"I'm just sayin', we have no reason to trust these people, this Professor guy, for all we know he could be some psycho, with things the way they are, I just don't think it's a good idea." Logan said simply, taking another sip of his beer. Ororo was stood in front of him with one hand resting on her hip the other hanging loosely by her side holding the letter she had received from Professor Hortington, one of her eyebrows raised slightly.
"Firstly Logan you know I don't like it when you drink in the mansion, secondly with things the way they are we could use an ally. He says in the letter that he was a friend of Xavier's."
"Which is nice, but we sure as hell can't ask him can we, I mean I've never heard o' the guy, Xavier sure as hell never mentioned him, I just don't think we oughta trust him without checking things out first." He drained the rest of his beer, standing up to leave. "If you invite them, be sure we can handle it. I'll be in the danger room if you need me."
Ororo watched Logan leave and then sat down sighing, she hoped she was doing the right thing. Hank hadn't thought anything of the whole thing, saying it would be great to have some visitors from outside their rather small social circle, so she had already written back to Herbert Hortington inviting him and a few students of his to the mansion. Logan had raised doubts in her mind that made her slightly uneasy. She hadn't had a chance to consult him before she sent the letter, as he had been away on one of his man camping trips, where he would just drive until he found somewhere he liked and then set up camp for a few days to clear his mind, relax and getaway from mansion life. They could handle a few people, right??
**********
Professor Hortington looked over his little patch of vegetable garden, his pride and joy, reflecting over the response he had had from Xavier's successor Ororo Munroe. She sounded positively delightful from her response, not that he had expected anything less from a pupil of Xavier's. His carrots, he noted, were coming on remarkably well. At some point during his admiration of his turnips that there was a loud explosion from behind him. Sighing and turning around, he smelt the familiar thick smoke associated with so many of the accidents on his estate. What had happened now?
Kin wasn't sure exactly what had happened, she had run back in through the front door, heard a scream and then there was a loud bang which had thrown her a good fifteen feet backwards. As she stood up slowly, listening to her body and checking she was still in one piece, she vowed that whomever had been the cause of this would be on the receiving end of a great deal of pain. Stood in front of her, looking slightly windswept, and thoroughly horrified at what had just happened was a petite blonde girl. Kin racked her brains, what was the name of this one, Venice...New York...Amsterdam, that definitely wasn't it... which fucking city was it??
"Paris?" From behind Kin Professor Hortington entered the the now slightly smokey porch. "What happened?"
"I...I...She...." The blonde girl was tearing up. "She scared me and I couldn't help it. It just happened..." With that she dissolved into tears.
"Oh for fucks sake..." Kin growled under her breath. "Get out of my way." She pushed past the girl, angry that her peaceful morning had been destroyed before breakfast today. It pissed her off and the loud bang had reawakened the headache. Shutting the bathroom door behind her and locking it she switched on the shower and sat underneath it switching it to cold. She didn't care her clothes were getting soaked, anything to get rid of the ringing in her ears.
Paris was sixteen, but could easily be mistaken for a ten year old. She was unfortunate enough to have a mutation that she couldn't yet control. It could best be described as a defense mechanism, whereby she would emit a strong blast of invisible energy, resembling an explosion which would then be followed by thick smoke which acted as a cover so theoretically speaking Paris could runaway. Her nerves being somewhat frail it was now pretty much a daily occurrence and the more it happened the more worked up Paris became and the more likely she was to explode again. Professor Hortington spent half an hour comforting Paris before going off to find Kin. Her reaction he felt was unnecessary and certainly hadn't helped the situation, it was unlike Kin to be bothered or at least appear bothered by such a small thing. Under normal circumstances she tended to just ignore everything, showing no reaction whatsoever, no emotional response unless absolutely necessary. Each of the students he had rescued from the lab had their own method of coping and Kin's appeared to be simply refusing to interact emotionally with the world. Whether her recent anger was an improvement on this, professor Hortington wasn't sure, but either way it was time to raise the issue with her.