Author's Note: Okay, so this is another chapter about the OC but the next chapter is heavy on the ROMYness, I swear! And the two chapters after that both have Romy in it. Anyway, I saw Dark Horizons Part 2 yesterday and it was pretty good. I missed part 1 though so I'm bummed 'casue I heard that Rogue kisses Gambit. Sadness. I'm sorry, I know you don't care but it's not like people actually read these things. Hehe. So here it is…

Making a Connection

by, Caliente

Chapter 3 – Introducing…

Chris's POV – In Professor Xavier's office

"Christina, I'm glad you decided to join us. I know that you were hesitant when your mutant powers first manifested themselves, but I feel you could make good progress here," the Professor started, trying to make the new girl more comfortable. "I just wanted to –"

"Professor," the girl named Christina cut in with her mild Boston accent, "I always wanted to come. You don't have to convince me. I had to work on my aunt and uncle to allow me to leave home, but finally I told them that I was old enough to decide what was good for me. I am ready to learn and I would love to be an X-Man. Or should I say X-Woman." Christina smiled a friendly grin toward the Professor. "And I usually go by Chris, not Christina."

'Oh and Professor,' Chris projected, knowing the Professor could hear her, 'don't bother trying to read me, I can deflect psychic energies too.' She had learned to use this power to her advantage when she was around "spooks" or telepaths.

The Professor turned and went into an adjoining room filled with people. Chris hesitated, waiting to be invited or introduced or something.

"Hello," Professor Xavier's voice dominated the room. Suddenly all of the chitchat halted and all of the students looked up expectantly. "I would like to introduce our new student, this is Christina Isabella Cruz. She is a fifteen-year-old freshman who will be joining you at Bayville on Monday. She's from Boston, Massachusetts and I expect you to make her feel welcome."

Immediately a nice looking girl that was a little shorter than Rogue stepped into the room. She had light tan skin and curly dark brown hair with light brown highlights that was twisted up by a claw-like clip with the hair falling back over the clip. Her eyes were a very pale grey color enhanced by black eyeliner. She wore 6 earrings, two studs in each ear and two silver hoops in her left ear's cartilage. She also wore a silver thumb ring and another silver ring, with an intricate design on a silver chain around her neck. She also had a ton of black rubber bracelets on both wrists. She had an athletic but curvy figure that was accentuated by her baggy black drawstring cargo pants and form fitting orange 3/4-length baseball shirt. She finished with wearing bulky black combat boots.

"Hola (Hello)," she shot the Professor a look, "and I go by Chris." The new girl's expression was blank and calm, like a poker face as she began while assessing the people in the room. She noticed that a very pretty red haired girl stole a glance with an attractive brown haired boy with ruby colored glasses. She could tell that they had a deep affection and seemed to be the perfect little prep and prepette of the institute. Next she noticed a boy with black hair. He looked at her curiously and she realized that what she saw was not really him. She wondered why he had a false image. The pretty brown haired girl who had come through the floor sat next to him, Chris remembered her name was Kitty. At this moment, she looked slightly put off, and Chris hoped that it was not because of her presence. She figured it wasn't her though because earlier she had gotten the impression that this girl was bubbly and perky. The girl next to Kitty was dressed completely in gothic garb with auburn colored hair that had two shocking streaks of white in the front. She was gorgeous but Chris could tell by her body language that she lacked any self-confidence. Everything about her suggested that she was hiding from everyone and everything, including her emotions. There were two adults standing by the Professor, one was a savage looking man. He appeared to be a loner and didn't seem to be too interested in anything. The other adult was a stunning woman with dark skin, white hair, and beautiful blue eyes. She seemed almost Goddess-like, and Chris had a feeling that the woman knew it.

"Students, why don't you introduce yourselves to Chris," the stunning woman suggested. "I believe you already met Kitty, codename Shadowcat," the woman said while gesturing toward the brown haired girl, "and I, child, am Ororo Monroe. My codename is Storm because my power is to manipulate the weather. I am one of the teachers here at the Xavier Institute. This is Logan, codename Wolverine, and he is another teacher here," Storm continued gesturing toward the savage man.

Logan grunted in acknowledgement of Chris.

"Hi Kitty," Chris addressed the younger girl first. "Hello Señora (Mrs.) Monroe and Señor (Mr.) Logan."

"Ja (Yeah) and I am Kurt Vagner (Wagner), also known as Nightcrawler. My powers are to teleport from one spot to anozer instantaneously," said the boy with the false image. He proceeded to demonstrate by porting from his seat to behind her. He tapped her on the shoulder, and then ported back to his seat again. He grinned widely at her.

"Yeah, only drawback is that, totally, fowl brimstone and sulfur smell," muttered Kitty.

Kurt shot her a glare at her for a moment before turning back to Chris.

"Hi Kurt," Chris replied kindly, "May I ask why you have a false image?"

Kurt shot a questioning look at the Professor.

It's alright Kurt the Professor told him, you may show her your true appearance.

Kurt fussed with his image inducer, which looked like an ordinary watch. All of a sudden, the black haired boy was gone and a fuzzy blue boy stood in front of Chris.

"Oh," Chris stared in surprise. After a moment she offered him a half-smile and said, "I like you better this way. It's so much more honest."

Kurt smiled back, looking quite relieved and threw in, "Vat can I say? Chicks dig ze fuzzy dude."

I'm Jean Grey the red head offered. I'm happy you could join us. My powers are telepathic in nature. I also have the power of telekinesis.

Chris smiled at this comment. That's cool. And, I'm glad to be here as well, Jean.

"I'm Scott Summers codename Cyclops, the fearless leader of the X-Men" the brown haired boy mentioned jocularly with a friendly smile that didn't reach his serious demeanor. "I wear these glasses because my powers can not be controlled. Without them, a force beam is emanates from my eyes."

"Well, on the upside, you always get to look cool with the shades," Chris offered joking right back. "It's really nice to meet you Scott."

After a moment, the last girl with the white streaks in her hair finally spoke up with a distinct Southern drawl. "Ah'm Rogue. When people touch meh skin Ah absorb their memories and if they're mutants Ah absorb their powers. Often times they will end up passed out or in comas." She looked satisfied with ending on this depressing note, but after a look from the other X-Men she managed a small smile and added, "It's nice ta meet ya Chris."

"Hey Rogue, it's nice to meet you too." Chris smiled and added innocently, "Say, you seem like the type of person who has an awesome CD collection, am I right?"

"Yeah, Ah guess. Why?" asked Rogue looking curiously at the new girl.

"I love music. Especially teenage angst stuff," replied Chris, "I can tell we're gonna be good friends." She smiled at the gothic girl.

Much to her surprise, Rogue smiled back.

After a long pause, the Professor decided to prod Chris a little. "Chris, why don't you tell the students about yourself?"

Chris immediately began to feel nervous and tried desperately to regain her composure. "Okay Professor," her voice was hesitant at first. "I've been fluent in Español, oh, that means Spanish, since I was a niña, um, little girl. Mi familia (My family) always lived in Boston even though mi mamá (my mom) is from Columbia and mi papá (my dad) is from England. However, for the past few years my two hermanas, er, sisters, and I lived with my tía y tía, oh, that's uncle and aunt, since mis padres, I mean my parents, were unable to care for us. Mi familia thought it was important for us to learn Español as well as other languages. I jugo, oh, I mean play, a lot of sports for fun and I love to dance. Er, I tend to slip in scattered words in Español when I'm nerviosa, I mean nervous." Chris blushed, obviously flustered, but shrugged it off and continued anyway, "I have some weapon skills, as well as training in boxing, gymnastics, and yoga. I'm also well versed in many styles of martial arts. Umm... so, I guess I'll tell you about my powers–"

"Charles," Logan interrupted, "why not have Beanie show us?"

"Beanie?" Chris repeated hesitantly with a confused look on her face.

"Ya from Bean Town, ain't ya kid?" Wolverine asked smiling.

"Yeah but I-" Chris tried to protest.

"So Beanie fits," Logan interrupted his feral smile widening.

"Excellent idea Logan," agreed the Professor, effectively ending the conversation. "X-Men, why don't you change back into your team uniforms and meet in the Danger Room in 20 minutes. Jean, will you please show Chris to Rahne and Jubilee's old room. Kurt, could you help her with her luggage. Chris, after you settle in, Rogue and Kitty will show you to the Danger Room. Also, don't be surprised if you run into other people. The young ones are the newer students and the big blue hairy man named Dr. McCoy. I didn't want to alarm you with too many new people."

The students all nodded and began to exit the room. The red haired telepath and Chris hung back.

"If you'll excuse me," Storm stated smiling at the new girl, "I must take my leave. It was very nice to meet you child."

Jean led Chris up the stairs and to the left wing. She led the younger girl to the end of the hall on the right.

"This is it," Jean told her with a smile. "Amara and Tabitha, two new recruits are across the hall and I'm next door. If you'll excuse me, I need to change."

"Gracias. (Thank you.)" Chris replied with a small smile. She turned to survey her room and immediately noticed that Kurt had brought her bag into her room. Chris decided that her outfit was probably not appropriate for a room with the word danger describing it. She looked into the bag and found a pair of light grey sweatpants, a white racer back shirt made for running and exercising that showed some midriff, and a pair of white New Balance running shoes. With her midriff exposed, her silver belly button ring became visible. She quickly pulled her hair back into a curly ponytail, letting a few stray curls frame her face. Suddenly, Kitty phased through the wall and grabbed Chris's hand. The girls smiled at each other before phasing down into the Danger Room with Rogue.

"Gracias Kitty," Chris said smiling, "But, uh, how am I supposed to find my way back to my room, I mean I can't really phase myself through the walls." Chris paused looking around at the room for the first time. "Why is this room called the Danger Room anyway? I mean it doesn't seem very dangerous or anything."

"Wait 'til Logan starts a simulation, sugah," answered Rogue. "Then ya'll understand." She glanced at Chris's belly ring, "An' nice bellah ring."

Chris smirked and was about to respond when Kurt teleported into the Danger Room without his holoimager and Chris gave him a huge smile. She ran up, hugged him tightly and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Muchos gracias (Thanks a lot) for taking my bags into my room for me," Chris smiled.

"Bitteschön (You're welcome)," Kurt replied blushing slightly.

There was a swooshing noise as Jean, Scott, and Logan entered the Danger Room.

"Okay, let's see what you got Beanie," Logan said, "oh, and half-pint, maybe you could show Chris how to get from her room to the Danger Room without you."

Kitty blushed slightly at this remark and replied, "Like, sorry. Geez, if I had known it would be such a big deal I would've walked here and been late."

"Umm, Logan," Chris started looking a little flushed, "I can't just show my power."

"Why not kid? Do you not have control?" Logan asked looking surprised at this remark.

"No, I have some control…" Chris trailed off.

"Then what is it?" Logan asked scrutinizing her.

"Uh, you see, my power is that I can absorb all kinds of energía (energy), like electricity and lasers. I can store the energía for a limited time or allow it to dissipate. I can also deflect energía and use the stored energía at my discretion, as a weapon. I can demonstrate if you have a laser or something," Chris explained hesitantly.

"I have a better idea," Logan grunted, "One-eye, why don't you hit her with your best shot."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked looking surprised at his request.

"Just do what I ask okay? Otherwise I'll have Stripes here absorb you and she can do it for you," Logan answered looking like his patients had run out.

"Alright," said Cyclops incredulously.

With the flick of his visor, he immediately aimed toward Chris. She stood very still and simply put out her hand. She was able to deflect the beam toward any target she wished with her hand. Then let her hands down and appeared to be absorbing the energy. Where her eyes had been pale grey, they were now red – the same color as the beam – and her body seemed to glow red slightly, like an aura. She held her hands out in front of her like she was holding a ball. There was a red energy ball forming between her two hands and then with the flick of her wrist she sent it toward the wall where it made quite a dent. Finally, she showed that she could simply absorb and store the energy in her body and it would dissipate slowly if she did not concentrate on it.

Chris felt fear begin to wash over her body. She started to whimper slightly as she brought her hands to her forehead with her eyes closed, she was losing control. Her face looked pained and she managed to gasp, "Ayúdeme (Help me). It's too much energy. I can't store it all!" Her feet left the ground and her eyes flew open. Her pain was plainly visible to the entire team. Cyclops tried to stop the flow of energy but he was too late. Suddenly, Chris let out a blood-curdling scream and her whole body sent out the energy it had been bottling up. It was a huge shockwave of energy in every direction that left all of the X-Men knocked out. Her energy spent, Chris passed out and began to drop to the ground from her spot about 12 feet in the air. Wolverine was able to recover, thanks to his healing factor, and caught her before she hit the ground. Chris managed to mutter, "Gracias mi héroe. (Thank you my hero.)" before she passed out from shear exhaustion. The other X-Men started to wake up rubbing their heads and asking what happened but Logan was already gone. He rushed Chris to the med lab.

Thank yous:

X Grls: I tried to cut down on the Valley girlness, you were right…too much! Thanks for the compliments!

Sarah: I'm glad you like it. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter too.

Yumiko: I hope you're not too disappointed that this is another OC chapter. I promise that the next three chapters have Romy or implied Romy. There will be tons of Romy, I promise!

Thanks to those who reviewed. And those who didn't… please do! I'm desperate. Okay, not really but I love getting reviews. Even if you want to insult, it will make me a better writer… hopefully. Adios for now