Pyro woke up and the first thing he noticed was the skeletal blond haired kid with bad sunburn in the bed next to him. The kid was possibly skinnier than he had been when he'd arrived here. Pyro noticed the feeding tube, the drip and the fact the kid looked like a corpse. Jean Grey came in and started fussing over Pyro. He had a cracked cheek bone, concussion and fractured left wrist. Jean told Pyro to lie back down as he was on bed rest for at least two days

Curiosity got the better of John, when he asked "Who's the new kid?"

"His name is Alex. Alex Rider. He's just come into his powers. He's been having a serious reaction between prescribed medication and his gift. Mind controlling drugs can cause a telepath serious damage. Once he's clean he'll wake up."

"So is he like the Professor or can he move things with his mind like you?" asked Pyro. He thought Jean's power was seriously cool.

Jean smiled "We'll have to wait and see."

Two days in a hospital bed was not so bad really, at least Pyro did not have to interact with the other inmates of the asylum. The next day Pyro had read three books on his suggested reading list. He was in danger of becoming a bit of a bookworm. It helped that the Professor came with a new book each time he'd been down to visit med bay. Pyro was sure he'd come to check on Alex but he'd brought gifts for Pyro, of chocolate, cookies and candy each time as well. Professor X was cool in a weird way. He always knew what you needed. However, the Professor was Pyro's only visitor. Damn, he missed Iceman. He had no one dropping by with the latest gossip drifting around Mutant High. Lately Bobby had been preoccupied by his budding relationship with Rogue. Possibly the only cool girl in the entire school, not that Pyro would admit he liked the girl. He was glad for Bobby, as the Iceman had told Pyro of the growing distance between the mutant and his family. Mostly caused by the fac they thought Mutant High was a school for the gifted not for freaks of nature. Pyro knew it was only a matter of time things came to a head. Bobby hoped his parents would accept him, warts and all but normals liked their own kind. Better here with the other freaks than at the mercy of the bastards in the 'normal' world.

Early the next morning, Pyro woke to Alex coughing. He got up and helped him to take sips from a glass of water. Alex had warm brown eyes and his face twitched twitched in pain, when Pyro helped him lie back down. Pyro then gasped and sat down heavily on his own bed. He then noted distacted that the kid, Alex, was talking to him, well it was more a raspy whisper "Thanks for the drink. Who beat the crap out of you?"

"Umm some guys. No one here likes me much." Pyro lay back down, wondering why he felt slightly, no very, off.

"Yeah I know all about that." was muttered before the kid asked, "So Mutant High? Does that mean I'm a mutant freak?" Alex then wondered how he knew everything about the school, the students and the teachers.

"Yeah, Jean said you were a telepath." Pyro added rubbing his forehead.

The kid then blushed and added sheepishly "Oh right, ummm, sorry"

"Sorry?" Pyro was perplexed what was the kid apologising for?

"I kind of know all about you. You touched me. I can't read you from here, only when I touch." Alex was confused at this strange turn of events.

Pyro closed his eyes and was then assaulted by images, feelings and a life not his own. "No worries, you kind of shared, Alex."

Alex sat horrified at a stranger knowing all about his crappy life and then relaxed as he processed that Pyro's life was no bed of roses either. Pyro had not freaked out about him. So obviously was cool about unintentional sharing. "So I need a new name?"

"Yeah. Pyro was easy for me. Fire has been my only friend since I was 12. Well, Bobby... you know, I share a room with Iceman. He's cool in every sense. Totally together, tries to be friends, but.."

"Yeah, I know. How can you be friends with people who still have faith in humanity?" Alex pondered Pyro's shitty home life and horrific life on the streets. Pyro had learned skills that echoed Alex's training with dear Uncle Ian.

"Yeah. I did things... bad things... to survive. So did you. Most of the kids here think they had a bad time, just running. They accept they have a home here, I still think.."

"You'll never fit in anywhere." Alex sat up and pulled at the hospital gown, noticing the cubes, catheter and the fact he was hooked up to various machines. "I have to go. The people I worked for will come and get me."

Alex then noted two strangers arrive. A tall beautiful woman with dark red hair and an old bald man in a wheelchair, who had kind eyes and soft gentle voice, who spoke both with words and in Alex's mind, "Do not worry. You are safe here. State police in California have declared you dead, lost in the wilderness. Three days in high desert in the state you were in, no one could have survived that long. Your 'suicide' has been reported in the papers stating you were disturbed, depressed and suicidal."

"So I need a new identify..." At this point the blond teenager laughed and turned to Pyro. "I've figured out my mutant name, its Ghost. I'm dead. I don't exist, not anymore."

Alex then looked between these three people, two telepaths and one 'Alex clone'. "So, can I learn to sheild or will I share everything with everyone I touch?"

The professor then smiled, "You will be able to shield your emerging telepathy with meditation and practice. Your empathy will probably require you to wear gloves and avoid casual contact with people."

"So you guys know all about me. I have enemies and the type of 'friends' who are as bad as my enemies. I'm dangerous."

"Everyone here is viewed as dangerous, a threat to mankind. We can and will protect ourselves, but we must work to avoid open an open war between mutants and the rest of humanity. Human evolution has a nasty habit of wiping out those who are one step behind. This time humanity might fight the emergence of a new genus of humanity."

"Great! So, its us and them. I ... I just start thinking a new identity would be good for me and its all political. I need to think about all this. I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the media lately but the Mutant phenomena is not front page news anymore. What happens here if you get tarred with the same brush as Magneto and his Brotherhood?"

"We have escape plans. Each and every student has the means to protect themselves. Telepathy is not just reading thoughts, memories and emotions. You can manipulate these as well. Make people forget or distract them."

"Jedi mind trick!" was exclaimed out loud by both boys at the same time. Alex then laughed and was joined by his new 'twin', Pyro.