I don't own X-men… blah blah blah!

Chapter 2: Kat

As she slept on the forest floor atop damp pine needles, one would look upon her face and be able tell immediately that something haunted her. The look on her face was anything but peaceful and her small hands were clenched in anger. She suddenly sat up, awakened by the distasteful sleep, whimpering. The woman looked all around, confused. She had no memory of falling asleep in a place like that, well actually as she thought harder she discovered she had no memory at all. Tears began to flow from her eyes that blurred her vision as she began to scream, her extreme confusion had sent her into a state on panic. Upon examining her tattered clothes, she discovered she was wearing dog tags, they read: "Bobcat".

Her ears picked up the sound of a highway near where she had been sleeping and she stood up and made her way through the trees. On the opposite side of the highway was a diner with an attached apartment on the second floor. It was a little shabby looking but it smelled delicious, otherwise this place would've been a questionable diner to eat at. Her stomach growled so she made her way to the diner. It was not yet light out, maybe three of four in the morning, so it was still closed for the night, she sat against the wall and waited.

A few hours late, she heard someone descending the stairs from the above apartment. The lights inside flickered on and the person unlocked the front door and propped it open. It was a man, maybe late forties and about six feet tall, he wore a flannel shirt and jeans and was whistling tunelessly. He saw her sitting there out of the corner of his eye and looked over at her, somewhat startled.

"Well hello there. Now how long have ya just been sittin' there?"

"I dunno, two… maybe three hours.", she said dully.

"You look terrible.", she looked down at herself and noted the ripped clothes and dirt encrusted skin, "Well come in and get some breakfast,", he looked at her once more, "Uh its on the house."

"Okay.", she reached up for his outstretched hand and shook it.

"My name's Jeff. And you are?"

"Uhhhh..", she thought for a moment, she didn't know her name and the only thing that came to mind was what her dog tags said, Bobcat, "… Kat."

________________________________________________________________________

It was Kat's first memory. For the past five years, she'd roamed from place to place trying to spark memories from her past, but nothing did. She often fount her mutations quite useful. Her silent steps, speed, heightened senses, and agility made it easy to break into houses and steal the things she needed. Also, her healing abilities made it too easy to out-drink anyone in contests, the winnings always ended up in her hands. But the six inch retractable metal claws that would extend from each of her fingertips posed the most confusion.

Kat walked along the roadside until she spotted what she'd been searching for, a bar. She was in a rural, forested area of northern New York, she'd just come down from spending some time in Canada and was looking for easy cash to take her wherever she'd drift to next. It was cold and dark, maybe midnight, and the bar was the only place around for miles, probably not the best idea for her to be there… then again, she could defend herself like no other. There were many motorcycles parked in front of the old bar, must have been a common stop for bikers and judging by the great ruckus coming from the inside, it was filled with them tonight.

She swung open the door with a loud bang, everyone looked over at her and stared for a few seconds then, they all very slowly returned to what they had been previously doing. It must have been a strange sight to them, she was only 5'2" and very petite, many took her for some small defenseless girl, they soon found out that this was not the case. Her long, wavy, layered brown hair cascaded down past her mid back, and her big silver eyes were peculiar enough to make anyone stare. Bottom line was, she was beautiful, a porcelain doll with the strength of a twenty five year old kick boxer at his peak of fitness. Kat scanned the small building, they were many bikers, which was no surprise at all, some hicks, and a few truckers. From what she could tell, she was the only female in the bar, which was probably why there were so many drooling stares in her direction. She casually strode over to the bar and sat on a stool. One of the truckers walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Well aren't you a cute… rugged little thing.", he said. He was smiling horribly and was missing a tooth here and there, his green trucker hat was stained along with his flannel shirt and jeans.

Kat looked down, rugged? He must have been referring to her dirt-covered jeans and her shoeless feet. She stared at him, annoyed.

"Well can I buy you a drink?", she felt him put his arm on her waist. Kat made a grossed out noise and glared at him, "I'll take that as a yes! Two please", he told the bartender. "So do ya have a name, cutie?"

She sighed and quickly shook off him arm from her waist, "Its Kat."

"Ooh, feisty, I'm into that.", he drooled.

"You're disgusting.", she grumbled.

The bartender handed him the two beers, Kat was staring at a sad looking deer head when she noticed him slip something into her drink out of the corner of her keen eyes. ahhh he's lookin' for some love… how pathetic. He handed her the beer and she emptied the glass in a few gulps, including the drugs he'd slipped in there. The guy stared in amazement and then his face turned to an expression of longing. He continued to stare at her for a while and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ya know you're a beautiful girl, ya gotta learn to not trust guys like me.", he chuckled.

"Oh why?", she said in her most innocent voice and batted her eyelashes.

"Cuase I'm not a nice guy.", it was obvious that he was referring to what he had though he'd accomplished, drugging her.

"Oh I know, you dick!", she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, the anger was almost tangible in her voice, "And I don't exactly enjoy being drugged, but hey, it has no effect on me so at least I can enjoy watching scum like you cower in fear!"

By this point, almost everyone was staring at the two of them with surprised expressions on their faces. The man looked absolutely horrified and she then hit her own head against his with and audible crack and threw him to the ground, blood was streaming from his broken nose. Kat looked around and noticed that they were all looking at her.

"What?!", she said angrily and they all turned their heads away from her and continued doing what they had been before.

In the corner of the room there was a huge biker who was challenging others to a drinking contest. She saw this and dug through the unconscious man's wallet who had just tried to drug her and found a fifty. Kat walked over to his table and put the fifty in the center of the table and took the first shot of whiskey and slammed it on the table.

"One.", she said dully. The man looked confused, but took a shot anyway.

"Well now, lil' lady. I don't usually get any takers like you.", he matched her fifty.

"Whatever.", she said taking the second shot.

"Okay."

After twenty more, they had gathered a crowd around the small table. The big guy was beginning to sway a little, but he kept up pace with her. Twenty three, twenty four, twenty five, twenty six. Jerry, that was his name, didn't look too well after that many. His words were nothing but incomprehensible sounds and he was leaning to the far left of his chair about to fall. Kat took the next two at the same time and raised her eyebrows at him, he saw this and lifted up the twenty seventh but set it back down, his hands were shaking.

"Heyyy buddy, you don't look so good.", she laughed.

Jerry mumbled something and picked up the shot again, this time downing it. The second he set the glass down on the table he passed out. His head slammed against the wood and it actually bounced back up! He was lying on the floor a second later.

Kat quickly pocketed the two fifties and stood up. The crowd of people that had gathered to watch dropped their jaws all in unison as she was able to walked without swaying, in fact she was completely sober, they quickly parted forming a pathway and she walked through towards the door ignoring their stares. As she stepped out into the night she sighed ant took a deep breath, the fresh air tasted so much better than that of the musty bar, it was satisfying. Kat walked out into the dirt parking lot and stopped she stared up at the stars, it was a beautiful night, she had always loved the nighttime. There were steps coming out of the bar, they paused. Kat heard this and turned around, it was one of the other truckers.

"How the hell did you do that?!", his voice was a mix of confusion and awe.

"I dunno.", she stated bluntly.

"Nobody takes that many shots and walks away, completely sober at that, and especially not someone of your size?", his words seemed rushed.

"Well, you're looking at it.", and with that she turned back around and ran off, a blur in the night.

A/N: Well, I hope that was a good chapter and that you enjoyed it. :]

Oh, by the way, if you didn't catch it, Kat is Corrine. Haha

Remember to read and review, I want your opinions and to know what you think!

I'll update as soon as possible!!