Xaviers!

Having regained her righteous fury, Sam is now searching one of two places she believes Onyx will be. She hopes this isn't a long search because righteous fury is tiring work.

Luckily for Sam, Onyx was pretty easy to find, making it very convenient for righteous fury purposes! She was currently working out on the maps, doing flexibility exercises.

She glances up at Sam and then returns her attention to her exercises without saying anything.

Well. That's rude.

Sam makes her way over with a purpose!

"Onyx. What did you say to Will?"

"Will? I told him that with some work he may be an asset to the teams," Onyx says. "Is that a problem, ma'am?"

"Is that why he visited me nearly in tears?"

"I do not know, ma'am. He is very emotional at times," Onyx says. "Is it?"

"He thought he was training with a friend. But you rather disabused him of that notion, didn't you?"

"Yes," Onyx says. "He is not my friend. I do not have any friends."

"Should I have lied to him, ma'am?"

"Did what we talked about this morning go in one ear and out the other? Honestly."

"Just because you give me advice does not mean that I am required to follow it," Onyx says, standing up. "You have routinely advised me against my interests. You want me to remove my mask, stop training, make friends, but you do not consider what I want or why it may be important to me."

"However, you were right about one thing. I have been trying to force Nailah into becoming my partner," Onyx says. "I have be scared of what will happen once I am alone. That is unfair and selfish. I see that now."

"You wonder what it's like to be alone? Will knows. All his life, he's been alone. When he finally thought he'd found some friends, they threw him away. Literally, threw him away, sent him off."

"And now you just threw him away again."

"I don't think you're scared of being alone. I think you're scared of the alternative."

"You have no idea what I am afraid of, ma'am," Onyx says. "You do not know me. You do not know the first thing about me, but despite this you still seem to think that it is your duty to 'fix' me."

"Of course, forcing people to become something you want them to be seems to be a pattern with you," Onyx says.

"Is that what you think this about? Is that seriously what you think I want to do?"

"Will trusted you. Was that a mistake?"

"Yes," Onyx says. "But luckily only his feelings were hurt. It could have been much worse."

"Oh yes, you could've gotten attached to him. Such a horrible fate."

"Yes. It would be," Onyx says. "Because I would use him. And because he is my friend, he would be happy to help me. He would get hurt and he would suffer. He might even die, ma'am."

"And weren't you just lecturing me about not assuming I know what's best for people?"

"It is true that I do not know what is best for Will," Onyx says. "Perhaps he would benefit from being my friend."

"But I do know that I can not handle being responsible for his pain and suffering," Onyx says. "Perhaps this is also selfish of me, but I believe that I can live with it, given the likely alternative."

"I'm sure it's easier. You get the benefit of being right. Nobody knows you. Nobody can judge you. You won't let them."

"You seem to have no problems judging me," Onyx says. "Perhaps you could teach others, ma'am."

"Well apparently I was wrong about being able to get through to you."

"Have you told Nailah yet? I'm sure she'll take this well."

Onyx hesitates, "I have not seen her recently. I imagine she is avoiding me."

"Well it's for the best, aye? You had no problem breaking Will's heart, so I'm sure Nailah will be just as easy."

"None of it is easy," Onyx snaps at Sam. "Do you think my life is easy? That my sacrifices mean nothing to me?"

"I think you hurt my friend, and you're about to hurt another of my friends."

"They're your bloody sacrifices, but they're my bloody friends."

"You want to do this to yourself? Fine. Just don't expect me to roll over when you do it to people I care about."

"And what exactly will you do, ma'am?" Onyx asks. "Frankly, like much of what you get involved with, it is none of your business and you have no say in what happens."

"Perhaps you should get used to that fact."

"Then maybe I should just give up. Or I could even help you get rid of these pesky social attachments."

She makes brief mental contact with Onyx, and shifts into what looks like a perfect duplicate of her.

Without a mask.

"I'll talk to Nailah, ma'am." She says in Onyx's voice.

Onyx responds by dropping to the floor and kicking her foot out, trying to trip Sam.

Sam clearly didn't think this through and drops like a bag of rocks. She might be able to react soon, but likely not as soon as Onyx.

Onyx springs onto Sam, trying to hold the girl down on the floor. She looks furious.

"Change back," Onyx demands. "Now."

"Or what exactly will you do, ma'am?" She asks, struggling but pinned.

Nailah walks into the rec center, dragging her gym bag on the ground behind her. She's still half asleep and pretty hung-over, so when she lays eyes on Onyx grappling with, well, herself she's seriously contemplating whether she's actually awake. That's not to speak of the other, much more confusing feelings that sight is summoning up. At 'Sam's' line her cheeks turn crimson.

"You do not wish to find out," Onyx growls, doing her best to keep Sam pinned.

"Well if you've got your heart set on burning all your bridges, ma'am, what's one more?"

"What the heck is going on!?" Nailah interrupts them.

This gets Onyx's attention. She suddenly looks up, "Nailah?"

Sam's a bit surprised as well, and shifts back.

Recovering, she finally speaks in her own voice. "Looks like she's not avoiding you."

"What... Sam? What are you guys doing!?" she babbles, her cheeks still crimson. This was way too much like that dream of hers, except somehow even more confusing.

Onyx blushes. "Shut up," she says to Sam, practically falling off the girl.

"It is nothing, ma'am," Onyx says. "We were simply having a discussion. Things became heated."

"Onyx has something she wants to say to you," she says, getting up.