RE: Urgency

In the past few days, Sean had yet to find the time to relax. Although a couple of days had passed with further trouble, this didn’t mean that the Institute wasn’t in overdrive trying to make up for the security risks. James wasn’t at full capacity in the aftermath, Chase was going to get himself killed – and now Sean was signed up to help, the Board was understandably upset and launching its own investigation, Security was on red alert, and there were so many potential recruits they had to find now rather than later, lest Gabriel find them first.

He also hadn’t managed to track down Clarisse. She’d been absent when he’d cleared everyone the afternoon of the attack and had missed the staff briefing. He hadn’t seen her yesterday either, not before his meeting with Chase or afterward. He needed to speak with her, first to clear her – and although it was unlikely if not outright impossible for Gabriel to have influence over her days later, if indeed he had the day of the attack, he still needed to clear her officially and for his own peace of mind – and then to discuss common matters, since she was the resident side-effects specialist.

So he’d left a note.

Which she’d obviously received, when she let herself into his office. Although she appeared concerned, she also appeared herself, which he confirmed with a brief touch to her mind. Reassured, he gestured at one of the chairs in the comfortable part of his office. “Take a seat. This might take a while.”

Sean gave her a peculiar look when she asked him what was the matter. While it was true that she had missed the staff meeting the other day, after James had been attacked, she had also been at work since then. More importantly, she had worked with James and Chase in the immediate aftermath. She knew what was wrong. They were in danger, and their potential students were at risk.

But a moment later, it occurred to him that she might believe that she had to keep a confidence, and thus she had to pretend to be completely out of the loop, rather than possessing first and second-hand information but being unaware of practical staff matters. He assumed that was true for the sake of the meeting, and thus he began to explain. “I know what happened to James. The entire staff knows what happened to James, but we’re keeping it from the students for a number of reasons, beginning with respect for him and ending with the need to keep them both calm and out of the loop. For security reasons.”

The ice was officially broken. The telepath continued, “We had a staff meeting, which you missed, because you went missing the other afternoon. I need to fill you in, and I need to hear what you learned at the library.” He saw no reason to play coy; he knew she was at the library, and he knew she had been researching. He needed that information; he needed everyone to be on the same page.

“I understand.” As a psychiatrist and as a senior staff member, Sean was used to keeping confidences as well. The telepath had no intention of dwelling on the matter further, because it was of little consequence. She did not deny the incident, he had managed to clear her telepathically just now, and thus there was no need to further ruminate.

He couldn’t fault her for writing the notes in French, as that was her native language, and it was also a good survival tactic. Due to the fierce American nationalism and xenophobia, “foreign” languages were specialized knowledge and chances were that someone who found her notes wouldn’t be able to read them. Assuming an innocent onlooker, as all bets were off for Underwood and his cohorts. “I read French and could probably decipher your shorthand,” he informed her. He could certainly make an attempt. “And I’ll put them with the rest of my files, under lock and key.”

He listened carefully to what she described, not surprised that there was little information available. Gabriel’s power was rare. Moreover Sean had been alone in his suspicions of the young man when he was a student, and his files were with his personal records, not in circulation. And she had correctly surmised that he had more information; he confirmed that with a nod and a soft sigh. “The attacker’s name is Gabriel Underwood; he was a student here. He’s a puppeteer.” Unlike with Josh, there was no need to explain the terminology to Clarisse.

“Thank you.” The telepath could spend some time deciphering them, to take whatever information they contained that he might not already have. And then he could put them under lock and key with the rest of his files. He trusted himself, and he trusted his system; nothing of his had been touched before, and nothing of his had been touched when Gabriel attacked James. It was a start, although only the smallest of comforts. “And I will. Everyone on the faculty is going to need to pull together.” They had made their initial plan at the post-attack faculty meeting, but their red alert had to be organic, ever changing to take into account new events.

Sean gave her a small look, to communicate that she had answered her own question. “Because it’s rare. He’s been in town, and I know him well enough to recognize him in others.” Having been ignored on this point the first time around made Sean sensitive when it came to questioning his ability to be sure of this; even though Claude had finally conceded the point and Clarisse hadn’t been part of that group during first denial. “We called the police, and the Board is doing their own investigation. It should yield something.” That was the official plan.

He heard her thought and drummed his fingers on the edge of his desk, thoughtfully. “I would testify in court as an expert witness about mental attacks, if it came to that. You could testify as to the aftermath and side effects. I would name him in court; this can be done.” It was a crime for metas to use their powers against non-metas, so why would a meta-on-meta mental attack be different?

The telepath thought briefly about his plans with Chase, but he couldn’t mention those; they were a private matter between him and the trainer. “We protect the children and hope somebody finds him sooner rather than later.”

Sean usually tried to respect the privacy of others by not reading their thoughts – or if that was impossible, by pretending not to hear their thoughts – but after the attack, by necessity such illusions of privacy had become less of a priority. Everyone – except James for obvious reasons - would simply have to deal with it, a point which had been made at the staff meeting that she had missed. As such, he had none of his usual qualms in replying to her unvoiced question. “There had been, and it’s a very long story.” One that he didn’t want to go into great detail at the moment, but he would at a later time if she was curious enough to be interested.

The psychiatrist was prepared for the idea of trial; having only testified as an expert on a handful of occasions before – and never for a criminal trial – he couldn’t say for certain that it would go smoothly. But as he respected society’s laws, he had to prepare himself for the system in which they functioned.

The telepath didn’t want to have this conversation a second time in two days, but apparently he would have to. He didn’t know if he was simply out of touch with the younger generation – due to an inability to wait from the so-called MTV/Internet dependence or because youth simply overestimated their own capabilities – or if this was an aspect of being meta that he had managed to miss out on, but it was concerning if not frustrating. “We’ve alerted the authorities, who are the ones charged with looking for criminal suspects. We spent several hours after the attack going over security plans and changing operations here temporarily to prevent another infiltration. It’s not sitting back to let the police do their jobs, and we’re doing everything we can to keep the children safe. Nobody is going to get by us a second time.” There was a pause, before he added, “I’m sure he already got what he wanted, which is why our recruiters are mobilizing now.”

The psychiatrist was not trying to stoke her anger; he simply was running on his own level of comfort and security, in the aftermath of the attack. That involved being in his head more, being in the minds of others more, and being less apologetic about it. He also understood Clarisse’s objections, but if the laws had any meaning, then they had to let the police try to handle it first; otherwise they were – while morally better than Gabriel for a variety of reasons – still not where they should be, too close to the might makes right mentality that unfairly stereotyped the meta community.

Perhaps Sean’s mannerisms were a tad peculiar, but he was less inclined to reply to a murmur than he was to a thought. However, it was a point that he wanted to address at a later time, because he believed that they were in greater agreement than Clarisse thought at this moment. He simply needed the time to explain the background information, and to do that, they needed to be in a more private place. While he trusted his office to be secure, he wanted to be somewhere away from Hammel for this conversation.

As for her analysis of Gabriel’s behavior, it was a fair point for someone unfamiliar with the man. “He’s a sadist, and so he did what he did to James to prove that he could, and likely as revenge for some sort of perceived vendetta, possibly to send a message to Hammel. However, he initially attacked James because he wanted the recruiting information; he wants our potential students. Which is why the recruiting team is on its way to find the potential students now, and why security has been amplified. Gabriel has weaknesses, and he can’t risk being caught by repeating actions; he’ll need surprise for whatever he has planned, but it won’t be another information dig.” Sean was certain of that. “And I appreciate your cooperation; someone from Security can give you the new rundown. And I’d like to have a talk after work about Gabriel, at my house if you wouldn’t mind.” That way, they could both be on the same page, or close enough, since Sean had to keep Chase’s secret for now.