((OOC this takes place on Oct 4th))

Kate hated her mutation. Most of the time she wished she was just a normal human, maybe then she would have gotten to live a normal life. If she had been human she could have lived like every other well to do British teen. She probably would have gone to a real boarding school and made lifelong friends and had a boyfriend by now, maybe a few. But no. She had to be born with the x-gene. She had to be born a mutant and because of that she had lit her house on fire multiple times, burned down the gardens multiple times, caused tens of thousands of pounds in property damage, not to mention the physical pain she had caused.

Kate was dangerous and it scared her. So, when Mr. Johnson had told her the night before that she had to show him everything she could do it terrified her. What if she did something to him? What if she did something worse than what she did to Marie? She was always scared she was going to kill someone and what if Mr. Johnson was that someone?

Kate’s mind raced as she walked down to the room she had been brought to the night before. She fidgeted with her dress and rocked back and forth. She could feel her heart going a mile a minute from the fear and her breath feel strained and uneasy. How was she ever going to be able to show him what she could do if she could barely get a hold of herself?

She knocked on the door and waited, desperately hoping he wasn't inside.

It had been a one day since he had officially met Kate and it had been from what he could recall almost a week since her mother started calling Sam regularly for notifications warnings and requests, all of which Sam had to handle as professionally as possible seeing as Neena and Tricity were still away gathering up youngsters who were in need of help. Today however he was going to see what she could actually do, talk was nothing more than talk and he had been hearing a lot of talk about what Kate was capable of and while he understood that she wasn’t the most comfortable with her mutation (like most kids her age) Sam wanted to see it for himself see what she could do.

Sitting in the control section of the Danger Room, Sam went through the necessary precautions setting up all the safety features he could think up for Kate, he did after all give her mother his word that no harm would come to her and he did mean what he said. Was he worried about himself? Not in the slightest, should he have been? Yeah, she did say she could burn at temperatures he himself never even dared to see if he could survive in. His body’s thermal system worked differently than everyone else’s, extreme heat never really bothered him just like the cold. Both of the extremes never bother him but to attempt to go as hot as Kate said her fire being could go. It was something he wasn’t giving much thought about.

Just as he was finishing up with the newest safety feature he personally designed a red light flashed quickly and his screen was replaced with an image of a woman in a sun dress standing in front of the metallic doors of the danger room. Did she really come in a dress? Sam blinked once then opened the doors for her, ”Come on in and head to the center of the room I’ll be down in a second.” Sam said as he exited out of the camera shot and started up the program he designed which just consisted of reinforced metallic walls with cooling systems that would only work to a certain degree to counter act the heat.

After about two minutes Sam opened the widow of the god room and formed a slide made of ice and made his way down to the center. The slide vanished shortly after he landed a few feet from Kate forced to evaporate under the power of his mutation. ”Hey Kate!” Sam said with a warm smile as he took a few steps closer to the girl ”First girl ever to come into the danger room for a session with me in a dress…” Sam let out a laugh and the stopped when he was a few feet from her.

Noticing the look on her face and the way she was breathing Sam came to the conclusion she was nervous, he thought she would be, after all she did lose control before and if she was anything like any of the kids he taught before her, they didn’t like losing control of their mutation. ”Relax… this is meant to help you and I promise it will be fun alright?”

He paused for a moment and then added, ”Alright first part of the session something I have been starting most of my sessions with…” Sam inhaled loudly and expanded his lungs held it for a second then exhaled, ”Deep breaths, that way if you do happen to lose control I want you to focus on breathing alright? It sounds a little odd but trust me it works.” Sam said being able to vouch for a handful of students who had trouble with control.

>>Come on in and head to the center of the room I’ll be down in a second.

Kate waited for the door to open and did as instructed. The room seemed different that it had been the day before. For some reason it seemed larger then she had perceived it the day before. This could have been because she was actually getting a good look at it. Or maybe because there was no giant crater and fighting going on.

Kate backed away quickly as a slide of ice formed next to her and Mr. Johnson came sliding down it. She was suddenly much more scared of him hurting her then her hurting him. She knew he had to have a great deal of control over his own powers in order to teach others to do the same and now she was also an ice user. Kate was now blateny aware that this man could kill her in a matter of minutes.

>>Hey Kate! First girl ever to come into the danger room for a session with me in a dress…

Kate looked down at the dress she had chosen. What was wrong with it? It was light and had a lot of movement perfect for showing off what she could do. Sure the bow could potentially get in the way, but she really didn’t care about the dress all that much so it didn’t really matter.

>>Relax… this is meant to help you and I promise it will be fun alright?...Alright first part of the session something I have been starting most of my sessions with… Deep breaths, that way if you do happen to lose control I want you to focus on breathing alright? It sounds a little odd but trust me it works.

“You want me to breath?” Kate looked at Mr. Johnson as if he had three heads. Was he serious? Breathing was not really that big of a revelation for Kate, “To tell you the truth I honestly already do that. My powers get a mind of their own when I get angry or upset so I generally employ the same tactic to calm myself down. And to tell you the truth I am more worried about you accidentally killing me more than anything else.”

The way she reacted to his comment about her dress made him smirk a bit more, it seemed she wasn’t exactly sure what she would be doing, which was to be expected it wasn’t often his danger room sessions were all planned out and set in stone, sure most of the time he had a selected idea on what was planned but he always had a back up or two waiting just incase he decided to change the session up mid-practice.

Her reaction on his comment about breathing was to be expected most of his students didn’t understand the importance of breath however she did say she was aware of how to regain control when she got upset which was good. What wasn’t good was her fear of him the teacher of this session. He understood it however if being cold could kill her he would be the most dangerous person in the mansion to be around when his powers fully activated. However he wasn’t going to do that unless necessary, ”You make it sound like you don’t think I’m capable of control.”

Sam smirked slightly and shook his head letting her know he wasn’t offended, ”I wouldn’t be helping students such as yourself with control if I couldn’t control my mutation. Years of practice, in fact more than most I was an early bloomer with my powers. They started making an appearance when I was five from what I was told, not to mention my own fear of turning someone into an icicle.” the fear was a legitimate one he had a lot when he was younger.

”I haven’t lost control in forever,” forever didn’t include the effects of haywire that wasn’t really his fault and there was no way to control himself then. ”sides I promised your mother I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” he waved his hand dismissing the subject for the moment and then looked to her, ”So let’s get started!”

Sam took a few steps towards her and patted her on her shoulder, now I want you to create flame for starters right in the palm of your hand for starters should be easy enough right?”[/color] Sam asked as he took a step back.

>>sides I promised your mother I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. So let’s get started!

Somehow she wasn’t even slightly surprised that her mother had made him promise such a thing. She really was incapable of letting Kate grow up without a protector. Kate was an adult and didn’t need to be under the watchful eyes of a parent or guardian all the time.

Mr. Johnson walked toward her and she resisted the urge to step away again. He said he had complete control and she had to learn to trust him. Granted it wasn’t his control she was afraid of, it was his understanding of her limitations that scared her. He could most certainly assume she can handle much more then she can and really heart her.

>>Now I want you to create flame for starters right in the palm of your hand for starters should be easy enough right?

“Actually, Mr. Johnson, that is the easiest thing I could possibly do.” She flipped her wrist and the center of her palm warmed. In seconds there was a fully formed blue/white ball of fire in her hand. It would have felt scorching hot for anyone else but for Kate it was like home.

It was a scene that seemed to replay in his mind the only difference he was standing where Kate was and he was about a foot shorter and his body was covered in ice. He said something similar to what she had just said, turned out he regretted saying the words similar to hers, little Sam ended up having to stand in place with the ice armor on his body for an hour for starters.

Shaking his head and promising himself he wouldn’t put Kate through the same thing Sam corrected her, ”You can call me Sam, Mr. Johnson is for the younger kids, I’m not much older than you anyways.” he didn’t like being called Mr. Johnson by the older kids in a few years from now maybe but right now he preferred Sam.

”Under normal circumstances I’d try to see how long you can hold that flame for but we aren’t here for that… no today we are here to work on control right?” Sam asked, it was a rhetorical question but he still didn’t mind her answering it. ”Right now I’m just seeing personally what you can do…” Sam smiled and took a step back from Kate who had the flaming hand and he looked up to the God Room. ”Computer Target, Ten through Fifty!” Just as he finished commanding the room, five large circular targets appeared from the ground and Sam gestured towards them, ”If creating is easy lets see if you can throw it…”
Holding up his hand and stepping away from her Sam shot a ice shard from his hand that hit dead center of the target that was ten yards away. He didn’t bother aiming for any of the others because he knew that not only the accuracy would be off for the twenty but also, he wasn’t capable shooting a shard as far as the fifty yards away.

”Let’s see what you can do.” Sam said as he took a few steps away from where they were to watch Kate work, it took her a few seconds to create but would she be able to fire them out in quick succession and did the flames retain their shape in a ball when they left her hands? A few questions started to swim around in Sam’s mind as he eyed the white flame in Kate’s hands.

>>You can call me Sam, Mr. Johnson is for the younger kids, I’m not much older than you anyways.

Kate made a note of her new teacher’s first name and started wondering what she was going to have to do with the ball. Back when she would practice at Kirby Hall it tended to be for scientific study or to see how far she could push herself. She would spend hours hidden out on the grounds, far from the house, and play. During the summer she wouldn’t go back inside until her fire was red and she could barely stand. Yes, she was scared of her powers but when she was alone they were her favorite thing. Fire was such a part of her that she couldn’t live without it. Even when she wished to be normal there was a part of her that longed to be fire all the time.

>>Under normal circumstances I’d try to see how long you can hold that flame for but we aren’t here for that… no today we are here to work on control right?Right now I’m just seeing personally what you can do…Computer Target, Ten through Fifty!

Kate watched as Sam stepped away from her and 5 large targets appeared in front of them. This was just like one of their experiments back home. Though in their version there had only been one target and it was more about speed and weather the heat and size of the ball changed when it was detached and thrown away from the body. As well as seeing if she could aim them. She had never tried to see how far she could throw them.

>>If creating is easy lets see if you can throw it…

Kate watched as an ice shard flew out of Sam’s hand and hit the closest target.

>>Let’s see what you can do.

Kate closed her hand and put out the fireball that was already there. She started stretching out her arms and cracked her fingers, before standing there with her eyes on the target. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together. She assumed he just wanted her to try and hit the targets until they were too far away. So she wanted to put power behind these and not just toss them like she would for something closer.

She lowered her hands to her sides and put her right palm forward. She swung her arm back and, with a step forward, her arm swung around and a white ball slightly bigger then a baseball, but not as big as a softball, went flying at the target. It looked like a small white comet as it headed straight for the target, quickly turning the ice shard into steam and hitting the center of the target. It was quickly engulfed in white flames that changed color as they cooled and fizzled out, leaving nothing but metal behind.

Kate did the same for the second and third target. But when she threw at the third one, the fireball started to grow a little erratic before hitting below the center of the target.

Kate missed the fourth and, as a result, didn’t even try the fifth.

“What would you like me to do next?”

Watching his newest student shoot fire balls out of her hands Sam was thoroughly impressed with the accuracy she had already possessed it was clear she had some practice but what else was she capable of? Looking to the fourth and fifth targets Sam made a mental note about the range of her accuracy; it was good very good she had potential. Thinking about the X-team for a moment he smirked and then realized that she could be a future teammate she would make a fine addition… but then again Sam remembered his promise to her mother and he shook the thoughts from his head.

”Excellent, very good Kate!” Sam said walking a few feet towards her and turning to face the targets a few of which were still smoldering due to the fire ball she threw moments before, ”I think we could continue on, you have range and accuracy down but they could use a little work, but what else are you capable of I wonder…” Sam placed his hand on his chin like he was thinking and then looked up to the god room.

”Computer, moving targets circle twelve yards!” the targets they were using moments before vanished as a dozen targets spawned around them in a circle about twelve yards from where they were both standing, ”this time I want you to hit the targets with something other than a fire ball, a arc maybe, or a stream of flames… be creative as possible!” Sam said as he walked out of the circle and where he assumed he’d be safe from any flames that might have escaped the circle. What Sam didn’t tell her in about thirty seconds the targets would be moving.

>>Excellent, very good Kate! I think we could continue on, you have range and accuracy down but they could use a little work, but what else are you capable of I wonder… Computer, moving targets circle twelve yards!

Kate watched in interest as the smoldering targets disappeared and were replaced by a ring of new ones. She was surrounded and confused. How was this going to demonstrate anything different?

>>this time I want you to hit the targets with something other than a fire ball, a arc maybe, or a stream of flames… be creative as possible!

Be creative. Kate thought about all the things she could do and came up pretty blank. She had never really tried much more then fire ball throwing. Kate looked around from target to target before looking forward once more and blowing on her fingers to warm them up, her hands had a tendency to get cold after releasing a fire ball. The room around her was freezing in comparison.

Kate was lost in thought when the targets started spinning. She looked about once more, “Well this makes it easier.”

Kate stared at her hands and thought about what she could do. She had never been able to manifest fire anywhere other than through her hands when she was in human form and the normal, everyday fire balls weren’t going to work this time. She was going to need something a little different. She looked from one palm to the other and then back again. She recalled experimenting briefly with a continuous stream of fire from one hand to the other. What if she could do the same thing but direct the stream, what if she could use her hands together to make this work?

Kate turned her palms on one another, holding them about a foot apart and closing her eyes. She could feel the familiar heat once again and the fire rose up from the pit of her soul and formed in her hands. She opened her eyes and stared at the point directly between her hands. Her figures twitched and moved as the fire started flaring and growing. It resisted at first, falling back on itself multiple times before connecting in a stream of fire. Now all she had to do was direct said fire strait forward 12 yards. This was most certainly going to use more energy then she wanted to use.

Kate started pushing her hands together while simultaneously turning them to face the targets. A arc started to form as the fire bent to the pressure.

Kate once again focused on the empty space in the now forward moving stream and willed it to close the gap between her and the moving targets. She watched as the stream turned from brilliant white to blue and could feel the temperature of the fire lower in her palms.

The flame seemed to fight her at first before shooting off in the directing of the targets and collided with a crash, lighting each target as it passed in front of her.

Once the last one passed, Kate quickly closed her palms and ended the slowly cooling stream.

”So it would seem…” Sam said commenting calmly to her response to the spinning targets. Would she create an arc, a beam maybe? Sam would have created a beam of ice and froze one until the next crashed in to another he however wasn’t the one who was practicing at the moment, no he was the one who was giving the lesson so Sam waited and watched as Kate examined her hands making it seem like she couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do.

Sam smirked as a beam of heat and fire shot out from her hands and hit the first target as one quickly entered the flame after the last. Soon they were all on fire and were quickly melting. Nodding his head Sam focused on the air around them and waited till Kate’s beam of fire vanished. Once gone Sam focused on the heat coming from her body and then took another step back once he closed his eye. Her entire body was lit up to the point if he wasn’t used to seeing with his sixth sense he would have been blind.

”Now I have another request…” Sam said as he watched the targets slowly melt from the flames that surrounded them. ”I wonder if you can now put out said fires after you create them…” Sam could, but then again this training session was for Kate more than him. Sam was aware of what he could do he still wasn’t sure what Kate could do.

>>Now I have another request… I wonder if you can now put out said fires after you create them…

Kate had always felt a little lacking when she could never control the fire around her and she looked down bashfully at the statement, “I actually can’t control fire once it isn’t a part of me anymore. The fire I create is kind of like an arm or a leg. Once it is separated from my body I can no longer control it. I can’t make it bigger or smaller and I can’t put it out. I mean I even feel the cold of loss once it is gone, and that isn’t’ just because of the heat.” Kate had to stop and think of the best way to illustrate how fire makes her feel. For most people fire was dangerous and scary but for her it felt like home, “When I create fire it doesn’t just feel like fire, it warms my entire body. And not just in the creating fire kind of way, it feels safe and…warm.” Kate felt completely daft in her confusing attempt to explain and looked at Sam apologetically, “I’m probably just confusing you to no end. I’m sorry it isn’t’ really something I can explain. Basically, I can’t control the fire I create… or the ones I don’t. I can’t control any fire at all.”

She looked down almost ashamed that she couldn’t control the flames when they were no longer connected to her, but when she gave her explanation Sam nodded his head in sympathy as he took a few steps closer to towards the burning targets. ”Computer stop moving targets.” the targets slowed to a stop by continued to burn and crackle under the flames.

Shrugging slightly Sam raised his hand up and then added, ”You don’t have to feel bad about not being able to do it, and I think I have an idea when I was younger I used to encase my body in ice when felt threatened sort of like a cocoon." Of course when he felt threatened he was falling from a burning plane or being shot at. Something that he didn’t think Kate would have went through as a kid, ”You can’t control the fire you create, have you ever tried to become apart of it and pull it back and try to absorb it?” Sam asked curiously stepping closer to the hand and quickly blowing out one of the flames with a cool jet.

”I’m just trying to gauge an idea on what your capable of, even if it is outside the box.” Sam raised his iced over hand towards another burning target then lowered it remembering that if she did think of these as ‘home’ it probably wouldn’t reflect to well on him if he was dosing her ‘home’.

”Touch a flame and try it out…” Sam said convincingly as he took a step into the ring of targets closer to Kate his own hand melting the ice that previously formed around it. Placing his hands behind his head Sam waited.

>>Computer stop moving targets.

Kate looked around the room as the targets slowed and stopped, some of them still burning around her. She looked up at Sam apologetically and waited for his reaction.

>>You don’t have to feel bad about not being able to do it, and I think I have an idea when I was younger I used to encase my body in ice when felt threatened sort of like a cocoon.

Kate’s mind wondered to the first time her fire elemental had manifested, even if it was only for a moment, to protect her from a nonexistent danger. She thought of the look on Marie’s face as she writhed in pain half of her body burned and melted.

>>You can’t control the fire you create, have you ever tried to become apart of it and pull it back and try to absorb it?

Kate shook her head. She had never thought to try and reabsorb the fire she created. She had actually never even tried to touch the fire before. It felt safe but her human instincts to protect herself and all the bad she had seen her fire cause were telling her ‘fire bad’.

>>I’m just trying to gauge an idea on what your capable of, even if it is outside the box. Touch a flame and try it out…

Kate looked at the still burning target to her right. Could she really do it? Could she really reabsorb the fire? Melt the skin of her arm attempting to do so.

Kate looked to Sam and then back to the target. She was slowly realizing that Sam wouldn’t’ have asked her to do it if he thought it would hurt her and if it did he would probably do anything to make sure that she was okay. She was in a school full of mutants. One of them had to be able to fix her if she burnt her hand that badly.

Kate tentatively walked over to the small flame and began reaching for it. As her fingers inched closer to it she felt it dying in front of her. She had to do something to save it before she tried to manipulate it.

Kate leaned over and closed her eyes as she blew at the flame and it grew and warmed.

She smiled as she sat up. Somehow she had always been akin with fire and could feel the small flame’s new found strength touching her.

Kate took a deep breath and reached for the fire slowly. She closed her eyes tight, afraid of what might happen, but kept moving her hand anyway.

At first the fire was just warmth in her hand, but the longer she touched it the more she felt it move and crackle. She could feel its ‘life force’ and she smiled. It was such an invigorating feeling that Kate almost forgot what she was doing.

She once again closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of the flame trying to push it in the right direction. She could feel it fight and push back more and more until it seemed like her hand was burning.

Kate gasped and ripped her hand out of the flame. She looked frantically for burn skin and thankfully found none.

She was reluctant to get near the flame, that much was obvious. It seemed that the thought to reabsorb the flames into her had never came to mind something Sam could understand. It was part of his job as a teacher at the mansion to think outside the box with mutations to make it safer not only for the students themselves but those around them.

When Kate first looked to Sam still not sure if she should proceed to touch the flame or not Sam nodded his head reassuringly and took a few steps closer towards her ready to protect her if she did end up getting burned but seeing as the similarities between their mutations Sam didn’t think she would even get burned she could create fire after all.

When he hand touched the flame Sam took another step closer ready to intervene until he noticed the smile on her face. Once she was smiling Sam took a step back to see what would happen. The flame shifted away and then towards Kate over and over again until she gasped and pulled her hand free of the flame like she was just burned.

A second passed and Sam jumped forward placing Kate’s hand in his and he examined it while his mind was in a state of panic, was it possible he was wrong? ”Kate! You hurt?” his voice came in loud, tempted to place some ice on her hand to relieve the burn symptoms Sam refrained as he noticed no burns, however the concern on his face not wavering.

>>Kate! You hurt?

Before Kate knew what had happened, Sam was checking Kate’s hand for damage, only to come to the same conclusion that there was none.

Kate pulled her hand away quickly still a little afraid of the larger man. Her body was naturally so warm and she had expected his to be just as cold. She was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. He was ice to her fire and he was the one thing that could kill her very quickly. It was going to take some time for her to truly get used to him but in time she would be able to accept him as safe.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t trying to burn me I don’t think. It felt more like a nip. Like a threatened animal trying to protect itself.” Kate listened to her words as they came out and realized how ridiculous she must have sounded talking about the fire like it was a living thing, but for some reason when she had been touching it, it sure felt like one. It seemed to talk to her in a way she had never expected. For some reason she felt like it had fought because it was it didn’t trust her. It was afraid that she would put it out just as Sam had done to its brother. It really had been a scared little animal.