Well, at least it was a nice place

Well, at least it was a nice place. Rob thought to himself as he ran down the sidewalk. He was quickly loosing speed. He stopped at a nice-looking hotel and walked in. The desk clerk looked at his suspiciously, as if expecting some girl to appear from behind him. He smirked at the clerk and walked up to the desk.

"May I help you?" the clerk asked.

"I'd like a room, please. Single, non-smoking." Rob told her.

"How long?" the clerk asked.

"I don't know, can I pay by the day?" Rob asked.

"Doesn't work that way. How long?" the clerk was getting annoyed.

"A week?" Rob said. He handed the clerk his credit card, the only one that his grandparents hadn't had revoked when they kicked him out. Amazingly, they still paid its bill. It was their way of telling him that he was still loved, just not wanted.

The clerk scanned the card. "Robert Lewis?" she said.

"That's me," he answered.

"Sign here please." Rob signed the sheet where she indicated. She handed him a list of rules and the keys to the room. "This'll get you into the free buffet in the mornings, but that's the only meal provided. All the rest costs extra," she told him. Rob smiled.

"Ok."

"Your room is 45, on the second floor. The elevator is over there. We clean the rooms between the hours of nine and four."

"Fine." Rob turned and went up to his room. He dumped his backpack onto the bed and turned on the TV, trying to figure out what had gone on that day.

"Professor, you should have seen him. He was about six feet and he was dark haired and he was fast, just like Quicksilver." Jean Grey told Professor X that afternoon after their encounter with Rob.

"How would he have gotten Quicksilver's powers? It's hard to believe that he's just fast. And he was wearing jeans and a jacket and gloves, in this heat!" Scott put in.

"Scott, it's not unheard of for mutants to have the same powers." The Professor told him, "but it is unusual."

"So now we're dealing with a new Quicksilver?" Jean asked.

"I don't know. What did you say he looked like again." Professor X asked.

"He was tall, around six feet. He had brown hair and pale eyes. The eyes were almost yellow." Jean said.

"That sounds an awful lot like Robert Lewis. I was contacted by his grandparents about a month ago after they heard about us. They were very upset, they kicked him out of their house a year ago, when they thought he was a danger to everybody around him," the Professor told them.

"What are his powers?" Scott asked.

"I'm not completely sure." The professor said. "He seems to change with the mutants around him. But your description of his dressing habits makes me think he might be like Rouge. Untouchable."

"Then we have to get to him before the Brotherhood does." Jean said.

"That won't be easy. He's somehow immune to Cerebro. He can't be detected." The Professor put in.

"Then check around the city. He's got to be here somewhere." Jean said.

"No, don't go anywhere. He'll come to us. We aren't going to push him." The Professor suddenly had a change of heart. "Scott, I want you to assemble everybody. It's time for a training simulation."

"Why don't you just call them?" Scott asked.

"Because I asked you to get them," the Professor told him, slightly annoyed.

"Ok." Jean said, sensing the Professor wanted them out. She led Scott out of the room and then put her hands to her head. Guys, suit up and meet us in the danger room. She called to everybody telepathically. She could hear them groaning, but they all stopped what they were doing and made their way to the room. The Professor followed from behind and let them all into the room. He put on a simulation similar to the ones they did every day, just dodging lasers, saws, and such and they got to work. They didn't know that the Professor wasn't paying attention at all. He was talking to Logan. Logan nodded at him.

"Rogue, Kitty and Kurt, I need you to go with Logan," they heard. Kitty phased through the wall and Kurt teleported out. Rogue looked at the rest of them and used the door that the Professor had helpfully opened.

"Lets go, Rogue, half-pint, blue boy." Logan said. They trooped out of the room.