Log: [Molly, Haller] Trouble is a Friend

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Haller and Molly have an emergency meeting after the alteraction in Salem Center.



Molly had been waiting in Mr. Haller's office long enough to where she'd started reading all the titles on the spines of his books on the shelves. She tried not to fidget, but it was hard. But she was in trouble. She was never in trouble, but now she was in trouble. She wasn't sure what to do.

"Sorry about the wait."

The counselor slipped in, looking tired. The conversation with Charles had been concise and unpleasant, not all of which was to do with the actions of Molly and Namor.

The telepath settled down in his chair and tried to decide how to begin. It wasn't a question of yelling at her; her behavior bewildered him more than anything.

"I wish you'd called me," Jim finally said. "Or the police. We'd have come to help."

Molly glanced down at her hands, not looking at Mr. Haller. "I heard them yelling and I thought maybe it was a joke but...then I heard the punching...and the man was on the floor, and bruised. I was afraid it was gonna get worse," she said. She took off her storm cloud hat, brushing out her hair before putting it back on again.

"There were no police around and it usually takes the adults a long time to rescue me and the students and I'm unsquishable. But...he's squishable...so...I didn't think there was enough time and I thought I could help," she said. She made a face.

"I didn't know there was a gun, but I would've crushed it, like before."

Jim exhaled slowly. "It usually takes the adults a long time to rescue me". The reasoning was . . . understandable. He pushed the thought away, even as it knocked another little chunk from his heart.

"Why did you have a mask?" he asked instead. "Have you done this before?"

The question made Molly's eyes widen, and she looked down even more, shifting positions in her chair.

"Yeah," she said finally, nodding. "I wrote it down on the sign out sheet...y'know, fighting crime."

Jim managed to stop himself before the "Um, what?" actually made it to his lips. The sign-in sheet wasn't normally something he paid attention to. Most of the staff didn't unless it was time for the evening curfew or there was some sort of incident, and to his knowledge no one had reported any issues regarding Molly. Which meant that not only had she been going into town to fight crime, she had done so during school-approved hours.

"Okay." His voice was level, but inwardly he marveled that the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach could intensify further. "And about how long have you been doing this? Have you had to step in to a situation before?"

Molly thought about it. "Hmmm, about...a month? But only twice was there crimes. These guys broke into some dude's house...so I stopped them and scared 'em away. And then this lady had her purse stolen and I got it back. Crime is slow. It was mostly kinda boring. We're not like Gotham City," she said.

Jim wondered if Molly would notice if he took a moment to scream into a sofa cushion. He settled instead for rubbing his temples.

"Okay," he repeated. He sat back in his chair and sighed. "Molly, this kind of thing -- it's dangerous. Even small stuff is a lot more dangerous than you think."

"Yeah, I know," Molly said, nodding curiously. Of course it was dangerous. "I fought like...Slender Men and rock scorpions and a LOT of temporarily evil X-People and baby shark godzillas AND their mom and a giant Genosha man monster. And I'm not even an X-Person yet. People keep kidnapping me and I fight them off every time...and I win most of the time...and you guys say I can't be an X-Person because I'm not old enough and...and...I don't think that's fair." She bit her lip, then took a breath and sat up straighter. Adult. This was adult talking, not kid talking.

"Cause people are gonna keep attacking me. Or kidnapping me. And you guys can't help that, cause evil people are like....everywhere, I guess. I dunno why but that's just how it is. And these are like....normal people with normal dangerous problems. I can help them. I wanna help them! And I did. And I was careful." She swallowed.

"I just...wanna make sure no one else gets hurt. I can fight things, instead of fighting off things."

"You guys can't help that" . . .. Jim's heart ached. Why did he have to be speaking to her as a staff member right now? Why couldn't she have told someone she felt this way before, when they could have just talked about that?

But that was his fault, wasn't it? Of course she'd feel like she couldn't depend on adults to step in. How many times had she had to fend for herself? How many times had any of the students? David had been let down enough times that he of all people should have known what that would do. It was his job to know.

In the back of his mind the voice of Jack whispered, You really are worthless.

The counselor took a deep breath, stilling his thoughts. He opened his eyes and met Molly's gaze.

"You're strong," Jim said, his tone gentler now. " I know you've been training hard, and I know you can take care of yourself. I've seen you fight. But I don't mean that it's dangerous for you. I'm talking about the people around you. If I hadn't found you when I did Namor would be in the hospital right now."

"But what about the people when you guys do it?" Molly said, with a frown. "You don't stop trying to help, though. You're just more careful next time. That's what superheroes do. They make sure people don't get hurt. I watch. I'm careful. That was Namor's fault. I tried to talk to the bad guy. I would've already saved the guy if Namor didn't come. He tried to punch him. I didn't. I know it's dangerous, and people get hurt, so you try to make sure they don't get hurt when you're around."

Molly looked down. "I just wanna do the rescuing instead of being rescued all the time. All the other kids are like...boys...girls...woo...prom...and....I'm not. Am...I not normal?"

Jim gave a sharp shake of his head, not wanting her to pursue that train of thought a minute longer. "No, that's not it at all. It's not bad to want to help, and there are a lot of people who have always known they wanted to be policemen, or firemen, or EMTs. You're not weird at all, and I think that one day you'll be very good at whatever way you choose to help people. But you have to remember that police and rescue personnel, and even the X-Men, have all had training." Jim pushed a hand through his hair. "Maybe you could have handled it if Namor hadn't shown up. And even if he had, if the other man hadn't had a gun it might not have turned into a fight. The problem is that both of those things did happen. That sort of thing happens a lot. Even when you have the perfect plan nothing ever goes off without a hitch." The counselor paused to look at Molly. Her expression was still pensive. He sighed. "Set aside what would have happened and think about what did. When you and Namor got involved that man panicked, and suddenly a gun was involved. Once the gun was involved, Namor started a fight. Then because Namor went after the man he was almost shot in the chest. That's called escalation."

Jim hesitated only a moment before continuing. If he expected Molly to see her error he had to be honest about his, too. "And when I heard the first shot, then felt the next one . . . I overreacted. I should have just pushed those men away and shielded us to make sure we'd be safe, but I didn't. I saw them threatening the two of you and didn't think, and I hurt them. At least one of them has broken bones, probably both. They'll need to go to the hospital. And if they file a report about the attack, they will tell the police mutants hurt them." He tried to catch her eye so she would look him in the face and see just how serious this was. "Salem Center knows what the school is. They know about Catseye's restaurant, too. If this becomes public and people get angry and want to retaliate against mutants they have their pick of targets." He shook his head. "Namor and I made mistakes, too. But every choice is linked, and so are the consequences."

Staring at him for a little while, Molly finally glanced away. "It looks so easy in the comic books," she mumbled, then sniffled, swiping away a tear.

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too." The telepath reached for a box of tissues and set it on the edge of his desk so she wouldn't have to reach too obviously if she wanted them.

"You have a great goal," Jim continued, as gently as he could, "and you know how to take care of yourself. But dealing with other people, protecting them and working with them, that's something no one knows how to do by themselves. It's something you have to learn, and it takes time. It won't just be bad guys. You have to remember that most people won't know what you can do, either. If a bystander sees you, even if they know you're a mutant, they won't necessarily know you're invulnerable or super strong. All they'll know is that you're a young woman. If they see you trying to take on criminals they may try to step in like Namor did, and in doing so get themselves hurt because they don't realize how tough you are. I know it's not fair, but it's just how people are."

"What if no one else is around? Like, no one? Should I just let it happen? I don't...know if I can," Molly said quietly, not taking the tissue. He said young woman but he meant kid. They thought she was a kid. She acted like she was a kid.

"Call us or the police first if you can. If you can't . . ." Jim rubbed his forehead. The questions Molly was asking weren't comfortable, but he owed it to her not to brush them off. "Sometimes you can't turn your back. A building about to collapse, a person in the process of being stabbed . . . I get that. We'll understand. But that's not the same thing as going out looking for trouble. Even the X-Men don't do that. Maybe we lose something by only responding to a threat, but it runs less risk of accidentally creating one."

Molly didn't say anything for awhile. She understood, mostly. But she didn't like it, at all. Folding her arms, her jaw set as she glanced down and slowly nodded.

"Okay," she murmured.

Jim nodded in return. "I'm going to have to talk to the professor," he said. wishing he didn't have to. "I think he'll want to speak to you later. Can I tell him you promise not to go out on patrol anymore?"

Sad, and mad and disappointed all at the same time, Molly still didn't look at him. It felt like her world just went ker-blooey. She nodded again.

"What...about Namor?"

"I'm going to talk to Namor, too. It's a little different for him, but he's still a resident." And what fun that was going to be. He had very little contact with the Attilani and wasn't sure how receptive he'd be to conversation.

"All right. That's all I had for now." Jim rose and gestured to the door and gave her an awkward smile. "And . . . don't feel too bad. Everybody makes a mistake sometimes. Even X-Men. Like I said, I messed up too."

Rising to her feet, Molly trudged toward the door. "I still feel bad," she said, making a face. "Is that okay?"

Jim's smile turned a shade more genuine. "Yeah, that's okay," he replied. "Thank you for talking to me, Molly. I appreciate that you were willing to listen."

And I'm sorry I didn't listen to you sooner.

Molly let out a tiny breath of frustration, then nodded again, fidgeting with her shirt. She swallowed. "I never got in trouble before. I don't like it."

"I know. Nobody does. Well," the counselor amended, "nobody good does. But it's your first time. Just remember you can make it the last."

The last part made Molly's eyes widen. He was using dad voice. Meep. "So this means I'm horribly grounded, right? Do I...have to like...eat only broccoli and no TV and clean the stables and wear a pointy dunce cap and write 'I won't be Batman' on the board a bunch of times?"

They did that in the movies when they were grounded right?

"Um, not exactly that. But yeah, there'll be something. The professor will decide what it is." Jim had never been more thankful that he had no authority over disciplinary actions, because he couldn't even begin to imagine a suitable punishment for vigilantism.

"Oh," Molly said. Now she was feeling really bad. Even if part of her was still a little mad at the situation, she hated to make the professor sad at her.

"Do you think he'll be disappointed with me?"

"No. He'll understand that you wanted to help." Jim didn't tell her his suspicion that Charles, like himself, would be saddened that Molly had so little faith in the staff's ability to help. She didn't need to know that.

Besides, it wasn't Molly the professor would be disappointed in. Molly was young; no one had taken the time yet to walk her through the possible consequences of her actions. David was an adult. He knew better.

Jim rose to circle his desk, joining the girl by the door. "Don't be afraid," he said with a gentle touch of Molly's shoulder. It was easy to forget she was 15. She was still so small. "You know you did something wrong," he continued. "That counts for a lot. Now that we know how you feel we'll see if there's anything we can do differently."

"As long as I don't haveta talk to Namor for awhile. I don't think he liked me in the first place after I punched Marius into a lake," Molly said. She stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"Now he really won't like me. And I'm not his biggest fan either." Stopping at the door. She glanced over.

"Bye Mr. Haller."

"I'll talk to you later, Molly."

The door shut softly behind her. Jim was left standing in the middle of his office, alone with his thoughts -- and the prospect of yet another meeting ahead of him.

What a mess.