The white 1970 Dodge Challenger prowled down the street. According to the directions Deke had gotten from one of the locals the school was down the next street. As he rounded the corner he realized the local hadn't been joking when they had called it a mansion. What little of it he could see over the wall, which wasn't much, already made it one of the largest places he had ever seen up close.

He pulled in front of a large wrought iron gate and let the Challenger's engine rumble for a few seconds before killing it. Deke got out and stretched, trying to work the kinks the past 8 hours of driving had put into his shoulders. He stared at the gate for a moment and then reached into the car and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Deke took one out and then crushed the pack even though it was still half full, keeping a promise he made to himself. He lit up the cigarette and took a long drag as he sat on the hood of his car. He stared at the gate, knowing that hopefully once he crossed that threshold he could feel like he was back in control of his life. That was something he hadn't felt since Afghanistan. But until then, he was going to enjoy this last cigarette before taking that next step forward.

It had been a while since Sam had just walked around the mansion grounds just walked not running anywhere. Running it seemed to be all he was doing lately, running to the city for patrol duty, running to the Jet to go some where to save or do something, running to someone or away from someone… it was just nice to walk to truly enjoy the small things in life. The cool breeze on his face, the warm sun heating his hands, playing with a massive dog in the courtyard and then getting tackled by said massive dog after he returns with the projectile.

Weighing in at slightly over a buck fifty Bruno (Sam’s Saint Bernard) dropped a small ball of ice at Sam’s foot and then sat down watching the ball intently waiting for it to be thrown again. Smiling and picking up the ball Sam turned to the gate and threw the ball of ice as hard as he could.

As the ball landed a few feet from the front of the mansion gates Sam noticed that there was a car there waiting on the other side of the gate, the driver who Sam couldn’t see clearly enough was puffing on a cigarette the red cherry making it easy to spot. It was weird peoples faces were hard enough to see with one eye but when certain things that were warmer than others (the lit cig for example) he could make them out quicker than anything else. ”Must be the heat…” Sam muttered to himself as he whistled to Bruno who was now barking and running closer to the gate no longer interested in the game of catch.

‘More running.., great…’ thought Sam as he trudged off to the gate to greet the new comer. ”Hey, can I help you?” Sam asked as he walked closer to Bruno and placed a hand on the dogs head to calm him down.

The barking broke Deke away from his inner thoughts and to the large dog that was running towards the gate. Luckily it was on the other side of the gate, but even so his body tensed ever so slightly. Deke had no problem with dogs but this one was big and he had no idea how friendly, or unfriendly, he could be.

Luckily a man came running up behind the dog and Deke flicked the cigarette away.

"Hey can I help you?"

The man asked as he put a calming hand on the dogs. Deke stared for a moment, sizing the man up. The patch over one of the man's eyes instantly stood out and made Deke raise his eyebrow. He stood up from the hood of his car and made his way to the gate. Deke put his hands on the bars with a smirk on his face.

"That depends. You work here or are you going to ask me to join your band of scallywags for adventures on the high seas?"

Deke made a small laugh then put up a calming hand to show that he meant no disrespect. Some people had a hard time taking a joke at their own expense, especially from a total stranger. Even if it was meant to break the ice.

"I'm just kidding man. I was told this is a place for people with..."

He trailed off and looked around for a second trying to think of the right word before he eyes fell on the plaque proclaiming this place Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

"...Gifts. That true?"

The man on the car flicked the cigarette Sam watched as it bounced once on the drive than twice, he didn’t even need to watch it with his good eye to see where it was but he did. He made note later to request that either the man picks up the cigarette or he would have to pick it up himself later. The mansion was a school after all and a school was smoke free, there for he shouldn’t have to see a smoke lying about on the mansion grounds.

The man got closer the gate and placed his hands on them then took a jab at Sam’s one eye. Sam smiled but his hand removed itself from the top of Bruno’s hand. The dog let out a low rumble of a growl before Sam placed a hand back on Bruno’s head ceasing the growl. ‘Bruno just earned himself a treat.’ Thought Sam as he smiled to the man, ”Yar’ the likes of you aren’t scurvy enough for me crew.” Sam responded with his pirate accent (one he had seemed to be using more and more lately). Luckily for the man in front of him Sam wasn’t really the type to get worked up joking or not, there were however a few other members of the mansion that might get a little upset if they met similar comments.

”Gifts indeed, I take it your looking for a place to stay then?” Sam asked as he took a step back from the gates while removing his key chain from his pocket. Clicking it once the gates opened allowing the distance between the pair of them to close. ”My name is Sam,” a few steps forward and an outstretched hand to the man Sam smiled, ”I sorta help the newbie’s get settled here, and you are?”

A friendly smile broke across Deke's face and he took the offered hand in a firm handshake.

"Nice to meet you Sam, I'm Deacon but I usually go by Deke"

After their hands broke Deke almost reached out to pet the large St. Bernard but thought better of it. He liked his hands and had no desire to cut their relationship with his body short.

"So you and Cujo here are the welcoming committee? Better than some welcomes I've gotten, even with the large, scary dog"

Deke looked over Sam's shoulder at the mansion, still in awe at the sheer size of it.

"So the welcome is a check. What's next on the newbie list?"

Firm handshake met it seemed Deke wasn’t a fan of Bruno which was understandable as of late they pair of them had been playing good cop bad cop, Sam the good cop and Bruno was the bad cop. Which was good because Bruno didn’t really care if anyone liked him, unlike Sam it was his job after all to greet and if he was to busy defending himself when someone was getting a little too big for their britches he would never get a lot work done.

”Bruno?” Sam asked as he crouched down and placed an arm around Bruno who let out a loud moan and then tried to lick Sam’s face. ”His bark is worse than his nonexistent bite, he just like to act tough when he feels I’m being threatened it seems after I lost my eye everyone is threatening me.” Sam stood up after blocking Bruno from licking his face. ”Here,” Sam lifted his hand up and formed a ball of ice and held it out for Deke to take, ”Toss it and you won’t have any problems with him.”

Turning his attention to the mansion Sam pointed down the road, ”Well first lets have you park your car in the garage and I’ll give you a bit of a tour for starters, showing you where your room will be, the kitchen, and the gym, you know the basics.” he paused and waved him down the drive, ”And if your looking for a job or something we can try and see if we have any openings here or around the city.”

Deke raised his eyebrow as Sam formed a ball of ice and took it to him. It was solid and cold, about the size of a tennis ball. Deke thought for a second about trying to melt it but then launched it across the grounds as Bruno chased after it in delight. Looking back to Sam he followed to where Sam was pointing and nodded.

“Alright man, I’ll move the car in, grab my sea bag, and then you can play tour guide”

Deke walked back to his car and started it, feeling it in his diaphragm as she roared to life. He moved the car down the drive and thought about the ball Sam had formed. He had never seen another mutant use their powers or met someone who didn’t hide the fact that they were one. He remembered when the Mutant Registration Act had been passed not too long after he joined the Marines. Those that came forward voluntarily found their careers nose-diving as a wave of anti-mutant bias went through the Department of Defense. On the other hand, those that didn’t come forward and were found out ended up being tried for disobeying a direct order and tossed in a military prison for decades. Deke was lucky, the Marines were never asked to conduct raids to capture dangerous mutants or guard the camps where they were kept. The stories he heard he could never imagine seeing with his own eyes

Even after the Registration Act was overturned, to be accused of being a mutant could ruin you. And if you were a mutant then you were reassigned to a do nothing job if you were lucky or discharged/retired early if you weren’t. But all that was elsewhere, Deke didn’t work for or with anyone that was a mutant his entire five years. They were always from other units or in stories that passed along the “Lance Corporal Underground”. Marines treated the idea of serving with mutants much the same way as they did serving with homosexuals. Some hated it and the rest didn’t care. Deke didn’t care as long as they pulled their weight, and tried not to kill him of course.

He broke from his thoughts as he neared the garage. He pulled into a spot and grabbed his sea bag from the backseat after he killed the engine. Deke walked to the entrance of the garage and leaned against the wall, waiting for Sam and Bruno to catch up. It was going to be different being around others like him, but that was a good thing.

Within minutes Deke’s car roared to life as the man drove down to the garage towards the mansion. Sam was never sure of the exact vehicle capacity the garage had but he knew it would be over fifty seeing as there was already a large amount of vehicles in the garage already. Sam himself had his car and his cruiser in there, Streak had his car and the list kept going on. However not all the kids old enough to drive didn’t own a car, they were in New York City after all if they needed to go anywhere it might have been better to just hail a cab.

Reaching down and taking the ice ball as Bruno dropped it into his hand Sam approached the entrance of the garage to see Deke already waiting for him. With a smile Sam reshaped the ball and tossed it again sending Bruno off for the ball. ”Hope I didn’t keep you waiting long…” he paused and smirked, ”Nice car by the way, don’t see to many of those around anymore.” Sam said as he admired the classic. Sam wasn’t big on cars but he knew a classic when he saw it, his forte was more in the field of aeronautics.

”So Deke tell me what exactly you’re looking for here and let me see if I can help you find what you need.” Sam gestured to the door and turned to the door next to the garage and entered the mansion. Quickly Bruno entered and dropped the ice ball then ran for the kitchen where some food could be smelled. ”How about we start with the kitchen?” Sam asked looking back to Deke, ”I always remember my first day here whenever I give a tour, the kitchen was the first place I was taken too, ended up eating a majority of the leftovers, Neena made the mistake of saying help yourself, she didn’t know that I was in hiding for a few weeks and eating wasn’t really an option.”

This time in hiding was his time during the registration act, a time he was hunted for being more than just a mutant. T.A.T. was always far less forgiving than the stalker bots that already showed no mercy. As they neared the kitchen he spotted Bruno’s tail and a pointed pink eared girl feeding his large dog a piece of ham, ”Not to much Kara, don’t want him getting out of shape.” with the sound of his voice Kara looked up in surprise and her ears glowed a neon pink before the girls face and body shimmered leaving only her bright pink ears behind.

Sam smiled and looked back to Deke, ”There are mutants of all ages here, thought the majority of the youngsters are in their teens we have a few people in their thirties here as well. Basically like a giant family, isn’t that right Kara?” Sam asked to the area where the neon pink ears could be seen but the rest of her body could be not. He heard a quick yeah then saw the oink ears skitter out of the kitchen and down the hallway. ”As you can see though a large portion of the kids here are pretty shy.” Sam looked to the fridge and smirked, ”Help yourself,” Sam gestured to the fridge hoping Deke would help with the abundance of leftovers.