There’s a moment, a split second, where Hank sees it coming. There’s a look in Bobby’s eyes, a fear that makes his gut turn. He steps forward, hand outstretched to stop Kitty but he doubts himself. Stupidly, he doubts himself, thinking maybe he’s projecting and if he stops Kitty now it’ll only cause more damage. But watching the ice sprawl out, covering him entirely, he knows he chose wrong. His heart stops, possibly when Bobby’s does, and he can only watch in horror as he crumbles to pieces.
It doesn’t feel real at first. Watching Bobby break into shards, some of which embed in her skin at their proximity, she thinks for a second this is a horrible joke. A terrible, cruel prank. Because it didn’t make sense, it didn’t occur to her that despite all they’d lost, that she could be the one to pull the trigger on one of her friends. But it hits her rather fast, as the sting of her cuts come to the forefront of her mind. The bullet clatters onto the table and onto the floor as she screams, stumbling back. She screams until she runs out of breath and then she screams some more, crashing into Hank’s chest as she tries to get away. In her fear she phases right through him and falls to the floor, her screams becoming deep sobs that shake her body.
Hank tries to catch her but she phases through him before he gets a solid grip on her and he’s grasping at air. Through his hands he can see the table, the ice covering the floor and he thinks he might be sick. What had he done? “Charles…” he says roughly, knowing the older man must have heard the commotion and have narrowed the source already. “Charles, come quick and keep any students out.”
As soon as it happens, the Professor cannot feel Bobby anymore. Kitty is screaming and Hank is already reaching out to him. Whatever it was, it happened so quickly and the Professor knew it couldn’t be good. “I’m on the way, tell me what happened when I get there. I need to find Scott.”
Scott was outside the door when he heard her, his heart sank immediately and he tried to shove his way through the door. Of course it was locked. He banged on the door, “Hank! Let me in!” That’s when he saw the Professor rounding the corner and he ran over, “What happened! I heard Kitty screaming, Professor!”
Bombarded by Scott, the Professor hates to do this because he can see the stream of tears just visible below Scott’s glasses. “Scott, find Kitty. She phased through the floor. I need to talk to Hank.” And before Scott can argue, the Professor moves past him in his chair and waits outside the door without knocking. Charles wants Scott to go away first, which eventually he does.
“Hank, he’s gone. What happened?”
