xp_logs | Pete and Nathan, early Tuesday...

"I'm going to start vetting everyone before we let them on the premises. Swear to god. Dayspring..." Pete muttered to himself as headed down to the medlab. A couple of the students gave him slightly startled looks as he strode through the corridors - maybe it was the slight smile on his face that was confusing them. "Ten days until the first thing blows up, tops..."

He put out his cigarette in the bucket of sand McCoy left by the medlab door for just such a purpose, and headed in - a brief look at the roster later, and he was hammering on the door to Nathan's room.

"Oi! Nathan! Open up, MacTaggart's sent me to take your temperature!"

Nathan blinked and looked up from the screen of the laptop. Moira had given it back to him a while ago when she had left for a bit ("t'keep ye distracted so you dinnae get yerself into trouble!") and he was still trying to work his way through the endless list of replies that were sitting in the inbox of his brand-new email account. He was getting the impression that this journaling system was going to be very intriguing to watch, if nothing else, and hell, he could certainly use the distraction.

Though the Englishman currently bellowing outside his door would be an better distraction, he thought with a faint smile, reaching out with his telekinesis to let him in. "Pete," he said lightly as Wisdom strode in. "Nice to see you. Although if you so much as wave a thermometer in my direction, I'm going to shove it someplace awkward."

A ripple of anxiety went through him as Wisdom smirked at him, but he pushed it away angrily. He could trust Pete, both to understand the situation and be honest with him about it. It was just--all these kids, all so apparently earnest and (some of them, at least) innocent. He'd been in rough enough shape even before Moira had drugged him that he hadn't really had the chance to think about the problems his presence might cause them, until now.

Part of him felt very strongly that he shouldn't stay, as much as Moira was already hinting that she wanted him to stick around for a while. But he was so damned exhausted. Even if he started running again, he wasn't sure how far he'd get.

Pete looked Nathan over.

"I don't think you'd manage it right now, but I'll spare you the embarrassment. I'm starting to see why MacTaggart dragged you back here. You look like warmed shit, mate."

He pushed the door to, and leant against the wall.

"Not that it ain't nice to see you, and everything, but let's get the business taken care of first. You know what I'm worrying about now - what's the latest on you and Uncle Sam?"

"Right to the point, as always," Nathan said dryly, closing the laptop and setting it aside. "Let's see... last time I had any actual trouble was a few weeks after the last time you and I saw each other." He snorted, remembering. "This harmless-looking little bastard showed up in Bucharest and wanted to hire us for some industrial sabotage. He showed a little too much interest in me personally. Set off some alarm bells so I did some digging, and lo and behold, he was Agency." Nathan shook his head. "He didn't have anything specific planned," he said, remembering how long it had taken him to get any sort of information out of the man. Appearances could be deceiving. "Just making contact, assessing the situation. The job was even legit."

"So you figure they've finally decided that you might be more trouble that you're worth? Or at least that they'll play it soft on a first contact, anyway?"

Pete looked a little guilty.

"And I'm only getting this done quick because Jake and I are working on improving the security systems around here, after all the hassles the place has had and I need to know if we need to modify them now you're here. We can fuck off out of here and get drunk once MacTaggart declares you fit."

"That might be a while," Nathan said a bit absently as he considered Pete's questions. "And I don't know what the hell they're thinking, Wisdom. That's always been part of the problem."

"I think they're prepared to be more careful," he went on, mustering another faint smile as he met Pete's eyes. "I've bloodied their noses often enough that they seem to have learned a little subtlety." The smile faded as he went on. "So I'm not really sure what kind of security threat I pose. I trust my sources to tell me if anything nasty's headed my way--they've never let me down before, but there's always a first time."

"I can live with that. Christ knows, they'd have to be better than my sources the last time round."

Nathan looked at him quizzically as he went on:

"Listen, you're going to hear about this from someone - it might as well be from me, but that last time someone decided to send soldiers down here to kick in the door, it was because of me, and they used a briefing memo I wrote before I got fired to run the op. Hence the security upgrades."

Nathan blinked. "Alison," he said, ignoring the look Pete gave him for the non sequitur. "She said Brit agents--they were after you?" Damn, he was definitely not thinking clearly. The connection should have been obvious enough. Pete nodded, and Nathan gave him a sardonic smile. "Well, well. Welcome to my life, pal." Pete rolled his eyes at him and started to reply, but Nathan raised a hand. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

Pete relaxed slightly, and Nathan gave him an assessing look. "Must have been awkward, them using your own tactical plan. Sounds sort of like how I wrote Mistra's protocols for dealing with rogue operatives, never assuming they'd be used on me."

"Yeah. Except that it meant that everyone here found out that my advice had been to take the kids hostage..."

Pete trailed off for a second before picking up again in a more confident tone.

"Still, sounds like we should be as OK as we ever are, even with you here. Just another one in the crowd of spooks and dodgy bastards that shouldn't be around kids..."

"Mmm," Nathan said, eyeing Pete thoughtfully but deciding to pursue the topic another time. "I'll let Xavier and this Summers fellow know who and what I am, too--send them an email or something." A gesture of good faith would probably be a good idea, and it sounded as if leaving Pete in sole possession of the information wouldn't be doing him any favors. "Just back me up on the details if they ask, all right?"

"Yeah, not a problem." Pete grinned. "Well, that's the shop talk done with for now. So, aside from needing to have MacTaggart drug you and drag you into this little mess, how're you doing?"

Nathan shrugged. "Aside from that--well, at the moment, that's sort of getting in the way of everything else. Good thing I've invested well over the last few years, because I'm looking at a nice long stretch of being unemployable, I think." He raised an eyebrow. "You?"

"Heh. You know the kids are already running a book on what you'll wind up teaching? Happens to everyone that walks through the door." Pete spread his hands. "Charlie and Blaire turned me in a fucking guidance counsellor, if you can believe it. I'm shit at it, but it gives me an excuse to be here, and I can keep Charlie in the loop on what's going on in the intel community - I've still got access to a couple of places I shouldn't, and the word's getting out that I'm a good way to pass info around on the quiet, so I've managed to stay informed..."