A/N: Hey all thatnks for all the favorites, I love it! Anyway hear is a new chapter. I felt like giving a little taste of Nadia's past so here we go. Next chapter we meet the ever fabulous Gambit (this kid's favorite male mutant...10 Awesome Kid Points for who can guess my favorite female mutant.) Enjoy!

I obviously never had much of a childhood when I was with Stryker. But I remember one occasion when I was twelve; I was used to gain access to and familiarity with a very private, very expensive boarding school in Southern France. Logan posed as my father and got me through the admittance process and Stryker made sure a lot of money entered the Headmaster's hands. It would be my job to locate and connect with one teacher: Elena Vadina Antonovna. She was suspected to be a former official of Soviet Russia and now was selling technology to other nations. But she is not the point of this story. CaraLee Von Titian is.

Well, I started school for the first time in my life and I fell utterly in love with everything about it. I loved the building, I loved the dining hall, I loved my teachers who actually seemed to like me, but most of all…I love the children. For the first time in three years I was around people my own age. I didn't make many friends, which wasn't really surprising. By that time, pretty much all my social skills were gone and there was a small incident involving my elbow and a boy's septum during my first school lunch. Despite my issues, however, one girl reached out to me.

When CaraLee first approached me, I was wary. I had little experience dealing with girls my own age, especially one so powerful as her. Obviously her father was the powerful one, but the children in the school seemed to hold on to the hierarchies and social structures of their parents. Anyway, after a few attempts to engage me in her own life, I finally opened up little by little. It was difficult, of course, balancing my time between learning how to be friends with CaraLee and my mission. Almost every waking moment was spent with her, making my actual mission rather difficult.

I quickly came to adore CaraLee in a way I never imagined. She was everything I wasn't and everything I wanted to be. She was fourteen and already a master at understanding the world around her. She was beautiful, smart, and absolutely in control of everything that happened around her. I was amazed she was so taken by me and so I let her take me under her wing and show me how happy I could be. She told me her secrets and I made secrets up to tell her just so she would think I was normal. She bought me gifts of clothes, jewelry, and stuffed animals. While I had nothing to give her in return, she seemed satisfied just by my reactions and my presence.

She spoke often of her family and I relished it. Her mother was head of a major charity organization while her father was a diplomat to a country I won't mention (top secret she told me.) She even had two younger siblings named Thomas and Audrey; they were twins and only three at the time. She often asked about my own family, but I never knew what to say. Most of the time I just talked about Logan in a very ambiguous manner, never actually calling him my father. She seemed to know, however, I wasn't being completely honest with her. She never pushed, though, and I loved her for it.

But one day everything changed. Stryker and Creed came to visit me, posing as my family, for an update on my assignment. Unfortunately I spent so much time with CaraLee; I hadn't done much in the way of learning about my target. Before they left, Stryker had ordered Creed to teach me what happens to his soldiers who waste time. I had never been in so much pain before. Creed clawed me good down my back, before almost choking me to death. When they finally left me alone I could only crawl to my bed and cry.

CaraLee found me and begged me to tell her what had happened. To this day, I don't know what came over me but I told her everything. I told her about my mother and my kidnapping. I told about Stryker and the Team. I even told her about why I was at the school and how I came to be in trouble. She was quiet for a long time after I finally finished my story. I wondered how she would react. Would she even believe me?

Eventually, CaraLee released a sigh and stared straight at me. Squeezing my hand she asked me, "How much longer are you here for?" I shook my head because I honestly didn't know. Maybe Stryker would say fuck it and take me out of school for my lack of effort.

"Well Nadia, we are going to figure something out, because you are not leaving this school with that asshole ever again," she stated forcefully pulling me into a hug. I felt myself sink into the embrace as she spoke again. "Even if we have to tell the whole school…"

Here I pulled away. "No. If he finds out I told you," I explained shaking my head again, "he will kill you…and probably me. Cara, you can't tell anyone about this. I shouldn't have said anything, but please promise me you will never talk about this ever again," I begged. She looked as if she would cry. I couldn't believe she cared so much for me.

"Fine," she finally agreed. "But promise me you'll try and think of a way to get away from them. We'll figure this out together…" I nodded without really believing I would ever escape. But she seemed content and that was enough for me.

The next day however, Stryker arrived with Logan and pulled me out of my Maths class. Not one word was said to the teacher, but she must have already known. I cried and I begged them not to take me away, but Stryker wouldn't listen. I asked for one more day so I could say goodbye, but he ignored me.

I never saw CaraLee again.

I wasn't sure what brought CaraLee to the forefront of my mind at that moment while I attempted to mentally preparing myself for meeting this strange mutant, but I was glad for it. CaraLee was part of my life when everything was at its worst and she made me better for having known her. I've often wondered where she ended up, but I learned my lesson after my mother died. For all I knew Stryker killed her too. Perhaps I would be friends with this mutant and he would meet the same fate…or maybe I would be next.