Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for Katherine and Kevin, and any more to appear in future chapters.

Chapter Two: Beginning the search

"Kevin. Kevin. NO! Kevin!" the teenager said in-between her twists and writhes.

Storm got up, and left to get the professor. Scott looked at the teenager, not knowing what to do. Storm soon walked in, followed by Logan and the professor.

"What's going on Storm?"

"We're not sure. She was quiet, but she suddenly started writhing like you see her now."

The professor wheeled over to the bed.

"This will take concentration. With her as lively as this, I'm not sure I'll be able to get a good image of what she's seeing now that is scaring her, but I'll try."

The professor placed one hand on either side of her head. He then tried to look into her thoughts. Soon, he removed his hands.

"All I could see, amazingly, was a gray fog everywhere. There were outlines of other objects, but I couldn't make out what they were. There was a person up ahead, receiving beatings. I heard a female voice continually saying, "Kevin. Kevin. NO! Kevin! Kevin!"

"That's what we heard before you came in here."

The professor wheeled over to a drawer and pulled out a syringe. He made his way over to the bed, and injected the fluid into the arm of the young girl. He then turned to the others.

"What I just injected was a small amount of sedative, altered to just calm down whoever receives the injection. I usually don't do this, but that was the only way to calm her down. She should wake up within a few minutes."

Logan, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.

"Professor, how do we know this kid isn't a spy? We need to be careful, now that Stryker has had this place ambushed."

"Logan. I doubt she's a spy. Even if she isn't a mutant, she deserves our aid. Should we ignore regular humans when they are injured, just because they are different than us?"

"Yes. They ignore us, so we should ignore them."

Storm looked at the two.

"Quiet. She's waking up."

Logan and the Professor went over to the bed. The young teen was opening her eyes, and trying to focus on something. She looked at Storm.

"Where am I? Who are you?" She asked, with a British accent.

"You're in our house. My name is Miss Munroe."

"Are you the enemy?"

"What do you mean by enemy, kid?" Logan asked.

Just then, there came a knock at the door.

"Come in," the professor said.

The door opened and Kurt walked in.

"Professor. I vas vandering...."

He stopped as soon as he saw the girl.

"Oh. I am sorry. I did not know you had a person in here."

"Oh, it's quite alright Kurt. Come in."

Kurt shyly made his way to the bed.

"Hello."

The teenager smiled.

"Sir, by enemy, I meant the normal people."

"Normal?" Logan inquired.

"Regular people. Not special ones."

"Why are you asking this?" Storm asked.

"I'm not like the majority of humans. I'm different."

The professor turned toward her.

"I think you're more like us than you know."

Surprise spread over the teen's face.

"You mean, you're, you're..."

"Mutants? I that what you're trying to say kid?" Logan asked.

"Yes. Are you mutants?"

"Yes. We are."

"Wow. I found you. I found more people like Kev and me. Finally."

Storm turned and looked at her.

"You're one of us?"
"Yes." She managed to push herself up. "My name is Katherine. I also call myself Shadowcat. I was born in England, and grew up there. About a year and a half ago, my family and I moved here to New York. My family consists of myself, my parents, and my twin brother Kevin. We lived a normal childhood. When we turned fourteen, we both began to notice a few changes. We ignored them at first, until we realized that the differences weren't ones to be put aside. I would walk through boxes, walls, anything. I also found that I could turn invisible. If Kevin was threatened, for example, his entire body would turn into metal. We found that we could control these quirks of nature in our bodies. We learned to live with these differences, as well as how to hide the fact from our parents. A few days ago, my family and I were sitting in our living room, when someone broke our door down. They opened fire, and killed our parents immediately. They then took my brother and me hostage. We were knocked out with chloroform. When I woke up, we were in some sort of warehouse-type building. I could see my brother beside me. When our captors saw that I was awake, they started beating me, and knifing me. Soon, they knocked me out again with chloroform, and I don't remember anything else, except waking up here."

"Wow. I am sorry little one," Kurt said, sympathy written all over his face. "I know vat it feels like to be teased and abused."

The professor looked at Katherine.

"Katherine..."

"Katy, please, or Kitty."

"Alright, Katy, what does your brother look like?"

"He's about the same height as me, he has brown hair, blue eyes, metal skin sometimes, and a birthmark on his upper arm."

"Thank you. I have things to do now. Katy, get better soon, there are a lot of children here that you'll want to meet."

"Thank you sir. I'll try to get livelier soon. All of my injuries are gone, for some reason."

The professor smiled, and left. After he exited the room, the people left in the room continued to talk for some time. The professor wheeled up to Cerebro, rebuilt after the incident with Stryker, and entered the vast room. He wheeled up to the desk, put on the helmet, and began a search for Katherine's brother. Back in the room with Katherine and the other mutants, Kurt was telling stories of his days in the Munich circus, when Katherine started writhing on the stretcher.

"Little one, what is the problem?"

Katherine didn't answer. She continued to writhe and omit little grunts of pain.

"I don't think she's playing. Storm, see if you can find the professor. I'm not certain, but he may be using Cerebro. That may be why he asked for a description of her brother."

"I'll go check Scott," Storm told the young man.

Storm left the room in the direction of Cerebro. Kurt teleported over to the door, saying that he was going to fetch a wet cloth. Within minutes, he teleported back.

"Here. I do not know if it vill help, but she looks as if she is burning up."

Scott took the cloth and placed it on the girl's forehead. Logan looked at the writhing teen, and then back at Scott and Kurt.

"Guys, I don't know if it's just me, but does her breathing sound a little different?"

Scott placed his head on Katy's chest, and listened for a little bit. He then looked up at Logan.

"You're right. For some reason, her breathing is now a little shallower."