At the facility of Umbra Biogenetics, in Western Europe.

Dinner time. Dr. Jean Grey makes partial use of it to place a phone call back home.

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester, New York.

Lunch hour. Scott Summers answers.

It was only a short while since Jean took on a temporary position at the facility: keen to see how young mutants were being treated in another part of the world, and see both what she could learn, and what she could contribute.

"... but I've been picking up on something strange."

"In what way?"

"At different times throughout a day I experience. . the only way I can describe it is psychic nausea."

"And you don't think the timing is coincidence and it's a symptom of the pregnancy?"

"No, this is definitely something external."

"Then, is it safe that you're there?"

"I don't feel it's dangerous. But I'd like if Xavier could look into the area through Cerebro."

"I'll let you know what he finds."

Later, Scott stands by while Xavier works Cerebro.

Xavier: "Hmmm...I'm detecting nothing peculiar. Perhaps there's something in the vicinity inorganic, akin to a radio tower, which is causing Jean's symptoms." He removes the helmet. "What do you think? Should we pay Jean a visit in her new environment?"

Heading for the hanger and the smaller of the X-Jets the following morning, Xavier cautions: "Best to be on our guard. What I did perceive through Cerebro is that the nearest city is unnaturally devoid of mutant signatures. The ones in the facility, which sits outside city limits, are the only ones present. We could be going where we're less welcome than usual."

---

When Xavier had said "best to be on our guard", Cyclops hadn't expected this:
getting shot by a standard firearm at the hands of a teenager, not even a couple hours in.

It had started out just fine.

---

He and Xavier were received at reception. He noticed Jean down the hall, looking as well as when he'd seen her last, which was good to see; it confirmed what was affecting her wasn't doing so too much.

With a sudden, knowing look, she'd looked up, casting him an affectionate smile.
He'd returned it.

Then all hell broke lose.

Every bit of technology going off the rails at once--alarms blaring, machines beeping, automated security doors closing and opening, lights flashing on and off. The works. In a minute Cyclops was joining the Director at the Security Room to see if any light could be shed on things there; Cyclops not sparing a thought for making free with the place (intel took precedence), and the director too harassed by the insanity to notice a guest following him into a Staff Only area.

The card reader, of course, was on the fritz, but a well-timed try of the door granted them access all the same.
Unsurprisingly the monitors were going haywire -- blipping, pixilating, static. When they displayed anything.

On one wall Cyclops noticed a board listing the different areas of the facility, with lights to indicate which might be having a security breech. They all, of course, were flashing. One word in particular caught his eye: armoury.

Seeing the uselessness of being here, the director turned: "Hey- you shouldn't be in here!" He lead the way back out. Cyclops following after another look by the board.

Back at reception, he found Jean with one hand on the counter in a steadying manner, the other to her head, looking sick. "It's that sensation again," she explained once he came to her side, "only much worse." Beyond the disturbance, her eyes had a searching look to them: what was this?

Other personnel and their charges had gathered as though responding to a drill.

Another minute and the attentions of Cyclops, Xavier, and Jean -collecting herself with slow, deep breaths- shifted to a couple personnel who just arrived on scene, coming straight to the director. With a furtive glance back, he ushered them aside to have their discussion.

Something else was off here.

Xavier exchanged a look with the other two, then seemed to be "listening".
Wordlessly, he shared what he "overheard".

Somehow in the mess it had been determined one of the charges had just made a break for it.
But the way the small group was talking about it was strange, indeed.

'I think we should look into this, ourselves,' Xavier thought, with a telling look to Cyclops.

Command received, Cyclops cast a checking-in look to Jean before slipping away.

Outside Cyclops looked around and what luck, didn't have to look long or far to find a young individual standing as though paused by something in front of them. The wide world?

Cyclops stood some yards behind them. How to approach this?

"Hi. Do you want to tell me why you're running from this place?"

For an indeterminate length of time, Ryder had been monitoring everything that was of any consequence in this hell they called a lab. What was allegedly just a medium to low-level psychic was actually far, far more powerful than she had been given credit for. She played a good undersell, not a single scientist or researcher expected she was any stronger than what they observed. And so, she had the run of the entire facility. Ryder heard the conversations recorded by security systems, she saw the logs that determined which personnel were in rotation, and she knew who would and wouldn’t be present at any given point. After all, what kind of scientific research facility wouldn’t write down every little thing?

Like bricks in a wall, she slowly constructed her plan. Trawling the wires and processors of every computer in the building for every possible weakness, and leaving no trace of her intrusion. Ryder’s espionage had been going fine. There were tiny holes in the security that made things vulnerable, like micro-fractures in a window that made it all the more brittle. One day, though, something different made itself known. Not a machine, not the minds of the researchers or her “keepers.” No, this was something very interesting. Mentally, it was like a lighthouse in a layer of fog. A ripple in otherwise still waters that ran deeper than realized.

Jean was her name. She made a phone call to someone, and Ryder could hear every word. Someone was on their way to Umbra, and they’d arrive in a short while.

Perfect.

She waited for years, she could wait just a little longer.

---

In a veritable explosion of psychic energy, the lab lost itself like a drunken fool. Security systems spasmed, doors went haywire, even the lights flickered and blew open in showers of sparks. Every now and then, a single security camera would be released from the chaos for a second at a time. That would be Ryder’s doing, so she could mentally check in on the chaos. She ran down the cold hallways of Umbra’s levels, and willed a door to slam shut behind her. Ryder knew every inch of every room in this building with near photographic accuracy, so she reached out into the darkness of the room and just knew the weapons were here, and the ammunition there. Everything was hers to exploit.

Knowing better than to go back the way she came, an air vent was telekinetically crushed into a ball, and Ryder floated up, held her breath, and crawled to the next step. While deep in their computers, Ryder had memorized the pathways of the HVAC system. If she took this vent, went up and down the next three and took a left, she could release an elevator and crawl down the empty shaft. She did just that, making sure the fire suppression system throughout the building wouldn’t stop doing its job for the next few minutes. Just to spite them.

---

Fresh air was a strange thing to Ryder. It was foreign.

The lab was in chaos of the highest order. It stood behind her while she stared out into the open world. Green trees, a blue sky and white clouds. Of course she knew this was waiting for her, but being present in the real world… It was a shock. Her scheming had paid off. She could pick a direction and never look back. All she had to do was-

"Hi. Do you want to tell me why you're running from this place?"

Ryder practically jumped out of her skin at the sound of someone creeping up behind her. She spun around and pointed the gun straight at the… Guard? No. He wasn’t a guard. In fact, he wasn’t even armed. Then it hit Ryder that this guy was one of the visitors. He had some strange visor over his face. She didn’t recognize what kind of device that was and assumed it was just some weird pair of sunglasses. At least he didn’t have a gun like her.

”That doesn’t concern, big guy. Turn around, walk away, and forget you saw me. Do that and I won’t blow your fucking head off.” The gun’s safety was off, and the barrel was pointed directly at Scott’s center mass. Spite and self preservation were written all over her face.

The bursting lights coupled with the spray from the sprinklers caused confused milling about to gave way -more or less- to panic amidst the charges and a few of the less level-minded of the staff. Those who did keep their senses began directing everyone outside -at least the nearest fire door was free from requiring a card reader; free from the jerky behaviour of all other doors. "Follow your carers," Xavier encouraged a couple of the more scared youngsters, offering a smile. "It'll be fine out there."

Jean had managed to erect a forcefield following the first light burst in their immediate area, shortly into the sprinklers, her trained-mind acting almost on reflex. She'd extended it beyond herself, but was relieved to see everyone exiting; using her powers even this much in tandem with this degree of "psychic nausea" was a dizzying experience. Even still, she concentrated on everyone leaving, her eyes landing on each young mutant, almost like she were counting.

Xavier's attention reverted her way, but shifted to the side where the administrator and researchers had still been talking amongst themselves, but now seemed on the cusp of moving. But not towards the fire door; to somewhere else within the facility. "Excuse me, Director Becker." He wheeled back over, projecting his authoritative voice only as much as necessary above the din. "Perhaps we could go outside as well and you can tell me what has happened here?" He knew what he'd overheard, he could dip into their minds to find out more, but it could be beneficial to see first what a person would or wouldn't divulge themselves.

---

Out by a far end of the building, Cyclops was realizing he'd made an error. Nearly a critical one; still with that potential.

He should've observed and sized up this kid a little while before engaging. He might've then noticed the gun before it was pointed at him. His body tensed readily.

"I'm not in the habit of letting someone go off with a gun," he stated calmly, though he didn't like what he saw in her face. The self-preservation was to be expected, and made things dangerous enough. But this kid gave off a vibe more of intent than panic. "You look smart," he stated, slowly raising his arm about mid-way up, gesturing to her with an open hand, "how about we think this through?" He raised his hand, still slow, the rest of the way to the side of his head.

He actually had the ability to release his blast without touching his visor, thanks to pressure pads within his gloves. However, he couldn't adjust the intensity that way and wasn't about to shoot a kid at the level it was currently set on.

Ryder kept the gun trained on Scott. Even as he made it clear he wasn't armed with a gun of some sort, she held it there firmly intent on laying him out. She was tempted to probe the man's mind for some indication of what he was planning. But that strange psychic echo she detected before now was an unknown- It could've been him for all she knew, meaning he could be a psychic and know she was about to read his thoughts. That was a curveball that Ryder seriously did not need at this phase of her master plan.

"I don't give a shit what you feel like doing, Shades. I've been thinking this through for longer than you realize, and you're not stopping me now."

Fuck him, she thought. He didn't mean anything in all this. And so Ryder pulled the trigger, multiple times to unload a total of three shots into the man's chest. Two would hit his ribs, one would deflect off his collarbone, but nothing vital would be at risk. Umbra Biogenetics used hollow point ammunition as standard issue in their armory. It would be damn near impossible to kill someone with the weapon Ryder had, but it would definitely hurt like a bitch.

Ryder didn't think to check if the guy would actually stand back up. Why would he? Instead, she turned and stared down the rather high steel-reinforced electronic gate. She held out a hand and made a motion as if she were crushing a tin can, and the door wrenched open automatically. Sparks flew off the security booth's console as she walked by, and hydraulics whined under the pressure of her power. Why does a scientific facility need such heavy security? Because they've been keeping her in the basement.

"I'm fucking free."

She ran and didn't look back.

After an additional, hurried exchange, Director Becker turned from the two scientists with whom he'd been speaking, to answer Xavier: "Yes, let's get out of this-" glancing up, he seemed to realize for the first time how Jean was blocking any sparks and water from raining down on them. The director made a waving-away gesture to his scientists behind his back, who proceeded where ever as the director lead the way to the fire door. "Sorry for all this during your visit. Technology can be so unreli-"

"Where is it your two personnel are headed?" Xavier queried.

"Just coordinating with security. Making sure everyone is out who should be. Checking valuable research hasn't been lost to all this-" he blinked, feeling the water as Jean had now let down the forcefield; the main lights having all blown out.

The time for pretense was over. "Every child I know to be here is already outside. Who is it that's--?" abruptly she paused as a disturbing sense entered her mind.

---

It had happened. The potential for Cyclops' initial error to turn critical became reality as the kid unloaded on him. What had he been waiting for? He should have blasted the gun right out of her hands as soon as he got his own hand up. That's a bullet for each of your mistakes, Scott Summers.

With what he and Xavier had been anticipating in coming here, Cyclops had suited up. Being designed for other sorts of impacts, however, not bullets, his jacket had merely mitigated the penetration, didn't prevent it. He fell as he heard the teen's footsteps hurrying away.

'Scott! What just happened?' her voice sounded in his mind through the searing pain.

'She shot me and ran,' he answered mentally as he drew short, pained breaths; trying to collect his bearings. He could still catch her off guard. She wouldn't be expecting to get tripped up by an optic blast.

'Shot with what?' In a world where people could shoot force beams from their eyes, ice or pyrotechnics from their hands, a mental energy bolt from their mind, just to name a few, the answer wasn't an obvious one.

'A gun from the armoury.' A loud, metallic sound almost drowned out his own thought in his head as Cyclops rolled onto his side as well as he could without exacerbating the pain radiating around his shoulder, seeing only the aftermath of Ryder's effect on the high security gate; not her doing it. 'She got through the gate...' The kid's mention of having planned this was causing something to click.

The terrain sloped beyond the gate and he could no longer take a shot. 'I'm coming back.'

Gradually getting himself up, Cyclops noticed Umbra's security now headed this way.
They radioed back to Security Main to get the doctor for him, but otherwise left him to his own devices having made a quick assessment of his injuries as non-critical.

Cyclops couldn't tell what they might've been concealing; what they were going after the kid with. He had to get patched up fast so he could get back out there himself.

---

Jean, meanwhile, reverted attention to where she was, catching up with the director just outside the front fire door. "Why do we have an armoury here?"

He stared at her like 'how do you know?' but had a ready answer: "For the same reason we have the high security fencing."

"I was told that was for the illusion of high security, so no trespassers would discover the young mutants here."

"Exactly. And heaven forbid they do, we want to be ready just to scare them off."

Jean transmitted to Xavier what had just occurred; this was most unsettling.
He gave a nod to something else, and Jean went back into the building after first stepping over to where another guard had just come to relay the message to the doctor. "He's one of my guests. I'll take care of him."

Before Becker could take a turn asking where someone was going, Xavier caught his attention again: "It would seem one of those weapons was just used against my friend," he stated seriously, glancing towards where the guard had met with the doctor as though Xavier had overheard things from there.

"So now, director," he looked upon him steadily, "what can you tell me about this charge of yours who has run?"

Director Becker released a morbid chuckle, as he held eye contact with the mutant. "Your friend will be alright. We have very capable facilities. We're prepared. Now- As for this young lady. I'm afraid I can't discuss her case at length without her presence. We try to respect the privacy of our residents." He said the word "Residents" as if it was a casual thing, like they would live their whole lives perhaps? "What I can tell you is that she has a history of unconstructive actions. The hand a mutant is dealt is often a difficult one, as I'm sure you understand, Mr. Xavier." He looked to Jean for a second with a knowing look as she walked away. "Her situation is a special one, and I'm proud to say that I have the best people I know working with her to make affirming changes in the scope of her case. Sometimes, a person stumbles." He didn't elaborate as to what he meant by affirming changes, or unconstructive actions.

"But there's nothing to worry about. Our security team is trained to handle this type of incident peacefully. The nature of a security system meant to stand forever is that it will fail eventually. We're prepared to resolve the fallout, and you can rest assured that while your friend is given the utmost care, she will be brought back with no harm done."

As he said this, Director Becker's radio perked up with a message for him. But it didn't finish.

---

"No harm done" was a bold-faced lie.

Ryder was running through the trees, it was smarter to have cover than run across the two-lane road that was only a hundred feet from her. Umbra's security team were armed with stun guns and hollow point pistols. They were trained to bring her down as wounded as was necessary, so long as they brought her back alive. Ryder could sense their proximity, they were scattering to pinch her off. Their radios gave their presences away. By the psychic impression she got, one was at the 5 to her 12, and so Ryder pointed the gun behind her to blindly shoot two bullets in that direction. Neither of them stopped the agent, but the second one seemed to slow him down at least. That left her with seven bullets. The sound caused three of the five agents to move fast. Ryder was about 50 feet from crossing paths with two of them. She felt out for their stun guns, their voltages were modified electronically with an interface, and all of them were set to maximum output- Enough to knock out a grown man twice her size.

Suddenly and silently, though, the wattages programmed in began to spike downwards rapidly. 30 feet, 20, 10...

"Stop!" The first guard she ran into shouted. He and his buddy pointed their now-empty stun guns at the girl. One of them radioed for the entire squad to fall in and surround her.

"Drop the gun! Now!" He shouted.

Ryder, however, didn't do that. She put on an impression that she was scared, both physically on her face and as a slight psychic pressure, such that they all believed she wasn't faking. Her hands quickly went into the air, and the gun was pointed to the sky in an indication of a surrender. The guard barked at her to drop it again.

Instead, she slowly bent down to lay it on the ground. Just as she did, one guard behind her made a fatal mistake. He raised a radio to his face. Director Becker's radio crackled to life as everyone around him heard an incomplete message.

"Beta to Alpha, we have apprehe-"

The radio crackled, and exploded against the man's face and nose. He'd live, but sparks and wires sprayed out and burnt him. It was the equivalent of a flashbang. This spooked the others, who instantly turned their attention to their comrade now screaming in pain on the ground behind Ryder.

Ryder quickly sprung back up and performed that same trick on the remaining guards. All of their radios blew apart at their waists, only one suffered a laceration. The rest were temporarily incapacitated. To Xavier and Becker, the guard was updating him when the sounded of high pitched interference practically screamed the message into silence.

All of the guards suddenly started floating above the ground, writhing in the pain from their skin being burnt and flayed. Ryder telekinetically flung them off into the distance behind her, in the direction of Umbra. Two of them collided with the trunk of a tree.

And she continued running.

Xavier was curious indeed about the "unconstructive actions" of this girl and the "affirming changes" being applied to her, not to mention why a security team was trained for this type of incident when Xavier wasn't under the impression the rest of the charges had powerful mutations. Just what "type of incident" was Director Becker meaning? Runaway "residents"? This particular one? Or volatile mutants in general?

As Xavier was about to speak, the radio crackled. He listened and, along with everyone else near them, was rewarded with an assault to his ears. "Let us hope that is only an indication of your technology's serviceability after that glitch. I am aware the surrounding area is not so accommodating to mutants. It is admirable for you to have constructed a facility for them to reside apart from that." Director Becker wasn't the only one who could say "all the right things". "I'm not sure if Jean has mentioned my own experience with gifted youngsters," -Becker's previous statement of "as I'm sure you understand" could've been acknowleding Xavier's status as a mutant himself- "and I would like to offer my help with your charge. If you will excuse me now, however, I would like to check on my friend."

Not that he needed to since two familiar minds were headed there right now -and there were likely maps, besides- Xavier played the part of the proper guest and asked of the doctor: "Would you direct me to your medical facility?" He didn't say so, but he felt the doctor might be needed there shortly, anyway.

---

Besides seeing how Scott was, Jean wanted to be able to speak with him non-telepathically; still getting over feeling off psychically.

When she met him he was holding his wounds underneath his now unzipped jacket, trying to apply pressure as well as he could. There were more than she'd expected. "The medical centre isn't far." She took him, helping to apply pressure. Blood mixed with the water from the sprinklers as it cascaded to the floor.

Xavier's voice came through their minds just then: 'I'm not liking what I just heard from the Director. It's imperative we find this girl again, preferably ahead of Umbra's security who I believe just had an encounter to the same result as yours, Scott. Hopefully only in terms of success. How are you?

'Managing.'

'I'm just about to treat him.'

The water had ceased before the two arrived at the med centre. The chaos left the lightning to be desired, but it would have to do.

Jean helped him off with his trench coat -worn to look less conspicuous- before he got up on the med table. His jacket and undershirt were next before she had him lie down; keeping pressure on his wounds while she used her telekinesis to bring over the supplies needed.

Scott read something in her face. "Is that sensation still hitting you hard?" He continued to breathe through the pain.

"It's subsiding."

That was good to hear. "The kid said she'd been planning this too long to be stopped now. I'm sure the gate was still functional when I first got out there.

"You think she used powers?" Off his pained nod, Jean mused out loud, "yet she used a gun to defend herself," as she continued the treating of the damage that gun had caused.

"She must only be able to manipulate electronics. Has anything..like this, ever happened before?"

Jean shook her head. "Nothing. I had no indication she was here."

Scott could tell how that unsettled her; a young mind, clearly troubled, that Jean had missed picking up on entirely.

Jean spoke another concern: "It's sounding likely she'll shoot again once you find her."

"Well if this place has an entire armoury, I'm betting there's a supply of tactical gear. I'll grab a vest. The map on the wall of security...indicated it was by 'Function Room D'."

"I know where that is, but there are no other doors there."

"Sounds like something else they've made a point to hide," he breathed.

Xavier's voice sounded again: 'I'll see what I can find. I have a feeling I should apply myself more directly to this matter, so I will require one as well. Jean, if you could learn anything further and pass it along to us. We don't even know her name.'

Jean gave a mental confirmation.

Xavier "disconnected" then and, not wanting the doctor to question why suddenly his interest went from the medical centre to "function room D", used his powers to make just a minor modification to her mind; making the doctor think she had already shown him the full way and was now of the mind to grab more medical supplies from a stock room. She would also think nothing of Scott not staying in medical a while.

17 minutes later...

Ryder tried not to use her telekinetic abilities extensively, even when the researches were actively running tests on her. She had a habit of underselling her own powers to make others believe she was weaker than expected. Right now, though, there wasn't a need to keep her cards so tightly close to the chest. She repeatedly flung herself hundreds of feet in a straight line with her telekinesis, ensuring a safe landing with the same trick and occasionally dropping herself into a tree to make sure she wasn't being tailed. What would normally be a 45 minute drive down a road full of twists and turns was cut down to less than 20 by Ryder's efficiency. To a certain sensitive telepath, it would feel like the psychic equivalent of seeing lightning flash in the distance sky: There one second, fading away the next. Ryder did this until she came up on the town. As far as she knew, this place was less than friendly to people like her. As long as she played it cool, and ditched the gun, then maybe she could come out of this fine. All she had to do was not start acting stupid suddenly.

Ryder floated the gun up out of her hands, and used her powers to cycle the action and pull out two more bullets. She then sent the pistol flying far into the distance in an adjacent direction, expecting it to land a few thousand feet away from her current location, perpendicular to the town to suggest she went in that direction if anyone found the gun. If not, who cares? Social convention would make it less likely that anyone just grabbed her if she was out in the open. It would raise questions as to why armed personnel were chasing the child without police uniforms. That would give her enough time to find a few things she needed to cement her momentum. Ryder walked to the outskirts of town, and dropped the spare bullets into a storm drain as she headed down a sidewalk. There weren't a lot of people milling about, as this place wasn't particularly large. But there was enough that a crowd could easily form around her if they thought she was a mutant. Ryder was visibly young and not easy to confuse for an adult, so it might raise suspicion if she walked up to an ATM, snapped her fingers and made it spit out a few hundred dollars.

Even with this low concentration of people, she had to assume someone was watching her. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think Umbra had sort of UAV on the town at this very moment. One she wasn't aware of- And if that was the case, she couldn't look in the sky for it because that would draw its attention. Cameras could be scrambled, and she could cause a transformer to blow, but that would be like sending up a flare. No, it was time to play it cool. Ryder stopped at the corner of a street. There was an electronic store on her left with a pretty big parking lot. People could be seen inside going about their days. There were two sets of doors to go in through, both on opposite ends of the building. There were enough cars that suggested the people inside were in rather high numbers. If Ryder could get in there and make off with a few electronic gizmos, then she could put together a gadget or two, to throw off Umbra and supplement her powers in ways she needed. Remote hacking could be made easier with a device that interfaced with something, she could make a drone that linked to her mentally... But she needed resources.

Think, Ryder. How do you turn a disadvantage into an advantage?

...That's how.

---

Approximately 7 minutes later, Ryder was inside with a hand basket. She walked casually and attentively to the back of the store, and picked out a few things that she determined would be quite useful to her. A reel of black ribbon cable, two small starter robotics kits meant for little kids, a Raspberry Pi, portable battery, soldering kit, laser pointer, Android phone and charger. Her basket was mostly full by now, but this was all she needed. Ryder was absentmindedly tuned into the cameras up in the ceiling, aware of everything that was happening right now. She knew that no one was looking at her suspiciously. Feeling out further, it seems there was a room in the back where everything fed to. If she damaged that, everything would go down, but there would be evidence of something weird happening. But she didn't need to hit the brain to make the organism divert its attention. Ryder made her way to one end of the store and stayed near the door. Thankfully, no one was paying attention to her since she was pretending to just be standing around and waiting on someone else.

The door was but five feet away, and Ryder just had to measure her play... Ryder pushed out a very faint, psychic nudge to the surrounding people, providing some motivation to walk in a direction that was further away from her. She waited until the surrounding area thinned out a little, when suddenly the camera bluescreened. Whoever might've been watching the recordings would be lead to believe that something simply disconnected. A loose cable, a dusty socket, and such. Nothing major. Ryder counted to thirty, knowing instinctually that the bug was still active because no one could figure out the problem. When she counted to thirty-one, the lights exploded. Bits of glass showered down with sparks that plunged the surroundings into darkness. Ryder feigned flinching, but a thin layer of telekinetic energy caused the glass to fall around her, and not directly onto her. Someone yelped in fear, and others ran back as another light blew up.

By now, people began running back as a knee-jerk reaction. The anti-theft alarms went dead, and Ryder ran out in the confusion.

---

Ryder briskly walked into the parking lot, and willed another light so go boom above a cash register while she was still thinking about it. Once the automatic doors closed behind her, there was no shouts or sounds of cracking glass to alert someone outside, therefore no one noticed her leave with an unbagged hand basket full of electronic goods... At least, that was until some cop rolled a window down as Ryder walked by. He was an older looking guy and raised an eyebrow at her.

"They let you take that basket with you?"

Ryder didn't respond to the guy. She made his window shoot back up slightly, to make him focus on that instead. He shut his trap for a moment as he wondered what the deal with his window was. But alas, he opened the door and followed her on foot when he noticed she was walking away rather quickly.

"Hey, now, have you got a receipt for that bag, kid?" He asked, in a slightly raised voice.

Ryder kept quiet. His radio started acting up and squealed annoyingly. Instead of stopping to figure it out, he just turned the volume down. She walked down a sidewalk and turned, and there were a few pedestrians on the street corner. The cop caught up to her and firmly dropped a hand on her shoulder. "Hold it. Did you pay for all that-"

This was the point where Ryder had her own knee-jerk reaction. She lost count of how many times someone bigger and stronger than her had mistreated her down in Umbra's basement, and something from that history woke up in her as she turned around and punched the cop square in the chest. Her telekinesis augmented the punch such that the man was flung backwards ten feet away. The air distorted and shimmered like the event horizon of a black hole, and the bystanders realized what they just saw.

"Hey- That's a mutant!"

The cop heard this, and drew a gun as he stood up.

Shit.

Jean was comfortable with how Scott seemed. His pallor was off, but he'd been carrying on the conversation without confusion or dullness, his pulse and breathing was settling not worsening, and the pain didn't seem beyond management. She would've liked to make use of one of the machines to check for further injury not readily apparent, but those weren't quite in commission. She directed him to stay lying down a little longer as she moved to select, from a unique cabinet along one wall, a particular bottle of vitamin-enriched water.

"I should be available to take this on while you recover more," she expressed with a mix of disappointment and mild frustration.

"For whatever reason she's been invisible to you. That and how you said whatever's affecting you, was more intense after everything went off. If she had a hand in that the situation might not be safe for you, regardless."

Jean looked like she still had her doubts.

Scott brought his hand to her arm in an understanding touch.

After a moment he gradually sat up. Jean handed him the drink.

Once he had it down about halfway, he stood. Dizziness didn't overcome him.
They left for Function Room D together.

---

If it hadn't been for the tech malfunctioning, Xavier might not've found it. But a typically hidden, mechanized part of wall was left just open enough in the aftermath.
How it usually was accessed was unknown, but the operative knowledge was that it was, now.

---

He met Jean and Scott midway to coming to him. His ballistic vest already on underneath his formal jacket, and Scott's vest on his lap, though he now held it out for him.

Likewise, Scott wore the vest underneath his trench coat; his combat jacket foregone so as not to affect the fit.

Before they set off, Jean brought a hand to the side of Scott's face, giving him a kiss. "Stay safe." A routine exchange if they weren't undertaking a mission together; Scott held her momentarily with one hand along her side, "you too." People who kept secrets didn't tend to like others figuring them out.

"Keep aware of yourself. You could be injured more than we realize. Don't brush anything off."

With a nod, the men were off.

Before going to see what more she could get Director Becker to divulge, Jean was of the mind to ferret out where in this facility the unknown-to-her teenager had been living all this time. . . . .

---

Outside, Cyclops and Xavier were heading in the direction of the high security gate when Xavier paused.
"I'm receiving a strong sense of psychic energy being discharged...further into the distance. Somehow I believe she's moving more efficiently than we'll be able to make up if we want to reach her sooner than later."

Cyclops found this to be interesting information; Xavier equating traveling psychic energy with the girl. Just what were her powers...
While he didn't have a sure answer on that, Cyclops did have one for their own travel.

---

Soon they were in one of the facility vehicles; Xavier's wheelchair in the trunk, while Cyclops drove mostly one handed to not bother his collarbone injury.

"The only problem with this is it's unlikely she stuck to the road. I wouldn't."

"I believe we'll wind up where we need to be. She'll need supplies at any rate, and for all we know she's headed for family." Xavier closed his eyes then, receiving a different sense as they passed a certain stretch of forest beside the road. "The guards have all been injured. It'll contact Jean to have someone come for them. I feel they will be fine until then and it's in our best interests to keep on.

And so they did...at as fast a speed-limit-disregarding pace as they could while still maintaining control. Xavier was keeping his mind further down the road, ensuring they would have no collisions.

---

It was decided to forego the vehicle once they arrived in town. The girl would be on foot, and able to go into places a vehicle couldn't, for one thing.

Situated back in his wheelchair, Xavier concentrated. While in a larger sense her mind was elusive to him, he could discern a mutant wavelength among a town of exclusively regular ones. They found her just in time.

Blast dialed down to a low point, Cyclops succeeded in getting off a precision shot - blasting the gun right out of the cop's hands.
He readjusted his dial.

"It's another one! They're rushing us!" Those among the crowd driven more by a fight than flight response began looking around for something to use against them.

"I assure you we mean you no harm," Xavier appealed. "Leave this matter to us and we will all be on our way."

Cyclops was keeping aware of the locals, but keeping watchful of Ryder.

Down in the depths of Umbra Biogenetics, there was a nauseating aura that Jean could feel in ways Xavier could not. It was like feeling heat from a radiator waft up a flight of stairs. A distant sound growing louder as she followed it. One she could not hear, but knew on a subconscious level was there The walls had holes in them, a trail of destruction that practically burned with the traces of psychic energy unique to one mutant in particular. The epicenter was in a level that officially did not exist. Located deep, hundreds of feet beneath the ground. There was the remains of an elevator shaft that Ryder presumably flung herself through to escape.

At the bottom, past a set of dizzying hallways was a child's bedroom locked behind a three ton magnetic door, which lay in pieces at its threshold. If the trail of evidence was a bonfire, this room was the midday sun...

The difference between here and the sterile walls of Umbra's basement was nigh uncanny. The walls inside were painted a faded blue color, minute cracks in the paint suggested it was once a cold white. A bed lay in the corner of the room, barely a hand's width between it and a metal frame. It looked like a hospital bed in a way. The walls were barren, except for a dart board and holes that were probably punched through out of anger. Something about the place felt... Empty. The carpeting was faded and dull as if it had been here for years, and the entire room smelled like it was old. As if no one had really lived in this room beyond sleeping here. Even in this ruined state, riddled with signs of violent destruction where the ceiling was caved in slightly and the concrete floor was exposed underneath, Jean could intuit that nothing happy came from this room. There was no evidence of life, no joy or personality.

A prison cell dressed up to look pretty.

---

The humans in the crowd were getting antsy. Their faces were etched with contempt and aggression. Ryder kept her stolen haul close to her chest- If she didn't have these things, it would make life much harder. Seeing the cop get his gun shot out of his hand made Ryder spin and look at Cyclops. So he was a mutant too... And he could've done that back at the gate. Ryder pushed her powers out and felt there were microchips regulating energy behind that visor. Some sort of choke for a power source, maybe? If she made it fry itself, what would happen? Would he explode and take everyone else with him? Ryder decided she didn't want to find out. The cop was slack jawed as he saw his precious pistol get swatted out of his hands so easily. Meanwhile, Ryder was backing away slowly. She kept her eyes on everyone as best she could, but there were no security cameras around this part of the street. She didn't have any sort of third eye advantage.

Ryder heard a clicking sound behind her. She was inadvertently backing up into someone, and when she turned around, that person had a switchblade. A middle aged man who looked like he had been smoking a pack a day for the last decade, he swung the knife down at Ryder, and it got stuck in in her arm. Ryder shrieked like a banshee and shoved the man back dozens of feet, slamming him into the door of a car and causing the car to start blaring an alarm. Bleeding all the way from her elbow to her wrist, Ryder turned back around and locked eyes with Cyclops and the old man in the wheelchair. She could just throw that thing for hundreds of feet, snap Cyclops's neck and see how quickly Xavier could drag himself over to it. So why didn't she just let herself go all out? On second thought, maybe she would. Her telekinetic powers were the weakest of her abilities, but that was only in the sense of fine control. Broad strokes were still something to fear.

Behind her, the car that was screaming like a tripped alarm groaned and screeched as it floated upwards, high enough that there was no question that Ryder was definitely more than just a technopath. The man saw this, and ran away screaming in terror. Ryder's face held nothing but hate for what was happening. Her injury looked pretty bad, but Ryder was paying absolutely zero attention to it right now. The floating car drifted closer until it was just behind her.

"I don't know either of you, and I want nothing to do with you or fucking Umbra. If you don't stay away from me, I'll fucking kill all of you. Do you fucking understand me?! I'll-"

Bang.

While Ryder was monologuing, the cop has reached for his gun and she didn't pay attention. He shot her in the ribs. Ryder stumbled, and slipped back. Blood trickled from her shirt, and the car fell. She caught it before it could flatten her, but she screamed out of pure rage and ripped the damn thing into shreds while it was suspended in the air. Bits of metal, plastic and glass fell to the ground and flew at the cop. He was smacked by a rear axle in the stomach. He'd be fine, but now he was doubled over trying to catch his breath. Once again, the gun clattered to the floor. Fractured pieces of the car orbited over her in a way that might've been familiar to Scott. Like he'd seen someone go down this road before, or display this level of potency with their powers. She was pissed.

Ryder stood, despite being stabbed and shot.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Cyclops saw Ryder paying attention to him. He hoped she could see they weren't against her. That he had given her the benefit of the doubt back at the gate, and was here as well. Unfortunately, his attention was taken away before he could've noticed she was backing into trouble, as trouble insinuated itself into his own personal space as two individuals charged him with sharp, broken pieces of electronics taken from the recycling bin beside the store.

He discharged two mild blasts in quick succession, knocking them down with force similar to if he'd uppercut them, but another -armed with broken glass from the lights- was able to get closer, coming up from behind -- Cyclops' hand-to-hand training kicked in and he instinctively deflected a blow, but his injuries affected his reactions and he took a slice to the arm, already missing the full protective covering his combat jacket had provided. He had anticipated gunfire, not this.

Meanwhile, a couple individuals who had exited a sporting goods store near the electronics, came at Xavier with aluminum bats.

As they prepared to swing, however, they found themselves hesitating, as though a switch had been flipped in their minds.

Xavier was staring calmly at them. "I would reconsider those actions."

"Damn- it's one'a those mind mutants!"

"Get out of my head you sick-"

*VH-ZHOOOM*

They were suddenly bowled over by the guy Cyclops had been fighting as another optic blast -discharged this time via a tight folding of his hand; different from a fist as his fingers came to press against the base of his palm- sent him their way. The aluminum bats sounded on the pavement, followed by that of a heavy impact and car alarm--

-Xavier and Cyclops' attention shifted at once, seeing what had transpired and locking eyes with Ryder. Both were unsettled to see the blood streaming down her arm. Then they saw the car.

Cyclops' hand rose to his visor again. He'd need to dial up for this one.

The trio of men heaped on the floor looked up at the car, two of their faces contorting in looks of irritated puzzlement '-what's with these damn muties?!' While the other seemed to have the sense to second guess what he was thinking.

Xavier held his hand up in a placating manner towards Ryder. "We are not with--" He didn't get to finish.
Someone had fired a gun.

Cyclops' attention whipped back around to the cop -- missing seeing the car nearly flattening Ryder which Xavier witnessed with his heart in his throat.

Cyclops was advancing -- looking to put himself in between the cop and Ryder as he dialed his blast to just the right degree to not simply knock that gun away, but to pulverize it -- if that cop was going to keep shooting at a mutant today, Cyclops wasn't going to let it be a kid. Suddenly something whipped past him. Had he been a few paces further, it would've hit him instead of the cop.

Cyclops did the job he came for -blasting the gun where it lay on the ground- before reverting attention once again to Ryder.

What he saw brought part of himself away from the scene before him; seeing in his mind's eye someone else. At first it was Magneto, who could effortlessly fracture cars and have their pieces orbit him like a celestial body.

But that wasn't it.
This telekinetic teen didn't remind him of Magneto.

His breath rate was up. His teeth somewhat clenched with knowing apprehension. If his eyes had been visible they would've had a searching quality to them; he knew how to get through to the person this reminded him of. He knew that person with his whole heart.

He knew next to nothing about this girl.

"Let us hel--" Xavier didn't get to finish.

"-No." It wasn't the time to extend a hand. This kid would sooner tear it right off. "We're stopping this." He was still speaking to Xavier, though "eyes" on Ryder, took a couple demonstrative steps backwards, even though he was already further from Ryder than Xavier was, and divided his gaze then between any locals still present; ready to blast the ground to smarten them up if they dared to stay bold in the face of Ryder's anger.

Xavier saw the sense in his star pupil's thinking and rolled back accordingly, yet with a less convicted look on his face.

They were actually backing away.

They understood. Ryder's death glare soften by a fraction, as she believed it possible to escape now. This was the end of the road for now. She didn't know where she'd go, but she'd figure it out now. Ryder figured everything out, she could do this alone like she always thought she'd have to.

"I mean it. Don't ever come near me again. You don't know me, you don't know them. If you think you're so fucking clever that you could catch me, then you should know that. I'm not letting this all get ruined by some fucking nobodies who don't know me." Ryder's asteroid belt of debris clattered violently to the ground around her. She collected the scattered pilferings from the ground, and just for good measure, she sent out a telekinetic wave to toss the mutants back. Xavier would be parted from his wheelchair and Scott was off in some other direction. When they looked back, Ryder was gone.

She had rocketed away into the sky again, into the forest. She made sure to stay near the town to ensure she could raid it again, or to lure those two fucking weirdos into it and make the town recognize them again. There wasn't much she needed right now, so she dropped into a tree and started playing with her stolen bits of tech. In the commotion, Ryder forgot to process that there was a knife and a bullet stuck in her... So she pulled them both out with her telekinesis. The sound she made as she ripped the bullet out would've alerted anyone chasing her, if they were still on her tail.

Using her powers to float the basket into a tree, Ryder stopped to catch her breath. The sun was starting to go down. And this was the first time she had laid eyes on a sunset. This felt like being reborn, as if her life had properly began just an hour ago. Ryder had no intention of falling asleep right now- She had been kidnapped too many times in her sleep before for Silas' experiments. Instead, she used the disconnectedness of the moment to actually think in peace. In a few hours after she had rested, she'd sneak back into town and steal a few more things. A bike, a change of clothes, perhaps even something to eat. It would be very easy to snatch these things up under the cover of darkness.

Ryder felt blood start to soak into her shirt... She didn't think about this part. If she bled out now, what would be the point of all thing?

Pain was ringing through her chest and arm. It felt throbbing, cold and slightly numb. The adrenaline was starting to dump out of her.

"Fuck... Fuck- FUCK!" She swore out loud, and the whole tree groaned under her. This wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to get shot. Now she had to go back and hope she could find something to slow the bleeding or use a computer to look up how to cauterize things. And god as her witness, she would if she had to. But what if those fucking guys were there?

Fine then. I'll just go Brainshatter on them if I have to. Here we fucking go.

Approximately 6 minutes later, Ryder was now awkwardly walking down an empty street. The sun was officially down, and blood was soaking into her shirt more and more. Her arm wasn't feeling that great at the moment. It felt hard to move her shoulder. Psychically looking through cameras on street corners, Ryder could tell there were no cars, but it was so dark that people might as well be invisible to her. Sweat was dripping down her face. But she didn't care, she couldn't stop. It was stop and die or continue and live. She was not letting herself die here.

One foot in front of the other. Live by any means necessary. Or die.

And yet, her eyes were so very heavy, and Ryder tripped. She didn't get back up.

"Ahh!"
The pavement scraped through the clothing of his elbow as it collided.

"Aghrh!!"
He lay breathing a moment as the impact caused pain to flare in his previous injuries.
Of all the things the girl could've done as a final "keep away" gesture, however, sending out a telekinetic wave and knocking them down came off, to Cyclops, as merciful; progress made.

He rolled over onto his good side to push up from there.

Xavier managed to right his wheelchair and was in the process of getting back into it.

Two of the locals who had come at Xavier and Cyclops before, now seemed to be having an inner debate with themselves on taking advantage of these two muties while they were down, especially the older one, or if they should chance it; the one with the ray gun eyes still seemed to have their number.

In the end, they chose a different tact: informing others who hadn't witnessed the event that there were mutants in their town again. Right there.

The cop had made his way back to his car.

Cyclops, now standing, and crossing the short distance to Xavier, let out a breath; he didn't like how this was shaping up.

But Xavier, reseated, was concentrating.

Voice Over Police Radio: "This is dispatch. Go head."

The officer looked blank. "Uh...disregard, dispatch." He scratched his head.

The other locals who hadn't already fled the scene, seemed to share his sudden confusion; at all the car debris around.
They couldn't say what happened to others just now coming upon the scene.

"That will buy is some time," Xavier said as he and Cyclops made their own getaway, "but I don't doubt those who already ran will have alerted others to our presence. I'll do what I can with what minds we come across, however.."

"-You can't stop a wildfire." He had no doubt of how fast word would spread of foreign mutants in a town who, it could be guessed now, had ran out any of their own. Or worse. Cyclops already had his head on a swivel.

"Quite so."

A few minutes later, they were in a vacant building - one that was currently between businesses and had the windows covered over. If anyone was looking for them they'd certainly turn over every rock, but it afforded them a reprieve for the moment to discuss another game plan.

Xavier was troubled. "Every moment now that girl is away from us could be one closer to her last. I can't see anyone here aiding even a non-volatile mutant, and she is now a wounded tiger."

"Did you see which way she went?"

"No. But I felt her use her own means of travel again. She may well be out of town."

"She'll have to find herself treatment somewhere..." Cyclops felt responsible. The cut to his arm, shallow enough it was already clotting beneath the tight hold of his hand, felt like further evidence of how he'd failed to see enough; from the moment he first encountered the girl outside the facility. Her injuries were on him.

Without even having to probe his mind, Xavier knew this was what he was thinking. It was something the X-Men's leader had had to overcome before -he couldn't hold everything in his hands- yet the feeling had a way of recurring. "We must hope we can use that fact to our advantage."

And so they came to a plan that involved waiting some distance from the pharmacy. What little they knew of the girl they knew this: she had a strong survival instinct. They had also seen her collect whatever she had taken from the electronics store before leaving. True to what she'd told Cyclops back on facility grounds, she wasn't just rabbitting. She had gotten supplies for something, and had the piece of mind not to leave them behind. They felt sure she would come back for what other supplies she would now need.

After all, she had won that showdown back there. And she exuded anger, will; not apprehension. It didn't seem likely she'd be too afraid to come back into town.

So....
In the pharmacy, the cashier was chatting with a colleague. Customers were milling about. Then suddenly, everyone froze, as though becoming living statues.

Xavier wheeled in, with Cyclops behind him. They went about collecting the needed supplies. A reusable bag was slung over Xavier's chair, looking like it had something in it when they came in. An indication they had done this trick in another store, already. They weren't in the habit of stealing but had no manner by which to pay at the moment. Use of the barcode scanner ensured no more alarms going off today.

As soon as they exited, the people inside came back to life; resuming where they'd left off as though nothing had transpired.

Police cars went up and down the street, their radios making it obvious what they were on the lookout for, and at an area that makes passersby think 'they should put more streetlights up here', the two mutants took advantage of the darkness to remain concealed while they waited.

It was decided Xavier would attempt to speak to the girl in her mind once she was in the vicinity.

Cyclops was undecided if such a deeper invasion to her personal space would go over well, or if it was a feasible way to start a productive talk; they at least would be keeping away from her physically. "I mean it. Don't ever come near me again," her words rang in his head. "You don't know me, you don't know them." That last bit had stood out to him. It was as good as saying "you don't know what I'm running away from." and he felt like he didn't want to find out what he knew he had to.

"What would help is knowing more about her, at the very least her name. Jean must not be having much luck with those who know, or she's been kept otherwise occupied."

"And there were no stray thoughts to piece together from when you spoke to the director?"

"No. His mind, and at least that of the two researchers with whom he'd spoken, are unusually murky. I could readily grab only surface thoughts, not anything really beyond what was being spoken."

Cyclops' brow came down in a furrow. "Psi-defenses?"

"Possibly."

It wasn't common to come across people who had that.

Suddenly- "She's here."

Xavier's mind sensed her in the vicinity far sooner than eyes. They began to move carefully in the direction he knew her to be coming; not wanting to incense her, yet not wanting to delay her treatment any longer than necessary.

Pausing, Xavier began the telepathic attempt at communication. However, his face soon reflected consternation. "I can't establish a connection. I felt her channel closed before but thought her earlier rage was the cause. Now...I believe it's something with her mind itself."

She still wasn't in view yet and Cyclops had been keeping his eyes trained on the street, but he now looked at the Professor. A thought running through Cyclops' mind alone: 'Everything we learn about this girl feels like with every new piece of the puzzle we realize it's larger than we'd thought.'

She came into view.
And soon fell.

They didn't wait a second more.

"Oh my God." Cyclops had discreetly pushed up her shirt to get proper access to the gunshot wound and by the look of it, he could tell the girl had removed the bullet, likely by her telekinesis. Jean, expert telekinetic that she was, had opted to leave the bullets in Scott's body; the present recommendation so as to avoid further damage by extraction. Telekinesis held a much lower chance for that than surgery, yet Jean still wasn't about to attempt it without some guiding image scan and a follow-up to make sure. Only if they were likely to run into Magneto would she have chanced it.

The knife probably could've stood to be left in, as well.

Xavier remained vigilant while Cyclops quickly went to work. They had supplies for cleaning, sterilizing, packing and wrapping. He was able to complete three of those things before Xavier alerted: "That must do. We have to leave."

The unused supplies were replaced in the bag, then Cyclops -emitting a pained sound- lifted the girl into a fireman's carry.

They managed to get out of city limits without incurring another fray.

* * *

A little while later, they were secluded beneath a grassy outcrop in the forest.
The girl -now properly bandaged- was still unconscious. They hadn't been able to grab anything in way of something to rest on, besides what the forest could provide, but when the girl woke she would find Cyclops' trench coat around her.

He made a routine check of her pulse to ensure it wasn't weakening, or increasing with bodily distress. "Pulse is holding. She's doing alright..." Relatively speaking.
He settled back away from her.

Something had triggered a change in his disposition, and Xavier's attention shifted to Scott's own condition. "And yourself?"

"I'm fine."

There was a slight emphasize on the 'I'm'. Xavier responded to that: "I had certainly expected Jean to have something for us by now. My attempts at contacting her are being met with static, though I don't think it's anything more severe than the interference. I take it you're experiencing something of the same?"

"Our link doesn't work that way on my end, I can't reach her on a whim. But something has me uneasy." There was an odd, possessive quality to it. One moment his mind was on their circumstance, then suddenly he found his thoughts on Jean; an air of anxiety around them.

"You've perceived a time before when she's been hurt?"

"I realized after I found her hurt that I'd gotten a perception of it."

"Does this feel like then?"

Scott considered. "No."

"Perhaps, then, it's residual from what we witnessed outside the electronics store. Strong feelings stirred up from the past." Scott didn't seem sure on that answer. Xavier had another thought: "I sensed something in Jean before we left. She's being challenged?"

Scott was quiet a moment, considering this time how freely to talk about this. "She hasn't found the new limitation easy. This job had afforded her some space before she'd have to officially become inactive on the team."

"I imagine she's found other things have changed as well, perhaps how it feels seeing you off into the familiar unknown. What you're feeling now could by something sympathetic."

This had the opposite effect to reassuring Scott. If Jean did have him on her mind like that, he would've expected to feel an opening in their channel; one he could speak to her through.

"Or perhaps those changed feelings are your own. Do you find it different? Facing danger now."

Again, a considering quiet. "Yes. I want as much of it gone as I can make it before they have to face this world."

Jean was finally out of his hair. Good.

Becker walked down a hallway that no one ever walked down. The floor echoed up as fast as his heart was beating, and every now and then the man looked over his shoulder to ensure no one was there. The gun he carried under his vest weighed on his mind heavily. When Becker turned a corner, he walked seven steps, and pressed his fingertips to a wall. The wall slid away in pieces, like a secret bookshelf. It made not so much as a sound, even as it closed behind him. Behind the wall, there was only darkness. Out of that darkness came sickly green lights to illuminate the path, which no one else could have seen had they stepped into this space. It was not a room, it was not an area. It was a "space." There was no oxygen beyond the liminal wall which Becker crossed. Becker could breathe nonetheless, because it was decided that he could. The lights could have at least been bright enough to see more than two inches in his face, but brother dearest had a flair for drama.

Becker stepped forward down the path that was cut out of the negative, and his steps neither felt nor sound real. Parsecs went by with each step, and he stopped before an abstract landscape he could only acknowledge instinctually as there rather than see. The landscape was like a bedchamber, safe and isolated. In this land where time had no meaning, where the mind was synonymous with existence, Becker brought him into existence.

A man without a singled discernable feature. He was but a tessellation upon a backdrop that didn't truly exist in tangibility. But he was there.

"There's been a delay. You're going to have to wait a little longer."

There was silence.

"Don't give me that look. We'll find the damn kid. Just don't burn the place down while I'm gone."

---

Ryder's chest and arm stung like hell. Her head swam and she couldn't truly recall when she woke up, only that she did. She heard the old man and the laser twink chatting about someone named Jean. There was a pressure over the wounds, but she didn't dare to look up and open her eyes. They weren't particularly stressed by the sounds of their voices. They just talked like normal back and forth. Ryder was pretending she was still unconscious while they spoke. She stretched her powers out and determined that the things she looted were still nearby, so either she was back where they found her from, or they had moved her somewhere else and took that shit for some reason. She could've tried to read the other two, but right now Ryder didn't feel like doing much. She had relative peace and felt more liked capitalizing on it than anything else. But then again... Fuck these guys.

After a lull where things chilled out, Ryder sprung up suddenly. She was on her feet thanks to her ability to apply telekinesis to movement. Even in her busted up state, Ryder was primed to beat the living shit out of anyone who breathed wrong.

They could've took her to the lab, yet they took her here... If she scared them, they wouldn't have a time to form a lie... Okay, time to scare them.

"Where the FUCK did you come from?!"

Jean had been intending to search the facility for rooms unseen when she'd received Xavier's message about the injured guards. She'd changed course, but soon it became apparent someone had already had the mind to go check on them; a direction from Becker, possibly, following the radio disturbance.

Jean had decided then to return to medical to aid with the treatment of the guards when they were brought back. Besides a responsibility towards human life, she wanted to see what other damage the girl had caused and what she might further be able to infer about her from the guards.

Given her medical experience, she also didn't want to be missed. If she was going to go looking for places she wasn't meant to be, she wanted to be sure no one would be looking for her.

Ahead of that, however, Jean saw the director himself back in the hallways. She had tried to speak with him, but his impatience was clear despite his feigned accommodation -he apologized for keeping her in the dark, yet simply had too much to attend to after that mass technology glitch to go into anything more about it now.
If she had spoken with Xavier on the details Becker had divulged to him, which it seemed she had, then that was really all Becker could say at this time.

He'd cited privacy again when Jean expressed wanting at least to know this girl's name.

The guards were back in the building at that point, being taken to the Medical Centre, and Jean had fell in line.

There wasn't anything of operative note from them, either, and as Jean assisted with treating their injuries, she'd reflected on the non-conversation with Becker. Jean preferred not to tap people's minds unpermitted, or without dire cause. There was more variance to this rule when it came to enemies, however, and Becker was giving off a certain vibe....She'd thought she might catch a stray thought. It was clear the safety of anyone who encountered this girl was at risk, and through extension the girl's own safety. They weren't sure what all she had planned -if escaping and existing outside the facility was the extent of it, or if she had something else in mind.

All that took precedence over certain privacy. The girl's and Becker's.
However, Jean had found Becker's mind, your could say, shaded. She was sure with a little more time to concentrate she could see something through it, but that hadn't been afforded. She decided to try again after conducting her search of the facility. Gain an advantage by knowing more than he would expect and more of what he held in his mind.

---

The basement of Umbra Biogenetics had been conveyed as a place for old equipment; an office and research space no longer used since a new wing had been built two years ago; generally a place of no matter.

And that's exactly what Jean Grey had found when she went there now, for the first time.

She may not've found the hidden elevator shaft to the sub-basement, had it not been for the psychic signature she'd been following. An emanation which grew acutely perceptible from the top of stairs, and stronger with every step down.

Finding the shaft became a game of Hot and Cold, with the voice directing her taking the form of psychic imprints; like a handprint somewhere dust has settled.

The existence of this other basement in and of itself didn't register too strongly to someone who, back home, was used to having a hanger full with one or two aircraft at any given time, a war room, medical room and lab, an amplifier for telepaths, and of course where limitless simulations could exist in a limited-size room, all housed beneath your regular 18th century mansion. But the X-Men were open about it within their own walls. Their elevator opened onto a main floor hallway students may tread down in their day-to-day.

As Jean descended down this shaft, it was like walking into increasingly humid air; a growing weight pressing down on her perception.

When she came upon Ryder's room, it didn't feel like one where someone lived, but where they merely survived; the affect poignant. The psychic signature here, like no where else, added on an emotional weight. There was nothing more to be gleaned from this space. Jean moved on.

She next came to a research room, where her eyes moved over devices not unlike what were used above, or back at the X-Mansion, yet these ones felt deceptive in their familiarity. Jean flinched as someone with a headache may at a sudden noise.

Then she'd found the audio logs. . . .

While she listened, it was as though what they detailed came to life for Jean, at least in terms of the sensation she was experiencing; dialing up. But the mind working as it can when a person is concentrating deeply, or determined to finish something, the sensation was swept to the back of her mind until the point where it crashed back to the front, unable to be ignored any longer; the point when you realize you should've been paying attention to what your body was trying to tell you.

She managed to get out of the room, back up the shaft, to the main basement's stairs. Then she had to pause. Crouching down with a hand on the wall.

If the recurring experience before had been like psychic nausea, this was like being drugged.
Any processing her mind had to do happened as though through a warped lens: the psychic signatures hanging in the air like pieces of broken mirror, distorting the room; thoughts from the people above freely entering her head, but coming as though from a malfunctioning radio in an echo chamber. Jean closed her eyes. Even her own thoughts felt disembodied.

Her mind shifted to Scott, her hand -in the psychic space of her mind- clutching the handle to "their door", yet it was as though she couldn't get a hold on herself -couldn't manipulate the handle to gain access.

And there was another...a certain sensation that had grown on her, within her, now feeling like cascading wind chimes drifting further apart. She could feel them still connected, still well, yet their sound was beyond her reach.

Opening her eyes, Jean determinedly stood up.

She had been hesitant to attempt stairs feeling like this, when someone else could be affected by a misstep. But she knew the sensations were all mental; she was capable physically. She just had to concentrate on her body instead of her mind for a few moments; had to get out of here.

Managing once more, Jean drew a breath at the landing; then made a beeline for her quarters.

At some point along the way, she vaguely registered Becker down another hallway -he probably saw her- but there was no way she could make a second attempt at him now.

Locking the door once inside her room, Jean drew more collecting breaths, but had to delay hitting the bed to first place another long-distance telephone call.

That done, she curled up with the distress of all she'd just learned and the disturbance of the lingering sensation:
Her mind feeling like a PC made to process something it didn't have the hardware for, while other applications and programs were open. Its performance so hampered that even everyday tasks were met with a stall; impossible for anything to get done prior to a reboot.

Jean knew she wouldn't be able to communicate with Xavier or Scott until then.

---

While both bodies experienced the startle reflex, and both heads turned in her direction, the girl hadn't exactly achieved her intended effect.
Alert described Cyclops and Professor Xavier's present state rather than scared. The two sitting watchfully, yet still.

Xavier even answered calmly. "I'm pleased to see you're still lively.
In truth he knew she shouldn't be exerting herself, but he would follow her lead for the moment.
As for where we came from, that would be a school I run in North America, for gifted young people such as yourself. I have made it my life's work to help those with strong powers out of troubled circumstances. As I once did for my friend here, Scott Summers." He gestured towards him, thinking it may help this young mutant to know that the two before her had, perhaps, some level of understanding on what she was going through. "He now assists me in the running of the school, and along with a select group of my other grown pupils fights to protect those who require it. My name, is Professor Charles Xavier. Perhaps you could tell us yours?"

In her borderline-feral state, Ryder wasn’t fully concerned with this “school” that this man was referring to. In a way, it only confirmed a suspicion that Ryder had which suggested these men were going to take her somewhere else- Trading one captor for another. Of course, she had no way of confirming this up until now, but she assumed t this point that they wanted to bring her back there. Umbra was touted as a safe place for mutants, somewhere that they could live without fear while they were given what they needed to survive. That was a bold faced lie, of which Ryder was living proof, but she wasn’t about to trust someone else who made a similar claim.

When the old man uttered the name “Charles Xavier,” something shifted in Ryder. She was taken back a little, and had to stop and think about that. She knew that name. In the time she spent secretly trawling Umbra’s database under the guise of weaker powers, his name came up many, many times. An unknowable individual had seen to it that Xavier’s DNA was secured, and used to create a child with powers that exceeded his own by an exponential margin. That child was right in front of him.

And he had the nerve to ask for her name.

”You… You can’t be him. No. No.” Ryder’s resolved found a footing again, and she plunged a metaphorical crowbar into the man’s mind to wrench a door open. Xavier was a powerful psychic in his own right, but there was only so much he could’ve done in this situation, and that would only slow down Ryder’s mental attack. It was like a weight laid upon him, she aggressively searched him to find anything- A meager scrap of evidence that implied he was telling a lie.

And just as abruptly as she dove in, she splashed back out of Xavier’s mind with her answer. He was telling the truth.

”I don’t believe this…” For the first time since they met Ryder, Scott and Charles saw an emotion etched on her face that wasn’t overt rage. Now, her face only conveyed shock, and confusion. ”You- You. Becker never told me anything about you, but I know you.”

Scott had previously observed overwhelming conviction in this kid when she broke out of Umbra, and took down at least a third of the on-site security plus a dispatch team in her escape. But right now, she was struggling to find the words to get her point across.

”You and me… We’re related. They took a piece of you, and used it to make me. I’m Ryder- Your kid that you never knew about.”

There was no sense or warmth or catharsis to this revelation. Ryder’s words we dripped with anger.

Scott glanced over at Xavier after he'd introduced himself. Rather, after Ryder took in his words. To Scott, she seemed to be thinking about something which he mistook for a good sign; like maybe she was seeing them in a new light. Besides the emotions she wore on the surface, she wasn't an easy kid to read.

Xavier had shifted only his eyes towards Scott, sharing the glance that much -until, in the next moment, he flinched. An intense pressure felt mentally, as though in that space someone was pressing him down while they riffled through his pockets.

Scott saw the reaction and looked between the Professor and Ryder. Was she doing something? In the time they'd been here, Xavier hadn't reported any ill feelings like Jean had been experiencing, which Scott was suspecting were related to Ryder...

Xavier could tell Ryder was searching for something, though what he wasn't sure. In truth, he could've blocked her out. Or at least he believed he could've. But chose not to. He was trying to earn trust with her and though this was a violation of his privacy, if she needed to go this far to verify something, so be it. He felt that was all it was. A searching. Not malicious.

A relieved breath escaped his lips as the pressure lifted and he felt justified in his decision to let her probe, feeling no worse for wear.

Scott's attention had gone between the two and he registered how Xavier seemed fine now. His suspicions of Ryder having done something were all but confirmed when she spoke again, looking almost like a different person by her utterly taken aback countenance.

Several words more and confusion and shock became a shared experience.

Neither Scott nor Xavier, however, were about to just accept this at face value. Not that this girl's -Ryder's honesty was being called into question. Her emotional state seemed to track. But false information could easily be implanted. Especially with her anger returned, calm and clear-thinking were the order of the day.

That being said, Scott couldn't help processing in his thoughts: '"They". Umbra?' Just who were these people?

"How do you know this, Ryder?" Matching how he felt, Xavier's voice conveyed a desire for surety, not doubt towards Ryder herself. She'd said a piece of him was taken. Looking upon her now, Xavier tried to think back. How old was she? Where had he been that many years ago? Were there any strange occurrences in his memory to recall?

Scott was staying quiet, not derailing the potential flow of further information. But inside of his head he had his own questions. 'If this is true is she their anomaly or their standard of operation?' It called into question for him the origin of all of their charges. If this was true. And if it was, what else might it mean?

Was "a piece" of Xavier taken because he happened to be the accessible mutant at the time? Or by specific design? The latter felt more likely...And if so, then Becker's -and potentially other staff's- psi-blocking capability...was it an after-the-fact thing, after they had the potential to create a child from a powerful psychic? Or was it established at the outset; such a child being their gameplan all along.

And if so...was it the person or the power?
Was Ryder only one of more planned?

'Why did they contact Jean?' His tension increased.
What really was preventing her from contacting him and the Professor?

Ryder didn’t actually want to answer the question of how she knew, as it would tip her hand and she’d light on the sheer scope of her powers. But in a split second choice, she came to a half-baked conclusion: If they knew how dangerous she was, they would keep her away from Umbra for their safety. So a small part of her chose to intimidate these men. To gloat.

”I know everything that happens in that place. All I have to do is think about it and I can read their whole system like a book. They take notes like they’re scared they’ll forget what they had for breakfast if they don’t- Every name, age, medical condition or allergy, I know the address where every single worker there goes to sleep at night. Everything that’s ever been put on a computer, hard drive or sent over a text message has passed through my damn skull at least twice.”

Ryder took a step towards them, channeling a bit of that manic determination she demonstrated constantly until now. ”They don’t breathe without me hearing the sound. Every single time someone closes a door? I know about it. Their computers do what I tell them to- I can shut the whole place down with a thought. That’s how I know, because they have your name in Becker’s files. They were too stupid to think I could do it- They thought I was weak and they paid the fucking price!” Oddly enough, Ryder didn’t sound angry in this moment. In a scary way, she sounded proud of herself. Vindicated in how she ransacked the place as she left.

”They didn’t think they had to wipe their logs or watch out for me. They didn’t think I could reach into the system’s heart and rip it out if I wanted to, so I caught them with their pants right the fuck down. I’ve known about you for years. You’re just a drop in the damn bucket, old man.”

Cyclops's focus returned to who was in front of him, although the focus had become an intense kind. Like he wanted to dial in in order to understand the full scope of things so that he could proceed beyond this moment.

As Ryder stepped forward, he watched her closely, ready to react if it seemed she was looking to do more than just talk.

A weight began pressing down on Xavier again, though quite unlike the one just before. This child, apparently his, seemed to have anger reserved just for him. Blaming him for not knowing about her? Truly, how could he have not? To not have picked up on her mutation, her mind, out of any during one of his searches with Cerebro?

It couldn't be.

How? How had his DNA been acquired? Logs, notes could be shorthanded. Things could be understood which weren't ever said. . .
"What precisely did these logs detail?"

Hot on that question, however, sooner than Ryder might've even decided to respond, Cyclops had another. It wasn't that he was unsympathetic, he just felt certain information took higher priority at this time: "With a command like that, how come you only broke out today?"

Ryder had sounded almost possessed by pride in her powers; pride in what she had accomplished today. She'd made it sound like the facility was her ant farm that she could shake up at will. "They were too stupid to think I could do it- They thought I was weak" An air of superiority.

So why, then.
"Every single time someone closes a door? I know about it. Their computers do what I tell them to- I can shut the whole place down with a thought."

Why had it taken her however long it had? If they made her, "however long" was likely her entire life. Of course Scott didn't know when her powers first manifested and what her life might've been like -how long she might've had a strong cause to escape. Things could've changed recently. But some of the first words she'd said to him reentered his mind: "I've been thinking this through for longer than you realize."

Umbra's high security; the armoury. If they didn't know Ryder was so powerful, why did they have it?

Was there more to the picture than how Ryder was painting it, or was the security to keep others out, in the worst way?
How could they expect to be greeted when the man whose DNA they apparently stole returned to their doorstep?

It all made sense to Cyclops, now. The evasiveness. They absolutely did not want Xavier, who happened -happened?- to show up on their premises the day things went array, to know. Again his mind went to Jean. They had tasked her with finding things out.

He showed next to nothing on his face, held next to nothing in his voice, carrying little more than seriousness there.
Yet inside...He needed to know everything. It wasn't Ryder that triggered his apprehension this time.

It was the shadows of Umbra Biogenetics itself.

Of course they had questions, she expected as such. And there was no point in hiding anymore, since it would hinder her point. Ryder would not allow them to return her to Umbra. She didn't particularly want to kill anyone, as that would likely attract more attention and more pressure from Umbra by extension, but Ryder would not hesitate to shred apart every single atom in both of their bodies if it suited her goals. They would not stand in her way, so she had to scare them as much as possible to dissuade that notion, if it did exist.

She skipped over Xavier's question, because Ryder didn't really care enough to explain how someone got his DNA. If he didn't know how the hell someone got it, then maybe he should've used his fancy psychic brain to sort that out himself. No, instead she paid attention to Scott's question, since that was a bit more relevant.

"I broke out today because I was looking for an excuse to. You being there meant it would make my little spectacle that much more difficult, because then that insufferable prick, Becker, would have to waste his time silencing you fuckers. Less time to go after me, more spent covering his ass when I make him look bad in front of "visitors." You just made for a decent distraction, that's it. It made it more convenient, so I wouldn't have to waste brainpower and concentration completely breaking the system."

From the nearby tree, the basket of stolen things floated down into Ryder's hands. All the stuff inside drifted out, and she opened up the laptop to fool around with it. It, along with the phone, miraculously came to life without charged batteries. She started typing away on the keyboard, though she didn't bother explaining since the screen was turned away from them. Knowing her, it was probably something dangerous.

"I'm not going back. So you can leave me the hell alone."