Diane was extremely bouncy during classes the next day. She was really hyped, and worried that no one would want to be in a class with a teacher hardly older than them. Marie personally thought she had no reason to fret over it, she knew at least, that all her friends were coming.

Unfortunately the whole thing was called off.

The X-men got a huge distress call from a mutant girl. She was only 9, but for some reason, her power had gone off way before most others did. The professor usually sent one the qualified X-men, but he said Bruce and Diane happened to be nearby, though they were just as near as anyone else in the mansion. And Diane had the sneaking suspicion that he had called them on purpose. He was making them the people under Alex in the role of command in the team.

They ran, Diane sliding on her power which was slick with rain, down the two blocks to where the girl was.

Down the lane and into Westchester. Mostly high-class houses.

The girl was running down the street, tears streaming down her cheeks, mingling with the rain. She was tiny, she was covered in mud, and there were tiny wings sprouting out of her back. She had a mop of curly red, wine colored curls, untidy on her head, sopping wet and an almost rust color from the rain. Her eyes were bright purple, swimming with tears and rain, smooth cheeks streaked with salt and fresh water. There was a dog, a cat, and a gliding robin following her. She seemed to be trying to get away from the animals. She ran and hid, shivering, behind Diane's legs. Diane picked up the dripping cat, wondering what on earth could back the tiny black fuzztail act so unlike it's usual cat-self. Cats -hated- water. She got a good look at the thing's eyes. They were clouded, like Storm's eyes went when she called up a storm. So was the dog's. Bruce had the robin in his fist. That was the other thing. These animals should have run when they saw her and Bruce. But they didn't.

Diane stared at the girl. Her wings were growing slowly. They were now almost as big as bird's wings, where they'd been much smaller when the girl had run into them. She toppled over, her wings sprawled in the mud, still growing. The cat yowled, as though suddenly realizing it was wet. Diane held onto it though. The dog ran and Bruce let go of the bird. Diane handed the kitten, who had stopped fighting, and was trying to stay warm, to Bruce, and carefully kneeled near the little child. Her wings were now as big as a small falcon's, and the same banded color.

Diane had never had a reason to act a mother, nor ever had one to be a role model, but suddenly a pang of something hit her stomach, and she'd instantly adopted the little girl. She picked her up, noting that she weighed absolutely nothing. Her wings, bigger still, flopped limply.

Marie gasped when Diane came in from the rain, looking grim, a tiny girl in her arms. She was dripping with mud and rain, and Bruce came after her, looking equally wet, as though they had just gone swimming. He carried an unhappy looking cat that looked like a drowned rat.

The whole power class had been waiting for them. Alex was blinking at Diane with a strange look on his face. She was cradling the little girl as if she was her daughter, and she looked truly distressed, something he'd never seen Diane look like.

Diane gently shifted her girl to accommodate her growing wings, which, in relation to the girl's body, were about as big as a swan's, growing up past her ears, and the long feathers at the bottom touching her waist. One of them flopped over Diane's arm, and the other was folded tightly under the little girl's small body.

They were beautiful wings. They were a light tan color, banded with dark stripes, like a falcon's, and there were speckles on the one's nearest to her body.

"Somebody." Diane gasped. She'd run, literally leaving Bruce for lost in the rain, back to the mansion, and literally had no breath left to talk. "Get.help." Rogue gently pried the little dripping girl away from Diane, exclaiming over how little she weighed. Diane drooped with relief. Bruce handed her the little black kitten wrapped in a towel, who was purring contentedly now that she was warm. She knew a sucker when she saw one. Her eyes were a honey gold, and they were turned up at Diane with complete trust. She'd adopted more than one charge that day, it seemed. She sighed, having gotten most of her breath back.

"What am I going to name you? Tell me that, huh?" She asked the purring bundle, who simply rumbled louder at the question.

"Name her Bottlebrush." Alex said softly. She hadn't noticed him come up behind her. She smiled.

"Good name, Alex." She said, tapping the cat on both shoulders and on the top of her head. "I dub you Bottlebrush." The kitten let out a little mew of happiness, and transferred her attention to Alex in a little leap and couple loud yelps from Alex as she clung with her claws.

"You little monster." He said, imitating anger as he gently unhooked her from his shirt. "Awwwww." She butted her head on his chin. Diane suddenly realized that everyone else, including Bruce had gone off with the girl. She looked around, then sped off to the medlab, Alex moving behind her as fast as he could with the little bundle of fur.

In the medlab the girl was laid out on one of the beds. Rogue had carefully washed the girl. Her hair was still wet and her feathers stuck together, but she was clean. Her wings had stopped glowing at about the relative size of an eagles wings, in relation to her tiny body.

The professor had come downstairs. He was carefully spreading one of her wings so he could look at the frame.

"I think," He said, to Cyclops and Jean, who were in the lab, "That she had a bone structure like Warren's, which is why she doesn't weigh much. But she has another power as well as her wings. She can control animals." That would explain the cat, dog, and bird.

Diane shoved her way over to the bed as the girl stirred. Her eyes met the violet one's of the little girl. Like the kitten's eyes, there was complete trust in her gaze. "What's your name?" She asked gently, not noticing, that again, everyone had left, except Bruce.

The girl stared at her for another moment with her bright purple eyes. "Corinna." She said finally in a tiny voice.

"My name is Diane. This is Bruce."

"You saved me." The girl said, nodding slightly, and sitting up with no apparent trouble.

"The animals wouldn't have hurt you, you know." She held up the kitten that had been curled in her arms. "This is Bottlebrush. She's quite harmless." Diane didn't quite know how to explain to the little girl that she would soon be hated everywhere, for no apparent reason. The girl giggled, and Diane set the kitten on the bed. Bottlebrush curled up in Corinna's lap.

"I'll call her BB." Corinna declared in her piping voice. She stood up, staggered backwards, then caught a glimpse of her wings. Her innocent little purple eyes went wide with surprise. "What happened?" She wailed.

"You're." Bruce was finally talking. He was just a gentle with the little girl as Diane was. "You're a little different from a lot of people now, girlie. You have a special power, to speak to animals, and someday, when your wings are big enough, you'll be able to fly."

The girls lip trembled slightly. Bruce had meant the information on her power to be comforting, but it was anything but it.

"You mean I'm a -mutant-?" She asked, anguished. Diane blinked, then remembered that the girl was nine years old. Her high-pitched voice, and babyish ways made her seem years younger. Of course she would know about mutants. It was a worldwide 'problem'.

"Look hun," Diane said, taking over. "We're all mutants here. We'll take care of you, teach you how to use your power to help people." The little girl's mood changed quickly.

"Like a superhero? Wow!" She skipped across the room, and then, much to Diane's surprise, hugged her around the waist. Her heart melted like butter in the sun. "I used to play with the boys when they played super- heroes. The girls always made fun of me, but they wouldn't now! Wow! Are -you- guys superheroes?" Diane and Bruce glanced at each other and smiled.

"Not quite." They said at the same time. "But," Diane continued, "The lady with the red hair and the man with the sun glasses are."

"Wow!"

"In fact, since I'm just about to faint, Bruce can go take you to meet them and the other members of the team." Diane scooped the kitten off Corinna, and walked carefully back to her room, collapsing onto her bed without taking her clothes off, or even pulling the covers back. BB settled on her stomach, curled up, and fell asleep as well.