2014.03.13 - What You Saw

A young student with lizard-like scales, no nose and a shock of cyan hair hurries down the hallways. Spotting Allison, she flags her down with a clawed hand and offers her friendliest smile that nevertheless appears fanged and savage.

“You’re Allison? Mr. Summers is looking for you! He’s in his office!”

That said, the lizard-girl turns on her heels and begins to run towards the stairs in the atrium to lead the way. As she looks over her shoulder, she offers her toothy smile again.

“I’m Dorothy, by the way!”

I think you should have been a bit more careful Allison. says Julius in Ally's head. She was totally focused on her Psi link with her AI and missed the approach of Dorothy at first. I know Julius. But, I -was- trying to hide there. she says back. 

Allison blinks once, twice, and then looks to Dorothy, unconsciously flinching at her appearance before she says slowly, "Huh?" And then the girl's dashing off, "Wait, what was that?"  Ally just shakes her head and sighs, "Nevermind!" she calls out, not even realizing she hadn't even said a single nice word of greeting as she directs Julius to lead her to the office.

A minute or so later, there's a knock at the door.

Dorothy waits by the door, offering Allison an encouraging two-claws up. When Scott opens the door to let her in, Dorothy immediately takes off down the hall at a run. There seems to be no walking for this girl. Its stillness or running at a clip.

In the office, Scott gestures to the chair on the other side of his desk as he moves around to sit in his own. The precision of the entire office is almost unbelievable. Everything at perfect geometric angles and all in its proper place. Treatises on everything from the x-factor to automotive repair line the bookshelf. The strangest thing is that there appear to be no personal touches. No photographs or souvenirs or trophies.

“Hi, Allison. I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Scott Summers.”

Okay, she's been on campus for a few days, but... nobody goes even a few days at the school without having heard about Mister Summers. Allison just nods and moves towards the chair.  suggests Julius in her head. "Oh right. Hi." she says as she sits down, hands fidgeting in her lap. "Um, did I do something wrong?" she asks softly. She just got here, but most places she's been, it only took a short time for the teachers to be intimidated by her ability, and so she worries now. "I am two months ahead on the mathematics assignments, and..." her brain clicks and she inclines her head, "But you don't appear upset. So likely this has more to do with my recording." That said, she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a flash drive, laying it on the desk.

“You can tell me whether or not you’re in trouble,” Scott begins earnestly, “I’ve seen the recording you sent and I’d like to know how you got it. And if you know anything else about the man in it. The man with the white hair?”

He’s not one to mince words or talk down to the children under his care. When he was their age he was fighting the likes of Magneto for the sake of Xavier’s dream. Though he’s more protective of these children than the Professor was of him he sees no need to coddle or baby them.

"Of course." says Allison, focusing on the explanation as opposed to the possible trouble. She lifts her left arm and a holo-projection emits from her wristwatch face. It's a still from the video. In the image, a car is in the air, hurtling towards a man who is moving so fast that the still shows him in about half a dozen places at once. The Magneto wannabe hovers in the air in his purple outfit, cape flaring of course (it's more dramatic that way!). The image rotates and Ally points at a side alley between two buildings. "I was there. It all started when I was on my way to do a bit of a tech support job." She shrugs.

"I stopped to grab a brat from a street cart. This superfast kid in a costume showed up and the cape guy landed right nearby, asking about Xavier's openly." she sighs and adds, "This guy here." she gestures to the blurred image of Wally. "Started talking about the school like everyone oughta know it's for mutants. Oh, and he called the fast kid Bart."

"The magnetic guy introduced himself as Magneto, Imperator of Genosha. So I showed him a current picture of Magneto and told him he might have made a mistake. He went off the deep end, so I grabbed the vendor and dragged him into the alley to hide and told the traffic cameras to record everything." Yep, she tells the whole story as if it's burned into her memory...

“That’s the Flash,” Scott points out, gesturing to the super-fast individual, “I think. And that is not Magneto. I’ve met him and this man looks younger than me. Magneto is at least seventy.”

In a world where people defy gravity, read minds and reshape reality to suit their needs it probably isn’t so bizarre that Magneto could somehow recapture his youth. The notion seems to unsettle Scott, who shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

“For what it’s worth you did a good thing. This man was clearly dangerous and you got yourself out of danger along with a civilian. In the future I wouldn’t recommend sticking around to watch, though. Or engaging directly.”

Shaking her head, Allison remarks, "No, I only stuck around long enough to get the camera feed. Then Darryl... the vendor, and I... got out of dodge." She pauses and focuses. On the display, a new image forms... the face of Magneto, and the face of the new guy. Facial recognition software runs visibly, finding points of similarity. "One moment. Accounting for age." And on the screen it says: 97.4% match.

“Hnh.”

Scott stares as the facial recognition software does it’s thing. He leans back in his chair, rubbing his chin with one hand and absent-mindedly adjusting the frames of his ruby quartz glasses. He observes the image in silence for a long moment, almost as though he’s forgotten Allison is there.

“What else did he tell you? Anything?”

"Only that he has been seeking Xavier's school, and this... Flash you say? Told him we were in Westchester... said it on a public street. I tried to defuse that with negative comments but.." Allison shrugs. "Sir, I just thought that the whole school could be in danger if this man who looks like Magneto and thinks he -is- Magneto, is seeking the school... and suddenly has an idea where it is."

“It may well be,” Scott answers flatly, “You did well to report it. I’ll let the Professor know that this man could be a danger. If he shows up we’ll be prepared for him.”

Scott’s mind is racing, though the look on his face doesn’t betray that. There’s one man besides the Professor he’ll need to seek out. To see just what the deal is with this young Magneto.

“Thanks.”

"Sure."  "Oh, you're welcome." she says as she gestures to the door, "Should I go?" she asks, "Or can I be helpful in some other away?"

“It’s a shared mark,” Scott reveals, a little fact he omitted from the course outline, “So you might want to make sure you BOTH ace it. Good afternoon, Allison.”

That said, he waits until she is out the door and then closes it gently behind here. Once he’s by himself he pulls his phone from his pocket and speaks into it, “I’m going to Genosha and I’m taking the Blackbird.”

There’s business to tend to.