Jim stalked through the school towards where the shouting was coming from. He heard Blair's comment and laughed to himself. No, Chief, he thought. I don't think psychos and bad guys ever do shut up. Jim neared the front room and noticed that the door was off its hinges. He found a blond man standing in the centre of the room.

"Can I help you?" Jim asked the man.

He turned his frigid brown eyes on Jim and smiled predatorily. "Where is the psi who doesn't register as a mutant?" The man demanded to know in an arrogant tone. "I want him."

Jim felt himself growling at yet another threat to his guide. The third one if he was honest with himself and faced why Blair had come to New York in the first place. I swear Chief you are never going anywhere without me again. Jim thought angrily. He wasn't angry with Blair he was just fed up with psychos who wanted his Guide for whatever reason. Jim resolved to deal with this threat to his guide in no uncertain terms.

Jim became aware of someone else walking next to him. A short, hairy man who he vaguely remembered from the night before was walking with him. The man was if not hairier than Blair then definitely as hairy. Jim took a deep breath so he could track the man by scent. He nearly choked when his senses registered the scent. If Jim didn't know better he'd swear it was Blair he was smelling but that was impossible unless…

Jim put all thought behind him for the moment and focused on the fight at hand. The blond man stared at Jim and the hairy man disdainfully. He had a sneer on his face that
neither man thought was particularly bothersome.

It was Jim who spoke first again. "The young man you demanded to see has no interest in going with you and it would not be wise of you to try and force him." Jim warned as his voice lowered a pitch.

The blond man stared at him in surprise. "You are going to stop me," he said incredulously. "You a man with no powers to protect you from my cybernetic speed and agility?"

Jim stared at him for a moment and smiled his coldest and most frightening smile. It did not bode well for the recipient. "You shouldn't rely so heavily on technology," he warned.
"As the professor has already learned, I take the safety of my partner very seriously." Jim was aware of the short man snorting in amusement.

The blond man noticed too. He walked over to the two men and invaded their personal space. Jim looked at him coldly as the man's close proximity began to trigger his Sentinel Fight Instinct. Jim noticed the short man having the same response and thought he should point it out to Blair. See if his partner would run some tests on the guy before they left.

"If you know what's good for you Pierce," the short man said menacingly. "You will turn around and leave right now. This man took out everyone who tried to get in his way last night and he was tired then. He's rested now and in a mood to put your face through the wall closest to him."

 "Did he take you out to Wolverine?" The blond man named Pierce asked snidely.

Wolverine, the short hairy guy snorted again. "I had better sense then to get in his way Pierce. Me an' Storm both stayed clear o' that fight. 'specially after Ice Man went flying and Cyclops met the wall. This ain't a man who you want for an enemy."

Somehow Jim just knew that Pierce would not listen so he prepared himself for a fight. His Ranger, Covert Ops and Chopec training all came to the fore his conscious mind. Jim shifted into a defensive position and prepared to face the man in combat.

After a few seconds of waiting, Pierce took the first swing that Jim had been expecting.
Jim ducked it easily and trapped his arm feeling the grind of the arrested motors in the cybernetic arm. Jim did not let go. He was more than strong enough to deal with the cyborg. His senses had identified the sounds of motors and gears in the arm and he had used the knowledge of where they were to plan both his attack and defence. Jim had also detected more cybernetics in Pierce's body and he used that knowledge to help him deal with the man/machine in a way that no one ever thought to try. Jim held the arm until the motor shorted. He caught the leg that Pierce kicked out at him with and did
the same to it.

He then became aware that Wolverine was beside him with sharp, metal claws sticking out of the back of his hands. He slashed at Pierce with them and removed the arm Jim had shorted.

Pierce howled in pain as Jim continued to work on each and every cybernetic part that his senses told him was there.

In the course of the fight however, they managed to trash the room and part of the hallway. Pierce's burned out cybernetics had the tendency to spin like crazy for a few seconds so Jim let him pinwheel around the room like some crazed marionette being used by an equally crazed puppeteer.

Pierce shouted and cursed at Jim and Wolverine as he did a psychotic dance around the room. As he finally fell after a few more spasms, Wolverine and Jim looked at each other.

"I hope he got the point," Jim said coldly. "My partner is off limits."

"Gee, what should we call that little dance number he did at the end there eh Bub?" Wolverine asked Jim.

Jim laughed and looked down at the burned out cyborg just before he was teleported away. Jim ignored the teleportation thing because he figured it must be the norm around here.

"Well, it looked like a waltz on a speed ball. What do you think we should call it?" Jim replied smiling.

The two men had come to a mutual respect and understanding of each other during the brief fight. They walked back to the kitchen together and found the others waiting. Blair looked at Jim in relief when he saw the Sentinel looked no worse for wear. Jim grinned back at him and then sat back down next to him.

He looked at their hosts for a few minutes and smiled coolly. "Now," he said. "About that explanation?"

To Blair it was obvious that Jim was still uncomfortable with their hosts.

The familiar twitching of Jim's cheek told Blair he was far from ready to forgive the people in front of him for dragging them into this world.

"Well," Professor Xavier said. "We are the X-Men; A group of mutants sworn to protect the world from evil mutants. This school is our base as well as a place to train young mutants to use their powers. I am truly sorry for what I did to you Mr. Sandburg but usually, only mutants can set off a reading from Cerebro. I was very surprised when your very presence did that and yet I know that you are not a mutant. I wanted to know exactly what you are."

Blair looked at Jim before he spoke. Jim knew that if they didn't speak, the woman Wolverine had called Storm would. Jim looked at the assembled mutants and then again at his partner and Guide.

"You might as well tell them Chief. I don't think Storm would withhold the information from her leader and I know as my Guide you'll get it right," Jim said to him.

Blair looked from Jim to the assembled people and back. He nodded took a deep breath and began.

Two hours later, the X-Men were still confused. Jim was a man with heightened senses but he was not a mutant. Blair was a Shaman, an empath, and a specifically linked telepath. He also was not a mutant. According to Blair, Jim was a throw back to pre-civilised man. His job was to protect his tribe.

He was a watchman but unlike his predecessors, Jim's tribe or protectorate was huge. It also encompassed one Blair Sandburg wherever he happened to be.

Jim was a cop, a protector of people. A job a Sentinel was well suited for.

The fact that he was a throwback to pre-civilised man was evidenced by the bruises that most of the X-Men were sporting because they had gotten between him and his Guide.

"Well," Xavier said, "At least now I understand why you reacted as you did. Please accept my apologies for my behaviour."

"Just so it doesn't happen again." Jim told him in a deadly tone. He looked at Blair and grinned. "Whatta ya say Chief? Wanna give these guys a second chance?"

Blair grinned back at him in amusement. "Sure Jim," he said. "Just so long as the next time they have a question they ask like decent people."

Jim laughed and nodded. He stood and looked at Blair. "Daryl's coming Chief," Jim said. "What say we get him to give us a tour and then just hang for the rest of the week?" Blair nodded and bounced literally out of the chair he was sitting in. He and Jim went out to meet Daryl and let him show them around. Professor X watched the trio from a distance and smiled.

He'd found some truly remarkable people in those two men. He looked back at Storm and smiled. "Tell me about Guardians and Companions," he said to her.

Storm smiled and nodded at him they sat at the table and he told her stories of what she had heard from the villagers of the tribe she had lived with.