Legacy and Devastation

Wherein the team teams up with some young reality deviants to destroy a perfectly good Technocratic facility, using some powerful magical artifacts.

"For the record, I think you would make a great principal."

Stefanie scoffed. "Wear a suit, work in an office, and handle angry parents? Not my thing."

"I don't mean a **good** principal - boring, uncaring, only interested in their reputation - I mean a **great** principal. The cool aunt every student wishes they had." Franklin grabbed the last slice of pizza, then continued while chewing: "Pwuf dwn't changewingf haf no pwarenf?"

She sighed while yanking what remained of the slice out of his mouth. "Sounds like I'd make a better principal than you, anyway - good thing you outsourced that." She proceeded to eat it while easily fending off Franklin's attempts to steal it back. After she was finished, she leaned back. "So what brought you to start a school, anyway?"

"Well, you know how I sorta-kinda killed my dad a while back, right?"

Her mind flashed back to Franklin pacing for over an hour while angrily yelling things like *"Who the hell even drinks groundwater, let alone radioactive groundwater?"* and *"At least check it yourself if you don't believe the government! Tinfoil hats sell geiger counters too, you know?"*. "A-yup. And then he left you his farm for some reason."

"Yep, so that got me thinking. Jane and Tailor both had mini-journeys of self-discovery recently - Jane discovered she'd been evil in a past life or something, not entirely sure of the details, and so instead of being evil in her current one, she's a recovering evil-a-holic; and Tailor had an epiphany about how keeping secrets from those closest to you is a recipe for disaster - while my dad's legacy is being that idiot that died from drinking water he refused to believe was radioactive. But what's my legacy? Making weaponry for the Technocracy? Working with-slash-for the SPD, like Angel in season 5? Having more 'deviants' " - he made dramatic air quotes while saying the word 'deviants' - " in my phone contacts than most undercover agents? Accidentally taking out 45?"

"Sure, 'accidentally'," she said, making more subtle air quotes. "So you're concerned about your legacy, but how did you get from there to starting a school in Ireland of all places?"

"Well, we went on a mission. I'm a bit fuzzy on some of the details, so there were probably some things they wiped from my memory so I wouldn't tell you, but we went to Ireland to take out a source of corruption, and since it was really big and a supernatural storm barrier prevented outside surveillance, we were allowed to bring bigger toys than normal - I got to bring the Sword of Light, even, although Tailor complained about how we had guns and guns are better than swords."

"Aren't they usually, though?"

"Usually, perhaps, but it's the Sword of *Light*, and I'm better with light than with guns. Anyway, when we got to the storm, we encountered what appeared to be 5 kids out on a school trip, except they went on about how **they** were going to be the ones to fight the evil in the fortress, and we realized they were a group of changelings. We decided to team up-"

"I'm guessing Nicole objected, though?" she interrupted.

"Yep. Anyway, our backup formed a perimeter while we went in with the Power Rangers. Their leader made me her squire after I gave them the Tungsten bracelets I still had from babysitting, so I joined her and two others to form Team Kick-In-The-Front-Door-Really-Loudly, while Tailor and Jane took the remaining two and formed Team Sneak-In-From-The-Side. They got spotted when an attempt to infiltrate the camera system backfired, though, so we had to kick in the front door even more loudly than planned. On the bright side, I got to do a He-Man impression, and Tailor didn't see it so she can't complain about it. I took a support role when we went in and made sure the Power Rangers didn't suffer any serious injuries while fighting the Fomori in-"

She snarled, standing up and partially transforming. "FOMORI?!"

He blinked. "Uh, sorry, forgot about that until just now. I guess there's a secondary effect preventing me from blurting out certain details out of the blue. Want me to get you a glass of water?"

She growled a bit more, then changed back and sat down again. "No, I'm fine - continue."

"Sure. So yeah, it turned out the place was basically an Amazon Warehouse for Banes - something Sakura helped set up, supposedly. The Power Rangers didn't realize the full scope at first, but after we regrouped and took down the local head honcho, we explained things to them, and destroyed all the Banes that were still stuck in objects. I guess the Red Ranger was impressed, because while we were partying at their freehold - well, Jane and I were partying, Tailor was scheming - she ended up knighting me."

"Franklin Salisbury," she chuckled, "boyfriend of a Bastet, champion of the queen of the Efteling, and knighted by a Changeling. Seems to me like you have plenty of legacy already."

"Hm. I suppose. Still, most of my efforts end up benefiting the Technocracy more than the world in general, and I think we both know that while I think the Technocracy is a more organized line of defense for Earth than the other factions, I wouldn't want them to be in charge of the place. So I thought hard about it, and ended up deciding that I want to help some of the other factions, too, to help maintain a form of balance."

"That... doesn't sound like something the Technocracy would approve of. Hell, they might mark you a traitor if they find out."

"Eh, I'm more concerned with what I actually leave behind than with what words will be written about me after I'm gone. 'Sides, as far as anyone else is concerned, it's just me doing something philantropic with my inheritance to spite my dad. I even named the place after him - Martin Salisbury's School For Exceptional Individuals has a nice ring to it, plus it'll piss off his ghost."

"I suppose that will work - unless anyone asks you about it directly. In case you forgot, you're not that good at lying."

"Eh, I'm pretty sure Levi installed a filter to prevent that from happening - he still needs me, after all. They'd have to get me talking about the place first - or find an excuse to bring me in for interrogation. I figure I just need Levi to shield me for his own self-interest's sake until Wrinkle takes me out, and then they'll never know."

She leaned her head against his. "That's a depressing way to look at things."

He smiled. "Perhaps. But I'm at peace with it."

She smiled too, ruefully. She wasn't, but arguing about it wouldn't accomplish anything.

Looking to change the subject, she asked: "And the trip to New Zealand to go stargazing? Is that also part of wanting to support non-Technocracy individuals?"

"In a way, I guess - the International Dark-Sky Association isn't a part of the Technocracy as far as I know. But no. I just like looking at the stars, and they're so much more beautiful out here."

"That they are."

They gazed up at the night sky, silent now.