Decisions.

[Ororo Munroe]

> and you don’t ever question it.

It seems a trite answer, but Magneto did teach at the Institute back when it was in its infancy. He was one of its founders, even back before she'd been rescued in Cairo. As good natured as he seemed to be, back before what she, Scott, and Jean had termed 'The Split', he had always been full of rhetoric. Thanks to the Professor, his more radical views had mostly been downplayed... and yet. And yet. She could imagine how persuasive Erik would have been to an angry teenager.

> Someone who wouldn’t have given a damn about kill... removing the problem straight out... I did what I had to.

As she listens to him, it strikes her that she should be probably taking everything John says with caution. He's certainly never shown much remorse at the thought of deception, in the past. The emotion is plain in his voice, though, despite his attempts to disguise it.

> And it was probably the wrong decision… but I can’t see what the right one would’ve been.

He's right. Ororo wants to be angry with him, but it's too hard. He's John. One of their own. Despite the fact he's been apart from them, he's still been one of them the whole time. And... he's still just a little boy, in her eyes. Our choices in life are rarely clear while making them. So she stands, arms folded, listening.

> If you don’t hand me over to the authorities and the gas chamber I go rogue for the day or so it takes him to track me down and…

This final sentence, coupled with John shivering like a frightened puppy, is too much. It cracks her calm veneer. A teardrop slides down her cheek.

"John... I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You're still one of us." She wraps her arms around him firmly. "You're safe here." John's probably not exactly big on hugs... but it definitely looks like he could use one.

[Pyro]

John doesn’t push her off the way he usually would anyone attempting to hug him, retreating into surly don’t touch me mode, but neither does he relax into it. Instead he barely reacts beyond an initial tensing at the unfamiliarity of human contact and the fact that it’s Storm, leader of the X-Men, doing that to Pyro, mutant terrorist (except that it’s clearly not, but he’s still catching up with everything)… it’s all surreal and under any other circumstances he’d almost want to laugh. But right now he’s just… numb, and it’s like he doesn’t notice she’s there.

”… ‘preciate what you’re doing, trying to play Mom” It takes a second or two for his voice to start working, and when it does it’s unusually quiet and controlled. ”But I’d rather you just told me straight what happens next rather than pretend things’ll be okay. We’re both adults” (…) ”You’re a superhero, and I’m, what, third on the most wanted list?” (second, since Mystique turned informant, but let’s not dig this grave any deeper)

[nightcrawler]

Kurt stood on the sidelines for this little confrontation between Ororo and John, letting Storm do her job. The kids here were her responsibility, even if Jake was the figurehead the parents saw. All the care, the responsibility fell in Ororo's lap and Kurt didn't interfere unless she needed him to, but for this little dilemma, he let her have full reign. Kurt had given her all the advice she would need, but that still did not make things any easier. John was just a kid, taken in by the experience of an older authority figure he told him exactly what he wanted to hear. Magneto had let John do exactly what the others here had denied him and to a headstrong youth that was just too hard to pass up or let go and so, with that in mind came a whole new problem. John was a wanted terrorist and seeing as how the X-men were public now, how would they explain themselves if anyone found out they were harboring a fugitive from justice?

"Perhaps I should leave?," Kurt said as he stepped away from the sick beds, sensing that perhaps Ororo and John might need some privacy for what was about to be discussed. Secrets were better kept if only one person knew about them, not three.

[Ororo Munroe]

> Perhaps I should leave?

Ororo looks up, startled, and relinquishes her hold on John. She'd nearly forgotten Kurt was there, with how silent he'd been. He tended to do that sometimes - hover around. Though he was hardly a man of few words, he was also not the most social of creatures.

"Thank you, Kurt. That might be for the best." She sits back down on the chair next to John's hospital bed.

After waiting for Kurt to make his exit, she looks over at John, once again composed. "So, you want to know what happens now?" Ororo pauses for a second. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Most of this decision is on you."

"If you think I'm planning on turning you into the authorities, John, you're mistaken. You have always been one of my children, no matter whether you think of me as 'Mom' or not." She folds her hands over her skirt. "People make mistakes. I'm not Magneto. I don't cut people loose when I'm finished using them." I don't use them to begin with, she thinks, but doesn't verbalize it.

"As I said, things are up to you. I do offer you an option, though. Stay here, at the Institute, where you belong. We can set your schedule up for next semester - exams are nearly here anyway, and you'll need some time to settle back in."

She stops for a second, looking at him seriously. "Show me some real effort. Get to graduation. I'm not expecting you to become an A+ student. What I am expecting is for you to take some responsibility for yourself." Her voice becomes a little harder at this. "Do you know what teenage terrorists become, John? Adult terrorists." Ororo cocks her head at him. "Do you know what adult terrorists become? Dead ones."

Ororo lets this sink in for a moment."What's it going to be?" She folds her arms over her chest.

[Pyro]

< Most of the decision is on you
Oh shit. He could claim that the stab of panic that provokes is down to Magneto’s indoctrination scheme – that he’s got so used to having everything spelled out and dictated he’s forgotten how to decide stuff for himself – but even if he were that easily controlled (which he’s not, of course, except that he so clearly is…) the truth is, he was never particularly good at being decisive, usually relying on a cocky remark and a dare you to pick me up on this swagger to cover up how he managed to avoid ever actually making a decision… and god knows recent events have drummed home how spectacularly he manages to cock up any real decisions.

It doesn’t help that what she’s saying isn’t so much stunning as totally numb-making (because being stunned requires just a little more belief… and there’s no way any of this can be true). After everything they’re just going to let him walk back in? Yeah right. Okay, he’d always known the so-called good-guys were mad, but ‘good grades’ being enough of a trade-off to cancel out terrorism? Insane. Bleakly insane. And any minute now she’s going to say Just kidding…

Granted, that doesn’t seem a very Ororo thing to do, and dealing in those terms this is far more believable… and like she says, she’s not Magneto… but still…

< Do you know what teenage terrorists become, John? Adult terrorists. Do you know what adult terrorists become? Dead ones[/color]
”Guess that’s the difference between your lot and our.. erm.” Double take. It should perhaps worry him more that that’s still his gut response, treating her, if not as the enemy, then at least as the *other side*. But this is taking a while to get his head around… and that’s just normal, right? ”Between you and them.” And yeah, that’s slightly better, even if it does still seem like skirting the issue… ”You think the world’ll wait around until it’s fair game.”

… which, though he’s never seen anything which can convince him that’s anything other than naïve, and despite the annoyingly patronizing edge to her tone, pretty much drives home the options available to him. And next to what happens if the authorities or the Brotherhood get hold of him, crawling back to the Institute, tail between his legs, seems like the lesser evil.

< What's it going to be?[/color]
There’s only one thing it can be, right? Because clinging to principles is nice, but he’s never going to be noble enough for that to overtake surviving. And truth be told he’s tired of running, and leaving now feels uncomfortably like making the same mistake twice. And… that’s it. No bolt of lightning, no moment of divine inspiration. Just… a weird numb resignation to taking the only real option left.

”Where do I sign?”

[Ororo Munroe]

> ”Guess that’s the difference between your lot and our.. erm.”

John’s reference to those at the Institute as on the opposite side as him bothers her briefly, but it’s hardly surprising seeing as where he’s been for the past year. The fact that he corrects himself lends Ororo hope that she’s making the right decision.

When Toni had informed her - Warren and Josh had been sleeping - of the situation, she’d agonized over what to do. Letting John walk away from everything seemed too lenient. After all, he’d fought and killed for their enemies. Yet, she could never turn him in. All of it seemed so plausible when looked at through the eyes of a teenager. John had truly been swindled, taken in, by Magneto. The older man had played on his adolescent anger and fear, capitalizing on it. And when he was finished, he’d tossed him aside like a broken toy. This, asking him to return to the school, seemed the best option. Ororo had faith that they would be able to protect him from Magneto’s wrath, which was certain to follow.

> ”Where do I sign?”

Ororo tries to kill the huge smile that’s suddenly appeared on her face, but only partially succeeds. “We’ll take care of your paperwork and things later. I believe most of it’s still in my office. When you’ve recovered from your injuries, we can come up with some permanent quarters. Josh moved in with Bobby after you left the Institute last fall, but we still have some vacancies in the boy’s hall. Perhaps if you ask, Josh would be willing to give you your old room back… he certainly doesn’t sleep there much anymore, despite his attempts to conceal that from me.” She looks slightly amused, and folds her arms over her chest. One hopeless battle at a time, though.

“Get some rest, my dear.” On her way out, she spins on her heel and faces John for a moment. “Right. I almost forgot. After you two have recovered, please work with Bobby in the Danger Room. I want you to explore some of the more creative uses of your pyrokinesis. Blowing things up is useful, but limited. I think this sort of thing is right up his alley.” She gives John a small smile, and heads for the exit.