Yanking back on the accelerator the blacked out motorcycle screamed to life as he tore down the road weaving between traffic as he let his free hand rest on his thigh, his mind wandered off in the distance. Enders had met X's during the riots, fought next to them. He hadn't known at the time but watching the news clips of the X-Mens help during the riots he quickly recognized two of the faces. The Marine had plenty of blood on his hands and he wondered if he could ever find salvation. Not for himself, he was more than resolved to the room that waited for him in Hell, but for the rest of the world.

The backlash from the riots was still felt, the tension that permeated the city was palpable and the Sanctuary was growing more and more hostel towards the crystal mutant that had put down more than one of the residents during the crisis. So now Joe sought salvation at the only place he could think of, the only place he thought might be able to help him achieve what he so desperately wanted, needed.

Peace.

Releasing the accelerator he leaned to the side and turned in pulling up to the large metal gates with a quick press of a button there was a loud buzz and the gates slowly swung open. Instantly Enders noticed several security cameras blotting the land but otherwise he saw little in the way of security and as he pulled up to a stop in front of the front door he stared for a moment as cool fall air washed against his face. Kicking down the stand Enders stood up off the bike and adjusted the gray jacket he wore before walking up to the doors and giving it a quick rap. Waiting a few moments he turned the knob listening as it clicked open and with a slight tug pulled the large doors open.

Stepping in he instantly noticed a guard posted at a desk by the door to which Enders signed in with before he glanced around the empty halls before shutting the door behind him. Being instructed that someone would be right with him Enders roamed around unable to take a seat and as he walked down the hall he heard the sound of voices coming from one of the many doors that lined the hallway never losing sight of the greeter meant to ensure he wasn't up to any shenanigans. Glancing inside the cracked doorway he was greeted by something he truly wasn't expecting, a class on world history. Several students sat around in desks as a teacher lectured on about ancient Egypt and the significance of the pyramids. Unknowingly a smile slowly made it's way onto Enders face and for the briefest of moments the Marine felt peace. Then the Bell rang and the students all pushed to their feet and burst into the hallway. Instantly Enders had his back to the wall as students pushed back and forth flowing around him like a rock in a stream paying him little mind. He felt his heart beat skyrocket as he instinctively began scanning each of them for bulges not knowing if one of them might have an improvised explosive device strapped to themselves and sweat began forming in his brow as he felt the hot Iraqi sun on his face his hand clutching at the air where his rifle should be. It wasn't long before the Hall began to clear again as Enders took deep breaths and reabsorbed the crystals that had formed over his hands.

"Hey," Amelia interrupted the unknown man's reverie. This was the guy she'd been called to talk with by the entrance, wasn't it? Her brown eyes dropped to his hands, just in time to catch the briefest glimpse of crystal as it went away. "Easy, tiger." She calmly reprimanded him. Her eyes rose up to his face. "My name's Amelia. I'm here to talk."

Being a mansion greeter, you met all sorts. Even those that got a little panicked when they saw floods of kids. Hopefully, that was just a one-off situation, and not something that would be repeated in the near future. She didn't want another bitey-faced b*!$%.

He was well-built and good-looking, with brown and green eyes and brown hair. Upon further examination, she could see something like a scar by one of his eyes. She didn't spend more than a fraction of a second noticing that before her focus returned to his eyes. Eye contact. It was important. Her hands dove into the pockets of her black leather jacket for warmth, not for safety. Though now he wouldn't see her fingers curl into fists.

Enders did his best to try and relax himself as he reminded himself of where he was and the fact that the students here had no desire to blow him up. Taking a few deeps breaths his heartbeat returned to normal before an unknown voice called out to him. “Hey.” Turning to see who was intruding on his silence his eyes landed on the small girl walking up to him scanning him as she approached. “Easy, tiger. My name’s Amelia. I’m here to talk.”

He quickly raised an eyebrow as the girl introduced herself and questioned if this was really an official of the mansion. Taking note as the little girl placed her hands in her pockets he felt that old instinctual weariness perk up again as he scanned her pockets trying to identify any possible threats she may have contained within before raising his eyes back to meet hers. “Well Amelia, I’m here to talk to someone in charge about getting a room. Not sure if you can help me with that don’t you have a class or something to go to?” Enders wasn’t the nicest person and the rapid fire on stressors was doing nothing for his personality, it was damn near time for a drink.

“So who do I have to talk to?” The Marine asked as he glanced over to the security guard questioningly wondering if this young girl was really who he had been waiting for. With a slight nod at the Amelia the security guard made it clear the brown haired girl was the representative he had been waiting for and Enders returned his gaze to her. “Name’s Joe, so whats the deal kid? Is there some sort of paperwork or something?” He asked obvious signs of his discomfort with the whole situation so far at the mansion running across his face.

He was calling her a kid. A high school student. Little. She didn't bristle. She was too confident for that. But she did take note of it, and file it away as a detail to remember for later, when she was assigning rooms. Perhaps he needed to live nearer to the stink bomb mutant, rather than further? She kept silent while he helped himself to some logic and ran his mouth off.

Who did he have to talk to? She hooked a thumb to her chest. He glanced towards the guard, who backed her up, and smiled as his focused returned to her. "Me," she said. "What's your name?"

He told her. Had a question. She answered.

"Yeah. We can handle the paperwork in my office." Though with the way you're acting,' she inwardly chided him. You might need a signature from a parent. She didn't say it out loud. What she actually said as she turned towards the nearest hallway was "Follow me." And then she led.

"Yeah. We can handle the paperwork in my office. Follow me." Enders watched for a moment as the young girl turned and walked down the hallway and shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat and quickly followed suit. The walk wasn’t far and as she led the Marine wondered what kind of place this was that someone so young was old enough to have her own office and be responsible for welcoming unknown individuals into the midst of a school with so many innocents around. Scanning the girl as she walked he wondered what kind of ability she might have that would be able to defeat a mole should they be sent into the school to cause mayhem and destruction.

As the girl stopped in front of a door and moved inside Enders quickly followed her in scanning the room as he tried to get a bead on what to expect at the mutant school, and what to expect of an organization like the X-Men.

The office wasn't anything special. It was a loaner, really, or at least, that's what she'd treated it as. Mansion greeters often took turns working, since one wouldn't run every shift. They'd burn out fast. So, if he were looking for any personal touches, he would find very few. The room had an organized desk and filing cabinets. She'd kept things in order. There were coat hangers, and the occasional picture or drawing pinned to the wall. Some drawings were from students, though not every drawing was from someone she'd helped get settled in.

Amelia scooted the chair she'd sat in up to the desk, and gestured for the man to have a seat. As he did whatever he did, she turned and fetched the relevant paperwork from a drawer to her side. She scooped out a couple of pages, and pressed a pen down on the desk in front of him alongside the papers.

"So, what brings you to the mansion?" She asked conversationally. He seemed older than the usual member. The mansion often housed students of many ages, many of which were too old to actually be students. Sometimes, the mansion was more a sanctuary, a place for mutants in need of a home. Did he need a home? Or was his mutation relatively new, and something he needed help with? Was there some other option other than the two she'd initially considered. That's what the question was subtly trying to answer. Why was he here?

The questions on the forms she'd passed were your run-of-the-mill things. Name, age, occupation. Where he was from, what sort of room he'd need, his mutation. There wasn't anything incredibly invasive on the forms. Mainly, there were there to find out more about who the mansion would be housing, and what they'd need to know to help them best. For younger mutants, there were also plenty of spots for parents to write in things and give their consent.

Following the young lady into the sparse office the crystal manipulator gave a quick scan taking note of the lack of personal touches. As the girl turned to gather the appropriate forms for him to fill out Enders slipped off his gray jacket and laid it over the back of the chair meant for him before pushing up the sleeves of his blue shirt revealing the array of tattoos as he took his seat. Picking the pen up as it was pressed down in front of him he gave the paper a quick scan as the girl spoke.

“So, what brings you to the mansion?” Looking up slightly at Amelia he wondered quickly how much of the truth was worth telling and if any of it would be enough to deny him entry. Turning back to begin filling out the paperwork he decided to go for broke. 

“I guess you could say that me and I wasn’t getting along with the residents at the last place I was staying. I didn’t mesh well at The Sanctuary.” As he said the name of the golden doored mutant haven his voice expressed the disdain he felt towards the gathering of sycophants banded together under the false promises of peace.

Enders kept an eye on the girl to mark her reaction towards his former residence as he began to fill out the paperwork. Most he filled in quickly only hovering momentarily over the occupation caption before filling it in unemployed, he doubted that underground fighter was an official occupation description. He listed room requirements as a single room but nothing else much was needed to house the former Marine. Scanning the forms one last time he clicked the pen closed and slid the stack of forms back towards Amelia before leaning back into the char and crossing his arms over his chest.

>>“I guess you could say that me and I wasn’t getting along with the residents at the last place I was staying. I didn’t mesh well at The Sanctuary.”

"Ah," was all she said. She'd gotten the basic information packet about 'The Sanctuary'. That was the place some mutants went. It wasn't all bad. But it wasn't all good. Then again, one could say the same about the Mansion. Aura hung out around the Sanctuary a lot, so that was a thing. That bone bikini babe Isabel, too. And she was attractive. She didn't really have much of an opinion about the sanctuary yet. None of the sanctuary residents had peed in her Cheerios, so she had that going for her. Thus, the 'Ah,' and nothing else. Though the guy across from her seemed not to like them, if tone was any clue.

She let Joe do the paperwork, and sat professionally, doing as little as possible, as was the path of professionalism. When he finished the paperwork, and scanned over it, she arched an eyebrow.

"Everything looks to be in order," she said. "If you need any help finding work, we've got people at the mansion that can help with that." Maybe Cold Steel needed someone to help him carry nunchucks and whatever else he used in his martial arts class. "I can get you set up with a single room today, if you'd like." As long as they had single rooms. But she was fairly certain.