Ororo woke with fingers on her chin, and forehead. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she stared into a bright penlight that made her head pound. Her mouth was being held open by the fingers. The light shut off and she stared into red eyes. They sat on a chalk-white face, over a pointed nose and square chin.

She felt strangely serene. She thought that maybe she should be worried, but that thought soon passed.

The man muttered something to himself about, about strong teeth, and turned his back to her.

She sat up slowly. She had been laying on a gurney in the middle of an office. The only other people in the room were the two from earlier. They were crouched in corners on opposite sides of the room.

The chalky man scribbled something in a tablet on the desk.

"Remy, take the mutant to a cell."

The longhaired man from earlier stood up reluctantly.

Ororo raised her eyebrows. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be on my way. If you'll just show me the exit?" She swung her legs over the side of the gurney and stood up shakily.

"Scrambler, help him."

"I don' need his help." Remy said quickly.

Chalky skin ignored him and nodded at Scrambler.

Scrambler stood and approached Remy and Ororo.

"You stay here. I don't want you near me." Remy turned his back to him and opened the door for Ororo, and started to follow her out.

Scrambler angrily snapped off his gloves and reached for Remy's neck. Remy instinctively turned and slapped the younger man's hands away with his own gloved ones, and shoved his knuckles into his mouth.

**

It was late as hell, and she still hadn't come home. He tried to look unconcerned as he flipped through channels from the couch.

Turning the television off and tossing the remote on the cushion next to him, he stood up. He grabbed his unlit cigar off of the kitchen counter, and lit it on the stove. He could hear Ororo's voice in his head asking him to crack a window if he had to smoke, and decided he would just go outside and get fresh air.

**

Essex looked up from his desk to see two of his most competent workers rolling around on the floor fighting like cats and dogs. He pulled the sleeve back on his lab coat, pressing two of the buttons on the controller on his wrist.

Remy and Scrambler both rolled away from each other, clawing at their ears in agony.

Essex took his finger off of the buttons. The two young men stood shakily, and gave their full attention to their boss.

"I understand that even the best of you mess up at times. As you know, this is what will happen when you do. Now, go catch the girl."

The two raced out of the room and up the hallway.

**

Victor stopped dead in his tracks as he stepped out of the door and onto the front stoop of the apartment. The Mustang sat right in its usual place in front of the apartment building. He leaped down the steps and walked around the car sniffing and examining it.

If she left she would have taken the car for sure.

Spying something on the front seat he smashed the window and reached in.

Cards: An ace of hearts, a king of diamonds, and a queen of spades.

**

Ororo ran through the complex. She pushed open every door that might be an exit, which was most of them. Not long after she took off she heard running footsteps behind her. She was tiring quickly, but kept up her speed. She turned a hard right at the end of the hallway and began running through another long corridor. She looked back, Remy and Scrambler pursued with ferocity. They seemed to be racing each other. She pushed herself harder and faster and soon came to the end of that hallway, a dead end. Shrieking in frustration, she pushed open a door. It led to stairs, and she ran down them. The steps spiraled downward with a door on each landing.
She didn't hear the sound of footsteps now, only a steady hollow boom...boom...boom.

It seemed to be getting closer every time. With a start she recognized it as the sound of someone jumping from one landing to another, but there was only one person. Where was the other one? Her stomach dropped as she realized that they knew the complex better than she did and the missing pursuer could be anywhere.

She came to the bottom floor and looked up before opening the door. A tall man, Remy stood at the landing above. He held out a hand and yelled, "Don't!" Before jumping down to her level. She yanked the door open, and stood face to face with Scrambler. He drove the fire extinguisher that he was holding into her chest. Ororo fell back into Remy's arms, and then to her knees. Scrambler smiled cattily at Remy and dropped the heavy object to the floor, "Dumb broad, she ran all the way down here to the dungeon, where we wanted her anyway."

Remy threw Ororo over his shoulder and carried her out of the door, and to one of the dingy cells, and lowered her to the cot. She sat up in the dirty dingy bed and scooted to the wall and into a corner.

He left the cell and locked it. He and Scrambler stood and stared at her for a while through the bars. She stared back angrily.

"I should've locked you in dere too." He said to Scrambler with disgust.

"Too bad you were too big a pussy. I would have enjoyed that."

**

Victor sped to where he knew Sinister was hidden. Heaven helps anyone who got in his way, including the police. He was practically foaming at the mouth. Essex was going too far. Ororo belonged to him.

Oh, and he was going to fuck Remy up. That card shit was real cute. The king was Sinister, the queen -- Ororo, and the ace was Remy himself. Vic was pretty sure that Remy wouldn't have done this alone. He wondered who the accomplice was. Vert? Riptide? Scrambler? If it was Scrambler everyone was in for an extra ass whipping. That kid was capable of anything.

**

Ororo listened to the still air in the dungeon. She was alone down there, finally.

She removed one of her earrings and reached through the bars, and around to the padlock. She moved the earring around stealthily and soon felt the lock pop open.

After removing the clinking chain she pushed open the cage like door and locked it back.

Taking one final glance around the dungeon like basement, she ran back the way she'd come, taking the stairs back up to what she assumed was the main level.

It was time to put the skills she'd gained as a thief to the test.

Her senses went on hyper drive, sticking close to the wall, and slowing her breath.

She heard voices floating from a room a few doors down from where she stood. She approached slowly, crouching low in order to avoid being seen.

The man she knew as Essex stood face to face with Remy. Essex's face showed no emotion as Remy spoke to him, obviously trying not to raise his voice at his boss.

"He not gon' come in here ready t'work. Sabertooth is gonna be angry, and who ya' think he's gonna come after first?"

"You have nothing to worry about, Remy."

"You 'ave a plan?"

"You sound surprised."

Remy stared at Sinister waiting for him to continue.

"I've just mixed up a batch of Victor's special tranquilizer. While he is unconscious, we can restrain him, and affix the new and improved control device to his brain."

"And the girl?" Remy lifted an eyebrow. Ororo's eyes widened at that.

"The girl…is most definitely a mutant," There was a far away gleam in Essex's eye, he seemed to be staring into the future. "with powers, I believe, can grow to be unmatched. After the situation with Victor is under control we will begin testing and cloning processes on the mutant girl. Remind me to find --"

Suddenly Sinister stopped speaking. His black eyes narrowed and his face whipped around to look at the space Ororo had occupied moments before. He jerked his head in the door's direction.

Remy checked the hallway, but Ororo was gone.

**

He almost through the car door off of it's hinges, it suffered more abuse when he slammed it shut, shattering the window.

The door into the complex was a simple metal panel with no handle, only a small sliding window for identification.

Victor used his claws and strength to pry the door panel out of the brick wall. A rush of warm air brought familiar scents out to him.

Tossing the twisted metal aside he stepped through hole.

Sinister was there to greet him with Scrambler by his side. That rat, Remy, was nowhere in sight. Scrambler lunged for him, catching a swift elbow to the chin.

Victor prowled over to Sinister, ignoring Scrambler, who was getting up, preparing for round two.

Before the blink of an eye, he had the scientist in a chokehold on the floor, the mad doctor's body hanging limply between Victor's knees.

Sinister didn't even begin to panic when he couldn't reach the syringe of tranquillising fluid in his lab coat pocket. He simply let Victor carry on with his tantrum, waiting for one of his workers to come to his rescue.

**

"I hate to be this way toward a woman, ma petite, but dis is how it has t' be," Remy said as he forced Ororo down the hall at knifepoint.

He took her to the front hall, surprised to see that Sabertooth had arrived so soon, and that he seemed to have gotten the best of Sinister. Scrambler was helplessly staring at the sight. Ororo breathlessly gasped Victor's name. Victor heard it. He looked up and his eyes flicked from Ororo to Remy. He released his hold on Sinister, standing up and kicking him in the stomach across the floor.

He stalked toward Remy and Ororo. Remy stood his ground, all the while knowing that he wouldn't kill Ororo with the knife. Scrambler grabbed the knife from Remy and held it to Ororo's neck. Victor hesitated for only a second. Scrambler backed away as he came closer. Soon he hit the wall and couldn't go any further. Victor still approached.

Ororo had her eyes shut, impatiently waiting for it all to be over. Her eyes opened when the pressure of the blade was released from her throat. Victor stood in front of her and the long knife that had once been at her throat was lodged in his chest.

"Victor!" She screamed and tried to run forward, but Scrambler still had a hold on her. All she could do was stare in horror at the knife in Victor's chest. He took three deep breaths, and on the third he wrapped his hands around the handle and yanked it out. The wet sound of veins, skin, and bone healing was enough to ball your stomach in a knot. Not to mention the sight. Ororo's horror melted into puzzlement, then realization, and then horror again, as she thought back to that night months ago in the hotel room:

*Her attacker had pulled the blade out with his teeth. Although it had been dark Ororo could still see Victor's shoulder heal by moonlight.

Victor.

Victor.

VICTOR!*

Ororo could only stand frozen and watch as Victor tore the room and the people in it apart. Those memories from a few months ago looped before her eyes, each time they replayed themselves, it seemed they became more detailed.

She was knocked out of her stupor when a limp Essex skidded to the ground in front of her. His once crisp white lab coat was now blood stained, and ripped.

The mysterious Remy was gone, though not without a little punishment from Victor.

Seeing the man she was once so fond of beating the hell out of the small but vicious Scrambler brought upon her more memories. The first, of when Victor choked her, after she was brought home by the police officer. The second have when she'd waken up to see him standing over her.

He had come here to rescue her, but what would happen when they got back home?

'No,' she thought. That was not her home.

What did Victor have in mind that night at the hotel, and how long until he finished her off? She was hyperventilating.

Knowing that she had to get into control, she closed her eyes, lowered her head, and took a few deep breaths.

'How would I fight off a man, a beast, as strong as Victor.' she wondered. 'Outsmart him, but how. His sense of smell almost lets him read your mind.'

"Goddess, help me." It was the first time she'd called on her Goddess in a very long time.

She opened her eyes starting at the sight of Essex's body, but remembering that it had landed there a minute earlier.

As if on cue, the syringe rolled out of the lab coat pocket. She immediately recalled the conversation she had heard between Essex and Remy.

Ororo quickly decided that she would have a talk with her Goddess if she lived through this.

She picked up the syringe and dropped it in her denim jacket pocket.

Soon Victor had finished, and after trashing the room, he scooped Ororo into his arms and silently carried her out of the facility. A strangely gentle action for someone who'd just finished ripping new assholes for a few grown men.

**

The ride home was quiet and tense. On Ororo, Victor smelled what he thought was lingering fear after being imprisoned by that freak, Sinister. He gave her a sideways glance, couldn't really read her expression, and spared a full on glance. She sat straight as a board. Her face tense and pensive.

"Ro?" He reached over and pushed her hair out of her face. She flinched, "Relax." She sank back against the seat and took a deep breath. She seemed to mellow visually, but terror was rolling off of her in waves.

It wasn't long before Victor parked in front of the apartment building.

In the apartment, Ororo collapsed onto the couch as Victor scrubbed dried blood from his hands. She tried not to think about him coming home every night and doing the same thing he was doing now. She kept one hand in her pocket with a firm grasp on the syringe. She just wanted to sleep. If she hadn't seen Victor's wound heal with her own eyes she would never believe it. Except for that one time, he had been nothing less than giving, protective and wonderful since the day he brought her to his place. She wondered what would happen if she just pretended she didn't see what she saw, and continued to stay with him. He didn't seem to know that she knew. She fell asleep with her thoughts and soon Victor came out of the bathroom. He approached Ororo as he dried his hands on a towel.

He scooped her in his arms again, and carried her to the bedroom. He pulled down the sheets and placed her on the bed. He started with her black boots and socks, slowly unlacing them and tossing them into a corner with the rest of her shoes. In the short duration of time she had been staying with Victor she had acquired quite a wardrobe.

He pulled off her jeans next. Unfastening them at the top, then pulling them all the way off by the cuffs at the bottom, lavender panties, bikinis.

Victor noticed that when he took off her denim jacket she watched where he put it. She seemed okay with him dropping it on the floor next to the bed, next to her jeans. Maybe because it was one of the few things that she'd had when she came.

He smirked at the thought of her matching her underwear and outfit, for her shirt was lavender too.

Victor pulled the covers up around her than left the room to get a beer and grab some couch. It took a long time for him to fall asleep, but when he did he was awaken by a short cry, and a clap of thunder. He shook the remains of sleep from himself and stretched. Grabbing his beer bottle off of the coffee table, he headed for the back of the apartment.

He opened the bedroom door; Ororo was shrugging into her jacket, and stepping into her boots. She had already gotten on her jeans.

"Bad dream, Ororo?"

She jumped, "Stay back!"

He took a few steps in her direction, holding out his empty hand in a gesture of concern.

His thick eyebrows knitted in slight confusion, "Ororo? What the hell?"

"Don't come any closer!" She was fully dressed now.

"Calm down, Ororo. What's wrong with you?

"What's wrong with me? You were in my room in Jersey! You were going to kill me!"

Victor stopped, "What?"

"You heard me, Victor. How did you find me in that bar? How long did I have here until you were going to murder me?"

'She knows.' he thought. He flashed his fangs in anger and disappointment, 'Honeymoon's over.' It would have been impossible for him not to become a little attached. What was not to like about her? Victor was a murderer and a psychopath, but he didn't have to lie to himself, if ever there was a frail he didn't mind having around, it was Ororo. However, he was a psychopathic murderer, and the urges were simply too strong to ignore. After all, he'd been looking forward to this since the day he met her.

Victor sat the bottle on the edge of the dresser.

"Well, Ro, I guess you're just to smart for me. Sometime during the day's events you caught a detail that I didn't cover up." He approached her slowly.

"You gotta admit though, it wasn't that smart of you to out me when you had no escape planned." He leaned in close to her ear and snarled, "You're long overdue for this." He put his hands on her shoulders and dug in his claws. When she cried out he gritted his teeth, and drove her into the wall.

He expected her to punch him, maybe scream, kick, or even bite. What he hadn't expected was for her to stick a needle in his neck.

Whatever she had drugged him with was taking its effect quickly. She broke away from him, and Victor put his strongest effort into getting a hold of her, but his best attempt only left him clumsily grabbing air.

He stumbled to the doorway and braced himself in the door jam. He yelled something-incomprehensible even to himself. She looked back as she twisted his set of keys in the door, pulling it open and running down the hallway. Victor knew he would never catch her in the state he was in. Instead of chasing her he went, sluggishly crawling, to the window in the bedroom overlooking the street below. Ororo was running from the building to the Mustang across the street. When she glimpsed up at the window, she looked him dead in the eye. At times she'd look at him and her eyes were warm electric blue, and carrying a certain spark. Now, as he held her gaze her eyes were like ice and cold as steel.

Victor swore that there was a flash of lightening and she was gone. That was merely his imagination for he hadn't stayed conscious long enough to see her pull off, she had sat in the car for minutes before driving away.