New Teams, Old Problems

Chapter 15: Personal Loss

It was less than an hour before first the ferals came back — a bit muddied — but not bloodied as Scott was nervous about, and very shortly after that, Anton showed up looking for Leslie Ann with an extremely pained look on his face.

"Daddy!" Leslie Ann didn't hesitate to fling her arms around him as he dropped to one knee so he could be at her height and wrap her up in a hug.

"Are you okay, Les?" he asked as she hugged him tightly around the neck.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, sounding much better already for having her dad there. "Nobody got hurt, so... l... I'm okay."

Anton held her close for a moment before he looked up at Scott. "The kids that made the bomb are on their way to a long, long stay in jail," he said. "Domestic terrorism charges. Nothing they can make bail for, either, so they shouldn't bother you again."

"Thanks," Scott said with a small frown. "I wish I could say this was just a fluke thing..."

"Yeah, I saw the news. Half the force was celebrating," Anton said with a deep glare before he let out a sigh. "I'm going to take Leslie Ann back home. Thanks for calling me." He stood up and straightened out. "Call me again if you need to. Way things are right now, somebody's got to keep the peace," he added before he took his little girl's hand and headed out.

Scott watched them go with a heavy heart. This was a more personal blow than Scott was prepared for. And he was sure things would get worse before they got better.

As the heavy doors closed behind them, Scott made his way upstairs to find K and Logan already changed out of the muddied clothes and trying to settle into the rest of the evening with Elin between them, though he noted that there was a pair of blacked-out uniforms lying on the bed - as if they were ready to change and slip out.

He tried hard to hide the expression on his face as he watched the way Logan was being extra attentive to Elin. It was a small change, but it was crystal clear to Scott that they were planning to hunt down someone a lot more substantial than a stupid teenager. And chances were, if that's what they were up to, they probably weren't going to be able to come back.

"What's up, Slim?" Logan asked, looking up at him from where he and Elin were sitting on the floor.

"When you get a minute, I'd like to get a full rundown of what happened," Scott said, to which both Logan and K simply nodded in easy agreement.

"As soon as she falls asleep," K promised. "We'll find you."

"It's high time we had a few words before anything else goes wrong," Logan added. "We won't be long. Ready room?"

Scott very nearly looked to the uniforms again before he nodded his head. "Yeah. I'll be waiting." He was frowning hard as he headed toward the ready room — and when he passed Kurt, he had to pause.

"Kurt," he called out. "I'm meeting with Logan and K in the ready room to go over what happened — and I'd like you there to discuss a few other things while we've got them there."

"What kind of things do you have in mind?" Kurt asked.

"We're not going to get to the root of the problem chasing down teenagers with homemade bombs," Scott told him frankly.

"I'm sure they were simply trying to burn off some steam and make sure that Leslie Ann knew she was protected," Kurt told him. "You know what kind of trouble they'll get into if they go after any bigger fish."

"Which is why we can't let them do it alone," Scott said with a nod. He let out a sigh and tipped his head at Kurt. "They're already planning on it. They're ready to move, blacked-out uniforms — at this point, all we can do is back them up."