Another day, another post-squad exercises Paladins team meeting...which basically meant sharing dinner, and because it was fall, huddling around a TV in one of our dorm rooms (usually mine or the room Ruth and Laura shared). It was something everyone insisted on that evening as a means on insulating me so that I didn't spend too much time moping around, or do something stupid.
Nosy bastards... I love my team.
The girls were watching whatever Hisako had pulled up for entertainment on Netflix, Hulu, or whatever on the TV, while Eddie and I huddled around my laptop so we could stream Monday Night Football and crap all over whichever two teams were playing.
Whenever there was a lull, we'd get to talking about team stuff, or whatever major events were affecting us as a whole. I was lucky on this night, as my very recent break-up wasn't the topic of universal interest. Instead, it was the attack Laura and I had endured in New York.
Never had I been so grateful that someone had tried to kill me. There was no better distraction from teenage drama in the world than mortal peril.
"They are called the Purifiers," Laura explained from where she lay at the foot of my bed with the rest of the girls, "X-Men archives say they are Reverend Stryker's personal army."
Eddie sat off to the side with me in desk chairs as he swiped through images Laura had taken on Saturday, "Anyone else think it's kind of unnerving that Laura has pictures of dead bodies on her phone?"
"Not when it's evidence. Way to cover our collective asses, Laura," I said, praising her. I had been more concerned with getting us away from there before things could get even worse. She'd made sure that we could follow up on who was after us once we'd made it out, "Okay, so these guys tried to kill us. Now what?"
"You," Laura said, pointing over Ruth's back directly at me.
I didn't get it at first. The one-word reply was too vague for understanding, "'Me' what?"
"They were after you, Bellamy," Laura continued, green eyes boring a hole through me, "You were the target at the hotel. Not me."
I wanted to doubt her; to ask her how she knew, given how quickly it had all happened. But she had been the first to engage, had better hearing than me, had more experience than me, and had actually collected the pictures we were all pouring over.
Needless to say, coming from her, I accepted what I was told very quickly, "Whyyyyy?" I turned in my chair and banged my head on my desk, "Why fucking me? Why kill me?"
Luckily, Laura was there to prevent any misunderstandings, and corrected me, "They were not there to kill you. They were there to extract you. You were meant to be captured."
-Because that was so much better. I let my thoughts be known with smart remarks, as was my nature, "Could have fooled me, what with the automatic weapons, and the sniper posted outside."
"Nah, Laura's right," Eddie piped up, showing me things he'd been checking on in Laura's phone, "Remember the simulations with Miss Pryde in the Danger Room? These guys are rolling too light to be an extermination squad, see?" As our reconnaissance guy, he started pointing things out, "Small arms, light armor. If they were there to put you down and did any scouting, they would have brought bigger shit to deal with you and Laura."
Laura helpfully pointed out a detail that I had missed in all of the mayhem, "They carried vibranium weaponry."
Hisako seemed impressed by the nature of the weaponry, "Isn't that what that one Wakandan kid is tattooed with to keep his powers from killing him? That 'Gentle' guy?"
Eddie let out a low whistle as he threw Laura her phone back, "I don't know about that, but I know that's what Captain America's shield is made of."
Vibranium was really nasty stuff. Expensive too. Good on Laura to notice it. The good reverend's collection plates seemed to be very full to afford that kind of equipment, "Thank God they were stupid enough to attack in close quarters, huh? That stuff would have torn us to shreds if it had hit us," Laura only responded with a silent nod.
"None of this changes Bel's question though," Hisako said, pushing herself up onto her knees, "Why would Stryker send a team after him? What, did he find out that you blow up the world too?"
"Don't even joke about that," I warned half-heartedly. If Dr. Richards didn't have a strictly need-to-know policy with others like S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, I was sure I'd have been shot into space by now for safety, "That's the last thing I need to do – give a mutant-hating extremist a somewhat legit reason to come after my balls."
Hisako seemed vexed by what all of this speculation actually meant for us, "Okay, so Stryker shot his shot at Bel while he and Laura were in New York, and we don't know why. So what? What do we do about it now? What are the X-Men going to do about it now?"
Laura and I had told Mister Rasputin about it all when we'd gotten back. Now we were just sharing it with our friends. After all, this was Paladins business.
Eddie pointed between Hisako and I, "Aren't you two technically X-Men?"
We looked at each other before I turned back to Eddie to answer him, "We're more like part-time X-Men. We need more seasoning, or something."
"X-Men interns," Hisako said, piggybacking off of my dumb comparison.
I kept the ball rolling, starting to enjoy the impromptu game, "X-Men National Guard."
"D-League X-Men."
"Arena Football League X-Men."
"Triple-A minor league X-Men."
"'Break glass in-case of emergency,' X-Men."
Hisako seemed to agree enough with that last one, basing the rest of her explanation off of it, "Like, we're not first or second-string if a team needs to get sent on a mission-," No. Absolutely not. The sheer thought of it was way out there, "-But if the school gets attacked, or something like the Danger Room going berserk happened again, the two of us are in charge of the rest of you lemmings."
I walked over to the bed and held up my hand for a 'too sweet', for both Hisako's succinct explanation and her insulting of the entire student body. She returned it without a fuss. I was happy for the first time in a few days, if only for a moment.
Ruth had been very quiet while we'd been talking about the Purifiers. She wasn't always the most talkative, and when she did talk, it wasn't always the easiest thing for others to understand, so I just figured she was keeping to herself. After Hisako and I had our moment, Ruth tugged on my pants to get me to stoop down by her. When I was close enough, she reached out and pressed my forehead to hers.
And then the vision came.
Everyone was outside in uniform, gathered in their teams. It was the meeting before the first Field Day competition. The speech was boring, and we were all just waiting to hear what the events would be for the day's competitions.
And then, someone exploded. Honest-to-God blew up, just like that. There was some kind of power flickering that I couldn't quite distinguish, and then BOOM!
I'd gotten accustomed enough to Ruth's jarring visions that I didn't collapse, or otherwise physically react when it was done, but what I saw was surprising enough to get my heart racing. I fell back onto my butt, staring at Ruth's face with wide eyes. Everyone else stared at me. I paid them little mind, with the exception of my precognitive little telepath laying on my bed with a worried expression.
"Oh! Oh!" I exclaimed and leaned over to planted a big kiss on Ruth's cheek, "Mwwah! Oh, you beautiful fucking walking magic 8-ball, you!" I said, jumping to my feet.
Eddie was one of the three alarmed at my reaction, "What? What happened?"
I needed a moment to wrap my head around things, "I just saw some SHIT. That's what happened," I finally told him, before questioning Ruth, "Was that real?"
The sights, the sounds, the smells. All of it was too distinct to be fabrication. It felt like I'd been there. Ruth confirmed as much, "As real as real can be, yes," She sat up on the edge of the bed, still frowning, "Pardon. She knows Bellamy told her not to show things to others, but... sorry."
No. No apologies. This was the kind of thing her powers could be used for, should be used for. Now it was time to make a difference... by finding someone who could make a difference.
"I need an adult. I need an adult right now," I said, grabbing Ruth by her hand to come along with me, just in case the burden of evidence was set upon me, "Come with me, Ruthie."
Out of the room and through the halls we went, until we found the room of our senior advisor. Mister Rasputin answered the door, towering over the two of us without a shirt. I could only hope to be so ripped one day. But that was neither here nor there.
"Did you need something, Bellamy? Ruth?" Mister Rasputin asked.
"Yeah... uh, can we come in?" I asked, not really wanting to have a conversation about impending doom in the middle of the hall. He graciously let us in. His room was pretty spartan in its layout. There weren't many decorations there, which was fine. It gave me more opportunity to focus on what was important, "I don't know how to say this, but Ruthie just projected a dude exploding in the middle of Field Day assembly into my head."
"Exploding?" Mister Rasputin said, raising an eyebrow, either in interest or confusion, "What do you mean, exploding?"
"Violently combusting," I made an explosion gesture with my hands, "Like, kills a bunch of kids lined up outside in rows 'violently'."
Not the nicest way to put things, but to hell with sugarcoating matters. Motherfuckers were going to die in a week or so if this was accurate. Mister Rasputin cringed at the description, "And you're sure about this?"
"Ruthie and I have a rule," I said, as Ruth wrapped her hand tightly around mine. She seemed pretty shaken, having seen what she'd had. I probably only got a taste, and only for a few seconds, compared to what she experienced, "She doesn't tell other people about her precog visions unless it's relevant and really important."
Even then, she was to bring it to me first. Usually because when she verbally told people about what she saw, I had a better chance of interpreting her cryptic words than anyone else.
"I see," Mister Rasputin muttered, "And is it you who explodes?" A great question. Given recent revelations, I would be the prime candidate for involuntary detonation.
I shook my head in the negative, "No. That's the thing, actually. It's not."
Ruth suddenly interjected with her own piece, "They fall down, yes, and take others with them. Powers betray the body. No control, no. Many pay the price."
"...Right," Neither Mister Rasputin or I knew how to react to such a macabre declaration. But I was more used to it than him, so I accepted it quicker, "We told you, so you can get the others to maybe do something. I dunno what, but something."
"I know what," Mister Rasputin assured me, much to my relief, "I will not say do not worry, because this is worrisome situation. But it will be handled."
Yes. This time, someone was listening to me. Action would be taken before anyone got hurt. If this was happening during the Field Day assembly, we had two weeks until then. Plenty of time to find a potentially explody student and help them before it was too late.
Good deed done. Now that's hero shit. It wasn't all about violent fights and saving the world. Those were just the things everyone heard about after the fact. That was what you did when there weren't any other options. Sometimes it was about solving problems before they could become problems.
We needed more of that around there. And my fingers were crossed, not just because I wanted everyone to be okay, but because personally, after what had just happened with Megan, I needed some kind of a win like no one's business.