Forecast: WINDY

[Jacinda Blake]

Martia McClain, reporter for the Channel 12 evening report stood outside the doors of a high school gymnasium in upstate New York. The heavy metal doors were swinging on their hinges as if a bomb had gone off inside. Although it was the day after the event, nothing had been disturbed from the previous nights fireworks. Tinsel, crepe paper and bits of flowers flew around her feet and cast a macabre mood as she began her report, her camera man giving her the signal that they were live.

"Good Evening. I stand before what was the scene of the upstate most unexplained weather anomaly of the year, possibly in record for this small town. Last night, Apple Valley High school was celebrating the return to the school year with their annual home coming dance. Factual reports are few, the event has become something of a secured event. As you can see.."

The camera view panned to encompass several police cars and unmarked black sedans. There were scientists walking around collecting data, gadgets in the air. There were men in suits talking to teenagers and faculty from the school alike, all of who were still wearing last nights finery.

"The source of the destruction seems to be centered around a student. A senior year female who had been crowned Homecoming Queen, just before the disturbance..."

The feed blurred suddenly and was cut. The local news channel apologized for the interruption and promised to have the full story on the eleven o'clock edition. Other channels were also playing snips of the peculiar story, no one really getting any solid facts across before suddenly switching to another story or losing their feed entirely. The only other uselful bit of information was the tearstained face of one student as she gave her account of the last thing she saw before being rescued from the gymnaisum.

"She was crying! Asking for help and they just fired at her! I think they shot her down! She was my friend! They carried her body out and took her away!"

Her sobbing escalated and then that channel, too, switched to another report.

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda struggled to wake up, not really knowing where she was. At first she didn't remember anything. When she opened her eyes, squinting a bit at the harsh flourescent lights beaming down on her she began to remember..

She had just recieved the crown for Homecoming Queen. Along side her boyfriend, Ethan, they had descended to the polished wood gym floor and began to dance to "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith. She felt like a princess in her floor length white dress and her hair pinned up just so, with the crown. Glitter and balloons falling all around them, Jacinda couldn't remember such a perfect night, ever. Ethan had wound an amythest promise ring into her corsage, telling her that in a few years he would up it to a diamond. She was pretty sure she didn't want to even consider marriage, at this point. They were bound for different coasts at the end of the year and she knew that distance would probably change them both. It didn't matter though. Tonight she was happy. As the song rolled to a close he kissed her. She felt lighter than air, winding her arms around his neck. She heard the collective gasps from around her and opened her eyes to see if someone had spilled their punch on her gown or something. But her gown wasn't pooling on the floor as it had been moments ago. It was swinging from her legs, which were floating behind her, about four feet off the ground. She squealed and immediately touched her feet back down to the gym floor. She tried to remain calm. Things like this had been happening lately, but she had tried so hard to pretend that everything was okay..

Ethan backed away from her, as did the rest of the students. All went silent and she could feel the weight of them staring her down.

"You.. You're one of those things? You're a mutant!?" That was the first time Ethan had ever sounded anything but adoring to her.

Adoration had just turned to disgust.

"Ethan! It's nothing.. please!?"

The teachers and high school security guards were stepping away from the walls, closing in around her, placating her as she started to cry. That was when the doors burst open. A sudden wind blew through the gymnasium, swirling the long skirts of her dress around her legs, coiling almost protectively around her body.

"Stay away from me.."

"Get her before she hurts someone!"

"Someone call for help! Call the police!"

"Please... don't hurt me. Somebody..help me!?"

Jacinda was so confused, terrified and hurt she didn't know whether to run or start shouting. She turned slowly in a circle trying to see a clear path out of the gym, but they were surrouding her again and making her even more scared. The wind picked up again, this time a larger spiral of glitter and colored tissue paper began to spin around her, threatening anyone who dared to come near. It cleared a permimter around her, knocking several of the adults backwards onto their "seats". She didn't want to hurt anyone. She just wanted to go home. Apparently someone had dialed 9-1-1 from their cellular, not a few minutes later students were running out in a panic and police and men in black with helmets were running in, surrounding her once more. The cyclone split into two, both of them began tearing around the gymnasium, completely out of her control. She screamed and covered her ears, crying. That was the last she remembered.

That and a pain in the side of her neck.

Jacinda tried to sit up but she was strapped down to a gurney. She was still in her gown, she was still wearing the stupid crown and from the looks of it, she had been arrested. So much for her scholarship.. She was having a hard time staying awake and soon she feel into a deep sleep once more.

[Francoise Dupont]

Papers, papers and more papers. The postman who made the daily run to the Cullen Institute must have been a mutant himself, to be able to shoulder all of the mail that the school received. Largest among these letters, postcards and the ever-present deluge of hate-mail was a bundle of newspapers. A number of local copies were ordered for the students themselves, but the bulk of them would be headed right to Francoise Dupont's office.

She thumbed through page after page, her fingertips turning black in search of something of interest, something worth noting. There was almost always a story that deserved the schools attention – it was just a matter of finding it. Hector “Goggles” Wilson sat beside her, his eyes moving across the pages at an abnormal speed. Hector could have done the job himself, but Francoise liked to help and insisted that keeping up on local and global news was important.

“A-ha!” Hector struck one paper with a pudgy finger. “Look at this... wolf boy in den of lies.”

Francoise frowned, leaning across her desk to see the article Goggles was reading.

“Antonio Vega, 18, was found last night gnawing on a leg of raw meat...” he continued on, telling the story of a teenager thought to be some kind of lycanthropic mutant. Francoise shook her head. Hector looked up questionningly.

“Fake,” she sighed, and returned to her own paper.

“How can you-” Hector began to ask, but cut himself off mid-sentence. In his mind, he had answered his own question. Dupont had an eerie quality about her; she was always right.

“This is what we're looking for,” she said, her voice interrupting his contemplation. “Apple Valley High homecoming queen arrested for destruction of gymnasium.”

There was a picture of a young couple, beaming happily in their prom photo, next to the article. The caption read that the girl was the culprit, and currently was being held by local law enforcement. Carefully, she removed the article in question and folded it into her pocket.

“You stay and carry on reading, if you like,” she said. “I'm going to pay NYPD a visit.”

[Maxine Flannery]

:: A Max duplicte scampered down the hall and around the corner to meet Francoise ::

"Heads up. I just found another one."

[Francoise Dupont]

“An aeromancer.” Francoise nodded calmly as she fell into step beside the redhead, palming a set of keys out of her bag. “I'm going down to the police station now, if you'd like to join me.”

[Maxine Flannery]

"Sure." the maxine dupe replied, and followed her.

[Francoise Dupont]

The reply was curt and Francoise said nothing more until they were fastened into her car and rolling down the schools long gravel drive.

“I'm not sure that our... connections will ensure the girls release. The Commander has been reluctant to co-operate with Ethan recently.”

While there had always been mutant sympathizers within the law, it often didn't make things any easier. The red tape was just as thick, if not thicker, and any attempt to assert 'mutant rights' was often ignored point-blank.

[Jacinda Blake]

She wanted to stretch. She tried to raise her arms only to remember that she was pinned down. Jacinda managed a yawn and upon her exhale she heard something familiar, soft but recognizable.

"You are sure then..?" Her mother's voice!

"Yes, Mrs. Blake. When we first brought her in, the medics took a small skin scraping and ran it through. Your daughter carries the mutant gene. She may not even be aware of what she can do, let alone control it. She is a danger to herself and others."

Jacinda held her breath at the news, but then realized that when she did no voices were floating to her ears. She immediately began breathing in and out steadily and the voices returned to her with each respiration. Just like they were carried on the wind..

"She was always such a good girl.. She was supposed to go to Boston to Havard next year.. " Her father sounded so dissapointed. Like she had deliberatly become a mutant to thwart his plans to have her in law school.

"I understand your frustration and loss. We can put in a request to one of the government agencies that deals with this sort of thing. Find her some help, somewhere where she will be safe and not a danger to those around her?" Loss? Was she supposed to be dead now?

Jacinda was already getting tired again. She wasn't slow witted. She knew they were likely giving her something to keep her sedate until someone could come to take her away. She almost wished she hadn't heard the last before she fell asleep again. The last thing she heard was as painful as a killing blow, and from her own mother.

"You don't think she spread this to her poor little sister do you...?"

[Francoise Dupont]

The drive took little under an hour. More than once Francoise felt herself pushing down a little too eagerly on the accelerator, willing the distance between the school and the police station to vanish sooner. For a time, she and Maxine spoke, exchanging clipped sentences, factoid observations. With nothing left to say, she turned on the in-car stereo and let Billie Holiday do the talking.

There was no parking right outside the station, so they walked a couple of blocks in the rain before managing to catch a taxi. The rain had already soaked them through, though. More than a few incredulous glances were cast their way as they entered the station foyer. It was hard to appear professional and credible when you looked as if you had just stepped in from a storm.

Francoise looked to Maxine as she pushed damp hair out of her face. “Do you want to do the talking?”

[Maxine Flannery]

"Who me? No, no, you know what a social retard I am. Besides, I've always been the sidekick." she winked, then sniffled.

[Francoise Dupont]

Francoise smiled a little. She was no social butterfly herself, though did have prior experience with the police department when it came to matters such as these. Whether or not that would work in her favor, however, was undecided. She approached the front desk, Maxine at her side.

“I want to speak with the Chief of Police.”

The young man behind the counter smirked.

“I'm sure you do, lady, you and a hundred other people.”

The lobby was crowded with people, many of whom were easily identifiable as journalists. For all the effort made to usher them out of the building, they had somehow managed to stick around, like a bad smell.

“I'm not a reporter,” Francoise sighed.

“But you're here about the girl.”

“Oui. Please tell the Chief that Mademoiselles Dupont and Flannery are here, on behalf of M'sieur Daniels. He will be expecting us.”

[Jacinda Blake]

"She's waking up.."

Jacinda heard more voices. Unfamiliar ones in the room with her. Apparently they were still keeping her all zonked out because she was having a really hard time opening her eyes. The room seemed too bright and she was so groggy. She wanted to go home, climb in bed and sleep for at least two days. Only.. she didn't think she was going home anytime soon.

Her eyes finally popped open and she realized her wrists were now free. Wiggling her fingers, she tried to pull herself up. "Did my parents leave?"

[Francoise Dupont]

“Your mother is waiting elsewhere in the station, Miss Blake,” a voice said. As the girls eyes adjusted to the light in the room, she saw that she was far from alone. There were two men in suits, probably detectives, standing nearby. Another two stood by the door to her cell, both armed and making no attempt to hide the fact. Finally there were two women, who lingered just a little behind the men in suits.

“There are some people here to speak with you,” one of the detectives said, though his tone said that he begrudged the people in question the opportunity. “This is Miss Dupont and Miss Flannery.”

Francoise bowed her head a little and smiled. The girl seemed cheerful, if a little startled, but appeared to be dealing with her incarceration surprisingly well. “Hello Jacinda,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

[Maxine Flannery]

:: Maxine waved, but let Francoise do the talking ::

[Jacinda Blake]

She was feeling like she didn't want to answer questions. She was feeling like she had a few of her own, but she was pretty sure they weren't going to be answered. She had seen the news. Mutants were seen like a contagion, something that needed to be dealt with.. She was not so sure their civil rights were... exactly.. honored.

Jacinda rolled to a sitting postiton. Everyone in the room took a defensive step backward, everyone except the pretty brunette and the red head wearing a smile like Jacinda was about to be presented with an award for successfully blowing apart the gym of her high school. She was scared out of her mind and a bit on the defensive, for good reason, but right away she singled those two out as possible allies if she was in some sort of trouble.

"I.. I am okay, other than being sleepy. Are you lawyers?"

[Francoise Dupont]

“Not quite,” Francoise smiled faintly. “We're here on behalf of Doctor Cullen's School for the Gifted. We'd like to offer our help.”

[Maxine Flannery]

:: Max frowned at all the suits ::

"I don't suppose you guys want to take a coffee break, huh?"

[Jacinda Blake]

Although they didn't seem to like it at all, the suits did leave the room. Even if their gait was reluctant and apprehensive. She couldn't blame them. She knew that what was going on with her, her mutation, was not something that could be easily controlled once started. It had been exacerbated greatly by her fear and at the moment, she wasn't exactly calm like chamomile tea.

Jacinda was left alone with the only two people who seemed to not be ready to either incarcerate or dissect her. Even they didn't seem to make much sense.. A school for the Gifted wasn't what didn't compute. Jacinda had always been very smart and it wasn't the first offer she had recieved, but this...? Now? Something wasn't adding up. She eyed the females warily, wondering if she was supposed to trust them.. It suddenly seemed a bit too.. easy.

"I don't think I understand..."

[Jake Flannery]

Jake turned off the TV after seeing the news. Yet another one was born and here he was still stuck normal just like everyone else. He figured he better get to the school as soon as possible to see his cousin Max. Now he had three reasons to get there soon. One being the trouble that was chasing him. Two to see that cousin of his he missed so much but his parents hated because of what she was. Now there was three with any luck that prom queen he just saw would be there. Not that a guy like him would have any luck with a mutant.

Jake grabbed the keys off the counter and headed for the garage. there sat an old rusted ford pickup truck that could maybe get him five hundred miles closer to his destination before it was reported stolen and he would have to ditch it. Who ever’s house this was wouldn't miss a pick up like this for awhile. He got in the pick up and hit the garage door opener and rolled the pick up on out.

"Good bye Montana."

[Francoise Dupont]

“No, of course not... my apologies.” Again, Francoise smiled very faintly. “Our school is very much like any other school you will find in America, with one rather large exception – that our students are all gifted, or what the world has come to call mutants. It is a school for young people like you, who have shown exceptional skills and potential beyond the realms of what is traditionally humanly possible.”

[Maxine Flannery]

"You don't have to feel afraid, and you don't have to be alone anymore." added Max.

[Jacinda Blake]

She wondered if she was being given a choice, or if this was just her lot. Was it like..a detention center for kids that blew up their schools? She really wanted to trust these women, and something inside her told her to do so, but it just seemed so easy.

"So, did the police call you, to come get me? Is that what happens to.. people like me? We are sent to this school?" She heard the slightly defensive tone in her voice and even she didn't like it.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm just scared and.. I don't want to be in trouble." It was becoming a bit much for her and Jacinda hung her head, feeling defeated. Even after as long as she had slept, she was still so tired..

[Francoise Dupont]

Francoise sensed the unease in the girl. “Please understand, you have a choice in the matter. We are not here to kidnap you, merely to offer you somewhere safe to stay. The police they... do not understand situations such as these. Without intervention, they would simply prosecute you as if you had intended to cause damage. We, on the other hand, know that is not true.”

[Jacinda Blake]

It was pretty clear that her parents thought she was infected with some virus that would infact her sister. It was alaso clear that they just wanted her to go somewhere. She had to admit, going to a school with other people like her did sound better than being locked up for destruction and reckless endangerment.

She slid herself, dress and all off the stretcher, high heels touching down on the floor. She brushed herself off and nodded. "Okay. I don't see many more options and you have both been very nice to me, in fact you are the only ones who have even bothered to look me in the eye and speak to me."

She was going to miss her old life, but it was gone. Her parents didn't want her. Her school feared her. The police just as soon send her to prison or worse. This was her option.

"I'd be very glad to attend your school.. Will I be able to finish regular high school classes? I mean, its not all.. mutant classes or anything?"

[Maxine Flannery]

"Oh, of course! It's just like High School ... without the meaness."

:: Her mind raced for an appealing word, and said it with sincerity ::

"Shinier." :D "Trust me, Jacinda. You're gonna like it."

:: Max wanted to reach out and hug her, but fidgeted and wrapped her arms around herself instead. She hoped she didn't look too silly ::