14. Gene looked around and Elaine wasn't there anymore.

Oh! That girl is getting so spoiled! she thought.
That's what you get for protecting her all the time...
Shut up, Daniel, she thought.
Don't ever say I didn't warn you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will you at least sleep like the girl suggested?
I doubt I'll be able to.
Try, won't ya?

She moved around the site, she found a nice quiet little spot near some boxes on the back. She tried making herself comfortable, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that swept over her.

You're restless, Daniel. How am I supposed to sleep if you're like that?
I know, but I felt something or someone. Keep a look out. I'm sure I felt someone, you should use your powers to be sure.
I don't have the energy, and even if I did, you know my vision would've been gone after that. If someone really is after me, I'd be useless. I can't scream and I can't see.
Yeah, but you're better out safe than sorry. Plus, the way you're going, your vision is gonna be gone anyway.
Why are you being so nice to me lately?
I'll let you figure that one out on your own.
You've always been my devil in disguise, so, why now?
You have to learn that things aren't always what they seem to be.... Faye!! Heads up!!!

She looked up and saw that a box had been thrown at her. She was barely able to dodge it and land on her feet, when another one got thrown. She did a back flip, and looked around attentively, searching for whomever had come after her, but she couldn't see anyone. Against her better judgment she used her powers...

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

15. Logan used the blank check to pay for the tools and walked to the door, when he sniffed the air and caught a scent that wasn't there before. He carefully walked out of the store and followed it into an alley.

"2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and with this makes.... whoa! $539.35, not bad!!! I think this will do. Her medicine is usually very expensive," Rue said to no one, not noticing that Logan looked at her from behind.
"What's this?" she muttered, looking at the locket. "'To keep you from ever losing the way home. Love always, Logan.'," she read. "Wait...Could he be..."
"I believe that's mine," Logan said, claws out.

Rue gasped and tried to run but Sabretooth jumped down in front of her, and leaped to get her.

"Oh, no!" she said, regretting the time she left.

Logan reached for the locket as Rue screamed "STOP!!!" Sabretooth stopped in mid-air and, with satisfaction, Rue smiled, seeing it had worked. She turned around to face an astounded Logan. Her eyes panicked and she tried pulling away from him. Seeing that the chain was the thing that saved him from the girl's powers, he quickly caught her arm.

"Let me go!" she screamed, dropping the locket on the floor.
"Wait. I know ya're a mutant, and I know someone that could help ya," he said, picking the locket from the floor and shoving it in his pocket.
"Stop! Stop! Stop....," she said, her eyes starting to tear. "Why isn't it working?"
"Because...," he sighed, as the girl dropped to her knees. "I'm holdin' on to ya. Now, how 'bout we get away from ugly here, and I'll take ya to my friend Chuck...eh...Charles Xavier. Maybe I'll even buy ya something ta eat on the way, eh?"
"Xavier," the girl's eyes lit up. "She was supposed to take me to see him."
"Who?" he asked, as his heart jumped in excitement, and sniffed the girl.
"Gene."
"Gene what?"
"Just Gene. Oh, ummm...he called her Faye once."
"What?!? Take me to 'er!" he cried, startling Rue and making her lose her concentration.

Sabretooth fell hard on the floor. He looked around and spotted Rue. Logan caught her shoulder and moved her out of the way; he stood between her and Sabretooth now, his claws came out in a slow *SNIKT* and he was ready to protect her. She pushed him out of the way, raised her hands and concentrated.

"Stop!" she cried with conviction, as Logan rushed to catch the sleeve of her shirt.
"Let's get outta here," he said, pulling her by the arm.

They walked to the X-van, he nodded and Rue let go of her time grip. They quickly got in and Logan drove away. He had enough time to see Sabretooth come out in the street.

"So, what's your name?" he started, relieved to see Sabretooth stay away.
"Rue," she answered, shyly.
"So, Rue, where is she exactly?"

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

16. Gene looked around. The energy-seeking power wasn't working as well as she's hoped; she could only see heat and cold, but at least it was something. She gripped her staff; it was not the only defense she had.

A hot rectangle came flying towards her. She moved out of its way and ran. The card exploded, thrusting her into a box that she hadn't seen.

Damn, I have no use for this power. Inanimate objects show no heat, she thought.
But they show cold, Daniel replied, trying to help.
Not enough of it to register.
Faye! Behind you!!

She turned around and saw two big flames coming her way. She screamed and threw her arms up to protect herself, and with it the floor followed, forming a protective wall.

I gotta get out of here.
Get out of the way, the other one's coming.

She saw a bundle of cold coming towards her and knew immediately what she had to do. She concentrated on her body and got it to sink in the floor slowly. Colossus rammed through the wall but didn't find her. She reappeared behind him with her left hand transformed. She touched him slightly and got enough energy to knock the big guy out. Gambit came to her and tried to attack her. She ran aimlessly looking for a way out. As he slammed her into a wall, she saw a cat come out and hiss at her.

They're coming, Daniel warned.

The cat broke into a run and Gene followed its form to and fro in the construction site. The cat escaped something and Gene followed it. Behind her, nearly the whole site screamed in fire. The cat and her finally walked into sunlight, she looked around searching for someone to ask for directions, though she knew her voice must've been long gone. She spotted a man nearby.

It's a newsstand, Daniel told her, concentrating on the outside.

The brand-new energy had given him more control and access to some of his other powers. She walked up to the man and smiled. Her eyes looked greenish and cloudy.

"Yes, can I help you?" he asked.

She motioned that she needed a pen, which he handed to her. She, then, pointed to a newspaper, as he handed it to her, he knew she needed more help than he could offer. With the pen, she scribbled something down, following the movements closely with her fingers.

"Do you want me to call the police? Or maybe the paramedics?" he asked, to which she promptly answered "no". When she was done, she turned it around for him to see.

'Xavier's Institute for the Gifted,' it read.

"Where is it?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Oh, I don't know...but wait, I'll get ya the address," he said taking his cell phone and dialing 4-1-1. He spoke for a minute or two and hung up.

"Ok, I could call a cab for you."
She shook her head.
Why not? Daniel asked.
Too many people would be involved, she replied.

"All right, you go down this street and, two blocks away, you turn left. Follow that street all the way down--it's about 8 or 9 blocks--turn right on the street next to Bayville High. Then, you turn left again and follow that street all the way down. You should get there all right, but it's complicated," he said handing the newspaper back. "Not to mention exhausting."

She took the first page, folded it and shoved it in her robe's pocket. She took out a bill and handed it to the man.

"Oh, no... No way. I ain't about to take a hundred bucks from no blind, mute monk. No sir. Keep it, you might need it to get there."

She bowed to the man, using her powers, took one of the beads she wore around her wrist, and gave it to him. She remembered the Buddhist monk she had met in the way to New York. He had been kind enough to give her his own clothes, staff and beads, though he knew he needed them to get back home. He told her that they would keep her safe and protected. As they sat around a campfire one day, Rue already asleep, he, on his own dialect, explained the meaning of his long journey away from his home and his own studies.

He had had a dream, he said, a dream that told him that he needed to travel to a far away land, the farthest one from him. In there, he would find a female with special gifts, gifts that were strong enough to destroy whole civilizations, but she was very weak and fragile. She, herself, was on a journey of her own, against all odds, to take a young girl to a wise man in a huge concrete town. This wise man would be the key to saving this woman, but the most important factor would be the one who holds her path, the one that needed to show her the way. The dream didn't tell him what he was supposed to do when he found the woman, but for three whole years he searched, until he came across Gene and Rue.

As he sat there, with his eyes closed, deep in meditation, Gene wondered why the man came to her rescue. She was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, when he found her. In two days, she was nursed back to health--occasionally aided by her absorption powers, of course--and within two weeks, the monk had taught her to control her anger and find a way of getting out of situations without using brute force, though he also trained her in the few martial arts he knew. When it came time for them to part, he gave her his robe, the bag with a few supplies he carried and the staff for when Gene would go blind; he also gave them nearly all the money he had brought for the journey. Gene was concerned about the monk, but he reassured her that he would be fine because he had completed his mission--he could now die in peace. Gene couldn't cope with the monk's loss, when a couple of hours after he said that, she lost control and killed him.

She smiled gently at the thought. Whatever made her thing of him was still protecting her, maybe even the monk himself was. She followed the road and, two blocks later, she stood at an intersection. She was about to cross the street when she heard people shouting.

"No, I didn't do anything," she heard Akira shout.

She followed the sounds and body-slammed Akira. He stumbled to his feet and looked wildly at Gene.

"Faye-san!" he cried in joy.
They're coming, Daniel warned.

She put her hand in Akira's mouth and pushed him against the wall in the corner of a smaller street. She closed her eyes and concentrated; the concrete surrounded them and covered them up completely. It, then, hardened to form a decorative corner in a building.

"Where did that mutie go?" one of the teens in the small gang asked.
"Man! Can he run!" the other said.
"That's probably his power," the first mentioned.
"Well, what about the weed thing?" another said.
"Whatever...let's just find him," the first said.

They're gone, Daniel reported.

Gene let go of the wall and it fell down revealing them. She nearly collapsed on Akira's arms. He took her in his shop and gave her some water.

"Thank you," he said.
"Paper," she said, raspy.

He handed her paper and she shakily jotted down some words. It was all in Japanese, so he understood it well. She signed at the bottom and handed it to him. She took a bundle of bills from her robe and gave it to him.

"I can't...," he said.
"Go back to Japan. In this dojo, there's a shrine with lots of vegetation. Be sure to tell Yakamoto-san who sent you," she said.
"I can't pay you back for this."
"Just point me to Xavier's Institute. I have to find someone."
"Who?"
"Rue."
"Who's she?"
"A girl I'm taking to Xavier. She needs somewhere to stay, she'll be safe with them."
"Ok, come," he said, taking her by the arm.

They walked about a mile until they reached a park. He took hear near the river that ran through Bayville.

"Follow river. It take you to Xavier. Rogan there too."
"Thank you very much. I'm not going to take your time anymore."
Watch your energy, warned Daniel, as Akira watched her transform her body and dive into the river.

And so, she followed it. Unsure who Logan was, worried about Rue, but knowing she was going to the one man who could help her.

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

17. Logan and Rue got to the empty construction site. They found everything burned up and destroyed. Rue found Gene's bag turned over with her contents all dumped down. Someone had searched all over the bag, but taken nothing. The only thing missing was the newspaper clipping Gene had made when she first saw the news of Xavier's presidential pardon.

While Logan searched up and down the site, Rue started walking away and leaving him alone.

"And where are ya goin'?" he asked, without turning.
"I was..."
"You ain't goin' nowhere, I'm takin' ya to Xavier."
"Listen, I don't think that's such good idea, 'cause see...."
"Pyro was here, ya know. And the other two, Gambit and Colossus. Did Faye tell ya that they'd be lookin' for her?"
"Well...."
"Ya're just as transparent as Faye is."
"I--uh.... I'm gonna go," she said, trying to run.
"No, ya don't."
"Out of the way, or I'll make you live me alone."
"I'll just track ya down, I got a good nose, or Faye hasn't told ya that?"
"Uhmm....," she said, biting her lip.
"What?"
"Nothing," she shrugged. How could she say that Faye didn't remember who he was or how she knew him?