Issue 1 Downtime

Professor Sackville, for once, was early for XI's history class, looking quite nervous, but otherwise resigned to his fate.

Brigid sat down, and gave the professor a sheepish wave.

Kay sits down next to her, still wondering if they're going to be yelled at finally.

"You don't suppose you are the only two who are going to show up, do you?" he half-grinned.

"Nope," Haley smirked as she bounced into class and took her seat. "I predict perfect attendance today."

"First time for everything, I suppose."

Steve entered and took a seat with a yawn.

Theresa shuffled in as well, settling down in her usual spot.

Regan drifted through the wall, hovering above her desk lazily.

Aisha came in and took her seat.

"Right, then.

After, erm, last week's...incident, I understand that there have been a number of...rumors flying around about me and my activities.

That, and I got torn a proverbial new asshole by the headmistress about being secretive.

So, I thought we'd put away the textbooks for today, as I tried to clear...erm...tried to make things a little less...opaque.

Erm.....sorry, I'm not very good at this."

He was clearly uncomfortable, and loosened his tie.

"If you're going to start stripping, I'm leaving," Regan says.

"I've heard differently," Roland shot back.

Haley stifled laughter.

"What was in the crate?" Kay gathers her courage and blurts out the question most prominently on her mind.

"The contents of the crate were...varied. But I brought one of them up here for you to look at.

This is a canopic jar. Can anyone tell me what one of these are?"

"Those things the guys in pyramids used...uh. Its got those things they used To write and stuff on it. And like. That thing...it holds their guts after they were mummies?"

"...I'm going to call that close enough.

This particular one is in the shape of Imseti, the god of the South, and contains what is, by now, only the remains of what once was a liver. It is part of a complete set, the rest of which were also among the items in the box, and very, very illegal to import into England, as I believe they consider it looting."

"....why do you want dead people parts? Just part of that collection of stuff you keep under the m....er...nothing," she quickly sank in her chair.

"Collection?" Steve asked.

"Yes, it had come to my attention that several of you have found my office underneath the maze, and that my skills in electrical wiring were not quite up to the level I thought they were."

"You have a secret office?" That is so awesome...

"I knew I should've been wandering around underground."

"And the ancient organs?"

"I'm guessing he bathes in them to stay young."

"You're closer than you might think, Regan.

The organs, and the mummy, belong to my wife."

"Ewww," Regan says, "That's awesome."

"The...but that was like five hundred years ago..."

"He's obviously an Egyptian Dracula."

"Five hun..." Roland blinked. "...when do you think the Pyramids were a thing?"

"...how old are you, really?"

"I think I lost count, somewhere in there. I'm a bit over 3,000 years old, believe it or not.

And, uh, you SHOULD believe it. Because it's, um, true. And whatnot."

"The dracula theory is looking better and better."

"What? Wow..." Kay mumbles.

"Yeah, so... uh... all that stuff under the mansion... that wasn't stolen from museums then?"

"None of it was stolen!


...None of it was stolen recently."

Cal, actually, looked disappointed by this.

"So...your mutant power is just being old?"

"And the power of swords," Regan says, "He's a Highlander."

"Whoa, I think you're right!"