ax_main | Caleb, Clint, Cal

After mildly freaking out on their own, Clint and Cal go and get Caleb, and get back to the beach.

Cal's biggest worry with their plan was that Caleb might not agree to leave the school grounds. But he had, and everything had gone without a hitch, finding the three of them back on the deserted beach. Cal had just spent a long while in the ocean, emptying his mind of anything that wasn't physical exertion. Now he came out of the water, his boxers easily changed into swim trunks thanks to Loki's mutation.

He hadn't thought to grab a towel, but that was okay. He'd dry soon enough, given the heat. He dripped his way back to Caleb, pushing a hand back through his wet hair to spike it up, and dropped beside his friend. What if sand was going to cling to his wet skin? It was the last of his worries. He welcomed a wet Abs onto his lap when she happily rushed him, and petted her with a smile. "Clint still shooting?"

Having finished swimming not long ago, Caleb was laying in the sand, his eyes closed as he listened to the sounds of the waves. He cracked one open at the sound of Cal approaching him, watching him walk over, all golden and relaxed, then the other at his question. His gaze went far away as he transferred his sight to Frumpkin who was keeping vigil over Clint. Through his eyes, he watched as Clint, his bare torso slick with sweat and reddening under the sun, fired shot after shot at palm trees.

Caleb’s vision re-focused, and he looked to Cal. “Yes.”

Cal watched him with surprise. "Did you just, like, scry or something?" Could he do that? And without casting anything?

Caleb sat up, sand flaking off his back. “Something like that. I looked through Frumpkin’s eyes.”

Cal's eyebrows raised, his expression impressed. "Sweet."

“Only you and Clint know about it,” Caleb replied.

"Okay," Cal acknowledged. He wouldn't say a thing about it; easy. "How are you doing?"

“I should put more sunblock on soon.” Caleb knew that wasn’t what Cal had meant.

Cal could go with an evasion; he knew them well enough. "Let's move under that tree," he offered instead, nodding towards the shade of a nearby palm tree. Evasion or not, Caleb could probably use some shade, and they were well used to spacing people out in the sun and in the shade, the three of them.

Caleb grabbed the leather shoulder strap of his spell book holster, and stood up, leaving his other belongings where they lay. “Okay.” He went over to the palm tree Cal had pointed out, his feet sinking in the fine, white sand with each step, and sat under the shade cast by its long fronds.

“Thank you.” Caleb didn’t mean for the move to the shade. He meant for this—The island. An escape.

"Any time," Cal answered, sitting back down in the sand beside Caleb - but not in the shade. He'd keep soaking up all the sun he could, before going back to New York.

If they were going back to New York.

The thought made him decide not to lie back for a proper sunbath; instead, his body language closed in, and he leaned his elbows on his knees, hands clasped loosely in front of him. "This felt like a good place to be, right now."

It was quiet and secluded, which was generally Caleb’s idea of a good place to be at any time. He looked out at the water, which seemed endless and made him feel so very small, but in a reassuring way. “It is nice. I never knew the ocean could be so blue.”

"I mean, I still love my Californian beaches," Cal started, "but, you know, this is okay." The small smile on his lips hinted that it was way better than okay. Especially with the two of them there, and their assorted menagerie.

A moment later, a lanky golden furball came up over a dune and dashed across the sand toward Cal and Caleb. Behind him, Clint appeared, bow case slung over one shoulder and his shirt over the other.

Caleb put up his arms to shield his face with a laugh as Lucky darted between him and Cal, sending up a spray of sand. “I think Clint is back.”

Suddenly, Cal was glad that he hadn't lain back, or he would likely be eating a mouthful of sand at this stage. Lucky's run was, of course, the signal for Abs to perk up and start chasing after him, barking happily. Cal looked over towards Clint, squinting a little against the glare of the sun. "How was the shooting?"

"Helped, I guess," Clint answered as he dropped down to sit next to them. "Sort of. I'm not crawling out of my skin anymore."

Frumpkin came padding up after Clint, and plopped himself down on Caleb’s discarded shirt, stretching out on it under the warmth of the sun.

“That is good,” Caleb said, giving Clint a small smile.

Cal nodded agreement with the sentiment, but he wasn't smiling, his thoughts bent toward the reason they had all needed to get away in the first place. "So," he said, and looked at both of his friends in turn. "What do we do?"

"What can we do?" Clint finally asked, not helplessly, but with some kind of acceptance. "Short of you letting me sabotage it."

Caleb looked at Cal and Clint, quietly weighing his answer. His friends had done a lot for him. They’d watched his back, taken hits for him, risked their lives… Always without being asked. But, what had he ever done for them? Nothing. They were scared. He was scared. But, someone had to step up, and it couldn’t always be them. He could pretend everything was fine, and worry so they didn’t have to. He could carry that weight.

“I can do it. If you both want,” Caleb offered. “But, I have given it some thought, and I think everything will be okay.”

"You're not doing anything on your own," Cal answered, a bit of a frown on his face. He looked over at Clint. "Either of you." If they did something about this, they would do it together. He paused, then admitted, "It isn't even just about what they do with the tech."

"It's the fact that someone else could get their hands on it," Clint pointed out.

"That," Cal confirmed. Although even destroying what the school had would not fully assuage his fears in that department. Someone out there had built those collars. Someone out there had those designs. Something nagged at the back of his mind, but he set it aside for now, to add, "And about just. I don't know, sleeping under the same roof they're testing that shit." The thought made his skin crawl.

Caleb shook his head. “Someone could always get their hands on it. Once they were created, the technology was out there. Anyone else could have learned about it, or found it, or even just heard about it and then worked to create it themselves.” The sleeping under the same roof thing he couldn’t really argue with. That bothered him too. As did some other things about it.

“But,” Clint sighed, “Gilmore seemed like a chill guy. I don’t get why he’d do this.”

"It's possible that he's telling the truth," Cal allowed. "They had some people - some kids - their mutations didn't work right." He wasn't looking either of his friends in the eye as he stated that; he still hadn't come to terms with everything he'd done for the Right. Part of him hoped he never did. He moved swiftly on from that topic. "And yeah, the tech is out there. But what they're going to do with it here - who knows what that could lead to."

Anything. Caleb couldn’t imagine the collars doing much worse than take away a mutant’s powers, but there’d be that one asshole out there who managed to one-up it. “It is my fault. I told him he could keep my collar.”

"It's no one's fault. You were totally fucked when they got you back here. It's not like you were even thinking about what they would do with it," Clint told him. "But if this thing can help people whose powers don't work..." Clint found himself frowning. He'd come full-circle, still dwelling on his lost eyesight, on the fact that he no longer healed the way he used to. He had no delusions that the collars would help him, but if they helped someone else?

"Yeah," Cal agreed. "I don't know that sabotaging that would feel right."

Caleb would be fine with sabotage, but he didn’t think destroying the collars would make much of a difference at this point. Gilmore had seen and studied one. He’d just rebuild it, or get one of his smart friends to do it.

“I think everything will be okay,” Caleb said again. “I don’t think we need to worry. So far, the, ah, school has proven to be what it said it was and Gilmore seems trustworthy. I believe they only want to help mutants, and will try to make sure the, ah, technology stays in the right hands.”

"What if one of us just talks to Gilmore - lets him know, you know?" Clint asked, shoving his feet further down into the sand.

"That's what I was thinking," Cal admitted, although it wasn't to let the guy know, really. Gilmore had better have thought about all of this already. No, it was more for reassurance. "It'd be different from just - reading about it."

That was a good idea. Caleb nodded his agreement, then said, “It should be me. I gave him the collar.”

Clint frowned. "It shouldn't have to be you. Not after what you just went through."

"And you didn't really give him anything," Cal went on. "He'd just taken you out of that fucking thing."

“He asked me if he could keep it, and I told him he could, so, yes, I did give it to him.” A sharpness had edged into Caleb’s voice. He appreciated that Cal and Clint had his back, but he was beginning to realize they thought he was weak. “I am not made of glass, you know.”

"We know," Clint told him, catching Cal's gaze and nodding. Because they did. They knew Caleb could be scary as fuck if he wanted to be. It was just...sometimes easy to forget.

"Yeah," Cal confirmed. "We definitely know." Caleb had managed to kill his handler, while all Cal could do was have a fucking panic attack and run away from his. "I wasn't saying don't talk to him. Just that there's no, like, moral obligation."

Caleb nodded some, though there was still a small still pinch at his brow. “Just stop making excuses for me. I can handle things.”

"Okay," Clint breathed out, backing down, even though in the back of his mind, he still wanted to keep Caleb safe. "Okay, you got this."

Cal couldn't work his way through his mess of feelings right then, from his desire to make Caleb understand Cal didn't think that of him, to the fact that he still had some protective instincts anyway, and mostly, the weird way he wanted to shut down at the thought that Caleb might be angry with him. He breathed through it all, shoved it all aside for later perusal (that was what counseling was for, right?), and nodded. "Yeah."

It wasn’t only that, but it was a good start, so Caleb let it be. He knew that they meant well. “Okay,” he said, then fell into an awkward silence, not knowing what to say now. What did you say after that? He glanced between Cal and Clint.

"I think we should make this island ours," Clint decided for them, since the discussion had come to an awkward end. "You know, whenever we need to get away. Kinda like a clubhouse."

"Clarice might take exception to that," Cal replied with a small frown. "And other locals. Kids tend to come here on the weekends, I think she said." He paused, scratching at the side of his jaw. "But, I mean. We could find a real deserted island. Something more remote most people can't get to at all."

Caleb wondered if he could make a place like that with magic. Illyana had Limbo. Maybe something similar was possible? With less fire, demons, and hellscape preferably. “We cannot share?”

"Cause then we wouldn't always have a place to go if we needed it. I'm good with Cal's idea - find a place of our own." Clint told them.

Cal nodded. When he needed to get away, he needed some place that didn't have other people. Especially not other people who might or might not have an issue with mutants. "I'll ask Clarice if she can think of anywhere, or I'll start exploring."

“If it is going to be our secret place, we should probably find it ourselves,” Caleb said.

"Shouldn't be a problem, right? I mean, Cal can go anywhere," Clint glanced over at his friend.

"Within limits, energy-wise," Cal amended. Exploring wouldn't be exhaustion-free. But he would do it, of course.

Caleb frowned some, then offered, “I could research uninhabited islands.”

"And I could go with you to watch your back if you have to rest," Clint agreed.

Cal had started nodding with Caleb's suggestion, and kept it up for Clint's. Although to be fair, it was less about having Clint watch his back as just... having Clint along. "Sounds like we have a second plan." They were full of plans today.

“Awesome,” Caleb replied with a thumbs-up, then since things seemed sort of sorted, but mostly because he was still feeling awkward from his early outburst, said, “I think I am going to go for a swim now.” He stood, sand flaking off him, and headed for the water.

Clint gave his friend a brief look, then a smile, and headed after Caleb. At least none of them were panicking anymore.

"Hey, watch out for the barracuda!" Cal called out, looked at his dog, and then pushed up to his feet. "Might as well go with them, huh, Abs?"