The Institute, United States

'Thank god.' Paris thought. His powers seemed to be working on Syd. A sense of relief washed over him. After the ordeal with Max, Paris was concerned that all of his new team mates might be immune to his allure. But here Syd was, resembling something akin to a smitten puppy with his big brown eyes. It was adorable. Paris smiled. At least now he didn't have to go up against the former CIA agent completely alone. He needed to have at least some fire power behind him. Paris bit his bottom lip, a thoughtful look in his eyes. Would Syd actually stand a chance against Max? Maybe with Paris pulling the strings he'd be a little more secure with his powers and he'd pack more of a punch.

When he heard Jayce's voice, Paris jumped away from Syd and the metallic fist coming towards him. He looked at the two of them, taking notice that the young boy's shield had shattered and some of the debris must've cut his face. Paris shed the kind face he had been wearing with Syd, the expression replaced by an angry twist of a scowl. Could he get a fucking break? This was some major bullshit. All he wanted was someone who could stand a chance against Max. He took several steps backward, still watching intently even after Syd told him to run. Jayce captured Paris' eye and some of the anger in his face melted away. Perhaps this was a good thing. He took a couple more steps back.

With all of his force and a quick prayer, Paris took three strides and jumped, launching himself at Jayce. 'If this doesn't work, I'm fucked.' Paris landed on the man's torso, wrapping his lengthy legs around his waist and locking his hands around his neck. He held on for dear life and pushed his forehead against Jayce's, forcing him to look into his eyes. "Max is who you're looking for. He's made you very angry." Paris frantically sorted through his mind, searching for leverage. "Max called your mom a dirty druggie. He said it's a miracle you managed to crawl out of the filthy slums you were born into. He said that you aren't even that good of a boxer. You want to find him and prove him wrong. Make him pay for saying that shit." Paris forced his influence with everything he had. His heart raced with anxiety. If it worked, Jayce would most likely hunt Max down and beat the shit out of him. If it didn't, Paris would probably get sent flying across this holographic forest.

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Watching the scene unfolding in front of him Syd took a step back dropping his control over the fragments fluttering around Jayce's face. He reached over supporting himself by leaning again a tree hurriedly wiping away the blood from his face only managing to smear it over his nose and cheeks. His head was clearing and he was able to see how close he was to being used, he blinked a few times rubbing his eye with on hand managing to get blood over his eyebrow. Finally Syd looked down at his bloodied hands and figuring he short wipe them on something to at least try to get them clean, just then he heard rushing water coming from behind him and moved in that direction figuring it would be good to try to get away from Paris least he try anything again.

Syd had a reason to hate people who could take over other people's minds, back at the facility where the mutants were kept he had a cell next to a telepath who took pleasure in taking over Syd's mind. The person loved making him lose hours of memory waking up to himself scratching at the walls and screaming at the top of his lungs guards grabbing him and attempting to restrain Syd. The only comfort was that the psychopaths influence had a radius and he couldn't get to Syd if the boy sat in the far corner of his cell, still the times that Syd did get into his path were the worst times in his life nearly driving him to insanity.

But that felt like ages ago, now Syd splashed his face with the clear water letting the small stream wash away the blood from his hands, he thought about his time in the facility letting out a deep breath. He promised himself that all of that was behind him and that he would do his time and get out of here, and it wasn't going to take one kid messing with his head to change all that. However this brought up the question why did Paris help him? Being that Jayce wouldn't hurt Paris because he wasn't the target, Syd was, so why help him? The only thing Syd could come up with was that he was trying to get as many people against his opponent as possible. With this Syd stood up stepping over the stream facing the direction he had walked from ready if Paris decided to follow him determined not to have himself be controlled by anyone.