If Other Chase was tagged, SUPER would have an easy time tracking him all the way to the school. Gawain was pretty sure that they could not see them in the mirrorworld, but they sure as hell could not keep the kid in there forever.

>>"Usually they have... guns... for bag-and-tags. They try to... aim... where it's hard to reach?... But my skin... is like snakes..."

Jesse swore under her breath. The kid was tagged, and they would need equipment and probably a doctor to solve that problem.

"F*** SUPER" she muttered. Gawain felt the kid - currently his own copy - squeeze his hand.

Think.

"Okay, alright, we'll figure this out" Gawain said "We just need to be off the radar until we have someone to..."

Oh.

"Alright. Yes. This could work. C'mon. Let's go."

They started moving again, Gawain steering them through mirrors in a roundabout way towards the school beyond the rip. Once they crossed to his own universe, he tapped the communicator and made a call.

"Hey. Hi. Uh, long story. We're bringing in a kid. Can you set a mirror up in the DR, and lock the whole place down? We'll need to talk to you when we get there. No, it's fine, it's just... precautions. It'll be fine. I'm bringing two people. And...we'll need the DR for a while. And probably DocProf. Thanks."

"So... you're taking us to the school" Jesse concluded as she followed along "Let's hope this works."

Mirror spoke into a small piece of technology, most of their words an unintelligible code. "DR"? "DocProf"? And again, Mirage spoke of "school". Faux!Gawain looked from Mirror to Mirage, their expression buckling into a frown. As the questions simmered up in his mind, answer arose in the form of borrowed memories. A cavernous metal room, a genial old man, all of this tucked away in a massive brick building. And there were throngs of kids, bustling down the halls. He blinked, gaze prying towards Gawain.

"There aren't other kids in the D.R.," faux!Gawain declared plainly. Perhaps the two mirrorwalkers weren't privy to the finer details of the shapeshifter's power-- or perhaps Mirror was, given their familiarity with the Chase of their universe and his adoptive mother. Faux!Gawain knew that the Danger Room was a secret place, that the children weren't around in, because he'd gleaned the information from Gawain's genetic signature. A sudden fear gripped the child, and his eyes swung towards Mirage. The usually hazel irises had been overcome with fearful tendrils of black.

"Don't leave me alone in there."

If they left him in yet another metal room, it would just be another prison all over again. He could trust Mirage because they'd come back for him. But he couldn't trust these new people. The thought of them... digging the tag out... absolutely terrified the child. What if they just left him there, in that big, cavernous metal room? It'd just be a bigger cell.

His copy was still holding on to Gawain's hand for dear life as they moved through the mirrors. He might have trusted Jesse to get them out, but he definitely did not trust Gawain, despite having done the actual rescuing. He couldn't really blame Seven. He was still just a kid.

>>"There aren't other kids in the D.R. Don't leave me alone in there."

Gawain blinked and paused, and so did Jesse.

"What did you just..."

"Wait. Are you reading my mind?" Gawain stared, stunned. Not that he had anything to hide, but psychics freaked him out. And he definitely did not want Seven to see something that would make him even more uncomfortable. Jesse placed a hand on her doppelganger's shoulder. "He's scared" she whispered.

Gawain took a deep breath, and make sure the mirror they were standing in was in a safe place.

"The DR is like a big gym. Except it's underground. Students go there to practice their powers. I am taking you there because it will shield your tracker until we can turn it off. So SUPER won't find you. Okay? And Ms. Taylor is waiting for us there. She... she's kind of everyone's mom. She's nice. She'll help you settle."

"We won't leave you alone. I promise." Jesse nodded. She knew that she could only walk into the DR as far as there was a mirror in it; she would have to trust Gawain and this Ms. Taylor with the rest.

The moment Gemma got the call from Gawain, she headed down to the DR, making sure the schedule was cleared for the day. Students and teachers who had plans there would get notifications, and she made sure to lock the door behind her. Whatever was happening, or whoever Gawain was bringing in, it sounded like it was best the less people knew about it. She used the God Room to set up a full length mirror in the middle of the DR, but left the rest of the space as it was.

The tall woman stood with her arms crossed, standing with the mirror just our of her aura range. Technically, Gawain would be exiting the mirrorworld anyway, but there was no reason to drag him (and whomever he was bringing along) out by adapted force.

Delta Seven balked at the demand, pointedly looking away from Gawain. It wasn't "reading his mind" per se, but he was reading... something. The only thing the human-shifter could manage was a sheepish, "...no?"

He bit his lip. Now they really wouldn't keep him. Mirage spoke softly to Mirror, and Mirror classified what the DR really was-- not a jail, but an... underground training room, so to speak. A place where SUPER couldn't find him. The rest slipped in one ear and out the other. The only thing that mattered was that he couldn't be found. He didn't much care about the "Ms. Taylor", or whoever that was...

They arrived at perhaps the largest mirror they had crossed that evening, which opened into the cavernous room. This... had to be the place... or else Mirror wouldn't have come to a halt, as they did now...

They crossed the threshold, the crisp and drafty air of the DR rising to meet faux!Gawain. A shiver ran over him. It was much bigger than Gawain's memories had let-on. If Seven had taken an interest in the "Ms. Taylor" of whom Gawain had spoken, perhaps he would have been more prepared for the person who greeted them now. He expected the DocProf... he didn't expect... her.

His stomach felt like it fell out from under him, his expression likewise collapsed. Seven wrenched his hand free of Gawain's, the shift eroding around him as the tendrils released the form. The suddenness of the shift sent him to the ground, but it didn't take the fight out of him.

He scrambled further out of the (who he believed to be) Kappa operative's range, voice cracking from strain as he yelled, "She's one of them!"

A furious, fearful red-orange overtook his eyes, and the child staggered to his feet, wobbly on his legs, but sinking into a fighting stance nonetheless. Was it all a ruse? Were they all SUPER? Was this a test? Or was it just her? Where was the way out? Where was a weapon he could use to defend himself? Who could he trust? No one. He could trust no one.

A smile cracked across his frenzied expression, but there was no note of joy in it. He'd had the audacity to think he was free.

"Agent Taylor," he greeted tersely. Tears were welling in his eyes. It had to be a ruse. They were all operatives, every last one of them. This was one of SUPER's psych exams, a test for reconditioning. Nowhere was safe, nothing was sacred.

"You're a Delta, aren't you?" he demanded of Gawain, "This was all just a test, wasn't it?"

He knew he wouldn't get answers. They never gave him answers. No matter how hard he fought, they'd detain him, send him to reconditioning, and he'd lose his mind all over again. But that never stopped Delta Seven from fighting. He'd had the audacity to think he was safe, to think that he was free. And maybe... he could fight to hold onto that.

Gemma had everything set up by the time they got to the DR. Seven seemed to relax a little once he got the part about SUPER not being able to find him. It was enough for Gawain to pull him along, eager to be off the streets and in a safe place as soon as possible. Jesse followed along, worried for the same reasons. They needed Seven somewhere safe. And they needed people to help.

Gawain and Seven exited the mirror together, and several things happened at once.

>>"She's one of them!"

Gawain stared between Ms Taylor and Seven as the kid scrambled back, losing his shifing even outside of the counselor's aura. Gemma, on her part, stared at the boy in shock.

"Chase?... Chase what's wrong?"

"What the hell is going on?" Jesse demanded from the mirror.

>>"Agent Taylor. You're a Delta, aren't you? This was all just a test, wasn't it?"

"Oh for f*** sake" Gawain groaned, trying to untangle just what the hell had gone wrong so much in so few seconds. "I'm not a SUPER agent! None of us are. Do we look that efficient?..."

"Gawain what happened to Chase?" Gemma demanded, stepping closer slowly, taking in the kid's scared fighting stance.

Then, as if it was the cherry on top of everything, Jesse made a little yelp, and faceplanted out of the mirror.

Seven didn't waiver, even for a moment. Agent Taylor's tone was soft-- but he knew it was all a ploy. He hadn't even heard of a "Chase" before. What a joke. He didn't buy Gawain's exasperated explanation, either. Not even for a moment. Agent Taylor moved marginally closer, her aura ripping Mirage free of the mirror.

"Y-you stay away from me! All of you, stay away!" the child snapped. The fact that they weren't immediately attacking was something... but Seven wasn't sure what that "something" was. Delta Seven stood, shivering, waiting, for orders to be shouted.

If Gemma were to look closer at the child, she would notice distinct differences between him and the Chase of this universe. His clothes-- the linen shorts-and-shirt uniform of SUPER's prisoners-- were entirely foreign. The tendrils of his flesh were here-and-there interspersed with scars from various missions in the field. And the look with which he regarded "Agent Taylor" was altogether hostile. A few of the aforementioned scars, after all, could be attributed to their one-on-one training sessions. Seven had been her personal punching bag.

>> "Gawain what happened to Chase?"

A frightened fury burned within the child. Seven began to realize that... the "Chase" of whom they spoke... was supposed to be him...

"My designation is Delta Seven."

Not "Chase". But she already knew that. She was a Kappa. Of course she already knew that.

Ms. Taylor froze again a few steps into her advance, and Seven was still standing his ground, but even with the two of them still, chaos showed no signs of subsiding. Jesse, having landed hard on the floor, rolled over and then scrambled into a sitting position, dazed, looking between the mirror and the rest of the people.

"Wha...!"

>>"Y-you stay away from me! All of you, stay away!"

Gawain was momentarily distracted by Jesse falling out of the mirror. She used to be trapped in there... Sure, Gemma was within range now. But was that really what it took? An adapted?... The irony.

"It's okay" Gemma said patiently, holding her hands on "No one's gonna hurt you. You are safe. No one is going to make you do anything."

>>"My designation is Delta Seven."

"He's not Chase. He's Chase from the other universe." Gawain explained with an exasperated sigh "We just broke him out of SUPER."

Gemma stared at the kid for a long time. Another Chase, in SUPER custody... She felt a pang of pity, looking at the scars.

"I am not who you think I am." she said finally, figuring that whoever the Agent Taylor was, had to be someone that looked like her. She took of her watch, sliding it on the floor as she stepped back "There, you can look."

"I AM OUT!" Jesse gasped, finally putting words to the experience "Gawain, I'm out!"

Seven scowled at Agent Taylor, trying to make sense of the game that she was playing-- trying to make sense of her attempted consolations of how "no one" would heart him, or make him do anything, about how he was safe-- what a load of crap. But she wasn't trying to detain him. None of them were. He could attack now, while they were talking-- but Agent Taylor was still watching him.

Agent Taylor made began to move, and the child tensed-- what was she doing? She unhooked the watch from around her wrist and, stooping down, slid the watch his way.

>> "I am not who you think I am. There, you can look."

Skeptical eyes flicked towards "Ms. Taylor" again, before Seven warily stooped down and picked-up the watch. Shifting twice in such rapid succession meant that fleeing would be difficult once he lost the shift (if he lost the shit). Transforming was a gamble. Once in his hand, the sting of the watch's genetic residue immediately triggered a shift. Tendrils expanded and assumed a less-sickly brown. His height shot back-up.

Gemma Taylor. Age, 49. Guidance counselor at Xavier's.

Guidance counselor, Delta Seven asked the accessory? Images flickered in his mind's eye, of this world's Gemma Taylor sitting in a cozy office with individual students, each one with a different face, each one with a different posture, her own voice resonating with words of assurance from her plush armchair. About family... about friends... about college. You couldn't fabricate secrets left on items such as these. Not to this extent. Delta Seven, now fully transitioned into a faux!Gemma, looked at the three people that stood before him.

"Mirror," they murmured to the watch. Images of Gawain, and of a girl, simmered up in the child's mind. Meeting in the very same room as the previous vision, in the hall, in places underground, conversing. All very professional, all very consultative. They were on good terms. And papers. Their relationship was bogged in papers.

"SUPER," they murmured. Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a passing thought. It all checked-out. Delta Seven unfurled their hand from around the watch, and set it on the ground. The form slipped back into his natural form as soon as the watch had been deposited. Weak from the shift, the child took a seat on the cold floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. Two shifts in one day was taxing. Even if neither form had been held for long.

"It's cold," Delta Seven observed. Would he get warmer clothes? Did the DR have heating?

Chase, or rather, the child that was not Chase, went through a shift, turning into a copy of Gemma. She was not surprised - she had seen those powers in motion before, but seeing herself so full of suspicion was not an easy thing to handle. Gemma watched as the boy focused on her watch, but managed a glance in the direction of the two mirrorwalkers as well.

Gawain hurried over to help Jesse up. Jesse, on her turn, scrambled away from the mirror, expecting to be sucked back into it any minute.

"You are out" Gawain grinned at his doppelganger, happy for the unexpected turn of events "Congratulations? Should I call Impact for you?..."

"No..." Jesse shook her head "I think... no, don't. I'll tell her."

Gawain patted his doppel on the shoulder. Meanwhile, Seven finished his inquiries, and curled up on the ground, the fight going out of him.

>>"It's cold,"

"Raise room temperature" Gawain commanded the DR, the voice activation recognizing his voice. Slowly, the floor began to radiate comfortable heat. "Are we good here?"

"We are getting there" Gemma nodded, kneeling down a few paces away from the boy "Hello. My name is Gemma. I work here at the school... you mustt have a lot of questions."

The floor felt warmer-- Seven could feel it beneath his legs, the warmth radiating up from the previously cool metal plates. It made the Delta operative want to lay down, the exhaustion from having fled form Super, endure two shifs, and nearly show-off with Agent Taylor's twin having sapped most of his energy. But... "Ms." Taylor was drawing closer, stopping a few feet away from the child. He couldn't relax with Agent Taylor's twin that close to him.

Delta Seven's fingertips brushed over the wristwatch. As he expected, there was no response elicited from the metallic accessory. There was an aura about Ms. Taylor, just like here was an aura about Agent Taylor.

>> "My name is Gemma. I work here at the school... you mustt have a lot of questions."

"No, Ms. Taylor," was Delta Seven's tired response, pinching the strap of the wristwatch and holding it out to her, "I asked the watch my questions, it gave me my answers... and Gawain gave me answers about 'school'."

The way he said that suggested that he used his powers to learn about "school" from Gawain.

Now that he thought about it, though... there were still some questions he had, "Actually... I would like to know about 'Rift' and 'Chase'. Especially 'Chase'."

The word that she'd kept calling him... it had to be important. A designation, for someone like him. Maybe the "him" of this world? Would he be allowed to meet "Chase"? Had Chase been through what he'd been through?

The floor warmed up, and everyone seemed to relax a bit after the initial chaos. Jesse plopped down, trying to get used to the idea that she was not trapped in the mirrors anymore. Gawain stood by, keeping an eye on how Ms Taylor was doing with Seven.

>>"No, Ms. Taylor. I asked the watch my questions, it gave me my answers... and Gawain gave me answers about 'school'."

Gemma took the watch back, and Gawain raised an eyebrow. Psychometry? Well, at least the kid was not reading his actual thoughts...

>>"Actually... I would like to know about 'Rift' and 'Chase'. Especially 'Chase'."

Gawain and Gemma exchanged glances, and Gawain stepped forward.

"The rift... it is a portal, between dimensions. It opened in New York a couple of months ago. There are... two universes, that are very similar. Two New Yorks. Two teams of X-men. And... there seems to be two of almost everyone. Jesse here, she's... me, from the other universe. Your universe."

God, he hoped he would not overload the kid's brain with all this.

"And Chase" added Gemma gently "Seems to be you, in our universe. He's my son."

The unfamiliar word "rift" was defined with more unfamiliar words. But by the sounds of it, there were two different places that were also the same. And each universe had copies of the same person.

"Like... Ms. Taylor, and Agent Taylor," the boy reiterated, bowing his head.

>> "And Chase seems to be you, in our universe. He's my son."

Seven's eyes churned with a confused array of colors, mirroring the emotions that roiled in him-- fear, apprehension, jealousy, hope, confusion... what was a son? Something that belonged to Gemma Taylor. Not government property, but Gemma Taylor's property. She had to be an okay person, if she was talking to all those people. As a "guidance counselor".

"In my universe... I am not your son..." Seven explained, borrowing her terminology, "You are an Agent, sometimes you requisition me and we spar. The other you is bad. They are all... bad. Except those like me, who have no choice."

Seven shifted uncomfortably, his gaze trailing after Mirage. He'd get up and go to them, if he wasn't so... exhausted.

"What now?" he asked Mirror. They seemed to know what to do, most out of everyone... they'd called ahead. If DocProf saw them tonight, so be it, but if he were to sleep here, Seven was fine with that too...

The boy was confused. He was not Chase, and from what Gemma could sense, he had been through a lot worse than the Chase of this dimension. She was not even sure he understood when she said the other him was her son. She wondered if bringing in her Chase would make things better or worse. She decided to wait on that.

>>"Like... Ms. Taylor, and Agent Taylor. In my universe... I am not your son... You are an Agent, sometimes you requisition me and we spar. The other you is bad. They are all... bad. Except those like me, who have no choice."

"My doppelganger is a SUPER agent?" Gemma looked, stunned, at Gawain and Jesse, who both shrugged. It was possible, of course, but neither knew for sure. Gemma sighed. She needed to talk to Jorge about this. Better a warning than confusion... Gemma felt slightly sick to her stomach, thinking about how in another world she was some cold-hearted government pawn.

>>"What now?"

Gemma sighed, trying to make a mental list of priorities. Gawain chimed in.

"We need to make sure your tracker is turned off. We'll need DocProf for that. After that... we'll find you a room, and some clean clothes?" he ventured, glancing at Gemma, who nodded.

"I'll walk Jesse out, and bring Doc in" Gawain volunteered, helping his doppelganer up. He doubted that Jesse would want to leave through the mirrors.

"What's your name?" Gemma turned back to the kid who was not Chase.

Delta Seven was silent as Mirror and not-Agent-Taylor discussed what to do… fetch him clothes, fetch him a room, find the tracker… when Mirror offered to take “Jesse”, the child lifted his gaze. They were helping Mirage to their feet. Seven stiffened with the realization that his only source of comfort was going to leave him. He eyes swirled black with fear.

>> “What's your name?”

The boy looked at not-Agent-Taylor. On the outside, people said “name” and meant “designation”. Not the fake names that Seven often adopted for missions. His real name. His identifier.

“Delta Seven. Seven for short. Delta is my rank.”

This, he reported casually. His anxious black eyes never left Mirage. It never occurred to him that his lack of a name might be troubling.