Finding Kaia

"Fair enough." He said with a nod. After taking a moment hr found a way up, a little bit of a scramble but once in the sill he confirmed that the board was only partly secured and could be pushed aside. Holding it open using it to help him brace himself offered a hand down to Jade, pulling her up to a point he hoped she had a good grip. Then scrambled inside, holding the board until she joined him. They had papered to have entered a living area of one of the appartments, thanks to the boards the ground floor had little natural light, sending James fishing for a flashlight, as he tried to ignore the smells that hung in the air, clearly a number of rough sleepers were using the block both to sleep and other things. "We're in, now shall we go floor by floor? Can you recall any details from your previous linking that might narrow things down?"

Jade was relieved once they were both inside, however the smell made her wish she were back outside. The air was musty and stale with hints of urine and smoke. She focused on Kaia though, knowing that this was not a great situation for her to be in.

"I've actually already located her. She is two floors up."

They located a set of stairs and began to walk upwards two flights. Once they were on the floor where she sensed Kaia, she led them down the hallway to the room at the far end on the right. Before they reached the doorway though an all black German Shephard walked out and looked at them. He growled a warning and barked a few times. Using her powers, Jade reached out to the dog's mind and he quickly calmed down. Jade then made him move away from the doorway and then sit. He even wagged his tail. A second later a girl of obvious Latino descent appeared and Jade knew immediately it was Kaia. The girl looked surprised and very confused, but also wary and extremely cautious.

"How did you do that? He only likes me."

Jade stayed back, not wanting to overwhelm the poor girl. She could see from where she was standing how skinny she was and her heart ached for her.

"My name is Jade and this is James. We're both mutants...like you."

Jade reconnected her mind to Kaia's and suddenly Kaia would hear her voice inside her head without her saying a word out loud.

"I have both telepathic and telekinetic abilities."

Kaia jumped a little and took a few steps back. "What do you mean by "telekinetic"?

Jade glanced over at James before focusing on a small rock on the ground in front of her. The rock suddenly began to levitate off the ground. She then slowly brought it back down to rest back in the same spot.

"James, why don't you show her what you can do."

James hung back a little as Jade took the lead in approaching, giving a first class demonstration of her powers and abilities, first calming the dog, which Kaia was apparently using as protection, then opening up to her. She was true to her word and honest about who they were and showed what she could do, when she turned to him. James paused, he'd considered that he might have to demonstrate his abilities at some point and considered the best way to do that, hands out to the side he splayed his fingers pointing them slightly towards the ground, focusing for a moment drew a curtain of energy upwards, he kept his focus until it surrounded him in a cocoon of energy arc of electricity speed across it periodically, demonstrating the barriers source. "That's just one aspect, I can channel electricity as well, draw it away, power things up. Now you know my name, what's yours?"

Kaia watched James with both fascination and fear. She didn't know who these two were or who they might be working for. She wanted to flee, but her only real escape route was being blocked by them.

Sensing Kaia's thoughts, Jade stepped to the side and motioned for James to follow her. Kaia now had a clear shot, which she hoped the girl wouldn't take. She was mostly doing this to try and gain her trust a little more. The girl hesitated, still unsure if she should trust them or not.

"...My name is Kaia...though I have a feeling you may have already known that."

"Yeah we did but it's good manners to ask some one their name, so I went with that. I'm trying to maybe get a bit of trust going as well." James replied after taking a step to the side, he was trying to be as natural as he could, and not just blurt stuff out and freek the young woman out any more then necessary. This was the delicate part, keen to keep her engaged and talking James followed his statement the up with a simple question hoping to draw her out, get her used to expressing her opinion. "How am doing?"

Kaia was clearly tense and Jade could tell she was estimating whether or not she could fight both of them if they attacked her. Jade continued to remain relaxed and calm, hoping it would transfer over to her.

Kaia glanced at James and considered his question. She was quiet a moment before responding.

"Ok, I guess."

Jade took that as a good sign and decided to press on.

"Kaia, we are here to help you, not hurt you. There is a special place for mutants that my uncle, Charles Xavier, runs in Westchester. This is a refuge for mutants and a place where we can truly be ourselves without fear. We help and support one another and are working hard to change public opinion about mutants and mutant rights. We are here to invite you to come with us to the school...even to just see it. There would be no pressure to stay, but there you would have a room with a real bed and food and you could also learn how to better understand and control your powers."

She looked over at James in case there was anything else he wanted to add or say.

As Jade made the offer he smiled, her genuineness was plain, as was her want to take Kaia out of the current situation and into to something a little more stable. It was a desire he shared. But given the suddenness of their arrival and the fact she might have had offers from a certain other recently, James elected to share a bit of his own experience, again with the view to gaining her trust. "I know this is a lot to take in. I've been on the other side of this offer, two people showed up made me an offer, I didn't believe it fully at first, the flip side of that is what have got to lose by chancing it?"

Jade smiled at James. He always seemed to know the right thing to say. She had not been one of the two he spoke of who had made him that offer (it had been Storm and Logan) but she had been the first to greet him inside the mansion and was the one to ensure he got settled. She remembered that first meeting fondly.

Kaia glanced between the two and could see there was more there than they let on. It was clear just from the way they looked at each other.

“Listen I appreciate the offer but I’m doing fine on my own.”

"Okay." James said with a little bit of sigh, while not quite ready to give up he was trying not to come off to pushy, at least not right away. After a short pause he ask. "Have you eaten today?"

After her responce he gestured to Jades bag, remembering she had thought to put a few food items in her bag, " my friends got a few bits of food. Take 'em, no catch." He waited to see her responce, and if she would feel comfortable enough to approach them, that would give an idea of how blunt he could be with his next point.

Kaia hesitated at James’ question before shaking her head a little in response. Jade pulled her bag off of her shoulder and handed it to Kaia. The girl cautiously took it and looked inside. She then pulled out a granola bar and opened it and began to eat it.

Jade was really worried about this situation and knew if Kaia didn’t come with them that she would have to go get more food and some dog food.

Watching her for a while, he gestured to the dog that was providing Kaia with some sort of protection. "This guy got a name? Would they mind if I pet?" Taking a step towards them both, but doing so slowly and crouching down a little, so as not to alarm, He'd been around dogs during the time he spent hidding out in Iowa, and felt that might be able to use this to keep her talking, perhaps able to spin that into makeing a stronger case for her coming with them

Kaia glanced over at the black German Shepherd and then looked at James. “I’ve been calling him Atlas. He’s not really mine but he stays with me. I guess it’s alright if you pet him. No one else has ever tried before.”

"Atlas, hey boy, I'm friend, kind of like you not to take my fingers of if that's alright." He said calmly as he stretched a hand across towards the dogs head, making sure fingers were half tucked into his palm, no sense taking chances. He felt a tensing and low growl has he touched the top of its head, he continued slowly, patting it on the top of the head and scratching the ears. "He's a good boy, yeah, I used to work around a pair the same breed as him on a farm out in Iowa." He said softly, this time directing his remarks to Kaia. "Names were Butch and Sundance. The owners kind of had a thing for the old movies."

Kaia watched James reach out to pet Atlas. He growled a little at first, but allowed James to touch him. Then, to her amazement, he began to relax and even seemed to enjoy James' touch. Jade had not been controlling Atlas, but had been prepared to jump in and do so if he tried to bite James. She was thankful, however, that there was no need to do so.

Jade decided to press forward when Kaia didn't respond to James and continued to focus on Atlas. "You could even bring him with you. He'd have a big yard to run around in and there is even a swimming pool he could jump in."

Kaia seemed to consider it a moment before shaking her head and looking away. "I once lived with another group of mutants and all they ended up doing was using me and lying to me."

"That sucks." James stated honestly. "Reason enough not to be big on trust, especially when folks show up out of the blue, I can appreciate that." He continued, although he was realising just how hard it might be to bet her to trust them enough to make any sort of move with them. Kaia still seemed open to talking, as long as she was, James would try and keep the conversation moving, talking about anything or nothing, but keeping an eye out for signs that they might be over saying their welcome. "I can relate to some of it, the people showing up out of the blue part, you remember I said I spent the sometime on a farm, well it was their, my powers had not long manifested and I was fairly freaked to be honest." He let that statement hang a little to see if Kaia would pick up on it and ask any questions.

Jade was glad that James was continuing to try with Kaia. Jade could tell she was a good kid and needed a stable life. She began to wonder if the group of mutants she was talking about could have been The Brotherhood. However, she decided not to question her about it at that moment.

Kaia glanced at James and was quiet a moment before speaking.

"What did you do?"

"Asked question. A number of question." He admitted with a little shrug, it seemed like a basic answer so he went on to give a few examples. "Questions like how did you find me? What powers did they have? If I took the offer and they help me was their catch?" Again he paused and let those sink in before adding, " Knowing what your getting into is important, I think, so if there's something that might help you decide. Ask away, we'll try an answer."

Jade gave James a little smile. She was quite impressed with how he was interacting with Kaia. She could sense Kaia beginning to trust them a little more and that gave her hope.

Over the next hour Kaia asked quite a few questions about them, the mansion, Professor Xavier, and the other mutants who were at the school. Jade and James answered them honestly and though Jade was curious about Kaia, she didn't ask her any questions. Once they got her to the mansion and settled she and James could then get to know her better.

"Please, just come with us today," Jade finally said. "At the very least you will get a hot meal and a warm bed for the night. If you decide you don't like it then James and I will bring you back here first thing tomorrow morning. And of course you can bring Atlas."

Kaia sighed and looked down and seemed to consider their offer for a moment. She then looked back up at them. "Alright."

He smiled broadly when Kaia agreed to go with them, given the long talk they'd just had he was confident it was somthing she was at least comfortable sampling. "Well if you grab anything you want to take with you, we can get going, were going by train for the first bit so wereally heading for the station not to far away" He answered positively, letting her know what to expect at first, but holding off mentioning the jet for the moment. "By the way we came in from the loose board on the ground floor window, is that the only way in or out?"

Jade was beyond relieved when Kaia agreed to go with them. There would be some logistical issues with the dog, but they would deal with those.

Kaia gathered up what few items she had and told Jade and James about the back door which could be jimmied open. Jade went out and found a pet store nearby and returned with a collar, leash, and dog tag for Atlas. They would buy food later. Once they were ready they headed out and began to make their way back to the jet. Kaia remained mostly quiet on the journey and Jade didn’t press her into talking. They soon began to near the area where the jet was and Kaia began to get confused.

“Where are we going?”

"We're doing the last leg of the trip on a jet, owned by school and makes it easier to get around, we generally park it in places which won't attract attention." James explained plainly, they had not long left the subway system and we're short distance to a patch of waste ground, this was a tricky moment, he hoped she wouldn't be to unnerved by that little detail. "Is that okay, do you want to see it?" He asked carefully.

Kaia’s eyes got big at the mention of a jet. She seemed unsure all of a sudden and Jade approached her and gently put a hand upon her shoulder.

“I’ve never flown before,” Kaia said.

Jade gave her a little smile. “It’s alright. We will take this slowly.”

She began by turning the stealth mode off so Kaia could see it. Kaia looked at it closely.

“Who flies it?”

Jade looked at her. “I do...and James is my co-pilot.”

"It's true we've flown a number of times, so your in good hands." James added with a smile, "Shall we take a look on the inside?"

Understanding this was quite a lot to the in he was waited on a positive responce before gesturing her to follow towards the rear underneath of the jet and allowed the ramp to drop down slowly. He stood to one side, watching Kaia reaction and responce, he glanced over at Jade gave her a reassuring smile, so far thing were going okay he felt and wanted to know if she felt the same. "It's okay, think of it like a train if that helps, all you need to do is take a seat." He said before walking up the ramp and towards the four seats in the middle of the jet behind the front two.

Jade made sure that Kaia was comfortable and secure before starting up the jet and going through the pre-flight checks. Once they were ready to go she got the jet into the air and confirmed that Kaia was alright. Atlas seemed a little nervous, but he soon settled down. Jade explained the high tech stealth mode of the jet, which enabled them to fly without being detected visually or by radar. She informed her uncle by telepathy that they were on their way back and had Kaia and by the time they made it back to the mansion and landed the jet in the hangar her uncle was there waiting for them. Jade turned off the engines and helped Kaia off. She then smiled at her uncle.

"Uncle Xavier, this is Kaia. Kaia, this is Professor Xavier."

he Professor moved a little closer and smiled at the new arrival. Pleased not just for Kaia arrival, but at the successful partnership of his niece Jade and James. He focus on Kaia for the moment. "I have looked forward to meeting you. Welcome to my School for Mutants. I imagine this must be quite a lot for you to take in. Are you hungry or do you need to rest?"

James stood off to one side while introduction were made, he smiled as he cast his mind back to his arrival. The professor seemed to approach her in the exact same way, he remmbered it put him at ease and hoped it would do the same for Kaia