Akh whirled her chain in a circle larger than she was tall, the lapiz lazuli on the end glowing with eldritch power and drawing a perfect circle in the air. Then the circle filled with blue-white light and Akh stepped back.

"<Go now!>" she rasped as she started channeling more power into her chain.

A trio of gods, some of the last of the pantheon Akh so adored, sprinted past her and through the portal. Then the portal cracked and shattered into a hundred shards of light before vanishing.

"<Focus!>" she snarled at the two acolytes behind her. They gulped and began murmuring even louder as they joined their mystical might with Akh's own, granting her the power she needed to open yet another portal.

Her Chosen One was still in the main chamber of the Egyptian wing of the museum, summoning people from Akh's past. The Ankh of Ascension she had strapped to his chest enabled him to open portals through time. Not all were gods and champions - far too many had been killed off by the armies and heroes of other nations by the time Akh and Quarry had been stranded in sandstone - so several of the temporal refugees were lesser soldiers and servants. The acolytes assisting Akh were a pale shadow to her knowledge and prowess, but they were acceptable vessels to offset her exhaustion.

"<Calm,>" said a rolling baritone as a solid hand descended on Akh's shoulder. The sparks and the tingle that ran through her torso was all the recognition she needed to not banish the interloper to a higher plane.

"<Your Majesty!>" Akh said as she whirled around into a deep bow.

"<My dear Akh,>" Ka said as he looked down on his faithful servant. "<Be at peace. You have given us a new dawn, a new chance to dominate all. Do not be so anxious - from what you've told me, this godless era shall fall before us in months, if not weeks.>"

"<My lord,>" Akh said warily, <"There are still champions in this day and age. Because of them, I could not reach you sooner. Even now, they unravel all of my preparations.>"

The man laughed. "<Then let them come,>" he said. "<It will only be suicide. Now then, open a new portal for me. I intent to strike hard and fast and leave these heathens no room to doubt that their new gods have returned.>"

"<Of course, my Lord,>" Akh said, rising to her feet. She began whirling the jeweled chain in the air, tracing another portal with the power flowing into her from the nervous acolytes. The portal appeared and with a crackling grin, Ka leaped through, leaving Akh and the acolytes alone.

She turned to address them. "<Let us rejoin the chosen One, that we might prepare the army,>" she said as she began marching back tot he main chamber, which was rapidly filling with warriors, priests, servants, and minor gods and champions.

The day before had been…well, the word that should be used to describe the day was unbelievable, but Lee had lived through so many 'unbelievable days' that the words had kind of lost meaning.

But rather than a nice lunch together at the Chinese restaurant, Lee and Tarin had had to literally fight their way back to the shop. Fought their way to the point that Lee had punched someone through the shop window and felt the need to actually use the panic door that she'd had installed there over a decade earlier.

It had been widespread. Mutants and humans attacking and looting. And for no cause or reason as fat as Lee could tell.

But that morning things seemed like they had calmed down for the most part. Which was very good, because while the panic door would have protected the back of the shop, with the broken window, the front wouldn't be so lucky. There was cleaning and repairs in hers and Tarin's future.

Which is why Lee was actually wearing jeans and shoes with no heels as they made their way through the streets toward the shop.

At least there shouldn't be blood to clean up this time. Unless the window cut the guy when he went through it.

They were about halfway to the shop when Lee's phone rang. Pulling it out, Lee was confused to see that it was Micheal. "Hello?" she said.

After a couple moments listening, Lee touched Tarin's arm as she stopped walking. "Hold on. Cut the jargon. What's happening?"

As Michael spoke, Lee's eyes widened slightly in surprise before growing worried.

And then Michael hung up. Lee stared at the phone for a moment before looking up at Tarin. "That was Michael," she said. "That mystic, she did it apparently. Michael's going to go deal with an even bigger threat, but asked us to go get the ankh from the mystic."

The day before had been…something.

Everything had started out great. Tarin had had a break in the middle of the day, Lee had texted him, and they’d agreed to meet at the Chinese restaurant close to the shop to see if they could actually manage to eat there.

They’d been so close. They’d actually been loading food onto their plates when all hell had broken loose.

Lee, in her skirt and heels, had headed right out into all of it, kicking ass and taking names as they’d made their way to the shop. Tarin had mostly followed at that point, sticking close to Lee until they’d gotten to the shop. His shop. The place he’d lived for five years without realizing that it came with a panic door.

Lee had locked them safely inside only to realize that she hadn’t heard from Kevin. Kevin hadn’t answered his phone and out they’d gone back into the street…that had been interesting. For the first time, maybe in his life, Tarin had consciously used his powers offensively. Things had gone shockingly well and eventually Kevin had called his Mom, assured Lee he was fine and Tarin and Lee headed home where they had not done a puzzle. That part of the night had been great.

Now they were heading to the shop to see just how bad the damage was beyond the window that Lee had unceremoniously punched a man through the previous night.

They didn’t make it there though.

Lee got a phone call that she answered and a moment later stopped in her tracks, touching Tarin’s arm so he’d stop too. Throwing her a questioning look, Tarin watched and waited. The play of expressions across Lee’s face did not bode well and as Lee hung up the phone, something heavy settled in the pit of Tarin’s stomach before she even spoke.

The Mystic…the one who had lobotomized that spirit had accomplished her task…she’d brought back her King. Michael was dealing with that, but…

”I’m sorry…Michael wants us to do what?” Tarin said, looking down at Lee. This was going to be one of those moments. Lee was going to do the right thing, something bad was going to happen, and it was going to be just another one of those things in the folder that Lee could hardly talk about.

”We don’t have to do this…” Tarin said, ”I’m with you either way.”

This was like the fight at the pharmaceutical company. Like Florida.

Like Romania.

Lee was being asked to head straight into a dangerous situation that really didn't involve her. At least not directly.

Michael had said that the X-Men and Haven, as well as others, were being pulled in to deal with this mystic and what she was trying to do.

Yet Michael had still called to ask her to help with this. Knowing that Lee had stepped away from Haven six years earlier to avoid this kind of danger because of Kevin.

Tarin was stressing that she didn't need to do this. But that, no matter what she decided, that he would be with her.

And after everything that had happened the day before, Lee knew that better than ever.

There was a definite part of Lee that wanted to just forget the phone call and continue on to the shop. There was enough to do there, after more than enough craziness in her life than she wanted.

But at the same time, what if things ended up getting even worse because she, because they, didn't help? If all of this spilled over to the mansion.

If Kevin got hurt because of all of this, and she had done nothing?

"I think we do need to go, though," Lee said as she looked up at Tarin. "If it ends up being too bad, or too dangerous, we can leave and get Kevin if we need to."

Tain thought he could almost see the thoughts playing out in Lee’s head. He wanted to tell her to just stop. To tell her, again, that she didn’t have to do this. There were “heroes” all over the city. All of those people that Michael had mentioned the day that he’d shown up at the shop were the ones who were actually equipped to handle this kind of thing. Not normal people who just wanted to live normal lives.

Tarin kept his mouth shut though. Lee knew what she was doing. Between the two of them, Lee was far more capable of making this decision than Tarin was and he trusted her to decide what she wanted or needed to do. Like he’d said, he would be there no matter what. They were in this together now.

This was home though, and deep down Tarin knew that if the threat was large enough and Michael had needed to go far enough down his list to get to him and Lee…the city really was at risk. If things went bad, if nobody showed up to help, then the Mansion would be at risk, Kevin would be at risk.

Tarin knew what Lee was going to say before she even spoke, and despite the fact hat he was absolutely terrified at the prospect of what they were going to do, when Lee did speak Tarin nodded. This was one of those times that a good poker face was going to come in handy.

If things got too dangerous they’d leave. They’d get Kevin and they’d go.

“Sounds like a plan.” he said taking a deep breath, “Lead the way.”

The city was in a state of chaos. First, there had been a day where it seemed every villain in the country had paid New York a visit. Now orders had come down and the X-men were deploying. Some to The USS Gerald R. Ford, some to Times Square, and some to the museum.

William had been tasked with heading to the museum with Kealey Shinbo. William knew Kealey used to be a leader in the X-men but that she had been mostly riding a desk lately. Handling administrative functions. This would be William’s first mission as part of the X-men. He felt he could do without a minder, but this was a step in the process so he would suffer it.

Wearing a more general looking X-men uniform, William collected the keys to the XUV (X-men Utility Vehicle) and hit the garage. Kealey had William driving. He climbed inside, set the GPS, and headed out. He had been driving for years but it was in the fancy Edison electric car that his pre-deaging self had purchased. The XUV was larger than what he was used to but he would manage.

Emergency lights flashing, William drove. The few cars that were on the road moved out of the way. William looked from the road to the GPS, back to the road, then to Kealey and asked, ”When we get there… Are we expecting any assistance? I–it takes time for my power to ramp up.”

Oh boy yesterday. Yesterday had been a lot of— a lot of him using his powers of people who were causing harm, to cause them to cause less harm. Ashton had not gotten a lot of screen time with his efforts, because that time period had been incredibly busy. But— in a former life, he had been a police officer, and some habits transcend space and time. Even if he was not one, not any more, he could still assist.

He had seen police officers trying to calm situations, he had used his object teleportation to make things trade places with things. So a cop did not get stabbed by a knife. They got stabbed by a traffic cone. A man did not point a gun at someone and pull a trigger rapidly to end lives. They found themselves holding a piece of shattered brick from the pavement, or a discarded teddy bear. Using that wonderful little power of his had led to Ashton swinging a lot of uneven fights the other way. Gave a lot of police officers and civilians who would be heroes a chance at coming out on top. And from range.

He himself had stepped in a handful of times to bring a few people down. He had swung in to swap with guys who were about to do a coup de grace, just to pick the downed fighter up in time while their assailant looked around, thoroughly confused. (Instant headache). He had thrown a few tennis balls in one direction, then made the person trade places (and speeds) with the tennis ball. Causing them to hit a wall. (Upgrade grade to a migraine). He had done a lot of really creative, weird shit, and he was kind of sad no one had spent the time to write it all down. But such is life, the important thing is that he had prevented a lot of people from getting hurt.

He was not an X, not officially. But did he have contact with them? Yeah. And was he trying to improve his situation, to join the team? Hell yeah he was. It just meant getting experience alongside X men. Doing missions and such. He just needed more under his belt. Which was what today was about— in addition to helping folks. Because some people just can’t help themselves from putting themselves in dangerous situations others might simply walk away from… yeah. Sticking his neck out. His sensitive neck.

He got a call from an X. Some Shinbo Shard guy he had met once or twice at the mansion, who was taking it upon himself to help him get more involved in team crap. Another person on the team helping him, and Sam and Cervantes… it was weirder, though. Because Shinbo Shard knew him from another life.

He just didn’t personally know him. Or had not known him. Their first meeting, the guy had seemed wary, like in a previous life, he (Ashton) might’ve been an asshole to him? But now the guy (Shard) was just so cautiously optimistic that this new opportunity would turn out nice. It was great He wanted to help the team. The world still needs heroes!

He (Shard) had called, filled him (Ashton) in on the day before and any pertinent information he had gleaned from contacts— then sent him to a place, to do a thing.

Ashton had put on some riot gear he had legally acquired. Mainly a padded black chest armor set, some leg guards and arm guards. A strapped on collapsible baton at his side, and a black AC/DC drawstring shoulder bag full of stuff like tennis balls and marbles. Plastic beads, super balls, brightly colored things to trade places with. And zip tie riot cuffs. For utility. He had a helmet. Some camouflage pants and black and gray tee. Because why not? Now he was in transit. The bag and his ungainly riot shield were in the trunk. The helmet was on the seat next to him. He hoped there would be parking when he got there.

He had a name and an address. The name was Shinbo Shard’s wife, Kealey Shinbo. The x-man had texted her about him and she was to expect him. Backup. Clearly someone he trusted enough to back up his wife, which kind of mad Ashton feel warm and fuzzy like some sort of silly dog. But whatever. As for the address? A museum. Weird.

Apparently the x-men and folks had shared notes. Some one at a museum had an important ankh. Named Akh? Way too convenient. Ashton had a few ideas on how to take Akh’s ankh.

The car radio was blaring Take On Me. He turned that shit up.

He was en route. He hoped he wouldn’t be the first one there. That was always awkward.

A call had gone out. A call that was impossible to ignore when one was an X-Man. When Shin had finally gotten home, so late into the night that it might as well have been considered morning, he’d been hurt. Hurt, but healed by someone who had helped in the fight. The injury had been bad though, bad enough that Kealey had felt a little trill of fear as her husband explained what had happened.

The fear had been that this whole thing wasn’t over and when the sun had risen, the call had gone out again. Multiple calls had gone out.

One for Shin.

One for her.

Well before Michael had been a thought, Kealey had stepped back from official duty with the X-Men. Fighting and violence took a toll on her and while she knew that the city needed people to protect it, she’d felt like her time had come and gone. She still worked at the Mansion from time to time, helping students who needed help in ways that she could provide. She also answered phones, and gave tours when time and baby allowed. This…this was a whole other thing.

Shin was heading for a ship in the bay. A ship that held nuclear energy and was currently being used by a mystical being as a source of power. This was going to be dangerous and a part of Kealey wanted to tell Shin to stay home. To ask him when it was going to be enough. She knew he didn’t want to go…he couldn’t hide things like that from her and the temptation was so strong. She knew they didn’t really have a choice though.

There were two immediate threats though, and while Shin was heading into one, Kealey was going to the other. It was practical for more reasons than one. First, there would be leadership in both places. It had been explained that help was coming from outside the X-Men and someone had to coordinate the chaos. Second, if things did go bad, they were in different places and at least one of them would be able to get Michael and get out of the city.

Michael, who was home safe with Shin’s sister, while his Mother and Father headed into a fight with God knew what.

Kealey was riding in one of the X-Men’s tactical vehicles with a trainee that she didn’t know all that well. She was wearing her X-Uniform and had been thrilled that it had fit just six months after having a baby. The younger man was anxious, as was to be expected, and curious if there was going to be any help. He was also calculating too, probably hoping to plan ahead.

”I can help with the anxiety you know.” she said, by way of answer, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It would be far more concerning if you weren’t nervous.”

That hadn’t been the question though and Kealey shook off the other mutant’s emotions as they rolled through the city, ”There will be help. They’re not X-Men though, and I’m not entirely sure who they are or what they’ll be able to do.” Hopefully they weren’t completely hopeless.

Tarin did not look happy to be doing this. Hell, Lee wasn't happy to be doing this either. But Michael had both the X-Men and Haven working on this. And the security company Michael owned as well as other people who had been pulled in.

And if things were bad enough that with all those people Michael still felt that their help was needed, what choice did they really have?

But Tarin still said to lead the way. So Lee did, turning them in the opposite direction, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a longer walk from the apartment than the shop was, but still less distance than they had travelled the day before. And at least today, there weren't people on the street trying to attack them.

They hadn't gone far when Lee felt Tarin's hand clasp hers. Looking up at him as they walked, Lee gave him a small, tight lipped smile.

If only they knew what they were going to find when they got there. Lee didn't even know who else was going to be there. All Michael had really said was they needed to get the ankh away from the mystic, and that there were others, X-Men, on their way. She didn't even know who.

If Michael had given her a little more information, Lee might be able to come up with some sort of plan before they got there. Being dumped head first into a bad situation was bad enough, but walking in blind like this, Lee had more than enough time to worry about not having a plan.

Except that they hadn't been blindly walking around corners yesterday. Turning to look at Tarin again, Lee squeezed his hand slightly. "Do you think you can find out what's happening at the museum?" Lee asked.

Tarin had told Lee to lead the way and that’s exactly what she did. He didn’t even ask where they were going, but it was in pretty much opposite direction from where they’d been heading to the shop.

The more they walked, the more Tarin tried to figure out if there was any way he could convince Lee that they should turn around and go home. They could pack some bags, grab Kevin, and just go somewhere for a while.

It was absolutely the coward's way out, but why did they have to be the heroes? Why couldn’t the “professionals” handle things?

Because the Professionals had been the ones asking for help…

Reaching out as they walked, Tarin settled for reaching out and grabbing Lee’s hand. At least they were going into this together. At least they’d be able to have each other’s back.

Glancing down at Lee as they walked, Tarin could see that she was thinking…probably trying to pull together as much of a plan as possible while they walked. Tarin wished he could help in some way but he hadn’t ever been in a situation like this before.

A moment later Lee had an idea though. Could he use his powers to find out what was happening at the museum?

“Great idea.” he said, already bringing down the mental barriers that kept spirits at arm’s length. “Don’t know how willing they’re gonna be and we aren’t very close….”

Tarin stopped walking and tugged gently on Lee’s hand so she’d stop too. Time was absolutely of the essence, but going in with knowledge instead of being blind would save time in the long run. Spirits started to appear, coming closer, they were restless and unhappy with the way that things were developing.

”I need some help….” Tarin said. ”I need some folks to head to the Museum of Modern art and then come back and report on what’s going on there.”

It took some convincing, but soon enough Tarin had a few spirits willing to do what he’d asked. They’d get to help once they got there, and they knew not to get too close, but at least they’d have some info.

”Let’s go…” he said, ”They’ll know where to find me.”

Yesterday had been the wildest day of Will's life. Not quite the worst, but, he was in no way in a hurry to repeat another day like it. Caught up in the middle of what seemed like a city gone mad, with mundane thugs and preternatural powered punks alike, all out for... Who even knew? Just for the fun of causing a ruckus, it had seemed. On the other hand, he'd managed to get out of it without much more than a bad cut on his arm and some overworked leg muscles, so he'd been far from unlucky. Frankly, the grit and pebbles that had stubbornly refused to be knocked out of his sneakers were the most troublesome thing at this point.

Will barely remembered falling asleep, and wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to pull himself awake, as groggy as he'd felt starting the day. But somehow he found himself spurred on by the thoughts of doing a good deed. Or at least doing a good deed for the person who'd saved his life yesterday. Or he'd saved hers. Neither of them seemed to be able to come to a proper conclusion on that. Either way, the sooner they went digging through whatever was left of the cafe he worked at with the better, lest Quin's laptop be snatched up or smashed to bits.

Presuming it hadn't been already. 

As a result, Will found himself blinking in the natural light, standing just outside of Haven. The grit in his shoes and unfamiliar clothes on his back were a stark reminder of yesterday's mess, but the streets looked otherwise normal and the fresh air was welcome. Bizarre. Between the lived events and the news last night, he'd have thought he'd be seeing smoke rising on the horizon and flashing police lights everywhere. But it hadn't looked like that from the apartment window (which he'd, admittedly, spent a good few minutes staring out this morning), and it didn't look that way down here on the street.

Heck, even if he strained to listen for any trouble he couldn't hear anything. No crashing metal, or shouts of panic. No crackles of fire or emergency sirens wailing. Just the usual noise of traffic and wind and... an oddly familiar voice?

"...ink you can find out what's happe..."  was the snippet of a conversation that had managed to reach his ears through the background noise of the city. Will glanced about, trying to get his eyes to find what his ears had picked up. After only a moment of searching, he'd found the person the voice belonged to, standing with someone he didn't know... though it wasn't as thought he was terribly familiar with Lee either. However, Will's gawking threw him off enough that he broke stride, almost stumbling into Quin as they were making their own way.

"Sorry." Will apologized with a sheepish grin to Quin and nodding in the direction of the people across the street that he'd been distracted by. "Jus', think I ran into one of those two a while back. Weird chance encounter, y'know? Funny seein' them again." 

Yesterday had been a day.

Quin had been looking for somewhere to study. Somewhere relatively quiet that she could sit down with her laptop and knock out some of the mountain of work that she’d been assigned by her professors.

As she’d struck out over and over again, Quin had remembered an offer of a coffee and a description of a neat sounding space.

The coffee had been excellent, and the space, and the conversation as well and Quin had finally settled in to do some work when disaster had struck the little game cafe in the form of three baddies spoiling for a fight.

They’d gotten more than they’d bargained for with Will and Quin and the two of them had embarked on a wild day of adventure that neither of them had really wanted. Will had gotten stabbed, Quin had bruised her ribs, but they’d managed to survive a few situations that could have easily become unsurvivable very quickly.

When Quin logically thought about everything that happened it almost seemed like it was fiction…from the church, to the giant truck that Michael had used to drive them back to Haven, to the five thousand year old Mystic who had been responsible for all of this…

Then they’d had a freezer pizza and watched TV before Will had crashed on her couch and Quin had gone to bed.

Life was weird.

This morning found them up and about much earlier than Quin had thought she’d be up and about. Sleeping propped up on pillows hadn’t been all that comfortable though and there had only been so long she could tolerate laying in bed and being as quiet as possible before she had given up and just gotten up. Now Will was obligingly going with her to see if they could find her laptop and Quin was equal parts hopeful and pessimistic that it was a thing that was even possible.

Just as they were stepping out onto the street, the calm morning as a stark contrast to the chaos of the day before, Will stumbled and for a moment Quin panicked, thinking that something had happened before he managed to right himself and apologize, pointing out that he’d simply caught sight or sound of someone he knew.

Following his line of sight, Quin’s own eyes fell on a familiar figure and a non so familiar one as well.

“There’s no way the world is this small…” Quin said, taking a few steps forward before calling out, ”Hey! Lee! Wait a minute.” because that was most assuredly the woman who had kicked Quin’s ass up and down the mat just a few days before.

Kealey answered William’s question. Sort of. Eventually. First she spoke about his emotions. William had not spent time around Kealey Shinbo but he knew that the woman was an empath. No matter how good William’s power face was, Kealey could see through it.

William turned the wheel through a turn. A little sloppy, but he wasn’t quite used to driving an SUV. Sure his Edison was sometimes called a boat—it being a full size sedan—but that was somehow more elegant. Efficient. Graceful.

A moment to consider a response to Kealey’s offer was provided by her answering his question. There would be help, but she wasn’t sure who they were or what they could do. That was an irritating response, but not her fault. William suppressed the feeling. He had always been good at burying, suppressing, or at least not showing his feelings so it was odd to be around someone who could feel them. From what William had gathered, he had been even better in his prime. His prime being when he was a high powered attorney who earned money like it was going out of style.

”I am okay.” William said as he found a straight shot and brought the vehicle up to speed. ”My nerves help me. They promote caution. I am not some cowboy, used to jumping headfirst into a situation half cocked.” Well, he liked to think that about himself. Truth be told while he had a fair amount of control at 18… He was still 18. ”I do wish you knew more about our help—I cannot prepare until we arrive. My power would destroy our ride if I got myself ready.”

In his youthfulness, William had a feeling like any situation he was in was one he had to solve. He felt burdened by glorious purpose. He just didn’t know what it was yet.

”Okay. We get there, I turn on the glow, we meet the help, maybe someone knows what to expect?” The statement was half to himself and half to Kealey.

Oh good. Thank god. He wasn’t the first one there. Awkwardness, dodged.

Ashton pulled into a spot outside the museum, and took the tedious time to park the car, lock the vehicle, and put on his gear. “Suit up,” as it were. That meant helmet on head, bag over shoulder, riot shield on arm.

He knew what he needed to do. He saw other cars in the lot. Maybe these were his backup? He had to get within eyeshot. Then he could lower the boom. Get the ankh. Save the world. Strap, zip. He was suited.

He slammed the trunk. Oh. He had also brought a shotgun. In the trunk. He had a permit, it was all cool. Probably wouldn’t even need it. He stuffed that in the holster by the shoulder bag. Overkill was always probably about the right amount when it came to X stuff, if the mansion asploding and stories he had heard of riots, camps, Romania, and Big pharmaceutical were any clue as to what to expect. One time, a whale— never mind…

He looked around. Nobody by the cars. So it was just cars, then! Maybe they were the bad guys cars. A simpler mind would have thought about kicking em or slashing tires, but Ashton just sighed and walked away from his locked car, to find other people. Except there weren’t any. He was the first to arrive at the location.

Ashton swore, intently, loudly, and internally, for a good long while. Then, he scoped out the area and walked a perimeter.

And what did he see—?

Kealey had done smarter things in her life than have someone as young as William drive her through the city. The fact of the matter was, however, that Kealey simply didn’t drive. It was a difficult thing to do when it was so easy to be distracted by the emotions of the other drivers. When they needed to get around, Shin usually just flew them wherever they needed to go and when that wouldn’t work they took a cab.

William insisted that he was okay, that the nerves made it easier for him to focus on the task ahead and Kealey simply nodded though the action would be difficult to see if a person’s eyes were on the road and not their passenger.

The younger man was smart though. He didn’t need to jump in headlong? Wasn’t a cowboy? Was William sure he’d signed up to work on the right team, because most of the X-Men wanted to do or be all of those things.

The aggravation was not lost on the empath and she turned her head to study the young man as he navigated them through the city and wished they knew more about who was coming to help. This close it took some effort but she was not going to get aggravated simply because her co-pilot was.

”The call didn’t specify, just that there would be three additional people to help.” she said ”Surely these are professionals….” Kealey had to have faith, sometimes it was all you had in situations like these.

William spoke again and Kealey nodded again, they were approaching the parking lot now “We’ll know soon enough. Once I’m close I will be able to get a bit more information about the emotional state of things and hopefully calm everything down a bit. Let me know if you change your mind about the nerves.”

Definitely not for the first time, Kealey wished her powers worked on herself and the healthy dose of nerves that she was carrying around.

Glancing down at her wedding band, Kealey closed her hand into a fist. As long as everything was okay, the ring would stay where it was. The rest of the Senior X-Men were out there on the floating nuclear ship and they all knew what they were doing.