Temporary Reprieve (Sean)

[Chase Campbell]

Chase was currently on a much needed coffee break. He had recently had an influx of new students on his roster, and had spent an uncomfortable amount of time utilizing his powers during his morning sessions. The trainer knew that he was on the verge of a migraine if he didn’t get some caffeine, sugar, and possibly some of the Excedrin he kept in his desk. Ideally, the coffee and sugar would do the trick.

The newly turned forty-one year old pulled out his phone to check for emails as he waited for the coffee to finish brewing. Much as he harped on his husband to try to switch to decaf once in a while, he was just as bad as James most days. He needed at least two to three cups to get him into a vaguely human state in the morning, and as the day dragged on, more was usually required. Especially if he had to use his powers more than once in the span of a few hours.

Finally, the coffee finished brewing. After filling his slowly wearing out ‘Dad’ mug Nikki had given him for father’s day two years ago, he grabbed one of the pastries sitting on the counter and went to sit down on the couch. He had at least an hour before he had to be dealing with anything else in terms of students, and his next few sessions were with seniors gearing up to graduate. Them, he could handle without his powers, unless he was trying to fine tune their mental shielding. (Since the MSAD attack on James, he had made it a priority for his students to learn, regardless of their power. It was safer that way.)

Now he was out of his classroom, it felt good to relax for a few minutes. With James out recruiting, he might have gone to seek out Nikki for company. Sadly, his son was on the verge of becoming a teenager, and though Chase was well aware his adopted son still loved him, he spent less time doing what James had once called ‘hero worship’ and more time with his friends. It didn’t really bother Chase. Honestly. It was just part of growing up, and –

Okay, it bothered him a little. It was hard to have seen Nikki grow from a shy little boy to his now confident self.

To get his mind off of it, he pulled out his phone again to scroll through some local news. It wasn’t really engaging, but it did the trick.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean was having one of those days when he needed coffee.

Truthfully, the telepath always needed coffee. Caffeine mitigated headaches. Caffeine kept him awake. As someone who had consumed coffee in one form or another for forty years, Sean used it to get through the day.

Still, today was one of those days. Early morning sessions that took more energy than some of Sean’s monthly check-ins with some of the students on his watch list. A telephone conference that should have lasted fifteen minutes but which stretched on for more than double that, all due to an inability or unwillingness on the part of the other person to listen to the side effect specialist’s advice. Which it was, Sean didn’t know, as he couldn’t make that determination over the telephone. In one sense, it mattered not, as the end result was the same.

The telepath entered the staff lounge and made a Beeline for the coffee pot. Of course, he knew that Chase was sitting there, and so he offered his friend a warm, “Hello,” as he set about fixing himself a cup.

With the coffee poured and the proper cream and sugar added to make the bitter liquid palatable, he moved from the coffee pot to sit on the beat-up sofa. “Something on your mind?”

[Chase Campbell]

There had been a time when Chase might have actively tried to avoid Sean. Not because they weren’t friends, but more because he didn’t want to face dealing with things that were now safely, and carefully buried in the past. They had long since moved past that and back into friendship territory, which was, admittedly, much more pleasant for everyone.

He glanced at Sean and smiled back at him. “Hey, Sean. Coffee’s fresh.”

Really, he was thinking loud enough, and had his defenses down enough that Sean likely didn’t need to ask the question. Still, he shifted over to face his friend better. “A little. Mostly about Nikki. Just having a hard time believing he’s going to be a teenager this year.” So much had changed since they’d fostered, and then adopted him. “Plus the kids this morning gave me a headache. Debating if I actually need to take Excedrin, or if the caffeine will help.”

He went to close down the internet browser on his phone, but something caught his attention. Something he’d seen periodically around town. Frowning, he enlarged the print before lifting it to show Sean. “You know, I keep seeing these PUSE people around town and in the paper, but I still don’t know what they actually do.” James probably did, but James knew damn near everything before Chase did. “You hear anything about them at all?”

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“That’s a relief,” Sean replied, as he finished stirring the milk and sugar into his beverage. While there were far worse problems in the world, and he had far greater concerns on a daily basis at Hammel, the psychiatrist preferred not to drink stale coffee. Life was too short for stale coffee.

The telepath then settled across from Chase, before he took a sip from his mug. That hit the spot, and he looked forward to the inevitable energy boost that the caffeinated brew would provide.

Sean nodded sympathetically. Time had a way of getting ahead of them, and Nikolai was growing so fast. He remembered when the blond weather manipulator had first come to Hammel. He remembered when James and Chase had grown fond of him and when they had taken him into their home. He remembered the adoption party clear as day, although that, too, was years ago. “He’s growing so fast,” the telepath remarked, before taking another sip of his coffee.

Of course, that thought brought him to Bailey. He missed his foster daughter, even though he was glad that she had been reunited with family for adoption.

The mention of PUSE caused the smile on his lips to fall, replaced with a more sober expression. “I’ve heard more than they’d like me to have heard.” His encounter with the president was proof of that, although those more personal details would remain confidential. After all, Joe Honnick’s daughter had done nothing to deserve public scrutiny; she was a victim. “What would you like to know?”

[Chase Campbell]

It seemed like maybe a week ago that Nikki had first come to Hammel, scared and resistant to the fact that he was meta. Now he the same age as many of the newer students, yet he had the advantage of knowing the school inside out and backward by this point. Maybe he’d finally make some good friends his own age. Having Jordan around was nice, but the boys were still apart in age. At least the cousins got along well enough. Even if they had gotten out of hand during the pirates vs. ninjas game at the adoption/birthday party.

The clean up had been worth it. Nikki had had a blast.

“Yeah. A little too fast.” He knew it was inevitable. Kids grew up – it’s what they did. But in watching Nikki branch out and spend more and more time with his classmates was a little weird. Maybe he was just feeling like he didn’t get enough time with Nikki when he was younger, mostly due to the age he’d been when he’d first come into their care. He’d just have to suck it up.

The almost cryptic comment about PUSE made Chase switch gears fairly quickly. Of course Sean would be privy to more than anyone might want him to be. That meant he’d know more than the trainer had read about, or seen around town. “What are they doing, exactly? I haven’t been able to figure that out.” He’d heard bits and pieces about the recent rally, though he nor James had actually gone to it or anything. “Normally I’d pick James’ brain, but he’s been out of town so much recently I don’t think he knows much more about it than I do.” Which was... yeah. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Hopefully Sean could fix that.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded his understanding. He had only had Bailey in his life for less than a year, but she had done so much growing in that time. The telepath still babysat for families in his neighborhood and for friends and coworkers; the babies were growing so quickly, and Tory was already old enough for preschool.

“They’re the anti-meta version of the National Organization for Marriage,” Sean replied, before taking another sip from his coffee. PUSE bore many similarities to the homophobic organization: they had a positive name to distract from the fact that the entirety of their platform was devoted to oppressing a minority group; while their leader harbored these opinions independently, they were exacerbated by a personal tragedy involving a member of that same minority group, which colored the leader’s opinions of the group as a whole; they tried to make themselves seem like the victims of that minority group; they opposed politicians who wanted to expand the rights of the oppressed...the list went on.

“They’re local, however, which is something. They don’t have any real national presence, and so, right now, it seems like most of their energy goes into trying to stop meta-humans from running for local office. Also trying to keep my partner from getting his foot in the door and volunteering man hours to appealing anti-discrimination cases.” The telepath shook his head to himself, because he considered that to be such a waste of time and energy. It was difficult enough for meta-humans to win anti-discrimination lawsuits, since they weren’t considered a protected class.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase knew all too well how fast kids grew, even before Nikki. Being exposed to James’ herd of nieces and nephews year after year had also seen them grow, too. Granted, they had also served as an invaluable training ground for their eventual fostering and adoption of Niko. Before James, Chase hadn’t really been exposed to kids, and never thought he’d be any good with them. For once, he was glad to have been proven wrong.

“... Oh.” It was due largely to James that Chase had any kind of insight on politics, or groups like the ones Sean had just mentioned. The mere mention of it made his fingers curl just that slightest bit tighter around his mug. “Just what we need, then.” Due to the nature of his own power, he could only image what they would think of it. Of course, to some degree they’d be right. He was dangerous. Thankfully, those thoughts stayed locked behind his habitual mental shields, and were quickly banished away again.

Hearing about Josh filled him with a real sense of both disappointment for both Sean and Josh, as well as a curious sense of anger. Meta humans were every bit as capable of being in office as baseline humans. “Are they a threat at the moment?” Funny how Pilot Ridge could go from being threatened by a meta supremacy group to an anti-meta group in a matter of years.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

To some extent, Sean was surprised that Chase had been wholly unaware. He knew that his friend paid little attention to politics, either local or on the national stage, but there had been an obnoxious public rally, and most of the faculty had learned through channels.

“All political or social gains, no matter how miniscule, risk reactionary backlash,” the telepath reminded the other man. Sean was old enough to have seen so many social movements, even if he had been too young to participate in some of them. As a child, he had watched coverage of the Civil Rights movement and had seen the backlash against African Americans for trying to exert the rights that had been granted to them a century prior. He had watched the beginnings of Gay Liberation, and he had later participated in that movement. He’d watched the Anti-War movement become the Anti-Nuclear movement, the Environmental movements, further fights for feminism and Women’s Liberation. Labor strikes, Disability rights, the rights of Indigenous people throughout the continents, mass incarceration, fighting the Security state, immigration rights...He’d participated in protests, fundraising, and awareness events for so many of those struggles, either directly or through other channels, and there was always backlash.

Meta-humans, comparatively, had few protections as a group. Anti-discrimination legislation and hate crime laws didn’t cover meta-human status. Using powers in public with non-consenting parties was against the law, even if it wasn’t enforced evenly. Particularly since it couldn’t be enforced evenly. More people were aware of the risk of harm to LGBT people in Russia than the exploitation of meta-humans in Russia and in some other countries. Certain religions taught anti-meta hatred. Government positions remained safest, outside of returning to Hammel, for meta-humans to use as employment, which created a litany of other problems during the Great Recession. And people like the members of PUSE considered meta-humans unfairly advantaged because Kevin Bailey could talk to salmon.

The telepath then shook his head, refuting the implication in the question. “They aren’t violent. They’re ignorant and bigoted, but, at the moment, they seem focused on picking fights within the letter of the law.” At the moment, they were a nuisance. A frustrating nuisance, but still a nuisance.

Not the way that M.S.A.D. had been an active threat, a clear and present danger to everyone around them.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase’s general interest in politics, whether on the world stage, or simply the local news, was sadly limited. He relied perhaps a little too heavily on his husband to relay the important information. Sports scores, he could rattle off or discuss without a problem, but politics? Not a chance. There was a reason he tended to seek out his nieces and nephews when visiting James’ family in New York. Almost all of the adults in the family were rather loud and opinionated over the topic, and Chase was happier to stay out of it. There was a good reason he was a trainer, and not a teacher.

“True,” Chase replied, knowing it to be so. He didn’t need to have intimate knowledge of what was going on to know that it was absolutely correct. James had told him as much when trying to fill him in and generate an actual interest in the subject in his husband. Sadly, that was an uphill battle, but at least he tried.

Just when he thought that the ridiculous stories seniors often told around Hammel’s halls about government intervention were dead and buried, something like this happened. He had been told the same stories when he’d first arrived at Hammel, and those stories had been quick to cause a small sense of paranoia. Especially after he’d met James, and had quickly become convinced that he was a government recruiter, rather than one for the same damn school he’d attended. Stupid, maybe, but that was what this kind of thing did.

It made him want to pull Nikki just a little closer when they all returned home later. His son might be able to control the weather, but that didn’t make him a threat. That was why he and the other members of the training team worked so hard with the kids – so that they didn’t pose threats as adults. Without training, and without the strong sense of morals that his own training had left him with, Chase could very well have gone off and caused havoc. But he didn’t. (Well. Didn’t try to. Certain events had been, sadly, unavoidable.)

“Well, at least there’s that. I don’t know what I’d do with Nikki if they were.” Possibly embarrass the hell out of him by driving, or at least accompanying him everywhere. At least his son was providing a viable reason for him to be interested in the group now. “They haven’t tried to make their way into the school yet, have they? Do you think they will?” The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with the group and his students at the same time, shielding one from another.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean remained wary of PUSE, but he didn’t regard them with the same degree of suspicion with which he had viewed Operation Patriot, and that was entirely due to sense of scale. Operation Patriot had had a military liaison, and while they had wanted to help place young meta-humans in various areas, the telepath had more than a healthy suspicion of the military, not the least of which came from the experiences of their Russian friends and coworkers. He didn’t want the students exploited for their powers. PUSE made no attempts to disguise the fact that they were anti-meta, although they couched their prejudice in terms of basic fairness. Unlike the U.S. military, PUSE had no national power and, at the moment, their local power seemed concentrated on making local meta-human advocates miserable.

That was personal, and the psychiatrist actively disliked PUSE members and all that they stood for. He wanted as many people to be aware of their beliefs as possible, since they could only succeed for as long as they disguised their bigotry. However, as of this moment, he didn’t actively fear for the safety of the students. He and Josh could deal with it in the personal sphere as well as on his partner’s political campaign trail.

“If they went after the students, it would be a different matter. I’d encourage Yvette to revoke the curfew allowance until everyone was safe.” The students would resent the staff for that, but in that situation, such a course would be necessary. Fortunately, PUSE was nowhere near as dangerous as that. They were in no way comparable to M.S.A.D. even if they held mirror-image bigotry in their hearts and minds.

“No.” Sean almost scoffed at the thought. “At least two members of PUSE know that I’m a telepath, and they’re as afraid on some level as they are suspicious. Bigotry’s never intelligent, but it would be incredibly shortsighted for them to try to come to Hammel. They know who I am, and they know that I know who they are and what they do.” Considering the fact that Joe Honnick had specifically given Sean his contact information, and the psychiatrist had volunteered with Jeremy Derenstein at the LGBT Youth Center for a long time now.

[Chase Campbell]

This was why Chase liked to stick his head in the sand and play ignorant when it came to politics, both on a local as well as a global scale. It was hard to follow, and more often than not, it seemed depressing. Then again, when you were meta, it always seemed like something was out there ready to actively dislike you. Chase knew what that could be like firsthand. Not everyone in Sedona had been all that happy about his manifestation. Well, not of his particular power, anyway. He got it, he did, but he was still the same person he’d always been, even before he’d manifested. Just because he had mind control didn’t mean he was going to use it. But, he supposed, people would always be set in their ways and mindsets, whether they were looking at metahumans, same sex relationships, or anything, really.

“I’m sure they’d be thrilled with that, regardless of our safety concerns.” He would have been at that age. Teenagers had a weird sense that they were invincible. Granted, some were closer than others, like Vincent Verax, but as a collective they were all still just kids. When it came down to it, they wouldn’t have a chance against an adult with malicious intent. Hell, even adults had problems at times.

“Good.” This was followed by an almost amused smirk. “Good thing they don’t know who I am, or what I can do, if telepathy scares them.” He didn’t like the idea of actively threatening anyone, but if it kept their hands out of meddling with the school, he might make an exception. “I guess all we can do is keep an eye on them, hey?” Now they were minutely on his radar, he’d keep a better look out. The last thing anyone needed was a repeat of any of the MSAD debacle.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had a wholly different perspective of politics, of social responsibilities, and of life. Perhaps it came from his activist days, perhaps it was a leftover remnant of his religious upbringing and the notion of being one’s brother’s keeper; perhaps, like many other areas, it originated from his telepathy. Whatever the underlying cause, the telepath did not subscribe to the notion of avoidance as problem-solving. Once aware of a problem, the older man had the inclination to find a solution, although not everyone appreciated his solutions. And sometimes the solution was monitoring rather than direct action.

That had been the subject of long discussions between him and Chase, resulting in a secret that he would take to his grave.

Explaining such background to teenagers proved difficult in the best of times. Proffering such explanations while simultaneously imposing lockdown measures was a last resort for a reason; doing so for M.S.A.D. had proved necessary due to kidnappings, and still the students had been miserable. “I’m sure that the students would curse the staff from day to night over that.” He sipped his coffee and then added, “Fortunately, it would be overkill at this point.”

Quite fortunate. Nobody needed to go through the pain and stress of a potential violent conflict. Not when life had otherwise settled down.

At his friend’s remark, the old man nodded a single time. “I’m sure it would set them off, but you know anti-psychic bias.” Chase suffered from it just as Sean did; they could commiserate over that shade of prejudice. “But watching is all we can do right now; it’s all that we need to do right now, for which I’m grateful.”

The telepath was not grateful that PUSE had popped up at all, but he was grateful that they were merely a prejudiced local political action group in a place where they would get little to no traction. As opposed to something more sinister.

[Chase Campbell]

Sometimes being oblivious to politics was a bad thing. Or having one particular view. Such was the case whenever Chase went to visit James’ family. His in-laws were all very loud, and very opinionated, especially when it came down to politics. After having been chewed out once by one of his sisters-in-law, he was happiest keeping out of it. At least James was good at maintaining the peace between everyone.

Well. As peaceful as the Campbell house ever got.

“Good. I’d rather not have to deal with rebelling teenage metas. ... Again.” Chase was almost always on the front lines when it came to students causing problems on campus. While it didn’t happen often, his power had come in handy more than once. At first it had seemed a little... well, unexpected, to have to detain students with his power when they were getting dangerously out of hand. At this point, it was more or less life at Hammel. At least he hadn’t had to do it for a while now. Hopefully, things would stay that way a while longer.

Sadly, Chase did know anti-psychic bias. As someone with mind control, a lot of people that didn’t fully understand meta humans were just as afraid of him as they were Sean for his ability to read their minds. Of course, he would never use it against someone’s will, not if he didn’t have to. “At least they seem relatively harmless.” As harmless as these groups got, anyway. Yes, they’d wield hurtful words, but that was infinitely better than what MSAD had done. “I guess as long as they stay that way, we don’t have a lot to worry about.” He didn’t think he could handle another round of sticking to Niko like glue everywhere he went in order to feel like he was safe. Of course, if PUSE happened to say anything to Niko, he might have other thoughts about them. For now, he’d keep his distance, but also keep an ear out for trouble.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean was long-used to possessing unpopular political opinions when contrasted with the rest of his family. While he viewed the estrangement from his sister with a combination of cosmic pity and a sense of inevitability, albeit one that had been mourned a decade ago, he admitted that he did not miss the supreme discomfort of being surrounded by his family’s political, economic, and religious opinions. Despite his atheism, the psychiatrist fit better with James Campbell’s family than with his own, given his political leanings. Ginny had once remarked that she thought he and her father were in a competition for the title of “Most Liberal Man at Hammel.”

That trait explained part of his initial compatibility with, and attraction to, Josh. It also explained why he served as his partner’s campaign manager despite having no direct personal campaigning experience.

The telepath nodded. “So would I. Particularly since we just need to get through this term before summer break.” Three months until graduation. It was a long enough time without the addition of safety precautions and rescinding curfew, and the inevitable protests that would follow from the students.

He nodded again, both in acknowledgment and to a lesser degree agreement. He believed that the opinions peddled by PUSE were far from harmless. However, they were not direct, or immediate, physical threats to the safety of the students, to meta-human adults, or to the security of Hammel, unlike M.S.A.D.

Sean sipped his coffee and then said, “I think it will play out at the polls and along the campaign trail more than anything else.” Which was to say that he expected them to continue to oppose his partner’s campaign, given how much focus meta-human rights played in Josh’s platform. But they would deal with that. “If that changes, I’ll be the first to know.”

Both due to his telepathy and to his direct connection to the world of local Pilot Ridge politics at present.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase’s own family was a lot more politically inclined than he was. It was something he always dealt with when he got home. Arizona wasn’t the most... welcoming state for certain things, which was why it had taken him so long to get comfortable with who he was, and his resulting relationships. Of course, his parents adored James (much to his shock when they’d first met), and he knew damn well that anyone that said anything about it would probably get a talking to from his mother about it. Still, more than once they’d tried to encourage their son to get a little more interested in the state of the world. For a man that had once spent his history and government classes doodling in his textbooks... it was an uphill battle.

“Summer break seems like it’s eons away.” It always did this time of year. He was sure it was worse for the students, but still. He had a stack of final evaluations to get through for his senior students, plus routine assessments to fill out before summer break even started. “Let’s just hope no one starts a celebratory riot on the last day of classes.” Then again, he’d heard that Sam Rixon was graduating, finally. The potential was there for something to go awry.

The idea of PUSE causing trouble on the campaign trail was a little distressing, however. Chase was aware that Josh was running for office again, and he was happy to support his friend’s partner, especially with the meta-human rights platforms he had. “Well, whatever we can do to oppose them, just let us know. I’m sure James would be on board too.” Especially as he was sure his husband already knew the vast majority of what he was only just learning now.