Fox wandered a good distance in a short period of time, alert, and yet in his own world, lost, confused, and alone. He knew he probably should get back at some point soon, but... he didn't feel like facing the emotions he'd have to when he returned, not yet. Soon though, he turned back, if he wasn't ready to face them when he returned he'd find some place nearby to spend some time...

She laid in the darkness, listening to the little sounds around her. The humming of the ice machine... the sound of cars passing on the interstate just outside their room... the whistling of the wind... and finally the opening of the door. "Fox?" she said softly as she sat up, and after a short pause of shock, her scream echoed far outside.

Fox's head shot up at the scream, close enough to hear not just it, but to know who's it was. He bolted forward, moving as fast as humanly possible, well, mutantly possible, but unfortunately that part didn't reflect itself in his speed. He finally caught site of the room, his gun was out, now he just needed to see and hear the source of the problem.

The door was open, but inside was empty, save for her backpack and shoes exactly where she'd left them. The only sign of forced entry was doorknob was missing. Inside, the room smelled like carbon, and the blanket of the bed was thick with it. He heard a vehicle, a motorcycle perhaps, start nearby.

Fox snarled, grabbing her stuff in a scoop as he darted in and straight out of the room, following the sound. He didn't even bother to shut the door, he just ran, gun out, shoes thrown in her bag and the bag thrown over his shoulder. He wouldn't have even picked them up, if he hadn't only managed to come to a stop after them in the room. If he could find the vehicle that was leaving he could steal another and follow, if that was where she even was... this couldn't be happening.

As he rounded into a parking lot, he saw Chameleon seated on a running motorcycle, her arms around a tall dark man. Her hands were cuffed together, and she was sobbing with the pain at them being so tight around her bruises. She was fighting with all of her might, but abrasions on her cheek and split lip gave away that she'd been roughed up. The smell of scorch was very strong, and the dark eyed man snarled at Fox before revving his engine, and preparing to take off.

Fox fired the gun, careful to aim above Chameleon's head so that if the man moved abruptly she wouldn't be hit.

He did indeed dodge, seeing the gun pulled. He brought up his hand, a ball of fire already there, and he shoved it towards Fox. It was Pyro. "You little bastard, I'm not gonna let you get away with it a second time! Now I got your little whore...! Catch me if you can!" He took off down the interstate.

Fox moved away as quickly as he could, snarling out several profanities. His eyes darted about for another motorcycle, that would be easier to steal. He found one tearing off a glove and fumbling with a lock pick set for only a moment before it started. He shoved the picks back into his pocket and pulled on his gloves. This was going to be a painful trip. He took off after Pyro then, ignoring the wind that was stinging eyes and even skin as he had the bike going as fast as it would.

Pyro was going slower as Chameleon struggled and screamed. Finally, he struck her hard in the kidney, and she leaned fully against him, passed out from the pain. He shook his head. "Bitch." He narrowed his eyes as he realized Fox was getting... much closer.

Fox didn't dare use the gun, not now considering the crash could well kill Chameleon, all he could do was follow as quickly and well as he could, until either he or Pyro ran out of gas, his eyes drifted to the gas gauge, not bad for him, but he had no idea how much the other had.

Pyro snarled in anger, and fired bits of fireballs back at Fox, often wavering as he did, and often scorching Chameleon. "Back off!" he snarled back at him, knowing full well he could hear him over the bikes. Their speeds now reached up to nearly a hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Fox growled, maneuvering the bike to avoid the fire. His eyes narrowed sharply and he didn't back off, the best response he could give to a, 'why?' that Pyro would notice.

For several miles, the chase continued. Suddenly, as all of them seemed to become exhausted by the chase, Pyro lost control of the bike, and as the bike began to overturn, Chameleon shrieked as her power engaged. Pyro skidded down an embankment on the bikes side, landing square in a canal with the bottom full of water, just under a foot.

Fox veered to follow, putting on the brakes of the bike so as to minimize the inevitable crash, the bike was skidding sideway until finally it crashed into the canal, Fox flying off. He forced himself up again, despite pain so great it was almost maddening. He'd broken something, it didn't just feel like it, he could tell, he hurt more now then any other time he could remember. He had a knife in hand as his eyes darted about, looking for Chameleon and Pyro both.

Pyro had seemed to disappear, but Chameleon was near the wrecked bike, half fazed in and half fazed out. She was cut up pretty badly, and was unconscious, small amounts of blood staining her clothing as she lay still in the mud.

Fox darted towards her, ignoring the pain, or rather, using it to fuel his desperation. "Chameleon," he said softly as he came up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "please be aight..."

She didn't move at first, but slowly, she moaned out a bit, rolling into her back. Blood and mud coated her upper half, while her lower was submerged in muddy water. She slowly opened her eyes, looking up at him. "Fff.... Fox...?" she whispered.

He nodded softly. "Yeah, I'm 'ere," he replied, "you aight?"

"I... d-don't know..." Her eyes suddenly filled with panic. "Oh... Fox...! Y-You're... hurt...!"

Fox snarled, shaking his head, "Nah bad 'nough fer it ta matteh, need to get ya taken care ah firs'."

She eyed him. "... God... Fox... I know how much more you hurt th-than I do..." She swallowed, tears forming, seeing him like that... in pain... It tore up her heart.

Fox shook his head growling softly, more angry at the pain then anything else. "It's helpin' me at dah momen'. Cin ya walk?"

"I... t-think so..." She slowly crawled up in the mud, a wave of vertigo bringing her head down again. "It'll pass..." she murmured slowly. Her body rocked, and she suddenly crawled a few feet away, gagging as the vertigo persisted.

Fox whimpered softly as he watched her. "We need 'elp," he said softly. He was trying to place the source of his own pain now, all it had been before was all encompassing, so he had no clue what was broken. He needed to figure that out, but the pain hadn't faded enough yet for that to happen.

"Come here... please..." she murmured softly, pleading for him to come to her. She hadn't vomited yet, thank god, she just felt like it with the vertigo. Her word was swaying back and forth.

Fox stepped forward and knelt down beside her, eyes shifting around as he listened for signs of Pyro, he couldn't have simply vanished... He was around here somewhere.

She took in a very deep breath to gather herself. She'd never attempted this before, but it was really the only way she could see how. She pulled herself up, grabbed him carefully by the arms, and kissed him fully, without the softness she had used last time. He felt the tingle throughout his entire body, the same he'd felt on his wrist when she'd taken the pain from him. Slowly, is pain began to fade. The long and almost exquisite kiss lasted for a long time, but she finally broke it, her hands shaking. "Get help..." she whimpered, and collapsed to the ground, remaining conscious.

Fox had attempted to pull away, but only managed to do so after it was to late he realized. "Damnit," he snarled, "Wheh?!"

She looked up at him, eyes half slitted. "I t-trust you t-to h-help me, F-Fox... I trust you t-to get m-me back home... s-safe..." Her eyes closed. "I..." she trailed off, but was forcing herself to stay awake... barely.

Fox whimpered, shaking his head, when suddenly a memory struck him. "I got the numbeh ya gave me still, but I can't leave ya 'ere, Pyro can'ta jus' vanished..."

She smiled slightly. "T-Trust me, F-Fox... like I t-trust you... I will be here when you come back... Please, F-Fox... Go..."

Fox closed his eyes, shaking his head as darted to 'his' bike. Well, fortunately it wasn't in as bad of shape as it could have been. It would run... He dragged it up and back onto the road, hating leaving her, but having to. He pulled the glove off, using the lock picks again to start it before putting them away yet again and pulling his glove on. He went down the highway, looking for a call box, a gas station, or even a home. Some place that would have a phone.

A gas station with a payphone shining in the fluorescent lights was barely two miles from where the accident had occurred. It was closed, but the payphone was in working order.

Fox stopped the bike, digging through his bag before dialing the number he dug out on the phone, waiting.

It rang several times, but finally a sleepy woman answered it. "Hello...?" she said softly.

"Dis is Fox, I'm wid Chameleon, she's 'urt, bad, we need 'elp," he began, rambling, forcing himself to slow down, to figure out if this was even someone who could help them.

"What? Calm down now... Fox?" There was a small pause. "Oh! Fox! I remember you, of course! It's Jean Grey... Chameleon is with you? What happened??"

"She tracked me down, an' we were 'eaded back ta New York. De jerk dat torched us las' time showed up." He paused, allowing the pause for to catch everything he'd said, "he got 'er an' I chased 'im on a motorcycle. We crashed, she's 'urt, couldn' find 'im... If he's still aroun'..." He stopped again, breathing, actually giving along enough opening this time for a response.

"Alright, Fox, try to calm down... Where exactly are you? Look for a road sign with a town name on it..."

Fox paused, eyes darting about for a sign. "Cleahview," he said finally after spotting one.

"We'll be there as soon as we can. Try to keep her warm and keep her awake as long as possible."

Fox nodded before remembering this was over the phone. "Aight," he said roughly, "we'll be ta da side ah da road, 'bout ta miles... sout' from... 'Bob's gas'," he paused, what sort of name was that for a gas station?

"Alright Fox, we'll be there shortly." The phone went dead.

Fox hung up shivering slightly before moving back to the bike, repeating his starting of it ritual.

Chameleon had activated her powers. She heard Pyro near, having come back to look for her. She stayed completely still in the water, silent, holding her breath. He snarled and growled as he came near her, searching angrily, curing what he would do to her if he found her. Finally, he left, frustrated. She felt herself begin to fade, her powers half canceling. Sleep called... so sweet it sounded... "Fox..." she whispered.

Fox made it back fairly quickly, grateful no police seemed to be around as he brought the bike back down where the skid marks marked the location of the crash. "Chameleon," he questioned roughly eyes darting about for her until they saw her. He approached quickly, pulling her from the water. "Der comin'," he said softly as he pulled.

She was shivering terribly, and not from fear. She tried to stand, but it was impossible, his pain mingled with hers too much for her to stand upon. She moved out of the water, the chill wind dropping her body temperature,

"Stay stih'," he growled softly, getting her to where she was lying down. He pulled off both his bag and hers, pulling off his own hoodie first to put her in, before wrapping her in any other clothing in either bag. "Gotta keep ya warm an' awake, kay?" he questioned roughly.

She shivered, but nodded at his question, eyes almost closed. "I'll... t-try," she purred very softly.

He pressed his gloved hand to her face, "C'mon, lez talk 'bout somethin', but ya need ta do thah talkin'. Dun' wanna lull ya ta sleep 'ere."

She smiled a bit, and closed her eyes, but stayed awake. "I'd stay awake for a week if you would talk to me the whole time, Fox," she murmured softly, her voice gentle. "I'm sorry if I scared you... but I couldn't think of any other way. I knew I couldn't handle it.. but you could hardly handle a kiss without being in pain... I didn't want you to hurt anymore..."

Fox shook his head softly, "Ya shouldn'ta, ya shouldn't. I was managin'. Now I jus wait an' 'ope dey get 'ere soon. 'Ope our frien' dun show up 'gain."

"It was killing me to see you in pain... I felt your pain when I took the bruises from your wrist... I know how much stronger your pain is than mine... I even felt it when I kissed you in the hotel room..." She looked up at him in shame. "... I swear I didn't want to hurt you, Fox..."

Fox sighed softly, "I know ya didn'." He shook his head roughly. "Some gif' I 'ave," he growled.

She very gently touched his cheeks. "... I love your gift, Fox..." she whispered softly.

Fox gently grabbed her hands in his, trying to smile. "Well it's great fer pickin' locks, figurin' out key codes, an' liftin' stuff, buh, outside ah dat," he paused, shrugging lightly.

She smiled a bit. "When you live as a thief... really, how much more do you need?" She would have giggled if it didn't hurt to.

Fox smirked lightly. "Touchin' stuff widout hurtin' would be nice on 'cassion," he said finally, seriousness hitting his voice.

Her face fell a little more serious. "... Did it hurt when I kissed you?" she asked carefully

Fox gave a soft nod, "Nah much, buh some, yeah."

She seemed to physically wince at the knowledge. She couldn't even kiss him... "I'm s-sorry, Fox... I'm sorry..."

Fox shrugged softly in response, "Nah, dun be."

A sob wracked her throat. The thought that a mere kiss cause him pain was tearing at her stomach and heart. "how could I have been so selfish..." she thought she'd only mused it, but had instead mumbled it.

Fox shook his head, putting gentle pressure with his hands on hers. "Ya weren't, ya wouldn'ta done it, if ya'd known. An' if I coulda told ya in advance, knowin' ya wouldn'a. I wouldn' take it back," he said firmly but softly, seeming to ignore the fact that she had just mumbled what he was responding to.

She let two small tears fall down her cheeks, and leaned fully into him, watching his reactions carefully. It would kill her to harm him, it was so cold... and she felt so hurt for what she'd done.

Fox sighed, wishing there was more he could do to help her as leaned into him, hugging his arms around her to help keep her warm, even though he didn't have the protection of the hoodie. There was the slightest of a wince as he did that, but he held on firmly not releasing.

The sound of a jet approaching could be heard in the distance, and Chameleon gently sighed. "If I tell you something, do you promise not to hold it against me?" she almost whispered.

Fox gave a small nod. "I promise," he said softly.

The jet landed nearby, and the sound of the other X-men approaching could be heard. "... I love you, Fox..."

Almost instantly after that, Logan appeared, lifting Chameleon softly up into his arms. "You did good, kid... Real good." he took her to the jet for treatment. Storm appeared near him. "Come on, Fox... Let's go. You can explain on the way."

Fox nodded softly as he pushed himself up from the ground, glancing back at the two bikes for a brief second as he moved to follow. He might have pitied the person who's bike he'd stolen had that not been a common part of his youth. His mind wasn't exactly on explaining what happened though, it was on what Chameleon had said.

Jean Grey and Storm flew the jet, while Logan tried to play doctor as best he could. Cyclops and Nightcrawler were with Fox, talking to him about many things. They asked basic question - what had happened, what didn't happen, how they'd been attacked, and etc. Finally, they had nothing more to ask, and all they could do was wait.

When the questioning was over Fox did what he had to, he waited, not even having reclaimed his hoodie yet. He glanced down at his arm, tracing the gloved finger along the barb-wire tattoo with a slight wince. His mind drifted from that quickly back to Chameleon, to what she'd said. That she loved him... but why? That was what he understood the least about it.