Review Replies:

Liadan Lover: Ooh, a new reviewer! Or just a new name? Have you read the other fics? I'm glad you like and I'm trying to get this one out cuz this is the last chapter of this fic. Sorry it took so long, but I got some bad reviews (kinda mean ones, not even constructive criticism) and it just killed my motivation…But here you are : D And it kicked me back into writing mode

DryadMage: Thank you for your vote of confidence (and for defending me, lol). I always said the flames wouldn't affect me, but jeepers, they put me into a writing funk. I almost didn't finish the story. Also, your art work was way cool. THAT made my week! And helped me decide to finish this. Thanks :D

WinterWarrior: Thanks for reading. I don't think hardly any of the followers from the first three fics reviewed my last one-shot Cougar and only you and Dryad Mage followed this one. I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy it. This should be the last chapter, cuz it's only a short fic.

Quote: "Always end the name of you child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name carries." Bill Cosby

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any other Marvel character. They belong to Marvel and/or Stan Lee.

Chapter 3

The plan seemed simple enough. I'd have a tracker in my shoe, turned off in case they did a sweep. 'Patch' would hand me over as a bonus because he wouldn't have the other girls ready yet. I'd get pissed at him and allow myself to be dragged away while still putting up a convincing fight. The X-Men would then turn on my tracker and find me once I stopped moving, hopefully stashed with his other victims.

It worked out beautifully. I even got a good solid punch to Wolverine's face. BONUS! But once I was shoved into Udinov's sedan, he had his goons strip me to my birthday suit and redress me in a pair of barely-there shorts and a skimpy halter top. At this, I did give them a real fight, causing enough blood shed to get a gun pressed against my temple and ordered to do it myself. My clothes and shoes were tossed to a homeless woman.

It was stupid on my part. I'd shown them that I was dangerous, and for that, the gun never left my head. The limo drove to a gated community and up to a well groomed house. We entered the back and I was forced up some stairs and into an electronically locked room. It smelled like pee and fear sweat. My cat eyes saw it before he flicked on the lights.

Cages. Girls in cages. Young girls with wide, red rimmed eyes that all snapped to the door when it opened. There was a whimper, an all out sob from another one. The gun pressed harder into the back of my head.

"Move all the way to the back," the muscled man ordered.

We moved together with Udinov and the third man, who he ordered, "Give our new guest something to curb her aggression."

There was a wave of panic that I swallowed back down as I allowed my hands to be cuffed together. Regardless of the gun, I begin to struggle away from the syringe. "What the fXck is that?" I snarled just as Goon #2 stabbed it deep into my kicking thigh.

"American's call it X. Have you heard of it?" Udinov asked me. I knew it from classes at Xavier's school. It was a new street drug used by mutants, or on mutants, it depended on the strain. It suppressed mutations for a short period of time, making it a common date rape drug. The side effects were delusions, nausea, lightheaded ness...and a bunch of other things that I suddenly couldn't remember at the time. Basically it made you high. But coming off the drug was the bad part. It lowered their ability to control their powers. Not good for a feral, I was sure. I stared at the Russian's smiling face as the room began to wobble around us. He was close enough, so I headbutted him. Not the smarted move on my part.

"That was very stupid, little girl," he growled, holding his forehead. The goon's grip tightened on my arms and I turned to bite at him, distracting me from Udinov's meaty fist slamming into my stomach. I wretched from the blow and he hit me again. I was allowed to drop to the ground so the nice polished shoes could continue to pummel me. I struggled against the metal cuffs, slicing into my wrists. I'd been hit in the Danger Room before, but I'd never actually been beaten. The drugs were making things worse. Quite rapidly there became a disconnection between my body and my brain. Every move I tried to make, a simple leg sweep, my timing was off by five seconds it seemed. The disconnection did, however, keep the pain down to a severe throbbing. I could deal with that, but the blue chicken in the corner was really starting to give me a headache with it's incessant crowing...

What?

They rolled me into a cage, metal bars surrounded with chicken wire.

"I can't mar that face," the Russian bent down to look at me, face red and twisted with anger, "But if you ever attempt bodily harm towards me again, I will peel the skin from your back."

I didn't reply, my tongue was suddenly an eraser, so it would have done me no good to have tried to speak. The men left, causing someone to start crying. It wasn't me. I twisted around, screaming at the pain from my ribs and chaffed wrists, but I managed my hands in front of me. Pain was the key; it would keep my head clear while I was on the drugs. Or at least I thought so. Someone told me that...it was a whisper from the ceiling...or maybe that table over there...Damnit. I spent the rest of the night pressing on fresh bruises.

XXX

Everyone got jabbed again in the morning by needles on poles. I knew how to beat it by then. It made me sick, but since I received no food or water, I only dry heaved for awhile. I dozed on and off for the rest of the day, wondering where the hell the X-Men were at.

The room was spinning by the time that I realized it wasn't the florescent lights that were screaming, but people out in the hallway. "About friggin' time," I growled, shivering and shifting in my cage. I flinched as the door burst open but all happy feelings left me suddenly. "Shit…" It wasn't the X-Men.

The cages tore open, mine excluded, and a mess of mutants flew in to grab the other girls. I had little control over my powers of being noticeable by then, but they must have been up and running, shielding me from his attention. Steely gray eyes scanned the room once everyone was out, then abruptly locked on me.

"And how does one manage to go from a student at Xavier's School to a dog in a cage?" Magneto asked me, ripping my cage apart with a flick of his fingers.

Gently I touched the sheared bars, "They were supposed ta track me here." I looked up at him when the sharp metal pricked my finger, "Should I be runnin' away from you right now?"

He chuckled, like the psycho I remembered him being, then answered, "It would neither benefit me nor my cause at this time to harm you."

I nodded shortly, "Good. I don't think I can manage that right now. Where's Udinov?"

"I killed him," he stared evenly at me. "In exchange for my generosity of your life, spare me the Xavier-tinged lecture, if you would."

Very slowly I rose to my feet, stretching wicked kinks out of my back and answered him blankly, "Some people need ta be killed." The room started heaving again.

"That is a surprising response, considering your steeled morals at—Child, are you all right?"

He was suddenly very near and it took me a moment to realize that I'd almost blacked out. Super heroes don't faint…we black out, just to be clear. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I realized he was having difficulty locking in on me. I shivered…or maybe I just twitched…and told him, "I need ta get this outta my system before my invisibleness aint the only power that I lose control of."

From arm's length away he studied me, "What did they do to you?"

"X" I shivered again, wiping at my sweaty face. Gross…

"How many doses?" he demanded.

"Three? Four? They said I needed more cuz I was dangerous." As unfunny as the situation was, I started laughing, "For all I know, yer nothin' but a figment of my imagination." See, that would be funny.

"Perhaps," he frowned, "We should return you to Charles' sooner rather than later."

I shook off his helping hold to object, "Wait, the other girls—"

"-Are safe with the Brotherhood. An X-Man at heart, I see. You're fighting an overdose and still concerned with your mission. A mission that you failed at, however."

"Don't rub it in or I'll puke on you," I followed him out of the building.

The magnetized flight to Xavier's was spent with me shoving my fist into my mouth to keep from screaming as I tripped out on drugs. When we landed just outside the back door, I managed a "Thank-" before diving off to the side bushes to hurl.

As I straightened the kitchen door opened and, using a charged card as a light, Mr. Lebeau's eyes lit on my chauffer. "Mon Deau," he managed before drawing his arm back.

"Gambit," I yelped, jumping between the two. If I wasn't high, it might have occurred to me that Magneto would simply shield himself from the exploding object. He had nifty powers like that. I don't and the bang throws me back into the grass.

"Petite?" He had had enough control to have it explode before actually hitting me, so I don't get a gaping hole in my chest.

"She needs to o o your infirmary," the old man hadn't moved, but he didn't seem offended by the attack either.

"m'OK," I groaned, getting up to my knees.

"For the X, child," he reminded me.

"Oh, yea." I took the offered boost from the Cajun but had to hold on to him as the grass swirled.

"Gamit don't like dis," he frowned at me, "What'd you do ta her, Magneto?"

"I rescued her," he sneered back, "Now, if you'd excuse me, boy, Charles is waiting in the parlor. You're to deliver the girl to Beast." With a spectacular swoop of his cape (or so it seemed to me…) Magneto strode away.

Still looking after him with a frown Gambit said to me, "Dis aint gonna improve yo' social status, petite…"

XXX

Once seated comfortably in the Med Lab, Dr. McCoy gave me a quick over-look, confirming my broken rib, called for a healer and then began bargaining with my cracked-out self about whether or not I needed the X antidote.

"Cougar…" he started slowly, "X has been known to stay in a mutant's system for up to a week. With the frequency of your dosage, the fact that you aren't catatonic is quite impressive. However, my main concern is your ability to control your mutant gifts. X severs the connection. Your physical shielding may be your only problem now, but with your feral natures…Cougar, please sit down…"

I stood on my tip toes on the metal examination table. There were sharks swimming around the floor. "I don't want to lose my toes." I explained rationally. "You'd better get up higher."

As Dr. McCoy continued to try to reason with me, Wolverine and Cyclops entered the room, followed by both Xavier and Magneto. A low growl came from deep inside my bruised chest.

"Cougar…" Beast trailed off.

Sharks be damned, I lurched across the room with all intent and purpose to claw off Wolverine's face. He started it, with his 'pissed off' energy coming into my space.

As fast as I felt I was, his hands locked around my wrists and he swung me to the ground.

"Logan," Beast admonished, "She has broken ribs."

"What the hell's she comin' after me for?" he growled.

I tried to bite his hand.

"Please restrain her for a moment." He drew a blue liquid into a syringe and I began kicking at Logan's soft spots. "This should begin taking effect fairly quickly."

Glaring at both men, I made a cross between a scream and a roar to no avail.

"That's hardly necessary," Beast jabbed me.

"Holy shit," Conner joined the mess then."

"Language, please, Medic," Professor Xavier corrected automatically. To Mr. Logan he said, "I believe you can help her up now."

"Are you sure, Charles?" Magneto studied me, "She still looks rather livid with him."

"She always looks like that," both Wolverine and Conner corrected.

Up on my feet again, I waited for the shakiness to subside before re-attacking my teacher. "You were supposed to track me," I shoved him with a snarl, then hunched in on myself in pain. "Damnit…" I hissed.

"Back on the table, please," Dr. McCoy ordered cheerfully, "And let young Conner here help you with those ribs."

The thought of a healing sounded awesome by that point and with no care for propriety, I lifted Udinov's skimpy shirt up to my bra. My teammate gaped at the bruises.

"Jesus, Cougs…"

"Just so ya know," I replied tightly while he began healing, "Missions with Wolverine suck."

"You have an antidote for X that works that quickly?" Magneto asked, looking me over.

"Formulated by Dr. McCoy, yes," the Professor answered cautiously. The tension in the room rose suddenly and my teammate and I exchanged an uneasy glance. There was a lot of metal in the MedLab…

"All done," Conner said a little too loudly.

Hopping off the table with my newly reclaimed reflexes, if not my sanity, I snatched the new vial and tossed it to my former dictator.

"Hey," Logan snapped, grabbing at me.

As much as I hated myself for it, I involuntarily flinched, throwing my arm up between us to block. We both froze and I stared at the floor, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. Angrily I explained, "He got me out of a fxxking cage Wolverine." I was sure everyone was staring so I asked without looking up, "Did Dr. Grey get what she needed?"

"Yea," he answered shortly.

"Then I'm goin' ta bed." Staring straight ahead, I moved through the men.

I didn't go to my room though. I couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up in a room, even if it was my own. I went to my tree, enjoying the long walk through the woods to calm my jittery nerves. I wrapped my ungloved hands around a low branch, squeezing hard to dig the bark into my palms. 'Breathe in and out. Just Breathe,' I thought to myself with my eyes closed.

I don't know how long I sat there just breathing, but when I turned around and opened my eyes, Wolverine was watching me from the shadows. "I can see you," I snapped.

"I wasn't hidin'." He crossed his arms and studied me.

"What?" I snapped again.

"You all right, kid?" he finally asked, watching me carefully.

I didn't answer him right away. I had gone through a lot just to get to Xavier's school. I'd learned a lot along the way and even more since I'd been there. I still didn't feel that I was prepared for that mission. Not the way it turned out, anyway. Maybe that wasn't something that could have been taught there, but I still felt that I shouldn't have been put in that position. I wasn't ready to be put back into a cage like that.

He watched my face darken and my eyes look away, but he didn't press when I answered shortly, "I'm fine." Instead he pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me, a credit card and the keys to his jeep.

"What's that for?" I asked, not moving to accept them.

"Part of bein' an X-Man is learnin' how ta deal with the aftermath of a mission. No matter how it ends, yer gonna be the person ta live with it. Whether ya go get drunk or sit in a bathtub and cry or go run wild in the hils, it don't matter ta me. Find yer way ta deal." He held the objects closer and added as I took them cautiously, "Or yer never gonna make it at this job."

Looking in my hand I asked him, "Yer gonna trust an 18 year old girl with a limitless credit card?" I must have still been high…

"You've worn the same pair of shoes for three years, kid," he pointed out.

I blinked at him, not looking down at my bare feet, and answered blankly, "They're comfortable. And steel toe."

"That's my point," he looks at me like I'm the dumb one. "Yer not the kind ta go on some insane shopping spree. Besides, ya need a new pair. That bag lady's wearin' them now."

Narrowing my eyes I asked, "You found my shoes?"

"Tracked her all over the flamin' city," he grumbled, shaking his head.

"So you were tryin' ta track me," I frown then add, "I thought you were better than that."

Wolverine's eyes narrowed dangerously as he asked, "You leavin' now or am I takin' my keys back?"

I pulled the keys close to me and turned slightly, "Nope. My keys. I'm leavin'." I started back toward the mansion, almost skipping at the lovely thought of a hot shower. "When do I have ta be back?"

"A week," he grunted.

"Two," I negotiated. "I was put on drugs."

"Five days for pushin' it." He growled.

"A week and I half," I countered, "And I won't tell anyone that ya tracked a homeless person thinking it was me."

"Excuse me?" He stopped to stare at me darkly.

"A week sounds good," I said quickly and took off at a jog.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

That's the end of it. Hope you liked it. I think this is the last one that's been bouncing around in my head. I can't make any guarantees. If you add me as a favorite author though, I think it tells you when I post anything else. Hope you enjoyed :D