Team Kraken: Debriefing, Part One

"So," asked Mr. Saint-Vincent, "How did it go?"

Kimberly Lynn Evely looked from him to Ms. Salvatore, then glanced at the students seated behind her. "I'd like my team to offer their impressions first, if you don't mind." 

"Very well," said Saint-Vincent. "Armor?"

Ally Colvin looked up from her design pad. "Yes?"

"Your impressions of your new teammate please, Armor." Saint-Vincent sounded dryly amused. 

"Oh. Um. I like her."

Saint-Vincent waited, but Ally just looked curiously at him. "Very well. Nightfall?"

Cat Montoya tilted her head slightly, studying the headmaster as he studied her. "Maria's solid," she said. "She kept up, she helped out, she worked with us."

The headmaster smiled slightly at that, then turned to Gaunt. 

"Nightfall's right," he said immediately. "We haven't seen her powers in action yet, but she worked well with us -- and on the first time out, at that."

Saint-Vincent turned back to Kim. "You have a different opinion?"

Kim hesitated. "Not exactly. Maria should definitely be part of Team Kraken. That said... I'd like you to pay attention over the next several practices, and consider the possibility that she should be team leader instead of me."

"Kim," said Gaunt, but she shook her head. 

"I'm doing my best, and I appreciate that you all support me in that. But--" She looked at Ms. Salvatore. "--and correct me if I'm wrong -- I think I only really have the position because I've studied Anomalous powers, and nobody else wanted it."

Ms. Salvatore frowned, slightly. "Don't sell yourself short, Miss Evely."

Kim shook her head. "I'm not. I think I'm doing a decent job. But Maria suggested today's strategy, and it got us through successfully. I might have come up with the same approach, but she saw it while I was still trying to think about what would work best. That's why I'd like you to monitor the next few practices: so you can see if that's a pattern. If it is, I'm perfectly fine with turning the team over to her and staying on as a blaster and a subject-matter expert." She glanced back at the others. "And I'd like the rest of you to be thinking about it, too. If you'd rather have me, I'll stay on. But I promise you I am not going to be hurt if it turns out that Cloudburst can do a better job."