Master EffeX

A Cache of X-Men Interest Checks

Updated:
-Added New Concept.

X-Men: GenetiX

Cyclops wasn't sure he was getting the full story still, and didn't like the phrasing of "silencing you" -though this kid had a certain way of talking that could've been chalked up to- but he felt he had as much -more- as he needed at the moment.

When they'd left the city after Ryder collapsed it hadn't been hard to track the way she had come from the forest, and they had purposely -and fortunately- found a location near her cache. Her turning her attention to it now, seemingly comfortable enough to essentially go about her business, gave Cyclops the reassurance he could shift his guard for a bit.

With a slight breath of pain, he got up, quietly departing elsewhere into the forest.

Xavier acknowledged his departure with a only a brief look, having no need to question it. Instead, his attention remained steadily on Ryder. Given the hour, given the injuries, Xavier was of the mind to suggest more rest, especially as her display of getting up just a moment ago had seemed, perhaps, more statement than prudent. Perhaps that was why she situated herself as she did, now. Settling. Distracting herself.

He would follow her lead. If she was who she said -who she believed- she was, and even if not, he wanted to know more about this child. And he needed to know her plans. He decided not to repeat the question he'd just asked and instead went off her statement of not going back. "Ryder, now that you have escaped from Umbra Biogenetics, where do you intend to go?"

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

Jaclyn "OfAll" Chreyz

---

Location: Asteroid M
Skills: Power Mimicry - Active Power: Chaos Magic

---

---

Before anything else transpired Magneto-wise, a voice reached OfAll's ears from down the hall -- Max! She drew a relieved breath from seeing a familiar face. Curiously he only seemed surprised to see Lance alive. Or maybe OfAll was just misreading his attention.

He also seemed to have run full tilt here, or been in some altercation recently himself, as he was out of breath.
Yet he found exactly the words OfAll had wanted to say to Magneto herself.

Following on them were Guin's words, which returned concern to the surface of OfAll's feelings. Did Guin have to be inciting towards Magneto, on his territory, when they weren't in excellent condition and he had one of his Brotherhood they were concerned enough about, right beside him?

Fortunately, Magneto seemed only to be task-focused -- and unexpectedly, confused. Which served to elucidate something in a slight way for OfAll: there were individual motives going on here. Someone had taken things upon themselves for...what reason? Those like Exodus, perhaps, looking for a reason to cleanse some filth didn't seem like a stretch of the imagination.

Were all the other "contestants" in on this thing, or had they been receiving an order from someone else?
Did they even know they weren't operating on Magneto's orders?

Magneto seemed also to care about Pietro's life and the attempt on it -that point being news to OfAll as well- negative as their relationship may otherwise be; it made some difference in OfAll's mind.

Magneto stating no mutants were to be killed certainly made another.

OfAll grunted, using only her legs to rise into a standing position within the light shield, so as not to put strain on her stinging arms. 'Maybe now that Max is here...' she thought to herself, mind on his healing magic. Which she vaguely registered was presently her magic...

Something for another moment. "It was a contest," OfAll explained to Magneto, "earning the right to 'Paradise'. Members of your Brotherhood showed up at the Mansion, and where they were," she indicated Guin, Lance and Pietro, "challenging us to one-on-ones. The winners were taken here without choice."

X-Men: GenetiX

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.

X-Men Envisionings: Vol.#3!

Part 1 of the third storyline of X-Men Envisionings, a fan comic text adaptation, has now gone live! telkjplang.wixsite.com/xmenenvisionin…

While this one continues off of events from the previous storyline(s) the most, I've got you covered -if you want to just jump right in and make this storyline the first you xperience, the context is provided via author's notes.

Join me, your favourite heroes and villains; and some new characters for the ride!

X-Men: GenetiX

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?

X-Men: GenetiX

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?"

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

Jaclyn "OfAll" Chreyz

---

Location: Asteroid M
Skills: Power Mimicry - Active Power: Chaos Magic

---

---

Suddenly Guin was occupying Exodus' body and trying to repair the hole. OfAll inhaled a breath of relief but the exhale came of shock. The end result was the same as when Exodus had tried himself; bigger hole. And now they were drifting further out, as well with Exodus in Guin's body trapped in the light bubble with them, seeming to be struggling to cause some damage to the body that wasn't his own.

OfAll tried to concentrate through the insanity -- soon it was her turn to be on the receiving end of a power suggestion, but to teleport? She wasn't about to try that. Trying to portal away their enemy had resulted in all this. That was just one person. What other chaos might she cause if she essentially tried the same thing -movement magic- with three?

She had no idea if confidence played a part and she had had more before. She was just too shaken now...besides, Guin's telekinesis almost had them back in. Though OfAll knew that was only half the solution, and if Guin couldn't hold them they'd be out into space again.

Whatever she wanted Lance to do he didn't seem to feel confident about, either.

OfAll had to do something. If she did even try when she could, then whatever happened...But she couldn't. Not that. But her mind hit on something else; a different solution. She felt a little spark of certainty at the idea when suddenly they were thrust back into the corridor -- the hole getting legitimately repaired, a sound like air permeating the area.

OfAll looked over at Guin, but it didn't seem like any of that had been by her hand. Then, looking down the hall, the sight she witnessed had a suspense thriller quality to it: Magneto, floating their way.

He seemed then to be taking the scene in wordlessly, waiting knowledgeably, perhaps, as in another few moments it didn't escape OfAll's awareness that Guin was back in her own body. Magneto spoke then, to Exodus, and by the time the exchange came back to the leader, OfAll's pained, anxious breathing steadied in an alert manner: How would they be dealt with?

And then Pietro appeared, as only he could. OfAll's spirit lifted somewhat -- being a speedster his sudden appearance meant nothing in terms of how close anyone else was, but a speedster knowing where you were in trouble was a pretty good asset to have.

Except for the fact he was practically an outlaw, here. OfAll's mind shifted attention from the impending drama to responding to it. She had to flex her brain again and decide what she could do with the powers she had. A part of her wanted to speak to Magneto, respectfully, explaining they meant no damage. Explaining what they were here for - not infiltration-minded. But the words weren't coming, and she didn't know what would make any difference to Magneto.

They still didn't know if selection of the "winners" were some automatic thing. Maybe his hope were for all the X-Men to be crushed in the contests and if they weren't, he'd finish the job himself.

X-Men: GenetiX

"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."

X-Men: GenetiX

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.