Chapter 3

Iris was up early the next morning; it was hard to sleep in a new place filled with so many new… unusual people. To her surprise she found that she wasn't the only one up at 5 am. She had seen several older people, most likely the instructors of this bizarre school but not wanting to be detected she had kept herself concealed. Wandering around the mansion was useful, she had found the kitchen, various escape routes, and the general layout of the place. Finally surrendering to the rumbling of her stomach she quietly made her way to the kitchen in the hopes of some breakfast.

Remy couldn't sleep. He couldn't even begin to fathom who this girl was and why she resembled him so strongly. Hell, she was even a pretty damn good thief too, that Remy would even bet his impressive reputation on. There is something to the saying "It takes one to know one" Remy thought. It bothered him, the uncanny similarities, not the stealing. As Remy replayed the encounter in his mind he actually felt a stab of pride when he recalled how she had set up the security system around her house. He was willing to bet Logan hadn't even noticed the cameras. Shaking his head, Gambit found himself padding softly around the halls of the mansion; just as he was about to turn back to his room he caught the slightest flicker of movement rounding the corner. Iris. He smirked, and silently applauded the girl. She had been almost silent and invisible; her technique was variation of the one Remy used. The thought hit him like a lightning strike. She had been raised by the Thieves' Guild at one point. No one else could move like that. Was it possible that Jean-Luc kept this secret from him? He watched as Iris stopped her thief's stride and adopted a more normal, albeit quiet, stride indicating she had no more reason to sneak about.

Remy paused, should he confront the girl now? Or wait till she was more comfortable? He sighed, if Iris was an agent of Jean-Luc's or still connected to the Guild in any way she could be a threat, on the other hand if she wasn't then he didn't want to scare her off. Deciding to simply keep an eye on her he fell into step beside her.

"Mornin'"

Remy raised an eyebrow, "Mornin' tah you to, petit."

The pair walked the rest of the way to the kitchen in silence. Gambit started some coffee and tossed Iris a box of cereal. "So …" Iris pushed her cereal around in her bowl looking nervous suddenly.

"You're wondering why we look the same."

"Yeah, about that… is there any way…" Iris looked up and Gambit thought he saw a spark of hope in her eyes."

He looked at the girl, " Yer wonderin' if we're kin, non?" He said flatly. "Do ya have a last name petit?"

Iris' gaze returned to her cereal "I don't know, I don't even know if Iris is my real name."

Before Gambit could question her further Storm and Rogue entered the room, the former in her usual calm, stateliness the latter looking like she would rather be in bed.

"Iris, please pass the coffee." Rogue practically begged.

Storm looked at the girl and greeted her, "Good morning, you must be Iris." She said, "I am called Ororo Munroe, or Storm" settling gracefully into a seat with her tea. Iris simply nodded and made room on the bench as more people crowded into the room. She had succeeded in making herself nearly invisible until Logan wandered in to escort her to Professor Xavier's office. The conversation lulled as she tried to extract herself from the room and earned her self many curious glances.

She felt tiny and inexplicably nervous as she followed Logan down the hallways. Suddenly Iris realized Gambit was walking beside her. Ignoring him she raised her chin and squared her shoulder's before entering the door Logan opened for her.

"See ya later, kid" Logan winked at her. And Gambit just leaned up against the wall and nodded. With this reassurance she turned to the bald man behind the desk.

ooOOoo

Her first impression of Professor Xavier was the amount of energy gathered around him. It actually hurt to look him directly in the eyes. Iris grimaced and grabbed her head, trying to readjust to the brightness.

Concerned Xavier reached out both physically and mentally, "Are you alright?"

Iris shook her head saying sharply, "Stay outta my head!" Backing up to the opposite side of the room she straitened, eyes blazing and intense shade of purple while a light rainbow shimmer gathered around her hands.

Xavier slowly raised he hands, "You have my word that I will not use my powers against you without your permission."

Iris stayed where she was, though the rainbow energy swirling around her hands slowly decreased and vanished.

"May I ask what happened when you entered the room?"

Iris sighed knowing if she wanted to stay she would have to tell the truth, "I wasn't ready for you. Your energy, aura, whatever you want to call it, it was more powerful than I expected."

"Ah, I see," Xavier was quiet for a moment, and the energy around him decreased.

"How did you do that?" Iris exclaimed, "No-one else seems to have any control over their aura like that!"

Xavier looked up, "Interesting. My intention was to simply reign in my telepathic presence, in accordance with my earlier promise. But back to the real reason for this meeting," Iris steeled herself for the barrage of personal questions she knew were bound to come, " I have here your last transcript from the middle school you last attended. Were you ever enrolled in any high schools?"

Iris shook her head, "I was too… different." She choked out, remembering the kids in New York and all the terrible things they called her.

"It's quite alright, Iris" Xavier said kindly, "We'll have you take a placement test to see where you would fall in the curriculum and go from there. In the mean time I have you in the beginner's Danger Room sessions with Logan and Stealth with Gambit."

"Um okay" she said hesitating.

"Do you have any questions for me?"

"Yeah… uh," Iris couldn't decide which was more important, finding out why Gambit and her looked alike, finding out how much the Professor knew about her past, "Why do Gambit and I look alike?" She finally blurted out, then blushed realizing how silly she must sound. "I mean we look like we could be siblings but I've never seen him before in my life!"

"Yes, Gambit was wondering that as well." The Professor said slowly, "Our resident genetic researcher Dr. Hank McCoy could run a test to see if you are truly related. He may also be able to answer any questions you may have about your powers."

Iris looked startled, "but…"

"I don't need my telepathic abilities for everything" Xavier said knowingly, "I know nothing outside of what Logan and Remy had told me last night after you agreed to come here, and what I witnessed here today. You can do more than just see our, aura's, as you call them can't you?"

She nodded, looking ashamed, "I can control them sometimes, the energies, I can make people do what I want them to, or I can steal their energy, taking it away from them. My control never lasts for long though, sometimes its like I'm the one being possessed and my powers go crazy, at other times its like they aren't there at all." She looked at her hands, "They came in handy, though, whenever I was on a job." She finished weakly.

Xavier just nodded. Iris sighed, he already knew, then, that her past was filled with crime. "I think, perhaps, we should add Horticulture with Ororo to your schedule and a session with me, we can work on controlling you powers here." He said simply. " Can you get the door? Gambit would like to have a word with the two of us."

She got up and opened the door, finding a very impatient Gambit waiting outside. "'bout time, petit." He said, brushing past her, taking a seat across from the Professor. "Ya, kno' why Gambit be her', Prof." He stated shortly.

The Professor nodded, "Yes, yes, you two do pose an interesting question." He paused, "Iris, what do you remember of your early life?"

She felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over her, this was the question she was dreading. Where did she come from? Why was she such a freak? Her rational side told her that these people were just like her, that they couldn't point fingers but the other side, the side that grew up on the streets of New York pointed out that that never stopped anyone there, why would it here? She started shaking, feeling her control over the pent up energy inside her weaken. Ignoring the two men she turned and shot down the hall, startling several people as she made a beeline for the door. The energy totally consumed her; she knew she could only control it for so long, it needed to be released. Suddenly she was in the sky. Soaring high above the mansion her only thought was to get as far away as possible, she wasn't going to hurt anyone else because of her powers, her curse.

Gambit had raced down the hall after Iris, watching as her form got brighter and brighter, glowing with techno-colored light. Then to his surprise she shot into the air like a rocket, nearly vanishing from sight. Rogue was at his elbow, "Ah'll follow her from tha air, ya got'ter from down here." She said shooting into the sky. Immediately, Gambit sprinted to his motorcycle, gunning the engine he went in pursuit of Iris.

It was dusk and Rogue still hadn't caught up to Iris. It seemed like every time she was close enough to call out the younger girl would put on a burst of speed and shoot off into the horizon. At this point Rogue was at the brink of her endurance, and Gambit had already stopped for gas several times. They needed a plan. Rogue made sure Iris saw her slow down and land next to Remy. While Iris had been avoiding them all afternoon she had never lost them completely, though Rogue suspected she easily could have.

"She's toying with us ya know." Rogue said to Gambit. He nodded, "Gambit know, chere, but Gambit got the feelin' petit needs us here."

Suddenly the entire sky erupted in a massive ball of flames, the force sent Rogue and Gambit flying backwards across the road into the field beyond. Rogue saw Iris' limp body plummeting towards earth and shot into the sky to save her.

A/N: In case its not obvious already Rogue has already absorbed Carol's powers. Also, I want to thank all of you who have added my story to your favorites, I can't promise any sort of regular updates as the end of term is coming up but I'm working on it! Please take some time to review, even if you just leave me a smiley face I like to know if people are enjoying my work. Plus, I have been known to take the reader's opinions and suggestions into account (wink wink). Have a fabulous day!