Chapter II: Bad Blood

-October 11th, 1998, Hogwarts

Looking over the Black lake, was the Headmasters office. Papers were scattered around the floor and tomes of ancient magic were left open and abandoned on the desk. In the large chair sat one of Great Britain's most powerful wizard, he had aged considerably in the last two years. His clothes were mismatched… well more than usual and his beard had grown wild and rebellious. He sighed.

Dumbledore had made many mistakes in his long life, many mistakes indeed, and isolating Samantha Potter had, in recent times, been one of them. For two years he had searched for the poor girl, her family had been brutally and she was captured by an unknown third party, but they had hid her well. The Order had suffered losses and hope was becoming scarce, they needed her back. She held both political power and the magical strength needed to finally defeat Voldemorts's followers.

According to Severus' report Bellatrix has disappeared from camp and Tom couldn't be angrier. It brought great worry to Dumbledore not knowing where the mad woman was hiding. He would have to send Nymphadora after her and pray that the older Black didn't catch her.

Nearly headless Nick floated into the room. "Headmaster Sir Braddock has arrived."

"Good" he breathed. "Good, send him in."

-Bayville Plaza 3:00pm

Walking around town Samantha herself in front of an inviting bookstore. The shelves were lined with books of all sizes ranging from archaic to contemporary books. It had one table and two chairs, one was occupied by the Goth girl from yesterday reading Dracula by Bram Stoker. Samantha approached the older woman by the cashier. "Excuse me, do you have any books on meditation?" With a kind smile the woman pointed to the back of the store, With a polite nod Samantha thanked the her and went on to search for a good book. Scanning the shelves she found what she was looking for in a red leather book titled LIFE, she returned to the register and paid for the book. She turned around and walked towards the table. "Mind if I take this seat?" The girl lifted her head and studied Samantha carefully before returning to her book.

"Go ahead." She replied with a thick southern accent. Sitting dawn she opened the book to its first chapter,

'Revenge is a poison meant for others that we end up swallowing ourselves. Vengeance is a dark light that blinds all who seek it. The untroubled soul knows there is no justice in revenge. The untroubled soul knows that to seek vengeance is to seek destruction.' Words of truth that she would rather ignore, and probably would, for a while.

"So you new around here or what?" she asked, her eyes never actually leaving her book. "Cause I've never seen you around here."

"I'm new."

"Cool."

"…."

"Samantha Wu, by the way."

"Rogue."

"Cool."

Hours passed in comfortable silence few words were traded between the duo, by the time Samantha had to leave she was certain she had made friend. Grey clouds blocked sun, the first drops of rain fell when she was halfway back to her house, pulling out an umbrella she continued her walk in a brisker pace. "Luck's never on my side." With every step she took the rain became harsher and harsher, till the hail starts falling from the sky.

Her keen senses heard a pained scream before she narrowly avoided crashing into a girl but failed to catch her before she collapsed. As fate would have it was the woman with fire in her hair. "Sorry.' She mumbled. Samantha extended umbrella over her prone body, but it wouldn't have helped her, she was soaking wet and the impact must have knocked her unconscious.

Dread and worry overcame her normally rational mind, Samantha hoisted the woman off the side walk over her shoulder and began a mad dash towards her new home. At record speed she made it to the main door. Bursting through the door she began barking order to the house elves, who either out of fear or loyalty brought whatever she asked for as quickly as possible. The Facility uploaded as much medical knowledge they could into her head, it made her lethal and would lower agent fatalities if they ever managed to make he loyal. She took her to one of the clean guest room on the first floor and deposited her on the bed. First she removed the woman's clothes and proceeded to dry her off, then had one of the house elves dress her as she looked for a first aid kit. After searching the master bedroom she managed to find one deep in one of the closets like some muggle relic. She returned to find her dressed in a silk nightgown and awake, her hand clutched her bleeding head. With one fluid motion Samantha moved toward her and placed her right hand against her temple and applied pressure, unconsciousness came quickly and the woman fell limp. It would be better this way, the anesthetic had expired some time around 1971. Oxygenated water was then applied to the wound, she let it fizzle for a minute before washing the disinfectant out, then came the less pleasant part, the sowing. The red head thrashed a bit every time the needle pierced her skin. If Samantha had a better understanding of her magic a simple healing charm would be enough to close the wound, but without a wand any number of things could and would happen. With a grand total of six stitches she was done, she placed a blanket over the woman and the elves brought a cup of water and some pain relievers and placed it on the desk next to the bed. The bonds of magic were forming, weaving their lives together in the string of fate.

Life debts were a strange and are a rare thing and would only form when the parties involved wanted nothing other than to save a life, but this felt different. Samantha had collected one life debt in her second year with Ginny Weasley, but something was strange with the bond, she could feel magic tugging wishing to be closer, there was something else but she couldn't be sure what… it perturbed her.

The storm held strong as the sun set. School would be closed for tomorrow so there would be little need to set an alarm. Looking over her shoulder Samantha watched her patient sleep for a minute before making her way to one of the master bedroom. The black marble floor of the first level of the house reflected the subtle glow of the floating candles that adorned the hallway, it gave off a very dark witch vibe which she didn't really didn't mind. She ascended the ebony wood steps; physically she was fine, mentally on the other hand she was exhausted. She lied on the bed for what felt like hours before sleep overcame her.

-September 6th 1997, The Facility, Arena.

They were like animal ripping each other apart, they weren't Samantha and Laura, they weren't sisters, they were weapons of the highest caliber. X-13 and X-23 launched themselves slashing and hacking, feral because of the trigger scent on the others clothes. Glowing red eyes stared back at each other. And high above them they were being watched and studied. X-13 had the advantage of size, strength, and experience, while X-23 was about speed and raw savage ferocity. It was a clash for dominance, their feral minds biding for control of the other, no attacks were never aimed to cripple only to wound. X-13 was undefeated and would never let X-23 have a free victory, she would work for it. They separated and X-23 ran into the heavily foiled area.

An hour passed as the duo slowly but surely but slowly started to tire. Their uniforms had long ago had been lost, X-13 stalked around the jungle arena, her body low and glistening under the false moonlight, her eyes scanning the trees, lulling X-23 into a false sense of security. A flash of silver warns her of the impending attack, her leg muscles coil and she jumps, she flips once while in the air and her crimson eyes lock onto X-23. She lands and pounces, claws dig into X-23 chest. With a growl she flips X-23 onto her stomach and punches the back of her head. She doesn't feel the dart that hits her neck.

- November 24th, 1994 Hogwarts- School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Victory was meaningless with no one to celebrate it. So Samantha sat with Hagrid at the edge of the Black lake. Hagrid hoisted her over his shoulder. "Samantha Potter! Soon to be the youngest Triwizard champion in history!" He lifted her a jug firewhisky. "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald, Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling, With some interesting stuff, For now they're bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we've forgot, Just do your best, we'll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot."

He threw her in the air, caught, and twirled her around. Dragons were literally the last thing on her mind. The sun was up, the sky was a pleasant shade of grey. The day couldn't be better. Well it could, but, it wouldn't happen. Her heart swam with anticipation for the second task and the mystery of the golden egg.-

-October 12th 1998 6:00am

A burning sensation in her upper right arm woke her, her heightened senses allowed her to see in the all-consuming darkness of the room. Ragnuk had warned her of the mansion's wards and if she had the time she should activate them, this particular ward was one of warning intruders had snuck into the house. The house elves were given strict orders to remain unseen when others where in the house, unless the lady of the house ordered them not to. With a low growl she slipped out of her bed, there was no thump when her feet made contact with the floor. Step by quiet step she made her to the origin of the intrusion a window no sign of forced entry unlocked from the inside, few wizards could ever bypass goblin locks and those powerful enough to attempt it wouldn't bother with picking the lock. So mutant, five of them, one scent she was particularly familiar with… Weapon X. Her claws came out, snikt. He was the was the reason they tortured her, he was the reason they even knew about her. "Disable the younglings, the older one is mine." The order given she waited till one of the house elves returned giving her an all clear. The hunt was on.

Logan was sure it wasn't his day. First the elf and Scott decided to mess with his bike, then the storm hit after dropping the bike at a mechanic buddy of his that hopefully would find out what was wrong with the bike… for a boat load of cash, then the storm hit while he was walking back to the institute, then Ororo was in a particularly grouchy mood and if memory served him correctly it was the one year anniversary since T'Challa had their marriage annulled, and finally one of the students, Jean Grey, was missing while there was storm out the rain and winds would make it nearly impossible to track her by scent so they had to rely on Chuck and Ceribro , it took him a bit something was blocking him but with enough power he was able to overcome it. It tracked her to a nearby mansion, that until recently was abandoned.

Ororo wanted to try the diplomatic approach but she was out voted and honestly he thought that they should wait till morning and see how it would go and knowing the brats they would go with or without permission. They decided to divide into pair and search the property. He was currently in a white ballroom. The lines of his communicator were dead and he could smell the trap from a mile away, the wind shifted slightly and he caught a scent, before he could react six claws shot out from his chest "NYEARGGHH!" He took a wild swipe knocking his attacker off, he whirled around claws at the ready, he stopped dead in tracks. It was just a girl, short black hair, dark blue tattoos running down the sides of her face and cold blue eyes, glistening white fangs, and adamantium claws sticking out of knuckles, her stance was exactly like his. She looked like Dom… but it couldn't be…

Logan dodged around the girl, gauging her reaction time and looking for an opening. "Easy now, we don't have to do this the hard way." He managed to get out, he lurched back narrowly avoiding a blow to the neck. "It doesn't have to go down like- -" His word weren't getting through, and she was pressing harder, he failed to notice the faint an one claw nicked his face. He managed to block the next one. "Will you knock it off?! You know I'm just gonna heal like—" slash, like butter the claws travel across his neck. He's had it. his fist connect with the girls face sending her back a few feet with a flip she recovers and was ready to strike. He notices it now she's cut deep into his left thigh. "You don't want to listen. Fine." Logan rips off his ruined mask, muscles bulge as he readies himself to launch. "I'LL MAKE YOU LISTEN!" They jump, Her right claw digs into his left lung, but he manages to her cheek, chin, and over her eye. She lands infront of a ceramic vase, she launches it at him its short a few inches and it shatters on the floor, there's dirt and some kind of plant, 'it's a distraction.' He thinks, the girls already in his personal space, she rubs dirt on the wound. He hisses in pain. "The dirt stings, kid but I ain't gonna die from any infection." He sweeps with arm, she swerves under it in stabs her claws at the joint, the dirt comes almost instantly after. "Argh! You trying to annoy me to death?" She on top of him, dirt filled hand slamming on his shoulder, with his left arm grabs onto her. "GET OFF!" and sends her across the room. Logan clutches his injured shoulder. "What is wrong…?' his wounds aren't closing "The cuts won't close… Clever girl…you…you're bleeding me out." He's dizzy the adrenaline is seeping from his body, it's hitting him fast and hard, he barely registers her movements as she draws closer, with her arms she propels her kick straight to his face. Logan can admit that he's gotten knocked on his ass a few times before but this was something else "…" he tries to focus his vision. "Kid… I'm starting to think you've got a beef with me." She pins him on the ground

"Shut it!" she barks aiming her right fist to his head. "It's over." Logan doesn't close his eyes he just stares at her. In a flash of red light he feels her weight leave his chest. Darkness creeps into the edge of his vision, he knows it eont take him long to loose consciousness. Cyclops for the save.

"Did you find Red?"

"Yeah, she was in one of the guest rooms, sleeping."

"Good… grab her." He gestured to the girl's body with his head.

"What?! Why?"

"I need answers, bub."

- October 12th, 1998 Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters 12:00pm

Samantha awoke strapped into a bed in what looked to be an infirmary of some kind. She could se the sky from the skylight on shining directly above her. The sky was grey and lightly cloudy. Numerous plans formulated on how to leave without drawing attentions to herself, all of them would lead to a confrontation with Weapon X and an unknown number of mutants with unknown abilities. She realized something strange Weapon X's scent lingered in the room more than others, the red haired woman was a far second. 'This is what being a hero gets you…' Her clothes are gone replaced with some oversized pink sweater. Samantha quickly found herself bored.

After five minutes of waiting a white haired woman of African decent entered the room wheeling a bald man with a green jacket. The woman was very like Principal Darkholme in the way her body language commanded respect. The man was less imposing but that could be the illusion that he wanted her to see. The man smelled of books and tea while the woman smelled of nature.

"Hello Samantha, my name is Professor Charles Xavier and this is Ororo Munroe." The woman, Ororo, smiled warmly. Samantha's face remained blank. "We would like to formally inform you that you are not alone, there are others like you. We are mutants, men and women with extra ordinary powers awakened from the X-gene inside your body."

"…"

"Here at the Xavier institute mutants are provided a safe environment to for mutant to grow and learn to control your powers." He sighed. "I understand that it is difficult for you to trust anyone after the ordeals you went through."

"…" She stared at the man for minutes, her eyes flickered to Ororo before asking. "Why am I here?" Charels made to reply but Ororo beat her to it.

"You were injured. One of our students in an ill advised mission to 'rescue' another student blasted off half of your face." Samantha felt the truth in her words but something was missing.

"Accelerated healing factor, any medical assistance would only accelerated the process marginally." This time Xavier was the one who answered.

"We could not be sure of the limitations of your healing factor, nor could we allow you to continue uninformed of your status."

"By your earlier statement I can assume that at least one of you is a telepath, that being said you have already seen part of my memories and even without your abilities, the injuries Weapon X sustained would be enough evidence of my knowledge of mutants." She took in a breath. "Now I would like to know the reason why I'm here."

Leaning in Xavier rested his chin on his hands. "What do you know about your biological parent?"

This intrigued her, she had assumed that she was somehow related to Weapon X in one form or another. "Other than the aliases one of them wrote on the birth certificate, virtually nothing."

"Indeed, while the circumstances of your birth remain a mystery, it is safe to say your father had no knowledge of your identity or even mothers pregnancy. You see… it would be better if Logan explained things to you." Ororo calmly said. The door opened revealing Weapon X. "We will be outside if you need us." He wore a white hat, a leather jacket, a pair of jeans, and hiking boots.

"I guess we've got a lot to talk about, don't we kid?" he said taking the seat next to the bed. "My names Logan, that's about all I know about myself before loosing my memories. I used to be a mercenary did a lot of things I'm not proud of, at the time you were conceived I had quit the mercenary business and was engaged to this beautiful woman in Japan, her name is Mariko Yashida, but in the end she canceled the wedding and I wasn't really in the best of states, I returned to being a mercenary and eventually got paired up with your mother, Domino or Dom for short." He sighed, taking his hat off he relaxed on the chair. "We had sex a few times and you were born." He muttered under his. "Kid ya gonna say something or not?" She remained quiet. 'Look if I had known you were born I would have looked after you. And I know my life story isn't hat impressive, but it's the only one I've got."

Samantha was in conflict with herself, one side of wished to call the man father, the other wanted more information, She would compromise. "My name Samantha Black-Potter, head of the ancient and Noble house Black. I was July 30th 1980 to Samantha Wu. I was left at the steps of an orphanage where by the end of the week I was adopted by a witch and a wizard Lily Evans and James Potter. On October 31st 1981 the house was attacked by a madman and both Lily and James Potter sacrificed their lives for me, I was called a hero. I was supposed to be sent to my godfather Sirius Black, but at the time he was being convicted of betraying my Lily and James location, so I was sent to Lily's sister. This is where Weapon X project first found me, Lily's sister's husband sold me to them and they experimented on me for an unknown amount of times though I was eventually returned. I lived until my eleventh birthday in a broom closet under the stairs. I lived a neglected life and barely had enough to eat. On my eleventh birthday I learned I was a witch and part of a secret community. My adventures ranged from slaying an eighteen meter snake to battling dragons on brooms. The mad man had made a cult that worshiped him and resurrected his body and spirit at the cost of a dear friend, I survived and told the world what happened and I was branded a fame seeking child. In 1996 I lost my trust in those people I called friends, Weapon X captured me after slaughtering my 'relatives'."

Logan stared at her and whistled. "Well, shit…"

"My designation in is X-13."

"You aren't telling me there's thirteen more kids I don't know about?" he asked worriedly. "Cause I'm not that irresponsible.'

Samantha narrowed her eyes at the poor attempt at humor. "No. I am the thirteenth attempt I was the first to be successful; the other is X-23, the latest attempt at recreating your lethality."

"What about the tattoo what does that mean exactly."

"They mark me as a Hound, a mutant tracker and executioner."

"Shit."

"Shit indeed."

-October 12th 1998 5:00pm

Leaving the infirmary with a new set of clothes was a good. She had a new black leather jacket with a yellow X on her shoulder, pants gloves and boots. The talk was necessary and helped with two or three of her issues but they were nowhere near okay. Logan was protective even when he didn't mean to be and though he wanted to give her space, his primal instincts were pushing him to enter that father role.

Xavier was too much like Dumbledore for her to trust, even had his own little team of heroes to battle his nemesis and their team. Ororo was almost motherly, guiding and giving advice and was very insistent that Samantha call her by her first name or code name, Storm. Kurt was nice to be around always helpful and was very apologetic about breaking into the house. Kitty Pryde was too talkative for her liking and always started her sentences with 'like' and 'totally'. Evan was interesting, he reminded her of a mellowed out Ron. Scott Summers was hostile from the get go, he made it quite clear that he disliked her and she ignored his formal and fake apologies. Jean Grey, she learned was the name woman the woman that she had saved, hadn't visited her so she assumed she was resting.

But to Samantha's surprise Jean was standing by the doors, at full height she was three inches taller than Samantha, she wore a form-fitting pale purple with a slight v-neck that exposed her naval, tan khakis and brown opened toed sandals. "Hey!' Jean greeted cheerfully. Samantha waved, not really sure what to say, she could feel the magic that in a way bonded them growing stronger. "I was hoping to catch you before you left."

"Really? Why?"

"Just wanted to say thank you, and you know introduce myself. So…"She extends her right hand. "My names Jean Grey, I hope we can become good friends." For a split second Samantha hesitates she takes the offered hand.

"Samantha Black, but I go by Wu in public."

"Well it a pleasure to meet you, Sam."

"Same." Samantha feels uncomfortable with the familiarity in Jean's tone, but doesn't show it. She just smiles back then she frowns pretending to just realize something. "I really hate to cut things short, but I have to stop by the bookstore and get a few things before school starts." Being surrounded by people wasn't her thing.

"Oh." She sounds disappointed, her face falls for a second before her mask comes back. "Of course. Need a ride?"

'Yes.' "No."

"Okay then, I guess I'll se you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Samantha exits the property quickly, too much too fast.

-October 13th 1998 Lunch hour. 12:25pm

School had been tedious, people were openly watching her, she was the new school fascination, if not because she was new it was because of her markings, and if it wasn't her markings it was her voice. A blonde jock had already propositioned her for a date, Duncan the fool was named, she politely turned him down, now the rumor mill was spreading lies about how it was her propositioning him. All she wanted was a bit of peace an quiet and some fraction of a normal life. She dressed in the same outfit from the ay before

Gabbing her lunch she made her way to part of the playground, She climbed the leafiest tree and sat on its thickest branch. The breeze was soft and delightful while the leaves made calming sounds. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed. There was always peace in nature. Vibrations alerted her of a new presence. "Mind if ah take a seat?" Rouge voice carried through the wind, She stood at the base of the tree.

"Go ahead." Samantha replied. Not really opening her eyes.

"You really know how to make an entrance don't ya?'" Samantha could feel the smirk and answered with one of her own.

'It's an art."

"So… where'd ya come from?"

"Surrey, and you?"

"Mississippi, parents?"

"Dead, you?"

"Both mom's still kicking, somewhere."

"Cool. Do you play any instruments?"

"Bass, you?"

"Not really, I can sing though."

"A lot of people can sing." Rouge taunted.

"But can they sing well?" they both had a healthy chuckle.

"So what's your story?"

"Not really much to say, mom didn't think it as safe at back home and sent me over here. What about you?"

"Needed the change. Things were getting a bit heated across the pond."

"So you're a mutant?" Samantha opened her eyes and stared at the white streaked girl from their corner. "Relax, I'm one too."

"How do you know?" Samantha was tense. What could she have missed she had only used her claws against Weapon X.

"The X on you're Jacket" she simply stated. "Xavier's goon squad wear the logo."

"Ah."

"So ya on their side?" Rouge's eyes narrowed.

"I'm on no ones side." Samantha almost hissed, she sat up pulling her knees to her chest. "I'm simply surviving… for now, at least."

"Sorry, ah just wouldn't go around trusting them."

"I don't trust anyone."

Heavy silence fell over the duo. The bell rang, ending any of all conversations. Samantha jumped of the branch landing on her feet and walked calmly back inside Rouge followed a few steps behind.

A/N; Okay so that's chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it and please review. The next chapter will take place during Turning of the Rouge.

Samantha's tattoos are similar to the ones Rachel Grey has on her face, and her outfit is a more feminine version of Logan's from the comic series 'Snikt!'

Now need your opinions; Should Mariko Yashida be alive or not. If not why…

I look forward to see your responses.