A few days later:

She'd been surviving on the streets like she was back in Cairo, and had a run in with someone who was apparently not too fond of stealing. He chased her down an alley into a dead end, she was stuck, there was no way out.

"It's time you learn a hard lesson girl." The man said inching closer, though she was a girl she was in no way helpless, she pulled out a knife ready to defend herself as she'd done whenever it was necessary, though she hated the idea of hurting someone there was the law of self-defense, and it was there for a good reason. He stepped closer a stern sinister look in his eye when suddenly; someone or something plopped down in front of her and between her and the man.

"Out of my way! I've got to teach this little thief how to behave." He narrowed his eyes at the dark figure before him.

"How ya figurin on teachin her… Through pain?" The man between them asked now standing to his full height.

"Pain may be the only way she can learn, she stole three of those same things from me yesterday…" He said angrily pointing toward the girl, the man looked back toward her seeing that it was just a can of food.

"If she's starving let her eat." He said back to the man who did nothing just stood there continuing to eye the dark figure before him.

"I say if she's hungry let her steal from someone else's goods, not mine." The man crept closer dagger in hand, just as he was about to pass the man, the shadowy figure grabbed the man's wrist tight looking him straight in the eye.

"I said leave her alone." He said almost in a growl.

They glared at each other, there appeared to be a hint of a mischievous smile in the defender's eyes. There was suddenly the sound like something coming out of his skin, this by itself was freaking the other man out, he took a few steps back before turning on his heels in a full-on sprint in the other direction, once her attacker was gone her focus was completely on the man or whatever it was in front of her, he turned to face her.

It was so dark that there was hardly anything to see, her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, she looked him over, though all she could make out was a silhouette.

"You alright?" He asked, she could see little barely visible rims of faint light which she concluded were his eyes. He breathed in, which sounded much more like a sniff to her. She looked wary of him.

"I won't hurt ya." He said still looking directly at her. He wouldn't blame her if she was scared, it'd probably be for the best anyway.

She raised an eyebrow not sure what to think of this man or creature, he felt something for her. Compassion. It'd taken him by surprise often, many times leading to what some people would title "the unthinkable" But he couldn't much help it, when he saw someone hurting or in need especially a woman, child or animal it was something he couldn't resist. He thought for a moment, then remembered something, he turned to her.

"Come on." He said motioning for her to follow, she wasn't sure, she'd never had an encounter like this before. He looked back to her then walked over, she backed up a bit, he reached out taking her gently by the wrist and leading her out of there and into a building. She looked around, there was a dim light in the corner of the room, then she realized it was the same man she'd seen that day with the others in the military outfit and such, not the big tall guy, but the shorter one who got out after him.

"Here." He handed her a bag, she looked inside surprised to see some more food, a water bottle and some money. She looked up at him a bit confused, he smiled.

"Thank you." She said gratefully, looking down again to make sure her eyes weren't seeing a lie.

"There's a room upstairs and to your right, it's unoccupied if you need a place to stay." He threw in, she wasn't sure why he was being nice to her, just kindness… or did he want something in return? She didn't want to ask him really because first of all she was tired, and second, she didn't want to risk getting a fake answer, she found out you can usually tell someone's intentions or thoughts just by looking in their eyes. He gave her an oh well look and continued to walk to one of the rooms in the building. He didn't want to get more involved with this. He wasn't going to knowingly throw someone else's life away for pity's sake.

Exhausted as she was she walked out of the building making sure he saw her, she knew he was probably just being nice to her, but still many people have false acts which proved fatal in the past. It was pitch black outside, there were a couple lamps that were lit to show the way around. She flew up to the roof bedding down there for the night as she'd done the past few weeks.

*DUNK* *DUNK* The noises came from not too far away on what sounded like the same roof.

"Oh crap." She thought, she'd seen something on a rooftop a few days prior to that and did not want to encounter it again as it didn't seem like any creature she'd seen or heard of before, and it certainly didn't seem normal or tame. She thought of the offer that the man gave her earlier that night, it got closer.

"Crud." She said silently as she seemingly was left with no choice but to move or take the invite, she figured taking the invite would be easier than flying around trying to find a safe place to avoid whatever that was completely. She flew around to the side of the building using the wind to feel her way around, she landed on the ground and walked to the door, opened it, got inside, shut it, looked around, found the stairs and went to the second floor.

'To your right he said.' She thought to herself as she felt along the wall till she found a door. Pushing it open quietly she could barely see in the room as it was unlit, there was a bed in the room, thankfully it was unoccupied, she closed and latched the door, walked to the bed and crawled over it being as silent as she could, she laid down looking around the room then went to sleep. About an hour later she woke to a strange tapping sound, she looked to where there was the tiniest bit of light coming in the room, the window.

There was something like a weirdly shaped hand at the window tapping on it, she didn't want to move or do anything that could possibly draw attention to herself, something else dropped in front of the window, there were two glowing yellowish red eyes peering in at her.

"No!" She said praying to God for protection as someone had taught her when she was in an orphanage just after her parents died, whenever she prayed to Him, He never disappointed her. The next time she looked it was gone, she didn't get very much sleep that night.

Ororo woke the next day as the sound of a door shutting tore her out of a dream, she stretched then looked around her. It'd been a long time since she slept in a bed and not the roll she had, she enjoyed being in a safe room again protected from any prejudice or predatory sources. There was the sound of footsteps outside, she remembered what happened last night, and how she wasn't seen going up to the room.

What would happen if one of the guys found her there, and in the bed to… She didn't see it going to a good end, so she sat there silent as a mouse. The footsteps stopped outside her door, 'oh no.' she thought a tear of sweat slipping down her brow.

Outside the man who'd offered her to stay the night in the room listened for her knowing she was there. Most people wouldn't be able to tell if she was or wasn't, but he could hear, see, smell, taste, sense, and feel things others couldn't. Heck, he could hear if there was one mouse in a football field. There was the sound of silent breathing, and a very faint scent of fresh pheromones being emitted, he half smiled knowingly, then walked past and down the stairs. When the footsteps passed she was relieved and breathed in and out heavily trying to even out her heartbeat.

"She's in there you know." Said Victor as he greeted his team mate downstairs.

"I know, I offered her to stay." Codenamed Wolverine said walking around the hulking man.

"What do you mean offered?" Codenamed Sabretooth asked grabbing the smaller man by the collar of his shirt, Logan released himself from Victor's grasp.

"She was in trouble, I offered her a place to sleep that's all." Victor gave him a look of disapproval crossing his arms at the smaller man.

"Ya don't like it, fine, wasn't your problem anyway." Logan said turning away walking, the meaner of the two growled annoyed as the other walked off.

Reviews welcome :)