The Construct:
Hisako and Quentin find that pressing the button doesn’t work. They are still trapped in the Construct. Hisako becomes furious, while Quentin apologizes.
Reality:
Hidden, Quentin focuses so much that his nose is bleeding. The Berserker runs through the evacuated school and Rachel is looking for him, while Karma and Toad stand guard at the unconscious Hisako’s bedside.
The Construct:
Battling the enemy troops, Logan shouts how things are going. He’s noticing these nightmares of Quire’s are still trying to kill him and he ain’t exactly feeling one hundred percent!
One gunman man catches him unawares. Before he can be shot, however, Hisako’s armor protects Logan. The fascist? Logan asks. Is an idiot! Hisao replies and swats away the gunman. It’s mostly not working. Fighting back to back, Logan tells her she was a good partner, even if the skinny freak is right and they’ve only been in this reality for a couple of days. He still means it. Does he think they are friends in the real world too? she asks. After all this? They better be! he decides and they continue to battle while Quentin concentrates.
Reality:
Rachel knocks on the door to Quentin’s room and tries to reach him telepathically, to find she is blocked. Angrily, she kicks open the door, threatening to take him apart. She finds Quentin sitting on the floor in concentration, blood running from his nose. Telepathically, she orders him to let her in and help! To no avail. Angrily, she threatens him, shouting what the hell has he done to her friends.
The Construct:
Sitting in the ruins, Quentin berates himself for being a loser and a liability. He sees Logan and Hisako fighting, fearing they are “gonna die.” The whole Construct is out of his control. It feels like trying to grab water when he tries to manipulate it. They are gonna die! And the school, so important to so many people, will probably die too! He will die when Rachel gets ahold of him!
Suddenly, he has an idea. He tries to get the others’ attention and shouts that Logan has to kill him. Maybe this will feed back and force the illusion to quit. He got them into this mess and doesn’t know how to get them out. It’s a risk but surely the greatest risk is to him. This is his last idea. They have to kill him! Works for him, Logan replies and immediately impales him.
Reality:
In the empty cafeteria, the berserker falls down. In her room, Hisako awakes and instinctively armors up. Karma informs Rachel, then asks Hisako what happened. Hisako asks where Quentin Quire is. Disgusted, Karma asks why she cares.
Logan, once more in his body, slowly gets up and orders Rachel out of his head. It hurts enough. Welcome back, Rachel tells him. The place has gone to hell since he’s been away.
Been away? he asks confused, then remembers. Quire! he snarls. Rachel tells him to wait and suggests he clean up, get dressed. They have a school in chaos and a student population in lockdown to deal with. Think like a headmaster! Besides, she’s not sure he can do worse to Quentin than he is already doing to himself.
In his room, Quentin packs his belongings while berating himself for being a total idiot. Broo peeks in. Before he can say anything, Quentin shouts at him to get lost. When he runs away, Quentin admits he will miss Broo most of all.
Already started packing? Wolverine asks him. Oh crap! Quentin utters. “Mr. headmaster,” he then addresses him respectfully for the first time and admits he messed up. He’s just glad he is okay and Hisako. Maybe he can tell her that. She won’t speak to Quentin.
Looking around the mess, Logan asks if he did that to Quentin’s room. It’s all a bit fuzzy. He stabbed Quentin right in the heart. If there’s a bright moment to be found in any of this, that was it. But there’s not really anything good to say about what happened, is there? Quentin could have killed them. What he created was a masterpiece. It was a prison of horror and pain. But as far as those types of things go it was impressive. And where the hell does he think he’s going?
Surprised, Quentin stutters that he figures he’s going to be incarcerated by the Avengers. ‘Cause he blew their deal, right? Who made him boss? Wolverine asks sharply.
He’s going to make a deal with him. He doesn’t like what happened for all the reasons you can think of and one more. He was defenseless against Quentin. He stripped Logan of his consciousness and put him in some reality and he bought it. It’s hard for him to admit this. But Quentin beat him. And he didn’t even know the battle existed. That’s never going to happen again. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Quentin, him and six a.m. He’s going to train Logan in psychic defense. He’s running this school and is responsible for everyone in it. He refuses to be beaten again by anyone! It’s not just about him. The stakes are too high now. Report to him in the morning, bright and early.
Alone, Quentin begins to grin. Talk about Psychwar 101…
