บท 11: First Meeting
Lorna and Stella were the first to arrive for lunch. They were wearing green outfits, Stella wearing a cute princess dress while Lorna was wearing a tank top and tight jeans.
Lorna and Stella grabbed a few things before sitting in their usual spot near the windows, leaving a spot between them for Nick. Although Stella was supposed to sit with the other kids, a special exception was made since she was so young and her mother was present.
The seating areas were divided by each person's role at the mansion. Those that took active parts in missions or were part of a team sat in one section of the canteen, teens and kids sat in another section whether they were on a team or not, and those that were adults but did not participate in any missions and were just seeking refuge sat in the last section.
The seating was made to take care and protect the weaker mutants with those that were on teams sitting near the windows to respond to a sudden attack, with the adults next, and the children closest to the front doors.
The other mutants slowly started trickling in as they grabbed the prepared food and took up their seats. Alex was also part of the first wave of people to come in. He got himself a plate and sat between the pair, thinking the seat was saved for him. Lorna saw this and wanted to say something but decided against it. Things were tense enough as is between Nick and Alex, there was no need to make the situation even worse.
'There are still plenty of spots. He can sit on Stella's other side or across from us,' Lorna thought to herself, thinking Nick was going to walk through the doors at any moment.
But even after 10 minutes and when most of the seats were occupied, Nick had yet to arrive. After 30 minutes, Nick still didn't arrive. And after almost an hour and when their food had gone completely cold, Lorna had finally let the disappointment settle in.
'So much for starting over,' Lorna thought to herself before walking over to Stella and getting ready to pick her up. But the little princess who was always obedient swatted her mother's hands away.
"Stella..." Lorna could already tell what the issue was
"No! We are going to eat with Daddy. You promised!" Stella screamed, attracting the attention of everyone who hadn't left yet.
Lorna felt embarrassed but could also understand why her daughter was so upset. This was supposed to be their first official meeting but Nick had missed it.
"I know, baby," Lorna tried to comfort her daughter in the softest tone she could use. "Maybe your daddy got busy. He can eat dinner with us," she tried to distract her and buy time.
"No, Mommy! You said we were having lunch together. I put on my favorite dress," Stella started to sob the more she spoke. Her excitement to finally have a meal and talk to her dad had turned into pure disappointment.
The others around them all saw this and started to develop some resentment toward Nick. Even if they weren't parents themselves, they couldn't stand watching the little girl cry.
"It's ok, Stella. You got to have lunch with me and Mommy," Alex tried to give her a hug to comfort her.
"No!" Stella's eyes were glowing green and Alex suddenly sent flying. A wave of telekinetic energy shoved Alex, Lorna, and everyone around them away.
"Stella?" Lorna was so confused. She knew that Stella most likely had her mutation activated since she was around the age when her powers activated but she didn't expect for Stella to take after her father and have psionic powers.
The other psionics in the mansion felt the sudden release of energy and rushed to the canteen to see what was going on. Each of them was shocked that it was Stella who was letting it out.
"My gosh. Nicholas is already bringing huge changes," Emma said aloud, surprised to see that Stella had unleashed her powers for the first time
Emma was about to reach out and shut down Stella with her telepathy but she felt a familiar presence cross the boundary around the school. When she felt it, she stood aside and decided to watch the show.
---
As Nick was walking down to the canteen, Scott stopped him. He had info that a plane was going down a few dozen miles outside of New York. The only other person that could fly and lift a plane was Namor but he was off in Atlantis.
"Fine. Make sure to tell Lorna I'm gonna be late for lunch."
Nick wanted to reject him but he knew that Scott wouldn't ask him unless it was a real emergency so he immediately flew out to get the plane. But it was no simple malfunction. The Hand had attacked them so Nick had to not only save the passengers but also deal with zombie ninjas.
By the time he was able to get the plane on the ground safely, he realized that he was almost 45 minutes late. He immediately started flying back to the institute, hoping that Scott had at least passed on the message of why he was going to be late.
'Shit, I'm so late. Lorna is gonna be pissed,' Nick thought while soaring through the air as he was nearing the grounds. But he suddenly felt a familiar yet foreign psychic force in the distance.
Nick was confused about what was going on for a moment before suddenly connecting the dots. Nick barely controlled himself enough to open the front door without crashing through it.
Nick flew through the doors of the cafeteria and saw that Stella was sitting on the ground while her eyes were glowing. Debris was flying all around her. He immediately flew over to her and forced open a crack in the telepathic storm that she had going on, making his way to his daughter.
Stella didn't notice him at first but when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her. Stella turned around and was about to shout at the owner but when she saw who it was, she gasped in shock.
"Daddy?" Stella asked, confused if what she was seeing was real
"Hmm. I'm sorry, I'm late. Daddy had to run an errand," Nick told her, giving the gentlest smile he could muster while thinking, 'I fucking hate Summers. Gonna kill Scott.'
After making sure it was real, Stella's eyes stopped glowing. The little girl gave Nick a hug, although her arms couldn't reach all the way around him. She immediately passed out after the shock of using her powers finally hit her but even when she was unconscious, her hands never let go of Nick's shirt.
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