Harry and Laura followed Ororo down the hallway, the building they were in was clearly a big one, it looked very expensive as well. The two mutant children were also wearing a new set of clothes, Laura was wearing white shoes with blue jeans and a white shirt under a woolly grey jumper. Harry, on the other hand, was wearing blue shoes with blue jeans and a blue shirt under a woolly red jumper.
"Do you like your clothes?" Ororo asked.
"It's nice." Laura said with a small smile, as her hands rubbed against the soft material.
"Why are you all being so nice to us?" Harry asked in a suspicious voice. "What do you all want?" He asked.
"What makes you think we want something?" Ororo frowned as she looked at Harry who was looking at through narrowed emerald eyes.
"Everyone wants something." Harry said in an annoyed voice, as if she was being ridiculous for asking.
Ororo prided herself on being able to correctly see the true nature of people, as she looked at Harry she noticed several things. His hand twitched constantly, as if he was ready to bring his claws out at any moment. As she looked at him she saw many things and many words came into her head: protective, hardened, wary, distrusting and scared. It tore at her heart to see one so young be so jaded. The sister hadn't appeared to have reached the same level of distrust for people as the brother, but Ororo guessed that that was likely because the brother had been the one to step into a protective role.
"Do you know what this place is?" She asked in a soft voice.
"A place for freaks." Harry answered after a moment.
"Mutants, not freaks." She corrected.
"Same thing." Harry replied.
"And who told you that?" She frowned.
"Our aunt," Laura answered. "she said that mutants are like us, we're freaks like them."
"Your aunt called you freaks?" Ororo's frown became even more pronounced.
"Yeah, we're freaks, you got a problem with that?" Harry said in a challenging voice.
"Harry, be nice." Laura whispered.
"It's fine," Ororo said to Laura before looking at Harry. "to answer your question: no. No, I do not have a problem with mutants, as for freaks, you are not freaks, no matter what your aunt called you. Every person living in this building has felt like a freak, an outcast, at least once in their life. We've all felt unwanted, unloved, many of us have been hurt by others. You both remember what Hank looks like, he cannot walk out in the street without being judged. I understand that you don't trust us, but I hope you at least are willing to give us a chance." She said as they arrived at the canteen. "Now, let's get you both something to eat." She said.
"Don't we have to do chores or something first?" Harry asked with a frown.
If he looked at Ororo then he would have seen her eyes closed and if he was a mind reader then he would be aware of her plans to find Harry's aunt and set Logan on them, if not fry them with several lightning bolts. Hmm, maybe both.
"Did you both like it?" Ororo asked once the two were done eating. The two children nodded but they didn't say anything. "Well, let's go and take you both to your room."
"Our room?" Laura asked.
"Yes, you'll both be sharing a room, the other kids all share a room as well. Considering that you both are brother and sister, I don't think there will be any problems with you too sharing. Unless there is some reason why you can't share?" She asked.
"No," Harry shook his head quickly. "we'll both share." He said.
"Good, follow me." She said as she stood up before walking away, Harry and Laura stood up as well and followed her, the two ignored the stares from others as they walked past. "And this one is yours." She said as they stopped outside a door, she opened it and gestured the two children inside.
Harry and Laura walked inside, both looked surprised as they looked around the room. It was a fairly big room, much bigger than anywhere the two had ever slept in. It had one bed on each side of the room along with two desks and chairs plus a big window opposite the door.
"Is the room alright?" Ororo asked. "I understand that it's a bit plain but it can be redecorated later."
"A...are you sure that this is for us?" Laura asked.
"What do you mean?" Ororo replied.
"Well...it...it's just really big." Harry frowned.
"That's because it's for the two of you." Ororo said as she looked at the room. It was a decently sized room but hardly anything unbelievably impressive.
"Really?" Laura asked with disbelief. "This is all for us?" She said, looking at Ororo with a small amount of hope in her eyes.
"Yes, it is." Ororo said, a kind smile was on her face that was masterfully hiding her inner thoughts. Ororo was a pretty smart woman and it didn't take a genius to work out that these kids had less than horrible lives and that it was the fault of the adults in charge of them. 'Hmm, maybe lightning is too quick.' She thought. 'I'll have to think of something else'.
"Explain." Was the first word to come out of Ororo's mouth once she entered Professor Xavier's office. Hank was no longer here but Professor Xavier was and so was Logan, Logan had (like usual) opted to stand instead of sit down. Ororo walked forwards and stopped next to Logan, she crossed her arms and looked back and forth between the two men.
"It is a bit of a long story." Professor Xavier sighed, though the look that Ororo gave him let him know that that was probably not the best answer to give. Professor Xavier had known Ororo for quite some time, and he was able to tell when she was angry or not. Right now she was showing some very clear signs of anger, her eyes were narrow and her right foot was tapping impatiently while her arms were crossed so tight that she might end up hurting herself.
"I have plenty of time." She said in a voice that was brimming with anger.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem with the kids?" Logan asked in a worried voice.
"Yes, there is." She said, her eyes locked onto Professor Xavier.
"Well, like I said, it's a long story." Professor Xavier began. "Logan had been infiltrating a facility that was believed to be a former 'Weapon-X' base." Ororo nodded to show her understanding, 'Weapon-X' was a code name for a secret U.S. Government project intended to deliberately induce superpowers for military purposes, it had also been Weapon-X that was responsible for bonding Logan's skeleton with adamantium. "While there Logan had come across Stryker, Stryker attempted to tire out Logan before sending in his big gun, which in this case happened to be Mr Victor Creed."
"Sabretooth." Ororo said before gesturing him to continue.
"When I was there I saw two kids in tanks," Logan growled. "I thought me and Sabretooth were going to go at it but he suddenly turned around and killed Stryker."
"What? Why?" Ororo asked in a confused voice.
"Sabretooth has his limit and hurting kids is apparently beyond his." Logan answered in a calm voice, even though he was still very much in disbelief over the situation.
"We think that the children may have formed some sort of bond with him," Professor Xavier added. "it was his words that calmed the children down and convinced them to listen to us. In fact they both seemed rather upset when they were told that he was leaving."
"The boy hid it better than the girl." Logan commented.
"Indeed," Professor Xavier nodded. "it was agreed upon that Mr Creed would visit when he could, so long as he doesn't cause trouble. Then you arrived, now I believe that it is your turn to tell us both what you know." He said.
"It is my belief that these children were abused." Ororo said in tight voice, it was clear to both men that she was trying hard to contain her anger.
"I'm not surprised," Logan snarled. "Stryker always was an asshole, of course the little bastard would hurt kids. If he wasn't already dead then I would..."
"No," Ororo cut him off, shaking her head as she did so. "I do not doubt that Stryker had likely hurt them in some way or form, but I am speaking of their family."
"What do you mean?" Professor Xavier asked.
"I told Harry that this was a place for mutants, when I told him that he responded by saying it was a place for 'freaks'. I told him that mutants weren't freaks and Laura had told me that their aunt has told them that mutants are freaks and that they are both freaks. I've noticed a number of concerning things about both of them, Charles. I believe that the boy, Harry, has taken a protective role. When I questioned them about the clothes that I gave them, Laura seemed happy but Harry was suspicious, he asked what we wanted in return."
"For the clothes?"
"According to him, 'everybody wants something'." Ororo sighed. "When it was time for food, Harry asked me if they were both supposed to chores first. Then the two seemed to be incredibly in disbelief when I showed them the room that they would both be staying in."
"Disbelief over what?" Logan asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
"Over how big it was, and it's a decently sized room but nothing massive." Ororo answered. "These may seem to be little things but they add up, that's not to mention the trust issues with Harry and the fact that those two somehow ended up in Stryker's hands. It is possible that Stryker could have taken away the children from their guardians but it's also possible that the guardians didn't care enough to fight for them."
"You mean they let Stryker take the kids?" Logan snarled, looking very much like an angry animal, or at least more so than usual.
"I'm not sure but I believe so." Ororo said before looking at Professor Xavier and giving him a look that clearly asked him what he planned to do about this.
"Hmm, we will naturally be here to support the children." Professor Xavier said after a few moments of silence. "We will work with them, physically I don't suspect that there will be permanent damage due to the fact they both seem to possess Logan's healing factor. With that being said it is entirely possible that they both have emotional and mental damage."
"What about their guardians?" Logan growled impatiently. He was all for helping the kids but he was also a man of action and somebody needed to pay for hurting his grandchildren, he doesn't give a damn if he only recently found out about them, somebody is going to pay for this.
"Calm down Logan, they will be dealt with appropriately." Professor Xavier replied. "I will contact some 'friends' of ours and have them look into the problem."
"Logan," Ororo said, snapping Logan out of his thoughts, thoughts which admittedly involved a lot of stabbing. "I understand that you are angry."
"I am not angry, I am pissed off!" Logan all but shouted.
"As am I," Ororo calmly replied. "with that being said, revenge or justice or whatever you want to call it will have to temporarily be put on hold. Don't give me that look," She said when Logan looked like he was about to argue. "if something is not done to bring theses people to justice then I will personally track them down myself and rip their world asunder. But for now your priority needs to be Harry and Laura. Right now they do not trust adults or people in general, I think it's time to show them that not all of us are bad. I am not going to have these children grow up in a world where a man like Sabretooth is their best role model." She said, giving him a look that dared him to argue.
Logan thought about arguing, he really wanted to be the one doing all off the ripping, but despite that he found himself thinking about Ororo's words. He had just found out that he had grandkids, the last thing he needed to do right now was leave them here just so he can go off and start ripping them to pieces. Besides, if these 'friends' that Professor Xavier mentioned where who Logan thought they were then he didn't really need to worry about whichever idiots fucked everything up.
"You're right." Logan sighed.
"Naturally," Ororo said with a small smile. "these kids need you Logan. You've always done what you thought was best, what do you think will be the best thing you can do for Harry and Laura?" Logan grunted before he turned and began walking away.
"You ever get tired of being right all the time?" Logan asked without looking back.
"Not yet." Ororo called just before Logan left the office.
"Ororo," Professor Xavier spoke. "what do you believe is the impression that the children have of you?" He asked.
"Honestly? I believe that Laura is warming up to me, but Harry is not quite there." Ororo answered. "I think he believes that this is all a trick of some sort and that we have bad intentions towards himself and his sister."
"Well then, we shall have to prove him wrong." Professor Xavier replied. "Hank and I are interested in performing some tests on Harry in order to help determine if he has a mutant ability other than what he shares with his sister and grandfather, unfortunately I don't think that he would be amenable to the idea."
"No, with what happened to him at Stryker, I imagine not." Ororo agreed.
"I would like it if you, Logan, Hank and myself work with the boy to discover if he has another ability."
"Why do you think he has another ability?" Ororo asked.
"Hank had performed x-rays on the boy," Professor Xavier responded. "the first x-ray detected that there was metal in his arm, the second time he performed the test he discovered that there was no metal. When we saw Harry and Laura's claws then we noticed that young Laura still had bone claws while Harry's claws were metal, much like Logan's."
"Hmm," Ororo hummed. "perhaps he can cover his bones in metal."
"Perhaps," Professor Xavier nodded. "but we are not sure, things can often be simpler or more complicated than they look. And even if we were then we don't know what form of metal or what properties it has or even if he can cover all of his skeleton or just his claws. We also don't know if there are any negative side effects that could come from it. Which is why I'd like for you to help Logan."
"Help him?"
"Logan is..." Professor Xavier paused as he thought on his next words. "not the most emotionally adjust man, and that could prove to be detrimental when dealing with Harry and Laura. I'd appreciate it if you can help the three out when possible, not just help the kids with their powers but also help the family bond. I believe that they will trust you more easily than they will trust me."
"You don't have to ask." Ororo replied. "Whatever it takes, I am helping that family." She said in a determined voice.
"You always were the best of us, Ororo." Professor Xavier smiled.