Disclaimer: Don't own anything… no wait… I really am Stan Lee and I have gone completely insane and started to post lame fanfics on the internet… . PEOPLE! COME ON! I own nothing that you're not familiar with… Sandra, she's mine… that's it… sad I know

"blah" Speaking

blah telepathy

'blah' thoughts

Cats with Claws

Chapter 1: Find a Stray

It was a few months after Apocalypse and the mutants of Bayville were resting, well, at least trying to rest. Then endless protests seemed to make this task some what difficult. The human-mutant relations did not improve in the least after the Apocalypse fiasco. The government had no idea how to handle such a delicate issue and most representatives were too afraid to voice their own opinions in fear of being branded.

This is where the story begins, at the beginning of the end and the end is only the beginning. The Institute was alive with activity despite the negative backlash of Apocalypse. The end of the school year was closing in and that being said, the students were extremely excited. Things came back to a normal pace, well as normal as you can get with a mansion full of super powered hormonal teens. Many changes had occurred since the epic battle.

Many new members came to the institute as a permit home, such as Alex Summers-Masters (is that right), so he could be closer to his formally long lost brother. Danielle Moonstar and Forge had also joined the Institute's growing population for their own personal reasons as well. And then there was X23, she decided that she would stay as long as she saw fit. Also she felt that there was much for her to learn and she could get better acquainted with her 'father' Logan. There were also new faces all together; there was Paige Guthrie, Sam's little sister who discovered her mutant ability not too long after Apocalypse. Some people were helping the institute but not living there, at least for now, like Warren Worthington III who was helping finance some building projects that needed to be done on the Institute. Also Spyke went back to the 'Morlocks' in the depths of the sewers despite a long debate between he and his family.

But what had peeked the interests of the residences on this other wise sleepy Saturday morning was that a new mutant was found with Cerebro. The signature spike was noticed when Professor Xavier was letting Jean practice using Cerebro. It seemed that someone in a southern state had just under gone some extreme stress which triggered their X gene. The Professor was already making plans on who to send. He pin pointed the location to a house in Loudon County Virginia, but he was having trouble probing deeper into the mind since it was clouded over with angst. Sighing, the Professor halted his probing; he could only take so much emotionally overridden minds in one day. He did however, get a name, Sandra.

Thus, with a name and location, the Professor begins his plans to contact Sandra. He had to bring someone with empathy, but who isn't over the top. As he went over the candidates in his mind then someone was about to knock on the door. "Come in, Scott."

"God Professor, you always creep me out with that." Scott stated, no matter how many times it's happened over the years that he's been at the Institute.

"I know Scott."

"Anyways, I was wondering if you have the new schedule for the DR Sessions. I think we could use a bit more training, we're good, but we can be better."

"I don't have it all planned out right now, but if you want, you can create one and I'll look it over when I get back."

"Okay. So who's the new mutant, if you don't mind me asking?"

Xavier sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a major headache coming on. "I don't know much really, besides a name and location. Whatever upset this girl it must have left a lasting impression. If I forced in deeper it could have serious consequences. But, we should leave quickly I have a feeling this girl might do something rash in the current state of mind she's in."

"Sure Professor. Are you going to bring Jean with you then?"

"No; actually. I have a feeling she would not be best in this situation. Plus you both have a lot a work ahead of you. With getting prepared for college. I'm thinking maybe Rogue would be best to accompany me." The Professor goes back to the papers he was looking at about where he was planning on heading.

Knowing his dismissal, Scott leaves thinking about how many DR Sessions he could squeeze in one summer day. Then he sees Jean and forgets all about DR Sessions for the moment.

One Hour Later

The Professor and Rogue were in the X-Jet heading towards Virginia; even though Rogue wasn't in the best of moods. Ever since the events regarding Apocalypse a certain Cajun thief has been following her around. Even in school she could see him outside smoking, watching her with his hypnotic gaze. 'Damn 'im, damn 'im to hell. Damn his sexy ass too.' Rogue was dressed in her usual goth attire, though not has many layers as usual. She had finally gotten control over her powers after many long months of training prior to Apocalypse. Still some habits died hard and she still was wary around people, her worse fear is to lose control and completely drain someone.

Thankfully the professor had his mental shields up and was ignoring all of Rogue's thoughts. Though he had a good idea what was on her mind, more accurately is who. The Professor also new that Remy codename 'Gambit' was no longer working for Magneto. Frankly, Charles was at an impasse as far as his old friend is concerned. Eric has been silent ever since Apocalypse and he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign. The Brotherhood did considerably quiet down and all of the members were enrolled into school again, even Wanda. Thinking of Wanda, Charles couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow for her. She had discovered the truth regarding her false memories and to say she was upset is like saying the Pacific Ocean in some water. She came close to tearing Bayville apart a mere month ago, but thankfully Xavier and surprisingly Pietro helped calm her down. Wanda has been coming over once a week to help with her memories and her anger. So much pain for one so young shouldn't be in today's time and yet, it still exists.

Sighing deeply at the woes of the world Charles is brought back to the here and now. They were now in Virginia and were going to land in a small airport; the Professor had friends everywhere after all. So, the Professor and Rogue were off to a house in Loudon County, thankfully Rogue could drive responsibly. This was just another reason why Kitty wasn't the right person to come. She was a very kind and caring person, but she was one of the worse drivers he has ever seen. He still had to get back at Logan when he let Kitty drive him home that one time.

After about twenty minutes of driving they pulled up to a nice looking house, two level house with neutral colors, nothing too out of the ordinary. Rogue helped the Professor out of the car and right away he could sense something was off. At first glance, nothing seemed odd, but on further inspection something was wrong. On the whole street, this was the one house with a lawn that needed to mowed badly. There were dead or dieing plants around the lawn too. There was also a 'for sale' sign in the front yard as well. Finally, there was a lone car parked outside which implied that someone was home.

They were now at the front door and Rogue knocked, but no one answered. She knocked again, this time a bit louder and she could here some rustling inside along with strings of curse words. The door was flung open, revealing a house completely devoid of light. There stood a figure about 5ft 4 though it was hard to tell as the person was covered in a blanket.

"WHAT?" The figured roared. Two things can be concluded from this quick exchange; the first one was this person was a girl and second this girl was intoxicated.

"WHATEVER YOU'RE SELLING I DON'T WANT ANY! NOW LEAVE!"

Rogue was about to open her mouth, but the door was quickly slammed in her face. Her right eye gave a spastic twitch of annoyance as she raised her hand and knocked again, though a bit more impatiently this time.

Again the slightly drunk girl came back to the door and opened and was about to speak when Charles beat her to the punch.

"Hello, I'm Professor Charles Xavier and I looking for someone named Sandra."

"Yeah, well, who wants to know?" The girl slurred.

"Well, we wish to speak to her regarding certain changes that have happened recently."

There was a short pause and then a sigh. "Fine, come in."

Entering the house, it seems to be in some disarray to say the least. There was a thick layer of dust on several moving boxes. Also there wasn't a single light on; the house was shrouded in darkness. Rogue tried to start up a conversation. "So, you're going to be moving Ah take it." She got a grunt as a response. "Yeah, so where are you and your family moving to?" This time, the only response was a little bit of mumbled nonsense. "Umm, come again?"

"I SAID THEY ARE FUCKING DEAD!" Suddenly a hand roughly graded Rogue's arm and jerked her away. For a split moment Charles was preparing to subdue this girl, but all that the girl did was roughly pushed Rogue into a chair. "Here, have a seat."

'Sure, go on a recruiting mission, it'll be fun. Meet new people. Yeah right, Ah get the crazy one.' This was among one of the many thoughts going on in Rogue's mind. It was hard to see, the only light source were a few rays of light from outside that barely streamed into this depressing room.

"Do you think we can have a light on in here? It's really dark in here." Rogue asked.

"What are you talking about, there's plenty of light in here."

Rogue gave the Professor a weirded out look. This was hell; she ALMOST would rather be in school, almost. Though right now, she was counting down the seconds until this day is over.

"Fine, here's some light." A single light bulb illuminated the area. The covered girl walked over to a fridge and pulled out a beer and started to chug it. The Professor politely coughed gaining her attention. She turned around, "What? You want a beer too?"

"No thank you. So you're Sandra, correct."

"Yeah, yeah, that's my name what the hell are you two weirdoes here for anyways."

"Well, I am Professor Charles Xavier and I believe that you many have an X gene in your genetic code and have certain abilities most people don't have. I have reason to believe that you are a mutant."

Sandra paused for a moment as her brain slowly tried to process what he had just said. "Wait a sec. Is this about all that school food I ate over the years, like it was really contaminated and radioactive and now I only have two weeks to live!"

"Ummm, no. I think you may be a little drunk."

"Drunk, smunk. I'm fine; here you look like you can use one." She handed him a beer, but what he noticed was her forearm was peculiar. Her nails were pearly white and slightly pointed and her hands and half way up her forearm was pitch black while the rest of her arm was snow white. Upon further inspection, her arm was covered in short hair fur. The thing was, it seemed like she was completely oblivious to the fact she was a mutant.

"Sandra, when was the last time you looked in a mirror, I believe you have gone through some changes. Perhaps you can remove that blanket on you."

She just shrugged and yanked off the blanket, there before Rogue and Charles was a girl about 5ft 2' unless you counted the cat ears on the top of her head which would make her about 5ft 3'. She had black hair that went down to just above her waist. Though at the moment, her hair was a mess. She was bare foot and her feet and half of her calf was also covered in short black fur as well as her hands and half of her forearm. The rest of her body was covered in soft white fur that looked extremely soft. But by far the most starting of her features were her eyes, they were cat's eyes but instead of the usual yellow, green or brown hues commonly seen, her eyes were a vivid shade of violet that almost seemed to glow. Though right now, her eyes looked a little out of focus and a bit red, probably due to crying over her family's death.

The professor was about to engage her in a conversation about the Institute when she bolted straight up and ran out the door and then the slamming of a door could be heard, followed by the sounds of vomiting. This was certainly not turning out how Charles planned it. Rogue also wasn't having the best time either. Sitting there doing nothing, in a dark dusty house hearing someone vomiting in the background was not how she liked to spend her time. Hell, if she wanted to do this she could have gone to the Brotherhood, at least it was closer.

Suddenly Sandra reemerges from the bathroom looking a bit tired. "Never drink a six pack with ten different antidepressants, not a good combination. Okay, I'm going to take a shower up stairs… make yourselves comfortable and don't steal nothing." She then climbed up the stairs her tail swishing behind her.

The shower could be heard being turned on and Rogue decided to make her self comfortable as she could. She really wished she brought her CD player.

"So Professor, does she know she's a mutant, or is she still too stoned to notice?"

Coughing slightly the Professor states, "I do believe she is not in the right state of mind right now. She is obviously extremely disturbed at the moment."

"… SO that's a yes." Rogue then started to space off a bit, she had one year left of high school, but she had no idea what she wants to do after wards. She can't see herself doing ANYTHING in the future really. She could stay at the Institute and mentor or something like that, or she could try getting a loan and going to college. At that last thought, Rogue couldn't repress a small snort. A college wouldn't touch her with a ten foot poll; she was a mutant and no place would take her. She was a bit surprised that Jean and Scott got into decent places. Of course they had good grades, which she had few of. Luckily an ear piercing scream tore her out of her musing.

Rogue got up and bolted upstairs, she wasn't part of the X-Men for nothing. She was ready for some action or something, one never knew. Bursting into the bathroom she saw a screaming Sandra dripping wet in a towel looking at her ass, or more precisely her tail. Rogue walked up to her and slapped her. At least it got her to shut up.

"This is why we're here. Now put on some clothes and we'll talk about this." Sandra just numbly nodded as Rogue left. Rogue walked down stairs and the Professor just quirked an eyebrow at her and she just shrugged in response. Two minutes later a still wet, but clothed Sandra came running down the stairs. She was wearing a black T-Shirt with Linkin Park written on the front and she was wearing baggy black pants as well, though her tail stuck out awkwardly from the top of the pants. She looked wide eyed and bushy tailed to say the least. Before sitting down she quickly poured a cup of coffee, the last appliance that still hasn't been packed.

She took several sips before finally speaking, "Okay, can you tell me what the hell is going on here. I finally decided to get stoned so I can forget about everything and now I have a tail sticking out of my ass." Sandra was trying to say calm, the key word is trying.

Luckily the Professor was ready for this, "Yes well, you have heard all the stories about mutants and such like in New York correct." Sandra thought for a moment, she did recall a bizarre day when mutants were revealed, her parents had freaked out and where talking about a bomb shelter or something, she wasn't really listening. "In humans today, some now carry a new gene, called the x gene. This gene can lay dormant and have no effect what so ever on a person, but if stressed or some sort of heighten emotion can trig this gene. The x gene is in short part of evolution, don't think for one moment that you are anything but human, because you are and you will always be human. I myself am a mutant I have telepathy," We all have our gifts, some are just more unusual then other. He sent to her.

"Okay, so I'm now a mutant, what am I suppose to do next? Cause I ain't joining no circus."

"That is why I and Rogue are here. There is a place for people like you, who have abilities. A place where you can grow as a person, and to also learn how to control your gift. We also go through any emotional issues you maybe suffering from."

Sandra sat there a moment and weighed the pros and cons. She really didn't know anything about this guy sitting in front of her, but something told her that she could trust him. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. She had nothing here, no friends or family left, no future here at all. It was time she moved on.

"I guess I'll check out your place then."

"Good, good." The Professor smiled, at least this day is coming out better now.

Rogue finally spoke up, "Yeah, so by the way what grade are you in? Freshmen or a Sophomore? Ah can tell you all about the crappy teachers at our high school. And believe you and meh, there are a lot of nasty teachers, especially to mutants,"

At this comment Sandra quickly stood straight up, her eyes flaring with annoyance and even a speck of anger and her tail swished in an aggressive manner. "Listen here chica, I'm not in high school anymore, thank you very much," She straightened out her spine and was now face to face with Rogue, since Rogue was sitting down it made it easier to do. "I may be short, but I'll have you know I am 22 and I already have a BA in Business and a minor in Mathematics."

Rogue's mouth just dropped a little. 'No way! This littl' girl is older then meh! She doesn't even look sixteen yet. Not to mention she's done with college already.'

The Professor intervened again, "That's quiet alright, I'm sure you can bring your own gifts to the Institute." Though he was covering up his own surprise too, but he had sense no lies from her. As if knowing their doubt about her age, she quickly whipped out her wallet and showed them her Driver's License; the picture was bad, but it was undoubtedly her.

"Since I was already packing, my stuff is already in my car. So when do I go to this Institute."

"We can leave right now. At a small airport we have our private jet there, waiting for us."

Sandra raised an eyebrow, 'Their own Jet, DAMN!'

"But, Sandra, are you well enough to drive?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm sober now. I'll be fine."

Too be continued….


Things to look for next time: The ride over to the airport, Sandra's interaction with the other students and the teachers, finding out more about her past, a little bit more with her powers, and to learn why you shouldn't piss her off.

FINALLY I want to Thank Agent-G for with out him none of this would have been possible. He encouraged me to write and he even proofread this for me as well. Check out his stories, they're wonderful!

If you read this… then you can spend the next two minutes of your life writing a review to tell me your thoughts and opinions. Also what you think so far about Sandra…

REVIEW …. beep