The following morning, while making a quick trip to a coffee shop down the road to grab a croissant and a cup of tea to take back to her hotel room, Iris spotted a headline at a news stand that instantly caught her eye.

VIOLENT MUTANT GIRL WHO LASHED OUT AT HER TEACHER NAMED!

Beneath the headline was a picture of a young girl with bright ginger hair scowling at the camera. It looked blurry, as though it had been zoomed in and cropped too much. With a frown, Iris picked up a copy of the paper. The vendor raised his eyebrows and shook his head, "Crazy, huh? Wonder how many other mutants are hiding right under our noses. Makes you think – who can you trust? These monsters are everywhere."

"Hmm," Iris murmured quietly, passing over some change to the man, "Crazy indeed."

She raised a finger to her temple as she walked away. A moment later, the man yelped and ran behind a stack of newspapers and magazines, his face flushing bright red. She smirked as she turned the corner, keeping her finger to her temple and making the man think he was naked for as long as she was within her radius of strength.

Iris couldn't help but laugh as she lowered her hand, but a moment later her thoughts flickered to her accidental attack on Hank in the training room. She shook her head, trying to think of something else, but it was too late – a small flame had emerged in the centre of her palm. She stared at it for a second, before closing her palm quickly. She'd been foolish to use her abilities in public when she hadn't gained control yet.

Hesitantly, she reopened her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. A flame that small had been put out by her closing her hand. She'd been lucky. She kicked herself as she made her way back to her hotel room. She had to be more careful. All it took was for her emotions to get only slightly out of control. She still had a lot to learn.

When she got back to her room, she sat down on the bed and read through the article about the young mutant girl, trying not to get croissant crumbs on it.

The young girl was called Jessica Riley, and she attended a school just at the edge of the city. She lived with her parents and they had no other children.

Iris couldn't believe that the newspaper had been allowed to release such personal information about the young girl. It was a serious invasion of her and her family's privacy. The media were going to make their lives hell.

She reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a notebook, making notes on the young girl's name and the area that she lived in. It wasn't an area that she'd been to before, but she knew whereabouts it was. She was sure a cab driver would know their way there.

Before she really knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed her jacket, thrown her notebook and pen into a bag and was leaving the hotel room. She hailed a cab and asked the driver to take her to the school that had been named in the news report yesterday. If he recognised the name of it from the stories about Jessica, he didn't say anything. She sat there absentmindedly tapping her pen against her teeth while he drove through the traffic and out of the city. She still wasn't really sure what she was going, but decided that she was just going to do what came to her. She didn't have a plan, but hadn't her best journalism always come from her making spontaneous decisions? Going to the mansion ten years before had been a spontaneous decision, and she'd never regretted it. It had been Logan who'd seized the opportunity of her being there and had saved her from a life of not knowing who she truly was.

Even now, she still didn't regret it.

The cab driver pulled up outside the school, and Iris asked him to wait for her as she got out. She could hear the sound of children playing, and with a pang wondered how the kids were doing back home.

She shook her head quickly, and made her way to the reception desk of the school. An older woman was sitting at the reception desk, flicking through some files and sorting them into piles. At the sound of the doors opening, she glanced up at Iris and offered her a smile.

"Good morning, what can I help you with?"

Iris cleared her throat, channelling the confidence she used to use when she was a journalist ten years before.

"Hello, I was just wondering if you'd be able to give me the address for one of your students?" She asked with a smile.

The receptionist lowered her glasses and frowned slightly, "We don't give that information out freely. Which student did you have in mind?"

Iris paused, taking a deep breath, "Jessica Riley."

The receptionist seemed to recoil at the name, "I'm afraid I can't do that. We've been informed by the headteacher not to give out any more information to journalists. The story has received enough negative backlash, and we need our school to maintain a positive reputation."

An idea struck Iris, and she reached into her bag, pulling out a card and passing it to the receptionist with a smile.

"Sorry, I should have said. I'm not a journalist, I work at a school for gifted children. I'd like to offer our school to Jessica, as I think she has some potential."

"Hmm," The woman raised an eyebrow, "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?"

Iris nodded keenly, "I imagine Jessica won't be able to come back here. She deserves an education somewhere safe."

After a pause, the woman turned to the computer in front of her and clicked through a few pages. She picked up a pen and jotted something down on the back of the card before passing it back to Iris.

"I think her parents would appreciate that. I've known them for years. This negativity in the media has gone too far. I want Jessica to be safe."

"She will be," Iris beamed, "Thank you so much!"

She gave the woman a wave as she left the school building, returning to the cab and passing the card to the driver. He got a map out and looked through it for a minute or two before working out where the Riley family lived.

It wasn't too far – perhaps a ten or fifteen minute drive from the school. When they pulled up outside and Iris stepped out of the cab, she began to feel nervous. She was worried they'd turn her away right away before she had a chance to say what she wanted to. She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

It didn't take long for someone to answer the door – a man around her age with dark circles under his eyes. He didn't say anything, instead glancing behind her to see if she was with anyone else.

"Hello," She smiled at him, "My name's Iris. Iris Miracle. I'm here about your daughter."

The man shook his head and started to close the door, but Iris called out, "Wait! Please hear me out. I'm a mutant too."

The door stopped moving, and after a moment opened again, revealing his face. She cleared her throat, "I'll show you."

She concentrated on his mind, and showed him the image of her favourite forest by the school. As he saw it, the man made a discernible noise. She changed it to the image of New York city, and then to London. When she stopped and lowered her hand, she saw that the man had opened the front door further.

She smiled at him, "I'm a journalist, but I'm not here to further vindicate your daughter. I'm here because I want to tell the truth, if you'll let me. Mutants shouldn't have to hide, they should be able to live in harmony with the rest of the world. I'm hoping I can write something to highlight that Jessica isn't a threat. She's just like everyone else."

"Okay," The man beckoned her inside, "Come in. Sit in the kitchen while I explain this to Lucy, my wife."

Hesitantly, Iris stepped into his house and made her way to the kitchen. She sat at the table, and quietly got out her pen and notebook while she waited. After about five minutes, he returned with his wife – a woman with bright ginger hair and similar dark eyes to her husband's.

Iris held out a hand for her to shake, which Lucy hesitantly took. They both sat down opposite her slowly, still quite hesitant about what they were doing.

"I'm Mark, by the way," The man murmured.

"Do you mind if I take notes?" Iris asked gently, "I won't write anything you don't want me to, I promise. This story is completely in your control."

After a moment's hesitation, they both nodded.

"Where is Jessica at the moment?"

"She's upstairs," Lucy gestured to the room above, "After we saw the news today, we didn't want her to leave the house."

"That's understandable," Iris murmured as she began to take notes, "I was disgusted when I saw the news reports yesterday and today as well. For them to release a picture of Jessica and her full name was a breach of so many privacy regulations."

Mark shook his head, "That picture is so misleading as well... it was taken at a party of one of the kids last year. They'd all been having a water balloon fight, and Jess had just been hit square in the face by one when the photo got taken. That's why she looked so angry. But instead they've made her look like some violent child, when she's not. She's lovely. I've never known someone so kind or considerate than our Jessica."

"Did she know she was a mutant before this incident took place?" Iris asked.

"We had no idea," Lucy spoke up, "Neither did she. She said she'd never felt so scared of herself when the incident happened."

"Are either of you mutants, or are there any mutants in the family?"

They both shook their heads, and Mark murmured, "No, so it was a shock, but we love her nonetheless. She's not changed in our eyes – she's still the same Jess. We're just so scared for her. We want her to be safe. She'd a child, for God's sake, and she's already being bullied and feared for being something she can't control. What's the rest of her life going to be like?"

Iris put down her pen, "I can promise you, her life won't be like this forever. Some people are still prejudiced towards mutants, but we can change that. There are many more of us than people think, and very few of us are threats."

Her thoughts flickered to Erik, but she didn't mention him.

"Would you like to speak to Jessica?" Lucy asked after a pause, and Iris nodded.

"That would be great, if she wouldn't mind?"

Lucy got up and made her way upstairs, "I'll have a word with her."

While they waited, Mark made Iris a cup of tea and offered her a biscuit. She accepted both gratefully.

"When did you first develop your powers?" Mark asked as he set a mug down in front of her.

"When I was a child, similar to Jessica. My parents were just as supportive as you've been of Jessica. It's lovely to see." She smiled at the memory and picked up the mug. The two of them sat in silence for a few more minutes before Lucy returned, with a young girl around the age of twelve and bright ginger hair to match her mother's. She looked terrified, her eyes wide with fear as she looked at Iris. Iris placed the mug down carefully.

"Hey there," She spoke softly, "My name's Iris. You must be Jessica."

Jessica only nodded quietly, so Iris continued speaking.

"I hear you can do something pretty cool with electricity. That sounds exciting. I can do something too, do you want to see?"

After a pause, Jessica nodded again. Iris raised her hand, and showed the girl her happiest memory. She began to laugh as she saw it, and when it faded away she didn't hesitate in walking over and sitting herself in the chair next to Iris.

"Do you want to tell me about what you can do?" Iris murmured.

"I've only done it a few times," Jessica whispered, "But when I touch electric things, it's like I can control the electricity and do what I want with it."

"Does that scare you?"

She nodded silently.

"Hey," Iris reached out and took hold of her hand, "It's always scary at first. But once you learn how to control it, it's a lot easier. You're so special, Jessica. You don't need to be afraid."

Jessica nodded again, and Iris reached for her pen, "Would you mind telling me what happened that day at school?"

"It was a science lesson, and we were building little circuits to make light bulbs work," Jessica told her slowly, "I touched my circuit, and I suddenly felt this warmth spread through my hands, and when I looked down at them, they were glowing bright yellow. I started screaming because I was so scared. My teacher, Miss. Jones, came running over to see what the matter was. When she saw my hands, she reached out to see what was wrong with them. When she touched me, all of the electricity I'd been controlling went into her, and she got electrocuted and flew across the room. It was so scary – I hadn't meant to do it at all. I really hope that she's okay, she's my favourite teacher. Do you think she'll be okay?"

Iris squeezed her hand, "Of course she'll be okay. And you don't need to worry – you didn't do it on purpose, Jessica. I'm sure she knows you're sorry."

Jessica nodded and thanked her. Iris turned to look at Mark and Lucy, who's eyes were shining with tears.

"You don't have to go back to that school either, if you don't want to, Jessica," She reached into her bag and pulled out another card, "Some friends of mine run a school for the gifted, where there are lots of other students with different abilities. They'll teach you how to control your ability, as well as normal lessons you'd get at school as well. It's a really special place."

"Is it safe?" Mark asked, reading the card.

"Safer than anywhere else," Iris smiled, "And she'll feel much more comfortable with students like her. You'd be welcome to visit her whenever you liked as well."

"Thank you so much," Lucy beamed, "We'll look into it! Do you have any other questions for us?"

Iris shook her head as she began to pack her bag, "I think that's everything. Thank you so much for letting me in to speak with you all."

"No, no," Mark met her gaze, "Thank you, Iris. For showing us that people are better than we thought. And for giving our family another chance at something better. We'd lost hope after we saw the papers."

Iris smiled at them all, and gave Jessica a wave as she started to leave. Just as she stepped out of the front door, she turned around and glanced at the three of them.

"Never lose hope." She murmured, "Never."