“‘a’woma”  John-John was trying to suggest a call name for Kate (even though it was none of his business), but speaking with his mouth full left him barely intelligible “'o' shoul’ ‘efini’ely ‘o as ‘a’woma” 
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Wed 03 Feb 2021.

"Back, you savages!" Frank mock-cried out, making a whipping gesture with his empty hand. He laughed at the chaos. "Back, I say!"

Then he looked up, as though focusing on something far away.

"I gotta go," he said. He turned to leave, not even trying to grab a taco before they were all gone. "Think about what I asked, though. It might become important."

With that, he stepped out into the hall and began a half-jog to the Professor's office.

Ana Sofía took care not to trip over, knock over, etc. any of the smaller children as she tried to transfer the big platter to a table. "Enjoy! I've got to go." Seeing Frank head out ahead of her, she quickly glances at the other older students to see which of them might also be heading toward the professor's office. She doesn't race there, but she does head immediately there at a quick walk.

Zoey frowns at mention of code names. She still remembers what had been said prior their first Danger Room mission. "I do not want a code name, because I feel like it creates an unnecessary division between mutants and genetypicals... but at the same time, there's bad people out there who would try to use our identities against us. Maybe just... Red, I guess." Like the Pokemon trainer!

A voice in her head makes Zoey look around. This was something she was rapidly becoming used to. From the look of things, the others had heard it too. "Oh yeah, some extreme firefighting action all up in this shit," she mutters, the word choice significantly more jovial than she felt. She, too, heads to meet Professor Xavier, cradling a fish taco in a paper towel the whole way.

In reply to Zoey Fujino (msg # 23):

Kate luckily forwarned had already gotten herself a plate, with MULTIPLE tacos that she guarded deftly, mostly through jumping up to sit on one of the counters so that with it's added height she was safe from smaller hands and limited reach.  That Ana quickly drew the attention away towards the table only made her position safer.

Contemplating the thoughts on names she, unlike John John finished her bite before speaking.  "What's a'wona mean?" trying to figure it out though she now knows better than to actually pry with her slowly burgeoning mental powers.

At Zoey's comment she laughs.  "Well then maybe I could be a'wona-mon." Having picked up on that thought easily enough, given how much more attention she typically paid fishgivinggirl and her thoughts.  It didn't even feel intrusive to Kate to have picked up on it.

It was a little bit of a surprise when the others started to make their excuses, especially before they even finished eating.  Still Kate stuck to her spot and gave them a wave.   "Um, bye, have fun storming the castle?" Her confusion about their departure evident as she quoted last weekends movie night movie to give her bemused encouragement.

Frank was only a few steps from the Professor's office when he realized he was being followed. He turned over his shoulder and saw Zoey and Ana Sofia behind him. He stopped to allow them to catch up.

"Didn't realize you'd been summoned, too," he said as they got closer. "He looked back past them. No Kate...?"

"I think that's more of a Digimon name... hey, you're not coming?"

In reply to Zoey Fujino (msg # 26):

Kate just shrugged, like she knew pokemon from digimon.  They were Japanese cartoons, that was about as far as she followed them.  "Um, where?" was her elegant and illuminating response to the question.  "If you're in trouble with the professor it wasn't me and I had no part in it..."  She's actually paused to try and think if she had done something to get in trouble lately but coming up blank went on. "Yup, I haven't done anything lately at all.  Do you need to hurry, should I come with?"

Frank, Zoey, Ana, all make it to the Professor’s office together, to find both him and McCoy (now fully recovered), with grim expressions on their faces.  McCoy peeked outside and looked down the hallway to see if anyone was nearby before he closed the door behind the small group, and nodding for the Professor to proceed.

“Thank you all for coming” Xavier didn’t take it for granted that they were willing to drop everything and come running just because he asked them to.  If only he was sure they will stay, after hearing what he had to say next

“We have a serious situation at hand” he exhaled softly before continuing:
“Two hours ago, I’ve sent the X-Men on a mission to defend a nuclear power plant from being overrun by a group of radical mutants. It is only now that I realize that the attack was merely a diversion, meant to lure the X-Men away.  Nomans Land, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, is a government military facility.  It, too, is currently under attack.  I fear something far worse than a nuclear meltdown might occur if we don’t intervene.  And fast”

Zoey frowns, but it looks like Kate hadn't been invited. That seemed like an oversight to her, but Xavier didn't seem the sort to make those kinds of mistakes. "Ah... nevermind I guess. Sorry. I'll fill you in after!" She hurries off, unwilling to keep the Professor-in-Chief waiting.

---

Zoey leans against a sturdy-looking bookshelf, one foot braced against it for balance, arms behind her as she listens. She's careful not to disturb the books with her doubtlessly dirty bootheels.

"My imagination clearly isn't what it once was," Zoey remarks. "How much worse than a nuclear meltdown can one get?" In asking this she makes the aggressive assumption that by 'meltdown' the professor means something worse than just having to lock a reactor up in a coffin for a few hundred years. Modern reactors were pretty robust things that couldn't just explode like Chernobyl did, but she wasn't sure how resilient they were to deliberate sabotage (which, admittedly, was pretty close to what happened at Chernobyl).

"Maybe we should just try not to find out," Frank said, intervening between Professor Xavier and the occasionally acid-tongued Zoey. Beyond a certain level of Really Bad, the details mostly ceased to matter. Meltdown or Kaboom... it hardly mattered which. Both were to be avoided.

"Three questions, sir. One, who or what are we facing? Two, how are we getting there, if the Blackbird is away? Three, why was Kate Messer omitted from the team?"

A mission! They were getting a mission!

Zoey's eyes flick to Tank. She is a little put out at getting shut down like that, but she can't really complain when the seconds are ticking away. His questions are certainly good ones.

Kate grinned and gave Zoey a wave.  "I would try to save you a Taco but I'm not that brave."  She called after the retreating form of fishgivinggirl.  So while the others were learning about meltdowns, and other bad things Kate was finishing her food and watching a passel of younger mutants enjoy lunch, and making a mess.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Thu 04 Feb 2021.

The Professor was a patient man, but in this case, he had to hurry or the entire discussion will become a moot point.

"You will be facing the group of Mutant radicals, and any of their friends that they manage to spring out from the holding facility.  The US military isn't going to be happy to see you either, but I will see what I can do about that"

The Professor furrowed his eyebrows as he concentrated on the image coming miles away

"- we have no more time to waste.  Hank, you must leave now. I will brief you, and whomever chooses to accompany you, on the way over"

"Then I guess we'd better get moving," Tank said, squaring his shoulders. He was still concerned that he possibly wasn't ready... but if there was no choice, there was no choice. He stepped over the stand by Dr. McCoy. He looked to Zoey and Ana Sofia, hoping like hell they chose to come with them, because he wasn't sure he could do it without them. He'd been training with them most of all, and knew them better than he did any of the regular X-Men.

But this was their decision, and they weren't nearly as interested in being X-Men as Frank was.

Zoey sighs. She's not super pleased about it, but she knows that reality is breaking down one's front door they don't usually have the luxury of asking what's going on before the bullets start flying. "Tacos, you want to ask Kate to join us?" she asks of Ana. She otherwise follows whoever seems to most want her to follow them.

Ana Sofía listens quietly, looking more pensive than usual. Finally she replies, "I'm no hero, professor. But you haven't led me astray yet and I trust you. Plus, if things get even more out of hand, the young mutants will be in even more danger. So I guess I'm in."

In reply to Zoey she says, "Kate's young. Just like self-defense classes are fine, teaching her to defend herself is fine. But there is a reason the military won't let her sign up yet. Even though we could surely use the help, we shouldn't ask her." Something seems to occur to her. "That wasn't a suggestion to answer Frank, was it? I don't think I could handle 'Tacos.'"

"Yes, that is correct.  Both Kate and Barnell are still too young.  I can't allow them to join and risk their lives"
That was blatant ageism for you, but he had to draw the line somewhere.
"Hank" he pressed McCoy yet again  " - The elevator"

“Yes, Professor, we are leaving”

‘Beast’ pressed a blue furred hand against the touch panel to summon the hated narrow elevator up to the top floor (he arguably disliked squeezing into it even more so than Zoey).  While they waited, he addressed one of Frank’s earlier questions:

“We have three, two-seater jets down at the hangers.  They have the same VTOL capability of the blackbird, but with much more limited range and speed.  For our purposes, however, they will suffice”

As the elevator door opened, he motioned with his hand at Zoey, and Ana, bowing ever so lightly:

“After you”

Getting into the elevator Ana Sofía replies, "You said two-seater jets?" She looks at the others. "You're not expect me to try to not crash one, right?"

Zoey frowns a bit as Ana rejects the nickname. "Sorry Ana. Still haven't found a nickname for you that sticks. And... fine. At least tell Tabby what's happening; I told her I would keep her up to date."

---

Talk of the jets makes Zoey feel a bit nervous. Although she's played a fair bit of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Kerbal Space Program, she's not formally trained to fly. And VTOL... aside from one hilariously disastrous spacecraft she'd designed in KSP, that'd be a new experience for her. "I'm... sure they have remote control," is her uncertain guess.

I can survive a crash, Frank tried to reassure himself, thinking of the two-seater jet being flown by a novice. But he was the only one who could, so that was really no comfort at all. He followed Dr. McCoy into the elevator along with the girls, squeezing in as best as they could.

They could build the Danger Room large enough to swallow the Houston Astrodome, but they couldn't build a reasonable-sized elevator? Absurd. This thought overwhelmed thoughts of a fiery crash, but only for a few moments. Then Frank was back to worrying over who was going to fly the second jet.

"Remote control would save a lot of grief," he agreed with Zoey.

"Thanks, Frank." Ana Sofía very gentle ribs him. "I'll feel so much safer knowing you won't share my terrified, fiery death." The she seems to distract herself.

A moment later she's thinking more out loud. "What's bugging me is the answer or lack thereof to your earlier question. The nuclear facility doesn't seem to be the greatest diversion for a prison break far from it. Sure, it got some X-Men out of the way, but they wouldn't know how many to expect to divert. I get the feeling the prison break is also a diversion, that they're both diversions for something else. While one diversion might not draw everyone out, two should. But what would be the big target? I don't think it would be the school here, as Professor Xavier could probably handle anything coming this way. But with the jets and X-Men all gone, would couldn't respond to something somewhere else. If I were doing that, I'd do something far from either diversion to help guarantee a delayed response. I dunno, but it's bugging me already."

Zoey shrugs. Then she thinks about a bit longer. She frowns, shrugs again. "I don't know... compared to a nuclear reactor blowing up, a prison break seems relatively insignificant. Professor Xavier didn't seem to think so, which tells me he knows something about that particular prison. I can't recall anything special about it, so it probably isn't public knowledge. The number of jets that the X-Men have also probably isn't public knowledge. It's not completely outside the realm of possibility that this is some kind of multi-layered gambit, but that seems to be giving too much credit to terrorists. In any event, thinking too much about it doesn't do us a whole lot of good. What are we gonna do; just not respond to the prison break that has the Professor's underpants twisted up? Is that an option we're considering?"

Zoey shrugs once more. "We'll keep the engines warmed up and ready to go. I know they're short range but if need be the Professor can tow the fuckers back to the Institute."

"Some powered mutants are like walking WMDs," Frank opined. He couldn't believe he even needed to have this conversation, but maybe it was better to have it than to leave certain things unsaid. Some mutants were simply bad news. "There are some really nasty guys out there with the power to wreck cities. They're worse than a nuclear meltdown because they can decide when and where to do it, and then they can do it again.

"Unless they're stopped, which is where we come in... somehow."