”Not just the mansion. It’s fine now.” he said glossing over it was destroyed recently. There was no way she didn’t know about that incident. They had done everything in their power to protect the students and they did. Sure he and some of the others who fought the mystics got injured heavily but that was what the healers were for and that was what he was there. To take the beating so no one else and to. It was something he excelled at.

”Bigger.” he said sighing. No point in lying right? ”X-gene or not the students there are safe. Kevin will be safe there. They are well protected and they will continue to be. This was an isolated incident. One that I’m going great lengths to insure never happens again.” his hands tightened around his coffee cup causing it to warp.

His jaw clenched and he had the urge to yell but he fought it. Just verbalizing the situation was enough to make him want to hit something. ”Maya and Becca’s kid Iris... her mutation was stolen by some... fanatic mystic who wants to remove X-genes.”

”I had him... and I was cocky and he got me good.” the images of Becca and Maya and Iris flashed through his mind. The look of Maya had. He had been there. Lived it. He was going to make sure they never have the chance to do anything like that.

”I’m worried what Maya is going to do to this person if I’m not there to stop them. I’m worried about my friend, Lee.” he was sad and angry. He knew the feeling of not being able to protect his kids. They might have been illusions but they were real to him all the same.

Bigger than just the mansion, though Sam insisted that the students had been safe. That Kevin would be safe. Lee had heard about an incident happening at the mansion, though she had tried to avoid the details. But Sam was sitting here trying to reassure her that Kevin would be safe when he came there.

Sam continued, though, and Lee's eyes widened in shock and horror. ” How is that possible?” she asked. Despite the number of times she had wished to not be a mutant when she was younger, Lee had learned that she couldn't survive without her mutation. So learning that there was someone, something out there that could just…take it away was just terrifying..

” Is she ok?” Lee asked softly. Not all mutations were so intrinsic to a person's life, but that didn't mean having it stolen wouldn't still be traumatic. ” Iris, she's ok?”

He continued, explained that he was worried about what Maya would do. And though he didn't say it, Lee knew that Sam was worried about how far Maya would go. Reaching her hand across the table, Lee placed it over Sam's holding his coffee cup. ”I can understand that,” Lee whispered. ”I'm worried about what I might do if something ever happened to Kevin. But they're lucky to have you as a friend.”

”I don’t know. Magic is new to us and we are just figuring this stuff out. Becca lost her powers when she drank something that gave her access to magic. So it isn’t to hard to believe it is related that way.” his tone took on a more cold one as he explained. This was a subject he had been investing so much time recently.

”Iris?” Sam asked, ”She’s fine, she's young. She still doesn’t know why things are different now but she knows something is.” his hands indented the cardboard cup even more as he continued, ”She gets sad when I pick her up and don’t turn pink or sprout a tail. Depending on the day of the week.”

Her hand touched his and he stopped crushing the cup. He looked down at her hand on his for a second and listened to her words. ”Doesn’t feel that way. Opposite actually. The amount of times they pulled me out of the gutter saved me. I couldn’t even catch the guy that did this.” he sighed loudly pulled his hand away from hers and scratched the back of his head.

”I’m doing everything to make sure they don’t get a chance to do anything to him. I’m going to be the one to do it.” he said truthfully.

As Sam explained about all of this losing of powers, Lee felt her heart beating a bit faster in worry and fear. She had heard about the magic, there was no way to avoid it as even the human news about it when things happened around the city. But mutants losing their powers, losing the x-gene, that was new and terrifying.

But at least Iris was alright. At least as alright as she could be considering what had happened.

”Doesn’t feel that way. Opposite actually. The amount of times they pulled me out of the gutter saved me. I couldn’t even catch the guy that did this.”

Lee frowned and shook her head slightly. ”Sam, everyone ends up down there,” she whispered. ”I don’t know Maya, but I’m guessing that they didn’t do it to keep track of how many times they helped you. They did it because they care and you needed it. Just like I’m sure you’ve helped them a lot more times than you realize.”

And Sam was going to be the one to ‘do’ it. A deeper frown, but she nodded. As much as the implication was dark, and sounded surprisingly illegal coming from Sam, it really didn’t surprise Lee. ”Promise me something then, Sam?” she asked, her voice still a whisper. ”When you do it, please be careful. Well, at least as careful as you ever are.”

They didn’t. That was why Sam was taking this so hard. Mirror was one of the least selfish people he knew, in fact the mere thoughts he was having on ending Travis so Mirror didn’t have to would have pissed Mirror off. That was okay though. His friend didn’t need to take a life. To know what it’s like. To see another face when you nightmares that won’t end. Sam already had them. If he could prevent his friend from having that... it was fine by him.

”I’ll do what I can.” he said not promising. Those could be broken. Like his promise to keep conversations drama free for a friend. He thought he was able to do that but it was clear he couldn’t. Hence the current topic.

”Surprised you aren’t trying to stop me.” he said not making eye contact. ”I have to find the guy first.” he had law enforcement looking for him. He had vigilantes looking for him. He even had Carrick looking for him. If he called in any more favors others would be looking for Travis for different reasons.

Taking another sip of his coffee he sighed and decided that this conversation should end before anything else he might come to regret is said. ”It was good seeing you Lee. Sorry I couldn’t keep it drama free.” the icemancer stood.

”Tell Kev, I already got sometimes saved in the danger room when he is ready. It will be good to see you two more.” he said honestly before excusing himself. ”Call me if you need anything ya?” and with that Sam went for the exit.

It did not escape Lee's notice that Sam didn't promise to be careful. Not that she thought he was being careful most of the time. From what she had seen over the years, Sam definitely had a tendency of jumping into trouble and only after that fact thinking.

But he had been expecting her to try and talk him out of this, to try and stop him. Lee gave him a grim little smile. ”Normally you’re right, I would be,” she whispered. ”But if it had been Kevin, I know I would be doing the same thing as you are.”

As she took a sip of her coffee, Lee really wasn’t sure what Sam would make of that. While he knew more about what she had done than most people did, Sam was far from knowing everything.

Then he was apolgizing for not keeping things drama free as she had requested years ago. Lee shook her head. ”I asked you about it, Sam. I asked for more detail. You don’t have to be sorry about answering my question.”

Seeing Sam stand as he got ready to leave, Lee stood as well to give him a hug goodbye. ”He’ll be so excited about that,” Lee told Sam with a smile. ”And of course I will. Be safe, ok?” Lee just hoped that he would be safe and be careful when he went to kill the man who’d taken that child’s mutation, her x-gene, away from her.