meeting Wanda Maximoff

After the incident with Jean things calmed down at the Xavier institute and the only mention worthy developments being that Boom-Boom left the X-men and is staying at the brotherhood's house after she let herself be dragged into a robbery curtesy of her father.

"Students please, I ask you to gather downstairs immediately." Charles alerts his older students, just as they were heading off to sleep.

"I apologize for the late hour but I just received an urgent summon from captain Stone." Charles informs the group once everyone is gathered.

"Stone, from the penitentiary?" Scott asks.

"Whoa, we're not talking another juggernaut break out are we?" Evan asks fearful.

"No, at least not yet. But his containment unit is starting to fail." Charles replies in a worried tone.

"We'll be suited up in 5." Scott says eagerly.

"No, that won't be necessary. I'll just need Ben's help for a worst case scenario and since his technological forms might have an insight on what's caused the failure. However, with Storm in Africa and Logan out on the road I'm faced with a dilemma. Which means I'm putting you in charge Scott and Jean. Can I count on you?" Charles requests, getting nods as answer though Scott has a disappointed look on his face since Ben is picked over him again.

"Alright, let's do this thing." Ben sighs.

"See you soon." Ben tells his girlfriends, giving Kitty and Rogue a quick kiss.

"Be careful, you know how tough Juggernaut is." Rogue tells him worried.

"Ah you know me, I'm a tough nut to crack myself." Ben replies with a cocky grin before he hurries to his room to get ready for the trip.

|The next day|

Ben and the Professor are standing in front of his brothers containment unit with the warden.

"Shutting down the containment unit is the only thing that makes sense." Charles tells the warden.

"But what'll happen during the 20 seconds reboot sequence?" The warden asks worried.

"Hopefully his paralysis won't wear off that quickly, for a last case scenario I brought my student Ben with me, he can contain him for a while longer which should give us plenty enough time to fix this." Charles explains, motioning to Ben, who nods to the warden confidently.

"Alright. Alert the base to a code 12." He tells one of his men so they can get prepared just in case, due to safety regulations.

Half an hour later the security staff is ready, having personell with riot shields all around the room while Charles is standing at his brother's console with Ben being right next to him.

"Alright, at my mark. Now!" Charles tells the warden who hits the off switch, starting a timer during which Charles is tweaking the console, fixing it moments before his brother awakens to the point where he can break out of the containment unit.

"Man that was a close call." Ben says in a distorted voice, already standing by as goop when Juggernaut ripped of the chains wrapped around his arms while in the containment unit.

"Is there another problem?" The warden asks, seeing the pensive look on Charles' face.

"I'm afraid there is. This malfunction wasn't accidental." Charles explains.

"What are you saying?" The warden questions.

"It was sabotage." Charles replies.

"Again?" Ben asks annoyed after turning back human.

"I'm afraid so. But I don't know what their objective was this time. The damage was not nearly enough for my brother to escape." Charles replies.

"Hmpf. Now what?" Ben asks, crossing his arms while looking at the face of the once again sleeping Juggernaut.

"Now I get all this settled out and try to find out who caused this. Oh, dam. I didn't realize it's noon already I actually had another appointment, but this can't wait." Charles says.

"Appointment?" Ben questions.

"Actually, it might be a good idea if you went in my stead." Charles tells him with a thoughtful expression.

"Quit beating around the bush, what's up?" Ben asks the professor, who wheels himself to the side with Ben following so they can talk in private.

"There is an institution not far from here where a patient of mine is being treated. She's another mutant, her mutation allows her to alter reality and cast spells, making her very powerful and dangerous. She was already institutionalized before I found her through Cerebro and I've tried helping her with her anger issues as well as controlling her powers but I'm afraid I haven't been able to achieve much. Today I had another session planned with her since we're in the vicinity but I can't leave here now. Can you go in my place and visit her?" Charles explains.

"I guess, but what good will that do? I'm not an anger management therapist and I'm also still training to control my powers." Ben says.

"Like I said my methods didn't work. Maybe you can help her in a way I can't." Charles suggests.

"Like what?" Ben asks confused.

"Get to know her, become her friend. From what I've seen she's only had fearful and agressive caretakers for the last decade, ever since she was institutionalized." Charles replies.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot. Now where am I going?" He asks and Charles gives him the address and the necessary information, as well as a signed entry form, allowing him to visit the girl.

About an hour later Ben is standing in a barren room with barred windows and a single steel door when someone shoves a black haired girl with bags under her eyes into the room, saying "Here, be careful not to loosen her straps." The man grunts, before closing the door.

Ben looks around the room once and notices that there are no cameras observing them.

"Who are you?" She asks aggressively.

"Hi, my name is Ben Tennyson and I came in place of the Professor." He introduces himself to the girl, observing her while she does the same.

"A little young to be a psychiatrist aren't you?" She says, trying to get a rise out of Ben.

"Oh, I'm not a psychiatrist, actually I'm nowhere near qualified to help you with whatever issue you seem to be having." Ben tells her, nodding at her straight jacket.

"Then what do you want?" Wanda hisses annoyed.

"To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the Professor tries to accomplish here. All I know he's stuck dealing with something and asked me to take his place." Ben informs her, sitting down cross legged on the floor.

"So what are you?" She asks, glaring at him.

"One of his students." Ben answers.

"Great, so he wants you to rub it in that I'm too dangerous to be in his clubhouse." Wanda says angrily.

"Too dangerous?" Ben asks.

"Haven't you heard? I'm a menace about to bring end to this world." She says dramatically.

"Hah, now that I have to see." Ben says laughing quietly.

"Quit making fun of me!" Wanda yells, kicking at him.

"Hmm, how are you with fast travelling?" Ben asks her unfazed, easily having blocked her kick with an open palm.

"How would I know I've been stuck in here since I was 6." Wanda shouts pissed.

"Meh, guess we'll find out." Ben says, getting up and grabbing her shoulder.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me!" She yells, trying to shake him off her, but Ben's grip is too strong.

"Could you quiet down please. This isn't gonna hurt." Ben tells her, turning into big chill and walks towards the outer wall with her, the two of them becoming intangible thanks to his ability.

"What the?" She asks, until Ben puts his hand over her mouth, signaling for her to be quiet and points downwards, while they are flying over a couple passing guards.

Wanda keeps quiet until Ben lands them outside the facility, turning back to his human form.

"Why did you do that? You'll get in trouble and they'll lock me up and throw away the key." Wanda asks angrily, kneeing Ben in his gut.

"Ugh. The heck was that for? I let you experience the outside and you thank me with physical abuse?" Ben asks genuinely confused.

"Take me back now before they find out. I already have it crappy enough as it is, without you staging a breakout attempt and getting me in trouble." Wanda shouts.

"Don't worry about that. I have an idea for that already." Ben tells her relaxed.

"Oh, and what great idea do you have?" She asks pissed.

"Alright, see that car?" Ben asks, pointing to a par passing by them.

"Of course, I'm not blind." Wanda says.

"Watch." Ben says, turning into clockwork and turns back time, making it seem as though the car is going back wards and Wanda looks around, seeing leaves falling upwards instead of down.

"What is this?" She asks.

"I'm turning back time." Ben tells her, letting go of her shoulder and the car passes them again.

"How?" She asks shocked.

"Well I'm a man of many talents." Ben says cockily, turning into four arms and heatblast, striking a pose after each transformation.

"What the hell are you?" She asks shocked, the anger in her voice gone for the first time.

"A mutant of course. Now, come on. I'll turn back time later so technically we won't even be gone." Ben tells her.

"How can I even remember what happened then?" She asks.

"I noticed that what I touch can be affected by me if I want it to, like when we phased through the wall." Ben explains.

"Alright I guess, but what now? Are you going to show me how good it is outside just so you can stuff me back in my cell?" She asks pissed, glaring at him.

"Well, while that has to happen for now, I hoped you'd rather see it as having a couple of hours of holiday. I mean if you don't want to, I can take you back right now no harm done. But you might be missing out on some pretty cool stuff." Ben tells her, looking at her while waiting for her decision.

"Alright, where are you taking me?" She agrees after a moment to think about it.

"For now I was thinking the Institute." Ben tells her, turning into XLR8 and picks her up, holding her in front of him, speeding to the Institute, where they arrive seconds later and see a crowd entering the building.

"The heck?" Ben asks surprised, hiding behind a bush with Wanda.

"Why is there a party at the Institute. Kurt!" Ben growls angrily.

"Hah, so there is someone who can push your buttons." Wanda laughs.

"Haha, come on I'll take you to my hideout. Well mine and my girlfriends'." Ben tells her, turning back to Big Chill, phasing them through the earth, with Wanda freaking out, but Ben holds her in a tight grip so she won't kill herself.

"Next time don't struggle. You could've killed yourself if I didn't pay attention." Ben berates Wanda once they are in the cave he created.

"Where are we?" Wanda asks, looking around, noticing the crystal shell with confusion.

"Like I said, my place. Well technically it's still the Professors, but I consider it mine." Ben informs her.

"So you build this?" She asks, poking a crystal wall with her feet.

"Yeah, I thought that I might need some space and me and my girlfriends hang out here every now and then." Ben informs her.

"Girlfriend?" Wanda asks, slowly losing her hostility towards him.

"Actually girlfriends. I have two, it's a long story." Ben tells her, removing the buckles on her straight jacket so she can use her arms.

"Can you try not to rip this place apart?" I mean I can rebuild it but it was a pain the first time." Ben asks her jokingly.

"I'll try." She says, rubbing her sore wrists.

"Uhm, can I leave you alone here a second?" Ben asks.

"I guess?" She replies and Ben turns into XLR8, speeding to his room, via his window and gets a red dress he was initially going to give Rogue as a present, up until she said that she hates red.

"Here, I was going to give this to one of my girlfriend, but turns out she hates red. If you want you can change into it in the bathroom." Ben offers, pointing at a door.

Wanda looks at him suspiciously but takes the clothing anyways, disappearing into the bathroom with Ben opening the door of the cave and looking out on calm ocean.

"So, what was your idea here? I mean this is nice and all but what do you or the Professor gain by breaking me out for a couple of hours?" Wanda asks Ben, joining him at the door a couple minutes later, now dressed in a relatively form fitting red dress, reaching halfway over her pants, which she decided to leave on.

"Like I said I have no idea what the Professors plan is or how he treats you normally, I just though you might want a day off so to speak." Ben replies.

"But aren't you scared? Everyone else is." Wanda asks surprisingly timidly for her.

"Nah. I'm hard to scare nowadays." Ben says with a carefree expression.

"why nowadays?" She asks interested.

"Well I guess it's fair that you know since the Prof. told me that you were institutionalized for a long time. I have only been able to control my forms for a couple months. Before that I was stuck looking like this for almost two years." Ben tells her, turning into ghostfreak, making her take a step back in surprise.

"So if anyone can relate to feeling like everyone is scared by you I guess you've met your match." Ben tells her, turning back human.

"Lucky for you, you look like a hot girl instead of an ugly ghoul." Ben adds, looking her over once.

"Ahem, so what should we do now?" Wanda asks, a slight tinge of red on her cheeks.

"Hah, I have to say I'm curious. Let's go for a ride and you can show me your powers. I mean it's only fair after I showed you some of mine." Ben tells her with a smirk.

"Are you sure? I can't control them very well." Wanda tells him fearfully.

"And that's why we're taking a ride." Ben says, turning into Diamondhead and creates a crystal raft.

"Hop on." Ben tells her, lifting the girl easily onto the raft.

"And how are we going to get anywhere on this?" She asks doubtfully, seeing no paddle or engine.

"Oh ye of little faith." Ben says jumping into the water while turning into ripjaw. Hold on tight." Ben tells her, swimming as fast as he can while pushing the raft in front of him until they are a couple hundred meters away from the shore.

"And hop." Ben says, flying out of the water and gracefully landing on the raft before turning human.

"Great, we're in the middle of the ocean now what?" Wanda asks.

"Let lose. Show me what you can do." Ben tells her excitedly, while sitting down, looking at her expectantly.

Wanda looks at her hands thoughtfully and then uses her powers to extend his crystal construct. Trying to turn the raft into a boat twice the size but just as he's 80 percent done, she loses concentration and the crystalline construct shatters into pieces.

"Ahh." She yells, falling into the water, since their ship dissolved right under their feet.

Ben jumps after her and grabs onto her, lifting her out of the water with her struggling around frantically.

"I got you. It's alright. Ben says in a calming tone as possible while he turns into diamond head and erects a raft about as wide as a house's foundation is.

"Hah, hah. I told you it's not a good idea to be using my powers." Wanda says, getting angry, causing the crystal beneath her to crack.

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Ben tells her, giving the scared girl a hug, still in his crystalline form.

"Let's get you back to shore." Ben says, noticing that they're both dripping wet now and jumps into the water again as ripjaws, bringing them back to the coast where his cave entrance is.

"Here, let me help you up." Ben says, jumping on the ridge leading to his door and extending his hand towards her.

She looks at her own hands fearfully, pulling them back before touching Ben and stays on the raft.

"Hey, I helped one person be able to touch someone not only to make someone else be afraid to." Ben tells her, grabbing her hand himself and pulling her up to him.

"Relax, accidents happen. When I learned how to use my powers, I almost crushed the institute once." Ben tells her, leading her back inside his hideout and lights a fire with a fireball curtesy of heatblast, sitting down in front of it with Wanda.

"I'm sorry. You tried so much to help me and I'm just a helpless case." She says, hugging her arms to herself while as she's sitting in front of the fire.

"Don't take it to heart. The beginning is always hard." Ben tells her supportively, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"But I've had my powers almost all my life." Wanda says disappointed.

"Which makes getting them under control even harder." Ben replies.

"We should go back. I'll go get changed." Wanda tells him, going to the bathroom.

"alright, I'm ready." Wanda tells him, now again dressed in her straight jacket.

"Before we go back in time. I forgot to ask you one question." Ben says.

"What?" She asks.

"What's your name?" Ben asks sheepishly.

"Wanda." She replies.

"Nice to meet you Wanda. I hope we can be friends." Ben says, extending his hand for a handshake, which she reluctantly accepts.

"You ready?" Ben asks her, getting a defeated nod in reply.

Ben turns into XLR8 and speeds them back to the institute, standing where he landed before and turns into big chill, taking Wanda back to the room they first met in.

"alright, we're back. That didn't take too long did it?" Ben asks, hoping to snap the girl out of her sour mood.

"Come on, close your eyes for me." Ben tells her, turning into Clockwork and taking her hands.

Moments later they are still in the cell with the sun going down outside the window.

"We're back." Ben says, losing his transformation.

"Shouldn't you buckle me up again?" She asks him.

"Nah, not yet." Ben says shrugging his shoulders.

"Now, come here, I want to try something, this usually helps Rogue snap out of her bad mood." Ben says, motioning the girl to come over to him while he sits down cross legged with his back to the door. Wanda looks uncertain for a moment before sitting down in front of Ben, looking at the sundown through the barred window and Ben starts to massage her shoulders gently.

"Who's Rogue?" She asks after a minute of silence.

"One of my girlfriends. You remind me of her a lot." Ben replies.

"How?" Wanda asks curious.

"Well she can have her dark moods. Rightfully so since she literally can't touch anyone without potentially killing them." Ben says.

"How does your relationship work then?" Wanda asks questioningly.

"I found a way for her to be able to at least touch me. But it's only possible due to my mutation and a lot of training. Other than me Rogue might possibly never be able to touch anyone." Ben says saddened.

"I see." Wanda says.

"What about your other girlfriend, what's she like?" Wanda asks.

"Kitty. She's the exact opposite I guess, she's like a ray of sunshine though she gets scared easily and often worries too much." Ben tells her, stopping the massage and scoots over so he's sitting next to her.

"I guess our time's about up." Wanda tells him, hearing noise from in the hall, outside the door.

"Will you be OK in here?" Ben asks her concerned.

"Yeah, I have to be if I want to ever get out of here." Wanda says heavily, offering her arms for Ben to tie up, which he does.

"Say, would you want for me to come back and take you for another trip?" Ben asks Wanda, getting up and helping her stand as well."

"Yeah. I'd like that. And thanks" Wanda replies, giving him a peck on his cheek before a caretaker leads her away.

Once Wanda is gone Ben exits the facility and rejoins the Professor, who's just about ready to head back to the Institute.

"So how did it go with Wanda?" Charles asks Ben.

"Good I guess. She's scared though, of her own powers and of never getting out of there." Ben tells him.

"I know, but I can't risk bringing her back to the Institute and endanger the other students." Charles sighs.

"I guess. Hey, I'd like to check in on her from time to time, can you arrange that for me?" Ben asks him.

"Sure, we can both visit her every two weeks." Charles says.

"Thanks." Ben thanks him.

"Ben, you are a very compassionate man, which is a good thing but be careful not to give someone the wrong impression." Charles warns him.

"Are you talking about Rouge and Kitty?" Ben asks him, getting a silent nod from the man.

"She already knows about them. I'm thinking if maybe I could introduce them to her." Ben replies.

"Well, a female friend could be beneficial." Charles murmurs.

"We'll have to see what they think of it." Charles tells him and they head out, back to the Institute.

Meanwhile Jean has a falling out with Scott, who was getting hit on by a girl at school and flirts with her while Jean is within listening range, which he didn't realize and after getting called out on it he teases Jean that she's jealous.

Added to that the rest of the x-men decided to throw a party while their teachers are all gone and plan to trick Jean and Scott so they'd drive off into the woods thinking the other wants to apologize to them while the rest of them steal the key to Scott's car once the two are in the woods.

This results in a hefty argument between Jean and Scott, who have to walk back to the Xavier institute, where the party is already going on full blast.

When Ben and the Professor arrive, they see cars pulling away from the Institute with Kitty, Kurt and Evan waving goodbye while they are standing on the front doors' steps.

"Ben!" Kitty shouts happily, making her way over to him and he hugs her once he steps out of the car.

"Professor." Kurt and Evan say fearfully.

"What happened?" Charles asks and the group enters the Institute, where Charles gets a briefing from Scott and Jean, who arrived during the party and helped the x-men stop a tech geek who wandered into Cerebro and controlled the danger room with Kurt, Kitty and Evan being in there.

Charles erases his memory and sends him home.

"Sorry Professor, I accept the blame." Scott apologizes to Charles, once Arcade, the tech geek is gone and Charles sits in front of the x-men.

"I'd say there seems to be plenty of blame to go around, even extending to a mystery guest." Charles says thoughtfully.

"You mean Arcade?" Jean asks.

"No, someone else. Someone who orchestrated all of this to gain access to the mansion." Charles tells them.

"What were they after?" Rogue asks.

"I have no idea." Charles replies.

"But you think whoever it was, was responsible for the Juggernaut mishap?" Ben asks.

"Yes." Charles replies.

"Well you should all head to bed now, you'll have a full day of cleaning up ahead of you." Charles tells them, wheeling away while the x-men head to their respective rooms, other than Ben who follows Rogue and Kitty to theirs.

"So, what were you doing with the Prof?" Kitty asks Ben, while Rogue is closing the door behind them and hugs Ben, giving him a quick kiss.

"Actually, not much. He fixed the containment unit, but then he asked me to meet another mutant in his place." Ben informs them.

"Another mutant? Someone who's joining the Institute?" Rogue asks, going over to Kitty's bed where the other brunette is already sitting.

"No, sadly not. She can't control her powers well and is locked up in a psychiatric facility. But I'd like for you two to meet her. She doesn't open up easily, but I think she's a good person." Ben tells them.

"I guess that's OK. What does she do anyways?" Kitty asks.

"reality altering and spells." Ben informs them.

"Sounds destructive." Rogue says.

"It is, but she's trying to control it. It's just not easy for her, you should understand." Ben says, sitting down next to Rogue.

"Wait, how do you know that it's destructive if she's locked up?" Kitty asks, realizing that something doesn't add up.

"Uhm, I may have sprung her out of the facility for a couple hours, turning back time so people wouldn't be the wiser?" Ben says innocently.

"Ben, what did you do?" Rogue asks.

"I took her to our hideout and tried to get her to not be scared of her powers but that backfired. Sorry I didn't talk to you beforehand but I couldn't think of anyplace else, originally I wanted to show her around the school but there was a party." Ben tells them with a sigh, lying down on Kitty's bed with Kitty joining in and Rogue getting up, shoving Ben closer to the perky brunette so she can lie down on his other side.

"That's alright. I think we both already know that you tend to not think things through and help people however you can." Kitty tells him chuckling, turning his head so she can give him a kiss.

"Yeah Kitty-cat's right. We both already guessed you'd go and pull stunts like that." Rogue agrees, wrapping her arm around his.

"Case and point Jean. Only a month ago." Kitty says with a smirk.

"Alright, I get it I don't think things through." Ben sighs.

"Yeah, but I guess that's something we gotta get used to." Rogue says.

"We knew what we were getting into by dating you." Kitty agrees.

"Thanks girls." Ben says relieved that they aren't mad and gets up, pulling Rogue up after him, going over to her bed with her and giving her a passion filled kiss before Rogue pushes him off and nods over to Kitty, who's giving them puppy dog eyes.

"I wasn't going to forget about you sunshine." Ben says, going over to Kitty and sitting down on the side of her bed, leaning over her so he can kiss her as well.

"Ben, I know you and Rouge, well… Do you think we could try it soon too?" Kitty asks shyly, blushing up a storm.

"If you want to." Ben says, kissing down her neck to her collarbone.

"Yes. Very much." Kitty moans pleasurably.

"Good, soon then." Ben whispers in her ear, nibbling at it before he vanishes, turning into ghostfreak and flies in the room invisible and intangible.

"Ben!" Kitty shouts annoyed, pouting and crosses her arms over her chest.

"What's wrong?" Rogue asks, stepping out of their bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"Ben, he just... Argh." Kitty grunts upset, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"I was just teasing." Ben says, reappearing next to Kitty and lifts her into his lap, kissing her behind her ear.

"See you tomorrow you two." Ben tells them, going out the door after lifting Kitty back off his lap and giving her one more kiss.