"Finally, a name to go with the face." Professor Xavier said, after listening to Jean's report on the afternoon's events. He rolled over to Danny's bed and watched him sleep. "I'm glad he told you something. I was pulling a complete blank on his fingerprints. He is not in any computerized system I can find."
"No missing person reports?" Scott asked, perched on Jean's desk. A check of his arm had shown no damage, no bruises, no nothing.
"I'm working on that as we speak but there are thousands and thousands of boys fitting Danny's description and the particulars in his case. Having his name will help immensely, of course, but even then it will take some time." He looked down at Danny and said, quietly "Where did you come from?"
He turned and rolled back to join Jean and Scott at her desk. They were two of his original students and his most trusted advisors. He would take, on faith,whatever they said.
"Has he spent much time on the streets?" he asked Scott, a former runaway himself.
Scott shook his head and said "No. He might have spent some time while trying to get here but he's had a roof over his head for a very long time."
"I haven't seen any signs of abuse either." Jean said. "Not yet anyway. Where ever he was, he was cared for."
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The answer to the Danny's past was answered by nothing less than satellite television. Logan, after shooing a few kids from the room, had been channel surfing, looking for something to watch. His favorite, ice hockey, would not start up again for several more months, leaving him cruising through 500 plus channels. He flashed past the local news, caught a glimpse of...something and backed up.
"I'll be damned." he muttered. With feline grace, he hoped up, stuck a videotape in the closest VCR and sat back down to watch.
"I know who our mystery kid is." Logan said, walking into Professor Xavier's office a few minutes, without knocking.
"Good evening, Logan." Professor Xavier said, looking up from his desk.
"Evenin'. Here." Logan tossed a video tape onto the Professor's desk. "I saw a news report on him, just now."
"Really? I'll let the others know." Professor Xavier looked at one of many cabinets lining the walls of his office. The doors opened and both the tv and V.C.R. turned on. He handed the tape back to Logan. "Would you?"
"Sure." Logan said. In the time, it took him to feed the tape into the V.C.R., rewind and hit the 'stop' button, Scott and Storm came into the Professor's office. Jean had remained in the Med-Lab with Danny. She was not about to leave him alone, lest he decide to get up and start wandering again.
The office lights dimmed and the V.C.R. started to play.
"The search for fifteen year old Danny Kincaid moves into its third day with plenty of volunteers but no further leads as to the teenagers whereabouts. Despite the record heat, there has been an overwhelming response to the call for volunteers." A Hispanic woman news reporter said. Video of people walking through dense forests, calling for Danny was shown with the news reporter providing a voice-over.
"Danny Kincaid has not been seen since leaving his parent's house located in the upstate New York town of Troy this past Monday. According to the police, he had told his parents he was going to the library but never made it there."
A school picture of Danny appeared on the screen, followed by video of his parents making a plea for his return.
"We don't care what you've done or what you think you've done." A plump woman in her 40's said, into a microphone. "Whatever it is, we'll work it out."
"Danny, runnin's not going to solve anything. Come on back and we'll help in anyway possible." A tall man, also in his 40's, added.
The video shifted back to the news reporter. "According to his parents, Danny was a normal, healthy teenager. He did fine in school and never got into any trouble. That is, until last Thursday when there was an unexplained explosion at Emma Willard School, a private school for girls in Troy where Danny's mother is a fine arts teacher."
Scott's ears perked up at the last sentence. Perhaps Danny possessed a similar power to his. A picture of a Gothic style building appeared on the screen. "According to his mother, Danny had accompanied her to the Fine Arts Building at Emma Willard to help prepare for the coming school year. At the end of the evening, as she was closing up the building, she heard a loud thump coming from the back of the theatre. She went to investigate but Danny appeared and assured her that everything was fine. It wasn't until the next afternoon that the damage was discovered and, by then, Danny was gone."
A picture of a hole in a wall flashed onto the screen. The hole was surrounded by a pile of pulverized bricks and pieces of mortar.
"The police would like to speak with Danny regarding the incident. They want him to know that he is NOT in trouble, they just want to know what happened. Anyone with any information regarding Danny Kincaid's whereabouts is asked to contact the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office or the Troy Police."
Danny's school picture appeared on the screen one final time and then the tape ended.
The office lights came up and silence followed the video until Professor Xavier spoke.
"It would appear that we have a new pupil. Scott, since you witnessed Danny's talents first hand, how would you describe it?"
"It was something like you might do, 'Ro but not quite." Scott said, nodding in Storm's direction, her power being that of controlling the weather. "He took the air around him and used it as a weapon. It only glanced off me but it knocked me down. It didn't hurt. It was like a really strong wind blowing against me."
"Interesting. I'll need to see what he can do before making any judgments, of course." Storm replied.
"When Danny wakes up, Storm and I will talk to him and see what he can do." Professor Xavier said. "In the meantime, I'll work up a class schedule for him."
"Yer leavin' somethin' out." Logan said.
"Such as?" Professor Xavier asked.
"The news has just plastered the kid's face from here to Troy. What if he took a bus? What if he hitched a ride with someone? What happens when people start comin' forward and sayin' they saw him? What are you goin' do when the police come knockin' on the door?"
"Invite them in, of course. We have nothing to hide from the police." Professor Xavier said. "You make a good point, Logan but I'm willing to wait for a few days to see if Danny wakes up and tell us what he wants to do. If he doesn't, then we'll have to reconsider our options."
"Here's hopin' he wakes up soon." Logan replied.
-----------------------------------
When Danny woke up the next morning, he immediately he wished he hadn't. Professor Xavier was there, Danny recognized him from a picture, but he wasn't alone. There was a tall, dark skinned woman with the Professor, not to mention the doctor. He instantly slammed his eyes shut. Yes, he wanted to talk to Professor Xavier but he wanted to speak to the Professor alone. Maybe if the doctor thought he was asleep, they all might go away and he could talk Professor Xavier later, alone.
No such luck.
There were footsteps, then a gentle touch on his shoulder, followed by the doctor's voice.
"Danny? Wake up, Professor Xavier is here to see you." she said.
The need to speak to the Professor outweighed the need to hide so, Danny opened his eyes.
Professor Xavier smiled at Danny and said "Good morning, I've been told that you wanted to speak to me?"
Danny nodded. His eyes lingered on the Professor before darting over to the woman standing next to him. "Who are you?"
"My name is Ororo Munroe but you can call me Storm." she said.
"Storm is one of the instructors here." Professor Xavier said.
"In what? Science?" Danny asked.
"Actually, science is my subject." the doctor said. She came over and stood on Storm's right side. "Storm does Social Studies. We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Dr. Jean Grey."
Danny swallowed. He had a vague memory of Dr. Grey telling him to stop and calm down. He licked his lips and said "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Dr. Grey asked.
"For before. I didn't mean to make a mess. I didn't mean to hit that guy with the glasses, he just got in the way, I was trying to hit the door.
For some reason, Dr. Grey must have found his statement funny because she smiled, then said "It's all right. Accidents happen."
He frowned and mumbled "Happens to me, all the time."
"Danny, why don't you tell me what brought you here." Professor Xavier said. "The sooner I know, the sooner I can help."
"I'm a freak. I don't belong anywhere else." Danny spat out. He glared at the Professor as if daring the Professor to contradict him.
But the Professor didn't. Instead, he asked "Why do you consider yourself a freak?"
"How many normal people can do this?" Danny asked. He held out his hand and a gust of air blew past the adults, ruffling their clothes. The gust hit a stack of papers on Dr. Grey's desk, sending them flying.
"Impressive. Can you put them back?" Dr. Grey asked.
Danny shook his head. "I don't know how." He looked at Professor Xavier. "If I'm not a freak, then what am I?"
"The preferred term is 'mutant'. If you want, we can train you so that you can control your power. Jean, would you demonstrate?" Professor Xavier asked Dr. Grey.
With a wave of her hand, the scattered papers reassembled themselves and settled back onto the desk. "I think I might've even gotten them in the right order too." Dr. Grey said.
"Show off." Storm said, with a grin.
"I try." Dr. Grey replied.
"Would you like to be able to do that? Is that why you wanted to speak to me?" Professor Xavier asked Danny.
Danny nodded. More than anything in the world, he wanted to be able to keep from making a mess and, if he made a mess, he wanted to be able to clean up after himself. And, most of all, he desperately wanted to fit in.
"I thought so. Your power and Ms. Muroe's, Storm's, power are very similar. She will know the best course for you to take." Professor Xavier said.
"Really?" Danny asked, his eyebrows going up. He had never known another person who could do what he did.
"Really." Storm said. "Now, with Dr. Grey's permission, I'd like to take you elsewhere so I can see exactly what you can do."
"Of course." Dr. Grey said. "He needs to get dressed first. He can't exactly go outside like he is."
Dressed? Danny looked around the room for his knapsack and his one change of clothes.
"I'll get your clothes." Dr. Grey said. "Give him ten minutes."
"Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it." Danny said, to all the adults around him.