallway, knocking pictures off of the wall.

Her frown deepened. She’d stopped into the Infirmary long enough to be sure Garrett was alive and being taken care of, but not long enough to learn the extent of his injuries. The looks on Ghost’s face, and the Doc’s, didn’t inspire confidence.

What had happened?? When they had worked together that morning, she’d caught a glimpse of Garrett’s capabilities. Yes, they were potentially dangerous. So were umpteen mutations out there. However, she recalled his own pain when they’d stopped. Had she pushed him too far, pushed him over the edge somehow? There was the possibility, surely. And she knew that she wasn’t always the best judge of character. But surely only a loss in sanity could have changed the young man’s temperament so drastically! She just had a hard time reconciling such a deliberately violent attack with such a usually meek persona. Judging from Ghost’s exclamations near the briar patch, she didn’t believe it either.

Their shadowy intruder. He was the key to this mess, somehow. But she was just too exhausted to figure out how. Aarrgh!

She scrubbed wearily at her face, and winced. Oh yeah. Some of those thorn scratches were pretty deep, and still bleeding. Looking down, she realized that her shredded clothes were border-lining indecency as well. Plus she felt as if the subway had drilled a new tunnel through her head and body.

All right, one last stop, then she’d start getting things fixed up. She could rest later. She pulled one of the still-groggy teachers aside, charged him with covering the window and door in the office, and making sure no one went in before she did.

”And wear gloves,” she told him. ”I don’t want you leaving your fingerprints everywhere.”

”What?” He looked at her in an almost offended manner. Understandable, considering the unorganized floozy Neena often presented as.

”I don’t mean your fingerprints. I mean everyone’s.” She shook her head at him. ”Just…. humor me, Arnie. Please.” She sighed, and headed back up the stairs toward the Infirmary.

(OOC: Next evening.)

Although a tad peeved that she’d slept so long, Neena had to admit that twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep did wonders in restoring mind and body. Dinner had drawn near by the time she finally made her way back toward the Office. She was decently dressed this time in her ‘mission outfit’. It consisted of a black, kevlar-lined, fitted bodysuit with numerous pockets, both obvious and hidden, a thin black utility belt around her waist, a pair of extra thin black gloves, boots that resembled soft-soled ballet slippers, and a special pair of sunglasses with a black matte finish on the outer lenses.

Her fellow teacher had complied, and covered the doorway with black plastic bags and taped it closed. She carefully peeled away the covering and slipped in, replacing the tape as much as possible, then paused just inside. Slowly she scanned the room, first from her position and then by moving about, committing every single detail to memory.

With that finished, she pulled a small, tictac-type container from her belt, as well as a small metal wand. She popped the top with one hand, and shook some of the fine looking powder onto the metal. Holding the wand over the desk, she began tapping with her fingers, depositing the dark powder over the various materials. She continued the shake-tap-deposit maneuver on the rest of the desk, then moved on. She switched back and forth between several colors of magnetic powder in the process, until any surfaces that might have been touched during the fight the night before were lightly dusted, including their intruder’s discarded cloak.

Replacing the tools, she moved carefully to the center of the room. She blinked, and like a camera shutter opening, one of her least used sights activated. The room lit up in a myriad of colored fingerprints as she access the ultraviolet spectrum, allowing her to see a fourth dimension of color. Again she scanned the room slowly, memorizing it. Then she moved in closer careful not to touch or move anything. With one eye she began taking mental photographs of the individual fingerprints, while she used the other to match them up with the ones she already had stored. She could have done so from where she was, simply by also activating telescoping vision as well. But because ultraviolet light could be as damaging to her eyes as direct sunlight, she opted for single focus. It made the process tedious and time-consuming, but ultimately spared her sensitive orbs.

Finally she straightened and stretched, until she felt a satisfying pop! in her lower back. A huge yawn over took her lungs, then left in a deep whoosh! One thing left to do. Once more she methodically went over the room, looking for anything immediately unusual or outstanding. She’d be more detailed later, when she began cleaning and reorganizing. Right now she simply wanted anything glaringly out of place, pun intended.

Satisfied with her information horde, she slipped back outside, and replaced the covering. At last, she headed for the War Room.