God it feels so good to be back. I'm sorry to all my readers for being gone for so long. I am updating the chapters to make them less sloppy and to help it flow and transition much smoother. So here's the updated version of the story. Please read all the chapters even if you have already read the story once before. A lot of information has changed, but for the better! Thank you again. Please read and review! Constructive criticism is always welcome!

P.S. – Personal thoughts are italicized; telepathy is in bold and in-between apostrophes.

CHAPTER ONE

It was a dark night, lonely and cold. Lena had been on the streets for months now. Her mother was dead, and she was on the run. It wasn't the cops she was afraid of, so much as the mutant camp they would put her in if they found out she was one. Her and her mother had lived in a bad neighborhood; hell even the cops were corrupt. There was no telling what they would have done with her. She shuddered at the thought.

I didn't mean to kill her! Lena thought to herself as she walked down the garbage ridden alley. After a year she still couldn't keep from beating herself up about it. It was an accident! If she wouldn't have made me mad, I wouldn't have let it go. Why did she have to be drunk? Why did she have to hit me? Why can't I control this thing, she thought, blinking back tears. She was so deep in thought that she didn't even noticed she had walked into a dead-end.

Sirens sounded in the distance, and she turned her head in the direction they were coming from, but it was too late. The man had been creeping up behind her. And, she had become so involved with her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed. He was high out of his mind, wearing a dirty brown work shirt and jeans. Ugh, I can smell him from here. Disgusting! She vaguely remembered a guy matching the same description being thrown out of the nearby bar several times. Having been on the streets for some time now, she knew to pay attention to those kinds of things, especially in this part of town; which is why she was kicking herself in the ass for not having noticed him sooner.

"Say there sweet thang! How would you like to help me 'polish my bat'," he said with a leering smirk, methodically tapping the wicked looking, nail-ridden Louisville Slugger in his hand. He moved slowly towards her.

"Stay away. I'm warning you," she said as confidently as she could muster. She started to back away from him.

"Suuuuurrre thang. Right after I fuck you up a little bit," Charlie said in a sickeningly sweet tone. He cornered her at the end of the alley and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her down to the ground. He ripped her shirt in half as he took her down, and struggled to get his pants undone while trying to hold her still.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO!" she screamed at him, desperately kicking and flailing, trying to free herself from his drug-induced strength. Her hands and eyes started to glow a fiery white.

"Hey there, Bub. You wanna step away from the lady? Or do I need to come over there and teach you some manners?" A lone figure stood at the entrance to the alley. Lena looked over but all she could see was a silhouette.

"Who the fuck are you?" the man said. He shoved Lena's head against the pavement rendering her unconscious before starting towards the stranger.

"Someone you don't want to mess with," the stranger said. There was a lethal edge in his voice. He glanced in the girl's direction and saw that she was starting to come around. He snapped his head back and did a double-take when he saw the faint glow around her hands and face that indicated an energy discharge of some kind. He smelled the alkaline in the air as well. I'll ask questions later, right now I got a rat to take care of.

Shit, my head hurts! Lena thought coming back to consciousness. She reached up and gingerly felt the spot that hurt the worst. When she withdrew her hand from it, a dark sticky substance glistened on her fingers in the dim light. Great. She looked in the direction of the talking she heard, and saw the stranger poised for a fight. Did that guy just snarl like a dog? She didn't ponder the question long. She shakily got to her feet, clutching the brick wall for support, and started to slowly inch her way towards the entrance of the alley.

"Then I guess you'll just have ta learn me!" the guy yelled as he ran towards the stranger. "AAAAAHHHHHHH—huhg! Uhhhghgh..." he gargled as he impaled himself on the knives the stranger had hidden behind his back. The bat dropped from the attacker's hand.

Lena watched her assailant stumble away from the stranger. I've never seen anyone do that! The guy has three knives in each hand! How the hell…? The stranger looked over at her. She froze instantly, not even daring to breathe.

"That was too easy," the stranger said under his breath, as he shoved the guy to the side in disgust. "Who are you little girl?"

"Are you gonna hurt me too?" she asked fearfully, her eyes darting back and forth from the stranger to the bleeding, unmoving form of her attacker.

"I didn't hurt him that bad." He kicked the guy, turning him over so she could see him breathing. "He's just not gonna feel real great tomorrow." He looked back over his shoulder and smelling her fear turned around. "Look, kid, I just saved your life! Are you gonna tell me your name or not?" he growled.

"Lena," she whispered as she put her hand to her head. She felt like she was going to vomit. Her knees buckled, and everything started going black. She hit the ground.

The stranger turned to walk away. "Uhhhh...," he heard the girl moan in her state of unconsciousness. He looked at her attacker, and then back to her. He hadn't killed the guy, but he'd hurt him pretty badly. Eventually either the cops or an ambulance would find him and the girl. He made sure of that with a call on his cell phone. But he knew the cops would only dump her back on the streets afterwards if they didn't put her in a camp. Shit. He made a quick decision, "Alright girly," he said picking her small body up from the filthy street.

She came out of it long enough to ask groggily, "Who are you?"

"The name's Logan," he said before she lost consciousness again.

When they arrived back at the mansion Logan carried the girl inside to the Med Lab. "Who do you have Logan?" asked Jean concernedly; running over to the still girl in his arms.

"She says her name is Lena. And from the looks- and the smell of it, she's been on the streets for a while."

"She is a mutant," the Professor said from the doorway, startling both of them. "An extraordinarily powerful one at that…"He glided over to where they were and put his hand on the girl's forehead, probing ever so gently into her mind. He saw only scraps of flashbacks and painful memories. It wasn't much, but he had pieced together some information. "Jean, please tend to her wounds, and try to make her as comfortable as possible. Please come get us when she wakes up."

"Certainly, Professor."

"Logan, will you come with me?" he asked, starting away from the exam table.

"Sure," he said gruffly. He followed the Professor into his plush office. He started pacing the in front of the desk.

"How did you find her?" the Professor asked.

"She kind of found me. I was at Hog's in town, and her attacker had just been thrown out of the bar. I smelled him from inside when he came back about a half hour later. Hog's been having problems with the guy for months now. Being violent and causing fights; the guy's always jacked up on something. When I saw him walk into the alley with a ball-bat full of nails, I knew he was up to no good, that's all. I went to check it out, and he had her on the ground. I had to do something!" He pounded his fist into his palm.

"Settle down, Logan. You saved her life. She will recover from her physical wounds," he said soothingly. "It is her psychological wounds I'm worried about," he quietly added.

Someone knocked on the door, "Come in Jean," the Professor said.

"She's awake."