Disclaimer: It's my birthday & I'll post this if I want to, Yada blah-blah blah. I wouldn't post it here if I owned it.

This is a (slightly early) birthday treat for both me & my readers, mostly for the latter. A quick caution though, due to the fact that I've only got the episodes on DVD up to #18 this fic may go on hiatus but since I update and post other fics before continuing it might not happen. I hope. ENJOY!

Chapter 1

Usually, night time in the suburbs of New York was quiet and peaceful. At least, that is what it was eleven months ago before the single event that had caused one of the most important squads that managed to keep the peace between both humans and mutants to cease to exist. The day the X-Men lost both their mentor and their hope for a future without violence and war.

Professor Charles Xavier was a mutant with the power to read people's minds. Along with his long time friend and fellow mutant Eric Lensherr, he created a school for those like himself in order to help them gain control over their unique powers and abilities. In time, the first of his students became the X-Men, a group of mutants who used their powers to prevent other mutants from terrorizing the human populace as well as find new mutants and help them before their powers became their downfall.

As the years grew, the populace of the school increased until the amount of students residing rivalled that of the more popular universities. Some of the students, once graduated, began schools for mutants themselves in their home countries believing that they were honouring Xavier by passing on what he had taught them to the next generation. Despite the hatred against them, it appeared that humanity and mutant kind could co-exist side by side; from a certain point of view.

Unfortunately, disaster soon struck. What appeared to be some sort of psychic based attack by unknown forces caused a massive explosion, destroying the school and surrounding grounds and wiping both Xavier and former student Jean Grey from the face of the Earth. With the sudden death of their mentor, the tide had changed for the worst for mutant kind. Mutants were now feared and hunted down by groups of human vigilante groups and a new type of soldier force that went by MRD, Mutant Response Division, that captured any and all mutants they found regardless of the mutants age, gender and beliefs.

Although the X-Men had disbanded shortly after their mentor's death, at least one of them tried to follow the path Xavier had shown them. Standing on the roof of a closed down building, Kurt Wagner calmly surveyed the MRD unit that was slowly trundling down the street towards him. As one of the first students to be taken under Xavier's wing, personally recruited by Charles Xavier himself, Kurt had come to see that everyone, human and mutant alike, was special in some way and that the paths they walked were of their own choosing.

Having been abandoned at a young age due to his demon looks, Kurt grew up in a circus run by his adoptive parents. His inhuman skill in acrobatics made him the main attraction with audiences thinking that his features were just a costume. When he was sixteen, Kurt was discovered to be an actual mutant and the townspeople tried to capture and burn him believing that he was a real demon before Xavier came to his aid.

Once at the school, he showed an unnatural flair for fencing and took up the sport as a new past time after watching an old black and white version of Treasure Island. With a kind and caring personality that was the direct opposite of his appearance, he had became popular within the student populace and was often seen helping others out or doing something humorous, the latter mostly involved harmless pranks and jokes although it depended who was on the receiving end.

When the explosion occurred, Kurt had taken up the mantle of leadership and begun orchestrating the relief effort seeing as their true leader, Scott Summers, was too overcome by grief at Jean Grey's demise. Despite managing to hold them all together, Kurt made the painful choice of sending all the students back to their homes seeing as there was no place for them to stay at the moment using what little funds they had left to arrange for flights abroad. He even allowed the X-Men the choice of leaving as well which most of them did although several kicked up a fuss about it.

Upon seeing that he was now on his own again, Kurt became a wandering traveller and helped out any and all mutants he met along his travels in any way that he could. Now, more than ten months after making one of the hardest decisions of his life, he had found himself not far from the place he had called home for over six years now watching an MRD unit tear open another home that apparently housed a defenceless mutant.

He watched as two soldiers threw a girl, probably still in her late teens, out onto the street where five more soldiers were waiting each with a shock rod and a sadistic grin on their faces. Apparently, they were going to have themselves some fun before carting her off to where the rest of her kind were being kept for the time being. Despite knowing her fate, the girl spat at the unit's captain before saying something that Kurt was certain was not at all lady-like in Spanish.

Just as Kurt was about to jump in and rescue the girl, although he knew he would probably get an earful from her about not letting her fight her own battles, he noticed something coming towards the unit from atop the buildings at the other end of the street, and rather quickly too. Running across the rooftops with the grace of a cat, the approaching person suddenly sprang into the air, reminding Kurt of a bird of prey the way the persons arms was spread out whilst his legs seemed to be hidden until he came in reach with his prey, before landing on all fours ten feet from the soldiers.

As the person remained in the position he landed in, Kurt took stock of who he was dealing with. The vigilante wore only a pair of black shorts and a sleeveless hoodie that seemed to cling to him allowing all to see his muscular and well toned physique. A fraction of a second later, Kurt realised that the vigilante's arms were not well toned but was in fact his skin colour; it was orange with black stripes reminding Kurt of a Bengal tiger.

When the vigilante stood up, he stood on the balls of his feet as if it were natural enforcing Kurt's belief the guy had a feline mutant gene in him until his hood fell down causing him to jump slightly. Asides the ears being cat like, the vigilante had a face resembling a hawk but thankfully did not have a beak. Instead he had a Mohawk.

'I guess that's vhat you get vhen you cross an Indian vith a tiger und a hawk' Kurt mused as he watched the scene before him play out. Already, one of the soldiers had taken a step forward and pointed his shock rod menacingly towards the vigilante.

"You looking for a fight muttie?!" He said menacingly.

"All I want" The vigilante said with no accent meaning he was born American as he pointed at the girl. "Is for you stronzo to let the Signorita go and return to the cave you crawled out of"

'Fluent in several languages too' Kurt thought.

The soldier seemed unimpressed by what the vigilante said and attempted to shock him, only to find himself and his weapon flung in opposite directions due to his opponents swift movements. Kurt decided to make himself known by suddenly teleporting to the girl's side then disappearing again with her. The soldiers surrounding the girl were caught off guard and by the time the shock wore off the vigilante had closed the gap between them.

Becoming an orange and black blur, the vigilante took out the four soldiers in as many seconds using his enhanced speed and strength to knock them out cold. Hearing the sound of a machine charging up, the vigilante sprinted towards a wall and scaled it swiftly as a stream of electric projectiles riddled the space he was previously in and began following him.

"Run muttie! Run!" The soldier yelled as he held down the trigger of the shock rifle not caring what he shot as he aimed it at the evading enemy. The next second, the rifle disappeared from the soldier's hands in a cloud of smoke. The soldier barely had time to realise what had happened before Kurt reappeared behind him and knocked him out with his own weapon.

"Danke, Messer Nightcrawler" The vigilante said once he had landed beside his saviour.

[I do not know whether to be surprised that you speak German or that you know me] Kurt replied as he stared at the person before him. [Especially if I don't know who you are]

[My apologies, Mister Wagner] The vigilante said in German as he bowed in greeting. [When I still lived with my tribe, I was gifted the name Tigerhawk. My real name is Joshua Greenwald]

"The CEO of Greenvald Incorporated?! The company that vent bankrupt seven months ago und their boss killed himself out of grief?!" Kurt blurted out in English several seconds later after he remembered the name. "But I thought you were human!"

"Let us talk elsewhere mi amigo" Joshua suggested as he scanned the surrounding buildings. "Unless you wish to take on their reinforcements, no"

*\#/*

"What you heard in the news about my company was what they told them" Joshua explained once the two of them were at his makeshift camp for the night. "My true appearance was a secret to all except family and one other. After what happened at your school for kids and the sudden rise in mutant hunting, that one other went to the MRD forcing me to flee before I was captured"

"That does not explain vhy the company vent bankrupt" Kurt commented as he eyed an impressive looking tek bow that lay beside a full quiver of arrows and a thin staff about a foot long. "Nor how you know me"

"Do you still have that TK421 Image Inducer you were given not long after you first arrived?" Joshua asked as one corner of his mouth curled up allowing Kurt to see a set of white fangs.

Kurt stared at Joshua in shock. "Are you telling me that Greenvald Inc vas the company that gave the Professor the technology to complete his dream und mien inducer?"

Joshua nodded. "My adoptive father was one of Professor Xavier's close friends and allies. All the technology, including the Mk2 Blackbird, came from a secret division of his company that consisted entirely of sympathisers who thought along the same lines as Xavier himself"

Kurt was dumbstruck; right in front of him, was the man that gave him the means of living amongst the very people who had tried to kill him.

"As for the company going bankrupt, I diverted all its profits into the resignation and retirement funds of each and every employee before escaping with what remained of my own fortune after securing the rest of my adoptive family" Joshua finished somewhat lamely. "It's still a sizeable sum, enough to rebuild a certain school I might add"

Kurt, who could not help but burst out laughing at Joshua's scheme, inhaled sharply. Before him was a man who was saying that he could rebuild the mansion he had come to call home. He knew that something as miraculous as this could not come free of charge.

"Und vhat do you vant in return?" He asked suspiciously.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you yet" Joshua replied reluctantly. "At least, not until the third joins us"

*/#\*

How was that for an opener? For fans of my other works, there will be the usual pairing I go for so rest assured.

Review if possible

& 'til next time

Watch this space & peace out