Katrina was a smart girl. She should be the mansion tour guide with all of her knowledge about the mansion. Cailyn would probably get lost over and over again on her way to the mysterious door if it wasn't for her.

Katrina lead the two of them towards the library. They passed a couple of other rooms , but they where of no interrest to the two of them. Cailyn didn't look in all those rooms yet, maybe she should one day if she had time. Not that she was busy or anything. As they approuched the door Katrina warned her.

“Someone's inside,”

Someone was indeed inside. She could hear the sounds of people coming from behind the door. People who knew what was inside. With her heart pounding in her throat, the door opened. From the door emerged a man who was a bit familiar to her. It was the cold man who saved her from the pool once. She remember his name being Sam.

“Can I help you with something Katrina?”

Katrina seemed to know him too. Cailyn didn't believe that sam knew what her name was, or that he ever really spoken to her. Not that it mattered, she got information from people in a different manner. Maybe they could pry the information about the plane from him, maybe even see it. She would wait how well Katrina knew him first. Maybe they didn't like each other, but how could that be possible.

A moment after she had stepped close to the door, it wooshed open without so much as scanning her chest. It was almost as surprising as peering into the toaster to see how the bread to toast transformation was coming along and having the toast pop out and hit her between the eyes, but not quite. Nevertheless, she was startled enough to take a step back, bump into Hymn, and was left starring wide eyed at the people who were coming through the door.

They were kids, high school aged from the looks of it. They were smiling and chatting animatedly with British accents. They looked a little surprised to see someone waiting so closely outside the door, but once Sam gave them directions where to go, they were off up the stairs trying to find their way to the greeter office. New students, all the way from England?

Oh, and Sam was there too.

>>>“Can I help you with something Katrina?”

The way he asked it, there was another question hidden behind the first one and it was “What are you doing here?”

Good questions, both of them. She was only obligated to answer the first one outright, but the second one was probably the one he cared about most.

With her hands behind her back, she rocked on her feet, looking as innocent as she could. “I was giving Cailyn a tour.” How much else could she say without getting in too much trouble. “She said she likes planes, so I thought I'd at least show her where it's kept even if the door was locked. At least, I've heard this is where it is kept.” Was the plane common knowledge among the students? She thought it could be. Maybe it was, especially if some of the students got a ride to the school on the plane and other students were trainees who got to go on missions on the plane. Probably. So everyone knew about it, right?

Eyes shifting to the girl who was now playing innocent to the girl he now recognized from the pool party someone he had saved from drowning, “You wanted to show Cailyn a restricted area?” he asked a smile touching his lips as his eyebrow lifted as if he found this situation somewhat amusing. He looked away from Katrina over to Caliyn and asked, “So you like planes?” he asked waiting from a response from the woman wanting to make sure that she was in fact there to check out the plane and nothing else, well he didn’t know what she could be after in the X-Jet hanger seeing as it was only the jet.

Letting out a loud sigh as he looked back to Katrina who was rocking on his feet he asked her once again, “To be honest I am surprised you knew where it was other than the transfer out of state and country students and the team not many people know about where the X-jet is…” he frowned slightly and turned his back to them opening the door to the hanger not seeing much harm in letting them see the jet. “Not much I can do if you both already know where the jet is can I?” he asked walking back into the large garage for the jet.

As he walked down the stairs he called back to them, “Look with your eyes not your hands, got it?” after this little show and tell was over Sam figured he should ask Katrina what other things in the mansion she knew about, things not most students should know. He wasn’t mad with her only curious and seeing as she was a Kat and he wasn’t he was more worried about her being hurt for knowing something that could be potentially dangerous.

As he approached the base level of the jet hanger he waved his hand and said, “This is the X-Jet…” he assumed that this was the first time either one of them had seen a jet this big up close but then again Katrina did know where the jet was so he assumed she might have seen it for. Regardless of his assumptions Sam figured he would be able to read the reactions well enough to determine if she has in fact seen it before.

“So you like planes?”

"Uhu" she said as she nodded. she was a bit shy al of the sudden mostly because he might have information about the plane and she didn't want to come over as weird and scare him of. She had that effect on people sometimes. Mostly when she went into hymn mode and started manipulating.

“Not much I can do if you both already know where the jet is can I?”

Statement of a witness could be used in court as proof. This was proof never the less that they had a plane hidden in the basement. She was excited about it now beyond the level of excitement she had when she started her search. She got the information without even using her powers. He even went downstairs as if he was going to show them the plane.

Maybe it was trick, just for her. Like a april fools joke. She still followed him and katrina down stairs. The whispers in her head started making her a bit paranoid again. They told her it was a sceme to get her in lockup downstairs. But there was no turning back now as she looked at a huge black plane now. it wasn't a normal plane, it was one of thos fancy streamlined ones.

“This is the X-Jet…”

Her eyes became huge again out of the awesomeness she was beholding. the only thing she could say was: "Cooooolll." Another thing to scratch of her list of things to do.

>>>“You wanted to show Cailyn a restricted area?”

Was that a smirk on his face? It seemed to Katrina as if he was barely suppressing a laugh. Honestly, she didn't think it was funny at all. Besides, she hadn't been planning on showing Cailyn the restricted area.

“I was only going to show her the door, then you came out.”

>>>“To be honest I am surprised you knew where it was other than the transfer out of state and country students and the team not many people know about where the X-jet is…”

It didn't matter what the percentage of people was that knew about where the jet was. It only took one to talk before the whole school knew something. Just because she hadn't actually heard about it from a rumor the first time didn't mean that there weren't rumors circulating. Even Cailyn could have heard about it before, which would explain her subtle hints earlier about wanting to see it. Katrina just shrugged in response to that statement. She's already explained that there were rumors.

Then Sam surprised her. He changed from grilling them about what they were doing there and why to allowing them into the hanger officially. Katrina's jaw dropped. In her year living here she'd never been allowed to go in here. Really, though, it made sense that he wouldn't care if they saw the plane. Sam was a laid back person, and he was nice. He also was logical and saw that sometimes it doesn't make a big difference if you stretch a rule. He wasn't one of those teachers that stuck with a rule even if it didn't really make sense. Her respect for him rose another notch or two as she grinned at him.

“That would be awesome.” She followed him down into the hanger with a skip in her step. The hallway that led to the hanger was considerably more well lit than the last time she had been here. Her eyes were just as wide as they had been the first time, because this time she could actually see. There were lockers on the walls with numbers, but no names.

“What are the lockers for?” Katrina asked. She thought Calley's kilt had come from one of them, but she didn't know why exactly there would be lockers full of kilts in a plane hanger.

Further along the plane came into view. It was even more spectacular looking in the light than it had been when it was hunkered in shadows. The blackbird as she was sometimes called was very sleek looking, which would help her reduce drag to go faster. Or something like that; her science teacher had talked about it at one point and it had been cool to hear about until they had to start doing calculations to measure air friction.

As they came up to the plane, Katrina resisted the urge to rub her hand against the smooth finish. Sam had said not to touch anything. The sight of the plane triggered something in her memory that didn't really belong there. For some reason she could imagine what the inside looked like, could see the cock pit and the seats, knew where the emergency exits and could guess where all the hatches were. It was as if she had been inside it before even though she hadn't been. It was the strangest sense of déjà vu.

As the echoes of the footsteps from all of them died down Sam looked to the lockers that Katrina questioned about and then smiled slightly glad that she was so observant for being so young. “Those,” said Sam pointing to the lockers “Is where we keep a few of the X-Men suits.” Wondering curiously if his was cleaned from the last mission he walked over to his locker and lifted the small latch to open the locker, there wasn’t really a need to lock the main doors of the lockers, seeing as the hanger itself was highly restricted unless you knew someone or were coming from the jet. However smaller boxes with locks were located in each large locker to hold the more personal effects people chose to leave behind for safe keeping during mission time.

The number seven was printed in the metal door as Sam opened the locker and pulled his suit from his locker. The numbers didn’t really mean anything, other than Tricity’s locker being the first one for obvious reasons Sam never really gave much thought to the numbers on the lockers, at the time locker number seven was free and he liked the way it sounded better than number four or twelve, seven was just easier to remember. Pulling his suit from his locker Sam grinned and said, “Forgot I got it cleaned yesterday so it is a bit stiff…” he had no intention for the time being to put the suit on, unless a mission was called as he was pulling it out.

More often then not he chose not to wear his suit only because he could just as easily ice up and create his insignia on his back and chest. Lifting his full body suit higher so it could hang freely he turned it to face Katrina and Caitlyn, both front and back revealed itself as a pair of blue swords were crossed on his back and a smaller blue patched sword was engraved above where his heart would be. Right below the sword on his front was his codename “Cold Steel”. Most of the suits have our each individual code name on them.

Putting his suit back into locker seven Sam looked to the pair and said, “Think I am going to get in trouble but,” shrugging slightly Sam said, “I can take you two into the jet if you want, it looks way cooler on the inside!” said Sam slightly excitedly as he was starting to sound like a proud parent or a teenager who was showing everyone his first car. Pointing the way into the jet Sam made his way toward the stairs that would take them into the jet.

He wasn’t to worried about being in trouble, after all he was one of the few people that could fly the jet so the two girls were safer with him there than anyone else, if something was to go wrong he could quickly fix the situation or at least stall long enough for everyone to get out alright. Sam just hopped neither one of the girls would go into the cockpit and hit the buttons other than flares the only other buttons that would be in view would be the ignition button and the auto pilot buttons there wasn’t much to worry about he already said don’t touch anything after all.

Katrina was as curious as Cailyn but she herself kept to herself for it. Katrina asked about the lockers and such. The must hold all kind of forbidden goodies. They belonged to the so called x-men. No clue what they where though exept of what she heard of them. She couldn't make a picture of it in her mind. From what she heard they where just mutants but there had to be more to them to be superheroes. Something like spandaxes with blue and red, maybe even capes.

Sam however wanted to leave no mysteries. He pulled out stuff from a locker that was seemingly his. A suit, black and stealthy looking. Didn't seem that extreemly special, and it missed a cape for being a superhero suit. It looked more military like they stuff that her father's "special" personal seemed to wear. This made her a bit itchy though. What if they where just like them. The similarities where there in clothing and secrets. She just hadn't figured out there true intentions yet.

“Think I am going to get in trouble but,” shrugging slightly Sam said, “I can take you two into the jet if you want, it looks way cooler on the inside!”

He stuffed his suit back into his locker as he said that. Cailyn tilted her head and looked confused. "You said we couldn't touch." She said to him. Entering the plane would be considered touching. This was his very own contraction. Strangly he changed his mind about seemingly. Maybe it was a trick to get the two of them out of here. Was sam really a good person? These types of things always ran through her head when meeting people and going places she had never been to. One way to find out what his true intentions where. Well actually two, but only one way she could control.

Katrina admired Sam's X-men uniform. His code name was stitched on it. Cold Steel. She didn't think of him as that, though. She thought of him as Sam. She wondered at what point people usually chose code names, and if they were a mandatory part of being on the X-men team. They didn't really worry too much about secret identities, as far as she knew, because they didn't even have masks as part of their uniforms most of the time. Come to think of it, she also would be curious to find out at what point they got their own locker and their own uniform. A question always led to another question.

As she climbed the stairway into the side of the jet she asked, “Where do the X-men get their uniforms from?”

The inside of the jet was exactly as she remembered it, somehow, though she had never been inside before. She checked the armrest of one of the chairs, expecting there to be claw marks there, but there were none. That made it a little less creepy. She wasn't a psychic, so knowing things she wasn't supposed to know was kind of weirding her out. Being wrong about the claw marks actually made her feel a little better. In the cockpit, the buttons and dials still looked foreign and incomprehensible. That made her feel better, too. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she'd suddenly realized she knew how to fly the plane or something.

“It's cool. Someday I'd like to ride in it.” For real this time. “This plane just seems ready to go on an adventure at any time.”

Looking to both of the girls as the looked around the cockpit Sam shrugged and said, ”To be honest Katrina, I don’t know, Tricity and Neena are the ones that order them,” shrugging slightly Sam didn’t know how else to answer the young teenagers question he never gave it much thought and the fact that it didn’t help him much if he figured out where they got them didn’t add to his curiosity. If it was that important he figured he could ask Neena or Tricity next time he saw them, the fact that they were both working nonstop didn’t make it any easier to ask them questions such as this.

His eyes shifted to Cailyn as he blinked at her once and said, ”Don’t touch with your hands, your welcome to come into the jet as long as I am here alright?” he asked as he walked up the catwalk and into the jet. Looking back to the woman he waved her in as he followed Katrina into the cockpit. A grin touched his face as he watched Katrina look around the cockpit with curiosity.

Nodding his head after Katrina stated the readiness of the jet he said, ”More or less, it has to be ready at a moments notice so we can go where we are needed.” he then thought about stating that he would be willing to take them for a ride in the jet when they when ever they were ready. But then he remembered his position and the fact that if he took the two for a joy ride the kind of trouble he would be in if only…

Beep Beep

Quickly reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small circular device and attached the earpiece to his ear and clicked it, ”Yes?” pausing as h looked around the cockpit and walked forward past Katrina and clicked the fuel gauge to see how much gas was left, ”Where at?” Sam asked again listening to the voice in his earpiece, ”Yeah I can make it there and back without a problem…” he paused and then continued now sitting in his usual pilot’s seat.

Clicking his earpiece ending the transmission Sam leaned forward to the small screen and punched in the coordinates, ”Well Katrina you might get to go for a ride sooner than you expected. I don’t really have time to let you guys out… there are a few new students looking for a ride so if you could take some seats and buckle up we can be on our way.” smiling and getting a few buttons the basketball court above them started to open as the roar of the engines could be heard from the outside of the jet. ”Air sickness bags are behind the seat in front of you, so don’t throw up in the jet okay? Also I’ll fill you in more about the jet and what to do in emergences once we are in the air.”

With a lurch and the sudden jerky movement the jet was in the air as Sam clicked a few buttons pressed some buttons and flipped some switches. Everything was ready to go all that was needed was for the girls to pick a seat and buckle up. A co pilot seat remained vacant as well as another twelve seats behind him and the co pilot’s seat, not to mention the other half dozen seats in the main entrance.

Appearently it was just dandy to enter the plane. Touching it with your fear was approved of but touched with the hand not so much. Cailyn got into the plane a bit hesitantly and hoped she didn't do anything bad by accident.

It wasn't what she expected though. She expected it to be full of seats and fuzzy lights and all kind of bleepy thingies, just like space ships on tv. The reality differed. It had just a hand full of normal seats and it looked cold and sterile. It was kind of weird to expect something but get something different. It kind of shifted her of balance of her expectations of everything here. But it would just be her being paraniod again, or was it. It could still be a trap, like the voices in her head where implying. She softly spoke to herself to confort her. "It's going to be fine, it is not a trap." She said to herself.

Once she got a good look at the cockpit, her expectations where a bit correct. It had all kind of buttons that just screamed "Push me" to her, or where that just the voices in her head. Who would know. She just wasn't allowed to push buttons though. She refrained herself from doing so. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

And then Sam got a call to pick people up. He told katrina and Cailyn that there was no time to get them off. Cailyn paniced a bit and rushed to a seat as they started to become airborne. She quickly tried to click in the seatbelts but failed to do so in the rush. Why didn't it work. This ofcourse made her panic more and she even made soft eeping sounds everytime she failed to click the seatbelt in.

And then, quite suddenly, they were taking off. Katrina scrambled into a seat behind Sam, while Cailyn found her own chair. The ivory haired girl was struggling nervously with her seatbelt, so Katrina unbuckled again and went to the girl's side to help her. She took the ends of the buckle and shoved them together with a smart click! just as the plane lurched up from the ground.

She probably should have been sitting for that part she figured, because the sudden shift in gravity made her lose her balance and fall forward toward the cockpit area where Sam was manipulating the controls. She sprawled face first onto the complicated dash board, not even knowing which buttons she had accidentally pushed. The plane gave an even more severe lurch than before, which sent her flying backwards toward the copilot seat.

If she had been lucky it would have been her rear that contacted the edge of the seat and she finally could have sat down and buckled in. As fate would have it, however, it was the back of her head that hit sharply against the hard edge of the chair. Bright flashes like white fireworks lit up her vision for an instant as she slid to the floor, clutching her hands to the back of her head. Now there were red lights flashing. She wasn't sure if that was part of hitting her head or part of the system built into the plane to warn them that something was very wrong with the flight.

The commotion behind him distracted him for a brief second before his attention was drawn to the control yet again, he couldn’t see what was happening but rather he could hear it and from what he heard unnerved him slightly, the sound of metal on metal clicking together a few times before it finally finished then as the jet lurched he heard a tumble and then spotted Katrina face first on the dashboard of the jet where a few buttons were. Frowning slightly as he watched her disappear from few shortly after his head turned around the chair to spot Cailyn buckled safely while Katrina was now in the co-pilot seat as flashes around the jet started to go off.

Music started to play in the speakers as a few flares shot off in front of them as Sam reached down to grab hold of Katrina’s arm. ”You alright?” he yelled over the music trying to counteract everything she had done with her little head butt to the controls. With the flares shooting off in front of them Sam had to do a one arm maneuver while still trying to make sure Katrina didn’t take any more tumbles. ”Everyone hold on to something…” Sam called out as the plane started to do something like a roll as a few flares exploded with a brilliant and bright flash which couldn’t be heard due to the alternative rock music vibrating the speakers on the inside of the cockpit.

After a few rolls Sam kept his grip tight on both the controls and Katrina in attempts to keep one moving and the other from rolling about, after the flares have exploded Sam upright the jet and released Karina’s arm as he hit the button that read autopilot. Unbuckling himself he got up and walked a few feet over to Katrina and tried to help her up as he clicked the communicator that was now in his ear, ”Johnny, was cloud cover good enough to hide those flares from anyone that shouldn’t have seen it?” after a moment he nodded slightly and said ”Good!” looking back from Katrina to Caylin, ”Are you two alright?”

The belt didn't cooperate very well with her. It didn't want to click into each other to hold Cailyn into her seat. Katrina found herself a seat but unbuckled to help her out. With some quick help the belt made the clicky sound, telling her it was tightened now. To bad Katrina didn't have a belt buckle. Cailyn tried to warn her for the coming gravitiy shifts, seeing as she sort of knew the course already but it was to late. Katrina rolled down to the cockpit area.

Lots of sounds came from the cockpit area. Music, little explosions and painfull tumble sounds came from the area and Cailyn was stuck in the chair. It was better for her though, she had no busisness in there. It still was very inconsiderate of Sam to just take of.

When everything was over Sam asked them if they where ok. Cailyn inspected herself. No scratches, no brushes and no wounds. That qualified for being ok, even if voices in her head said she wasn't. She shrugged them off like most of the times. She learned through experience not to pay to much attention to them at certain times. She held up her hand and said: "I think so." The irony of her thinking she is ok while voices in her head said differently was something probably nobody grasped right now.

(Continued in An Orphanage Adventure.)