9. Back at the X-mansion, after everyone had gone their separate ways, Tom decided to check on his systems. With Xavier's permission, Tom had networked his systems to Cerebro; there were many machines and programs that could be useful to the X-men.

Tom concentrated on the machines, despite Xavier's orders. Jean walked into Cerebro's room.

"The professor asked me to get you away from there," she said.
"Busted," said Tom with a smile.
"It's true. You shouldn't strain yourself like that."
"Well, thank you for your concern, Dr. Grey."
"Dr. Jean Grey...I like the sound of that," she laughed. "But, seriously, you should rest."
"I don't think I can rest knowing that Faye is out there alone. I didn't want to agree with Logan, but the bloke's right. The lass is alone with Daniel, and I can't look after her this time. She's the closest thing I've ever had to a family."
"I know how that is," she said, looking down. "If something were to happen to any of the students, I don't know what I'd do."

Tom smiled. A solemn silence passed through them; it was Jean who broke the silence first.

"Maybe I can help you find her."
"Really??? Oh, that's right, you're a telepath."
"Well, don't get so excited. I'm not as good as Professor Xavier, so I doubt I'll find anything."
"At least try, please."
"Ok, here goes nothing. Maybe I'll get lucky or something."
"Oh, bless your heart, good lass. I'll help you with the machinery."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

10. She wished the pain away, and oddly enough, when she removed her hands from her leg, it didn't hurt anymore.

Her hand still glowed green with its energy flowing to different parts of her body. She pulled herself up and looked at the sky. The rain was subsiding, but lightning still crashed above her.

She looked at her body and notice that some of the wounds were slowly healing. She thought that some amazing miracle had happened. As she was about to kneel down to thank the heavens, it attacked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"11. Uh...uh...ahhh!!!" screamed Jean.
"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Tom.
"I had her signal, but...,"she looked Tom, who was anxiously waiting for her next words. "It's gone. She suddenly stopped using her powers because the signal got lost too fast."
"She's being attacked."
"Do you know which power she was using?"
"Healing, I think."
"Damn, she's hurt too?"
"See if Cerebro registered a location. I'm calling the professor."
"Alright."

Professor, called Jean. I found her. Come quick.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

12. She got knocked down on the sand, which fell thickly into her eyes and in her mouth. Tearing and spitting sand, she got up trying to see who was her assailant. As far as she could tell, no one was there. She stood straight and looked for whoever had pushed her; suddenly, she herd footsteps coming from behind her. With her instincts kicking in, she turned around quickly and got into fighting position.

What am I doing? she thought. I don't even think I can fight, can I? Oh, concentrate, will ya?

Through her stinging eyes, she saw a towering figure approaching her. She stepped back as the figure came towards her. It was extremely tall for any normal man and his hair seemed to be blond but she wasn't sure. He extended his hand to her and jumped back; her foot hitting the water alerting her that she had better find another way to escape. He came closer and she kept on walking back into the ocean. Noticing she wasn't going to go anywhere without a fight, not that he didn't expect her to, the tall figure stopped walking, kept his hand up and spoke. His strong, rough voice sounded awfully familiar to her.

"I saw what they did to ya," he said. "With the recent mutant exposure, ya can't go nowheres without some idiot gettin' on yer case?"
"What? Mutant exposure? What are you talking about?" she asked, puzzled.
"If you let me give ya a hand, I'll explain everythin' to ya, darlin'," he said handing her a bottle of clean water.

She poured some of it on her eyes and washed the sand out of her mouth; she handed the bottle back to him but he shook his head and motioned to her to keep it. Having been lost for days, she found herself really drained and thirsty, as she turned the bottle in her mouth and drank greedily. After she was filled, she emptied the bottle in her face. She felt better than ever; she looked up at the man who had been so kind to her and wondered.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
"Yeah, I do," he said, crouching down.
"Can you tell me?"
"Uh...later. How `bout we git ya outta this place and into some warm clothes?"
"Can you at least tell me my name?"
"Jade."
"Huh...." It did have a familiar ring to it. "What's yours?"
"Victor Creed," he said getting up and offering his hand to her one more time. This time, she eagerly took it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

13. "Have you found anything yet, Tom?" asked Professor X.
"I was trying to get a closer location but it's not good," he answered, gloomily.
"Well, where is she?" asked Logan, impatiently.
"New Jersey," he answered, annoyed.
"Are you sure?" asked Jeff.
"She's within a ten-mile radius from this location," said Tom, pointing to a map. "This is as accurate as I could get."
"Good work," said Professor X. "Cyclops call the others, we'll separate into two teams. You, Jean, Kurt, and Evan will take the X-jet; Storm, Rogue, Kitty and I will take Velocity."
"We can take the north section while you and the others work on the south; keeping both teams in touch and we'll be able to find her in no time," Cyclops answered.
"Very well."
"Chuck, I do hope ya're plannin' on puttin' us somewhere in those plans," said Logan.
"I think what the bloke meant to say with his unintelligible dialect is that you'll be sorry if you don't get us included in the search parties," said Tom.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but you're much too close to her, emotionally. People might get hurt, besides we're planning on doing this quietly, without uniforms or powers."
"Well, I ain't staying," said Tom. "We all care too much about her to just stay here."
"For the first time I agree with skinny," said Logan.
"Fine, but you'll have to learn to control your emotions and work together...as a team," said Xavier, trying to hide a sly smile behind his folded hands.

They looked at each other, unsure what to think of the situation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

14. The warm water stung her wounds but it certainly felt better than what she had just gone through. She turned the water off and listened to the sounds coming from outside. As the wind howled wildly, she fought the urge to turn the water back on and drown the agonizing reality she now had to face. With every bit of strength she could find, she stepped out of the shower and into the world. Unhurriedly, she dried herself up and wrapped a towel around her body. She started brushing her long hair, when she heard a gentle rap at the door.

"Who is it?" she called.
"Victor. I've got you some clothes. I'm leaving them right here by the door...," he trailed off as he saw her locket on top of the table.
"Where are you going?" she asked turning on the faucet.

He picked up the locket and growled, remembering something that happened a long time ago.

"Victor?" she said, shutting the water off. "Victor?" she asked again.
"I ain't gonna leave ya here, don't worry. I just need ta take care o' some thin's," he answered pocketing the locket.
"Sure. I'll stay here."
"No, that ain't good. Take a walk `round town. It's small so ya ain't gonna get lost. Meet me in an hour at the park. We can get somethin' to eat and I'll `splain everythin' to ya."
"Ok...Victor?" she said in a small voice.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," he heard her say, which made him smile widely

She heard him walk out and lock the door. Something about him bothered her. She opened the bathroom door, and picked up the bag he had left. Although he had been very nice to her and would go to any measures to get her to feel comfortable and safe, he had been very shady about what really happened to her. It was like she couldn't trust him, for some reason.

She shrugged that feeling and started emptying the bags. She took out a nice but simple outfit and started dressing herself. He even got her some lipstick! She looked at the stuff and regretted having any ghastly thoughts of him; he truly was a great person.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

15. Sabretooth walked toward the park, dawn drew closer, and so many of the habitants of Verona Beach were already in their homes. Few shops were still opened, fortunately for him, none of them faced the lake. He walked up to a patch of trees and waited. A low-pitched, magnetic hum told him his visitor had arrived.

"Is she well?" Magneto asked.
"She'll live, it ain't like she ain't been in worse shape `fore."
"Will she join us?"
"Probably. She don't remember a thing."
"Amnesia...how fortunate, fate might be smiling upon us, after all."

Pyro and Gambit up behind Magneto. They whispered something on his ear and left.

"Colossus called, he said that the X-Men are heading this way. You'll have to keep the girl away from them."
"Can I use brute force, if I need to?" Sabretooth asked, eagerly.
"As long as she comes out alive. We need her with us. We`ll take care of the Charles and his X-Men."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

16. She came out of the bathroom. She had brushed her hair all back, but was uncomfortable with the unusual scar she had over her left eye. She found a long jacket waiting for her on top of the bed. She looked around the room for her locket, but couldn't find anywhere, she nearly threw the small hotel room apart and still couldn't find it. She'd have to ask Victor after he came back.

She stepped out of the hotel and looked around. Most stores were getting ready to close down.

"Not much to see," she said to herself.

She touched her hair and wondered if she couldn't do without all that. Walking toward a passerby, she greeted the elderly couple and asked where the nearest hair salon was. The woman tenderly pointed to a small square-ish place across the street.

"We don't get many visitors around these parts," she said smiling. "Well, not any if you don't count the Verucci brothers. They're always visiting their cousins and hanging around that awful bar, talking loudly. Something we could all do without, if you ask me."
"Thank you very much for the information," Jade said smiling.
"Oh, you're welcome, dear. Such a nice girl," she said turning to her husband, as Jade crossed the street.
"What? Speak up!" he shouted.
"Oh, you're impossible!"

As Jade crossed the street, a man looked at her and gasped.

"Yo, Vini, c'mere," he said.
"Yeah, whadda ya want?" the young, dark-haired man asked.
"That's her."
"Who."
"The girl I told you `bout. The one that was stronger than anythin'."
"That's her?"
"Yeah. Hey, Paulie, c'mere," he called into the bar again.
"Wait, Louie, how da ya know. Didn't you say that she had a mask on and it was dark or somethin'?"
"Yea, but she took it off. Hey, Paulie, get the fuck over `ere, will ya?" Boy, I tell ya, I could recognize that face in hell."

Jade walked inside and asked the receptionist for a haircut.

"I understand I don't have an appointment...," she started.
"Oh, don't worry. He'll only be a minute. You can sit and wait."

Jade thanked the woman, picked up a magazine and sat down. On the other side of the street, three men were eagerly talking, with many more joining in.

"No shit?" asked Paulie.
"Nope, I swear on my sweet mother's grave," Louie said.
"Alright, I don't want stuff like her comin' into my town," said Paulie, who was greeted with a number of comments from the others that were standing around. "Lemme get my gun."
"Don't bother. She can't get hurt like that," Louie warned.
"Whadda ya mean `she can't get hurt like that'?" asked Vinny. "Everyone gets hurt when ya shoot `em."
"Not her. I think she's one of them mutants we've been seeing on TV," Louie said.
"Huh. Whatever she is, she's gonna have to leave," said Paulie, cocking his shotgun.
"I tells ya, she ain't gonna die with your fuckin' shotgun. I was usin' a double barrel, for God's sake," he said again, desperately. "Youse ain't gonna hurt her wit that."
"Yea, well, at least we're gonna slow `er down some," said Paulie shoving another bullet on the gun and cocking it again. He grinned toothly at the others, Louie sighed.
"Yo, John, tell everybody and don't leave nobody off, ya hear? We're huntin' mutants tonight."