Chapter Two
"How long has she been under?" came Storm's voice over Jean's thoughts. She still felt the connection to that girl they found in the abandoned chemical plant, where only a week earlier did they find out they did testing there, as they did to Logan in Canada. Jean looked down at the short blond hair, with orange streaks caused by chemicals. She was gifted, that was certain but even the professor was unable to figure out what. Jean would put her around 20 or so, but that really meant nothing, if you compared it to mutants such as Logan who do not seem to age or give into natures plan as it did to everyone else. "She has been out for I'd say 2 or 3 days. malnourished and in shock. They must have kept her very heavily sedated." Jean said, adjusting an I.V. going into the girls white arm. Storm stepped next to the girl, and brushed a hand across the girl face. She was very pretty, she thought to herself, but you could almost see the burdens she truly carries beneath her skin. No marks marred the white flesh, yet Storm knew, almost instinctively, that the child has been injected with everything under Gods green earth if not more. A scuff on the floor brought their attention to the door with a start. Both Jean and Storm tensed instinctively, having been caught unawares before. But their fears were not granted as it was only Logan who stood at the door, staring at the girl, barely noticing them, not even glancing at Jean in the seductive ways he usually did. He merely looked at the girl, who was his equal. someone with the same past as him. Nothing. "She'll be up soon," he said, relaxing his stance and glancing at Storm and Jean now. "I'd imagine that the cushioned bed you have her on is heaven next to the concrete slabs she's been liven' in." Jean winced at the vulgerness of Logan's choice of words, while she and Storm once more looked down at their patient. Her eyebrows suddenly came together in a painful memory as she winced as though someone was hurting her. "Don't. don't. hurt. me." She whispered in a voice that sounded like one who had been through everything but would not tell the horrors she had endured. Storm was the first to step forward as Logan watched emotionless from where he stood, but fought with all his strength not to rush forward with the two. Slowly the girl's eyes opened, a bright cerulean blue, a contrast to her stunningly blond hair with its bright orange eyes. But they were blank unseeing for a moment, then afraid. She glanced around, darting gaze like that of a caged animal looking for an escape, any escape. Logan knew this all too well and stepped forward then, gently taking her hand, calming her erratic movements with the simple human contact he could provide. Speaking volumes to a girl who was born without a hug or a simple brush from her mother's hand. She slowly focused her eyes on him as a single tear slipped out of her eye, "are you an angel?" she asked in a whisper. Not seeing Storm or Jean just yet. Logan couldn't help but give an amused grin, quickly brushing it off his face before he spoke, "no. I'm far from one actually." He said in his gruff, leathery voice. "But you are safe here, we rescued you from that place." The girl's face distorted at the mention of where she once was, and quickly she pulled away from Logan and curled up into a ball, finding only comfort in the fetal position as she ignored the world around her, the one that had ignored her for so long too. "Ah, she is finally awake!" came professor Xaviar's voice from the door to the lab. Wheeling in on his wheel chair with Scott in tow. "But feeling a little overwhelmed and out of place I suppose." He casually glanced up at Logan, "something I'm sure you can . understand?" Logan got the professor's undertone that he would be the one to ease the lost girl back into human existence as he had done for himself. Only he had been so much stronger. and more able to cope with life's cruel realities, as well he was given a tool in which to defend him in times of.need. Logan then nodded to the professor, and glanced back at the girl, now concerned with her but not going to show it. The professor gently touched the girl's head, gently reading her thoughts while she watched him with questioning eyes. He jerked back suddenly and looked down at the innocent looking blonde haired girl. Images that really didn't go together, but were horrific all the same played in her mind. No wonder she was so frightened, she really knew nothing other then her own skin, so heavily under drugs through her entire being, she had no past. Or otherwise none visible to her, or the professor. Everyone awaited the professor's reaction to the girl, but he merely smiled, avoiding the questioning gazes surrounding him. Focusing entirely on the female before him that was slowly sitting up, giving him the slight bit of trust she could muster in such nightmare induced surroundings. "Let's get her out of the lab, Jean, I take it she's now fine?" The professor sent Jean a small mental picture of what he saw in the girl's mind. Jean suddenly shivered, before gently checking the girl's response and then the monitors attached to her by the sticky adhesive. "She seems well enough." She smiled down at the girl that now looked at her in awe after hearing Jean speak. "All I advise is she get a good solid meal in her and plenty of rest before she does anything else strenuous." "You are the voice. that saved me!" the girl exclaimed, then her face reddened when she saw everyone looking at her. "I am sorry. But. now I do trust you, for you did save me. I can. remember that now, not fully, but I can remember your voice that kept me from slipping." Jean smiled softly at the girl and quickly turned her back, cleaning up as Storm looked at her strangely. "Jean?" she asked, then looked at the girl who slowly stepped out of the bed she was on. One bare foot. then the other until she was standing, she smiled up at them all, freckles suddenly visible on her face, making her appear so much younger. She played with the black sweat pants she stood in then gently touched the white T-shirt she wore like it was gold. Jean turned slightly, a stray tear on her face, which she quickly brushed away before anyone but Scott seemed to notice. He walked over to Jean then and put a gentle arm around her shoulders, squeezing her reassuringly. She only smiled sheepishly up at him, then avoided the gaze from Logan that she could almost feel penetrating Scott. The girl turned then, staring at Jean sadly as though feeling Jean's pain, which should be her own as well. With a tentative step, in which Logan saved her from falling, she slowly walked towards Jean, until they were face to face. Another tear slipped out from Jean's eyes again, but before she could wipe it away, the girl touched it with a glowing hand. An intense feeling of love and thanks filled Jean then, as well as a glorious feeling of joy and happiness. The warmth coursing through her body with every rhythm with her heart. So pure and beautiful was this girl. Until suddenly the connection was broken and the girl was smiling down at Jean, like a mother to a child, "do not cry, for even though every star in the galaxy is seeming alone, it is actually surrounded by family." She paused, her eyes suddenly going blank as the professor took this moment of clarity to search the girl's mind. Jean continued to stare as the girl spoke again. "My name is Isabelle, I am 20 years old. I am very useful to the underground mutant system in calming them enough to do special tests on the others. I was taken at birth from a segregate mother. My origin is unknown, my family history is unknown." Isabelle blinked then, focusing on Jean, then taking in Scott as well with a soft smile of new welcome, and then the slight shyness of one whose never had much social contact. Then her gaze traveled up the arms that held her to Logan, where her gaze stayed for the moment, struck by something she saw. The professor cleared his throat then, "I think we've all had enough excitement for one day.Logan why don't you show Isabelle to her room. It's across the hall from your own." Logan meet the professors gaze with question, but then obliged by a steady look from the professor. "We'll see you tomorrow then, Isabelle, bright and early?" Isabelle smiled at the professor and bowed her head, "yes sir, thank you. for everything." With that and holding tight to Logan's arm they left the room. Jean still stood still, a smile played on her face of simple happiness like the unexplainable joy a child would hold, unknown to the harsh realities of the world. Scott smiles at this as well as the professor. "Jean, honey?" Scott said softly, brushing a hand along her cheek, "are you alright?" Jean blinked then, focusing on the professor and Scott, "I. I am fine." She touched the spot where Isabelle had wiped away the tear; "she made me feel like I was a child again. Without a care in the world, so safe and secure, like she would protect me from anything." Professor Xavier smiled at her and moved towards the door, "Its quite likely she could. She has the ability to transfers her feelings into energy, I'm not sure entirely how strong, but she seems to have a good grasp of it for what I saw her do to you was entirely and easily controlled by her." He glanced as Scott and Jean followed him out down the vast hallway toward the elevators leading to the main floors. "It's no doubt she was useful to the mutant operations, she can manipulate peoples feelings by using her own. For example her happiness back there was a play into your mind of her thanks and joy towards you for saving her. Likewise if she were mad. you would be angry as well. Maybe even mind controlled." Jean smiled halfheartedly at the professor's explanation, but the feeling of light and happiness, seeing Isabelle as and angel before her would not leave her mind. As Scott and Jean left the professor to go to their own room, she looked at the door where Isabelle would now be sleeping. Unlocking the solid oak door, glowing with polish, Scott glanced back to see Jean standing in the middle of the hallway staring at Isabelle's room. "Jean? Are you alright?" he asked, stepping slowly towards his redheaded companion. Glancing up in his specially made glasses covering his mutant strength, seeing Isabelle's room as well. "Should we go check on her, make sure she's alright?" Jean gently shook her head, as though coming out of a dream, "no. no it's alright," she said, smiling sheepishly up at her friend since the day they both arrived at the institute. Linking her arm under his shoulder she gently rested her head on the base near his neck. "She's probably fine. I mean she is 20 years old, nearly my own age. She's an adult. What could she possibly need?" Scott stared down at Jean, he only knew her too well, and able to read her thoughts without the ability Jean herself held. "She never grew up Jean, her body did, but she is no more an adult then a child. She is in need more now then ever." He hugged Jean to him and started towards their door, " but she knows how to ask like anyone else. She will, and she seems to share a connection with you that undoubtedly she will use." Jean glanced back at Isabelle's room before entering her and Scott's. "But she is just so fragile, so vulnerable." She said with a sigh as she sat on their large bed. "I feel like she knows nothing of the evils of the world, yet has been used by them all her life." Scott smiled at Jean's paternal instinct but would not give in, "she must learn independence, it's our kinds only way of survival." He said simply, staring deep into Jean's eyes. "Get some rest now. She is sleeping, why cant you?" Jean gave a dreamy smile then, falling back onto the bed, "because when she touched my face, she took me to heaven. She was my guiding angel. protecting me like I want to protect her." The red hair flowed around Jean's face like her own halo, and Scott glanced back at the door with knew intrigue for the new member of Xaviers Institute for the Special Gifted.
"How long has she been under?" came Storm's voice over Jean's thoughts. She still felt the connection to that girl they found in the abandoned chemical plant, where only a week earlier did they find out they did testing there, as they did to Logan in Canada. Jean looked down at the short blond hair, with orange streaks caused by chemicals. She was gifted, that was certain but even the professor was unable to figure out what. Jean would put her around 20 or so, but that really meant nothing, if you compared it to mutants such as Logan who do not seem to age or give into natures plan as it did to everyone else. "She has been out for I'd say 2 or 3 days. malnourished and in shock. They must have kept her very heavily sedated." Jean said, adjusting an I.V. going into the girls white arm. Storm stepped next to the girl, and brushed a hand across the girl face. She was very pretty, she thought to herself, but you could almost see the burdens she truly carries beneath her skin. No marks marred the white flesh, yet Storm knew, almost instinctively, that the child has been injected with everything under Gods green earth if not more. A scuff on the floor brought their attention to the door with a start. Both Jean and Storm tensed instinctively, having been caught unawares before. But their fears were not granted as it was only Logan who stood at the door, staring at the girl, barely noticing them, not even glancing at Jean in the seductive ways he usually did. He merely looked at the girl, who was his equal. someone with the same past as him. Nothing. "She'll be up soon," he said, relaxing his stance and glancing at Storm and Jean now. "I'd imagine that the cushioned bed you have her on is heaven next to the concrete slabs she's been liven' in." Jean winced at the vulgerness of Logan's choice of words, while she and Storm once more looked down at their patient. Her eyebrows suddenly came together in a painful memory as she winced as though someone was hurting her. "Don't. don't. hurt. me." She whispered in a voice that sounded like one who had been through everything but would not tell the horrors she had endured. Storm was the first to step forward as Logan watched emotionless from where he stood, but fought with all his strength not to rush forward with the two. Slowly the girl's eyes opened, a bright cerulean blue, a contrast to her stunningly blond hair with its bright orange eyes. But they were blank unseeing for a moment, then afraid. She glanced around, darting gaze like that of a caged animal looking for an escape, any escape. Logan knew this all too well and stepped forward then, gently taking her hand, calming her erratic movements with the simple human contact he could provide. Speaking volumes to a girl who was born without a hug or a simple brush from her mother's hand. She slowly focused her eyes on him as a single tear slipped out of her eye, "are you an angel?" she asked in a whisper. Not seeing Storm or Jean just yet. Logan couldn't help but give an amused grin, quickly brushing it off his face before he spoke, "no. I'm far from one actually." He said in his gruff, leathery voice. "But you are safe here, we rescued you from that place." The girl's face distorted at the mention of where she once was, and quickly she pulled away from Logan and curled up into a ball, finding only comfort in the fetal position as she ignored the world around her, the one that had ignored her for so long too. "Ah, she is finally awake!" came professor Xaviar's voice from the door to the lab. Wheeling in on his wheel chair with Scott in tow. "But feeling a little overwhelmed and out of place I suppose." He casually glanced up at Logan, "something I'm sure you can . understand?" Logan got the professor's undertone that he would be the one to ease the lost girl back into human existence as he had done for himself. Only he had been so much stronger. and more able to cope with life's cruel realities, as well he was given a tool in which to defend him in times of.need. Logan then nodded to the professor, and glanced back at the girl, now concerned with her but not going to show it. The professor gently touched the girl's head, gently reading her thoughts while she watched him with questioning eyes. He jerked back suddenly and looked down at the innocent looking blonde haired girl. Images that really didn't go together, but were horrific all the same played in her mind. No wonder she was so frightened, she really knew nothing other then her own skin, so heavily under drugs through her entire being, she had no past. Or otherwise none visible to her, or the professor. Everyone awaited the professor's reaction to the girl, but he merely smiled, avoiding the questioning gazes surrounding him. Focusing entirely on the female before him that was slowly sitting up, giving him the slight bit of trust she could muster in such nightmare induced surroundings. "Let's get her out of the lab, Jean, I take it she's now fine?" The professor sent Jean a small mental picture of what he saw in the girl's mind. Jean suddenly shivered, before gently checking the girl's response and then the monitors attached to her by the sticky adhesive. "She seems well enough." She smiled down at the girl that now looked at her in awe after hearing Jean speak. "All I advise is she get a good solid meal in her and plenty of rest before she does anything else strenuous." "You are the voice. that saved me!" the girl exclaimed, then her face reddened when she saw everyone looking at her. "I am sorry. But. now I do trust you, for you did save me. I can. remember that now, not fully, but I can remember your voice that kept me from slipping." Jean smiled softly at the girl and quickly turned her back, cleaning up as Storm looked at her strangely. "Jean?" she asked, then looked at the girl who slowly stepped out of the bed she was on. One bare foot. then the other until she was standing, she smiled up at them all, freckles suddenly visible on her face, making her appear so much younger. She played with the black sweat pants she stood in then gently touched the white T-shirt she wore like it was gold. Jean turned slightly, a stray tear on her face, which she quickly brushed away before anyone but Scott seemed to notice. He walked over to Jean then and put a gentle arm around her shoulders, squeezing her reassuringly. She only smiled sheepishly up at him, then avoided the gaze from Logan that she could almost feel penetrating Scott. The girl turned then, staring at Jean sadly as though feeling Jean's pain, which should be her own as well. With a tentative step, in which Logan saved her from falling, she slowly walked towards Jean, until they were face to face. Another tear slipped out from Jean's eyes again, but before she could wipe it away, the girl touched it with a glowing hand. An intense feeling of love and thanks filled Jean then, as well as a glorious feeling of joy and happiness. The warmth coursing through her body with every rhythm with her heart. So pure and beautiful was this girl. Until suddenly the connection was broken and the girl was smiling down at Jean, like a mother to a child, "do not cry, for even though every star in the galaxy is seeming alone, it is actually surrounded by family." She paused, her eyes suddenly going blank as the professor took this moment of clarity to search the girl's mind. Jean continued to stare as the girl spoke again. "My name is Isabelle, I am 20 years old. I am very useful to the underground mutant system in calming them enough to do special tests on the others. I was taken at birth from a segregate mother. My origin is unknown, my family history is unknown." Isabelle blinked then, focusing on Jean, then taking in Scott as well with a soft smile of new welcome, and then the slight shyness of one whose never had much social contact. Then her gaze traveled up the arms that held her to Logan, where her gaze stayed for the moment, struck by something she saw. The professor cleared his throat then, "I think we've all had enough excitement for one day.Logan why don't you show Isabelle to her room. It's across the hall from your own." Logan meet the professors gaze with question, but then obliged by a steady look from the professor. "We'll see you tomorrow then, Isabelle, bright and early?" Isabelle smiled at the professor and bowed her head, "yes sir, thank you. for everything." With that and holding tight to Logan's arm they left the room. Jean still stood still, a smile played on her face of simple happiness like the unexplainable joy a child would hold, unknown to the harsh realities of the world. Scott smiles at this as well as the professor. "Jean, honey?" Scott said softly, brushing a hand along her cheek, "are you alright?" Jean blinked then, focusing on the professor and Scott, "I. I am fine." She touched the spot where Isabelle had wiped away the tear; "she made me feel like I was a child again. Without a care in the world, so safe and secure, like she would protect me from anything." Professor Xavier smiled at her and moved towards the door, "Its quite likely she could. She has the ability to transfers her feelings into energy, I'm not sure entirely how strong, but she seems to have a good grasp of it for what I saw her do to you was entirely and easily controlled by her." He glanced as Scott and Jean followed him out down the vast hallway toward the elevators leading to the main floors. "It's no doubt she was useful to the mutant operations, she can manipulate peoples feelings by using her own. For example her happiness back there was a play into your mind of her thanks and joy towards you for saving her. Likewise if she were mad. you would be angry as well. Maybe even mind controlled." Jean smiled halfheartedly at the professor's explanation, but the feeling of light and happiness, seeing Isabelle as and angel before her would not leave her mind. As Scott and Jean left the professor to go to their own room, she looked at the door where Isabelle would now be sleeping. Unlocking the solid oak door, glowing with polish, Scott glanced back to see Jean standing in the middle of the hallway staring at Isabelle's room. "Jean? Are you alright?" he asked, stepping slowly towards his redheaded companion. Glancing up in his specially made glasses covering his mutant strength, seeing Isabelle's room as well. "Should we go check on her, make sure she's alright?" Jean gently shook her head, as though coming out of a dream, "no. no it's alright," she said, smiling sheepishly up at her friend since the day they both arrived at the institute. Linking her arm under his shoulder she gently rested her head on the base near his neck. "She's probably fine. I mean she is 20 years old, nearly my own age. She's an adult. What could she possibly need?" Scott stared down at Jean, he only knew her too well, and able to read her thoughts without the ability Jean herself held. "She never grew up Jean, her body did, but she is no more an adult then a child. She is in need more now then ever." He hugged Jean to him and started towards their door, " but she knows how to ask like anyone else. She will, and she seems to share a connection with you that undoubtedly she will use." Jean glanced back at Isabelle's room before entering her and Scott's. "But she is just so fragile, so vulnerable." She said with a sigh as she sat on their large bed. "I feel like she knows nothing of the evils of the world, yet has been used by them all her life." Scott smiled at Jean's paternal instinct but would not give in, "she must learn independence, it's our kinds only way of survival." He said simply, staring deep into Jean's eyes. "Get some rest now. She is sleeping, why cant you?" Jean gave a dreamy smile then, falling back onto the bed, "because when she touched my face, she took me to heaven. She was my guiding angel. protecting me like I want to protect her." The red hair flowed around Jean's face like her own halo, and Scott glanced back at the door with knew intrigue for the new member of Xaviers Institute for the Special Gifted.