8. Debrief

Posted on Wed Jun 28th, 2023 @ 2:41am by Duke Drake & Kranny Shtorm & Rebecca McMillen & Sakura Tanikawa & Caitlin Thompson PhD & Eli King & McKenna Lockhart

2,138 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: 1. Year One
Location: Teachers Lounge
Timeline: September 11, 1992 11 PM

Doc sat in a lounge chair with a glass of brandy, it had been a long day, he had finished cleaning cuts, scrapes and other minor wounds, luckily none of the students or faculty had been seriously injured. "We dodged a bullet this time," he said taking a sip of his brandy and savoring the burn.

"I don't want us to be just lucky in the future. I want us and our kids better prepared. You all did a good job out there today, I don't think I've seen anyone fight as ferociously as Shtorm did. I'm glad you're on our side big guy," Doc said as he lifted his glass in Shtorm's direction in salute.

Shtorm sits, with several bandages on is back, head, arms and his knuckles looking down with his hands together in his lap. "That was not the fighting of a man who you want on your side. I lost control, I could have killed them, god knows it took every ounce of self-control just to hold back that urge. And worse I could have hurt one of you and I couldn't forgive myself if I did that." Shtorm says slipping more into his lap looking at his Knuckles and his shirt in the trash stained red with blood.

"You didn't hurt any of us, and you didn't hurt any of them too severely, Shtorm. That's exactly why you're here. I can patch bloody knuckles and buy extra shirts, I can't replace kids, and what you did was in the line of duty, it wasn't fighting just to be violent," Doc said trying to help encourage the man who had not only been fighting rioters but personal demons.

Rebecca was walking around with a first aid kit, roaming from injury to injury. Bandaging where she could, cleaning what she could. She had the most fundamental of training in first aid, which consisted mostly of make sure the wound was clean and then fresh bandage. Mostly what it said on the instruction manual, but she didn't shy away from blood or injury. She was no stranger to getting hurt. At Shtorm's words, she frowned slightly. "We got blindsided, we all kinda panicked and did what we do. We survive, but we'll do better." she said with a soft smile. "You'll do better, I'll do better, we'll all do better."

"No one got seriously hurt, on either side. I'd like to think that your display scared away most of their resolve. Don't beat yourself up too much, but if you need us, we're here to help." the mousey blonde spoke to encourage the burly bear. "No go get something to drink." she motioned to the table in the lounge. Tea, Water, Coffee, and soda in the fridge. Breakfasts of champions all.

McKenna had returned to the manor with the rest of the faculty and students, but she hadn't yet taken time to change or to meet anyone. She simply sat in a chair in the back in her costume. The low-cut white leotard complemented with cold cord and a silky crimson cape. All together she looked every bit a superhero but was more than embarrassed because no one else fit that aesthetic. She got up quickly, grabbed a green tea from the refrigerator, and sat down in the back without saying anything. Whether or not she belongs there remained to be seen.

"Tea is better with crackers." Rebecca offered, sneaking around to give McKenna a small plate with some crackers on it. No cheese though. Something must have happened to the cheese between the table and the offer. "And thank you for the assist." she offered in a hushed tone.

"McKenna, thank you for the help, if you want we have some sweatpants and a tshirt with the school logo if you want to get comfortable," Doc said feeling slightly embarrassed he hadn't thought of it earlier. The rest of the team had been able to change out of the gear upon arriving at the school and he had forgotten about their guests.

"Oh, yes. That would be great!" McKenna said, smiling with only a small amount of shyness. She stood up and approached the Doctor. "Just tell me where.

"I can show her." Rebecca offered.

McKenna nodded and left to retrieve the clothes and change into them. She could catch up on things when she got back. For now, she would try to blend in for a bit and then see if she could figure out what kind of people she was dealing with here.

Eli stood quietly near a window, staring out into the darkened grounds of the former plantation. In his head he kept going over the days events. asking himself if there was anything he could have done to keep the plan from getting derailed. In truth, he had no idea why things went off the rails the way they did, but he didn't want to cause problems by opening that box.

The door opened up and Caitlin came in, her helmet in one hand and her hair still wet, but not dripping with water. It wasn't the first time she had to make do with a fast shower from a water hose. And with her hair/fur, it took a while to dry. She carried two sets of clothes on her bike. She had followed most of the way, but decided to nap near her motorcycle in the woods near the trees. Thankfully a student had opened up the door when she had knocked. Her cousin Kimi, who had found her when she was riding out of the city with the Van, had handed her a note when she woke up.A simple message saying to come to the house.

She was still tired. The nap had turned into sleeping from around one in the afternoon till about nine at night. Then came her garden hose shower and a fast dinner of prepackaged goodies. She still felt like she could sleep more. "I hope this is okay. A student let me in." She waved her paw-like hand. Her ears and parts of her face covered in a blondish fur, with strawberry blonde hair around her ears. On one ear was what looked like a tag for wild animals. It was an ear piercing with a sense of humor, it was also her ear piece.

Rebecca and McKenna returned, and the mousey blonde gave a nod to Caitlin as she passed by. "Oh, well hello." she greeted.

"Hello." Caitlin said with a wave of her paw-like hand. "I'm Caitlin." She stated, then amended her statement. "I'm Doctor Caitlin Thompson." Her tail twitched, then it moved to her hand. She passed her helmet to it. The tail snaked around the strap that was still attached.

"Rebecca McMillen. No titles, sorry." she took the offered paw and gave it a shake. "Doctor, pleased to meet you."

"Ma'am. Good to meet you." Caitlin replied. "I wasn't due until tomorrow, so I hope this is okay to be early."

"After the help you gave us at the rally, I think you earned being a bit early," Sakura quipped, coming into the lounge after Caitlin. She was still drying her hair after a late night shower, and only managed to join the rest of the teachers now.

Rebecca gave a soft smile, and shook her head, "I mean, we can reschedule for tomorrow, but getting all the rioters back might not be possible." she joked, trying to make light of the horrible memory before turning back to the rest. Her thin, lithe tail rested against her, no twitchy, no swishy.. the real indicator of her true mood was that mousey tail behind her.

Caitlin paid no attention to the joke. Instead she found a seat and turned so she and her tail could sit. She wanted to sleep, but she figured they had a right to know who had helped them.

Doc stood up and refilled his drink, he looked around the room at the gathered teachers, and asked aloud,"What one thing do you guys think we could have done differently to make things go better?"

Breaking the silence, Rebecca piped up, "Ummm, okay so, I don't want to have to think of this all the time but, maybe for the future we should go into public places like this with, I don't know, an exit strategy? Like have a way out in case things like this happen again?" she felt bad suggesting that they should always consider the option. Always consider running away.

It worked wonders for her, though. Did it?

"I agree, rule one is to have an exit strategy no matter what, and carry a costume or some sort of disguise in case you need to use your powers your identity remains secret. I don't think revealing our identities will go as well as it has for those four in the Big City. Down here I think people are a bit more prejudice and are liable to shoot you or turn you in, if there's a forced mutant registration."

"Secondly," Doc continued "We need to improve comms, and no one goes anywhere without being able to contact one another."

"For me, power management. " Caitlin wasn't sure why she was sharing after all it wasn't a sure thing she had the job. "I've never used those orbs in a fight. But I feel drained. Like I'm doing my thesis again and haven't slept in days." She looked at doc. "As for your com system, I may be able to help a little. I have the plans for mine, do you have someone who can build it?" She flicked a paw at her piercing.

"Sakura is our tech specialist, she has abilities that help her with electronic gadgetry, I was hoping to leverage her technical expertise to help us with comms devices," Doc replied. "I'm sure she'd appreciate your assistance if you two want to put your heads together on it."

Sakura nodded to Caitlin. "I'd welcome the help. Come by the tech lab tomorrow afternoon."

Caitlin nodded. "Good. I'll do that. I have the designs in my personal stuff. I understand it, but I'm not much a coms engineer. Plus these paws make the small things hard to work on." She held up her paw like hands.

"I'm terrible with mechanical designs but I do have small hands." Rebecca interjected, giving Sakura a smirk. "As long as someone directs me, I can try to help." she paused, "Okay so, having an escape plan, having proper comms, knowing how to manage our powers or traits or whatever word we want to call 'what we can do'..." the mousey blonde recapped before turning to Shtorm, "And I think Mister Shtorm brings up a good point. We should be careful, not just about our displays or our surroundings, but about ourselves. We have each other's support, we have each other's backs. The riot showed us that the introduction of new people, friend and foe, is something that might bother that. New friends, new allies, but it turned a situation out there from bad to potentially very bad."

"Now that we all know who our friends are, we can work on figuring out what we need to do to work together. Cause right now, we're a bunch of rugs, tables, chairs, and lamps. Gotta work on bringing the room together." she smiled at her horrible joke.

Eli nodded his agreement. "Working as team should be number one." He stayed at his spot near the window. "Knowing and trusting in each others abilities will help us when it comes to future plans."

"Maybe some group training sessions?" Sakura suggested. "Exercises all together, and in twos and threes, that way we're prepared no matter who is in the field."

"What if we pair up for work outs in the morning, and switch partners once a week, and have a group session with everyone once a week and see how we do. With Shtorm having the most combat experience I'd like all of us spending some time with him, he showed that he can definitely hold his own against superior numbers. I'm not a fighter but I know there's alot I can learn from him to help me be a better team member," Doc suggested. "What do you say Shtorm, you wanna kick our asses in to shape?"

Shtorm will look up. "Ya, sure." He says with a smile. "To be honest its going to be a lot of basic training camp first. As they say, got to learn to walk before one learns to run." Shtorm says with a small laugh.

Doc nodded in response, "Let's get some rest it's been an eventful day and we have kids to look after. We will discuss this further next week.

#The End

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