Xaviers!

Will was walking around downtown Maldon, trying to ignore the people staring at him. He had picked up some clothes from his dorm room, but they didn't fully hide the cybernetic lines darting across his skin. Green hair was enough to get attention at the best of times, and this was just another thing on top of everything else.

He stopped in front of a vacant storefront, leaning against it to catch his breath.

((open))

"You okay?" A familiar voiced asked from his right. Tereza was standing on the sidewalk, shopping bag over one shoulder and a frozen slushie drink in her other hand.

"Doing better now, thanks Tereza.

And yourself? I heard there was some...unpleasentness."

"Yeah," she says, eyes darting to the ground. "It's... handled for the moment, but I've got a lot to make up for." She glances at the bracelet on her wrist. "Glad to hear you're doing better though."

"We're in the same boat there, yeah?" Will chuckled. "You told me, once not to worry about it, so I guess I should give you the same advice.

...I'm really, really bad about not worrying about things, though."

Tereza smiles, "We should start a worrying clubs. Have meetings and cookies and everything."

"It's a date. I'm pretty good at making cookies," Will said, with a wry smile.

He gestured at Tereza's bracelet. "New fashion accessory, courtesy of our Lady of the Ones and Zeroes?"

"Aye. Turns out biting one of your girlfriends is a bad thing. Who knew?" She's obviously not serious.

"Sounds like that's the sort of thing you need enthusiastic consent for," Will chortled.

"I've got some of my own," he added, gesturing to his glowing green lines. "ASHLIE may not know much about rebuilding a person, but she knows how to rebuild a computer. Skillsets and all."

"I think it looks pretty cool myself."

"Well, thank you for that.

Maybe I'll go by some kind of cyberpunky name in a week or so," he sighed. "Just...lean into it."

"In a week or so?"

"Yeah.

ASHLIE is making me fight the other Will for the rights to my name," he sighed. "In public and everything.

And I don't stand a ghost of a chance."

"That seems unfair," Tereza says with a slight frown. "Even though I would think the two of you were evenly matched."

"Oh my, no. No no no. I'm the weak one.

When Miriam...when she ripped us apart, she kept all the bits she liked for herself. A lot of strength and independence, there. I'm...sort of what was left over, I guess.

Not that, uh, not that I'm mad! I'm, you know. I can be useful. I think I try to be the best me I can be. But...he just has more....more power. He can shift me, if he grabs on. Control my clay. I don't think I can do that to him. One good blow from him, and I'm soup."

"So what are you going to do? I mean, other you is kind of an asshole by all accounts. I'd hate to see him win."

"I have no idea, Tereza. I don't even know the rules ASHLIE has in mind for this sort of thing -- and you know she's got all kinds of specific rules. She's a computer; that's what she does.

Lose gracefully, I guess?"

"Well, she does tend to be a stickler for the letter of the law in some cases, but she was within her rights to send me back to Muir and she didn't, so there's got to be some flexibility there."

"She DID say that she delayed the fight for a week to give us time to prepare..." Will mused, leaning up against the vacant storefront. "I don't know what she meant by that, though.

Maybe it's not as straightforward as it seems?"

"Maybe she has a slightly unusual definition of fight." She sips at her slushie, "Although that wouldn't be what I would have expected of her."

"You think it's some kind of metaphorical fight? Like, we're going to get in there and Ace Attorney it up? I don't know; the other me seemed really eager to punch. He stormed in and was going to do it right then and there before ASHLIE gave us a week."

"Did she not tell you to do anything other than just to prepare?"

"Yeah, nothing else other than that. I'm not sure how you prepare for getting your face stomped in in front of your friends. Pregame on aspirin?"

"Well, let's think about this. Did she say it had to be one-on-one? Because I know of at least three people who'd fight with you."

"She didn't say anything...

...you're saying we should gang up on him? Like...like, you'd put yourself in danger for me?"

"I would. And I'm sure Sam and Vivienne would too."

"I mean, that's...

...I couldn't ask you guys to do that. You could get hurt! Or worse! I don't want to see you guys laid up in the med bay over me..." Will frowned. "I'm not worth that."

"The three of us would disagree there. You're a friend and you're pack. You're part of our strange family in some way. It's the least we could do. I know we haven't done the best job of taking care of you but... you know what? I don't want to make excuses for that. We're sorry."

"Somewhere in the rear of the pack, for sure. A back-pack, maybe," Will said, with a tiny chortle.

"No, it's alright. I know I haven't been the...easiest to get along with recently, and I guess now we kinda know why."

"You certainly seem to be feeling more yourself now."

"Acceptance comes after depression, right? I think that's the model.

That's why it's..." he paused.

"I need to win this. My name is the last thing I have left from back home. It's my last connection. I can't..." he paused again.

"I need your help."

"Whatever you need, Will. I'm there for you and I'm sure Sam and Vivienne will be too."

"Even four-on-one, though...I mean, he'd be a challenge. And that's if ASHLIE allows it. You know how slippery I can be, and he's, you know. Better."

"Is he, though? And I'm sure we can find some more people, lean the odds more in our favor."

"I mean, I thank you for your confidence but...yeah.

Sam might be able to vouch for this -- on the mission? Where I was bait? He was kicking ass and taking names. He's stronger, more...more focused, more determined. He..."

Will paused.

"I was an X-Man. I led the X-Men. And I shied away from the suit when ASHLIE showed it to me. I think that means that...he's got all of that. There's a drive and a determination there, and a confidence that....that I don't have. And confidence and determination go a ~long~ way.

Oh, and he can force me to shift. That's...that's a problem."

"How does he manage that? I mean, maybe it's something Sam could guard you against. Some sort of innate connection?"

"Let's see, how to put this in a way you'd get it...

...He's the alpha, and I'm the omega? He's the BMOC.

We're both just clay, and it's the SAME clay. It's his just as much as it is mine, and if he has a hold of it -- if he's touching it -- he can control it as it it were his own. I mean, in theory, I might be able to do the same to him, but...he's stronger. Alpha.


It's not an issue if he never touches me, but that's difficult in a fight. There are also ways to make me be less able to shift -- see Roland and his money-making plans -- but that also is not going to leave me very able to do, uh, anything."

"There's got to be something we can do about that, but I'm not up much on the telepathy/brain stuff." She sips thoughtfully at her slushie, "Though that's probably something I should learn more about. So, he got the force of... well, will, no pun intended, when Miriam tore you in two. What did you get? Maybe there's something there we can use."

"I make a fine couch," Will deadpanned. "Maybe we can make him so comfortable, he gives up."

"No, no, uh...you said yourself, he seems like more of a jerk. I guess I'm the...nice one? Maybe I think about other people's feelings more? Worry about what other people need and try to fix problems?"

"None of that's bad. Some of it's actually really good. Just need to figure out how it can play to our strengths."