Narrative: Aftermath of Graduation Characters: --- NPCs: Howard Stark, Charles Xavier, Nick Fury Location: The smoking pile of rubble that was once the Howard Stark School of Tomorrow Timeline: Saturday 2 June 2012 Description: At the end of the destruction, the Trifecta meets. Exposition occurs. Rating: Low OOC: - The MLD Thread is still going on. Trash that school! - You're all going back to Xavier's tonight, unless you go with your families instead. - As a temporary solution, Stark students are staying in the Xavier gym with emergency supplies. - Jean, Terry W, Bruce, Bobby, Johnny B, and Hank get taken into SHIELD custody. It is not so much "You are being punished" and more "WTF!?! You're staying here until we're reasonably convinced you're not a danger to yourself or others." They ask lots of questions. You do have access to computers, journals, e-mail, text, etc, and Xavier comes to visit you. - Hank gets released after two days (5/4) - The rest get released after a week (5/9), at which point magical wards and stuff are in place at Xavier's for those of you who need that.
Epilogue: Howard Stark Howard Stark sat on the ground, leaning against a stump that used to be a gigantic oak tree, watching the SHIELD rescue workers scurry back and forth on the remains of his school. His usual impeccable attire was disheveled and a bruise was starting to form on his cheek. He didn't even remember how that happened in all the chaos.
Professor Charles Xavier rolled up to him slowly, one wheel of his wheelchair bent and hard to maneuver. On Howard's other side, the smell of a cigar heralded the arrival of General Nick Fury. None of them spoke.
"We're taking the main players into custody," Fury said after a while. "Jean Grey. Johnny Blaze. Terry Ward. Bruce Banner. Bobby Drake. I'm guessing those robots were Hank Pym's doing?" Howard didn't answer. "Hank Pym, then," Fury said, taking the silence as agreement.
Charles opened his mouth to object, then looked around the smoking battlefield and closed it again.
"Just for questions and observation," Fury said, guessing what Charles was worried about. "I don't think there's anything I could do to scare them straight. Not after this." He paused then. "We've got barracks. Nothing fancy, but clean and dry. We can take the students for the summer."
"Absolutely not," Charles replied. "They'll stay with us."
"There isn't enough room at the mansion. We can billet—"
"No. These children are traumatized and turning them over to you will only make it worse. We'll put them in the gym with the relief supplies for tonight, then double up the rooms until Howard rebuilds—"
"Rebuild?" Howard asked, finally speaking. "Who said anything about rebuilding?"
The other two fell silent.
"I mean look at this. Look at it!" Howard said, raising his voice. "It's gone! It's all gone, and... how did it come to this? How did it get this far? Yes, we had our problem kids, but we had it covered. Kept an eye out for the signs, magical wards and all. But this? How do we protect against this? One minute there's commencement and the next there's demons and the Hulk and whatever the hell that giant flaming bird was—"
"That was Jean, we think. In the cave, she must have—"
"I don't care! Don't you get it? It's done. The experiment has failed. Because even if we figure this all out, it'll always be something. Dragons or evil wizards or alien invasions or whatever the hell is the trauma of the week. It's supposed to be a goddamn high school! I can't work under these conditions!"
"Howard, you're upset, and understandably so. If you'll—"
"No casualties." Fury's voice cut through Charles's placation.
Howard paused his next rant midbreath. "What?"
"No casualties. That means no one died," Fury said, flicking the ash off of his cigar and stamping the cinder out with a boot. "Your kids stepped up. In both schools, they pulled it together. We've been talking about what went wrong, but not what went right. And a whole lot of things went right. These kids were as blindsided as the rest of us, yet a lot of them kept their heads and saved people. That tells me you two are doing something right.
"Take it from an old soldier. You can't control everything. I used to think that. It'll be over when I handle this set of terrorists, this group of aliens, this bunch of time-travellers—"
"—time travellers—"
"—but you're never done. There's always the next thing. It's how you face the next challenge that makes you a man." He paused. "or woman. My secretary says I need to be more gender inclusive, whatever the hell that means. Point is, that could have been a lot worse. You got your people safe, you got insurance, and you got Xavier and I backing you. You've come back from worse."
Howard sulked. "I have not come back from worse."
"Your wife was kidnapped and murdered, Howard."
"...ok, I've come back from worse." Howard took a deep breath, eyes closed. Then he stood and looked around. "We'll put the kids up with you for now, Charles. Still not going to rebuild, though."
"Howard—"
"I've been looking for an excuse to move the school to New York City. This looks like a good one. Connecticut can take their tax incentives and shove them. I want to be in a place with decent Mexican food."
"I'm glad to hear that you have your priorities straight, Howard."
"Don't get all mushy on me now, Charles. Fury, I want—where the hell did he go?"
"I believe he left once you stood dramatically silhouetted by the sunset."
"Damn. So only you saw it?"
"I believe so. For what it's worth, it was stirring imagery."
"Good to know." Howard paused, looking over the grounds again, but this time seeing the people rather than the wreckage. "They did well today, didn't they?"