A friend of mine and I started writing this a while ago and I've finally got around to getting some of it on the computer! We hope you enjoy. Huntress is my alterego and Renegade is Sky Sholtz's alterego. We hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoy coming up with these things. Now without further ado...we are off and running with...

Darkness Gathers

Part one of the Darkness trilogy

Chapter One

Kat Daniels, more commonly known around Xavier's mansion as Huntress, settled a little further back into the couch with a sigh and closed her eyes. It was unusually quiet in the mansion and she was taking the time to enjoy it while it lasted. Most of the students were gone on a field trip which meant that most of the X-Men were gone as well. While she was enjoying the quiet, it was a little unsettling to have her home for the past eight years so empty. Unable to shake that feeling she sighed and pushed to her feet deciding that if she couldn't relax in the silence she may as well go get some training in; besides Beast was downstairs in his lab most likely so at least there'd be some noise down there.

As her name would suggest, her steps were light and perfectly balanced making her appear like she was always ready to jump out of the way of something; which wasn't too far from the truth. She'd been run into more than once just by not paying attention so it had become a complete habit. As she rounded a corner on the main floor of the mansion that habit paid off once again as she deftly dodged out of the way of another person. Hazel eyes flickered up and she managed a small smile to the brown haired, pony tailed, red eyed Cajun that had nearly collided with her.

"Hey, Gambit, you managed to avoid being chaperone too?" she asked lightly shaking a few stray strands of caramel hair out of her eyes that had escaped from her own ponytail that fell nearly half way down her back.

"Dats right, Cher. Apparently dey think Gambit would find too much trouble," he chuckled in his usual thick Cajun accent.

"Never a shortage of that when you're around," she muttered but apparently he heard her as he chuckled again and clapped a hand on her shoulder before starting off again and she cursed her usual inability to talk to the Cajun.

"You have a good night, Cher. Gambit be back by morning…probably."

Kat sighed as she watched the man disappear in the direction she had just come from and shook her head, "Damn it."

Trying to shake off the affect he always had on her, Kat resumed her own journey to the lower levels of the school where Beast had his lab and she could get in a decent work out whether she used the Danger Room or just the gym. Once downstairs she stuck her head in to see if Beast was around and rolled her eyes; even he had better places to be than the mansion apparently which left her on her own. Not that she entirely minded it but it always seemed to fall on those days when she didn't want to be on her own. Now she found herself dragging her feet towards the gym, not even really sure if she wanted to get in some training. It was getting on towards dinner and since the students weren't going to be back until late that night it meant she was on her own for that too.

"Great and I'm not in the mood to cook. Looks like I'm going to have to head into town if I plan on eating tonight," she muttered, turning off from her current course to the gym and heading back upstairs, bypassing the main floor and heading for the second floor and her room. That was definitely something that she liked about living at the mansion; her own room and her own bathroom. When she'd been in school she'd had to share as all the high school students living there did, but once she'd got through all that she'd gotten her own. That had been something that had taken more than a little getting used to on everyone's part when she'd first arrived at the mansion at the age of 16. A feral was bad enough but add in being mostly untrained in her original empathy powers and it had turned volatile on more than one occasion; especially when it came to her roommates.

Grumbling under her breath at herself for thinking on the past, she changed into a clean pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt before grabbing her leather jacket which had been a gift from Logan the past Christmas and headed through the deserted mansion to the garage. There she had her pick of vehicles for the trip into town, settling on a silver sedan figuring it would draw less attention to her than most of the others. Minutes later she was cruising into town, wondering where she was going to eat or if she should just grab a burger and head back when she passed a small corner bar. The name triggered a recent and short, as per usual when she spoke with Gambit, conversation about how good their burgers were. Her stomach growled and she shrugged, parking in the back lot and heading around and through the front door.

In an instant Kat's eyes adjusted to the smoky interior lighting of the bar and spotted a table in the far corner that was empty. In the same instant that she found the table and glided across the room to snag it, she also took in the crowd around her. She didn't usually do well in crowds, one reason why she tended to avoid bars and clubs, but for a bar crowd this one seemed fairly mild; at least for the moment. It was still early and it looked like a lot of locals were settled in to watch the Friday night football game and there was a small group of what she pegged for college kids; probably frat boys from the look of their clothes. As she grabbed the small corner table, she wrinkled her nose at the smell of smoke and sweat and food. The menus were on all the tables, offering everything that one could deep fry and a few things that she wondered how they managed to deep fry. A perky, young waitress with bleach blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes approached her with a small smile before taking her order for a cheeseburger, fries and coke.

As the waitress wandered back to put the order in, Kat closed her eyes and focused on keeping her emphatic walls secure while also attempting to block some of the noise. That was a down side to being a feral. Most of the time the heightened senses were great, but there were moments such as this that she really wished she could turn them off…or at least mute them. At the sound of approaching footsteps her nose twitched out of habit to see who was coming near her, assuming it was the waitress with her drink but her eyes snapped open when she caught the unique scent that was Gambit; a mix of cigarettes, leather and something she'd never been able to name all combined to a unique but entirely too pleasant for her peace of mind, scent.

Gambit leaned back in his usual corner at the edge of the bar. He liked this particular bar because for the most part no one really cared what you were as long as you didn't cause too much trouble and you covered the damages if you did cause any. Not that he ever went looking for it; it wasn't his fault that no one who frequented the place could play poker…or pool for that matter. The locals had learned not to bet against him, which made finding a game hard but he wasn't looking for a game tonight. Tonight he just wanted to have a few drinks and relax away from the mansion. He'd been teasing Kat when he'd said he'd be back by morning figuring he wouldn't be longer than a few hours in town; he was still trying to figure out why she seemed to end up so tongue tied and at a loss when she was alone with him. Not only that but she was usually so confident and self-assured that it intrigued him as to why she seemed to lose that when around him. Normally he'd think it was because she was attracted to him, but she'd shot down his advances enough in the past that he doubted that was it. Then again he'd only ever made advances for one purpose, and she definitely was not the one night stand type, she was the long term settle down with type…

Gambit shook his head, cutting off that train of thought. That was not him, no way, no how. He smoothed a hand through his shoulder length ponytail and sighed, unable to get the feral out of his mind though he'd be damned if anyone was going to find that out…ever. They'd never work. He was still trying to get those thoughts out of his head when the woman herself walked across the room. No, definitely glided…maybe stalked but that is not jus' a walk he thought as he watched her snag the last empty table on the far side of the bar from him. He was surprised she hadn't noticed him, though he was probably obscured by the game night crowd around him. Still, she never usually missed that kind of detail.

He narrowed his eyes slightly when he realized her table was directly behind the frat boys who were getting more obnoxious the longer they drank. He knew their type and he wasn't going to let them think they had a free shot at the girl. He refused to look any closer at his motivations as he headed across the bar even as the blonde waitress…what was her name again?…took Kat's order and left the table flashing him her usual brilliant smile and adding enough swing to her hips to make him roll his eyes slightly after she passed him.

Gambit grinned his most charming grin when he stopped next to Kat's table and leaned towards her slightly when she seemed surprised to see him there, setting his drink on the corner of the table next to her elbow, "Well, well. Looks like someone missed Gambit, no?"

Kat shook off her surprise at seeing the Cajun quickly enough and stumbled over her tongue when he leaned down and spoke, "No…no…I was hungry and you said this place had good burgers. I didn't know you'd…I wasn't trying to…"

Gambit chuckled and nudged her over in the booth so she was sitting next to the wall and he dropped down to sit next to her, "Relax, Cherie. Gambit just teasin'"

Kat shook her head and dropped it against the wall with a little more force than was really necessary wondering how the hell she was going to get through this night now. Thankfully the waitress reappeared before she really had to reply and broke the awkward silence she'd brought down over the two of them. Hurriedly she took a drink of her Coke while the waitress cocked a hip and smiled at Gambit.

"You're sure you don't need anything?" she questioned with a suggestive smirk.

Gambit shook his head, "No thanks, Mon Ami, I got everything I need."

The blonde shot a quick look between the two of them and sighed before heading away and getting back to her job and Kat glanced over at Gambit again burying the sudden appearance of her jealousy at the waitress' question, "No poker games tonight?"

Well, at least she'd found something to say and didn't sound too much like she wanted to crawl away and hope no one found her, "No, dere are jus' nights dat Gambit need to get outta dat place."

Kat nodded slowly, "I hear ya."

Silence settled over the table once again until Kat's food arrived and she fell on her plate as she did every meal; as though she hadn't seen food for weeks and Gambit chuckled as he watched her, "Dat must be a feral thing. Both you an' Wolverine act like you never seen food before."

Kat swallowed and forced herself to slow down slightly, flushing a light red at Gambit's words, "Sorry. You're right though, the burgers here are really good."

As Kat ate Gambit sipped at his drink, leaning back in the booth just as she was finishing her meal and closing his eyes for a moment. They opened slowly as one of the frat boys, now sufficiently drunk enough to think that he had a shot with the beautiful caramel haired woman at the table behind theirs, approached and dropped down across from them, his attention fixed on Kat in a way that had Gambit's temper starting to flare. The Cajun sat forward slightly and his free hand reached into the pocket of his brown trench coat gripping a playing card when the frat boy caught Kat's wrist when she reached for her glass, her own eyes narrowing dangerously though the kid didn't seem to notice. Gambit knew better than to touch the girl without permission, though she had lightened up about it a great deal when it involved any of the X-Men.

"Can I ask you something?" Frat Boy asked with a lopsided grin to Kat.

Kat sighed, sure he was good looking enough but she was not into the football jock types at all and he was just proving why. "If you must," she snapped, seriously annoyed that he still had a hold of her wrist but trying to tap down the feral so she didn't break the kid's jaw.

"If I were a watermelon…would you spit out my seed?" he smirked.

So much for tapping down the feral, she thought even as she snarled and reacted in the same instant that Gambit did next to her. She jerked the hand that Frat Boy had a hold of, throwing what was left her Coke at him, even as Gambit lunged over the table and snagged the front of the kid's sweater. While the offending jerk took the worst of the Coke drenching, Gambit fell victim to it as well though he seemed unfazed.

"I would suggest," the Cajun growled, his already heavy accent thickening in his anger, "dat you apologize to da lady before Gambit teach you some manners."

The last thing Kat had really expected was for Gambit to jump to her defense that quickly and she knew as soon as her anger faded she was going to feel bad for covering him in her Coke as well. Then again, it was no different than if it had been Logan with her and she sighed to herself in her head. Now if she could just shake this crush she had on the Cajun, she'd be happy and they could get on with just being friends and teammates like she was with everyone else. She barely heard the kid's sputtered apology before he bolted from their table the instant Gambit released him and sat back next to her again, brushing wet hair from his eyes as he did so and muttering under his breath.

Kat had had a lot of practice at containing her own emotions growing up and it didn't take her long to reign in her anger. Her attention shifted instead to Gambit and she couldn't quite stop herself from a short laugh, drawing the Cajun's attention to her immediately.

"Somethin' funny, Cher?" he asked not quite as good at settling his anger as she was and now he found himself annoyed that he was covered in Coke though he didn't blame Kat for her reaction; he'd just forgotten how quick her reaction time really was.

"Sorry I just got a good look at you. And sorry about the Coke thing too; I didn't really think before I moved. Hazards of trying to defend a feral and getting in their line of fire, Remy," she didn't know why she used his first name instead of Gambit but for some reason it felt right and she grabbed a handful of napkins; now that she really had something to talk about she found herself able to actual carry on something resembling a conversation with the mutant next to her. "I do feel sorry for your coat though. It's a really nice coat and didn't deserve that kind of treatment."

As she spoke, Kat used the napkins to wipe up most of the drink that was on the shoulder and arm of Gambit's trench coat. Gambit finally chuckled slightly and relaxed, watching her as she cleaned up his jacket, "Now Gambit sees how it is. You turn Gambit down because dere's somethin' going on between you an' da coat."

Kat laughed at his light teasing and mockingly hurt tone though she didn't need her empathy to know he wasn't really nursing hurt feelings, all it took was one look at his face though she was kicking herself the moment she did so; getting over this infatuation with him was not going to be easy, "That's right. You're coat sneaks into my room at night." She muttered grabbing fresh napkins to wipe the Coke from his hair and jaw before catching what she was doing and flushing a deep red and handing him the napkins to finish up himself.

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As Kat was heading into town in search of some dinner, Wolverine was half way across it and getting into some serious trouble. Well, it would be serious trouble if it were anyone other than Wolverine. He'd been away from the mansion for a few days by then after finding some information on the whereabouts of Sabretooth, though he hadn't been able to track down the other mutant and had finally agreed with the Professor that he should head back to the mansion. That had been where he'd been heading when a shot had sent his motorcycle into a skid though there wasn't any real damage to the vehicle and he crashed into the junkyard.

Half a block from where Wolverine was growling and pushing to his feet to find himself surrounded by men armed with shock batons and guns, a young woman with shoulder length raven black ringlet hair was crouched on a rooftop, cell phone to her ear, "Go for Renegade."

Her handler, Joel, was on the other end of the conversation and while she didn't really like anyone that had anything to do with the Agency at least she could tolerate Joel; he was a good enough guy even if he took his fashion sense from the forties, "I have something for you."

"Seriously? Come on, Joel! I haven't had a day off in like six months!"

"No rest for the wicked huh?" he chuckled.

Renegade sighed and shook her head, "Alright, alright; you've got my number on that one. So what do you have?"

"This one is long term and going to be extremely difficult, even for you. We need you to prevent a war…"

Before he could elaborate Renegade grumbled, "Come on, I'm good but I'm not that good. What the hell war is so big that we have to prevent it?"

"If you would let me finish…there's growing tensions between everyday humans and mutants, which you already know. The thing is it's been building more than anyone really realizes but it cannot come to pass. Neither side would be able to recover from the casualties this would create. The X-Men are at the heart of it all, but in a good way. They seem to be the only ones trying to keep this from happening. You need to get inside that team, gain their trust and make sure they succeed."

Renegade grumbled but agreed to the job; at least this one should leave her in one place for the most part for more than a week. As she walked off along the rooftop and leapt to the next one, she paused when she landed. The sound of a crash not far off reaching her ears and she turned towards it wondering if she should bother checking it out or spend the rest of the night trying to figure out how the hell she was even going to find the X-Men never mind how she was going to infiltrate their ranks when she wasn't technically a mutant. She didn't know what the hell she was but she knew, thanks to the experiments that the Agency had run, she was no mutant. The sounds of fighting finally made up her mind and she jogged off towards the noise.

She slowed as she reached the scene and crouched on the edge of the rooftop overlooking the junk yard. Below her stood a lone combatant dressed in what she could only assume was yellow spandex. The slightly smoking wreck of a motorcycle told her that the crash she'd heard earlier had probably been a precursor to the whole thing. The men surrounding Spandex weren't familiar to her at all but for the moment it didn't look like her help was needed. Knives flashed and while it was obvious that the guy was more than capable of an incredible killing force, she had yet to see one fatal wound to any of his attackers. It wasn't until she noticed the giant magnet that was used to move the cars around swing over the guy that she decided she needed to get involved. She had just leapt from the roof and landed with a crunch of her legs when she realized that the spandex guy was stuck to the magnet as though he were made of metal.

Pain flashed through her legs but as quickly as it appeared it vanished again as her regenerative capabilities flared into existence as they always did. An instant later she was sprinting into the junk yard, knocking opponents away from her as she did so. She'd just reached the cab of the crane holding Spandex Guy when she wondered if this wouldn't be a good start to finding out a few things. Around her agents were starting to get to their feet, turning their attention to her and a bullet slammed into her back. Pain turned to anger, anger to rage, and within minutes her would be opponents were lying incapacitated or dead around her.

Slowly she stepped under the suspended man and stared up at him, "Hey! You up there! What the hell did you do to piss these guys off and who are they?"

"What does it matter to you? Just get me down!" he growled back.

"If you don't answer my questions how am I supposed to know that I shouldn't just leave you up there for the authorities?"

"It's not gonna matter what the fuck I say, you've already made up your mind."

"That's awfully presumptuous…"

"I'm good at reading people," he snarled but she continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"Also very accurate. Oddly enough I have a good feeling about you, Spandex," she informed him even as she climbed into the cab. "Despite your fashion sense…I like you."

The instant she hit the release on the magnet, Renegade leapt away and sprinted towards a nearby alley, easily scaling a drain pipe and once again taking to the roof tops. She wasn't afraid of the man; why would she be when nothing that had been tried, and the Agency had tried a lot of different methods, could kill her. Still she wasn't going to get any information from the guy and she didn't need to be wasting any time in her efforts to find and join the X-Men.

In the junk yard, Wolverine hit the ground with a grunt and watched as the woman disappeared into the alley. His anger still at the raging point, he wasn't about to let the smart mouthed girl get away from him and when he later stopped to think a little clearer, he really wanted to know why she wasn't afraid of him but still ran. He was used to people running from him, but they were usually terrified as they were doing so. Therefore he found himself chasing after her his anger lending speed to his feet.

Ahead of him, every time she thought she was out of the woods with this guy she swore she could hear someone chasing her and even an occasional growl. As she ran, she started searching for someplace to get out of sight, not realizing the man behind her was tracking her by scent and not by sight. Her gaze landed on a small bar and she leapt down into the back parking lot before sprinting around the front of the building and ducking into the bar.

This is perfect she thought to herself as she stepped inside and let her gaze scan through the bar. She needed an alibi and she grinned even as she approached the bar, spotting the couple sitting in the back corner on the far side of the bar. A frat boy was scurrying away and it looked like both he and the boyfriend were covered in a drink of some sort; the girl was cleaning off the coat of her companion as Renegade flagged down the bartender.

"I'll take a Johnny Walker Red and whatever those two are drinking tonight," she grinned to the man. "I wasn't supposed to be in town until tomorrow, might as well surprise them since I ran into them here."

The bartender nodded slightly before getting the requested drinks. Renegade tossed a fifty on the bar, telling the bartender to keep the change earning her a shocked and grateful look as she retreated to the back table and set the drinks before the couple with a grin. She slipped into the booth on the other side of them, both of them pausing in what they were doing to look at her in confusion. Internally Renegade was a little taken back by the man's red and black eyes but outwardly showed no signs of even noticing their unusual color; either he was a mutant or he'd bought himself one wicked set of contacts.

"Looks like you two could use these; you both look a little empty in the drink department."

The woman took a cautious sniff of her drink and then attempted to do the same to her companions without appearing to do so though Renegade caught both actions and shook her head slightly before the man spoke with a heavy Cajun accent, "Thanks, Cher but do we know you?"

"Nope, but if anyone asks, I've been here all night kicking it with you two," Renegade grinned and the Cajun seemed to relax but the woman seemed almost more suspicious while trying to appear relaxed as Renegade slipped out of her jacket.

The Cajun looked about ready to say something else but before any kind of conversation could begin, the front door of the bar slammed open. Wolverine stormed into the place, rage written all over his face but he'd taken the time to pull his jacket back on over his spandex. Renegade sighed and made herself as small as possible trying to remain unnoticed in the corner of the booth but it didn't make a difference. Even without seeing her, Wolverine stormed over to the booth, following the scent of the woman who'd fled from the scene. Kat sucked in a breath through her teeth as she caught the rage boiling in Wolverine and Gambit was pushing to his feet to restrain the other feral when he caught a good look at Wolverine's face; all the fires of hell seemed to be burning in the feral's eyes, nostrils flared and every vein in his face and neck seeming to throb and be on the verge of exploding.

Unable to contain her sharp tongue, Renegade glanced up at the raging feral and grinned, "Are you mad, Bro? You seem mad."

She couldn't tell if the man was actually speaking or just growling; all she could decipher was the growl. Gambit reached a hand towards Wolverine's shoulder but stopped short when the shorter man grabbed his wrist and snarled in his direction. Carefully Kat slid from the booth and slipped between Wolverine and the table. Renegade quirked a brow; she couldn't die and she was pretty sure she wouldn't put herself between this man and the target for his rage and yet the slender young woman did just that without a trace of fear.

"Logan," Kat kept her voice low and soft well aware that if he really wanted to she would end up shish kabob on his claws but trusted that he wouldn't do that to her; not after everything he'd gone through with her in the past eight years, he'd always treated her like his little sister. "Look around at where you are. Don't do this here."

Wolverine flickered his gaze to Kat slowly and Gambit held his breath. He knew the background with these two though he doubted all Kat wanted to be to the feral was a sister. The way the two of them acted around one another…but he shook that from his head as Wolverine released his wrist.

"If you're messing with…" Wolverine growled in warning to Kat who held up her hands.

"Are you still raging? Well then I'm not am I? Come on, we can take this outside or back to the mansion but not in here alright?" she was well aware of the silence through the bar and the fact that every pair of eyes was trained on the four of them, something she really didn't like.

"Fine but I'm not lettin' that one outta my sight," he growled and Kat nodded slowly, motioning for Gambit to get the other woman and they slipped out the back door.

Kat took just enough time to toss enough money on the table to cover her meal and tip and grab her leather jacket before slipping out behind the other three. Outside, Wolverine was closing in on the other woman and Gambit was trying to talk some sense into the man without drawing his anger on himself.

"Come on, Mon Ami. Da Professor should be back at da mansion by now, let him handle dis. Dat way Gambit doesn't have to blow holes in da walls around here."

"Piss off, Gumbo. This has nothing to do with you."

"Wolverine, he's right…"

"So you want to take some woman back to the mansion without any information about her whatsoever…and you want to take her back conscious? I thought you were more paranoid than that, Kat."

"Hey! I am not paranoid! I also know that if there's a threat the Professor will deal with it accordingly. Right now you're just pissed and looking for a fight!"

As they argued and Wolverine turned part of his attention to the other two, Renegade slowly started to sidle away from the group. As Wolverine's anger flared at Kat, Gambit stepped between the two breaking the argument enough that both ferals realized what she was trying to do and Wolverine snagged her wrist in an iron clad grip.

"Fine, we'll let the Professor decide what to do with her."

Kat nodded slightly and pulled her keys out of the pocket of her leather jacket, "You take the car with her and Remy and I'll go grab your bike from the junk yard. The last thing we need is the cops showing up with it at the school in the next few days."

"No way, Kid," Renegade quirked a brow and started to edge away from the group only to have Wolverine grab her wrist again and keep her in place and she sighed wondering how this guy got away with calling a woman who didn't look that much younger than him a kid, "you're not going anywhere near that place without backup."

Kat tilted her head to the side as she regarded him, "Alright. What the hell happened, Wolvie?"

"Later," he growled and narrowed his eyes at Gambit since she and the Cajun seemed to work really well together and there was really no other option; Kat was too stubborn to give in, "Gumbo, you go with her and you'd better watch her back."

"Sure thing, Wolverine; Gambit make sure Kat make it back alright."

"The bike should still run, if not give the mansion a call and someone will come and pick you guys up."

Kat nodded slightly and started off towards the junkyard while Wolverine drug the rather reluctant Renegade off towards the silver sedan. This time she didn't even bother trying to get away from him as she climbed into the passenger side with a resigned sigh. The trip back to the mansion was silent and tense as Wolverine drove and Renegade sat back in the passenger seat, staring out the side window. By the time they returned to the mansion, Cyclops, Jean and Professor Xavier were all waiting in the parking complex for them.

Renegade had barely slipped out of the passenger side of the car and before she could even take a step in any direction, Wolverine once again had a hold of her a slight growl rumbling into his throat. Cyclops quirked a brow and crossed his arms over his chest as the Professor rolled closer to the two of them in his wheelchair. Wolverine didn't even bother saying a word to the others as he drug the woman through the parking garage and into the underground portion of the mansion with the others trailing behind them wondering what the hell was going on. Wolverine took the first open room he came to and tossed Renegade into a chair where he tied her wrists to the arms and her feet to the legs though she appeared completely unconcerned by it.

"Would someone mind explaining just what is going on here?" the Professor questioned as he rolled into the room.

"Well, I was stalked, drug out of a bar full of people, kidnapped and tied to a chair. That's about all I got right now," Renegade explained in a deadpanned, calm voice.

"You shouldn't have run then," Wolverine growled angrily.

"Well, sorry but I got the impression you weren't tailing me just to say thanks," she replied sarcastically.

"Thanks? For what? What exactly happened?!" Scott demanded.

Renegade flashed a smile at Scott and then glanced over at Wolverine, "You tell them the story, Honey. I like the way you tell it better."

While Wolverine only growled in response to her and started to pace the room, the Professor interjected, "Actually, I'd like to start with you."

"Sure, whatever you want but with one small condition; you may at no point ask me why I was doing any of these things."

"You're in no position to be making requests," Wolverine snarled.

"True but if you want to know anything then you have to abide by that condition," Renegade grinned while Wolverine only growled. "Alright then. So, I was having a moonlight stroll on the rooftops to clear my head and think when a commotion drew my attention and so I investigated. When I reached the source I saw your boy here throwing down with a bunch of suits in a junk yard. He was doing well until one of them got the bright idea to turn the crane on over him and turn it on. When I realized he was stuck to the magnet I felt it wouldn't be right to leave him like that so I jumped off the roof."

"You jumped off the roof?" Jean asked in disbelief. "Are you a mutant?"

"I have power though I'm unsure of its source."

"You know more than you're telling us," Wolverine growled again.

"You are right, of course."

"Out with it!" Wolverine snapped.

"I owe you no answers and as far as potential sources or origins of my powers, I will give you none at this point. If I ever choose to do so know that it would show a great trust in you for I would be placing that which I value most in your hands and I am no longer able convey that type of vulnerability."

"Who are you?" Scott asked.

"I have no real answer for you. I'm just someone who is lost somewhere between whom I was and who I'm supposed to be."

"Alright, who were you then?" Jean asked quietly.

"I cannot say," Renegade replied defiantly and for the first time Wolverine detected a slight note of fear creeping into her scent.

"Then who are you supposed to be?" the Professor asked finding himself completely intrigued by her.

"Depends on who you ask but at the moment a beacon of peace."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wolverine crossed his arms over his chest as he asked, drawing attention to the bulk of the muscle on his person.

"Nope, not happening; I've already revealed too much and we strayed too far from the original point of this interrogation."

"Nice deflection," Wolverine growled.

"So," Renegade continued as if he hadn't spoken, "I jumped off the roof, ran to the junk yard and incapacitated the remaining suits on scene. When I asked Wolverine here why he'd been attacked and what his crime had been, he refused to answer. Regardless, I hit the release on the magnet and booked it out of there. It was not my intent to be found."

"Why run?" Wolverine questioned.

"I ran because I am trying to keep a low profile and I had a feeling that a man dressed in yellow spandex with one hell of a knife collection was bound to draw attention that I was determined to avoid."

"You want to see my knife collection, Bub?" Wolverine snarled, claws slicing through the flesh between his knuckles and extending towards her neck slowly, watching as her eyes widened in amazement with each inch of metal that slid free.

"Fascinating," she muttered in awe.

"Wolverine, that's enough," the Professor informed the feral.

"It's alright; I have been pushing his buttons all night," Renegade grinned, drawing her attention away from the claws that were being retracted at the Professor's request, once again awed but this time at the way Wolverine didn't even hesitate at following the orders of the older man. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, so after that I took off down an alley, scaled a drain pipe back to the rooftops and finally popped into a little bar thinking it would be wiser to be off the street and out of sight. Evidently I underestimated his tracking abilities because he burst through the door not far behind me. He, and two others that he seemed to know, drug me out the back to avoid causing a scene and I tried to slip away but they weren't going to have any of that. Well after that you pretty much know what happened…I ended up here and tied to a chair. Now that you know my story will you at least tell me what you intend to do with me now?"

"What do you mean?" Jean questioned.

"Now that I've given you all the answers I can, I want to know what your plans are for me now."

"I am sorry about all of that but you have to understand the reasoning behind the actions of Logan here," the Professor stated as Scott untied the woman, "he tends to take the safety and well-being of those here to extremes at times but I would hope that you would give me a few more minutes of your time after which you are free to leave if that is what you wish."

"Sure why not? You've already been so hospitable," she replied wryly as she got to her feet. "So what's up?"

"Earlier you said you have power, as do we all here, and I was hoping that you might be interested in finding out what the X-Men stand for," the Professor replied.

"Wait…you guys are the X-Men?"

"That's right. What's it to ya, Bub?" Wolverine growled.

"Well right now I have one purpose in this world and that is to prevent a war from breaking out between humans and mutants. My intelligence in that subject suggests that you X-Men are at the forefront of that endeavour. I would be happy to join your ranks…if you'll have me."

"Of course, we'd be happy to accept you into the mansion," the Professor smiled.

"Are you crazy, Chuck?" Wolverine snapped, spinning towards the older man.

"You know there were those who asked me the same thing when I brought you in."

Renegade turned to face Wolverine, "Look, I know we've gotten off to a bad start here and I can't really expect your trust when I'm being so evasive but maybe there's a way I can at least prove that I'd be useful to you all; if you would indulge me."

"And just how do you intend to do that?"

"With a demonstration of my power," she turned back to the Professor, "Professor, you are the one who stands to benefit the most from my abilities, if you are willing to accept."

The Professor nodded knowing that if he wanted any of his X-Men to even begin to trust the woman, he'd have to be the first to take a leap of faith. They watched as she approached the Professor and laid her hand upon his. A slight look of concentration passed over her face as she released her healing ability a brilliant white light emanating from her hand and flowing into the Professor's before moving through his body, illuminating him as she staggered back away from him.

"My legs," the Professor muttered in disbelief. "I can feel my legs."

That was the last thing that Renegade heard as she fell backwards, falling unconscious. It was only Wolverine's quick reflexes that kept her from cracking her head on the concrete floor.

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While Wolverine and Renegade were heading away in the sedan, Gambit and Kat were heading away from the bar on foot and back towards the junk yard. Once again Kat found herself at a loss for anything to talk about as she walked alongside the Cajun something that the man beside her found vastly amusing even if he was still more than a little annoyed at the fact that his hair was still wet from her Coke.

"Well, Cher, who gets to drive tonight?" he grinned at her around the cigarette that he had started smoking as they walked as they approached the tore down fence where Wolverine had gone through it with the motorcycle.

"Huh? Oh…doesn't really matter to me," she replied before the tone of his voice registered in her mind and she tried to ignore the sudden heat in her cheeks. "Uh…I mean…"

Gambit laughed and dropped his arm around her shoulders, "Sorry, Cher. Gambit don' mean nothin' by it."

Kat managed a slight chuckle and tried to force the nervousness from her before she answered though she still ended up sounding a bit disappointed which confused Gambit a little, "Yeah. I know."

Gambit shook his head as she ducked out from under his arm and followed the distinct scent of metal skidding over concrete. It took her only a matter of a few seconds to find the motorcycle and pull it back up focusing on checking it over. Wolverine had pretty much adopted her from her first day at the mansion and eventually had taught her a lot of mechanics. The bike seemed in working condition still and so she swung a leg over and fired it up, grinning as there wasn't a hint of an issue with it as it roared to life. She didn't really know why Wolverine had sent Gambit with her; they hadn't seen another soul since they'd left the bar. Once the bike had roared to life, Gambit had joined her and settled behind her on the seat before she pulled sedately away from the junkyard and headed back to the mansion trying to ignore Gambit's hands on her waist. She'd have to try to convince Wolverine to get her a motorcycle at some point in time, or at least borrow his from time to time.

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And there is chapter one. We're currently working out the kinks in chapter two so it should hopefully be up and running by Saturday night. Please leave us a review as we survive on those wonderful munchies. Backgrounds of our OCs will be explained in later chapters as they reveal things to other members of the X-Men. Everyone has their secrets after all...even from family. HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!