((Author's Notes: Oxymoron decided that Cray deserved a spot with something bigger. You know. But I just don't want a total act of Mary-Sue-ism, on Cray's part. Of course, I'd want to pair her up with a guy, but it seems as if everyone pairs they're character up with Pietro…))

((Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution, and if I did, heaven knows that Xavier wouldn't exist, Jean Grey would be mangled and ugly, Kitty would be missing (She'd be in my bedroom!) and Storm would be sent to concentration camp… I don't exactly own Cray, but I do own the rest of the mutants in the story that are not on the television show. Takera owns part of Vincent Valis. ))

Burning Hands

By N I G H T C R A W L E R

Bayville. The most boring town she could ever come across, and Cray was about to live there. How exciting. It was almost silent in the middle of the night. There was a slight noise in the background, but nothing much. It was a quiet peaceful place. Exactly what Cray needed.

She went to the nearest gas station, and took a seat beside it's dumpster. She wrapped her wool sweater around her hands and opened her book bag, and pulled out the only food she'd brought with her, a banana. She peeled it and took a big bite. Her stomach called out for more. She took another huge bite, polishing off the banana. She sighed, and tossed the peel away.

The rest of the night was a blur of cars, cigarette ashes on the part of passers by, and Cray, huddled up behind a dumpster.

The next morning was bright. She didn't want to have to bother the store clerk, so she picked the lock to the bathroom. It was quite smelly inside. She closed the door behind herself and slid off her jacket, always keeping the wool wrapped around her hands. She set her book bag on the toilet seat, and opened it.

She ran the cold water in the sink, and splashed some on her face. It stank, and was soaking her sweater. But it was making her just a bit cleaner than she was before…

She threw her jacket back on when she had finished cleaning herself, and walked out. The day was very early, and she had to get something to eat before she starved to death.

Pietro was bored. 'Boredboredboredboredboredboredbored… ' He had absolutely nothing to do this bright Monday morning. It was only 7:00, and he'd been up for ten minutes. 'Boredboredboredboredboredboredboredboredboredbored..'

He walked downstairs, to find Toad and Fred sitting at the kitchen table, and Lance nowhere to be seen. Pietro sat on the couch, and sighed.

'Boredboredboredboredboredboredboredbored.'

Tabitha rushed down the stairs, and over to the table. "Pour me some Pops, Toady."

Toad shook his head. "There ain't no mo'."

"Then how about some Frosted Flakes?"

"There ain't no mo'."

"Lucky Charms?"

"There ain't no mo'."

"Where's all the cereal, Toad?!" She placed her hands on her hips, almost demanding to know where all the food in the house was. No one really liked her being there. It was like Toad had said much longer before. 'This is the Brotherhood, not the Sisterhood.'

Toad pointed a pale finger at Fred, who was searching the fridge for more food. Tabitha threw her arms up in the air. "This isn't right! That fatty is eating us out of house and home! Look at me! I'm famished!"

Fred defended himself rather poorly, but was still fighting back. "I'm bigger than you! I need more food than you to live!"

"Yeah, right! You could probably feed yourself and several others if you started eating yourself!" She grabbed at the jar of peanut butter Fred was holding. He did a fine job of keeping it away from her.

Fred finally won the battle, and Tabitha sulked over to Pietro. "We need money. Badly." She sat beside him, and pouted, trying to look cute. Pietro just thought she looked ridiculous.

"Alright, alright. I'll do something about the money." He turned toward the door, and was out in a flash.

Cray decided on Cheetos. They were filling, cheap, and cheesy. The perfect food for a famished teenager.

She made her way up to the counter at the front, with the package of chips resting on the cloth between her hands. She let that slide upon the counter, and then wrapped it tighter to fish the money out of her pocket.

But at the moment she was doing that, the bell to the door of the Quick stop gave a little 'ping.' There was a strong wind, which pulled her sweater off of her hands, and she felt something brush they're bare skin. Before she and the clerk knew it, there was a boy lying on the floor with a singe mark on the sleeve of his sweater.

Cray looked down at it in horror. It was an accident. She hadn't meant for anything like that to happen.

The clerk's eyes were wide with fear as well, but not enough fear to stop him from reaching under the front desk for a gun. Cray reacted quickly and wrapped her sweater around her hands, and drug him out of the store, and across the street.

When she made it, she dropped to her knees beside Pietro's body on the grass. She knew she hadn't killed him. Thank goodness.

She shook him. "Excuse me? Please wake up." Pietro stirred just a bit, and sat up, holding his head. Cray watched him worriedly. "I'm really sorry. You see, you accidentally touched my skin, and…"

"Itsallright. Noproblem." He stood and brushed off his clothing. She stood as well, and smiled weakly. "Well, gottago. Seeya."

Pietro was about to run off, when he heard the small voice call after him. "Wait, please," He stopped his motions, turned, and looked at her, almost angrily.

"Yeah? Whatisit? Whatdoyouwant?" Pietro jogged in place impatiently. He didn't really have time to be talking to some dumb girl that scorched his favorite shirt. 'Hurry up, girlie. I'm going to form calluses because of you.'

Cray pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled. "I was wondering if I could go with you, wherever you were going."

Pietro stopped jogging and let out a godlike grin. 'Have I scored?'

"Ah don't get it, professor! Whay do we have to help ya get this new recruit?" The professor had summoned the whole team of X-Men after he'd seen Cray's profile on Cerebro.

"Vas ist das? Herr professor, have we found a new recruit?" Kurt had walked up behind the man in the wheelchair, sitting at the large computer. The picture of a girl was spinning around on the screen. She looked about Kitty's height and weight, with auburn locks of hair pulled back in a strange looking bun. Her eyes were also a interesting shade of gray, he noticed.

The professor had turned in his wheel chair to face Kurt. "I believe so, Kurt. Round up the whole team."

And now, there they were, the whole team, sitting lazily in the Blackbird.

Jean and Kitty were of course, talking up a storm. Ororo Munroe, otherwise known as storm was sitting behind the professor, who was sitting beside Logan, who was piloting. Cyclops, Spyke and Nightcrawler were in three separate chairs behind them.

"Just think, yo. A new girl. This won't be too bad." Evan commented. Both Cyclops and Nightcrawler agreed.

"I wonder what she's like…" Cyclops said, his voice half trailing off. He and Jean had had a fight, over, of course, the issue of Duncan, who she was seeing by this time. Scott was trying to bring himself to see another woman.

Nightcrawler decided to brag. "I saw her. She's really pretty!" He said pretty too loud, and received a harsh look from Kitty. Kurt lowered his head. He'd asked Kitty before to try the dating thing with him, but she told him 'not right now, Kurt.'

"We should be coming up upon where she is in a few minutes, team," Xavier said, turning around to look at the teenagers. "We will land the blackbird about a quarter of a mile away, so there will be some walking."

"Or some porting," Kitty giggled, blushing over at Kurt.

The professor smiled slightly and looked back out to the front. He knew he'd been successful in finding a perfect team, and now he was getting new additions.

"HEY! LANCE! GET DOWN HERE! FAST!" He turned back to me with a snort, and in a matter of seconds, another boy was beside him. This one was a bit scrubby, but kind of handsome. He was tall, and his face was clean. But his brown hair was unruly. Cray kind of liked that look.

The new boy, whose name was obviously Lance, studied her over. "I've never seen her at school before. Maybe she is new. Why are you here?"

Cray looked around, and stuttered upon her words, trying to find the right thing to say to both of them. "I..I was l-looking.. for a p..place to stay.."

Lance looked to the other boy, and extended a hand. "Okay, then. I'm Lance. This is Pietro." Cray looked down at his hand, trying to decide whether or not to shake it. She shook her head finally.

"Nice to meet you, Lance and Pietro." She murmured, and let out a slight smile. Lance scratched his head, and walked off. Pietro stayed behind. He was already full of questions for this girl to answer.

"So, what's your name, where you from, why didn't you shake Lance's hand?" The questions rolled off his tounge shamelessly, like a never-ending river of words.

She turned back to him, and smiled. "My name," she said, quietly. "Is Cray Lockhart. I'm from Westchester. And I didn't shake his hand because…" She looked to the side, and then looked back up at him. "Well… This is going to sound stupid, but…" She studied his face a moment longer, but then came out with it. "Because when I touch people, they burn and turn to ashes."

Pietro smirked, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "A mutant?"

Cray took a step back, in surprise. "What do you mean…?"

"We're all mutants here," he continued, as if she had never asked him the question before. "Lance has the power to create earthquakes. Toad is like a frog, basically. Freddy, or the Blob as we call him, is invulnerable in certain spots of his body, mainly the stomach, and I, I'm a pure speed demon." He flashed another award winning smile.

Cray smiled brightly. "Really? Wow. This makes it a whole lot easier!" She giggled, and watched Pietro walk up the stairs, following Lance.

Lance spotted Pietro, and motioned toward the room Cray was still in. "So what are we going to do with her?"

Pietro smiled, and placed a hand on his hip. "I say we keep her."