Andy has been in New York for approximately five days, according to his watch and his sleep schedule, and the sun has finally set on the Big Apple when he wakes up.

He’d run out of eggs, so breakfast was a bowl of cereal and a small steak. “Most important meal of the day,” his mom always used to say when he was a kid… and afterwards, when Andy’s concept of “day” stopped matching up so well with everyone else’s, she still insisted he eat a hearty breakfast when he woke up, no matter how many times a day that happened.

Granted, during the worst of the Lonely Years (he never refers to his teens that way when talking to his parents, because it would hurt their feelings and they tried their best, but that’s how he thinks of them) that meant they’d had to work out some creative solutions for getting him a hearty breakfast every three hours or so – not to mention lunch and dinner – which mostly had involved him cooking his own meals. But it paid off in the long run… he actually likes cooking for himself, these days.

After breakfast he spent some time scrutinizing the map on the wall, and his list of possible sites to investigate. He’d checked them all out by then, and found nothing, so it was time to start searching in more detail now that it’s gotten darker out. He goes through his list methodically, crosschecking his earlier theories against his new observations, and finally decides he was right the first time – the Mansion was his best bet.

Which brings him to the Mansion again. Yes, it’s been left in ruins by the government raid, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s useless for his purposes… maybe there’s an underground chamber that was left undetected, or something. The sort of thing that an invading force in a hurry would overlook.

He grins at the thought, as he explores the rubble at 10x normal speed. One of the ironies of his existence is that, though he always seems to be rushing, he is never in a hurry.

Dirt. Dust. Rubble. Wires. Broken glass. Fade's hopes were decreasing by every new location that she had searched. The X-Men were all confined in a camp, all but her. The one that managed to escape. Had she been at the Mansion during the attack, she would have been with her companions, but yet again, she had found a lead of Raphael, her long lost boyfriend and had attempted to follow up on it. Returning to the Mansion was the worst thing she could have done for out of everywhere the girl had lived, the Mansion was her home.

Of course, her invisibility was in tact, she did not want anyone to see her and take her to the camps as well for she now belonged to a rebellion. However, as she continued to rumage and found no hope, she sat on a beaten bench in front of the Mansion and sulked in frustration. She should have been there, should have helped, should have done something other than look for a man who's not coming back, not even to say goodbye.

Her hopes had all but been resurrected when a gust of wind gently brushed her and she realized that it was a mutant, a speed mutant, who was doing exactly what the redhead had just given up on. Standing up, she watched him for a few minutes, attempting to decide if he was friend or foe. Well, the camps made all mutants friends in a unity and attempt to break free from government rule, so she approached. Actually, she attempted to approach as he was moving too quick for her to catch up with.

One final thought and she was visible, watching him with her ever-color-changing eyes. "If you are looking for a member of your family, I suggest the camps. As you may very well see, there is no one here but you and I." Just in case he was foe, she was prepared. All but her feet were in a phasing position so that if he was to speed up and tackle her, he would fly right through her, but also so that her feet would not phase into the ground and she would not become slightly stuck.

"My name is Fade. What or who are you searching for?" Introduction with an X-Name. He seemed friendly enough to give him the name she was most commonly accustomed to, many mutants had a nickname without being an X-Man. After all, Fade was her street name and it was not until she became an X-Man that her legal name, Jenny, was used and it was only used by Raph and Tricity.

> "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiffffffff…”

It takes Andy a moment to recognize that deep echoing sound as a woman’s voice. When he turns around, he’s surprised to notice a girl he hadn’t previously seen, a blue-eyed redhead with claws standing near the edge of the rubble. Claws? Redhead? Appears from nowhere?

It all seems awfully familiar, a recurring description in the blog entries he’s painstakingly assembled from the Internet. Of course, he can’t rely on those descriptions too much – it is the Internet, after all – but her appearance here does seem to increase the credibility of that particular report.

It’s her! It’s them! I did it! He can’t remember the last time he’s been so excited… especially with this discovery coming after days of fruitless searching.

> “….yooooooooooooouuuu… aaaaaarrreeee”

OK, OK. Have to calm down now. This is it, this is my big chance! Gotta let her know I’m serious. He takes off his outer layer of street clothing to reveal his super-hero uniform (( OOC: See description in profile. And, yes, it really does look as goofy “in real life” as you think it does. )), folds the clothes away carefully in his pack, and slips his mask on before starting to slow himself down as far as he can.

> “loooooookiiiiing… foooor… aaaa… memmberr… of… your… family…”

Andy suppresses a shout of triumph as he forces her voice to accelerate into a more human speed and register. (Of course, what he’s really doing is slowing down his own accelerated perception of time, but he’s found it’s easier to do if he thinks of it as forcing other things to speed up.) It’s still tediously slow and surprisingly deep, of course, but he’s grown accustomed to that over the years and doesn’t let it bug him too much.

He also notices that her eyes are green now. Which is odd.

> “I... suggest... the... camps.”

He frowns, imperceptibly quickly, at her reference to the Camps. He’d heard stories, of course – both official and unofficial – about how many mutants had been captured and the kinds of conditions they were operating under. And it’s not that he’s complacent about it… quite the contrary, when he thinks about it, it infuriates him.

But he doesn’t think about it too often anymore. After all, the Camps have been operating for nearly half a calendar year, which (subjectively speaking) is just about a third of Andy’s life, and in that time they’ve become just another awful thing he’s grown accustomed to.

Of course, he realizes, it wouldn’t be like that for Fade, or the others. For them it’s just been a few months… they haven’t had time to get used to it.

> “As you… may… very well...”

Andy tries to stay attentive-looking – he knows how much people hate it when he loses interest in what they’re saying halfway through a sentence – but it’s too hard. So he compromises by pulling a notepad and a pencil out of one of his vest pockets and starting to write… at least this way he’s not interrupting her, and it’s not really showing a lack of interest if he’s replying to her, is it?

Her eyes are black, now, he notices idly.

Hi, he writes. You’re Fade, aren’t you? I’m Speed. He hopes she doesn’t think he’s being too presumptuous for adopting a super-hero name without being part of the team, but life is too short for doing things the slow way. No, I’m not looking for family. Actually, I was looking for you! I mean, looking for the X-Men. He thinks carefully through his next sentence before setting it to paper. I hope this isn’t too presumptuous of me… and I know it’s not really a great time, what with the Camps and everything… but I was hoping I could join.

> “…see… there… is… noo… onnne… heeerre…”

Andy is pretty sure she hasn’t reached the end of her sentence yet – it’s hard to tell sometimes, but there’s a certain rhythm he’s learned to recognize that signals an oncoming period – but he can also tell that he’s speeding up again, and he simply lacks the patience to wait until she gets to the end of that relatively pointless thought. Yes, he’s perfectly well aware that there’s nobody else here! So he simply rips the paper out of his notepad and places it in her hand.

At which point it drops through her hand and begins its slow fall to the floor.

That, he thinks, is totally cool. He waves his arm through her chest to confirm that she’s really a ghost… he hadn’t known she could do that! But howcum she’s not falling into the ground? He stares at her boots for a while, and comes to the tentative conclusion – judging from the way small objects are pinned underneath them – that they are solid, even if the rest of her isn’t. Some tentative tapping with his foot confirms the theory.

He catches the falling piece of paper and adds to it Partial phasing! That’s awesome. Could you always do that, or did you have to train for it? He shudders briefly and offers a quick prayer of thanks that he never experienced partial acceleration… he could easily have lost limbs to gangrene in a matter of minutes if he had.

> “…but… you… and… I."

‘You and me’, he thinks reflexively, but doesn’t say. In fact, he doesn’t say anything, he just extends his note in her direction, inviting her to take it.

(( OOC: Wow, this got long. OTOH, this is sorta what Andy's subjective experience of normal conversation is like. ))

As Fade was still talking, the man zoomed over to her and stripped off his clothing! It was all happening so quickly and while she was talking. Now this was quite interesting. She smirked to herself as she muffled a laugh when she saw his jumpsuit. Ironically, she was in her X-Uniform. It had taken quite a while to become accustomed to the tight leather and she had finally succeeded in "breaking it in". Even before she had finished her second sentence, he was writing on a notepad.

Some would take this as rude, but Fade was now fully aware that he was moving too fast for her to keep up with, or was it that she was moving too slow to for him to keep up with her? Either way, they were not at the same level. Her now black eyes watch as he attempts to place the paper in her hand and watches it fall to the ground, well, it would have fallen to the ground if he had not caught it on time, yet not before he had waved his arms in her chest and kicked her boots. What a strange mutant.

After she was finished and his arm was stretched out with the note, she ceased her phasing power in only her hand and took the note. After all, he had waved his arms inside of her! She was not going to stand aside and be shocked when she returned to her normal unmutated state just for him to try and wave his hands through her again only to find the awkward feeling of a woman's breast in his hand. No. That would be interesting to move on from.

He knew who she was. Not like that was odd these days, but it was usually the local police that recognized her and not a mutant in a unitardish outfit. Knowing how bored he must be for the lack of speed Fade had, she read through and then looked up to Speed, attempting to be as fast as she could in her speech, but it was pointless. She doubted that her idea of fast would be fast to him, it would probably only amount to his idea of painfully slow as opposed to excrutiatingly slow.

"You'll needta train withus first." Ugh! Was that how she sounded when she spoke quickly? What a failure! She tripped over her words. It was not like the poor girl received much of an education in the first place. If it was not for this school, she would have never even been able to read, truth is, it was still difficult to read out loud, she always read silently to herself. Lucky he did not use any big words she mentally smirked. Oops, nevermind, whatever that pre-pre-presumptuous word is. No clue.

"I hatta train." She replied. E-gads! Stop talking like that! He's going to shoot himself before he finishes piecing together your words, Jenny! A mental slap echoed in her feuding mind and she decided to shake it off and just do what she's doing. Hopefully he would just tell her she's being retarded. Great, Jenny. Here this guy is, interested in the X-Men and you look like a stupid girl who's trying to talk to her crush. We could use a speed demon anyways, maybe he can show that white-haired c o c k y Kabal boy that he's not so fast after all. "Where're ya from?"

OK, Jenny, we are talking fast but not loosing our grammar that we've learned. Or learned while the Mansion was up and moving. Thank God he's not a telepath...or is he? It was always hard for Fade to talk to Cassiel or any of the telepaths because she would end up sounding so dumb that she was shocked they had not thrown her out.

Andy practices his deep breathing exercises as he counts down from 100 by threes, waiting for her to take the note from his hand, which she finally does.

He sits down on a particularly large piece of rubble then and takes the opportunity to inspect her outfit while she reads the note. It’s cooler than his, he decides. He’s been wearing his current outfit for… well, he’s not sure, but a couple of calendar weeks at least, and he’s sorta gotten used to it. And he’s pretty sure he has the build to pull it off… but even so, the black leather is cooler-looking. Not to mention, he’s guessing, more practical. Especially in cold weather. Like this.

Also, now that he’s thinking about it, the titanium bracers are probably a bad idea. They’re heavy, which makes them a real pain to lug around, and while he’d thought they might come in handy for blocking bullets or something like that, the truth is he’s never actually been in a position where blocking a bullet made any sense, and he’s beginning to suspect that he never will.

The brown-eyed girl is looking back up at him from the note, now, which probably means she’s done reading it. Yup, there she goes, she’s about to say something… he stands back up to indicate that he’s paying attention.

> "You'll… needta… train…withus… first."

It takes him a moment to make sense of that, and he grins and pulls out his notepad again. Thanks for trying, he writes, But you might as well just speak normally. It’s really not that much faster. It was nice of her, though. Most of the people Andy attempts to talk to are kinda like the American tourists in Europe he’d met as a kid – they just kinda insist that he adjust to their speed. Which is fair enough – he is the outsider, after all, and he’s had more experience at communicating across the gap – but it’s really nice to run into someone who makes an effort.

After a moment he adds I really mean that in the margins and attaches an arrow pointing to “Thanks for trying”.

> "I… hatta… train."

He adds to the same note. That’s great! It’ll be nice to train with other mutants. He stares at her for a long time – well, long by his standards – without knowing what else to say… there’s all kinds of questions he wants to ask, but it’s becoming exhausting to maintain this conversation, and he doesn’t really need to know everything now. Fade seemed to accept his presence easily enough, and he’d made contact with the X-Men, and that’s what’s really important for now.

So, where should I go from here?, he writes carefully. Do you need to talk to the rest of the team, or is there some kind of try-out, or – how does this work? Can I go to your headquarters? Or do you need to check my background or something first? My IM handle is speed1993 if you want to contact me, I check messages pretty often.

He offers her the note again, trying hard not to let his impatience show.

She took back the note and allowed herself to undo her mutant power and stand there as a complete human-looking girl that was able to touch and feel. She read the note and smirked when she saw the arrow. Good. She no longer had to stumble over her words. That was a very good thing and she felt much better that he appreciated her effort and she no longer had to talk with her tongue vibrating so fast that it would fall out of her mouth if it did not have a few key veins in it.

"We need to put you in a stimulation, to analyze your powers. You also need practice in teamwork." Even though she was trying to keep it short, she noticed that he was a bit, well, bored with the speed that she was speaking. Oops. One thing is for sure, she had never really appreciated how everyone was on the same speed until she had met someone moving at a different tempo. It made her appreciate the speed of the world a bit more.

"Everyone is in the camps, but I need to ask you a few questions if you wish to stay the Mansion." Great. She was making it way longer than she had expected, but she had gone through this the first time she had come to the Mansion and she remembered it as good as yesterday. Before the Sanctuary and before the Kabal, before the government madness. "Are you powers a danger to anyone? How well can you control them? Any pieces of your life that you don't remember?"

It was common for mutants to have some form of Post Traumatic Stress as most mutants, including herself, went through quite a tough childhood, or whatever hood served as their depressing days of humilation and/or torture. Even so, she just wished she had a piece of paper that had been prepared early so she could just pass him the questions like a test and he would fill them out. She hated taking up any of his time. Maybe there was a mutant at the Mansion that would be able to help him slow down when he wants to, then again, all of the files were destroyed so how would she know? The files! Drats! They just got sorted through!

GAAAAAAAAAH! Must… not… nap…

On the plus side, Andy is ecstatic as only a satisfied fanboy can be – he’s actually talking to one of the X-Men! About joining! The X-Men!!!

On the other hand, even that can’t compensate for the excruciating tedium that is a real-time conversation. He’s been at this for what feels like half an hour (of course, he could check his watch, but he’s not letting himself do so… first, it’s rude; second, he knows from experience that it just makes the time seem to go by slower). Ironically, his own excitement is acting against him here, making it harder than usual to slow himself to even an approximation of normal speed.

Fortunately, he’s had years of practice at this, and has learned some tricks… the simplest of which is to take notes. Nobody seems to mind too much if he writes things down as they talk, as long as he makes sure to look up and make eye contact every once in a while. And he actually is writing down what she says (otherwise there’s no way he’d remember the beginning of the sentence by the time she gets to the end of it), though he’s also writing down other stuff.

Still, there are limits. By the time she finishes her explanation and her list of questions, Andy has already written down the answers, as well as a couple of blog entries he intends to transcribe later, and a shopping list, and brainstormed some ideas for how to paint his living-room, and run out of stuff to write, and regretted at some length not having brought a book – though reading a book during a conversation might be unforgivably rude.

When she seems to be done, he looks over his responses, crosses out some things he regrets having written, then hands her the paper with his answers. With an effort, he slows himself down to a mere two or three times normal and adds, as slowly and carefully as he can, "Great! When do we start?"

---

The paper reads:

"Simulation: Huh?
Analyze powers: Sure. My folks have medical reports and stuff, too. Lots of doctors and physicists and specialists and stuff. None of them learned much, but their reports might help. Where should I send them?
Teamwork: Hell yeah! That’s why I want to join a team! (LOL)
Camps: How do we get them out? My folks have some influence, if that helps. *
Powers, danger: Nope. Just affect me. Well, and if I carry someone.
Control: Not much to control. I can speed up whenever I want, but slowing down is really hard. This is as slow as I get. I can get a lot faster, but I get tired. Want to see?
Not remembering parts of life: Well, sure. Doesn’t everyone? Nothing too interesting happened last September, for example. But if you mean, like, blackouts or missing blocks of time… nah. More the contrary – I remember a lot more of today than you do, likely. It’s been like a week for me since sunrise.
Not that I’m complaining. It’s kinda cool, once you get used to it. Just, you know… lonely, sometimes.”

In the margins is scrawled "NO, SERIOUSLY!" in big letters, and an arrow pointing to the line starting "Camps", which is marked with a bunch of stars and underlines.

* (( OOC: Andy's folks do not, in fact, have anywhere NEAR the kind of clout needed to play in this space. But he doesn't really know too much about politics. ))

Fade watched as he scribbled down quite a few things. That must really suck to go taht much faster than everyone else. When he passed her the note, she scrunched up her face. She read it as quickly as possible and skipped a few words that she didn't know such as physicists, contrary and specialists. She hated being slightly illiterate, but she was progressing. She would learn the language soon enough.

"Yes. A simulation, a training session." She nodded to everything else "Good. There is a rebellion going on that you could join, but I am not the lead of that. I'm the only X-Man, so what power do I have?" Too long. Then again, I guess he has to wait while I think as well.

((Sorry, MAJOR brain fart. I have been writing stories for my Creative Writing class all day and doing AP Lit timed writings so I am really being slow. Lucky for me, there's a 5 day weekend, so I hope I am better by then. Is Andy going to be involved in the resistance?))

(( OOC: No worries. Also, I’m gonna stop making such a big deal about the time-dilation now, because it gets boring to write/read about after a while, but Andy’s still basically doing the same thing. And, also, don’t know if he’s going to join the Resistance or not… I’d prefer he didn’t, just because Sonya’s already there, but it depends on how successful he is at finding folks to RP with out on the street.))

Andy’s ears perk up when he hears about mutant rebels – that sounds pretty cool, actually – but gets discouraged when they turn out to not be related to the X-Men. In fact, if he’s understood Fade correctly, she’s the only X-Man not in the Camps… which seems difficult to believe, but there’s no denying the evidence of his senses.

Which makes rescuing the rest of the team the first order of business. Once they get freed and organized, they can establish contact with the rebels and get everybody else freed too.

"S’howrw’gongt’gettemout?"

It had been weeks, weeks since Glare had been in this place. And honestly, he wasn't too excited about being back. Everytime he had been to this place it had ended in pain, and here once again.

Severity.... why?!? Why did it have to end that way. Where was she? What had happened.

Darn that man... that evil mutant man. The one that wouldn't die. The one that couldn't die. The one that would haunt Ezekiel forever.

Why did it have to be this way. Why did he return here after all that had happened. Maybe the recent government act had scared him. He had remained low for about three weeks now, hadn't even pulled the trigger on his abilities even once. But he was drinking. Yes, drinking was something he was doing really well these days. And as always, it didn't even phase him. Hey, at least he hadn't drank in the last sixteen hours. He was happy of that. If he was going to return to the mansion, he didn't want to smell like scotch.

In a black Buick he had bought off a retired drug dealer in the ghetto of NY he approached the drive to the mansion. From here he could see it, if in fact that was the mansion. It looked like a wreck, a total wreck. Sure the goverment was into their new program, but would they have really gone this far?? As he drove nearer he realized his fear had become a reality. The building was in shambles, and ruin was everywhere. What the heck happened here???

Zeke rolled the vehicle with it's whining belt to a stop. Man, I have to get that squeal fixed, it's driving me crazy. Random. Someone please get me a drink. He pulled himself out of the car and stared. It was nothing like it used to be. Since the days of the intruder it had been destroyed easily. If only he had been there to stop it... maybe he could have. But maybe not. The security measures Zeke had installed were highly stable and sensitive. He may have been able to prevent this, or at least warn somebody before it happened.

So what had been the fate of the X-Men and the students? The students! Was it possible they had been killed in the assault. It certainly seemed there had been some sort of conflict here, and it was likely that some injuries or perhaps deaths had occured. Ugh. Ezekiel didn't want to think about it. He had had his own share of terrifying battles in the last months. He didn't want to learn of more. But yet he did, he knew he had to. To get closure with Servity was all he wanted now, but it looked like that would be more complicated than he originally had thought, especially with the mansion looking like this.

And Tricity... what of Tricity?

As perhaps the only staff member that wasn't technically an X-Man, Zeke had been in an awkward position at the school. Zeke often wondered whether Tricity had truly trusted him, especially after his love for a student. But he smiled when he thought of the fact that he had had allies at the school. His good buddy Wyn for instance.

Wyn! What had happened to Eldwyn??! Now Zeke made it his mission to find out...

He slowly walked toward the destructive mess.

As he approached he spotted a couple people out of the corner of his eye. Not good. Ducking behind some nearby rubble, he watched as the two carried on a conversation of sorts... or so it seemed. Who were they. One looked oddly familiar, while the other was definitely unknown. Could it be her?? Zeke let himself believe it. Still... he had to approach with caution.

He bounded behind another piece of the mansion and could now make out a little of their speech, but more so their tone. He knew that voice... the female voice. Still, he had to use caution approaching. He couldn't just let her go. She could be working for the government, as many mutants probably were these days.

For caution's sake he slipped a small ring around wrist. The bracelet had been created by himself as a near replica that he found to the actual bracelets that the captured mutants were forced to wear. As a fake, it worked relatively well, and didn't hamper his powers whatsoever, but it would fool anyone who wasn't looking to closely. And that was what he needed to do.

He slipped out from behind the rubble and quietly approached the group from behind. He caught the girl's last sentence and spoke just after the boy's, "Actually Fade, you have great power... you just would never fully realize that."

He led with the bracelet in clear sight... he didn't want any confusion before he himself caused it.

> “"Actually Fade, you have great power... you just would never fully realize that."

Andy looks back and forth between Fade and the new arrival as he speaks. He’s fairly sure the new guy isn’t threatening her, though it’s hard to be completely certain; certainly, her reaction doesn’t seem to suggest he’s an enemy. Does that make him another mutant? That would be cool. Two in a row!

That might also explain why he’s leading with his arm out like that… not that he’s being blatant about it, but one advantage of Andy’s speed is he has plenty of time to examine things. If he has some kind of mutant ability that he guides using his arm, that would explain it.

The polite thing to do, he realizes, would be to wait for Fade to respond… the guy is talking to her, after all… but impatience gets the better of him. "Hi I’m Speed ‘ru’n XMan too?"

Fade heard a slight noise, but ignored it. After all of the missions she had been through, she was constantly alert and decided to cool off. It might have just been Andy running from the tree and back without her even realizing it. "Yes, don't worry. We'll get them all out." She nodded before seeing a man approach.

Instantaneously, her power kicked back into mode and she became a ghost-ish figure, as in if Andy desired, he could wave his hands through her chest again and kick her boot. Carefully, she listened to what he had to say. Ah yes, she recognized him. Professor White, from her understanding, he had a rather deep relationship with a student, then again, Fade had a deep relationship with Raph, who no longer needed schooling. After all, Fade was no one to judge, Zeke had been great help to the X-Men and was a wonderful teacher, even though Fade had to take independent studies and had never been in his class. She had only heard great things about his teachings.

"Professor White, I am surprised to see you back. I have not seen or heard from you or Evie for quite a while now. Are you two alright?" Foolish question. If Evie wasn't pinned to his side, then obviously things were not alright, unless she had stayed hidden while he checked the coast. Fade noticed his bracelet, yet was unaware of its significance, she had hidden completely away from the world during her search for Raphael and was unaware of the bracelets. Must be a fashion statement.

Zeke smiled as he stared her down. As she went invisible then visible again, it was apparent she was in a little distress as to the situation, and that was all right, because these were stressful times. She wasn't suprised she was almost as worried as he was, perhaps even more so.

Zeke noticed another person beside Fade. He didn't recognize him and was very wary, he didn't need to get caught by the government right now. After all, he had far too much on his plate to worry about. The boy's question triggered a thoughtful and questioning look from Ezekiel, but nothing further. Zeke concluded from the question that this boy was a mutant and possibly on the run as well, certainly probably not a threat to him.

The allusion to Evie brough things to a head fairly quickly, and Glare barely had time to react before he was already having to explain some things.

"Nice to see you too Fade." He paused here before he continued his answer to her question. He had to be careful. "Things have been a little crazy lately. No, everything is not all right. I'm not suprised you haven't heard from her. As you probably have well guessed, she's been with me, until just recently."

Zeke glanced around to ensure the coast was clear. He glanced again at the boy unsure if he could trust his next words to him, then decided he could. "Evie's been missing for a couple weeks now. I have no idea where she is. I've been looking for her and figured here was a good place to check. And perhaps enlist some help..."

His words faded off as his thoughts started to drift. He refocused, "Me and Severity had an episode of some danger a little while back. It seems the intruder that attacked the mansion some months ago had a quarrel to settle with me, and he decided to vendetta against my fiancee. As you can guess, it was all roses, and became quite violent. At the end of the quarrel I had carried the field and Evie had went missing. I haven't seen her since."

Zeke was betraying his emotions far too much. His voice was wavering and he looked very very worried, which would be a tell that he was obviously telling the truth, but also obviously untrusting of anyone at the moment.

"With the way the government is going about, grabbing mutants and registering them," he held up his arm to show the bracelet again, "it's been a hard search for her."

> "Yes, don't worry. We'll get them all out."

Andy nods, too fast to follow despite his attempt to move slowly. And once it becomes clear to Andy that Fade and Professor White are old and friendly acquaintances, he sits down on the destroyed stump of a wall to try and calm himself down.

It’s fairly clear that Professor White is suspicious of him, and Andy tries not to take it personally. Granted, he can hardly blame the guy under the circumstances… suspicion seems to be everyone’s default position, what with the government arresting mutants left and right. And in retrospect, asking him if he was an X-Man was probably not designed to put him at ease, assuming he even understood the question.

Andy sighs. The polite thing to do would be to leave them alone to talk in privacy, but he’s not going to do that… he’s worked too hard at finding the X-Men to walk away now that he seems to have succeeded.

As he tries to slow himself down, he wonders what Professor White’s mutation is, and what the deal is with the bracelet he keeps calling attention to, and tries to commit the layout of the ruined Mansion to memory. But mostly, he listens to their conversation. He wonders who “Evie” is… Professor White’s girlfriend? Daughter? Sister? He wonders who “Severity” is, at first, but on some thought he concludes that Evie and Severity are probably the same person. He wonders what enemy they’re talking about.

By the time he manages to bring his speed factor down to something that lets him actually participate in the conversation, it becomes moderately clear that he doesn’t really have anything to add to it. He could offer to help find Professor White’s friend, but he doubts the offer would be received especially well. He wonders if she’s in the Camps, but presumably he doesn’t know, and wouldn’t appreciate the suggestion.

So he continues to listen, and does his best not to appear too impatient.

Zeke glanced sideways at the boy who was currently the third wheel in the conversation. He realized it was probably a little awkward for the boy, but who knows, maybe he was a spy for the government or something. One never did know these days. Zeke decided to remain playing ity safe.

At the same time, he physically eased up a bit. He dropped his arm and relaxed his shoudlers. A deep sigh, and then he turned his head to observe the unknown boy. He was speed mutant, that was hugely obvious. The race at which he even nodded his head gave him away, and that was enough for Zeke to determine not only his classification, but also his skill. Who knows, a speed mutant could come in handy.

Glare spoke to the boy, "Sorry, don't think we've been introduced, I'm Professor Ezekiel White." He held out his hand to shake cautiously. "I'm assuming your mutant, well so am I... so I guess we're in the same ball club."

He stepped back and surveyed the scene. It was crictical that he find Evie as soon as possible. With the X-Men in shambles, and likely other mutant groups around the globe as well, it was important to decide where one's loyalty lay. And although Zeke was a strong believer in the X-Men, yes, even their friend, he didn't quite know if the X-Men were the right ones to side with here... he may need a slightly different approach.

He turned back to Fade and awaited her reply.