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Numbuh333halfway2hell - Wow! Thank you! (Blushes) You'll find out soon…I think.

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Chapter 3

Encounters

Brotherhood Houses - 11:42 a.m.

Kitty was still out of it and Lance had long ago carried her up to his room. He had removed the blanket from around her in order to get a better look at her bruises. Lance was shocked at what she looked like; there was hardly any part of her that wasn't covered in bruises. He arms showed signs of someone holding her tight; the traces of fingers were very recognizable. The whole left side of her face was pretty much black and blue and her lip was busted, dried blood still on her chin. Her legs were pretty much in the same condition as her arms; only, it looked as if someone had kicked her repeatedly.

Lance then looked at her clothing, noticing that it was ripped in places. He bit back the anger he wanted so badly to let loose and pushed back a stray strand of hair that had fallen onto her face. He then lifted her shirt up to her chest, keeping her covered.

He felt tears forming in his eyes as he stared at her. The whole right side of her stomach was bruised. It also looked like her ribs had been broken. Lance just couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Wanda had been standing in the doorway observing him for some time. A faint smile played across her lips as she saw how gentle he was being with her. But there was also a ton of anger and hatred that had built up in her as she too wondered who could have done this to Kitty.

"I think her rib is broken." Lance said, startling Wanda; she didn't know he knew she was there.

"We can't take her to a hospital." Wanda said quietly. "They'll never treat her. You know they know we're mutants."

"I know, but we have to do something." Lance said, still sitting on his bed; he had taken Kitty's hand in his.

"Why not take her to McCoy?" Wanda suggested, knowing full well that that wasn't going to work.

"She ran away from that place, do you really think it'll be that easy to get her to go back?" Lance said, incredulously.

"Lance?" Kitty asked weakly, squeezing his hand a little. Lance jumped, startled, and turned his attention back to the girl beside him.

"I'll be back." Wanda said before disappearing from the doorway.

"I…I'm sorry." She said, placing her free arm around her middle, holding her stomach.

"Kitty, there's no need to apologize. You're always welcome here, you should know that." Lance said, wiping a few of her tears away.

"It hurts." She said quietly, looking away. "I'm scared."

"Don't worry Kit, nobody will hurt you here." Lance said, leaning over and kissing her forehead gently. "And I'm going to kill the bastard that did this to you."

Kitty's eyes filled up with tears as she looked into Lance's. He seemed so serious just then. Kitty still loved him and she knew he still had feelings for her. But she just couldn't bring herself to tell him just who it was that did this to her; it hurt too much.

Kitty tried to sit up, but soon found that that was a mistake. Lance moved to sit behind her so that she could lean against him. She felt herself blushing as Lance put his arms around her gently, not wanting to hurt her.

"Thank you." She whispered, closing her eyes.

Bayville High - 12:00 p.m. (lunch)

Rogue had been keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. And seeing Pietro, Toad, and Fred at school was awfully suspicious. She glared and stood up, walking over to where they were sitting. She sat down beside Pietro and she noticed that he looked nervous. Jack pot.

"So, Pietro, what are y'all doin' at school? And where's your idiotic leader?" she asked, smirking because she knew she was getting to him.

"Wouldn't you like to know." He said quickly, back to his normal self.

"Okay, let's cut to the chase." She said, glaring at him and taking off her glove. "Where the hell is Kitty?"

"And why do you automatically assume that I know?" he asked, not noticing that she had removed her glove.

"Because you're so easy to read." She said, touching him and causing him to slump over onto the table. She put her glove back on and held her head; shocked at the information she had just received.

Pietro recovered quickly and glared at her as he sat up. But his expression softened as he noticed the tears forming in her eyes. So, she has a heart after all.

"Come over after school." Pietro said, standing up and following Toad and Blob who had just taken off. But then he turned around adding this as if an afterthought. "Come alone."

She nodded and headed inside to her next class. This day couldn't end soon enough.

After School

Rogue told Scott that she was just going to walk home today. He seemed reluctant at first to let her go, but after realizing that there was no arguing with her, he left with Jean, Kurt, Bobby, and Jubilee.

Rogue made her way to the Brotherhood house as quickly as she could. She really didn't like the idea of walking around alone, especially since she was a mutant and the world was against her, but she got over it.

As she neared the place, she could swear that someone was following her. She had felt this extra presence for some time, but had ignored it thinking it was Pietro trying to get on her nerves. But then she realized that Pietro had had detention and wouldn't have been let out yet.

A cold chill ran up her spine as she continued along, glad that she didn't have that far to go. She was just about to go around the corner onto the street where the Brotherhood house was when the person who had been following her decided to make themselves known.

"Bonjour chère." Said an all too familiar voice. He smirked when he noticed that Rogue had jumped a little and that her heartbeat had increased. "Did ya miss Gambit?"

"Damn swamp rat." She muttered, glaring at the sneaky Cajun in front of her; he smirked.

"Gambit take dat as a yes." He said, moving closer to her.

"Ah'm not in the mood Cajun." She said irritably, pushing past him and continuing her route to the Brotherhood house.

"Ya wound Remy, chère." He called to her retreating form, pouting somewhat; it was her turn to smirk.

"Good." She said without turning around.

He watched her curiously as she entered the Brotherhood house. Now what would Remy's chère be doin' in dat rat hole? He wondered. He decided he'd just have to find out for himself, since he found it highly unlikely that Rogue was going to tell him.