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Luke took the offered map and paperwork without comments, making a show of running his fingers over the map as though he could feel the difference in texture. Sadly, as he expected, the map was printed on a laser jet printer like most documents in the current day and age, keeping him from being able to discern any difference in texture. "To bad... I'll just have to take it to a print shop and have them copy it into a texture form that I can feel." Luke thought to himself as he folded the paper and tucked it in the rear pocket of his jeans.

"Well if funds are ever running low please give me a call." The blind man spoke up as he fished a business card out of his side pocket and then held it out to Neena, "'Jacobs & Jacobs Security' may not be as big as some companies but we pull in enough profits that I'm sure we can work out some arrangement. My Uncle Oliver may not be the happiest decision but I can over rule him, thankfully."

Extending the range of his sonar just a touch Luke took in the size of the entryway as he tried to guess just how big the mansion really was. Obviously from the size of the grounds and the size of this room it was extremely large and able to house plenty of mutant teenagers and youngsters.

"Does a girl named Vega live here?" Luke suddenly spoke up as he remembered the girl he had met several days before at a bookstore, "Or... she said she's known as Ghost."

"Professor Xavier founded this school as an extension of his first. We basically offer classes up through high school graduation, connections for college if needed, and a refuge for ousted mutants. Most of our residents are teenagers, actually, but there are ages as young as six and old as late sixties. That's our resident healer, the DocProf." Neena spoke in a soft voice. If it was up to Luke he would guess she was maintaining a soft voice in order to keep from disturing anyone sleeping in the mansion. Reflexively Luke turned down his sonar so that he was only reading about five or six feet around him... that should be enough to keep from disturbing anyone sleeping in other rooms but still far enough out to keep him from actually running into anything.

"I spent most of my school years in Europe attending different private schools that would help me with my business studies. Uncle Oliver didn't really want to have a whole lot to do with me since he was more interested in running the family business." Luke replied softly but still loud enough for Neena to hear, "I was blessed that my mutation wasn't extremely obvious and I could still blend in... not knowing about a place like this I have no idea what I would have done if the situation had been different."

For several moments Luke fell silent before speaking up again. "What do you do for funding, if you don't mind my asking? I know a lot of parents, not all but quite a few, have problems with their children having the X-Gene. Do enough parents pay tuition to support the school or do you have outside donors?"

The thought of a whole school devoted to mutants was still extremely new to Luke and as he listened to Neena talk he tried to wrap his mind around this whole development. He had deffinately beeen blessed as a kid but there were lots of people that had mutations that kept them from blending in with most humans. It was absolutely necessary someplace like this operated in order to provide them support and an education so that they would have a chance in the future.

The air conditioner was turned off and all of the windows in the apartment were thrown open allowing the autumn breeze to blow in and fill the room with fresh air and a cooling temperature that helped to reinvigorate Luke for this next training session. Once again the gray sweat pants were in attendance but this time they were paired with a baggy deep blue t-shirt that had seen better days. The sleeves were torn off and there were several small holes but it was comfortable and that was what mattered at the moment. Strangely, Luke's hands had white type wrapping around the knuckles and palms much like fighters would wear when training.

"Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out..." Luke thought to himself over and over as he worked towards that place of focus once more. Anyone trained in any form of combat, ranging from martial arts to sniper firing, learned that focus was the most important control to have. If you could focus on a situation and ignore what was being said by your opponent... or ignore the environment you've been placed in to take your shot... if you could truly focus enough to blanket out all distractions then you could be a much more devastating weapon than someone that is skilled but lacks focus.

Slowly rising to his feet the blind man moved his feet to the cat paw stance and held it for several moments. He had taken the time to place three stand-up punching bags in the room seeing as there was no place for them to hang from the ceiling. They were the type of punching bags that would rock back from a blow and then straighten themselves. "Ok... I'm fighting alongside a mutant that is hurt by my sonar but I need to see the enemy." Luke murmured to himself as he laid out the situation in his mind, "She's behind me, but the enemy is in front... I have to fight but I have to protect her at the same time."

Grabbing the control dial in his mind Luke spun it and cranked up the power that was coming from his body straight ahead. The sides still had a touch of sonar coming form them but the rear had been block off completely sheltering the fictional mutant that he was trying to protect. Leaping forward Luke's hands lashed out in a practiced pattern... right jab, left jab, right uppercut...

Flowing with the moves Luke suddenly spun, his leg lashing out to slam the left side of his foot into the head of his target. As the floot made contact Luke suddenly stepped away, swearing forcefully. He had been afraid that would happen and it had... when he spun in combat the sonar spun with him meaning he had just hit the girl he was protecting with a powerful beam of sound. Mentally Luke had to separate his body from the sonar allowing his body to spin while the sonar stayed fixed in one direction.

Stepping back into position once again Luke retook the cat paw stance and prepared himself to try again. Focus was what mattered in this situation but as time passed it got harder and harder to focus as the pain began to build in his temples once again. Suddenly charging forward again Luke's hand slashed out in a powerful right cross that slammed into the head of one of his target before turning slightly and lashing out with a powerful left snap kick. As his foot came back down one again Luke used it to push off the ground and lept in the air, spinning and slamming the top of his right foot into the chest of the second target. As he landed lightly on his feet the blind man let out a cry of frustration before moving towards the last target and punching it over, and over, and over.

"Again! I hurt her again because I couldn't control it!" The blind man enunciated with each blow as he focused on the control he was still unable to maintain for any length of time. Finally stepping away from the target Luke allowed his hands to drop to his sides, as he breathed in and out. He had never experienced this kind of self-doubt before but until the other day at the bookstore he had never met anyone that his gift could hurt. "What if there are more people out there like her?" Luke wondered to himself as he suddenly lashed out with his right hand, punching the center target one last time before his hand dropped to his side again, "How can I fight and defend people like that if I can't even control my gift completely?!" It was a question Luke knew would haunt his thoughts until he finally gained the control he was working so hard to get.

Luke listened carefully as Tris spoke but something caught his ear, so to speak.

Plop... plop... plop...

Turning his attention away from the more outgoing woman the blind man focused on Victoria and in just a moment he knew what was causing the sound. The occasional drip of tears falling to the table. IT was a faint sound but with his enhanced hearing it was loud enough to notice.

"Awwww hunny....." Tris spoke up as she apparently noticed the same situation that Luke had just been drawn to.

Reaching over carefully Luke attempted to touch and gently grip one of Victoria's hands as he offered a kind smile. "It will get better Victoria... you'll learn control over your power and you'll learn to have a life without your parents. As I said you'll always remember them but you can still find a life for yourself now." Really, he was at a loss on how to handle the crying young woman... this was just not something he was experienced with.

Outside of the apartment darkness was beginning to lift from the city. On the horizon the first rays of sunlight were beginning to appear. Slowly the air began to warm from the coolness of night and the sun continued to move higher into the sky. At about 9 o'lock the sun was high enough that it streamed through the blinds beginning to warm Luke's skin. It took several moments for the warmth to break through his tired mind but finally the blind man groggily stood to his feet and set about trying to clear his head. A cold shower followed by two pieces of toast and a glass of orange juice did the trick and at approximately 9:30 Luke was once again sitting in his living room. He had chosen to go for comfort for this training session and as such was wearing a pair of sweat pants with socks on his feet or shirt on his chest.

Sitting cross legged on the floor he began the breathing exercising he had been using to gain focus of the past several days. Any good martial arts training taught you that breathing was perhapse the most important skill to have... when you could breath correct you took in more oxygen allowing your muscles to reaction faster and with more strength than someone that tried to keep their stomach pulled in in order to look more attractive. Breathing in deeply Luke saturated his lungs with air before holding it for perhapse one or two seconds and then breathing out. For the next ten to fifteen minutes all Luke did was breathe focusing inward as he prepared himself for the next practice session. While it was still difficult to turn off his gift he was gaining control so that he could keep the sonar bottled up inside for almost half an hour before his headache became unbearable. Back in his bookstore meeting Kaz had mentioned directional control and that was the next thing to try. Could he use work with the Sonar only being used to cover one arc?

Finally Luke had reached a peace that he felt was strong enough for his first attempt. Mentally he conjured a dial in his mind that would control where the sonar went. Moving it so that it would block off the sonar from being emitted to the rear or from either side, he focused on trying to only 'see' in front of him. The first several tries were somewhat successfull, but not completely. The first time though Luke weakened the strength of all arcs except the forward arc, he could still sense a few feet out from him. There was no great surprise in being unable to achieve success in the first few moments so Luke allowed his sonar to build up to full strength once more before he once again tried to shut it off. This time the rear arc was completely silent but right, left, and forward were all still at full strength.

For the next hour he worked back and forth trying to selectively search or certain directions and areas. The pain didn't build as fast in his head as it had when he was completely shutting his ablity off but he could still feel the dull throb in his temples slowly growing. Attempting time after time Luke never seemed to be able to get it completely... he could weaken selective arcs with ease and bring them in close to his body but it to shut off only one area of power was turning out to be more difficult than he could have imagined.

By 12 o'clock the pain was becoming almost unbearable and Luke dropped all stoppages as he admitted defeat for the moment. He had managed to turn off one arc at a time but had never been able to turn off three allowing for only one to continue working. "I'll figure it out." Luke murmured softly to himself as he stood and once again headed of to get himself a pain pill and some water, "It'll take time but I'll do it!"

The New Gotham Apartments were one of New York's premier apartment building although the ratings had begun to drop as people began to find other building that would apparently offer better services or a better price. However for Luke Jacobs, none of that really mattered. He spent a small amount of time at his appartment and kept it mainly for the effect it had on social gatherings when he was forced to participate as a representative for 'Jacobs & Jacobs Security'.

Sitting cross legged in the middle of his living room floor, Luke was doing his best to clear his mind and prepare for the test he was about to give himself. Sonar and enhanced hearing had always seemed like such an easy gift but in one chance meeting he had learned that control was important even with a supposedly safe gift. Breathing in and out, slowly and deeply he was trying to reach a clarity and control he had never achieved before. With wide open eyes, the sightless orbs stared off into space, not affecting the man's concentration in the least.

Mentally reaching out for the switch Luke turned off his sonar sense... immediately the feeling of pressure began to build at his temples pushing on towards what he knew would probably develop into a migraine. Stubbornly gritting his teeth Luke did his best to split the focus between breathing correctly as well as holding in the sonar. Without the sonar to fill part of his mind his hearing and other senses suddenly seemed much stronger and finely tuned. The smell of must in the air that meant there was probably a touch of mold in the air vents... the sound of sirens and horns from the street far below... the minty taste that remained from brushing his teeth earlier... the feeling of of a light breeze as an oscilating fan in the corner gently stirred the air in the room.

As Luke held out longer and longer, his eyes began to slowly close, knitting together in concentration as he gritted his teeth slightly. The pressure was building to a breaking point and he knew there was no way he could hold the valve shut for very much longer. The pounded began to be rythmic as it slammed against his mental barrier with each heartbeat. Finally unable to hold it any longer Luke released his power once again with a slight groan of pain.

Filled with a vision of the room once again he slowly stood to his feet and walked towards the kitchen almost tripping from the weariness that had suddenly invaded his head. That combined with the throbbing was going to make this a bad day... a really bad day. Stopping at the sink Luke filled a glass with water and then took two pain killers to dull the beating in his head.

Slowly walking back into the living room Luke flopped down on his black leather couch and leaned back againt the cushions simply allowing his body to try and calm down. This was deffinately going to take work and practice but he'd get... eventually.

"Well Luke, welcome to Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters." Neena finally spoke to him as she turned her focus away from the young man. She had put emphesis on the word gifted and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was more than a touch annoyed with Calley.

Stepping away from the car and turning to face the woman Luke smiled slightly, "Thank you very much... Neena I believe Calley said."

"Thanks again. Hope you like the place." Calley muttered just loud enough for Luke to hear before he walked off towards the mansion.

"Take care Calley." Luke called after hime before turning his attention back to the young woman once more.

"I probably need to appologize to you for being involved in that... I'm sorry if I heard anything that I shouldn't have." The blind man said rather apologetically as stood easily with his cane broken down and gripped in his left hand, "He seems like a good guy... a little messed up on his idea of right and wrong but a decent guy. But, you're probably wondering why I'm here when I'm well out of school... I've had a couple of people mention about a mansion where other mutants were trained and when Calley said he actually knew where it was I was curious enough to hitch a ride. I hope that's not a problem."

Inwardly Luke had braced himself just in case things didn't work out. It was quite possible that he would be told visiting hours were over or that this was a private accademy that he couldn't enter without either being a student or a student's guardian. Really he had no idea how this place worked so inwardly he was ready for the worst. As Wraith he could easily slip in past the walls but there was no way he would even attempt something like that. As he had told Calley before... breaking and entering was deffinately a crime and trespassing fit in that same category.