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[color=796e9c][b]#796e9c[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=808080][b]alloy[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/CbmkoWr][color=808080][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=808080][b]descendant tower[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]..........................[/color] [color=c03b6d][b]#c03b6d[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=808080][b]rose[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/14/b5/a8/14b5a89d85b0ad651f0ec8b5c1481e4c.jpg][color=808080][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=808080][b]descendant tower[/b][/color]
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[indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]It had been a decade since the closing of the academy and while Tobias was expected to go back to Genosha and the Brotherhood, he did everything he could to remain as far out of his father’s reach as possible. There was no goal or destination in mind, often wandering around the United States, keeping to himself. With his time at the academy training alongside heroes, vigilantes, and men better than he ever had the hope of becoming, it was hard to shake the call to help others. He never advertised his services and remained pretty far under the radar, but whenever there was someone in need of help he didn’t hesitate to act. Most of the time he went unnoticed, but when he didn’t that meant it was time for him to pack up and go somewhere new before the Brotherhood found him. 

That worked for about a year until his [i]niece?[/i]—he’ll never really get used to that one—called him and told her about his sister, Wanda, having gone missing. Tobias dropped everything and put most of his belongings in a storage unit in some random U-Haul in Maine. With nothing but a backpack, passport, and a prepaid credit card from Mystique, he was on the next flight to Sokovia. Wanda’s disappearance was a freak occurrence, or that’s as much as they could figure out. At least, that’s all the pair could ever figure out. For over seven years they traveled all across Europe, never staying in one place for too long, following any glimmers of hope they could find. 

When all their leads started drying up, everything in the world shifted. Tobias and Helena were staying in a hostel somewhere along the Swiss Alps when it became international news. Heroes were disappearing. No one knew how or why. Surveillance cameras were conveniently wiped. No witnesses. No phone records. Nothing. They didn’t know if Wanda and Vision were part of it, but they couldn’t discredit it either. The pair went from spending a week here and there hoping for something but coming up empty handed to being pulled in every direction. Whenever a new disappearance was reported, they were there the next day. They searched tirelessly for any clues or leads they could find, but neither of them were detectives and wits only got them so far. 

The disappearances weren’t slowing down. The most recent to go missing was one of the most well-known in all of Europe, Hercules. The pair stood in the middle of his home, everything in complete disarray beyond repair. Belongings, furniture, and even pictures that once hung on the walls were thrown about the home and broken beyond repair. There was blood… a [i]lot[/i] of it. Too much to be from Hercules alone. If Tobias had to guess, he killed several attackers before they managed to subdue him. But there were no bodies left behind, no bullet casings, just the aftermath and questions.

Tobias sighed, fatigued and exasperated as yet another lead left them with nothing but a trainwreck to sift through. He winced as he slipped his backpack off, still sore and nursing several injuries after their run in with no name mercenaries in black a few days prior. He kept one alive, tortured and questioned him to the point that Elle wasn’t able to look him in the eyes for hours. But he got nothing. No answers. No leads. Even the man’s dead body didn’t have a speck of information. What he did know was they were prepared enough to come after him without a shred of metal on them. Their guns, tranquilizers, and even the buckles on their kevlar vests were all dense, military grade plastic. It was planned… organized. But that was something he already knew. There was no way whoever these people were could accomplish spiriting away heroes without a plan and thorough knowledge of each of their targets. 

But they weren’t there for him. Perhaps they were scared about angering Magneto and the Brotherhood while it was in full force and safe on their secluded island. He couldn’t say. But they knew he was there when they came for Elle and they were prepared. Luckily they were stupid and underestimated them, but only just. They still managed to tranquilize her and he was barely able to stop them. There were several close calls. He had three pulled muscles, a broken nose, dozens of bruises, and a bullet wound in his shoulder as proof. 

He walked around the mess, lazily moving debris out of the way with a light sweep of his foot. [color=796e9c]"Elle…"[/color] Tobias began, the defeat already apparent in his voice. [color=796e9c]"I don’t think we’re going to find anything. It’s just like the last ten times."[/color] 

He sighed before gingerly lowering himself into a lopsided armchair that was missing one of its legs. His face fell into the palm of his right hand and he immediately winced at the pressure on his broken nose. [color=796e9c]"Damn it,"[/color] he muttered under his breath. 

Helena stepped lightly over a shattered frame, the glass crunching under her boots despite her efforts. Her gaze swept the ruin, so many questions moving around inside her head. Where had they taken him? How many had it taken to bring him down? Why was there no trace of their weapons, their bodies, their very presence beyond the blood on the walls? If Hercules could be dragged away like this, what chance did the rest of them have? And why, out of everyone, were she and Tobias still standing? After all, she’d even been targeted, tranquillized, and almost taken. And yet…here she was still standing while the powerful Hercules was defeated and taken to who knows where.

[color=c03b6d]“It is not so different from the others, you are correct,”[/color] she murmured, voice low, as if the walls themselves might be listening, [color=c03b6d]“Still… if we stop looking, then what is left for us to do?”[/color] Her words weren’t born of stubborn optimism and were more of a refusal to let the mere silence of the ruins before them dictate the end of their search. Tobias had already surrendered to the pattern of disappointment, and while Helena did not hold this against him, she had learned long ago that repetition did not always mean futility. Sometimes it was simply endurance. If every search ended empty-handed, then each new attempt became less about what they might find and more about proving that they still could look. That they hadn’t let despair take their sight.

Her words were also the distillation of years spent moving from one empty lead to the next, following traces of a woman who had always been just out of reach. Wanda’s absence and Helena’s search for her had become her compass, her reason for waking each day in some new city or village, providing her with a purpose beyond survival. To stop now would be to accept that there was nothing left to find and that her mother had simply vanished into the same void that was swallowing so many others. And Helena, most of all, could not accept that because without this purpose, she wasn’t sure who she would be anymore.

Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, noting the way he held his shoulder, the wince at his nose. [color=c03b6d]“You should let me see to that when we are finished here,”[/color] she added, softer still, though there was steel under the concern. [color=c03b6d]“It will not mend if you keep treating it as if it is nothing, da?”[/color]

Tobias adjusted how he sat attempting to relax as much as possible. Whenever he moved to ease one pain it triggered another. Comfort was not in the realm of possibilities for him. [color=796e9c]"The bullet went straight through. I don’t know what else can be done,"[/color] he contradicted. After another adjustment and wince, he groaned and conceded. [color=796e9c]"Yeah… once we get somewhere for the night. Ok?"[/color]

[color=c03b6d]“Good. I will hold you to that,”[/color] Helena replied before she turned her attention back to the wreckage. 

The wind whistled as it slipped through a cracked window on the far wall beside an old stone fireplace, tattered curtains fluttered from the faint breeze, and shattered glass crunched under foot as Helena continued to walk around the room. At first it started with a singular beep, quiet, innocuous. But then it happened again. A steady continuous beep called out from somewhere within the room. Tobias lifted his head, looking around the room and then toward Elle with a confused, yet optimistic expression. 

Helena stilled, meeting his gaze before she stepped toward the sound, boots shattering more fragments of glass until she caught sight of a sliver of black beneath the collapsed bookshelf.

[color=c03b6d]“There is something here,”[/color] she announced as she knelt. Her fingers, surprisingly gentle amidst the violence of the scene, swept away chunks of wood and gritty plaster dust. They finally closed around a small device, no larger than her hand, with a screen that blinked in time with the beeps.

Slowly, Helena rose to her full height, turning the strange find over and over in her grasp. The display was straightforward, its message clear:

[b]41.158558, -73.166693
September 23, 18 00 hours[/b]

Purposefully, she crossed the short distance to Tobias, presenting her discovery.

[color=c03b6d]“It gives us a place… and a time,”[/color] Helena stated, a small, genuine smile briefly touching her lips, mirroring his earlier hope. [color=c03b6d]“If Hercules was taken from here, perhaps whoever did this leaves… patterns. A trail we have not yet learned to follow.”[/color]

She handed the device to Tobias, her gaze momentarily drifting away to absorb the full horror of the destruction encircling them once more. Her focus then snapped back to Tobias as he examined the blinking screen. A chilling thought crystallized.

[color=c03b6d]“This place may be where they take the next one… or where they keep the ones they do not kill.”[/color] Still, a bit of grim satisfaction also surfaced, and determination settled over her features. [color=c03b6d]“What is the expression? You may have eaten your words?”[/color]

Tobias’s gaze fell to the small device in his hand. It looked like some strange pager, modern yet archaic at the same time. He studied the coordinates and date on the screen hoping that if he replayed it enough times in his mind it might give him an answer. [color=796e9c]"That’s a week from now,"[/color] he said, stating the obvious. That wasn’t much time depending on [i]wherever[/i] these coordinates led. 

He awkwardly shifted in his seat and dug in his back pocket for his phone. The muscles in his face tensed at the uncomfortable movement but he didn’t make a sound. His pain was the farthest thing from his mind at that moment. He unlocked his phone and quickly migrated to the maps app. His fingers meticulously typed in the coordinates, double and triple checking the digits to make sure he didn’t miss a single number. He hesitated briefly, inhaling sharply as he looked over at Elle before hitting enter. 

To his surprise it wasn’t some remote location in Siberia or lost in the middle of the Sahara, but in America… [i]exactly[/i] where the old Descendant Academy tower was located. Tobias looked up at Elle, holding out his phone toward her. [color=796e9c]"I think you might be the one eating your words,"[/color] he teased softly with a faint grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

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The constant, low thrum of the plane’s engines filled the tight cabin space, a steady shaking Helena felt deep within her body rather than just hearing it with her ears. Flying had never been something she enjoyed. Too many hours trapped in a seat beside people she didn't know, with no freedom to move and stretch her restless legs, always aware she was miles above the earth inside a complex machine she couldn't operate. Still, after years spent crossing countries in crowded buses, slow trains, and unreliable borrowed cars, she had to admit air travel had one big advantage: speed. It got you there fast. It also offered periods where she could focus her thoughts without distraction.

Her outfit wasn’t meant to invite attention, though the short cut of the skirt paired with knee-high boots seemed to do just that. Helena herself appeared oblivious to the way it left her legs in full view (or would have if she didn’t have Tobias’s hoodie draped over them. Perhaps he thought they were cold?), more concerned with adjusting her sweater sleeves than with any eyes that happened to follow her.

Tobias sat across the aisle from her, an arrangement chosen less for comfort than for the ease of keeping an eye on one another without pressing into each other’s space. He’d claimed the aisle seat, shoulders angled to avoid brushing the businessman next to him, his ever-present backpack wedged between his legs — the same bag that now held the battered pager they’d recovered from Hercules’s home. Its coordinates still sat in her mind like a pin on a map: a town in America she had never heard of, though the numbers placed it on the eastern coast. The date and hour were fixed in her thoughts as well, not far enough away to feel safe, yet not close enough to banish the questions of who, or what, would be waiting there.

She couldn’t help herself….

Shifting her weight, Helena leaned into the aisle. She rested her forearms on her knees, bringing her face closer to Tobias while ensuring her words wouldn’t travel beyond his ears. [color=c03b6d]“Why do you think it was left for us?”[/color] she asked, keeping the question wide open and phrased as if they might simply be discussing a delayed meeting.

His broad shoulders made it hard for Tobias to sit comfortably in coach without encroaching on someone else’s personal space. He must have apologized half a dozen times to the man beside him before deciding getting smacked in his wounded knee by the snack cart was better than apologizing another time. For a majority of the flight he stared at the coordinates in his phone obsessively. Why the academy? Why them? Why now? It gave them no answers and only posed more questions.

Tobias was so lost in his thoughts he nearly missed her question. [color=796e9c]"Huh?"[/color] He looked over at her before the rest of what she said caught up to him. He cleared his throat and twisted his baseball cap around backwards so he didn’t bump her in the forehead with the brim. [color=796e9c]"I’m not sure it was left for us. It looked… [i]old.[/i]"[/color]

There was a part of him that wanted to dig it out of his bag and show her precise examples, but he didn’t want to risk the wrong person seeing it either. Aside from that pager, they had no leads, no information, nothing. For all they knew the enemy, whoever that was, could be on that very plane with them and he didn’t know if that signal was a trap or a godsend. There were too many uncertainties that he was overly cautious and ready for things to go sideways at a moment’s notice. [color=796e9c]"I can’t help but wonder if it was [i]his[/i]."[/color] The him in question being Hercules, but he didn’t want to say the missing hero’s name. Who knows who could be listening?

The plane shuddered, a pocket of turbulence rolling beneath the wings. Helena sucked in a breath before she could stop herself, fingers curling against the armrest. She exhaled through her nose a moment later as though nothing had happened, but the young woman highly doubted she would ever get used to things like this. The turbulence only underscored how little sense any of this made, how unsteady the ground beneath their feet had truly become.

[color=c03b6d]“Even so, why America?”[/color] Helena muttered, her tone more an expression of her confusion than any challenge to Tobias. In her mind, the coordinates might as well have been a string of random numbers dropped onto an unfamiliar globe. She had passed through the country once, years ago, under circumstances too fleeting to leave much of an impression beyond the airport walls and the heavy, processed air. It was not a place she had ties to, and certainly not where she expected a lead connected to Hercules to point.

Tobias already knew the answer to her question… or at least part of it. But the paranoid part of him was always hesitant to say it outloud. Speaking anything into existence seemed to be a risky gamble with everything going on. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Elle, on the contrary, she was the [i]only[/i] person he trusted. But he didn’t trust the businessman beside him, or the stewardess, or the middle aged sweaty man two rows back that snuck a peek at Helena’s legs whenever she turned to face him and hypothesize another theory. That last time Tobias pulled his hoodie over his head and draped it across his niece’s lap before giving the man a less than friendly bit of side eye. 

Rather than say anything, Tobias adjusted the backpack between his legs, turning it slightly to face Helena. He leaned down and feigned going for his bottle of water. As he zipped it back up, his left hand fell and tapped a weather patch sewn lopsided and off-center on the front pocket of the bag. Age, wear and tear had taken its toll on the bit of fabric, but the words ‘Descendant Academy’ were just barely visible. 

He leaned back in his seat and drank what remained of his water before looking over at Helena. [color=796e9c]"That’s all I know,"[/color] he offered with a small shrug that made the bullet hole in his shoulder sting and remind him of its existence. 

Helena’s eyes followed the motion of his hand to the patch, catching the lettering before his arm moved away. Her gaze remained on it for a moment longer, though she didn’t comment. Instead, she let her focus shift to the subtle tightening in his posture when he shrugged, the way his jaw set for a breath before relaxing again.

[color=c03b6d]“Is it the same pain?”[/color] she asked, tilting her head just enough to keep her voice low. [color=c03b6d]“From before?”[/color] She pictured the specific injury site beneath his shirt, remembering its exact location and the feel of damaged tissue beneath her fingers.

There had been other times, nights in cramped hostels or borrowed rooms, when she’d cleaned grit from a wound, stitched a torn muscle, or braced an injury so it wouldn’t tear again. Her hands had learned the work through repetition and necessity, her pattern-sense sometimes nudging her toward the right pressure, the right knot, the right moment to stop. Once or twice, she’d even tilted luck in his favour without a word, the bleeding slowing just enough for her to finish what she’d started. It was never perfect, never painless, but it had kept them both moving when stopping wasn’t an option.

Her eyes narrowed now. [color=c03b6d]“You said you would let me look when we were done. It is… nearly so.”[/color]

[color=796e9c]"I know…"[/color] Tobias replied with a sigh. His gaze fell to his hands that rested in his lap as he rolled his shoulder once, grimacing at the low aching pain. It was healing… [i]slowly.[/i] Getting shot was not something he ever really thought would be a concern of his. But he also never expected to be hunted by people smart enough to avoid metal either. If he was careful, he hardly noticed it. The bullet wound drilled straight through the fissure between his deltoid and pectoral muscles. When he was at rest, he was fine. But any movement of his right arm sent a flare of deep searing pain through his shoulder. 

His other injuries were mostly healed. All that remained was the faint remnants of bruising. Faded yellow ran across the bridge of his nose while a blue green darkened the circles that had been living under his eyes for months. Tobias was fine. Even his shoulder would heal, with time. But Helena worried… She always worried. He imagined it had something to do with him being the last family member she had around. And while it was a little smothering, he couldn’t blame her. If the roles were reversed he’d be just as insufferable. 

He sighed once more. [color=796e9c]"Once we land and get to the car you can look. Promise."[/color]

Thankfully, they only had to remain cramped in the airplane for one more hour before landing at JFK airport. The moment they were free to stand, Tobias was up and in the aisle, finally able to stretch his legs and free his knees from being pinned against the seat in front of him. He also [i]conveniently[/i] body blocked the creeper a few rows back from worming his way up near Helena. Even sore, he helped her get her carry-on down from the overhead compartment and carried it in his left hand along with his own backpack. He followed her out of the airplane and into the terminal.

The airport in New York was significantly more chaotic and crowded than Athens International. Tobias immediately dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone as they snaked their way through the crowd. He pressed redial on his most recent call and brought the phone to his ear, while plugging the other one so he might be able to hear. 

[color=d6d6d6]"Hello?"[/color] a female answered from the other end of the call. There was the faint sound of shifting and hurried footsteps that likely carried her to somewhere more secluded. [color=d6d6d6]"[i]Tobias?[/i]"[/color] Mystique whispered, quiet enough he barely heard it over the crowd around him. 

[color=796e9c]"Hi, mom,"[/color] he replied while slipping his way through a large family that felt standing in the middle of the walkway to decide what overpriced airport food they were going to buy was a good idea. One of the men turned around just as he passed, slamming the bag on his back right into Tobias’s bum shoulder. [color=796e9c]"[i]Fuck,[/i]"[/color] he muttered behind clenched teeth as he shoved the man and his backpack out of his way with a less than friendly glare. 

[color=d6d6d6]"What is it? What’s wrong?"[/color] She immediately began to panic. [color=d6d6d6]"Toby, are you hurt?"[/color]

[color=796e9c]"I’m fine, mom,"[/color] he replied with the same annoyed tone children often got when their parents fussed over them. 

[color=d6d6d6]"You don’t sound fine."[/color]

Tobias sighed. [color=796e9c]"Elle and I had a run in with some… [i]I don’t know.[/i]"[/color] His voice trailed off as he struggled to find the words to describe what exactly came after them beyond no name assholes in black. [color=796e9c]"They tried taking her. I got shot. But I stopped them. We’re fine,"[/color] he rushed through everything like a grocery list, hoping she’d miss the little truth wedged in there. 

[color=d6d6d6]"You were shot!?"[/color]

Ok, so she didn’t miss it. 

[color=796e9c]"[i]Mom,[/i]"[/color] he groaned, desperately wanting to get the conversation back to the reason he called in the first place. [color=796e9c]"It was [i]just[/i] my shoulder. It went straight through. [i]I am fine.[/i]"[/color] Before she could drill him with more questions or demand to talk to Helena, Tobias continued. [color=796e9c]"Is everything ready, like I asked?"[/color]

Mystique sighed on the other end of the line. [color=d6d6d6]"Yes. Your car has new plates and should be parked in E8. The key is under the hood, on the battery."[/color]

[color=796e9c]"Thanks,"[/color] he replied while nodding his head toward Helena, motioning for her to follow him toward the parking garage.

[color=d6d6d6]"Promise me you’ll be safe?"[/color]

[color=796e9c]"I—"[/color] Tobias started but the words got stuck in his chest. How could he keep a promise like that when he had no idea what they were going to run into? The academy could be filled with heroes trying to make a final stand, sure. But it could also be filled with whoever was behind the disappearances, preying on the weak, isolated, desperate heroes that remain. He didn’t know what they were about to walk into and if he was about to die, he couldn’t make a promise that his death would break. [color=796e9c]"I’ll try."[/color]

Mystique was quiet for long enough that Tobias checked his phone to make sure the call didn’t drop. [color=d6d6d6]"Ok…"[/color] she finally spoke up, quieter than before. [color=d6d6d6]"I love you, Tobias."[/color]

Tobias stopped dead in his tracks, staring at a spot on the ground as he tried to swallow the forming lump in his throat. [color=796e9c]"... I love you too."[/color] He cleared his throat. [color=796e9c]"I uh… Shared my location with you. If you don’t hear from me by midnight, give it to Dad."[/color] The last thing he wanted was to get Magneto involved. But if he went missing too, maybe the Brotherhood was a necessary evil… at least to intervene, if nothing else. 

[color=d6d6d6]"Ok…"[/color] she said once again. [color=d6d6d6]"Don't make me have to involve him."[/color] 

[color=796e9c]"Yeah, I know,"[/color] he agreed with a sigh. [color=796e9c]"Keep your phone close. Bye, mom."[/color]

[color=d6d6d6]"Bye, Toby darling."[/color]

The line went dead. Tobias stared down at his phone for a long moment, before shoving it back in his pocket and looking over at Helena. [color=796e9c]"E8. In the parking garage,"[/color] he said while pointing towards one of the directional signs overhead that said parking was to the left, through the glass doors.

Helena moved smoothly to walk beside Tobias through the bustling airport corridor. She stayed quiet about Mystique’s phone call for now, understanding crowded places were terrible for private talks.

[color=c03b6d]“You did not tell her everything,”[/color] Helena stated calmly once they finally escaped the packed terminal into a hallway. Her words weren’t meant as criticism, simply recognizing a fact she’d observed. 

She knew which dangerous details Tobias had skipped: the frightening preparedness of those fighters, how they’d seemed to expect Tobias and Helena specifically. Her mind replayed terrifying split seconds where a wrong move could have meant capture for either of them. He’d left out how truly close the fight had been, edge-of-disaster close. Crucially, he’d also mentioned nothing about the pager or the truth that they were now heading towards an unknown threat in a country she did not have much trust in. Mystique had received just enough information to be concerned, Helena judged, but not nearly enough to grasp the full, immediate danger closing around them both like a trap.

[color=796e9c]"I know,"[/color] Tobias replied with a sigh, adjusting his hold on their bags. [color=796e9c]"She’s too close to my dad and I never know if anyone is listening. I tell her what’s important… She understands."[/color] Or Tobias at least hoped she did. There was a part of him who selfishly didn’t tell her specifics because he didn’t want her to worry more than she should. He was alive, that’s what was important. There was still the child inside him that wanted to tell his mother everything, seek her guidance and compassion. But it was better this way… for both of them. Someday, he hoped he’d have the opportunity to tell her everything. Just not at that moment.

Helena’s gaze moved toward the glass doors ahead. [color=c03b6d]“E8, you said?”[/color] she confirmed, her voice practical. Seeing that his arms were full from carrying both their heavier bags, she stepped forward quickly and pulled the door open for him as a small gesture of courtesy. Stepping through, the damp heat outside hit them instantly, carrying the smells of car exhaust and baking, but not overcooked, concrete. The loud airport sounds faded rapidly behind them, replaced by the echoes of the multi-story parking building.

They walked in silence between rows of parked cars before Tobias halted beside a [url=https://imgur.com/Cq0pacd]black Jeep Wrangler[/url]. Helena’s eyes scanned it, its old-fashioned, square shape and shiny metal trim catching the overhead lights in flashes. However, the vehicle’s age was apparent in the faded patches on the paintwork and the scrapes marking the corners of the doors. Helena instantly understood its value;  this Jeep looked too ordinary, too weathered to attract unwanted stares in a busy lot, yet its condition spoke of consistent maintenance. Mystique, Helena reasoned, would have chosen this exact vehicle. It blended perfectly into traffic, unremarkable, but its tough build promised it could handle rough roads or sudden trouble. Her eyes noted the only obvious change: bright, new license plates fixed firmly to the bumpers.

The ghost of a smile played on Tobias’s lips as he caught sight of his jeep in perfect condition sitting in E8 exactly as his mom said. He expected it to look a little worse for wear sitting in storage for the better part of a decade but it looked exactly like the day he left it behind to fly overseas and find Helena. As he approached he could swear that it had newer tires and had been recently washed. While Mystique was on Genosha, he wasn’t surprised she did everything in her power to help him… Even if it was as simple as having someone make sure his car got the proper attention and tune-up it needed.

Without speaking, Helena took her bag from him and placed it onto the Jeep’s warm hood. Seeing him carefully trying to adjust the heavy backpack strap near his injury, she reached up and gently steadied his arm.  [color=c03b6d]“Here,”[/color] she said softly, her fingers loosening the strap just enough to lift the pressure off the bullet wound beneath his shirt.

Her hands stayed resting on the strap for a moment longer than necessary. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes, staring instead at the fabric under her fingers. [color=c03b6d]“I am sorry… again,”[/color] she said, the words hard to get out. [color=c03b6d]“About the fight. About you having to defend me after—”[/color] She broke off before forcing herself to finish, [color=c03b6d]“after they tranquillized me.”[/color]

The words seemed to weigh more in her mouth than they should have. It wasn’t only the fight. Somewhere beneath the noise of that situation, she could almost hear a different place: the fading sound of her mother’s voice, the harsh scrape of stone under her knees, that strange, building hum in the air moments before destruction. More than the actual explosion, she remembered the sudden, terrifying void where her mother had stood just an instant before. The images were shattered, though – a burst of red light, the icy metal clamp on her wrist, then utter blankness until she woke up utterly alone. The tranquillizer had scraped against those broken pieces inside her mind, inside her.

[color=c03b6d]“It… reminded me of my mother,”[/color] she finally confessed, subdued. [color=c03b6d]“Only pieces. Never the whole.”[/color]

They didn’t have much time to waste before they needed to be on the road, but they had the luxury of taking a moment or two to digest half of the shit they had been through. Tobias’s sore but strong arms pulled Helena into a gentle embrace. His hand tenderly rubbed her back as he rested his chin on top of her head. [color=796e9c]"It’ll come back… with time,"[/color] he tried his best to reassure her. He was always there for Elle to give her comfort, support… or kill someone when she needed it but his sympathies only held so much weight when he couldn’t relate to the kind of pain she was going through. If Mystique went missing, he’d destroy half of the world to find her, but Magneto? He’d only be disappointed he didn’t do it himself. She’d lost [i]both[/i] parents, a majority of her family. Tobias was never really sure how to help… beyond just being there. 

After a long moment, he slowly pulled away to look down at her with a stoic face but soft gaze. [color=796e9c]"Stop apologizing."[/color] He squeezed her shoulder gently. Tobias didn’t say what he was thinking because he didn’t want to make Helena feel worse. But if dying that night would have kept her safe, he would have paid that price. Her and Mystique were the only family he still had that mattered to him. His own existence was pointless if he couldn’t keep the people he cared about safe. That’s what he was doing and what he’d keep doing. The world would keep turning without him in it, but without the two of them he’d lose his own will to live. It was the dark truth of the matter. But he didn’t dare put that burden on her shoulders. 

[color=796e9c]"Here… Before you get angry again."[/color] Tobias reached over his head with his good arm and pulled his T-shirt off. Nearly all of his skin beneath the fabric was covered with dozens of tattoos. Most of them he got during their travels across Europe, some had meaning while others got meaning by existing on his flesh. Every time the ink touched his skin was another way he separated himself from Magneto. People could have been forgiven for thinking he looked fine. Sickly yellow remnants of bruises vanished beneath the dark markings and the coin-sized hole in his shoulder was camouflaged by the swirls of ink that surrounded it. 

He leaned back against the side of the jeep and looked down at the small wound. It didn’t look infected. There was no pus, no odor, no blood, just an angry scabbed gash. [color=796e9c]"I think it just needs time."[/color]

[color=c03b6d]“Time will help,”[/color] Helena agreed, [color=c03b6d]“but it will not do all the work.”[/color] She reached for her bag, pulling out a small kit she kept on hand filled with clean bandages, antiseptic, and the sort of things they’d both had to rely on too many times before. [color=c03b6d]“Hold still,”[/color] she instructed, her tone firm but not unkind. [color=c03b6d]“We can save time for the road…and still not be careless.”[/color] Efficiency mattered, but so did doing the job right, she felt, especially with a bullet wound involved.

Her hands moved with the smooth confidence of practice, yet surprisingly gentle as she cleaned the area around the injury. This practical act felt like the only apology she could truly offer now, the one he wouldn’t let her voice aloud. As she carefully dabbed antiseptic onto the reddened skin, her gaze drifted over the patterns of dark ink covering much of his shoulder and upper arm. She recognized each design, having seen them countless times before. Still, her eyes couldn’t help but trace the familiar lines – symbols of locations visited, allies encountered, and narrow escapes survived. Helena understood these markings weren't always meaningful when first etched into his skin; their significance had merely grown over the years, accumulating history like the scars beneath them.

Watching her fingers work near the ink, a thought she’d had a few times before surfaced. She sometimes considered getting a mark of her own, not as an imitation of Tobias but to claim something solid and lasting, a choice etched permanently onto her body. Something that couldn't vanish without warning, swallowed by forces beyond her control like her mother had been. Perhaps a unique symbol, her own sigil, or maybe a pattern woven in violet to mirror the rune always present on her wrist. The idea held appeal, a declaration of self. Yet, she always pulled back. Now wasn't the right moment, especially. Besides, she needed to be certain, to choose a mark she could look at years later and know it belonged to her for the right reasons, not born from fear or impulse.

Tobias winced, taking in a sharp breath between his teeth as Helena cleaned the wound. His eyes squinted, but the rest of his body remained frozen like a statue to not mess her up. It wasn’t the first time she had patched him up and he doubted it would be the last. He learned the drill, the steps of her process, and the associated pain that came with it. While he was more of a ‘rub some dirt in it’ type of guy, if it helped her worry a little less, he often obliged. She’s kept him from getting an infection up to that point, so whatever she was doing was working… Even if he was stubborn when it came to accepting help. 

After a moment, without looking up from the fresh bandage she was securing, Helena asked, [color=c03b6d]“How far will we have to go?”[/color] It was a simple question on the surface, but there were a few more hiding behind it: how many miles of road before they reached the academy, and how much time before they crossed whatever unseen line separating safety from possible danger.

His gaze shifted over to her as she fastened the fresh bandage to his shoulder. [color=796e9c]"Two and a half hours drive, maybe less,"[/color] Tobias answered plainly. He ran the route through maps a dozen times before they got on the plane in Athens and a couple more as they waited on the tarmac to get off the plane. New York traffic was fickle, so they were going to be cutting it close. He might just have to speed… [i]a little.[/i]

Once Helena was finished, Tobias carefully put his shirt back on, being sure not to overextend his arm and mess up the bandaging. He grabbed both of their bags and walked around the back of the jeep. His right hand waved subtly at the trunk, willing the metal inside the lock to release and the door of the hatch to swing open. He discarded their bags in the trunk before popping the hood with his powers and grabbed the key. It was risky using his powers in the open like that, but it was easier and faster. And perhaps a part of him wanted to warm up his abilities that had been lying dormant for several days, just in case he needed them. 

Tobias unlocked the doors like a regular person that time and slipped into the driver's seat. After putting the key in the ignition and giving it a turn, the engine roared to life, sounding just as good as the day he left it behind. A genuine little chuckle escaped his lips as he patted the dashboard. It was stupid. It was just a car. But it was also a little piece of home that tethered him in place, making him feel the tiniest bit more stationary, not like a wandering vagabond backpacking across Europe without any real roots.

[color=796e9c]"Seatbelts,"[/color] he instructed Helena while fastening his own. They might be mutants who could probably save themselves in the face of a car accident. But road safety was still important.

[center]* * *[/center]
The jeep turned onto Descendant Drive. A wave of nostalgia overcame Tobias as the sparkling sunset reflected off the distant windows of the Descendant tower. While he knew he should have been more anxious or concerned about it being a trap, there was an overwhelming sense of excitement that built in his chest. The Academy was the one place that really felt like home for him. And while he missed his mom while he was there, he was also out from under Magneto’s oppressive thumb. He had friends there, a life. He wasn’t Magneto’s son or progeny. The only legacy he forged within those walls was his own. 

His knuckles went white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. Tobias didn’t know what to expect, but he prayed it wasn’t a trap. He’d rather be attacked on the road than lured into a trap in his own home. If the school had been defiled, he didn’t know if even Helena’s kind demeanor could keep him in check. It needed to be something good… It had to be. 

He slowly pulled into the small roundabout-like area that surrounded a large garden with an ornate metal ‘Descendant Academy’ sign spotlighted in the middle. Tobias brought the car to a stop on the far edge of the roundabout, beside a black Harley and the curb of the walkway that led to the entrance. The building had been unused and presumably abandoned for the better part of a decade, so he didn’t feel overly guilty for parking in the drop-off zone. Especially with the other vehicle parked there as well. It wasn’t like there was a line of cars following him up the drive or honking at him. 

[color=796e9c]"Looks like we aren’t alone,"[/color] Tobias commented as he put the jeep in park and turned it off. His hands remained firmly on the wheel as he sighed and looked over at Elle. [color=796e9c]"Are you ready?"[/color]

Helena’s eyes moved past the Jeep’s windshield to the motorcycle before finally settling on the massive academy building ahead. 

[color=c03b6d]“I think so. But…”[/color] Her tone was soft and mellifluous as she spoke, her next words catching as if shy to leave her lips. [color=c03b6d]“I want to see it as you remember it. Not what it…might be.”[/color] If she could glimpse even a tiny piece of the place Tobias cherished, maybe then she could grasp why this tower ever felt like home to him.

The jeep’s doors shut behind them, the sound carried off by the restless rush of waves colliding with the rocky shoreline just beyond the academy grounds. Helena remained beside the warm vehicle for a few seconds longer. Then, she drew in a deep lungful of salty air, her gaze inevitably lifting to take in the sheer scale of the glass tower from ground level. Up close, it felt overwhelmingly large and artificial. Its mirrored walls caught the slowly dying sun, throwing broken pieces of light everywhere and smearing the sky's colours across the tower’s dark, modern surface. The strange platform sticking out from its side – a helipad, Tobias called it – looked equally stark, its shape blending oddly with the slow-moving clouds high above them.

The whole structure just felt so….alien and imposing to the young woman.

She tried to imagine Tobias here, younger, a student disappearing into the glass doors with the others who had also belonged to this place. The thought didn’t sit easily. He’d always been a story half-told, even now, and it was hard to picture him as part of something so polished and towering. She wondered what this place had taken from him, and what pieces of him it had shaped. And though she had pressed him with questions before they’d gotten here, standing here at the threshold of his past only made her both curious and afraid to discover more about it.

While Helena was visibly filled with dread or perhaps just overwhelmed at all of it, a tether somewhere within Tobias’s chest tightened and lured him in closer to the familiar tower. He was only a few feet from the one place where he felt accepted for who he was, not where (or who) he came from. It wasn’t going to be the same. He knew that. Yet his pulse still raced with every step closer. There was a part of him that was excited for Helena to see another side to him that most people rarely saw or knew existed, but there was another part that grew anxious like he was more vulnerable… exposed.

Tobias first noticed an angry-looking woman storming out of the tower and parking herself near one of the flowerbeds off to the side of the walkway. There was a brief moment he considered asking if she was ok, but the sound of soft brushing of a broom across the cement caught his attention. He wandered toward the entrance, first noticing the shattered glass and mangled doorframe, but then he saw a familiar, silver-haired man in a black suit standing before the door, cleaning up the mess. [color=796e9c]"Alfred?"[/color]

The older man looked up from his task at hand and a warm, welcoming smile crossed his face. [color=d6d6d6]"Mr. Lehnsherr. It warms the heart to see you alive and well."[/color] Alfred leaned the broom and dustpan against the closest glass wall before closing the distance between them. In other circumstances, they might have greeted each other with a handshake, but it had been a decade and until that moment, the man had no idea if Tobias had disappeared like a lot of his previous classmates. 

Tobias leaned down slightly and gave him a gentle but firm hug. [color=796e9c]"It’s good to see you."[/color] He gave the man’s arm a light pat as he pulled away and stood up straight. He then turned to face Helena, motioning a hand toward her with a smile. [color=796e9c]"Alfred, this is my niece, Helena. Helena, this is Alfred Pennyworth. He’s one of the Academy’s caretakers."[/color]

Alfred took a step forward with a gentle smile and extended right hand. [color=d6d6d6]"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss?"[/color]

[color=796e9c]"Maximoff,"[/color] Tobias answered with a smile between the two. [color=796e9c]"You can trust him, Elle. I promise,"[/color] he added, hoping to reassure her.

Helena hesitated at first, her gaze moving from Alfred’s extended hand to his face, measuring him with the same caution she had shown the tower itself. Politeness tugged at her, but so did wariness. Trust wasn’t something she gave freely, not when she’d only just stepped into a place that already felt like it could swallow her whole.

Eventually, however, she placed her hand in his, giving it a light shake. 

[color=c03b6d]“Helena,”[/color] she offered, the name spoken with a shy composure that belied the dread still knotted in her chest. Her voice was soft enough that the wind nearly carried it off, but the effort in meeting his gesture was plain.

While they got acquainted with each other, Tobias snuck around Alfred. He waved his hand at the dented doorframe half ripped out of the support beams. The metal slowly straightened and lodged itself back in place, no longer creating a hazardous barrier for people to walk under. It’d still need to be replaced, along with the broken door but this way it wouldn’t fall on someone either. He then grabbed the discarded broom and dustpan. [color=796e9c]"Let me get this for you, Al."[/color]

[color=d6d6d6]"Such a good lad,"[/color] Alfred commented toward Helena. He then held out his arm, offering to escort her inside. [color=d6d6d6]"I’d be happy to help you inside, Ms. Maximoff."[/color]

Helena hesitated, her lips parting as she considered refusing Alfred's offered arm. Yet, the old man's undeniable kindness radiated from him, making it impossible to label his gesture as anything but genuine concern. So, this time, she accepted it less tentatively than the first, laying her hand against his sleeve and allowing him to guide her further inside the building.

Before taking in the place’s interior, Helena’s gaze strayed back once more to the fractured glass scattered beyond the door before she decided to pose the question it and the motorcycle outside brought to her mind.

[color=c03b6d]“What happened at the doors? Did someone here cause this?”[/color] she asked, her voice carrying equal parts curiosity and caution.

Alfred let out a breath through his nose,  tilting his head thoughtfully.

[color=d6d6d6]“An… exuberant arrival, Miss Maximoff,”[/color] he began, his tone dry but not unkind. [color=d6d6d6]“You see, the young lord Magni, son of Thor, announced himself with all the subtlety of…well… a thunderclap.”[/color] His lips twitched, his humor held back but present all the same. [color=d6d6d6]“One might hope his father’s sense of restraint comes to him in time, though I confess I have learned not to wager on it.”[/color]

He adjusted his arm beneath her hand, guiding her deeper into the lobby. [color=d6d6d6]“Rest assured, the damage is no reflection on the hospitality you will find here. Merely on our guest’s, let’s call it, [i]enthusiasm[/i].”[/color] He cleared his throat, a signal Helena interpreted to mean that the topic was best closed. The mess was inconvenient, but not a sign of inherent danger within these walls. She hoped.

[color=d6d6d6]“Now then,”[/color] Alfred announced, his tone shifting to something more welcoming. [color=d6d6d6]“Allow me to introduce you to the others.”[/color]

Meanwhile, Tobias made sure to sweep up every shard of glass he could see into the dustpan. When the ground no longer glistened from shattered specks of glass, he walked around the side of the tower to where he knew the dumpsters resided and tossed out the debris. He felt a little guilty it wasn’t in a bag or anything, but it was still better than leaving it lying around on the ground for someone to slip on or something… And it wasn’t fair to Alfred to always be cleaning up others’ messes. It bothered him ten years ago and it still did. 

He followed them both inside with the broom and dustpan clutched in his right hand. Tobias froze, a bit surprised at how many people lingered in the lobby. It was nothing compared to the number of people at the academy in its prime, but they were never all congregated at the entrance. He cleared his throat as he tried to be as invisible as possible… Although the whole room seemed to be watching them enter with bated breath. 

[color=d6d6d6]"I’d like to introduce Tobias Lehnsherr, a former student of the academy, and his niece Helena Maximoff,"[/color] Alfred spoke up loud enough for the entire lobby to hear and give him their undivided attention, if they somehow weren’t already watching. He then turned his attention to Tobias, who stood behind him and took back the cleaning implements. [color=d6d6d6]"Thank you. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable."[/color] 

Tobias motioned his hand for Helena to go ahead and pick a seat. But for what felt like a long, silent moment, Helena remained utterly still, rooted near Tobias while a powerful internal tug-of-war held her captive. The easiest path shone clearly. All she had to do was slide into the empty chair beside her uncle the instant he sat down. There, she could fold inward, make herself smaller, invisible, and let him absorb the curious stares around the room. Yet, that easy choice always came with a hidden cost: suffocation. Choosing to follow Tobias meant shrinking her own space to breathe, and she knew, with painful clarity, it meant shrinking his space too. Admitting this truth to herself still felt like…a lot, even now.

She understood, deeply, how overwhelming she could be for him. Some days, her very presence, more than likely, felt like a constant demand. She was [i]trying[/i]. Truly. She practiced giving him room, resisting the desperate urge to cling like she had in the earliest, darkest days. But each attempt at independence felt terrifyingly like stepping off a cliff into a vast, starless night with an endless, smothering darkness waiting below for her. That darkness wasn't new either.  It had stalked her relentlessly since her mother vanished in that crumbling, decrepit chapel years ago. A lot of time had passed since then, but that frightened part of Helena remained forever sixteen, standing alone in choking dust and rubble, surrounded by broken stone and the fading sound of her mother’s voice in her mind. Waiting. Hoping someone, anyone, would find her, claim her, shield her from the terrifying emptiness stretching ahead. Tobias had been that person. That person she’d felt had stepped into those ruins, offered a hand, and given her a role. Niece. But now, surrounded by these strangers, putting even a few feet of polished floor between herself and him felt like crossing a chasm.

And yet despite that chasm, Helena forced her muscles to unlock. She took one small step. Then another. And another. Her feet carried her, somewhat stiffly, towards an unoccupied couch. An island of independence in the sea of unfamiliar faces. It wasn't perfect, but it was the farthest she could manage without divine intervention. Lowering herself onto the soft cushions, she smoothed the fabric of her skirt and folded her hands carefully in her lap.

As Alfred walked off and Helena found somewhere to sit, Tobias’s gaze drifted over toward a pair of blondes, one of them none other than Thorson himself. [color=796e9c]"Oh shit,"[/color] he cursed under his breath. It wasn’t that he was unhappy to see his old friend, but more that he was mentally preparing himself for how much the impending hug was going to hurt like a bitch. He was never very good at reunions.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

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