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There was a discarded football on the green, and it was even within range. It would be the work of a moment. An easy escape. He was not proud to admit that his first thought had been to just leave. Trade places with something. Teleport away.

He had offended her. She had reprimand him and He had offended her. His talk of Rooms of danger, apparently was not approved parent talk. Students might, what, learn?

”Maam,” Ashton began. His tone was apologetic. ” I’ll keep it quiet in the future. I don’t mean to upset you. Or blow the lid off some secret. But really…” He grimaced at her. Did she not know?

” It’s provably the worst-kept secret here… kids probably learn about it in the first half hour on campus… I think at least one person broke in this past month. There were burn marks on the wall, near a brand new lock. So… wait, I’m making it worse. That’s worse. Sorry. You trying to shield your kid?”

Hard to shield kids these days. Better to teach them to protect themselves. Knowledge is power. Mutants take that to extremes. Self knowledge. Self defense. Generic humans don’t care if you know your powers or not, when they come after you… that was a worst case scenario… still. No need to simplify things for bad people, and kids talk a lot. On-site holo-deck? Who wouldn’t blab? And not even about training usages. Teenagers think about some pretty base things in passing. Ugh. Good thing it had locks.

And then he ran past her. He mentally hit the brakes, skid skid skid, and did a backwards run. Stopped in front of her. Ran in place.

”Oh hello again.” Ashton said, amiably.

The woman from earlier that day. His job, at the bar. With the tiles. He wondered what she was doing at the mansion, but then, he wasn’t going to pry. People have lives. She probably had business here, or a friend, or family. People have lives. Kid, maybe?

He shouldn’t pry. People have lives. Good to separate business from socializing. But then, he really wasn’t doing any business presently. That had been concluded.

Ashton stopped running in place.

”From earlier, with the tiles. In the bathroom, right? Man, life is funny. I did not expect to run into you twice in one day.” a weak laugh. Heh. Really, what else could he say? He didn’t really know her.

”Visiting someone?” He found himself asking. Really, it had just slipped out.

>>> ”Easy to get us confused. Only two old men left on the scene.”

Ashton snorted right back. ”Only two? Wow. I thought there were more.”

Hadn’t there been another one? Flamboyant? He had seen him in the news. Liked being flashy? Maybe he had retired.

He shared his powers, gave his explanation, and must have impressed Cervantes because the man was suddenly offering to help if he could. Which was what incredibly nice. Ashton smiled at that. He appreciated it.

”You know, I really appreciate that.” Ashton said. ”I think I need to work on getting missions though, don’t it? I don’t know how this all works. Heh: is there a probationary x man stage? What do we call the new hires?” He scratched the back of his head.

Was this man offering to take him on missions, too? Or had he merely been focused on paperwork? Training sessions? Ashton did not know.

He was down for anything, even if it was just talking.

Broken tiles. He could do broken tiles. He would just need the appropriate stuff for handyman repairs, and— oh, those had already been provided. Good. Saved him from having to match the tile, and make a list of supplies needed, for approval. Saved him a trip to the store, unless they ran out of stuff.

He did not usually do handyman, but he could be a handyman. He had grown up with a dad who fixed stuff around the house. He got roped in on those occasions, and had helped whenever he could. So tiles? No problem. Had installed tiles.had plenty of experience running to stores for stuff.

The damaged tiles were on the wall, rather than just floor. Like someone had impacted. Yeah. That fit her description. Out of hand incident. Probably a big ol fight. Some were missing. Might’ve been taken home in someone’s hair, as powder.

>>>”It’s really not a whole lot, but Matt had already spoken with your boss before I was able to see the damage.”

”It’s no problem. I’ve done this sort of thing before. I’ll get to work, then.” Ashton said.

He rolled up his sleeves, and started doing the task. It took an appropriate amount of time. He wound up having enough materials, and did not need to run to any stores. It was nice when people had done most of the hard work already.

After he was finished, Ashton showed her the room and explained how long the whole thing would take to dry and set. He explained any additional information he thought she might need, and they handled payment. Pretty run of the mill engagement, really. He washed up, tidied up, and said:

”Should be all set then. Unless there was anything else?” If not, he would head on out.

A water basketball? Well, that was kind of neat. Took some real skill to get it that finely detailed. And the guy knew it. Aaaand then, it was gone. Blob again, blob again.

And the guy was— looking at him? Looking at him, as if some flicker of recognition? And then he asked him a name—

>>> ”Wait…Detective Drake?”

He said it carefully, as if uncertain.

Ashton arched an eyebrow, and crossed his arms. With what he was wearing, a polo and khakis, it absolutely did not look intimidating. More… mildly miffed, maybe? Perturbed? Confused?

The wheel was turning. The hamster was moving. Working its ass off. Ashton let him work towards his final destination. He got there, confirming his initial theory.

>>> ”...you are Ashton Drake?” Jorge asked carefully.

The water splashed loudly back into the pool, just as Ashton said ”Yeah.”

Water came at him, like it was gonna splash, but the man put a halt to that. He smiled at him, like “thanks.”

”I’m just an electrician these days.” He said. ”Long story. Afraid I don’t know your name, though. I’m sorry about that. Easy fix, though. I’m Ashton. And you are—?” He patted his chest at the intro, and gestured the man’s way.

He was 25. Not 42, or 50, or whatever age He had been before the de-aging had occurred. But still, too old to hang around the mansion for no good reason. So no, He was not there to dive in the pool. It was a school, kids were kids, He was 25. He didn’t live there. He had a new life as a journeyman electrician. It had taken years to recover and get his life together, but he had done it. He was here in Khaki shorts light blue polo to meet with cold steel. For training. And maybe to join up.

A student had told him one of the x-men, on the older side, was at the pool. Older side? Sounded like Sam. Ashton had not asked more questions. Maybe He should have.

No one had told him the pool was off limits. Requisitioned for something. He had approached, and there- the water— had begun to move. Not ice, not frozen. Water. So not cold steel. Ashton had been ready to turn and go. Curiosity got him. That cat killer.

Who was causing the water? It has no grunting man, concentrating and moving arms. He may have expected that. Someone concentrating like their life depended on it, like a movie. Or a show. Like that one about the monk on that streaming service? With the kids and elements? The kids from Antarctica and all that. No buff guy grunting, no young girl waving her arms. Just… was that a man in a Hawaiian shirt?

Ashton stopped, fifteen feet away.

”Thats really impressive.” Ashton said.

Jorge might remember a man he once knew. They had a resemblance. If his face had been maybe 10 years older, it would have been spot on.

Much can happen in five years.

He lost the accent, affected, not real. It had been fake. Based off real family, but fake. To pick up chicks, probably, or make him feel special. It had been stupid. His past self had never had one. He’d learned. He was not even from Ireland. What a farce.

Another farce had been his time spent trying to capture lightning in a bottle again. Or in layman’s terms, trying to recapture his youth. Not youth. Old age. Old self. He was not that man. Not a detective, not even a cop. The world had changed and so had he. New ideas, new movements. ACAB was a c thing, and it was true! He had always felt dirty and had not placed why. Plus his little project exposing a crooked cop or two… for the redhead deal, other stuff. That had gone exactly like one would have thought. Tits up. A big ol’ bust.

Cops protect cops. Ashton had not really been one, and especially after finally reporting What He knew and thought He knew. He had no seniority, and they turned on him. Ate him up, ate his career, spat out the bones. Didn’t matter to him, by then He had already had a backup career lined up, at Walmart.

Jokes aside, He had actually been looking for real employment. He had access to Ashton’s money, thanks to government regulations about displaced people and super with their… what was it called again? Act your age act? No. Catchier than whatever they had called the deage assistance program. It had probably anagrammed to something. Who cares. He had put himself through technical school to became an electrician. Took about four years to be journeyman. The math worked, barely.

He had also worked with Cold Steel to get his new power under control. Busy busy busy. What was he up to now? DMV.

Ugh

“Next.”

The line moved, slowly. Ponderous. Like a glacier. He was not “next.” Maybe someday.