Scott pulled up to the Institute in his red sports car. Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Rogue and Jean all piled out of the car. Kitty, Rogue, and Evan had been filled in on the way over about the goings on of that morning. Rogue had gotten to school much later than everyone else on account of an accident with some new recruits. Three were in the infirmary after Rogue had accidentally drained them. It was clear that she felt terrible about the incident, and made regular visits with apology notes. She seemed to be upset about missing all the action, but Scott couldn't quite tell. With Rogue it was often hard to say.
Kitty punched Kurt playfully in the arm. "Race you up!" she said, taking off for the stairs.
"Ow," said Kurt rubbing his arm ruefully. He disappeared in a hazy gray pillar of smoke, then reappeared at the top in a similar manner.
"No fair! You cheated."
Kurt powered down his watch, reverting back to his blue, fuzzy self. His tail waved lazily in the wind. Shaking a long finger at her, he grinned. "No, no, no, Kitty Cat. I did not cheat. I won." He raised his arms above his head triumphantly, acknowledging an imaginary audience.
Kitty smirked and charged him.
"Uh-oh," he said, before disappearing in another puff of smoke.
Kitty ran headlong into a stone pillar, phased through and materialized out the other side. She shook her hand in mock anger at Kurt, who was now swinging upside down from a chandelier.
Scott walked up to break it up. "Okay, guys. Knock it off before something gets broken."
"Very well," said Kurt, allowing himself to drop from the chandelier back onto the ground. He stood up. "Anyone up for some swimming?"
"This year?" Kitty asked. "It's too cold."
"Nonsense," said Evan. "I'd be up for it myself, but I've got a game tomorrow. Have to practice."
"Scott?"
"Homework," he replied, giving a small shrug.
"Jean?"
"Same here."
"Well, then," said Kurt, shoulders slumping. "I guess it's just you and me, Rogue."
Rogue shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking 'bout, Blue."
He sighed. "Pool is all mine then?"
Scott smirked. "We all know you're thrilled at the prospect. Come on. Let's go inside, though. I want to hear how it went with the freshman at school today."
They walked inside, the tile floors feeling more like home to them than anywhere they'd ever been before. Above them, Scott noticed a spidery crack along the ceiling from where Kurt had jumped around taunting Todd. Kurt followed Scott's gaze and gave a shrug, as if to say, "What can you do?"
Storm and Professor X came out to greet them. It was immediately clear by their faces that something was wrong. Not 'one of the recruits tried flushing an entire roll of toilet paper down the tube' wrong, or even 'Logan destroyed the danger room during a demo again' wrong. This was something seriously, seriously wrong.
"What is it?"
Haddy sat at the foot of the bed, swinging her feet off the end. She had stopped trying to open the door over an hour ago when she finally realized that there was no hope at all in getting the thing to budge. After that, she had strongly debated jumping out the window, but the three story drop into a row of thorny hedges made her think better of that idea.
Her biggest problem, she supposed, was that she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. She wanted to know what was going on. How did that bald guy know her life story? How'd he get inside her head? What were mutants doing at Bayville High? What were they planning on doing to her? Until she got some answers, she figured it was probably a good idea to stick around. Plus, she wasn't the biggest fan of the idea of trying to out distance Logan. That was just an accident waiting to happen.
She was jarred from her thoughts as the door swung open. Logan had placed himself off to the side and eyed her, daring her to try anything. Wheelchair-man glided into the room accompanied a tall woman with dark skin and white hair. Several of the kids from her school followed behind him. And one fuzzy blue thing with elf ears and a pointed tail.
She glanced at the creature oddly and he waved a three fingered hand before pressing a button on a watch that transformed him into a regular boy with long, dark hair. She recognize him immediately as one of the students who had helped her out in the hall.
"X-Men, this is Hadrianne," said wheelchair-man.
"Hadrianne?" said the boy, the one who had formerly been blue. "My English has its faults, but Hadrianne is not a girl's name, is it, Professor?"
The wheelchair-man, who was apparently referred to as Professor, nodded in her direction, signalling her to answer the question.
"My parents wanted a boy," she mumbled. "They didn't have a girl's name picked out, so they just stuck an 'N-E' at the end of the boy's name they had picked out. I go by Haddy."
The boy stuck out a hand and Haddy quickly counted the fingers. There were five now, not three. That was odd. "The name is Nightcrawler, but you can call me Kurt." He thrust his hand a little closer, and she finally shook it. His hand felt fuzzy, and like it had longer fingers than it seemed. She couldn't tell, but she would bet a hundred dollars that under whatever guise he had put up, he was still blue.
"Why is she still here, Professor?" asked Scott. She remembered Scott because of his sunglasses. She'd never seen him without them.
"Not to be rude or anything," a voice added in. She recognized Kitty, the brunette from her class who'd given Lance the blow over the head with the math book. She was a mutant too? How many were there?
The Professor paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "Something is wrong about you, Hadrianne," he said. "You should not have felt me in your mind. Until I can figure out how to remove your memories without hurting you again, you will have to stay here. You had intense pain from me merely entering your mind. There is no telling what might happen should I try to remove your memories."
"What do you mean 'remove my memories'? You think I'm going to let you back in my head?"
He pressed his fingertips together; that seemed to be his thinking habit. "Regrettable as it is to say, I do not believe that you have a choice. For our safety, as well as for your own, the memories must be erased. The world is not ready for mutants to live among them."
Haddy crossed her arms. "Well, good luck trying to get into my head again."
The Professor simply sighed and turned the wheelchair around and exited the room.
"Logan," said Professor Xavier. The burly man nodded in acknowledgement. "Keep an eye on Miss Micheals tonight. I have a feeling that she will try to escape."
"Of course, Charles. She won't get past me."
The professor nodded, then started down the hall. "Oh, and, Logan?"
"What?"
"Do not hurt the girl."
Logan grunted. "I'll do my best, Charles."