ego aυхιlιaтυѕ ѕυм voveт.

She wasn’t that surprised to be caught in the lie so early on. She had been hopeful she’d manage to keep it a little longer, though. “My friend really did cut up their knee. Up to his thigh, I think.” That part had been true. Michelle had gotten a good look before being sent off to get supplies. Explaining how to the nurse was going to be more difficult. “He didn’t fall and I don’t think he’d like if I told you. He’s rather embarrassed.”  

     “  Not  at  all.  I completely understand — stress on the body can lead to long term issues including death .. concerning recent .. events I can see why HR wants to check Stark Industries out. “  it was noted that Pepper always triple checked everything, considering Stark Industries has it’s enemies who like to play dress up  & noting that Stark Industries has enemies via Ironman, SO.  “  Are you here to check me first ? How many have you guys gone through ? “ 

          To say he didn’t trust a damn thing Magneto did was an understatement. Then again, the opening conversation did involved Erik throwing him through a train and immediately kidnapping his  ward  ; call him crazy, but for some reason, it didn’t translate well. The fact that he was anywhere near Lucy put Logan on guard dog mode. He didn’t think Erik would do something, he knew that Erik would do something, because Erik always did something.

          Again, call him crazy.

          “No,” he said anyways, though granted it wasn’t really to comfort her as much as attempting to shut down the conversation quickly. He let go of her to step back, wiping a hand over his mouth. “I… Look, I should stick around, just ‘til the end of your shift. Magneto takin’ an interest never bodes well. Take my word for it.”

     Seeing him behave the way that he did sent off a bunch of flags in Lucy’s mind. Logan was typically not the type to scare easily but just mentioning that Magneto had stopped by clearly set off some flag. A GIANT RED FLAG. Something that she had thought to just be a meeting had clearly turned into something far greater. Far more dangerous.

“I-“ Michelle paused. She’d gone over the cover story the entire way to the hospital. Standing here now, she felt unprepared. She wasn’t good with people to begin with. Having to lie and deceive just added a whole other layer of crap that Michelle didn’t want to deal with. “I’m fine.” Michelle finally managed to answer. “My friend fell, cut up their knee real bad. Uh, they don’t have health insurance and they really only need bandages.”

   “  Right ,  of course, welcome, Miss Vollan — “  head tips up from her focus on the computer and she takes one easy motion to rise from her desk and make way towards the other woman. “ So you need some vitals of the staff ? As far as questions go — what’s this for,  if you don’t mind me asking. “ 

     she offers a nervous smile as she enters the office,   “ hi, ms. potts? ”   lucy questions even though she already know who sits before her,   “ i’m lucy vollan with the local hospital. HR brought me in to take some quick vitals of the staff. do you have a moment? ”

      to have someone knock on her door this late was rather alarming but lucy tried her best to keep calm. if they did come to attack her, she could defend herself, need be. slowly the door is opened and eyes land upon the...kid? god, he was so young.   “ uh, hi, can i help you? ”

     “ you alright? ”   she questions in a concern voice, putting the clipboard in her hand down on the counter. it wasn’t often that lucy saw young teens wander into the ER and, whenever they did, it sent up red flag. slowly the woman approaches the girl and stands by her side, even placing a gentle hand on her back just in case there WAS something wrong.

    she was TIRED, exhausted really. another hospital had needed her today so lucy, of course, agreed to help out. it had put her through the ringer many a time. all she could use was a drink. the neighborhood was different and simply decided to settle upon a local place. stepping inside, it was clear she was out of place but it was too late to turn back now. quietly she sits at the bar, looking at the man behind it.   “ this isn’t a membership only place is it? ”   she jokes with a smile,   “ it seems that there’s a certain type of folk who come here. ”

      it was a late night and lucy was stuck working in the ER. so far things had been relatively slow, especially with the avengers no longer being in town. there wasn’t much for her to do so instead she went around to check the rooms and their supply levels. so far, it was boring; everything was full and every room empty. but as she came to F15, her night took an immediate turn.

     what greeted her was a man in red and blue tights. for a second she thought he might be a performer or something but after another glance she could tell it was him. SPIDERMAN. what was he doing here? further examination she discovered there was a knife in his leg and blood pooling on the bed. there were so many questions lucy had but no time to ask. instead she moves to grab some gloves and move to his side.   “ holy shit...what happened? ”

          She had a sweet smile. It was enough to convince him she was, at the very least, drinking in his words, taking them into consideration. It was the best he could hope for. It was a rarity, but he spared a smile in return. This was a moment too quiet and personal to share around - he was sure she wouldn’t spoil his reputation. He fixed his jacket, and was getting ready to head out when she admitted a truth that made his stomach drop.

          Logan’s expression went hard - he was a long way away from not even knowing the name. Now it was a switch. Gone was the levity, the carefully chosen words. There was only an intensity, as he reached out to take her by the shoulders. When he spoke, his mouth closed around the words quickly, almost as if if he didn’t bite off every one, they’d turn into animalistic snarls.

          “He did what? What did you do? Did he hurt you?”

     The way his expression turned was not what she had expected. But, then again, Magneto was INCREDIBLY dangerous and had his own agenda that, if one did not follow, put a target on people’s backs. Him targeting the students of Xavier’s made absolute sense. They were all young, still learning, and easily corrupted. 

He nodded carefully as she finally, hesitantly, gave her small promise. Of course, he wasn’t expecting that from her. Hell, he’d be a hypocrite if he did. Most days he hardly believed those words himself. Most days, he was convinced he was too far gone. But then some days, he’s sitting in a class and some kid gets an A that they’ve worked their ass off for. Or some days, when Charles has him rescuing some poor sap from monsters and the fighting he’s doing is for something worth the blood on his claws. Or some days, when a non-monsters promises to stop thinking she’s such a monster. She smiled for him, and he offered one back, a small encouragement.

“Hey, ‘course. Thinkin’ my pep talk quota for the week was low anyway.” He was dishing those out a lot, lately. But he dipped his head to catch her eye, and told her, “You go to that dark place, you come find me. People like us, mutants… we gotta look out for one another.” He held his hands up, turning them around and flexing his fingers as he got a look at the clean knuckles. “Ain’t no one else gonna clean us up.”

It was a heavy promised that she had made to Logan but Lucy knew that she NEEDED to make it to someone. She had been wandering around the Earth with such a weight on her shoulders that it was about time someone picked her up. The professor had tried, other teachers, but none of them had that special touch that Logan did. Maybe it was because he had been in that dark place, too, but she could never be sure. Still, he was the only teacher she knew she could turn to.