It was dark out, the sun had set half an hour ago, six years ago this would be the time I started on my chores. Feeding the donkey, rounding the few chickens we had up for the night, getting a bucket of water incase one of us got thirsty during the night, or got hurt and needed the wound washed out. I sighed deeply, I was born here, I was going to die here.

I walked up the old trail leading up the small hill to the house. I passed by a medium sized rock resting against a tree, a simple enough picture, but that one had a pretty gruesome story behind it.

I struggled against the children pulling me away from the barn, towards the edge of the hill, "Let me go!" I ordered.

The oldest one of them, a girl names Ai smirked, "Sure thing."

They shoved me harshly over the side, and I tumbled down, hitting my head against a large rock propped up against the side of a tree.

The kids rushed over, gasping as they saw me groaning in pain, and holding my head as blood oozed out. One of the younger girls turned to Ai, "She's bleeding!"

"You don't think I know that?" Ai snapped, turning away and running, "Just leave her there!"

They ran off, leaving a six year old girl with a bleeding head wound suffering and alone.

I laid there, sobbing a the pain that I had never experienced before, until I came to the startling realization that the pain was fading slowly. Eventually, it was gone. I felt around for a cut or scab, but the flesh and skull were fine, and the only evidence there was an injury was a splatter of blood.

I started shivering at what had just happened, holding up my blood covered hands, staring at them, "What am I?"

First time discovering my healing factor wasn't pretty, when my mother found out, she had me fake a head injury for two months, walking around in fake bandages and stitches. Looking back on it, she hadn't been that shocked when I told her, she looked a bit more… sad. I kept walking up the hill, past the barn where we had kept our donkey and chickens.

The mean old donkey we used to have was long gone, but the small dent in the ground from where I had fallen off of the three story barn was still there. One of our chickens had flown up there for some reason, and I was idiotic enough to try and climb up to get it down. I had succeeded in getting up there, but I hadn't given one thought as to how I would get down while holding the chicken in one hand.

Not one of my best moments.

I walked past the barn, up to the front porch, where my mother used to sit with me in the late evenings, listening to the frogs sing and the crickets played music. I could hear a few frogs now, but no crickets yet.

I hoped he didn't kill me before they started playing, it would be a pleasant thing to die to. Strange how I was thinking now, accepting I was going to die, willing to die tonight, it had changed my thinking a little. I wasn't so ready to fight, maybe I could get him talking, stall him that way?

I walked past the porch, and into the house, where I saw him sitting down on the other side of the kitchen table, eyes closed, cross-legged. He was meditating.

I closed the door behind me, and his eyes opened, that smile I hate so much spreading over his face as he looked at me. "I kind of expected you to bring Logan, but I can see he won't be coming."

"He doesn't know, I never told him." I said, walking forward so I was on the other side of the table, starring down at him.

His eyes searched mine, and his smile disappeared. He had seen something in there he hadn't counted on. "You don't want to fight me?"

I shrugged, "I'm tired of playing this game with you. You find me, beat the life nearly out of me, and then I run. You find me again, and the cycle continues. Frankly I'm sick of it."

He raised an eyebrow, "You think not fighting me will change anything."

"I'm not just not fighting, I'm giving up." I said. His eyes widened, mouth opening a little. "You win, you're very good at playing a game I want nothing to do with."

I walked closer, sitting across from him at the table. "So, I'm ready to stop playing, I never wanted to start."

His look of shock slowly faded away. He had never expected this from me, he wanted a better game, a fight, resistance. He wasn't going to get it. Not a real one.

He shook his head, "You think I'm going to kill you?"

"Isn't that what it's all been about?" I asked, snorting. "You want to rule the world, Romulus, Logan, Laura, maybe Sabertooth, and I are pretty much the only people who could ever really stop you. You want to kill us all."

Slowly, ever so slowly, a smile spread over his face, not the plotting one I hated, but a smile one would give to a gullible three year old who you just brushed off with the stork story. "I've never wanted to kill you!" He busted out into laughter, "Where did you ever get that idea? Did you fall off the idiot tree when you were born?"

I glared at Daken, not liking this at all, this wasn't the plan, this wasn't what I expected. "I kind of got that impression the day you pinned me to a tree and gutted me on the forest floor. Ring a bell?"

He eventually stopped laughing, shaking his head slowly at my 'stupidity'. "You're so naïve, you think everything is black and white, I don't want to kill you." He met my gaze, and in that one look, I knew whatever he wanted to do with me was far worse than what I had in mind previously.

I bit my tongue gently, holding my breath at the same time. I slowly released my tongue, "What do you want from me then?"

He laughed again, but this one wasn't carefree and slightly amused, this one was dark and sinister. "I want to own you."

It was worse than I could have ever imagined, Daken wanted to own me, to possess me and use me like a soldier, like Romulus had done to him, like Romulus now wanted to do to me. Great, in two weeks, I find out that Daken and Romulus both wanted to use me in their own twisted goals to achieve-

It really somehow amazed me that my mind rants could shoot a valuable piece of info into my lap that I could use. Information that will be my strength, my tool, my weapon.

"Well, you've got competition then." I said, smirking, "Family competition."

He snorted, "You'll get bored of Logan soon enough, and when you realize-"

"I'm not talking about Logan." I said, using my pheromones to disguise any emotions through my scent. He raised his eyebrow, I don't think it was because of the sudden shift in my scent, but rather the words that had been spoken. "Romulus has expressed his interests in me, leaving quite a clear message for me about his interests."

I shrugged, "Why would I ever join you, when Romulus is stronger, had more resources, and probably a lot more economically fulfilling."

Daken stiffened, "You wouldn't dare join him, I know Logan's warned you about him."

"He's warned me about you also, he made sure I was quite educated with your past, your tactics, your games, and all your abilities. Same with Romulus. If I do get bored of Logan, why one Earth would I pass up a chance to rebel against him with someone he hates, rather than someone he loves?" I questioned.

"What are you saying?" Daken growled.

"I'm saying, we both want Romulus dead, and quite frankly, I can't kill him myself, he's to strong. I know you couldn't kill him either now that he doesn't trust you, now that he sees you as an enemy." I smirked, "We both need each other, and threatening me with Lovette isn't going to make me want to help you out."

"Without my help, you can't kill him." Daken pointed out, thinking he had won. "And Logan would never let you fight Romulus, he'd make you sit out of the fight. A fight that you have every right to be apart of."

"True, Logan wouldn't want me to get mixed up in it, to blind with caring for me to realize I was born into that fight. Laura however, she would feel quite differently, she's getting really big into the whole 'choose your own fate' thing." I said. "Now, are we going to end this, because quite honestly, I won the minute I said Romulus."

He was silent for a long time, so long I was able to count to three hundred, until he finally smiled that smile I hate, "You really are my daughter aren't you?"

I stood up, as did he, "In blood only, in every other way possible, I am nothing like you."

"Really?" He asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a phone. "Cause last time I checked, Logan doesn't talk like that, Logan doesn't fight with strategy, or fight with words. Those actions, all of them, are all mine." He dialed the number without looking, "Try to prove me wrong."

He put the phone to his hear, and as it rang, I grit my teeth together, trying to find some way to defy him, but I failed. He smirked, "See? You're a lot like me."

He spoke into the phone, "Let the girl go… guys?"

I smirked, shaking my head, "No point, Conner's already rescued Lovette, and she's in an alien space craft headed for Happy Harbor as we speak."

He was silent, staring at me, "More likely, he's been shot with a kryptonite bullet."

My blood ran cold, "What?"

"You think I would risk you sending superman or his little brat after the carrot top?" He asked, "I gave you rules, and you broke them. Whether or not you regret his death, that's entirely up to you, but grieving over a mindless and heartless clone is not my definition of strong."

I snatched his phone away, hastily typing in Megan's phone number, it rang slowly, while my heart was racing a million times a minute. Finally, she answered, "Hello?"

"Megan!" I shouted, turning away from Daken to scream into the phone.

"Mio, you're alive?" She questioned.

"Don't let Conner go into the building, keep him out of there!" I ordered.

"Why?" She asked, "We're a good hour away from where I sensed her mind, did something happen?"

"Yeah." I took a few deep breathes, trying to get my heart rate to slow down. "I'm fine, Lovette's gonna be okay. Wanna come back and pick me up?"

They hadn't even left ten minutes ago, of course they hadn't made it there yet. I should have remembered that, but I had gotten so worked up over Conner being shot by kryptonite, I hadn't thought to run the numbers.

"Um… what happened to you going off and dying?" She asked, confused.

"Are you really that ready to bury me?" I asked, a smirk creeping over my face.

"No but… you're really weird." She said. I could almost see her rubbing her forehead, mumbling about strange earth people.

"What was your first clue?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Conner wants to talk to you Mio, he hears your voice, and he's really happy you aren't going to die today." She said.

I bit my lip, I'd talk with Megan later. As much as she was weak and a bit pathetic in my opinion, I didn't want to hurt her, I cared for her.

"Okay."

The phone shifted, and Conner's voice came over the phone, "Mio." He said, just saying my name, speaking a thousand words with just one.

I stopped biting me lip, "Conner."

I heard Daken chuckle behind me, and then Conner spoke again, "We'll come pick you up, did you kill Daken or something?"

"Or something." I answered, my thoughts drifting to the man behind me, and what he had said. Own me. I fought back the urge to shiver, and spoke again, "Just get over here, I have a feeling we'll be giving him a ride."

I looked over my shoulder, to see Daken nod, I was right.

"What!" Conner questioned, "Why would we ever-"

"Just do what you're told." I snapped. "Batman's gonna make me give a report on this later, you can read about it."

"I don't like this."

"I don't really care."

"Yes you do." Conner said, I knew he was smiling.

"Goodbye Conner." I said, hanging up, and handing the phone back to Daken.

He was smiling, in an amused 'I just found something out' way. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Nothing."

I walked out the door, and he was following me at a slightly uncomfortable distance, meaning right on my heels.

The bio ship wasn't in sight, it would be a few minutes. Daken put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me even closer. I didn't like that at all. "Wonder what they'd do if I told them I was your father?" He asked, his lips right next to my ear, he knew I didn't like people so close, he was trying to get me to play along. Fine, I would.

"Probably something along the lines of: that's so three weeks ago." I said, shrugging his hand off, "I told them already, and you know what? The only thing they were mad about was the fact I didn't tell them sooner. They're good kids, and they don't judge."

I knew he was shocked, but he would never show it. "I've finally got a home, a real family. There, we're all in it together, we'd die for each other, we fight for each other, and if one of us is hurt, all of us are. We have our secrets, but we're not held back by that."

Daken shook his head, "You're so pathetic, Logan really messed you up. Brainwashed you pretty good, I'm gonna have to ask him his method."

I gave him a look, "To tell the truth, and to not keep secrets from family."

He smirked, "That's you're rule?"

"Yeah."

"Then tell me the truth."

"I don't consider you family, I consider you a thorn in my side." I said, "You're a coward."

He grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around and shoving his fist under my chin, his claws coming up on either side of my face, "What did you just call me?" He growled.

I didn't falter, "You're a coward, a scared little boy who's running away from his daddy instead of facing his crimes."

Daken laughed, threw his head back, and held his sides in pure delight and amusement. I frowned, as the bio ship came into view. "I hate you." I growled, as it landed, and we both walked up to it.

Daken just chuckled, finally over his laughing fit, "No you don't. Maybe you want to, but you don't."

Conner walked over as we boarded,, grabbing my arms and yanking me into a rib breaking hug.

"Conner…" I mumbled into his chest.

He smiled down at me, "Yeah?"

"You're breaking me ribs." I choked, and ha released me, still smiling as the bones snapped back together, and the bio ship took off.

"Sorry." He said. He pulled me into a lighter hug, as Daken sat down in one of the chairs. "I'm just happy."

I pulled away from him, sitting down in a seat across from Daken. Not to close to him, but not so far away I would look weak. "Whatever."

I knew that hurt him, but displaying emotion in front of people, especially Daken, was a weakness, and a fault. Not now, not right now.