Caldecott County, Mississippi

"I've never been to Mississippi before. I mean, I never had a reason to go before, but it's still cool to travel so far from home." I said

"I'm guessing you don't leave the state much, then?" Jean asked

"Not really, I've been to Philadelphia a few times but that's about it."

Man, when do I get my own suit? It would be nice if it was before the next mission, at least. It's not like I'm gonna quit now.

"I'll let the professor know, but you should have a design in mind first, Psych."

Oh Je- I mean Phoenix, I didn't know you were listening.

"I'm always tuned in a little bit, just to make sure you don't have any unwanted guests in that wonderful head of yours."

Well, I appreciate your concern Phoenix. I do already have some ideas for the outfit, but I'm not sure about the color scheme.

"How about black and pink, or maybe violet?"

For the void and spiral, of course! Let's see... Most of you wear gloves, and some type of boots... Need a belt to break up the outfit... What to do with the chest and collar? The triangle seems be a common choice... Maybe I could do like a distortion in a circle, empty in the center?

"Hate to interrupt, but we'll be landing in a minute. Didn't want you zoned out again."

We found somewhere to land and double-checked our cloaking systems. Now all we had to do was find the girl. Easier said than done considering she apparently has an "irregular psychic signature" making her difficult to pinpoint even with cerebro, something to do with having a fluctuating psyche of some sort. Nightcrawler and Wolverine stayed behind to keep an eye on the area, while the rest of us went looking for her. We knew she was at school until recently, so we decided to start there.

As it turns out, there was a football game earlier, and one of the players had disappeared at halftime. After several minutes he was found **** not far from the bleachers, so the student body was pretty shaken. That was two hours before, and he was only just starting to show signs of waking up. We asked around the school, looking for anyone who knew what he was doing or who he was with, but didn't get much. Phoenix scanned the surrounding area for a confused or scared mutant girl, but was getting "mixed signals" for awhile. Eventually she picked something up and within the minute, the football player was waking up.

"Wh– Where am I? Eric, what's going on?" He stumbled over his words, trying to sit up

"Chill man, chill. You're in the nurse's office dude. You've been **** for like two hours. They found you by the bleachers, what were you even doing over there?"

"I was with Rogue, that goth chick. I needed a minute away from all the lights and shit, y'know? Anyway, she was into me, so I went in for a kiss and then– then, uh... I don't know. That's the last thing I remember, man."

"Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude but, we're here trying to figure out exactly what it is that happened to you, and hopefully prevent any similar incidents in the future. You said the girl's name was Rogue? Could you give us a description of her?" I cut in

"Uh, sure, yeah, let's see... Her real name is Annie or something, but she just goes by rogue. She's got this goth-type look, and a white streak in her hair, shoulder-length by the way. She usually wears green, I guess? She had a see-through green shirt on today. Is she like, in trouble or something?"

"Not at all, if she is the cause of what happened to you, we believe it would've been an accident. We only want to ensure this won't happen again." I responded

"Oh, that's good."

"Hold up" Eric cut in "They think this chick is some kinda freak with a kiss that puts you to sleep, and all you're worried about is if she's in trouble? Doesn't she sound like one of those mutant weirdos to you?"

"I guess so, why's it matter?"

"I, uhh– well I mean, it doesn't. I was just, just bringing it up, is all." He said nervously

"Well, we have to go see if we can catch up with Rogue, thank you for your help." I nodded and we left

"You know, for a socially awkward nerd, you make a pretty good diplomat."

Thanks, it's nice to know I'm at least contributing. It's not like I'm gonna win many fistfights, right?

"Don't say that. Don't sell yourself short like that. You are incredible, and I am positive you will prove your worth to the team. You might not see it yet, but I think you're going to change the world."

Based off of Phoenix's scan, we were able to find her relatively quickly. An eighteen year-old girl sitting alone in an old playground. Brown hair of about shoulder length, with white streaks in it. Shear green top as well.

"You wouldn't happen to be Rogue, would you?"

"Who's askin'?" She responded

"I'm Psych, we're the X-Men, a group of covert-ops mutant superheroes. We believe you may have recently had some... strange experiences, and we think we can help you."

"You can't help me, I'm dangerous."

"Why do you say that?"

"When Zach kissed me, he dropped on the ground, halfway dead. I wasn't myself after that, couldn't think clearly until I saw this place. I used to play here when I was little, guess it jogged my memory or somethin'."

"Has anything like this ever happened before?"

"I don't think so, but my Mom's been tellin' me not to let anyone touch me for the past year or two now, so maybe there's somethin' I don't know."

"Would you be willing to touch me, to test a theory of mine?"

"What? No! I'm not gonna hurt anyone else."

"Just for a moment, a tap on my forehead, I'll be fine I promise."

"If you're really sure about this..." She took off one of her gloves

Jean?

"Yes?"

Don't look into her eyes.

"You really think she can.."

It's just a precaution.

She tapped my head

I woke up

How'd things go?

"You continue to amaze me."

I take it she either hypnotized someone or started acting like me?

"Mostly acting like she was you, and she almost hypnotized Shadowcat by accident."

How long was I out?

"Five minutes."

"See, I told you I'd be fine. And now I have a pretty good idea of what your power is. You can absorb someone's essence, their personality and abilities through skin contact, rendering them **** for the duration. Pretty cool power to be honest."

"Cool? Cool!? You're telling me I'll never be able to touch someone else again and that's cool?"

"No, I mean, I don't think that's the case at all, really. You just haven't learned how to turn your powers off yet. Mine activate through eye contact, and it took me a week to even attempt getting my powers under control. But I did it, and it's my belief that you can as well, especially with my help."

"Really?" She had a look of disbelief

"Yes, really. It'd probably be best to have a good understanding of your abilities beforehand though."

"Well–"

*VWOOSH*

I turned around, confused, to see Shadowcat with fully red, glowing eyes.