Michael stepped out into the mansion grounds to try and clear his head after what had happened with Iris. He headed towards the now half empty pool, figuring that not many others would want to go there. The pool had just come into sight when he spotted a grey streak flying towards him.

Turning to face it he saw a robotic dog charging him. He looked at it in surprise until the bit down hard on his leg. “You know,” he sighed to himself, “I’d be annoyed if my jeans didn’t already have several holes in them, a few teeth marks won’t make it much worse.”

“Sorry!” came a voice from over where the mechanical pooch had come from. Looking up Michael saw a young girl with fox ears and tail running towards him, a small tool kit in her hand. At least he knew who the dog belonged to.

Ruby scuttled over to the boy that the dog bit. She felt bad for her robotic Dog biting him like it did. She took a wrench out of her tool kit and clonked the dog on the head, causing it to let go.

"Bad dog, no biting other people!" Ruby scolded, shaking her finger at the dog. The dog whimpered and stalked off. Ruby looked up at the guy apologetically.

"Im so sorry. Bert is just a little excited about being reactivated. Are you okay?"

Michael smiled at the girl as she whacked the dog to make it let go. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said with a smile, “considering my mutation means that I can’t actually get hurt there’s nothing to worry about. Good thing Bret met me first huh? I could feel the power in the jaws even if they didn’t hurt, anyone else could have lost a chunk of his leg.”

“The names Michael, I’m kinda new here. Just come from the big ruckus to get some fresh air,” he said. He watched the dog stalk off with a smile, it was so life like it was uncanny.

Ruby looked up at the boy with and arched brow. "So you couldnt get hurt? Thats cool, I wish my Big sis had that power, Im worried about her...off fighting with the rest of the x men at the sancutary."

Ruby's ears flattened a bit. "My name is Ruby, younger sister to the X woman Emerald, the wolf girl with a really bad tempter."

“Nice to meet you Ruby,” said Michael smiling, “and yeah, my power is pretty cool. I wouldn’t worry about your sister, if the X-men are anything like I’ve heard she’ll be fine.” He couldn’t help but wish that the X-men were here when Iris turned up and lost it, but now he thought about it maybe that was the plan, draw the X-men away and then attack their home.

“That’s a pretty cool dog you have Ruby, you make it yourself?” he guessed she had by the tools in her hands. If so then she was one smart kid, he wouldn’t know where to begin to make something like that.

He guessed her mutation was like Nika’s, as she had cat ears and a tail. Having seen what Nika did to Iris when she lost it he wondered if Ruby had the same kind of strength and speed.

Ruby nodded thoughtfuly, though she was still worried. Her big sister had a really bad habbit of getting into trouble. Sometimes Ruby was afraid she wouldnt get out of it. It was a worry she always had, and it was only elvated because of the absence of Emmys boyfriend.

The pup grumbled when she thought of him. He was breaking her big sisters heart and even though he was back and now living at the mansion she hoped it wouldnt be long before Emmy broke with him. Her big sis deserved so much better and though she loved the idea of Emmy being happy with him, she still didnt like him.

This Michael guys seemed nice, maybe she could get her sister to pay attention to him a bit.

"Yea I made it all by myself. Im good with robots and Electronics because of my powers." Ruby responded. "Oh and you are the second Michael..well that should be fun trying to figure out who's who."

Michael smiled at Ruby, she seemed like a nice kid. “That’s very cool,” said Michael, genuinely impressed, “So you’re power helps huh? I’m sorry, but how does being a fox girl help you with making robots.”

“So there’s another Michael around here huh? Yeah, I guess that could be kinda awkward,” Michael agreed. Now he thought about it a lot of the people here seemed to have nicknames that linked to their powers, maybe he should get one…

“Well, if things get too confusing you can just call me Shield,” he said with a grin. Shield was perfect, as he made the ultimate human shield.

Ruby smiled at Shield. "Well you see I can do...this." Ruby turned into her fox form and walked up to Michael. She bit him gently causing a shock to escape and proably give him a bit of a jolt.

He looked on bemused as Ruby bit him. Then she shocked him. “Ow!” he cried pulling back. He stopped and stared at his arm, then at Ruby, then his arm again. “That… hurt.”

This was the first time in his life that he had ever felt pain. And that must have only been something mild. He suddenly felt a newfound respect for people who had to deal with pain. “You just electrocuted me didn’t you…”

So he wasn’t invincible, something could actually hurt him. He suddenly felt rather more worried than before. He actually had to watch out for something. “Sorry,” he said to Ruby, “it’s just, that’s the first time anything has ever hurt me.”

“Well, at least I now know that I can be hurt by electricity. Thanks Ruby, I’d rather find out this way than someone who wants to hurt me hitting me with it. So, your electrical powers allow you to understand machines huh.”

"Im sorry Im sorry!" She repeated about a dozen times. She then found her happy place and calmed down.

The fox girl turned into human form, tail curling around her body. Her ears twitched in a foxy way as she looked at Michael. She couldnt believe she actually did damage to someone, she had never done that before.

"Wait so...I actually managed to hurt you? So...that means my powers arent useless after all." Ruby grinned. "TAKE THAT TATTOO!"

Ruby blushed furiously, once again having to calm herself down. "Sorry, long story, but yea I can sorta understand machines."

Michael smiled at Ruby, “It’s ok,” he told her, “no permanent damage, see.” He moved his arm around to show he was fine. “So, did you scratch build Bert then?2 He asked.

That dog was truly remarkable, a great piece of engineering. He was still a little shaken by finding out he wasn’t as invincible as he thought. Who would have guessed that after being hit by cars and lorries, shot, attacked by Ted’s beast form and battling Iris’ various powers it would be this little girl who was the first person to hurt him.

Ruby nodded eagerilly. She whistled and the Robotic dog came running towards her. The dog growled at Michael before barking happily at Ruby, licking her face. Ruby giggled happily, tail wagging a bit.

"Yea I built him from scratch, along with the matinance robot's that are hovering around the mansion."

“Maintenance bots huh,” he said thoughtfully, “well considering the damage that has been caused I think we’re going to need all of them to help clean up. So where were you when Iris got back? I don’t think you could have missed the battle.”

He didn’t think that it was possible for any of the mansion residents to not have at least heard if not seen the battle. I seemed to range across most of the mansion. He was glad that Ruby was ok, it seemed like they’d managed to keep Iris away from most of the residents.

Ruby's ears flattened a bit, crossing her arms. She had been sent away during the battle, Emerald was worried that the Sanctuary would try something and then sent her to her parents house untill given the all clear. But Ruby came back with something this time, something that would help her be a better fighter.

"Emmy sent me to Mom and Dad's because she was worried the sanctuary people would try something." Ruby responded sullenly. "I wanted to stay and Fight too."

“Well, it was pretty serious,” said Michael, “You were probably safer at your parents, now I know that’s not what you want to hear, but how could I possibly explain to your sister if something happened to her?”

“We managed to destroy two classrooms, the library, and then freeze half the mansion. Fortunately one of the girls with us had healing powers,” he said, thinking of Aurica, “she made sure that no one suffered anything too serious.”