Rachel wandered the library while she waited for her laundry to finish. Kitty had left two days ago to make arrangements for her things to be moved from Chicago. The students had been helping Nightcrawler clean up the house in the meantime. In her mind's eye she watched psychic energies flicker across the spines of books and nestle in chairs. These were places people spent a lot of time, or had a particular attachment to.
She was brought back to earth by a voice. "What are you doing in her Rachel?" It was Cecily, a basket of socks in her reflective arms.
"I'm following the energy trails. Everywhere in this mansion is ringing with mental echoes, remnants of memories. Stuff left behind by the people who lived here years ago. Some are from my parents."
"What does their energy... look like? I heard you talking about it before, like colors."
She saw the colors everywhere she went. The trip from the airport through New York had been feverishly bright. So many minds projecting so much.
The two walked into the laundry room so Rachel could start loading the dryer. "I don't know. My powers manifested after they left, so I've never seen theirs. But they must be here, if I look hard enough. I imagine my dad's is like my uncle's - sturdy, but not showy. And my mother's, well it must be like my own."
Laura came down with her towels now. Evidently she had heard some of the conversation. "What about me. What does my energy look like?"
The younger girl squinted. "There's a light, like a heat, but also a darkness. There's a depth to it I don't see in a lot of people. But I don't have to see your thoughts to know you're carrying a heavy burden. You think about him often don't you?"
"Mm. Especially since Kitty and I went at it. That woman thinks she knows my father more than I do. She's-"
"Coming up the driveway now," Rachel interrupted.
"That's never not going to be weird."
The three went about their business for a few minutes, and then the headmistress's head poked in the doorway. "Um, I'm back! Anyone seen Mr. Wagner?"
"Oh, he's out back with Christopher and Hisako raking up the baseball field," Cecily offered. Laura didn't look up from her machine.
Kitty passed the two teens on their way in for a water break as she crossed the back yard. A rough path had been mowed in the lawn down to the baseball diamond. Kurt was there leaning on a rake, taking in the work.
"It looks good!" She called. He turned and grinned.
"Welcome back Katzchen! I thought it might be nice to get this back in working order. It's only the most important part of the school!"
"I think we're a few mutants short of a little league team, but yes, it would be strange without the old field, eh?"
"I don't know," and with a few puffs he flurried across the field and back. "What if I just played all the outfield positions?"
"I think," she paused. "That there's one more part of the school we need to show the students."
"Oh," he ported back to her. "You're quite right. And one particular part I've been patiently waiting to see as well."
Kitty laughed. "Then we had better get down there. You get Chris and Hisako, I'll grab Cecily and the other girls from the laundry."
"That's a good idea," Kurt said, looking a little glum. "I don't think Cecily likes me."
Kitty stopped where she was walking. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, despite my charming demeanor my appearance has never made a good first impression. She's afraid of me."
"I think she's scared of what's happening to herself. Let me talk to her. She'll warm up to you."
"You think so?"
"Definitely. For once, I know exactly what to say."
About ten minutes later everyone piked into the elevator behind the professor's office. Lockheed was perched on Kitty's shoulder. Kurt ran his thumb across the glass underneath the button panel and illuminated a hidden line, 'Sub Basement 2.'
"So. Has everyone spoken to their parents or guardians?"
"Everyone except me," Cecily said shyly as a wave of nods went around the small room.
"It might be better if one of us talks to them in person. In fact, I'd like to meet all of them eventually, maybe after we get this place cleaned up."
"Uh, we're still going down," Chris observed. "Shouldn't we have gotten to the basement by now?"
"We're not going to the basement Christopher," Nightcrawler explained. "We're going under the basement"
"Specifically, Sublevel 2," Kitty added. Sublevel 1 is mainly access tunnels for maintenance and computer servers. You didn't think a superhero team kept all their stuff in a big old house, did you?"
"Weren't you younger than us when you went to school here? How do you know so much?" Hisako asked.
"I met the X-Men under unusual circumstances. Not something I'd recommend. Plus I've always had a thing for tech. So Doctor McCoy showed me around. He knew how all of this stuff worked, which is why I hope it still does work, or we'll have an issue."
After what felt like a long while the elevator stopped, and all four doors opened out to a circular room. Unlike the mansion above, this whole floor was very clean and metallic. Florescent lights nestled in the corners of the ceilings bathed the halls with a bright, sterile light. Chris thought that the place looked like the inside of a spaceship.
"Welcome to X-Men headquarters," Kitty announced. The teens looked around in awe as they exited the elevator; Kitty didn't feel much different. For years she had wished she could see these corridors again. "Upstairs is where you'll live and play. But down here is where we'll do most of our work. Mastering your mutant abilities will help you cope once you've left the school."
"But first, who wants a tour?" Nightcrawler jumped in. "I was planning on starting with the hangar."
"You have a plane?" Hisako asked, perking up.
"Oh boy do we! It's here in the eastern hall."
Rachel looked towards a corridor leading off to the northwest. "I don't feel anything down that way. Where does it lead?"
"That's Cerebro. It's what the professor used to locate mutants across the globe. Actually, as our new psychic you ought to go see it. Kurt, take the others to see the Blackbird. I'll take Rachel for a sec."
The hall was long. At the end Rachel could see only a dark sphere, no colors, no light. Kitty stopped at a round door. "Professor? It's me, Kitty. I brought Jean's girl."
The kachunk of a series of locks deactivating could be heard, and the door slid open. "Voice activation?" Rachel turned to Kitty.
"I'm not sure. He said he had made arrangements."
The room was a massive sphere. A narrow catwalk, scarcely wide enough for the two of them to cross, lead out to the center where a small console sat.
Rachel was surprised to feel a ton of latent psychic energy. "Amazing," she realized. "The whole room is impermeable to thought. What's it made of?"
"Don't know. It might not even come from Earth. It helped him focus."
"I can feel his energy all over the room. And another. Did... did my mom come in here?"
"I suppose she could have. She had telepathic abilities as well."
Rachel felt a small thrill. This had to be what she was looking for: the connection to her mother she had craved for years. She tried to concentrate on the second energy, but something felt off.
"Would you like to try it out?" Kitty picked up a peculiar headset from the console and offered it to the girl. "Your control of Cerebro will be a good metric as to your control of your telepathy."
Rachel decided to table the issue for now and placed the headset on her head. A low hum filled the sphere as the lights dimmed. Then all at once the room exploded in color. They formed the shapes of continents, but backwards, as if the glove had been turned inside out so you could stand inside of it.
"So much," she breathed. So many minds. So many thoughts!"
"Is this what you see all the time?" Kitty breathed.
"Sort of. If I focus on someone for even a few seconds I stop seeing them and start seeing their brainwaves. Ever since I turned thirteen."
"The professor could supposedly find any person on Earth with Cerebro - or was more often the case, any mutant. That's how he found me as a child, and I imagine that's he found all of you as well. The mind of a freshly awakened mutant shines like a star in Cerebro."
"So if I learn to control it, I could see them too?"
"I think that's the idea. C'mon. Let's go join the others."