Acolytes, Brotherhood, X-Men all belong to Marvel comics. This story is mine. Kiley and Cheryl belong to themselves; that's us. In other words, the Misfits. This disclaimer junk can get really old really fast, you know? Don't wanna get sued though. That's life.

The Misfits ran far, leaving the state of New York and settling in Chicago on the second day of their promise. Thinking they would never hear from the X-Men or Magneto again, they foolishly let their guard down.

While Cheryl was in their apartment tidying that evening, Kiley decided to go grocery shopping. Not long after she left, she was walking back home with a bag full of fruit, and stopped to buy an ice cream cone from a small delicatessen. As she paid and waited for the boy to give her cone to her, she noticed a man walking by the store. He was short, but extremely well built, and awfully familiar. He wore blue jeans with a blue denim jacket over a white shirt, and under a Stetson, his blue-black hair came down in front of his ears in shaggy sideburns, but she could not see very well because of the distance between them, and also because of the fur jacket collar and black wool hat that hid most of his face. She did notice a large, lit cigar hanging from his lips. He leaned against the window of the deli with his back to her, putting one hand in a pocket and taking a drag from his cigar with the other.

The clerk handed her a double scoop of cookie-dough, and she left. As she walked past, she tried to get a better look at the man by stealing a sideward glance, but he looked down at a watch on his right arm. The cigar smoke wisped above his head like a dense cloud, dissipating as it rose into the wind. She walked on. Shortly after she had passed, he followed, his heavy boots making a slow clump, clump, as he went, not trying to lighten the conspicuous noise at all. A block or so down the road, Kiley stopped, and so did the bootfalls. She turned, and he was there, mere feet behind. Suddenly, he lifted his head, giving her a full view of his face, and smirked.

"Hello, darlin'."

"You!" she gasped, nearly dropping her ice cream, "you're that thing with the claws!"

"Shh, shh!" 'You want the whole city to know we're both mutants? Stay calm; I'm here on my own. What are you doing in Chicago?" He fell into step beside her and walked with her on down the street, urging her to move on, despite her irritation.

"It was...time for a change of scenery." She looked at him sidelong, realizing that he was just a bit taller than she was, but still short for a man of his build.

"New heist?" he grinned, removing the cigar from between his teeth and scratching his forehead with his middle finger.

"Not exactly. What are you doing here, anyway?" she looked straight at him, annoyed.

"To look after you and your friend. Certain sources say you had a little visit two nights ago after you left us at the bank. That's why you ran here, right?" he put the cigar back between his teeth and looked over at her.

"That's none of your business." She said indignantly.

"Right." He chuckled. "The name's Logan, by the way." He extended his hand across his chest. Kiley shook with the hand being weighted down by the groceries. Logan shook it and at the same time grabbed the bag.

"What are you doing?" Kiley stopped and turned, trying to get it back, but he swung it over his shoulder, carrying it with two fingers.

"At least let me carry it for you, I am supposed to guard you."

"No one asked you to do that. Give it back!" she reached but he lifted his arm above his head. She brooded, but stopped trying. "You are not following me home."

"On the contrary, gorgeous," he leaned in close to her face, grinning even wider, "I'm supposed to follow you everywhere."

Kiley blinked and quickly shoved him away, and he backed off a few steps in front of her, holding up his hands innocently, still chuckling.

He stopped smiling and halted.

"So what exactly did Magneto say to you?" Kiley halted as well. She looked up at him. Logan noticed something in her eyes demanding an explanation. He obliged.

"Well, we know Quicksilver was there, and where there's Pietro, there's Magneto. My 'source' is a telepath." He explained. Kiley looked down and thought a moment.

"Yes, Magneto and Pietro were there. Why should you care what they said to us?" she walked on again.

"Because he's looking for you." Logan caught up, "Last we heard of Pietro, he was looking for you in Green Bay. He's getting closer, and worse than that, Magneto is already here in Illinois, not wearing his helmet, so his mind won't be hindered. You're in great danger here."

"We made a promise, and I have no intention of ingratiating myself with the enemies of Magneto," she said coldly, "now go!"

"I'm sorry, but I feel it's my duty to look after you with such an evil sonuvabitch on your tail."

"Evil is in the eye of the beholder..." Kiley replied more quietly, moving her gaze to the ground. Logan's eyebrow arched, and he gave her an odd look.

"I'm beginning to think the professor made a mistake when he said you ran out of fright." Logan adjusted his hat forward.

"Your 'source', right? If he's a telepath, he should have been able to read our intentions quite clearly. Like I said; we made a promise to him, and enemies of Magneto are no friends of mine." She said bluntly once again, taking Logan aback a second time.

"Yeah, I got that part well enough... Are you sure you know what you're getting yourselves into, though? Whether you agree with his ideals or not, you still have to admit he's a pretty dangerous guy. And he's not exactly all there, if you know what I'm sayin', darlin'." Logan tapped his temple with the hand holding the cigar, making his point.

"I have heard that Magneto led a tragic life and that at times he can become as a madman because of it, but that does not concern me. It does not concern you either. Now you can leave the bag with me, because you're not coming in." she stepped in front of a high staircase leading to an apartment building and turned again.

"Geez, you sound like you're in love with him or somethin'." Logan sighed and handed her the bag.

"So what if I am?" Kiley barked at him, grabbing her groceries and climbing the stairs in a huff. The shock of that statement left Logan gawking there a moment, but soon he turned and chuckled, walking away to find a perch to watch them from a distance.