Author's Note: Yay! Looks like you made it to the second chapter. I don't really like the writing in this chapter and the next one, but that might be because I was in a bad mood when I was typing them up. Oh, well. Again, I hope that you enjoy it. (And sorry about my character…She's kind of derpy.)
Emma gave a restrained sigh and sat down in the stool Bobby was in before. "I can see we have a lot to work with." She murmured rubbing her hands together. The blonde closed her eyes in concentration. "Try to think of something peaceful." She instructed, placing a pale hand on either side of the young girl's head, her manicured nails just brushing against the skin at the girl's temples. "Close your eyes."
The tone of Emma's voice was confident and soothing; and the girl did exactly as she was told. However, all of Emma's confidence ebbed away once she breeched the girl's mind. It was completely black and barren. Emma knew from experience that the only way that this could have happened was if an extremely powerful telepath wiped out every thought, every precious memory, which ever existed in a person's mind.
Slightly perturbed, but still hopeful, Emma began to move through the girl's mind. Still there was nothing but empty blackness.
Suddenly, Emma felt a force knock into her. She let out a scream as she was thrown from the girl's mind. Her back hit the wall at the other end of the large room.
Three men, whom the girl had never seen before, the boy – Bobby – from earlier, and another girl, one that the raven-haired girl surmised was about the same age as Bobby, suddenly burst into the room.
"What is it Emma?" One of the men – the one in the strange red goggles – asked. The girl couldn't help but catch the note of restrained worry in his tone inflection.
"I was…" Emma paused to catch her breath. "Thrown out…" Another pause, another deep breathe. "Of her mind…"
The girl watched everyone's heads turn from Emma on one end of the room to her on the other. As the object of their collective attentions, the girl was confused.
The strange group at the door turned to each other and muttered two words at the exact same time. "Danger Room."
~x~
"This," Bobby explained, "Is the Danger Room." He swung his arms out to his sides to demonstrate just how voluminous the room was. The girl's eyes wandered around the room, inspecting the grey metal of the walls before they wound up back at Bobby's face.
"Umm…" The girl paused, staring at Bobby with curiosity. "Why are you blue?
Bobby frowned. He wasn't in the mood to explain. And after all, wasn't the answer obvious- his train of thought stopped as he remembered that the girl in front of him didn't even know her own name. 'Give her the cliff-notes version.' He thought.
"You know how the woman you met earlier could read minds?" Bobby asked.
"Emma." The girl nodded.
"Well, I can manipulate ice." The blond paused to see if the girl was still following. She nodded in understanding. "People with powers like us are called mutants."
"Am I a mutant?" The girl asked.
"That's what we're trying to find out." Bobby smiled.
"If I am, do I get to wear a cool outfit like you?" She looked down at her infirmary cloak, shifting her balance in embarrassment.
"Yep!" Bobby replied, giving the girl a confirmatory nod.
The girl smiled back, her embarrassment loosening slightly. "So…" She paused. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm going to throw this snowball at you, and you're going to try to defend yourself." He answered simply, indicating to the snowball in his hand. The girl nodded, watching as Bobby tossed the snowball between his hands. She threw her arms in front of her face as soon as she saw the snowball leave Bobby's hands. Unfortunately, this did little to help and the snowball sailed straight through the gap in her arms. The girl blinked in surprise for a few moments before the shock wore off.
"It's…cold." She stammered, touching the melting ice falling down her face. Bobby smacked himself in the forehead at the girl's response.
'She really has lost everything.' Beast thought to himself as he watched the scene from the control room. "Try again." He said, speaking into the Danger Room's microphone.
The blond nodded and turned to look at the girl, who was trying vainly to search the room for the owner of the voice. Upon giving up, she turned back to Bobby and jumped when she realized what was lying in his hand.
"Are you ready?" He asked, throwing the snowball up and down in his hand. The small girl nodded, scared. Bobby threw the snowball once more, but this time, he didn't hear the same yelp of surprise that accompanied the first time it hit her.
Instead, it was stopped by a large force field. Swirling shades of purple filled the Danger Room.
"Well," Beast murmured from the control room, turning to look at Logan, who was standing behind him. "That was a bit excessive, don't you think?" The Canadian nodded absent-mindedly, his fingers strumming the table as he thought.
Watching the girl's look of happy surprise from behind Beast, Scott turned to the woman next to him. "Emma, what were you able to get from her before you were thrown out?"
"Nothing." Emma replied. "It's impossible to get anything from a mind that's been wiped clean by a telepath. This girl here also had the misfortune of having hers erased by an extremely powerful and experienced one."
"Anything?" Scott pressed.
"Well…" Emma's brows furrowed. "Just before I was thrown out, I caught a glimpse of glowing red eyes. And, yes, before you say anything else, Summers, that was literally it."
"Well." Kitty murmured in annoyance. "That narrows it down to everyone."
"'Wonder what was so valuable in her mind that they had to erase all of it." Logan said, his voice almost a growl.
Beast fixed him with a sympathetic frown. He wasn't a telepath, but he had known Logan long enough to realize when his mind was on his past.
Logan couldn't see the look Beast had directed at him – he was too busy watching the girl in the room below giggle as she cast small forcefields between her hands.
"Psionic energy manipulation." Beast stated, as if it were the most apparent thing in the world. Logan gave him a strange look. "She's able to compress and manipulate psychic energies. It would explain the telepathy she may have displayed earlier."
"I'll try to work with her some more." Emma said, standing up.
"I'll come with you." Scott said, following Emma from the room.
"Logan?" Beast asked. His friend shook his head and turned to him. "Want to help me check missing person's reports? See if we could find the girl?" Logan nodded and left the control room with Beast close behind.
Kitty watched her team mates go, sighing at the feeling of being left behind by the 'adults' once again. She turned back to watching the girl through the glass windows of the control room observatory.
"I guess that means I'm making lunch." Forge smiled.
Kitty spun around, locking eyes with the man behind her. He shrugged in an attempt to play off his excitement at the prospect of working with the kitchen's machinery – it was the only set of equipment left in the mansion he hadn't tinkered with. The brunette rolled her eyes. "I'll make sure you don't blow anything up."