Ethics.

[summersspawn]

"To start off this time, I'd like to ask you about some of your favorite things."

"Ok."

"What's your favorite subject in school?"

"Um... does learning how to maintain the Blackbird count?"

Chuckle "You like the plane, do you?"

"Oh yeah. All my life, I've wanted to fly. It must be in the genes."

"But you can fly now, under your own power. I'd think that would be better than any plane."

"Oh, I love flying on my own. It's great. I've been trying to talk my Dad into letting me go out to the desert with a comm badge or a GPS unit, and just cutting loose. See how far and how fast I can go when I don't have to worry about scorching something when I take off. But I can't go any higher than I can breathe without a plane. Besides, they're beautiful. Planes, I mean."

"I understand. So, you're interested in space?"

"Yeah. I mean, I've seen it, right? On the Starjammer. But I want to go back. You know how my powers work, right? You've got that in your files?"

"I do, but you tell me."

"Ok. Well, I can see the EM spectrum, too, not just light. Radio waves, radiation, gamma... you glow a little, did you know that?"

"No, Sara, I did not know that."

"Just a little. Not enough so that you're radioactive, or anything, don't worry."

"Good to know."

"Yeah. The first time I started to be able to do that, I was visiting Grandpa Summers. It's beautiful up there, anyways, but the cosmic rays and the radio waves the stars put out, without any atmosphere to get in the way... all the colors, you can't imagine."

"It sounds spectacular."

"You could get lost in it."

"Do you want to get lost in it, Sara?"

"Sometimes, sure. But not forever. I've got things to do, and I'd miss my family and my friends. But I'd be sad if I never got to see that again."

"That's understandable. What about your favorite animal, Sara? Do you have any pets?"

"I had a cat at Grandma and Grandpa Grey's. It'd be hard to keep a pet at the Mansion, with all the people, and I think I'd need more space than just my room, you know?"

"Would you like to have a pet if you moved out of the Mansion?"

"I've never thought about living anywhere else."

"Why not?"

"I'm going to be an X-Man, where else would I live?"

"But what if you weren't? What would you want to do if you weren't an X-Man?"

"I don't know. Next question."

"It's something you need to think about, Sara. Having such firm goals at your age is admirable, but you need to be open and flexible to change, too."

"Next question, please?"

"All right. What's your favorite food?"

Long pause. "I don't know..."

"It's an easy question, Sara."

"Yeah."

Long pause.

"Have you been talking to my sister? Or Uncle Hank?"

"They're concerned about you, Sara. You haven't been eating since you returned."

"If you've talked to Uncle Hank then you know I can manage for a long time on radiation and vitamin pills."

"You can survive. But it isn't healthy for you."

"I'm doing fine."

"Is there some reason you're not eating?"

"Does doctor patient confidentiality count here? I mean, I am legally an adult now."

"Even if you weren't, I wouldn't discuss our conversations with anyone."

"Really?"

"Really. It would violate my professional ethics."

"You've already talked to Ray. And Uncle Hank. And, I'm sure, Dad."

"That's different, Sara. They can talk to me about their concerns, but I can't... wnad won't... repeat anything you say to me."

Long pause. "You know what he did to me, right? That's in those files, too."

"Yes. The mental conditioning, the physical alterations."

"He made me Famine."

"He sent you out to destroy the world's food supply... is that it? You feel guilt about that, and that by not eating you can somehow atone for the damage? Sara, what one person eats isn't enough..."

"No. That's not it."

"Then what?"

Long pause. "You said you'd read about how my powers work. I see radiation, and I absorb it, too. I need it as much as I need to eat, or breathe. I'd get really weak if I couldn't, but that's not a problem, because it's everywhere. I see it, and I can reach out and gobble it up. It makes me feel good when I do."

"Go on."

"He made me able to do that with living things, too. See the life force around them, and reach out, and..."

Long pause. Strained voice.

"And it felt just as good as sunlight. I don't want to see people like that. I don't want to see my friends and feel... hungry. And I really don't want them to know I see them that way."

"Sara, the people that love you would understand."

"Would they? Would you? I know it would freak me out to know someone was looking at me and seeing a big plate of onion rings."

"Are you afraid you're going to lose control and take energy from someone that way?"

"No! I could never... never... I'd rather die."

"Then..."

Sound of chair scraping.

"If it's ok, I'd like to go now. I want to be alone for a while."