Jade nodded, tail wagging slowly back and forth. She stepped out of the jet looking over at Vincent.

"Vincey Im gonna go take a walk." She said walking out onto the street.

Jade walked down into her old nieghborhood looking around with curiousity. Jade heard something and she whipped around to see about twenty of Fusionist's orderly's marching up the street towards her. She growled, freezing the first to, throwing Icicles at them, causing them to shatter.

Jade's eyes widened as she saw how many of them were comming and she made a run for it. She let out barks of terror as she ran, attempting to freeze things around her so they would distract the brutes.

Finally Jade managed to get down an alley way,panting furiously. However she wasnt safe for long, a fist came colliding with her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and before she could regain her composure large hands grabbed her by the waist and slung her over a shoulder. Jade struggled helplessly as she was carried off, attempting to freeze her captor but with no luck, they had put some type of glove on her hands so she couldnt use her powers.

"VINCENT! VINCENT HELP ME!" Jade Screamed before a sharp blow to the head knocked her unconciess.

Vincent heard Jade’s cry and immediately stopped work on the jet and hit the button on his watch. Seconds later the suit landed next to him and opened up. Stepping inside the suit closed and all systems read green.

The Dreadnaught was a impressive sight, standing over eight foot tall with various weapons bristling from it. Activating the jets he flew up and scanned for Jade. He soon found her, being carried off by a thug. Surrounding her seemed to be nearly fifty men. They all wore uniforms with the same logo. Fusion Corp.

Furiously he shot down into them, knocking several back as he landed. Taking Jade from the thug who carried her in on hand he activated the chain gun on the other. Bullets riddled a dozen of the brutes as he fired the jets once more and flew up above them.

Having recovered from the surprise of his attack the men began to draw weapons. While he was safe inside Dreadnought from small arms fire he needed to protect Jade. Flicking a switch he activated a shield on the arm carrying Jade, which obscured her from the Fusion Corp thugs’ view.

As the opened fire on him the bullets rang harmlessly off the suit. Activating the missile pods mounted on his shoulders he began to return fire. Explosions rippled through the ranks of the Fusion Corp workers, scattering the survivors in confusion.

His blood was up now, they’d attacked Jade, and while his scans showed her to only be unconscious, that didn’t make him any less angry. Hitting a button several disk like objects detached themselves from the suit. Unfolding beneath the disks came multiple sets of hand cuffs along with several cattle prods.

The disks zipped down into the survivors and soon had them rounded up. Coming down to land he surveyed the men before him. Seventeen brute, all looking terrified of him. Activating the speakers his amplified voice boomed out.

“You’re to take a message to Fusionist. He is to leave Jade alone, as she is now under my protection. He will not ruin her life again, now GO!” With that the disks released the handcuffs and pursued the fleeing men with their cattle prods, making them run as fast as possible.

With the Fusion Corp employees dealt with he turned to Jade who he cradled in Dreadnaught’s mechanical arms. Lowering his voice to normal he asked, “Jade, are you alright? Speak to me honey.” The concern in his voice could be clearly heard.

Jade slowly regain conciessness, blood running down her temple. She looked up at Vincent with Wide eyes.

"Vincey? What the....did you save me from Fusionist's orderlies?" Jade asked slowly, tail wagging back and forth. She suddenly attempted to hug the giant robot, tears of joy streaming from her face.

"My hero." She mumbled softly, "No one will get me while your around will they? You and that giant robot suit will protect me..how long have you had that thing anyway?"

Vincent hugger her back surprisingly gently with Dreadnaught. “I’m so glad you’re alright. So long as I’m here I’ll fight off anything that Fusionist sends our way.” He turned and headed back towards the jet, carrying Jade in Dreadnaught’s arms. As he went the drones that had chased off the Fusion Corp survivors came back and reattached themselves.

“I’ve been working on Dreadnaught for a while,” he explained, “as I wanted something that I could fight with if it came to that. I had him follow us at a distance so I could call him in if we needed to.”

Jade nodded slowly, her tail wagging back and forth. She let out a quite yawn, as she nuzzled her head against Vincent's robot.

"Are we going to your house now?" SHe aksed with a yawn

“Yep, just relax.” As he spoke he reactivated the shield to protect Jade from the worst of the air flow. He couldn’t be bothered to fix the jet, and now that Dreadnaught had been revealed there was no reason that they couldn’t travel using him. Activating the jets he took off towards Manhattan.

*****

Landing softly in a alley way near his mother’s high rise he gently put Jade down on the ground and opened Dreadnaught. The chest plate folded down and he stepped out. Turning back to Dreadnaught he pushed a button on the watch. The chest plate closed and Dreadnaught stepped back into the shadows.

Smiling at Jade he took her hand in his and set off towards the high rise. Entering the lobby he pushed the buzzer for his mother’s flat. “Who is it?” a sickly sweet voice asked.

“It’s me mom, Vincent,” he answered, “I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I’d stop by and say hi.”

“Oh how wonderful, my little Vinny Poo coming to visit. Well don’t just stand there, come on up.” Cringing at his mother’s old nickname for him he led Jade into the building.

His mother was up on the fifth floor, so the two of them too the elevator. When Vincent knocked on the door it opened to reveal a woman of around sixty beaming out at them with a smile bright enough to dazzle you.

“Vinny Poo!” she exclaimed in that sickly sweet voice and embraced him in a hug.

“Hi mom, it’s good to see you to,” replied Vincent hugging her back, still not pleased with the re-emergence of his old nickname.

Finally pulling away from Vincent Mrs Lupin turned to face Jade, that dazzling smile still firmly in place. “And who is this lovely young lady?” Mrs Lupin took a moment to take Jade in. when her eyes fell onto Jade’s tail the genuine sparkle of delight disappeared form her eyes, though the smile never faultered.

“This is my girlfriend Jade,” said Vincent with a broad grin.

"Its a pleasure to meet you miss Lupin. Your son has told me all about you and you seem to be a very nice woman." Jade said with a smile, tail wagging back and forth.

Jade was clueless however to the disapprovment that shown on Vincent's mother's face.

Mrs Lupin maintained her smile, but didn’t hug Jade or offer her a hand shake. Instead she stepped back into the house gesturing for them to follow. “Pleased to meet you Jade. Now tell me, how did you two meet?”

Vincent looked to Jade. He’d spotted his mother was being kind of distant, but he was more concerned with explaining how they met. Unsure of how much Jade wanted to reveal he left it to her to answer, hoping that her good nature would break through whatever barrier that his mother was putting up between them.

"Oh A friend introduced us, I didnt have a place to stay at the time so I am staying on the Island with Vincent." Jade responded

She really was giving her the censored version for she didnt wish to tell his mome everything. Jade noticed that the woman was being a bit strange. She wouldnt have minded a sweeter welcome than what she got.

"You have a really nice place here Miss Lupin." Jade said, hand looping into Vincents, she squeezed softly.

“I see,” said Mrs Lupin, arching an eyebrow slightly, “so you just took her in did you Vincent, like a stray dog?” For an instant she glared at Jade, before the dazzling smile was back. “Well you must be hungry, I’ll get dinner started.” Turning on her heel she headed off towards the kitchen.

Vincent was speechless. He’d never figured his own mother as anti-mutant, but the evidence was staring him in the face. The weird welcome, strange distance between her and Jade and know the stray dog comment. He didn’t know what to do, he just looked at Jade in disbelief.

Jade looked at Vincent with a hurt look clear on her face. She let out a small growl, tail fur prickling with distaste.

"Vincent how come you didnt tell me your mom was anti mutant! I would have covered up my tail if I knew! HOw could you not tell me, did you want this to happen?!" Jade's voice though, was more hurt than angry.

“Honestly honey, I had no idea. I’ve always been pro mutant and she’s never said anything against it. I’ll go talk to her, see if I can straighten things out.” He kissed her fore head and went off after his mother.

“Mom!” he hissed, keeping quite in the hopes that Jade wouldn’t hear, “what are you doing insulting Jade like that!?”

“Like what?” she smiled sweetly back at him as she stirred the rice on the cooker.

“The stray dog comment, that was over the line.” He tried to calm himself, shouting wouldn’t help.

“And why’s that?” she asked casually, “Because she is a dog?”

“Mom!” Vincent could hardly believe it, his mother was never this rude to anyone. “Why are you acting like this?”

“You remember my sister, Mary?” she asked calmly.

“Of course I remember Auntie Mary,” said Vincent irritably, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“She was arrested a month ago for assaulting a police officer during a pro-mutant rally,” she explained, “She tried to help the freaks and now look at her, sixty three and in jail.” The news shocked Vincent into silence. Auntie Mary, in jail. “Now go and set the table dear, it’s almost ready.”

Still stunned Vincent left the kitchen and went to set the table. Heading past Jade he gave her a sorry look before going about his task.

Jade looked at him saddly, tail drooping between her legs. She walked into the kitchen where miss Lupin stood, tapping on her shoulder gently.

"Miss Lupin would you like any help? Im sure I could help you if you really wanted to." Jade smiled slowly.

Mrs Lupin gave Jade a smile sweet enough to rot your teeth in a second. “No thank you, just be a good girl and sit at the table. It’s almost ready. Go on, sit.” She turned back to the cooking.

Vincent couldn’t bring himself to go back into the kitchen. He loved Jade, more that he thought possible. The fact that his mother hated her, no because she was rude, or unpleasant, but because she was a mutant, was too overwhelming.

Jade's left eye twitched and her hand clenched into a fist. She looked as if she was ready to hit her but due to better judgement she didnt. Jade growled irritably as she went into he dinning room. She swung her chair out and sat down in it, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Glad I could help." Jade growled sarcastically. She looked over at Vincent a small whine escaping her lips. She wanted a hug, and she wanted to leave, but she knew she mainly wanted a hug from her Vincent.