A/N: I'm going to use this space in the future to share updates and answer any questions you all leave. For now I don't want to spoil anything so going to let you discover this new AU as it unfolds. Also a thank you to Cheshire for the review and the encouragement to get back to writing.

"Let's see who we have here hmm?" Dr. McCoy said to no one in particular as his most recent patient was still slumbering somewhat fitfully on the examination table.

This wasn't the first time members of the X-Men had come in with a pickup - or a dozen - at odd hours. The fact it had been Logan himself who had brought in this particular mutant was noteworthy but the fact she was covered in blood sadly wasn't all that surprising.

He and Ororo had worked quickly to wash the young feral down and asses her injuries. Luckily the bullet wound in her side had been the most pressing but single serious injury and he'd handled that easily enough. Removing bullets and stitching wounds was something he was seeing far too often these days with new arrivals.

With the way things were out there for mutants the more they could bring to safety the better. With the recent election there seemed to be only three options for mutants: register and be tagged, Magneto's 'mutant sanctuary' Genosha, or hide. Xavier's had manager to stay hidden through Charles influence but who knew how long that could last. The X-Men did their best to be proactive but that wasn't showing much progress.

Hank shook his head and reminded himself he had a patient to help ... not the time for darker thoughts.

He typically preferred to actually speak with these new mutants, a sort of first round of intake if you will, to gauge their personalities, background, feelings, and sadly too often their trauma. He liked to think of himself as the welcoming committee who happened to check your vitals while you talked.

"Seems we finally have another feral in the house. How exciting." Hank continued, typing quickly into his notepad: Kara. Female. Approximately 11-12 years old. Feral/Feline/Panther mutation. From the way the bullet wound was healing along with her other cuts he put down accelerated healing. Further mutations ...

"We'll go with 'unknown for now' how about that." Hank finished warmly, wondering if his newest patient had any additional surprises.

"Now let's see how you've been getting on." With that Hank began a proper, full examination. He could tell she was clearly malnourished, which likely explained the slow healing of her wounds. There was one thing that caught his attention. On the girl's right shoulder was an odd series of four marks ... almost oval in shape. At first Dr. McCoy had thought they were burns. A deep frown appearing on his face whenever the specter of abuse entered his lab. Logan hadn't explained much once he'd handed the pantheress off to him but from the state of them both he knew she couldn't have come from anyplace good. But even if that were true, it didn't explain the marks. A wound this old should have healed by now on a feral.

"Let's try and solve this little mystery then. Don't mind me this won't hurt a bit." Hank picked up a scalpel with the hope of scraping off some skin to test and had just pressed the blade to one of the marks when he saw the girl's eyes shoot open and before he could even pull back Hank found her latched onto his back, the scalpel lodged in his thigh, and a set of claws at his throat.

"Hello to you too." Hank tried in a calm voice.

"Where?" which was paired by a surprisingly deep growl and a bit more pressure on the doctor's neck. Now Hank could have easily removed the young woman from his back with some minor injury but he didn't feel that was a good way to introduce himself.

"You're at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," Hank could see from the girl's reflection in a mirror across from him that didn't mean much, "you're safe. That's what matters."

Kara growled at that. No place was safe. She was back in a lab. How? She tried remembering how she got here and not in that boring cave but it all seemed fuzzy. The last thing she remembered was speaking to - to ... what was his name again ...

"Maybe we can try this again, hmmm?" Hank's tone was as if his patient was just waking up still on the gurney, "maybe we can start with a name?"

"Where's Logan?" Her voice was calm but Dr. McCoy could sense the stress there and could almost feel her eyes shooting around the room.

"Professor Logan is on his way back down and I'm sure he's eager to see you too Miss ..." Hank managed to turn his head enough to meet the young feline's rather intense gaze.

"Kara ... They call me Kara."

Once Logan had been assured by Hank that the kid would be alright, Logan had gone to hose himself off and grab a beer. That had been interrupted by Chuck, despite it being close to 5am, asking what had happened on his Avenger's run. He'd just gotten to his fifth beer and Widow showing up when Charles had suggested he get down to the infirmary. Seemed Kara had woken up.

He'd ran downstairs, worried about what the kid might do waking up in an unfamiliar place, but smirked when he came in to find Hank taking the kid's pulse as he talked and she seemed content to stare up at him and listen.

"You alright Salem?" Logan's low growl seemed to fill the room though it took a second for Kara to realize who he was talking to. It turned out this doctor wasn't like the other one's she'd met. He was nice ... or at least did a really good job of pretending. Not to mention she'd never met a mutant doctor before. She had heard Logan coming but tilted her head to the side quizzically at the name and looked back at Dr. McCoy.

"It's a good thing. Trust me." The doctor assured her with a smile. Looking back at Logan and giving him a clear up and down inspection, Kara seemed to decide he was still trust worthy enough to slip off the table and head over to him. She found the sweats the doctor had given her kinda hot but definitely better than the gown-thingy she'd woken up in.

"She good to go Hank?" Logan asked as he gave Kara his own look over. Aside from walking a bit stiff and clearly still on edge the kid seemed OK.

"So long as she doesn't open any of her stitches I think she should be all healed up in the next couple of hours. But some food I think would be in order." Dr. McCoy called out as Logan and his newest shadow headed upstairs.

The pair seemed content to walk in silence is until Logan pushed the button for the elevator.

"Stairs." Logan raised an eyebrow at the growl and turned to see Kara looking uneasy for the first time.

"You got a problem with elevators?" Logan rumbled right back as the doors slid open.

"Stairs." Logan looked between the glare Kara was giving the inside of the elevator and quickly realized this wasn't worth the trouble.

"Stairs it is." Logan turned and kept walking down the hall until the stairs and headed up the dozen flights that lead to the main floor of the Xavier Institute.

This early in the morning the mansion was a fairly quite place. The mansion itself was large, with entire wings barely used by the 50 or so mutants currently living there, not to mention the acres of grounds and forest surrounding the place.

Kara was taking all of this in, tail slowly swaying in their wake, as she followed Logan around, neither saying much as they finally made their way into the spacious kitchen and Logan nodded towards a highchair at the island.

Logan checked the fridge and ignoring the time of day tossed half a rotisserie chicken and leftover veggies on a plate which he unceremoniously dropped in front of the waiting feline who had yet to take her eyes off of him.

"I ain' gonna harass you with questions Salem. Just eat for now." Kara seemed relieved at that. The doctor was nice but he asked a LOT of questions, most of which Kara hadn't really wanted or been able to answere. Without further prompting Kara tore into the chicken, hungrier than she'd realized ... Logan making himself a cup of coffee in time to toss the rest of the chicken on her plate.

"Why?" Kara's question came out between bites, her eyes back on Logan.

"Why what? Why I get you out of there?" Logan took the small nod between bites as a yes, "cause you needed help. That OK with you?"

Kara seemed to consider this novel idea and nodded again but for her part she had no idea what to make of any of this. I mean this place was definitely a step up from the hole in the ground. Food much better too. But that didn't mean she trusted any of it. She knew better. Adults had a funny way of seeming nice at the beginning.

Logan sipped his coffee as he watched the feline finish off her food. Kid could definitely eat. When she seemed to finally be slowing down he thought it safe to finally ask a few questions.

"So how'd you end up down in that hole?" Logan had waited till Kara had finished her second helping before getting to this. But he'd been the one to bring the kid in and he knew there we some things Xavier and the rest of the X-Men were gonna want to know.

Kara for her part just put down the piece of chicken she'd been eating and shifted her eyes back to Logan, the latter just staring back cooly holding his gaze. They did this for a while until Kara dropped her gaze and Logan noted her tail come to a slow pendulum.

"You know who it was that was holdin' you?" Kara shook her head, her large amber eyes looking across at Logan again but this time somewhat warily.

"They ever make you do anythin' you didn't wanna do? Ever take you outta that cell?" Kara looked down at her plate and nodded her head this time.

"They take you outside?" Logan tried but Kara rumbled out a low 'no.'

"They take you upstairs ... to the doctors?" Kara's fists clenched as she slowly nodded, her gaze now fixed squarely on the floor.

Logan let out a sigh as he once again considered how young she looked. Place must have been hell for her.

"You got anyone out there lookin' for you kid? A parent ... someone you want me to call?" Kara's tail now came to a complete stop. The pantheress' brow furrowed as she opened her mouth a few times, shuddering noises escaping her... as if trying to think of the best way to answer until finally Logan put his hand up.

"Don' worry bout it Salem. I don't really care where you come from or what you mighta done. Just had to be able to say that I tried. Like I told ya, you're safe here." Logan's tone much softer now as Kara seemed to relax a bit as she hoped the questioning was over though Logan could tell the kid was tense as a wire.

Logan figured Kara wouldn't know much ... but that just made the mystery of what a group like HYDRA wanted with this kid, not to mention Nat, that much more confusing. As far as he could tell she was just another mutant kid with no place to go.

And speaking of mutant kids ...

"Hi I'm Kitty! Oh wow your fur is so dark and pretty! Logan is she new?" This all came out rapid fire as seemingly out of nowhere a very young, button nosed, brown haired, and wide eyed PJ clad little girl appeared on the stool next to Kara who almost jumped clear to the next chair at the sudden explosion of noise. Kara, hackles still raised and tail thrashing, eyed Kitty warily as she shot Logan a look clearly asking for help.

"Kitty meet Kara. She's gonna be stayin' with us for a bit. You wanna show her round?" Logan asked with a smirk as Kara shot him a look of clear panic as Kitty let out a peal of 'yes! yes! yes!' and grabbing Kara by the hand practically dragged her out of the kitchen and straight through a wall earning a brief snarl of surprise from Kara before the two were gone.

Logan shook his head, smirk still in place, as he cleared the dishes. Though his smirk didn't last long. Widow had very clearly wanted Kara and in turn that meant either the Avenger's - or more likely SHIELD - wanted her as well. But why? And what was a kid doing in the basement of a HYRDRA base locked in a cage?

Considering how little he knew Logan tossed the dishes in the washer and headed for his room. He needed to make a few calls.

...

Kara did her best to just follow in Kitty's wake as she led the way on a full tour of the mansion.

"Yea so that kitchen is where we eat - unless it's nice and then we get to eat outside on the porch - and down there are all the classrooms but that's kinda boring, unless Ororo calls up some thunder if Kurt or somebody falls asleep in class cause that's pretty funny, and over here is the game room we got two TV's and a bunch of games and pool and stuff so this is the best room in the house oh! unless you count my room! Yea come on I wanna show you my room! Oh I wonder if anyone else is up I wanna introduce you to everyone! But you gotta promise to be my friend cause we met first right!" Kitty beamed as all of this seemed to come out in one breath.

"C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!"

Kitty's room was a mess of colors and clothes, mostly pink, and Kara stood in the door just to take it all in.

"You like it?" Kitty spun on the spot, holding her breath for a moment clearly hoping her new friend approved. That of course didn't mean she wasn't practically bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement as the panther's eyes studied every nook and cranny of the room.

"It - it's a lot of color." Kara rumbled, earning a big grin from Kitty. She liked Kara's voice it reminded her of Logan's.

"Thanks!"

"Whoze dat?" Kara's fur shot up once again as yet another messy reddish brown haired girl's head appeared from the mess of pillows and blankets from the bed on the other side of the room.

"Marie we got a new friend!" Kitty practically squealed as she ran over and jumped on her roommate's bed, earning a low groan from Marie who fell back onto her pillows with a huff.

"Too early. Intro's later." Kara picked up a strong southern accent coming from this new girl as she inched a little more into the room. Her tail swaying just slightly. She was really gonna stay here?

"But Marie -"

"Rogue." the southern girl snapped from under her mess of hair, earning a roll of the eyes from Kitty.

"Yeah yeah WHATEVER! she's really into code names now." the little brunette whispered to Kara who nodded as if she understood, all the while watching Kitty start plummeting this Rogue repeatedly with a pillow.

"C'mon you gotta see her! She's like Rahne - but a cat!" Rogue popped an eye open at that but then shot straight up at actually catching sight of Kara whose ears flipped down as she took a quick step back and braced herself not so subtlety in a ready position.

"Wow. You look SO cool." Rogue - who seemed to not recognize that Kara was a moment away from simply bolting from the room or taking on all comers - had dropped down from her bed at this point and slowly approached Kara who eyed her like everything else in this place ... like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"What's ya name?" Rogue asked clearly now mesmerized by Kara's slowly swaying tail on the floor. For her part Kara slowly came out of her stance as she realized Rogue didn't seem interested in hurting her.

"Her name's Kara! Professor Logan says she's gonna be stayin' with us." Kitty beamed. Rogue finally moved past the tail and gave Kara a better look over, something Kara wasn't a big fan of. She hated when people looked at her like that even if Rogue and Kitty seemed ... OK.

"Aren' you hot with all that fur?" Rogue asked gesturing at the sweats, earning a scowl from Kitty.

"Rogue! That wasn't very nice. I like her fur." Kitty said very matter of factly but Rogue shook her head quickly.

"I didn' mean nothin' by it. Just thought she was hot wearin' all those clothes with fur is all." Rogue defended to her roommate.

"Ummm," Rogue and Kitty had seemed ready to go at it as Kara cut in, "I am kinda hot."

"Well change then. I think I got a -WOAH NOT RIGHT NOW" Rogue and Kitty had screamed together, hands slapped over their eyes as the panther had nonchalantly kicked off her sweats and was almost free of the luckily oversized sweatshirt. Kara let the sweatshirt drop back into place as she cocked her head in confusion. I mean they DID tell her she could change.

After a few laughs from the two, Rogue smiled triumphantly at Kitty but the little brunette had already moved on to the next exciting thing.

"Oh I can dress you! Oh please please let me dress you! Jean and Amara never let me help get clothes for new students it'll be so much fun!" Kara looked to Rogue as the only other person for help but she had just rolled her eyes to go back to bed and spent the rest of the hour perched on a mound of pillows and blankets laughing and tossing out comments as Kitty did her best imitation of a fashion show with a very unwilling Kara as her model.

After plenty of exasperated begging from Kitty and an intervention from Rogue, the little brunet had finally relented and let Kara breath as she came out of their closet in a pair of Kitty's black running shorts and a loose grey tank top of Rogue's that came down about half-way of her slightly longer torso.

For the first time since waking up, Kara felt herself relax a little. Everyone here was just - just so nice. A bit weird ... but nice. It was still hard to believe and Kara did her best to suppress the feeling that this all an act before something terrible would happen.

"You look great! You sure you don't want some shoes? Jean always says that an outfit isn't complete without some shoes." Kitty was clearly imitating Jean's tone but a nudge from Rogue got Kitty to pause long enough to see Kara smiling for the first time even if a little uncertainly.

"Don't need shoes." As Kara put her foot, with it's raised heel and sharp claws, next to Kitty's soft pink one.

"Oh - " Kitty started but Rogue saved her.

"Ya look great. Pretty sure breakfast is gonna be ready by now and we need to beat the boys down there." This idea resulted in another twenty minutes of Kitty tossing on and off outfits as Rogue simply pulled on an over-sized hoodie and eventually the threesome left the bedroom and headed downstairs.

"I can't wait for you to meet everyone!" Kitty simply beamed, still thrilled to be playing tour guide.

Kara for her part just nodded again. She wasn't sure how many more introductions she could take. But as she heard the mansion starting to wake up and listened to Rogue and Kitty resume bickering she felt that smile creep back on her face.

Maybe she really was going to get to stay here.