Xavier Institute, 3rd POV

Jack awoke with a yawn, pushing himself up slowly into a sitting position. He looked around for a moment, trying to remember where he was. He then grinned when he remembered.

He was at the institute.

Jack swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood, going over to the large window on the back wall.

He unlocked it and pushed it open, breathing in deeply and welcoming the feeling of exhileration (which he now assumed came with the whole 'mutant' package).

To bad there wasn't a tree to climb onto.

Shame.

With a sigh, Jack pulled his head back into the room and shut the window before grabbing new clothes and heading towards the bathroom down the hall.

He locked the bathroom door behind himself and grabbed a towel off a shelf. Turning on the shower, he set his pajama's aside and stepped in, his muscles immediately relaxing under the scawlding hot spray.

He cleaned quickly, deciding that he'd surprise everyone and make breakfast (and he knew he'd have to work fast and make a lot of food too).

Stepping out, he dried and pulled on his clothes, grabbing his old ones and running to his room, depositing them in the laundry basket before going down stairs and into the kitchen.

"Miss Ororo!" Jack murmured, surprised to see the woman already in the kitchen.

She turned slightly and smiled at the onyx haired teen.

"Jack, did you rest well?"

"Uh, yeah, I did. Would you like some help with breakfast?"

Storm blinked with surprise.

"You can cook?"

Jack flushed slightly, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I worked at a fast food joint, after all."

Storm smiled then nodded.

"If you could grab another pan and take the other side of the stove, I'm sure we could make enough food for everyone."

Jack nodded in reply, quickly finding a pan and taking up the other half of the stove top.

Storm watched the teen from the corner of her eye, shocked to see how he expertly handled the food without even concentrating on it's preperation, and while he continued to cook, his face showed he was deeply in thought.

Everyone else was shocked as well, the x-men and younger students crowding at the entryway into the kitchen, watching Jack and Ororo cook.

"You don't have to stand there, you know." Jack suddenly said, glancing at the group over his shoulder.

"Go ahead and sit down, the food will be ready in a few."

With a kind smile, Jack turned back to the stove.

Everyone looked at eachother, then moved, all of them crowding around two seperate tables (something that had made things much easier at meal times).

Finishing the food he prepared, Jack set the pan in the sink and juggled a few platers to the tables, Ororo soon following. Jack then looked at the woman.

"Why don't you go ahead and sit down, ma'am? I'll grab the juice and milk for everyone." He suggested, going to the fridge without waiting for an answer.

"Goo foo!" Kurt managed through a mouthful of food. Everyone laughed and Jack grinned as he set down the multipule cartons of juice and milk on both tables.

"Kurt, seriously. Swallow." Jack said sternly.

The onyx haired teen looked over at the other table, mostly occupied by the mutants he had yet to meet. Gathering his nerve, Jack went over and sat in an empty seat.

He was given a welcome surprise when the other mitants happily introduced themselves.

Later, Jack's POV

I followed Scott, Evan and the others into a large room. I remembered Miss Ororo waving at it vaguely the other day, saying it was the 'danger room', a place to train, I supposed.

I suddenly caught a scent that I immediately related to Professor Xavier, and I looked up to see a small observation room above.

"Jack, I'm glad to see you rested well. Today we would like to test your strength and agility, and give you a proper physical, if you wouldn't mind."

"'Course I don't mind, sounds good to me." I replied as I went over to Beast (I'd met the rather large teacher at breakfast).

Mr. McCoy smiled kindly as he gestured for me to sit on a sturdy metal gurney.

I did so, blantly ignoring the cold metal and watching as everyone joined Professor X and Mister Logan in the observation room.

I patiently did what Mr. McCoy told me to do, feeling almost as though I was at the doctors office.

"Alright Jack, see that machine over there? I need you to press down on the metal plate, as hard as you can. It will measure your strength." Mr. McCoy explained, pointing in the direstion of said machine.

I nodded, hopping off the table and placing my hands on the metal plating. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that I wouldn't reach the edge of my control by just using the new strength I'd been given, I'd only ever reached the brink when I fought Mystique.

I pressed down, hard, on the cold metal.

It was scarily easy to go past the two-hundred pound mark, and the number kept rising.

But it wasn't enough, the tension was still pent up inside me. I found myself thinking of my father.

How he'd left mom and I behind.

500 pounds.

How he had taken everything we had.

800 pounds.

EVERYTHING.

1200 pounds.

He'd promised me he would always be there, said he loved me!

3000 pounds.

HE LIED!

"Jack...Jack! That's enough! You can stop!"

I was snapped out of it by Mr. McCoy's slightly paniced voice. I immediately moved my hands away from the metal plating, my mind forced away from my thoughts.

I looked at the metal plate. It was now severely dented. I looked over at Mr. McCoy, then at everyone in the observation room.

Everyone looked shocked and some of the students...scared.

It then hit me.

I'd nearly lost myself in anger, and nearly transformed again, most likely.

I looked between those in the observation room and Mr. McCoy a couple more times...

"I...I'm sorry..."

I then ran out.

3rd POV

Everyone in the observation room watched Jack with shock as the raven haired teen ran out of the danger room.

"Kid just lifted over ten times his own weight...!" Logan muttered, breaking the silence.

The sound seemed to break everyone out of their surprise and they all looked at eachother.

"He looked, like, so angry and sad!" Kitty said, face showing concern.

Professor X nodded slowly, pondering this.

"This may mean that Jack's powers are sometimes directly controlled through his emotions, much so like you, Logan." He finally concluded, glancing at the man.

Logan raised a brow in surprise.

"What, you sayin' th' kids got powers like mine?" Logan asked, crossing his arms.

Professor X shook his head.

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. But his control over his abilities seems to be controled mostly by emotions. Though the extent of his abilities is still a mystery, and I highly doubt Jack would allow me to see into his memories to try and understand his powers."

Logan looked away, thinking over the new development. Jack obviously had trouble controlling his powers, Logan himself knew how it felt, and could easily see Jack was strugling with it as well.

"I'll see if I can find him-"

"No."

Everyone looked at Logan in surprise as he cut Scott off. Logan sighed as he pushed away from the wall he leaned on, knowing he might very well regret this.

"I'll see if I can find the kid. It'll be easier for me to jus' sniff 'im out, anyway."

Everyone watched as the man left the observation room, leaving the room in a stunned silence.

Elsewhere in the Institute, Jack's POV

I stared sadly at the ground below from my seat on the roof of the Institute.

I'd taken refuge on the roof (easily getting there from the balcony from one of the other rooms). Now I sat, knee's pulled to my chest, arms folded around them and my chin resting on top.

I suddenly caught the scent of someone else on the roof, the scent somehow strangely calming. I didn't look, already knowing it was Logan.

"Gave everyone a shock back there, kid." Logan finally said asfter a few moments of silence.

"I didn't mean to..." I murmured, my reply slightly muffled.

Logan sighed, moving to stand at my side, arms crossed.

"No one blames ya. That machine gets a lotta beatings, so this ain't new."

I simply shrugged, continuing to stare at the ground. Logan gave a slightly frustrated growl.

"Kid, get over it. Look, no one's mad at ya, it ain't your fault! Ya think every mutant has any control at first?"

"No, it's just...They all were scared. I saw all the other students in the observation room, they were scared." I replied, finally lifting my head to look at him.

"Then that's their problem. Scott an' Evan trust you, an' everyone else trusts them, they'll have to get over it. Now c'mon, stop lookin' like a kicked puppy." He said, grunting as he crouched down next to me.

I scowled, and he smirked.

"Ya heard me, now get up, Pup."

My scowl deepend.

"Don't call me that."

He laughed.

"I'll do what I want, Pup. Now, c'mon." He replied, offering my a hand, which accepted, and he stood, pulling me up with him.