Sorry for the delay!

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Kat slinked around the hallway, hoping to find any fault in the building or any of its systems to no avail. She was having no luck whatsoever with the building or its inhabitants. All the X-men were wary of her in one way or another and Hank had also been a bit of a challenge as well in the past two days. After all her persuasion, she didn't think she had put any dent in his allegiances and she still worried about one thing.

She had also yet to deal with Wolverine.

Kat knew that the meeting was inevitable, that he would want to see if she was the one who had been in the park. Luckily, she had used the same lotion Mystique did when she first infiltrated that mansion to cover her scent. She was even a bit surprised that she managed to not cross paths with him yet.

Walking down the hallway, her eyes danced to the walls and doors as she passed by them, fully knowing that any moment could be her last in the building. As she walked up to the end of the hallway, she failed to notice the person coming around the corner.

"I am sorry about that," she said.

But she blanched at who was standing beside her. She was inwardly relieved that her fur concealed the blood draining from her face once she saw it was Wolverine. She gulped as he stared back at her with such intensity in his eyes, scrutinizing her every movement. Kat flicked her tail slightly prepared for anything that he might try to throw at her.

"So you're the one that Hank's took such a liking to lately. I have to admit, he has developed a taste for the young ones," he noted.

He took a few deep breaths, hoping he wasn't so obvious as to his intent. After a few quick moments of deliberation, Wolverine couldn't help but give a sigh.

"It's Kat, right?" he asked her.

She nodded as she carefully watched every move he made, ready to bolt if she needed to do so. Wolverine began to walk past her, hesitating once he neared her and leaned in closer.

"Just be careful with what you say or do. If you end up hurting Hank's feelings in any way, I promise I will tear you to shreds," he softly told her.

With that, he walked down the hallway with barely a bat of his claws towards her. She grinned as she watched him leave.

'So either it works exceptionally well or else he's just biding his time,' she thought to herself.

She turned back around and turned the corner. She carefully walked down the stairs to the main hallway and stared at the doors, never bothering to notice if anyone else could be around watching her. Kat folded her arms across her chest as her ears suddenly picked up soft footsteps nearby and moved her head slightly to see Hank and Rogue walking into view. He was reading a book and she seemed visibly upset and they appeared not to notice her right away. She soundlessly moved to one side, placing herself mostly out of view in order to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I'm still worried about Gambit. Who knows what they're doing to him now. We don't even know how long they've even had him! It could have even been weeks now!" she told him.

"I doubt that. As far as I can tell, he's seemed his normal self up until a couple days ago. But how he got captured is beyond me unless Mystique had something to do with it," Hank replied.

"Mystique," she spat. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with those attacks you were investigating. She's had it out for normal people for as long as I can remember. Even though she can hide to a degree, she knows she'll never be fully accepted because of how she looks."

Hank stopped in his tracks and lowered his book. He turned away his stare from Rogue's direction, barely giving a sigh.

"And what does that make of me? Or even the many others who bear a resemblance to me like Kat? I will never be able to hide at all and neither will she. So who or what do we turn to when we're under attack? It has seemed she has gotten nothing but verbally attacked since she arrived here and I feel remorseful for bringing her here and subjecting her to it. Does the fact that she saved my life mean nothing to anyone else here besides me?" he posed to her.

"Hank, I-I didn't mean it like that," sputtered Rogue.

He gave her a sad stare and a twinge of guilt settled in her stomach as she watched Hank closed his book and began to head towards the door. He walked outside without another word and Rogue stood in the middle of the hallway for a moment, not knowing what was going to happen and found it scared her, especially with Gambit's state of health. She turned around and made her way back upstairs, allowing Kat to come out from her hiding spot. She gave a smirk as a small laugh escaped her lips.

"We'll deal with this later on," she mused.

She quickly looked around before silently heading out the door after Hank.

00000

Xavier continued to concentrate on scanning the area with Cerebro, hoping to find some sort of indication on where Magneto was holding Gambit. Yet his searches failed to yield any results and it was slowly eating away at his patience. Jean carefully walked into the room in hopes to inquire on his most recent investigation.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"No and that's what's frustrating me. Magneto has got to be shielding him from me somehow and if I only had some indication about where his abduction occurred or anybody who might have witnessed it. It would give me some area to work on," Xavier sighed as he released Cerebro from his grasp.

"What about our guest? She could know something, just might not realize she has information we need. She probably sees quite a bit on the streets," Jean offered.

The professor positioned a hand upon his chin, deep in thought about Kat and her developing relationship with Hank. He was uncertain how to voice since something was nagging at the back of his mind. His mind soon snapped to attention, which caused some concern to Jean.

"It's Hank. He's heading out of the mansion, upset and in a hurry. Don't bother going after him yet. He just needs to calm down. We haven't been exactly the most accepting of people in the last few days since he first told us about his friend and I think it's slowly getting to him. He thinks we should give her a chance since she helped him," he sighed.

"All right Professor. This'll give me a chance to go talk to her alone. See if she can tell us anything about the attacks or Gambit's abduction," Jean told him.

Xavier nodded as Jean silently left the room. There were many worries sitting at the back of his mind since the day the attacks started. He knew he was missing something but didn't know exactly what and that scared him. Carefully, he opened his eyes as a slow realization began to sink in.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" he muttered.

00000

Hank made his way down the road and into the forest that the mansion was settled beside. The thoughts swirled through his mind about his new friend and what he should now do. Tentatively, he tiptoed over the roots of the trees until he came to a small clearing with a tiny pond sitting in the middle of it. Hank sat down on the ground beside the water and cautiously placed his hand into it.

"How can I persuade them otherwise? It seems like they've already made up their minds," he quietly said.

"You do know they're not going to listen to anything either of us says, right?" a voice filled his ears.

His attention quickly perked up and glanced in the direction the voice came from to find Kat sitting on a branch in a nearby tree.

"How did you find me?" he quickly asked her.

"By simple deduction, my dear Hank," she stated. "I followed you. You've seemed off ever since you brought me here. What's wrong?"

Hank couldn't help but give a laugh, as he watched her carefully jump down from the tree and sit down beside him. He couldn't help but think over the last few days and the reactions of the others.

"I truly am sorry about how the others have treated you. I only wish they could see you as someone who has tried to help instead of meeting you with such skepticism. Some of think you might know something about our friend's disappearance while the others think you're involved somehow," Hank told her.

"It's not surprising though. They seem unwilling to trust people they don't already know or someone who can vouch for them. But I'd like you to listen to me Hank for a moment. I wasn't too certain how to tell you this but I have a friend who's also a mutant. He wants to set up a sanctuary of sorts for people like us. He has a few areas on the shortlist of where it's going to be and several people are lined up to go there when it's ready. We could really use someone like you in building a community there, especially with your expertise as a doctor. Will you at least consider coming to see my friend about what he has already planned out? I know you would value your input immensely," she told him.

Hank thought about what she had to say. A smile crossed his face before he gave a slow nod as he watched her pleading face.

"I will go see him and see what he has to say at least. A place like that sounds intriguing, a place where people like us can have a safe haven," he mused.

Kat was inwardly smiling to herself as she listened to him speak.

'Now, I'm going to have you,' she thought.

TBC...