All right, finally I got some work done on this. It's almost over!

"So why didn't you join up wit' them? Their place is a lot nicer than ours is…"

"'Cause then I wouldn't be with you guys!"

"But they all suck! Except for Freddy, he's cool,"

"Yeah…I mean, the place was nice, but it just didn't feel like a home. Just a house with various people in it. More like roommates then family ya know?" Sunshine's voice was airy and nonchalant as she peeled off the wrappings on her arms and hands.

There was no trace of any of the cuts and bruises she had gotten over a week ago, Todd had noticed. He figured she had a rapid healing factor like Wolverine from the X-Geeks.

"So, who's this Creed guy Lance was talking about?" she asked as she pushed her sleeves back down. "He's an assassin, plain and simple. He is a killing machine! A crazy killing machine!"

"What'd you call me?" a deep voice growled from behind them, causing an icy chill to run up their spines as the two cautiously turned their heads. A figure was crouched down several feet behind them, with some sort of cape or coat flapping in the deafening wind.

The figure stood up to their full height, which was at least seven feet and lumbered towards Sunshine, who was frozen in place as she tried to make out the face of the man. The figure towered over her, giving her a deep, throaty growl before slowly raising his arm, claws extended…

"SUNSHINE, RUN!!" Toad screamed and pushed her out of the way just in time, though took the blow and now had a torn sweater and several gashes across his right side, fortunately not very serious wounds.

Sunshine took off, blindly running through the winter wonderland hell before her, hearing the man on her toes, who she now guessed was Creed.

Fueled by fear and guided by instinct, she knew she would either have to run and hide, or stand up and fight. Of course, she would have to be able to see him to do so. Her pants, or rather Lance's pants which she borrowed, were starting to slip and she tried to yank them back up, but tripped and fell on her face.

Victor attempted to grab her, but she quickly rolled onto her back and kicked him in the chin. He stumbled backwards and managed to grab Sunshine's leg and lifted her off the ground and held her upside down in front of his face.

"Mystique wanted me to kill this scrawny thing?" he grumbled, but the albino just rolled her eyes. "Does she make you kill everybody that stands up to—" her sentence was cut off as the assassins' hands shot out and wrapped around her throat.

She felt him starting to pull her head back and she knew he was going to attempt to break her neck. His thumb was placed under her chin and she got a small idea, and quickly turned her head to the side, causing his thumb to slip onto her cheek.

She chomped down on his thumb and he let out a yell, swinging his arm with her still attached. He slammed her down on the ground and the wind was knocked out of her and she let go of him, though she ripped off a bit of his skin.

It grew back almost instantly however and Sunshine whimpered, thinking one of her ribs broke when she hit the pavement. Victor lifted his heavy boot and nearly stomped on her, but Toad appeared in the niche of time and pulled her up just as his boot came down.

The beast growled, but the amphibious teen did not cower and stood his ground as Creed swung his fist at him, but he ducked and tried to punch him in the gut, but got his move blocked. Pretty soon punches and crude remarks were flying.

"The girl's mine, Swamp-Breath!"

"She don't belong to no one, ya mangy feline!"

Victor had had it with the green boy and kicked him in the stomach and watched him double over and fall to the ground. He saw Sunshine's retreating form and went after her, his eyes filled with rage as he bounded after his prey on all fours.

The girl was running blindly through the streets, dodging cars that were slowly making their way along the icy roads. She rounded the corner and was met with some heavy traffic and had to weave her way through the whole mess.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her hunter leaping over cars and was only about two car-lengths behind her and was getting closer to her with each passing second. He jumped off another car and everything seemed to go in slow motion, Matrix-style.

His shadow cast over her; he was above her. A car was right in front of her; she had nowhere to go. In a nanosecond's decision, she took a dive just as Creed swiped at her, his claws whooshing past the back of her head, so close in fact several strands of her hair were lopped off.

She went sliding under the car and out the back as Victor landed in the back of a pickup truck, making the front-end pop up, the driver honking his horn and cursing angrily, but he ignored the man and pounced onto his hood, denting it.

He spotted the girl scrambling under another car and lunged at her, but she was already on the other side. Furious, Sabertooth grabbed the underside of the car and was about to flip it over and crush her!

Sunshine shrieked in fear and covered her head as it fell on top of her. The owner of the vehicle was knocked unconscious and the beast thought his work was done.

"Tough little Rat, you were," he mused and was about to walk away, when the mutant girl leaped out of the sunroof, her tail out, and sprinted down the nearest alleyway on all fours, sliding and running in place for a moment as she rounded the corner.

The assassin about roared in frustration and again, went after the girl. The alley prevented snow from drifting through it so now he could actually see what the heck he was doing. He saw no trace of her, but caught a glimpse of pink on the roof to one of the buildings.

He clambered up the stairwell and Sunshine was hoping to find a door, a staircase, something to aid in her escape; but alas, it seemed like a dead-end for the poor freak. She could hear her killer clumsily moving up the stairwell, as it could not support his weight very well.

The building next to her was at least a ten-foot jump away, and she wasn't sure if she could jump that far.

At least not with these pants on.

She hooked her thumbs into the belt-loops and ripped them off of her. Of course, she had on a black pair of spandex shorts underneath them, which she got from Pietro's closet. She had cut a hole in them as well for her tail to stick out.

"Dudes' gotta be fruity," she looked over her shoulder, seeing her killer coming at her, then ahead of her.

She kicked it into overdrive and jumped to the next roof, just barely making it. She kept running, as she knew Sabertooth probably had no trouble whatsoever roof-hopping.

As much as it killed her, she leaped to the next rooftop, her foot slipping on the very edge, but she did not fall and kept going. The two of them roof-hopped at least ten buildings, and while Victor was not even out of breath, Sunshine was running out of steam.

Her short legs could only carry her so far while running, as she had to work harder than people do with longer legs. The world was starting to dim and she fell short on her next jump, dropping to the ground and landing on some trashcans.

She hit the side of her head and blood started dripping down her face, but the good thing was she did not get knocked out, because here comes her assassin!

Groggily getting to her feet, she went out the alley and slowly ran to somewhere, anywhere she could hide or rest for a moment of two. The snowstorm wasn't her life any easier either. Just as she went past an abandoned old car parked on the sidewalk, someone grabbed her tail and pulled her in the car.

A hand clamped over her mouth as she was plopped down in the persons' lap and she was about to fight, when they whispered, "Yo, take it easy 'Shine. I don't bite," relieved at hearing Toad's voice, she relaxed against him.

She silently thanked the stars she was in a car, which blocked her smell from Creed as he went by, cursing very loudly the whole time. Toad was in silent alarm as he pointed at her face. She just nodded and dabbed the crimson off her face with her sleeve.

She pointed to his side as well, where his sweater was ripped, exposing three gashes over his ribs. Without thinking, she ripped off her sleeve and tied it around his wound to stop it from bleeding. "Listen 'Shine, I'll keep him busy while you get outta here, k?"

"But we're supposed to be in this together aren't we?"

"Yes, but he's not gonna stop until he kills you!"

"So what do I do, run off and hide for the rest of my life?!"

"I wasn't saying that…"

"Good, cause I got an idea!" Feeling completely recharged; she opened the door and got out. "Go to the bridge and wait for me!" She took off down the road, heading for the bridge, which, of course, had to be on the other side of the biggest freaking hill in the city!

So far this has been one of the most fun chapters I've written. I have to make it into two or more parts though. Hope that's okay!