A/N: Hello! I am back after a long absence from here! Finding the time to write has been rather difficult and now I finally got around to it. Wanted to try a different universe and I was inspired by this one, especially after First Class (AMAZING FILM!) Anyway, give this a chance and let me know what you think, please! Just so you all know, this story is centered on the timeline of X-Men First Class.

Enjoy!

"Do you think she can hear us?" Sean looked up at Alex as he seemed to be deep in thought.

Alex sighed. "I don't know." His eyes moved to the woman who laid before him. She was not severely hurt, a few cuts and bruises on her forehead, temple and legs. Her long brown hair was in her face and it stuck to her skin due to the rain that was still pouring heavily. She seemed to be in her late twenties and stylish at that for she had on a beige pea coat and underneath a salmon pink dress. Her slender neck was adorned with a paisley purple and pink scarf. God only knew how she ended up in the middle of the road in this weather

"Then we should just take her with us and maybe Charles can help her." Sean said as he stood up to hold Alex's umbrella. .

"You're right." Alex crouched down and lifted up the woman from the damp road and placed her in the back of the car. After he settled her in the back seat he made his way to the driver's seat to return to the mansion.

Sean looked over his shoulder to see the woman still peacefully unconscious. "The first night we have a social life and out of the house we manage to find this girl in the middle of the road., just great."

Alex nodded. "I know and its not like we went too crazy."

"I'll say, except for the statues in the park. Well, that was all you." Sean squeaked out a nervous laugh while Alex smirked. However, the two were brought back to reality as the woman in the back began to stir. Both remained stagnant as she uttered something they could not understand. Sean glanced at Alex, who decided to concentrate on the road ahead. "What do you think the others will say?" Sean asked nervously as he recognized the dirt road that led up to the front of the house.

"I don't know and this is risky, but we couldn't just leave her there." Alex replied as he stopped the car. He turned off the ignition and placed both hands on his lap. "My guess is that Charles will help her. He will want to because, I mean, just look at her." Alex glanced over his shoulder as did Sean. "She is hurt and alone."

Both of them nodded in absolute agreement. Charles would not have left her out in there like road kill. Who knows where she came from and what actually happened to her.

Alex and Sean burst in through the double doors with a knowledge of where Charles would be. Alex followed Sean with the mysterious woman in his arms. At the moment, she seemed very fragile that with one touch she would break, however she probably was none of that. It seemed from her bruises that she put up a fight and it was presumably a good struggle between her and the attacker.

"Charles!" Sean opened the door to his study and breathed a little bit easier as he saw him.

Both Charles and Erik stopped their deep discussion as they saw the two young men come into the study with an unconscious woman.

"Please don't tell me you have hurt this woman?" Charles scolded as he walked over to Alex.

Sean shook his head quickly. "No of course not! We found her lying in the middle of the road like this." Alex only nodded as he set her down on the couch.

Erik stepped closer to where the others were gathered around her. Slowly his eyes followed Charles' hand as he slowly removed the dark, almost reddish, brown strands out of her face. Her complexion was calm as it was still lost in depth of sleep. Erik had the sudden urge to shake her awake to know who she is and what happened to her.

"We will have to keep her here for the night and tend to her injuries. In the morning we will question her about tonight's events." Charles stood and looked at the others.

"I don't know Charles, this is far too much of a risk." Erik finally said as he continued to stare at the young woman. Something about her gave him this uneasy feeling of something he hadn't felt in a long time. A small very minimal tug at his heart. Those feelings have been non-existent for a couple of years.

Charles sighed and crossed his arms. "Erik, I don't think its ideal to just not help this young woman. She clearly needs our help and I am not just going to leave her in the street."

Erik turned to face Charles and pondered it for a second. She was just a woman, a damsel to be more specific. She probably wouldn't be such a fool and risk her life or anything of the sort. "Well, lets not reveal ourselves unless it is absolutely necessary. We have to focus on getting ready for Shaw." Charles simply nodded in agreement.

"Charles, you can't read her mind or something." Everyone switched their gazes from the young woman to Sean.

"Yes, however I do not wish to invade her mind without her permission." Charles replied as he knelt down before her and ran his palm across her bruised temple.

"This is different. We need to know what happened to her and who she is." Erik insisted with the little patience he had left. Taking in strangers like this was not a very intelligent idea right now, especially with all that was about to happen.

"I guess I can do this just this once." Charles placed to fingers by his head and focused on the young woman laying before him. Erik, Sean, and Alex waited anxiously as Charles closed his eyes for a few seconds and tried to capture all that had happened to this woman. The grandfather clock in the room ticked away and made them all the more anxious. She was just a woman, but that didn't mean that she could be someone that knew who they are and planned to be rescued by them. She could easily give away their location and they would be done for good. No one could be trusted anymore.

With a sudden chime of the clock, Charles came back to reality and stood up. "Her name is Katherine Burke. She just recently landed from Paris this afternoon, then when she got into a cab she was kidnapped." Charles gazed back down at her as he continued to tell them of her traumatizing events. "The men that kidnapped her were wearing black masks, in which case I cannot see who it was, but they taunted and tortured her terribly. They wanted information on her father."

"Who is her father?" Erik interrupted.

"Senator Thomas Burke." Charles replied. "And I have an inkling that these men were somehow related to Shaw's men, if not Colonel Hendry's. They want Senator Burke to help them, but I think he has refused to."

"So they kidnapped her in order to get to him." Erik said as he looked down at Katherine. It reminded him of how Shaw got to him by using his mother. He was trying to do the same with this young woman and her father.

"Unfortunately yes."

"Well now that we know who she is, maybe she can convince her father to help us against Shaw." Alex suggested.

"No!" Erik snapped. "Don't you see that Shaw is after her. Her father can easily give us away to Shaw."

"Not if we convince her and Senator Burke first. Maybe this could all work out for us. She could be the key to everything for us." Charles seemed determined to help her even if the others did not.

"You are quite sure of this, aren't you?" Sean asked cautiously. It did not seem like a good idea, considering the risk they are getting themselves into.

"Well I'm not." Erik growled and walked out of the room without another word.

Charles simply shook his head. "In response to your question Sean, yes I am."

Their gazes returned to Katherine, the young woman that could possibly be a vital key in the game.