The X-Project

Let me be perfectly blunt.

Post-crisis, I expect arguing. I expect confrontations, heated debates over whatever's happened, all sorts of potentially questionable behavior. It's a perfectly natural, perfectly human response. Hence why I no longer make the old 'shut the hell up, all of you, or I'll unplug the journal system' threat - because it finally sank in that insisting people suppress those reactions (which many of them will do if the journals are not an option, because it's much harder to have these arguments in person) is unreasonable on my part, and fundamentally unhealthy all around.

That said, I expect certain things from you. The collective, leather-clad you, whatever color of leather you happen to be wearing.

I do not expect you to suppress your reactions. I merely expect you to demonstrate good judgement as to when and where to give voice to those reactions.

The journals are good for venting. For the resolution of serious issues, they are worthless. If you have one of these issues with a fellow team member, you email or come to me or one of the other COs, or Professor Xavier. If it's something you believe you can handle one-on-one with the person you're having an issue with, you go straight to them. Do it face to face, do it computer to computer, I don't care.

But you do not attack your teammates in public. We are not a military unit, not exactly, but we share certain characteristics with one. There is a structure of authority, a necessary level of respect, and an implicit bond of trust that has to be maintained if we are to function effectively.

And you are held to higher standards of behavior the minute you put on leathers of any color. It's about time we all reminded ourselves of that.

This is what you signed up for.

We may be using it tonight. Not an emergency, but Forge is working on something that he thinks might help us detect Lorna, so we're going to go up and give it a try.

The command staff and Intel have been aware of this for approximately a week. Because of today's events, it's time the rest of you were, as well.

Some of you know that Lorna did not in fact join Alex in Hawaii, as planned. What she told him was that she was staying behind to help with a family semi-emergency. Alex found out this week that she's been telling her parents that she was indeed in Hawaii with him, and that she never was at her cousin's.

Remy, Betsy and Jake have been doing what they can to find her. We got something of a break today, but not of the good kind. A few hours ago, Manuel was in town and came across a pair of young people who seemed to him to have been mindwiped. What actually happened to them, Charles has determined, was that EM fields were used to fry their frontal lobes.

We spoke to a few people in the area, and an elderly woman living in a nearby retirement home gave me a partial description of a woman with either a green hat or green hair whom she saw speaking to two others just before the screaming started.

It's not conclusive, but it doesn't look good. I'm going to make an announcement to the student body in general. Whatever's going on, I'm not sure I believe that Kitty encountered her by chance while she and Jamie were on vacation. I think we need to tell the kids to be alert.