In the lab

[Shadowcat]

Kitty smiled when Hannah did, more instinctively than anything; kids gave themselves so wholly over to emotion that you really couldn't resist smiling with them. It was contagious. But non-deadly.

"Somebody call the yogurt police."

"I will call the yogurt police," Kitty murmured rebelliously, though Bobby did chivalrously offer her yogurt as well, and without stealing the lid. She peeled it off and licked it clean in a pointed gesture, overemphasized mostly for Hannah's benefit.

"Bobby's a yogurt cheater."

"Well, he's making good," Kitty said as Bobby passed the little girl his own yogurt lid. "I guess we can forgive him."

"A company in Baltimore has a stockpile of the 'cure'. They announced it today, or last night. They're going to ship it all over the country. I hope we don't have another Worthington Labs incident on our hands."

Well, that brought the temperature of the room down a notch. Kitty blinked and her smile faded quickly. She - and she thought many of the others did as well, whether or not they admitted it - still had nightmares about Worthington Labs. She'd woken in the cellar more than once.

“Also, the cure is only going to be available in that one spot. Which means we can pretty much guarantee there’s going to be trouble there. Which also means we can pretty much guarantee the government knows the same, and so does the Brotherhood – assuming they are growing weary of knocking off banks. Looks like a shi- a poop storm is going to be brewing.”

Oh, not again. Kitty nodded slowly, looking a little sick to her stomach - a sickness that had nothing to do with the natural bacteria in her yogurt, which she'd learned about in Biology last week.

She listened quietly as Forge asked Hannah about someone named Miss Jenny and her parents, and Kitty felt a rush of sympathy as the girl explained that she didn't have any. G-d, what it must be like to have no one - of course, she had the people at the mansion now, but as Kitty knew full well, sometimes they just didn't cut it compared to real family.

"Do you remember anyone other than Miss Jenny?" Kitty asked. If there was some sort of authority figure, they might be able to track a location - or even a last name, a Dr. Someone. She'd actually thought of something.

And Forge was pulling food out of his harness.

Weird.

She gave him a slightly skeptical look, sort of a 'on what planet do they keep donuts in their tool belts?' thing. But he was new, so she'd cut him some slack. Maybe his mutation... meant he had to eat sugar every forty minutes or something? Yeah, that was probably it.

[Iceman]

"I don't think I have parents."

Bobby looked closely at Hannah's face as she said this. She seemed so...unphased (pun unintended but clever) by the fact as she went about eating her yogurt. What he said next came out of his mouth without his authorization from his brain.

"I don't either."

The moment after the words left his mouth, his eyes dropped from Hannah to the steel surface of the table. He became painfully aware of the other two in the room, and didn't know which he was more embarrassed to have said that in front of; Kitty, who knew the situation, or Forge, who had no idea. In that moment also passed a look of sadness as his family flashed before his eyes.

But only for a second, and then it passed. Probably just as his comment drew looks from the others, he looked back up at Hannah and forced a smile. It wasn't very well-faked, but it was a smile nonetheless.

To end the awkward silence quickly, Bobby glanced to the clock that hung on the wall. "Can you hear the speakers from the rooms? Maybe they're still asleep."

[forge]

Forge was so lost in thought, he didn’t register the strange look Kitty was giving him. Of course it was natural to keep doughnuts in his tool-pouch, where else would he keep them? He had three more bad boys in there just waiting to be eaten. Oh come now, they were covered in wax paper. What?

He raised a brow at Bobby’s comment on no parents, but decided it was best not to comment. The kid seemed somewhat troubled at his own revelation of the fact, and inquiring further would probably be bad news. That was definitely a conversation to have after a coupla beers.

Finishing his Doughnut, he answered Iceman’s next question:

"Can you hear the speakers from the rooms? Maybe they're still asleep."

“Yeah, they can hear it. They probably stayed up awfully late, so were trying to sleep in. I didn’t make it say ‘Danger Will Robinson’, so they probably were more annoyed that I used the old PA than anything. No doubt they’ll be here in a second.”

[phase]

Hannah looked at Bobby, an expression far beyond her years smoothing the soft features of her young face. She said nothing, only taking in the sadness that poured from him like warm bathwater spilling over the sides.

"Doctor Bill, the scientips don't have names. They don't talk, only Doctor Bill tells me what to do. I'm not sposed to talk when the scien-tits are there. " She kept looking at Bobby, her voice almost a whisper as she answered Kitty.

As the adults talked over her head, she picked up her yogurt and pushed it to him with two small hands across the metal table.

"It's blueberry," she said, indicating her flavor. She looks at his, then back to him. "Better than peach. Have some."

[Nightcrawler]

There was a puff of blue-black smoke in one corner of the medical lab and Kurt stood, clad in a pair of modified pajama pants and a white T-shirt, scars curling out from under the short sleeves. One three-fingered hand sleepily rubbed his eyes and he yawned, mouth wide. "All right, all right, I'm here. Was ist-"

Kurt stopped short as his hand dropped away from his face, his eyes falling on the child in the room. His eyes closed and he rubbed them again. One yellow eye opened and focused on the small blond head. "Herr Drake, there seems to be a little girl in the room."

[Storm]

[OOC: All the X-Men would have had some medical training, Storm probably knows a bit more due to her longevity... and her maternal instincts would really kick in with Hannah, so she'll take care of her. But we'll get to that in a bit ; ).

Also, Kitty, I want you to know how much this cracked me up: "Sort of like albino squirrels, or diets that actually worked."]


Storm literally flew down the many flights of stairs to the bottom basement level, eyes glowing white and hair whipping about her shoulders. She touched ground when she reached the immaculate hallways, and strode to the first doorway of the medical lab.

It opened before her and her quick eyes, barely turned blue again, swept the scene.

Forge, Bobby, Kitty, Kurt. A little girl.

Nobody looked in mortal danger, nobody even looked as tense as she felt... Ororo's brow furrowed slightly and her voice was urgent.

"What is the problem?"

[phase]

Hannah was smacked along the side by the wave of tension and worry following Storm down the stairs. It interupted the shy and curious little smile she greeted Kurt with.

But her attention was still on Bobby. She looked at him, nudging the yogurt at him again.

[Iceman]

"It's blueberry. Better than peach. Have some."

Bobby looked from the clock back to Hannah, then to the yogurt she offered him. A smile slid onto his face--Apparently he couldn't dwell on his own thoughts with such an adorable little girl in the room, as they faded away to the back of his mind. He chuckled and thanked her, then picked up the yogurt. As he dipped his spoon in and took a small amount, he said, "Have you ever mixed them together? I call it pluebeach." He also enjoyed chanillate, but his all-time favorite was strawberry-and-orangesicle, which he liked to call: strangebersicle.

When he heard the familiar 'bamf!' that announced Kurt's arrival, he turned and nodded to him, still smiling.

"Herr Drake, there seems to be a little girl in the room."

"This is Hannah. She's--new. She spent the night outside on the steps," Bobby said, looking sideways to Hannah. An older person probably would have felt uncomfortable being talked about when they were right there, even if it was just restating fact. But Hannah hadn't seemed to mind before.

Looking back to Kurt, Bobby took in his pajamas. 'If only they had little turtles on them or something,' he thought. But they didn't, and so he couldn't really hassle Kurt for them. Besides, a moment later Storm rushed in, looking severely hassled enough for all of them.

"What is the problem?"

"Well, two things," Bobby started, then realized that that probably was not the best way to calm Ororo down. "I mean, it's nothing extreme. Just...Well, first, this is Hannah--" He patted Hannah gently on the back. "She arrived sometime during the night, and I found her outside this morning. She needs checked up, she's got some bad bruising on her hands and a bad cough." He slid the yogurt back over to Hannah, his hand resting lightly against her back.

"And also, the news," Eyeing both Ororo and Kurt, Bobby assumed that they hadn't heard yet. "NovaTex has a stockpile of the cure in Baltimore. They announced that they're going to start distributing it soon."

(ooc: Poor Phase! Everyone keeps hitting her with emotion and nobody realizes it!)

[phase]

(ooc such is her lot.

Hannah nodded in agreement with Bobby about everything he said, taking back the yogurt. As he put a hand to her back, she scooted a little closer to him, apparently adopting him as an older brother type. She was feeling a bit better having eaten something, but still looked pale as hell and in need of a nap.

As Bobby began to talk about things she couldn't understand, she looked to Kurt. She took a moment just to observe him, the colour of his skin, his eyes, the fun looking tail. Deciding he was not a threat, she smiled a friendly smile and went back to eating.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt's eyes never left the small girl, and he offered her a smile in return for hers. Moving forward to the table, he kneeled in front of her. "Guten Morgen, Hannah. Was isst sie?" Scratching he head as he realized Hannah hadn't heard him speak enough to pick up basic phrases in German, glanced at the small container in her hand. "What are you eating?"

Without looking away from Hannah, smile still curling his lips, Kurt spoke to the others in the room with a pleasant tone. "So this little girl is the reason the entire mansion is awake now?"

[forge]

“Uhhh…” Forge laughed a nervous laugh, and scratched the back of his head, studying the floor. “Actually, that was my fault. Sort of a knee jerk reaction, there. Bobby came in with Hannah, and said she needed medical attention – so I thought it was an emergency. I decided discretion was only the better part of Valor when people weren’t in danger, so I went with the PA approach – sorry to wake everyone up.”

He lifted his head, and took on a somewhat more grave look, however.

“Although, from what we can assess, she’s from some sort of lab, raised by scientists, and has no parents. She has an ability to phase, though I’m unsure what that means at this time, and it makes her fatigued and sick – that’s why she’s fatigued and sick right now. She was dropped here in the middle of the night.” He adjusted the goggles on his forehead, and continued. “Also, there really was the matter of the cure, and the inevitable battle… Here…”

Forge turned to the TV on the wall, and clicked it on. Concentrating on his handheld computer for a moment, the TV began to immediately play the news article from this morning, about the cure.

xpanacea.proboards92.com/index.cgi?board=north&action=display&thread=1152742764

[phase]

"It's yogurt," she said, lifting her spoon out of the cup and offering him some. A drop splattered on the floor, and she bent to look between her knees at it. "Oops."

When Forge began talking about her, she watched him with an odd expression.

"I'm not raised like a plant. I grow just like the other kids." She looked at Kurt, nodding. "I'd show you what I can do, but I should wait until Doctor Bill says its okay, cause I think I hurt myself in my lunds when I tried to find Miss Jenny and I should save my energy like Doctor Bill says so the slyentists can measure me with the sucky things. I think-" and with that exuberant ramble she started coughing, putting the spoon back in the cup and covering her mouth. After a few seconds she gasped asthmatically and looked at Kurt, an apologetic expression on her face.

[Nightcrawler]

Smiling as the yogurt dropped from the spoon held out to him, Kurt pushed it back towards the cup with one finger. "Danke, Hannah, but I'll eat later."

Kurt's mind raced as Hannah spoke, ignoring the drone from the TV. If Forge had it taped, he could always watch it later. This kleine mädchen was tested? Who would do such a thing? And how did she get here? He never let his face slip, keeping his expression warm, unsure just how much the girl would be able to read his expressions.

As she finished speaking, he gave her little knee a pat. "You don't have to do anything until you want to, Liebchen. We won't make you show us anything."

[phase]

Hannah watched him, feeling his reaction spin around him. Listening to his words more than his emotions, she nodded, and finished her yogurt.

"How'd you turn blue?" She said innocently. "Amy's kind of a green color, but that's cause she's got a hoppy toad inside her that comes out sometimes. She can jump reeeeally high." In emphasis, Hannah held her hand out high above her head.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt laughed happily at her question. It was rare for children to be so comfortable with him at first, but she sounded like she'd had experience with strange appearances. "I've always been blue, ever since I was little. I think God wanted me this way, just like he wanted to you have blonde hair."

He whistled appreciatively as she stretched as far as she could go. "That is very high for someone to jump. It sounds like you have some special friends." He carefully plucked the empty yogurt container and spoon from her hands, setting them off to one side.

[phase]

Her hands daintily folded together in her lap, the right palm and fingers still bruised purple from her experience in the car.

"Of course, we are all special. Amy can jump, and Jack can break things REALLY HARD!" She makes a grr face and animates smashing something with two fists. "And Kevin? Kevin can tell when I'm thinking of an orange or a banana!" She stops suddenly, considering something.

"Why don't you know them?" The look on her face is a little disturbed, though clearly not as much as it should be. It seems she isn't entirely aware that she's somewhere other than where she came from.

[Iceman]

As Hannah mentioned other children that she had apparently known in the lab, Bobby looked to her once again, his face a mixture of concern and curiousity. If these scientists had dropped her off, why hadn't they dropped off Amy and Jack and Kevin? Had something gone wrong with Hannah? Or perhaps...Was she still an experiment? Were they wondering what would happen to her in the real world?

Bobby cleared his throat with a cough behind his hand. It was a difficult question; one with no easy answer. He glanced at Kurt, then to Storm, unsure how to answer and hoping that perhaps Ororo would check Hannah over and avert Hannah's attention from receiving an answer.

[Storm]

Storm's nostrils flared dangerously as she listened to Bobby first. She tried to smile at Hannah but couldn't manage it very well. Her anger was not at Bobby, however; she doubted him capable of the announcement and saw that he had been gallant enough to take the little girl's care into his hands.

But then her gaze slid to Forge and her eyebrows went down.

She tried very hard to stop her eyes from turning white again, but it was difficult; her African upbringing had taught her to close off her emotions so as not to cause accidental damage, but the welcoming atmosphere of Xavier's school had caused her to let down the barriers a bit. Her anger escaped her grasp just a little now, and a cold breeze blew through the room, rustling papers.

Her pale eyes locked on Forge. "'A knee jerk reaction.'"

She took a moment and a deep breath, but didn't move her eyes. "Bandero, I have a pager. Should someone need medical attention, that is the way to reach me. NOT by waking up the entire school at God-knows-when in the morning. Your powers and our welcome do not give you liberties to misuse vital systems like the emergency loudspeakers."

Storm listened to his explanation of the girl's history and calmed down a little. She cared so much for those who had noplace to turn but the school. Her eyes went to Hannah, who was engrossed in conversation with Bobby and the pajamad Kurt, and the breeze died down.

But Forge's next words brought her hackles up again.

She needed only a minute of the news program before she spoke over it. "This was actually aired for the first time late last night, and I did see it before I went to bed. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, and I agree that it needs to be discussed."

Her posture straightened, if possible, even more, and her hair floated lightly around her shoulders. "However, I disagree that this news report is an emergency on its own. We should have a meeting of the X-Men today, but I see no reason for it to be right now."

Once angered, she was hard to shake. Kurt had seen this when he first met her; her anger did not surface often, but when it did it was righteous, and fixed. Her heart was still pounding from the worry that someone - or many someones - had been in mortal danger, and the tension she had built up in case of that situation now had no release but her temper.

[forge]

Forge winced, but tried extremely hard not to show his fear. He had read bio’s on all the X-Men before joining, and knew full well what the once-called-god Storm could do. He hoped that she had the control not to accidentally create a hurricane in the Med-lab.

“Uhhh, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t cook me. Don’t use the PA system unless 100% certain of emergency. Check. You have a pager. Check. I read you loud and clear, and am way… WAY sorry.”

He held his hands up defensively, still half-poised to dodge a bolt of lightning should he need to.

“So, as an add-on, you’ve got a pager – but shouldn’t we have some sort of X-communicators? I can whip some up. They’ll be small, and we can page each other directly and communicate at distances. They’ll be nearly impossible to hack, and scrambled on all frequencies. I mean, just for the X-Men. Kinda like in Star Trek? The little badges they wore? Only, with X’s.”

He offered a nervous smile.

Someone’s not a morning person. he thought.

[phase]

Hannah was suddenly rocked by a wave of anger and adrenaline, completely distracted from her question to Kurt. Anger was not an emotion she was all that experienced with, having been sheltered by the program where most adults were present on business or science.

A small hand reached for Bobby's tshirt and held on. Her face reflected only a little disturbance, as if she were simply reacting externally to the tense conversation, but she never lifted her eyes to Storm. Hannah blinked slowly, taking it all in.

Then she whispered. "I wanna take a nap."