Author's Note: Ok, I know the first chapter was kinda short, so I'll try to make the chapters longer from now on. If I can't, then I'll just make the story longer. ^^

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own any original X-Men characters. They all belong to Stan Lee, even the beloved Nightcrawler… who I love. ^^

Bladewing

Chapter Two: Divide and Conquer

            "So, what's this girl's name?" Corai asked.

            "Don't know, the Professor didn't tell us. Must not have known. Maybe it was a random mutation. After all, if she was running, you'd think the mutation woulda happened just today."

            "We're closing in on the location of the mutant. Start to drop the jet Wolverine," Storm informed him.

            They were over a small neighbor hood, close to the ocean. It was a wealthy neighborhood, houses quite eloquent. Searching for a deserted place to land, there was a small forest-like area, right before the beach. The jet went down slowly; making sure it would be covered enough by the trees to be unseen.

            "Well, let's get searching," Klara said.

            It was mid day, a little after one o'clock, as the four of them exited the X-Jet. The air was filled with the smell of the ocean, salty and brisk. The forested area was small, most likely torn down for the houses built all around.

            "All right let's get this thing over with. And remember Silverclaw and Flash, don't use your powers too much or we might as well forget about getting her to the institute without her wanting to," Wolverine instructed.

            "What about you Mr. Metal Claws?" Flash teased.

            "I can't even use mine, well, not on her at least." He smirked.

            "Professor, where is she now?" Storm asked, talking into a head set walkie-talkie, even though she knew he would respond telepathically.
            You're right near her. She's about five yards ahead of you, towards the ocean.

            "Let's move!"   They ran as instructed, and sure enough, as soon as they reached about five yards, a something sped past their heads, glinting in the sun. As it went by then all, it hit a nearby tree.

            "What was that?!"

            Wolverine growled as he went over to examine it. Taking it out of the tree, he brought it back over to them.

            "It seems our flightless bird has another little secret. Her feathers' edges are adamantium, like swords."

            "Cool!" Corai said, eye lighting up with interest. She snatched it from Wolverine and took a better look at it. "This is so awesome!"

            Storm reported back to Professor Xavier, telling him the new information.

            Well then you must just be more careful.

            Continuing on, they reached the ocean's shoreline, but the girl was no where.

            "Arg!" Wolverine growled, "She musta ran somewhere in another direction. Where is she Professor?" he asked on his head set walkie-talkie.

            No, she's still near you… Behind you now.

            As they turned around, three more feather blades were sent at them. Wolverine stopped two, unable to slice the adamntium. Klara zapped one, sending it down to the ground.

            "Silverclaw, start making a net, incase we need it. Flash, you stay with her. C'mon Storm, we gotta get this over with." The two of them started for the woods again.

            "This is so awesome how we're on a mission thing like this!" Flash said.

            "Yeah, too bad we're stuck here and I have to make a net," metal was streaming out of Silverclaw's fingertips, and it was starting to form a net, the metal streamlines knotting together and overlapping one another.

            Quickly! She's right in front of you.

            Wolverine and Storm looked ahead, and indeed, there was a young girl with huge black, yet shining, wings. They were dragging on the ground, obviously too big for her, and were covered in dirt and leaves. Her black clothing was dirty and a little torn, but otherwise was pretty normal. Her brown hair was a mess, but also in decent shape. As she looked back at them, her eyes were stricken with fear.

            "Stop! We don't want to hurt you! Please stop running," Storm yelled at the girl, sympathy in her voice.

            "No! How do I know that you won't hurt me?" she said, very much out of breathe.

            "Put it this way kid, you either stop and let us help you, or keep running and die out here!"

            The girl stopped, and dropped to the ground. She was panting like crazy, and she didn't look up at them.

            "I'll go get Corai and Klara," Storm said.

            "So kid, you got a name?" Wolverine asked, sitting next to her.

            "My name is," she panted some more, "Tara Wilson."

            "Tara huh? Well Tara, we've got a lot to talk about. Mostly these wings," Wolverine slid a finger over one of the feathers on her wings.

            Storm came back with Corai and Klara following.

            "Ah! You mean I made this net all for nothing?!" Corai whined.

            "Net?!" Tara jumped.

            "It's ok. We're not going to use the net. It was just as a last resort," Storm reassured her. "So Wolverine, what's her name?"

            "I'm Tara, Wilson. And why are you so interested in me anyway?"

            "We'll explain later, right now we should bring you back to your house so you can talk to your parents," Storm suggested.

            Wolverine picked Tara up, surprising her in the process and accidentally making her wings spread, lacerating Wolverine quite badly on the arms.

            "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!!!" She said.

            "No problem. I can heal myself quite quickly," Wolverine said slyly as his skin went back to normal.

            "You're all, mutants, like me, aren't you?" Tara asked.

            "Yes, I'm Storm, I can change the weather. That's Corai, also known as Silverclaw," she pointed to Corai, "she can create and manipulate metal. And that's Klara, also known as Flash," Storm pointed to Klara, who made a little picture of a thumbs up appear in an electric current.

            "As you see she has the ability to create and manipulate electricity," Storm said.

            "So Tara, where do you live?" Corai asked kindly.

            "Not too far from here. My house is in a kinda new kinda old development area. Hey, how are we gonna get there anyway?"
            "We'll fly," Klara answered.

            "Not on me I hope."

            "No, we have the X-Jet," Wolverine said as they approached it. The huge black jet was sitting there in the middle of it all.

            Sitting inside, Wolverine and Storm started flicking switches and pushing buttons, getting ready for take off.

            "We've got her Professor. Her name is Tara Wilson," Storm reported back to the Institute, "We're headed back to her house so she can get her belongings and so we can talk to her parents."

            Good Storm, it's nice to hear we didn't have to use force. Tell me after you get her stuff and you talk to her parents what the situation is.

            "Buckle up," Wolverine told them.

            Corai and Klara did, but Tara was having  bit of trouble, no thanks to her wings. Not being able to completely buckle it closed, she just held on to it.

            As they flew off, Corai and Klara started talking to Tara.

            "So Tara, where do ya live?"

            "Uh, 73 Lansky Ave. In Portsmouth."

            "That's near where we used to live. I used to live in Providence," Corai said.

            "Soaring, Rhode Island," Klara said. She didn't want to go back to talking about where she used to live and how her parents had disowned her.

            Tara looked puzzled at Klara's sudden gloominess.

            "I used to go to Providence a lot, to the mall," Tara said, "That mall is awesome! Hot Topic is the best store they have there."

            "Totally!" Corai and Klara said in unison. The three of them had laughed at the incident.

            Storm and Wolverine in the front smiled.

            "They've become friends fast," Wolverine said.

            "It's good like that, it'll be easier for her to already have friends once we're at the institute and then add on to that," Storm replied.

            "So where do you guys want to take me anyway?" Tara asked.

            "To the Institute of Gifted Youngsters in Bayville, New York," Storm informed her.

            "Institute?" Tara looked puzzled again.

            "Yeah. We go there to develop and control our powers. Believe me, you won't have to run from there," Klara added.

            -----

            As they reached Tara's house, they flew past it and landed the X-Jet where they were sure no one would see it.

            "Well, let's go meet your parents," Storm said, no longer in her X-Men uniform. None of them were in their uniforms anymore.

            "Oh no… my parents. I ran away from school and directly headed to where you found me. They're not expecting me home for a while now. They're gonna kill me when they found out that I ran away." Tara smacked her forehead. She now had a long coat covering her wings so that no one could see them, even though it really didn't do much help for the bottom parts of her wings that were now bandaged up, as to not drag on the ground and infect them, or bring pain, even though they still did drag on the ground.

            "Believe me, once they find out you're a mutant, they'll forget you even ran away. Or they will mostly," Corai reassured her. Klara grunted.

            They walked up to the front door and Tara rang the doorbell. Her dog began to bark loudly, as he always did whenever he heard the doorbell. As the door opened, Mr. Wilson opened the door. He had black hair, brown eyes, and glasses.

            "Yes? Tara? What are you doing home? You should be in school. And who are theses people?"

            "Can I come in first dad?"

            "Ok, but not them. They have to wait outside until you've explained who they are and what they want." Tara rolled her eyes at her father's request.

            "Ok guys, I'll be right back," Tara told the four of them.

            "And why are you wearing such a long coat?" Was the last question heard before the door was shut.

            "They're friends of mine dad."

            "What about the two older ones?" He asked suspiciously.

            "They're guardians. Please dad, just let them in."

            "Fine, only if you're sure." Tara opened the door and let the four in.

            "Nice place ya got here," Logan said, admiring the beige living room. It had a small glass table in the middle of it, and a nice two piece couch set. Big windows let light stream in.

            "Is Mrs. Wilson home?" Ororo asked Mr. Wilson, "We'd like to speak to the both of you."

            "No, she's at work. Won't be back till four," he replied.

            "Oh, it's ok. We can get her on the phone, can't we? Can I go? I want to go upstairs and change. My clothes are a mess. C'mon Klara, c'mon Corai. I want to show you my room."

            The three of them headed upstairs and left the Logan and Ororo with Mr. Wilson.

            When they reached Tara's room, she opened the door and they entered the only non-beige room in the house. The walls were a light lilac color, and the carpet was purple.  A computer, TV, Playstation 2, and cage were the first things Corai and Klara noticed. A rather large white and black rat was looking out at them from inside the cage.

            "Cool rat," Klara said, going over to the cage, Corai followed.

            "Her name is Jasmine," Tara told them, getting some more clothes out of her closet.

            "Can we take her out?" Corai asked.

            "Sure, just be careful, she doesn't like being picked up and may squirm out of your hands. I'm going to the bathroom to change, be right back."

            A few moment later Tara had returned, coat still on, but unbuttoned and she was wearing different pants. She also had returned with a large suit case.

            "I couldn't get my sweat shirt off. Oh well, I can finish changing later. Hey, I thought you guys were gonna take Jasmine out."
            "Like you said, we couldn't get a grip on her. So we gave up, figured you could do it for us?" Klara and Corai smiled.

            Tara reached down and took out Jasmine, her immediately running up to her right shoulder. "You can take her if you want, I'm gonna start packing." Corai took her from Tara's shoulder and the two of them started to play with her as Tara started to stuff clothing into the suitcase, not caring if it was organized or not, just going fast.

            ---

            Downstairs, Ororo and Logan were talking to Mr. Wilson.

            "You see, the Institute of Gifted Youngsters will help her," Ororo paused, "along the way in life."

            "Like a school? Because Tara is very well off here," Mr. Wilson said defensively.

            "But not enough the way the institute can."

            "Why? Are our schools not good enough?"

            "No dad. It's because of this." Tara, Corai and Klara had come down un-noticed. A suitcase was packed, sitting in the living room along with Jasmine and her cage. Tara took off the coat, her black wings glistening in the light from the large windows.

            "You're a mutant?" Her dad asked with bewilderment.

            "Yeah," Tara looked down, tears starting to form, but she tried not to show them.

            "They just randomly came at school today. And that's why I wasn't in school. I ran away from it, cuz everyone was staring at me."

            Mr. Wilson was firmly seated in his chair, unable to get up.

            "You still love me dad, right?" Tara said, looking up now.

            It seemed like he would never answer, Tara's tears began to show.

            "Of course I do sweetie. Please, go with them. You'll be better off. My wife and I can still see her though, right?" He asked, the question directed towards Ororo since Logan had really said nothing.

            "Of course," Storm smiled. Tara put the coat back on.

            "Then we're off!"

            As they left the house, Tara was waving good-bye, and soon they disappeared into the forest area. Then Mr. Wilson saw the X-Jet zip off, and closed the door.

            "Everything is ok with Tara's father. Her mother is at work. And we're headed back home," Ororo reported, looking back at the three X-Men playing with Jasmine, Tara's rat.

            "Corai, Klara, and Tara have become friends already. Also, Tara is bringing a little pet friend."

            Oh is she? Well good in any case. Let's just hope she makes quick friends with the other X-Men.