Devon winced when May cried out. Damn it. Why had she run into it? He didn't want to hurt her, but he did want to free her. Could she not see it? Devon was about to reach out and try to support her when she inhaled sharply. Devon knew that feeling; it helped settle him often, especially as he could watch the tiny currents of air around him.

Well, Maya's affect was a lot stronger and far more interesting. Everything swirled and shifted, moving through the fence, the ground... She was affecting other materials and not just her. That was quite impressive. Devon would have marveled had she not taken off through the maze.

Tempest immediately straightened and gathered what shifting winds around him he could, but Ghost's stronger control made pushing against the current she created difficult. It was all going one way, as she and what she'd change with her, toward the end.

Gasoline or some other chemical, Devon wasn't certain by the smell, filled the air. How had she cut the flamethrowers? "Wow," Devon couldn't help but mutter as he ran, dodging and flicking his hands out to push aside fire or chemical.

Of course, he hadn't rushed. As Ghost reached the out the system immediately began to power down. "Mission complete. Training exercise complete," it echoed through the room. The tethers began to contract as did the guns. The broken, partially missing tether and fence line got caught in the closing compartment. Devon stopped abruptly then took back off toward Maya.

"I'm deeply sorry," Devon started. "What do you need?"

"Mission complete" didn't mean Maya reformed herself. In fact, she let her form drop until she was an amorphous puddle of pouting cloud. She watched the room, wary, and Devon as he continued to run through it.

The room tidied itself. Or, it tried to anyway. They'd ruined a bit of fence together. That probably meant it was in her cloud and that she should sort it out. Ugh. Going solid again was going to suuuuuuck.

So, what did she need? "I should drop all the things that aren't me. When I form up to solid again, there's a chance I'd incorporate it into my body." If she hadn't already. But as for active action items? "I don't know... how much can you see air? Or differentiate between the types?" He at least saw it a bit differently since he'd pulled rain from air easier than she'd ever dreamed was possible. "Maybe if you supervised, you could see what doesn't belong and take it out. I don't feel right now, like this. But I will again."

There was, of course, one humongous elephant that Maya was not addressing in the room.

Clothes.

Technically, those weren't part of her body.

She'd need to drop those too.

Wait, was something dripping? From his arm? "Are you hurt?" The little cloud asked, as if clouds spoke every day.

Devon was listening to the ghostly form, the cloudy collection of Maya closely. He'd already forgotten the havoc the barbed tethers had done to him. Two long scratches marred his arm, blood dripping freely along it. His hand had a couple ripped puncture wounds as well. They stung but somehow the rain dulled it. It'd hurt plenty in a couple minutes.

"Me? Yeah, I thought you were caught on the electrical line so I knocked down one post as I ripped at the tether, but I guess that only hurt both of us," Devon sighed. "Not important though, we need to get you clear."

He straightened his back and stepped away, his eyes still black with power. He studied her, it, all that was milling about in the faint breeze stirring in the room. The rain was easing off, the humidity dropping but thankfully the rain impacting the various other items in the cloud of Maya did help pick different aspects apart. "I see the weather, all of it. It's beautiful really, but I bet you know that already. Your cloud is quite beautiful too and while I can't see different kind of elements readily, I do see interactions to rain and wind currents easier, all the atmospheric pressure, so..."

It was more what didn't belong then what was what and her. She was a cloud and the debris were hail stones that needed to fall. Tempest also considered how careful he'd have to be with wind manipulation while she was around and incorporeal.

He inhaled deeply and focused, watching her. "If I create currents of air that interact with you, actual parts of you, will you be able to tell? Because then if I blow away what doesn't appear to be you and you start to feel any actual corporeal reaction that'd help me as well. I can point out at least what's floating differently," Tempest explained.

"Oh no. I can't afford to lose any more mass. I can't risk you blowing a part of me away like that."

He inspected her. She should have been used to it by now considering all the specialists and healers, acupuncturists and other mutants Maya had already asked for help. Still she managed to be embarrassed. Maybe because of all those previous consults. She knew better than Mr. Devon how this would end up.

"Honestly, after a certain point, anyone could try to pull the pieces out so long as you can see where they are. Just... uh. Well, I'm asking you to look to try to hedge my bets. I can preemptively strip out everything I can, but I don't think... I mean, that hurt. And at some point I'll start to feel that again. And that halfway point is when I'm malleable and things that are stuck would need to be removed." Did he get it yet? Was she being clear enough?

Maya formed her cloud into something more like her body's shape and felt along her feet for her shoes. A chunk of flooring fell out of the ether, discarded as soon as Maya realized it was there and unattached. "So. Uhh. Let me drop everything I can." Her shoe followed. One moment, it was a wisp of gaseous material and as soon as it was no longer in contact with her hand, it was just a shoe again: solid and real.

Two shoes, a skirt, one shirt, and a small heap of underthings later Maya was ready to get this over with or die of embarrassment.

"Sorry... to ask you to do this. I can form up and go find the Mansion's healer instead. It'd be surgery at that point, but it wouldn't be the first time." She was decent enough as a cloud lady since the details were somewhat up to her, but things were about to get more corporeal. Either option was going to hurt.

"Oh no. I can't afford to lose any more mass. I can't risk you blowing a part of me away like that."

"Ah okay, I won't blow you," Tempest said quickly. He had no desire to worry Ghost or hurting her as she tried to reform. He already felt bad enough for whatever ripping away the tether had done to her. She explained it all a little more clearly for him thankfully.

"Yep, I got it. I'll grab whatever doesn't belong." Otherwise he nodded as she explained, watching carefully. It was very interesting to see the air suddenly shift, pushed out and sucked in by expanding mass or dropped items. There were chunks of concrete, a wedge of metal, a bit of tether, a shoe...

Why was she dropping her clothes?

"Sorry... to ask you to do this. I can form up and go find the Mansion's healer instead. It'd be surgery at that point, but it wouldn't be the first time."

"Yeah, no problem." They had a healer? Was it a mutant healing ability? That was amazing. Devon smiled encouragingly but he guessed he was about to learn more about Maya than he'd ever expected to when he met her earlier. Ah well, nudity was normal and there was no need to make her feel uncomfortable. Devon was a fan of the natural, skyclad ways of many older religions but that was also usually a choice they made voluntarily. It didn't usually come as a need to become solid again.

"I'll help, but take it slow and remember to breathe. We'll get this sorted out," he nodded again, his tone as calm and even as ever.

It was good that her expression was not easily discernible and that she was somewhat monochromatic because Maya was dying of mortification already and nothing was technically showing yet. Maybe she should fish out her phone. But how to say 'Hey honey I'm about to get naked. Don't worry it'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you?' without raising alarm bells...? He was probably already freaking out that she was coming home late after spending time at the Sanctuary.

Hoo. Maya shook out her hands which meant her loosely associated form just got blurry at the ends of her arms until she quit moving again. Take it slow, Mr. Devon suggested. Okay. She could do that.

"I backed into it." So she turned her back toward Mr. Devon. Okay. There really was nothing more she could do to put this off. That was the best and safest way to get home unmarked.

She pulled herself together piece by piece. The more that the air condensed, the more weight she had. The more weight she had, the more clearly her shape was defined.

White hair. Long torso. Pale skin with the barest blush that was marred by distinctive lines of metal and a bit of fabric tucked behind. That would be pieces of her shirt and the barbed, electrified wires she'd run into.

Around the time that she had enough weight to touch down onto the ground, the last course of electricity made it's way through her body. But now, she was no longer completing a circuit. There was no fresh electricity being introduced. It made her tense uncontrollably, same as before, but now it would pass like a taser shot. It was just a matter of staying still and maintaining her partially incorporeal state so that Devon could work.

Tempest had little worry for electrical charges at least the more common mundane ones or taser fire. As Maya's pale form made contrast with the starkness of her white hair, the electrically charge bits of metal and stuck shirt became clearer in her flesh. He'd already seen the somethings floating in the air different than the cohesiveness of what was her corporeal nude form.

He picked at them quickly, but delicately, as he was eager to get each piece but careful in what he pulled or pushed away. Each time he'd say where there piece was "your left shoulder" or "near the bottom of your back" and he apologized as he reached nearly into her to pull them out. This wasn't meant to be sexual or intimate, and the idea of barbs of metal in another's flesh made it anything but. Any military individual would tell you that in the face of danger and service, nudity became irrelevant. Closeness and trust became of vital importance. Devon and May had survived an out of whack training sequence, the danger was over, but hopefully trust had formed.

Still, Devon didn't want her to feel any more uncomfortable or pained than she already was. Indeed there was at least one piece that was arguably part of her glutes. He apologized as he drew that bit of wire, metal, and cloth from her.

"I believe I've got them all, some were still charged weren't they?" Devon asked, his voice touched by concern. "I'm sorry. I'm going to make sure this is all shut down, locked down. No more accidental programs."

"I'll turn so you can dress," he added and did so. The rain had ceased but the water still dripped from his hair, his clothes, and his wounds. Hopefully there was a floor drain...

She tried to appreciate the favor that Mr. Devon was doing for her. If she went home hurt, if she went home with metal specifically, Maya was sure she wouldn't be able to stop Cafas from coming down here and making a mess of this fragile dream that Mr. Devon was pursuing.

So the buzzing in her teeth, the muscle clinching, the weird half'n'half semi-corporeal state that was like holding her breath? She dealt with it. She held onto herself, hands on elbows, and let Mr. Devon work without comment and with as little sound or movement as she could manage.

That didn't mean that it didn't hurt. Or that the wires, once fully corporeal and detached, didn't come with a little flesh and blood. She had been foolish in assuming that there wasn't anything for her to fear in a simulation. Energy just didn't register the same to her. She considered this a lesson learned.

> "I believe I've got them all... I'm going to make sure this is all shut down..."

"Just needs safety protocols." The likes of which were probably in place already. Maya hated to harbor suspicion, but she had a strong inkling that Lisa had a hand in today's happenings. Nobody liked looking foolish in front of the boss. "Don't shut it down entirely. People need a safe place to test their limits."

Mr. Devon did the gentlemanly thing and turned around, but Maya wasn't feeling incredibly solid. She hadn't quite made it all the way back to corporeality and it was less exhausting to just give up all sensation and be a cloud.

Also, the rain had pretty well soaked into her pile of things.

She sank into incorporeality with a sigh.

"This probably concludes the tour of your own building." It was easier to sound cheerful when she no longer hurt. "I know you offered me dinner and I don't want to be rude, but could I get a rain check on that?"

"Don't shut it down entirely. People need a safe place to test their limits."

Devon kept his back turned as he replied. "Maybe some after I know they'll be safe and they'll actually get some benefit from it. A form of therapy perhaps and a way to gain some control, but I don't want a criminal organization rising from this place again. It's not right, creating a lot of danger for the people here," he sighed. "From the sounds of it the Order was itself dangerous."

He waited patiently otherwise.

"This probably concludes the tour of your own building." It was easier to sound cheerful when she no longer hurt. "I know you offered me dinner and I don't want to be rude, but could I get a rain check on that?"

"Yeah, thanks. I wonder if Lisa is trying to maintain some sort of plausible deniability, but I do think it's more she's somehow not allowed or compelled not to disclose that kind of information," Devon said though he still didn't turn around. "And a rain check is fine, considering. I'd appreciate getting dinner somewhere out. We could talk outside of this place and I'd enjoy your company," Devon smiled, "and your perspective. Heck, I don't have many actual friends in the city yet."

Devon meant that too. He'd met quite a few at school or here at Sanctuary, but he was still alone too often. He was a little worried his birthday was going to be- Best not to dwell on such thoughts though. He knew where that took him.

"The Order was dangerous because they did whatever they wanted consequences be damned." Maybe they'd been labeled "order" as a sort of ironic name? Maya used her power to poke at her things. Picking them up was probably not an option.

'I'd appreciate getting dinner somewhere out.' sounded a bit... well... like an offer of a date.

"I'd love to introduce you to my boyfriend. Or maybe the other team members at the Mansion. Seriously. I'll see what I can get together." She had his contact info on a business card and her phone was... uhh. Maybe in that pile of discarded clothing, the ones that were all wet. Actually, wasn't the business card in there too?

Sigh. It was her own fault on that one.

> "Heck, I don't have many actual friends in the city yet."

"And that won't last long. I guarantee it." She did her best to use her power to scoop up her things. Now that she'd remembered what all was in there, she wasn't leaving it behind. There was an X communicator too. She'd hate for it to be tripped and lead the X's into the Sanctuary's basement. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Devon. I'll see you around."

Yep. Just a little cloud and a small cyclone of items. No big deal. Time to go home and crash.

"The Order was dangerous because they did whatever they wanted consequences be damned."

"Doesn't sound like an Order to me, more like an anarchist band then," Devon concluded. He'd find more details on them and the attacks on/near the Sanctuary in time. It didn't need to be all at once but he was going to be sure to unite those hear against such dangers.

"I'd love to introduce you to my boyfriend. Or maybe the other team members at the Mansion. Seriously. I'll see what I can get together."

Devon still hadn't turned, but his smile brightened. He figured she had a boyfriend. Had she said something upstairs about such? No, that was an old boyfriend right... In the taxi maybe? Ah well, whatever. He'd meant he wanted to get out, do other things, meet other people but he recognized why she mentioned the boyfriend.

"And that won't last long. I guarantee it."

"That sounds great," he said cheerfully, though it was a forced tone as he tried to encourage the endearment. Meeting more of the X-Men would likely be intimidating. It's possible they'd want to check him out for running Sanctuary by the way she spoke of the Order. "Ah yes," he continued as she said goodbye.

Turning and seeing her a floating cloud of items, Devon's smile faltered slightly. "It was good to meet you too, Maya. Please, text or call me to let me know you got home okay. I feel rather responsible," he nodded and then proceeded after her, ensuring she could get upstairs and out.

Then he'd talk to Lisa.