Hunter was impressed with Cally’s efficient placement of the cameras. A quick review on the monitors showed that he had complete coverage of the room, there was nowhere someone could be without being monitored. With the chip in place he instructed Chris to being searching to find out all the phones recent activity as well as the owner.

He raised an eyebrow as Calley addressed him as “Scary Boss Man”. While not exactly a formal title, it did give an indication that Calley knew not only that he was in charge, but why he was in charge. For that reason he let it slide.

“Well done, you’ve successfully bugged your first room. Now to remove all evidence. Tap the two draw strings of the bag together three times and then throw it into the toilet. The back will incinerate itself, leaving no evidence. Then shift to cat and make your way back to the car, where you will be returned to Mondragon labs for a well earned rest.”

A well earned rest sounded nice. The total lack of mention of his little nickname slip-up sounded better, to be honest, but a well earned rest was a close second.

With an air of great experimentation, he followed the instructions to incinerate the bag. Tap, tap... toss. Pause. Pumff. ...Wicked. He flushed for good measure.

Calley headed back out into the bedroom, and opened the door a crack so that he could slip out again once he'd catted. The queen Siamese was sniffing tentatively at the spy camera concealed on the bed post. Poor darling--her favorite hiding place had just been compromised. Not that she seemed to mind. With a delicate twitch of her tail, she decided to ignore the black disk's existence. Being a cat: that was the good life. As his gaze headed back upwards, his eyes caught on one of the woman's photos. Oh. Oh, right. He quietly shut the door again, and started speaking softly to the Triforce. ...There was something a little awesome about speaking to the Triforce. He always had been a Zelda fan, though it was safe to say he hadn't tried his hand at playing the more recent games.

"Hey, Sir--there's something you might want to know about Miss Belamount here. Remember I mentioned KP in the limo? The Order's got her and a few other mutants there, in some weird cells. They've been testing out this Jack girl's mutation on them--it seems to make humans die, and mutants lose control over their powers. Miss Belamount's definitely not our hacker; she hasn't been in the room for days, unless she managed to escape and I didn't hear about it." His voice made it pretty clear how likely he thought that was.

"Speaking of the Order--that guy down in the hallway outside their meeting, the one that was talking to the woman: that was Kaz." He paused, his head tilted slightly in thought. "Just so you know, Kaz pretty much hates how the Order runs things. Or he hates how Syn runs things, at least. It probably wouldn't be that hard to recruit him." He swallowed nervously. "Not that I know anything about your plans or would possibly try and suggest anything, Sir. Don't mind me. I'm just... gonna go to the jeep now. Sir." He gave it a second to listen if Hunter had any follow-up questions, then he cracked the door open again and... and made an executive decision to not shift to cat. The conspicuous pile of the Scary Man's clothes' that he'd leave on the floor behind him? Yeah. That didn't sound like "remove any evidence" to him. And he didn't particularly feel like vomiting again, either. He figured the Scary Boss Man would yell at him if the whole "head back in cat form" thing was really a big sticking point. Was this some kind of intelligence test? He really didn't appreciate it, if it was--no fair giving tests to sleep walkers.

He made sure to close the door behind him: he saw those eyes watching from under the bed.

Four blocks later--four amazingly long and strenuous blocks later--he reached the jeep. Again. Without a word to the muscle men, he opened the door, and collapsed in a little heap on the back seat. His "well earned rest" started about five seconds later.

((ooc: Continued in "Mondragon Labs".))

Sometime later Rayne’s phone rang, the number identified as her guardians. Crystal’s programing activated and the hologram swirled into existence next to the desk. She had set the phone to alert her to any incoming and outgoing calls made in Rayne’s absence, so she could field them if necessary. While she didn’t need to take visible form to do so, the AI hologram was beginning to prefer being visible when activated.

She activated the speaker phone from inside the phone on the third ring. ”Hello?” Her voice was a perfect mimicry of Rayne’s.

”Iris! Hey there darlin’, how’s it going? Carol! I got her on the phone!”

“Then quit yellin’ at me and put her on speaker. Hi sweetie. Did you get the stuff we sent you? Did Eb get there okay?”

“She means, did the delivery guy make it there in one piece?”

“Ignore him sweetie. He’s just sore, ‘cause Eb took a chunk outta his arm before she left. And it served him right, too.”

“That fussy feline is a demon in disguise, and you know it. I don’t know why you keep her around.”

“Oh, you’re full of it, ya ol’ windbag.”

Crystal listened carefully as the two bickered back and forth, deciding how best to answer. It wouldn’t do just yet for Rayne’s guardians to know she had been kidnaped. Fortunately Crystal had been with Rayne long enough to mimic both her voice and manner.

“I’m just fine Tia, Tio. I’m sorry I haven’t called. It’s been busy around here. But yes, everything arrived just fine, including Eb.” Crystal laughed aloud, perfectly mocking Rayne’s odd chuckle. ”I’m sorry about your arm Tio.”

“Nah! Don’t be. I’ll get even with that brown banshee eventually, just wait. So how are things going there? Are you enjoying yourself? Learning anything new?”

“Actually, yes, I am. I have a very wonderful trainer helping me right now.” A note of smugness crept into Crystal’s tone; anyone watching would have sworn she was actually human. ”She’s tough, but we’re making progress. However, I was thinking, is there any way you could help me extend my stay here? I still have a long way to go before I’ll feel comfortable with my.... gifts.... “

If Rayne ever found out what Crystal was doing, she might risk deactivation, but Crystal had only begun to scratch the surface of Rayne’s potential, and was loathe to stop just yet. Her own intelligence was steadily growing, and she was discovering a need to continue to learn. Strangely enough, although simply a computer program, she seemed to share Rayne’s obsession with finishing a project.

A short bark of laughter sounded from the other end of the line. “I told you, Max. You owe me a bathroom remodel. Hah! I knew a month wouldn’t do it for you, darlin’. Don’t you worry at all. We’ve already got it covered. If Sarah calls, just tell her you’re sorry about the change in plans. But you know that the Nairobi project is an opportunity you just can’t pass up. Leave the rest to us! Hah!”

Crystal raised an eyebrow. ”Um, okay. I will, I guess. But are you ever going to let me in on the plans?”

A peel of laughter was the reply, and a grumble about expensive bathtubs. Then, ”We’ll keep in touch sweetie. Don’t forget to keep us in the loop on what’s going on over there, okay? We’ll talk to you later. Carol, I ain’t payin’ for no whirlpool-“ The statement was cut off as the line went dead. Crystal looked at the phone, then shook her head.

”Rayne, you have a weird family,” she remarked aloud.

An explosion sounded from outside on the grounds. Crystal flicked a bored glance in the direction of the window. ”Teenagers.” Then she dissolved in a flash of fireworks.

(OOC: Continued from Iris's return home, Aftermath)

Iris tripped in the hall in her hurry to get to her room. The fact that the floor was cracked and buckled didn’t help. She practically ran into the door trying to get it open as fast as possible. Once inside she slammed it shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily. But after a moment she abruptly stood up and fumbled to get the door open again. Then she remembered her cat, and slammed the door closed again. She hurried to the window and scrambled to get it open. There was a screen on it, she didn’t have to worry about Ebony getting out. It would have been a comical sight, if it weren’t for the tears streaming down her face.

She turned and leaned against the wall. Slowly she slid down it, until she was sitting on the floor, hands in her hair, shivering uncontrollably. She wasn’t cold; far from it in fact. But the events of the last few days, or however long it had been, came crashing down on her like a brick wall. She wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling that more than that had fallen on her today, literally. But the physical pain was the least of her problems at the moment. Whatever the DocProf had done was keeping that dulled. But her mind was spinning.

Perhaps in time her experience in KP would be relegated to her nightmares. Maybe. But not right then. Right then it was as vivid as if she were reliving things over and over again. She drew some comfort from Emerald’s claim that she’d left Kaz unconscious, but only a little. She still didn’t know what had happened to Nail. If the place they’d been fighting at was the same as where they were being held, and if Tricity was there, and if the Xmen were winning, like Emerald seemed to indicate, then maybe, just maybe, Nail would be okay. But that was a lot of ‘ifs’. Too many....

And what had happened to her? The last thing she remembered clearly was seeing Syn approach, just after she’d claimed Iris and Nail had nearly escaped. After that everything was blurred. She could recall feelings moreso than images, and most of those were of confusion and pain. Something about being really, really hot, then really, really cold. And fear. Unbelievable fear. But why?

With a frustrated snarl she slammed one fist sideways into the wall, then recoiled from the shock.

A dark shadow that had been approaching her suddenly skittered away. Ebony returned to her hiding spot under the bed, frightened by her owner’s uncalled for lash out. She meowed pitifully. Some of Iris’s frustration drained away, and she lay on her stomach. But soon she began crying again; she hadn’t honestly thought she’d ever see those blue eyes again. She braved a scratched arm to pull her friend out and smother her in hugs and kisses.

On the desk nearby, Iris’s cellphone vibrated. The air shimmered as the Mpath program came online. Crystal stood, hand on hips, looking at Iris.

”Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. And where have you been? Did you just get caught up in your shopping, or was there a sale in the spa store?”

Any other time Iris would have simply ignored the sarcastic hologram. But she was already headed toward hysterical.

”Shopping?! Shopping??! For what?? A straight jacket?? ‘cause that’s the only thing I’m missing right now!!” Ebony wriggled free and darted back under the bed, scared by Iris’s yelling. ”I was kidnapped Crystal! Kidnapped!! And I still don’t know why!!” Actually, she had a pretty good idea why, but she was in hysteric-rant mode, so it didn’t matter. And the fact that the hologram was simply staring at her, emotionless, wasn’t helping either. Crystal blinked.

”Your body temperature is rising. You need to relax, or you’re go-“

“Relax??!!!” Iris all but shrieked. Had Crystal been solid, she would have found herself being throttled. And given the circumstances it was amazing that all the young blonde did was grab the phone and hurl it across the room. The impact left a mark on the wall above her bed. Crystal shuddered, then disappeared.

For a moment Iris just stared. Then, like air out of a balloon, all of the anger and hysteria drained out of her, and she slumped against the wall again. Her face took on a dull expression. Finally she pushed herself somewhat upright and stumbled into the bathroom, shutting the door. She turned on the shower, as hot as it would go. As it heated, she stripped of her clothes. They were still the same ones she’d worn in the park, and were tattered and scorched from the fight; the shirt Kaz had provided had turned out to be too small for her, at least as far as she was concerned, so she’d just worn it under her old shirt to cover any embarrassing holes. With a grimace she tossed both shirts and the jeans in the trash, along with her undergarments. She was reacting to the situation in much the same way a rape victim would, a result of the trauma. Had she realized her room was being watched, she would have probably gone into shock.

As she turned, a glimmer of color brought her focus to the mirror.

Her eyes were red and dull, her hair limp and lifeless. Even her usually tanned skin seemed pale and grey. Since she was turned sideways, she could see the various stones embedded in her back. Her hand, on the sink, gripped the edge of the counter until her knuckles turned white. Again tears began streaming down her face. She turned away and back to the shower. She sat, slumped, in the bottom of the tub, letting the water beat at her back, wishing with all of her heart that somehow the water could wash away the gems, and all of her shame along with them.

-----------------------------

Back in the main room, Iris’s phone lay silently on the floor. Soon the air shivered, and Crystal again swirled into existance. She glanced at the bathroom door, an uncharacteristic frown on her face. Her gaze swept the room. Something was off, something other than Iris. She blinked, bringing up the last image she had of the room, and compared it the recent one. It took nearly two full minutes before she spotted the difference, high in the corner of the room. She zoomed in on the tiny metal discs stuck to the walls in the corners. They looked like ordinary nailheads. But they hadn’t been there yesterday. And there were no other signs of construction in the room.

Crystal began a scan of the entire room, searching for other foreign presences. Other than cat hair from a cat other than Ebony, there was nothing obvious. But as she scanned the desk, she caught the outline of a smudge on the photoframe. A fingerprint. She took a closer look, then saved the image.

So, someone was spying on Iris, eh? Why? Crystal narrowed her eyes, clicked her tongue in thought. Did it have to do with this whole kidnaping deal? Did her captors release her only because they intended to keep a closer eye on her elsewhere? If so, what were they hoping to discover? Iris had said very little that was helpful or informative. Was this group mutant-haters in general, or had Iris been targeted for a reason? She made a note to hack the War Room computers later to find out what had been going on for the last few days, after she finished her other ‘project’. In the meantime, back to the ‘peeping toms’....

“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” Crystal said aloud, then vanished in her usual sparkling fashion.

In the next moment she reappeared on Chip’s computer monitor. The young techokinetic was in the middle of an online game, and wasn’t particularly happy to see her. Until she mentioned that Iris was back home, and hadn’t mentioned anything about him taking care of Ebony while she was gone. Of course, she neglected to mention to him that she hadn’t actually told Iris he had. Instead she suggested a rather... specific... prank to pay her back. She even offered to help him make the perfect 'prop', adding in her own little 'suprise' when he wasn't looking. Once she was sure the right idea was planted, she disappeared again. Knowing Chip, it wouldn’t be long before the ‘peeping toms’ got an eyeful.

Hunter had completed the back ground check on the room’s occupant. A Miss Rayne Belamount. She was raised by out near the Rocky Mountains, close by to the site of the old Bogdon clinic. It was this combined with the lack of birth certificate that had caused him to bring out some old files. After locating the Paragon file he opened it and reviewed it.

It was an experiment he remembered well, as he had been heavily involved in it. He had attempted to create a mutants who could utilise various different powers at different times. He had his genes screened, the specific ones that allowed him to absorb mutant powers isolated and placed in Paragon.

The gems were then created. Each utilised genetic material taken from a different mutant and contained their power. The gems were coded to Paragon’s DNA, and would only work with her. When she absorbed them into her they altered her physiology. The only visible change was her hair and eye colour, but there was a deeper change.

She would be given the powers of whichever mutant had been used to create the gem. To start with she had only had the water gem had been implanted, and Hunter had worked with Paragon to help her activate and deactivate the gems. She could only use them for so long before her body rejected the changes and she turned back to normal, and she would then have to wait for her body to recover before she could use them again.

However, Hunter had more invested in the project than simply creating a powerful mutant. Along with his absorption genes a lot of his un-mutated genes had been transferred to Paragon. She was , in effect, his daughter. Despite having been with many women he had not once sired a child, and with the advent of modern science he had discovered why.

His sperm were highly aggressive, in a similar manner to his blood. Instead of bonding with an egg they killed it, meaning that he would never father a child by conventional means. So he had taken the opportunity that had presented itself with the Paragon project and created a child.

However, over time a flaw began to emerge. As more gems were implanted and Paragon became more adept at utilising them the psychological side effects became evident. Along with altering her physiology to give her the mutant powers they also altered her brain chemistry, changing her personality in detrimental ways. They had searched for a cure, but found none.

In the end Hunter ordered the gems removed and Paragon placed in an orphanage, where she could grow up as a normal girl, with a normal life. Having spent five years with her he had grown fond of the child, but knew that he had to separate now, before he became too attached. Because she would die, just like Katherine had, just like everyone would, everyone but him.

He could understand now why she had tried to hack into Mondragon labs, she was looking for answers about her past. What did puzzle him was what was she doing at the Xavier institute? It was a school for mutants, and without the gems Paragon was essentially human.

Reviewing the camera footage he had discovered how Paragon could have hacked the system while being captured, as Calley had told him. She seemed to have a hologram of herself who was showing a remarkable level of intelligence. It must have been the hologram who had attempted to hack their systems. He had told Chris about this and Chris had set a trap for next time the hologram tried to get answers.

Reviewing the latest footage he saw Paragon return, looking a little worse for ware, but alive. He watched as she slumped against the wall, and then argued with her hologram. It had been years since he had seen her, and his old attachment had all but died out, so he felt no sympathy for her.

Then she got undressed. She still had the gems! The gems he had specifically ordered removed. His orders had not been followed, and someone would pay dearly for this. However, he was intrigued to see how Paragon had developed her abilities in this time.

As she had recently been captured he couldn’t put her through the ordeal of capture again, it could well do permanent damage to he psyche. So he came up with a plan. He contacted the staff and set them about building straight away, and he even made sure they took recent events into account, as he had been informed of what had happened.

Now he needed to assemble a team. This would be a mission he would lead himself, but who to bring with him. Kaz was immediately ruled out due to his connection to Paragon. Tirs still needed more training, so she would not be coming. After some careful thought he settled on Jazz and Zephyr. They would be enough to complete the mission.

With that settled he rose from the chair and headed for the door. Stopping halfway to it he paused, before going back and, after taking making a copy of the still of the gems, erasing all footage of Paragon naked. With that done he turned and left.

While Emmy was getting time with millie, Ruby decieded to stop by Iris's room to drop off her present. The fox girl hoped Iris liked snow globes that had fish flying over new york in it.

"Miss Iris?" Ruby asked timidly as she knocked on the door. "I have something for you that might make you feel better."

Iris didn't feel clean at all, despite the fact that she'd scrubbed until her skin was red, and her fingers and toes were water-wrinkled. But at least she didn't smell anymore. That, combined with the hot water running out, finally forced her out of the shower. She secured a towel around her body, then wrapped one around her hair, avoiding the mirror the whole time.

Back in the main part of her room, she began rummaging for clothes. It turned out that they were still packed, so she set to sorting through the boxes, a task made difficult by the bath towel. Yet, she was still sufficiently paranoid to keep it around her somehow.

Just as she located a usable outfit, there was a knock on her door. Still jumpy, the sound nearly scared her out of the towel and her skin.

"Miss Iris? I have something for you that might make you feel better."

Gulping back a shudder, Iris paused and took a deep breath.

"J-just a second." She dressed in a hurry, leaving the smaller towel wrapped around her hair. Cautiously she opened the door a crack. The girl from the infirmary looked back at her, the one with the fox-like ears. Iris sighed in relief, and opened the door wider to let her come in if she wanted. "I-I'm sorry. I'm still a l-little jumpy. Ruby, right?" Iris cringed as she heard herself stutter. But she tried to smile at Ruby.

Walking down the hall Nika saw the girl with fox like features from the Infirmary. There were lots of mutants here with animal traits. She felt even more comfortable being in the mansion and the thought brought a smileto her face for a moment. Maybe they could all play together she though.

As she approached Nika saw the fox girl knock on Iris' door and speak through the door. Getting closer Nika heard the door open and Iris' voice sounded jittery. Nika stopped next to the fox girl as Iris reminded both herself and Nika of the girls name. Ruby. Nika smiled at Ruby and then looked to Iris. "Are you ok Iris?"

Iris smiled a bit more when Nika approached. She opened the door wide enough to let both girls in, then closed the door behind them so Ebony wouldn't scoot out. Not that she was likely to; she had retreated under the bed during Iris's outburst, and hadn't emerged since. She accepted the gift from Ruby. Seeing the fish flying above the city brought a genuine smile to her face.

"Thank you Ruby. It's beautiful." She paused, then asked, "Your sister... Will she be okay?"

When Nika asked if she was okay, she swallowed, a lump in her throat. She turned, and set the little snoglobe gently on her desk. "Not really Nika." Her voice was soft, and broke as she tried not to start crying again.

The gift from Ruby was very sweet and also made Nika smile. "That's very nice Ruby." Nika paused for a moment as Iris questioned Ruby about Emerald. She too hoped that the wolf girl would be ok.

When Iris responded to Nika's question the cat girl caught the break in Iris' voice and she could definately tell something wasn't right. Was Iris remembering what happened? Nika didn't know but she was very concerned about her new friend. "What's wrong Iris? I hope you're not still hurting too badly." Nika spoke somewhat timidly as she wasn't sure if Iris remebred what Nika had done.

"No... no, I'm not hurting. Whatever the Doc gave me helped. I'm just... I can't... I don't think I can stay here anymore." The words came out in a rush. With a frustrated sigh, she sat in the desk chair, head in her hands.

"I came here to learn control, not lose it! I told Tricity my mutation wasn't dangerous. I never thought anything like this would happen! I can't believe I put everyone in danger..." Even though she didn't completely understand what had happened, she was blaming herself for everything that had happened to the mansion, and its occupants.

Her shoulders tensed. Several tiny drops appeared on the desktop.

Nika looked at Ruby and then back to Iris as she moved over to the girl and patted her back as if she were trying to calm a child. "You don't have to go Iris. You weren't yourself. It was more like someone else was making you do things." Nika really didn't know how close to the truth she really was. "Please don't think about leaving. There are lots of people here who like you and a bunch of them were trying their best to help you in their own ways."

Nika noticed the droplets os water on the desk. Her first reaction was fear that something was going to happen but then she realized they were tears. "Iris," Nika said calmly as she kneeled down next to her friend. "I have to tell you something though I'm not sure I should, but I have to because I can't keep it burried inside of myself." Nika swallowed her pride and her fear at the same time. It was an act that almost made her choke literally.

"Iris, remember when you said you felt like you were hit by a train?" Nika's eyes were telling volumes before the words ever left her lips. "I'm the reason you felt that way. I hurt you Iris. The one person who cared enough to take me to the infirmary after passing out in the Danger Room and I hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was acting on instincts even though I kept reminding myself that you are my friend, but I couldn't stop myself from sending you through a door and kicking you through the ceiling." Nika had let the flood gates open and she started to cry again. She placed her head against Iris' thigh. "If anyone should leave it should be me. You're a good person Iris and you deserve to stay here, but I think I'm too wild to stay here. I didn't think my powers would hurt anyone here but it happened."

Ruby listened to both the girl's slightly smiling because Iris like her gift but when the older girl got sad again her ears drooped a bit. The young genius thought for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin, trying to think of the right words. Unlike her older sisters she believed that saying the right thing could help make people feel better. Not only doing something comical like a puppy.

Ruby walked over to Iris twidling her thumbs a bit, ears and tail drooped.

"She is right you know,well except the whole her leaving thing.I mean I cant control my powers yet ethier, thats why Emmy sent me away from the mansion during the KP thing because she was afraid I would ethier get hurt or blow something up...which my powers tend to do. But not everyone has control." Ruby said, taking in a small breath.

"Look at Emerald she proably wouldnt have lost as much blood or gotten as injuried if she had more control of herself, but by what that one guy was saying it was the shot that the lady gave her. Not only that Emerald has done some pretty bad stuff when she lost control....worst than destorying a mansion, way worst. The only bad thing I really think I did was I short circtued the refigerator and Ice started shooting at everyone."

Ruby turned into her fox pup form. "If you leave here then you have more chances of loosing control around people who wont care wether you live or die. They will do anything to stop you...but since people like me, Nika I think its your name." Ruby looked at Nika then back to Iris. "And everyone else in the mansion knows how to calm you down. It will be alot easier for us to control you, and you can trust us much more than creepy humans. With the exception of my dad, you can trust him. All in all, you should stay with people you care about! Same goes for you Miss Nika."

To end it Ruby did a little back flip as if to emphasize her point.

Hunter watched the scene unfold on the monitors. He immediately identified Ruby, but couldn’t place the cat girl. What was of more interest to him though was what they were discussing.

So Paragon had been the one who caused the damage to the mansion. It seemed to have been done in a state of induced lack of control. Ruby mentioned Emerald fighting at a place called KP.

Calley had mentioned a King Pharmaceuticals which had several prisoners interned there, including Paragon at some point. From what he could gather something had been developed at King Pharmaceuticals that could cause loss of control.

This turn of events could be used to his advantage. He quickly factored Paragon’s recent activity at the mansion along with her current mental state into his plans. Paragon’s talk of leaving would make her disappearance far easier to cover up.
He continued to watch in case he learnt anything else of interest.

Iris didn't look up at first when Nika tried to comfort her, not until the catgirl confessed what she'd done. Though she was sure Nika was trying to make her feel better, it did the opposite. Having worked with Nika in the Danger Room session, Iris thought she knew how the girl's powers worked; they didn't kick in until she felt threatened, and adrenaline rushed into her system. Or at least that's what Iris thought. If that was true, that meant that Nika didn't attack her first. Whatever Iris had done, she'd acted first, and Nika only retaliated. It was still Iris's fault.

She pulled the girl into a hug, eyes still tearing. "It's not your fault Nika. None of this is. You were just protecting yourself. You shouldn't leave. You belong here." <"I don't."> She didn't say that last part aloud, but her eyes and body language spoke volumes.

Then Ruby spoke up, thoughtfully. "She is right you know,well except the whole her leaving thing. I mean I cant control my powers yet either, thats why Emmy sent me away from the mansion during the KP thing because she was afraid I would either get hurt or blow something up...which my powers tend to do. But not everyone has control.

Look at Emerald she proably wouldn't have lost as much blood or gotten as injuried if she had more control of herself, but by what that one guy was saying it was the shot that the lady gave her. Not only that Emerald has done some pretty bad stuff when she lost control....worst than destorying a mansion, way worst. The only bad thing I really think I did was I short circtued the refigerator and Ice started shooting at everyone." That mental image actually made Iris smile. She could just imagine the confusion such an event could produce.

Ruby turned into her fox pup form. Iris blinked in surprise. It was the first time she'd actually seen anyone turn into an animal. From under the bed came a soft hiss. Apparently Ebony's hiding act wasn't totally due to Iris's earlier outburst.

"If you leave here then you have more chances of loosing control around people who wont care wether you live or die. They will do anything to stop you...but since people like me, Nika I think its your name." Ruby looked at Nika then back to Iris. "And everyone else in the mansion knows how to calm you down. It will be a lot easier for us to control you, and you can trust us much more than creepy humans. With the exception of my dad, you can trust him."

<" 'Creepy humans'? That's an odd statement..."> Again Iris didn't say that aloud.

"All in all, you should stay with people you care about! Same goes for you Miss Nika."

For a moment didn't say anything. Ruby looked to be much younger than Iris, at least when she was looking more human than fox, may fourteen or fifteen in age. But she sounded so much older, as if she'd experienced so much more in life. It was rather surprising.

Iris sighed, and rubbed her eyes. When she looked back up, she had smile on her face. A sad, tired smile, but a smile nonetheless. She reached down to scratch the foxgirl's ears, hoping she wouldn't mind.

"You a wise girl, Ruby. Your dad and sister must be proud." She sighed deeply and turned back to Nika, hugging her tightly again. "Nika, I don't want you to leave. You didn't do anything wrong. You shouldn't have to leave. You've got too much potential." She looked at Ruby, including her in that last statement. "Thank you." Her smiled faltered a bit, but she managed to keep it in place.